To want my usually lovely friend to stop harrassing me about Forever Living

[Pestopastaagain]

She has recently got involved with Forever Living. We used to be in touch every month or so via email, text or fb (We live opposite ends of the country) but since she has got involved with this it's every single day more or less. She sends chatty messages but always drops in 'Have you thought about it some more' 'They are really good products' etc. Another mutual friend told me she has also been emailing her the same thing, again and again and again. Mutual friend and I have both already told her we're not interested in becoming part of it but we wish her luck and hope it works out.

What has happened to our usually sane and lovely friend? It's impossible to have a conversation with her without Forever Living being mentioned repeatedly. It's like she has been taken over by a cult or something the way she keeps going on about it.

I looked into the company and it seems to be a MLM company. Some of the articles I have read make it seem like a very fine line between that and a pyramid scheme. A lot of people also saying they made no or very little money trying to sell inferior products at an inflated price.

She's not made any money yet but is playing a well off future down to them. Is she kidding herself, has anyone here been selling these products and made any money doing it?

My Dad used to do this, probably the best part of 20 years ago. Took years for him to shut up about it and even.now if the words Aloe Vera are mentioned he gets a slightly strange look in his eye and starts spouting. It really is like he was brain washed .

I have a pot of it on the kitchen window sill which cost me a couple of pounds about 15 years ago, it keeps having babies so supplies other people for free.

Excellent for burns snd sunburn. My Mum sat in a bowl of hot soup (don't ask !) And I rushed some round that she put on before I took her to hospital. Apparently (and I really didn't want to see so took her word on this one) the nurse said you could see where it had been put on and where it hadn't.

I'm being stalked by an Arbonne make up lady. Emails, phone calls, texts...

I too have been subjected to FL panhandling, in this case by an old colleague who I hadn't really been in contact with except by liking each others Facebook photos for a couple of years.

I have an Arbonne zealot on my FB feed too. Maddening.

I also sadly have a friend brainwashed by FL. She wanted me to join and I was in two minds, however once she added me to the "team page" it scared me right off. Firstly their posts about their "journeys" and "success stories" mainly involve how happy they are to have this opportunity and how excited they are about their future - not any actual measurable success so far. Secondly they are preying on vulnerable people, mainly working mums - every other post is guilt tripping those who don't spend "every precious moment" with their children opting to work out of the house instead. Thirdly they are always competing with each other about how much they have sold this month, how many cleanses, how many recruits etc etc. Seems like they are all about the money although they claim they're not. The posts about the manager's earnings are ridiculous - money isn't everything, plus to earn that or anything at all you seem to have to devote your entire life to FL. Lastly I find the constant "inspirational" pictures vomit inducing if I'm honest.
My friend, usually not one to be taken in by scams, has fallen for it hook, line and sinker due to being at a particularly low point when recruited. She has already complained to me about the people who don't "support" her by not turning up to her parties etc not being her "true friends". I get the feeling that if you are not interested in FL they don't want to know you. I keep buying the odd lip balm or whatever as I want to be supportive but then there's more, more raffles, more parties, more special offers, more online events that you don't have an excuse not to turn up to.. Also around 10 people on my friends list are selling it now so I feel I am being constantly harassed. One has been through my friends list and sent messages about "the business" to work colleagues - including my boss - when I barely know her anyway. They come across as both desperate for custom/recruits and inexplicably smug about their "new lives" watching YouTube videos and paying extortionate amounts for "training". I can't seem to get away from them!!

Someone who was on my facebook sells FL and her inspirational posts (which are not written by her as she does not have that way of writing - it reads as a "copy and paste this and insert your partner's and DC's names where indicated") infuriated me so I have unfriended her as the latest one "I had a lovely morning catching up with XXXX and helping her buy this fabulous snake oil then a lovely lunch where I told her and other friends what other snake oil they could waste their money on"

(not quite her exact words but I rephrased it!)

Followed by "Good advice, thanks hun xx" etc; etc.

I could hear her voice in my head when I read it.

I have blocked so many people on f/b because of this product but I do like their toothpaste.
It is my birthday and DP has ordered me the C9 Yes I am sat here downloading C25k because of fat rolls but really
I am making myself a giant choc cake

Oh no. Someone I know on Facebook has just posted something along the lines of 'just ordered my Forever Living starter kit. Can't wait for it to arrive.'

