Thursday, June 11, 2015

Secret To Amway Success: Ripping Off Customers


I’ve attended a few entrepreneur workshops – you know for real business owners not for pretend businesses like Amway's commissioned salesforce who pretend to be business owners. Just about every entrepreneur in the room says their superior customer service is what sets them apart from their competitors. Or their superior customer service will set them apart if they are still in the process of setting up their business. I don’t know why everybody says that. I guess they all want to think their fantastic customer service will be the talk of the town.

 

I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone say their low prices is what gives them the edge over the competitors. To me that would be the huge bonus over customer service. In this day and age customer loyalty is a thing of the past. People go where they get the best deal and the least amount of hassle.

 

The thing about customer service is the customer doesn’t always require customer service. I walk into the grocery store with my shopping list and I know where I’m going to find things in the store. I rarely have to ask for assistance so I have no idea if most stores offer good customer service or not.

 

I’ve heard many Amway IBO’s brag about offering excellent customer service. Most of them didn’t have any customers! So yeah I guess its easy to offer excellent customer service to a zero customer database!

 

All I can say to Amway IBO’s is if you’re ripping off the customers every time you make a sale - how can that be offering good customer service?

 

A brainwashed ambot will argue something stupid that Amway products are high quality and the high price reflects the high quality. They ignore independent studies that show Amway products are generic at best and often lower quality than much cheaper brand name products on the grocery shelves.

 

Eventually customers (and here its probably friends of family giving the IBO a pity sale) will get fed up with paying double or triple what they can buy a similar or better product for at Walmart or Costco or wherever and won’t be back to buy any more Amway shit - no matter how excellent and superior the customer service the IBO’s like to think they possess.

 

If the customer doesn't need it or thinks its too expensive, no matter how excellent the customer service is, the customer won't be back for another sale.

 

If IBO’s count on offering great customer service as the secret to their success, they fail to realize that not everyone is looking for superior customer service. I prefer to get good deals and no hassles. That means I don’t want to get ripped off by overpriced Amway products and I don’t want to be hounded by an IBO about how Amway is the secret to financial success and a lifetime of residual income in 2 to 5 years.

 

Word of mouth recommendations about IBO's customer service and Amway products? I think a lot of bloggers cover this topic. Amway ambots can't move past the reality that no matter how superior their customer service might be - or what they perceive it to be - ripping off customers with high priced inferior products means they are really giving shitty customer service.

 

 

 

13 comments:

  1. Exactly. The economy is such nowadays that people watch their dollars spent and are looking for good deals. That's why places like WalMart and Costco are doing so well. No one wants to pay double or triple the cost for water or vitamins or whatever. Customer service really doesn't come into play when I can just drive around the corner to Sam's Club, pick up the items I need without hassle or any problems, then come right home. AND save money compared to if I bought from an Ambot.

    Then there is the other aspect of buying from an Ambot. You become a potential "target" for recruitment by them. Their smiley, lovebombing, everything is a sales pitch manner of speaking grows old. They start to nag about you replacing everything in your house with the higher priced Amway shit. When I go to Sam's Club I don't have their people bugging the shit out of me to buy more things or to come work for them too or come to a Sam's club meeting. And that's the thing. Most people like to be able to come into a store, find what they want, pay for it and walk out with no hassle. Plus it's less expensive than buying from the Ambot, no matter how much they view themselves as "customer service oriented". No one wants to be pestered. I have yet to ever get a call from someone at Sam's Club pestering me that it's time for me to order more detergent.

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    1. Anonymous, in addition to Walmart and Costco I was just reading how dollar stores are doing really well. Just about everything Amway sells can be bought at dollar stores and the customer is getting better quality than Amway's similar product.

      But you got the program. Drive to Sam's Club, get what you need, and no employees are hassling you chasing you around and wanting you to be a member of some secret expensive social club. People don't want to shop where staff are bugging the shit out of them. Amway Ambots don't get that concept and are as annoying as hell to everyone they know begging and pleading with them to buy their shitty overpriced Amway products so they can make a few pennies commission.

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  2. I made the mistake of joining Amway back in 1989/1990 for a brief period of time. I think I was involved maybe 3-4 months. It started with a co-worker calling me up on the phone and saying he had an exciting opportunity to tell me about and asking if he could stop by in a half hour to give me some info. Of course he didn't have time to explain over the phone as I requested. Anyhow, he stops by and pulls his car up on the curbside, leaves the door open and the motor running, and comes up to do the door to drop off a manila envelope with a cassette tape in it. Says he's in a hurry and no time to talk and says just listen to the tape and he leaves. I realized a month or two later that the man followed the script to a T.

