Is Cooking Collection a scam or a great buy?
Cooking Collection
The Cathy Mitchell Cooking Collection consists of three purportedly ingenious utensils which do everything that you need in the kitchen. Rather than having a drawer full of utensils you can alleviate the crowded mess in your drawers. The first utensil is the gripping whisk. Said whisk lets you pick things up, grip them, and flip them. Next is the straining ladle. This ladle is unique in that it has a straining grid. You can control how much broth you scoop up when serving. Finally, the third item is the gripping spatula which can flip and turn things easily. It grips a little or a lot, based on your needs.
Total Cost Breakdown
The cost of Cooking Collection is $14.99 plus $4.99 shipping. The special TV offer allows you to receive a second Cooking Collection by paying an extra fee of $4.99 for a total price of $24.97.
This price was obtained from the As Seen on TV commercial page ( www.getcathyscollection.com ) which was taken offline due to Cooking Collection being discontinued. Cooking Collection may still be found for sale on Amazon or Ebay.
This price was obtained from the As Seen on TV commercial page ( www.getcathyscollection.com ) which was taken offline due to Cooking Collection being discontinued. Cooking Collection may still be found for sale on Amazon or Ebay.
Pros
- Cathy Mitchell Endorsement
Cathy Mitchell is the one behind this set of utensils. She is the face of the as seen on tv items throughout the United States. In fact, she hosted a television show for these products for many years, completing infomercials for many cooking related things especially dump dinners and dump meals meant to give homes delicious meals all in one. She endorses many food related cooking things sold online and has published a handful of dump dinner recipes and other cookbooks to coincide with the things she is endorsing.
- Better Organization
This Cathy Mitchell Cooking Collection consists of three purportedly ingenious utensils which do everything that you need in the kitchen. The idea behind this set, and the many other food related products she has endorsed, is that with only these three things you can easy prepare any dish for yourself or your loved ones. With a goal of making life easier, and not more expensive, her claim is that these are the most exciting utensils to come along in years.
Rather than having a drawer full of utensils you can alleviate the crowded mess in your drawers, the constant search for the right utensil, and keep things clean and organized when you cook. - Gripping Whisk
The first utensil is the gripping whisk. This whisk lets you pick things up, grip them, and flip them. So you can hold it and watch it form around your food, firmly and securely holding your food in place.
When you want to whisk something rather than grip it and flip it, you can lock the whisk into whisk place and watch as it easily whisks through your food. You can even use it a spaghetti strainer, with the website spelling it “spagetti” in what has to be an attempt at the Italian “spa’ getti”. No doubt this is meant to lend credence to the culinary expertise of the endorser and site. - Straining Ladle
The second utensil is the straining ladle. This ladle is unique in that it has a straining grid. As such, this means you can control how much broth you scoop up when serving. You can strain canned goods through this ladle too which lets you take out only the food you need and not the unwanted juices.
- Gripping Spatula
The third utensil is the gripping spatula which can flip and turn things easily. It grips a little or a lot, based on your needs. This means you can make sausage and flip when necessary with a firm grip. You can make bacon and flip with a light grip. Customers can even turn eggs over or make the fluffiest pancakes.
- Comprehensive Customer Service
Customer service claims to be thorough, not charging your account until something ships. They give you the chance to track your package once it does ship 24 / 7 online, and have a phone line open twelve hours per day.
Cons
- Required Bogo
When you purchase this online you are automatically given the double offer. This means you pay the regular fifteen dollars for the three utensils, with the additional five dollars in shipping. Add to that another five for shipping the second three piece kitchen set. Given that the idea behind this set of three utensils is that they encompass everything you need in the kitchen, having two sets seems to take away from this claim.
If only these three are needed, two sets of each does not improve life much except by allowing consumers to avoid the responsibility of cleaning after use. That said, getting two sets really just means you get a rather unique gift that you can give to someone else after you have tested the legitimacy of the utensils. - Taxes
When you place an order state taxes are applied to Nevada, New York, Connecticut, and California. If you are sending your order to Alaska, Guam, Puerto Rico, Canada, the U. S. Virgin Islands, or Hawaii there is another ten dollars added to the cost of shipping.
- Returns
There is a thirty day money back guarantee for the items, but because it is an as seen on tv product, the shipping times are extensive. They can range well beyond the four weeks following your order.
As such, not only do you lose out on shipping and handling when you return the orders. However, you might miss the deadline just because the item hasn’t arrived. If you place the order online you have to spend twenty five dollars for both sets. Should you return them within the thirty days for whatever reason you only get back fifteen dollars. This means you lose ten even at best.
Warnings
- Allstar Had a Poor Reputation but Now Problems are Corrected
Said utensil set is overseen by Allstar Products Group which, even though it is not accredited with the BBB, had a bad rating. They have had over one hundred complaints filed against them but responded to those complaints. Of these complaints filed within the last year, the majority of them revolved around problems with the goods or service. This does not bode well for anyone looking to buy this particular set.
However, since they do manufacture many items there is no way to gauge whether the complaints are a valid con for this utensil set just yet. Other complaints filed were about advertising or sales issues, billing issues, and delivery issues. There were no complaints filed about the guarantee or warranty.
What is of particular concern though is that Allstar did settle for roughly eight million dollars in damages to the Federal Trade Commission in 2015. Said settlement was reached for the deceptive buy one get one free practices, which are part of this particular set.
The FTC worked with the New York State Attorney General after customer complaints that the company had attractively priced offers and then would not let the consumers out of the BOGO options. This lead to confusing ordering processes and deceptive ordering which ended with excessive unauthorized charges and fees to consumers.
One of the only good parts of settling the claims of violating telemarketing sales rules and the FTC Act is that now this company is not legally allowed to bull you without written consent. They also have to clearly disclose the number of items you will receive and the total fees and costs.
Wise Advice
Do not buy Cooking Collection online before searching Amazon.
- Alternatives or the same items are always available and sometimes at lower prices.
Wise Advice
Do not buy Cooking Collection online before searching Amazon.
- Alternatives or the same items are always available and sometimes at lower prices.
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