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The following posts have been reprinted in their entirety from posts e-mailed by readers of this website, except that headers, names and locations have been removed. These posts express the opinions and experiences of their authors, and this site publisher makes no representations about them in any way whatsoever. Re: Equinox In the insurance business nobody wants to hire a potential agent unless that agent comes to the table with several personal or business contacts. Without such contacts the new agent would fail. Equinox and all other MLM's are the same. It is unethical to wheel and deal to convince someone to invest $5,000 when they don't have any name list or contacts. Yet because of the pressure everyone in the business will make all sorts of wild promises to get that $5k investment. The real challenge with MLM is that in some case a few people strike rich veins and these are the folks we all hear about that make millions in just a few years. The problem here is these folks were never trained to handle the responsibility of being leaders of thousands of other people. This all goes to their heads and when egos get out of control ethics take a down turn also. The sales pitch of MLM is to take the middleman's profit and use that to pay the word of mouth distributors. The fact is now that PCs are under $1000 most anyone can afford a PC and internet access. All the same products which are now sold through MLM will be available at a true wholesale via the internet. In fact, on the net you can use the same story telling approach to market such products. The internet will eventually put MLM out of business because if the consumer has a choice to pay wholesale, or inflated prices they will always choose wholesale. I hear Equinox is sucking wind, what do you hear? |
Re: Diana and Joe's Story
hi diana and joe, thanks for your website. i to was one of the millions who joined dreaming of a better life, filled with all of lifes ammenities. one of my close friends had been in"the business" for years,trying and trying to convince myself and our other friends to join scamway, to avail. until one day i decided to give it a shot. he immediately came over to show me and my wife "the plan". i was immediately fired up, but my wife had her reservations. she told me she would not be active in building the business, but would support me in anything i did. so i signed up believing i would go direct in 90 days.(how naive) i also was told in order to do so i would have to purchase tools and attend all functions, no matter what the consequenses were. to make a long story short, after all the tapes, books ,rallies, etc, etc. i found myself in a deeper hole than before i got in. i to found myself buying stuff from catalogs that i didnt need, just to make my 100 pv a month. after a couple of months of this i found myself hating for the phone to ring, because i knew it was my sponsor on the other end, asking if i was going to meeting. i hated the meetings with a passion, but i couldnt go direct without the meetings, could i? so one day i woke up and decided to get life back. i canceled everything from amagram to amvox. i also canceled those bullshit tapes, that say the same damn thing on each and everyone of them. "buy more tapes, attend all functions,etc. next was to call my sponsor to let him know that i was taking a break from "the business". this did not sit well with him. he tried and tried to keep me on standing order tapes. i laughed at him through the phone , because i could not believe that he was still trying to hustle me for tape money. he had truly become an amdroid. this is someone whom i had been knowing for years, spewing the same garbage at me that i had been hearing from those "fat cat" diamonds. in closing my days in scamway only lasted a total of about 5 months and a few thousand dollars. well you live and you learn. thanks for your website and the many others like yours. it is truly a help for alot people. i also hope you and your husband are doing better.
I am so shocked at what I hear..I am going through the same things as these people..My husband and I got into Amway about a year ago..I never really felt like this was right,but hey I'm just the negative wife..My husband has never kept a job more than a couple of months.In the 6 years of our good marriage he has had about 40 jobs.He is convinced this is it and the bad thing is he has not lost interest in it.We have spent so much money on the function,books and tapes we have lost our house.We are living with my parents now and they are in it too. I have not seen much more than a 6 dollar check and have not got anything out of this than a tense marriage. we have a little girl and i hate to have her grow up without a father but that might be better than amway.Please tell me how to get my husband out of this.you can e-mail me at ***. thanks for listening
Re: Response to Your Page
It is disturbing to happy distributors to read mail such as yours. I am sure that we all start our own Amway distributorship for similar reasons and I truly believe that it is the best opportunity around. It would seem that your misfortune was not being involved as an Amway distributor - as without doubt their products are excellent and so is their service. They do all they can, and more to support us distributors - but with your upline, and the fact that they were in a different State from you.
