Helpful Links

From time to time I’ve brought up links to items that are useful to people searching for answers about Amway. Recently a few links have come up again in the comments section so for anyone that missed some of these or any new readers, these might be useful reading and listening.

Merchants of Deception was written by former Emerald Eric Scheibeler. He talks about the brainwashing and how he only earned about $35,000/year when he was at a level where he expected to be earning at least 100k based on Amway propaganda and what he’d heard from Diamond speakers. He uncovered the real money to be made in Amway was the sale of motivational materials - books, tapes/CDs, and speaking at functions. Its a really chilling read at times. Everything he said about Amway meetings I heard the same thing too. I could have been there. What he described was what I’d experienced. And most importantly he tells how 99% of IBOs will never make money in Amway. Reading it shows the lies that were told to us were the same lies he heard and the realization that no matter how hard we tried to make money at Amway, it just ain’t possible.

http://www.transgallaxys.com/~emerald/

A few years ago NBC Dateline exposed the Amway scam. They covered the brainwashing and showed scenes at arenas that show this cult in action. They catch IBO’s lying - not that that’s difficult! They all lie! The above author Eric Scheibeler is interviewed for this TV show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot31XhgE_XE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc4-34V75SQ

Steve Hassan has helped deprogram former Amway cult members and members of other mind control cults as well. There is a 2 part interview on Youtube about the Amway cult.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CApMzIX46kw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2kQii3WC9Y

Pyramid Scheme alert has resources and they deal with all pyramid schemes, not just Amway.

http://pyramidschemealert.org/

Here’s a link to some WWDB/Amway bullshit propaganda. All the circles and double back talk about how much money you “could” earn in Amway if you find a few people who can duplicate what you do and they find a few people and so on and so on and they include as part of your earnings a potential savings of a couple hundred bucks - difference between Amway retail and wholesale - if you buy around $600 worth of shitty overpriced Amway products. In small print you will see the actual percentage of people earning money - a fraction of 1% of IBO’s.

http://www.cviko.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/BusinessOverview1.pdf

If some scheming lying ambot tells you that Amway has the best possible BBB rating, send them to Amway’s web page with the rules of conduct that state the BBB doesn’t allow its names used as an endorsement of products and services and that IBO’s are not allowed to represent to anyone either orally or in writing that Amway’s products and services are endorsed by the BBB. Gee how many times have I seen an ambot leave a comment on my blog bragging about Amway’s fabled BBB rating! Little bastards breaking their beloved companys rules! Oh well. What else is new. Its all about being a lying scamming Amway asshole and trying to impress others with phony claims. Like who gives a flying fuck! The BBB is there to help consumers who get ripped off by companies like Amway! They don’t endorse companies. And how does an Amway IBO respond when faced with the truth? “Oh but I’m a fucking Amway loser ambot. I can do and say whatever I want.” And then they go into hiding. At just about every Amway meeting I attended our cult leaders would break Amway’s rules and brag about how much the BBB loves Amway.

http://www.amway.com/en/support/business-support/Business-rules-of-conduct

Free Ebook Merchants of Deception

Someone showed up at my blog the other day with the search criteria “why is Merchants of Deception so expensive”.

Hunh? Free is expensive?

I wondered where this guy was looking. I’m aware that Eric Scheibeler did put his book into print and sell it for a few months. Then for reasons I’m unaware of though I suspect Scheibeler decided it was time to finally put the Amway horror behind him, he announced he was closing his website and the book would only be available for a couple more days.

I don’t recall what he was selling the print version for $15 or $20 perhaps.

I didn’t buy a copy of Merchants of Deception seeing as how I already had the free ebook version. Apparently the print version had some updated information in there.

So where is this guy looking that the book is so expensive? I checked ebay. Nope. Nothing there. I went to Amazon. Ah ha! Got it! There are 7 copies available ranging in price from $95.00 to $175.58. Yikes! What the fuck!

