Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think my friend has joined a cult?

238 replies

PumpkinPieInTheSky · 15/10/2014 09:10

Known my friend for years, she is lovely. Funny, clever, friendly, raises loads of money for charity etc. One day she got her eye lashes done as a one off for a party and got chatting to the lady who was doing them. This lady persuaded her to buy a product from her - I remember my friend saying at the time that it was a hard sell and she didn't want to buy it.

She did buy it though and she is now hooked and now sells it too. She thinks others need to be persuaded as hard as she did to buy it. She genuinely believes she is providing a really helpful service and has stopped all her usual charity fundraising and all time is spent on "helping people change their lives" - ie sell them this product too.

On FB of anyone questions it she shouts them down and copies and pastes paragraph upon paragraph of "research" on it and then blocks the person.

She is being tagged in all sorts of posts about it now after some kind of huge meet up at the weekend, examples -

"So totally mind blowing experience over the past 4 days with amazing people. Abso loved every min of it guys thanks so much. Can't even put into words how i feel right now. The emotions, the ambitions, where this company is going. The scientific research is flawless... the peer study reviews OMG this is just the start... & where we not only as a company but where we as a team are going... this is ready for take off..."

"This was by far the most amazing experience ever, and to think this is work is just insane. Love the products, love the business, love the people and the positivity surrounding everything we are doing. "

"I'm sooo motivated to take my business to the next level and I want you all to join me!!! I want to make your life better, your family and friends life better. I promise... I can do this for you, all you need to do is PM me and give me a chance to prove it.
Life is too short to wait!
I don't want you looking back in a years time thinking "I wish I took a chance" own your own life starting today. I guarantee it'll be the best thing you've ever done ??
Come to this event tomorrow night (Details in the poster below) I will sort transport for you. An hour is all I ask, it will change your life. You've got absolutely nothing to lose but everything to gain XxX"

What has happened to my lovely friend? It is all she talks about now :( I miss her. Any problem you have she has an answer...her product! Some friends have bought it to shut her up but she doesn't even stop then - she wants you to buy more and more and then start selling.

OP posts:
cricketpitch · 16/10/2014 16:37

I answered an ad for trainee will writers and went to a presentation in a big hotel. I thought it was about setting up as an independent will writer and possible franchise but after the first twenty minutes they moved on to how you could "make real money". It was of course an MLM thing. They would start with will writing and then feed PPI claim leads to solicitors and then recruit others to join your team.

It was "amazing" - a presentation full of evangelistic people whose lives have been changed and who were making a fortune and just back from some exotic place - and it all seemed so easy if you were the right sort of person.
Lots of people at the presentation were seriously interested. Even I felt a bit carried away by it all- and I am a sceptic. It was very powerful. The atmosphere was warm, friendly, lovely, supportive. There was coffee and tea and biscuits and hope and energy.... When you are bit low and looking to make some money or change jobs it is all very seductive. People who were "just like you nine months ago" and who are now living the high life make you think, "why not me??".

They were asking for us to sign up on the spot, (pay money for access to a database of leads and various other stuff, (quite a lot of money I think). I didn't sign up - I went home and did some research - and realised I'd had a lucky escape. MLM is actually a very destructive thing indeed. Beware.

Sweetpea01 · 16/10/2014 16:38

Yup. I have one of these friends too Grin

Her posts sound exactly like those you've described OP, they must have a listed they C&P from Wink

At first when she started to sell it, I was suckered in to asking more about it. Once I did, she sent me the PDF files with the instructions.

... guess what it said?

You have to eat CLEAN! So not only do you have to pay 30 per tub plus any capsules that you want, around that 1 or 2 substituted meals a day you also can only eat unprocessed fruit and veg (and very little meat). ?!?!

Eating clean is enough in itself to make you healthy and improve weight loss, never mind the bloody shakes.

Brodicea · 16/10/2014 17:09

My step mum is into this in a big way - again pictures of her sipping champagne in barcelona with other deluded souls. She sent me some of the stuff when I was pregnant (like a pusher - this lots free but the next lot is £70) - I sold it on ebay in a jiffy: £50 for three bottles. Feel a bit guilty about that Blush

I looked at the ingredients, as well as powdered fruit and veg (hmm, I'm sure 50 zillion powdered apples are JUST as healthy as eating just one - with the actual fibre in the actual fruit rather than its cremated remains) they sometimes add vitamins and co-enzyme Q10, much cheaper stuff which might (very small might) add some sort to nutritional value. Probably where any benefit comes from - at a stupid price!

