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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: personal story in Texas Part I Dear co-survivors, My wife and I were in deep in Amway for 3 years. Although I never became direct, we sponsored a total of 34 people, spent about $14,000, and worked liked crazed maniacs. Entirely on my own iniative, I went to China in April 94 for the grand opening there. I also did some traveling in the US. I have read the accounts of many MLM survivors, and most of them were not in for the years I was (although I realize others were in longer...). One day I finally woke up and saw the light. I quit. I have found sites like yours to be very re-assuring and fun! Here's the reason for my email: after I quit, I started writing about my experiece. In all, I've written an account that is about 10 pages (its 10,000 words). Would you like to consider this for posting on your web site? Part II Thanks. I think your web site -- and those like it --- does a GREAT SERVICE to humanity!!! If I had more time, I would love to devote it to exposing Amway....but I dont have the time to devote to it.... The delusion that the MLM'ers are under is just like a cult!!!! And the process of getting out is just like being "deprogrammed". MLM survivors need to know there are 100's of thousands just like them....that what they went thru was a "cycle" that 100's of thousands have passed thru....its nothing new at all. some of us wise up quicker than others, that's the only difference. Re: my story.. I will provide it to yo sometime in future after I spend a little time polishing it, and better organizing the story.. it will be at least several weeks..... my story of 3 weeks in China is really incredible and pretty exciting, I think....(too bad the reason for going was such a waste of time). Thanks,

thanks for the informative website, last night i attended my first and likely last equinox briefing. it was quite the evangelical scene. i have a friend who is getting more involved in this company. i would like further information on william gouldd/equinox. perhaps you can direct me to information on: 1. how much corporate income is derived by training tuition vs. actual product? 2. what is gouldd true net worth? what real property holdings does he have and can this be verified via informal title search. 3. what is gouldd's personal property holdings? can this be verified. 4. what is equinox's/gouldd's current legal exposure from pending lawsuits. 5. since this is a privately held corporation, what verifiable information is available regarding income. 6. i have seen equixox's listing in inc. magazine as the fastest growing company in the u.s., what criteria does inc. magazine use to qualify the listing.

i plan to present these question at my next meeting to their "handlers". thanks for your assistance,

Thanks for the reply to my message. It's nice to know your still at it. Do you have any advice on how to approach someone who is in the business and tactfully try to explain the problems that exist? Any help or stories on how other people have tried would be helpful. I know some people, not in my line, that I would like to enlighten. One of which is going to be very difficult because she's fairly new at it and jumped in both feet. She approached me, and found out I was already in, now she thinks I'm still active and wants to talk Amway all the time. I haven't heard from my sponsor in a while (big surprise) we were very close, I thought. He is very chloreric, and I'm sure I'll hear from him again, I'd like to be ready for him. Anyways thanks again, and keep up the good work.

Dear Publisher,

It is sincerely nice to read your comments and see your opinions of the Amway/MLM and Quixtar business. I agree that there are many distributors (many whom I know) that don't follow the rules and regulations placed by Amway. It makes me sad and irritated to see such a great businesses hurt by unethical people. Despite the negativity created by these ethically challenged distributors, I have seen this business as a blessing in others' lives. I have seen individuals work Amway in an ethical manner, and it has been an uplifting and positive business experience for them and their downline. Yes, just like in any business there are those who make mistakes. It's too bad honest prople suffer for those few who mess things up. I have studied and looked into almost a dozen of the larger MLM business existing today. In my opinion, Amway is the most ethical and sound opportuinty existing today if it is done right. Your articles have somewhat inspired me to want to join Amway or Quickstar and work the business the right way. It can be done. I have seen it done. I encourage you to publish information that inspires individuals to be ethical, not just ripping on those who are unethical. Both kinds of individuals exist. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

After reading many of the emails on your site, I felt compelled to write. After 2 years with Herbalife, and at the instruction of my upline, I ran up $17,000 in credit card debt, with $0 residual income. I finally learned more about the industry, so it is not all bad.

