Complaint Review: World Perfume Inc - Bel Air & Pasadena Maryland

For more on World Perfume go to: google.groups.com and type World perfume Over 400 pages on the World Perfume and Scentura scams! --- Yawn Lisa, Why don't you distributors come up with some new information? Same blatant lies, all the time, over and over. First of all the idea that I am the only person who posts this info is obviously false, type in "World Perfume" on this site and you will find several testimonies all over the country. Don't believe me? Here are two media reports, including one from the Attorney General of Illinois: [Attorney General of Illinois brings suit against World Perfume distributor] Chicago Daily Herald July 31, 2003, Thursday TOP OF PAGE In these times of rising unemployment, Gil Fergus, the chief of the attorney general's consumer fraud division, warned people to check out companies before entering contracts with them. As prosecutors announced the suit against Best Gourmet, they also announced a filing against a Schaumburg firm accused of promising people managerial positions, then making them sell perfume on the street. Prosecutors say Archie Penson, managing Executive Design of Schaumburg, promised a managerial position to a Streamwood woman, Gina Romano, for sales of World Perfume imitation fragrances. Instead, prosecutors said Romano, as part of her "training," was forced to sell perfume on the street and in shopping mall parking lots. Though company officials maintained they were "marketing" and not selling, prosecutors said, police ticketed Romano and others for failing to have a license to sell. The company's telephone line was "being checked for trouble" Tuesday. In each case, prosecutors asked for restitution, a permanent injunction against the defendants, and penalties of up to $100,000. http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/pressroom/2003_07/073003.html .The second case filed today names Archie M. Penson individually and d/b/a as Executive Design, 1205 Remington Road, Suite M, in Schaumburg, for violating state consumer laws by advertising "management" positions for a line of imitation fragrances manufactured by World Perfume, Inc. Executive Design is not incorporated nor is it registered with the state. According to Madigan's complaint, Penson has placed classified ads in newspapers since December 2002 seeking applicants for salaried branch managers. Applicants, including a Streamwood woman who complained to Madigan's office, were told they would be paid during training. However, after a few days, trainees were paired up and told they must "market" products on the street and in mall parking lots as part of their training. According to the complaint, several trainees were ticketed by local police for not having a business license to sell products even though Penson said the activity was legal because it was only "marketing." Although the defendant interviewed the Streamwood consumer for an alleged job, he failed to tell her that she would be required to sell products, and he led her to believe she would be paid during a training period that was to last between 10 and 13 weeks. A $50 ticket she received for peddling in mid-December from the Schaumburg Police was later dismissed. At the time the consumer filed a complaint with Madigan's office, Executive Design had not paid her for the training period. Madigan's suit seeks a permanent injunction against Penson, a civil penalty of $50,000 and an additional penalty of $50,000 if the court finds the acts were committed with intent to defraud. The suit also seeks restitution and costs. Assistant Attorney General Janice Parker is handling this case for Madigan's Consumer Fraud Bureau. TOP OF PAGE SCENTS OF DECEPTION: TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY Report on World Perfume http://www.newsnet5.com/specialassignment/1040015/detail.html TOP OF PAGE Ron Regan Finds Out The True Scent POSTED: 5:43 p.m. EST November 2, 2001 CLEVELAND -- Brett McCoy, a former salesman: Smell that one, this is Freedom by Tommy Hilfiger. Ron Regan: Brett McCoy claims this was his "sales pitch" to dozens of women. See, I was just selling them at the show for 60 bucks and I need to unload them. Regan: McCoy claims he convinced women they were buying expensive designer fragrances--the real thing...for the half the price. In fact, they were expensive knock-offs. McCoy: From there, we can make up any lie, any story to make the sale. And if I asked if this is the real thing you say--"its the real thing. Regan: McCoy worked for a company that placed these ads that began running last summer. So we decided to answer one of them. Regan: Is it perfume? I've heard of, is it sold in department stores? McCoy: Yes, we carry anything from like Versace, to Liz Clairborne to what else --Polo. Regan: On another day, dozens of young people, trusting those ads, fill a room in this office labeled "International Management." Listen to exactly what they're told. Seminar sound: Same ingredients, mixed the same way, without the same cost. Regan: The company behind those fragrances is headquartered 1,300 miles away...deep in the heart of Texas. World Perfume...I recently