Re: Scentura Creations purfume scam.
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Posted by notworld_perfume@yahoo.com on November 29, 19102 at 11:29:50:
In Reply to: Re: Scentura Creations purfume scam. posted by Maida on October 26, 19100 at 05:08:30:
Contact Info: notworld_perfume@yahoo.com INDEX: * NEWS ARTICLES ABOUT WORLD PERFUME *WHY THIS WEBPAGE WAS CREATED WHAT IS WORLD PERFUME / Scentura? What
can I expect from training? *Pay and benefits *Are World Perfume and Scentura the same company? *Description of what happens, Day to Day
*First and second interview *Keep in mind this about World Perfume and Scentura *HOW TO SHUT DOWN YOUR LOCAL WORLD PERFUME / Scentura *How our efforts forced a local world perfume distributor to change
their classified advertising * SCENTURA CREATIONS is a multi-marketing scheme, according to
APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS SECOND DISTRICT * Letter to Tax commission, change for your local Scentura/ World
Perfume distributor *response to Mr. Christopher Doan’s email and chat line message
(Mr. Doan is a big distributor of World Perfume)
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- *******NEWS ARTICLES ABOUT WORLD PERFUME*******
News article about World Perfume:
http://www.newsnet5.com/specialassignment/1040015/detail.html Scentura better business report on one of the distributors
http://dell.hurdmanivr.com/stl/news082002a.html **************WHY THIS WEBPAGE WAS CREATED ***************** What is World Perfume? In late October, 2002, I was hired to work for World perfume. I was
estatic
because of the promise of $30,000 to $40,000 a year in a management
position.
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
World Perfume
is the most elaborate multi-level marketing, pyramid scheme. World
Perfume
teaches its employees to blatantly lie to consumers, it lies to its
employees,
and it has many unethical business practices, bordering on illegal. I was desperate for a job, and I wasted five business days with this
company. I
feel betrayed and lied too. I write this article in the hopes that
others
people will not make the same mistake that I have. 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 (Actual ads appearing in Salt Lake Tribune, Oct-Nov 2000)
General background
This is from information from the first three meetings and the group
interview: World Perfume was began by Mr. Whitworth in Texas. 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. Most offices are liscensed with a different name, choosen by the
managers, it
is not called World Perfume. For example the Salt Lake City office is
called
"Waterfront Design". The secretary and employees use the secondary
name, not
World Perfume, in answering phone calls and in initial interviews.
Only during
the second, group interview does an interviewee find out that the
actual
busines name is "World Perfume". The company, officially named World Perfume, 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. These people lie for a living. What they do is at best
unethical, and
at worst illegal.
From (Scam Information, Scam of the month, substituing the name
"Scentura" for
World Perfume, Scentura is almost identical)
Your training manager will state that World perfume 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 trespasing 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. This "door to door to businesses" comprises
of 78% of
World Perfume's sales. 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. 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
immitations
(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
immitations,
an obvious lie. (I have this response on audio tape.) Are you angry like me about being scammed by World Perfume? I need
help
compiling this webpage about WPI! If you would like to help email me!
PLEASE SEND ME THE ALIAS NAME OF WPI IN YOUR CITY.
I WILL ADD IT TO THE HOMEPAGE SO WHEN OTHERS IN YOUR AREA SEARCH THE
WEB WILL
FIND THIS WEBPAGE
**************************PAY AND BENEFITS
****************************
What is World Perfume / Scentura? World Perfume promises 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.
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. From (Scam Information, Scam of
the month,
covering "Sentura", a company almost identical to World Perfume ) 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
DID NOT
CALL THE OFFICE TO START A 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.
From fraud chat line
A job with World Perfume 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 will 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. This estimate is
probably
conservative and low. On the first day of training, World Perfume uses these new employees
to peddle
their perfumes and colognes to family and friends, promising $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, and getting a percentage of the
sales,
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. 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 (or your
average
Joe looking for a job in my case). 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). In this case, however, they have
crossed the
line into actually deceiving people. From (Scam Information, Scam of
the month,
covering "Sentura", a company almost identical to World Perfume ) You are not paid throughout training, you work on commision only.
There are three training periods:
*Sales,
*management, and
*administraion. 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. Tammy Kukal , the co-manager of the Salt Lake office, and Mr. Maner,
was 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 ON THE WEBPAGE.
