If UnFranchise® Owners violate their Independent UnFranchise Owner Application and Agreement, including the policies and procedures set forth in this UnFranchise Manual, or if UnFranchise Owners violate other agreements with Market Singapore®, Market Singapore may take corrective action.
(A) Grounds for Corrective Action: Grounds for invoking the Corrective Action Procedure (CAP) include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Breach of the Independent UnFranchise Owner Application and Agreement
• Violation of the law relating to the UnFranchise Owner’s business
• Failure to maintain company standards
• Falsification of reports
• Forged documents or any false or misleading communication made to the company
• Failure to meet retail sales requirements or improper verification of these requirements
• Unauthorized income claims or publishing of commission amounts
• Failure to make timely payments to the company
• Credit card violations:
• Unauthorized use
• Chargebacks without following Return Merchandise Policy
• Breach of nonsolicitation or trade secret covenants
• Violation of same household rules
• Establishment of fraudulent Business Development Centers
• Inventory loading
• Unauthorized or illegal re-entry
• Misrepresentation of the marketing plan
• Cross-group sponsoring
• Conduct that materially impairs the company’s goodwill
• Failure to fulfill management and fiduciary responsibility as a manager under the MPCP
• Violation of the advertising policy, including company trademark violations
• Violation of the 270-day policy
• Unethical practices
The Corrective Action Procedure may result in a range of sanctions against the UnFranchise Owner, including but not limited to additional training requirements, written warnings, forfeiture of commissions, suspension and termination. The severity, frequency, number of infractions and impact on the company and other UnFranchise Owners’ rights and businesses determine the type of corrective action taken, at the company’s sole discretion. If the violation, in the company’s opinion, cannot be remedied, is broad and damaging, brings irreparable harm, or threatens the reputation and goodwill of the company or its UnFranchise Owners, it is grounds for immediate termination. If an UnFranchise Owner is issued a written warning from the company and repeats the infraction, it is grounds for immediate termination.
(B) Corrective Action Procedure: The following procedure will be applicable to an UnFranchise Owner subject to corrective action:
(1) When evidence of a violation comes to the attention of Market Singapore’s Legal Counsel, Legal Counsel will notify the UnFranchise Owner by mail, sent to the UnFranchise Owner’s last known address on record with the company, that the UnFranchise Owner appears to have engaged in improper conduct and must submit a response explaining the situation to the Corrective Action Board (CAB). For the purposes of the CAP, this notice by mail is deemed sufficient. If the letter cannot be delivered, Market Singapore may at its discretion also attempt to send notification by registered airmail, fax, e-mail or other method whereby delivery can be confirmed.
(2) The UnFranchise Owner must submit a written response to Market Singapore within 20 days from the postmark date of the Legal Counsel’s letter (including weekends and holidays; if the 20th day falls on a weekend or holiday, the response shall be due the next business day). If a written response is not received within said 20-day period, the UnFranchise Owner’s contract may be automatically terminated.
(3) Upon receipt of the response within the 20-day period, the Corrective Action Board will review the response within 15 business days from receipt of it and determine what action is to be implemented. In unusual circumstances, the CAB may extend the decision period with appropriate notice to the UnFranchise Owner. The Corrective Action Board will consist of at least two senior executives of Market Singapore, two representatives from the company’s Legal Department, and one representative from the company’s Compliance department.
(4) The Corrective Action Board will notify the UnFranchise Owner of its decision by registered airmail or by overnight mail service with signature required for delivery. The decision of the CAB shall immediately take effect.
(5) If the UnFranchise® Owner disagrees with the decision rendered by the Corrective Action Board, he or she may appeal the decision to the Advisory Board, which includes representatives from the UnFranchise Owner Advisory Council. The UnFranchise Owner may request an appeal in one of two ways: (a) by requesting an appeal hearing (at Market America Worldwide, Inc., corporate office in Greensboro, N.C. or by telephone), or (b) by submitting documentation for a written appeal. If the UnFranchise Owner requests a written appeal, all supporting documentation must be included with the appeal request letter. Note: All documents submitted in written appeal must be notarized, certified or otherwise appropriately verified.
(6) All appeal requests must be received by Market Singapore® within 15 days of the date of the CAB decision letter (including weekends and holidays; if the 15th day falls on a weekend or holiday, the appeal must be received the next business day). If the UnFranchise Owner fails to request an appeal within 15 days, the decision of the Corrective Action Board will be final.
(7) The Advisory Board will review the appeal within 30 days of receipt of the appeal request letter. If the UnFranchise Owner requests an appeal hearing, the Advisory Board will attempt to schedule the hearing at a time convenient to the UnFranchise Owner. However, the Advisory Board has discretion to schedule the hearing at any time during the 30-day period. In unusual circumstances, the Board may extend its decision time with appropriate notice to the UnFranchise Owner. Please note that if UnFranchise Owners exercise their appeal right, any sanction issued by the Corrective Action Board will remain in effect until the appeal process is completed. Therefore, UnFranchise Owners must satisfy any sanction set forth by the Corrective Action Board even if the deadline for this sanction falls before the Advisory Board gives notice of its decision on the appeal.
