ACN Reviews and Complaints

To start off, I am not a customer of ACN's services nor an ex-ACN employee. I'm writing this review based on what I've experienced so far, heard of, seen, read about, etc. The story: My friend/roommate met a guy at her job, who was a TC (Team Coordinator) in ACN. Young, fancy suit, fancy watch, decent looking enough to get her attention. It's funny, because I think now that if he was a 40+something year old guy who was dressed down, she wouldn't have given him a second of her time. Anyway, he told her about ACN (WHILE SHE WAS AT WORK, MIND YOU. Couldn't even have invited to coffee after work? How professional!) He invited her to one of ACN's meetings but she couldn't attend because of work, and also she was still a bit skeptical because she just met this guy. He says that's okay, that they can just exchange numbers, becomes Instagram friends and they can just keep in touch. Invites her again to another meeting few weeks later, and this time she's sick so she can't go. So he flies back to his "hometown" because apparently he's not from our area but they kept in touch thru texts, Instagram, snapchats, and she has considered him her "friend." (Unlike her, I don't trust people that easily and that isn't my way of developing "friendship" so it was interesting listening to her story about her so called "friend.") A year later, her and her "friend" who still kept in touch, is back in town for awhile to promote ACN in our area. He invites her again to a meeting, and this time, she has time and she decides to go. She invites me to go with her and even though I didn't know what the meeting was about, I didn't want her to go alone so I go with her. We meet up with her "friend" at the place where the ACN meeting was being held. I see people paying an entrance fee at a desk, later on I realize that the IBOs (Independent Business Owner) have to pay a $5 fee for him/herself AND $5 each for the guests they bring to the meeting. The meeting starts at 7, and goes on for 2 hours. All these hype, "If you wanna be part of a company that makes you big money and helps you live your dream!" "Be a part of something that only keeps getting bigger!" "Look! Even Donald Trump endorses our company!" yadda, yadda, yadda. To be honest, I almost bought it the first time I went there too. Only thing stopping me at the time was the $500 sign up fee to get you started. I was tight on money so I was hesitant to just drop $500 on something I wasn't sure about. He kept pressuring us to think it over, and give him an answer by the end of that night (because he would have gotten a $1,000 bonus if he got us to sign up that night). In my head I was thinking, "Seriously? You're giving me 3 hours to think if I wanna drop $500 on this?" Heck no. I had to go home, do some research, see if any of my friend/family has been in it. My friend was so fired up she even teared up thinking about her family. Not that.. I don't have a family to think about but I wasn't fully convinced. After the meeting, we go out to eat with our other roommates: one being my bf and other being her ex (awk, I know but our lease hasn't ended). When we told them about ACN, they were VERY skeptical because they had worked for Ambit energy before. At first I was helping my friend convince them that ACN is different because they offered more services than Ambit, and how they had bonuses, and how you only had to do this and that to make this and that much money. Few days later, my friend tells me she thinks she's going to sign up. I said, "Oh. Okay. Well, good luck with that." She said there was another meeting and if I wanted to go again. This time I told her if I can't even take action now, what's the point of me going to the same exact meeting? After she's officially signed up for ACN, she invites me again, along with my bf and her ex. They said that they were gonna give it a chance, and I go along with them to see if I'll be convinced enough this time to actually sign up. Wrong choice for me. I shouldn't have gone because by the time they were 10 minutes into the meeting, I was already annoyed listening to the same BS. Same heart breaking stories from people I don't even know, and how ACN helped them become rich and now they're able to send their family off to a trip in Cancun. I must give it to them. Those people KNOW how to talk. It's like they're programmed with a speech system to brain wash you. The longer I listen to it, the more my head hurts. This time, we ended staying longer than the last because my bf (even though he wasn't fully buying it) and ex had a lot of questions for the guy (my friend's friend, now her mentor). He gave them BS like how the Asian community is taking over our area and that we were going to be an empire together. How he was going to work with them every step of the way to help them become successful. Meanwhile he had people to back him up telling us how great this guy was. Blah blah blah blah blah. All talk. By this time I told myself I never wanna attend an ANC meeting anymore. Unfortunately, few days before that meeting, my roommate had asked me if she could have people over our place, to have a practice "presentation." I said it was okay because I thought it was just something between her, her friend/mentor, and some ACN people. It was the day of the "at home meeting" that she told us to invite people we knew, and how she was going to have some of her friends over too. So my boyfriend was upset because he had just gotten out of work, wanted to relax but people were coming over. Anyway, I find out that the meeting was just another "ACN presentation meeting," which was exactly the same as the ones they did at the hotel conference rooms. But what my friend didn't realize was that they were just doing an at home recruitment because her mentor who also brought his "best friend" (who also works for ACN) had HIS recruit and his recruit's 2 friend/family member because these scammers couldn't afford to rent their own recruitment/meeting place. So they give you this BS saying they're helping YOU by recruiting people for YOU when in fact they just want to use your place to sign up for them. I was BEYOND pissed I had 5 (her mentor, his friend, his friend's recruit and the 2 women) strangers in my home, had to lock up my dogs in my room because apparently they looked unprofessional to be out in my room, couldn't cook dinner, and couldn't leave to do grocery shopping because it was being "rude." Mind you, my dogs are overprotective when