11/16/04 From Another SAD distributor of: Designer Scents / ExpresScents/Elite Design / Country Kitchen Candles ect. Our plight is shown in my letter of woes... We signed up June 4... No Locators could help us & we were on our own! We tried to get help via 1-800# phone reps (no luck there/just brush offs/handle it your self ect.) started with problems with jewelry, pillars burning funky, pies??? / Stands not right..) We were out, on our own, trying to place product. Immediately we find 2 other distributors in our SUPPOSEDLY EXCLUSIVE ROUTE {WHICH, BY THE WAY, IS BEING PORTRAYED AS SOME SORT OF MASS HALLUCINATION, BECAUSE AS YOU ALL KNOW WE WERE NEVER TOLD THIS
We ended up with only 4 stores taking Pie Candles in our immediate area. No body would take the pillars (one woman scattered half dozen through out her store) because: Cardboard stands were called flimsy / ugly/too bulky/jewelry sub-standard! No help received with these issues either. Communicated via 1-800 # but never received satisfactory results with phone reps[re: jewelry/route exclusivity, ect.) So we decided to try for better results by contacting Mitch via e-mail, after email after email! { I saved copies of all this correspondence)... Well, when he finally responds..{We had requested meeting with Mr. Antonelli}... He totally ignores request for meeting (& our despair and frustration) We were willing to drive from NH to Rhode Island for a meetimg! Regarding route: he quotes F T C guidelines... Obviously I Don't Want To Hear About FTC. I know what I was told exclusive route! (and not told/shared routes??!!). We bought knowing this is a tourist area and the shops in which things would sell are very seasonal. As a result we really needed several counties to make any sort of a living... This is not a wealthy area / regarding sales to the local population / the tourist shops were our main target... To our dismay. 2 other distributors were already in shops in our targeted area & FORGET THE LOCATORS. We all know what a joke that is! Many of you know how the rest of that story goes
So. I am told the bracelets are fine. Not... (they fit children/not adults & are far from quality of sample sent) We received part order of sample quality bracelets & part order low quality..?? Any one who purchased Pillar w / Napier Bracelet knows that for display purpose the bracelet wraps around pillar candle & the colored stone bracelets do not fit. If you wrap them around pillar the elastic type string shows... Tacky. Tacky looking. I can not fathom buying this bracelet at a department store and spending..$22.00 as Mitch states in e-mail sent to us? People buy these pies one time / show me repeat business. Novelty item / no body will spend $'s again on an inconsistent item! They want a SCENTED candle with a scent that lasts! [In the meantime pies are returned... Reason buyer returned: no scent after first couple of lightings/burns uneven? Returned customer $'s. {Never did get to deal with this with the Co. Would probably have told me tuff luck ladyany ways/or just denied all which is the norm..???...} We decided to stop everything & take action..] Never receive help from phone reps... He {MITCH) is busy (understandable) but the original reason I go to him is lack of help & knowledge or perhaps a hands are tied situation when it comes to getting help from 1-8000 # service reps. He also states that they have other distributors assigned to our area and they have the right to do so...
WELL, knowing this area and having explained that to them [THE CO.] PRIOR to buying inHAD WE BEEN TOLD that there were ALREADY... TWO OTHER DISTRIBUTORS on our turf WE would NEVER have bought... We would have known better! {I know one of the NH distributors is posted on this complaint site} Perhaps we would have opted for routes in Massachusetts where it is more populated, more stores to target. Ect. Or perhaps Not Bought in at all..!!! We know at this point we have been duped (gut-wrenching) This has all been a big kick in the teeth... This is the point where we give up on this company and start taking action, as many of us have... BY: CONTACTING OUR OWN STATE ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE (of which at this point they (the company) are saying: we were given a special deal with pillars & pies cause we could not Afford? To do it other wise... We are disputing this. It is not true.
We requested a special package because we originally thought it would be SMART to start with the Pillars w/Napier bracelets & the Pies so we could test the area out and see if customers were buying more pillars or more pies. The plan was that at the point where we knew what sold best... We would then go exclusively with pies or exclusively with pillars OR perhaps continue selling both should that end up being the most lucrative way to go??? But as we all know it is just a long frustrating wait to see if our individual States can help us OR IF it will be the" RIAG "that ends up Saving us? We are just little fish in a big pond. Hopefully the law will be on our side & JUSTICE will prevail! (A few Prayers wouldn't hurt either)... HOW THEY CAN SLEEP AT NIGHT IS BEYOND ME?
At this point we would love all of our money back!!! As many of you have stated we are surrounded by candles in our basement & are trying our best to make some sales to recoup some of the lost $'s (which means we are selling sub-standard product & believe me we don't sleep so good right now either / Catch 22) We hate being between the rock & the hard place! TAKE THIS PRODUCT BACK RETURN OUR $'s and let this nightmare END!
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