I'm the fundraising chairperson at my son's school. We've used Innisbrook Wraps for 2 years after interviewing what we believed were the 5 best companies with similar products. We narrowed it down to 2 companies (Innisbrook & Sally Foster) and called the references we asked for. We chose Innisbrook because their referernces were impecable and most schools had been with them for many years because of the quality of product (they design & make most everything in their catalog) but most of all, customer service.
This year they made their "EZ order entry" mandatory. I was a bit skeptical because you are relying on the parents to enter the orders online. They offer incentives to parent & child to enter their orders. I had to enter 70 orders but it took less time than tallying 500 orders! I'm sold! They also give 50% profit
I have no problem with Sally Foster running out of a product or two or three. Remember, many of these products are made overseas and if the products sell much better than anticipated, there is no way short of flying the products in from overseas to get them here in time. This has happened to EVERY company at one time or another.
I am surprised about the vouchers. They should have doubled the amount of the voucher and I think everyone would have been happy. Sally Foster would have still come out okay from a financial standpoint and their customers would have welcomeed the extra amount to spend. Bad PR on their point. They could have mad lemonade from lemons.
Our school has looked into three different catalog companies to see where we might go for next year. We were NOT happy with what we heard from Sally Foster. They are not going to be doing the same type of catalog sale as in the past. They will be giving $20 SF gift cards to the kids to go out and sell...no catalog, is what I understood? Only 40% profits too. So, the kids go out and try to push these cards and they can only be "activated" by the company, so the customer has to sit on these cards until they are activated....go online to order something, pay for shipping and tax? What is the incentive to use this company as a fundriaser?
I'm with the above comment, about doing your homework and not supporting businesses that offer poor customer service and aren;t willing to be upfront with its customers.
We are doing our due diligence this year, that's for sure.
Our family also received credit vouchers - two totaling $32.50. Since my spouse sold products to her co-workers, she now has to refund them the amounts for the out-of-stock items and we are forced to utilize the vouchers in order to recoup the money she has to refund. This just increased our own participation in the fund raising drive. I don't think that's fair.
Is it legal for Sally Foster even to do this? I could understand it if we were returning an item. But how can it be legal for them to do this on an item that is out of stock? Does any other retailer or catalog company do this?
And to add insult to injury, the vouchers are one-time-use. That means you have to use the exact amount of the voucher or you lose the balance. Or you can exceed the voucher amount and pay Sally Foster the difference. Of course, your sponsor would receive their commission on this excess, but who wants to spend even more money after this experience.
I am going to suggest that in the future my wife politely decline any participation with Sally Foster fund drives. I am also thinking that I should call Entertainment Publications and cancel my future automatic deliveries of their Entertainment Book.
It's time that we consumers stood up for ourselves. I already have a list of almost a dozen retailers that I refuse to shop at, because of poor service or poor practice. With the economy the way it is and all the choices that we have for shopping in this country, there is no reason to settle when spending your hard earned dollars.
My child did the fund raiser and it was a disaster. Most of the product was out of stock and we recieved vouchers. The products that came in were missing part of the orginal product. My child will never sell this again and I will never buy from this again. Enjoy my money because you will not get it again