(8) The Advisory Board will conduct the hearing on the scheduled date and will render a final decision and send notification to the UnFranchise Owner within five days from the hearing date.
(C) Termination: If an UnFranchise Owner commits a serious violation of the provisions of the Independent UnFranchise Owner Application and Agreement or of the policies, procedures, rules and regulations contained in the UnFranchise Manual, the company may, at its discretion, terminate the UnFranchise Owner’s contract.
(1) An UnFranchise Owner whose contract is terminated loses all the rights, privileges and benefits of a Market Singapore UnFranchise Owner.
(2) Market Singapore will notify the UnFranchise Owner of termination via registered airmail, at the latest address for that UnFranchise Owner shown in company records.
(3) Upon receipt of notice of termination, the UnFranchise Owner may seek an appeal before the Advisory Board, following the same procedural steps outlined under Corrective Action Procedure.
(D) Arbitration: If the UnFranchise Owner disagrees with the decision of the Advisory Board, the UnFranchise Owner’s only recourse is to request arbitration administered by the General Court of Justice, Guilford County, North Carolina, as provided for in the Independent UnFranchise Owner Application and Agreement. UnFranchise Owners have one year from the date of the Advisory Board's decision to file for arbitration. If UnFranchise Owners fail to request an appeal within one year of the postmarked date of the Advisory Board's decision, they waive their right to request arbitration and the decision of the Advisory Board will be final.
The company never relinquishes its right to insist on compliance with stated policies, procedures, rules and regulations or with applicable law governing conduct of the business.
(A) Authorities: This policy is true in all cases, both specifically expressed and implied, unless an officer of the company who is authorized to bind the company in contractual agreements specifies in writing that the company waive a provision or provisions. Verbal communication is not sufficient to authorize non-compliance.
(B) Permission: In addition, if the company on any occasion authorizes a policy exception, that authorization does not extend to future non-compliance.
(C) Scope: This provision deals with the concept of waiver, and the parties agree that the company does not waive any of its rights under any circumstances other than in the case of the written authorization referred to above.
The company expressly reserves the right to alter or amend UnFranchise cost of products, policies, procedures, rules, regulations, product availability and/or formulation, and the Management Performance Compensation Plan. Upon notification by mailing to the most recent address listed for the UnFranchise Owner in the records on file with the company or notification via https://sg.unfranchise.com, UnFranchise Owner Magazine, email, voice mail or other sufficient method, such amendments are automatically incorporated as part of the Independent UnFranchise Owner Application and Agreement between the company and the UnFranchise Owner.
The company reserves the right to approve or disapprove UnFranchise Owners’ change of registered business names, formation of partnerships, corporations, other business organizations and trusts for tax, estate planning and other liability purposes. If the company approves such a change by an UnFranchise® Owner, the UnFranchise Owner must provide a list of the names of the principals of the organization and Singapore ID Numbers and signatures for each.
Termination will result in the loss of commission rights from the UnFranchise Owner’s Business Development Center(s).
(A) Effective Period: Effect of termination shall be retroactive to the beginning of the week in which the company received in writing the termination.
(B) Payment of Commissions: Payment of commissions to the terminated UnFranchise Owner will be made only for business completed during the last full week prior to the effective date of termination.
(C) Representation: A terminated UnFranchise Owner shall no longer represent himself/herself as an Independent UnFranchise Owner of Market Singapore®.
Singapore ID Card: All new applicants must submit a copy of their Singapore identification card or Permanent Resident card within 10 calendar days of the application start date to avoid cancellation of the UnFranchise Business and all BV/IBV will be removed (if applicable).
(A) Cross-Group Sponsoring Defined: Cross-group sponsoring shall be defined as an UnFranchise Owner recruiting another UnFranchise Owner from another organization or line of sponsorship or moving a downline UnFranchise Owner from one placement to another in their own organization, either within the company, or within another network marketing company. Cross-group sponsoring occurs when an UnFranchise Owner uses his/her association with Market Singapore, or relationships developed by participation in Market Singapore, including access to meetings, people and information, to divert or diminish a UnFranchise Owner’s time and effort away from his/her current line of sponsorship.
(B) Cross-Group Selling Defined: Cross-group selling shall be defined as an UnFranchise Owner soliciting sales from another line of sponsorship.
