Posted by notworld_perfume@yahoo.com on December 09, 19102 at 17:38:40:
In Reply to: anyone heard of world perfume? posted by alan on October 18, 19101 at 16:11:51:
If link broken press the “cache” button at google.com Scentura and World Perfume Scam Scams Fraud (47 pages)
Contact Info: notworld_perfume@yahoo.com (Until world perfume or Scentura closes down this account too)
INDEX:
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SECTION 1:
WHAT IS WORLD PERFUME AND SCENTURA?
*Keep in mind this about World Perfume and Scentura
*Why this web page was created? What is World Perfume / Scentura?
What can I expect from training?
*Pay and benefits
SECTION 2:
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SHUT DOWN YOUR LOCAL WORLD PERFUME & SCENTURA
*HOW TO SHUT DOWN YOUR LOCAL WORLD PERFUME / SCENTURA DISTRIBUTOR
What YOU can do
*Flyer for your class and cars in the business parking lot
*How our efforts forced a local world perfume distributor to change their classified advertising
*Pre-made Letter to your state Tax commission, against your local Scentura/ World Perfume distributor
*Are World Perfume and Scentura the same company?
SECTION 3:
TELEVISION, MAGAZINE, AND NEWSPAPER REPORTS AND COURT ORDERS AGAINST WORLD PERFUME AND SCENTURA
* Scentura creations is a multi-marketing scheme, according to appellate
court of Illinois second district (DISTRIBUTORS: Is Scentura or World
Perfume headquarters threatening you with legal action? You can
possibly use this court case as legal precedence to receive judgment
in your favor)
* SCENTS OF DECEPTION: TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY
Cleveland Ohio report on WORLD PERFUME
* PERFUME JOBS SMELL FISHY, BBB SAYS
New Orleans
*PERFUME BANDITS. (FAKE PERFUME OFFERED IN PARKING LOTS)
Kristen Stieffel Orlando Business Journal, Sept 14, 2001 v18 i16 p23
* KNOW WHAT YOU ARE APPLYING FOR WHEN ANSWERING A WANT AD
Richmond Times - Dispatch; Richmond, Va.; Jun 9, 2002; Iris Taylor;
* PERFUME PURVEYORS ARE REAL THING, EVEN IF THE MYTH ISN'T
Richmond Times - Dispatch; Richmond, Va.; Dec 6, 2000;
* THERE'S BIG DOLLARS IN STREET SCENTS
Intelligencer Journal; Lancaster; Mar 07, 1997; Flannery, Thomas L;
* PERFUME SALES JUST A SMELLY SCAM? YOUNG PEOPLE SAY AMHERST COMPANY FAILS
ON TRAINING, PAY PROMISES
Buffalo News; Buffalo, N.Y.; Mar 28, 1992; By James T. Madore - News Business Reporter;
*FORMER EMPLOYEES CHEER REPORTS PERFUME FIRM IS OUT OF BUSINESS
Buffalo News; Buffalo, N.Y.; Jun 13, 1992; By James T. Madore - News Business Reporter;
*PERFUME SALES COMPANY RECRUITS IN MUNSTER, IND
The Times (from Munster Indiana), 06/22/2001 Kim Chievrue
* WHO WANTS TO BE RICH? LARRY HAHN: FROM SLEEPING IN A CAR TO A $5 MILLION
HOME.
E. Thomas Jr.. Atlanta Business Chronicle, Oct 5, 1987 v10 n19 p1(5) (Title only)
*OFFICIALS: SCENT OF FRAUD LINGERS IN SALES SCHEME
The Atlanta Journal Atlanta, Ga.; Feb 15, 1996; Associated Press
*ADS SPUR WARNING ON JOBS COMPANY'S INTERNSHIP IS SALES SPOT, BBB SAYS
St. Louis Post
*120 page inner organization document on Scentura available
*Better Business Reports on Scentura distributors:
*BBB REPORT
St Louis
*BBB Reliability Report,
Salt Lake Scentura distributor
* BBB of Central Florida
* BBB Indy Design, Cincinnati, Oh
*BBB Creative Designs, Memphis TN
*BBB Scentura Creations Modern Concepts, Houston, Texas
*Other aliases for world perfume and Scentura
SECTION 4:
VARIOUS OTHER SUBJECTS
*Description of what happens, Day to Day
*First and second interview
*Response to Mr. Christopher Doan’s email and chat line message (Mr. Doan is a big distributor of World Perfume)
*Other sources of information on Scentura and World Perfume
*Contact World Perfume and Scentura head quarters directly
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@@@@@@@ SECTION ONE @@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@ WHAT IS WORLD PERFUME AND SCENTURA? @@@@@@@
********** Keep in mind this about World Perfume and Scentura**************
No matter what your distributor says, please keep in mind these facts, which none of the World Perfume or Scentura distributors can ethically* argue against:
YOU NEVER GET A PAY CHECK
---The job is 100% commission. You will never get a paycheck.
SELLING PERFUME IN PARKING LOTS
---You will sell "door to door" which means selling perfume in parking lots
(Christopher Doan, a large distributor of World Perfume admitted that employees sell perfume in parking lots in a web board posting (below))
LIES ABOUT JOB POSITION
-Every distributor's office will advertise in the paper for a position, usually "office assistant" or "administrative assistant" when in reality it should be listed as sales. No distributor advertises "sell perfume in parking lots"
LIES ABOUT BUSINESS LICENCE
-Many distributors will tell the people that are working for them that they don't need a business license to sell perfume on the streets of the city. This is a lie in almost all cities. If you are caught by the police, you will probably be ticketed. You will have to pay the ticket.
(See the article: “There's Big Dollars In Street Scents” [below] the city’s reaction to peddlers in the below article is typical: without a peddlers license you can be faced with “face fines between $50 to $600 on each daily charge.”)
PEDDLE PERFUME TO YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS
--Both Scentura and World Perfume distributors have a scam called FFAR (Friends Family And Relatives) every office does it, because this is how they get a majority of their revenue from new trainees. Your distributor, office manager will get a cut of these sales. This is how they stay afloat. Those above them, will get a percentage of that sale too. If it sounds like a multi-level marketing scheme, that is because it is. You are encouraged to sell perfume to your family and friends.
IMMITATIONS
--Many of the offices will encourage you to lie to customers and your family in saying that these products are authentic products when in fact they are imitations. **
INDEPENDANT CONTRACTOR
--Mr. Larry Hahn, founder of Scentura, was a genius.
The beauty of the world perfume and Scentura pyramid is this:
Every World Perfume and Scentura distributor must sign a “independent contractor license”, similar to the “independent contractor license” that trainees sign before they sell in parking lots.
All of the distributors are "independent contractors" they all use the same deceptive, unethical, and illegal practices, but since they are "independent contractors" World Perfume and Scentura is legally immune from prosecution and not responsible for their behavior.
Every time a television station does a report on one of these distributors, the reaction when the head world perfume office is called is that the distributor is independent, with no affiliation with the parent company.
(see: http://www.newsnet5.com/specialassignment/1040015/detail.html world perfume head quarters tells the reporter that the distributors are not affiliated with the parent company)
(see http://www.theneworleanschannel.com/no/6onyourside/stories/6onyourside-20000719-165758.html Scentura head quarters tells the reporter that the distributors are not affiliated with the parent company)
[See also the 12 articles, 1 court order, and several BBB reports below]
Also, because of the independent contractor license, no matter what these distributors say or do, World Perfume and Scentura headquarters are immune from prosecution. Scentura and World Perfume headquarters “just sell the perfume” and are not in any way legally responsible for what the distributors say.
So, since these distributors are legally independent contractors, World Perfume and Scentura keep their names clean with the Better Business Bureau.
See also: http://www.mazu.com/scams/bbb.html for criticisms of the BBB.
******* Remember people, no matter what the distributors say, including often saying that there is a “several million dollar investment in the area with the parent company”, you ARE NOT getting hired to work for Scentura or World Perfume, you are being hired to work for one of these distributors. ****
As a trainee or owner of your own office, since you are legally an "independent contractor", World Perfume and Scentura distributors and the head office are not legally responsible for any trouble that you get in.
For example, Mr. Maner (the manager of Waterfront design in Salt Lake), and several other World Perfume and Scentura distributors, tell their trainees it is not illegal to sell perfume in parking lots without a license. If you get ticketed selling perfume in parking lots, who is legally responsible for that ticket? Not the World Perfume distributor for lying and/or misleading you. YOU are.
NOTES:
*I say “ethically argue against” because the way that Scentura and World Perfume distributor centers are generally set up, only those who have no moral qualms about misleading people become distributors. My distributor in Salt Lake was willing to say anything to make the sale. He had one of the girls in a later group in tears, when she confronted him, he lied to her.
** I got an these email messages in response to my now defunct web site:
“I just go a run in with "World Perfume." I almost bought the perfume and then I thought why isn't it in the original bottle? The women got really upset when I would not buy the perfume. She said they were from Dallas Texas and the only difference between this bottle and the original Cool Water for women is that it will last longer. I am so glad I did not waste the money.”
“My name is Heather and I work at a Hooters Restaurant in Rockville, MD. The other night just as I was getting ready to leave work two seemingly nice gentlemen came in and asked me and a friend/co-worker if we would like to buy some perfume. This is not the first time someone has come in, but this is the first time I was actually able to maybe purchase some. My friend and I followed the men outside to their car where they had a TRUNKLOAD of perfume! I was pretty skeptical at first because they were selling us 3 bottles of designer perfume for $65.00. (normally the price of one bottle!) The men then explained to us that they buy the perfume at wholesale and used other big words to try to fool us, and they did. Me and my friend bought 3 bottles each and headed off to out cars. When I got to my car I opened the bottle of Ralph and the perfume was BROWN! It is normally blue at the store! I was pissed! I knew then that I had been scammed! Unfortunately, it's too late now to get my $65.00 back! Do you know if the perfume sold is of the same quality as the actual designer perfume in the stores? Also, I am interested in doing what I can to help you shut these a$$holes down! Please email me back if you can!”
*************
MY INTENTION
My intention? I believe that a person can make a positive difference in this life, even if it is a small one. I am making no money from this. I want others, through the power of the internet, to know how fraudulent these companies are.
World Perfume and Scentura are frauds, using loop holes in the legal system.
My first web page with this information threatened World Perfume so they (probably) asked Yahoo to close my site down. My opinion was not asked, Yahoo has a narrow policy of no slanderous WebPages, and I was slandering World Perfume.
On the www.snowcrest.net/writers/fraud.html chat board I have been so many nasty names for trying to bring down this pyramid:
A liar, "weak shit", a coward.
Do you think that I enjoy this abuse?
Why would I do this except for trying to let people know the real facts?
Am I making money off this, not one penny?
Are the hundreds of people who have complained at (www.snowcrest.net/writers/fraud.html) about the fraudulent practices of Scentura and World Perfume making one dime from complaining about World Perfume?
WORLD PERFUME REACTS
In mid-November, a day before Yahoo shut my site down, Mr. Johnny Whitworth, President of World Perfume emailed me eight times. Another big distributor of World Perfume, Christopher Doan emailed me also. Several other distributors have also flooded my email.
I found out that (probably) the headquarters of World Perfume (probably) complained to Yahoo and they closed my site down:
geocities.com/world_perfume
They also (probably) had my messages erased at:
http://www.klausdahl.com/forum/
They (probably) had a chat board erase hundreds of chat borad messages three times (as of December 6, 2002) at:
www.snowcrest.net/writers/fraud/
I also received this email after finding a defunct web page on Google’s cache and emailing the author asking if Scentura closed down his site:
“Not only was the Scentura page taken down, my entire website was removed and my accounts deactivated. All this just on the threat from a lawyer; no court order, no nothing. I've heard from sources close to the upper tiers of Scentura that information on the Internet is a top concern among the execs, and they seem to be actively pursuing many of the more damaging sites.”
(New web page now located at: http://www.geocities.com/katarina_li/ )
*Why are they doing this? *
Because people like YOU, people who realize that they have been lied to and mislead printed out messages like my flyer below, and gave it to other people in their training group. Remember, the Scentura and World Perfume distribution pyramids survives by hiring new trainees every week through the classifieds, week-in and week-out. YOUR efforts frightened the owners of the pyramid scheme, and forced them to react by suppressing information by threatening legal action.
“Paul Gabriel, a former salesperson, described Nautica Stars as a revolving-door operation, where young people are urged to sell perfume to their friends and family, and then discarded when sales drop.” (PERFUME SALES JUST A SMELLY SCAM? YOUNG PEOPLE SAY AMHERST COMPANY FAILS ON TRAINING, PAY PROMISES; article below)
WORLD PERFUME’S AND SCENTURA’S INTENTION
One word: Money
World perfume:
"Johnny Whitworth....lives in this million and a half dollar home. " according to the channel 5 Cleveland news report:
http://www.newsnet5.com/specialassignment/1040015/detail.html
Scentura:
“Who wants to be rich? Larry Hahn: from sleeping in a car to a $5 million home. E. Thomas Jr..”
Atlanta Business Chronicle, Oct 5, 1987 v10 n19 p1(5)
These distributors and former distributors want your money. They want to get you in the office and have you sell perfume to your family and friends. They want you to sell perfume on parking lots, with false promises and lies the entire time. They get a percentage of every sale. And if you quit? It doesn't matter, because next week there will be the same group to take your place. These ads you answered to in the newspaper will be in the newspaper for as long as your particular local distributor is in business.
WHAT WILL MR. WHITWORTH DO ABOUT THE SLC OFFICE?
Mr. Whitworth, president of Word Perfume said he would "look into" the allegations about the Salt Lake City Office in an email to me. (See copy of the email below in: “Are World Perfume and Scentura the same company?”)
