Ok, so there's already a ton of nightmare stories about this company online, and they all sound exactly the same, so my aim here is to write an unbiased review taking many aspects into consideration.
I encountered this company back in 2002 in San Antonio under the name "Texas Scents Incorporated" led by a "Brian Warner." This location is now gone, probably due to too much heat from the media when the one girl died during a fun run due to exhaustion not being able to afford a hotel room for the night when she didn't "drop" enough bottles to take care of her "paid" trip.
I bailed on the first day of "field training" when we finally found out what it was we were doing; later out of boredom decided to research the company a bit — you can imagine how mortified I was, and how grateful I was to listen to my gut feeling to get the ef out asap.
So, the big question everyone is asking — Is this a scam, and if so, how are they scamming people?
Well, there seems to be a huge gray area here; if you consider using young gullible kids who are fresh out of high school, eager to please, ambitious and taking advantage of the fact that they plain and simply don't know any better, hard to say no, and susceptible to a good motivational speaker for your own selfish greedy desires, then yes.
However, more so, in the real world, the answer is no — sure, it's a complete breach of labor laws and civil liability not to mention common decency... But ya did sort of sign your name to the independent contractor agreement and alleviated them of any liability to you... Soooo, not much help there.
I wouldn't call it a scam, I think it would fall more under the category of false advertising — as I told Brian when I left "I responded to an ad in the paper that said Customer Service Representantive, not street hustler... You lied, you've been lying from the get go." But I didn't take it personally because I have to take into consideration the person above him is lying his ass off constantly as well. It has been labeled one giant web of lies, its no secret. I would also label it irresponsible business tactics;when you take one thing and call it something else, i.E. Leader, drops, direct sales, field, or you're a subsidary of a company with a different name, then the words dodge and hustle should be the only things that come to mind, hint hint.
Remember when you first went out in the "field" and the guy you were assigned to go with told you he was out of gas and/or car was in dire need of repair? The web of lies and getting accustom to using people actually begins long before store ownership.
I have to hand it to Brian, he's one hell of a motivational speaker — not one person there left without at least trying... But when we found ourselves in parking lots, street corners, and I couldn't help but noticing the ducking and running from the police (this would indicate you know better) ehhh yeah, over half of us bailed, I wasn't alone.
So, here's the other big question? Does it work? I have no clue, but let's have a little fun and assume for one minute that it does... in order for you to get to where they're talking about, you have to fall under one of two categories — 1) Living with family rent free/no obligations, or 2) Living out of your car like Larry. Bottom line, if you have bills to pay, forget it.
The problem is, this is never made clear and a lot of people ended up figuring this out the hard way. On that note, this compounds itself; several VERY important things are never made clear, i.E. You have to have a vendors license, and some places a mobile vendors license to be doing what you're doing, and your "leader's" license does NOT cover you, and as other reviews have made clear, they won't take care of you if you get in trouble, even if they did, it's still your record that's taking the hit. It's a loose-loose situation.
So, what if you do get your own location? Once again, lets assume you do; Just browse through all the thousands of horror stories on theusacomplaints.com, consumeraffairs or similar websites, read up on all the tails of kids getting their first taste of the so called real world by taking a long hard journey down the boulevard of broken dreams, not to mention rape, robbery, and deaths, and ask yourself, "is this what I want to be conducting?" Seriously, can you live with yourself knowing you're wrecking young peoples life's on a constant basis? Literally hundreds of thousands week in and week out. It takes quite the soulless sociopath to pull this one off. But it also takes one hell of a runner; take a good look at their office, how empty and featureless it is — this is how you have to spend your life: lurking in the shadows, and ready to run at the drop of a hat.
Anyway, a lot of people do have to live and learn everything the hard way, but if you're the type that can read and learn, here's a bit of advice:
1) Never sign your name to anything unless you're absolutely sure it's what you want and what was originally being offered.
2) When businesses dodge appropriate terms, you should dodge them like the plague.
3) If a business cannot explain what they're doing, right now, and in one sentence, it's probably either illegal or not the least bit ideal.
4) If you are your own boss, you would go directly to the vendor. Where's the logic in doing your "leader's" dirty work for him, putting yourself at legal risk if you are your own boss? DUH.
5) Noone, for any reason, is allowed to ask you if you're married or what kind of car you drive during an interview, this is a breach of discrimination laws.
6) If they don't want you asking questions, they're hiding something. If they say it'll be addressed later, as in a dodge, see number 2.
7) This is America, slavery was abolished in 1865 — No pay, no work.
8) ALWAYS research a company you apply for... I hope you find these reviews in time.
9) Yes, "ignoring the negativity" is an important life lesson. However, there is a huge difference between negativity and reality. Reality will bite you in the ass very hard when the bill collectors want their money.
Last but not least, get ready for rude awakening minions of Scentura:
10) Next time you have a Coca-Coca, check the label for the "unpatentable natural ingredients... Wait a minute... Why would they publicise them like that? IT'S NOT THE INGREDIENTS THAT ARE PATENTED, IT'S THE FORMULA, DUMBASS!!! Furthermore, the competition isn't hurting them in the least:)
Disagree with anything here? Perhaps a hard learned life lesson is exactly what you need. It's not illegal to be stupid, and it's not illegal to take advantage of stupid people. So as stated, I hope you found these reviews in time.
Have a nice life.
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