At some point in our lives we may find ourselves in a position where you NEED a job. I signed up with Betterware as a "Co-ordinator" which roughly translated means area manager in charge of several or more Distributors in a set geographical area. The position was self employed. The job entailed taking weekly orders from the Distributors, collating them and entering the orders online to Betterware HQ. The entire value of those orders was placed onto your co-ordinator's "running financial account" in your name. When the goods arrived they turned up in huge boxes which you had to sort for each Distributor and more often than not there were missing products where the packer of the consignment ticked the picking list, but the goods were not in the delivered parcel(s). A claim form and the original picking list had to be posted off to B/W's HQ and hopefully those amounts would then be credited to your "running account" - or not. I am still over £170.00 out of pocket with this system and B/W have all the documents. When you delivered the goods to the Distributors you also had to collect cash from them from previous week's sales, less any commission they were due, calculated at 20% of sold products. There would be times when the customer wasn't at home despite many visits, or they simply refused to pay, so the goods were then handed back to me to be returned to B/W HQ. Commission earned by the Distributor in this transaction = £0.00 Under distance selling regulations, the Distributor is obliged by law to give a full refund within 14 days and many times they did give 100% refunds. Commission earned by the Distributor in this transaction = £0.00 In fact the commission earned from the original sale has now been paid back to the customer so the distributor is now -20% of the good's value. Faulty goods exchanged by the Distributor. Commission earned by the Distributor in this transaction = £0.00. All of these returned items then get handed back to the co-ordinator who gives them 100% credit value on their weekly cash summary. When those goods get returned to Betterware HQ, they then decide to DEDUCT 20% OF THE GOODS VALUE FROM THE CO-ORDINATOR and add that value onto the running account which is debited. I couldn't work out how my "running account" was getting further and further into the red when I was doing the job strictly as instructed, that was until I discovered this 20% deduction on all returned goods which made me livid. I quizzed my regional manager about this and was told it was done to recoup commissions already paid on these goods . It certainly wasn't paid to me that's for sure. If the distributors wanted any plastic bags to protect the catalogues in wet weather, or wanted other paid for stationary , it all came out of the co-ordinator's running account. The major part of the job though was to recruit new Distributors. I spent a small fortune on phone calls and petrol running around chasing people that didn't want to work, or they would spend a couple of hours putting catalogues out then quit, saying it was "hard work". It was THE most thankless job that I have ever had. You were expected to pay each week a "waiver fee" to supposedly protect you against Distributors running off with goods or money. This only applied to ONE invoice so I was told, so it didn't protect you against money shortfalls over several weeks, nor did it protect me from Betterware's own malpractices, as I was to find out. This "waiver scheme" has not been approved by the FCA. Because I wasn't happy about these all back door deductions coming out of the running account, so I decided enough was enough and so I quit. I was presented with a bill for over £800.00, payable instantly. I went to Citizen's Advice about these issues and they told me it was a criminal offence under unfair trading and consumer protection regulation , so they referred it on to Trading Standards to investigate, which to the best of my knowledge they have not done so. I have informed Betterware about this illegal activity and they have never once responded, denied or challenged it. Instead, they took out a County Court summons and got a judgement in their favour, despite me writing to the court informing them that the debt was unlawfully accrued and therefore not recoverable. The latest news is that B/W have appointed baillifs and the debt has now gone up to over £1,000. All of this really has affected my health which wasn't that good to begin with.

