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.

Thanks for the information Ruth. Thumbs up for having the courage to form this web site. I was up all night just clicking and reading different links.

I guess what started out as a great idea IN CONCEPT, this being Network Marketing/MLM, has turned into a cut-throat, dog eat dog, Holy Bible Scripture twisting, greed mongering business.

BTW, the MLM I was involved in was ACN (American Communications Network). This company had a good amount of people that were formerly in Amway. The founders of the company had what we would call "good Christian values". I believe, for the most part, that they were sincere, but that definitely couldn't be said of all the reps. The Lord was mentioned a lot in the big gatherings in this company also, but there was no alienation of other religions as there seems to be in Britt's organization. Of course, there is a big difference between the gospel of the great "Dollar Bill" and that of Jesus Christ. As such, I think that both Christians and non-Christians alike should be wary of ANY mlm company.

Regarding Quixtar, this business venture doesn't make much sense to me. I went to their site and went through the whole "shebang" of reading the IBO benefits and business presentation. Heck, I even went to their application and read through some of their Rules of Conduct that they provide in the PDF Adobe Acrobat format. People definitely need to read the fine print with this one.

As far as my brother in Christ, I'll pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide me in telling him what I have come across in my research.

Thanks again and God Bless.

Part II

Sorry, I forgot to ask you about the sites specifically dealing with MLM and Christianty. If it's not much of a problem, can you please e-mail me those URL's?

Thanks and God Bless.

Sorry it has taken me a couple of days to respond to your last e-mail (my little ones have been sick). You had asked about what we had been taught about the 10 customer rule, 50 PV rule, and 70% rule. Quite honestly I had only heard of the 10 customer rule because in Tom Joachim organization we were told NO SELLING. He explained the 10 customer rule to apply to his organization only by trying to have 10 people in our downlines. Since the Joachim EDC was the "cream of the crop" in the world of Amway and in the Britt organization, we were not taught how to retail anything ( or thus have a hope of making even a small amount of money). I asked our upline directs about the other two rules and they said that they knew about them only from other people in another organization in our area. You had also asked how long we had been in - almost 5 years and we left the "team" in May (1999). We miss absolutely NOTHING about the team and we are finally beginning to feel like we have a real life (this coming from a couple that prided themselves in being "team players" for almost 5 years). Thanks again for your website. I've passed it on to our sponsors (now friends).

Yea, I am glad that I am only 21 years old. That book has already impacted my life so much. It's a must have for people that deal with money. I guess that means everyone. It's titled Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter C.P.A. Well, until next time. Take it easy. Bye for now.

i've been putting in some effort to get my quixtar business going. i was just wondering where to draw the line. how much effort did you put into what you did with amway? i want to know if you were where i'm at now. if there's any reason to continue.

thanks,

Hello,

I am a school teacher who is currently being recruited by a few of my other fellow teachers to join a MLM organization known as International Teamworks, Inc.

Before I make a decision as to whether I should join, I would like to do as much research as I can. I am writing to you to find out if you are able to offer any personal feedback in regard to this organization, including its integrity and reputablity.

If you are not able to comment on this organization, then would you have any links or other sources of information on this organization?

By the way, I have never done anything like this before. In fact, I keep hearing the word "downline" and I don't even know what that means.

Are there any MLMs out there which are reputable?

Is there some type of independent watchdog or rating services which rates the different MLMs on their honesty?

Any assistance you can provide will be deeply appreciated. I am supposed to go to a meeting Monday night, but I have already decided to leave my checkbook home. Of course, I don't expect to hear a "balanced" view.

Thanks in advance to any guidance you can provide.

Very Sincerely,

Hello, I am searching the web for info on Multi-Level Marketing. A member of my family has become "awakened" by a company called Nikken. He is filled with new energy and is spending a lot of money. I listen and try to be supportive but in my gut I feel he's being taken for a ride. I am researching Nikken but find nothing negative about them as I do Amway, except they seem to be competitors and both have similar MLM structures. Is there anything written on Nikken? I am finding and printing out a lot about the dangers of multi-level marketing to give to him, but he will say, "That's Amway. That's not Nikken. We are about offering wellness to people." He came home from a conference in New Orleans like a Born-Again. Please help. Thank you very much. My name is *, and my email is **.

Part II

Thank you very much for your information. I will check out the books you suggest. I did order "False Profits" from your website already. Thanks again. Best regards,

To be fair, I hope you will make it clear that you are talking about SPECIFIC companies and not about the industry in general. By the way, are you the "Ruth" who wrote the "Smoke and Mirrors..." book?

[Well, let's see. In order for a scam to exist, somebody has to benefit. Now, on the one hand, we have Amway Corp., raking in the dough to the tune of several billion $$ per year. On the other hand we have somebody with a conscience spending her spare time presenting information to consumers, taking two years out of her life to write a book, and spending additional hours every week answering emails like this one. For this she makes a few dollars in commissions, money which does NOT come out of the pockets of any of her site visitors; and a few dollars from book sales. Gee, she must be running a scam.]

A new particularly voracious MLM has emerged here in Alberta Canada called SkyBiz 2000.

Very nasty (and typical) MLM business, selling web pages to people who very probably don't even have a computer! Seem to thrive in the rural areas, especially those areas which do not have any kind of internet connectivity. Like I said, very voracious.

Any pointers on where to find more information on these jokers?

I saw someone ask about PPLS, Inc. I was thinking of joining this myself, they seem solid. Do you have any horror stories on this firm? If you don't, can you direct me to a webpage that does? I'd like to think they are honest, but the more I look at the internet, the more rubbish I see.

I've been involved with a couple of mlms. Do you know of anyone who actually did well with an mlm? I just joined the Power Plus group they are affiliated with Newways. Have you heard of them? How are they?

Hi, I think you're doing a good job on you're site considering you do not have all the current facts which you admit.I read through your articles and i appreciate your honesty. I do believe that most MLM companies are a SCAM and only the owners actually make any real money. MLM is not easy. It does take a lot of hard work and determination. It's sad that people get deceived bey some.

MY EXPERIENCE Last year, about this time, I was intoduced to anair purifier by an Alpine distrubitor who asked me if I would like to use it for a few days. He said he was looking for personal testimonial letters from people that are willing to use his purifier for support in his business. When I asked him what it is he said it was an air purifier and he thinks it cleans the air pretty well but, he had only his personal experience that it made HIS home smell better as he had severe "old house" odors. I did not have any housy odors but, I used it for three days to help him out. As it turns out, I have severe allergies. To make a long story short, I bought it. I can't live without it now. I hated getting allergy shots and the medicine was expensive. Over-the-counter allergy medicine never worked for me. I believe most of it is junk.

As a result of my experience I decided to join the Company because I love the product. There is an asounding need for the product because there is nothing on the market I can go and purchase that does the same thing.

When I ask someone to try my product, I never ask them to buy, they ask me. Why? because they love the product much like I did. If someone doesn't ask me to sell them one, I don't ask them to buy.

Yes, I make sales. Yes, I make a profit. I also make a profit from other distrubitors whom I've spent many hours with helping them get started and coaching them on keeping records for tax purposes, etc...

For all intentional purposes Alpine is MLM. But, I didn't have to buy a product to sell, I use mine. Also, I never have to recruit one person to make money. I make a good supplemental income just buy letting people use my own unit. Also, as for the 70% rule, Alpine's income far exceeds that since the dealer does not have to buy a product to sell it and the cost to join is $35 for a kit with sales materials. Noone gets paid from getting another dealer to join. If Alpine is operating illegaly please let me be the first to know me know. I'll be waiting.

THE REASON FOR THIS LETTER You featured an article showing Alpine was being tried by the TFC for their inaccurate claims. While this is true, they were sued, the product has a disclosure with it that states that the company makes no claims of it's effectivenes to cure, remove, prevent, clean, ect... ANYTHING. And that the company does not condone any distributor making any claims of the products effectiveness. The truth is the FTC and the entire government tries to shut every successful MLM company down, primarily because they are not TRADITIONAL corporate business among other reasons we'll just let you join them in.

It is sad for that there are irresponsible people who violated Alpine's policies and Alpine had to go through the battle but I think you should take the time now and post the outcome of the FTC Aline event. THEY WON! They had to show scientific PROOF of their machine's effectiveness. After drumming up all the MASSIVE, COSTLY scientific research they had on file for years and also gathering THOUSANDS of testimonial letters from satisfied consumers. Not only did they win but they also have gained the legal right to make certain claims of their products effectiveness.

Alpines policy is for us to NEVER use the internet in connection with Alpine in any way so, the only way any reader of this will ever find anything about the opportunity in this business is by another Alpine dealer. We cannot sell on the internet. As I know you will delete my personal contact information on the bottom of this page, I'm most surely not trying to better my carreer in Alpine by writing this letter.