Mr. Whitworth's company’s "good name" is being trashed by the Salt Lake City office because of their misleading, illegal, and unethical practices.
Does Mr. Whitworth really care?
Will he stop the distribution of perfume to this distributor?
Every week the Salt Lake Office posted the same deceptive ads.
Nothing will happen to the Salt Lake Office, because what the Salt Lake City office does is the norm, not the exception.
Remember, Mr. Whitworth, President of World Perfume, and Larry Hahn, President of Scentura, is immune from prosecution from anything the distributors do because every manager MUST sign an "independent contractor" contact.
**************WHY THIS WEBPAGE WAS CREATED *****************
What is World Perfume and Scentura?
In late October 2002, I was hired to work for a World perfume distributor. I was ecstatic because of the promise of $30,000 to $40,000 a year in a management position. (See Notes, below) But as I began training, I started to become wary of this company. After five visits to the office, and three days of training, I realized that this World Perfume distributor is the most elaborate multi-level marketing, pyramid scheme. World Perfume and Scentura distributors teach its employees to:
*blatantly lie to consumers,
*it lies to its employees, and
*it has many unethical business practices, bordering on illegal.
(See “Keep in mind this about World Perfume and Scentura”, [above] for evidence of all three of these allegations)
I was desperate for a job, and I wasted five business days with this distributor. I feel betrayed and lied too.
I write this article in the hopes that other people will not make the same mistake that I have.
I also believe that it is possible to shut down every one of these distributors, across the nation, using guidelines I wrote below. (See, “How to shut down your local World Perfume / Scentura what you can do”, below)
*General background*
Scentura was began over thirty years ago by Larry Hahn.
World Perfume was began by Mr. Whitworth in Texas after leaving Scentura in 1994. He trained his son John (Johnny) Whitworth to take over the company.
World perfume has 64 offices around the country. The regional office in our area (Salt Lake City) is Dan Long, out of Scottsdale, Arizona.
The company, officially named World Perfume and Scentura, operates in many areas under many different business names to avoid too much bad press. The local company name --such as "Waterfront Design" in Salt Lake City -- is a name the local distribution manager has decided to use for their operations in a certain area. A quick web search will tell you why. The name "Waterfront Design" is generic enough to disallow any curious soul to do a search on the name, but search for "World Perfume" and you will find hundreds of horror stories about this company. What they do is at best unethical, and at worst illegal. (See “Keep in mind this about World Perfume and Scentura”, [above] for evidence of these allegations) The secretary and employees of the distributors use the secondary name, not World Perfume or Scentura, in answering phone calls and in initial interviews. Often, only during the second, group interview does an interviewee find out that the actual headquarters where distributors purchase the products is World Perfume or Scentura.
Your training manager will often state that World perfume/ Scentura distributors sell cologne and perfume "door to door to businesses".
The training manager will usually fail to tell you that the majority of your time is ACTUALLY spent trespassing in Wal Mart, Target, and grocery store parking lots, selling perfume to shoppers as they enter and exit the stores, until you are kicked out by management. (See news articles and letter from Christopher Doan, below)
Police officers DO NOT TOLERATE solicitation on the streets. Business-to-business is a gray area in law enforcement, and if you are found selling on the street, you will be ticketed and possibly arrested. County and City ordinances vary on this topic, and it would do you good to check with the laws of your city. Your office owners need you to make street sales, so they will not warn you about possible consequences. (See the article: “There's Big Dollars In Street Scents” [below] the city’s reaction to peddlers in the below article is typical: without a peddlers license you can be faced with “face fines between $50 to $600 on each daily charge.”)
The training manager will tell you to tell your customers that these colognes and perfumes are original from the company, when they are in fact imitations (World Perfume uses the words "renditions") In the group interview, I asked the manager of the Salt Lake office, Joe Maner if we were supposed to say these colognes were the originals or imitations, Mr. Maner told the group that we were supposed to tell our customers that these were originals, not imitations, an obvious lie. (I have this response on audiotape.)
(Some of this information is from the first three meetings and the group interview)
PLEASE EMAIL ME (notworld_perfume@yahoo.com) THE ALIAS NAME OF WORLD PERFUME & SCENTURA IN YOUR CITY.
I WILL ADD IT TO THIS INFORMATION SO WHEN OTHERS IN YOUR AREA SEARCH THE WEB THEY WILL FIND THIS INFORMATION.
Notes:
Promises of an unrealistic wage does not seem unique to the Salt Lake office, this is from the news articles below:
“Rep: And our top range managers making $75 to $85 thousand dollars a year. Managing new locations.”
(SCENTS OF DECEPTION: TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY: WORLD PERFUME)
“While salaried positions paying up to $40,000 are promised or implied, the positions are primarily commissioned sales jobs, the bureau said.”
(ADS SPUR WARNING ON JOBS COMPANY'S INTERNSHIP IS SALES SPOT, BBB SAYS)
“After about two months, Jentis said that "successful" salespersons are offered contracts with annual salaries ranging from "$30,000 to $35,000 and a car," and that free vacations are commonplace.”
(THERE'S BIG DOLLARS IN STREET SCENTS)
“They say they were told they could earn up to $35,000 a year or about $600 a week. However, they say they were lucky if they made $50 per week.”
(PERFUME SALES JUST A SMELLY SCAM? YOUNG PEOPLE SAY AMHERST COMPANY FAILS ON TRAINING, PAY PROMISES)
“A Georgia-based company that sells knock-offs of designer perfumes has begun recruiting in Northwest Indiana, with classified ads which offer "management positions" earning more than $500 per week.”
(PERFUME SALES COMPANY RECRUITS IN MUNSTER, IND )
“While salaried positions paying up to $40,000 are promised or implied, the positions are primarily commissioned sales jobs, the bureau said.”
(ADS SPUR WARNING ON JOBS COMPANY'S INTERNSHIP IS SALES SPOT, BBB SAYS)
**************************PAY AND BENEFITS ****************************
What is World Perfume / Scentura?
My world Perfume distributor promised every person who is hired that they are being hired as managers of their own office, and that they will make a minimum $30,000 a year, with an average of $40,000. This is typical of both Scentura and World Perfume distributors.
I have seen many of [multi level marketing schemes], but this is the first time I have actually been flat-out lied to. Not simply "mislead," but lied to. I have been promised a management position in charge of 7 to 10 employees with
the (vague) job description of general office management.... This is, of course, a complete untruth. Nothing you have heard so far has been true, and only a person with no moral scruples could even say it is "technically" true.
This goes beyond the usual intoxicating language that is usually used for these businesses. This should be illegal.
A job with World Perfume / Scentura is a 100% commission job, after training (from 6 weeks to 13 weeks) they say you can "choose your own office and World Perfume will pay your first months rent and overhead." After the first month, you are responsible for all costs, your office, the utilities, advertising, etc. You must also pay the cost of all of your benefits, including health insurance. In the group interview, World Perfume / Scentura distributors may tell you that the job includes health insurance, but in reality, you find out later, you must pay 100% of this health insurance after the first month.
I estimate, based upon conversations with distributors and our own training, that the retention rate of World Perfume is around 15 to 1. In otherworlds of every 15 people hired, only one will not quit. Remember that the office hires these people every week as long as the office is open. (This estimate is probably conservative and low.)
“These job postings serve as the only advertisement most of these companies need, and many do not sponsor any other form of ads beyond job postings. These advertisements are essential to keeping a steady flow of new applicants. With an attrition rate of 90% per week (only 10 out of every 100 applicants stay on past one week, according to some former managers), this constant flow is essential to keeping the business running. If a distribution center neglects to run these ads for even a week, the flow of people is cut off and the center’s sales are impacted for about 5 weeks due to not having the cash-generating "Friends and Family" sales from trainees”
From http://www.geocities.com/katarina_li/
FFAR (friends, family and relatives) CONTEST
Everything you have heard thus far is scripted. The phone interview, the first meeting, and the second 'group' interview. Scam tactics such as 'fear of loss' are taught, and used on you to not only hook you in, but to get you excited about being broke for the entire time you are with this office. JOHNNY / LARRY DID NOT CALL THE OFFICE TO START THE FFAR (friends, family and relatives) CONTEST. This is another scam by the owners to suck as much cash out of you as possible before realizing that you are being taken for a ride. (For a copy of the actual 120-page Scentura distributor training files, discussing many of the scripted info, please email me at: notworld_perfume@yahoo.com)
On the first day of training, World Perfume and Scentura distributors use new employees to peddle their perfumes and colognes to family and friends, promising around $7 a bottle. They describe this contest as a "fun contest", to help you through training, but there is pressure to make sales. If this sounds like Avon or Amway, peddling products to your family and friends, getting a percentage of the sales, and those above you getting a percentage, that's because it is exactly the same.
From a former employee: "They charge $27 per bottle. If they have at least 20 people sell 50 bottles every month they would make a net profit of $13,500. Even after the trainees take there cut the company makes a little over $11,000. That is a lot of money to be making a month and if you quit they can hire 20 more people and make more money."
The crux of the scam is so vital to the business that they even have an acronym for it: FFAR. It stands for Friends, Family and Relatives, and that's who you're supposed to "practice" selling on. This is the cornerstone of most "direct marketing" pyramid scams. The newbie salesman must first practice the pitch to his or her parents and grandparents, and since many of them tend to be teenagers or early 20-year-olds, the relatives usually buy something out of pity. This results in a few quick sales for a company that would have never even come close to getting those sales on their products merit alone. That, combined with the sales kit that you usually have to purchase, results in a small but notable profit for the company. (No sales kit was sold at the Salt Lake distributor) Many distributors, according to the chat boards, also make trainees pay for a background check. After these FFAR sales the vast majority of workers realize that this isn't a real job at all, and quit. Of course, no one cares that you have quit, because you've already made the company a few bucks and there's another sucker just waiting to fill your shoes for the next few weeks.
Now, each individual only makes a few sales, which is why they must recruit people by the score in order to make any real money. That is why they snag people with well-worded ads and flyers aimed directly at the semi-clueless young person hell-bent on making a dent in the business world. Usually, they promise things that they technically can deliver, such as management (you manage yourself)! and pay rates like $20 per hour (which mathematically works out only if you make an insane number of sales per day). Regarding the management and pay rate per hour, they have crossed the line into actually deceiving people.
You are not paid throughout training, you work on commission only. There are three training periods:
*Sales,
*management, and
*administration.
Even when you are in training as a manager, you only make a percentage of the sales of those newer employees below you. If this sounds like a multi-level, pyramid scheme, that is because it is.
You must sign a two-page contract the day before you go door to door to businesses. The document states that you must not reveal World Perfume's / Scentura’s training practices. The contract also states that you are a private contractor, and thus World Perfume is not liable for Workman's comp, and is not legally responsible for anything you do. The contract states you are also responsible for paying all income taxes.
In my group, one trainee asked for a copy of this contract, the manager promised that he would get a copy, but the day I quit, he still had not been given a copy. (For a copy of the actual 120-page Scentura distributor training files, including an independent contractor license similar to World Perfumes,, please email me at: notworld_perfume@yahoo.com)
Tammy Kukal and Mr. Maner, the co-managers of the Salt Lake office, were very vague about the contents of this contract. When trainees asked questions Ms. Kukal responded "Oh yes, I almost forgot to cover that". They told us that this contract was only for the "duration of training" and that a "new contract would be signed when you became an office manager", but the contract had no stated time limit.
HAVE A COPY OF EITHER OF THESE CONTRACTS?
PLEASE EMAIL IT TO ME TO INCLUDE HERE.
************Is Scentura and World Perfume the same company? *************
LETTER FROM JOHNNY WHITWORTH, PRESIDENT OF WORLD PERFUME
WORLDPERF@aol.com
Hi,
We left Scentura In 1994 . We are not structured like Scentura nor or we multi-level or have any dishonest business practices. If your problem is with a customer in Utah than why are targeting World perfume. We are investigating this further. If you have any questions please fell free to call me at (972) 245-3366.
Thanks,
John Whitworth
P.S. Please post on web site
**Why does Mr. Whitworth want to distant himself with a company which has the exact same business model?
*****
From fraud chat board (http://www.seniors-site.com/fraud/), written by an employee who worked with Scentura for 10 years:
"To the best of my knowledge, World Perfume is run by Johnny Whitworth who once was a VP with Scentura. I don't know if he still runs things or perhaps some of his family does. I also can't comment about the way World Perfume does business because I wouldn't have much first hand knowledge since I spent most of my time working with Scentura Creations. "
*****
From fraud chat board (http://www.seniors-site.com/fraud/):
I don't work for Johnny or Scentura, but I did work for Scentura, running an office, when Johnny Whitworth left.
Larry did not "fire" him. The only people Larry could FIRE are people who work for Scentura Creations in Atlanta, GA. People who actually receive a paycheck to answer phones, take orders, ship merchandise from the warehouse, etc.
No one else is an employee of Scentura Creations. If you don't believe me just call them and ask if the owner of the distribution center you're interviewing with or selling for is an employee.
Johnny decided he wanted to be "Larry" for his own company.
****
Scentura and World Perfume may not be the same company, but their distributors have almost identical business models:
*Sell perfume in parking lots
*FFAR (friends family and relatives) contest
*All distributors buy products on consignment
*Same fraudulent advertising
*Same Multi-level marketing scheme
*Very similar training, using the same analogies, promises, and lies.
If you have been hired to work for World Perfume, please see a Scentura scam website, notice how World Perfume’s business model is exactly the same:
http://www.intergov.org/InterGOV_Newspaper/09-09-02/scam_information1_14.htm
@@@@@@@@@@@SECTION 2:@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SHUT DOWN YOUR LOCAL WORLD PERFUME & SCENTURA@@@@
******HOW TO SHUT DOWN YOUR LOCAL WORLD PERFUME / Scentura What YOU can do*******
I encouraged people to use the anger and bitterness that they had toward these two companies World Perfume and Scentura, in positive ways, preventing other people from being lied to and mislead. Use the information that I have posted in a positive way.