One of the biggest reasons that the average distributor never sees a bonus check is the compensation plan. The company and upline crams products down your throat and never tells you what you need to make money, the reason most of us join MLM. They do not explain that it may take 30 personally sponsored people to achieve success and positive cash flow, or that those who are making $10,000 per month are sometimes (not always) spending $15,000, or slam-dunking others with a garage full of products in order to get there.

These companies who are still paying out 5% are now fighting to hold on to their distributors, many of whom are probably MLM Haters now, after bad experiences. But compressed compensation plans, like those that pay 15% on the first level and 45% on the second with $100 quotas make it much easier for the 90% in this business who are part-time to actually earn a bonus check.

Make sure when you're evaluating a company that you UNDERSTAND THE COMP PLAN!!! You would never take a conventional job without knowing exactly what you were going to be paid, and what it would take to get a raise. Don't approach MLM any differently. If the potential sponsor can't be clear about it, then they probably are not making any money, regardless of their claims.

Just some thoughts from someone who's been on both sides of the tracks.

I actually have heard about Jim Janz...the reason I found your website was because we had a bunch of Quixtar hopefuls in the showroom this week and I decided to look this it up on the web and came across your site.

Janz had a "revival meeting"..oops..."brainwashing session"...oops...seminar here this week about Quixtar, thus the influx of new recruits. There is no way that I would pay $ 160 to shop on the web...could you imagine trying to charge admission to our showroom?

Quixtar seems like a way for some people to generate some nice fees up front...I mean after all there is nothing ready yet...and I frankly don't believe "e-commerce" or whatever the hypsters are calling it now a days is going to be anywhere near as big as they suggest. Internet sales are way down from all the hype and predictions offered so far...and I don't think this latest attempt by Amway to change it's skin will make a difference.

Hello,

I am responding to your page where you reference Quixtar and Amway. It is a bit outdated and thought you might want to update it.

#1: Rules have not yet been formulated for Quixtar: The rules have been formulated and are somewhat similar to what is expected of distributors in the Amway business specifically the people from World Wide as they are the people that spearheaded the Quixtar project.

#2: Can existing Amway distributors participate? Yes they can. Basically the people from the World wide group are the ones involved. The distributors are already able to use the Quixtar site and need not sign up for anything extra.They do not have to quit their current Amway Distributorship either.

#3: Will there be an entry fee? No, no entry fee. You or anyone can use the the Quixtar Mall as long as you are invited in and/or are an Independent Business Owner.

#4: How about the compensation plan? The compensation plan is the same as with Amway except that there will be more bonuses because of the larger group of people that will be using it.

What you really should be asking yourselves AND those other supposed Amway haters out there is this: Knowing 17 years ago what we know today about the Amways corporation and how much money was to be made....would you have joined then? The answer straight across the board would be a solid YES....because how many people do you know that would pass up a "for life residual income" netting them in the MILLIONS to have traded hours for dollars and have gotten not much farther finacially today then they were 17 years ago.

Thank You for your time, and PLEASE, get the straight answers instead of reading INTO everything that's come down the pipe.

Thanks!

Future Diamonds

Part II

You know, I seem to get the feeling that you are an ex-Amway distributor. You seem to know an awful lot about the business and apparently you know something, but not the "right stuff". If you did know the right stuff.....you would be one of those that would have succeeded in the business.

You are sending the wrong message to everyoneout there.....let me ask you this...

If you owned you very own gas station.....would you go buy your gas at your competitors gas station? I think not! Why do you put down the Amway distributors for buying from their own business? Beleive it or not....it is actually helping them to get to higher bonus levels......I think you are too long out of the business to know that there are alot of bonuses paid out to distributors.....4 times what there were just 5 years ago.

I think you need to get yourself better aducated about the Amway/Quixtar business before you go sending out misleading information to all prosective or new distributors.

Hello.

I would like to share with you about my personal experience as an Equinox International Representative.

