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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: Omegatrend I don't know how old the comment that David Gerard made is. He is obviously basing his whole opinion on 1992-93 times. At that time some of what he said was indeed the case. However, it would pay to look into the company as it stands today. David's statement: 'I was in it '92-'93; I dunno what it's like now, but I can't see it being a whole lot different.' was quite surprising to me. I have been around the company for some time and have seen the changes. I think it is fair to note that during the changes that have been made about 95% worked. The 5% that didn't almost crippled the company. But please take the time to look into Omegatrend further simply to keep yourselves up to date. If you have any questions or would like me to comment on where and what let me know. Just keep in mind that things do change and often for the better. I'd be interested in finding out what type of response you had to David Gerard's comment. If possible please let me know. Thank you for your time.
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Re: Amway

I used to be an Amway distributor but when I got divorced and couldn't afford all the tapes I was REQUIRED to buy to be in good standings with all the directs my support dropped like a lead brick. Prices kept getting higher and higher and if I didn't buy $100 worth of products per month they (my directs) got upset, like I was slacking off and needed to buy more motivational tapes.

Read your book, Thanks, I thought I was alone with my feelings and experiences. Not much of a writer, but can and will share my involvment in an AMO in New York in the past 5 years,Guess I wasn't Diamond material, lost my wife to the business and about to increase the (low as stated so often)divorce rate in the Amway business.

Is this web page still up, if not what happened? Would like to help.

"The Facts DO Count," a former distributor speaks out. http://www.thefactsdocount.com

No more no less.. thank you for your determination against what would seem over powering odds.. I have enjoyed your pages for some time now.. Too bad I can't help my son. who is still hooked.. dang!

you might be interested in this. its my response to the quixtar freaks responding to my forwarding them links to your site and others, including zdnet's rating as top ten worst sites. interesting how the first thing they attack is intelligence.... in other words, "we thought you would be smart enough to see the benefit of quixtar... if you don't agree with us then you must be stupid".

her original comments to me are noted by >>, mine are by >

nice to have you to talk to about this. I can really see how this stuff can cause friends to run like rats from a sinking ship when a "friend" confronts them with "the business". these particular people are in a prosperity class at our church with us and now after this go around... its a little uncomfortable. wish they could see that.

I don't know which organization I was in at amway. it was at least 17 years ago in san francisco ... and a period that I would just as soon forget. an embarrassing time in my life.

keep up the work...