bought some perfume from a guy pumping gas...this is the real white diamonds right...yes...do many people know that they sell them in different bottles, oh yea, I mean we get it all from the manufacturers we use them in fragrance show that's what we do. Chic Enterprises is home to World Perfume Inc., a company founded by J.D. Whitworth, a Dallas businessman, who now lives in this million and a half dollar home. Small compared to the home he recently sold. Regan: Hawking perfume brought Whitworth the sweet smell of success. In the early 90s, he bought this home now valued at $3.5 million. It's a company, this father says, recruited his daughter through newspaper ads. Richard Whitney: They can't have a pager, a beeper, can't call home during the middle of the week or during the day. Regan: Richard Whitney complained to the Better Business Bureau. Whitney: My wife and her family compared it with a religious cult, it was like they were brainwashing. Regan: At the time, World Perfume denied any wrongdoing, saying it's "proud of the quality of its work and ethical business practices." But when we wanted to ask a few questions inside their Dallas headquarters...this guy blocked the hallway. Regan: Is there any reason why you won't talk with us? And remember the company representative you first saw in our undercover video? Regan: This is International Management, we're part of a larger company called World Perfume. When we caught up with him...the story changed. Regan: Who do you work for? Rep: It's my company. Regan: Oh, it your company. Rep: What is World Perfume? They are one of the distributors--is that who supplies you--yes, they are one of my suppliers and I am asking you to leave my office right now. Regan: Even the sales force ran for cover. Regan: Do you tell people it's the real fragrance. I have no comment. Regan: Why won't you speak about it. Rep: Because I'm very busy and I'm off somewhere right now. Regan: And customers who bought Brett McCoy's sales pitch say they wasted their money. Diane DiCarlo, a customer: It's like $28 a bottle for watered down ...nothing. Regan: Finally, we found job applicants, lured by huge incomes. Rep: And our top range managers making $75 to $85 thousand dollars a year. Managing new locations. Regan: Right now, the company is undergoing a $10 million expansion plan to open ten new offices. Left only....with a "training" office. Regan: Do you pay these people anything? Rep: Yeah, they get paid off their sales. Regan: They don't get paid a salary? Rep: No. Regan: An office with plenty of free time. International Management insists it tells its sales force that the fragrances that they sell are renditions only and not the real thing. The company declined an opportunity for an on-camera interview to fully discuss its sales practices. -- The Scentura connection: This is a common distortion of World Perfume, that World Perfume is nothing like Scentura. The owner of World Perfume, Johnny Whitworth, was the top distributor in Scentura in the early 90's: the top of the pyramid scheme. He stole Scentura's idea and started his own perfume business, which is almost a mirror image of Scentura. Here is proof: ARE WORLD PERFUME AND SCENTURA THE SAME COMPANY? Because of Scentura's horrible reputation, World Perfume distributors and the headquarters office aggressively attempts to distance itself from any association to Scentura. The fact is that World Perfume and Scentura are two distinct companies, but they have virtually the same business models. World Perfume and Scentura's training is exactly the same. The President of World Perfume, Johnny Whitworth, worked for Scentura for years as Scentura's top distributor. Mr. Whitworth left Scentura to start his own perfume business, World Perfume, in 1994. When he left he took the business model with him and applied it to World Perfume. He also stole the training manuals, which can be clearly seen in the training sessions showing the training sessions are EXACTLY alike. Many distributors have been lured away from Scentura to work for World Perfume. Scentura and World Perfume may not be the same company, but their distributors have almost identical business models: *Sell perfume in parking lots *FFAAR (friends family and relatives) contest *All distributors buy products on consignment *Same fraudulent classified advertising *Same Multi-level marketing scheme *Very similar training, using the same analogies, promises, lies, and acronyms (K.I.S.S. FFAAR, Training=Torture, Fear of Loss, "Drop", P.M.A.