A couple of years ago I read an article that when Amazon only has one or two copies of a new book available and that’s it its no longer being printed there are some book buyers who keep an eye out and buy these books hoping that there will be a demand for them later on when they’re out of print. When the book is out of print and no longer available new the sellers who have used copies think they are rare collectibles and list them with outrageously high prices. Kind of like what Amway does with its products! They can ask any price they want. Doesn’t mean they’re going to get it unless there is some cult leader putting pressure on the downline to buy.

Crazy about the high prices on the used books! Especially since most books being sold on Amazon’s used book section are books published within the last 20 years and sold for $20 or less and there is really nothing special about them to command that kind of high price. The seller can always hope that someone is desperately searching for a used copy and willing to pay any price to get it. I can’t imagine paying $100 (or more!) for a paperback book especially when its available for free as an ebook.

Click here for the website where you can download a free copy of Merchants of Deception.

Amway Sex?

Can you believe that someone did a search for Amway sex and ended up on my blog?

I bet this blog is about to get a whole lot more hits just because I have a topic about sex!

I remembered Eric Scheibeler bringing sex up in his book Merchants of Deception in describing how the upline controlled that too, so I took a look at my copy and searched out some passages to refresh my memory and am sharing them here.

Here are some passages written about the Yagers:

The most bizarre of Dexter’s teachings, in my opinion, were his sex talks. Remember, as you read this, that neither the general public nor the average distributor were ever made aware of what went on at these leadership meetings. By the time people got to these meetings, they had been well indoctrinated. Also, remember that these meetings were normally started with a prayer. At one of our first few high-level leadership level meetings, very late at night, Dexter decided to share a business secret that a woman Diamond had passed on, regarding the success she and her husband enjoyed. The advice he passed on to the ladies present concerned how to relate to their husbands. The advice was to “screw their brains out.” People were actually taking notes!

On another occasion, we were with Dexter in a large, Italian restaurant that had many other people, besides the near thirty in our entourage. We ordered and all of us that were present huddled close to Dexter to hear whatever wisdom he was going to share. Now, picture how odd this must have looked! We were sitting in a restaurant, and we were huddled around Dexter, and the other patrons were trying to figure out who he was and hear what he was saying. He must have looked like a celebrity! He was wearing enough diamond and gold jewelry to look like a short, white Mr. T. There was a hush in the room. For this sex analogy, he chose an attractive, young, Emerald woman sitting near him. He asked her what her name was, and if the guy with her was her husband. She responded to both questions. He looked her right in the eye and asked her if she really enjoyed sex. Then he explained how sex is an important thing and went on and on about some point that I can’t even recall.

At the last Go Diamond Seminar we attended, it seemed that nearly the entire function revolved around sex. At one point, the women were brought to a separate room and given specific direction, but there were many speakers that addressed the entire group on this topic. Dexter had had a stroke and felt it was important to advise us that it had occurred on a night when Birdie had refused him sex. (I cannot remember what the point was that time.)

Oh goody. An Amway meeting that is all about sex. Now everybody knows what they have to look forward to if they stick around long enough and throw enough money at this scheme.

Here’s a passage that I’m guessing is discussed at “men only” meetings.  

“Scientific surveys have documented that your wife is peaking sexually at about 1:00 p.m., and you missed it by being at work. Had you been a retired Emerald or Diamond, you would have been home more often to capitalize on this scientific phenomenon.”

I didn’t spend a lot of time on the Internet searching for that one but you’d think I could have found at least one scientific study to back it up if it was true so I think I’ll just write that off as another whopper told by the Amway professional liars. Like we need any further proof that’s all men ever have on their minds!!!???? Whether or not its lie is secondary to the real message that they’re insulting their downline because they haven’t reached a level where they can be lazing around the house all day instead of being at work.

