Complaint Review: Red Bull North America

In November of 2005, my husband and I made a decision to start up our own business and buy 3 Red Bull Vending Machines through Creative Concepts of America, which was a"Red Bull Vending Machine Franchise Company".

As we, ourselves, enjoyed the Red Bull product, we thought that purchasing 3 Red Bull Vending machines was a very safe and smart decision especially considering that this was a Red Bull FRANCHISE.

After doing our homework and speaking with a Red Bull / Creative Concepts representative Jeffrey Youngbauerwe decided to purchase 3 machines at a cost of $4, 210.00 each. On 11/08/2005, a check in the amount of $12,630.00 was cashed. We received a business packet and 3 Red Bull vending machines shortly thereafter. Creative Concepts / Red bull referred us to a locating service whereby they found (very "shady") locations for our 3 machines for a fee of approximately $1,200.

The machines failed horribly. Red Bull / Creative Concepts estimated selling an average of 27.6 cans a day (Gross profit of $.75 per can. 3 machines = $62.10/day, $434.70/week). It ended up that we were selling approximately 5 cans per week per machine.

In April of 2006, we received a call from Red Bull / Creative Concepts stating that they would like to extend the offer of buying back the machines because they had "upgraded their machines" to offering 3 products instead of 1. Of course, the buy back included a loss, which was expected. However, after much thought, my husband and I determined that the loss we would suffer if we sold our machines back would be much less than if we decided to keep them. So, we went ahead and agreed to sell back all 3 machines. A contract was signed and all seemed legitimate.

We upheld our end of the bargain and had all 3 machines moved to our garage. We contacted Red Bull / Creative Concepts, who had a moving company come and retrieve them from our garage. The agreement stated that Red Bull / Creative Concepts would buy back 3 vending machines at $2,800.00 per machine. A check for $3,000.00 would be issued once they had the machines in their possession and determined there was no damage. The remaining balance of $5,400.00 would be paid in equal payments within 6 months starting June 1, 2006 (to be automatically deposited).

The $3,000 never materialized. Rather, we received an email from Creative Concepts, declaring that they were in the 1st stages of bankruptcy. As Creative Concepts was a "Red Bull" franchise, we contacted Red Bull directly and let them know what happened. Red Bull admitted to having a relationship with Creative Concepts, but indicated that the relationship was severed once bankruptcy was declared. Red Bull disregarded our losses and complete ignored our continuous complaints and inquiries into the entire situation.

Red Bull is an unethical company, with very unethical business practices. They took advantage of a business opportunity. Once the business opportunity failed, Red Bull completely disregarded those of us that spent thousands of dollars on "their" machines; with absolutely no effort to reconcile the situation and do the right thing.

Michele
Carlsbad, California
U.S.A.