Last year I worked for a while as a Betterware Co-ordinator (Area Manager) servicing several local Distributors. You are self employed in this role. I was given a "running account" for sales orders and monies received on behalf of the company. Within a very short while this running account gradually fell more and more into the red and I couldn't figure out why at first, I looked very closely at what was going on, not made any easier by the fact that there was always a 2 - 3 week gap between orders placed and banking the money collected from Distributors. The Regional Manager did not seem at all concerned by this, in fact he didn't bother to carry out an end of year audit with me. I found that the company was deducting 20% off the value of all goods returned to them, which of course added hugely to the debt that was accruing on my running account. The company says that the deduction is made "to recoup commissions paid on the returned items". Just a minute, if the customer decides not to purchase then no money has changed hands - no commission paid. If the customer wants a refund, they are refunded in FULL. If the item is faulty and an exchange given, no money changes hands - no commission paid. The Distributor gets a FULL credit on all returned items too by the Co-ordinator, yet the Co-ordinator has 20% swiped off them by the company! In addition, goods ordered and not received were also being charged to this account, despite the claim forms being sent in and almost 200 pounds worth of credits is missing off the account, plus other items could not be credited because the part number was either a substitute item or deleted from the computer. Once I had learned what was going on I resigned. The Regional Manager was obliged to carry out another audit on my leaving and again this was not done. Shortly afterwards I received a demand for some 800 odd pounds which shocked me, I challenged the debt. According to Betterware, their computer and accounting system is flawless and they even asked if I would care to discuss the issue with their programming team, otherwise I should pay up immediately in full. Shortly afterwards I received a County Court summons and an offer of mediation. Betterware were totally intransigent and I merely wanted to discuss the ACTUAL debt owed. I contacted Citizen's Advice who said the Betterware were committing a "criminal act" under unfair trading regulations so have referred it on to Trading Standards. I have heard nothing from either since. The adjourned court case is scheduled for the 29th April I am at a loss whether or not Betterware are breaking the law with their malpractices regarding the commission deductions. If they are, then my understanding is they cannot lay claim to a debt accrued illegally and not therefore recoverable in law. Any words of wisdom please?

I was working as a sales agent for Betterware for a few weeks, but unfortunately didn't work out, so I stopped. As I am having financial difficulties I couldn't pay off the outstanding balance which is just over £600. I didn't sign the sales agent's agreement with Betterware, but lately they are threatening me with legal action in order to recover the outstanding balance. They asked me to sign and return the agreement, but I didn't as I wanted to see if it works out before signing the agreement. I read the agreement, but clause 3.6 states, I quote: "The first order from the Sales Agent here under will only become binding upon the Sales Agent who will only then become liable to the Purchase Cost of the products delivered to him/her once the Company has received a copy of this Agreement signed by the Sales Agent and the products in question have been delivered to the Sales Agent." The question is, can the company take me to court even if I didn't sign the Sales Agent Agreement with them? (I would like to describe here how it works with Betterware: I was the person who ordered the products from the company. The company is called Betterware and it works in a similar way such as Kleeneze and Avon. I went out and put through people's letterbox catalogues. Then the customers place their order to me (not to the company). Let's say my customers ordered different products which I, then, ordered them from Betterware. For example, let's say my orders from my customers were for £1000, then I ordered these products from Betterware. Once I received the products from Betterware, I delivered my customers their order. Then I retained 30% commission from the £1000 and paid Betterware £750.) Please could anyone help? Bellow is a copy of their letter: I am writing in connection with the outstanding debt as detailed above, as previous attempts to collect the balance by Wescot Financial Services have proved unsuccessful. Accordingly, within the next 14 days you must respond to this letter by either: 1. Sending a cheque to us for the full amount made payable to Betterware Limited. 2. Writing to us by email, fax or post providing full details of any queries or dispute to all or part of the claim. If your query concerns only part of the claim, please ensure you enclose payment for the undisputed sum; 3. If you are unable to make payment in full, you must write to us admitting the claim and providing your reasonable proposals for payments for us to consider. In the event you require debt advice, free independent advice and assistance can be obtained from organisations including those listed below: National Debtline 0808 8084 000 Consumer Credit Counselling Service 0800 1381 111 Citizens Advice Bureau Unless you respond by 10 October 2012, court proceedings will be issued for the recovery of the said sum together with interest, court fees and any solicitor’s costs as fixed or assessed by the court without any further notice to you. Please note that the registration of a Decree issued by the Sheriff Court will affect your creditworthiness. Thanks!

Hi not sure if this is the right forum or not. I am interested in signing upto the catalouge firm called betterware. manage without a car as a distributor.Just wondering how one could . as they tend to askyou to deliver the goods as well as the catalouges.