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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To delete friend who has joined an MLM

482 replies

lastqueenofscotland · 16/09/2019 13:35

A lady I know from work has joined an MLM selling some sort of laxative coffee.
Her FB and instagram are covered in posts for it and about her promotions/trying to get a car etc etc.
She very much fits the profile of people they poach, she’s a SAHM and it’s been a squeeze of late for her.

I think MLMs are poisonous and I hate seeing her posts flogging this nonsense.
AIBU to remove her from my friend list

OP posts:
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5
FelicisNox · 17/09/2019 20:53

@CrystalShark you need to get over yourself and preferably pick a side.

1st you belittle @CoffeeQueenOfHerts then agree that MLM schemes are a rip off. (They are but there are kinder ways to get your point across).

You then say you're attacking her intellect rather than her size (like that makes it better): you're not qualified to make that judgement and your nasty comment makes you look like a right c*w so based on YOUR comments, you're in no position to be taking shots at anyone.

I see it didn't take you long to take the bitchy ball and run with it and not content with one comment you just kept coming back.

It's people like you that gives MN a bad rep for being an online playground for mean girls that never grew up and on that basis I think you need to take you're own advice.

@lastqueenofscotland snooze her, she thinks she's found the answer to her financial dreams but she will soon realise that's not the case and once she does she will quietly disappear and will reappear product free at a later stage. Poor woman.

Booyahkasha · 17/09/2019 20:57

They all leave after a few months when they realise. Guaranteed.

CatherineOfAragonsPrayerBook · 17/09/2019 21:04

There's an intellectually sneery tone to this thread.

Of course awareness needs to be raised about the pitfalls of MLM's.

But the how is everything.

Cacacoisfarraige · 17/09/2019 21:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

IAmALazyArse · 17/09/2019 21:08

😮😮😮 Someone actually censored "cow" on MN😮😮
I LOVE THIS THREAD

On a serious note. Are all of you defending the ones high up so you are nit losing anymore but the ones under you do and you don't give a shiny shite cause you make money ?

macem · 17/09/2019 21:09

Some of us are equipped for modern life, naturally cynical and mistrusting, some of us aren't. We don't get to choose.

It's sad watching nice trusting people being indoctrinated in a cult like way, insulting them makes for unpleasant reading.

Haffiana · 17/09/2019 21:09

There's an intellectually sneery tone to this thread.

Yep. So there should be.

neonglow · 17/09/2019 21:17

I’ve seen a number of FB friends join an MLM (ranging from FL to body shop to Usborne), including women who are well-educated and had professional jobs prior to having kids.

It’s the same story with each one- Non-stop posts on their ‘business’ page as well as personal profile with deals/raffles/products/prizes and absolutely NO interaction on them from anyone (well maybe initially a few likes/comments from close friends and family trying to be supportive in the early stages). Despite this more posts on how successful they are with their new business and how wonderful it all is. Then all traces disappear after six months or so.

Eatdrinkbemerry · 17/09/2019 21:22

I don't support people because they have a vagina

Grin made my night!

VibeRides · 17/09/2019 21:38

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Toomuchtrouble4me · 17/09/2019 21:38

@CoffeeQueenOfHerts

Wow. So if a famous person, whom u admire, bring out a drink of orange, u wouldnt try it?

😂 😂 😂 - No, of course I wouldn’t try it, not unless they were famous for creating great orange drinks!

VibeRides · 17/09/2019 21:40

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

YouokHun · 17/09/2019 21:45

@vibeRides you’re not allowed to shill MLM or other spams on mumsnet - their policy

Woodlandwitch · 17/09/2019 21:46

@viberides WTF?!

TurtleneckTuna · 17/09/2019 21:56

Why are people selling special coffee to make you shit, normal coffee works for me.

Amen to that.

This thread is amazing.

I don’t agree that we should be mean about people’s intellect but people who sign up to an MLM clearly don’t do their own research. They may still be intelligent people but it’s a foolish mistake not to (even if they have been preyed on!)

TurtleneckTuna · 17/09/2019 21:58

Can anyone work out what viberides is actually selling?

