MLM Bot Watch 35 how to lose friends and alienate people with Younique Forever Living Juice Plus Arbonne Crypto currency and tea and coffee MLM cults

[BSintolerant]

Thread 34 may be no more;
Thread 35 is quite alive.

Let's make sure it stays that way.

This thread is here to expose the garageful of lies pedalled by multi level marketing (network marketing) schemes, i.e outrageous health claims, unlimited wealth and residual earnings, to name but a few.

#sackthebot

I wouldn't advertise or expect many people to make the same income as me as for many that's not why they join and that's not what we promise. Some join to get out the house, to build confidence, to work very part time and just make a bit of extra money with no aspirations to build a team. Many people do work in another job and just do this because they enjoy the books. Some join literally to be able to order discounted books for their family. There are no monthly targets or minimum orders, you just need to be active every 6 months to stay as an organiser. Many organisers don't do much Xmas and jan for example and take time out, this month I expect it to be switched and over 80% of my income will be from my own sales (school orders).

People who join will only lose money if they go mad spending on extras which are unnecessary right away (e.g. Expensive planners, display stands, 1000 business cards etc). Part of the DSA conditions is that any business signed up has to buy back unsold stock so it would be impossible to end up in a Lularoe situation as if you joined, bought extra stock, couldn't sell it & decided to leave you can send the stock back & be refunded.

Do they refund sellers in full for unsold stock?

I think there's a £10 admin charge but yes other than that anything you've bought in the prior 3 months you can get fully refunded on as long as it's still in saleable condition.

The refund policy advised by the DSA is 90% of what you have purchased over the past year. If you have been in the scheme for 5 years and have thousands in stock but the last year you barely bought anything because you were thinking of leaving you will not be refunded for most of the stock you have.

If your garage is full of 5 years worth of Aloe, you are out of luck.

I believe that while it is written into the DSA code of ethics it is actually a legal thing as well. It is a law in Texas. If your MLM operates in the US, which Usborne does, then to have a seller in Texas they need to abide by the 90% law. I am not sure if they have to extend that to all countries they operate in or if the UK part is because of the DSA code. But when US MLM companies tout the 90% buyback as them being generous, they aren't, it's the law. PinkTruth have lots of information about the 90% law

The 90% will also deduct any bonuses you have made from that amount. If you have £1000 worth of eligible stock for buyback but have made £1000 in bonuses for the past year, you get nothing.

Seasonal, discounted, and special promotion items also do not count under the DSA buyback, so there are plenty of ways for the MLM to get out of paying.

With all of those get out clauses, the 90% return looks much less attractive ,as well as i'm guessing you need to pay your own postage.

I'm guessing a high proportion of people would get next to nothing under the buyback after all the exclusions have been put in place.

DSA Buyback provisions:

BUY-BACK PROVISIONS
10.1 When a contract is terminated by either party within 14 days of its being
made, the member shall:
(a) refund all money paid by the direct seller in connection with joining the
scheme, and
(b) buy back any unsold product (including training and promotional
materials, business manuals and kits) returned by the direct seller
within 21 days of the termination upon terms which are no less
favourable than the statutory rights.
10.2 When a contract is terminated by either party after 14 days of its being
made, the member shall:
(a) buy back product (including training and promotional materials,
business manuals and kits) purchased by the direct seller within 90
days of the date of termination upon terms no less favourable to the
direct seller than the statutory rights; and
(b) buy back product (including training and promotional materials,
business manuals and kits) purchased by the direct seller more than
90 days but within one year of the date of termination at a price not
less than 90% of the VAT-inclusive price paid by the direct seller for
the purchase of those products less an amount equal to:
(i) any commissions, bonuses or other benefits (in cash or in kind)
received by the direct seller in respect of those products;
(ii) any amounts due from the direct seller to the member on any
account; and
(iii) a reasonable handling charge,
provided that:
(i) such product has not been purchased or acquired by the direct seller in breach of the contract;
(ii) the direct seller returns such product to the member in an
unused, commercially resalable condition not more than 14 days
after the date of termination; and
(iii) the member did not clearly inform the direct seller prior to the
purchase that the items were seasonal, discontinued or special
promotion products which were not to be subject to the buy-back
provisions of this Code.

What does anyone know or feel about partylite? My sister does it to show she is trying to work and how she struggles with it. I do worry they expect her to spend money she doesn't have especially with the move over to universal credit.

Oh thank goodness I found you all again!!

I've been sitting here a little sad as I got so heavily invested after I had read all the threads.

So, after a few days of no thread (I've just found you, was searching for 34 ) I have decided to take a deep delve into my Google photos..... back to my FL days (cringe) I played the first video.... let's say it was from the cubic zirconia academy the bot on stage, big number 1 with her husband. She actually says these words.... "you have to over recruit, recruit, recruit, recruit, because of all the people that join us, not that many actually work the opportunity straight away" no shit.

Another delight on the videos... same woman. (On the subject of not showing certain people on your who do you know list the business because deep down, you know that they will know it's shit) "how can you be so selfish to keep this business from people, they might NEED this business, how can you judge that for them"
Thanks for that, selfish.. Yeah. It was immediately after this "academy" that I left. It was actual brainwashing. And it cost £90 in the first weeks of bloody January.