************Is Scentura and World Perfume the same company?
************* LETTER FROM JOHNNY WHITWORTH, PRESIDENT OF WPI Hi,
We left Scentura In 1994 . We are not strucred 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 From the chatline, 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. " 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.
From fraud chat line
Scentura and World Perfume may not be the same company, but they have
an almost identical business models:
*Sell perfume in parking lots
*FFAR (friends family and relatives)
*All distributors buy products on consignment
*Same fraudulent advertising
Please see:
http://www.intergov.org/InterGOV_Newspaper/09-09-02/scam_information1_14.htm **Why does Mr. Whitworth want to distant himself with a company which
has the exact same business model? ************* DESCRIPTION OF WHAT HAPPENS, DAY TO
DAY*********************** DESCRIPTION OF WHAT HAPPENS, DAY TO DAY
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
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 (SPSPSPSPSPSPS) made
small talk. Ms. Kukal (SPSPSPSPSPSPS) 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 Jonny. Ms. Kukal then said to also write this name down, Mark Larecy. Mark
Larcey was
a master perfumer, he left his company (Kalvien Klien) and wanted to
take the
scents with him (I believe she said that she left and worked for "our
company"). He was sued by "Kalvien 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 immitation, which also had
yellow and
white stipes. 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 buttane in it. "What does buttane do?" She asked, "It
catches
on fire." Ms. Kukal then told us the definition of a "rendition market" that it
is the
exact same fragrence, 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 expantion.
There is East to west coast expantion. Threre will be 4-5 new offices
in the
Salt Lake City area in the next 2-6 months. -Florida: Maimi, Tampa, Orlando--future expansion
-Office in Jacksonville
-Office in Atlanta
-Office in Boston
-Possibly future Ohio offices
-Offices in Memphasis, Chicago, Milwakee, St. Louis, and Dallas, all
for future
expantion
-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, boutniful area In the future: Provo/Orem area, possibly downtown area. ******************** Keep in mind this about World Perfume and
Scentura****************************
For those reading this message board for the first time, you will
notice that I have a lot of postings under the name "world perfume". I
was in training for 5 days, I realized quickly that World Perfume was
a scam. I multi-level marketing scam. No matter what is said on this chat line, please keep in mind these
facts,
which none of these distributors will argue: YOU NEVER GET A PAY CHECK
---The job is 100% commision. You will never get a pay check. SELLING PERFUME IN PARKING LOTS
---You will sell "door to door" which means selling perfume in parking
lots
(Christopher Doan, who works for the parent company admitted as much
in the
posting:
http://www.snowcrest.net/writers/fraud/3231.html) 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 busines 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.
SELL PERFUME TO YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS
--Both Scentura and World Perfume 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 whrn in fact they
are
immitations.
INDEPENDANT CONTRACTOR
--Mr. Larry Hahn was a genius. The beauty of the WPI 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 WPI is called is "they are independent" and not part of
our
organization.
(see: http://www.newsnet5.com/specialassignment/1040015/detail.html
for news reports on Scentura and WPI) So, since these distributors are legally independent contractors, WPI
and
Scentura keep their names clean with the Better Business Bureau.
No matter what these distributors say or do, WPI and Scentura are
immune from
prosecution. *****Remember people you ARE NOT getting hired to work in Dallas
Texas, 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", WPI and Scentura is 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 WPI 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 WPI distributor
for lying
and/or misleading you, you are.
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 fradulent these
companies are.
World Perfume and Scentura are frauds, using loop holes in the legal
system. This information threatened World Perfume so they asked Yahoo to close
my site
down. There was no court, my opinion was not asked, Yahoo has a policy
of no
slanderous webpages, and I was slandering World Perfume. On this chat line 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 no the real facts? Am I making money off this, not one penny? Are the hundreds of people who also complain on this website about the
fradulent practices of Scentura and World Perfume making one dime from
complaining about World Perfume? WORLD PERFUME REACTS
In the past week Mr. Johnny Whitworth emailed me 8 times. His office
help,
Christopher Doan emailed me also. Several distributors have also
flooded my
email. Today I found out that (probably) the headquarters of World
Perfume (probably) complained to
Yahoo and they closed my site down Why are they doing this? Because people like YOU, people who realize that they have been lied
to and
mislead printed out messages like this, and gave it to other people in
their
training group. This frightened the owners of the pyramid scheme, and
forced
them to react.
