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I signed up for ACN about a year ago. I was invited by a neighbor to attend one of their meetings, my mom and I both went. My mom does several other Multi-Level Marketing businesses, and she's been doing really well with those, so we thought we would check it out. When we went to the meeting they showed the infamous dvd with Donald Trump on it, that was their biggest selling point, they dropped his name again and again during the presentation. After that, they had one of their top SVP's(Senior Vice President) which is the highest level you can get. He was only 26 years old, and lived in a nice house, and was filthy rich. And he made it very clear too, he kept talking about how much money he has and how nice his house is and all the cool gadgets he has, blah blah. He was way cocky. So naturally I was impressed to see someone only a few years older than me who already was making tons of money. When we found out it was 499 for the startup fee, we pretty much told them "don't call us, we'll call you." But after several meetings with our neighbor and one of his upline, we signed up. They kept saying that it's only 499 to sign up. And that's true. However, in order to become qualified to make any money and to start moving up the ladder, you have to get 5 points. Each service, depending on what kind it is, is worth about 2 points. So they brokered us 2 cellphones with T-Mobile, DirectTv, Landline, a Verizon wireless air card, and the new video phone. Now I'll admit, I think they have something going with the video phone, but you know that as soon as that starts launching off, apple will probably come out with a hi-tech way awesome video phone. So we were now qualified. But we were stuck in 2 year contracts for all the services they brokered. After doing extensive research, we realized that getting the services brokered through ACN wasn't any cheaper then getting them from the company directly. So pretty much no one that we talked to about it wanted to sign up. Because they already had phone service, and although they could just transfer their service to ACN and keep their same provider, they would have to cancel their contract and sign a new one with ACN. Yea Right! Of course our upline didn't tell us this part.
So now we're stuck in contracts for crappy cell phone service and a ridiculously expensive wireless air card. The cell phone is through T Mobile, and where I live, T Mobile has bad service, and the air card is a complete joke, you have a 5 Gig limit for 59.99, YEAH RIGHT!
Now we're coming up on our first year, and our upline calls us and tells us our YEARLY fee was gonna be due. WE HAD NO IDEA ABOUT A YEARLY FEE. It was 160.00 if I remember correctly. So I pretty much told him to bite me, and that he can forget about keeping us in ACN. He gave me the run-around about how important this was because of the economy, and that this business is the only way to make any decent money. All we did was invest money in it, and didn't make a DIME. So we're no longer in ACN, but still stuck with the brokered services for the remaining year.
STAY AWAY FROM ACN!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
ACN is a reputable company and one of many companies that utilize the Direct Selling/Network Marketing business model as a means to acquire customers for their products & services. Although independent representatives are encouraged to sign up for products and services through ACN, it is not required in order to be a representative. ACN offers the same local and long distance, wireless, satellite tv and home security services customers would receive by ordering directly through the carrier. The only difference is when they sign up through an ACN independent representative, they are helping their friends and family grow their businesses. Cost savings is on a case-by-case basis and depends on what service the customer currently has.
The one-time start up fee is $499 (U.S.) and there is an annual renewal fee of $149 (U.S.) to be an ACN independent representative. These costs enable ACN and its 1, 100 employees to provide the independent representative with business infrastructure support including customer provisioning, billing, credits & collections, customer service in multiple languages, customer communications, new product development, live representative support services, marketing materials, commissioning and reporting systems, company recognition, business & product training, and a lot more. There are no other recurring or hidden fees. Any other payments for supplies, a personal website, enhanced downline reporting, conference calling, etc. are optional.
Please report any behavior by independent representatives that are in violation of ACN’s Policies & Procedures to the Compliance department at ACN's World Headquarters.
