I found Vending Friends by answering a add in the local paper under Business Opportunities. I call the phone # and left a message. After two or three days with no response (that should have been the first red flag) I called again and Therese answered the phone.in time I found out first hand that almost never happens. Dont take my word for it call them and see for yourself 1-800-568-1281 While writing this just for kicks I called and now its a mans voice on the answering machine. Im not sure what that means. Anyway we talk a long time. She is very smooth and knows all the right things to say. Long story short I told her I need to think about it, talk to my wife ect, ect.
About a week later a decided to give it a try. I finally got a hold of Therese and told her that I live in a small to medium size town it rural Oregon and wasnt sure how to determine how many units my area would support. She said they like to go with 200 unit per Wal-Mart in the community. So on Sep 19 I bought 200 wishing wells for $12,000.00.
It was all down hill from there.in about 3 weeks I finally got the wishing wells. Some parts were broken, some parts were missing. I emailed Therese and she said they would replace bad and lost parts. Which they did on the first bunch. I think it was some time in November when I got the other of my ordered. Same problem as before. Therese assured me they would take care of it. Im still waiting for those parts.
Our next issue was the charity labels. You cant place any of the units in business with out them. Therese likes to make it sound like Vending Friends is a big Business but I suspect she is it! She kept blaming the delay on the graphics department. (which I suspect is Staples, Office Max or some other print shop)
Later on after my route was all but done anyway I found out the labels were illegal in Oregon.
The next step is to place the units. Therese said to get the best locations it would be helpful but not required if I would send them a list of the business I thought might be the best after all there is no way they could know the area as well is I do. I asked her if she did the locating. She laughed and said no way she had enough to do and Customer service department would handle that. (big business again) I agreed and spent three days driving in town finding the best possible locations per their criteria then going to the phone book getting the phone numbers. It was a lot of work and I kind of felt like I was doing what I had paid them to do but I was starting to have serious doubts about Vending Friends and wanted to do all I could to make this a success.
I kind of played a dirty trick on them. I wanted to here their pitch so I made up a fake business name and put my cell phone number with it. Guess who called? Yep Therese! Anyone ever talk to anyone there besides Therese?
The lists of secured locations finely started coming 10 or 20 at a time once or twice a week. What a DISASTER! Bad contact information, Contacts who had no authority to ok the units, One location would have the contact information for a completely different business. I could go on and on.
It didnt take long to see that there was no way we were going to place all 200 units in our little town. So I agreed to start going to other towns in the county. At one time as was traveling up to 50 miles one way (50 mi north and 50 mi. South) trust me there no way to make that pay. Even covering what felt like the state I never had more than 140 of the 200 units out at one time.
By December I had some winners of the vacation coupon scam. The winners dont know how to contact you so they complain to the business what a rip-off it is. Theres no incentive for the business to deal with upset customers Theres nothing in this for them. So every time I would service the units one or two would politely ask me to take it away.
My route was falling apart fast.
By the end of December Therese was done with me I guess. Wouldnt answer email or return phone calls. I worked hard placing units my self to keep the route going but by mid March I was losing location faster than I could find new ones. Im not a quitter but it was over.
I would like to thank whoever started this web site. I dont think theres any chance of us getting our money back. But hopefully we can help some one else from making the same mistake I did.
Some day Therese will answer to a higher authority than you or I.
I have read Therese rebuttals to other complaints. She blames people for not working hard enough. Trust me its not possible to work harder than I did. I was consumed with this seven days a week for six months.
Then she tries to claim the complaint is from a jealous competitor. I saved all email correspondence to and from Vending Friends and can prove what I say is true.
Please just think about a few things before you invest in this scam.
Look at the profit projections. 50 units $36,000.00 a year. Do you really think that is possible. I would love to talk to one person, just one who has even come close.
Why would a successful legitimate business keep changing their name?
Mae Vending, Vending Friends, Smart Vending, Vending Cooperative, ECT
The first thing you see on their web site is
You see OUR vending every where. FULL OF MONEY
Followed By logos from 7-Eleve, Taco Bell, McDonalds and Dennys. These great Companys do wonderful charity work but I dont believe for one minute it has anything to do with Vending Friends or what ever they call themselves now. Call the manager and ask.
Check with the Better Business Bureau 22 complaints in the last 36 months 18 in the last 12 months. One is too many!
I dont know what else I can do to convince you this is a scam but if your still going to do this Please contact me first. I have 200 wishing wells collecting dust in the garage I would make someone a heck of a deal on.
Good Luck And God Bless you and all your LEGITMATE business ventures.
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