>At 06:00 PM 11/23/1999 -0800, you wrote: >> I Find this information you e-mailed me to be humerous! > >I find it a little disconcerting that you write off my hours of investigating as being humorous. I think its important to see what others are reporting rather than simply excepting the "company sales pitch". The information I found was interesting and credible, especially since zdnet is established as an authority on pcs, internet, and ecommerce. and, I also happen to agree with their evaluation of the site. > >>The sites >>were misinformed, vauge and.obviously self profit oreinted.. > >I saw no profit gained from any of these organizations in reporting either as a news organization (zdnet) or others reporting their experience in mlm. I wasn't urged to buy anything or invest in anything. there was no profit motivation here at all. > >> I would view you as intellegent enough to see the other side of the >>story. You see Lexus was created by Toyota, but no one runs around saying >>" How do you like my new Toyota" while driving their Lexus. > >regarding this example... toyota is not into mlm. I have no problem with toyota, I do with amway. > >> Money did come from the De Voss and Van Andle families, it's true. SO >>WHAT? They own Peter Island, The Orlando Magic, and many other investments >>around the world. > >those particular investments are not mlm related. so I could care less. I'm not being asked to invest in a basketball team here. > >> IBM and Microsoft do have a financial interest in Quixtar. The fact that >>200,000,000 hits the first day was too much even for IBM's big guns.... No >>one thought that this would be so hot. And it is currently getting >>30,000,000 hits per day. > >based on mcdonalds letter, it got 800,000 unique visitors for the entire second week. "hits" is a term thrown around by people who want to impress or don't know better, but its meaningless. defined by webtrends, the authority on log statistics, hits are files pulled from the server. they are not page views, they are not unique visitors, they are merely the number of files pulled from the server which includes images like .jpg and .gif. if a page has lots of graphics, which quixtar has, one page view can equal 20 or 30 "hits". it is a meaningless term in determining the amount of traffic on a site. the number of user sessions is a far more important number and since there are a couple million amway distributors I would expect there to be several million user sessions. > >>Yes it is a private site.. a locked mall, so to >>speak, and you do have to enter as a guest, member or IBO. You need to >>show a card at Cosco, to shop and gosh Cosco doesn't even share the profits! > >if I was shopping for a particular item and it was GREATER than 19.95 cheaper than anywhere else, it would only make sense to buy through quixtar, but I have no need for anything right now. if I do and I can EASILY search it up on quixtar, and it is greater than $20 cheaper than maybe I will buy it, depends also on shipping. I don't have a costco card and would only get one if I had a particular purpose in mind. > >>all about.. I hope your sharp enough to get informed... I thought you were >>otherwise I wouldn't have even bothered to share the busines with you. > >*, I find this somewhat offensive. in other words, if I don't agree with you on quixtar than I am obviously "not sharp enough". well.. whatever... I am confident and secure enough in my intelligence and decisionmaking that whatever your implication, I am unaffected. > >Three reasons I am not interested in this: > >1. It is mlm, it is amway. been there done that! not only been in amway but several others. after all the hoopla the net of it is a loss of thousands of dollars in sales tools and motivational tapes. I finally took them all to the dumps several weeks ago just to clear out my closet and symbolically put an end to a bad memory. amy has been there too with amway and tpn and others. > >2. I invest in businesses that I align with, that I would use for myself. similar to what peter lynch recommends. I am an internet professional. in reviewing the site and the logic and flow and content... it simply is something I am not interested in backing or investing time and money in. I can't sell something I don't believe in and I don't believe in quixtar. > >3. I internet shop where its easy and I get the best values. I had no interest in the products that I saw on the quixtar site. granted I didn't see them all, but that again, is a problem in the site.... good exposure of the mix of products.... quickly. In choosing where to e-shop I really have no reason nor motivation to shop at quixtar. however, if I find myself looking for a particular product I will compare the pricing at quixtar and if its less by more than 20 bucks I'll buy it there. > >* and I really are not interested in talking about this further. we like you and eric and appreciate your enthusiasm in your business venture and wish you success, but really don't want to get involved with Quixtar. lets just be friends and not put this thing between us. ok?

Thanks so much for getting back to me. I wanted to respond but I'm getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday so I will save your message and send you more of my thoughts after the holidays. Just wanted you to know I really appreciate your time in getting back since I know how hectic things can get around this time of year!!

I will also get in touch with Kevin Grimes (network marketing attorney) about my concerns with the "coding bonus". I have listened to a tape series he has and he talks about this situation some on there. I learned a great deal about the industry do's and don'ts on his tapes.

I'm really not sure about your opinion of the industry. It appears that you yourself have gotten burned really badly and I know that many others have too because of choices they made. I have had a bad experience in the past with MLM as well but that did not make me give up on the entire industry.

It's very sad that there are people and companies out there that are hurting people. But it is simply not the case with all network marketing companies. I realize that network marketing is not for you but I plan to do everything I can to defend this industry.

I know that there are some companies (or should I say people) out there that have really done the "don'ts" but to me that doesn't mean that the entire industry is bad. I will do my best to promote the industry to the public with the utmost of respect and integrity because there are network marketing companies with excellent character.

You and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

I think I'm going to buy your book. This past weekend I just got rid of thousands and thousands of dollars worth of 'tools'. We're in some serious debt after the Amway experience, where like you we embraced the system. Clearly we are disappointed in the choices we've made. The one good thing about the system was the whole 'have a positive attitude' message and the people skills they teach. I found that to be helpful in my life overall. However the massive tool and seminar attendance push is deceptive. And I do like some of the Amway products! Former distributor

Hi, I was so happy when I came across your web site. I would like to tell you my story and if you have any suggestions on how I can get some of my money back I would be grateful.

