All American Vending solicited me through an ad in our local paper under the classified section via the following ad: "vending route for sale $9,000.00". There was no such vending route for sale. They simply wanted to sell their machines. Their web site is nothing but fluff. The employees pretend that they own vending routes but infact do not. I invested and lost tens ofthousands of dollars because of their fraudulent and misleading claims.
All American Vending teams up with Cornerstone Marketing to help sell their machines. Cornerstone Marketing is currently being sued by the Federal Trade Commission for fraudulent and misleading advertising, etc. Etc. Cornerstone Marketing promises a certain number of vends per day per machine you buy. The number of vends promised, usually 25 or 16, is impossible to achieve. Cornerstone makes promises to keep relocating your machines until they are achieving the number of vends per day. Chris Putnam is the owner of Cornerstone Marketing and has several associated previous companies closed by the FTC.
Cornerstone Marketing does not conduct business like a legitimate business. They try to avoid any contracts and then if forced provide contracts that can not be enforced. The employees at Cornerstone Marketing are rude (because they deal with continuous complaints) and are strictly trying to promote Cornerstone Marketing. They do not have any knowledge of the vending business. One locator for Cornerstone Marketing makes $30,000.00/month and Cornerstone makes $30,000.00/month off the same locator... Multiply that by the number of locators and you are talking a great deal of money.
Cornerstone's interests are strictly for their financial gain. The locator's are not concerned with finding good locations for their customers but are concerned with making the big money through locating fast and furious.
All American vending advertises "We are pledged to resolve any misunderstanding or complaint because a SATISFIED CUSTOMER is our most important asset. All American Vending has built a successful business by offering:
Honest Value
Top Quality Machines
Courteous Service
Full Information "
None of this is true. The salesman treated me like a member of the family until he received my money. Then my calls were received with a short, curt referrals to Cornerstone Marketing or the manufacturer of the machines. All the promises of help setting up my business never materialized. They do not know how to set-up or run a vending business. Complaints to the Better Business Bureau were ignored.
All American Vending does not run a legitimate business. They do not sign and return contracts, make false and misleading claims, and do not provide the necessary earnings claims document as required by the Federal Trde Commission. They need to provide a legitimate basis for their earnings claims and they do not. Please file a report with the FTC about this.
The machines are of inferior quality. The internal parts are plastic. Children can easily break the plastic spout and put their hands in to steal the money. The machines are extremely heavy and, sure, they hold the most candy in the industry... But you would never want to fill them up because all that candy would get stale before it was sold. There are many far better made machines at a lower price available.
All American Vending makes about $14,000.00 profit off of an order of $20,000.00.
I spoke with a lady who has been running her own vending machine route of 200 machines for 9 years and then has been doing locating for 9 years (she does locating now because you can make SO much more money in a little time frame). She says that she has to tell every customer that bought machines that the vending companies lie about the amount of money they can make just to get people to buy machines. She tells them to expect about 1/10th the profit that they were told.
It is very unfortunate that the vending machine sales industry is not regulated. We all need to file complaints to get the Federal Trade Commission to stop this scam business.
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