Here’s another passage from Eric’s book:

I did not know the other advice that the ladies were given until years later. The women in our organization were told what they needed to do to become Diamond ladies was support their husband and be a good Proverbs woman. Each woman was told never to refuse her husband sex, for any reason. These women were even told to dress up and put on fresh make-up to greet their husbands when they would come home at one or two o’clock in the morning. At two different meetings, a member of our upline told the women that they were to always look good, as they were their husband’s “best ornament.” This offended all those women who still had the capacity to think clearly–but what could they say?

AAACCCKKK!!!!!! Have those male chauvinist pigs been watching The Stepford Wives a few times too many? Yeppers - that offends all women who have not been brainwashed by the cult. Their brainwashed husbands would look at that passage and say, so what’s wrong with that.

One last passage to back up how the upline fuckers (in more ways than one!) demanded to know every detail about their downline’s life. Now we all know the reason why people have so much difficulty sponsoring IBO’s. It has nothing to do with prospects who are not interested in getting involved with Amway. It has to do with the sex lives of the IBO’s!

There seemed to be no level at which they would stop invading your personal life. A fellow Emerald told Kathy and an Emerald in our group that she and her husband would ask a couple they were counseling how many times a week they were having sex. A couple needed to really have a good relationship to sponsor effectively. Privately, Molly told Kathy that if Zack came home at three in the morning and wanted sex, he was going to get it. After all, look how he provided for them. It sounded far too much like a business deal when Kathy later revealed this to me. At the same time that the women were getting this advice, Zack was holding a men’s leadership meeting and advising that he did not know how a woman could want to have sex with a ‘wimp.’ A ‘wimp’ was defined as someone not doing all he could to further his Amway business and financial future. One Diamond jabbed the crowd at a large seminar by saying in a half-joking manner, “You may not really love your wife if you don’t go Diamond.”

To download a free copy of Merchants of Deception, click this link.

Ambots Anonymous

There are some Amway IBO’s who read blogs and books written by former IBO’s who are critical because we don’t use our real names and seem to think that if someone doesn’t use their real name that undermines their experience or is a lack of credibility and therefore anything these anonymous posters have to say should be ignored.

I’ll see if I can shed some light on that. The main reason is fear of retaliation from IBO’s just like yourself.

Many people have read Eric Scheibeler’s ebook called Merchants of Deception but not everyone knows he originally wrote the book under the pseudonym John Jacob. He received death threats against himself and his family when he was filing complaints to Amway about the deception he’d uncovered with the tool scam. He continued to receive threats while researching the book and after publication. So who is he getting death threats from? The mafia? The Secret Service? A CEO at a Fortune 500 company who’s never heard of Amway? Other authors jealous of his writing success? Amway execs or their hired guns? Or is it more likely that death threats are coming from otherwise seemingly normal people like teachers, waiters, cashiers, and electricians who have one thing in common: they’re Amway IBO’s. Too many IBO’s are over the top defensive of what they perceive to be the world’s greatest business opportunity made available to them by what they perceive to be the world’s most awesome company. Just goes to show what brainwashing can do.

Anyone who’s read Merchants of Deception knows that IBO’s sidled up to Scheibeler at business meetings and said they’d show their devotion to their beloved Diamond by dieing for him or killing for him. They would eliminate anyone who threatened the Amway lifestyle if their upline asked them to. Scheibeler describes threatening phone calls that his young son and wife received and noises in the bushes where he believed someone was lurking waiting to take him out.

If he knew who was making the threats, he didn’t say but obviously these were over zealous IBO’s who didn’t want anyone getting the truth out there about Amway and causing the downfall of their expected financial freedom.

Joecool has blogged about receiving threats from an anonymous IBO from Scarborough Canada. You don’t know what kind of nut is hiding on the other end of a computer keyboard but this one has left comments threatening physical violence if Joecool does not stop blogging about Amway. Anonymous from Scarborough has dropped by my blog a few times to leave nutty comments but nothing threatening. He must find someone cursing out their upline and describing what went on at Amway meetings somewhat amusing but not a threat to his Amway lifestyle. 