IN SUMMARY So now that you have taken the liberty of posting the only negative thing you could possibly find about the 13 year old company, do the right thing and provide a follow up from the FTC's ruling. Heck, you can cut and paste it from numerous updated government sites, namely the FTC's very own. If you do this I'll be amazed. But then if you actually post my letter people will look for your proven follow up which would make your posting pretty obsolete. We'll just have to wait and see. Thank you for being honest. Sincerely, *

Part II

Hello again. Please tell me you have more on Alpine than this. I respect you for your henesty but this is getting a little hilarious. :)

I am not an MLM survivor but I was approached just several days ago by a Quixtar recruiter and came across your website while I was trying to verify those incredible stats and figures that he quoted. Had I known Quixtar was run by Amway I would have run screaming out of the restaurant where he bought me tea and croissants. The Quixtar man was a very young man I used to supervise when he was in his mid-teens. When I bumped into him a few days ago he was dressed in a dashing business suit and he began telling me about this internet company he currently worked for that channelled 30 to 40 million hits per day on their website and that on his recent trip to the States, the company had just closed a multimillion-dollar deal with Ford. He began spewing inter-galactic statistics faster than I could follow and when he finished all I could say was, "Wow, are there any job openings?" To my surprise, he looked serious and began asking me about my level of job satisfaction and what my ambitions were. Over tea, I began to get excited because it seemed that he was practically interviewing me for a job in some new maverick internet company that was poised to become, in the words of our Lord Bill Gates, the largest corporation in the world. He was not interested in my qualifications or the fact that I my computer skills were below par. He was looking for "certain personality types." I took the bait and in the course of over an hour I regrettably divulged a lot of personal information, which he somehow twisted into the sad portrait of a desperate "man at the end of his rope" (he must had said that phrase 6 times in the conversation).

You must be well-versed with the rest of his pitch so I won't go over it. What I am shocked and appalled by in retrospect was how well-trained he was. He was totally transformed from the teenager I knew. He was brimming with confidence, his timing was immaculate, he mixed his lies with truths and half-truths like an oratorical bartender. He had me eating out of his hand until he whipped out his notepad and started that pyramidal stack of linked balloons with the word "you.com" at the top. When I think of him now I see a doomed young man. If he is unsuccessful, his confidence might never recover. If he is successful, he will become a worse bastard than he is now. Even after I read your articles, I don't believe I'll call him to counsel him. He's so brainwashed, he'd never believe me.

By the way, I'm just writing in to thank you for your wonderfully-researched articles and your dedication to bringing the truth to the gullible public. You are truly a real-life version of Fox Mulder. Please don't publish this letter on your website. I only lost 2 hours of my life and got free croissants out of it, whereas your readers have lost much much more in time, energy and money. May the powers of the Universe bless and protect you. Good luck in your righteous struggle.

I would like to know more in detail about Bill Gouldd. I am an 18 year old from Arlington, TX. I was just introduced into "Equinox". They keep telling me that I could be independently wealthy. They say that many people get real success out of there. I would like to know if you have any real proof of what is being done, besides your own story. I am still skeptical about making something out of nothing. I need your advice, and would like to investigate more about Bill Gouldd. I have been to several meetings now, and I don't know what to do. My email address is *. Please do not send it to Ken's email ore whatever name this comes up under. Thank you for your time.

I was in amway once. Tonight i got a call the guy said i am starting a new business in your town and i woud like to let you in on the grond floor. Well a bell whent off in my head amway and it told me run. Well when i was in that was the rule dont tell that it is amway untill you have them in your home and give them pich i see that is still true to day. This guy was selling quixtar i new what it was becuse i do keep up to date on this . This guy woud not go a way so i told him about your web site and he got mad i mean mad now that is not the guy i whant to be my up line thank you for back up so i could fight fire with fire and this guy dose not call me any more, he did tell me that when he is rich and i am not he will not give me a hand out.

Hi;

I have two questions.

1) What tools (besides emailing your www) can I use to puncture the pitch someone is givng to my sister about Quixtar? And have two friends into it who have pitched me. My SCAM hackles went wild and I told them they were being duped. They sort of resented it. One guy had a law degree, the other is a professional bookseller. They aren't stupid. Just gullible. Can I get some help with a simple argument that they can take back to their sponsor? A couple of YES/NO questions that will cause the pitch man to clam up?