I just went to one of their "parties". Their schtick is CLASSIC. Tell people they can make $11000 a month just from residuals--as your friends and family pay their phone bills. I did a quick mental calculation and to get $11000 a month from residuals at the "8%" commission level you would need to have 4, 000 bills being paid per month. I doubt that AT&T or whoever they claim to have on their list of clients will pay ACN anywhere close to 8% of their bill per month "forever" to get a customer. They suck you in by talking about $11, 000 per month and then tell you that you only need to pay $499 to get started. What a sucker bet. All good jobs that I have had, do not require you to pay anything up front, THEY PAY YOU!
I went to a few meetings entertaining the idea that this might be the real deal.
The first meeting that I went to I walked into a nicely decorated mortgage office with rave music playing(mind you I had a headache that day so it wasnt top on my list) and refreshments. They promoted the Donald Trump video and had the local "Senior Vice President" make a speech about how well the company has treated him and the things that it has provided for the life style that he chooses to live.
As I sat through the meeting I kept muttering to my girl friend pyramid scheme, pyramid scheme. At the end of the meeting I decided to take the time to talk to the people that had already invested the $499 and see what other sorts of fees that I was going to be responsible for. They all boasted and reiterated everything that the video and the presentation had already told me.
Instead of dismissing the idea of becoming a rep I decided to tell the host of the presentation that I would think about his offer and what it might be able to offer to me and my future. Needless to say 2 weeks later I had a private meeting with the host and he gave me a more clear breakdown of what products and services I will be offering to potential customers. This was fantastic because it really gave me the wow factor that I was looking for but my intuition still told me that there was still something fishy about the whole situation.
When he gave me the breakdown of how I was going to be paid I asked him, "Should my focus be on securing customers or should it be recruiting new people to join my team?" His response was fast and simple, "In order to make any money in this company you need to expand you team, that way you are earning from everything that you are doing as well as them". Hmmmmm I thought to myself...
Even though it was against my better judgment, when he invited me to one of there weekly meetings I said yes. Think about it... When someone tells you that you have the potential to make $3000 just in your first month alone don't you think that you should do your homework before you go diving in head first.. Huh, me too!
So I went to the third meeting. As I was waiting out in the lobby for my "sponsor" to show up I sat back and watched the demeanor of the people walking back and forth that seemed to have some tenor with the company. Everyone seemed to be so fake hiding behind there poorly matched clothing. My sponsor finally showed up and I sat for another hour and a half watching the same stuff and listening to the same speal that I did at the first meeting.
Conclusion in all this: It might work for some people and I wish them all the luck. However if you cant be up front and honest with me about the important stuff that any business owner would want to know I am not in the market for what your selling. Further more, why do people feel the need to deceive or lie? The answer is simple folks... They have something to hide.
In the end I dont want to anyone to feel like I am bashing ACN, because I am not. I am just simply stating my own personal experience with the company and maybe to get who ever reads this to look for the important details and not be tainted by the promise of the almighty dollar
We would like to add a few points to try to help clarify some information from one of the posts.
ACN's $499 start-up fee is to enable the company and its 1, 100 employees to provide the independent representative with business infrastructure support including customer provisioning, billing, credits & collections, customer service in multiple languages, customer communications, new product development, live representative support services, marketing materials, commissioning and reporting systems, company recognition, business & product training, and a lot more.
The earlier post talked about residual income. It is important that new representatives understand there is no guarantee of making money and building your own ACN business takes hard work and long-term commitment. ACN is not a pyramid scheme or get rich quick scheme. Like any other business, ACN wants customers using its products and services. Independent representatives can earn money through residual income from acquiring customers and also from bonuses from acquiring team members who also get customers. (No bonuses are paid unless a qualifying number of customers is acquired by each representative.)
It is also important that new representatives understand the ACN compensation plan, which is available on the company's corporate website. A representative can earn a certain percentage of their personal customers' bills, varying by service (digital phone service, wireless, high speed internet, video phone, local & long distance, home security, etc.) of up to 10%. The key to building a large residual income is to build a team of representatives who are also acquiring customers for the company. In addition to your own personal customers, you can also earn commissions on customers through 7 levels of your downline team, from 1/4% on level 1 and up to 8-10% on level 7.
As mentioned in the earlier post, you would not likely build 4, 000 personal customers. But you could build a downline of customers throughout your team. The $11, 000 example shown at the meeting most likely came from the company's opportunity presentation, which is just an illustrative example of what would happen if you had 20 personal customers (with average monthly bill of $38) and recruited 2 team members who also got 20 customers each - and then the process duplicated to the 7th level of your team. That is just an example of how residual income is generated in the ACN compensation plan.
Income should never be promised or guaranteed. As we said, building a team and a large residual income takes time and a lot of hard work.
Here is what I have to say. I sold phone, internet service with a base salary of 42, 000 per year plus commision, 401K, health. Why would I pay to sell someone services? I have a friend who is so into ACN that I just don't want to talk to her anymore because she is so busy trying to sell me services. Selling to your friends and family is not easy. If you want to do this pitch the opportunity/services to your friends first and see how many excuses you get. Pre-sell before you put down the cash.
While they sell you the dream and unleash the reality, this is a legitimate business. I just kind of laugh because this opportunity was sold to me as a chance for freedom and independence. This woman couldn't take her son to a local carnival with me because she was spending her Saturday morning at an ACN meeting (one of 3 a week she attended) My friend who is actually doing ok with the company after 6 months of bad results because she stuck to it, got resourceful (of course after spending thousands in travel to see trump, additional fees, her own services and so on)
Look before you leap...if it is so great why are they pressuring you, not qualifying you?
*I would bring out warning bells on this one*
I've just been approached by a friend who wants to take me on as an ACN rep, here in Australia. To be frank, I told them I wasn't really interested. I could tell they were using all the "marketing" hype they were trained on, such as people need telephone services, so get your friends on ACN and make residual income. Of course, my friend (who hasn't contacted me in over a year) will make money on what I make, and further down the track I'll be told to "recruit" some of my friends to make money on what they make. Essentially, in my view, the warning bells for any "opportunity" are this - if they talk more about the opportunity to make money rather than the product itself, it usually requires an MLM system. People nearer the top making huge amounts of money so you can too, sell to your friends and warm contacts, etc, etc. I think it's unethical to convince friends/family to change providers so you can make a commission, and even more so to recruit some to do the same so you can make an income on their income. This multi layered commission system down the track gets factored into the price, and you always need people at the bottom to be sold the dream so those further up make their money, which is unsustainable. Australia has 20 Million people. If person one at top needs 5 people, who in turn need 5, who in turn need 5 again, then by the time you get to the 11th layer, you hit 9.765, 625, which is well beyond market saturation for the product, as well as almost half Australia's population. Those people sold in at the bottom with their chance of the dream at this stage will have very few to sell to, and so will have been conned into a false promise. By the way, the next layer, 12, hits 48, 828, 125 - simply not enough people here in Australia. This assumes that everyone into the scheme will succesfully recruit 5 people who use the service and recruit 5 more who use the service and who will also recruit and so on. The reality is that some will drop out along the way so the company will keep going for a while, but think of all the recruitment fees and annual fees along the way. Someone is making a lot of money but those at the bottom will loose out at market saturation point (which will go unnoticed as the dream will continue to get sold), and that is unnethical.
Looking at their website, it focuses more on the money making opportunity rather than the product (which is a legit product), and their product prices are not particularly competitive here in Australia.
Essentially, why should they use MLM rather than resort to tried and tested traditional marketing avenues to get their communications products out? Simply because a lot of money can be made on the layered marketing structure for the people at the top and higher up in the chain by selling the residual income dream to those near the bottom.