there are strangers in my house. They would not stop barking unless they were in the living room with me knowing I'm safe. So since they kept barking while the meeting was going on, I just told my friend/roommate that I was going to let them out because it seemed "unprofessional" that they were barking during the presentation anyway. When they came out, they just had to sniff around, sat in a corner, slept & behaved the whole time. Oh, and funny thing is, my friend invited her friends/co-workers to the meeting and everyone had some excuse to not come. Only person who came was her ex's friend thinking if they were going to hang out anyway, why not just stay and listen. So, this was my THIRD time watching this brainwashing presentation. Even my bf didn't want to be there and was so annoyed when he found out the 3 people that came over wasn't our roommate's friends. After the meeting ended, my friend's mentor was talking to my friend's ex, the ex's friend, and my bf. I think he gave up trying to talk to me because I never bother to exchange my phone #s with him nor show any interest in it. My bf looked like he wanted to get out of there so I just got up and said, "We're going grocery shopping." (As we originally planned to. Friend told us meeting would only take an hour, turns out to be 2 hours+) Unfortunately, her ex and her ex's friend signed up. But here's where her mentor played it smart: Instead of her ex and his friend signing up under her, her mentor only signed up her ex under her and her ex's friend under her ex. I think he did this so she wouldn't get her bonus money, and her 10 days were almost over and she still hasn't found another person to partner up with her. We're not from this area so our circle of "friends" are very limited. Her mentor told her that even if she found someone in another state and didn't know how to talk to them, just give them his # and that he will talk to them for her. What irritated me most was, her ex's friend said he was going to bail out on rent this month just so he could pay to sign up for ACN (he lives with his brother and his brother's gf, along with his sister and mom who doesn't work). The mentor goes, "Oh yeah yeah! That's a great idea dude! Just do that and tell them you'll pay them back, no prob!" I just sat there thinking, "What kind of person are you to tell someone it's okay to trouble others with money when they can't even guarantee that he'll make that money back?" I noticed during the ACN meetings too that they were telling people it was ok to borrow money from their friends/family and even OPEN A CREDIT CARD just so they could pay for ACN. HELLO!? Idk about you ACN reps but opening a credit card is a lot of commitment. If they don't make that money, who's going to pay for the credit card? ACN? Didn't think so. Last night after the meeting ended, we met up for dinner. She was so busy trying to look for someone to switch to ACN services on her phone that all her, her ex, his friend kept talking about was who they're going to recruit, who's prob willing to switch over, and we couldn't even have a proper convo we used to before ACN came into our life. When we got home, her and her ex got on their laptop to "work." Today, my friend has been out since 9am-5pm (from her other job) and has been out recruting people (it is now 1am). And guess what? Her and her ex have a dog together who they do not give enough attention to and aren't caring for. I mean, they were already bad with caring for it and I've been the one feeding it, taking it out, and some times even taking it to shower, but now it has just gotten worse since she hasn't been home all day. I recently found out that my brother used to be in ACN over 2 years ago. I completely forgot that he tried to recruit me but I didn't want be a part of it. He only told me bad things about it and told me to stay away. How could I trust that mentor guy over my brother? Note: Don't forget that along with the $500 sign up fee, they also expect you to attend these meetings every two months or so, that's held in another state and you have to pay OUT OF YOUR OWN POCKET FOR. Not only you have to pay for a registration fee to get into the meeting: $149 for early bird registration, $159 if you register after the early bird ends, and $189 if you pay at the door, you also have to pay for hotel (the meeting usually lasts 3 days), food, and transportation. The upcoming meeting is in December from Friday ~ Sunday. Don't you know how expensive hotel rooms can get during the weekends?? Unless you want to same money and stay in a sleazy hotel! I believe you have to pay for your plane ticket too, maybe with an ACN discount. COME ON GUYS! This is not "YOUR OWN BUSINESS"! You're still working for a company! And what kinda company makes you pay them for you to start working? While paying for their "business" trips. When another friend of mine started working for LV, she had to attend a training in Boston and all her expenses were paid for. Even my friend who just got into ACN, she recently went on a trip for her job to help out another store in a state and everything in her trip was paid for. Add most of it up: $500 sign up fee $150 annual license renewal fee $150+ every 2-3 months for the BIG meeting, plus your other expenses $5 per IBO/Guests for every meeting you take your recruit to Idk if they still do this now but I know that few years ago they made the IBOs get these "video phone" service that costs $30 a month, with a 2 year contract. I'm ready for all the ACN reps to start attacking my post. Saying things like, "You didn't do enough research." "Do you think Donald Trump would endorse a scam?" "This is just not for people like you. You're not motivated enough." "You're a loser, have fun living your broke, miserable life!" But I don't give a rat's *** what you people have to say. Call me a negative, lazy, unmotivated, sad person all you'd like but unless you show me your paycheck, let me speak to your friends and family members to confirm what you're telling me about your life is true. I jokingly told my friends, "Come save me living under a bridge as a hobo once you become Oh-So-Successful." But to those who took the time to read this, thank you for your time. I apologize for the long message and if you or you know someone getting involved in this, educate yourself first. There's no rush in signing up because the "bonus" they try to reel you in with, they have that every month! Good luck to all and wish me luck that ACN leaves my life soon!