First of all, it's great that you are doing this. Keep on it! I just happen to stumble on to this. But I hope for the BEST in what you are doing. I just want to share with you my personal true story. This is the story how one incident made me say NO to ALL tele-marketer, lottery, gambling, sweepstakes, and multi-marketing from that day on. I hope that this story will give some kind of impact for your cause. It may not be much but this whole MLM did not work for me at all and personally, I think the government should get INVOLVED! People should put together a law to better serve and to protect the consumers and its advocates. The recent sweepstake "misleading" law is not enough. More and more involvement is needed to put an end to this madness: when gambling money is part of your job or your career is gambling with your hard earned money. That's wrong and there should be a law that will protect our jobs away from any type of gambling involved! Well onward to my story. A true story.. . It happened on the 21st of April 1997, at approximately at 12 noon the the Equinox International's Independent Regional office on 8330 West 3rd Street in Los Angeles, California. I took a friend along who seemed interested to "check out" Equinox's line of "Nature Images" beauty product, the costmetics items such as the liquid face powder, lipsticks, concealers, etc. She is an environmental-concious lady who was frustrated with the costmetics' ingredients/components of everyday beauty products that the big name brands carries (like the ones for the face,lotion, hair shampoos and sprays). That is the ingredients are not "environmentally safe" enough and is searching for the "true" natural stuffs. I was happily obliged as a new and loyal Equinox Representative, to show her Equinox's line of "Nature Images" Beauty Products specifically for the face and hair. I was eager, excited and happy to look forward to the great opportunity as well as else making some extra $$ as a part time. All I have to do was to try them out myself as well as sharing these products with friends to test.

Then we walked into the office and I met with one of the Equinox rep and he showed my friend the line of "Nature Images." She tested it and tried it on as well as reading the label, the contents, and the ingredients. She immediately recoiled and motioned me to "come and take a look at this". I was puzzled, hoping that her discovery was of good news and a success at last! But no! She got out her "handbook" to check the toxic and unsafe ingredients from one of the "Nature Images" and there she pointed that yes indeed, the Equinox's Nature Images LipLiner and the Concealer were not environmentally safe, and were tagged as toxic, and "synthetic" according to the "Aubrey's Natural Ingredient Dictionary." I am by now confused and embarrassed. The Equinox rep. was too. He told me that he's been a rep. for 3 weeks and just as new as I was (I, a rep. for about a month). He then quickly summoned his supervisor, a lady who was obviously a "MD" Marketing Director. I was in no mood to spoil her with the negative news but I needed to clear things up so I asked her about the ingredients. My friend is very head strong and she was obviously excited about the "toxics" inthese products. Well, that did it. The MD was in no mood to help but appeared to be defensive and scoffed at us and replied, "Are you a chemist, a doctor?" Where did you get such claims?" We were both surprised by her reaction to the simple statement. I then told her it was just an observation and and we only wanted some information on the ingredients because I wanted to know, as an Equinox rep. how to handle these situation, how to be a professonal like her, because she was someone I was supposed to "learn from" But instead I got her on a bad start and she did not want to help but rather tell us that we are "spying" on them and charging us that we are acting as "police informants". By that time, I was able to tell her, we need to leave in the middle of her questioning our motives. We only asked about the ingredients and she blows it out of proportion, making me, my friend, and the other reps bad. I wanted to walk out. BUT no! She will not let me unless she "tells" me who I was. My name, my regional office, my recruiter. She demanded that I tell her keeping me and my friend in hostage. This engagement was held in a small conference room where it is only the four of us, me ,my friend, Chris: Equinox rep, and the MD, I don't know her name. (since this was my first time seeing her and my last) The MD was now red in her face and I did barge for the door and my friend grabbed me by the arm to get out asap!