=O.P.M. ). For a copy of 120-pages of Scentura distributor training files, which World Perfume's training is very similar to please email me at: [email protected] Excerpts of these files and table of contents are here. Start date World Perfume 1994 after being a distributor of Scentura Scentura Larry Hahn began Wholesale Merchandise and W.M. Industries (WMI) in 1975 in Atlanta Georgia. WMI was a wholesaler of consumer products, which have included tools, artwork, kitchen products, and electronics. In the mid 80's the name was changed to Scentura Creations and the company began to focus exclusively on perfume sales. Headquarters World Perfume Dallas Texas Scentura Atlanta Georgia Distributors World Perfume About 50 sales offices according to inside sources. Scentura 570 sales offices worldwide according to Buffalo News; Buffalo, N.Y.; Mar 28, 1992 Offices across the US, England, Canada, and Israel. The striking similarities between the two companies Name of imitation perfume: World Perfume Parfum Du Monde Scentura Observ L ssence Both titled: The opportunity page. World Perfume www.worldperfumeinc.com/opp.asp Scentura www.scenturacreations.com/ opportunity.htm The spiel on the opportunity page World Perfume Imagine being your own boss. Imagine having financial freedom. Scentura This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be in business for yourself. FFAAR contest World Perfume FFAAR contest (Family, Friends Acquaintances and Relatives contest) Scentura FFAAR contest (Family, Friends Acquaintances and Relatives contest) The spiel behind the FFAAR contest World Perfume Practice selling on your family and friends. Scentura Practice selling on your family and friends. Advertisements in the classifieds World Perfume Always advertise no experience necessary and management positions available in the classifieds, every week for as long as the local business is open. Scentura Always advertise no experience necessary and management positions available in the classifieds, every week for as long as the local business is open. Taxes World Perfume All employees are responsible for declaring and keeping track of their own taxes. Scentura All employees are responsible for declaring and keeping track of their own taxes. Independent contractor contract World Perfume Before going out and selling perfume, all employees must sign an independent contractor contract, stating that the parent company is not liable for anything that the employees do. Scentura Before going out and selling perfume, all employees must sign an independent contractor contract, stating that the parent company is not liable for anything that the employees do. Independent contractor contract for distributors World Perfume All distributors also must sign an independent contractor contract, stating that the parent company is not liable for anything that the distributor does. Scentura All distributors also must sign an independent contractor contract, stating that the parent company is not liable for anything that the distributor does. Distributors usually encourage employees to lie and say that the product is the original, and not an imitation. World Perfume McCoy claims he convinced women they were buying expensive designer fragrances--the real thing...for the half the price. In fact, they were expensive knock-offs. -- Scents Of Deception: To Buy Or Not To Buy http://www.newsnet5.com/ specialassignment/ 1040015/detail.html Scentura Media report on Scentura: "We didn't have these products until the day after we sold them," he said. "And then they brought in the different types of cologne and perfumes, and that's when it really caught me. I said 'Wait, this isn't what I was selling to people.'" Media report on Scentura: They told would-be customers they were selling famous- name perfumes dirt cheap as part of a promotion. ---- "A WMI brochure describes the experience of Johnny Whitworth, who is still with Hahn: " He left behind a salary of $150,000, but that didn't bother Johnny. With hard work, enthusiasm, and doing things the "WMI" way, after one year his income hit $600,000." --- From "Who wants to be rich? Larry Hahn: from sleeping in a car to a $5 million home", ---- My World Perfume Experience The ad: After seeing an ad in the Salt Lake Tribune for managers, I called and went to the interview. ==== Michael Cronin's Scentura Experience The ad: After seeing an ad in the Times (south suburban Chicago paper) for 25 full-time positions, up to $575 a week, I called the phone number that was listed there during my lunch hour on a Monday afternoon. === My World Perfume Experience The Business: The building was unmarked with no sign out front. === Michael Cronin's Scentura Experience The Business: I showed up at Extreme Enterprise in Portage, IN. Or at least I thought I did. I figured it had to be it based on the directions that I had, although there was a sign out front, nowhere did it say which suite belonged to Extreme. Very nice. No name on the building and no address anywhere to be seen. My house at least has the address posted. And most people's houses have their name on the mailbox or a decorative plaque on the front door or something...but this business can't even manage that. Probably because they don't expect to be there long enough to bother... --- My World Perfume Experience The resume and interview The First Interview Wednesday, October 23, 2002 (I interviewed alone, but some people interviewed in groups of two) Ms. Kukal had me rate myself from a 1 to 10. She also had me list three qualities that describe myself. --- Michael Cronin's Scentura Experience The First Interview Monday, December 10, 2001 So after filling out a form ...with a bunch of questions about how I rate myself dealing with other people and where my last job was and how much I made there and how much I'd like to