http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=192279&page=8
It's refreshing to see so many good people on this forum telling the truth about Amway. It looks like the pro-Amway shills here and on other sites are becoming increasingly outnumbered and desperate. I've read through this entire thread and think it is hilarious how many times the shill has to move the goalposts or play word games to make Amway look like an amazing business opportunity.
I was originally introduced to Amway many years ago in my late teens by an uncle of mine. I attended a few of their seminars and was impressed at first. But the whole thing started to seem ridiculous and unrealistic and so I didn't get involved any further. Also, I'm not that materialistic, so Amway's message doesn't appeal to me. I wish my uncle had been more skeptical.
My uncle was very devoted to Amway for a few years. He bought all their products (especially the tapes and books), tried to get others to buy them, and also tried to recruit all his family and friends into his new religion. He eventually lost money and friends and alienated himself from much of his family.
Already heavily in debt, he eventually fell for another, even bigger get-rich-quick scam shortly after quitting Amway (to Amway's credit, they don't threaten to kill anyone for leaving Amway). This one robbed him of his entire life savings. The scammers got away with it because they knew how to play him right (he met one of them through Amway). His wife divorced him soon after.
As if this wasn't enough, after making a modest financial recovery with his business over the course of several years, he loses it all to yet another scam. He had to borrow heavily from the few friends he had left since no bank would ever give him a loan, and almost no one in the family has anything to do with him anymore. I haven't seen him for 15 years.
One thing I wonder about my uncle is if all those seminars and inspirational tapes and books softened him up to fall for all those other scams he fell for after quitting Amway (he didn't have a reputation for being gullible before joining Amway, though he was never that bright to begin with). If I remember correctly, he tended to blame himself for failing at Amway and may have never understood that it was a big scam or at least not a good business opportunity.
I still remember those crazy seminars and how they told everyone that joining the Amway cult will likely lead to yachts, exotic vacations surrounded by hot bikini babes, and shiny expensive cars, among other symbols of wealth. Everyone is told at the seminars and in the "tools" that they have all this unfulfilled potential, but to realize this potential we must avoid those small-minded "dream killers"(skeptical family members and friends).
The story about my stupid uncle is true. There are many other people out there just like him who have fallen for Amway and others MLMs. The few people I've met who claimed they were very successful at Amway usually seemed sleazy or I would find out years later they were up to their eyeballs in debt.
The person who said before that the people who regularly attend these seminars are mostly fools and misfits was spot on.
2 comments:
Joe, this man's comment on his uncle's experience in Amway, and how it basically ruined the uncle's life, is parallel to what I experienced.
My cousin recruited me into Amway somewhere around 1970. But as I have mentioned several times in my posts here, I saw pretty quickly that the thing was an unworkable racket, and I quietly quit after a few months.
My cousin quit also, about a year and half later. But the same thing happened to my cousin as happened to this guy's uncle. Amway spoiled him forever, financially speaking. For the rest of his active life he was always falling into silly traps and scams that urged him to "Get in on the ground floor," or promised him that "This will lead to residual income for life!" And in every case my cousin walked into these rackets with wide-eyed enthusiasm, and then lost his shirt.
Against the advice of older family members, he went into a fruit and vegetable business with dishonest partners, and was cheated. He then got into a racket selling cellphones. Then he tried to become a meat-supplier in a quasi-MLM scheme, and whenever he arranged for a sale his up-line jumped in and took the profits.
It was one thing after another, and my cousin remains hard-up for cash even today. All of this is due not to any lack of effort or ability. He is a very sharp guy with plenty of intelligence. But he was infected with the Amway disease very early, and its entire pie-in-the-sky philosophy was branded into his brain. If he had simply gotten some kind of long-term solid job, with a dependable and genuine business, he could have become very affluent.
Yes, the Amway dream can infect even the most intelligent people. For most, the light comes on quickly and they get out with little fanfare. But some smart people get fully indoctrinated and they wind up spending years chasing the fake dream. A former physician of mine got into Amway and he was involved for about 25 years. Not sure if he's still in, but I honestly believe he wrecked his life and his future chasing this fantasy.
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