Complaint Review: Avon Cosmetics - Nationwide

PLEASE DO NOT SIGN UP FOR AVON! THEY ARE GOING THROUGH A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT FOR FRADULENT BILLING. PLEASE SEE ARTICLE BELOW.

I was an AVON rep in college to make a few extra dollars. My whole family ordered AVON products from me for Christmas. I never received the products and AVON never alerted me there was a problem. In fact, they were closed for the holidays and I couldn't get in touch with anyone for almost a week.

I found out there was some problem, and the products never got shipped and all my family and friends that ordered from me were without gifts on Christmas Eve! They were so upset, they had to run out and find last minute gifts to give! I was furious! Not only did I miss out on money, Avon ruined Christmas for my entire family! The phone number to get in touch with Avon is first of all a long distance call (couldn't they at least give us a 1-800 number), they make you wait on the phone for hours to get through to anyone (making your phone bill go sky high), and then they can't even really help you when you get in touch with someone.

I got back to college in January and they had shipped all the Christmas stuff to my college address! So I returned all the products back to them and they say they never received it and I owe the amount of the goods. This was two years ago. Now the collection agency has been calling my house, harrassing me, for 2 years straight trying to collect $140 that Avon says I owe - which is absolutely false - and they are threatening to sue me for $140 worth of products that Avon lied and said I never returned! They have now put this on my credit report and ruined my credit. I am trying to start a business and I can't even get financing because they have ruined my credit with this false charge!!!

I can't get in touch with Avon because their customer service line sucks, and they tell me they have no records of my existence at the company because I was a rep more than 6 months ago. Complete crap!! But they can absolutely say I owe them $140 and ruin my credit because they lied and said I never returned the products! Never sign up for Avon unless you are going to put up with their crap!

Here is the article regarding Avon's fradulent billing and the class action lawsuit:

LOS ANGELES, July 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit

filed against Avon Products, Inc., won an important legal victory last week

when the California Court of Appeals, Second Appellate District, agreed to

review rulings previously issued against the plaintiffs by the Los Angeles

County Superior Court. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs contend that Avon

unfairly competes and artificially boosts its financial bottom line by

shipping unordered products to its sales representatives, who are then coerced

by Avon into accepting and paying for such products even after they have been

returned to Avon for credit -- a series of practices known as "channel

stuffing." Plaintiffs seek to represent a nationwide class of current and

former Avon sales representatives (commonly referred to as "Avon Ladies") who,

like themselves, were hurt by Avon's "channel stuffing" practices.

In two rulings issued on March 16 and June 1, 2004, the Superior Court

dismissed three of the plaintiffs from the lawsuit, finding that they were not

proper class representatives. The Superior Court also threw out the

plaintiffs' claims for fraudulent concealment, breach of contract, and unfair

competition, finding that the facts stated in their complaint failed to

support such claims. Huron Maki & Johnson, the firm representing the

plaintiffs, promptly filed petitions for review with the Court of Appeals,

arguing that the Superior Court's findings were erroneous and that its rulings

should be reversed.

Although the vast majority of such petitions are denied, the Court of

Appeals took the rare step in this instance of granting review. On June 24,

2004, after considering arguments made by counsel for both sides, the Court of

Appeals ordered the Superior Court to either vacate its March 16th and June

1st rulings and enter new rulings in favor of the plaintiffs, or convince the

Court of Appeals that it should not have to do so.

"We are extremely pleased by the Court of Appeals' order, as well as by

how quickly it was rendered," said Jeff Huron, lead counsel for the

plaintiffs. "The individuals involved in this class action are ordinary women

who joined Avon to help make ends meet and quickly found themselves being

forced to pay for unwanted products. They face an enormous battle against

Avon. We believe that our discovery will show that Avon has a company-wide

practice of 'channel stuffing' and inflating the numbers of its legitimate

sales and representatives."

The complaint filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court on January

23, 2004, named plaintiffs Raven Blakemore, Robin Smith, Lupe Lane, and Elda

Garcia and detailed the numerous instances of "channel stuffing" they

experienced during their tenures as Avon sales representatives. According to

Huron, the number of such occurrences within the class (which has yet to be

certified) is overwhelming. Huron estimates that the size of the nationwide

class numbers in the thousands and notes that there is still time for other

appropriate individuals to become named plaintiffs.

About Huron Maki & Johnson LLP

Based in Los Angeles, Calif., Huron Maki & Johnson LLP, previously known

as Huron Law Group LLP, is dedicated to obtaining the best results for its

clients, first and foremost. Most recently, the firm led a community bank to

an undisclosed settlement in a fraud case against a top ten accounting firm.

M.

Austin, Texas
U.S.A.