Complaint Review: Elite Designs

I purchased an "Expresscents" candle distributorship in September 2003 from Elite Designs, Inc. for more than $17,000 and was made to believe their was much competition in the Mid-Atlantic territory for this business and was hurried into buying the territory before I was ready. The company also mislead me into using one of their locators to try and help me locate retail sites for an additional $4,000.

After getting started and spending many hours, most of the promises, guidelines, and marketing turned out to be false, misleading and just not true for the business we were told we could build, with little time invested. Many retailers did not want the consignment candles and the locator did the bare minimum and I had to push him to get any results from him, ultimately settling with the locator and receiving some of my money back but very disappointed with my lack of progress.

The product is expensive according to the retailers I sold to and the numbers that Elite uses in their distributor guides are over exagerrated and very misleading. The numbers I achieved were far less than Elite markets and I was doing the business full time - not part-time as they market.

I would not enter into this business scheme and am considering legal action against Elite Designs, Inc. as I have hired an attorney in Rhode Island who is reviewing the situation at this time.

James
Crownsville, Maryland
U.S.A.