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Women’s Wear Daily is reporting today that Mary Kay Inc. filed suit Wednesday against a former Consultant.

Mary Kay Inc. is suing Touch of Pink Cosmetics, a Mary Kay liquidator and reseller of Mary Kay products. Their website is touchofpinkcosmetics.com

You can read the details of the filing at the link below:

Mary Kay Inc. vs Weber et al

Mary Kay Ash founded the Company on the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

So let me ask you this: Do you like being lied to?

You see, a lot of women who were in Mary Kay had a big problem with the fact that they had to tell little and not-so-little lies just to get appointments or recruits. For instance…

• We found ourselves calling customers and telling them we were in a contest or our Director had challenged us to do 30 faces in 30 days. Yet we knew we weren’t. We knew that it was just a script; a gimmick to get our customer to hold a class with some new people so we could increase our customer base and maybe get a new team member.
• We told potential recruits that it only cost $100.00 to join Mary Kay. We knew that technically this was correct, but that our recruits would be “encouraged” to purchase large inventory packages after they signed that agreement.
• We knew that when we invited guests to meetings that it wasn’t just about having a “girls’ night out” or trying out the latest Mary Kay products. We knew our Directors were going to do a marketing presentation, just as they did every week, with the intent of getting our guests to sign up as a Consultant.

Is it any wonder that we dreaded calling our customers? Is it any wonder that we felt just a little bit dishonest?

Every so often, I get an email from someone who sent product back to Mary Kay years ago and now wants to know if there is any way they can sell Mary Kay again.

It was made abundantly clear by the Directors in my area that if you sent any products back to the Company to take advantage of the 90% buy back that you could NEVER be a Consultant again. But is that true?

The Consultant Agreement states the following:

Consultants who return merchandise to Company are not eligible to rejoin Mary Kay as a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant.

That seems pretty straight-forward.

However, if you think that you can’t ever, ever, ever be a Mary Kay Consultant again if you return inventory to the Company you would be WRONG.

From my experience and observations, Mary Kay Inc. makes exceptions to this rule all the time. I, myself, successfully recruited two people who had previously returned merchandise. Two of the Directors I worked with had gotten someone reinstated numerous times.

In each of these instances, Mary Kay Inc. simply asked that the potential new recruit write a letter to the company explaining why they returned merchandise in the past and why they now wanted to be allowed back in.

And one other thing: The new recruit also had to come in with a significant initial inventory order.

I don’t know if this new inventory order was required to get the person reinstated, but I’m guessing it had a lot to do with it. I never knew anyone who got back in without coming in as a Star Consultant, which was at least $1800 wholesale.

So if you returned your inventory to the Company years ago and now have a yearning to sell Mary Kay again, don’t despair. There are always exceptions to every rule, especially when accompanied by cash.

FALSE.

This little falsehood was repeated often by Directors years ago. I don’t know if it is still repeated, but Mary Kay Inc. set the record straight on this one years ago.

One thing that irritates me about Mary Kay is that they train their consultants to get new customers by offering prospects a “free facial”.

First of all, a facial is a procedure that is performed by licensed and trained aestheticians. You know: those people who are trained and licensed to take care of skin.
The “facial” that a Mary Kay consultant wants to “give” you is simply a face washing session designed to sell you the products. Period.
And YOU do the washing. She just teaches you how. And I use the word teach lightly as well, since most consultants know very little about the products, in my experience, and are simply sitting there spouting off facts on the cleanser or moisturizer you happen to be applying and assuring you it is better than anything out there.
Second, if you consider wasting at least an hour of your time and being exposed to some pretty strong-arm sales tactics free, then go for it. Me…I’ll just say no and run.

Why this company and its reps are allowed to call their little selling appointments facials is beyond me. It’s very misleading.

Our members were honored to be interviewed for a story by Sarah Wyatt in the Women’s International Perspective (WIP) in June 2007.

The article examines the effect of Mary Kay Inc’s expansion into countries like China and India.

Here’s a link to the article:

Mary Kay Global Expansion Raises Hope, Concerns

FALSE!

First of all, you could sell $200,000 of Mary Kay this year and you wouldn’t earn a car.

Second…notice how I said “earn?”

Those cars aren’t free. And you don’t earn them by selling tons of products. Read more »

FALSE!

A common misconception of new Consultants, and the public in general, is that Mary Kay Inc. gives out Pink Cadillacs to members of their sales force who sell lots and lots of products.

Wrong!

You don’t earn the use of a car because you have sold thousands of dollars of product to customers. Read more »

Your Name Jane

Date Joined MK (mm/yyyy) Jan 2006

Highest Level Achieved Independent Beauty Consultant

When Left MK or Are You Still Active Left Sept 2006

Initial Inventory Purchased None-later $1800

How were you recruited?
By a girl from church.

What about Mary Kay appealed to you most?
I am a full time student and the idea that I could work my own hours and make “tons” of money while earning cars and trips.

Tell us about one of your most memorable or embarrassing situations while in Mary Kay
Gee there are so many…first of all the standard response for questions during a meeting is “we will cover that during training” so you really never find out the details. My first meeting was on a day I had all day classes and I was not going to be able to go home to change but had a nice pants suit on. My recruiter informed me that I should “just not come then” if I could not get my jacket, skirt, panty hose, and closed toe shoes. Whoa, that should have been my first clue! Then she would not leave me alone about inventory. Told me I would not be able to make anything of this business if I invested NOW and tried really hard to pressure me into a getting a student loan for $3000 of inventory.

What did you learn from your Mary Kay experience?
That it does sound like a great opportunity, and is for some people, it is not for everyone, namely those not willing to lie, cheat and aggressively pursue people to the point of stalking.

What are you doing now? Working full or part time? Working from home? etc.
Working part-time and graduating this Spring.

Additional Comments
Don’t be fooled by the God first, Family Second, Mary Kay third. That is an absolute lie. Should you ever dare to make Mary Kay anything other then first you will be chastised and guilted. I cant count how many times I heard “Do not let your family get in the way of your success you are doing this for them and they will understand later”. And the golden rule so promoted by ladies; never steal a client from a sister consultant only applies to you! My recruiter aggressively tried to recruit MY family for her team and was mad at me and them when they said no.

Your Name: Rachel

Date Joined MK (mm/yyyy) 03/2007

Highest Level Achieved Consultant

When Left MK or Are You Still Active Still Active

Initial Inventory Purchased $3,600.00

How were you recruited?
A friend of mine from church recruited me. I had a facial and I told her that I recently quit my job. She told me about Mary Kay and invited me to an workshop that evening. I signed up there.

What about Mary Kay appealed to you most?
Getting the products at half price and earning money.

Tell us about one of your most memorable or embarrassing situations while in Mary Kay
Realizing that although I am an intelligent person, I had been stupid enough to fall for all the contests that MK runs to “encourage” consultants to buy more inventory.

What did you learn from your Mary Kay experience?
That I still love the products and still enjoy servicing my customers, but MK and most of its directors are very deceptive and manipulative. They prey on women who seek praise and recognition by offering stupid little prizes for placing large orders and recruiting. My director can barely make ends meet but yet is telling her whole unit that we should become directors so we can live the good life.

What are you doing now? Working full or part time? Working from home? etc.
Working part-time as a secretary and selling MK to friends and family.

Additional Comments
I love the MK products and will continue to sell them; however, I recently stopped attending meetings and I no longer fall for the “contests”, etc. I will not try to recruit anyone unless they ask me about the company and then I will tell them everything openly and honestly!