I have a flyer below, which you can print.
You could have people in your training group sign it, with their names, addresses, and telephone numbers.
This flyer would go to your local newspaper that advertised your local World Perfume or Scentura distributor in their classifieds, complaining about how fraudulent your local World Perfume or Scentura distributors are.
Scentura and World Perfume must continue to recruit people every week to survive. That is the crux of the pyramid scam. If they are barred from advertising in your local classifieds, the pyramid collapses, and these distribution centers will shut down, one by one.
FLYER
Those who feel mislead and lied to by World Perfume / Scentura I encourage you to:
*Print off the below flyer and distribute in class
*If you quit already, post this article on the windshields of cars in the parking lot on the first or second training day every week (usually the same day the next week, every week)
*If you quit already, you can also stand outside of the parking lot, on the sidewalk and wait until training ends. Hand out this flyer as people stop to turn out of the parking lot on to the street. Have them sign the petition. This is legal under the first amendment, because the sidewalk is a public, not private property.
You can also enclose any of the articles below.
Those unemployed job hunters who found out that World Perfume or Scentura was a scam and quit or will quit, I wish you all the best of luck in finding a job.
******FLYER TO PASS OUT ABOUT WORLD PERFUME/ SCENTURA *******
If you are in training with a
World Perfume (WPI) / Scentura distributor
You need to know this information
World Perfume/Scentura teaches its employees to blatantly lie to consumers, it lies to its employees, and it has many unethical business practices, many illegal. The head office is protected by a large legal loop hole: independent contractor licenses, no matter what your distributor or you do or say (you must sign an independent contractor license too) they are not legally responsible.
****Generic Company Names****
The company, officially named World Perfume/Scentura, operates in many areas under many different business names to avoid too much bad press. The local company name – such as “Waterfront Design” in Salt Lake City – is a name the local distribution manager has decided to use for their operations in a certain area. A quick web search will tell you why. The name “Waterfront Design” is generic enough to disallow any curious soul to do a search on the name, but search for “World Perfume / Scentura” and you will find hundreds of horror stories about this company. These people lie for a living. What they do is at best unethical, and at worst illegal.
Why would a company want to use a different name than their parent company?
This makes no marketing sense unless the parent company has a very bad reputation.
****Your job WILL be selling perfume in parking lots****
Your training manager will state that World Perfume/Scentura sells cologne and perfume “door to door to businesses.” The training manager will fail to tell you that the majority of your time is ACTUALLY spent trespassing in Wal Mart, Target, and grocery store parking lots, selling perfume to shoppers as they enter and exit the stores, until you are kicked out by management.
****Peddle perfume to your family and friends***
The crux of the scam is so vital to the business that they even have an acronym for it: FFAR. It stands for Friends, Family and Relatives, and that’s who you’re suppose to “practice” selling on. This is the cornerstone of most “direct marketing” pyramid schemes.
The newbie salesman must first practice the pitch to his or her parents and grandparents, and since many of them tend to be teenagers or early 20-year-olds, the relatives usually buy something out of pity. This results in a few quick sales for the company that would have never even come close to getting those sales on their products merit alone. That, combined with the sales kit that you usually have to purchase, results in a small but notable profit for the company. After these FFAR sales the vast majority of workers realize that this isn’t a real job at all, and quit. Of course, no one cares that you have quit, because you’re already made the company a few bucks and there’s another sucker just waiting to fill your shoes for the next few weeks. The ad you responded to in the classifieds will continue to run as long as your local World Perfume or Scentura distributor is in business.
****Your future with World Perfume****
Even when you are in training as a manager, you only make a percentage of the sales of those newer employees below you. If this sounds like a multi-level, pyramid scheme, that is because it is. You must sign a two page contract the day before you go door to door to businesses. The document states that you must not reveal World Perfume’s training practices. The contract also states that you are a private contractor, and thus World Perfume is not liable for Workman’s Comp. One trainee asked for a copy of this contract, the manager promised that he would get a copy, but the day I quit, he still had not been given a copy.
***World Perfume is a break off of Scentura****
Johnny Whitworth admitted in an email that he left Scentura in 1994. They have the same business model. Both:
*Sell perfume in parking lots
*FFAR (friends family and relatives) contest
*All distributors buy products on consignment
*Same fraudulent advertising
*Same Multi-level marketing scheme
*Very similar training, using the same analogies, promises, and lies.
****News reports on Scentura and World Perfume****
There is several damming news reports on World Perfume:
http://www.newsnet5.com/specialassignment/1040015/detail.html
On Scentura:
"Perfume Jobs Smell Fishy, BBB says"
http://www.theneworleanschannel.com/no/6onyourside/stories/6onyourside-20000719-165758.html
These are examples of dozens of newspaper articles on world perfume and/or Scentura.
Scentura was found to be a multi level marketing scheme, not legally entitled to money because it was an illegal pyramid scheme in the state of Illinois:
http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/AppellateCourt/2001/2ndDistrict/September/Html/2000964.htm
(DISTRIBUTORS: Is Scentura or World Perfume headquarters threatening you with legal action? You can possibly use this court case as legal precedence to receive judgment in your favor)
This is a very small sample of the vast amount of information about this unethical multi-level marketing scheme.
World Perfume (probably) recently shut down my site that explained everything in more detail. They also recently (probably) had a chat provider erase hundreds of messages against their company:
http://www.snowcrest.net/writers/fraud.html
Right now, please email me at not_worldperfume@yahoo.com if you have more questions.
Please don’t waste the time that I did with these crooks!
Please share this information with your class!
The best way to close this company is to write your local paper and tell them that world perfume/ Scentura is advertising fraudulently. Every week, weekend and week out, these distributors advertise for trainers just like you. If the advertising stops, then the pyramid fails.
This worked for us with the Salt Lake city newspaper's classifieds. The distributor was forced to advertise as: "sales, fragrances" not for management or office positions, as your classified advertised. If a petition is available, sign your name, address, and telephone number and mail it to your local newspaper classifieds.
Otherwise, use the back of this paper to write your experiences, sign your name if possible, or attach a letter and mail it to your local classified ads at:
________________________________________
_________________________________________
****************************
******How our efforts forced a local world perfume distributor to change their classified advertising*******
Wow,
Just got off the Salt Lake Tribune web site. Waterfront Design, a distributor of World Perfume advertises in the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News. Was forced to change their advertising:
OLD ADVERTISING:
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
START NOW New office needs help, will train.
No experience necessary.
Various office positions avail. Call 972-3219.
and
GENERAL OFFICE WANTED:
12 HARD WORKERS To replace 12 who wouldn't.
No exp necessary. 972-3219
NEW ADVERTISING AFTER I WROTE A THREE PAGE LETTER TO THE CLASSIFIEDS AND MANY
PEOPLE COMPLAINED TO NEWSPAPER:
MANAGEMENT / Fragrances WANTED: 12 HARD WORKERS To replace 12 who wouldn't. No
exp necessary. 972-3219
AND
MANAGEMENT START NOW Office Mgr. needed for fragrance co., will train. No exp.
necessary. Various office positions avail. Call 972-3219.
Thank you for all of your help people! This office has now been forced to change their advertising thanks to your efforts! This can be replicated in every city that World Perfume or Scentura distributors operate!
Remember: Scentura and World Perfume distributors survive on new trainees to respond to fraudulent advertisements in the classifieds every week for as long as the business is open.
***********************
***********************
File a complaint online to, Better Business Bureau, US office of consumer affairs, Federal Trade commission, and your state’s attorney general’s office at one time automatically!
http://www.consumerprotectionagency.us/
**********************
*************Letter to your local tax commission**********
Re: ______________ and tax fraud
The office I would like to report:
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
_________________ is not collecting income taxes from new trainees.
When my training group of _____ people started for ___________ no tax forms were filled out.
On the first and second day of training, _______________(DATE) the manager, ____________ said we were going to have a “fun contest”. _______________ practices a program called FFAR. FFAR stands for Friends, Family and Relatives. Employees are supposed to "practice" selling perfume and cologne on family and friends. The newbie salesman must first practice the pitch to his or her friends, parents, and grandparents. _______________ paid all of these trainees $7 per bottle in cash in envelopes. No income taxes were taken out.
On the third day of training, ____________________ had the trainees sign an independent contractor agreement, explaining that all employees must pay income taxes themselves. Many of these employees that had sold perfume had already quit, and so therefore did not sign an independent contractor license. The turnover rate at this company is over 100%, many new trainees realize that this company is a scam, and quit before signing this independent contractor license.
______________________ is a multi-level marketing scheme that is dependent on new employees. Every week this contest is repeated.
Please investigate this company.
Thank you,
**********
@@@@@@@@@@@@SECTION 3 @@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@VARIOUS OTHER SUBJECTS@@@@@@@@@
************* DESCRIPTION OF WHAT HAPPENS, DAY TO DAY***********************
DESCRIPTION OF WHAT HAPPENS, DAY TO DAY
(Scentura distributors typically use the similar deceptive practices, for a copy of the actual 120-page Scentura distributor training files, discussing many of these deceptive practices please email me at: notworld_perfume@yahoo.com)
What is World Perfume?
The below links are from my notes, this section may be dry, but I feel it lends credibility to my report, especially when your trainers do and say the exact same things.
Keep in mind that some of this is from memory and my notes, but the general facts are as stated. If I am not quite sure exactly what was said, I will let mention that I am not sure.
Comments from me will be in (parenthesis) and CAPS.
1st and 2nd (Group) interview
1st day of training
2nd day of training
3rd day of training
*******FIRST AND SECOND INTERVIEW******************
First and Second Interview
Ms. Tammy Kukal and Mr. Joe Maner: Assistant Manager of Waterfront Design in Salt Lake City
:
Wednesday, October 23, 2002: First Interview
Thursday, October 24, 2002: Second (group) Interview
INTERVIEW Wednesday, October 23, 2002
(I interviewed alone, but some people interviewed in groups of two)
Ms. Kukal had me rate myself from a 1 to 10.
She also had me list three qualities that describe myself.
GROUP (SECOND INTERVIEW) Thursday, October 24, 2002, 12 PM
The class started late, as we waited Ms. Kukal made small talk.
Ms. Kukal asked us to write this name down, it was very important: Dan Long, our regional manager, who is out of Scottsdale.
Ms. Kukal said that the company name is "waterfront design" and the parent company is "world perfume" John Whitworth is the president, but he goes by the name of Johnny.
Ms. Kukal then said to also write this name down, Mark Larecy. Mark Larcey was a master perfumer, he left his company (Calvin Klein) and wanted to take the scents with him (I believe she said that she left and worked for "our company"). He was sued by "Calvin Klein". The court case went all the way to the supreme court. The supreme court ruled that you cannot patent a scent.
Ms. Kukal then showed us a bottle of an expensive cologne (it had yellow and white stripes), and one bottle of a cheap imitation, which also had yellow and white stripes. She asked us to read the bottle, which said that only the name and design of the box were patented. She pointed out the scent was NOT patented. She then had us read the ingredients in the cheap bottle and the warning. The cheap bottle had butane in it. "What does butane do?" She asked, "It catches on fire."
Ms. Kukal then told us the definition of a "rendition market" that it is the exact same fragrance, except the consumer does not pay for promotional advertising.
Ms. Kukal then asked us how much contact lenses cost to make each and how much they sell for.
Ms. Kukal then ask how big is the average perfume bottle, around 1 oz. She then explained that World Perfume sells 3.3 and 3.4 oz bottles. Roughly double the amount of what the originals sell.
She then explained the different grades of perfume:
*Au Toilet (forgive my spelling) is French for toilet water, it is the worst grade
*Au Perfumeis the second best grade, and this is what World Perfume sells.
World Perfume sells 150 original fragrances at wholesale.
World Perfume has 1/4 of the worlds market share.
Mr. Maner then went into expansion.
There is East to west coast expansion. There will be 4-5 new offices in the Salt Lake City area in the next 2-6 months.
-Florida: Miami, Tampa, Orlando--future expansion
-Office in Jacksonville
-Office in Atlanta
-Office in Boston
-Possibly future Ohio offices
-Offices in Memphis, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Dallas, all for future
expansion
-Possibly future Houston
-Offices in Colorado
-4 offices are now in Phoenix
-Offices in Sacramento, Las Vegas, and Seattle (several)
-Northern California wants to expand, Southern California wants to
expand.
In Utah, there will be 5 offices: In West Jordan, Sandy,
Holliday/Cottonwood, Wasatch Area, bountiful area
In the future: Provo/Orem area, possibly downtown area.
*********************
***************Response to Mr. Christopher Doan’s email and chat line message (Mr. Doan is a big distributor of World Perfume)*************
(The web page mentioned below was shut down in mid-November, a day after this message was sent)
Mr. Doan,
Your message is well written, eloquent, and logical. Again, I appreciate a good solid counter argument and wish more people wrote articles like this.
First Mr. Doan, I will add your comments to the web page, next to the President of WORLD PERFUME, Johnny Whitworth’s.
WORKING FOR WORLD PERFUME:
>>Mr. Doan's message:
"On the main page you state that you were hired to work for World Perfume in late October of 2002. This is a false statement since I work for World Perfume and keep all records of any and all people employed here. You never applied nor were you offered a position here, because nobody has been hired here since April of 2002. I imagine that you meant to state that whatever office you interviewed out of falsely stated that you would be working for World Perfume. If that happened, then that office obviously lied to you, but World Perfume did not. I would appreciate it if you would fix this statement to state the truth. For example, "________ Company told me that they were World Perfume when they really were not. I have no experience with World Perfume, since they are in Dallas, TX and I am here in ___________."