More to come as I cringe my way through the videos

Now you can 'see' the techniques, go through them on occasion to firm your resolve.

OH @Mumblog4 this is gold. I have seen many ‘training’ videos focused on ‘prospecting’

Glad you found us again mumblog . Now you're out of it, you can really start to see the cult-like way that the audience is being manipulated. Its so cynical.

@jennielou75 - it's not one that has crossed my radar but I found this www.dalerodgers.co.uk/partylite-scam-review/

I would be very concerned about MLMs and Universal Credit though - you would really need to factor in all the costs involved when reporting income.

I'm currently down a rabbit hole on some mindset coach and goal mapping. I forgot all about it (this was 2016, January) but ohhhhhh the techniques used here. All very powerful stuff if I'm honest.
Lots of manipulative language.... lots of repetition particularly from top bot.

I also have a photo of every slide shown on those 2 days.

Bloody hell I've nearly signed back up again

In all seriousness, if anyone is thinking of going and joining a network marketing company and needs advice from someone who got out, my inbox is open. Or if anyone is reading this and needs help leaving one.. . I'm here. I can tell you it was so hard to walk away from, I got slated.... "if you fail at this business it's because you didn't work hard enough"
Trust me when I say this, I worked so hard, I gave it my all and then some. I sold a little bit of my soul (or so it felt) and spent absolutely zero time doing anything that wasn't related to FLP. ..

I'll be back with more, I'm sure.

I apologise if I'm rambling but another member if my family, massively successful (if money is the measure) business man, multiple companies..... fast cars, big houses the whole shizz.... sat me down and said why do you have to keep going to these trainings 4 and 5 times a year? Do you think anyone in my company gets to stand on a stage while we all clap them at how well they've done? Do you think that I need to tell my rags to riches story to my clients hoping to make a sale? He then went on (very gently) to explain that these MLMs make you feel so important, make you really feel a part of something don't they? They really look after you? I bet half of them don't even know your name..... he told me he personally made sure to know his staff, and "treated" them to things like compassionate leave and paid holidays (oh the cringing I'm doing remembering this conversation) I tried to defend FL .... but we have an investor's in people gold award, that means the uk government think we are a good company (ffs.... as if you'd trust anything the government backs, it's almost laughable)

So yep, I'm rambling..... sorry guys but it just feels soooooo good to get it off my chest!! It's the elephant in the room here im afraid, even after all this time I can't quite bring myself to mention it to my DH

@mumblog4 thank you so much for sharing your story

I’ve always thought those arena events were akin to brainwashing
So cult like

Oh I remember this, @MumBlog4,

I was in around 13-14 years ago and in the ‘cubic zirconia’ team. I remember being told so many times how I was doing people a favour by showing them this opportunity, how they might need this business. How dare we deny someone the opportunity?

I know exactly where you are right now.

@sponge I literally can't help it now it's all going to come out because if I can stop just one single person from joining or I can help someone through the process of leaving then it will have been worth it.

I have had a busy year setting up a real business so haven't had much time to sit and evaluate but now I have and my goodness am I angry. I'm particularly furious with my upline, who can't even say hello when she sees me in ALDI.... YES ALDI! (She was one of the 20k a month earners at one time)

Re the FLP trainings, did you happen to go to a certain training weekend by a lady with the initials JR?

She was the one who opened my eyes. I saw the whole thing for what it was, unbeknownst to her. Money money money, spend it and I’ll tell you what you want to hear.

@curles I am finding it quite fascinating to watch the videos.... borderline hypnotic

@curles.... I don't think so.... although I am wracking my brains now to think who that is

I’ll message you.

Oh mumblog , I totally believe you gave it 100% and it makes me angry when the top pots accuse you of not trying hard enough that's why you are failing.

Your relative who sat you down and explained now real businesses were run, did you a huge favour by pointing out the stark differences between MLM and proper businesses. Did you listen to him at the time? Had you already had doubts? Did his intervention seal your decision to leave?

It must have taken all your courage to make that decision, you have invested your soul into succeeding like you'd been taught would happen . Glad you're here to offload anonymously. .

@golden I did take in his words, I tried to argue my point but I could see his were far more balanced and valid. I remember showing him a couple of videos and saying look, these are my friends look how nice they are and how well they've done. I can feel myself getting hot just typing this...

I got reeled in after id just had a baby, I spent most of my pregnancy poorly and didn't get out of the house much. I got introduced to all these glamorous mum's and they were all SO NICE.... messaging me all the time asking how we were etc etc. Anyway, I was the recruit that broke not only a supervisor, but a manager and a soaring manager too so my 2cc made a lot of people a lot of money

My decision to leave was really my DH saying to me if I give you some money will you start your own business and leave forever.... he started me up and I haven't looked back. I think the family member had a whisper in his ear shortly after our conversation and directed him how best to get me out. I need to work from home you see.

My poor DH though, he is so supportive even if what I was doing was making no money at all.

Don't worry, MumBlog - you're not rambling.

Have you thanked your DH and your family member for helping you escape?