Thanks to Repspace poster Abbey, I decided to do a quick review on a company called BambooPink, a relatively new MLM company that seems to really have a solid, albeit common package to offer anyone looking for a new plan. The BambooPink company is the latest project of the boutique jewelry line known as JudeFrances, and was founded by Nieman Marcus, Jude Steele, Frances Gadbois and partner Debbie Millar. Having been previously unheard of, they were made popular by producing jewelry for celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Oprah Winfrey, and Kristin Chenoweth. The products consist of unique pieces designed by co-founder Frances Gadbois and are sold at varying prices starting at $19. Although the majority of their products do sell for under $100, they do run a high end line that goes a bit beyond that. The company utilizes the standard direct selling model in hopes promoting their product line and becoming a real contender in the mlm market.

Compensation Plan

Like many other companies, BambooPink does its promoting via home parties, word of mouth, demonstrations, and online web sites. The company compensation Plan goes into detail about 10 potential revenue streams which are available to consultants, although I wasn't able to find any detailed information online. I was even unable to find any detailed MLM compensation plan info on their representatives web sites, which is really unusual. What I do know is that Bamboo Pink uses a unilevel compensation plan that pays seven levels deep and yields up to 30% retail commission, plus 20% fast start bonuses, global bonuses, team bonuses, and bonus.

I generally feel a little cautious when it comes to a company being unable or unwilling to put the effort into clearly outlining their policies. The MLM market has a reputation it has slowly been trying to improve, that is to say some might say it exists within an ocean of scams, fails, and financial ruin, but within that ocean,there are some amazing success stories. There is no reason at all a new MLM company can't provide details about the compensation plan it offers. The web site is laid out nicely, with photos of the founders and links to their story, but when it comes down to it, there isn't any really valuable information. The compensation plan is actually referred to several times, but there is no info on start up cost, or commissions.

There are however several things going for the company, one of which is the founders. This is a quality product, its been tested on the field, approved for quality, and we know off bat that this is a professional business, so being scammed is not a concern. However, whether the already established business dynamics will yield the same results in a home business environment is another story. After all, Betty who lives next door is not Paris Hilton, and there are already successful mlm jewelry companies in circulation with much more experience.

Bamboopink

2222 Michelson Drive Ste. 2430

Irvine, CA 92612

Phone: 888.503.7231

Fax: 949.724.9743

Again this company is bogus, Jude and Frances should mean absolutely nothing to anyone. I mean let's face it, did ANYONE really know who Jude and Frances were before bamboopink? Not quite....

Have you read the book "Just Go For It" a story of two women who start up a company, and have no idea as to what they are doing, and are completely unorganized. A real Lucy and Ethel of sorts, except being a fan of Lucille Ball, I can guarantee, Lucy and Ethel were much more intelligent than these women....

Quality product? Not quite considering that starting this week May 18th they are giving a CREDIT to everyone who purchased a kit in the month of April. Why? Because when they sent out the first shipments to consultants they NEVER ran quality control checks, they admitted this on a conference call, and consultants started returning the jewelry like crazy because the pieces they wore tarnished, turned their fingers green or gray, broke, were missing completely, or were missing stones from the jewelry. 

So to do some damage control, they will give you a $400 credit if you purchased the coutore box (Retail value $1000) a $200 credit if you purchased the designer box, and a $100 credit if you purchased the fashion box. Credit must be used within a month, or you lose the credit completely. "Use it or lose it" they say...

So now I am sure the founders are HOPING this will shut up all of the consultants still doing this, and they can turn over a new leaf....and try to start over somehow....

Well good luck! If you are NOT a current consultant, and you were interested in joining bamboopink...RUN....don't look back....seriously! You can find a more affordable jewelry company that's been around the block and knows what they are doing. Just look!!! You will find it! 

Wow, thank you for the input Sweetheart, I had no idea this happened, most of what I read was basically positive. I think having not heard of two founders however is basically a good thing. While it may not be as good as hearing that a new company's two founders are a couple of mlm champions that are loved and respected; it beats hearing that they did time in the pen lol. As far as the product recall, I just now read about the kits and apparently you weren't kidding. They are actually charging a 20% restocking fee, and now I'm torn. The reason I'm not ready to call it a scam is because obvious quality control testing wasn't performed, and it may have even been because the people in charge assumed all was well, not necessarily to save a buck. I know I know, it would simply be a standard business practice to make sure what your selling isn't shit, but still. We may have had a process in which individuals just assumed the best, which is understandable at least to a degree. Its a new business, maybe they suck at running it, I don't know. I'm not trying to make any excuses, I just don't think it was any kind of intentional thing.