…..
>>Mr. Doan's message:
“You state that World Perfume uses "unethical business practice(s)." Again, since you have NO history whatsoever with World Perfume, how would you know what business practices we use? And how do you define a business practice as unethical? Does the BBB not make those deductions?”
>>My response:
Mr. Doan, I will change the web page to say a “distributor of World Perfume”, because this is technically factual. When I originally wrote this message (as seen on this web page), I took Mr. Maner (the manager of the SLC office) word that Waterfront Designs (the SLC office) was a part of WORLD PERFUME. I am quite sure he did not use the words “distributor” though.
In my defense, this seems like a common mistake of people who have worked with World Perfume. It appears from what I have read, that most trainees don’t know the difference between “the distributor” and “World Perfume”.
Your company provides the product and ultimately has the power over these distributors more than any other organization. If this prevalent confusion troubles your company, your parent firm should make it clear to distributors to relay clearly the company line: that they are NOT World Perfume but an independent distributor. If they do not follow this company line, cut off their distribution, because they are simply misrepresenting your company.
****
In the News 5 in Cleveland World Perfume article on my web page:
Scents Of Deception: To Buy Or Not To Buy
http://www.newsnet5.com/specialassignment/1040015/detail.html
The representative of International Management said:
“This is International Management, we're part of a larger company called World Perfume.”
Only later does the representative say that:
“It's my company.”
Regan (reporter): “Oh, it your company.”
Rep: “What is World Perfume? They are one of the distributors--is that who supplies you--yes, they are one of my suppliers and I am asking you to leave my office right now.”
****
So Waterfront Design appears not to be the ONLY distributor that misleads people into believing they are part of World Perfume. My question Mr. Doan is this:
*Was there any repercussions to International Management in Cleveland for claiming that they were World Perfume and then changing their story?
*Will there be any repercussions to Waterfront Design in claiming that they are World Perfume when in fact legally they are a distributor?
*If Waterfront Design is only a “distributor” why did Mr. Maner, the manager, say that Mr. Johnny Whitworth, President of World Perfume, had “set aside 3 to 5 million dollars to expand into Utah”?
*Will you cut off the distribution of Mr. Maner for misrepresenting your company in this way?
I know you WILL NOT because these lies that your distributors tell trainees is the norm, not the exception.
I challenge you: If you are so concerned about your company’s “good name” then shut down or reprimand severely this distributor.
This will be proof to me and everyone else that reads my web page, that World Perfume supports these fraudulent and misrepresentative actions.
But in adding “distributor of World Perfume” to my web page I will also add the below comments.
This needs to be clarified:
Mr. Larry Hahn was a genius. The beauty of the WORLD PERFUME and Scentura pyramid is this: Every World Perfume and Scentura distributor must sign a “independent contractor license”, similar to the “independent contractor license”
that trainees sign before they sell in parking lots.
All of the distributors are "independent contractors" they all use the same deceptive, unethical, and illegal practices, but since they are "independent contractors" World Perfume is legally immune from prosecution and not responsible for their behavior.
Every time a television station does a report on one of these distributors, the reaction when WORLD PERFUME is called is "they are independent" and not part of our organization.
So, since these distributors are legally independent contractors, WORLD PERFUME and Scentura keep their names clean with the Better Business Bureau. No matter what these distributors say or do, WORLD PERFUME and Scentura are immune from prosecution.
See also: http://www.mazu.com/scams/bbb.html for criticisms of the BBB.
*****Remember people you ARE NOT getting hired to work in Dallas Texas, you are being hired to work for one of these distributors.********
I will also add this:
As a trainee or owner of your own office, since you are legally an "independent contractor", WORLD PERFUME and Scentura is not legally responsible for any trouble that you get in.
For example, Mr. Maner, and several other WORLD PERFUME distributors, tells their trainees it is not illegal to sell perfume in parking lots without a license. If you get ticketed selling perfume in parking lots, guess who is legally responsible for that ticket? Not the WORLD PERFUME distributor for lying and/or misleading you. YOU are.
******
>>Mr. Doan's message:
“You state that World Perfume teaches people "to blatantly lie to consumers," but you don't clarify what we lie about. You do at one point state that we market our perfumes as originals, and then state that we carry knock-offs. We do carry knock-offs, but we certainly do not lie to people by saying that they are original.”
>>My response:
LOCAL OFFICE
Sir, I asked Mr. Maner, manager of Waterfront Designs this question: “When we sell World Perfume cosmetics, do you want us to say it is an original?” He responded “Yes”
In training there was also this very long discussion about how a scent can not be patented. Mrs. Kukal also used the example of corn and how corn in a can from two companies, one more expensive and one less expensive, usually comes from the same field. All of these examples were trying to make us comfortable with saying that World Perfume renditions are originals.
When we went on the street, the word “rendition” was never uttered. When we had role-plays, the word “rendition” was never uttered. We peddled this perfume as ORIGINALS.
NEWSREPORTS
The television news report on my web site states this:
Scents Of Deception: To Buy Or Not To Buy
http://www.newsnet5.com/specialassignment/1040015/detail.html
“Regan (reporter): McCoy claims he convinced women they were buying expensive designer fragrances--the real thing...for the half the price. In fact, they were expensive knock-offs.”
“McCoy (perfume peddler): From there, we can make up any lie, any story to make the sale. And if I asked if this is the real thing you say--"its the real thing.”
EMAIL MESSAGES
I got an these email messages in response to my web site:
“I just go a run in with "World Perfume." I almost bought the perfume and then I thought why isn't it in the original bottle? The women got really upset when I would not buy the perfume. She said they were from Dallas Texas and the only difference between this bottle and the original Cool Water for women is that it will last longer. I am so glad I did not waste the money.”
“My name is Heather and I work at a Hooters Restaurant in Rockville, MD. The other night just as I was getting ready to leave work two seemingly nice gentlemen came in and asked me and a friend/co-worker if we would like to buy some perfume. This is not the first time someone has come in, but this is the first time I was actually able to maybe purchase some. My friend and I followed the men outside to their car where they had a TRUNKLOAD of perfume! I was pretty skeptical at first because they were selling us 3 bottles of designer perfume for $65.00. (normally the price of one bottle!) The men then explained to us that they buy the perfume at wholesale and used other big words to try to fool us, and they did. Me and my friend bought 3 bottles each and headed off to out cars. When I got to my car I opened the bottle of Ralph and the perfume was BROWN! It is normally blue at the store! I was pissed! I knew then that I had been scammed! Unfortunately, it's too late now to get my $65.00 back! Do you know if the perfume sold is of the same quality as the actual designer perfume in the stores? Also, I am interested in doing what I can to help you shut these a$$holes down! Please email me back if you can!”
Add these letters to the dozens on the web site. (See: http://www.seniors-site.com/fraud/)
******
>>Mr. Doan's message:
“We carry original name-brand perfumes as well as knock-offs, and we market them as they are. Renditions are knock-offs, originals are the same name-brands sold at department stores, and we carry both types. We have NEVER made a claim stating that our renditions were "original name-brands."
>>My response:
Sir, your distributors are making this claim repeatedly. You are protected by the “independent contractor” license from criminal prosecution. But that does not mean what your distributors are doing are ethical and it does not mean that your distributors are not liable for criminal prosecution.
****
>>Mr. Doan's message:
“You state that World Perfume "lies to employees." You do not state how. First of all, you have never dealt with, nor been an employee of, World Perfume, so how would you know what we say to our employees?”
>>My response:
World perfume distributors, this is a legal technicality. Mr. Whitworth, president of World Perfume and all of the people in the office continue to use this legal technicality for all it is worth. But you are ethically just as guilty as these distributors, because you continue to sell to these distributors.
Mr. Doan if these distributors are giving you such a bad reputation, why don’t you stop selling them perfume?
I believe the reason why is because all of these distributors practice the same deceitful tactics, and if you stopped selling to all of the deceitful offices, the majority of your income would stop.
*****
>>Mr. Doan's message:
You could state that "_____________ Company" said something to you, but you cannot say that World Perfume did.
>>My response:
Sir, I just stated that four distributors of your perfume around the country are practicing illegal and unethical practices. I am sure you are aware of these practices. What are you going to do to stop them?
Mr. Johnny Whitworth assured me in an email yesterday that he will investigate Waterfront Design here in Salt Lake, what has become of this investigation.
Will next week, next month, next year, Mr. Maner of Waterfront Design still be advertising these fraudulent ads for “office manager” and administrative assistant in the Salt Lake Tribune?
Unless he goes under because I shut him down, or he goes under because he runs out of people to recruit week end and week out (the crux of this pyramid scheme), I bet with 100% assurity that he will still be marketing your perfume. Because in my opinion, based on ample evidence, every WORLD PERFUME and Scentura office has the same fraudulent pyramid scheme.
****
>>Mr. Doan's message:
“You state that your "training manager" lied to you by saying that the products are sold "door-to-door," and then saying that you would sell at businesses such as "Wal-Mart, Target," etc. and in their parking lots. What do you think "door-to-door" means? It seems to me that they clearly told you how you would be selling, so where is the lie?”
>>My response:
Wow, Mr. Doan, I am going to ad this to the web page. A higher up in the World Perfume Dallas Texas office admitting that their employees do sell perfume in parking lots.
Mr. Doan, are you going to reprimand or stop selling perfume to Mr. Maner because he advertises a position for “office assistant” and “administrative assistant” when in fact his company is selling perfume in parking lots or “door to door” as you call it? You will not reprimand Mr. Maner because every WORLD PERFUME and Scentura office works the same exact way.
Sir what does “door to door” mean? What is the first image you conjure in your mind when you think “door to door” ? Where are the physical “doors” in selling perfume in parking lots come in? Do you knock on the “doors” of people’s cars as they leave the parking lot? No, you walk up to people and ask them if they want to buy an original perfume (when it is a fake, or as you call a “rendition”) as they are either leaving or walking out of the store.
*Mr. Doan, do most peddlers in cities need a license to sell perfume in parking lots, or as you call it “door to door”?
*****
>>Mr. Doan's message:
“Are YOU the judge when determining whether a business practice is ethical or not? Please clarify.” Good question.
>>My response:
Mr. Doan, who IS qualified to label whether a business practice is ethical or unethical?
Is it the news report above that caught your distributor in a lie?
Is it the two women who emailed me and told me that your distributors lied to them and sold them something different than what they thought they were getting?
Is it the angry people, hundreds of them that have taken the time to write this chat line and the thousands that probably haven’t? (thousands of messages: http://www.seniors-site.com/fraud/)
Unfortunately, many unethical practices are NOT illegal. So your distributors can post ads like this:
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
START NOW New office needs help, will train.
No experience necessary.
Various office positions avail. Call 972-3219.
and
GENERAL OFFICE WANTED:
12 HARD WORKERS To replace 12 who wouldn't.
No exp necessary. 972-3219
When there is NO ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT position available and this position will ALWAYS be listed in the paper, every week, for as long as the distributor is open. There are dozens of examples on my web page of “unethical” documented cases.
You are playing word games again, just like the judges found in the case against Scentura:
“We find plaintiff's asserted distinctions to be unpersuasive and nothing more than an exercise in semantics.” This describes your word games exactly.
Lets turn it around: Who are YOU to judge what is NOT unethical?
>>Mr. Doan's message:
“You state that the "manager" says the "colognes are real." They are. I don't know how to make a "fake" perfume. I do not wish to sound sarcastic, but does the fake one appear to look like perfume, but has no fragrance? As for being knock-offs, our renditions most definitely are not original name-brand fragrances. But our original
name brand fragrances are "real", and original name brand fragrances, for that matter.”
>>My response:
Mr. Doan are you admitting that your distributors tell customers that they are selling designer labels at discount prices when in reality they are selling something different? Are you justifying their practices?
Mr. Doan, if I were the manager of a grocery store and change the labels of a bargain brand, lets say (to use Ms. Kakul’s example) corn, even though it was (according to Ms. Kakul’s example above) the same exact corn, and sold it as a higher priced national brand, would this be illegal? Yes, it would.
Your independent distributors are telling people that their brand is a “national brand” when in fact it is a “bargain brand”. This is deceptive and illegal.
Mr. Doan you are playing word games again, just as you are with the “independent contractors” not being a part of World Perfume, and the “door to door”.
Just like the judges in the lawsuit found against Scentura:
“We find plaintiff's asserted distinctions to be unpersuasive and nothing more than an exercise in semantics. "
This “exercise in semantics” seems to be normal business practices of both World Perfume and Scentura.
*****
(letter continues, but World Perfume (probably) closed the chat line and my web page/email)
…..
Thank You,
Christopher Doan
********************************
*******************************
******* TELEVISION, MAGAZINE, AND NEWSPAPER REPORTS AND COURT ORDERS AGAINST WORLD PERFUME AND/OR SCENTURA****
*********** SCENTURA CREATIONS is a multi-marketing scheme, according to APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS SECOND DISTRICT *************
(Remember World Perfume has the exact same business model.)
SITE:
http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/AppellateCourt/2001/2ndDistrict/September/Html/2000964.htm
APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS SECOND DISTRICT SCENTURA CREATIONS, INC. court case September 18, 2001
Ruled AGAINST Scentura Creations inc. because it was found to be a multi-level marketing scam.
Scentura ruled by Appellate court to be a multi-level marketing “pyramid sales scheme”:
"In our view, the consignment contract between plaintiff and defendant is properly characterized as a chain referral sales technique or pyramid sales scheme, which falls within the protection of section 2A of the Act."
