My husband, Charlie, who had been out of work planning for our adoption, applied for several jobs in the newspaper a few weeks ago. Our intent: to earn extra money for the airfare to Kazakhstan to complete our adoption process.
One of the jobs he was hired for was a management training job where he was told after 4-6 weeks he would get his own business. Being provided with an office, ads to hire staff and running fees for 1 month. He was told that no selling would be involved - yet he would have to peddle product in gas station & mall parking lots the first week for practice... But eventually, he'd have staff to do it. During training, he was told he would get $400/week plus any bonuses.
Reading through all the SCENTURA CREATIONS rip off reports really hit home. Cause, yes, at first you have to "practice" on your family & friends... My husband did just that selling 16 bottles the first time around. He was having trouble and Jose told him that if he sold 7 bottles, he would be paid bonus as if he sold 15 bottles. He later found out since he did sell 16 bottles, he was going to be paid the bonus for 26 - which was $150.
They went out in groups to peddle, and the first tiem the "old guy" gave him $3 in gas for 6 hours of driving; another day they went out he got $5.
All bottles Charlie sold, $20 went to the company and anything else, (minus shipping to the relatives in other states) would go to Charlie. But later, he would pay some where between $9 and $11/bottle (which would make a good wholesale: business to business or selling perfume on-line business). Two days later Charlie sold another 10 bottles... And through contests won:
DINNER WITH THE BOSS AT A RESTAURANT OF CHARLIE'S CHOICE; $50 bonus and the honor of throwing a pie in an "old dog's" face. On this day, we also learned that he wasn't getting paid on Saturday - and it was the next Saturday.
He went to work that Friday, and after the meeting, he went home and called many businesses to get them to put the perfume in their stores. Unfortunately, even though, it appears from the reports that Jose, his boss, was getting the bottles for $9-11/bottle - Charlie still had to pay $20 so it's difficult to sell wholesale. Charlie felt selling them for $15/bottle when 15 were ordered would be a good thing. I think that the rest goes into a "fund" for people cause they, supposably, set you up with 1rst month's rent on an office, 1rst month's electricity, etc...
We got more leary and instead of looking the company up as Observe L'Essence, we looked it up as SCENTURA... Saturday a friend of ours went in with Charlie to help give his opinion as to if J & R INC was a scam... Jose talked to both of them, and told Charlie and our friend he would be getting his $400 in training plus $200 in bonus the following Saturday, whether he stuck around or not... He also told Charlie if he was uncomfortable with peddling the product in gas stations etc, he didn't have to do it... He then told Charlie he could take the rest of the day off and decide if he wanted to stick with it.
On Monday, he went in for the meeting and then when everyone else was peddling, he was going to leave pick someone up at the airport and then go home to make more calls or go out visiting busineses... He did just that... But the meeting started late. He returned to the office for the nightly meeting.
Tuesday, he was told he didn't have to peddle - but needed to drive around people that were peddling - he got about $13 to drive them around this time...
One night, he thought he might peddle again, and ended up getting mugged... And when he told them the next day, they told him to go home...
Today he calls saying he is taking others out peddling again, but wasn't sure how much gas he was going to get. While I was talking on the phone (cell phone) to my husband, Raul (the R in J&R) got on the phone and didn't introduce himself at first... And basically told me that Charlie must think it's OK to drive other's around for meager gas funding because he keeps showing up... Then he introduced himself.
I called into the office to speak with Jose to ask him to make me feel comfortable about the whole thing and Raul took over the phone... I explained my situation and scared feelings asking for reassurance, and asked him why "peddling" was so important... It wasn't even sales... Telling him Charlie wanted to run a legitimate business, not one with people "peddling" on the street. Booths in flea markets, wholesale to nail salons & general stores, and most importantly an on-line version... But how can you do that buying product for $20/bottle...
I asked him how this was "management training" - and if this wasn't a sales job - why were they doing nothing but peddling. I told him that Charlie won't be peddling anymore and that he'd be in Friday to get his $600 - $200 in bonus and $400 for training... I was told by Raul that he might get the $200 in bonus, but there was no $400 training and that it wouldn't be this Saturday, it would be next and Charlie wouldn't get the whole thing cause he missed most of the week... I told him I wasn't talking about this week, I was talking about last week... And I was then told there is no $400 in training. I also told him that Charlie was "selling" on the phone to businesses not in the street but he was still working many hours in the name of selling perfume... But what I mainly cared about was that he got his $600...
I mean there is no dinner... Jose told Charlie on March 25 that dinner would be the following week and Charlie said he wanted to go to Charley's Steakhouse... But no date was ever set... That is another $100 he earned in a dinner as a bonus that we'll never see.
This whole situation makes me uncomfortable from the 25th till now... Cause on the 25th, Jose told him that when they referred to him getting paid on Saturday - it was the following Saturday. And today Raul is telling me it's not tomorrow it's the next and there is no $400.
They have no hand outs or anything printing with letterhead... They make "rookies" take notes... And Charlie has all the notes from all the classes... They have his social security number and our address and I am scared they will show up. I spent over a week worrying every minute he was with these people... This week he was sticking around just to see if he got paid and to see if they could prove they were real...
You don't tell someone they are getting $400/week in training pay when they don't... And you don't tell them you are management training when all you do is get new people to peddle products in the street and practice on their loved ones... So new meat...
My husband felt so good about himself when trying to set up his new business... And he will run an on-line business. He is partnering with a friend of his... But this isn't the company to get started with... I saw some people in his training class... They were young kids (most probably still living at home - I even saw parents drop some of them off) - they came from hardly anything from what I can tell - the type of people who didn't feel it "beneath" them to peddle... Not knowing that there are better ways to make money...
We lost about $100 in the endeavor through mailing out perfume and buying 5 bottles for ourselves to sell later... But more importantly Charlie turned down a real job for this and missed out on 2 weeks of looking for a job... Not to mention the $600 we thought we were getting - it doesn't look like we are getting.
I want my husband to get what he earned... So we can reinvest it in a real business buying wholesale stock from a legitimate company.
Amy & Charlie
Tampa, Florida
U.S.A.
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