If I ready you right, you're saying that people that paid 1000 for their kit are only getting a 400 credit right? That sucks, BUT, how many pieces if any; have been shipped and remain perfectly in-tact with no issues? Some of the pieces of these kits have been sold and not returned, so I can understand in those cases if Bamboopink isn't giving full credit. If however, you're saying that people that have returned the full kits are only getting 400 bucks back, that is Lame with a capital L. I can't seem to find precise info on this, but its a bit disappointing either way. Not knowing whether or not this company has a strong financial backing, I can't possibly predict how/if they will even be able to turn over a new leaf and up the quality of their products, but I'd be willing to bet they at least have a chance if done right, based on their history with celebs. If it were me, I'd probably have changed the name and ensured that something like this didn't happen again. In any event, it seems more like some kind of accident or mistake, and shame on them, but I still don't exactly see a "bad" company here yet. Maybe I'm just unusually optimistic today lol. Thanks a ton for the update Sweetheart5703, I hadn't caught wind of it until now.

Sweetheart seems to have an axe to grind.

Many people know of JudeFrances.

They were just featured today on Good Morning Memphis. I would imagine that Good Morning Memphis wouldn't just provide a free feature if they didn't feel it was a legit company.

Maybe the prelaunch has not been 100% smooth, but they haven't closed the doors and run away.

Hi Abbey, could be that Sweetheart has an axe to grind, but the fouls thus far really can't be overlooked at the moment. I am of the idea that all of the problems that have surfaced since launch aren't intentional, and that is the one thing I require in order to not stuff a company in the "avoid" box officially. As a consumer, I can forgive mistakes, but I can't forgive being deliberately ripped off. I have seen no evidence that Bamboopink has done anything other than legitimately attempt to launch a successfull mlm jewelry business, so I'm still rooting for them to correct their mistakes and be the company that they set out to be. To say pre-launch wasn't 100% smooth is kind of putting it in a very thick coat of sugar, but I also don't feel they are a "jump ship" avoid at all costs company that may people are painting them out to be. Hope they get that quality up.

I will go ahead and give you some links to research yourself and you can see. Basically what happened in a nutshell was that this company didn't do a quality control check. They sent out shipments and many consultants were able to return their kits for a full refund. Many consultants were sending back their kits. This resulted in a change in their return policy which I mention above. So now instead of being able to get a full return, they will only give a credit to those that purchased a kit in the month of April only to those consultants that had missing, damaged or tarnished jewelry. 

As far as having an axe to grind not at all. I just don't believe in telling people to sign up for a company that I myself spent two months in and did not get what was promised from the company. Women haven't even started having parties yet, there are still consultants in this who are admitting to just waiting around until the rest of the "kinks" get worked on. Don't you think it is a complete waste of time, to invest in this company, and they have to WAIT to sell??

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWK8tK1kLys:550:0]

If you read the comments under this video it is all negative. 

They have over 400 response from unhappy consultants including myself on http://scam.com/showthread.php?t=138182

This company was a lot of talk and no action or late action. 

They were late paying consultants their first check, they originally had a "retreat" for those consultants who won a contest, but then opened it up to ALL consultants for a charge. 

They went from 25,000 consultants to 525, to now having less than that, and I am not sure of the number at this point but I know it is under 525. They admitted this on a conference call that after compression happened that they have 525 "active consultants" 

They promised quality jewelry, state of the art website, superior training, iphone and ipad applications, and they still don't have ANY of this. 

They are charging consultants OUTRAGEOUS fees for business supplies. 

Roll of ribbon: $19.95 

25 order forms: $10.95 

10 folders: $19.95 

They are selling their own book to consultants: "Just go for It" for $10.95 

10 bags: $19.95 

And just because these women were on TV in Memphis still means nothing to me. Would it mean something to you if I was on the news in my state? LOL 

No probably not. Do they have a real company JudeFrances? yes. But that does not mean they were ready to take on the direct selling world. 