Hakluyt · 16/10/2014 17:14

Anyone old enough to remember Amway?

Newcollection · 16/10/2014 17:41

Oooh I do remember a lovely friend of mine selling Amway or trying to sell it.

So, stupid question alert, do some people actually make any money doing this? I mean who are the bods going to Las Vegas or Barcelona or wherever? Next daft question, why do they want you to start selling it? Surely that just narrows the market for them?

I'm both baffled and fascinated by people who get suckered into doing this. Have on my phone a message from FL friend asking me to one of the parties - cannot bear that kind of thing and I've been honest and said I don't want to buy anything but she still wants me to go. Presume because they think you will get so carried along by the hype that you won't be able to resist paying £7 or whatever for a tube of green toothpaste Hmm.

MaryWestmacott · 16/10/2014 17:54

NewCollection - I think if they sign you up as a seller of this snake oil stuff, they get commission - either a one off payment for signing you up or a bit of the commission you'd get for sales.

cricketpitch · 16/10/2014 18:02

That's right MaryWestmacott - that is how you make the money. The more people that you have in your team the more you get. You can't actually make the money, (or even really cover your costs) from your own sales - you have to recruit others, who in turn have to recruit more people.

Penguin0fMadagascar · 16/10/2014 19:54

I don't know if it's the same sort of business model but I have had a couple of odd experiences with people talking about selling cookware stuff (I can't for the life of me remember the name).

One was a lady who came along to a toddler art session I used to go to, which was a small group run at a tiny profit by a really lovely lady. This woman came along (getting her free taster session I expect), and at the end tried to get us interested in hosting parties - she wouldn't even give out a leaflet without taking names and phone numbers, and got quite shirty when I said I didn't really want to be getting calls in the evening (DS1 hadn't long been sleeping through so the thought of anything disturbing him gave me the fear!). Everyone listened to her spiel; she didn't get any numbers, and she never came back again.

The other occasion I was on a night out with other mums from DS1's class, and a woman I was sitting next to got positively aggressive when I said I didn't like the idea of hosting those sort of parties because I didn't want to invite people round and expect them to part with money for the privilege. A very odd experience!

Idontseeanysontarans · 16/10/2014 20:04

We went along to a night hosted by some business apparently trying to save people money on gas and electricity bills - I can't remember the name but it was the weirdest evening I've had...
You had to sign up (and pay of course) and then sign up as many of your friends and family - the usual stuff - and you would eventually save so much money off your bills. That wasn't actually the odd bit.
It was the tension and jealousy between everybody! Some had been given cars and had holidays and phones because of their 'selling power' and the room was full of whooping and cheering...
We had gone for the free bar in all honesty and the evangelicalness of the night was freaky.
We left ASAP and avoided the 'friend' who had persuaded us to go for months afterwards!

thebear1 · 16/10/2014 20:17

I have hidden the FL rep from my fb feed. The constant preaching has put me off ever going anywhere near this stuff.

Primrose123 · 16/10/2014 22:53

Idontsee Was it utility warehouse, otherwise known as Telecom Plus? I know someone obsessed with this.

Idontseeanysontarans · 16/10/2014 23:10

Primrose yes that was it! Weird evening..

Momagain1 · 16/10/2014 23:28

Multilevel marketing scam cult. Horrible. Hope she doesnt go broke before getting the clue.

Summerisle1 · 17/10/2014 00:21

Anyone old enough to remember Amway?

Yes. It was Amway that stole the soul of my friend!

All particularly ironic given that she'd always had a healthy detestation of housework and employed a cleaner. Yet suddenly, she was hosting these awful, pushy, so-called social events that involved vast quantities of Amway "miracle" cleaning products. All of which could make us a fortune if we'd only be far-sighted enough to see the once in a lifetime opportunity she was dangling in front of us. Oh, and terrifically clean houses too. Allegedly.