    Anyhow, for some reason I took an interest in this and started going to local meetings and trying to get friends and family to sign up. Actually pissed a few people off in the process and they wouldn't talk to me for a while. My main reason for getting involved in this I think was impatience and frustration with a new software company that I had started that was floundering and losing money. I saw this as a salvation to that harsh reality. The final straw/eye opener was when I took a trip down to a Amway conference with some people in my upline and after sitting there for two days listening to basically cult leaders give their "Rah Rah" speeches I realized that I had in fact enjoyed a cult. And while I was down there my grandfather passed away. So not only had I joined a cult I was not home grieving with my family like I should have been. Big time wake up call.

    I quit as soon as I got back from DC. Naturally the folks in my upline got nasty with me about it even making sarcastic remarks about my failing software business. Well when I got back I began to put all my energy into my business and my family and can now proudly say my software company has been a success (26 years and going strong!), I've put my kids through college, the business financially supports my parents in their retirement, and my wife and I enjoy a very nice lifestyle that is based on something solid and tangible and not based on the shaky foundation of what is essentially a pyramid scheme.

    My advice to young people (I was 23 at the time when I got involved in Amway) is to get the Fuck Out before you waste any more time and money and instead invest your valuable time an energy in something that you can rely on.

    And good for you Anna for creating this blog. Maybe it will help a few people wake up and save them years of frustration because the 99% that will never make any real money at this scam will look back and see nothing but a hole in their life.

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    1. Hi Anonymous! Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your story. I'd like to think that your words will help people not get involved in Amway but some ambots will look at your story and sneer that you didn't try hard enough. Blah blah blah that I'm sure you already heard from the nasty bastards in your Amway upline.

      Nothing's really changed in how Amway Ambots prospect people into the Amway cult. They still drop off a tape for you to listen to but they also say they want you to meet a really sharp businessman they know. A successful entrepreneur. And they can't promise anything but they might be able to get you a 15 minute appointment with him for coffee. Yeah see you at McDonalds! That's the sales pitch today. And come to the next Amway cult meeting to get love bombed.

      You were the right age. Too young to have heard about Scamway and probably had room on your credit cards to buy shitty overpriced Amway products. And you learned a valuable lesson about pyramid schemes and cults so maybe that was worth the money you lost. You know to stay away and you know to tell your family and friends to stay the hell away.

      And yeah nothings changed about mandatory attendance at all Amway cult meetings. No matter if someone is in the hospital, or a funeral, or a wedding, or a party or whatever. The Amway cult teaches that your family is not as important as worshipping the Great Amway God.

      And way to go on the software company! We also have our own business and its doing well, we have a nice lifestyle, and we do all this through our own hard work and energy and not lying and scamming people. That's something to be proud about - for both of us. Something that Amway assholes can't say about themselves.

      Amway leaves a hole in many people's lives. Bankruptcy, divorce, foreclosure, emotional distress, etc. Those of us who aren't being brainwashed can see Amway as it really is.

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    2. Excellent account from someone who's "been there". Your story closely aligns with 99% of those who have ever gotten into this scam. The way they misrepresent their "excellent opportunity", how secretive they are in revealing what it is or how it works... until they have a chance to either immerse you in the brainwashing materials or get one of their lying "closers" there to fast talk you with bullshit, smoke and mirror "dream talk" and double speak using clever tricks to actually make something that is nothing more than a 99% failure rate pyramid scheme actually sound feasible. They are damn good at lying.

      And you can bet the very folks who sneered at you when you left for your software company have either left Amway themselves after no longer being able to afford the debt, or are still in it (lifers) still chasing after that elusive carrot that will never arrive.

      Glad you got out before it could wreck your life, as it has done to many people. It's nothing but an evil cult that feeds a tiny percentage of folks at the tippy top of the pyramid.

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    3. This is so true, I'm glad anyone searching for Scamway truth will find this and hopefully think twice before going any further into this cult. I've been following your blog since about Feb. of this year. I find it useful, supportive and informative as I have some family members involved heavily in Scamway - one for over 20 years. They're still chasing the dream, are NOT free as they always have to go to meetings and "conventions" (money making appearances where they fake, lie and con anyone that will listen). Family is last, their fake God is greed, narcissism, and lies upon lies. The truth is here and now with you and Joe Cool. Thanks for your blogs and helping those whom you are preventing from ruining theirs and others lives.

