Complaint Review: Avon Products - Nationwide

1. The Avon Rep who signed you up, didn't do the correct training with you. A well respected 39 year Avon Rep told me, "If you are going to sell Avon, you have to look out for YOURSELF". What she meant is: People come and go with Avon, from the higher ups, to the short term new Avon Rep. Stick it out, devise a personal plan for YOUR SUCCESS, not Avon's. 2. The first time I sold Avon, was 1975, I had a dominating control freak for a Unit Rep. She kept all of the best addresses and neighborhoods for her own sales. When she found out, that I was selling at my beauty college, she tried to have me dropped by Avon. 3. The second time I sold Avon, 2004, I had a Unit Rep, that had a husband dying of cancer,who never returned calls, didn't sign me up as a e-rep, this gal really needed to quit Avon! and a ghastly district Rep that ending up getting fired due to her demeanor and conduct towards Avon Reps. In fact, today, they still call her "Pat the b***h"....and everyone knows who they are talking about....I too owed a little money to Avon--for a e-rep account, that my Unit Rep failed to sign me up for, even though they were charging me for it. I couldn't place any orders or receive any web-site orders either. I found out later, that District b***h Rep, had actually changed my order within Avon, and only had them send me tools, more books etc, but NOT MY CUSTOMERS ORDERS!!! 3. My third attempt to sell Avon, 2008. No real problems. 1. Find a computer savvy, Avon Rep, that has been selling for a long time. 2. Order supplies first, books, hanger bags, business cards, etc. 3. Make your immmediate neighborhood your CORE SALES customers. That is right, get out and actually deliver Avon books to the door knobs of your neighbors. I buy the Avon see through, Plastic door hanger type bag, these are cheap, and have mulitple uses. (hang books and use for product delivery). They are see through, so even from a distance, you can see the Avon book, hanging on a door knob. 4. Invest in a good Avon book cart, or wagen to deliver your books. Go early in the morning on the week days. This is when most of your neighbors are either asleep or at work. 5. Spend the big money on Avon books, that have a CELEBRAITY (Reese Witherspoond etc) on the cover, or are HOLDIDAY: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Customers gravitate to these books. And Avon spends big $$$$ on television commercials. 6. The normal Avon book with a no-name person or products JUST isn't as big a seller, of products. Why sell Avon after two bad attempts. Because, I found myself buying $70.00 dollars worth of stuff one day, and said to myself, "this is crazy,I have a degree in Business Management, Sale & Marketing and Office Technology--plus a background in Cosmetology--I SHOULD BE SELLING THIS STUFF!!!

Ok, I am a fairly new Avon rep & I have been reading all of the "scam" reports going on here about Avon & how it's such a horrible company. If it IS in fact such a horrible company as people on here have been saying then why has it been around for over 120 years? Why would we have so many reps all over the country? Why would it be a Fortune 500 company? The truth is, IT WOULDN'T! If Avon was really as horrible as some people on this website have claimed they would've gone out of business LONG ago. They wouldn't have reps signing up left & right. They wouldn't be on the Fortune 500 list. I have had NO problems whatsoever since signing up. My District Manager is the nicest & most helpful person I have ever met. She has helped me out since I 1st started. Whenever I had/have questions she's always there, she does tailgating parties with me (which I must add are NOT required by Avon like some people have suggested), she gives me new ideas & so much more. And I think what the majority of the complainers are forgetting to realize is that it is YOUR OWN BUSINESS & you have to run it properly in order to see ANY profit! You have to be willing to put the time & effort into it! If you are already working a 40+ hour job & you are at the end of your rope from that then no Avon is NOT what you should be doing. You are not going to have any fun doing it since you are already stressed out from your full time job. Everthing that I have read on these numerous blogs or reports or whatever you ant to call them have been individual rep error...nothing having to do with Avon itself. Most of them have been reps doing things we were warned AGAINST doing when we sign up! I just wish that disgruntled reps who were the ownfall to their business, NOT Avon, would stop badmouthing a wonderful company!