I am a twenty-five year old single mother (2and1/2 beautiful girl). I was employed with a great company until I was informed of cutbacks. September 3rd of 1999 was to be my last day. The day I found out my girlfriend suggested I check out this great business opportunity. It sounded wonderful, I could finally be a stay at home mom. And better yet it was August 29th and they were having an end of the month promotion. Buy 5000.00 worth of product get a 1000.00 free. With this much product there would be no way I would fail to get a business up and running, or so they told me. Also they were giving me a 45 day guarantee if I didn't like it after 45 days I could return everything and get my money back.

So I had a preview my family and friends thought I was nuts but I was going to make it work. I went to some of their previews and tried to get excited but when I heard how they targeted people I started to get sick to my stomach. I had been scammed. But everything was OK because I had my 45 day guarantee, right? Wrong!!! They told me I had to return the 1000.00 promotion which was OK I would give it to them in product, but they told me it was used so they couldn't give me full price and I was going to lose all kinds of money. So I tried to return it to the main company but they said they would only take it back if I hadn't open anything. Well, the day I received the product my up line came of to get me organized and opened all the boxes and wrote my initials on the tags. Therefore I am stuck with 6000.00 worth of product less the stuff that family purchased because they felt bad for me!!

Oh and did I mention that 3 days after I tried to cash in for my 30 day guarantee that the company came out with a new line of product that out dated mine.

had some tapes around that I thought that we could get a few bucks for. Put them on eBay the other day asking 9.95 for 50 tapes (used). Received notice that my auction had been cancelled as they were in violation of Quixtars copyrights and trademarks. Amusing as they are old tapes referring to Amway. I will keep you up to date.

[Yes, Quixtar is "vigorously" defending its copyright. They are especially targeting things like online auctions, and many people have had their auctions cancelled when Q complained to the management. It's ridiculous, like saying I can't use the name "Honda" when I'm putting a classified in the paper to sell a used automobile. But they have enough of a reputation for being litigious that the auction houses are just agreeing with them and cancelling auctions.]

I have been approached by some friends who want to "sponsor" me into Quixtar. I attended a meeting which made me feel quite uneasy. I have read the information on your site with great interest (and relief, since it confirms my suspicions). I would be most grateful for any more information or links I could research.

Actually, my mind has already been made up to stay away from this organization. But the more information, the better.

Thanks for your help.

To whom it may concern: I was browsing the web last night, and by accident I found your website. I was looking for links that provide independent information about Quixtar. Unfortunatelly, I found your site wich has nothing more than a lot of WRONG INFORMATION. I have to say that I read your story and I feel sorry for you (no kidding) and I understand your anger, but let me tell you something: as I've learned from my short experience in the bussines, is not the system but the people that makes the difference. Some guys were trying to introduce me the bussines, and no one succedeed but only one (who's now my upline) becausehe had a different perspective about Network Marketing. He "uses" the network" in a way both beneficial for the company and us. We started doing bussiness with ALL THE PEOPLE in our line, in a way beneficial for them and us. Everybody made an extra income so we could do our sponsoring easier. I helped some downlines getting better jobs (with people in the Network) so they made more money and could start building their Quixtar bussiness properly. I think your Line of Sponsorship instead of work for you; made you work for them. That's unethic and incorrect, but I have to tell you that no one can force you to do something against your will; if you made mistakes in the busssiness you would better thought of what you were doing instead of just follow!!!. It is unfair that you have a site that's basically created from your anger and frustration, because you are sending the wrong message to a lot of people who could definitelly change their lives, but may have the wrong influence! Sone of the information in your site was not updated and didn't have any corrections regarding incorrect fact that you were pointing. I'm a Amway IBO since May 1999, and the reason why I singned up with Amway ws because that was my portal to be possitioned in a privileged place before Quixtar launch in September 1st. This doesn't mean anyone became a Quixtar IBO before that date as you said. Also the reward in P/V, B/V was exactly the same. Quixtar has a lot more than 5 Partner Stores and they are going to keep adding up more but this is not an easy proccess beacuse they have to go with the rules that the Amwway Corporation had for more than 40 years. Is it not necesary to buy any books, tapes, go to seminars, conventions, that's nothing more than an option that you may consider, although is very helpfull in the developement of the bussiness is not an obligation. The navigation through the site is very simple, and the only reason you need an IBO # to buy is because IS NOT AN OPEN VIRTUAL MALL but one that gives a residual income to their IBOs; with that # you make sure you get your money.Customer Service is excellent; they always came up with the wright answer, once I was in the phone for about 25 minutes with questions and I got all the answer I was looking for. Like any Franchising, in Quixtar you buy a bussiness model and of course your have to follow certain rules; you can use the logo or word "Quixtar" you just need the proper authorization (I have my bussiness cards with the logo on them). And to finish my e-mail, I don't know who that guy Larry is but I can tell you that I have absolutely no problem regarding the fact that the Marketing Plan is the same, and the leaders are the same,and the the computers, warehouse and all the other stuff are the same because, though that doesn't guarantee me success -that depends on me, that means that very successfull people is team up with me and my group to help me develop my bussiness. PD: all the money for tapes, books and seminars came from bussinesses I did thanks people in the network, wich means I didn't pay them with money from my pocket. It's a shame that your LOS didn't teach you that!!!