make... I met with Jenny with another applicant in the room. She just went over a few of the questions on the form and ...verify(ed) my address... So we went through the questions and then she told me to call back later that evening and she would tell me if I was selected for a second interview. I left then, and I assume the same thing happened with the other woman in the room. --- My World Perfume Experience 2nd Interveiw Group (Second Interview) Thursday, October 24, 2002, 12 PM The class started late, as we waited Ms. Kukal made small talk. There were about 30 people in the room. -- Michael Cronin's Scentura Experience 2nd Interview The Second Interview Thursday, Dec 13, 2001 When I went back on Thursday, Jason Mergl (District Manager) was in the lobby, so that's the first time I met him. I sat around for a few minutes while a few other people arrived and then we went into the conference room, where there were already about 20 other people. Jason went on about how he went to Southern Arkansas University on a football scholarship and then got hurt and lost the scholarship, so he was living on his dad's couch and working at Hobart Lumber. And then...he and his girlfriend find out they're pregnant! What's he going to do? Lo and behold, he found Scentura Creations! He drove to Lombard, IL every day for training. I'm figuring that would be about a 1-1/2 hour drive in good traffic. --- My World Perfume Experience Background on company Ms. Kukal asked us to write this name down, it was very important: Dan Long, our regional manager, who is out of Scottsdale. Ms. Kukal said that the company name is "Waterfront Design" and the parent company is "World Perfume" John Whitworth is the president, but he goes by the name of Johnny. --- Michael Cronin's Scentura Experience Background on company He told us that the Portage, IN office is a distribution center and the training center for the region. He said that he'd been with the company for 12 years, since he was fresh out of college. Scentura Creations, the parent company, has been in business for 27 years and is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. The owner of the company, Larry Hahn, is worth over $500 million now, but when he started the company, he parked his car 3 blocks from his house so that the repo man wouldn't find it. Nice touch, eh? --- My World Perfume Experience Big Expansion Lie Mr. Maner then went into expansion. There is East to west coast expansion. There will be 4-5 new offices in the Salt Lake City area in the next 2-6 months. -Florida: Miami, Tampa, Orlando--future expansion -Office in Jacksonville -Office in Atlanta -Office in Boston -Possibly future Ohio offices -Offices in Memphis, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Dallas, all for future expansion -Possibly future Houston -Offices in Colorado -4 offices are now in Phoenix -Offices in Sacramento, Las Vegas, and Seattle (several) -Northern California wants to expand, Southern California wants to expand. In Utah, there will be 5 offices: In West Jordan, Sandy, Holliday/Cottonwood, Wasatch Area, bountiful area In the future: Provo/Orem area, possibly downtown area. $3-5 million for Salt Lake City area set aside [COMPLETE LIE] ---- Michael Cronin's Scentura Experience Big Expansion Lie Scentura is currently going through it's largest expansion, opening 100 new offices nationwide...25 in Northwest Indiana and the south suburbs of Chicago. ==== My World Perfume Experience The Gigantic Company Lie World Perfume has 1/4 of the worlds market share. --- Michael Cronin's Scentura Experience The Gigantic Company Lie About the company: Scentura is a distributor of designer fragrances (he did not say knock-offs) in the United States and 14 foreign countries. The company moves 20,000-50,000 bottles a week. There are supposedly 8000 distributors. Our job would be to work with them. I wrote down the words "200M gross last year". I don't remember what that's for, but I figure the company must have had $200 million in sales last year. --- My World Perfume Experience Job Desciption After training Distribution manager: *inventory, cash flow, upfront, supervise, secretary, interview process correctly; supervising distributors; mapping out sales; set goals Did not write my notes about this in detail, but what my managers said was EXACTLY the same. --- Michael Cronin's Scentura Experience Job Desciption The first job description we got went as follows...we would open and close the office. We'd have an assistant or an assistant manager to help out. We would be handling the money that went through the office ($500K to $1.5M per year). Balancing the books would be about 10% of the job. We'd also have to manage the inventory. Once a year, we'd take a physical inventory. We'd work with a secretary or two, the district manager and an office manager. During the training, Jay would cover all the day-to-day procedures of the office. After having our own office, we'd report the results to Jay on a weekly basis and talk to Larry Hahn occasionally (maybe once a year) --- I have many more pages (about 5) but don't have time to cut and paste them, contrasting how similar world perfume and scentura are.

