Older and wiser
Beaumont,#2
Wed, August 26, 2009
To Nancy in Arlington, Texas and anyone else that may have a similar situation, I would like to offer my sincere apology for any anxiety or losses you may have suffered when I closed my body wrap salon. It has been over a year since I closed, but I just today ran across this report and I would like an opportunity to explain the situation.
First of all, I want to reassure you, Nancy that you did NOT come into contact with any contaminated products when you came into my salon. I actually learned about the possible contamination of the Suddenly Slender products in November of 2007. Another Suddenly Slender Licensee was investigating the company and she came across the FDA reports indicating there was a consistent problem with the manufacturing process and the products were not deemed to be safe. When I received this information, I immediately stopped using the Suddenly Slender products. I destroyed everything that had been manufactured by that company and began using a body wrap product called Skinny Skin.
At the time, I was operating as a Licensee of Suddenly Slender out of Clearwater, Florida and was under a very strict contract with the owner, Victoria Morton. This contract stipulated that I, and any other Licensee that used a body wrap product other than Suddenly Slender, would be sued for breech of contract....for no less than $100,000.
For this reason, I was unable to openly admit to using another, safe product. It was a "Catch 22" situation. I and several other Licensees were trying our best to force Suddenly Slender to change their manufacturing process to meet FDA standards and produce safe products....yet we were unable to admit that we were no longer using these products for fear of being sued and losing everything. Those of us who were really pushing the issue received threatening letters on a regular basis from Ms. Morton's lawyers, so we were having to tread lightly and cover our behinds as much as possible.
To my knowledge, Suddenly Slender has not made any changes to their manufacturing process and most likely still produces questionable products. As a result, many of the Licensees have stopped using the Suddenly Slender products and it is taking its toll on the company. In the past year, Victoria Morton has vacated her headquarters and is now operating the business from her home. Her "business address" as listed on her web site is actually a dilapidated, abandoned storage building!
I also want to explain the need and reason for the closing of my salon. My parents, who lived six hours away from me, were having a great deal of health issues during the months prior to my closing. An emergency situation arose in June of 2008 that required me to be with them for an extended period of time and I had no choice but to close the salon.
I contacted one of my competitors, Nicole of Wrap Me Now in Fort Worth, told her of my situation and arranged to sell my business to her. She paid me 50 cents on the dollar for all of my equipment, furnishings and supplies. She also bought my client data base, which is very common, and agreed to fulfill any outstanding obligations/contracts I had with my clients. I turned over all of my client files to her so she would know exactly who had bought wrap packages, how many wraps they had already received, and how many they had left to receive.
I sent an email to all of my clients at the time to explain this situation to them and to refer them to Nicole and Wrap Me Now for any future services. Why you did not receive this email and were not aware of the situation, I have no clue. You were apparently receiving emails from me at least through May of 2008 (Mother's Day) and I closed the salon in June. Possibly you overlooked that email or changed your email address during that time and did not receive it?
After being gone for a few weeks, I started to receive word that Nicole was not meeting her obligations and was refusing to provide "free" services to my clients who had prepaid as you did. She was actually denying any affiliation with me at all and pretended not to have any idea why my clients were coming to her and expecting to receive the remainder of their body wraps at no additional charge. Her failure to live up to her end of our business agreement has left many people feeling as if I personally had taken advantage of them and let them down.
As soon as I realized what was happening, I did seek legal counsel to explore my options on how to remedy the situation. My only choice was to take her to court and force her to fulfill her obligations to me and to my clients. Unfortunately, retaining an attorney to fight this battle for me would cost much more money than I had available to spend and I was advised that it could remain in court for years before being resolved.
So, who got ripped off? You and I both did! What recourse is there for either one of us? At this point in time, none. I know this doesn't make you feel any better about your loss, but I honestly do hope and pray that you understand the situation now and can forgive me for trusting the wrong person and for making a bad decision that cost us both.