RickyDinkPanther · 17/10/2014 18:09

So I too seem to have lost a friend to the aloe vera cult. I'm really taken aback by how she doesn't see it for what it is - pyramid selling. There seems to be an awful lot of it around at the moment; I'm not sure if it's more than usual or if it's just the case that MLM takes different forms and there's a lot of health stuff being peddled at the moment.

Do any of you know how it tends to pan out? Do some people genuinely earn well from it (I would wish her the very best only my gut instinct says it's unethical)? Is it likely to be a brief flirtation with the selling thing or can I expect to lose her for the forseeable future? It really does seem to get a very firm grip on people and she, for one, is so evangelical about it.

Anewmeanewname · 22/01/2015 11:28

A FB friend of mine has been caught up in this JP cult, he was at another convention recently and ever since he has been posting things exactly like those quoted in the op.

I'm quite unsettled by it - fair enough if people feel better as a result of the improved diet, and some may even make money - but there's something so weird & cultish about the tone of the posts.

Anewmeanewname · 22/01/2015 11:28

A FB friend of mine has been caught up in this JP cult, he was at another convention recently and ever since he has been posting things exactly like those quoted in the op.

I'm quite unsettled by it - fair enough if people feel better as a result of the improved diet, and some may even make money - but there's something so weird & cultish about the tone of the posts.

Anewmeanewname · 22/01/2015 11:33

A FB friend of mine has been caught up in this JP cult, he was at another convention recently and ever since he has been posting things exactly like those quoted in the op.

I'm quite unsettled by it - fair enough if people feel better as a result of the improved diet, and some may even make money - but there's something so weird & cultish about the tone of the posts.

TripTrapTripTrapOverTheBridge · 22/01/2015 11:44

Oh, the JP rubbish is insane. They really are taken over by it, aren't they. Who ever would've thought fruit and veg would be good for you...

It is bad though, not only are they derranged but the claims they make are worrying.

One particular JP loon recently came up with the following:

  1. Telling everyone that you will NEVER get ill on JP and, when a few replied they had colds or their children did, they were either accused of lying or told they couldn't be taking enough because it's simply not possible to have any form of illness while on JP.
  1. A little selling post,copied and pasted by sellers all over, telling you how it is so much better than buying fresh fruit and veg. Not only because it's cheaper and they apparently remove all the sugar but ' we even remove the fibre ensuring you just get pure nutrition'. Last time I looked fibre is a nutritional requirement.
  1. Posting a before and after photo of a woman who apparently done JP for 2 months and allegedly lost 3 stone. The photos were to illustrate this 2 month period and nothing more. The before photo the woman must've been around a size 24. In the 'two months and three stone latter's photo she would've been around a 14 at most. She was actually less than half the size she was in the first photo. There is no way on earth she had only lost 3 stone to loose half her body size!!! Yet, people were responding with 'wow', 'omg', 'that's amazing' 'ooh I need some'

Seriously. When did people become so thick?

Tinkerball · 22/01/2015 11:48

I have someone on my FB raving about Younique mascaras at the moment, its awful, constant messages and pictures about how wonderful this mascara is, sounds similar.

Feminine · 22/01/2015 11:59

Is younique mascara the same type of thing Then?
I have a Facebook friend that has started started posting an alarming rate of stuff about it.

Discopanda · 22/01/2015 12:06

I knew it was Juice Plus!

TripTrapTripTrapOverTheBridge · 22/01/2015 12:07

Pretty much Feminine They got all hyped and brainwashed pushing the stuff before it was even available and they'd seen it themselves.

I believe it has the same MLM scheme format aswell. And,obviously,it's over inflated.

The only difference,really, is they act preach at everyone about supposed health benefits and how it will change your life forever. However, they do do the financial, work for us, pushing. There was one on here (prior to release or just after release) who got on the defensive when we were all saying it looks like you've stuck big hairy spider legs to your eyes, coming out with such nonsense as 'helping women all over the world to realise financial freedom'. Sure made me laugh Grin

TripTrapTripTrapOverTheBridge · 22/01/2015 12:09

*can't not act!

fuzzpig · 22/01/2015 12:10

Oh darn I was hoping for an update :o