I ordered home phone and internet service. I had not been told the phone was a VOIP system (which does not work with my home/ADT security system). Within about 9 days of ordering service, I tried to cancel it. They wouldn't let me (telling me there was nothing to cancel because services hadn't been activated). I told them I didn't want my phone service activated because my home security then wouldn't work. They basically said "oh well". They also told me that I was now under contract, having had to cancel service within 3 days of placing the order; and that I would have to pay a termination fee of $200+. They also told me they would not stop the porting of my phone number, and that once they had it, if I was to cancel with them, I'd lose my home number. When I asked for a supervisor, they told me they'd have to "open a case", and I would have to wait 'til 6/24 for someone to call me back. On the morning of 6/24, I called, after having heard from no one. They said I needed to wait 'til the end of the day. At 4:30 p.m., after hearing from no one, I called again and was told the office was closed. I am now left with no home phone service or security system through the weekend. Both Time Warner and Verizon said I should have 30 days to cancel after placing an order, but ACN only gives 3 days. This has been the most awful experience I have ever had.
Please let us take a closer look at your situation and get things taken care of for you. The best way for you to reach us is to call [protected] (press option 3, then option 4, then option 2 to speak to a technical support representative). We want to get this worked out for you. We are attempting to reach you on multiple platforms where you have posted this message, please call us so that we can help.
-ACN Inc.
I laugh at all of the people crying foul over ACN. When you sign up to be an Independent Business Owner with ACN, it's your own business! You have to take responsability for your own actions and learn to follow the system that has worked over and over again throughout 19 years! Ask yourself this, "If I worked as hard at my job as I did MY OWN ACN BUSINESS, would I have a job next week?" My quess is that most of you whining that ACN failed YOU would be fired! YOU need to look in the mirror and see the only person to fail you is YOURSELF! Did you read the contract before you signed, did you attend every or even any meetings or trainings, did you view any of the 1000's of hours of on line training, did you pick up a book and learn about the the business YOU bought - NETWORK MARKETING, did you call your leaders and ask for help, did you learn the inviting scripts, did you learn the compensation plan, did you learn the 1 -1 0 presentation, did you do anything to improve yourself, to educate yourself? You are a business owner, not an employee! If YOU want it, YOU have to do something about it! The system works way better then you could have ever dreamed it would IF and I MEAN IF you are willing to do what is required to have a successful business! This is not a lottery ticket, YOU have to WORK for success, just because you signed up and bought a business, don't mean you will be successful if you don't actully learn and work the system. Just because you stand in your garage, that don't make you a car, right?! So next time you are pointing your finger at someone else and blaming them for YOUR FAILURES, look in the mirror and see how many fingers are pointing at you! Good luck at what ever you choose to do with your life! I can only hope you have some other plan to exit the working world and start living life as it was ment to be lived! FREE and HAPPY!
The only successful people in this business are the ones who convince people to buy a bunch of phones they don't want or need. I worked in the telecommunications industry for more than 6 years and am well aware of "sales". Complete scam. You need 1000 hours of training to convince yourself that you are not scamming your friends and family.
You would think being in the telecommunications business it wouldn't be so hard.
I would rather have a friend ask me for some cash than to convince me to transfer my phone service to ACN so that they could get a small percentage of my monthly bill. Embarrassing!
Last comment, Don't drink the Kool-aid.
Went for a similar get together ACN meeting. The presentor sounded to be arrogant and when I highlighted if this is a network marketing in the likes of Amway, there was silence and he tried to convince me saying even the employment that I am in, is also a pyramid scheme, where CEO earnes more than the employee. What a stuppid comparision. Nope I am over it. There are no facts that people can make such a residual income. I checked theri website and the rates for example are not cheap at all.
I think this funny video sums it all up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35tIZ_sUZCs&feature=player_embedded
Seeking information about Advocare. Pls. contact me at stevefainaru22@gmail.com
Quit complaining lazy man. If you were on a roof doing a job for 1 hour why in the world would you want 8 hours of pay. People like you complain about everything from telemarketing to EVERY way of doing business. People like you are the reason it is illegal to telemarket anymore; and you wonder why the economy is jacked dude.Quit ### and WORK