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    4. Hi Anonymous. 20 years is a lifer in the Amway cult. 95% of IBO's quit within 2 years but your relatives like the Kool Aid. They'll hit 65 and be broke like the prediction you hear at every Amway meeting about being broke or dead by 65 if you're not in Amway. The opposite is true. You're more likely to be broke if you're throwing your money away on Amway all your life. Chasing the dream of being rich thanks to Amway the Cult of Greed. Yup we're all about being supportive here. And we'll even be supportive by cursing out the Amway upline for those who don't have what it takes to do that! We're all about turning the tables around here. When you're inside the Amway cult they're disrespectful to the rest of the world. Here we're disrespectful to Amway Ambots and they get so outraged. They're angry because when we share our stories of what its really like inside Amway. The financial and emotional distress. Hopefully we can stop others from making the same mistake. And with the Internet and people able to do searches about Amway its getting harder for IBO's to scam new prospects.

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  3. Great post! I have never been in Amway/Ambot - however with 2 family members so deep and brainwashed - I am saddened their is no hope. I try to remain positive when I speak with them; however, will never purchase from them as I have found a better "deal" "price" and prefer to get high quality if it means high prices. As I was looking for a network marketing company, and found Isagenix. Truly, I enjoy having the products and now am pursuing it as a business. The leadership does not preach this way, and definitely tell you - if someone says no - then move on. The more no's the better, grow thick skin - however, it is not for everyone.
    Thank you for sharing your post.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Annie. Sorry to hear about your family inside the Amway cult. If they've been in for several years then they likely are so deeply brainwashed the only way they'd leave is to hit rock bottom: divorce, bankruptcy, foreclosure, etc. That's what Amway does. Steals you blind and wrecks your life. Yup just about everywhere else you go shopping has a much better price and better quality product than those shitty overpriced products Amway flogs. And you don't want to be enabling your family anyway because it gives them false hope they can become a good commissioned salesperson with Scamway. I'm not familiar with the company you're involved in but if you find it's something you enjoy doing and you're making money and not losing hundreds of dollars a month, then there you go. You've found your calling. Thanks for stopping by!

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    2. Personally, I am wary of any multi-level marketing scheme, simply due to their principle of operation: recruitment of other sales people to make money. Seems to be that at a certain point the market thins as there is more competition out there selling your same product. Yeah, you get a tiny portion of what they sell, but rarely does it amount to much overall in the pyramid. The only folks in any pyramid who make the "big bucks" are those who got in at the ground floor and are among the tiny few at the top making really good money. I found someone who posted something that goes into more detail of the pitfalls of this particular MLM: http://www.bionicafitwarrior.com/the-problem-with-isagenix/

      As Anna says, if it works for you then fine. Won't go into it more because this is an Amway blog, not Isagenix. But good luck to you.

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    3. Anonymous - I'm with you. I have no interest in MLM schemes. Amway is the worst of the worst and the people in other MLMs aren't dealing with assholes in their upline who bully them and brainwash them and keep the screws on them until they fork over the money to the next conference. I know someone who sells Avon. For years. She likes their products and that's why she became a rep and she has friends and coworkers who buy from her. I usually buy stuff on sale but Avon's prices are so reasonable anyway if its something I like and need I don't wait for a sale. They earn commission if they sell $50 of products and the commission varies depending by how much dollars in sales they made could be up to 50%if you make a lot of sales. Also depends on how much commission level is attached to that product. Probably lower on all those sales items I like. She probably makes enough on commission to buy the products she uses though a couple of years ago she tried to invite me to a meeting and it was all about recruiting new reps. No thanks. So obviously she's going that route to have a few people under her. Not sure how that's going. A little issue came up and we're not so good friends anymore but I'll still buy products from her, just don't ask her much about what's going on.

      And that's kind of like Amway. They attach PV/BV to all their products and at Scamway meetings they ride everyone's asses to buy Nutrilite vitamins because that has the highest level. They also flog XS but that might also be due to one of the Amway cult leaders having a piece of that business.

      If someone comes up to me and says they're a rep for MLM and they make a few bucks, they don't lose any money, they just like the product, then good for them. Its the lying Amway assholes that show up here and claim how much money they're making when we know they're lying. We were inside the scam. No one made money except the ones at the top of the pyramid and even then we don't know about their debt.

      You don't see people from Avon all over the Internet claiming they got scammed, too high prices, the upline are a bunch of assholes. You don't. You see Mary Kay complaints maybe! And that's the difference. People want to warn others not to get scammed. No one goes around accusing Avon of selling overpriced shitty products and the sales reps are all a bunch of fucking assholes. Amway is the king pin in that department.

