Eric, So many posters have questions for you, and what's great is that you seem willing and very able to answer them.  Given that and the fact that you worked for the company, the information you have been providing has helped so many people already.  For some, it's just a relief to finally get information from someone with your experience and credibility.  It hasn't been easy for a lot (good grief, I started to spell it "alot"....thanks blastingpowder!) of people to deal with friends and family who don't see the deception Arbonne has created. 

I'm taking the suggestion of a poster and re-posting your first few posts in case anyone has missed them........

Ok,let me start by saying that I am no longer with Arbonne. I finally voluntarily resigned from the company August 18th, partially for reasons unrelated to the company or its management. Next, I think that a little history is in order here becuase the company (as some of you might know) underwent a "management buyout" (fancy name for "we've been sold!") and has been under complete control of a private equity firm called Harvest Partners (www.harvpart.com) since December of 2004. Formerly the company was owned by Levlad (http://www.natures-gate.com) and Harvest aquired Arbonne by buying Levlad.

I had known Stian for four years prior to my departure and I believe he is still a man of integrity and a very nice guy personally. But he now must do Mr. Bob Henry's bidding. His position with the company has been greatly reduced in the past two years and he was assigned the task by Bob Henry of heading up the compliance dept. However Bob Henry really oversees and overrules whatever that department does as with all departments within the company.

Three are many people in management who will be shocked and surprised to see me on here. But I felt it was my duty to exposed the mismanagement that I have seen in this company over that past year and a half. This mismanagement has cause both financial and emotional difficulty (and in some cases ruin) for thoudands of consultants and I can tell you factually and frankly that Mr. Bob Henry could care less about that as long as Harvest Partners (who put him in his position) is making what ever money they can   from you, the consultant.

Rita Davenport has, is and always will be a figurehead and "spokesmodel" for this company rather than a real management person. She rarely is seen at Arbonne corporate headquarters in Irvine,California preferring to work out of her home in Phoenix,Arizona when she is not dispensing the standard Arbonne propaganda at ACTNow, NTC or other similar meeetings around the country. I can say that I have actually spoken no more that five or ten words to her in these past four years because like I said, she is nothing more than the "face" of Arbonne or you might say "honorary president" Bob Henry runs Arbonne. He is the CEO.

There is a lot more going on that just unethical conduct by consultants . I realize that that is the problem that a lot of people on this board face and that is one of the principal reasons for its existance.

To answer one question up front, I do not know of very many RVPs and NVPs what are being terminated for ethical violations.

I realize that many of the following things that I will bring up are not going of interest at first glance because they do not  address the up line/downline ethics and puppy dog issues. But I think they paint a portrait of what I have found to be very shoddy management and thus should be of interest to all who want the truth about Arbonne to be told.

Most of the calls--at least 75% percent by my observation-- that come through Arbonne's call center are complaint calls. These complaints are generally ignored by the upper management of the company. I was told that the marketing department did not want to hear complaints --that, in fact, "they did not care how the consultants felt"

That is a pretty bad attitude in my estimation!

Here are a few of the complaints:

1. A long standing comoplaint concerns the poor quality of the containers , especially the RE9 product containers. The pumps on the  RE9 products continue to to be faulty and the company has had to spend literally thousands of dollars to replace the bottles that are bad. I would think that any company would want to fix a problem like that rather than put a lot of its customers through so much hassle and rather than having to spend thousands of dollars that could be spent elsewhere.

2. Another major complaint concerns packaging. Especially with the new Indiana warehouse, the company has completely thrown out packaging that worked and substituted much cheaper packaging that has resulted in lots of damaged goods and missing products for thousands of consultants.

Again, maybe you have not personally experienced these problems but I have received too many phone calls and emails from those who have. These poor gals were all excited about sharing the product with their friends and new customers etc. But they call up so very disappointed and emabarrased becasuse the have promised their cusytomers products that they can't deliver due to cheap uncaring company practices. I am sick and tired of having to represent a company who treats its customer base as poorly as Arbonne has.

