Considering Signing up

[Kitchen Love Lauren]

Hello everyone! I am a longtime Pampered Chef customer and I even was a consultant briefly about 20 years ago. I am considering signing up again as a consultant. However, I am hesitant due to the very long wait times that people are reporting for their products. I also had my own recent experience of trying to get in touch with Customer Support only to spend over 2 hours on hold and hanging up with not talking to anyone. It took my party's consultant 4 days to get a response. In terms of customer service, that's just not acceptable to me. I know that they are impacted by COVID but that seems rather extreme. So I haven't actually signed up yet. Thoughts about when this situation will improve?

Also, when I was a consultant before, I stopped because I got absolutely no support. This was before online support was really a big thing. I'm so afraid of that happening again. I know that I don't want to sign up under the consultant for my last party. She is just too new to the business and I don't think that she would be able to support me as a new consultant. Any advice for me?

 

[Admin Greg]

Welcome to CS!

 

[chefmary]

Hello everyone! I am a longtime Pampered Chef customer and I even was a consultant briefly about 20 years ago. I am considering signing up again as a consultant. However, I am hesitant due to the very long wait times that people are reporting for their products. I also had my own recent experience of trying to get in touch with Customer Support only to spend over 2 hours on hold and hanging up with not talking to anyone. It took my party's consultant 4 days to get a response. In terms of customer service, that's just not acceptable to me. I know that they are impacted by COVID but that seems rather extreme. So I haven't actually signed up yet. Thoughts about when this situation will improve?

Also, when I was a consultant before, I stopped because I got absolutely no support. This was before online support was really a big thing. I'm so afraid of that happening again. I know that I don't want to sign up under the consultant for my last party. She is just too new to the business and I don't think that she would be able to support me as a new consultant. Any advice for me?

Hi, Lauren!
I re-signed with the Pampered Chef in November, just a few months before life as we knew it changed. I can't say enough about our home office and how hard they are working to make things right. Although there have been a number of out-of-stocks and long delays in shipping, there are some things to consider:
1. The Pampered Chef has gone through an unprecedented period of growth in the last 5 months, breaking sales records for several months. This definitely contributed to the delays and the OOS situation. Our HO team has hired new associates, who are just completing their training and will be working shortly to assist in customer service calls and emails.
2. Our warehouse was not set up to the volume of orders that were being shipped to individual customers. Typically, our party orders have shipped to the host. This presented a huge logistical challenge. Home Office had made a multi-million dollar investment in our distribution center, which will mean that we can handle many more orders per day. We expect that things will be back to near normal in early September.
3. As far as support for new consultants, I have found that the remote training I have been receiving from my team is superior to the in-person training I got when I first became a consultant (like you, almost 20 years ago). I am a consultant in NJ, my director is in GA and my upline is in New England. They are never far away online!

If I were you, I'd take the plunge! Business is booming and the virtual party concept has really blossomed! I'm a full-time teacher, so being able to be a consultant online has been fantastic! I can party in my jammies (really!). If you are working with another consultant, get in touch with him/her and get started before the fall season. If you need to connect with someone, please feel free to reach out to me.
Good luck,
Mary Hartnett

 

[esavvymom]

I think the situation with Customer Service and shipping will definitely improve. Before the covid stuff, shipping was taking about 2 weeks. Now though...never seen anything like it!! I have been waiting for so long I forgot what I ordered! haha So it'll be like Christmas. I think the biggest concern for me would be the product availability! SO much is not available right now. But......there is still alot that is. People just have to be patient or start a wish list.

For support, there definitely is a lot more out there now than before. Obviously you can come here, but it's not quite as active as it used to be. But if you are on Facebook, I know there are several consultant groups there. You'd get instant help when needed most likely. As far as signing up under the consultant who hosted your show, while she may not be able to give you a lot of support, perhaps you can talk to her and arrange a meet with HER upline?? if that person is nice and seems to be available, maybe you can get it there. Since the other is pretty new, that's sort of how it would or should play anyway. Her upline should help her and you.


It can't hurt to try. Worse that happens is you get some new product out of the deal. Personally, if i were going to do this again (I stopped about 2 years ago, but was in for 10 yrs), I would be going the Facebook virtual party route.