Preemptive block?

Someone on my FB sells this. Every status is how much she loves having an office in the park/loves spending her time with her DD now she's given up work/loves her life/ etc. It's pretty transparently a script they're told to follow.

And the promotions!! "Well done to Sarah, the newest member of my team who has been promoted FOUR TIMES in the month since she started on her FL journey and is now DEPUTY ASSISTANT MANAGER TO THE DEPUTY ASSISTANT MANAGER!!! Whoohoo!"

They'll all be CEO any day now

Oh and "Off to spend this month's huge bonus!!" and "Whoohoo it was worth staying up late to see what my nouns is this month!! What shall I buy??"

Even if she IS earning all these fabulous bonuses, isn't she being just a little bit braggy? Isn't that rather vulgar?

Bonus. Not nouns.

I know more people who do Forever Living than own any Forever Living Product.

The only people I know who use the products are the people selling it. i don't know how they these 2k a month salaries selling a handcream, and recruiting a team to also sell a handcream.

What you describe is exactly what I endure on Facebook, they must all be following the same script. Enrages me!!

I have to say that all this negativity about Forever Living seems to come from people who know very little about the company or its products and therefore whose comments come from un-informed minds.

Comments like:

• Selling over priced shite
• I agree that it seems to brainwash people.
• It's a scam. Be warned. I think its also dangerous for your health.
• Definitely pyramid like scheme
• Aloe goo at a hundred quid a pop.

I'm not going to write a post telling you what you should or shouldn't do or believe, but most of these comments SCREAM that the people writing them know very little or have not bothered to find out anything before commenting.

I recently joined Forever Living on the team of someone I have known since play school, So I know her well and know that she is trust worthy. I did not jump into this straight away either. I thought about it for months before joining and did my research.

Forever Living IS a legitimate company that has existed since 1978 and now operates in over 150 countries and has a head office in each country it operates in. UK head office being Longbridge Manor in Warwickshire. I've been there, it is very real.
Nobody involved in the company is brainwashed, it's not a scam or a pyramid scheme and the opportunities, incentives and income potential is very real. But like with every business, if you want success, you have to put in the work and make an effort. You get out what you put in.

Those who don't like the products for whatever reason or think that they are over-priced, that's fine everyone can think what they want. As someone said "Aloe goo at a hundred quid a pop". The aloe drinking gel does not cost that much, not by far. That comment is a good example of having come from someone who is un-informed.
As does the comment that it is bad for your health. The person who said that should research Aloe Vera before they say that.
Everyone is different and therefore people get different results from the products they try.

As for everyone who says they are being harassed by someone who has joined Forever. - Distributors are not supposed to harass people. Those who do are giving the rest of us a bad name.

So before you all continue to be negative and call it a scam, do some research. Or next time a distributor friend mentions it get some of their FREE samples and try it for yourself instead of instant dismissal. If you still don't like it, at least you've tried it without parting with any cash. That would be better than un-founded ignorance.

cherry - have you been told to "reallocate your own budget" towards their products yet? It is a proper company, and one of the best sales technique is hiring all these "sellers" - because the first thing they are told to do is buy lots and lots of the products themselves. Even if you don't make many sales to anyone else, you have just become a very, very loyal customer...

You can buy many similar products in shops like Holland and Barrett for a fraction of the cost. The main diet cleanse is effectively a very calorie controlled diet with digestive cleanses - or laxatives, as they are called by others (AV is a well know laxative and has been used as such for generations).

It's the pushiness of the sellers that are the problem - and that the company encourages people to use their "warm contacts" - or friends and family - to 'build their business'. People who sell the stuff do start posting a very different posting style on FB and other social media - lots of "never miss a moment" comments and "my office in the park" comments, lots of bragging about their sales and trips, particularly interesting when you've been FB friends for a long time with these people and they never felt the need to mention the size of wages, bonuses or perks in old jobs.

Exactly, Dinosaur.

If I started posting about my huge bonuses and excitedly asking for suggestions on what to spend the money on - week on week - I'd be quite likely to have my friends posting on MN asking if they're being unreasonable in thinking I'm a braggy cow.