Then I felt a pull from my handbag, it was a strong tug, like a "GIMME THAT BAG" kind of tug of war pull. I yanked it close to me and bolted down the stairs. She then came charging after me. "I need to report you! What's your name!? You're not going anywhere!" I did not look back but did see people moving out of the way. By the time we reached the front entrance, the MD pulled my hair and bend over and grabbed my shoes. She went ahead and jumped on me pushing and pulling on my bag and trying to punch me all at once. I tried to wrestle away and my friend shrieked "Get off of her, now!!" She tried to help but got kicked. I wanted to get out of her strong grip she had on my purse so I pushed her somehow rather hard, that caused her to release my bag. Her cellular phone and datebook fell and so did my address book out of my purse. I lost the grip of one of my shoes, from the scuffle. She leaped for it and grabbed both my shoe and address book and ran back inside the building. (We were at the sidewalk,just in front of the front entrance, when this happen.) I managed to snatch the address book before she tried to lock the door. But I was not successful in retrieving one of my shoe. I just kept on walking and walking with my friend holding me close. Never looking back. Only once just to see if the MD was on my tail... I went back to my car, took her home and went straight home. I did not take any action until a month later when I wrote a letter to Mr. Bill Gouldd. Even with the letter, I knew, I was just a small dust, but I wrote anyway, telling him the whole story. No success. Claiming that I did not report it to the police right away, they charged my story not reliable : no evidence, and no witness,etc. I did not report the incident right away. Only until August 20th, did I report it to the W. LA Police Dept. I was told that it was a little too late and from then on I decided to let this be. Let it go and move on. After all, I was not injured nor effected by this incident. I just went home and took a long hot bath to erase the memories and let it be in "God's hands." I waited so long even before reporting it to the police, I wanted to tell Mr. Gouldd about it. I did include that I was going to press charge but I was not ready to go on "media." This was just a bad apple, bad timing, but it did happen. A true story.

If you would like addtional comments and proofs, like the Police report, half a dozen certified letters from Equinox International, and mine, etc. contact me. Thank you for reading and good luck in your cause for taking action. Keep going! Fight on. (Unlike you, I am not strong enough to go for the K.O.)

From a victim on 3rd street,

---

Re: Amway,Equinox,Trek Alliance, The top dogs part 1

The problems with Amway is that the company doesn't pay out enough. It's like 25% for every dollar.(core products only) the name brand products is worse than that. Your better off going to goodguys and buying it there. The cost of shipping plus tax would make the products more expensive . The core products in general are not that high quality. Try Amways toilet paper. The qualification levels are ridicioulous to reach direct. This way the top makes all the money for the year. When people talk about how much Amway did the following year, they always tell you the retail value which is 15% higher than actually products sold. so if they say that retail sales were 10 billion last year the company actually sold 85 billion and out of that 85 billion 25% of it was paid out to the disturbutors. There are around 10 AMO (Amway motivitonal Orginaztion) each one saying there the best in some way. If Amway was so good they would have one system not 10. Those rallies are the biggest waste of money ever. They do not teach a thing about running your own business. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Equinox International. Most people think equinox int. is a cult ,it isn't. The company is not bankrupt not even close. In the MLM community people hate and fear Equinox Int. because it is too successful ,so people make up rumors about it. The general MLM community like "MLM Insider" here's an article "mlminsider.com/corey-bio.html" talks about it being bankrupt. You will never see Equinox int. in a MLM magizine because all the articles are paid for by other top dogs in the industry. Equinox int is soley "word of mouth" advertising so it is very easy for people to trash it over the media. In 1995 there was a 20/20 interview with bill gouldd and equinox international. The tape was edited to show that equinox int. was bad. Mr gouldd had his own cammera in the house filmming the interview uncut version of it with the truth. There is nothing wrong with equinox int.

There was something wrong with equinox int. Most of you people out there complain about amway and how dishonest the people are. Do you want bad people in your company? That's what mr gouldd doesn't want to happen. The only people that talk crap about equinox are those that kicked out of the company by mr gouldd for doing illegal activities (credit card scams, sexual favors and etc) and than they go out and talk crap about mr gouldd. When mr gouldd first starred his company he had to get people to believe in him to make them money on blind faith. He got people from the bottom of the barrel, dirt bags and train and worked with them for 2-3 year from working $7 an hour as a cook to making over $500,000 dollars a year in marketing. These people worked hard for 4 years and made over 1 million dollars in the shorest amount of time in the industry that they started to believe they were the deal , there heads got too big and they start thinking they know more than mr gouldd. at this time bill gouldd had retired from running equinox which was runned by steve gouldd (his brother) and the marketing training company was runned by the 5 people he trained early on. These people started to duplicate illegal habits and things these 5 people were doing, so Bill gouldd talked to the trainers that he trained about not doing these stuff. He supendded alot of people for doing illegal activities and kicked out( some were on the 20/20 interview) then one day the top 20 money earners came into gouldd off and told him that they knew more about the company then he did. Gould wanted to give these people the company (equinox) to see how fast they can bankrupt it, but the lawyers said he can't do that. So gouldd challenege them to make money outside of equinox int.This is around august sept of 97, those 19 people decided to do drop out of equinox and form "Trek Allaince".