"By virtue of this legislative enactment, the state has determined that the eradication of chain referral sales techniques and pyramid sales schemes is an important interest. Although the power to declare a private contract void as contrary to public policy is to be used sparingly, we may utilize this power when the contract at issue is clearly contrary to the constitution, the statutes, or the decisions of the courts."
"While defendant contends that the consignment contract falls squarely within the protection of section 2A of the Act, plaintiff contends that the contract cannot be construed as a chain referral agreement or pyramid sales scheme because furnishing names of other consignees is not a condition precedent to defendant's financial gain. Plaintiff also asserts that section 2A of the Consumer Fraud Act does not apply because plaintiff did not "sell" merchandise, but, instead, it delivered the perfume on consignment. We find plaintiff's asserted distinctions to be unpersuasive and nothing more than an exercise in semantics. "
Defendant said that the:
"plaintiff breached the agreement, that the agreement was not supported by consideration, that plaintiff destroyed evidence, and that the agreement was illusory and unconscionable."
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SCENTS OF DECEPTION: TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY: WORLD PERFUME
http://www.newsnet5.com/specialassignment/1040015/detail.html
Ron Regan Finds Out The True Scent
POSTED: 5:43 p.m. EST November 2, 2001
CLEVELAND -- Brett McCoy, a former salesman: Smell that one, this is Freedom by Tommy Hilfiger.
Ron Regan: Brett McCoy claims this was his "sales pitch" to dozens of women.
See, I was just selling them at the show for 60 bucks and I need to unload them.
Regan: McCoy claims he convinced women they were buying expensive designer fragrances--the real thing...for the half the price. In fact, they were expensive knock-offs. McCoy: From there, we can make up any lie, any story to make the sale. And if I asked if this is the real thing you say--"its the real thing.
Regan: McCoy worked for a company that placed these ads that began running last summer. So we decided to answer one of them.
Regan: Is it perfume? I've heard of, is it sold in department stores?
McCoy: Yes, we carry anything from like Versace, to Liz Clairborne to what else --Polo.
Regan: On another day, dozens of young people, trusting those ads, fill a room in this office labeled "International Management." Listen to exactly what they're told.
Seminar sound: same ingredients, mixed the same way, without the same cost.
Regan: The company behind those fragrances is headquartered 1,300 miles away...deep in the heart of Texas.
World Perfume...I recently bought some perfume from a guy pumping gas...this is the real white diamonds right...yes...do many people know that they sell them in different bottles, oh yea, I mean we get it all from the manufacturers we use them in fragrance show that's what we do.
Chic Enterprises is home to World Perfume Inc., a company founded by J.D. Whitworth, a Dallas businessman, who now lives in this million and a half dollar home.
Small compared to the home he recently sold.
Regan: Hawking perfume brought Whitworth the sweet smell of success. In the early 90s, he bought this home now valued at $3.5 million.
It's a company, this father says, recruited his daughter through newspaper ads.
Richard Whitney: They can't have a pager, a beeper, can't call home during the middle of the week or during the day.
Regan: Richard Whitney complained to the Better Business Bureau.
Whitney: My wife and her family compared it with a religious cult, it was like they were brainwashing.
Regan: At the time, World Perfume denied any wrongdoing, saying it's "proud of the quality of its work and ethical business practices."
But when we wanted to ask a few questions inside their Dallas headquarters...this guy blocked the hallway.
Regan: Is there any reason why you won't talk with us? And remember the company representative you first saw in our undercover video? Regan: This is International Management, we're part of a larger company called World Perfume. When we caught up with him...the story changed.
Regan: Who do you work for?
Rep: It's my company.
Regan: Oh, it your company.
Rep: What is World Perfume?
They are one of the distributors--is that who supplies you--yes, they are one of my suppliers and I am asking you to leave my office right now.
Regan: Even the sales force ran for cover.
Regan: Do you tell people it's the real fragrance.
I have no comment.
Regan: Why won't you speak about it.
Rep: Because I'm very busy and I'm off somewhere right now.
Regan: And customers who bought Brett McCoy's sales pitch say they wasted their money.
Diane DiCarlo, a customer: It's like $28 a bottle for watered down ...nothing.
Regan: Finally, we found job applicants, lured by huge incomes.
Rep: And our top range managers making $75 to $85 thousand dollars a year. Managing new locations.
Regan: Right now, the company is undergoing a $10 million expansion plan to open ten new offices.
Left only....with a "training" office.
Regan: Do you pay these people anything?
Rep: Yeah, they get paid off their sales.
Regan: They don't get paid a salary?
Rep: No.
Regan: An office with plenty of free time.
International Management insists it tells its sales force that the fragrances that they sell are renditions only and not the real thing. The company declined an opportunity for an on-camera interview to fully discuss its sales practices.
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PERFUME JOBS SMELL FISHY, BBB SAYS
http://www.theneworleanschannel.com/no/6onyourside/stories/6onyourside-20000719-165758.html
New Orleans news report on Scentura:
Trainees Promised High Pay, Given Hard Labor
Recent college graduates and teenagers looking for summer jobs need to be aware of one local business that advertises high-paying management positions.
When he responded to a classified ad posted by a company called International Designs, Michael Torres thought he was applying for a good job. But he said the training turned out to be more like hard labor.
"You go out and spend eight hours in the field and you basically made $4," Torres said.
After interviewing with the company, Torres and about a dozen others were sent out on aggressive sales ventures. With just a list of product names, trainees were told to sell as many products as they could to friends and family.
Another part of the training involved sending the employees to parking lots to approach people and sell perfume using a tactic called "cover and smother," 6 On Your Side reporter Stephanie Boswell said.
The trainees made just $2 for every bottle sold, and Torres became suspicious of the job and the product.
"We didn't have these products until the day after we sold them," he said. "And then they brought in the different types of cologne and perfumes, and that's when it really caught me. I said 'Wait, this isn't what I was selling to people.'"
Scentura Creations of Atlanta manufactures the perfumes. International Designs is one of its distributors. Both stand by the product.
One of Torres' friends, Chris St. Pierre, was not happy with his cologne purchase.
"When I called Scentura in Atlanta, they said they had scent tests," St. Pierre said. "Fifty percent (of respondents) say it's the same, and the other 50 percent say it's close. And it's not."
Torres said he's embarrassed that he sold the product to his friends and wants to put this work experience behind him.
Boswell said this is not the first time that 6 On Your Side has received complaints about Scentura Creations and International Designs, but Scentura said it is not affiliated with the individual distributor.
6 On Your Side was unable to reach the distributor, but the Better Business Bureau warns consumers to beware of high-paying jobs that require little training.
Have a complaint about employment compensation?
The Wage and Hour Board advises people who have not been paid or who have questions about the payment they've received. (504) 589-6171
Or call the 6 On Your Side hotline at (800)416-NEWS.
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PERFUME BANDITS. (FAKE PERFUME OFFERED IN PARKING LOTS)
Kristen Stieffel.
Orlando Business Journal, Sept 14, 2001 v18 i16 p23
The message: A cautionary tale describing people who approach women in parking lots and ask them to "sniff perfume that they are selling at a cheap price. This is not perfume - it is ether. When you sniff it, you'll pass out, and they'll take your wallet and heaven knows what else."
The e-mail usually contains several accounts of people, who were approached in parking lots or at gas stations but, because they had. read' a Previous version of the email, avoided disaster by escaping.
The truth: Although it is wise to avoid strangers in parking lots, ether isn't potent enough to knock someone out with only a couple of casual sniffs.
As with many urban legends, however, this story does contain a grain df truth. Two unrelated grams, actually.
According to the Mobile Police Department, on Nov. 8, 1999, Bertha Johnson claimed. to have been rendered unconscious after having smelled an unknown substance. She told. police that, as she was entering a bank (with $500 of her own money and $300 belonging to her employer), she was approached by a woman selling perfume. Johnson sniffed the perfume, lost consciousness and came to some time later at another location. All the money was gone.
Johnson's case appears to be the only one of its kind. Toxicological reports showed no unusual substance, ether or otherwise, in her system. No arrest has ever been made, and the case remains, open.
As for bands of perfume-wielding villains prowling the nation's parking lots, there appears to be some truth there also, though whether the perfume in question contains ether is anybody's guess, since all of their would-be victims have been tipped off to the scheme But at least one company, Atlanta-based Scentura Creations, does sell perfume in this way.
Scentura is described by the Better Business Bureau as a "multilevel selling company." The firm manufacturers inexpensive imitations of designer fragrances. Salespeople are sent out, often in pairs, to hawk the product door-to-door or, yes, in parking lots.
Sightings of such peddlers seem to have lent credence to the original scare story, in spite of the fact that, other than Johnson's univerified assault, no one has ever been found to have been "ethered" by a perfume salesperson.
If a suspicious e-mail lands in your in-box, before forwarding it to everyone in your address book.
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KNOW WHAT YOU ARE APPLYING FOR WHEN ANSWERING A WANT AD
Richmond Times - Dispatch; Richmond, Va.; Jun 9, 2002; Iris Taylor;
A Richmond reader who is employed but actively looking for a new job answered an advertisement in The Times-Dispatch for an assistant manager.
She said she went on two interviews but became suspicious of many things, including the company's complicated, multitiered training and money-making structure and its use of many different telephone numbers in ads, all leading to the same office.
She said in a group interview, "a very smooth-of-the-mouth, very fast talker" spoke of bonuses, benefits, profit-sharing, trips, awards, giveaways and future office locations.
But, she said she had trouble getting straightforward answers to how much money she'd make and whether the job involved selling, which she did not want to do. She said she was offered a position "on the spot," but declined after deciphering that the 'job' entailed consumer watch selling bottles of cologne to family members and people on the street.
She said while trying to research the company on the Internet, she learned it was linked to the Atlanta-based perfume products company Scentura Creations Inc., the subject of scathing denunciations by people who claimed to have worked for it.
"Suppose I had been green enough to quit my job and be put out there?" she asked. "I have a mortgage, two children and a car note. I can probably tell you after the first day, I would have been gone. I would have been out there starting over from point one."
She said she believes this is an employment scam and she wants other readers to be warned.
I contacted the company that the reader complained about - Infinity Management in Richmond, which is one of many independent distributors of Scentura Creations. Scentura supplies, but does not own, Infinity Management. There are no complaints filed against Infinity Management at the Office of Consumer Affairs in Richmond or on the Better Business Bureau's Web site.
John Barber, the general manager in Richmond, said Infinity Management is an 11-month-old sole proprietorship that recruits and trains people to go into business for themselves as independent contractors.
He said people are made aware that they're not being hired as employees and that selling is involved because they sign independent contractor and consignment agreements "saying we're giving them merchandise [to sell] on a signature.
"Yes, there is sales involved in the learning process," Barber said. "We completely state that." But, "we don't come out and use words like selling. We would lose those types of people we're trying to appeal to." Rather, business jargon such as "direct marketing" is used, he said. Knowledgeable applicants understand that direct marketing means selling, he said. If they don't, "it's on their end to ask those types of questions."
Barber said Infinity Management uses multiple telephone lines because "we have about 300 different ads" and want to see which ones "pull" the best. Whether the ad asks for a branch manager/manager trainee, assistant manager or manager, "it's the same position," he said.
Infinity Management is licensed to sell business-to-business and to individuals on the street "anywhere in Richmond that is zoned commercial, but not on private property" such as malls or store properties where soliciting is not permitted, Barber said.
Training is progressive, done in several phases, and when completed, those who "prove themselves" are set up in a location with a small staff and budget. They are expected to turn enough profit to support operating expenses. They have other requirements, such as they must "do 30 transactions in one week" in order to keep their office location.
Income is commission-based, and there's no guarantee how much will be made, said Barber. Income is boosted by recruiting others to sell. Selling is done in teams - three-person groups that get cases of products to sell on consignment. They must report their progress twice a day.
I also called Scentura and spoke with Karey Smith in accounts receivable. She said the people who complain on the Internet think they're working for Scentura, but actually they're recruits of the independent distributors. "We've got some great owners," she said. But, "sometimes people open, and are not ready to open," while others misrepresent themselves as part of Scentura, but they're not.
On its Web site, however, Scentura takes credit for developing the concept that distributors use as a model for running their businesses. Also, the distributors receive from Scentura what Barber refers to as "overrides" or "residual income." So, Scentura and its distributors are strongly linked.
If you were looking for employment, would you, like the reader, wonder if you were being offered a job that enables you to support yourself and your family? Or, would you conclude that this is a business opportunity that involves hard work and risk?
Here are five tips from experts which, together with the questions contained in the help box, can help clear up confusion, misunderstandings and miscommunication that can occur in any interview:
* Be persistent in learning what the position entails. What a company is doing might not be anything illegal, said Sue Scott, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Employment Commission in Richmond. But, if the interviewer isn't being up front, the job seeker needs to ask probing questions.
* Look for buzzwords. "Selling" or "sales" are terms that scare off applicants. They often are camouflaged by such terms as marketing, direct marketing, telemarketing or telesales. "Probably the best suggestion is they should learn some business terminology," advised Infinity Management's Barber.
* Look for red flags in the advertisement. Ads of legitimate companies should contain the company name, a job title or job description, said Ron Brown, vice president of Excel Staffing Services Inc. in Richmond. "If you have two or three" of those pieces of information, "fine. If you have none of them, I'd start raising my eyebrows. Any company on the level will be proud of their name and give their name."
* You should be asked to fill out an application. Most legitimate businesses ask respondents to fill out an application, said Brown. "This isn't always true," but it is "in most instances. If they bring you in, take your Social Security number and say they're going to put you on the payroll, I'd start to question that."
