a consultant never submitted a show, but took all the money!

[babywings76]

I took my DD to the pediatrician today. I was wearing logowear and my new Catalog tote (have had a lot of people approaching me lately!!) and the front office girl said hi and took one look at my shirt and said "I'll ask you this since you're shirt says Pampered Chef...I just went to a party a friend from my other job had. A bunch of us bought lots of stuff, but we never got our orders. It's been several months. She cashed our checks but never turned in the show. What do we do?"

What would be your recommendation? I told her to double check w/ the host one more time about the status of the orders. Then I'd ask for the consultant's name and number. I'd ask the consultant about what's going on and then let her know that I'd be calling HO and letting them know what's happened. Then, I'd call HO and tell them what happened and see what can be done, and to at least report the consultant. They can maybe track her down and find out what happened. I wonder if she would make copies of her receipt, send them the original, if they would honor it and send them their orders.

She was very appreciative of my efforts to sympathize and help. I left her my contact info and told her to call me if there's ever anything I can do.

[mmajmi]

I think you handle that very well. And I definitely think they need to call HO if in fact the consultant did that.

I actually heard of something similar that a consultant did with a fundraiser. I believe HO did in fact take care of all the orders (at least the ones that had a receipt showing payment). Not sure if they went after the consultant.

[crystalscookingnow]

I had this happen with a friend of mine.

I actually got involved & helped them out instead of relying on the other consultant. I had called Home Office for them to let HO know what had happened. They got things straightened out. As long as they have a receipt or a copy of a receipt, they'll honor the show. Do they have cancelled checks or anything?

[crystalscookingnow]

In my case, the consultant's agreement was terminated & she isn't allowed to sign again.

[Fluffy215]

I would also think they could be prosecuted for theft by deception. I would think anyway.

[BettieC]

I would also think they could be prosecuted for theft by deception. I would think anyway.

I think they should be!!!

IMO it's worse than stealing......kwim

[byrd1956]

oh, my gosh! I can't believe someone would do this! If I have the triple receipts I use them at my shows. If I don't I tell them they would receive their receipt with their order; no one has every had a problem with me saying that. As for the consultant that took the $$, if she did it the way I do the customers would be 'up a creek'.

[jwpamp]

PC's legal department takes care of all fraud and theft cases.

[Judybabe]

I would also think your local police department could assist. it is theft, black and white. but perhaps PC doesn't want the bad publicity.

had that happen here with girl scout monies.

Judy
wife of a sheriff

[pampchefrhondab]

That terrible. This is one of the reasons I take the payments at the show (checks written to me) instead of the host. I've always been afraid if the host needed the money she might not pay me. Also, if only one check bounces, it's better then the entire show on one check from the host.

You did a great jop handling it. Thanks for sharing your story. It's always nice to be prepared for anything in this business.

[Porchechef]

WoW! I can't believe someone would actually do this! I mean- what the heck are they doing this business for? You do actually get paid for doing shows. *shaking head in disbelief*

[Porchechef]

BTW- you handled this great! I hope this helped the lady not think badly of PC.

[chefHLM]

I'd say I can't believe that someone would do that, but I'd be a liar!
Amanda, I think you handled it very well, and professionally.
Did you get her contact info? If so I would check with her and see what happened.
Hopefully she will let the others that attended the show know that not all PC consultants would do something like this and that she met a very helpful and sympathetic consultant that helped her out...and passing your info along!!!
I hope everything works out for all those involved.

[iteachurkid]

I've heard of this before. Actually had a friend call me b/c it had been several months and they still hadn't gotten their stuff. I also had a guest at a show tell me that she had a show and knew nothing about free product. She had an $800 show and her consultant told her she got a 30% discount and that was it. Wow is all I can say...people never cease to amaze me!

[kdangel518]

OMG it really bothers me that there are people out there doing this giving Pampered Chef a bad name! Unreal! You handled it quite well!

[susanr613]

That's a shame and you did handle it very well. Who knows, maybe you'll be their PC lady from now on....

[whiteyteresa]

I met a lady at our local home show once - she said that she was a former director with PC and thought about re-signing. She moved about 2 years before that because of her husband’s job so she quit PC. Well about 2 months later (may 07) she called me and wanted to sign - I checked with PC about her being a former director and they said she and gave me her former Consultant #. I was so happy. She signed, borrowed products (new SS season) and had 2 shows planned in one week. I kept watching for them to post and then called her. She said that couple of the checks bounced and she was waiting to get the money before she submitted the show. Well several weeks later I tried to call her and she never answered the phone. Then months went by and still nothing. Then in early Dec I saw that she submitted a show - Great - as least I thought. Then early in January another small amount came across the IPT. Then in the middle of January I got an e-mail from my director asking me if this was one of my girls. I couldn't believe it - she took the money and ran also. The letter said that she owe PC $591.90. What happen was that the host contacted PC in Sept 07 and told them that checks were cashed and no products - they did have order forms with the consultants name and # and that she wrote each order in herself so PC tried to contact her and no response so PC sent out the products after doing some so called investigation in Early Dec 07. After PC received more receipts, they sent out more products in early Jan 08. I tried to contact PC with the current info on her but they never called me back. I don't know what happen to her or the money.

I did post here a long time ago what the “T” beside her named meant and someone on here said terminated.

I have had 3 recruits - 1 - kitnapper, 1 - mention above, and 1 more that had her baby very early and had to quit (said that she will sign up later)

I have another recruit who just signed in June. She has already submitted 3 shows. This recruit has been my host to about 5 or 6 shows. She decided to sign under me when she went to a friend’s show and like what the consultant was talking about - she told this consultant that she wanted to sign but it would be under me since we have been working together for almost 3 years. I appreciated that. She is very nice and she is working hard at her job.

That is what happen to me

:chef: