Amway accuses Scwartz of providing links to other "anti-Amway" web sites, and of masterminding some conspiratorial web ring. Last time I looked at Schwartz' site, he also had links to Amway's web site. Hmmm. How many web sites have you visited lately that did not have links to related sites? In fact, Crown Jody Victor maintains a website as part of his Markerman Productions tool business. On that site, he has a "legal disclaimer" which states:

"This site contains links to third-party web sites. The linked sites are not under the control of the owners of this site or any of their affiliates, and are not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site. This site is providing these links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of a link does not imply endorsement of the linked site or it's products or services by this site or any of it's affiliates. The owner of this site or any of its affiliates shall not be liable for any damages or costs arising out of or in any way connected with your use of any of the services or companies accessed through this web site."

If it is obvious to him that he is not responsible for the contents of other people's sites, why is the same not true for Mr. Schwartz?

There is an organization on the internet called "Webring", which provides the html code for the "Anti-MLM/Anti-Amway Webring." According to information on the Webring site,

"Welcome to WebRing, one of the fastest and most exciting ways to navigate the World Wide Web! This completely free service offers easy access to hundreds of thousands of member websites organized by related interests into easy-to-travel Rings." (Emphasis mine.)

Some of the webrings bear titles like "The Ring of Fine Art" which features virtual art galleries, the "International Cybermalls Webring," the "Internet Marketing Webring" and "The Medical Student and MD Ring." In other words, a "webring" is a pretty ordinary navigational device on the internet.

However, one of the links that Schwartz provided on his site was a link to the site of Kenneth Lowndes. Lowndes has some serious grievances against Amway, which he expresses very aggressively. His method of expression may not be very appropriate, but to blame Schwartz for the content of Lowndes' (or anyone else's) site is absurd. Schwartz also had links to this site. He certainly has never had any control over what I choose to post or to write about!

Amway then recounts the stories of a small handful of distributors who blame Schwartz for a reduction in their business. For example, "Thereafter, the new distributor lost interest in the business, would not attend meetings, return phone calls, or actively pursue his business." Now, in my years as a distributor -- before the internet and Schwartz' web site -- I certainly had a significant number of people who bought kits and then lost interest in the business. In fact, it's so common it was known in my organization as "shoving the kit under the bed." By the same token, people would see the plan for the first time, appear to be interested, and then never follow up with any more activity. This is such normal behavior for prospects, in fact, that distributors are taught to stress with them again and again NOT to talk to non-distributors about the business. They are routinely warned about dreamstealers and negative people in an attempt to keep them from really checking out what they're looking at. Is Amway going to file suit against every friend, relative or neighbor who "talked someone out of" building an Amway distributor business?

According to Amway:

"The South Carolina Amway distributor and one of the distributors in his organization had contacted prospective distributors about starting a distributorship. The prospective distributors were a married couple with hundreds of friends and relatives in the Philippines, thus representing an excellent prospect to expand the distributorship internationally.

"36. The Philippine couple agreed to attend a business seminar in Columbia, South Carolina, to learn more about the Amway business and they were very excited about starting an Amway distributorship.

"37. Prior to the seminar, however, the wife printed off pages of negative, false and misleading information about Amway from the P&G/Schwartz web site. The false and misleading information, among other things, falsely alleged that distributors only made money by forcing people in their organization to buy motivational tapes and materials at inflated prices. As a result of the false information, the couple lost all interest in starting a distributorship and began distributing the pages of negative and false information to people in the South Carolina Amway distributor's group."

Amway attacks Lowndes, who "apparently has nothing but contempt for the duly issued and served discovery process of the United States." Well, that's his Constitutional right! Lowndes, however, is only one of many of Schwartz' "confederates."

And of course, P&G, the master conspirator in this scenario, had set out to "make Amway the scapegoat for persistent rumors linking P&G to Satanism." Now, as a distributor, I had heard this rumor from distributors in the mid-eighties, the late eighties, the early nineties. . . as recently as last week when a disillusioned distributor forwarded to me an an e-mail written by a Diamond Direct Distributor who quoted this rumor. Hmmm.

Anyway. . . on with the show!

This page updated Jul-26-99

This page last updated Oct-1-99