Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Return Your Tools!

When I was recruited into Amway, one of the catch phrases was that you are now a business owner. It sounds cool to be a business owner, but in reality, it appears that IBOs are simply salesmen for Amway who are afforded no guaranteed wage or any fringe benefits. In fact, many Amway salesmen do Amway a favor and go out recruiting other salesmen for Amway without any compensation. It makes sense though, because to attain levels of significance, you need to have downline. While it is possible (but nearly impossible) to reach platinum and even ruby without downline, any levels higher will require you to have downline.

So as an Amway salesman, you have no minimum sales requirement. That may seem like a good thing but many uplines will impose a defacto 100 PV requirement for "serious" IBOs. If you are planning to sponsor someone, your upline will likely tell you that your donwline will duplicate your efforts, therefore the 100 PV "requirement". 100 PV will cost about $300. While it is possible to sell some products, it would seem that most IBOs simply buy their own goods and do not sell to non IBOs. It's puzzling to me that so many IBOs argue about Amway's superior quality of products, yet so few former IBOs continue to use Amway products at all once they are not IBOs and even those that do, would rarely ever attain 100 PV. So much for that argument.

What many IBOs do not realize is that their upline diamonds are also salesmen. In addition to moving Amway volume, they will be selling you voicemail, standing orders, premiere club, functions, book of the month. All of these materials brings in a higher profit margin than Amway products. Thus it would only make sense that your upline salesmen would want to sell tools more than Amway products because it has more profit. Where this gets shady is when your upline tells you that they have your best interest at heart or that you virtually cannot succeed without these tools. Imagine your reaction if a vacuum cleaner salesman told you that he has your best interest at heart and that you cannot possibly clean your home without his vacuum. In an odd way, that is exactly what is happening when you purchase tools from upline. What's even worse is that the tools rarely ever work out for the IBOs who buy them. What if you bought a vacuum that didn't work? You would return it for a refund. What if the salesman said you can't return it because you used it?

I find it odd that IBOs accept this BS from upline. That you can only return unused tools. You should be able to return a product because it didn't work! Did that standing order actually help you to sponsor new people? Did you sell more products because you attended a function? Whether a tool is used or unused should not matter. You should be able to get a full refund if the tools didn't work. If not, IBOs who cannot return tools should complain to Amway and the better business bureau, and file formal complaints. Many IBOs simply quit and walk away, giving the tool sellers a break. If the tools don't work, you should return them on that basis and demand a refund. I challenge IBOs and former IBOs to do this.

6 comments:

Amthrax said...

All of my tools have long since been sent to the dump.

Joecool said...

I am hopeful that someone who recently quit will read this and take action.

Anonymous said...

I remember excitedly receiving my first standing order thinking that it will share some amazing secret to success. Well, after listening to 100s and hundreds of so called successful Diamonds I found that if you heard one you heard them all, they are just another brainwashing method.
Mine have all gone to the dump long ago too.
It is funny and a little sad considering how much we originally paid for this junk. There are tons of people trying to unload this useless mind control garbage on Ebay http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=quixtar+tapes


***Former WWDB Lemming***

Anna Banana said...

I'm thinking small claims court cause we're still inside the statute of limitations. I have about a dozen cd's still in their packaging that our sponsor refused to buy back. Countless others that were thrown in the garbage but some still drop out of unexpected places. The cd says in small print Along the edge: "purchase of this cd is optional and subject to the refund policy described in your purchase agreement for business support materials. Purchases of future cd's can be discontinued at any time. While the techniques and approaches suggested on this cd may have worked for others no one can guarantee that they will work for you. We hope however that the ideas presented here will assist you in developing a strong and profitable business. This cd has been produced independently of any other corporate entity and has not been reviewed.

Ex Eagle said...

Joecool,

My upline's reply verbatim when I asked him for tool refund:

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Regarding the tool return policy directly to BWW, there is none. We cannot return tools to BWW once ordered and received. But as an active upline, we offer a money back guarantee to new people who are trying the cd/ book program. This is similar to the function tickets guarantee we give a new person. If I end up giving a refund, it is out of my pockets. So we limit this with new people who are trying this out for the first time.

That said, what we can do from our end is help in moving these cds to active IBO's who need them and refund the money as we collect it. Unfortunately there is no way of predicting a time frame for this. It is harder to move a bunch of new standing order cds in the group considering they all just received one. I see a better chance with the rallies, mechanics cds and the other tools.

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I must have returned at least 100 rallies and mechanics CDs.

It has been more than a year since I got this reply from him. Do you know how much money I got back? It is exactly 0. I asked him to donate the money to charity and send me an email about it. He has not sent me a single email about any donation!

Joecool said...

It is my belief that you should be able to return tools, not only unused tools, but tools that do not work. These leaders get a pass because they promote the tools often as "foolproof". Many countless numbers of people listened and applied the tools only to fail. These leaders have never been held accountable for bad advice or outright lies.