They all so CLEARLY follow a script of what to post. Are you saying that's not the case, Cherry??

Agree entirely with the last two posts!

When it comes to "Doing your research" with these products, it usually involves buying them.

My friend claimed I could double my wages by joining FL I'm a teacher and earn £25k+.... now I'd have to sell a lot of these products as I'm sure you only make around 30% from each sale.

Does the tax people know about these high salaries and bonus? . As mentioned before i have an aloe vera plant in a pot which cost a couple of pounds x many years ago. I just break a leaf off and use the goo inside externally. Plant seems to regrow very quickly..

I've logged onto Facebook to find the usual photos of other people collecting their bonus cheques. This person has been doing FL for years and it's always 'next time it'll be my turn for a big cheque' but it never materialises.

I have seen a lot of that this morning too. So far I can only see one person making actual money although there are many comments like "can't wait till next year when this will be me" from like 100 people? Can you imagine if I took a photo of my payslip every month and posted it saying wow!!! Let's go shopping !! Or a photo of my boss's payslip?!! It's vulgar and embarrassing, nobody with a real job does that! And to the forever living sales person who posted last night - I think most of us are pretty well informed about FL, as you can see it's rammed down our throats 24/7...

Example post: "drinking coffee, lunch with the girls, love my new "job"! IF you could call it a job ??" no I wouldn't call it a job because when you have a job you EARN MONEY

One more thing cherry - I researched hard when I was thinking of joining - I found a study from the U.S. where a woman died of liver failure following aloe Vera toxicity from taking too much - true story

Dinosaursroar - No I have not been told to "re-allocate my own budget" towards their products. All I've bought is the new starter pack and am using those products myself. I will get other stuff in future, but only what I need for myself and for my display. I Certainly won't be spending what I can't afford to and I do not encourage others to put themselves out of pocket just so I can make a sale. I'm not some kind of un-scrupulous cow.
Any distributors out there that do do this are giving others a bad rep.

I am not a "pushy" seller either. when people say no to the products or the business opportunity, I simply say "That's fine, it's not for everyone." In future, if those who have initially said no ever change their minds, then they know where to find me. I leave it at that then. I certainly do not harass people or go on and on about it.

As for posting on Facebook, I have not posted a single thing about FL on my personal FB page. I have a separate FB page for my business where I post and only those who chose to like that page will see the posts. When I do eventually put the odd thing on my own FB it certainly won't be overload. We are not supposed to use more than 20% of our FB pages for FL. Those that are sensible / responsible distributors cannot and should not be held responsible for those that are not.

When people post things like "my office is in the park" that's because you can indeed do this work anywhere you want. Those that are over zealous with these kinds of postings and who shamelessly brag about their earnings are giving the rest of us a bad name. Even when I have built myself up a decent second income, I'm certainly not gonna be bragging about it every minute of the day. Those who matter to me will know how I'm making my extra money.

Freshwaterplimpy - I certainly don't follow a "script". Those who just post generic things or copy and paste things are just doing that for the sake of posting.

Jojo1994 - FL is a job and you CAN make money from it and people DO make money from it. But like with any job you have to put in the work to get anything out. FL is something you can work around other jobs - things you would label as "normal" jobs such as your average 9-5 days etc.

As for that study you say you found about the woman who died of liver failure because of Aloe Vera toxicity - if that is indeed true then that is very sad and I'm sorry for the woman and her family. HOWEVER, have you never heard the saying that "Too much of anything is bad for you". It's a very true saying. No matter how good something is for you, it's still possible to overload which isn't good. Too much is as bad as too little.

Anyway, you lot can continue to say and think what you want as I'm not trying to take away anyone's right to their opinion. However, I've said what I wanted to say on all this now and also listened to other posts too as I don't want to appear biased or ignorant. So now I'm un-ticking the "watch this thread" option. So if anyone still chooses to respond to anything I've said, go ahead but you will be wasting your time as I won't see it.

A couple of people I know have started selling it and I just said "I'm not interested, the products are too expensive for me". I was asked by one if I'd like to sell and just said I wouldn't feel comfortable begging my friends to buy stuff they didn't really want. Seemed to work...