People were complaining on the corporate Facebook page daily. The numbers continue to drop on their Facebook page daily. Corporate had to change the settings on the Facebook page so that only they could post there own messages and consultants can no longer post any more. It was getting out of hand. If you try to say anything negative or constructive for that matter to them on that page they will immediately delete your comment and ban you from posting. 

They had over 5,000 fans on the corporate page, and they have less than that now. 

People still in this say it is normal for "kinks" to happen in a start-up. They have had way more than just "kinks". I have NEVER seen a start up with the types of problems this company has. 

If you want to defend them till the cows come home so be it. But if you have common sense at all, you will take what I am saying seriously and tread the water carefully. I had big hopes for this company. I had a downline. It's not like I just signed up, and opted out. I was working this. 

So take it as you will. These are my honest opinions on this company. 

I don't know if you were referring to me, but I assure you I'm not defending the company until the cows come home, only trying to differentiate the difference between a terrible mlm and a scam. Based on all that I've seen, I don't really disagree with you as far as avoiding them. The issue is, it breaks down two ways. 1. ALL mlms share the number one priority of getting dollars out of you, me, and everyone. Same can be said about Walmart, the government, and uncle Jim. 2. They will either scam you directly, or nickel and dime you. I haven't seen a single mlm that doesn't require you to pay for the opportunity one way or another. Their prices suck, there is no way around it. I'd never join, and I'd never pay them for various reasons. Based on the awkward launch, the prices, the quality, and the fact that they aren't doing a very good job of compensating those whom got stuck with the "bad wares" I have certainly changed my tune about whether or not its a wise company to shoot for. Of course this leaves us open for the "what now" question...

Sweetheart do you think they are scam artists of the likes of say TVI Express, or are you simply saying its a complete mess and a bad investment. Both are red flag descriptions, but still there is a difference. I don't know much about the founders, other than that they are know among a few Hollywood stars, supposedly anyway. What do you think?

Hi Wallace, 

No I was not referring to you, I was referring to Abbey, sorry I did not clarify this. I am not calling them a scam, and I don't think anyone else in any other forum have said they are a scam, but DEFINITELY it is a complete mess, a waste of time, a horrible launch, expensive. They claim that all these hiccups are normal in ANY company, but nothing they have said has worked properly from day one. Everyone on my Facebook who had signed up with them opted out either because of the issues with the jewelry, or because they wanted to sell NOW and they didn't feel like waiting around any longer. I am aware that all companies in the direct sales industry costs money, but there are companies out there that are more affordable, have better quality, and have been around longer and know what they are doing. Those are the companies that people should look at. Not the ones that just launched, and are completely clueless as to how to do business. They are slow to respond to emails as well. If you have a question or concern sometimes it can take up to TWO WEEKS to get an answer. That tells me they are completely backed up, or completely unorganized, or for woman who claim to have millions of dollars did not hire enough people. Which I know the latter is true. I know they are just a few people in the office running this. That certainly isn't enough to handle the 25,000 consultants in the beginning, and still seems like not enough help at corporate to handle the less than 525 consultants still working this. The founders sold some pieces of the JudeFrances line to Oprah, and they use that to say hey, join Bamboopink because the stars have purchased from our line. But JudeFrances and Bamboopink are two completely different companies run by the same founders. I would like to see some celebrities wearing the Bamboopink line lol. That would be a joke. 

Do me a favor. Check out the Zasha by JudeFrances website which sells the JudeFrances line and pick out ANYTHING and try to put it in a shopping cart. 

It's not available. Nothing is available for purchase. How can that be? 

Here is the link so you can see. Just test it out. http://www.zasha.com/ 

"It's not available. Nothing is available for purchase. How can that be?"

Hmmm, not sure if this is what you were alluding to, but my guess would be because of the quality issue. Maybe they pulled everything (assuming it ALL comes from the same place) and the quality issue extended beyond just Bamboopink? This is one of those interesting little quirks that make me keep guessing lol

It makes me wonder as well....I would like to know. I think it just makes them look bad to be honest. All of the jewelry is being manufactured in Thailand.