MLM Bot Watch 17- chat about Utah based tragicomic cultastic racketeering scamalangadingdongs like Forever Living, Ariix, Herbalife, Younique, Juiceplus etc etc etc

[Toobusytowee]

A brief history of the threads so far-

A few people were bemused at their friends' strange personality changes when they joined MLMs.
Eyespying told us they were tragicomic, thought stopping cultic racketeers.
We told him to go away, he was clearly obsessed, and can he go to his own serious thread?
We delved a bit deeper into the issues.
Eyes started creeping back. We told him he was too serious.
We became more horrified at the information being turned up and were sharing links.
Eyes told us aboutMerchants of Deception.
Timeless Vie was set up as a parody about MLMs.[[www.facebook.com/timelessvie
Facebook,]] Twitter, blog, Instagram and YouTube were all used.
People started coming forward, telling of their experiences in MLMs.
We became more horrified.
Bot Watch started on Facebook where links were put up of interest to do with MLMs.
Botwatchblog started and produced factual analysis of the discussions from MN.
MLM members (bots) waded in saying it was all ok. You can earn great money. You just have to work 19 hours a day and not worry about morals.
Bots complained about their names being used. Their lawyers complained to MNHQ so that MN now do not allow us to use bots' names or show screengrabs of their writings even if it is in the public domain.
Blogs and FB posts increased, with the increasing amount of facts and whistleblowers coming forward.
FL lawyer tried to get TV YouTube video banned.
Bots claimed we were bullying them because we were asking them questions they couldn't answer. we were called middle aged women and accused of being drug dealers.
It got a bit nasty so we ate some cheese for a bit and they went away.
Health claims from FL bots now reducing dramatically as a result of pestering from all of us.
We stopped telling Eyes he was too serious. We all started thinking in his language and realised he was right.
Eyes turned out to be very funny and entertained us all.
Sunday Times article produced exposing FL. With a little help from people here.
Lawyers still persisting in trying to ban TV's videos.

Some links of interest-
A factsheet aimed at people considering joining an MLM or who have just done so, to warn them of some facts. tinyurl.com/ha6sgxw

A film of herbalife victims describing what it is like in their MLM-

A film on how to spot a pyramid scheme-

A comedy review of an MLM product- www.youtu.be/4yr_etbfZtQ

And the riposte always is "I'm not on benefits!"

I'm not saying there is anything wrong at all with receiving tax credits but it is (again) disingenuous to claim it has got you off benefits...

Re Contacting the Advertising Standards Authority

It does work!!!

www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2014/6/Slenderiiz-UK/SHP_ADJ_259386.aspx#.Vv_K0FPcvIU

This is the link to the June 2014 ASA ruling on claims made by Ariix The Opportunity Company in regard to their Slenderiix homeopathic drops - you know the ones in the tiny bottles which cost ITRO £120 but it's ok you can do a payment plan

From the ruling:

Issue
The complainant challenged whether:

1. the ad made medicinal claims for an unlicensed product; and

1. the claims that Slenderiix & Xceler8 were capable of achieving weight loss were misleading and could be substantiated, because they understood that any weight loss achieved on the programme would be the result of the reduction in calorie intake and exercise.

Response

1. & 2. Slenderiiz UK provided a study entitled "A Randomized, Blind, Placebo-Controlled Cross-Over Study: Exploring the relationship of an exclusive homeopathic weight loss tincture combined with therapeutic nutrition in relation to reversal of visceral adipose fat tissue stores and serum inflammatory markers, which indicate risk factors for leading causes of death, including congestive heart disease and hormone-related cancers".

Paragraph 5 of the ASA assessment:

In light of the possible limitations of the methodology used, we considered that the study was unlikely to be sufficiently robust to support any weight loss claims

Paragraph 7 of the ASA assessment:

Because those medicinal claims were being made in relation to unlicensed homeopathic products, we concluded that the claims breached the advertising Code

Action
The claims must not appear again in their current form. We told the advertisers not to make medicinal claims for Slenderiix and Xceler8

FLhaha yes publishing a factual statement is fine. It's not usually those posts on here that are libellous - it's the posts following them that then begin to stray into defamation.

For example:

OP: "Look what my MLM seller Joanne (made up name) posted on her FB.... "

Next poster: "What a load of utter made-up bollocks. She should be sacked for that."

The defamation is in the second post.

