happyexpat
3rd May 2011, 17:55
As far as doTERRA's products, I would say they are mostly good quality, but extremely overpriced. The following is an excerpt of http://www.doterra.ca/ regarding one Canadian family's doTERRA experience.
2 May 2011
We hope this page does not serve to discourage anyone from the use of essential oils. Essential oils can be extremely beneficial when used properly. There are many excellent ways to get good quality essential oils. We choose to focus on chemical free (not necessarily commercially labelled as organic), and recommend you buy locally whenever possible. The most positive thing to have come out of all of this is learning a great deal about the benefits of essential oils and they can be available in an environmentally, socially responsible and affordable way. Depending on where you end up purchasing essential oils (or any other product, really), we strongly recommend dowsing to remove any non-beneficial energies attached to them (such as greed). It can greatly enhance the effectiveness of many things we use in our everyday lives.
Were the following events caused by a lack of us doing our due diligence? We don't really think so.
A friend of ours at the States had been using essential oils for a bit. His various stories were quite interesting, and being a fan of anything alternative medicine, we decided to check them out. We had always been skeptical of MLMs, but part of the sales pitch is how this company was founded by splitting off from another company so they could set up their own ethical company that would operate with integrity. Based on the high praise for the product, we decided to go ahead and check it out. When we discovered that doterra.ca was available, we decided to get it and go forward. The “start-up” was relatively inexpensive, and as far as we know, has actually been lowered since then.
The first spot of difficulty we ran into was never receiving an order. One of the items was identified as being on backorder, so we waited about a month to check on it. Still no order. We basically went into it with the attitude that maybe it was growing pains, as companies can often experience during times of expansion. When we contacted doTERRA, we asked for the tracking number for the order. No tracking number available. Would a reasonable person find that if there is no tracking number, an order most likely had not been shipped? doTERRA did ship a “replacement” order, but we feel like we were basically treated as if we were trying to scam them out of a free order. It was not an enjoyable process.
Then we hit the jackpot of difficulties. We were not receiving a single order through the doTERRA website, in spite of the number of people who told us they were going to order. It's reasonable to assume that not everyone who says they will place an order does. Until... A family member placed an order, and e-mailed us the confirmation of the order. They are fairly computer savvy and certainly competent enough to believe them when they say they placed the order on our website, and were quite positive they had done so. Upon contacting doTERRA I (Katherine) was transferred to a man in the IT Department (sorry, the documentation from this time period is in storage at the moment, and I don't recall his name). Upon investigation, it was discovered that the website doTERRA had provided us with was not crediting us with orders because it was not setup to. If a customer clicked “shop for oils” to look at the products, the credit for the order went to doTERRA and we were completely left out of the loop. To his credit, IT Guy, was fairly dismayed and panicked. There were several calls back and forth, during which, he advised that all of the websites had been setup this way when they went to this format and he had no idea how many product consultants around the world had been affected. Not to his credit, when I asked him what was going to be done about sorting this out and giving appropriate credit for orders, he told me unless we could track down the order (such as our family member) we were “out of luck”. He did sound like he felt rather guilty saying it, but that was the bottom line. He said we would be advised when the website was setup to run properly.
The very same day all of this is going on, we get a call from Mark Wolfert saying he is General Counsel for doTERRA and we have a very serious issue because we have directly copied their website and claimed we are doTERRA Canada on doterra.ca. I (Katherine) was extremely confused because I knew I had never put “doTERRA Canada” anywhere on the simple one page intro I had set up to take people to our shopping site (which didn't credit us for any orders anyhow). It turns out Mark Wolfert was actually looking at doTERRA's own webpage and falsely accusing us of directly copying it! While we were on the phone Mark Wolfert pulled up doterra.ca and advised me the only change I needed to make to it was to add the wording “Independent Product Consultant” to it, which I did within half an hour. Was there any apology for the false accusation? Absolutely not.
After being weary and frustrated by what definitely seemed like attempted bullying and intimidation, I (Katherine) asked Mark Wolfert what they were doing about the websites being set up improperly and us not receiving credit for any of our orders. He got off the phone extremely quickly after that, and I did not receive any response to my question.
Our “upline” was aware of the entire situation, and indeed also verified the problem existing with the website, which existed on their website, as well.
I kept checking the site regularly, and after a period of time (again I would have to consult the documentation in storage to be exact) the website was operating properly.
We were never advised when the problem was corrected.
We were never thanked for bringing the problem to their attention.
We never received an apology for the error (assuming it was not intentional).
We never received an honest and open accounting for any other orders taken from our website due to the error (again assuming it was not intentional).
To the best of our knowledge, doTERRA has never told the product consultants the truth about what went on with the websites during this period, apologised or presented them with any financial compensation.
How many orders did doTERRA directly receive during that time? If a company is ethical and has integrity, why not apologise and address the problem directly and honestly and do something for their product consultants to make amends?
