Avon Pyramid Scheme

I decided to purchase products from Avon as I was attracted to their non- animal testing policy. To get affordable and cruelty free products is quite difficult. I made the order on their online website and received an email that it would be delivered "after lockdown" by a representative 1 (won't mention his name for confidentiality). After a day, I heard nothing from rep 1 and contacted the Avon contact centre. I received an email stating that I would be helped by rep 2. Another day passed with no feedback from rep 2.

I emailed and called rep 2. She had no idea what I wanted, why I had called and even asked me if I was calling to enquire about being a rep myself. I found this strange. Why would I contact a peer rep to become a rep myself instead of going directly to the company? And why was this person not contacted by Avon for follow ups on her progress and lead times in delivering my products.

After stating that she didn't know why Avon even gave me her details in the first place, she passed me the details of a new rep 3 closer to my area. I contacted rep 3 myself. Rep was friendly however, stated that I would need to download an app, make the order again, meet with her personally to receive a physical brochure (hard copy book) and place the order through her (so what is the point of the initial ordering process?).

All this for a few creams in an order amounting to R500?

I'm very disappointed with the service provided by the Avon company. They have a contact centre that engaged in absolutely no contact or lead times whatsoever. The reps are friendly, normal people trying to make a profit. But what happens if you simply wanted to by 2- 3 products over R100. Do these women have to travel to a warehouse, then to you in order to deliver the product. How feasible is this for their pocket. All the while, this stretches the customer's patience for having to understand their situation. Just to receive a few bottles of cream?

Sadly, the need to get a product in outweighed my resilience in managing this process as proactively as I could with several reps on behalf of Avon, that simply let's these women loose into the world to sell and deliver products as they see fit. This is clearly not a business I would invest any time or money in as it's model is not adequate for the current age we live in. Online stores have been a thing for a very long time now.

Consider that if Avon really cared about providing sustainable employment to women in South Africa, it would train women to be better brand representative, who are more empowered. It would also follow up on its database and lead times to ensure that the customer is given a follow up at every part of the process. This is as very basic ask. Instead you have customers that wants products from people that need to move around in cars/ taxis at their own expense to deliver, using their own data etc. Ideally, you buying from women (who might be unemployed) that want to make money for themselves, who must waste more money to get a product to you, the customer, with no company support, is exploitative. To me, this is still just a pyramid scheme that I cannot recommend.