Don't fall for these guys like I did!
All-American Vending (no longer doing business under THAT name), AKA Ron Owens (of Las Vegas, NV), Mike Wheeler (of Las Vegas, NV), and Mike Bell (of Mobile, AL) made big promises to me when I responded to their ad in my local paper promising an easy set-up for my own vending business. I had been looking for a way to earn some extra money on the side, and liked the idea of being in business for myself. I also hoped to teach my children by example the advantages of being a business owner, and I understood that vending could be a very profitable business. Reassured by their guarantees of profit and lifetime warranties for service, I invested over $27,000.00 for machines, inventory, and guaranteed locations.in association with Cornerstone Marketing (also no longer doing business under THAT name), AKA Chris Putnam and Jennifer, I signed contracts that clearly spelled out I was guaranteed a minimal profit of approximately $4180.00 per month, or would be relocated every 90 days for free! They assured me that I could expect a minimum of 25 sales per day, per location. With 38 machines total, and an average profit of twenty cents per sale, I knew that I could not lose!
I should have known there was a problem when two months after I bought the machines, they were still sitting in my garage. That was the first thing that went wrong. I had to continually hound All-American Vending and Cornerstone Marketing and deal with EXTREMELY rude assistants before they finally sent out a locator. Grateful to finally be in business and trusting that I could always relocate if not satisfied, I accepted locations that didn't seem to be able to profit to me. But, hey, what did I know? I thought these guys were the experts! I had signed contracts!
The next problem I encountered was that upon going out to place my machines, more than half of the locations they gave me WOULD NOT ACCEPT MY MACHINES! They said that the locator told them the machines were much smaller. Some of the locations even told me they never consented to allowing me to put my machines there in the first place! So after three months, more than half of my machines were STILL in my garage! Not only that, but the machines that were located were not producing 25 sales a WEEK, much less 25 sales a day! Some locations had as little as one to two sales per week! Hardly the profit I had expected. I called Cornerstone Marketing repeatedly again, but was told that I would have to wait the required 90 days before I could relocate. They told me it was my own fault for accepting the locations in the first place. Apparantly I was supposed to know better than to accept locations that wouldn't profit, or that wouldn't accept my machines. Well, I thought, at least I can start over in 90 days, and I would be sure not to make the same mistakes again! When I called All-American Vending, they assured me that they would take good care of me, and I had nothing to worry about. They expressed surprise that I had had any problems at all with Cornerstone Marketing, and assured me that it was out of the ordinary, and that all would work out.
I painstakingly filled out the reports Cornerstone Marketing required every week, and sent them to them via certified mail. After 90 days had expired, I wrote and sent an official request for new locations. According to my contract, Cornerstone Marketing had 45 days from the postmarked date to send out another locator for me. Two months later, I had not heard from anyone, so I again began the process of calling repeatedly to try to reach the owner. When I finally got through, I was told that Cornerstone Marketing was no longer in business, and that I would not be reimbursed for my expenses since I had already got my locations anyway. Appalled, I called All-American Vending only to discover that all their phone numbers were no longer valid. There was no way to reach them, and so obviously, my warranties and guarantees were worth nothing!
So seven months after my $27,000.00 "investment", I had a garage full of machines that I could not place, and only about $150.00 in profit being collected every month. Since then, I have had continuous problem with the machines breaking, vandalism, theft, and ruined inventory. I have no way to recoup my investment, and couldn't sell the machines for a FRACTION of what I paid for them.
In retrospect, I should have done my homework a little better. I hope that this report serves to save others from the expensive lesson that I had to learn the hard way. These guys are still out there, I am sure. Perhaps they have changed the names of their businesses, but other people are still being scammed by them. I would love to see justice done to them and others like them who think it is okay to trick hard-working people out of their hard-earned money!
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