ACN ACN - deceptive promotion tactics Internet

ACN is technically legit, but I believe many of their practices demonstrate a lack of integrity.  Their goal is to get you to join with promises of being your own broker and offering nationally respected brands at a significant discount.  The presentation is compelling especially if the speaker has a respectable background--I was initially impressed because the pitch is polished and the environment very charged.

The reality is once you pay your $500 business fee, the goal is to sign you up for as many essential home services as they can within 24hrs.  This means high pressure with little opportunity to comparison shop and read the fine print (and YOU better read the fine print, it was eye opening). They also want you to set up a large home party before you have any clue what you are doing--there are training modules, but minimal product training to allow you to be honest with your clients about all aspects (positive and negative) of the business and services. 

 I did not fall for the 24-hour pressure which was very intense BTW--I took a week to comparison shop and read the fine print and was glad I did.  Not ONE service was as cheap as what I could get retail--in fact I could get substantially better deals going direct to retailer in most cases!--wait aren't we brokers here at ACN?..where is the deals for such a large international organization?  Also, every ACN service involves a 12 or 24-month service contract with typically only a 3-DAY cancellation
agreement.  With your upline 'helping' you sign up, they quickly blow by the very restrictive 'contract' and want your CC (lots of BBB complaints of people not even knowing they agreed to these terms because the upline was processing the order).  With ACN cell services, you almost always get hit with expensive activation fees, which I have never had to pay when negotiating at a retailer (higher phone cost too in almost every case).  With their internet phone, you will pay activation, an equipment fee AND shipping AND get hit with a 12-month contract--what the is the point of a contract when you are buying equipment?--local cable/phone does not require a contract...this is pretty shady IMO.

For me to switch my essential services and get my qualification points would have cost me an additional $80+ a month plus almost $200 in activation fees and other fees (I have several phone lines).  You will see lots of BBB complaints about this.  Voice phone?....get ready to buy their expensive phone for $179 AND also get the pleasure of paying for a 2-year contract--WOW, what a savings for me and my friends--I pay for the equipment and you still lock me in for 2-years!

There are hundreds of BBB complaints against this company, but they very carefully 'manage' an A rating by responding to every complaint and proving YOU signed an agreement that clearly states the terms...albeit bad terms.  To me, this is unethical behavior because it takes advantage of your excitement and 'greenness' to quickly lock you into restrictive contracts for services and even the $500 fee.  This way, if you are part of the 90% that fall out, they got your $500 and household services business for at least a year and probably more as many stay with their service. 

There is minimal concern and time spent on product training, so you generally take a 'leap of faith' that the deals/terms will be good for your clients....mistake!  Granted if your client is not a bargain shopper and happy with the deal, who are you really hurting, but I have a conscience and I would like to keep the respect of my friends/associates.  

By the time you start to wise up and realize you have been duped, the 10-days is long gone and you are out your $500 like thousands of other people (even more BBB complaints).  If they REALLY believed in their company and services they would not make such short cancellation policies.  It is clearly meant to catch people 'in the web' and make a quick buck off you, then it is NEXT!  All I can say is BUYER BEWARE and get ready for incredible pressure to get you to act quickly...and preferrably uninformed.  

I asked my upline where the 'value' is with our deals in a training and it looked like they bit into a lemon.  Their response was the 'this is your business speech, make the investment..blah..blah..blah. 

I was also pressured to sign up for the rip-off 39.99 back office assistant(pure ACN profit IMO) and that was enough to send up all the red flags for me.

You CAN make money if you are willing to 'churn and burn' a lot of naive people with little regard for the potential hassle you
might inflict on them.  If you read other posts, very few make much in residuals, but can earn a few bonuses early on to keep the enthusiasm.  What they do is technically legal because they abide by all laws and do disclose all the terms and you agree to them before you are charged.  Good luck trying to catch all the gotcha's with the immense sense of urgency for everything.  It is a shame, because the concept is great and I liked the comraderie and networking.

 I think their pitch of 'substantial savings' could be challenged as illegal because I personally did not see ANY savings for myself or anyone I attempted to pitch (however, it was possible if you converted a landline to internet phone, but FYI, Vonage had a better deal than ACN).  The ADT alarm service was a joke, almost $20/month higher than my rate, Direct TV and Dish had 2-year contracts etc., and there is rampant use of attractive short term promos followed by the whammy full retail rate in a few months.  Some deals were similar to retail but generally had lousy terms or a few extra fees..aka profit for ACN. 

I can't in good faith take advantage of friends and family knowing I am not really giving them a good deal or opportunity and I really dislike the lack of honest disclosure and 'drink the kool-aid' rah rah.

My advice--STAY AWAY.