The third and most recent complaint I heard before I left concerned allergic reactions, which I already briefly addresed under another heading on this board. The company is getting hundreds (that I am personally an "ear-witness" to) of comments all saying that the RE9 products are causing major facial and skin breakouts and turning away a lot of customers. Is Levlad (the manufacturer of this line) looking into this? At the time I left, they were not.

As far as the puppy dog thing and other unethical practices, look for those to continue unabated as long as the company is making bucks off of those people! Right before I left, I started hearing from many people in Hawaii who wre being asked to start out their new consultants at $2500 (as their first purchase) so that their upline could move up the ladder. And they are doing it with PUPPIES!!!

So It looks like the Andy Inman gang has infected the islands too. And that is sad!!!

I would finally ask that those who are still consultants and need to have dealings with Arbonne customer service by phone or email, that you be patient with the CSRs. They, (like I was) are sincerely trying to do their job as honestly and effectively as they can. They are not to blame fr the company's misdeeds, yet they often bear the brunt of consultant anger. The answers they are given to work with are the answers that the Bob Henry gang has given to them to say to you. They are often inadequate and contradictory. And in some cases, the field support phone and email staff are not given any answers at all! (Even on the pro-Arbonne boards I read comments about how field support did not know that answer to questions the consultants wre calling about- you can blame Mr. Henry for that!)

A NOTE TO ARBONNE MANAGEMENT:

If you are reading this , rather than be disappointed at a former employee for airing your dirty laundry in public, why not do the honest thing and admit your mistakes. Kick out the RVPs and NVPs who are promoting unethical practices. Improve and restructure your product manufacturing and distribution. The "cheapest way" is not always the best way" Stop trying to make a fast buck for Harvest Partners and yourselves and start doing right by your consultants and retail clients.

Comments

[lurkerloo]

Thanks Cat for highlighting this - its so great that it is clearly visible now for those looking for info to find. Thanks again Eric for sharing. I hope some of your ex-worker buddies will do the same in time.

[lurkerloo]

Eric, I thought of another question while I was vacuming. How on earth did BH win that award from the financial company? What on earth was that all about? Entrepeneur of the Year or some crap like that. My hubby was pretty shocked as he THOUGHT that company (the financial one - was it E&Y?) was reputable????

[Eric Cooper]

Thank you very much Cat and all others fir your kind words and support
To answer lurkerloo's latest question, it does not surprise me that BH was able to pull the wool over the eyes of Ernst and Young. Although they have a very high reputation, their business expertise is NOT in the MLM area. I do think that someone put him up for the award and/or that he did an awful lot of schmoozing and corporate politicking in the right places and with the right people to get that award. And if you are not aware of all the details of the REAL Arbonne as many of us on here are, then you can possibly see why an outsider would consider Arbonne's recent growth impressive.

The best way to understand it is to put yourself in the place of a totally green newbie who comes to an Arbonne business opportunity meeting run by an NVP who waves her $35,000 check around at everyone there. Without knowing any of the REAL details, let's face it, that new person is going to be very impressed! You kind of have to picture Ernst and Young Co. as the newbie and Bob Henry as the NVP waving his check around. See how it works?
Bob Henry in no way deserves that award.

[PC]

Cat - I think you should close the thread on the REsults approach, and just let people continue on this thread. The Results thread is going to have 1,000 comments, and it's getting really hard to follow!
:)

[Cat]

Ask and you shall receive.......

[Eric Cooper]

Yes scout I guess I will start. First I will say to others besides Bee, that is exactly the way I felt when I was a Field Support Rep--sitting at a cube feeling like an "Arbot" (LOL).