The almost final straw was when we finally received a check for the one order we could “prove” was ours, and it was made out incorrectly. Having put a business name for shipping purposes, apparently doTERRA set up the account as being the business, which it was not. When we contacted them by telephone to let them know about their error and point out the tax ID number used was for the NAME and not the business name they made they check out to, they told us to go to the website and fill out a new contract and send it to them.
We never did manage to find a contract for Canada on the website, and basically we were so disgusted with the overall experience, we did not even attempt to contact them again. We left the website sitting as it was, and in our discussions with various people we know, we tell them honestly and directly what we think about it. We threw away the marketing cards we had paid to have printed, and various other things, and basically wrote it off as a loss and very definitely feeling duped.
Frankly, we probably should have posted this information sooner, but why spend good energy chasing after bad? We have been busy getting on with living, which we consider to be far more important than any of the rest of this. That is until yesterday.
1 May 2011. We received an e-mail from Mark Wolfert relative to doTERRA being in our domain and something about permission to use doTERRA.
Are we reading this correctly? Registered independent product consultants cannot use the doTERRA name for a website to market the product they signed up to sell?
We provided Mark with the option of how he would prefer for us to use the domain name. Would he prefer it to be pointed to a doTERRA storefront, or would he prefer an open and honest review of our experience with doTERRA? He did not respond to the question in his next e-mail, and we asked again, and again his reply was non-responsive.
While the domain doterra.ca was originally obtained to utilise in commerce in good faith, it has never produced a single penny of profit. Any attempt to produce a profit from the domain ceased on May 1, 2011. During the time doterra.ca was in use to attempt a profit, in no way, shape, manner or form was that business directed to anyone other than doTERRA. There was never any intent or attempt to mislead anyone visiting the website. Just as there is no attempt to do so now.
The name doTERRA is only used in the domain and context of this page under fair use to provide information, criticism and commentary.
For the record, it is our sincerest hope that we are able to update this webpage soon to provide information that doTERRA will conduct themselves ethically and with integrity by telling all Independent Product Consultants the truth about the websites operating improperly and compensate all of them fairly for any orders that may have been improperly taken from them during that time. Will doTERRA do the right thing? Is it a sign of a downward spiral for an MLM when they are harassing their own product consultants?
Time will tell just how ethical and how much integrity the management of doTERRA has.
If anyone would like their doTERRA story added to this webpage, please feel free to look up information on whois and contact us by e-mail or phone. We are travelling right now, so mail is not a good way to reach us.
We apologise profusely for not posting this information sooner and hope you find it of benefit in making an informed decision.
Other than any incidental updates, we are not putting any more energy into this situation. We do not find any sense in keeping a focus on a negative situation. There are far too many beautiful and wonderful things to do and experience to waste any more precious time and energy on this situation.
2 May 2011
We hope this page does not serve to discourage anyone from the use of essential oils. Essential oils can be extremely beneficial when used properly. There are many excellent ways to get good quality essential oils. We choose to focus on chemical free (not necessarily commercially labelled as organic), and recommend you buy locally whenever possible. The most positive thing to have come out of all of this is learning a great deal about the benefits of essential oils and they can be available in an environmentally, socially responsible and affordable way. Depending on where you end up purchasing essential oils (or any other product, really), we strongly recommend dowsing to remove any non-beneficial energies attached to them (such as greed). It can greatly enhance the effectiveness of many things we use in our everyday lives.
Were the following events caused by a lack of us doing our due diligence? We don't really think so.
A friend of ours at the States had been using essential oils for a bit. His various stories were quite interesting, and being a fan of anything alternative medicine, we decided to check them out. We had always been skeptical of MLMs, but part of the sales pitch is how this company was founded by splitting off from another company so they could set up their own ethical company that would operate with integrity. Based on the high praise for the product, we decided to go ahead and check it out. When we discovered that doterra.ca was available, we decided to get it and go forward. The “start-up” was relatively inexpensive, and as far as we know, has actually been lowered since then.
The first spot of difficulty we ran into was never receiving an order. One of the items was identified as being on backorder, so we waited about a month to check on it. Still no order. We basically went into it with the attitude that maybe it was growing pains, as companies can often experience during times of expansion. When we contacted doTERRA, we asked for the tracking number for the order. No tracking number available. Would a reasonable person find that if there is no tracking number, an order most likely had not been shipped? doTERRA did ship a “replacement” order, but we feel like we were basically treated as if we were trying to scam them out of a free order. It was not an enjoyable process.
Then we hit the jackpot of difficulties. We were not receiving a single order through the doTERRA website, in spite of the number of people who told us they were going to order. It's reasonable to assume that not everyone who says they will place an order does. Until... A family member placed an order, and e-mailed us the confirmation of the order. They are fairly computer savvy and certainly competent enough to believe them when they say they placed the order on our website, and were quite positive they had done so. Upon contacting doTERRA I (Katherine) was transferred to a man in the IT Department (sorry, the documentation from this time period is in storage at the moment, and I don't recall his name). Upon investigation, it was discovered that the website doTERRA had provided us with was not crediting us with orders because it was not setup to. If a customer clicked “shop for oils” to look at the products, the credit for the order went to doTERRA and we were completely left out of the loop. To his credit, IT Guy, was fairly dismayed and panicked. There were several calls back and forth, during which, he advised that all of the websites had been setup this way when they went to this format and he had no idea how many product consultants around the world had been affected. Not to his credit, when I asked him what was going to be done about sorting this out and giving appropriate credit for orders, he told me unless we could track down the order (such as our family member) we were “out of luck”. He did sound like he felt rather guilty saying it, but that was the bottom line. He said we would be advised when the website was setup to run properly.