$5000 mgr order. You don't have to put in 5000 dollars. the reason they encourge it is because its hard to sell from a empty basket. If you were to open a McDonalds, would you have to buy buns and soda pop and inventory to run your business. of course. Eqx Int. doesn't discrimatene against lazy people. If you want to sit and watch tv that fine. but how would your business be doing. The products are the finest quality and not junk, Most people beg for someone to try the product, when simply all you have to do is "test market" the products. Another reason why people don't succed is they don't want to change. If you go to a mcdonalds and it had urine smell all over the place and rats running around would you stay and eat? of course not. "for things to change you must change". People have to not look like a crook or a bum, but like a proffesional, looks. Its that simple. clean yourself up.use deodrant, and shampoo. All eqx product have a purpose and reason. for eithier heath or environment. Most people say the water filters are too expensive? do they compare the cost per gallon?

I can go on and on ,but there is nothing wrong with equinox int. When you ask if it is Equinox or not. Its not , It's "Equinox International" big difference. Must be better listerners, that'll cost you money.

I stumbled onto your sight a few weeks ago and sent a reply to some of the emails I read. I was very surprised to hear from you! I haven't had a chance to see if my email was posted to your site yet. I know you probably get hundreds if not thousands of emails daily/weekly, so you may not remember me. I made the comment that if you fail in the business you have no one to blame but yourself!!! When I went to your Home Page after I got your email, I felt as if you were talking directly to me.

I may have come off as being hostile towards your site but that really isn't the case. It's a real shame to know that people are out there being taken to the cleaners by their uplines. I still believe that Amway/Quixtar is a GOOD business to be in if you belong to a GOOD organization. Being in for nearly 2 years I can say that my wife and I have N-E-V-E-R been lead astray, run amuck, bamboozled, hornswoggled or hoodwinked into doing anything that we didn't want or couldn't afford to do. I heard stories where Uplines would tell their downlines to buy extra tickets to functions so that if they had any last minute people needing tickets they would be set. Or keep extra tickets on hand for anyone they might sponsor. The best one yet is to have extras on hand because the event might be sold out! That's something that I have yet to see. Sure there might be alot of people in attendence but there were always ticket sales at the doors. The email that got me the most was from the guy in Hawaii, who said he was forced to attend all of the functions (on the West Coast). He had to buy plane tickets, rent cars, get a hotel room. Give me a break. What would have happened if he didn't go? They would have yelled at him, chastised him as if he was a litlle child. Come on people we're all adults here aren't we, SO WHAT!!!!! Get over it.

I still say alot of the people responding to this sight are either total push-overs, whimps and loosers!

However, I think alot of the blame should be directed towards the bad Upline s out there doing people wrong. Our upline is a litlle pushy at times but it all boils down to one thing: Ultimitely, this is your business and you can run it anyway you like. Go to everything or don't, buy all the books & tapes and be on standing order or don't. It is up to you.

Sincerely,

I have been reading all of the anti-Amway internet information and have kept silent because of the tremendous negative fallout I would be receiving from my Husband, who is totally brainwashed and has been, since 1990. It is such a relief to see some of your information on the internet. It is however, too late for me, as I am "stuck" in a situation that does not give me an "out." My husband (retired) is only interested in the support materials and does not recruit new members. altoug he talks as if we will be rich any month now..... I am totally alone in this and feel sad, alone and without much hope for a change. I just wanted you to see this and maybe pass it on in case that someone out there could learn from this.... If I could only have all the money he put into this crap, we would have some more funds to put into a retirement fund or life insurance. As it is, there is NOTHING left that we could put into something in the event of my husbanmd's death. ( he is 10 years older than I.) Oh well,

Sign me : Disappointed wife.