Got your reply. I am curious at to whether you have decided to post my comments on your site.

You have some valid points, but some invalid ones as well. I was part of an AMWAY Group, and am now focusing on QUIXTAR.

I disagree completely that the skills could have been learned at much less expense elsewhere. I know of no educational or motivational tape series that would allow me to participate at a $12/week level and cancel/resume whenever I chose, or attend seminars whenever I chose. I have investigated these, and to get the same level of teaching elsewhere, I would have had to spend about $1500/weekend and $15/tape as opposed to $400/weekend and $6/tape.

As for my comment that there is no money in the tools, I still hold that as true. While several people make money off the tools (you really didn't believe they cost $6 to manufacture and distribute, did you ? - you call me naive), I have made as much as $1500/month helping others make money, and not from tools. That was my point.

Unfortunately, while I agree that there are unscrupulous AMWAY/QUIXTAR participants at all levels (and made this admission in my last email), you seem to feel there are no scrupulous ones out there. It is a shame that do the actions perpetrated by others against you, you would have had me never "sign-up". I can only imagine the stress in my life had I not "bought into" the notion that I could achieve some of the things I dreamed about doing, allowing myself to get suckered into AMWAY. The truth is, I thoroughly believed AMWAY was a scam and wanted nothing to do with it when I was contacted, but I met some people who seemed to be working toward something, and genuinely cared about helping me. Admittedly, a couple of those people turned out to be sleazy, but most were just struggling along like the rest of us. It took me a little while, but I figured out it was up to me to change my circumstances, no one else.

You'll probably brand me as a zealot or AMbot, but that's your call. It is unfortunate that you cannot allow for the fact that maybe there are some of us out here who have retained our morals and values and made progress. It is a shame. Given the ambitious nature in which you attack this as a scam, you could have probably made at least $1,000 to 1,500 / month - would you think ?

I don't imagine you'll be posting my comments, but if you do, please do not publish excerpts, only my entire comments.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Hello Sirs, Mams or both....My wife and I are IBO's, and like most others like ourselves obviously we're excited about the potential of Quixtar.com. My experience in this business has taught me that there's going to be some bumps along the way when building a successful MLM business no matter who you do it with.

Based on what I read concerning your experience with the site, you've probably forgotten more about MLM than I know, and whether or not you're an IBO I don't know. But I do know this; Quixtar is big already, the only question is how big it's going to become. Their adding servers on a daily basis to handle the traffic, which is one of the reasons people like yourself had so many problems logging on. HAVE YOU CHECK IN THE LAST 24 HOURS....?

My wife and I have already made a nice profit from our Quixtar business and happen to have one the fastest growing businesses in the Northeast. Currently you enter as client and shop before or after registering. If you were an IBO you'd understand, maybe you do understand, but negativity never got anyone anywhere except bitter.

This e-mail wasn't meant to criticize anyone or berate what you were trying to convey, it was sent to express from an IBO's point of view what he thinks Quixtar is and will be about in the future. Thanks for listening!!!!

