Complaint Review: ExpresScents - Country Kitchen Candles - North Providence Rhode Island

In March 2004 I purchased a 40 account pie candle distributorship from ExpresScents and Country Kitchen Candles. I was initially given the impression that this business couldn't fail.

I purchased this distributorship with the understanding that Country Kitchen Candles would set me up with a dependable placement service that would locate and guarantee 40 high volume locations for me to sell my candles in. The candle company recommended and promoted a locator service, Nationwide Placement Services in South Carolina, already knowing a large number of new distributors have been calling and complaining about not getting a response from Steve Jeffers, owner and national director of Nationwide Placement services.

If I had known then what I know today about securing sales locations, I would never have moved forward with acquiring the distributorship. I have to work full time all week to keep a paycheck rolling in. I was told by Ron W of Country Kitchen Candles that I could secure my own locations... apparently he doesn't seem to understand I have a full time job to work, and working "weekends" securing locations significantly reduces the odds of being successful, since most of the store owners or managers that have any authority to make these kind of decisions are not around on the weekends.

To make matters worse, both John M. and Ron W. told me that a representative from Nationwide Placement Service would come to Tucson and physically secure 40 locations for a total cost of $4,000.

In early April 2004 I received a contract from Steve Jeffers to sign and return to him with a down payment of $1,500. When I read through the contract it stated that they would solicit the locations by phone, not physically. I called on April 8th and spoke with Steve Jeffers about this and told him I'm getting inconsistencies from him and from ExpresScents. He said this is how they always handle the costs. I explained to him that my daughter had initiated the contact with him and he told her he doesn't do phone solicitation, he always sends someone out to do the locating in person and allows the distributor to accompany them if they wish to do so. Steve decided then to stick with his initial agreed of $4,000 for 40 locations. Then he FAX'd a new contract and asked for me to sign the papers and send him a check for $1,485 (he said to reduce the payment from $1,500 to $1,485 and mail the contract express).

After being ignored for too long I called Nationwide because the placement representative stopped returning my calls and never showed up to set up my locations. My candles were due in between April 15th and 19th. I called Nationwide to let them know when my shipment was due. On May 12th I finally got a call from someone from Nationwide telling me Steve Jeffers runs and honest business (say what?).

I continued to call Nationwide until, on May 20th, I got hold of an answering service. The woman told me she "has had a lot of calls from very upset distributors not getting a call back". I called Ron W again and told him of my experiences. Ron suggested I call Dave, another placement service owner.

On May 27th I called the placement service rep Joseph, from Nationwide. I finally caught up with him, only to find out Nationwide went belly-up. Joseph said he could work with me without going through a service. He agreed to fly to Tucson June 3rd (now we're 2 months past delivery... already in violation of the contract to guarantee my annual income) and start locating for me. By June 9th I gave up on Joseph and called Ron W and told him about all that was going on.

On June 10th I called Dave from the other placement service. He said he was willing to forego his portion of the cost to help because of all I had been through. He got in touch with a rep... only the rep never called me. (Dave has been the only sincere person I've dealt with)

After talking to Dave again he contacted another rep. This rep did call me. He committed to coming to Tucson the week of July 11th. Finally on July 19th Dan, the rep, called me. He planned on getting with me on July 21st.

Dan and his partner showed up and worked 2 days. They also worked for someone else in a different business while Dan had me transporting him around Tucson; they only secured 6 locations for me, of which 2 went by the wayside very quickly. They said they had a family event to go to in CA and promised to be back either Sunday or Monday. To this date, 10/21/04, I never again heard from nor seen Dan or his partner.

Well it seems that these locators are virtually useless. They take your $2,000- $4,000 (depending on the number of locations/displays you purchase), and virtually do little or nothing to help set up the accounts.

In the meantime, the time period that they use in order to calculate your year end anniversary, necessary to participate in the $ back guarantee, has also expired. There is a $ back guarantee provided you have all of your accounts set up within 30 days of the initial shipment of the candles from the company in R.I., to the distributor. (There are other rules involved in the $ back guarantee, basically having to do with paperwork). So it's a double whammy! They are not responsible for these locator services that they promote and refer you to, as they are separate agreements and separate checks. And as if that's not bad enough, they know that most people can't participate in the money back guarantee because by the time you're done arguing, pleading, fighting and begging with the locator service, and realize you are on your own, your 30 days are up.

They give you so called "distributor references" to call and they have wonderful things to report about the candles and the company. After contacting them once, if you should try calling them again, they usually DO NOT respond. To my understanding these referrals are actually company reps.

It appears as though all the new distributors had the same few "references".

Another huge deception is the burn time on the candles. The brochure states that the small pie candles burn for 40-45 hours and the large pie candles burn for 75-80 hours. After receiving a complaint from one of my "few" stores, I tested both the 6" and 10" candles. I found that if you trim the wicks as they recommend, to inch, the candle only burns straight down with a circular diameter of maybe 2-2 " (approx 1" out from each side of the wick). This leaves a major majority of the wax still in tact, not melted at all... false (deceptive) advertising! I tried burning both 6" and 10" without cutting the wicks at all. They burned much better, but still didn't affect a large portion of the candle. The problem with leaving the wicks long is that it causes the candle to burn out MUCH faster.

Obviously there are a significant number of Country Kitchen Candle distributors that have been "BURNED".

John

Tucson, Arizona
U.S.A.