* Do not rely on verbal promises. "Get all details regarding an employment opportunity in writing," advises the Greater Atlanta Better Business Bureau in its report on Scentura Creations. To review the report, go to www.atlanta.bbb.org. Click "company reports," then, "additional options," and "Scentura Creations." You will learn that it sells "fragrance products" to wholesale distributors who then resell the items to the public.
One method used by the independent distributors to recruit sales people is the placement of classified advertisements in the employment section under the heading of "Management," the BBB reported.
It said, "Scentura Creations has had no complaints." However, you can read plenty of complaints by going to a search engine and typing in Scentura Creations. Scentura Creation's Web site is at www.scenturacreations.com.
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PERFUME PURVEYORS ARE REAL THING, EVEN IF THE MYTH ISN'T
Richmond Times - Dispatch; Richmond, Va.; Dec 6, 2000;
Like the scents they sell, tales of alleged perfume-wielding perpetrators continue to weave and waft their way about town.
For those who are joining the program currently in progress:
On Nov. 17, The Times-Dispatch ran a story about a mass- distribution e-mail that warned shoppers to watch for people selling perfume in parking lots.
The e-mail warning - featuring various women in various places who consequently were drugged and robbed - turned out to be an urban myth most likely based on a single incident reported in Mobile, Ala., more than a year ago. (That case is still unsolved.)
The bottom line was "Don't believe everything you hear, but better safe than sorry."
Within two days, however, several women from the Richmond area called to say something similar had happened to them.
One anonymous caller said she was approached on Election Day by a young woman selling inexpensive perfume at the Mechanicsville Wal- Mart. "I was going to my car, and luckily a man came along who was parked by me. Then she walked away."
No crimes reported
Apparently, people are peddling perfume in public places. But they don't appear to be doing so with evil intent, as suggested by the warning e-mails - no ether sprays or robberies associated with perfume sales have been reported to the Richmond Police Department's Economic Crimes Unit, which usually handles scam-related reports.
One young salesman even offered cologne to a Henrico County policeman at the scene of a crime. The officer was in uniform at the time, so it's likely the vendor's intentions - if not his timing - were benign.
A similar encounter alarmed Betty Anne Howell at the Midlothian Turnpike Kmart. "A nice-looking lady had a box in her hand and said something like, 'Would you be interested in some perfume?'"
Howell thought it was unusual and left quickly. The woman probably was selling something cheap at a hiked-up price, she said, but who knows?
Mary E. Woodley said she was approached the morning the article appeared by a young man in front of the Library of Virginia on Broad Street. He asked her what kind of perfume she liked and began to open a black bag.
"I immediately said no and proceeded on my way back to work," said Woodley.
Another Mary, who asked that her last name be withheld, said she was getting out of her car at the Short Pump Wal-Mart last spring or early summer when a young man suddenly appeared behind her.
"He said, 'Excuse me, ma'am, if you have a minute.'
"I don't know that there was anything dangerous about the situation, but I put the fear of God into that young man. I said, 'You are making a big mistake' . . . I don't know what you have in that backpack, and you have no idea what I have in my pocketbook."
As he took off, Mary noticed one or two other young people with backpacks toward the rear of the parking lot.
Filling a quota
"These poor kids are probably brought out here and dropped off in the middle of nowhere," she said. "They probably have some quota . . . but it's just not a good idea, even in broad daylight."
Whenever someone reports such an incident, said Jim Kloosterman, manager of the Short Pump Wal-Mart, "We go right out and tell them to leave our property."
Kloosterman said the vendors usually are college-age and generally are selling perfume. "In the last three years, we've probably run them off four or five times."
Mary Brinkley, an assistant manager at the Wal-Mart at Parham and Brook roads, said people have been asked to leave because solicitation is not allowed on Wal-Mart property. Generally, they cooperate and move on.
Diane Pedraza of Richmond thinks the proliferation of perfume peddlers may be related to a company called Scentura Creations.
Scentura, according to its Web site, began about 25 years ago in Atlanta and has evolved into a "multimillion dollar company that distributes perfume to independent business owners on an international level."
The company revolves around the sale and distribution of its Observe L Essence line of "rendition" fragrances, created to mimic designer perfumes at a reduced price.
Scentura's Web site - though it includes no contact information for prospective employees or interested parties - offers a "once-in- a-lifetime opportunity to be in business for yourself," claiming the potential for a six-figure income and financial independence.
Not so, said Pedraza, at least not in her experience. She worked for a division of Scentura near Old Bridge, N.J., for about three weeks in 1998.
"When you first starting working for them, they say you get paid at least $200 a week.
"The only money I made was from perfume I sold on the street. I'm not a very good hustler, so I probably sold seven bottles the whole time."
According to Pedraza, her employer "took me to bad places. Where they tell you to go, you have to go . . . to parking lots, inside random office buildings."
Problems like that stem not from Scentura itself, but from its business owners, or "customers," said Karey Smith, who works for the company in Atlanta.
"Customers buy the perfume from [us], and the way they sell it is up to them," she said. "They cannot misrepresent the product [by saying it's the real version of a given scent] or say they're employees or work for us."
Web sites set up by Scentura representatives - which seem a safer venue than parking lots from which to sell a product - offer the 3.3- ounce bottles of perfume for anywhere from $19.95 to $39.95. Because customers own their own businesses, Smith said, they set their own prices and keep the profits.
Customers may employ anywhere up to 50 people on the local level to make the actual sales.
Most people, Smith said, learn about Scentura from having been introduced to its products. "People who want the perfume will call and say, 'I bought it in the Wal-Mart parking lot and can't find the girl who sold it to me.'*"
Customers and their employees are allowed to sell wherever they like, Smith said, as long as it's not illegal.
Scentura has about 200 to 300 customers at any given time, including some currently in the Richmond area.
If customers' tactics are questionable, Smith said, they usually don't last. "It's very easy to cut off the supply."
Whether or not the perfume-mongers can be traced to Scentura customers or similar operations, it pays to be alert, especially during high-volume shopping days.
And it wouldn't hurt the sellers themselves - whoever they are and no matter how good their intentions - to take a tip from Mary:
"I don't have Mace or anything, but some people have that on their key chain.
"You run into one of these feisty middle-aged West End women, and they're likely to sling it at you."
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THERE'S BIG DOLLARS IN STREET SCENTS
Intelligencer Journal; Lancaster; Mar 07, 1997; Flannery, Thomas L;
To hear Warren Jentis tell it, peddling bottles of perfume on the streets of Lancaster will catapult you into the world of the rich and famous.
But to hear city officials and business leaders tell it, what Jentis is doing will, in all likelihood, make only make one person rich:
Warren Jentis.
A Barnegate, N.J., native. Jentis said he moved to Lancaster on Jan. 31 with his girlfriend/partner Betsy Schuyler, rented a vacant three-story building at 114 E. Chestnut St. and opened WBI--short for Warren and Betsy International.
Jentis, who has the intensity of a get-rich. quick infomercial, describes himself as a "direct marketer of rendition perfumes he buys from Atlanta-based Scentura Creations.
Since no one may patient a scent, what Scentura dues is analyze the contents of popular fragrances, then replicate them and sell them under their own names at rates far lower than their original counterparts.
Jentis said he buys the perfumes at a deep discount and provides them to his sales force at prices ranging from $10.50 to $20 a bottle, and they, in turn, peddle the products for $24.95.
After about two months, Jentis said that "successful" salespersons are offered contracts with annual salaries ranging from "$30,000 to $35,000 and a car," and that free vacations are commonplace.
None of the seven people interviewed by the Intelligencer Journal said they have ever met or known anyone who received a contract, but two said they were off to Florida this weekend on Jentis' tab.
Since Jentis' arrival in Lancaster, police said they have been inundated with complaints of high-pressure sales tactics by the young sales crew Jentis calls "independent contractors"--made up primarily of felons, admitted drug dealers and hard-luck youngsters, the youngest being 17.
Hardly a day goes by, said the Downtown Investment District bicycle police officers, when they don't cite one or more of Jentis' crew for soliciting without a permit.
DID Police said most are repeat offenders and face fines between $50 to $600 on each daily charge.
Jentis and Schuyler insist the ordinance is not legal and said they plan to challenge it in court.
Jentis' attorney, Kevin C. Allen, could not be reached for comment.
"Crazy, Greedy ... Must like $$$, music and fun. Office and general work. Call Warren ... ," reads Jentis' ad in all three local newspapers.
And, according to Jentis, 29--a ponytailed, modern-day version of super salesman Prof. Harold Hill of "Music Man" fame--call they do.
"What's wrong with giving people the opportunity of a lifetime," said Jentis, waving his right hand, bedecked with a gold ring topped with a dollar sign. "I'm just teaching people to do what I do, and they learn as they earn."
After paying a non-refundable $25 fee for a nondescript "background check." the fledgling salespeople begin a four--to eight-week training program that includes stints at various locations throughout the county under Jentis' tutelage, Schuyler said.
Jentis said hundreds of people have passed through his doors, but admittedly few make the cut. One training class started with about 70; five remain.
Sam Loth. the DID's new executive director, said Jentis has scheduled a meeting with him next week.
What Jentis won't find when he gets to Loth's office is a sympathetic ear to his pleas of police harassment.
"Apparently Mr. Jentis feels he's free to operate outside the rules and regulations of the business community," Loth said.
Loth said he plans to continue to utilize the city's ordinance regulating vendors and peddlers "to help protect the community."
As does the man who heads the city's licensing and permits section, W. James Schelling.
"The problem is that Mr. Jentis is portraying his business as one that participates in business-to-business sales, and that's just not the case," said Schelling.
"The city doesn't issue permits that allow anyone to enter a business or stand directly outside a business and solicit that business's employees or customers," Schelling said. "Why? Because that's not legal."
Schelling said the only permit Jentis' sales force might be able to get is a peddler's permit that allows for door-to-door sales.
But that would require criminal records checks, and because most of Jentis' workers admittedly have had run-ins with the law, the applications would be denied, Schelling said.
Lancaster Bureau of Police Chief Michael L. Landis said enforcement of the city's vendors and peddlers law is complaint-driven, and that legitimate operations know they need a permit to do business in town.
Landis said he has received a number of complaints about Jentis' high-pressure tactics, misleading help-wanted advertisements and calls from parents of minors worried about what Jentis is really up to.
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PERFUME SALES JUST A SMELLY SCAM? YOUNG PEOPLE SAY AMHERST COMPANY FAILS ON TRAINING, PAY PROMISES
Buffalo News; Buffalo, N.Y.; Mar 28, 1992; By James T. Madore - News Business Reporter;
A group of young people is accusing an Amherst perfume distributor of falsely advertising career opportunities and of asking them to smuggle products into Canada.
They describe Nautica Stars Inc. as nothing more than a sophisticated "scam" that preys on people made desperate by unemployment and the recession by promising them career advancement and paid training -- and then not delivering on the promises.
They say they were told they could earn up to $35,000 a year or about $600 a week. However, they say they were lucky if they made $50 per week.
The 18-to-23-year-olds have reported their concerns to the Better Business Bureau of Western New York, which has launched an investigation, according to Dolores J. Liberatore, the bureau's vice president.
Founded in January, Nautica Stars, 331 Alberta Drive, distributes generic perfumes that are similar to Obsession, Eternity and other popular fragrances. The products are manufactured by Scentura Creations of Atlanta, Ga., a 17-year-old company with 570 sales offices worldwide.
John D. Disbro, a Williamsville resident, owns Nautica Stars. He and Michael E. Wallette of Cleveland, a regional vice president for Scentura, deny all the accusations made by the young adults. Both described their venture as "honest" and "not meant to hurt anyone" in an interview Friday.
Jennifer E. Andrews of Kenmore disagreed, saying: "We were basically misled . . . it was totally different than they said it was. We ended up spending more money than we were making."
She explained that she and her friends were given perfume by Nautica Stars to sell on consignment. They could charge whatever price they wanted, as long as $19 was paid to Nautica Stars for every item that was sold.
Financial records provided by Nautica Stars show that the disgruntled individuals earned between $20 and $66 during the two weeks they spent selling fragrances. All of them left the company about a week ago when their sales declined.
Wallette, the firm's supervisor, said it is possible for teen-agers to be successful selling perfume. For example, he said, a 19-year-old woman from Rochester was Scentura's top salesperson in New York in mid-February. And Mark M. Riedel, 28, of West Seneca is planning to open his own sales office in Cheektowaga, after being with the company for barely 3 1/2 weeks, Wallette said.
"This isn't a scam," he said. "And I don't want our name to be tarnished by a few bad apples."
Amy Eddy of Buffalo and Brian Bader of South Wales don't consider themselves troublemakers. They say all they want is to be reimbursed for their expenses and paid for the training sessions they attended.
Bader explained that he and his friends applied for jobs with Nautica Stars after reading a newspaper advertisement seeking managers and assistant managers. The ad promised paid training, and the potential for cash bonuses plus health benefits in the future.
"We never got paid for training," Bader said. "There was a lot of talk and promises; not must else."
He estimated that Nautica Stars owes him $655 for the use of his car and $442 in training wages. Miss Eddy and Miss Andrews each claim they are owed $260 for expenses and $680 in wages.
"If they have receipts, I will reimburse them. But I won't be raped," responded Wallette, who supervises Nautica Stars.
Owner John Disbro acknowledged that his advertisement was misleading and said it has been changed. "It was unintentional," he said, adding "I will do anything to make this right."
The young adults also allege that Wallette took them to Canada on selling trips and told them to lie to customs inspectors. He forced them to smuggle, they said.
Wallette denied the charge and said Nautica Stars has never sold perfumes north of the border.
Since January, about 250 people have sold perfume for Nautica Stars. However, only about 50 are still with the firm, Disbro said. "This isn't for everyone. But we are providing an opportunity for young people to make money," he said.