Thank you for sharing your story. I was really touched by it, and to a certain degree can relate. (I've attempted a "stabs" at MLM over the years but have always come a way dissappointed at best.)

At one point I had found, on the net, A Website that "rated" different MLM's (old and new) and even had the average earnings of those involved and the average "drop out" rate. If accurate it was a very eye opening site.

I've tried to find it again but have been unable to, (searching for it is how I came accross your site.) Do you know of anything like this?

Any info would be muchly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your time and help.

Sincerely

I am living in South Africa and would like to know what sort of multi level marketing projects are underway here, or ones that will be coming in shortly, as I am looking for ways to make money, and I have quite a broad selection of friends and family that could probably benefit.

I was hoping that maybe you can advise me on the different products and how to register, your help in this regard would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Thanks for making available the information about these MLM scam organisations where only a majority are making huge sums at the cost of many brainwashed and vulunable people. Omegatrend sounds as though it is very much so based on the principles of Amway with them being only interested in people for monetary ends. Do you know much about Omegatrend? Presently I am working to protect a friend from being 'sucked' in. I have searched the internet but to no avail.

Yours in anti scams

Hi! I'm responding to "I was wondering"? I am a Melaleuca Marketing Executive in BC Canada. Believe me when I tell you I have done my homework on MLM's and Pyramid Schemes. Melaleuca Is neither. There is some negativity on the internet about Melaleuca and their products but like I said, I have done a ton of research on Melaleuca, Amway, USANA, Quixtar, etc,etc. This is what I have found.

Melaleuca has THE ONLY SCIENTIFICALLY PATENT products in the world. [This is absolute nonsense.]

You can by vitamins cheaper in the store but, after you consume these products you only absorb 10% of them bought in the store and Shaklee has a 25% absorption rate. Melaleuca has a 97% absorption rate. There is a research study being done at the University of Washington on this very matter. [Yes, and Amway claims to have a 100% absorbtion rate because of their special coating on the vitamins, yada yada yada. . .]

You need to talk to the person who enrolled you. If that person isn't available talk to someone in that person's upline. I have alot of information and facts on Melaleuca and I could type pages and pages on the subject.

I will tell you this though. From the research I've done MELAEUCA is the best company out there. It isn't an MLM. It's a catalog company with direct marketing to the customer. Read your Melaleuca Portfolio and if you have questions Phone them.

[It's MLM. If you get paid bonuses, commissions, or other monies based on sales made by people you've recruited, whatever the terminology, it's MLM.]

Your comment states "I have been thinking about starting a business with a mlm company". I know that there are a lot out there but I believe I have found a company that you might be interested in Melaleuca Inc. It is not an MlM. It is a direct marketing concept. [Wrong! See above.] They don't force you to buy products that you can't sell. They have the only scientific patents on their vitamins. Even USANA doesn't have that. There is no huge cost to join. A one time fee of $29 american $39 Canadian. You can e-mail me and I'll tell you about them. They don't advertise!!! Word of mouth only. you can also find them at www.melaleuca.com.

Thanks for your reply. According to your definition, Creative Memories and Close to my Heart are MLM, because you do recruit new sellers, and get comission from your "downline" and your "upline" gets comission from you. Two more quick questions, if you have time to answer:

1. Don't all party type sales work that way ? I assumed that Tupperware, Mary Kay, Avon, Longaberger baskets, Usborne books, etc all worked that way.

2. Although CM and CTMH do have uplines and downlines, as far as I know there is nothing comparable to the "tools" I saw referred to on your message board. Uplines get their money from a percentage of what their recruits and their recruit's recruits sell. Would you consider this form of MLM also to be a bad deal for the prospective seller ?

Thanks for your time.