YouokHun · 17/09/2019 22:00

Holton Buggs - Previous scams include IQ Chain (ponzu scheme) and Organo Gold. OG was a big scam and lots of people lost money. He didn’t though, he just moved on to Viberide’s scam

catwithflowers · 17/09/2019 22:21

Perfectstorm. Excellent post

KindredSpirit1 · 17/09/2019 22:39

@ratatata Multi-level marketing (MLM), also called pyramid selling, network marketing, and referral marketing, is a marketing strategy for the sale of products or services where the revenue of the MLM company is derived from a non-salaried workforce selling the company's products/services. Basically to make money you have to persuade others to buy and sell. Only people at the very top of the pyramid make the money.

MrsKahlo · 17/09/2019 22:43

@miagerbies I feel like we have the exact same friend!!

drum123 · 17/09/2019 22:43

Has anyone else seen the travel agency MLM? Can't remember the name, but join them and you'll have an AMAZING life FOREVER and be able to go on holiday to ALL the MOST WONDERFUL places in the world. And you'll join a FAMILY of travel agents who all SUPPORT one another AMAZINGLY. Yeah, it would be amazing if they all supported each other in chasing customers to buy their services.

GeraldTippett · 17/09/2019 22:48

Is HB the guy behind the new travel MLM? A friend has just become involved with this and I feel very sad for her. Solo mum to 2 kids and not a great income from her full time job. She's very intelligent though but I think also desperate to generate another income stream to protect herself and her kids. Apparently this travel one is going to be the next Uber Hmm

GeraldTippett · 17/09/2019 22:49

If drum cross posts!

CatherineOfAragonsPrayerBook · 17/09/2019 23:00

Yep. So there should be.

Well I just think that if the intention is to genuinely raise awareness and discuss the issue in a way that doesn't draw an Intellectually superior vs intellectually inferior line of comparison, it will come across as more genuine, make others think, make those who have been drawn in by these scams less defensive and better expose the greedy A holes who are ultimately at the top of the triangle.

From what I saw of the documentary and frankly what I see on instagram etc, whilst you could sympathise and excuse some hard up SM for being drawn in and trying her luck, a lot of these MLM's are pushed by women who are in decidedly better circumstances with degrees, supportive partners, assets etc.

I don't think there's such a thing as being unscammable. I just believe it's an interaction of the wrong thing at the right time plus personality factors.

I remember when the whole "Mumpreneur" term was coined in the 90s and I was constantly reading stuff about great businesses and inventions women were developing at their kitchen tables on shoe string budgets, or internet focused businesses built around their interests. The business awards they were receiving, how they were expanding their great baby inspired businesses, oh and they still had time to play with little baby Ethan etc etc...

Spiel usually went something like: Samantha Jones used to work as [insert well paid corporate position] in [some city somewhere] Then she discovered she was pregnant and had an epiphany of developing a new business based on X strategy to combat Y problem. It worked!! Husband is so proud. Baby is thriving. Samantha sells this strategy to other women it only costs a few quid (a sizable amount) to join. Go to XYZ website...oh do not question whether any of the women involved have actually seen their money's worth or whether it actually solves Y problem. Do not ask how much money they are really not making

It took me a while to work out most of them were making nothing from those businesses (and the vast majority disappeared). In the age of (relatively new) internet marketing a slick glossy professional looking pitch seemed authentic to me.

I haven't read every single post, but I do think the merchandising of these MLMs seem to target people who are gregarious and socially outgoing with loads of friends they can sell to and enjoy using facebook etc. I'm pretty impervious to those since I love my privacy, am an introvert and stick to instagram, (where I rarely post) Quora or MN. I would be mortified trying to sell things to others.

But fake "I will show you how to make £2000 bullshit pounds a month while you sleep from following my amazing business strategy, I work from Cocobana beach and all I need is my laptop, you could be here too.. just sign up here it only costs £199 a week to make £0.09" .....I do have to have a blanket 'don't even go there in my head' to avoid.

CalishataFolkart · 17/09/2019 23:51

This is a fantastic thread.

Does anyone remember a craze a few years ago for "sharing" books? It was exactly the same format - give six away, get 36 back - but I never understood the point of it. It's a lovely idea but why attach it to a mathematically unsound format? I wondered if it was some sort of recruiting scheme - if someone signed up for it they were a prime target for an MLM. A little bit like using a crossword to recruit for Bletchley Park codebreakers, but for nefarious reasons.