Like anything elese in life there are good and bad "uplines" and they have nothing to do with the Amway organization or opportunity. We have the finest people in our organization and are encouraged to have a well-rounded business - ie. retail sales as well as sponsoring other distributors. When you state that you contacted a number of clinics and then there was no one to sell to - really now! how about the yellow pages, thats where we find out business. We have excellent products that all office buildings use, as do churches, old ages homes, etc. etc. How many new business turn a profit the first few years, let along servive? The problem with the Amway opportunity is that a large percentage of people starting their distributorship seem to treat it as some sort of hobby not a business - this is a viable, honest business and if run as one there is not doubt that the distributor will be successful.
We have been distributors for 7 months and through diligence and perseverence - including contacting prospective customers on a daily basis - we continue to see a great return. The best thing of all is seeing those people who we shared the opportunity with building their business successfully and achieving their goals as well.
Sorry about your bad experience but that is not Amway.
Part II
I've read what you have to say and that's your opinion. You see, I'm not against anyone else making a good living. I happen to have other businesses and know therefore that any business takes an investment - not just cash investment but also much, much time. In fact most new businesses fail within the first 5 years. The trouble with most people who become involved in MLM is that they seem to think it is a get rich quick hobby! Get with the program - there are no free lunches in life and the sooner that is realized the better for all concerned. A large part of our business is retailing - very successfully, thank you - and we do not spend more on tapes than we are comfortable with. They are not forced upon us as you suggest and I am more than willing to pay for them - why not. Dexter Yager et al. has put together a very good idea and business and what do you expect - him and others to provide you with another free lunch!
Yes, about the same percentage of people are successful in life generally - it is far easier to sit on the couch in front of the TV and complain than do anything positive about one's situation.
I don't need any more responses - thanks.
Amway is the best opportunity bar none.
Re: Amway
Me and my wife went to a amway meeting. They show your picture of cars and homes. They are greedy asses
Re: Y2K
Not to worry....do some y2k research and ask yourself what could possibly happen to Amway if computers and/or utilities fail??? Some of the top computer systems analysts of the world don't have much hope for the economy etc. when the problem starts...just think of thousands of downline distributors disappearing all at once!!!(Either because they've lost their job, or can't get their products distributed, or can't get their P.V. checks cause their banks' computers aren't Y2K compliant!!! Let's wait and watch!!!
Yes, we are distributors. I am and have been an investor. I work at home and have done so for years. Amways bragging will be in vain, because if you understand the concept of the whole Y2K scenario, its much like a string of cheap christmas tree lights. If one fails, they all go out. Its not just the mainframe computer problems, and they are big, its the embedded chips(date sensitive) that run the whole world (over 10 billion world wide), that have to be addressed one line at a time, recoded, and retested. Think of this for a minute. All the traffic lights in Los Angeles, and every other city for that matter, are controlled by embedded (date sensitive) chips that feed information to the mainframes, that then change the traffic light. Talk about an amusing, albeit unfortunate scenario. Traffic could gridlock in a matter of minutes. Lets talk about the FAA, and the GPS satellites (date sensitive). Do you want to be flying December 31st, 2000 at midnight.?? Lets talk about nuclear power plants, all controlled by embedded chips that feed information to the mainframes. Just this morning on CNBCs' financial station, the Department of Energies main man said on nationwide television that if Jan 1, 2000 were to happen this week, across the board, there would be 100% power failure nationwide. Due to deregulating, the whole power grid has changed, and there would be no way to service customers. Commerce in general will come to a screeching halt. Lets retrace history a few years to 1933. A state of national emergency was declared (no constitution, no congress, banks were given a holiday, gold was confiscated, etc. etc.) The year 2000 happens to be an election year (which by the law of national emergency, elections can be postponed. hmmmmm..). Is there any doubt in your mind that our administration isn't really saying too much about this for a reason?? Here's a page to check out for yourself. http://www.y2kchaos.com. Have fun, and maybe you can learn a little more about the challenges that lie ahead in the all too near future. Remember, this date can't be changed !!
we were "building the business' for four years up until last July. We abandoned that idea after four years and $ 20,000 and tears and tires and miles ETC. but I felt I had to remain a distributor because I have a pretty good retail business (which is mostly made up of friends and family), I really didn't want to leave my friends and family up a rope and without products and my service(especially since I worked SO HARD to get them to buy in the first place!!!!!.).also, I must say that we really do like the products...not all of them mind you, but most of the body care and household products. [My husband] mentioned that he's a private investor...well, that is how we found your page...he was researching stocks and AJL(AMWAY JAPAN) and AAP (AMWAY AISA PACIFIC)were two that he's been following....While he was on an investor's message board, all of this talk about Amway came up. So we toured most of the pages referred to on those boards,, and I was horrified to read some of the things that I read, and am ashamed to say that I saw myself in alot of those people, and identified with some of the women... We went through the whole bit, and yes, it consumed all of our waking and sleeping hours...all of our time,...No wonder why people ran from us...they knew something we didn't know!!( And we thought we knew something THEY didn't know!!) Our upline and the Diamonds on the tapes told us that our REAL friends would buy from us...maybe so, but we found out that our REAL friends are the ones that still love us even though we are in Amway! ( At this point, I am more concerned about a young couple that we sponsored...they are putting their heart and soul into this business, and we don't know how to break the news to them.....) I think Probant is right...Amway is selling us distributors short by allowing us to be chinooked this way...they try so hard to build up their image(The most admired co. in the world) only to have it demolished by the AMOS! The part that hurts isn't the fact that the directs and above are making the $$$ on the tools..As a matter of fairness, those tools were helpful a us...we learned alot from the books and we applied that to our life.... we were HUNGRY for that kind of knowledge, and it was a time in our life that we needed to learn that kind of knowledge and it presented itself through the AMO................HOWEVER!!!!!!These people who were teaching us about honesty, integrity, loyalty wife/husband relationships and spirituality and harmony, have LIED BY OMISSION, by not making us aware that they get a "tape break" and that they get paid to speak!!!! And here we thought they were SOOOOOOOOO giving!! Even one of their own recommended books mentions that a man's good reputation can be ruined in A SECOND by one wrong act!!!! We put ourselves on the line to build an Amway business, to be ambassadors for this Corporation called Amway, and to defend and uplift this way of business....During our prospecting period, we've been lied to, shunned, ignored, stood up, made fun of, tricked, and so on... And that was hard to take..Supposedly, all of the books and tapes were supposed to help us get over that so we'd get an "Amway scab".....Hardly.... We've been audited and( laughed at) by the IRS agents.... They called it shamway... We can't believe that we fell for all of the Amtalk hook, line and sinker.... I did more than Gary, and bless him for going along with me after the first three years. I guess there was still some naivete there, plus we really thought that we could pull it off....After 4 years , our Diamonds came to visit us and told us that building the business in a small (3200)town required 300 miles to be driven each night etc....Why didn't they tell us when we signed up? I had so much love a respect for this couple, and it is really hard for me to think that they were hiding something from us. Speaking of, I haven't heard from our Diamonds since we stopped buying tapes, books and goiung to functions.... So much more, but I'd better stop here...it's the same book, just a different chapter.... Now, about I was saying about Y2K....[My husband] went into detail on his last letter, but I want to go back to why I think the Diamonds tec. will dry up!!! Worse case scenario!!! Probably, alot of directs are just hanging on...I don't know, but what about all of the people who make up a Direct's business??? As you know, alot of them are either doin' 50-300 P.V., buying from themselves, etc. They are for the most part, workin a J.O.B.(ha ha) and barely making ends meet....putting out the $4,000 a year to do the business, gas in the tank too!!! Now what happens if the 6-4-2's lose their job as a result of the worst case scenarios? How will they be able to buy anything let alone Amway??? And, it won't be just one person losing their job, or not being able to get to work....it will be a whole bunch!!!!!....at the SAME TIME!!!! O.K....let's say the computers are o.k. for AMWAY....(by the way, I wrote to them about two months ago and asked them all of these questions, and they only answered about THEIR computers...and in a way, I might add, that only a computer expert could understand!!!) What about the computers for U.P.S ., or the U.S. Post Office, or the Gasoline Delivery System, etc. etc. etc. down the line...you can see maybe a problem in distribution? Here's one, what about the fact that we may not all have phone communication? (How will they do it without AMvox????...a must have, if you're building the business at $l6.75/mo) The P.V. checks originate with Amway, to the Direct, then to each successive downline, right? So each one of them has to write a check from their bank respectively right? Woe the the distributor who's banking with a non-compliant bank!!! PLus, how many distributors will remember to renew in spite of all the commotion caused by the worse case scenarios? As I mention in my first note to you, do the research yourself and ask these questions.....Gotta go
