Over the years, I've come across literally hundreds (if not thousands) of blogs and testimonials praising Amway and its products. The majority of them express dissatisfaction with the difficulties of being an Amway Independent Business Owner. The majority of the complaints point to the fact that Amway generally charges higher prices than comparable retailers, as well as the fact that the system, which includes voicemail, books, CDs, and seminars, ate up any profits that the IBO might have made, resulting in net losses for the majority of them. Amway has not responded to the majority of the complaints. One particular Amway apologist bemoans the fact that the internet is replete with negative testimonials about the organisation. Why there are so many negative testimonies about Amway is because thousands, probably millions of people have either had a horrible experience with the company for the reasons I mentioned above, or directly know of someone who has had a bad experience with the company over time.
In defence of Amway, many independent business owners (IBOs) sign up and "do nothing," which is commonly cited as a justification. Nonetheless, I will readily point out that I have not heard of anyone who has joined Amway and then failed to accomplish anything or order items, before quitting and blogging about their terrible experience with the company. They will also equate Amway to a gym where individuals sign up but then "do nothing." Whether this is true or not, I do not see folks who sign up and then "do nothing" complain about not receiving health benefits because they did not do anything at all after signing up. It is a pretty ineffective line of defence. On the other hand, I have read several examples of people like myself who put up effort, some for many years, who followed upline's instructions, and yet did not reap the financial rewards that are advertised in "the plan."
Amway's defenders will then attempt to justify their position by claiming that the Better Business Bureau (BBB) gets few formal complaints about the company (see below). This is something I agree with. Many Independent Business Owners (IBOs) never bother to register official complaints with the Better Business Bureau or with Amway because in many, if not most, cases, the person who quits and may have had a terrible experience was sponsored into the business by someone else. The sponsor was frequently a friend or family member of the IBO who had previously left the firm to pursue other opportunities. Many people will simply go and forget about the incident, referring to it as a life lesson learned the hard way. Some will be dissatisfied, but they will have no choice but to use the forum to express their dissatisfaction with their decision to participate. Some of us have found that using the internet to share our experiences and our perspectives on why the firm failed has been really effective. This is referred to as the "online battle" by one of Amway's defenders. The fact that critics most often merely point out what the IBOs themselves have done is something I've already mentioned. A lot of the time, the IBO is his own worst adversary. After all, detractors didn't deny that Amway and Quixtar had a connection, nor did they make up promises about perfect water or anything like that, as some have done.
It appears that the majority of the issues are related to AMO systems such as WWDB, BWW, LTD, or N21, rather than other sources. Now, not all upline leaders are unethical, but it appears that a significant number of them are, and new IBOs have no way of distinguishing between the good and the bad. In addition, it looks that some of these upline executives will provide poor guidance. Advice that is destructive to the IBOs but financially favourable to oneself, such as telling IBOs to never miss a function or to purchase more CDs, is an example of this type of behaviour. The majority of the time, these unethical uplines are not concerned with IBO performance; rather, their purpose is to shift as many support materials as possible in order to finance their "diamond" lifestyle. Unfortunately, it has also become evident that the diamond lifestyle may in some circumstances be a ruse. An optical illusion of prosperity that is used as a recruitment tactic.
If you identify some of these warning flags, you should ask tough questions of your possible sponsor and look into it further by visiting this blog or some of the blogs linked to it for additional information.
0 comments: