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Scentura

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Scentura Creations
Company typePrivate
IndustryMulti-level marketing, perfume
Founded1975
HeadquartersChamblee, Georgia
Websitescenturacreations.com

Scentura also known as Scentura Creations is a perfume company based in the city of Chamblee, Georgia, within the Atlanta metropolitan area. The firm is a multilevel selling company which manufacturers inexpensive imitations of designer fragrances. Salespeople are sent out, often in pairs, to sell perfume door-to-door or in parking lots.


History

Larry Hahn is the founder of Scentura Creations. The company itself began in 1975 as W.M. Industries Inc. (WMI). WMI was a door-to-door retail business which sold products such as luggage, toys and perfume.

In a 1984 motivation film, Hahn described his early experience:

Fifteen years ago I slept in my car, and I had no finances, I had no education, and I just said one day, if I could hook myself to the proper vehicle to get a break in life and make some money, I would help other people.

In 1975, with loans from friends, Hahn purchased his first product: 31-piece sets of bakeware. For several years Hahn trained new recruits himself. By the 1980s there were thousands of distributors.

Johnny Whitworth, a distributor of Larry Hahn, left the company to start his own perfume company, World Perfume in Dallas, Texas.

Criticism

In 1999 Scentura Creations, Inc sued Daniel J. Long, a former distributor, for $31,236.44, the cost of perfume which had been delivered to distributors recruited by Long. In 2001, the Illinois Appellate Court ruled that the contract between Scentura and Long was a "pyramid sales scheme", violated the law and was unenforceable. The appellate court ruled that Long was not liable for products in the possession of other distributors.

Independent distributors recruit salespeople by placing classified advertisements in the employment section of the newspaper under the heading of "Management". Turnover tends to be very high. Training is from six to eight weeks.

Sometimes, new salespeople are promised large salaries and are later disappointed to discover that the actual position has no salary and is a 100% commission job. The only income is from selling knock off perfume door-to-door or in parking lots. Employees are also sometimes encouraged by independent distributors to lie about the products they are selling. Scentura salespeople have been in trouble with police for soliciting without a permit.

Every manger and perfume salesperson must first sign an independent contract. Scentura representatives state that because these are independent contractors, Scentura is not responsible for either the ads or the tactics used by salespeople. Linda Fucci, a former administrative aide to Hahn and distributor, stated that "The independent contractor concept was preconceived before the first truck load was ordered in. It was already planned out before we ever opened up."

Scentura products are often sold in parking lots by salespeople who approach women and ask them to sniff a perfume sample. There is an urban legend that similar tactics were being used by thieves who, instead of using perfume, would have the victim inhale a substance (reportedly ether) which would render her unconscious, whereupon she would be robbed. Despite the fact that this legend is false, and there have been no credible reports of anyone being robbed in this way, sightings of Scentura salespeople in parking lots are often reported as evidence that this crime occurs.

Nationwide media coverage on the company has tended to be overwhelmingly negative.