Hi everyone, I started with a World Perfume distributor in California.I was very sceptical a first. I have a 15 month old and my mom was really concerned. i understand her feelings. So i took everything day by day. I was looking for everything that this site posted, but nothing went wrong. They never once misrepresent themselves or the product. They explained that the knockoffs were copies and the original name brand fragrances were just that. We carry the hottest name brands out on the market. We actually carry the original and the rendition.(so there can not be any mistakes). They carry both original and rendition to give the customer the option. Plus, this just shows the quality of World Perfume's renditions. I aslo got paid through out my training program. In the 2nd interview they explained that I would first have to sell,then manage a crew,and get trained in the office. All of which came true. I keep trying to find the scheme,but the more I got involved the more I realized that most of the negative postings have no merrit.They were just attacks by one person who has spent thousands of hours trying to mis-lead people. I was paid just like they told me. I got a check each week. I got paid on my personal (overides)sells,$100.00 car allowance each week,overides on the crew I managed,feild profit,I also got special bonus too. I made anywhere from over $300.00 to several weeks of over $1000.00. You can run a perfume office straight. That is the way I am running my office the same way i was trianed.It is easy. YOU JUST TELL THE PEOPLE HOW IT WORKS!! I know not-world thinks I am an idiot,but i was never scammed. If I would of listned to him who knows where i be. Probably still living with mom and sharing a car. I am now independent and take care of my child all own my own. World perfume is not Scentura. Besides perfume sells there are so many differences.Almost all WPI owners run this exact same system. All owners I know carry name brand,renditions,tell the people they have to sell, tell them not to lie about the product(you dont have to),give people paychecks,car allowances,and real office training. World Perfume is awsome. You should check it out as I did and you will find out that there is no scam going on. They hand out these negatives postings to new people so if they have any questions they will get answered. Then everyone goes to work. You get what you put in. Have a happy holiday.

**** You can easily shut down your local world perfume or scentura distributor: http://dcregistry.com/forums/employment/messages/8037.html ***** I have over 370 pages of info on Scentura and World Perfume. I collect the info to warn others of this horrible scam: -- 161 pages of testimonies from people like you who have been ripped off and cheated by world perfume or scentura: http://www.dcregistry.com/forums/employment/messages/8356.html -- 81 pages on world perfume and scentura, 17 news articles, 1 court order: http://www.dcregistry.com/forums/employment/messages/8233.html -- "Losers never quit": a heart wrenching story from someone who stayed with Scentura for 5 months--EVERYTHING that Scentura does in this story is exactly the same as World Perfume tactics http://dcregistry.com//forums/employment/messages/8692.html -- 100+ pages is an adobe acrobat file that a former distributor sent me describing the unethical, behind the scenes pracites of Scentura (available from me by request) -- Hope this answers your questions. **** You can easily shut down your local world perfume or scentura distributor: http://dcregistry.com/forums/employment/messages/8037.html *****

My name is Jennifer and I have recently been working extremely hard at finding a good job. I have been faxing my resume out all day, every day for a little over a month now. I had no idea it would be this hard finding a job. So you could imagine how ecstatic I was when this company named "Third Coast Management" called me for an interview saying that they would train me to manage over 14 people! Having no prior managerial experience I was understandably questioning it but, needless to say, went to the interview anyway; what have I got to loose? So I dress up in a suit, drive over there, sit in a waiting room with all sorts of different people that didn't look like they could possibly be interviewing for the same job that I was, while rap music blared through the speaker in this room that we were crammed into. I should have known right then. Well, the interview with the extremely young business man sitting across from me went surprisingly well, promising a management position with benefits and a great salary. So they call me for a second interview and right before I get dressed to go I decided to call them and ask what web site I could look up before returning to there office. The young man on the other end of the line said "world perfume inc.com, we go hand in hand with them". So I can't seem to find this website anywhere so I searched for the company on MSN and found you guys' web site thank god, because thanks to you guys I almost got scammed along with the rest of these poor folks. Although, I didn't see any reports about Houston or "Third Coast Management" aka "Gulf Coast Management" aka "World Perfume, Inc.". So I was writing to one, thank you for posting these comments and to also write in to see if you guys had heard about the Houston scam yet. Thanks again and feel free to e-mail me with any suggestions of how to warn my fellow Houstonians.