A reader shares their Amway horror story.
My best friend of 10 yrs is an ambot. She is secretly dating a guy in Amway,
& tells us she doesn’t want their relationship to be official & out on
Facebook as they don’t want to mix business & their relationship. After a
month she told us she didn’t think Amway was for her, & we felt relieved.
The next time we saw her, she told us she was back in Amway & her “passions
were set on fire.” As her friend, I wanted to support her happiness & knew
if I expressed any concern, she’d view it as me being a “negative” person.
My best friend is my maid of honor in my wedding (I’m engaged) & w/i a few
months, I watched my best friend give up: her videography business, Bible study
with us for Amway’s “church services”, working with a financial advisor for
retirement as “Amway has a better financial plan,” a European trip she’d been
planning for MONTHS because she “didn’t have time to travel,” & abandon our
friendship for amway
My best friend texted me asking what I was doing the next day from 7:40-9:00pm.
I told her I was free & she manipulatively invited me to an Amway event
& expressed that I could benefit from hearing it & it would mean a lot
to her. I responded saying I love & support her but no thank you, amway isn’t
for me. She was upset & ignored me & when I asked if she’d gotten my
previous text to talk, she she didn’t need to explain herself & that she
was going to be busy in the next weeks so we couldn’t see each other.
At this point, I knew I had to express concern because a good friend would do
that. Even if it meant it backfiring. We finally met up & after some small
talk I said, “I think this deserved a conversation & so I wanted to share
with you why I declined your invite to your Amway meeting.” I told her how my
grandfather was in Amway & it was a big reason he & his wife got
divorced. They were raising 5 kids & he was losing $ in amway. I also told
her I did a lot of research on Amway & concluded based on those 2 things
that it wasn’t for me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t support her & her
happiness. She got offended. She compared me to one of her other friends saying
this other friend would go to a meeting if she asked. She said she wanted me to
go so I could understand where her priorities were focused & so I could ‘understand
why we wouldn’t see each other that much’
She told me that I “just have to go to the meetings to understand why I’m not a
priority” & I told her if someone asked about my business, my faith, etc
that I could explain it to them in words for them to understand. She said “when
I achieve my dream, I’m going to take my friends & family on exotic
vacations all around the world!” I said, “so all the friends & family you
made not important in your life are just going to all of a sudden go on
vacation with you?”
I told her I missed her & feel that I’m losing my best friend (i’m
sobbing at this point telling her this). I asked her what she gets from Amway
that she wasn’t getting in our friendship. She brought up hanging around
successful people & I asked her what success means to her & she said
following her passions. I asked her if she thought I didn’t follow mine
(because I do). I asked her if she thought I was unsuccessful.
I asked her if she had any idea how hurtful it’s been to be penciled in &
put on the side. She got defensive & said “I’m done with this!” & left.
I said “you will always be my best friend & I will always be here for you.”
We haven’t spoken since.
Amway isolates people who aren’t in Amway. Amway encourages its IBO’s to break
it off with anyone who is ‘negative’ (i.e. anyone who isn’t in Amway), Amway
says those “negative people are close-minded” when in fact Amway is
close-minded to anyone who doesn’t believe in “their way to success.” If you’re
not making money for your upline, Amway doesn’t give a shit about you. Amway
positively reinforces those who are selling & who are remaining active by
buying or selling products--if you’re slacking (i.e. missing
meetings/conferences or not meeting sales, they will bully & manipulate you
to feel less than).
To my best friend who is in Amway: I know my best friend is still in there and
I’m angry that Amway has brainwashed you. I am very hurt by this but will
accept you in loving arms if Amway doesn’t work out the way it was sold to you.
We've heard this same horrible story over and over again from countess people all over the world. The viciousness, the contempt, the sheer lack of courtesy towards family and friends... its always the same thing! Amway is a poisonous infection, a disease, a cancerous growth... it turns people into monsters of selfishsness and hatred for non-Amway members.
ReplyDeleteI hope the nasty bitch described in this posting dies of the drizzling shits in a back alley.
Anonymous - yes everyone has very similar Amway stories. Whether you're a former Ambot or you're friends or relatives of an Ambot. Just some details are different but the emotional and financial losses and being abused by the fucking assholes in the Amway upline don't change.
DeleteGod bless this reader for sticking by her friend. I was in an MLM once and know what it's like. Hardly anybody was making even enough money to cover expenses let alone a minimum wage for their time. The only ones making really anything were the cult leaders who sell the "tools", book the cult conventions, and give the hyped up hot air speeches etc. It's hard to break free and admit you were scammed after trying so hard to recruit your friends into the scam but it's important that the recovering cult member know that they still have good friends who will be happy to have them back without judgement.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - I was expecting this reader to say no fucking Amway losers in my wedding party! It's unknown how that played out but normally the maid of honor and bridesmaids buy their own dresses. Can you see how that would go over if you counselled with upline? They'll tell them not to buy the dress and use that money instead of buy more Amway shit. Oh and of course there will be a very important ScAmway meeting on that day anyway so you can't attend the weeding. I don't know how I'd feel about someone fucking up my wedding day especially if it was a last minute drop out as maid of honor. Would I keep sticking by that friend and happy to have them back after they leave the Amway cult?
DeleteThank you, reader, and thanks Anna, for posting. Anna, do you and your readers think it's best for people in the same situation as this reader is to keep believing their friend/lover/relative is in there somewhere and keep being hopeful that someday that IBO will see the light, or is it better for them to give up on the IBO completely, forget about them, and move on?
ReplyDeleteJerry - Amway's head office says that 95% of participants quit within 2 years. Many Ambots quit after a few months when they realize they aren't making money and are losing a lot of money and can't afford to keep buying Amway shit and going to major functions. Those of us watching from the outside hope it's sooner rather than later than the Ambot sees the light and that they've been scammed and quit. I'd say depending on how long a person was an Ambot and how badly they treated their family and friends goes a long way whether relationships can be mended. Sometimes never.
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