2) I am a journalist interested in exploring the use of the internet as a new MLM stomping ground (goldmine) and I am curious about contacting locals who have or still are members of Quixtar or any other MLM operatng in the US and particularly ILLINOIS. I remember way back when Amway first started up that my dad went to a meeting and just laughed at them. Is the basic premise ever different? He saw through it in a few seconds and just went with a friend to btter make his argument. But it seems that some people are just lining up to prove Barnum right (sucker every minute). How does it happen?

PS (If you'd like to call, then let me know.)

Credo Orbes Volares Exstare

Hi, could you please tell me if you have any information, or suggested questions about Omegatrend. There does not seem to be too much info pro or against. All members profit share on all the tools.

Please advise.

You and your wife [gee, my husband, who has no involvement with this site, would be flattered. . . ] have a great website. I have signed on as a Quixtar (only) IBO last March. I have been frequently viewing your website, and I am inquiring when will you provide the next update(s) with your homepage? Speicifically, I haven't seen any late articles presented on your home page (URL: http://www.mlmsurvivor.com/quixtarinfo.htm ) since December 6, 1999.

Thanks.

Part II

Oops! I apologize for assuming that your husband is the webmaster for that MLM Survivors website. Please accept my humblest apology.

Also, I noted on your "Articles" page about recent Quixtar related articles. I shall frequently visit your site to view Quixtar and Amway related updates.

Keep up the good website management. :)

By the way, whenver you get the chance, please view my website. It's link is:**

Greetings from Brisbane, Australia! I have been visiting your site and finding it fasincating reading. I would like to know if you have any information about SkyBiz 2000. If you do I would be interested in having you send it to me or show me where I might get my hands on it. I know that SkyBiz 2000 has only been around about 1 year now and that may be to short a time to assess it, but anything in the way of input would be appreciated. Thanks,

Dear MLM Survivors,

My fiancé (who I live with) announced one evening a few weeks ago that he would be bringing his supervisor from work and another person over to "help with my on-line business". I am a self-employed designer and was working on setting up my own little web page (a dream come true for me) so at first I had no problems with this.

Until THEY arrived.

The Other person walked in with all the trappings that easily hook-line-sinker anyone who has spent the past nine years working their way though college only to have a series of part-time, minimum wage jobs great them upon their graduation. His watch cost more than our car.

He sat down and began to preach. Yes, my fiancé and I could spend the rest of our lives wasting away in low income, nowhere jobs... OR we could become IBO's for a wonderful, miraculous company called Quixtar. Surely, we had heard of Quixtar, right? It made $1 million dollars a mere 2 weeks after going online, and one-third of that was paid back to IBO's. The company was set up by the owners of the Orlando Magic and Microsoft, to name a few. Just spend $200 a month on the things you would normally buy at a conventional store in the Quixtar mall, tell a few friends and we'd be set for life.

Oh, by the way, we hadn't heard anything of a company called Amway, had we?

No, of course not. (We are young, just out of school.) Why?

Nothing, we just use their distribution system. They have got some bad press in the past, but we are not a part of them, we only use their distribution system because it is so fast.

Well, we fell for it. My fiancé gave them the $150 + tax registration fee. Then the pressure started. Listen to these tapes - how odd, we had just signed up, hadn't we, isn't that like preaching to the converted? Attend theses meetings - the ones that are useless are free, the ones designed to "help" you with your business are $15 + tax per person. Don't promote the products - Huh?! It's an online mall, and they are saying not to promote the products? I suddenly found myself wondering if I had entered Area 51.

A few days after we signed on the package of products that come with the registration fee arrived. ALL say "exclusively from Amway". Hmmm... wasn't Amway the company they said Quixtar WASN'T a part of?

To conclude, I am sitting here, not answering my own phone. They keep calling: "Have you signed anyone up yet", "Is there anyone you want us to introduce the business to?", and "Are you planning to go to the workshop seminar?". How can I honestly promote a business that prays on the youth (I agree whole-heartedly with the person who wrote "The Nightmare Is Over, Let The Games Begin") as well as lies blatantly to it's own members (Quixtar is not Amway... yeah, right!). I have read the emails you have posted, and consider myself and my fiancé lucky that we only lost the cost of the registration fee. I do, however, fear for our freedom of thought and our privacy, since my fiancé's supervisor is "one of THEM" and in constant contact with us. In short - he knows where we live.

I applaud you in shepherding those of us who are tired of the lies. You are the light. Thank you!