Also, the DWP have my FOI and I'm due the results in four days (and counting)

ahem.......

bestcompany.com/mlm/

www.bottlesoup.com/2015/07/12/too-legit-to-quit-or-a-scam-what-a-jamberry-nails-consultant-said-about-jamberry/

^ article about an MLM bot who lied about her income

very interesting throwing

That article is hard to read, even though it comes as little surprise.

The previous post she did attracted a lot of attacks from Jamberry sellers and one of these actually apologised in the comments of this article, stating she was correct about everything.

I wonder how many bots have felt the same about these threads after leaving their MLMs.

Just saw a post on one of my local FB sites for a company called Life Tree World. The lady who posted said it was alongside nu skin? Anyone know anything about this one?

I think there's been some posts about Life Tree World. It's buying your groceries but from them. They're more expensive obviously. Think there's a membership as well. Big ol scam

Insightful and disturbing Blog article on Jamberry.

Uplifting to know that there are a lot of investigations into MLMs who target often financially vulnerable people using misleading and often untrue information.

Hopefully there are more ex or current MLM participants willing to share their experiences.

If you think that by posting here will result in unwarranted attention then information at the following sites is helpful.

botwatchblog.wordpress.com/author/botwatchblog/

timelessvie.wordpress.com/

Thank you Dolly first time I have seen an ad for them. Didn't appear to have any likes or comments so far.

Is anyone here in Canada? I'm sure I read somewhere today that there is a law in Canada that MLMs have to reveal earnings achieved by their members. It'd be great to see what people are earning there.

What would be also interesting is whether it stops people saying they are earning more! Do Canadians still get FB feeds clogged with '2 months in and already earning more than in my ful time job' .

I'm sure I read somewhere today that there is a law in Canada that MLMs have to reveal earnings achieved by their members

For me this is the crux of the matter. I am a cynical realist (!) and accept that there will always be someone somewhere trying to make a fast buck using MLM / pyramid scheme tactics. What is needed is a law that requires MLMs to disclose straightaway to those they are trying to sign up:
-how much to join
-how may others have joined in their postcode
-how much can be earned per hour (living wage?)
-the additional costs involved beyond the purchasing of products
-the average commission earned per participant
-average time each participant stays with the MLM (churn rate)
-a 'typical 'participants daily routine (not needing childcare)
-whether participants will be expected to take part in NLP/mindset type training

Any others?
Has anyone on these threads started a UKGov online petition? One where the content was accepted by the Petitions Committee? Or that was successful!!

I've been on these threads since it was just Eyespying pissing in the wind - hopefully there's still some momentum (pun intended) Car boot time!

Toobusy I think you are referring to the article that pretty posted upthread, this one, where it mentions that:-

"...similarly, ACN, the MLM famously endorsed by Donald Trump, offers nothing for USA participants, but does offers an "average income" figure to Canadians..."

and here "...offers no historical income information to USA consumers for its "business opportunity." Same for Tupperware (NYSE:TUP) in the USA, but it does in Canada, as required by law there..."

If Canada can pass a law requiring MLM companies to publish financial figures, surely we can?

Morning folks, bots were busy on a training day yesterday, wonder if they paid more than the petrol for it or if it was a freebie? Anyway, I was having a lovely day out with my family, gotta feel sorry for their families.

Arbonne produce a uk income disclosure statement but I don't think it stops the consultants being misleading. In fact my friend had an arbonne sales pitch given to her where they actually got the disclosure statement out and pointed at the top numbers to show how much money you can make (there are only about 5 people in the top income bracket out of about 10,000 consultants - they neglected to mention that bit).

I'm not saying it wouldn't help if they all had to produce them though because I think it would. I expect the ones that don't currently produce them have the worst numbers. I wonder why FL don't produce one....

darcey when was that! I know when I was conned by them they didn't use that. I know there was a big fall out from my whistle blowing to the states so maybe they have brought this in since?

Only a few months ago so yes maybe it's been brought in since. I'm sure they don't all get it out during the sales pitch though, the numbers at the bottom are not exactly a selling point! I thought it was an interesting tactic!

ha ha yeah I read a bot post advert on how she loves that her "job" means she never misses a minute of her kids childhood....
Next post on her page- how she had just had a lovely day at their team training

Also- timeless vie has been chatting to someone on Twitter who is in touch with the MHRA who are starting now to investigate claims by Juice Plus sellers...
Have suggested she gets in touch with bot watch too (FYI toobusy)
She is compiling screen shots of dodgy juice plus health claims...

Ughhhh more juice plus lies

Interesting pebbles

I'm amused at using the income statement as a selling point!