WORLD PERFUMES INTENTION
One word: Money
"Johnny Whitworth....lives in this million and a half dollar home. "
according
to the channel 5 Clevland news report:
http://www.newsnet5.com/specialassignment/1040015/detail.html
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 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. Mr. Whitworth's companies "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? Today 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. Mr. Whitworth is immune from
prosecution from anything the distributors do because every manager
MUST sign an "independent contractor" contact.
NEW WEB PAGE
I am starting to build a new webpage about Scentura and World Perfume
which will be even better than the first one.
Until that time, please take the time to really read the documents I
have written.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
I encouraged people to use the anger and biterness that they had
toward these two companies World Perfume and Scentura, in positive
ways, preventing other people from being lied to and mislead. Print of
the first two pages of this letter and distribute in your class. Use
the information that I have posted in a positive way.
I have a petition below which you can print. You could have people in your training group sign it, with their
names,
addresses, and telephone numbers. This petition would go to your local newspaper that advertised World
Perfume or Scentura in their classifieds, complaining about how
fraudulent World Perfume or Scentura is. Scentura and WPI must continue to recruit people to survive. That is
the crux
of the pyrramid scam. If they are barred from advertising, the pyramid
collapses, and these distribution centers will shut down. FLYER
Those who feel mislead and lied to by World Perfume I encourage you
to: *Print off this article and distribute in class *If you quit already, post this article on the wind sheilds of cars in
the
parking lot on the first or second training day every week(the same
day the
next 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
ammedment,
because the sidewalk is a public, not private property.
--Enclose this article if desired, and also a copy of the news article
at:
http://www.newsnet5.com/specialassignment/1040015/detail.html
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 for
World Perfume (WPI)/Scentura
You need to know this information In late October, 2002, we were hired to work for World Perfume. We
were estatic because of the promise of $30,000 to $40,000 a year in a
management position.
But as we began training, we started to become wary of this company.
After five visits to the office, and three days of training, we
realized that World Perfume is the most elaborate multi-level
marketing, pyramid scheme. 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 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. This “door
to door to businesses” comprises of 78% of World Perfume’s
sales.
****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. ****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 Whiworth admited in an email that he left Scentura in 1994.
They have the same business model.
There is several daming newsreports on World Perfume and three on
Scentura at:
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 scheme in the state of
Illinois:
http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/AppellateCourt/2001/2ndDistrict/September/Html/2000964.htm This is a very small sample of the vast amount of information about
this unethical multi-level marketing scheme.
World Pefume and/or Scentura (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 advetising fradulently.
Every week, week end 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, fragrences" not
for management or office positions, as your classified advertised.
If available, sign your name to the petition to send to your local
classified paper. Otherwise, use the back of this paper to write your experinces, sign
your name if possible, or attach a letter and mail it to your local
classified ads at: ________________________________________ _________________________________________ Wow,
Just got off the Salt Lake Tribune website. Waterfront Design, a
distributor of
World Perfume advertises in the Salt Lake Tribune And Deseret News.
Was forced
to change their advertising:
*****How my efforts forced world perfume to change their classified
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 ******How our efforts forced a local world perfume distributor to
change their classified advertising*******
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!
***********************
*********** 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 Appelate court to be a multi-level marketing 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." *****************Letter to Tax commision, change for your local
Scentura/ World Perfume distributor********
Utah State Tax Commission
210 North 1950 West
Salt Lake City, Utah 84134 Re: Waterfront Design and tax fraud The office I would like to report:
Waterfront Design (division of World Perfume)
3640 W 2100 S
Salt Lake City, UT 84120-1202
Telephone: 972-3219 Waterfront Design is not collecting income taxes from new trainees. When my training group of 20 people started for Waterfront Design no
tax forms
were filled out. On the first and second day of training, October 28, 2002, the
manager, Joe
Maner said we were going to have a “fun contest”.
Waterfront Design/ World
Perfume 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. Mr. Maner paid all of these
trainees $7
per bottle in cash in envelopes. No income taxes were taken out. On the third day of training, October 30, 2002, Mr. Maner 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. Waterfront Design/ World Perfume is a multi-level marketing scheme
that is
dependent on new employees. Every week this contest is repeated. Please investigate this company. Thank you, **********
***************response to Mr. Christopher Doan’s email and chat
line message (Mr. Doan is a big distributor of World
Perfume)************* 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 WPI, 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 thay are in Dallas, TX and I am
here in ___________."
