My Story

I became an Amway distributor more years ago than I care to admit. At the time, I was a newly-separated single parent going through a messy divorce. A neighbor invited me to a meeting, so I could help him "evaluate" this business opportunity since he "respected my judgment." He never got involved, but I did.

I bought into the "system" bigtime. I bought nothing but Amway products, I showed the plan, I attended all the open meetings and functions I qualified to attend. I was on Standing Order Tape (back then we called it Tape of the Week) and Book of the Month. My first Family Reunion was 300 miles away. My older child was supposed to be visiting his father, the younger one was still a nursing infant. So I took the baby, along with a babysitter. I paid all the sitter's expenses, including room service meals in a swanky hotel, as well as paying her by the hour to watch my child. Later I found out that she was being paid to watch other people's kids at the same time, but I still had to pay all her expenses.

My next major function was Free Enterprise Day in Mecca, the old Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, NC. This was about an 18-hour drive for me. I left my older child with relatives and took the younger one and a sitter to Charlotte. After the function ended at about 2 AM Sunday morning, I got in my car and started driving home because I couldn't stay the extra night.

I sponsored some people. The first person I sponsored sponsored one distributor, then quit. The second group sponsored one other couple. Then he got a promotion, and they moved 200 miles away and quit. The third person I sponsored died, and his wife moved back to NYC to be near her family. Boy, was I excited!

About a year after I was sponsored, I packed up my kids and moved away from an ex who was getting progressively more abusive. Now, in order for me to go to a Seminar & Rally, I had to drive 3 1/2 hours. I would leave home about 9 AM on Saturday morning, drive the 3 1/2 hours, grab a quick lunch, then go to the S&R. Afterwards, I would drive back the 3 1/2 hours and arrive home about 4 AM. I did this for a year, until that location closed. Then I had to drive either 5 or 7 hours, depending on what month it was.

All this time, I was still showing the plan several times a week, selling a few products, getting Tape of the Week, etc. I was attending all major functions. There were some months when I paid my babysitters two weeks' of my pay from my full-time job. But I was excited! I was going to be able to stay home with my kids!

This went on for two years. I sponsored a couple of people, and even dragged a few of them to Seminar & Rally once or twice before they quit. Finally I was so broke I had to get a part-time job on top of my full-time job.

A while later I met a nice man who was willing to "overlook" the fact that I was in the business. We got married, then he started listening to tapes and getting excited. My sponsor came over for the weekend to show him the plan. We started to go to Seminar & Rally. Fortunately, a new location had been added only 2 1/2 hours away from home.

Eventually, my upline started taking note of our "loyalty" (stupidity?) to the system, and offered me a job. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! I worked for a DIAMOND!

Unfortunately, I forgot to park my brain at the door. I learned the inside story about the REAL business of Amway. This business has nothing to do with Amway products and services except to sponsor people to BUY TOOLS and ATTEND FUNCTIONS. My Diamond actually lost money most years on his Amway business, but made millions on the tools and functions.

Once I realized what a big scam it was I pulled out of the system and left the job. I was angry, depressed, scared, basically a real mess. My husband and I were fighting all the time about the business.

Then I discovered some sites on the Internet. Sidney Schwartz' "Amway: The Untold Story" site and "Amway Motivational Organizations: The Nightmare Builders" were real eye openers for me. You mean, I wasn't the only person who had 'failed' at Amway in spite of being more 'core' than anyone? I started reading some of the books recommended on the sites. Books like Steve Hassan's "Combatting Cult Mind Control," or "False Profits" by Fitzpatrick and Reynolds. I felt as though I were coming out of prison.

I wanted to start this website so that other former prisoners of MLM like myself would have a place to talk, to share experiences, and to help each other heal from the devastation of being involved in a mind-controlling cult.

If you have something to share, or if you just want to get something off your chest, please e-mail me at No More Scams. I will not publish real names or e-mail addresses, although I'd like you to include that information so I know who's writing to me. I will publish almost everything I receive. Exceptions will be the "you don't know anything about MLM get a life" type of e-mails. So if you're one of those ignorant MLM fanatics, don't bother sending anything here: you won't see your post. If you're a successful MLMer and you have some useful information, I'll be glad to include your message.

But mostly, this site is an attempt to help people who are hurting from an MLM experience.

This page was last updated on Mar-12-98