Written by A Former Consultant

It would seem that when a company has created a private dynasty for itself from selling cosmetics to women it calls “Consultants,” it would sit back, count the cash and be satisfied.

But not the Pink Monster which claims “Enrichment Of Women’s Lives.”  I highlight the word Consultant because I was never trained how to be one, only how to order enough wholesale to supply every resident of my city.

Having read here for a while, I think the Enriching joke is well known to anyone who has lost money to the Pink Cash Cow.

I’m not referring to the hundreds of thousands Mary Kay picks up from those big required events like Seminar and Career Conference, the overpriced Section 2 or official business cards, checks, etc, etc, etc, etc.  I refer to the “service” provided by Mary Kay through their buddies at ProPay, the only way you can accept online payments for products (should you be lucky enough to sell any).

You face immediate termination if you use any website except the one “Big Pink Sister” sells you, so you are locked in with ProPay. Accept anything but checks or cash at a facial or party (should you be among the minority who can book one and get it to hold) and yes, you are stuck with ProPay.

After considering returning my unwanted and unsellable inventory for several months, last year was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.  I actually sold some product to a customer. ProPay approved the card, so the sale was concluded with the customer taking the product and me spending the money on bills. According to the recruiting machines called Sales Directors, this is a happy event that takes place regularly all across America.

Not so fast. Months later I started hearing from ProPay that the card was no good and they wanted every penny back!  The customer was long gone, by the way. When confronted with the fact they had approved the sale it made no difference.  Somewhere between all the arguing I started getting phone calls from ProPay’s “collections” department and their added fees took the amount owed to ProPay to many times more than the original sale.

I was harassed at work (thank the Lord I never gave up my real job) and at home until I finally paid them. But in the end I got the money back by returning my inventory.  Everyone knows that when anything like this happens, just follow the money trail.  I bet we would all be shocked at how much Mary Kay makes off their unholy alliance with ProPay.

Just curious to know if anyone else ran into this in their “career” (HA!) with Mary Kay.