ACN, Inc

ACN, Inc

November 1, 2005

I, too, became a representative of ACN and have discovered how they lie to you and misrepresent themselves in order to get your $499 sign up fee. They then give you a 10 day cancellation time period, but, since you can never get hold of anyone at the home office and no one ever returns any phone calls, you lose out on that 10 day window and do not get a refund of the whole amount. 1. Sat down with upline to make initial phone calls to get customers. Was told of a goal to get 8 customers in 30 days. I was not going to "switch" my local phone service to ACN because I was on the Lifeline program with SBC. Upline told me that I should "switch" because with the residuals that I'd be getting on using my own service, I'd be getting "paid" for using my own company. That made sense and I did switch over my phone service and then received a bill for over $40 while I had been paying around $20 for local and long distance. They said it was because it's pro-rated. Ok, but then next month, my bill was over $50! I then was told that to get "paid" any commission, I had to have 40 customers. So, I wasn't getting paid back! 2. I was told that I had a goal of 8 customers in 30 days. Ok! Had 5 customers in 28 days and was called by my upline and was told that I had to get 3 more or I would never be eligible for bonuses, EVER! Had to scramble to get those last customers and he put in a few in my name, but there were problems with those an I never was told if I had to do anything about those or not! 3. Was not told about the yearly renewal fee. It's in the contract (of which I never got a copy), I guess, but not the amount, which I found out was $99 per year. 4. My own sponsor was brand new and she didn't even know about the 40 customer thing or the renewal fee. 5. I faxed letters on 2 separate occasions and even mailed it. I called the rep services and they gave me detailed instructions on what to do and I did that, faxing another letter. My rep status was suspended, and I never heard anything back from them! No contact at all to talk about the problems and the mis-representation that I felt my up-line had done and the lies I had been told! I finally sent a complaint to the BBB and received an email response from them after they sent my complaint to ACN. ACN claims that they only got 1 letter and that they left me messages and sent me letters stating that I would not be receiving a refund because I was outside of the 10 day cancellation period. 6. ACN is not the cheapest services as their rep's claim. 7. I even tried to call the phone # that was given on their response to the BBB and of course, no one was available at that time. I then called Rep services to get the fax # for that department and, of course, they did not have it, and they told me to call the phone #! You can't even e-mail them! 8. I cancelled my internet service with them and they still charged my account! So, now I have to call them again, to get that straightened out! ACN is a horrible company and all they want is the $499 it costs to become a rep, and then for you to go out and get more reps to send in $499. They promote the residual aspect where you get paid back on service useage by you and all your customers, but you don't get that until after you have lots of customers! They want you to get the reps! It's a big circle. Deanna

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If I am suppose to be my own business is it alright to have my lawyer present and review all the paperwork and commitments that I make with ACN and ACN with myself?

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The response to your post from the ACN rep is the same thing that I heard from the 'upline' of a now ex-friend who is now involved with this company.

The response poster says:-

"Yeah, not cut out for business ownership. I'm sorry it didn't work out" .........as if they are so much better than you!

The nugget I got was:-

"You obviously aren't ready for financial freedom"!!!

What does that mean? That only ACN reps are, and that only their way works?

That is the typical demeaning, "I know better than you" attitude that this company seems to drum into its independent Reps.

I went to four 'Business Opportunity Meetings' to investigate this 'opportunity' with my friend.

I managed to get some 1-1 time with 3 of the 4 presenters. All were relatively high standing in their particular 'team' (and no, I don't remember the acronym that described their position. But they all claimed themselves to be living, walking proof of the amazing success you can have with ACN, so, I don't know, you tell me what position they were!) .

None could, or was willing, answer me on several items. To name just a few:-

Where does the majority of ACN's profits come from? Can anyone show me the detail?

What is the average income of a typical participant?

What gives a VOIP video phone at ~$30 a month, the edge as a valid competitor to the numerous free web based VOIP video communication tools? (It was one of the products I was supposed to be selling to gain this fantastic wealth after all!)

Why can I cold call for reps but not for customers?

If this is a 'customer acquisition' based business why such a push on recruiting reps and so little discussion on selling the product TO CUSTOMERS!!!

As I said, they very quickly will tell you that you can, and I quote one presenter, "be in a position to earn $33,000 a month!!!".

And, yes, I realize he didn't say "you will make", or doesn't say you are guaranteed anything.

Yet when questioned on the product that is supposed to acquire the customers that you need to make this money, all 3 knew relatively little. One did not even know what Skype was all about!!!