Paul Gabriel, a former salesperson, described Nautica Stars as a revolving-door operation, where young people are urged to sell perfume to their friends and family, and then discarded when sales drop.
"No one stays very long, they give up because they can't sell enough of the stuff to make money," said the 34-year-old Buffalo resident.
"They know these kids can't get jobs elsewhere so they use them," he added.
Bader, whose 18 years old, concluded: "We had such great hopes and then we found out it wasn't for real."
******
FORMER EMPLOYEES CHEER REPORTS PERFUME FIRM IS OUT OF BUSINESS
Buffalo News; Buffalo, N.Y.; Jun 13, 1992; By James T. Madore - News Business Reporter;
Nautica Stars Inc., an Amherst perfume distributor, has apparently gone out of business after being accused by a group of young people in March of false advertising and smuggling products into Canada.
Sources say the small business closed its doors in mid-May -- just six weeks after the students' allegations were reported by the media and an investigation was launched by the Better Business Bureau of Western New York.
The young people never did get the money they alleged was owed them by Nautica Stars. But Amy L. Eddy of Buffalo says she is pleased her former employer has shut down.
"I'd rather have them go out-of-business than get my money back and see them do this to other people," the 20-year-old said Friday. She claims the company owes her $260 for expenses and $680 in wages.
Founded in January, Nautica Stars distributed generic perfumes that are similar to Obsession, Eternity and other popular fragrances. The products are manufactured by Scentura Creations of Atlanta, a 17-year-old company with 570 sales offices worldwide.
Miss Eddy and five other whistle-blowers describe Nautica Stars as nothing more than a sophisticated "scam" that preyed on people made desperate by unemployment and the recession by promising them career advancement and paid training -- and then not delivering on the promises.
The 18- to 23-year-olds say they were told they could earn up to $35,000 a year or about $600 a week. However, they say they were lucky if they made $50 per week.
The young people explained that they were given perfume by Nautica Stars to sell on consignment. They could charge whatever price they wanted, as long as $19 was paid to Nautica Stars for every item that was sold.
The young adults also allege that they were taken to Canada on selling trips and told to lie to customs inspectors. Nautica Stars forced them to smuggle, they said.
The company's owner, John D. Disbro of Williamsville, and his supervisor Michael E. Wallette of Cleveland denied in March all the accusations made by the young adults.
However, Nautica Stars closed its offices at 331 Alberta Drive during the first or second week of May, sources say. The telephones were disconnected and mail has been returned unopened to senders.
In addition, no one seems to know where Disbro has gone. His home telephone number is unlisted. And New York Telephone Co. and the Amherst Chamber of Commerce say he did not give them a forwarding number.
"He's not doing business with us anymore," said Bob Hasty, vice president of Scentura Creations, the Atlanta-based manufacturer of the perfumes sold by Nautica Stars.
"I think he's gone out of business," Hasty said. He also noted that Wallette, the Cleveland man who was supervising Nautica Stars, also has stopped selling perfume.
Before closing his business, Disbro wrote to the five young people who had accused him of fraud. In the letter, he denied owing them any money because they had worked as independent contractors.
Between January and March, about 250 people sold perfume for the company. However, only about 50 were still with the firm on March 27.
The apparent disappearance of Nautica Stars, however, hasn't ended perfume sales in Erie County. Earlier this week, a young man was seen selling similar fragrances in Buffalo Place, the pedestrian mall downtown.
*****
PERFUME SALES COMPANY RECRUITS IN MUNSTER, IND
The Times (from Munster Indiana), 06/22/2001 Kim Chievrue
Perfume Sales Company Recruits in Munster, Ind., Area
Jun. 22--A Georgia-based company that sells knock-offs of designer perfumes has begun recruiting in Northwest Indiana, with classified ads which offer "management positions" earning more than $500 per week.
While the business operates legally, according to the Better Business Bureau, one local resident who applied for a management position said he was surprised by what he found. The applicant is a Porter County resident who asked that his name not be used in print.
"At first, they wouldn't even tell us what they were selling," he said of the mass interview he attended. "I got as far as the second interview, but then I checked them out on the Internet."
He said the company offered to pay for the training, in cash -- that red flag made him suspicious enough to begin his online research.
What he found, he said, was pages of comments from employees and former employees of Scentura Creations nationwide. Some said they had made a good living selling the fragrances door-to-door, but others reported that, like the Porter County applicant, they felt misled by the offer of "management" opportunities.
"They said you'd be managing your own office, in charge of people going door-to-door, doing sales," said the applicant. "But the training is you going door-to-door. You're selling their product, so the office you're training out of makes money."
According to many of those who posted Internet notices about the company, the only opportunity for management requires the salesperson to recruit and hire his own staff out of his own profits.
The Better Business Bureau in Merrillville said the company's practices are legal. The BBB file shows Scentura Creations has been in business since 1976 under the name Wholesale Merchandise and W.M. Industries. The principle officers are Lawrence Hahn and Robert Hasty. There is no record of any complaint being filed with the bureau in connection with Scentura Creations.
Scentura officials told the BBB they sell fragrance products wholesale to independent contractors, who then resell them. Because the seller is not an actual employee of the company, the report says, the person going door-to-door is responsible for securing the proper business licenses and paying all applicable taxes to government agencies.
Vendors pay the wholesaler $17 to $19 per bottle for the fragrances, and resell them for whatever price they can.
Scentura is doing business as Extreme Enterprises in Portage. The applicant said he was told the company intends to open 25 more locations in this area. The Better Business Bureau report shows Extreme Enterprises was established in November of 2000; no complaints have been filed about the company.
A spokesperson for Extreme Enterprises would not give his title or allow his name to be used, and declined to comment for this story.
***********
ADS SPUR WARNING ON JOBS COMPANY'S INTERNSHIP IS SALES SPOT, BBB SAYS
St. Louis Post - Dispatch St. Louis, Mo.; Jun 22, 1993; Linda Eardley Of the Post-Dispatch Staff;
The Better Business Bureau has issued two warnings to young people seeking work this summer.
The bureau says American Prestige Co., which distributes Royal Prestige cookware and cutlery, has offered college students a "summer internship." But the positions are really "thinly disguised sales jobs," the bureau says.
American Prestige, of Sunset Hills, mailed letters to about 5,000 college students across the St. Louis area last month, the bureau said. The letter described the internship and said class credit and scholarship programs are available in some cases.
"Several students who were interviewed by the company said they felt misled by the use of the word `internship,' while the firm's representative talked solely about making money selling the firm's products," the bureau said.
The bureau said the firm's president, Tony Miller, said that students have to arrange class credit on their own and that the scholarships offered by Royal Prestige are based on how much cookware the student sells.
Miller could not be reached for comment.
John Flotron, trade practice consultant at the bureau, said it received 143 inquiries about American Prestige this month and last month, most of them from students who received the internship letter.
The bureau warns students to be careful about answering internship letters or ads that offer any of the following:
Unusually large sums of money to be made.
No experience necessary for a job with good wages.
Pay based on "qualified" sales presentations, with the company determining what makes them qualified.
A requirement that money be paid in advance of employment.
The bureau also urges caution when considering employment with several local perfume distributors. These companies advertise in the newspaper for assistant managers. While salaried positions paying up to $40,000 are promised or implied, the positions are primarily commissioned sales jobs, the bureau said.
Seven such companies are Orion Enterprises, Genesis Enterprises of Overland, Mirage Enterprises of University City, Phoenix Enterprises of Sappington, Teka Ltd., London Express of St. Charles, and Borealis of St. Charles.
All are affiliated with Scentura Creations of Atlanta.
********
WHO WANTS TO BE RICH? LARRY HAHN: FROM SLEEPING IN A CAR TO A $5 MILLION HOME.
E. Thomas Jr..
Atlanta Business Chronicle, Oct 5, 1987 v10 n19 p1(5) (Title only)
******
OFFICIALS: SCENT OF FRAUD LINGERS IN SALES SCHEME
The Atlanta Journal the Atlanta Constitution
Atlanta, Ga.; Feb 15, 1996; Associated Press;
Jackson-area customers had ordered and paid for over $2,000 worth of Scentura Creations products, which are copycats of brand-name fragrances like Ralph Lauren's Polo or Calvin Klein's CK One, consumer protection director Morgan F. Spands said.
*****************
*****120 page inner organization document on Scentura available*****
I just received 2 Scentura pdf files from a former employee. These files explain all of the dirty tricks and lies that Scentura distributors are encouraged, by the parent company, to use.
This would be a great file to print and send to your local newspaper, and also to the rental owner that rents property to Scentura. Yet another way to close this fraudulent company.
Since World perfume and Scentura have the same business model, I suspect this information is the same, and can be used in the same way to close these unethical companies.
PLEASE EMAIL ME ( notworld_perfume@yahoo.com ) and I will give you a site you can download this off of.
Main .pdf 835 KB
Support .pdf 1757 KB
*****************
SCENTURA BETTER BUSINESS REPORT ON ONE OF THE DISTRIBUTORS
http://dell.hurdmanivr.com/stl/news082002a.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Michelle L. Corey, (314) 645-3300, mcorey@stlouisbbb.org
Scott C. Thomas, (314) 645-3300, tpc2@stlouisbbb.org
August 20, 2002
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) urges individuals looking for jobs leading to management positions to use caution when dealing with Gateway Management, 11737 Administration Drive, St. Louis.
Since August, 1999, the BBB has received more than 15 complaints and reports regarding Gateway Management. The company advertises in the newspaper and on the Internet for "receptionist-mgmt" and "general-asst mgr." with "top pay" and "no experience necessary." Complainants allege, however, that they aren't told what the requirements of the job are until the second interview.
David Babb is the owner of Gateway Management, according to information supplied by the company, although the Missouri secretary of state lists his wife, Stacey Babb, as owner. The company is affiliated with Scentura Creations, headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., and sells renditions of designer perfume.
In 1993, the BBB issued a consumer warning on Orion Enterprises, a similar perfume distributing company which was owned by Mr. Babb. This warning alleged that Orion engaged in misleading practices similar to the complaints being received about Gateway Management.
A Festus woman said she responded to an ad for a receptionist position and was promised she would earn $35,000 per year. She was told that only management positions were available. She wasn't told what she would be doing. During the second interview, she said, she was told she would be given bottles of perfume to sell to "friends and relatives." She said she was promised up to $400 per week during early training and up to $500 per week in the latter part.
The company explained that annual income was based on commission selling, she said. The company also promised paid vacation and company-paid travel, she said. She did not pursue the job, she said.
Several complainants allege they were misled into believing that they were purchasing a designer fragrance. They requested refunds of their money, but the company has stated that its policy is to provide exchanges only.
A Ballwin complainant alleged that she filled out an application for a receptionist position. "During the interview, I was asked questions such as why would I want this job and how would I like to be making $35,000," she said. The company never asked her about her previous work experience or for references nor was she told what she was going to be doing for the company, she said. "There were numerous red flags that should have alerted me," she said.
A BBB shopper responded to an ad for a receptionist and was told over the phone that this was an entry-level management position assisting the manager in opening and closing offices. There was no mention of a receptionist position. When asked what the actual job consisted of, the receptionist stated that a manager would discuss that in more detail. She pressed to set up an immediate interview with the shopper, saying the position might be filled by tomorrow.
Stacey Babb told the BBB that job advertisements with the words "no experience necessary" and "management position" are intended to entice young people to apply at the company.
The BBB recommends the following before interviewing with a prospective employer:
*Check the firm's customer experience record with the BBB by calling (314) 645-3300 or visiting its web site at www.stlouis.bbb.org
*Be suspicious of any employment firm that offers a high paying job to people with no experience.
*Contact the advertising manager of the publication that ran the ad you answered.
*Get all details in writing regarding an employment opportunity.
*************
BBB Reliability Report
http://www.saltlakecity.bbb.org/common.html?location=/home/common/www/mis67/report.php&bureau=salt&compid=5000222&national=Y
Commercial Wholesale
285 West 2855 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
General Information
Type of Entity: DBA
Principal : Mr Richard Greenley Registered Agent
Phone Number: (801) 467-8971
Type-of-Business Classification: Shopping Services-Cosmetics-Direct Door-Door
The information in this report has either been provided by the company, or has been compiled by the Bureau from other sources.
Nature of Business
This company sells perfume door to door.
Licensing Information
This company or its agent is licensed, registered or certified by BUSINESS LICENSE. The license number is South Salt Lake.
05/23/01
Additional Information
Additional Doing-Business-As Names: Communications Wholesale
Scentura
Additional File Information
This company advertises as "assistant manager/customer service entry level positions, international fashion". When consumers call the company for details no information is given out regarding the nature of the position, instead, an interview is set up. At the interview, applicants are quoted an earning potential of $52,000 per year. It is during this interview that applicants are given the actual job description of door-to-door sales. The Better Business Bureau urges consumers to be wary of income claims promising high income potential.
********
BBB of Central Florida, Inc.
151 S Wymore Rd, #100
Altamonte Springs, FL 32714
(407) 621-3300
EMO
4300 S Semoran Blvd Ste 202
Orlando, FL 32822
View Location Map
Type of Entity: Door to Door selling
Principal: Lisa Piccione, Owner
Local Phone Number: (407) 706-0082
Fax Number: (407) 706-0082
TOB Classification: Shopping Services-Cosmetics-Direct Door-Door
The information in this report has either been provided by the company, or has been compiled by the Bureau from other sources.
Nature of Business
According to information obtained from consumers, this company advertises a position for a receptionist/administrative assistant. Consumers responding to the advertisement are advised there is a 4-8 week training period with a salary of $200-$400 per week.
Training consists of selling fake designer perfumes on street corners, in malls etc.