Bee, I don't know if you are still reading this but you sound to me like you have not done Arbonne for very long. For your benefit, since you also sound like you have not read very many posts on here, let me tell you that I was on the other end of that Arbonne phone number for four years. You need to understand, first of all, that if you dial 1-800-272-6663 to "report" someone dong unethical things, all that person is going to do (and all they are able to do) is give you an email address ([email protected]). That will lead you to the policy compliance department which generally has about 5 or 6 people trying to answer hundreds of emails that come in every day concerning policy issues.
When they get the email concerning an RVP or NVP, what will happen at the most is a single reprimand letter (a "slap on the hand" in written form) saying "someone has reported you, please don't do it again"

That offending RVP or NVP will throw away the letter, continue violating the rules and never hear from Arbonne again. Why? Because that RVP or NVP is the one who is bringing in all the big money to Arbonne. And that is all the company cares about

Bee , I hate to burst your bubble, but Arbonne is NOT about "improving your life" or "making new friends" or whatever else your upline has told you. ARBONNE IS ABOUT MAKING MONEY FOR THE CORPORATION IN THE QUICKEST CHEAPEST WAY THEY CAN.

Bee, I really sincerely urge you to go back and read the posts of myself and all the others on here who have had dealings with this disreputable company. I was an employee at the call center at the corporate headquarters from 2002 until August this year. Others on here have been exactly where you are, as consultants. But they found the truth about this scam and they are willing to warn others about it. I hope that you find the truth also.

The sharks in Arbonne are not limited to a few and they are not all out in the field. They can be found at the highest levels of the company.

[lurkerloo]

TO the BEE from the Results thread -
I don't think you get it. Arbonne corporate (Bob, Rita, Stain) do know this is occuring and they are fine with it because its money in their pockets. MANY people have reported, nothing has been done. They are putting the top offenders on stage consistently and awarding them and honoring them. They did it at NTC, they just did in at ACT in June and they are doing it again at ACT in Sept. You are so foggy you need to wake up. And even your ethical business is supporting the habits of the corrupt at top. They love people like you doing it the right way because they use you as an example and hide behind you. I complained and nothing was done. MANY have complained and nothing was done. I personally know (in person, not online in the cyber world) over 30 people that complained and nothing was done. I was told to go to my NVP and she was the most corrupt of all so what the heck is that going to do. I have saved emails from compliance that are cirlces of dialogue that admit policy is being broken but there wasn't really anything they could do. There is a written statement in the P&P that you may not frontload AND the paychecks say on the back, that by endorsing this check 70% of your inventory is sold. They KNOW this is not the case but they put the responsibility of compliance police on the consultants that have been lied to. I don't know why people still don't get this.....

[Eric Cooper]

Cat and others the above were the comments in answer to Bee on the now closed results approch thread

[Eric Cooper]

Bob Henry is the ONLY one who has the authority to terminate an RVP or NVP and he is simply not going to do that.

[Lori]

I'm just curious why Bee thinks shes talking to a bunch of children. If you read a bit of this blog you will see numerous times where things were reported. They were told to report the problem to their upline. Hello? They are the ones causing the problem. That would be like someone breaking into your home, you call the police and the police tell you to ask them to stop!

[Eric Cooper]

Lori,
It was obvious to me that she had not been a consultant very long. She did not even know where to find Arbonne's phone number to report such things. I think that is why she sounded the way she did. To her, we were simply misguided and she was just trying to set us straight :)

[Please Do Your Own Research]

I think it is good though that you guys are replying to Bee the way you are because you are giving answers to other new consultants who may read this and want to respond the same way that Bee did. Keep up the great work! Wish there was a way to broadcast this out to the masses...

[Lady Swisse, Viscountess DeePore]

I agree with Eric. I have seen countless "green" consultants on the various sites who still believe in the flowers and cotton candy dreams that their uplines have spun for them.

These new consultants have been brainwashed to believe that they exist to train the world on Arbonne, and they have also been led to believe that almost no one knows about Arbonne yet. Since they are first finding this site, they don't realize how much experience many of these people really have, and they think they can just right everyone's wrongs with a quick fix, not having read enough information.

Of course, they've been trained by their upline to actually avoid any information not directly regurgitated from their own sponsor. I was this woman at one time, as were many other people who visit this website. I feel bad for her imminent pain and chagrin rather than anything else.