Ok, I am a fairly new Avon rep & I have been reading all of the "scam" reports going on here about Avon & how it's such a horrible company. If it IS in fact such a horrible company as people on here have been saying then why has it been around for over 120 years? Why would we have so many reps all over the country? Why would it be a Fortune 500 company? The truth is, IT WOULDN'T! If Avon was really as horrible as some people on this website have claimed they would've gone out of business LONG ago. They wouldn't have reps signing up left & right. They wouldn't be on the Fortune 500 list. I have had NO problems whatsoever since signing up. My District Manager is the nicest & most helpful person I have ever met. She has helped me out since I 1st started. Whenever I had/have questions she's always there, she does tailgating parties with me (which I must add are NOT required by Avon like some people have suggested), she gives me new ideas & so much more. And I think what the majority of the complainers are forgetting to realize is that it is YOUR OWN BUSINESS & you have to run it properly in order to see ANY profit! You have to be willing to put the time & effort into it! If you are already working a 40+ hour job & you are at the end of your rope from that then no Avon is NOT what you should be doing. You are not going to have any fun doing it since you are already stressed out from your full time job. Everthing that I have read on these numerous blogs or reports or whatever you ant to call them have been individual rep error...nothing having to do with Avon itself. Most of them have been reps doing things we were warned AGAINST doing when we sign up! I just wish that disgruntled reps who were the ownfall to their business, NOT Avon, would stop badmouthing a wonderful company!

Ok, I am a fairly new Avon rep & I have been reading all of the "scam" reports going on here about Avon & how it's such a horrible company. If it IS in fact such a horrible company as people on here have been saying then why has it been around for over 120 years? Why would we have so many reps all over the country? Why would it be a Fortune 500 company? The truth is, IT WOULDN'T! If Avon was really as horrible as some people on this website have claimed they would've gone out of business LONG ago. They wouldn't have reps signing up left & right. They wouldn't be on the Fortune 500 list. I have had NO problems whatsoever since signing up. My District Manager is the nicest & most helpful person I have ever met. She has helped me out since I 1st started. Whenever I had/have questions she's always there, she does tailgating parties with me (which I must add are NOT required by Avon like some people have suggested), she gives me new ideas & so much more. And I think what the majority of the complainers are forgetting to realize is that it is YOUR OWN BUSINESS & you have to run it properly in order to see ANY profit! You have to be willing to put the time & effort into it! If you are already working a 40+ hour job & you are at the end of your rope from that then no Avon is NOT what you should be doing. You are not going to have any fun doing it since you are already stressed out from your full time job. Everthing that I have read on these numerous blogs or reports or whatever you ant to call them have been individual rep error...nothing having to do with Avon itself. Most of them have been reps doing things we were warned AGAINST doing when we sign up! I just wish that disgruntled reps who were the ownfall to their business, NOT Avon, would stop badmouthing a wonderful company!

Ok, I am a fairly new Avon rep & I have been reading all of the "scam" reports going on here about Avon & how it's such a horrible company. If it IS in fact such a horrible company as people on here have been saying then why has it been around for over 120 years? Why would we have so many reps all over the country? Why would it be a Fortune 500 company? The truth is, IT WOULDN'T! If Avon was really as horrible as some people on this website have claimed they would've gone out of business LONG ago. They wouldn't have reps signing up left & right. They wouldn't be on the Fortune 500 list. I have had NO problems whatsoever since signing up. My District Manager is the nicest & most helpful person I have ever met. She has helped me out since I 1st started. Whenever I had/have questions she's always there, she does tailgating parties with me (which I must add are NOT required by Avon like some people have suggested), she gives me new ideas & so much more. And I think what the majority of the complainers are forgetting to realize is that it is YOUR OWN BUSINESS & you have to run it properly in order to see ANY profit! You have to be willing to put the time & effort into it! If you are already working a 40+ hour job & you are at the end of your rope from that then no Avon is NOT what you should be doing. You are not going to have any fun doing it since you are already stressed out from your full time job. Everthing that I have read on these numerous blogs or reports or whatever you ant to call them have been individual rep error...nothing having to do with Avon itself. Most of them have been reps doing things we were warned AGAINST doing when we sign up! I just wish that disgruntled reps who were the ownfall to their business, NOT Avon, would stop badmouthing a wonderful company!

I am currently an Avon Representative and have been for several months now. As far as the eRepresentative fee, there will be one and has always been. Representatives are notified of that fact before they sign up to be an eRep. Representatives are not forced to be an eRep. That is left up entirely to the decision of the representative. Just within the last several months, Avon has offered the opportunity of getting the eRep fees waived each month as long as you have customers order from you through your eRep website. It doesn't matter the number of customers that order, even "one" customer will suffice. Ever since I have signed up to be an eRep, I have never been charged for the eRep fee, except for once when I first signed up. Also, this is not the first time that I have been a representative with Avon. I have been a representative numerous times since I was in my 20's. My mother and I both were reps. I am now 52. I keep coming back to be a rep because this IS a reputable company, they have a good product that my family and I like, but as with any business, you have to work at it. Whenever I would quit, it wasn't because it was a bad company. It was because I either had other things going on at the time, I moved OR just my own pure old laziness - NOT any fault of Avon.