>>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 WPI. I may have not heard him correctly, all I
heard was Waterfront Design followed by 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 WPI. It appears from what I have read, that most people
don’t know the difference between “the distributor”
and “WPI”. 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 WPI 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 WPI, 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 WPI DOES NOT support 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 WPI 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 WPI is called is "they are
independent" and not part of our organization.
(see: http://www.geocities.com/world_perfume/LINKS.html for news
reports on Scentura and WPI) So, since these distributors are legally independent contractors, WPI
and Scentura keep their names clean with the Better Business Bureau.
No matter what these distributors say or do, WPI and Scentura are
immune from prosecution. *****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", WPI and Scentura is not legally responsible
for any trouble that you get in. For example, Mr. Maner, and several other WPI 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 WPI
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
sceptical 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!
Unfortunatly, 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. ******
>>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, orginals 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.
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.
>>My response:
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% absurdity that he
will still be marketing your perfume. Because in my opinion, based
on ample evidence, every WPI 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 WPI 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 pedelars in cities need a license to sell perfume
in parking lots, or as you call it “door to door”? *****
>>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:
FROM ABOVE:
(REPEAT /REPEAT / REPEAT / REPEAT / REPEAT)
Mr. Larry Hahn was a genius. The beauty of the WPI 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 WPI is called is "they are
independent" and not part of our organization.
(see: http://www.geocities.com/world_perfume/LINKS.html for news
reports on Scentura and WPI) So, since these distributors are legally independent contractors, WPI
and Scentura keep their names clean with the Better Business Bureau.
No matter what these distributors say or do, WPI and Scentura are
immune from prosecution. *****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", WPI and Scentura is not legally responsible
for any trouble that you get in. For example, Mr. Maner, and several other WPI 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 WPI
distributor for lying and/or misleading you, you are.
(REPEAT /REPEAT / REPEAT / REPEAT / REPEAT) {{{{{{{{END}}}}}}}}}
>>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 I mentioned on my web page:
http://www.geocities.com/world_perfume/index.html When there is NO ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT position available and this
position
will ALWAYS be listed in the paper. There are dozens of examples on
my web
page of “unethical” documented cases. You are playing word games again, especially when
“unethical” or ethical is
relative, unless you have certain religious beliefs which spell out
those
unethical or ethical do’s and don’ts. Lets turn it around: Who are YOU to judge what is NOT unethical? >>Mr. Doan's message:
“You state that the "manager" says the 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”.
>>Mr. Doan's message:
“In the "Pay and Benefits" section you state that most offices
have a
"one-year lifespan." Where did you get this information? If you are
referring to our (WPI) customers, then your numbers are entirely
inaccurate. The only customer offices that I know of have been open
for over a year, or have not yet been open for a year. In fact, in
the three years that I have been here, three offices have closed
down, and none were even open for six months. Every other office that
I have seen open up (over twenty) have been open for over a year, or
are new. You also state in this section that "you will receive no
support from
Scentura." Well I would assume not, since Scentura is an entirely
different organization than World Perfume.”
>>My response:
You are referring to this sentence, which I have gotten off chat
lines, and
which I will delete, since this statement may be false:
“Most offices have a 1-year: life span, and when the office goes
down, you will
receive NO SUPPORT FROM SCENTURA. You will be working 16-hour days
just to make
a few dollars.”
*****
>>Mr. Doan's message:
“You take information from "Scam Information covering Scentura"
and
apply it to World Perfume. Again, thay are an entirely different
company, so I am not sure why you apply information about Scentura
when describing World Perfume. >>My response:
>>Mr. Doan's message:
That does not seem very ethical.
>>My response:
Mr. Doan you wrote:
““Are YOU the judge when determining whether a business
practice is ethical or
not? Please clarify.”
It goes both ways. (letter continues, but World Perfume (probably) closed the chat line
and my web page/email)
…..
Thank You,
Christopher Doan ********************************
*******************************
(KEYWORDS)
KEYWORDS: world perfume WPI worldperfume cologne scam perfume better
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