Fitness business owner gets an influencer client who first demanded services for free and then complained when she gained 0.5 pounds in a week, demanding a refund: ‘Post a public statement on your page admitting your plan doesn’t work.'

María Cetra • Writer

Aug 8, 2026 4:00 PM EDT

Another story about influencers: of course, they are demanding something for free and throwing a tantrum over nothing.

If we mention influencers, you know that they will appear entitled and demanding something, as if it were their signature. If they complain, you know they are going to post about it on social media, or at least threaten to do so. Do businesses even benefit from them still? It seems as if they have created such a negative image that people are always feeling uncomfortable working with them. But the truth is, they still get work. Some companies trust them, and they do bring clients. But not these unknown local ones. These ones only make messes and scenes.

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I run a small fitness consultancy business, have done for the past few years, since setting up, I've largely relied on word of mouth for most of my business, so I typically don't have to deal with a lot difficult clients, but I recently had a run in with a woman who's genuinely made my blod boil. This woman, let's call her Gigi for the sake of anonymity, sent me a DM a few weeks ago, said she was looking to lose weight and tighten up her physique for

People doing exercise outside. Representation. — *People doing exercise outside.*
*_{Representation.}*

In the story below, we have yet another story about a micro-influencer demanding things. She went through the whole process. First, she wanted to get the fitness training for free. The business owner said no, and she accepted (not something common in these stories, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves). Then she said that she wanted to lose weight and accepted when the trainer explained that it would take time and that there is no choice but to wait, work hard, and follow the diet. Lastly, after one single week of training, she called the instructor at 5 am to demand that they post an apology explaining that their methods do not work even though she wasn’t following the diet and it had only been one single week.

summer. Gigi didn't really fit my usual client demographic (usually 30s, 40s), she was young, mid 20s, and boasted a decent follower count, seemed to be a local influencer of some description. This piqued my interest, I thought perhaps I could benefit from her connections to boost my business somewhat. How wrong I was. The initial consultation over text was pretty standard. I asked her

some details about her past exercise history, diet, etc. before getting to work on her meal/exercise plan. Then it moved to the matter of payment. I had mentioned pretty early on that I typically charge $50 for my plans, but either she didn't read that, or decided to feign wilful ignorance. When I reminded her of the price, she said, and I quote "I was wondering whether you'd be interested in getting yourself

some exposure instead of payment?" I hate to say it, but at the time, I was seriously thinking of taking her up on her offer. However, after talking to some of my friends, I snapped out of it, resolving to be firm with the price instead, which she accepted, albeit somewhat begrudgingly. Looking back on it now, I'm kind of stunned that she genuinely expected me to give it to her for free, but I guess that's how the

influencer economy works these days. The plan consisted of exercises and recipes mainly designed around helping her lose weight. Usually I advise most of my clients to try and maintain light to moderate calorie deficits, not only is this overall healthier (less muscle loss) they tend to s ka lot less than dramatic calorie reductions, so are easier to maintain in the long run. I explained all this to Gigi, said that

she understood it meant progress wouldn't be immediate, and as such, I thought we were on the same page. A week later, I woke up at 5am to an Instagram call from Gigi (I didn't even now you could call people on Instagram!). Half awake, I picked up the phone. "YOU'RE A SCAMMER! YOU THINK THIS S 'S SOME KIND OF JOKE?" I was still in a daze, so I weakly

asked her what was going on "I JUST WEIGHED IN AFTER A WEEK ON YOUR BULLS I'M UP HALF A PLAN, POUND" I asked her to slow down and breathe, which seemed to calm her down, albeit temporarily I explained to her that we'd been through this before, and that weight loss isn't a linear process, and that scale measurements can be offset from anything from waterweight, clothes, time of day

"YOU'RE JUST COVERING YOUR IA, CUT THE BULLS RIGHT NOW" Oh well, I tried. Guess you can't talk sense to an unstable influencer at 5AM "I'VE GOT A SWIMWEAR COLLABORATION I NEED TO SH OT THIS WEEK AND YOU LIED TO ME, YOUR PLAN DIDN'T WORK" [influencer to English translation: I

successfully got something for free, and now I need to rip into you for something I didn't get for free] Bear in mind, this girl is by no means overweight, her BMI was already comfortably in the healthy range, but I guess an influencer's work is never done. On the verge of tears, she continued. "DO YOU KNOW HOW F ED I AM? I FOLLOWED YOUR PLAN TO

THE WHERE IT LETTER AND LOOK GOT ME" Based on her tone, and the time of the morning she called, she was almost definitely on the receiving end of 3-4 margaritas, comfortably, which DEFINITELY wasn't in the plan, but I didn't feel like pointing out the obvious. An hour later she messaged again, still unhinged but slightly more coherent:

A woman doing an abs workout. Representation. — *A woman doing an abs workout.*
*_{Representation.}*

The funny punch line to this story is that the instructor complied, but not as you would expect. This center did their own number of malicious compliance, and turning what could have been some business-crushing move ended up bringing new clients in who actually understand the method they use and are going to follow it to the T.

via The_amazingluke

my business page: "Public statement as requested by [Gigi's handle]: I refunded the client in full. My standard plan prioritises sustainable, moderate deficits and long-term adherence rather than dramatic one-week scale drops. The client reported following the plan 'to the letter' and still gained 0.5 lb in seven days.

via The_amazingluke

were dealing with. I left it at that. No extra commentary. No screenshots. No mention of the 5 a.m. call, the margaritas, the original request for free work, or the fact that she was already in a healthy BMI range. By lunch the post had been screenshotted and circulated in few local fitness groups. People started asking the obvious questions under her posts. She tried to walk it back ("he twisted

my words"), then deleted her original rant, then went quiet. The collab still happened. From the photos that went up, the half- pound "gain" was invisible. My page, meanwhile, picked up a small but steady stream of new enquiries from people who specifically said they wanted the boring, sustainable version. I never heard from Gigi again.

hereforthejokes20 Whenever we get asked for services in return for exposure, we offer a deal where the influencer pays us, but then gets a customised discount code for their followers. The followers get a 10% discount amd then the influencer gets a further 5% each time their code gets used, up to a 70% rebate. It hardly ever gets taken up - funny that happens when its their money and not ours!

grumblyoldman You know how, at super-fancy restaurants they don't listen the prices on the menu, and the old saying is "if you have to ask, you can't afford it"? Influencers getting sh for free is the same. If you have to ask for free sh, you aren't big enough to get it, yet.

Cosmic-Cuttlefish This is insane. I've weighed myself before and after taking a dump out of curiosity and I've lost more than half a pound before

Notspherry I would have dropped a line in there somewhere about the caloric content of alc ic drinks.

UnknownParasites I think that more people could learn and benefit from this. Influencers are narcissistic and invariably dumb. They can be used. You reversed this situation to benefit yourself in an authentic and fair way by not panicking and being smart. Fair play mon frere

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Fitness business owner gets an influencer client who first demanded services for free and then complained when she gained 0.5 pounds in a week, demanding a refund: ‘Post a public statement on your page admitting your plan doesn’t work.'

Another story about influencers: of course, they are demanding something for free and throwing a tantrum over nothing.

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