Pyramid Schemes
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
A) We are encouraged to cold call by saying "Joe Shmo (someone successful in the business) is pioneering an internet franchise..."
This is not the truth. The "TEAM" (+ Quixtar) is nothing more than AMWAY on the web. Nothing is being pioneered here!! When Wal Mart went on the web they were still Wal Mart!!
B) Distance is put between Amway and the "TEAM".
This is camouflage. I have seen the TEAM referred to as an "AMO" (Amway Motivational Org). Owners of Quixtar were the owners of Amway. I have since read - in affidavits from the top brass - that Quixtar is going back to the AMWAY name!!
C) Where do the fees from the $90 per qtr seminars and the $35 per month seminars go? ... and all the money from the tapes/books etc?...
Well it is obvious they go to the top of the pyramid (to 1% I learned) ... they are sold through the TEAM and not through Quixtar. I was never told of this invisible pyramid business and who profits from it.
D) I tried to ask a question at the 1st "OPEN" meeting and was told to "hold it."
Why can't we ask questions? This is where it began to feel cult-like. It is obvious they only want information going through very narrow channels that they set up. TRANSPARENCY was out. CHOREOGRAPHY was in.
E) I spoke to 2 people from other teams and they were very reticent to answer my questions saying they weren't supposed to "coach" people from other teams (I wasn't asking to be coached!).
There is too much secrecy here and info is held too closely. Again - cult-like.
F) At the "Open" meeting on 09/04 I attempted to confirm that the two "highest players" from the TEAM had jumped ship (left the company).
I was then ushered to the hallway where I was instructed not to communicate "cross line" (with members of other teams). Does this sound like a cult to you?
G) We are not allowed to send unsolicited e mails to other IBO's who are in a different LOS (Line of sales... or "pyramid leg").
Again, there is too much secrecy and paranoia. What kind of businesses act secretively and with paranoia? ...honest ones or dishonest ones?
H) When I asked my sponsor about the CEO's leaving his response was that it mattered what it means by "leave?"
Huh? Does this not sound like a certain President who was baffled by the word "is"? He then conceded that they had left but that it won't make much difference. This of course is preposterous as these people were the face of the organization. Well... a resignation letter is proof of departure (see Link... careful - it reads like War & Peace).
I) All papers that I signed were on an outside patio while it was dark. The only thing he said was "sign this so you won't be able to sue me" (I don't plant to anyway).
I suppose I could have looked over the packet ahead of time - but my trust level was high. Again... there were "Christians from my church" all around - so why worry? This is is why this insidious virus must me removed from our church and I hope all churches. Innocent people are unwittingly conning others while not realizing they're being conned themselves!!
My research has since revealed that a PA Judge has stated that Quixtar's arbitration process was “unconscionable.” This is what was signed. Consumers like myself are faced with a “take it or leave it” proposition to agree to the arbitration when they sign up. Few could possibly know what they are signing.
J) At one of the "Open" meetings on a Tuesday night... I asked a few people how they were doing in the business (financially)... just so I could get a feel how someone might be doing after 3 months, 6 months etc...
I was told that it wasn't "proper to compare notes" with others and that wasn't "done" here. Essentially the norms of this cult are to always shield and hide the negatives of the business so your attention is lured to the false hope shoveled at you from the other direction.
K) If a potential recruitee asks "Is this like AMWAY?"... we are instructed to not answer them but instead to ask them a question back (an unrelated one)... thus deflecting their question.
That's what this business is is: deny, deceive, deflect. The "kicker" here is that Quixtar is actually in the process of changing their name back to AMWAY !!!
L) Why wasn't I told that what I would be doing is illegal?
The FTC says I must resell 70 % of my Quixtar purchases to at least 10 different people. I wasn't told this before signing up... and it was never mentioned at any meeting or ever brought up for discussion.
M) At the weekly Tuesday meetings, in a deplorable case of fraud, the presenter would sometimes draw a diagram illustrating how Wal Mart has changed the retailing industry by reducing the number of middlemen. He would then claim that Quixtar has reduced this number by even more.
This is a BOLD FACED LIE. The number of middleman actually increases with Quixtar... which is precisely why their prices are so insanely high!! All of the "uplines" are middlemen. They get cuts from their downline's purchases which artificially raises prices to prohibitive levels.
N) Perhaps what is most sickening is how they try and wrap this deplorable business around not just the American flag, but also the "Christian flag."
It was at this point that I knew they would stop at nothing in their quest to manipulate the minds of those who would listen. GOD never wanted us to cheat and misrepresent for profit!! 2 Cor 11:14 But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
O) The departure of the top distributors in TEAM was downplayed. We (the IBO's) were told that "parents fight and sometimes kids get caught in the middle."
Well since then the TEAM organization has imploded and my sponsor has resigned. See Link He knew at some point this was likely to happen and failed to disclose. He kept on recruiting anyway... absolutely wasting the time of anyone who dared to get his hopes up. Would you sell a house and fail to disclose it sits on a sink hole? Well, this is the way business is done in the pyramid scam world. It's more than ridiculous. It's pathetic. It's fraudulent.
