January 19
Mr. Jeff Engle
658 Lincoln St
Hortonville, WI 54944
Dear Mr. Engle;
I wanted to personally address your issues with Arlene as opposed to her calling you. I prefer doing this in light of the fact that I have had several correspondences in the past with the Better Business Bureau regarding our business dealings.
There are several reasons and circumstances as to why and how Candy King of America sells its merchandise. Upon review of your portfolio, between your two (2) purchases you have cost averaged your machines at $1,300 per machine. That is a published price we quote for the purchase of one hundred (100) machines or more. This is just one example of price consideration, but in business there are always other considerations that arise. People purchase automobiles and negotiate prices every day. That is the way people do business, it is a fact of life. Over the last ninety (90) days for instance, South Florida was hit by a hurricane that closed down most of Broward County not to mention our company for two (2) weeks. Needless to say, when we resumed business we were very aggressive price wise to try to catch up for lost revenue. These are just two (2) examples. I could go on, but you get the idea.
You mention a customer that paid $1,000 per machine, here is what I am willing to do: If you purchase an additional twenty (20) machines, I am willing to part with them with no profit, at a cost of $625 each just to cover my cost. That would be $12,500. You purchased twenty (20) machines for $32,000 and fifteen (15) machines for $13,500. You already have thirty five (35) machines for $45,500. You would now have fifty five (55) machines for $58,000 averaging out to $1,054.50 each.
This is dramatically less than our one hundred (100) machine price, especially in light of the fact that your total route would only consist of fifty five (55) machines. It is not that I am trying to coerce you into additional machines. I just know that Altoids is a good product, you should do well with them and it justifies my business decision to let you have these at such a ridiculously low price.
I am trying to be as considerate as possible. This price would include gum as well as all of the shipping charges. I strongly advise you to purchase these as I have never done this before, believe me. The only condition that I will attach to this would be that you are restricted from re-selling these on the internet for a profit, as I think you would agree would be foolhardy on my part not to stipulate. I would however allow you to resell these locally if you choose.in this case, you can enjoy a substantial profit, so it is a win - win situation for you no matter how you look at it, and it is really a no-win situation for me and Candy King, wouldn't you agree?
I hope you find my sentiments very reasonable and I will respect your decision.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Stanley Gladstone
President
First off Mr. Gladstone that is a poor solution on your part, another way you have been evading the situation just like you did with the BBB buy stating "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" what does that have to do with the quality of the product?
Number two, is the false misrepresenting of the machines, which are stated of being made of all brushed aluminum that is only half true the machines are made of a lot of plastic which breaks rather easily. I have 35 of these so I know better. I was also told by Gordon Atwell that I was getting the Greenbay, Appleton and Oshkosh demographic. I just spoke to someone that only bought 2 Altoid machines from Candy King and he lives in DePere, Wi which is in my demographic.
That is another thing how can someone buy only 2 when I was told I had to buy 20 but then after I bought them I seen you advertise 10 was the minumim. I was also told that CandyKing and Kraft didn't want just to grant these machines to anybody so I had to go through a bogus interview to be accepted, to only find CandyKing selling on Ebay to anyone that had the money, what happened to exclusitivity?
I talked to your receptionist the other day and she attempted to tell me you guys were never on Ebay, then I asked her who was it then another Candy King that happened to have a direct feed back to your website? I was also told by Gordon and Jonathon that these machines do about $100 a month each one, I can bareley get $15.00 a month out of them and I had a locating service recommended by Gordon himself.
I have 3 in my garage I can't get rid of and you want to sell me more, yeah sign me up. The price of $625 is still overpriced and you know as well as I that these machines cost less than $200 to manufacture. I have spoken with a vending manufacturer that knows these machines all to well and told me the machines cost about $142 each. I spoke also with Joey at the place to send the machines to be repaired and I stated my issues with the quality of the machines and the overprice of them and he said quote "I would jump up and down if I knew how much these really cost". That told me everything right there. I know you have been on Ebay and saw how many people are trying to sell their Altoid machines thaey can't even get $400 for them and most don't even bid on the machines, so if you know someone that would buy these machines for more money please send them my way, I dont' think you have to worry about me buying these machines at the ridiculously low price of $625 and actually selling them for a profit on the internet.
I'm not talking about the people on Ebay just selling the used machines either I seen people selling brand new machines for $450 each and still no bites. I also seen on Ebay you guys saying that the warranty was not transferable when the hell was that rule made? I just see it as a way for you guys to make it hard for the people you sold these to try and get out of them. The sad thing is people that did get raked over the coals like I did are trying to get rid of them on Ebay for many hundreds of dollars less just to get rid of them. The gentleman that contacted me was very much interested in buying from CandyKing and he told me if he bought 10 they would throw in 6 more for a cost $16,000 total, which would be $1000 a machine. I told him to run that $1000 a machine is still $700 to much. I told him I would sell my machines to him fo $300 each just to get rid of them, but he declined and I have spoken with Steve since and he never bought from you either.
I also steered 2 more people away in the past month that called me about CandyKing and I have spoken with them as well recently and they did not buy either from CandyKing. All 3 were going to buy 10 machines each in the past month which would have been 30 machines sold and I figure I costed you over $40,000 in sales loss. That makes me feel good because you screwed me out of $45,000 plus I hired a locating service for another $2,500. I have a big ad on the web trying to sell my machines and people been calling after they talk to you they notice my ad and call to ask why I'm selling, I tell them the truth.
I have seen a big response on my ad so I am looking to traffic it more throughout the web. I have spoken with a number of people on my master list of the people involved with CandyKing and not one person is happy about the machine, the performance or you Mr. Gladstone. We all feel we were lied to and that I am trying to get enough people to rally together and put a stops to you. You see I will never see my investment back again, I took a 2nd mortgage out on my house for this and you wronged me and a number of others, I am going to do my best to be the biggest pain and cost you a lot of money like you did me. I am not threatning I am just doing.in closing I knew you were not going to call me because you won't talk and I can never get through to you because your secretary won't let me.
Good day
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