Good Day,

This is an email to let you in on a tid bit of information. Quixtar is Amway and we are not ashamed of our name. If you knew half of what Quixtar was you would not be advertising the false statements about the company. Quixtar is not just a name used to hide Amway. Amway is a 40 year old company and will continue to grow even without the support of people like yourself. Quixtar will be the most powerful company leading the market as of September 1, 1999 at exactly 1:30 pm. If you wish to gain correct information about quixtar please contact a distibutor in your area. This email was not sent to harrass anyones opinion, but to speak ones opinion. Now ask yourself where will you be in five years, when i am sitting on the beach of the carribean 23 years old and retired.

sincerely

Hi! I think it's really great that you have this site! Did you ever think about contacting Dateline NBC or 20/20? I think Amway should be exposed. I have neighbors who've been in "the business" for about two years and as soon as the woman (I'll call her Beth) told me about it I started thinking that this doesn't sound on the up and up. She did mention the name, however. I guess she was too new, she didn't know to not say "Amway". I had already heard of Amway's bad reputation, but didn't really know why they had one. She didn't ask to show me the plan or anything at that time, but told me how they got in this "home business" and that my husband and I should think about it. She must have said all the wrong stuff to me at that moment and on many occasions after that which made me think that something isn't right. Her husband would call about once a week and try to make a date to come over and talk to us. I always had an excuse as to why we couldn't meet. My husband finally came out and said there was absolutely no way we'd join. I never saw the plan but from what I've heard them say, I'm not the least bit interested. They've been so snowed by this whole millionaire thing, it makes me sick. They're constantly leaving their children with babysitters to run off to their Amway functions. I've been doing a ton of research on the internet. I wanted to share this one article with "Beth" but she put her hand up and said, "I don't read anything negative". How cult-like is that! They know there's negativity out there, but they've been urged not to see it. I just wish I could help them somehow. Got any advice?

All I have to say is WOW! you really hit the nail on the head. Bravo! I got sucked into Equinox in 93 and was under Pat Welsh. Everyone lied so much that I just got turned off ond went on with my life, scarred but alive. I'm still broke(by Equinox standards) but at least I know I won't rot-in-hell ! Thank you for posting the TRUTH!

Well I'm glad to see a site on MLM's out there that will give some positive information alongside the mostly negative items. No, I'm not bashing your site. I've actually found it quite informative.

Of course, I can see where the negative feedback comes from. That's the challenge in businesses that are centered around people. In any job, corporation,or business one would tend to run across those who are just ignorant enough of the rules to misinterpret them or even break them. Then there are those that don't give a rip about the rules and are only interested in what they can get out of a situation for themselves.

Although I am no Expert on Quixtar, in fact I'm just a fledgling distributor for Amway, Maybe some of my feedback could shed a little hope to open minded but confused people.

The way it has been explained to me is that even though no one can actually get started in the Quixtar business yet, you are still able to sign up as an Amway distributor and start receiving compensation and begin building your network. That's why the Starter Box is full of Amway products. If you've received one of those and signed an "application", you are now officially an Amway distributor. I Hope that doesn't alarm anyone. Then in September, you can roll over into Quixtar with a network already in place. The last information I received was that your group has the choice of being a Quixtar IBO or staying in a TAB (Traditional Amway Business) and the compensation would not be interrupted.

The other thing was Representation. I'm not too sure how this works, but the way I understand the rules is that you cant represent the Sales and Marketing Plan in your Web Sites. Or income potential. However, The basic Plan remains the same in one-on-one and group meetings. Burt Gulick was reciting an abbreviated version of the Plan.

Unfortunately I understand there are people misrepresenting this on both these points. To tell people they are starting in Quixtar without ever telling them about Amway or not telling them that they should get started in Amway until Quixtar comes on line is the kind of thing that gave Amway it's negative image in the first place. to those people that this has happened to I would like to apologize. If this does happen to you, try not to just blow it off and become cynical about the whole thing. Try to find someone of rank in the line of sponsorship and do some serious Q&A. And if this did happen to you and you have a sour taste in your mouth, I urge you not to get into this opportunity if you don't think it's all you think it is, but do SOMETHING. Don't do this but do something. You were obviously looking for something to improve your lifestyle in some manner, or you wouldn't have taken a look at this in the first place.

