Is This Email Requester Really a Consultant?

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Discussion Overview

The thread centers around a participant's experience with an individual who repeatedly requests links to online catalogs without providing clear identification. The participant expresses confusion and concern over whether this individual is a fellow consultant or simply a fan of Pampered Chef products.

Discussion Character

  • Opinion-based
  • Anecdotal
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant, identifying as a consultant, shares their experience of receiving repeated requests for catalog links from an individual whose identity is unclear.
  • Another participant mentions that they have also emailed the requester in the past but received no response, only further requests for links.
  • Several users express skepticism about the requester's intentions, suggesting that they may be a consultant masquerading as a customer.
  • One participant notes that they have decided to stop sending the links, feeling it is not their obligation to assist someone who does not identify themselves.
  • Another participant raises concerns that the requester might be using the catalog links for personal gain, such as selling items online.
  • Some participants question why the requester does not simply access the catalog through the same link each season.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Views differ on whether the participant should continue providing the catalog links. Some express a willingness to assist, while others feel it is inappropriate to engage with someone who does not identify themselves.

Contextual Notes

The discussion reflects personal experiences and opinions regarding interactions with potential customers or fellow consultants within the Pampered Chef community.

Who May Find This Useful

Consultants who encounter similar situations with unidentified individuals requesting product information may find the shared experiences relevant.

Oh no, you aren't coming off as you want the money....at all. It's simply a matter of being honest, forthright and it's business.
 
c00p said:
Oh no, you aren't coming off as you want the money....at all. It's simply a matter of being honest, forthright and it's business.
I agree! I completely understand it's not about the money, but the principle.
 
Joy, have you tried googling her e-mail address? Sometimes something can come up with that...
 
c00p said:
Oh no, you aren't coming off as you want the money....at all. It's simply a matter of being honest, forthright and it's business.
I agree too!

I have been watching this thread to find out who this person turns out to be. Certainly sounds like a consultant to me, and a very unethical one to boot!

I may not be about the money, but she IS stealing from you. You are generous enough to help TONS of us with your free flyers and other things that you put together each season- this person is taking advantage of that and she OWES you the cost of a subscription. Oh, well, sometimes we just can't win. She will be held accountable for her actions at some point...even if she "gets away" with things now.
 
The first thing I would do Joy is definately drop her from your distribution list. Then delete her or put her address in your blocking list for e-mail. And above all bless and release!
 
I agree with Harriet that you should delete her from your distribution list, but I wouldn't necessarily block her from email, because then you won't know if she ever owns up to what she was doing. Or, she could even have the gall to ask you again next time, and you would miss it if she was blocked! Oh, and I just emailed you for a sample newsletter, because I am really curious about it, but I admit to being a consultant! ;)
 
KellyTheChef said:
I agree too!

I have been watching this thread to find out who this person turns out to be. Certainly sounds like a consultant to me, and a very unethical one to boot!

I may not be about the money, but she IS stealing from you. You are generous enough to help TONS of us with your free flyers and other things that you put together each season- this person is taking advantage of that and she OWES you the cost of a subscription. Oh, well, sometimes we just can't win. She will be held accountable for her actions at some point...even if she "gets away" with things now.


I so agree with Kelly on this! She is stealing from you! Putting all the stuff you do together takes time and your (as well as all of ours) time is $. Look at all the flyers you do that you don't charge for and we all use!!! (Heck you could charge for those but you don't!) Take her off the list!
 
  • Thread starter
  • #38
Thanks everyone. I have taken her off the list -- I really thought I had when I moved everyone over from my Yahoo group to the mail server, but I guess I forgot to do that.

It really isn't that she's gotten that much... that mailing list is my customer list, so she only gets the customer version of what I send out.

I haven't heard anything from her yet...

I'm big on karma, so I can only hope that it doesn't bite her in the bumper... (my DD says they have to say "bumper" at school, lol).
 
I agree, I would ignore her, it seems so odd. I know email it is easy to be vague, but you have asked all the questions you can to be direct, and it has become obvious she is dodging answering those questions.

Odd. When I first became a PC consultant I just goggled PC and your site came up, so she could have gotten your info from just a google search.
 
  • Thread starter
  • #40
I should clarify... she was added to my Yahoo group mailing list originally, over 3 years ago when I was a consultant. At the time, I was sharing my newsletters with other consultants - they just had to be added to my Yahoo group. When I started charging, I went through and removed everyone I could tell was a consultant (chefxxx in the email is a big giveaway....) but I missed hers, probably because it's not a chef-y email and because I'd done some fairs and had random people in there that I didn't recognize.

This list has nothing to do with TT; however, there are many in the consultant community who knew me at my humble beginnings and know that I (chefjoy) and Tasty Tidbits are the same....Most of those consultants are from way back in the day when we were all on the MSN group WeLovePamperedChef... which imploded and is now WLPCtoo. She may be on here as well, but I figure that if she wanted to skip out on buying a subscription, she probably wouldn't fork out the money to join this site either...
 
I agree Joy, that karma will come back to bite her in the "bumper" sooner or later. And I am intrigued about your newsletter now, seeing how she pawns it off as her own (probably). Your instincts are presumably right, and I would be acting the same as you --- miffed that someone is taking advantage of your services. I mean really, how much could the newsletter service possibly be that this "customer" didn't want to pay.

Obviously, she pretends to be a customer, and really if she were, she would have ordered something by now. At this point, I would have been up front to her and said "wow saw you opened my newsletter a gazillion times, you should be a consultant! or let me get that order placed for you"

Good luck, it isnt easy I am sure.
 
I really can't believe people but. . . anymore people never surprise me at some of the things they do. Joy you do WONDERFUL work, and no it doesn't sound at all like you are whinning about the money it is the point just like oyu said.


But it is a real nail bitter reading this thread . . .I can't wait to find out if she does respond or not which is probably not.
 
  • Thread starter
  • #43
Is there any way home office would give me contact info if I gave them an email address? I already googled her and the addy returned nothing. I suppose I could email her pretending to be referred by one of her customers...? Two can play at that game... But I don't think I have the nerve to pretend. SOME of us have a conscience.
 
Joy, drop her like a hot potato.

edit - she is using you somehow, call it woman's intuition.
Plus, you do that newsletter thing for lots of folk here.

If it feels skinky, it probably is.
 
Hey Joy, If she is a consultant (and she probably is) she's using an alternate email address and HO probably won't have that one either. You can always try it though. Good luck, it would bug me too!
 
  • Thread starter
  • #46
Okay, no response from her so far...

I am confused by these stats though... so the newsletter has been opened over 100 times, but the link to the online catalog (the one she has asked me for every 6 months) has only been clicked through about 5 times from her email address...

So if she is forwarding this out, it is getting opened by her customers but most are NOT looking at the online catalog link... which is what she has been bugging me for all the time... weird?

I have a nasty email typed up but I'm saving it in my drafts. I don't know that I'll ever send it, but it makes me feel better to have written it. Say it with me... bless and release... bless and release.... bless and release....
 
Bless and release Joy!
 
Maybe people aren't clicking through to the catalog on her email because they don't like dealing with her... if she is being dishonest and shady with you, chances are she is that way with her customers also.

She is dishonest and you are letting her take up a lot of your time by fretting over it. Bless and release so you can move on to more important things! If she contacts you again tell her you charge for the service she has been taking from you and leave it at that.
 

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