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.

Hello all, hope you can help. I have been working in my position for nhs for approximately 7 years. I was recently notified that I had not been assimulated into agenda for change and if I up date my job description it would be sorted out. Which is has so far, however I am not happy with the banding they have given me. it is lower then I was expecting. Expecially as my role has changed considerable since I started. I am now managing an assistant which was not part of my original job description. IF I accept the banding that would make us both on the same banding and pay point.Although I am in the seniour role and have more responsibility. Any suggestions on what I can do? I can appeal but how can I do this effectively. If anyone has any advice let me know asap as I have been sitting on this for a couple of months now and time is running out. Thank you

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.