Those who stick around these sites have to endure the cycle of having the same fight with the same frame of mind from various people, only to help pick up the pieces when the person eventually sees the truth. But we're the complainers and haters, right? We, who immediately turn around to help someone we may have fought with for the past several days, weeks, or months? Right.

[JJ]

Well put LSVDP.

Eric, I have a question for you regarding the letters to NVP/RVPs who are violating P&P. When they are sent their "slap on the wrist", does it say who complained about their unethical behavior? I am very close to emailing Stian about my NVP and RVP, however, I don't want them coming after me! I did file complaints with the BBB and FTC, but I'm still a little worried about what my upline will do or say to me after they find out I've been filing complaints. I want to remain on their mailing lists, etc. so I can receive all the crap they send out and use it against them!

Thank you for your help!

[Lady Swisse, Viscountess DeePore]

No name, your name will most certainly be given to your upline if you make a big enough stink to Stian. That happened to cuzican, who visits this site.

Thanks Lady Swisse. I think I'll just do it anyway!!

When I joined this team, I thought they were ethical. However, my RVP has become extremely greedy over the past few months. Ever since the Simple REsults 3-way phone call system caught fire, she has been really pushy and money hungry! I don't think the Simple REsults document violates any P&P b/c whoever wrote it took special care to note that the orders are not required, It actually says "Do not write these figures down or print this document for prospects to see. SAY the order amounts." So I don't know where I would get with compliance on that doc.

I have another question for the fellow ex-Arbots. Are you still wholesale consultants or did you not renew your account? My renewal is coming up and I'm not sure what to do.

Thanks!

[Lady Swisse, Viscountess DeePore]

If there are products you like, then renew. Also, since you can use webstats to view your upline, you can keep tabs on them and whether they keep their status or not over time.

Information IS shared when one complains or reports another consultant. It has happened to me and the consultants I reported did indeed come after me by harrassing me online and placing ads in my name/consID (to make it look like I was violating policy).

I was very upset that these consultants were told I was the one who reported their unethical behavior. I spoke with 2 people from compliance and they assured me that all info was confidential. What a crock.

[Lady Swisse, Viscountess DeePore]

It should be illegal for them to share that info with your upline. Since you are not under contract to your upline, they shouldn't be privy to any information.

One more example of how Arbonne exploits consultants in the pursuit of financial gain. There are laws to protect whistle blowers. I wonder how and if that applies where independent contractors are concerned?

[hagadellic]

I like Arbonne. I love the products. It has done wonders for my skin and I can get it for much less than I was paying for my Clinique. I think any MLM can be good or bad. It really all stems down to your common sense and what you are willing to do. I don't think it is misleading. If you can do it - it will work. If you are an honest person, most likely your downline will be also. It sounds like all of you thought it was a get rich quick scheme. It takes a lot of hard work. I have never been told I had to order 4 pups etc. It sounds to me like you had a bad experience. Don't blame the whole company for your experience.

[JJ]

For you hagadelic

na‧ive

–adjective 1. having or showing unaffected simplicity of nature or absence of artificiality; unsophisticated; ingenuous.
2. having or showing a lack of experience, judgment, or information; credulous: She's so naive she believes everything she reads. He has a very naive attitude toward politics.
3. having or marked by a simple, unaffectedly direct style reflecting little or no formal training or technique

[Lori]

JJ, you really crack me up! LOL

[Lady Swisse, Viscountess DeePore]

Okay, I'm going to say this here, too.

Arbonne is a BAD company with A LOT of unethical and criminal consultants. There happen to be a few good apples who are trying to be decent and ethical consultants. As a whole, it is the company that is bad with mostly bad people. The few good people are the exception, not the other way around.

Please get this through your orange heads!!

[Please Do Your Own Research]

Can someone please elaborate on what happened with "Stian's letter" and the response from Bob and Rita? I keep hearing mention of it but don't have the whole story. Thank you!