Re: Network 21
I am in Australia and was recently approached by someone regarding "a business opportunity." From what I've read so far this is a very familiar sales pitch. Thankfully I did not meet with this person at my residence as they requested. During our meeting it became clear that it was Amway, re-named 'Network Twenty One.' I previously knew very little. I am naturally cautious and quite prudent in my financial dealings, but I was willing to give this person my ear. What started to bother me, was not any preconceived ideas on Amway, as I knew nothing, but rather the person standing before me. He was rushed when I met him, and could only offer me thirty minutes in our meeting. He raced through the plan, but told me NOTHING of the products. He had all sorts of great brochures of success stories (strangely no failures were mentioned), spoke of points and percentages, pyramid-like profits, and so on. He paused really only at the beginning to establish my vision of life ahead, a brief summary of my hopes and aspirations. After that he had a plan, and he stuck to it. He constantly looked at his watch. At one moment you felt esteemed, he saw potential in you ... for this business opportunity. At another, you felt like a cog in a machine as he methodically chimmed out a well honed pitch, whilst keeping one foot out the door for a swift exit to the next 'business meeting' with another one-of-a-kind person. Part of me envied his drive and wondered what had given him this new lease on life. Another part of me was afraid of finding myself being like him, so driven that you fail to 'really' communicate, really relate with the people you're with. I have only had one meeting. Yes I am cynical and suspicious. Yes it is far too early for me to truly make a wise judgement on this man or the message he brings. I will listen, maybe one more time, but I feel that it is not for me, and I question its impact on him. However that is someting he must decide. You see in all that he presented to me, I never saw any long term plan. It was all so very short term. So very temporal. Just last night I found myself reading the Bible. It was the book of Habakkuk, chapter 3, "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet will I rejioce in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior." My notes went on to add, "there is nothing wrong in finding pleasure in the good things money can buy. but we should never rely on them for happiness. If our fulfillment depends on material possessions, we are crushed when we lose them. But if our joy is found in the Lord, nothing can disrupt it, not even economic distress. Those who trust in the Lord can rejoice. . . even in poverty." The man I met from Network 21 did not have joy, but he anxiously persued it's distant relative. . . happiness. Author Tim Hansel quotes, "whereas happiness is an emotion, easily flowing up and down, joy is an attitude, it is that deep centred knowledge that God is in control of every aspect of my life." This is long term planning. This is eternal. Nothing beats the life insurance policy that Jesus died to give us, and we can accept by grace, without works. May we all come to know the inner peace of being networked with our Creator. A friend in Australia
Re: MLM
Just wanted to you to know I have found your site most interesting and dead on accurate about Amway. Have several stories if you would like them. Let me know. Please know that not all MLM compainies are bad. I tried Amway for seveal years (UGH) and Melalucea (not bad, not great) and have been an Excel Rep for 3 years now and actually make money with it. No I am not a Millionare, and do not use any of that BS from Amway and most Excel reps do not. I do earn money and show new people how to do the same. It is well worth looking at if you have not. They constantly increase commisions and offer real money saving services people actually want and ask for! In MLM having customers ask you for a service? Yes it is true...
Re: Amway and Free Speech
I just read your Amway and free speech, and I want to complement you. It was a great job. The internet scares the hell out of MLM's, they prey on people's naivety and dreams.
Re: Your Website
Thanks so much for the info .... I nearly fell prey to the blood-sucking deceivers! Among other sites, yours proved useful in coming to an educated decision.
Re: International Networking Association
Does anyone know anything about the split up the the diamonds who broke off of the INA line of sponsorship and formed their own group. The diamonds who broke off included Leif Johnson, Jim Bellacera, Bob Payne, DIck Payne, Larry McKracken, Michael Singleton, Frank Morales and others.??????? If so e-mail me ***
Re: Help
HI,
This page updated Sep-17-98