This is an open letter basically explaining Joecool's position and why in my opinion, criticism of Amway doesn't stop. (Reprinted, but still applicable today)
Dear Amway,Why does criticism of Amway continue Ad Nauseum? Because you have not taken any apparent visible action(s) against higher level IBOs who make their living by ripping off unsuspecting prospects and faithful downline by feeding them lines about how easy it is to build an Amway business and how they can ditch their jobs and live on easy street. I saw it and there are countless testimonies and experiences posted on the internet. Residual income, passive income or whatever it's called, continues to be a theme that get repeated by IBOs, in particular, newbies.
When I was an IBO in WWDB, we were fed outright lies by upline. Nobody made any money from tools being the biggest. Downline were taught how long they could string out their mortgages or electric bills so they can attend functions and buy more tools. Yes, IBOs have culpability as well, but the culture of these groups is one of trust and loyalty to the diamonds. Amway's owner, Mr. DeVos acknowledged this in his 1983 speech "directly speaking". But despite the speech, no apparent visible action was taken, thus the status quo continued. Even the accreditation system which seemed nice on the surface appears to be a farce. I believe that possibly millions of people over the years have been adversely affected financially because of some of these Amway IBO leaders.
Many of the same leaders who lied to benefit themselves are still at it. A fellow blogger named "Rocket" at one time, reported a possible violation where crown ambassador and IBOAI member, Brad Duncan is caught on tape claiming that IBOs can make "hundreds of thousands of dollars" a month in Amway. The apparent response was to make non sensical remarks and then eventually no response when pressed for one. I also reported a WWDB IBO who was making disparaging and false statements about some competitor's products while making misleading positive statements about Amway products. Your response was no response, and my comment wasn't even published on your "Amway Answers" blog. Ironically, one of the topics on that blog was about how Amway doesn't turn a blind eye to problems. Yeah, you can say it but your actions show something else.
Maybe someone can explain why actions in other countries indicate that the folks who sell Amway tools are scammers. For some reason, the regulatory agencies in the US have not taken notice of the tools business. The Dateline segment in 2004 exposed the tools and systems. It became a big debate on the internet with critics and proponents. While Amway can claim innocence because the unethical actions were taken by IBOs, or "independent" business owners, I still believe that Amway has a responsibility to reign is some of the sales force that represents them.
Food for thought: Joe Paterno was an assistant and head coach, an icon at Penn State University for more than 60 years. He was fired some time ago because he had knowledge of child abuse occurring at the program under his watch. While he was not personally guilty of this, and did many good things for Penn State and the community, still his inactions may have caused harm to befall innocent children. Ultimately, he had the ability and power to stop the wrongdoing but did not. It is a sad ending for a man who many consider a legend. I wish his family well.
Amway can reign in the tool abuse and take control of some of the bad leaders, but apparently has not and will not. The fight goes on......
Forget it, Joe.
ReplyDeleteThe Amway Corporation of Ada, Michigan will never take responsibility for what happens in the legally independent AMO subsystems (WWG, Network 21, BWW, etc.)
They simply DO NOT CARE. Like Pontius Pilate, they have washed their hands of the entire matter. Anything that is unjust or illegal or unfair or deceptive in the subsystems is (in their opinion) none of their concern.
This is part of a larger problem. The Amway Corporation has the exact attitude as every other big business operation here in the United States. They view their occupation as a refereed game (like football), and only when a referee calls a foul on them do they stop and accept a penalty.
Since the government has said nothing about the "tool" scam, the attitude of Ada, Michigan is that everything is OK. No foul, no penalty. And since Amway has political control of much of the regulatory branch of the American government in relation to MLM policy, don't hold your breath waiting for any changes.
The only way to hurt Amway and other MLMs is to run websites like this one, and to keep publicizing world-wide the horrors that are being perpetrated by this corrupt racket of fake, phony business.
We're already having a major effect! We have cut Amway's profits by many millions, and have made it next to impossible for IBOs to recruit new down-line here in North America. Believe me, Joe -- Amway is having a shit-fit over this.