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience! It may be due to customer service dept. not handling properly when asked about those unknown fees or bad leadership...maybe both??? I have dealt with Cust. Serv. a couple of times and second time went well but the first time I was frustrated with it and researched and found solution on my own. In my short time w/Avon I have heard both the good and the bad. I seems to me that maybe it has to do with Leadership you were underneath not explaining the fees properly. Many of those choosing to do leadership are desperate to get many recruits underneath them and do not do a good enough job with explaining all the little details. Did you sign up off the web? My reason for joining Avon was because I have used the product in the past and thought getting discount to be a big plus. Second, if I could make "extra pocket change" I would definitely be happy. Of course I want to do all I can with it and am promoting my business as much as I can in the most cost-effective way I can. I purchase brochures but try not to get too many making use of using my own mini-flyers to go around only giving brochures to those that request them and as business builds I then purchase more. I also continue to distribute brochures past campaign date listed making use of the old brochures as you can back order 2 campaigns back. Lastly, I go over my invoice with a fine tooth comb to make sure there are no additional fees that shouldn't be there. For example during the sell e no fee period I made sure that the rep fee was deducted from my invoice and my orders have always been on time so I haven't had a late fee added so far. Luckily for me my district manager always returns calls and keeps very close contact to make sure business is going smoothly, continuing to grow, and helps resolve issues that come up. Not all Reps in other areas are that lucky. It all boils down to you and your support system. Avon has been around for many years, is well-known and basically it is what it is. Times have changed a great deal since it's beginnings of going door-to-door, with trying to keep up with consumer demand, the computer age, and competing with other major cosmetic companies. The company has had to make changes with how it runs it's business while still trying to maintain the image of personal service to it's customers. Keeping this balance is a challenge in the age of the internet with some of the customers they market too prefer to order via internet while others still prefer the personal service of a rep. They are a very profitable company but unfortunately for the reps it takes time to see that profit. How much profit and how fast you see it varies from person to person. Whether or not this company works for you to do as a business all depends on you and your support system. I'm going slow and steady just breaking even but never in the hole so far. The only reason I break even without seeing profit is by my own doing of buying for myself. I'm sure I will see a small profit if I take a break from buying so much for myself for a while. For others reading this that are thinking about becoming a independent sales representative I would like to add that when and if I go into leadership one thing I plan to do with any new recruits is show what the invoice looks like so that they can see any fees with thier own eyes and explain how getting commission with works. I'm sure from some of the stories I have heard that some Unit Leaders will actually tell people 50% commission and leave it at that. That is deceitful. You are guaranteed 50% with 1st sale and next 3 after that if the next 3 total more than $50 to help you during the time your building your customer base. That is easy to do w/just 1 or 2 customers. After 4th campaign it all depends on total of your sales. Without giving the full breakdown any orders totaling $145 and up awards you between 30-50% commission. The $145 is very easy if you have at least 5-6 steady orders totaling on average $30.00 for 5 customers or $25.00 for 6. For current reps reading this that are planning on going into leadership...please, please, please explain all the little details to your newbies and give constant reminders of these little details as it can be easy for your recruits to miss as you go over with them the first time and some things forgotten. You don't want to get a reputation around town as being a bad Unit Leader and Rep as your downline your trying to build UP will dwindle and go DOWN and eventually your sales may go as well to a better, more motivated rep out there hustling around town. :o) For EX-reps that have tried the business and felt like you really did your best busting butt all over town, spending more than you expected, and still failed to gain what you expected out of it then it must be due to poor support system and lack of knowledge because you are supposed to be in business for yourself...NOT by yourself. Lastly, you can pour tons of money into trying to build your business and unfortunately this is encouraged by some Unit Leaders. It is sort of like gambling...know when to spend...when NOT to spend. Some individuals choose to spend certain amount of money knowing what the deal is and take that gamble regardless. My advice for those that wish to read further is that if you are not a gambler, have a lack of funds currently in your bank acct. and do not already know TONS of people right away to sell to and/or recruit, without having the "gift of gab" then my suggestion is to be conservative and build business slow and steady. There are ways to be cost-effective, spending very little to build the business. This just means that it may take longer to grow your business and get your name out there. Get the $$$$ out of your eyes, know the deal...the REAL deal. Maybe next time you can try to sell tupperware? Sorry...bad joke. Whether your in the right or wrong learn from it and move on.....