Notes

  1. ^ Stieffel, Kristen (2001). "Perfume Bandits. (Fake Perfume Offered In Parking Lots)". Orlando Business Journal. 18 (16): 23. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) "Scentura is described by the Better Business Bureau as a "multilevel selling company." The firm manufacturers inexpensive imitations of designer fragrances. Salespeople are sent out, often in pairs, to hawk the product door-to-door or, yes, in parking lots."
  2. ^ Thomas Jr., E. (1987). "Who Wants To Be Rich? Larry Hahn: From Sleeping In A Car To A $5 Million Home". Atlanta Business Chronicle. 10 (19): 1 (5). {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  3. "Scentura Creations, Inc. vs. Daniel J. Long". Appellate Court of Illinois Second District. Retrieved 2006-01-10.
  4. Atlanta Business Chronicle, "...Former managers point out that turnover of salespeople was high in their offices. “We had very few that would stay with us for a long period of time." Fucci says, “You never could back off from recruiting."
  5. Intelligencer Journal, "'Crazy, Greedy ... Must like $$$, music and fun. Office and general work. Call Warren ... ,' reads Jentis' ad in all three local newspapers.", "Jentis said hundreds of people have passed through his doors, but admittedly few make the cut. One training class started with about 70; five remain.", "...the fledgling salespeople begin a four--to eight-week training program"
  6. ^ "Company Leaves Perfume Peddlers Feeling Betrayed". WFTV Orlando Channel 9. 2004. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) "They promised us that we would be making $30,000 a year," she says...There was no paycheck, but they could make a few bucks profit on each bottle sold.
  7. The Palm Beach Post, "The interviewer said she had the qualifications to make $30,000 and more with the company-- if she could commit immediately...Butterworth asked about the $30,000 job an interviewer had mentioned. A recruiter told her, 'Don't worry about it, Pam. It's going to work out.' But it never did. The job was selling knockoffs of designer perfume door to door for a commission of $2 to $9 per bottle."
  8. Columbus Ohio Dispatch, "The sellers, for example, said they were promised a weekly paycheck of $295 or more."
  9. Noblesville Eyewitness News They said we're going to make like $75,000 the first year,' recalls Dan Penale.
  10. Richmond Times - Dispatch (2002), "But, she said she had trouble getting straightforward answers to how much money she'd make and whether the job involved selling, which she did not want to do."
  11. Richmond Times - Dispatch (2000), "When you first starting working for them, they say you get paid at least $200 a week...The only money I made was from perfume I sold on the street"
  12. Intelligencer Journal, "After about two months, Jentis said that 'successful' salespersons are offered contracts with annual salaries ranging from '$30,000 to $35,000 and a car,' and that free vacations are commonplace."
  13. ^ Atlanta Business Chronicle, "None of their sales managers or salespeople, the people in the field, were on salary," says Gordan Gates, former WMI executive vice president. “They were all independent contractors."
  14. WFTV.com, "...recruits like Shelby Sillen claim they were trained to lie and tell people they just left a perfume show and had to sell at cost...When another woman from EOE approached us, while we were undercover, to make a sale, suddenly the perfume "knock-offs" were the actual designer fragrances."
  15. Atlanta Business Chronicle, "An El Paso County, Texas, police report from April states: “The subjects ‘Managerial agents' for W.M. Industries, had employees selling their products on a door-to-door sales campaign and all were purporting that their products were manufactured by the authentic companies who also manufacture the trade name products."...A 1986 complaint filed in the Iowa District Court for Polk County by the State of Iowa...making false, deceptive and/or misleading statements to potential customers about the nature of the transaction and the origin of the goods being sold...
  16. ^ "4 cited for criminal trespass". The Daily Collegian Online (Penn State). 1991. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  17. The Palm Beach Post, "Another time, her group stopped at a Jacksonville mall and approached strangers there to buy perfume, keeping an eye out for cops who might ask questions about permits."
  18. Columbus Ohio Dispatch, "But instead of offering to buy, Bogey Inn managers called police. The salespeople were a nuisance, restaurant managers said, and had no license to sell. They were asked to leave and not return...Aston and the others were operating illegally when they sold their perfumes without peddler licenses throughout Columbus and some other central Ohio cities."
  19. Intelligencer Journal, "Hardly a day goes by, said the Downtown Investment District bicycle police officers, when they don't cite one or more of Jentis' crew for soliciting without a permit...DID Police said most are repeat offenders and face fines between $50 to $600 on each daily charge."
  20. ^ "Dream Jobs That Turn Out To Be Nightmares". 2002. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  21. WFTV Orlando Channel 9, "All the companies sell perfume made by Scentura Creations in Atlanta, which says it has nothing to do with the way its independent contractors do business."
  22. Atlanta Business Chronicle, "Independent firms purchase products from W.M. Industries or Scentura Creations and sell the directly to people in their offices, on the street and in their homes, The direct vendors of WMI products work for the independent firms not the central office."
  23. The Palm Beach Post, "The manufacturer of the perfume she was supposed to sell, Scentura Creations of Chamblee, Ga., accepts no responsibility for the actions of independent distributors who sell its product, said Vice President Bob Hasty."
  24. "Snatch and Sniff". Snopes.com. Retrieved 2007-09-22.
  25. Turnbull, Lornet (2002). "Perfume-Selling Operations Smell Like Scam, Women Say". Columbus Ohio Dispatch. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  26. "If it sounds too good to be true". Eyewitness News Noblesville, Indianapolis. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  27. "Perfume jobs smell fishy, BBB says". New Orleans Channel 6. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
  28. Taylor, Iris (2002). "Know What You Are Applying For When Answering A Want Ad". Richmond Times - Dispatch. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  29. "Perfume Purveyors Are Real Thing, Even If The Myth Isn't". Richmond Times - Dispatch. 2000. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  30. Flannery, Thomas L (1997). "There's Big Dollars In Street Scents". Intelligencer Journal. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  31. Madore, James T. (1992). "Perfume Sales Just A Smelly Scam? Young People Say Amherst Company Fails On Training, Pay Promises". Buffalo News. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) Alternate link
  32. Madore, James T. (1992). "Former Employees Cheer Reports Perfume Firm Is Out Of Business". Buffalo News. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) Alternate link
  33. Chievrue, Kim (2001). "Perfume Sales Company Recruits In Munster, Indiana". The Times (from Munster Indiana). {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  34. Eardley, Linda (1993). "Ads Spur Warning On Jobs Company's Internship Is Sales Spot, BBB Says". St. Louis Post - Dispatch. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  35. "Workers Say Perfume Business Stinks Employees Sell Knockoff Perfume". 2002. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  36. Elmore, Charles (1992). "Too True To Be Good". The Palm Beach Post. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  37. "Officials: Scent Of Fraud Lingers In Sales Scheme". The Atlanta Journal Atlanta, Associated Press. 1996. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  38. "Team 4 Investigates Perfume Scheme". WTAE TV Channel 4 Pittsburgh. 2004. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

Further reading

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