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FIB - Scams 101 - Ye Olde Archives
Posted By: Stephanie In Response To: Melaleuca (Reta)
Saturday, 29 January 2005, at 10:50 p.m.
::looks up from homework::
Melaleuca? I don't remember how I came across Melaleuca but in any case, at the time I had no concept of what an MLM is and ran in blindfolded.
In general, I like some of the products(their bar soap really does last a long time, by the way). I listened to the recorded sales pitch and thought it sounded great.
I was, for a few months, signed up as a preferred customer and a business associate (or whatever their word for it is).
Paid for business kit. The deal was that I was supposed to receive residual income for everyone I recruited to become a preferred customer as well, and so on and so forth. My family has tons of friends so I thought I wouldn't have any problems. Oh yes, and I was required to purchase 30 points, or approximately $50-70 worth of merchandise, per month. This is the requirement to earn residual income and to pay preferred customer prices for their products, but not a requirement to buy Melaleuca products at retail (read, EXPENSIVE) prices without having to buy a certain amount every month.
"Oh, but it's all products you'd buy anyway! It's just like Sam's Club or Costco because you're paying wholesale prices without having to buy in bulk!"
Wholesale? Sure, that's great, except for the fact that everything is more expensive than what you can buy in your local store WITHOUT having to pay for shipping.
I could not afford this monthly requirement, I soon enough figured out, plus I am not built to survive in an MLM.
I was obvlivious to this until my mom realized what was going on, sat me down, and explained what an MLM is.
Shortly after that, I did a quick internet search on Melaleuca and found the article about the mother who committed suicide after her residual income from Melaleuca became residual NOTHING. I don't know where this article is anymore but if I get the chance I'll try to find it again. Anyway, the verdict by some is that the payment structure is flawed, but luckily I was not in it long enough to find out.
This was a little over a year ago. More recently I received a lovely sales pitch from a current Melaleuca "business associate" trying to recruit me whom I would have gently turned down had she not kept repeating "This is NOT MLM" in her sales pitch. I was so annoyed I deleted her email before I could send a nasty reply.
I'll let you be the judge.
Best wishes,
Stephanie
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