Well I just had to see what was out here. I had heard about sites like yours for about eight months now. I dont have anything bad to say to your site. I just dont understand. I have been in Amway for eight months now andf have attended many functions and listened to many tapes. How do you knock success principles that are quoted from the very people you would call successful. People such as Abe Lincoln, J. Paul Getty, Colin Powel and hundreds more. I dont think your beef is with Amway. your beef is with you own lack of dreams and ambition. I say good luck to you in what ever your dreams are, however, dont take other peoples dreams away from them to rationalize your own short comings. You may be very successful in whatever it is you do, but you must ask yourself. "I am successful compared to what". If i sent you a letter putting you down, all I would do is put myself in the same self contained world that you are in. One more question. News Week, I believe, stated that Amway has created more millionaires than any other American company except Microsoft. How is you company doing? Amway is obviously not for you. Let it go. One Diamond in Amway could write a check for your salary three times over. Dont knock success unless you've tried it yourself. Good Luck and Do something great with your life.

A diamond spills the beans – all things are not what they appear to be in Yager land!

I have been a distributor in Amway for just about 10 years and I am in Don Lorencz’s organization who is a diamond in the Yager organization. Though I would like to for many reasons I can’t reveal my name.

Some of us leaders in Don’s organization recently got an Amvox message from Don letting us know the user name and password to his site which explains what we all already knew, he got SHAFTED by his up-line diamonds, Mark & Tami Crawford.

Check his site out because I have been reading a lot of stuff on here lately and maybe if you checked out this site and heard it all from a diamond – you would know where Amway’s problems are.

It is sad that Amway lets sh** like this happen and there is nothing that anyone of us that want to stay distributors can do as we are threatened by them that they will pull our IBO number if we try to make any waves. Amway used to have staff here in Canada that tried to do something about the garbage that was happening to people like this but Amway got rid of those people real fast. The two guys that Amway has in Canada now that we have anything to do with Jeff Johnston and Jim Hunking are nothing but bum kissers to the people like the Crawfords who strut these two across stage at their major functions and pat these two on the back and send them on their way. Johnston & Hunking could care less about the smaller distributors or the customers in Canada and they show it all of the time. If you don’t believe me ask anyone that has talked to either one of these two, it doesn’t take very long for you to realize just how phony they are.

When I got into Amway, I was pretty low and then my sponsor brought Don into my life and Don totally changed my whole family’s future. My sponsor did nothing except collect tool bonus money off of me for the work that Don had done and yet for the last few years I can’t have anything to do with Don because like he says on his web site, if I do the Crawfords will stop me from speaking, doing open meetings etc which is a large part of our income. I saw the Crawfords for years go into Don’s organization and run him down to all of his people to try and get his people to not have anything to do with Don and I know they would do the same to me because they have done it to a lot of people.

In case you think I am just another 1000 pv-er letting off steam, you are wrong, I wear a nice pin that Don and no one else helped me get.

The latest scam the Crawfords are now trying to pull is they are trying to help Don’s ex-wife, Allie steal his company out from under him. Don caught Allie doing what she shouldn’t have been doing with another guy and gave her the boot and the Crawfords have loved this as they turned her totally against Don as well to further try and pull him down. The problem the Crawfords have is Allie has no credibility with any of us as we knew for years that she was fooling around on Don while he was out there driving the miles helping us build our businesses. All Allie ever did in the business was look down at the rest of us because she was wearing the "big" pin. Yet we all knew that she didn’t do anything to earn the pin as Don was the one that built the business as he was the one with the brains and the personality in that family. Allie today walks around like she is holier than thou because she isn’t smart enough to realize that we all see through her.

Don is finally doing something that he should have done a long time ago, he is suing the Crawfords for slander, malicious lies and for trying to destroy him and take away his credibility so that they could make the money off of the system that he was supposed to get.

If any of you that know Don read this, why don’t you email him and tell him you will give his lawyers a deposition of what you have heard the Crawfords say about him. We have to stop people like the Crawfords from doing sh** like this or we could be next!

I wish you would post this site of Don’s on your link list so people could learn the truth before they too find out too late!

Tired of it all

Thank you so much for giving me insight to a company that seemed to offer the world and looked as if it was my ticket to financial freedom. Thank God for the (un)fortunate gift of procastination and the Internet. After all the horror stories I just read, I know I will not be going back there. I'm glad that I wasn't sucked in like so many people but I also feel sorry for people that were. So once again thank you for informing us and hopefully you'll reach more people like myself. PS.

If there's anyway I can help please let me know.

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