(C) Prohibition of Cross-Group Sponsoring and Selling: Cross-group sponsoring and selling is unethical and strictly prohibited. Without the prohibition of cross-group sponsoring and selling, the lines of distribution and sponsorship would be undermined, and the Marketing Plan could not work. There would be no security or stability within the sales and marketing organization, and there would be no incentive to recruit, train and manage downlines.
(D) Primary Types of Cross-Group Sponsoring and Selling
(1) Soliciting, recruiting or sponsoring Market Singapore UnFranchise Owners into another network marketing company. Such activity is a serious violation and grounds for corrective action, including termination of the UnFranchise Owner’s contract.
(2) Selling products or sales aids of another network marketing company to Market Singapore UnFranchise Owners, other than one’s personally sponsored UnFranchise Owners. Such infractions must be reversed and remedied and are grounds for corrective action, including termination of the UnFranchise Owner’s contract.
(3) Selling Market Singapore products to any Market Singapore UnFranchise Owners, other than one’s personally sponsored UnFranchise Owners, without proper credit of sales volume or BV.
(4) Sponsoring or moving existing UnFranchise Owners, including their efforts, recruiting activity, sales activity or volume production, to another line of sponsorship or position in the organizational genealogy, without complying with policies and procedures for transfer of sponsorship as provided in the UnFranchise Manual. This includes attempts to divert a UnFranchise Owner’s volume, effort, production or activity under the MPCP to another person or location in the organizational genealogy, thereby depriving anyone upline in the original line of sponsorship of the volume credit he/she would have been due, by use of any device, mechanism, agreement or arrangement. If the company discovers such cross-group sponsoring within the company, it has broad discretion to reorganize the sales organizations and genealogies involved in order to protect the integrity of the Marketing Plan. Such discretion includes moving individual UnFranchise Owners, moving groups of UnFranchise Owners or personally sponsored UnFranchise Owners, and moving or adjusting sales volume to an appropriate genealogy location in the rightful line of sponsorship. The company may also adjust commission and/or Group Business Volume by deducting the volume from the incorrect upline or sponsorship and adding it to the correct upline or sponsorship. The company may take additional corrective action, including possible termination of the UnFranchise Owner’s contract.
(E) Attempts to Circumvent: The use of any device, mechanism or arrangement such as trade names, DBAs, assumed names “alter egos” business registration numbers, fraudulent Singapore ID Numbers, fabricated Business Development Centers, agreements or contracts, or spouses and/or significant others, family members to circumvent this rule is strictly prohibited and grounds for corrective action, including termination.
(F) Enforcement Responsibility: All Coordinators and higher UnFranchise Levels in the line of sponsorship are responsible for enforcing this rule by reporting any evidence of such activity to the company’s Compliance Department or by filing a grievance.
UnFranchise® Owners having grievances or complaints regarding business practices or conduct relative to their Market Singapore® business should first report it to their upline leadership, who should review the matter and try to resolve it in the field. If the matter cannot be resolved in the field, it can be reported in writing to marketamerica@marketamerica.com. The company will review the facts and attempt to resolve the matter. If it is not satisfactorily resolved, it may be referred to the Dispute Resolution Board (DRB) for final review and determination. The UnFranchise Owner agrees to submit any complaint, grievance or claim against an UnFranchise Owner or the company to the company and/or Dispute Resolution Board for settlement prior to contacting any regulatory agency or taking any legal action.
(A) DRB Process: The Dispute Resolution Board (DRB) is the final appeal process regarding company rulings or decisions concerning policies, procedures, rules and regulations. The DRB only reviews facts and enforces company policies and procedures. The DRB does not set policy, change policy or make exceptions to rules and regulations. It functions to interpret policies, procedures, rules and regulations where no precedent exists or where unique mitigating circumstances are encountered.
(1) Formal appeal to the DRB requires completing and submitting the DRB Submission Form (located on https://sg.unfranchise.com), a statement (affidavit) sworn by a Commissioner for Oaths, all documentation, evidence, and a S$63.00 filing fee for the review process (this fee is nonrefundable, regardless of the final decision of the DRB).
(2) The DRB reviews all appeals on a timely basis.
(3) Cutoff on commission claims and adjustments will not be in effect provided the DRB process was started within 45 days of the respective commission week.
(4) If the UnFranchise Owner disagrees with the decision of the DRB, the UnFranchise Owner’s only recourse is to request arbitration within 90 days of the date of the DRB decision letter. This arbitration shall be administered by the General Court of Justice, Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, as provided in the Independent UnFranchise Owner Application and Agreement.
A starter kit provides a cross-section of product information and necessary literature to begin the business. The company reserves the right to substitute items of equal or greater business volume, value or cost at any time without notice. An UnFranchise Owner should not expect the exact same items to be in every kit.
The company cannot guarantee the absolute accuracy of the information on the UnFranchise Management System (UFMS) until the close of a commission week, which occurs two weeks after the actual week ends, due to continuous updates, adjustments and reconciliations.
