Amway Ruined My Life

 A reader recounts her personal experience.

I believed I was living the life of my dreams. My spouse and I were married for six years at the time of this writing. The next day, we closed on a house with the help of a tiny bequest I'd gotten as a down payment. Three-bedroom house with a lot of character. I was in love with it and imagined I'd be content here for the rest of my life. Four years have passed since the birth of our son. My spouse worked as a courier, and I've been working as a cashier since returning to work following maternity leave in the same place. We didn't have the most glamorous occupations in the world, but we were content and able to pay our bills. We had some money in the bank. My spouse was cheerful and amusing, and he was a wonderful father. It was a pleasure meeting one of the kindest persons I've ever met in my life.

A couple of days later, he comes home and tells me that while driving home, he met this fellow who is running a home-based business and that he will be dropping by in an hour to tell us more about it. I was interested since my spouse was enthusiastic, and I'd like to be able to work from home while also being present for our son. Right now, we're fortunate in that our church provides reasonable child care, but I'd really like to be able to avoid going to work every day. This pair shows up, and they appear to be pleasant. They show us this idea, but I'm a little perplexed by what I'm seeing. Nothing more than the fact that we consume an energy bar and an energy drink on a daily basis and recruit others to do the same means that we can earn a thousand dollars a month working from home part time. I inquire as to how long they have been in this business and how much money they make. It appears that they are both uncomfortable, and all he says is that things is going quite well, and then he changes the subject completely. He informs us that he has a contact he would want us to meet who can better explain the nature of his business, and he pulls out his cell phone to call this individual. But before I can stop him or explain that we need to think about it, he has convinced this guy to meet us the following night at McDonald's, of all places!

We meet this guy, and I have an immediate dislike for him. He reminds me of a sleazy used car salesman, which I find amusing. The first time we hear the phrase Amway is when he tells us that the firm he's involved in exclusively utilises Amway to transport their products and that he would like us to join a company called the World Wide Group, a leadership training company, and that he would like us to become Platinum members. World Wide Dream Builders and WWDB are other names for this organisation. They put a lot of pressure on us, telling us that now is the best time to sign up for this fantastic business opportunity because things are about to explode and we'll be in position to make a lot of money. They're giddy with excitement and anticipation.

My husband has expressed an interest in participating, and I have agreed. I suppose it's not a bad idea to give it a shot. Was I ever completely wrong! Amway quickly descended into hell very immediately. This happened two years ago, and it's been a living hell since. We are required to attend these meetings at 8 p.m. on a number of times every week. They can be expensive at times, but they are all expensive because we have to hire a sitter for each and every trip. They repeat the same thing at every single one of these gatherings. When you show them the Amway business plan, they all start bragging about how much money they're making or are going to earn, and everyone knows they're lying. We live in eastern Washington, and we are close enough to go to all of the major meetings that are held in Portland, Spokane, and Boise, which are all within driving distance. When they're a week or two apart in various cities, they want us to go to more than one of them at the same time.

After a year, our savings are completely depleted. Currently, we owe over $20,000 on our credit cards, and we have boxes of Amway stuff in the garage that my husband was forced to purchase due of the pressure from his upline, who turned out to be the worst group of shitheads I've ever seen in my life!

The shithead at the top of the corporate ladder advises us to use the equity in our property to pay off the debt. I despised having to do this. My home serves as a form of protection. We are able to pay off the debt. My spouse has been laid off from his work. I'm still not sure why, but I assume it has something to do with Amway, because he has transformed and has become into a pretty nasty person who insults everyone who doesn't support our Amway enterprise. He's constantly on the phone, and I believe he may have been meeting with his upline rather than completing his route this time. According to him, this is a positive thing because it allows him to devote his entire time and energy to growing our Amway business. We have to use our credit cards because we need to purchase more Amway items, but we also need cash advances to pay our mortgage and other bills because my wage does not come close to covering our financial responsibilities. Fortunately, we have a savings account. In the last year, we had accumulated $30,000 in credit card debt.

In July, we travelled to Portland, Oregon, for a family reunion. My cousin lives in the area, and we may stay at her home while she takes care of our child. My husband, though, is adamant. We must spend money to stay in a hotel so that we can be in close proximity to the jerks in our upline and attend late-night meetings, which are referred to as night owls. I'm a tad miffed. We got into a large fight, and I end up staying with my cousin while he goes to the hotel to recuperate. I did not attend the family gathering. I sobbed uncontrollably to my cousin all weekend about the shambles our lives have become as a result of Amway. Because to my husband's demeanour, we have long since alienated the majority of our relatives and friends, and this will continue.

That weekend, I make the decision to leave Amway for the sake of my own sanity. My husband, though, is adamant. He believes that success is just around the corner. Is he playing a joke on us? We only had two people join up in the first two years, and that was right after we got started. A couple of our pals joined and then quit after a few weeks because the jerks in our upline insulted him, and the other pair was a friend of ours who merely joined to get us off their backs. When the year came to a close, they did not make any purchases and did not renew their membership.

We're currently going through the process of getting divorced. He has moved out and is now staying with one of the shitheads who has taken him in. The house is now on the market. My parents are assisting me with the mortgage payments until the house is sold, and they have hired an attorney to represent me. My spouse is being represented by an amateur lawyer employed by Amway who has no legal background. One of the main things they are concerned about is that I do not obtain control of the Amway company. Shitheads, half of nothing is still half of nothing! Aside from that, I don't need half of the debt! I suppose I can forget about alimony or child support because he doesn't owe any of them. I'd like to get custody of our son. He has the right to keep custody of the Amway jerks.

This is not the way I had anticipated my life to turn out. I'm 32 years old, living on my own, and raising a young boy. It won't be long before my lovely home is no longer mine. When I get out of this marriage, I will have absolutely nothing.

All I can say to anyone who is solicited by someone from Amway to join their company and sell their products, as well as recruit others to sell Amway items, is to say don't do it! Because the products are too expensive, no one is interested in purchasing them. And no one wants to be a part of it. It's a complete waste of time and resources.

Thank you, Amway, for completely destructing my life.

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