To ditch a friend over the Thermomix cult.

[habibihabibi]

My friend has been brainwashed firstly to spend an incredible amount of money on a thermomix and then has signed up to convert others to do the same. Is it not pyramid scheme ?
Nothing she posts all over SM or says in RL is without some reference to the overpriced appliance. In my favour we live faraway from each other but wait...she found me a local dealer. I do not trust things sold in this way nor feel comfortable with the concept of only being able to purchase something through another cult member having attended their special induction.

I ditched others over Forever Living.

Its obvious the people here comparing it to a pot or a rice cooker don't know much about it.

Wrong. I know alllllll about it since my ILs talk about it all. the. time. Still don't see the point.

Just tell her they're cheaper on eBay.

Seriously OP, why cant you say no to this person?

I suppose eBay would be a good place to look for something like this.

But if there's a lot on there, it suggests that they're not the miracle solution that's claimed.

Although if you have the cash available, it's low risk as you'd be able to buy it at well below RRP and then sell it again and get most of your money back, if you decide that it's not for you.

It’s not a pyramid scheme. I bought mine 11 years ago and haven’t heard from the sales consultant since. Neither has anyone I know who has one.

It sounds like she's just a bit over-enthusiastic about her new gadget. Maybe humour her and give her some time. I've got one (they are considered almost essential in some countries) and it really helps me cook from scratch, as I'm pretty time-poor. TBF, I was probably a really irritating friend too when it was brand new.

Sometimes I think these people have to convince themselves that the 1000 pounds plus that they lashed out on these is worth it . I too have had to sit through one of these demos a long time ago by a friend .

@SheWranglesRugRats

Its obvious the people here comparing it to a pot or a rice cooker don't know much about it.

Wrong. I know alllllll about it since my ILs talk about it all. the. time. Still don't see the point.

Well, that's fair enough. As I said already, they aren't for everyone. But I wouldn't part with mine.

I wonder if it’s the same person I know who has just signed up OP!

I spend a lot of time analysing MLM as I am part of something called mlmtruth.org. It’s made up of ex MLM people who lost money, friends, marriages, social standing as a result of their involvement or people who saw damage done to others. We’ve talked a lot about how to help people who get involved and it can be very tricky because they are so often conditioned to reject doubts from outsiders. They are also conditioned to take responsibility if it goes wrong for them which it does for just over 99% of those that sign up.

Thermomix is a little different from the Forever Livings of this world but they are really all recruitment devices with product really only a cover. Thermomix does seem to be at the direct selling end of the scale of dodgy pyramiddy set ups but that doesn’t mean people don’t lose money. Thermomix seems to cause problems for people because the cost of the item is so high making it very tricky for the individual to sell in quantities big enough to really make money. If your social circle is 100 people and they all want a Thermomix then great but what are the chances? And will they want to buy again next year? Vorwerk is pretty secretive about its distributors average earnings for Thermomix, but I found some figures which indicate that in 2018 Vorwerk had Thermomix sales of 1079m euros and 44,500 independent sellers sharing a portion of the sales (I think they get c£400 a sale after they sell a certain amount). I believe you have a minimum quantity you have to sell before your commission improves. It’s actually very difficult to find out as they are not at all transparent about the % of people making money which is a bit of a red flag. The problem with the difficulty in selling enough product is that it does generally push you towards trying to build a team.

Even if your friend sticks to selling she’ll have to try and monetise her friendships which can cause real damage to people. I have heard the product is good but even so it’s not easy to sell.

The best you can do is remain supportive generally but say you won’t be buying. It’s hard watching people being sucked in but try not to aggressively dump her as she’s probably going to need friends when it goes tits up.

She doesn’t live in a town on the south coast does she?!

We have one, it’s good, never been bothered by the sales people, very popular kitchen equipment on the continent, been around for years. I have no interest in promoting them but they aren’t dodgy. Your friend has got carried away, I would block if she is driving you crazy.

Buy one. Don't buy one.

I don't care. I'm quite happy with my KitchenAid.

