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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

friend has effectively turned into a robot since starting her MLM business..

102 replies

ollieplimsoles · 16/02/2017 21:15

AIBU to think that MLM businesses ask that you completely change your personality to sell their crap products?

I have a friend from college, love her and loved keeping up to date with her witty facebook posts, tweets and instagram pics. She has a really clever sense of humour I always loved.

Recently though she has started her own MLM business and she is totally different on social media. All her photos are related to the products, her posts honestly sound like she has been told to write them and her photos have cringy filters over them. Every other word is hun now and she wouldn't say that before.

So is this it now? Shes like a totally different person!!

OP posts:
NotBadConsidering · 17/02/2017 07:43

m.youtube.com/watch?v=s6MwGeOm8iI Here it is. Long but brilliant, sums up their evilness well.

Oblomov17 · 17/02/2017 07:51

"I'm sure some of them think you can get a bus there from Hull. "
Grin

Megatherium · 17/02/2017 08:14

Interestingly, my JuicePlus bot has at last shut up about it. Something tells me that reality has dawned.

fruityb · 17/02/2017 08:15

I tried younique stuff so I could be informed in my decision it was overpriced crap! The face cloths are £16 a pack and no better than the £1 ones; the foundation felt heavy and caked and it smelt funny; lip stain just made my lips look like they were bleeding; the mascara is actually quite good till it does what mascara does and goes cloggy in a week... its horrendously expensive and not really worth it. I'd rather buy an established brand that actually sells in shops - which is why order only places are weird to me. I did love Avon but that was never annoying!

They're all buying from each other on their pages to falsely bump up sales, somehow my friend is ALWAYS number one seller on her list (she may be the only one doing it...) and talks about how it means she gets so much time with her kids. Yet somehow she's always 'working' late and discussing how to expand her business. How I have managed not to say "YOU CANT EXPAND YOURE A CUSTOMER NOT THE OWNER!! YOU DONT CHOOSE THE PRODUCTS YOU ORDER THEM FROM A CATALOGUE LIKE WE DO!!"

unicorn5629 · 17/02/2017 08:22

I'll be watching this thread with interest... a family member of mine has recently got involved and whilst her posts don't annoy me too much YET this has made me sad for her as on Facebook she appears to be doing really well. Wouldn't know how to broach the subject with her though ? Ps never brought a thing!

sobeyondthehills · 17/02/2017 08:28

I stopped feeling sorry for these people when I got told, if I had been using xyz then I wouldn''t of had a miscarriage, that friend got deleted so fast. Then got told if I used something else I would get pregnant again (2 years of trying) and then the icing on the cake this oil/tablet thing would cure me of my mental health problems.

I now delete anyone who starts, its bad enough to have to deal with the constant marketing but to actively spout bullshit when people are at their most vulnerable is vile

fruityb · 17/02/2017 08:32

Of course she appears to be doing well unicorn it's like American beauty where he says "in order to e successful one must project an image of success at all times". They are told to appear this way!

myusernamewastaken · 17/02/2017 08:40

Ive got a relative flogging Neals Yard and Nuskin....its really embarrassing and i cringe inside everytime she posts something on fb.

TheHodgeoftheHedge · 17/02/2017 08:44

lol I posted the John Oliver vid on the first page!

AllMyBestFriendsAreMetalheads · 17/02/2017 08:50

My JP bot recently posted that she was leaving the company... but has followed upline to another MLM company. So quietness isn't always a good sign.

BillyDaveysDaughter · 17/02/2017 08:52

Oh God yes. I had a fb friend who was hilarious, up until she got suckered into something (maybe juice plus, don't recall).

All her posts became utterly cringeworthy and littered with "huns". I unfollowed for about a year - re-followed again recently and thank fuck she's back to her old self.

Another RL friend has got into one of the beauty ones - but she doesn't peddle it on fb at all. In fact I use a couple of the products, because they are genuinely good.

unicorn5629 · 17/02/2017 08:54

Too true fruity Sad
I hadn't realised till now that there's people playing the puppeteer on these poor folk who only try making a living Blush
However I really have no sympathies for the ones who make health claims !!! Grrr

ShutTheFridgeUp · 17/02/2017 09:03

My best friend is a Y-Bot Confused she's currently pissed off with all her friends because nobody is willing to host an online party for her. This apparently means that they are unsupportive and don't care about the fact that she is trying to make a living. I've tried to explain that friends are not responsible for her financial situation and that you shouldn't expect anything from your friends as that's not the point of friendship. Sadly it has fallen on deaf ears....