Customer Experience
The Bureau has received one consumer complaint concerning misrepresentation of the employment offer, non receipt of the advertised training salary and non payment of commissions on merchandise sold.
The company responded to the complaint with an explanation of its position.
Additional Business Names
This company also does business as E M O and Scentura Creations.
Additional Telephone Numbers
Additional phone numbers for this company include (407) 737-6556.
Additional Addresses
Additional addresses for this company include 205 W State Rd 434 Ste D, Winter Springs, FL 32708.
******
INDY DESIGN
260 Northland Blvd. Suite 111
Cincinnati, OH 45246
Local Phone Number: (513) 791-2250
TOB Classification: Shopping Services-Cosmetics-Direct Door-Door
Customer Experience
This firm first came to our attention in May 2000. The Bureau has sent two requests for basic information to this company but, as of today, has received no reply. Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to an unanswered complaint or complaints. The company has resolved one complaint; however, other complaints remain unresolved.
When evaluating complaint information, please consider the company's size and volume of business. The number of complaints filed against the company may not be as important as the type of complaints and how the company handled them.
Closed Complaints
Number of complaints processed by the BBB since the firm's BBB file was opened in May of 2000: 3
Number of complaints processed by the BBB in last 12 months: 2
Complaints Concerned
Advertising Issues: 1
Outcome of the complaint -
Company did not respond: 1
Delivery Issues: 2
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 1; Company did not respond: 1
********
BBB Reliability Report
Creative Designs
4970 Raleigh-Lagrange Rd. #9A
Memphis, TN 38128
General Information
Principal : Mr. Patrick King Owner
Phone Number: (901) 388-1003
Type-of-Business Classification: Direct Marketing (Door-to Door)
The information in this report has either been provided by the company, or has been compiled by the Bureau from other sources.
Customer Experience
According to information provided by the company, Creative Designs, also currently doing business as Southern Designs, began business in June 2001. The Bureau opened its file in June 2001. The firm states they offer fragrance products marketed by Scentura Creations headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
BBB file information indicates this company regularly advertises in the Commercial Appeal and other local publications seeking applicants with no experience for what the company calls "management" positions. Ads claim earnings in excess of $35,000 and/or $200 to $500 paid weekly while training. Several individuals who have responded to the company's advertising have advised the Better Business Bureau that upon applying for these positions, they were placed with numerous other applicants in a group interview and told that interested applicants must first work as independent contractors for the company selling fragrances door-to-door to businesses and individuals, and in other areas such as shopping centers, parking lots and gas station lots. According to these individuals, trainees are paid in cash and are not actual employees of the company and therefore are responsible for reporting their income to the proper federal & state agencies, as well as obtaining their own peddler's license.
Based on BBB files, Creative Designs has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to their failure to substantiate earnings claims and for misleading advertising of employment opportunities.
The BBB urges caution when considering such business opportunities. These companies advertise and operate nationally under a variety of names, all making similar or identical employment claims. Potential applicants should understand that while working as an independent contractor, the seller would be responsible for securing the proper business licenses, paying all applicable taxes to the various governmental agencies, and for reporting their earnings to the Internal Revenue Service. Lastly, do not rely on verbal promises and get all details regarding an employment offer in writing.
Additional Information
Additional Doing-Business-As Names: Scentura Creations
Southern Designs
Additional Addresses: 2600 Poplar Ave. #415, Memphis, TN 38112
Additional Phone Numbers: 901-380-4020
901-377-9988
901-458-3919
********
Scentura Creations Modern Concepts
4625 I 45 North
Houston, TX 77076
General Information
Principal : Owner
Phone Number: (713) 699-1991
The information in this report has either been provided by the company, or has been compiled by the Bureau from other sources.
Customer Experience
Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to unanswered complaint(s).
When evaluating complaint information, please consider the company's size and volume of business. The number of complaints filed against the company may not be as important as the type of complaints and how the company handled them.
Closed Complaints
Number of complaints processed by the BBB since the firm's BBB file was opened in May of 2001: 1
********
BBB Reliability Report, closed Scentura distributors
Maybe, despite all of the information that I have provided, you may still feel that Scentura is the job for you, keep in mind out of the 50 listed distributors on the BBB.org website, 23, almost half, have closed. The website:
http://www.snowcrest.net/writers/fraud.html
and
http://seniors-site.com/fraud/
Have contributors who claim that a majority of these businesses go under within the first year. Is this something you would really want to invest your time in?
Scentura Creations
http://spock.usshurdman.com/~fresno/commonreport.html?compid=62000319&national=Y
1925 H Street, Suite #204
Bakersfield, CA 93301
General Information
Phone Number: (661) 336-0996
Type-of-Business Classification: Perfume-Wholesalers & Mfrs
International Imports
http://spock.usshurdman.com/~fresno/commonreport.html?compid=30000922&national=Y
2499 W. Shaw #106
Fresno, CA 93711
Original Business Start Date: July 1992
Principal : Ms. Cynthia Rodgers Owner/Partner
Phone Number: (559) 229-7565
Type-of-Business Classification: Perfume-Wholesalers & Mfrs
Impact USA, Inc.
http://www.clearwater.bbb.org/common.html?location=/home/common/www/mis67/report.php&bureau=clear&compid=41000426&national=Y
14450 46th St N Ste 105
Clearwater, FL 33762
Original Business Start Date: June 1995
Principal : Mr. Robert J. Silver President
Phone Number: (727) 532-1971
Type-of-Business Classification: Shopping Services-Direct Marketing-Other Than Catalogues
California Design
http://spock.usshurdman.com/~fresno/commonreport.html?compid=14000858&national=Y
1206 G Street, #103
Fresno, CA 93706
Original Business Start Date: February 1994
Principal : Mr. Mike Orr Co-owner
Phone Number: (559) 224-8498
Type-of-Business Classification: Perfume-Wholesalers & Mfrs
Central Illinois Career Management
http://www.peoria.bbb.org/commonreport.html?compid=4002813&national=Y
1315 E. Seiberling Ave. Suite 4
Peoria Hts., IL 61614
Original Business Start Date: June 1996
Principal : Mr. Bret William Killus Owner
Phone Number: (309) 679-9743
World Wide Distributors
http://www.bosbbb.org/reports/reliability_report.asp?FirmId=0000046781
Scentura Creations
ID: 0000046781
Company address: 153 Broadway
Raynham, MA 02767
See the location on a map
Original business start date: 1992
Principal: Troy Slack, Branch Manager
Phone number: 508-821-3194
Type of business: COSMETICS & PERFUMES-RETAIL
Capital Management
http://www.bbbenc.org/common.html?location=/home/common/www/mis67/report.php&bureau=raleigh&compid=6038052
3820 Merton Dr Suite 217
Raleigh, NC 27609
Phone Number: (919) 571-2611
Type-of-Business Classification: COSMETICS-DIRECT DOOR TO DOOR
EXTREME DESIGN
http://www.cleveland.bbb.org/nis/newsearch2.asp?ID=1&ComID=0312000012001176
5311 Northfield Rd. #218
Bedford, OH 44146
Local Phone Number: (216) 475-4906
Type-of-Business Classification: Business Opp-Multi-Level Selling Companies
SCENTURA CREATIONS
http://www.cleveland.bbb.org/nis/newsearch2.asp?ID=1&ComID=0312000043001086
21330 Center Ridge Rd.
Rocky River, OH 44116
Local Phone Number: (216) 295-0048
Type-of-Business Classification: Business Opp-Other
VISION ONE INDUSTRIES
http://search.cinbbb.bbb.org/nis/newsearch2.asp?ID=1&strBCode=02920000&ComID=0292000001175622
7164 Beechmont Avenue Suite 206 A
Cincinnati, OH 45255
Local Phone Number: (513) 232-1991
Type-of-Business Classification: Shopping Services-Cosmetics-Direct Door-Door
Additional File Information (FOR ALL ABOVE BUSINESSES)
According to information in Bureau files, it appears that this company is no longer in business. The phone numbers the Bureau had for this company are disconnected, and directory assistance does not have a listing for this company. The Bureau's mail to this company has been returned as undeliverable. If you have an unresolved dispute with this company you may wish to seek legal advice.
---OR----
As of the date of this report, the status of this company is unknown. Mail has been returned with no forwarding information. This firm may be out of business.
***********
Distributors which still show up on the bbb.org web page (http://search.bbb.org/) but which have no page
(probably closed down also)
KEN AMERICAN
(SCENTURA CREATIONS)
9774 Katella Ave. Suite 101
ANAHEIM, CA
Also:
http://www.sandiego.bbb.org/
ESSESTIAL ENTERPRISES
(SCENTURA CREATIONS)
1440 South State College, Suite 4 K
ANAHEIM, CA
Also:
http://www.sandiego.bbb.org/
J & J ENTERPRISES
(SCENTURA CREATIONS)
6101 Ball Road., Suite 305
CYPRESS, CA
SCENTURA CREATIONS
16921 South Western Ave., Suite 103
GARDENA, CA
SCENTURA CREATIONS
13030 Inglewood Avenue Suite 105
HAWTHORNE, CA
CALIFORNIA DESIGNS
(SCENTURA CREATIONS)
2257 Business Way
RIVERSIDE, CA
COMMERCIAL WHOLESALE
(SCENTURA CREATIONS)
2257 Business Way
RIVERSIDE, CA
GLOBAL INDUSTRIES
(SCENTURA CREATIONS)
738 South Waterman Suite C 40
SAN BERNARDINO, CA
PARADISE FRAGRANCES
(SCENTURA CREATIONS)
2116 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 220
SANTA MONICA, CA
SCENTURA CREATIONS
14531 Hamlin
VAN NUYS, CA
ALDO ENTERPRISES INC.
(SCENTURA CREATIONS, INC.)
6725 Varliel Avenue
CANOGA PARK, CA
SCENTURA CREATIONS & PRODUCTS
2100 East Howell Ave., Suite 108
ANAHEIM, CA
PARADISE ENTERPRISES
(SCENTURA CREATIONS)
5601 West Slausen Avenue Suite 110
CULVER CITY, CA
******
OTHER ALIASES FOR YOUR LOCAL WORLD PERFUME OR SCENTURA?
Email them to me:
Notworld_perfume@yahoo.com
(KEYWORDS)
KEYWORDS:
world perfume WORLD PERFUME worldperfume cologne scam perfume better business
bureau BBB world perfume international Scentura John Whitworth Johnny Whitworth
scams waterfront designs
Cincinnati Design
CHIC ENTERPRISES
WORLD PERFUME COMPANY
WORLD MARKETING &
PROMOTIONS SILVER STONE ENTERPRISE
HORIZON UNLIMITED
D & D ENTERPRISES NEW
DIMENSIONS
International Management Inc
Executive Design
DBA International Marketing
Lakeshore Design
Unlimited Marketing
Centex Enterprises
Bayside Enterprises
Heaven Scent ( Scentura )
Executive Design ( Chicago )
DBA International Marketing ( Kansas City )
World management
Elite marketing
Scentex ( Austin )
Apex Distributors ( Oklahoma )
Dynasty International, Towson, Maryland (from http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff24900.htm )
Bayside enterprises, Don goff, 260 Gateway Drive Suite 7-8B
Bel Air, MD 21014 410-399-9898
World Management 314-739-0255 Saint Louis, MO (from Ida idaida2003@yahoo.com )
Global Marketing ( Scottsdale, Arizona ; classifieds: Arizona Republic )
Apex Distributors (Tulsa, Oklahoma )
Waterfront Design ( Salt Lake City Utah )
Designers International Homewood, AL.
LA Wholesale Memphis, TN.
Executive Design 261-4261 Salt Lake City Utah
Commercial Design 467-8972 467-8971 Salt Lake City Utah
Scentura Distributor Aliases:
(from DEFUNCT web page now erased off of Google’s cache:
http://www.csh.rit.edu/~davek/scentura.html and the currently working:
http://www.intergov.org/InterGOV_Newspaper/09-09-02/scam_information1_14.htm )
International Design Chicago, IL
Atlantic Enterprises New Jersey
Hylcon Riverside, CA
Progressive Designs Jacksonville, FL
Designers International Burmingham, AL
Opportunity Knocks Burmingham, AL
Gateway Management St. Louis, MO
Modern Concepts Houston, TX
Essence Unlimited Garden City, NY
Cream Enterprises Allentown, PA
Platinum Enterprises Long Beach, CA
Meridian Management Ewing, NJ
Commercial Wholesale Salt Lake City, UT
Texas Scents International San Antonio, TX
Titan Wholesale Industries Nashville, TN
Regional Design Indianapolis, IN
Atlantic Promotions Kannappolis, NC
PMA Management West Haven, CT
Designers International Las Vegas, NV
Extreme Enterprises Portage IN
Observe L'Essance Pittsburgh, PA
J&T Enterprises New Jersey
Essence Management St. Petersburg, FL
Utopia Enterprises Sacramento, CA
Divisional Management Noblesville, FL
International Design Lathrup, MI
Austin Concepts Austin, TX
Distribution Company Fresno, CA
PN&B Marketing Charlotte, NC
Phoenix Management Middlesex, NJ
JP&A management Pittsburgh, PA
Divisional Management Noblesville, IN
International Design Southfield, MI
Pheonix Mangement Middlesex, NJ
Ciptiques Management Middle Village, NY
Stellar Essence Salem, OR
Progressive Design Jacksonville FL
Skyline Management Chicago, IL
Odyssey Imports Fresno, CA
Bayside Enterprises Maryland
Texas Scents International (http://www.texasscentsinternational.com/fragrances.html)
Designers International, Inc (http://www.designersinternationalinc.com/aboutus.html)
Fragrances By Nat (http://www.fragrancesbynat.com/products.html)