But, yes, I concede, there is potential for money to be made in ACN, but for the very select few at the very top of the stack.

They don't give you any info on failure rates, average income, how long it takes, on average, to achieve the levels of income that they splash all over the flashy presentations. They show you nice pictures of the top few earners and their beautiful lives. What about the rest of the people that are signed up, show me their lives?

And to achieve the dream, you need to sign up reps (and believe me, you will lose friends along the way). And while those reps are not fully trained & do not fully understand the business, they are enticed, by bonuses, to sign up friends & family within 30 days. Do ACN make sure they are properly trained? No. Do ACN care what these new untrained reps claim you can achieve with ACN? No. These reps can go out and say whatever they want about the company in order to sign up people QUICK. And do ACN care that the result of this is blogs and threads and discussion posts all over the web, that claim it as a dodgy company? No, they don't care one bit.

Now I know, the comeback is......but its your business, its up to you to run it right, train you're reps.

Well, if its my business, why can't I advertise it? Why can't I cold call to acquire customers? It is a "customer acquisition" company after all!!?

If I'm so independent and its my business, what happens if ACN decides to shut up shop, or it goes out of business, or the legal process shuts them down? (read up on the legal cases against them in Australia & Canada) What happens is 'my business' is also down the tubes.

And for all those reps that are so proud that Donald Trump is endorsing them, you do know that you're not supposed to talk about that right?

From ACN:-

Representatives are not allowed to use Mr. Trump's name, image, footage, website or any other material in any form at any time.

So much for independent!

For those of you that are making money out of this, good for you, really, I mean it, good for you.

My opinion is that is is not a great prospect. I steered clear, and lost a good friend. To me there is more to life than walking all over your friends & family, and pushing a product or 'opportunity' down their necks, for the quite low possibility of making money.

As ACN reps will all tell you, you're an adult, and its your decision, you don't have to join.

Well they are absolutely right, you are an adult. But do yourself a favor and act like an adult, do you're research before some fast talking sales man takes $500 of you after giving an entertaining speech on the very limited possibility of making money with this company.

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Definitely a bad experience...all because of ignorance. If your direct sponsor didn't know what was going on, why don't you contact her direct sponsor? If she didn't help you get those first 8 points in the first 3 days, she wasn't doing what she should have been, but it doesn't sound like she knew that either.

What it basically boils down to, <b>you stopped</b> at your direct sponsor when you didn't do the right things the correct way. ACN cannot be blamed for you not doing things the way they have it set up.

You definitely don't sound cut out to be a business owner. Not willing to even use your own phone service...I bet I'd walk into your subway, only to find you walking into your subway with a MacDonald's bag in your hand. Or driving around with Good Year tires, when you own a Firestone store.

If the reps claim that ACN is the cheapest out there, that was a lie, knowingly or unknowingly, who knows. ACN has competition out there that is cheaper than them. They compete head to head with the geographical incumbent, for local/ld. Of course a VoIP provider will b e cheaper than ACN local/LD.

You're complaining that it takes a lot of business to make money in ACN??? Does every business owner complain they aren't in the black, after the first month of business? That would be a "no." Traditionally it takes any company about 8 years, not months, to get out of the red.

Yeah, not cut out for business ownership. I'm sorry it didn't work out, ACN...business ownership isn't for everyone.

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Definately a bad expirenece...all because of ignorance. If your direct sponsor didnt't know what was going on, why don't you contact her direct sponsor? If she didn't help you get those first 8 points in the first 3 days, she wasn't doing what she should have been, but it doesn't sound like she knew that either.

What it basically boils down to, <b>you stopped</b> at your direct sponsor when you didn't do the right things the correct way. ACN cannot be blamed for you not doing things the way they have it set up.

You definately don't sound cut out to be a business owner. Not willing to even use your own phone service...I bet I'd walk into your subway, only to find you walking into your subway with a MacDonald's bag in your hand. Or driving around with Good Year tires, when you own a Firestone store.

If the reps claim that ACN is the cheapest out there, that was a lie, knowingly or unknowingly, who knows. ACN has competition out there that is cheaper than them. They compete head to head with the geographical incumbant, for local/ld. Of course a VoIP provider will b e cheaper than ACN local/LD.

You're complaining that it takes a lot of business to make money in ACN??? Does every business owner complain they aren't in the black, after the first month of business? That would be a "no." Traitdionally it takes any company about 8 years, not months, to get out of the red.

Yeah, not cut out for business ownership. I'm sorry it didn't work out, ACN...business ownership isn't for everyone.