I have managed to get away without 'hosting' a party this far, but I fear the time is drawing ever closer, despite me continually saying that I don't know anyone who would be willing to pay that much money for products that are, quite frankly, utter shite.

MaisyPops · 17/02/2017 09:20

ShutTheFridgeUp
So annoying.
It's when they share things about 'supporting independent businesses' rather than massive chains that i get pissed off.
Usually it's something like "when you buy from a company youre only lining the pockets of CEOs but whej you shop locally youre proving a comitment to local people. Shopping independently means children can have piano lessons etc."

So far, so true. but you are NOT an independent business. You are not an entrepreneur. You are not some homely local shop. You are morons flogging questionable product for massive international companies!
Visiting a local book shop, an independent cafe, a small local boutique, using local tradespeople are supporting local independent businesses. I do all of thosem i just dont want to buy your crap.

londonrach · 17/02/2017 09:27

Dont know anyone selling forever or any of that stuff. However lavender oil does work re sleeping. Superdrug used to sell it. If not try any supermarket, savers etc. Its not expensive.

Man10 · 17/02/2017 09:39

Shouldn't the law be tightened on this? I vote that everyone involved in an MLM has to register on a government web site and publish full details of all their cashflows on a weekly or monthly basis. So everyone they contact can look at their profile, see how much cash they've laid out and how much they've taken in. For each MLM the government can publish summaries showings the distribution of returns, so people can see how much they are likely to make lose if they get involved.

Man10 · 17/02/2017 09:42

It would be a criminal offense in itself to publish false or incomplete numbers. However even if there weren't a specific new offense, it would still be fraud, given that they are trying to sign up new people.

Lessthanaballpark · 17/02/2017 09:42

I've just watched and shared the John Oliver video. Does that mean I'm part of a pyramid now Grin

SnicketyLemon · 17/02/2017 09:43

I have a JP-bot. Endless posts of #smashingtargets #workfromhome #timeforme #beyourownboss #100 (not even sure what this one means). Also the random before and after photos where the person is clearly standing in the most unflattering position before and sucking their belly in as much as humanly possible in the after.

HerDarkMaterials · 17/02/2017 09:47

A friend of mine was unfortunately sucked into this shite years ago, it's horrible to see how much it has taken over her mind. She has had an illness and is now pushing her wares onto others with the same illness. The worst thing is, there has been research that this particular thing actually can make the illness worse or prevent the medical treatment from being as effective. Hmm

MiaowTheCat · 17/02/2017 09:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Cagliostro · 17/02/2017 09:59

YANBU I have a few on FB, one is on a new MLM at the moment - her third since I've known her I think... we met in summer! She even said the other day, this one is so much better than my previous business. Does that not tell her something, that the previous one lasted only a few months 🙄

popcornpaws · 17/02/2017 10:03

I have lost 8 and a half stone over three year by counting calories and changing how i view food etc.
A man came into my work and was talking about how much weight i have lost, he then went on to say, have you heard of herbalife?
I sort of laughed and said oh yes i have. He then went on to say i'l give you my number and we can have a talk about it. I said no you won't, i have no interest in it, i count calories and he replied, with herbalife you won't have to!

Again i said no thanks and as he was leaving he shouted over we'l talk about it.
Oh my god, i was fuming, i know the bastard would pretend to other people that my weightless was down to herbalife!
I can't wait for him to come back and give me his number so i can bin it in front of him and call security when he gets arsey, as I'm sure he will!

witsender · 17/02/2017 10:09

One of DH's old friends, a sensible 'normal' person has been consumed, by a make up one I think? Can't remember the name. Recent one was her being tagged in a giant 4x4 with her husband which was a gift/reward from the company apparently...As well as trips to LA etc.

Bonkers.

mermaidsandunicorns · 17/02/2017 10:24

The recruiters seem to troll the fb selling sites that I use it amazes me how many people don't realise the person posting the standard vague "looking for 6 people who want to earn some easy money" is fishing for recruits. I see so many people reply and 9/10 times the person isn't even local they just troll these groups randomly