(A) Adjustment Factors: There are a multitude of factors that can affect the volume numbers shown on the UFMS, such as incorrect placements, data processing errors caught in reconciliation, refund requests, volume erasure, volume purges, etc.
(1) The figures are not final until posting and reconciliation on Friday, two weeks after the weekending commission cycle.
(2) Commissions will be paid only on the actual reconciled volume.
(B) Limitations: The information provided by the UFMS is to be used as a management tool, supplying the UnFranchise Owner with an approximation of Business Development Centers’ GBV.
In the event a group of UnFranchise Owners in the same line of sponsorship are leaving (terminating) as Market Singapore Independent UnFranchise Owners within a 90-day period of each other, it becomes impossible for the company to reverse unearned commissions by the removal of BV. Usually there are competitive motives involved when an event like this occurs. Often the UnFranchise Owners who earned commissions on downline GBV are leaving the business within the same period of time as their downline UnFranchise Owners who are requesting refunds are leaving the business. It is not unusual for the terminating upline UnFranchise Owners to encourage or instruct the downline UnFranchise Owners to leave the business or request refunds in concert. Regardless of the reasons, the company must reverse unearned commissions in order to make an equitable distribution of refunds to groups of UnFranchise Owners leaving the business. With the rights under the Independent UnFranchise Owner Application and Agreement to earn commissions, accrue GBV, and sponsor other individuals as UnFranchise Owners come certain contractual obligations, responsibilities and liabilities.
(A) Seventy Percent Rule: Each Executive Coordinator is contractually obligated to ensure that 70 percent of all products purchased are sold to the end consumer.
(B) Breaches Of Contract: In the case where groups of UnFranchise Owners in the same line of sponsorship are leaving the business and dollar amounts of refund request exceed 30 percent of product orders, sales, volume or deposits, there are obvious breaches of contract by UnFranchise Owners receiving commissions. Or there was obvious manipulation of the Management Performance Compensation Plan and/or misrepresentation on the part of participants requesting refunds as a group.
(C) Executive Coordinator Responsibilities: Regardless of delivery issues, back orders or disputes, the Executive Coordinator (remaining in the business) accepted the commissions, which now must be reversed.
(D) Buyback Guarantee: Market Singapore® advances commissions to participants on wholesale purchases intended to be resold or consumed on the basis that there are protectionary provisions in the form of buyback guarantees, refund policies, retailing requirements, and performance requirements, to which the participants are obligated to adhere.
(E) Basis for Commissions: The Company pays commissions on the basis of UnFranchise® Owners’ and Executive Coordinators’ contractual obligations to comply with Market Singapore’s policies, procedures, rules and regulations. These provisions are repeatedly and clearly stated in all Market Singapore literature and communications.
(1) Consumer protection laws apply to the UnFranchise Owners as well as Market Singapore.
(2) The company has gone to great lengths to ensure compliance with the law; therefore, when group refunds are requested, the company must execute the contractual provisions, which were entered into by all parties to protect against receiving commissions on undelivered product to the end consumer.
(F) Refund/Return Process: The company reserves the right to handle refunds or product returns for a group of UnFranchise Owners leaving the business within the same 90-day period or in concert with each other in the following manner:
(1) The company will hold all returns and refunds for a period of 60 days until all adjustments are made.
(2) The company may identify who is involved and reverse all unearned commissions by the removal of BV and the Commission Reversal Process.
(3) The company may demand enforcement of the 70 Percent Rule on the Executive Coordinator who violated the policies, procedures, rules and regulations.
(4) The company may enforce a payment schedule releasing funds to the appropriate parties in payments until all unearned commissions are reversed. If the Executive Coordinator accepted the commissions and is contractually responsible for compliance in his/her organization, then he/she is obligated to refund the unearned commissions to his/her downline group.
(5) The company may take enforcement action against any individual who refuses to return or refund unearned commissions, or who refuses to buy back products.
(6) If the company is unable to collect unearned commissions from the involved Executive Coordinator, and if both the terminating UnFranchise Owners and the Executive Coordinator fail to comply with the requirements under the marketing plan and policies and procedures, the company will then refund the portion it owes and assign the collection rights of unearned commission by the Executive Coordinator to the participant requesting a refund. The company may, at its discretion, provide legal assistance to the parties receiving the assignment to collect from the Executive Coordinator.
No claims submitted more than 45 days from the end of a commission week will be accepted. The deadline for commission claims for adjustments is 45 days following the Friday of the close of the commission week. The company will not adjust commissions going back more than 45 days. The 45-day period allows three to four weeks from the time a commission payment is disbursed to contact or notify the company and make a claim. If a UnFranchise Owner believes he/she should have received a commission payment and did not, he/she must notify the company prior to the expiration of the 45-day period. No exceptions will be made.