But trying to sell me a gadget, bombard me with posts about it, add me to groups evangelising about it? No. That crosses the line into cheeky annoying fucker territory.

A relative of mine does something similar, I just had to come out and say I'm not interested please don't talk to me about it again and she doesn't. We're still friends.

I’ve had one for the last 15 years. They are more than a pan and stick blender and actually quite amazing. I bought my first one in Germany when I was working there as everyone had one. They are huge there, as well as in Italy, Portugal, Poland and Spain... The machine is brilliant for both newbies and more accomplished cooks. I agree though, it’s a shame it’s set up like a MLM as it puts people off buying them. I wouldn’t dismiss having a look at one, just be firm if you don’t want one. The bit about the local dealer sounds odd, I’m guessing you didn’t tell her straight that you weren’t interested and she too your silence as a “possibly” ?

“Liquidiser, whisk.”

Got both already.

It’s just landfill. Waste. Rubbish.

£1000! Wow. I had never heard of them. Presumably they have to deprive you of food for 2 days and give you no sleep and blast loud music into your ears day and night whilst showing you images of how it will all stop if you spend £1k on this white elephant.

Talking of MLMs though, there is a brilliant podcast called The Dream, you might want to share it with your friend.

haven't RTFT but...
I don't think it's an MLM - they only sell via demos because they have a LOT of functions. They do other appliences too which are all equally expensive but very good quality (we had a vacuum cleaner for about 20 years and the rep turned up every year to give it a service (at no charge) and always left us a few bits of things for it. Over the years we had it it worked out much better value for money than any other vacuum cleaner.

A lot of very high class kitchens have a Thermomix, they're brilliant and most chefs i know (and i know a lot) love them.

as for this
For £1200 I could pay a chef to come and cook for me for a month. not a good one. Deffo not mine

My washing machine has a lot of functions. I still didn’t need a bloody two hour master class to buy it.

@Brefugee I completely agree the appliance is fab and also that most of those stating that they have a whisk so why need a Thermomix don’t actually do a lot of cooking, or, have much knowledge about truely cooking from scratch whilst holding down a full time job with kids, but, vorwerk is set up with a typical MLM style hierarchy, the reps are all commission based / freelance and are quite open about how much they are incentivised to recruit. I only know this as I upgraded recently (I’ve kept my TM31 and given my TM5 to my brother) and the rep was quite open about it (I work in recruitment so may just have asked the right questions !).

Ah ok. I've never really had anything to do with the company. I bought my vacuum cleaner at a country show - at a discount - and that was that apart from the annual service.

My husband is a chef in a high class place and they all love the Thermomix so much they have 3.

I do a shit load of cooking from scratch, have worked full time for 35 years and brought two children up at the same time single handedly.

I still have never needed a thermomix in my life. I do have a friend who is a dire cook though and bought one because she thought it would make her a cook. It didn’t, and now it gathers dust.

@brefugee - I’ve also been eyeing up the vacuum cleaner. There is just one model right?

Seriously though I don’t understand this idea of ditching friends because they’ve become involved in any kind of MLM. So it’s not your thing. And? Just ignore the MLM stuff and pay attention to the rest.

Problem is there doesnt tend to be much non-mlm conversation to pay attention to with these types.

That said, I agree with PPs that if she's a good friend the best course of action is telling her straight that you're not interested, and if that fails muting SM until she hopefully gets bored/realises she'll never make any money.

Never heard of it so I googled.

This snip from the web page says it all. Nasty MLM business. No kitchen gadget is worth that.

@Whenwillthisbeover the words “shit” and “cooking” are never a good mix in one sentence. People used to also wash their clothes by hand before washing machines and heat their irons over the oven before electricity .... but I’m not here to convince you, I was just giving my two cents (based on 15 yrs of having one). I also think the OP isn’t asking if the appliance is necessary or not, it’s more a friendship thing. I’m still interested to hear from @Brefugee about her fab sounding vacuum cleaner

most of those stating that they have a whisk so why need a Thermomix don’t actually do a lot of cooking, or, have much knowledge about truely cooking from scratch whilst holding down a full time job with kids

Nonsense. You have no idea about any of that.