Avon Cosmetics AVON - Fradulent Practices - False Billing U.S.A Nationwide

PLEASE DO NOT SIGN UP FOR AVON! THEY ARE GOING THROUGH A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT FOR FRADULENT BILLING. PLEASE SEE ARTICLE BELOW.

I was an AVON rep in college to make a few extra dollars. My whole family ordered AVON products from me for Christmas. I never received the products and AVON never alerted me there was a problem. In fact, they were closed for the holidays and I couldn't get in touch with anyone for almost a week.

I found out there was some problem, and the products never got shipped and all my family and friends that ordered from me were without gifts on Christmas Eve! They were so upset, they had to run out and find last minute gifts to give! I was furious! Not only did I miss out on money, Avon ruined Christmas for my entire family! The phone number to get in touch with Avon is first of all a long distance call (couldn't they at least give us a 1-800 number), they make you wait on the phone for hours to get through to anyone (making your phone bill go sky high), and then they can't even really help you when you get in touch with someone.

I got back to college in January and they had shipped all the Christmas stuff to my college address! So I returned all the products back to them and they say they never received it and I owe the amount of the goods. This was two years ago. Now the collection agency has been calling my house, harrassing me, for 2 years straight trying to collect $140 that Avon says I owe - which is absolutely false - and they are threatening to sue me for $140 worth of products that Avon lied and said I never returned! They have now put this on my credit report and ruined my credit. I am trying to start a business and I can't even get financing because they have ruined my credit with this false charge!!!

I can't get in touch with Avon because their customer service line sucks, and they tell me they have no records of my existence at the company because I was a rep more than 6 months ago. Complete crap!! But they can absolutely say I owe them $140 and ruin my credit because they lied and said I never returned the products! Never sign up for Avon unless you are going to put up with their crap!

Here is the article regarding Avon's fradulent billing and the class action lawsuit:

LOS ANGELES, July 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit
filed against Avon Products, Inc., won an important legal victory last week
when the California Court of Appeals, Second Appellate District, agreed to
review rulings previously issued against the plaintiffs by the Los Angeles
County Superior Court. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs contend that Avon
unfairly competes and artificially boosts its financial bottom line by
shipping unordered products to its sales representatives, who are then coerced
by Avon into accepting and paying for such products even after they have been
returned to Avon for credit -- a series of practices known as "channel
stuffing." Plaintiffs seek to represent a nationwide class of current and
former Avon sales representatives (commonly referred to as "Avon Ladies") who,
like themselves, were hurt by Avon's "channel stuffing" practices.
In two rulings issued on March 16 and June 1, 2004, the Superior Court
dismissed three of the plaintiffs from the lawsuit, finding that they were not
proper class representatives. The Superior Court also threw out the
plaintiffs' claims for fraudulent concealment, breach of contract, and unfair
competition, finding that the facts stated in their complaint failed to
support such claims. Huron Maki & Johnson, the firm representing the
plaintiffs, promptly filed petitions for review with the Court of Appeals,
arguing that the Superior Court's findings were erroneous and that its rulings
should be reversed.
Although the vast majority of such petitions are denied, the Court of
Appeals took the rare step in this instance of granting review. On June 24,
2004, after considering arguments made by counsel for both sides, the Court of
Appeals ordered the Superior Court to either vacate its March 16th and June
1st rulings and enter new rulings in favor of the plaintiffs, or convince the
Court of Appeals that it should not have to do so.
"We are extremely pleased by the Court of Appeals' order, as well as by
how quickly it was rendered," said Jeff Huron, lead counsel for the
plaintiffs. "The individuals involved in this class action are ordinary women
who joined Avon to help make ends meet and quickly found themselves being
forced to pay for unwanted products. They face an enormous battle against
Avon. We believe that our discovery will show that Avon has a company-wide
practice of 'channel stuffing' and inflating the numbers of its legitimate
sales and representatives."
The complaint filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court on January
23, 2004, named plaintiffs Raven Blakemore, Robin Smith, Lupe Lane, and Elda
Garcia and detailed the numerous instances of "channel stuffing" they
experienced during their tenures as Avon sales representatives. According to
Huron, the number of such occurrences within the class (which has yet to be
certified) is overwhelming. Huron estimates that the size of the nationwide
class numbers in the thousands and notes that there is still time for other
appropriate individuals to become named plaintiffs.

About Huron Maki & Johnson LLP
Based in Los Angeles, Calif., Huron Maki & Johnson LLP, previously known
as Huron Law Group LLP, is dedicated to obtaining the best results for its
clients, first and foremost. Most recently, the firm led a community bank to
an undisclosed settlement in a fraud case against a top ten accounting firm.

M.
Austin, Texas
U.S.A.