The very same day all of this is going on, we get a call from Mark Wolfert saying he is General Counsel for doTERRA and we have a very serious issue because we have directly copied their website and claimed we are doTERRA Canada on doterra.ca. I (Katherine) was extremely confused because I knew I had never put “doTERRA Canada” anywhere on the simple one page intro I had set up to take people to our shopping site (which didn't credit us for any orders anyhow). It turns out Mark Wolfert was actually looking at doTERRA's own webpage and falsely accusing us of directly copying it! While we were on the phone Mark Wolfert pulled up doterra.ca and advised me the only change I needed to make to it was to add the wording “Independent Product Consultant” to it, which I did within half an hour. Was there any apology for the false accusation? Absolutely not.
After being weary and frustrated by what definitely seemed like attempted bullying and intimidation, I (Katherine) asked Mark Wolfert what they were doing about the websites being set up improperly and us not receiving credit for any of our orders. He got off the phone extremely quickly after that, and I did not receive any response to my question.
Our “upline” was aware of the entire situation, and indeed also verified the problem existing with the website, which existed on their website, as well.
I kept checking the site regularly, and after a period of time (again I would have to consult the documentation in storage to be exact) the website was operating properly.
We were never advised when the problem was corrected.
We were never thanked for bringing the problem to their attention.
We never received an apology for the error (assuming it was not intentional).
We never received an honest and open accounting for any other orders taken from our website due to the error (again assuming it was not intentional).
To the best of our knowledge, doTERRA has never told the product consultants the truth about what went on with the websites during this period, apologised or presented them with any financial compensation.
How many orders did doTERRA directly receive during that time? If a company is ethical and has integrity, why not apologise and address the problem directly and honestly and do something for their product consultants to make amends?
The almost final straw was when we finally received a check for the one order we could “prove” was ours, and it was made out incorrectly. Having put a business name for shipping purposes, apparently doTERRA set up the account as being the business, which it was not. When we contacted them by telephone to let them know about their error and point out the tax ID number used was for the NAME and not the business name they made they check out to, they told us to go to the website and fill out a new contract and send it to them.
We never did manage to find a contract for Canada on the website, and basically we were so disgusted with the overall experience, we did not even attempt to contact them again. We left the website sitting as it was, and in our discussions with various people we know, we tell them honestly and directly what we think about it. We threw away the marketing cards we had paid to have printed, and various other things, and basically wrote it off as a loss and very definitely feeling duped.
Frankly, we probably should have posted this information sooner, but why spend good energy chasing after bad? We have been busy getting on with living, which we consider to be far more important than any of the rest of this. That is until yesterday.
1 May 2011. We received an e-mail from Mark Wolfert relative to doTERRA being in our domain and something about permission to use doTERRA.
Are we reading this correctly? Registered independent product consultants cannot use the doTERRA name for a website to market the product they signed up to sell?
We provided Mark with the option of how he would prefer for us to use the domain name. Would he prefer it to be pointed to a doTERRA storefront, or would he prefer an open and honest review of our experience with doTERRA? He did not respond to the question in his next e-mail, and we asked again, and again his reply was non-responsive.
While the domain doterra.ca was originally obtained to utilise in commerce in good faith, it has never produced a single penny of profit. Any attempt to produce a profit from the domain ceased on May 1, 2011. During the time doterra.ca was in use to attempt a profit, in no way, shape, manner or form was that business directed to anyone other than doTERRA. There was never any intent or attempt to mislead anyone visiting the website. Just as there is no attempt to do so now.
The name doTERRA is only used in the domain and context of this page under fair use to provide information, criticism and commentary.
For the record, it is our sincerest hope that we are able to update this webpage soon to provide information that doTERRA will conduct themselves ethically and with integrity by telling all Independent Product Consultants the truth about the websites operating improperly and compensate all of them fairly for any orders that may have been improperly taken from them during that time. Will doTERRA do the right thing? Is it a sign of a downward spiral for an MLM when they are harassing their own product consultants?
Time will tell just how ethical and how much integrity the management of doTERRA has.
If anyone would like their doTERRA story added to this webpage, please feel free to look up information on whois and contact us by e-mail or phone. We are travelling right now, so mail is not a good way to reach us.
We apologise profusely for not posting this information sooner and hope you find it of benefit in making an informed decision.
Other than any incidental updates, we are not putting any more energy into this situation. We do not find any sense in keeping a focus on a negative situation. There are far too many beautiful and wonderful things to do and experience to waste any more precious time and energy on this situation.