Hi - The first I heard of your site was on a radio talk show last night while driving home. The station I was listening to was WFLA in Tampa. I think it's a syndicated program, so it likely was not originating out of here in Florida. Anyway, I checked out your website and do have some questions to ask.

I'll start by saying that I was an Excel rep for two years, put in a reasonably solid effort and in total made less than $10,000.

A group of people in my Excel downline were introduced to International Teamworks Inc. out of Vacaville, CA. If you know of them, I'd be interested in your thoughts. Since most of the "active" people in my Excel downline made the switch, I did too. I do have to admit that their compensation plan is far better than Excel's, and I can certainly see where there's a far better opportunity to make significant money.

ITI has less than 50,000 reps nationwide, and about 70% of them are in California. Their comp plan is copyrighted and has a US Patent pending. It's called a "regenerating, forced matrix". It's not a binary, but you can only have two people on your first level, 4 on your second, 8 on your third, etc. The appealling part is that every time you sponsor someone beyond your first level, you create another "pay point" in the matrix for yourself. In other words, if you've sponsored 3 people, the first two make up your first level, and the third person actually falls down to your third level... because another "you" has been created on your second level. Now if that third person goes and sponsors someone, not only do you get paid, but so does the "you" created on your second level. Confusing... but when drawn on paper, it's pretty easy to see why so many people are excited about it.

I guess my question to you is: are you "down" against all MLMs? And if so, why? The example I use to describe MLMs to people is this (and tell me if you disagree with my assessment)... for 4 consecutive years, back in the middle '80s, I was one of the Top 10 salesmen in America for IBM. I can name SEVEN people who got paid every time I sold a computer, and obviously I sold a lot of them. That is multi-level, or network, marketing. The difference, is that in exchange for a base salary every corporation in America essentially "reserves" the right to limit your income and/or determine if they want you to continue working for them.

I guess that's why I've become a fan of MLMs... but I understand the need to find one properly structured, managed, etc., that will allow you to make money, instead of continually spending money because you're one of their reps. Excel is notorious for making money off of its reps. ITI doesn't. The one similarity is that both Excel and ITI revolve around telecom services, which I like because of where that industry is headed.

Anyway, I do appreciate your website, and would welcome any feedback from you, especially if you are familiar with ITI. In any event, I hope this note finds you having a great day. Thanks in advance.....

Have you ever heard of I-Link (http://www.i-link.net) someone is trying to recruit me and I am just trying to check, and double check before doing anything.

Thanks

I came upon your site completely by accident much to the dismay of my prospect and myself. I am a Quixtar IBO and happened to read a very negative comment by one of your viewers about the total ineptness of the new Quixtar site. I cannot say anything but positive about the site and the opportunity. Obviously the negative comments came from a person who is first probably an employee with no dreams working for someone who does and has employment or job mentality and secondly does not understand business or the magnitude of the task of setting up of a site as large and comprehensive as Quixtar. I fail to understand why so many people waste so much of their lives spreading negative on the internet instead of channeling that energy toward bettering their life.But then again I guess that's job mentality.

Oddly enough I read your entire heart-wrenching story. I actually felt remorseful for what you'd been put through. Both in your Amway experience and in life itself. I could empathize with you, for I too, had similar experiences, only my experiences extended from my 20 year job in corporate American. After giving this company 20 good years of my life, working my way up the corporate ladder, I discovered I'd been involved in one of the largest scams ever. My value as an employee meant nothing. My 20 years of service meant nothing. They took my 8 to 5 day shift from me, put me on a 3 to midnight shift and couldn't care less that I was a single mother with a 14 year old son, who needed his mother at home during those crucial hours of the night.

So I feel for you when you said you poured your heart into something for which you had such great expectations. I know. I've been there. And it is sad to say that unlike you, it took me 20 years to wake up and see the scam. But I finally did. And I am forever thankful that something better finally came along to awaken me from my corporate mentality stupor.

I am now a successful Amway 2000/Quixtar IBO. I guess the definition of a scam all depends on your perspective.

Sincerely and God Bless,

Do you have any information regarding Melaeuca

Do you have any information about Life Plus

Do you know if there were any lawsuits vs. Nu-Skin (or IDN, Big Planet, etc.--they're also big on changing names a la Amway, Quixtar, ABC Enterprises, etc.) I believe they had some problems with the FTC a numbe of years ago. Does your book deal with any other MLMs besides Amway?

You were an emerald, weren't you? What years were you in?

I would greatly appreciate your response. Thank you.

Regards,

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