Again I must stress that I'm no expert. And I hope this didn't come across the wrong way. I just have a sincere hope that people will find out both sides of the story before jumping into any rash decisions

Hello,

I thought you might find it interesting that Rich Von and Kale Flagg (and Marc Accetta, in some of their videos) have popped up again with an MLM called Trek Alliance, based in Truckee, CA. I learned this yesterday from my ex-girlfriend (thank heavens I can say 'ex'!) who is driving from the Twin Cities to Kansas City this weekend for a 'seminar'.

You might want to look into this Trek Alliance company. She says they are 'here to stay' (wink). I have been doing extensive research on this 'industry' and them and have been finding little to substantiate the claims they make. Apparently (this is what she told me) Trek was founded by Kale's father, Harry Flagg, who made his fortune with Telecheck. She claimed he was the 'inventor' of it at one point, and the 'founder' of it another time. Well, I can assure you that a search of the databases at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office came up with ZERO results for Harry Flagg--and furthermore, a phone call to Telecheck's corporate headquarters in Houston revealed that no one had ever heard of Harry Flagg before. I have the names of the two true founders.

I hope more people can be convinced to avoid MLM at all costs. Kudos to you for putting up one of the few websites that is getting at the truth.

If you have any specific information about the history of Rich Von, Kale Flagg, or Marc Accetta, feel free to email me at the address below, rather than the one from which this email originated.

Regards,

Thanks for the information. This site, although it is trying to be negative, is actually very informative. I enjoyed reading it. It's also quite obvious that whomever put this together is not getting information straight from the source. Like most people who do research on things they have clearly relied on second or third hand information and even though what they are hearing is good they have tried ever so diligently to distort the facts. Here is an interesting stat for you. 83% of people who get involved never sponsor anyone, for 2 reasons: 1) They don't share the business plan, and 2) They realize they have to work for what they want. If you should try to quote this, then please use the whole paragraph. I know you will since you are concerned with people getting the right information

Just curious...

How is it that all the rest of the major anti Amway websiteoperators have been subpoenaed, but not you? Luck?

*grin*

Dear Sirs;

I am looking for information on this company. I have requested a full refund from them with no response!!! The company guaranteed a full refund within 7 days if not fully satisfied.

Help,

Hello I was recently approached by someone who tried to introduce me to quixstar .The cost to join would be 99 dollars I was given the whole scenario.I was told that from the 99 dollars I would get a 45 dollars voucher good towards purchase in the amway company .I told them I would get back to them and that I would first do some research before I would get involved .They gave me a couple of brochures and some type of disk that would explain a little bit about the whole idea. So I decide to do a few research of my own choice and see your site and i find out they are not even supposed to be talking about it quixstar that is. Thank you.

I must say that this is a wondrful site. All hail the power of free information! I was in Amway for about four weeks before I could smell the proverbial rat. The Orwellian-style brainwashing was downright frightening. I got out as quick as I could and lost the paltry sum of $300. Unfortunatley, many people haven't been so lucky and are contining to get reamed by this tyrannically life-crushing system. Therefore, I say, keep it up good friend! Hopefully you can open the eyes of the oppressed masses.

Sincerely,

FAL (Former Amway Lemming)

A few years ago, I spent a great deal of time online devoting myself to informing folks of the truer nature and facts of the MLM and general "opportunity industry". It was during then that I cyber "met" Sidney S., as he and I were a couple of the more outspoken, visible and prolific on the topic.

After a couple of years of this (which followed a time of rather extensive research I'd begun that led to this activity), interactions with hundreds of people and then increasingly intimidating and/or outright threatening contacts from more and more within the MLM and "opportunity industry", I eventually burned out and backed off.

I'm glad to see that others yet carry the ball. It's often a thankless hassle, with no other personal rewards than that of simply resisting the rampant exploiters and maybe helping a few individuals cut their losses or avoid the trap.

Kudos to you and all on the web ring.

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This page updated Jul-06-99