1.800.VENDING Complaints: Have you had any dealings with the 1-800-VENDING business opportunity or 1-800-VENDING vending machines? Please share a comment about your experience – good or bad – below, as well as advice for those considering investing with 1-800-VENDING.
The bios of founders Michael Burnett and Jeff Marsh are impressive.
The pictures of its headquarters in Kaysville, Utah are impressive.
And the 1.800.VENDING sales pitch is impressive:
1.800.VENDING provides everything you need to successfully establish, upgrade or expand your vending business. Our goal is to provide you with your own “up and running” business from day one. In other words, you don’t have to waste time reinventing the wheel. We can assist the beginner to the seasoned operator with a successful business. Let us show you how 1.800.VENDING can help you generate immediate and long-term cash flow!
1.800.VENDING: A little too impressive?
To a newcomer, 1-800-Vending has a very impressive image. To those who are aware of the controversial past of 1.800.VENDING and its founders, it might seem a little too impressive.
A little too orchestrated.
For example, if you do a Google search of the term “1.800.VENDING scam” you’ll see some red flags:
You’ll see that numerous complaints about 1-800-Vending on Rip-Off Report have been sanitized, scrubbed clean and given that cheery endorsement reserved for those, one assumes, who have worked out a financial agreement with the site owner.
You’ll see numerous listings for phony blogs (called splogs) that use the terms “1.800.VENDING” and “scam” in their titles, urls, tags and body copy. This is a common technique used by those who have, or expect, a lot of scam complaints on the Internet. The intent is to flood Google search results with these sites and posts in order to bury legitimate scam warnings or complaints.
Be wary of those who “Splog.”
Here are a trio of suspected “splogs” that appear to be designed to dilute search engine results for the terms “1-800-Vending Scam,” “1-800-Vending Complaints,” and “1-800-Vending Ripoff,” respectively:
Each of the URLs are registered to a “private party” using a premium ownership masking service (Hmmm… wonder who owns these?). Each of the supposed blogs uses the offending term in its url, title and as a keyword in the single awkward article that appears on the site. The blogs are so phony the authors didn’t even change the generic WordPress sample posts (Hello World!).
While there’s nothing illegal about splogging, it is certainly a red flag that a company would need to manage its reputation in such a fashion.
“We are seriously considering laying the stupid machine on the tracks and watching a train obliterate the *** thing”
Despite the suspected Internet countermeasures, some complaints have snuck through to the top page of Google. On ComplaintsBoard, Norman wrote:
I cannot explain how much of a HEADACHE our experience has been with 1-800-VENDING. There are railroad tracks across from our business and we are seriously considering laying the stupid machine on the tracks and watching a train obliterate the *** thing. The machine didn’t work from day 1, and trying to get customer service that was actually helpful was impossible. We were sent various parts, chips, circuit boards… NOT worth the headache it’s caused. The company’s communication has been terrible, we’ve gotten jerked back and forth and given the run around for weeks now… Don’t go with 1-800-vending! Not worth the headache!
Sins of the Past: Turnkey Vending, FTC & Connecticut Legal Actions
According to Wikipedia entry for the 1-800-Vending opportunity, founders Michael Burnett and Jeff Marsh seem to have a good reason for covering their Internet tracks. Prior to 1-800-Vending, the partners founded and operated Turnkey Vending. In 2003, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sweep titled Project Busted Opportunity led to the U.S. Government filing a complaint alleging that Turnkey had operated a fraudulent business opportunity. The FTC filed a permanent injunction against the company and its founders.
When the dynamic duo started fresh with a new entity and name (1-800-Vending), it seems they hadn’t abandoned their scurrilous ways. According to Wikipedia:
After Turnkey’s dissolution, the two men founded 1.800.Vending. The latter has been fined by the State of Connecticut. Specifically, the agency accused the defendants of ‘misrepresenting its prior Connecticut business opportunity sales activity’ and alleged that the company’s disclosure documents:
- failed to include financial statements as required by law;
- failed to make adequate disclosure concerning 1.800.Vending, Inc.’s affiliates and predecessors;
- failed to describe in sufficient detail the employment histories of Michael S. Burnett and Jeffrey L. Marsh;
- failed to adequately set forth the risks involved in the business opportunity venture;
- lacked sufficient information on the employment and disciplinary histories of 1.800.Vending, Inc.’s sales representatives; and
- did not mention the fact that purchaser-investors might have to pay retailers for the use of space for the purchaser-investors’ vending machines.
The State of Connecticut also accused the company of “making earnings claims on its web site without including documented data to substantiate such claims and disclosing such data to prospective purchaser-investors at the time such representations were made.”
Despite its legal difficulties, the company remains in business today, spending large sums on advertising. It is one of the first sponsored links to appear in the results when a Google search is done on vending-related topics.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? IS 1-800-VENDING AN HONEST COMPANY THAT LEARNED ITS LESSON? ARE MICHAEL BARNETT AND JEFF MARSH “THE TWO MOST APPRECIATED MEN IN VENDING” LIKE THEIR WEBSITE STATES?
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View Comments
Wow, I am so glad I found this - I will not be doing business with this comany! I too have found some of the legitimate complaints while searching for consumer reviews of this company and I'm not confident in getting involved with them at all. Thank you for the additional background information! You have saved me, and likely others a huge headache!
I am just about through my first year with a 1-800-Vending machine and would not recommend that anyone do business with this company.