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    4. Hi Anna. You are right about Avon. My wife pretty much handles it the same as you described above. She does it very casually and makes just enough to pay for all her own Avon products which we all love, and that is the only purpose of it. Sales are never a problem since the products are well liked and reasonable in cost and has regular customers so she really doesn't have to spend much time on it. She doesn't hear from any "upline" nor does she ever go to "meetings". And she has zero desire to have anyone "under" her. From what I've read, Mary Kay is more like Amway than Avon.

      Like you said, Avon is not the same as Amway. Amway has a HORRIBLE reputation, and the big push by the upline is on recruitment, seminars and sales of tools since Ambots are usually their only customers due to the prices. And people LOSE money because of that. Lots of it. I'm not even sure if someone could use it in the same way as I described the Avon above to just make enough money to cover their own purchases of the products since the Amway products are so terribly expensive and finding a customer base is difficult as who the hell wants to pay MORE for products with a bad reputation?

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    5. Anonymous - yes,your wife's got it figured out. Avon is a well known company that sells good products at a good price. And sells the type of products at a price that people want to buy. Their products are often cheaper than what can be bought at the drugstore and when they go on sale there's even better savings.

      Claims no one flogging Amway can make! LOL!

      For example a couple of weeks ago I bought an Avon face cream for $5. Similar product, same volume size at Amway, over $50! Like holy shit! The product including the packaging probably costs each manufacturer around $1. The owner of each company takes away enough to make a profit and the rest is commission to the sales rep. In Amway's case the owners take a hefty chunk and then commission has to be split between a bunch of upline Amway assholes who did piss all to generate the sale in the first place. Nothing other than sign up to Scamway before the low guy on the pyramid did.

      I don't think an Amway rep could ever be in the same position as an Avon rep like your wife in that they sell enough products to make commission to cover their own personal purchases. Seeing as how an Ambot has to buy around $300 in shitty overpriced Amway products every month they'd have to be making around $10,000 in sales to suckers to make enough commission to cover their personal products.

      Your wife probably just has to find a handful of customers each month who buy around $50 products and they might not be the same customers each month but they'll keep coming back when they run out of stuff in a couple of months. You buy $50 in Avon products and you can get face cream, some lipsticks, mascara, nail polish, deodorant, bubble bath, and perhaps put in some more effort to get to $50 and get a bunch of really good products. With Amway you can buy one face cream and there you are.Stuck with a shitty overpriced product.

      And its reputation too. Avon has a much better reputation than Scamway.

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Comments are moderated but we publish just about everything. Even brainwashed ambots who show up here to accuse us of not trying hard enough and that we are lazy, quitters, negative, unchristian dreamstealers. Like we haven’t heard that Amspeak abuse from the assholes in our upline!

If your comment didn’t get published it could be one of these reasons:
1. Is it the weekend? We don’t moderate comments on weekends. Maybe not every day during the week either. Patience.
2. Racist/bigoted comments? Take that shit somewhere else.
3. Naming names? Public figures like politicians and actors and people known in Amway are probably OK – the owners, Diamonds with CDs or who speak at functions, people in Amway’s publicity department who write press releases and blogs. Its humiliating for people to admit their association with Amway so respect their privacy if they’re not out there telling everyone about the love of their life.
4. Gossip that serves no purpose. There are other places to dish about what Diamonds are having affairs or guessing why they’re getting divorced. If you absolutely must share that here – don’t name names. I get too many nosy ambots searching for this. Lets not help them find this shit.
5. Posting something creepy anonymously and we can’t track your location because you’re on a mobile device or using hide my ass or some other proxy. I attracted an obsessed fan and one of my blog administrators attracted a cyberstalker. Lets keep it safe for everyone. Anonymous is OK. Creepy anonymous and hiding – go fuck yourselves!
6. Posting something that serves no purpose other than to cause fighting.
7. Posting bullshit Amway propaganda. We might publish that comment to make fun of you. Otherwise take your agenda somewhere else. Not interested.
8. Notice how this blog is written in English? That's our language so keep your comments in English too. If you leave a comment written in another language then we either have to use Google translate to put it into English so everyone can understand what you wrote or we can hit the Delete button. Guess which one is easier for us to do?
9. We suspect you're a troublemaking Amway asshole.
10. Your comment got caught in the spam filter. Gets checked occasionally. We’ll get to you eventually and approve it as long as it really isn’t spam.