When you call, they are invariably polite, but unfortunately unable to resolve your problems with their machine. The "coaching" staff refers you to tech support and tech support is slow to return your calls, loses track of the issues you called about, and seems unable to do much more than ship replacement components which don't work any better than the ones they're replacing.
I'm on my third bill changer, my second lower door lock, and waiting on a call to see what's necessary to replace an upper door lock which is failing. All this in a machine which is just under a year old and cost the better part of $4000.
When I expressed a concern that I could lose this location because of frequent problems with the machine, it was intimated that I would be responsible for "losing" the location, not their poor machine.
Run, do not walk, in another direction
I would like to reach out to others who has experience with 1 800 Vending. like Crawford Godsey and others. Is this possible?
There has to be something we can if we join forces. Who is interested in holding these creeps accountable?!
Hello Everyone,
I have also heard some really bad things about 1-800 vending that I was really skeptical about purchasing. I purchased my machines through a private seller that was having a hard time placing them. I was able to get a great deal and to be honest I have had no problems in the past 2 years of owning them. I have never had to deal with their customer service. ( thank goodness) but not all of there machines are bad. Like I said my machines have been awesome and made me a good deal of money. Just my two cents.
Hello All,
The company I work for recently ordered one of these machines and we possibly had the worst customer service ever. Though polite on the phone their services are horrific. We were told by the company to check the machine, but their delivery service wouldn't let us. The delivery services started screaming and shouting instantly making it a huge deal, I then rang customer service saying we was in our rights to up pack to inspect the machine. It became this horrific fight between bosses and it was disgraceful immature and unprofessional behavior. I would not even expect one of our 4 year old students to act in such a manner.
My advice is go else where! We have complained on several occasions and no one on the phone could resolve anything or give us any answers. Absolutely ridiculous. What is customer help there for if they cannot help?
I own several HY900 combo drink and snack machines. I was very excited about entering the business. It's mine and I know my productivity will be reflected by my effort and time invested. I did 2 months of research before I narrowed it down to Healthy You Vending/ 1-800 vending. Negative reviews were hard to come by. I don't remember seeing any about this company. The staff seemed very knowledgeable and encouraging. They solidified my choice to join the industry. This was the worst mistake I ever made. I come from a very technical background. From the moment I received my first machine I noticed the low level of quality. When I first opened the machine some of the insulation fell out. Luckily this machine was in my garage. My first machine on location was a nightmare. The back gate for the drinks was a pain to adjust, but I finally got it. The next two weeks I thought all was well until I kept receiving one or two complaints a week about people getting ripped off. That gradually increased. They would put their money in and only get change. THE MOTOR WOULD NOT EVEN SPIN. I talked to Seaga, the manufacturer. Their philosophy is that if you cannot duplicate the problem it doesn't exist. Likely so because there is little you can do about it. I tried to duplicate the problem on my machine in my garage, but I was unable to do it on either of the two machines after continuous maintenance vending. Seaga's actual recommendation was that I sit at my location and wait for it to happen. Who has time for that and why would the location want the vender at their place of business staring at his machine all day? Why would I have to do that for a brand new machine. Finally while responding to an unrelated complaint. A potential customer was patiently waiting on me to finish trouble shooting the machine before they got their drink. Then finally they put their $1 in for a 0.75 cent soda and all they got was a quarter. Another customer in the break room told me that happened to her as well. There is WAY MORE, but I'll keep my grips to a minimum for now. Long story short I lost a 100+ employee location. It was very embarrassing after I sold them on how new the machine was and the card reader (also gave me issues). This is also the same location where I had multiple thefts. You can reach your hand in the drink slot and pull out the drink in the shoot (auger). It's incredibly easy and a major engineering defect. The only reason why the theft stopped was because the director threaten to fire any staff member who was caught and they would not have a machine at all. The parts in the drink machine also fall out. If they are not in place this cause 2 drinks to drop at once. Seaga did send me plugs to modify this engineering default. I mainly talk with Seaga when I have issues with the machine. I rarely talk to 1-800 vending. They are salesmen who glue awesome graphics to an awful product. These machines are not designed for high volume locations nor are they worth the price. I am grateful that I have some technical experience so that I do not need to rely on Seaga because they are not very helpful either. I have more machines and more complaints, but I can sum it up with this, if you choose Healthy You Vending or 1-800 vending. You have been warned. I do not recommend these machines.
Do not buy a vending machine from this company period. It has been nothing but head ache and trouble. They have sent me 3 broken machines and now refuse to give me a refund. They also said they would give first floor delivery but each time I had to use my man power and time to get the machine in my building.
I broke the key off on the bottom cooler unit. Finally got a replacement key from 1-800 vending. Then I drilled out the lock to replace it. But how in the hell do you get to the back part of the key assembly? It's totally contained in the door frame.
Anybody have this experience or have an answer?
Do not I repeat do not do business with 1800 Coffee also. There's a guy over there name Elliot Thomas as a matter of fact he's the only guy over there. who will tell you, say to you,and lie to you about anything just to get a sale with a coffee machine. He will tell you about a great location and that the people at this location is waiting on the machine and going to give you a three year contract, and try to make you believe all types of other stuff, and as soon as you get the machine that's when you find out that everything is a lie. He over price a machine that can make about $600 a month and tell you he guarantee it will make $1500 a month. He tells you about big locations when its only big enough for small to medium locations. As a matter of fact he gets his machines from capitol vending experts just cut the middle man out and go to them, or your going to be in my same shoes. Because once you get your machine from him, he's not going to answer your phone no more!!!