Just because I have not received threats doesn’t mean I’m not aware it could happen to me. I would be OK putting my real last name out there but that leaves me open for some brainwashed IBO to show up at my house with a grenade. Although I don’t name my upline other than referring to them as assholes, shitheads, bastards, etc if I put my name out there anyone with a little time to research should be able to find out who my upline are. I’m sure most of them wouldn’t be happy to hear they’re featured in a blog in derogatory terms and writing about what went on at their secret Amway meetings.

In this part of the world we have freedom of speech and should be able to express ourselves without fear. Its not against the law to have an opinion and its not against the law to curse someone out. Our Platinum did that all the time at Amway meetings ridiculing his downline IBO’s. Sticks and stones. He’s not being a believer of turnabout is fair play and would be outraged if anyone wasn’t properly worshipping him. That sack of shit might not like it but its not against the law curse him out or tell the truth about him.

Obsessed Amway IBO’s do not like the truth getting out there about the Amway business opportunity. They’d be the first to deny that anything described in Merchants of Deception could really happen and probably think the author just has an overactive imagination or is overly paranoid. Likewise there’d be IBO’s unhappy over the way I describe my upline instead of giving them the devotion and love they think they deserve. I can see as how they’re not happy with my interpretation of what goes on at Amway meetings and functions.

Over the top obsessive IBO’s are why we stay anonymous because we are concerned for our personal safety and for our families.

People take steps to ensure their safety. Everyone has different comfort levels. I have a monitored alarm system in my house and we sleep with a loaded gun in the bedroom. We had these measures in place before getting involved in Amway and now that we’re former IBO’s and I blog about our experiences you can be damned sure I’m not changing our security. You just never know when an outraged IBO is going to show up on the doorstep. And that's just our Platinum......!!!!

How to Quit Amway

A recent searcher ended up on my blog looking for information on how to quit Amway.

I think that’s a sad state of being brainwashed by the Amway cult that someone has to seek out information on the Internet on how to quit Amway.

The logical response that comes to my mind, in no particular order:

1. stop attending Amway meetings

2. stop listening to CD’s

3. stop buying Amway products

4. don’t renew your membership at year end

To sum it up - Don’t have nothing to do with those bastards anymore. Nothing means NOTHING!

Seeing as how the Platinum or Diamonds used to refer to Amway as a shopping mall on the Internet - stop shopping there. Simple. Its no different than if you get pissed off at Safeway for some reason - you don’t go back. You quit shopping there.

Its an easy thing for me to say who had no interest in Amway, didn’t want to buy their shitty overpriced products, disliked our sponsor and ultimately disliked everyone upline.

Someone like me is going to have no problem quitting these bastards.

As hard as I find it to comprehend, I recognize that there are actually people out there who liked Amway and liked the people in their line of sponsorship. Getting sucked into the Amway cult didn’t happen overnight and quitting won’t be an easy overnight process for them either.

For some people it is a difficult, painful process quitting Amway because of the way they’ve been brainwashed and their thought process has been manipulated by their cult leaders. They’ve been in meetings where their cult leader has ranted about the latest IBO who has quit. Loser, pariah, quitter, etc. They order the cult followers in their downline not to have anything more to do with this person. The IBO knows if they quit they will be the main topic of their cult leader’s rant at the next Amway meeting.

Here’s a Youtube video about former cult member (Moonies) turned therapist Steve Hassan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CApMzIX46kw

He’s being interviewed by Eric Sheibeler, author of Merchants of Deception and they’re discussing the Amway cult. The links to part 2 and 3 videos are found on this Youtube page. Hassan has written a couple of books that might be helpful to people wanting to leave Amway. It might be worth checking out at the library or purchasing for anyone who is having difficulty leaving Amway.

Amway is no different than any bad habit that one is trying to quit. Some people can go cold turkey. Others have to take quitting in smaller steps until it is no longer something that control their lives.

I send good luck and best wishes to anyone trying to deprogram themselves from the Amway cult and hope the quitting process isn’t too painful. Anyone in your upline gives you a hard time send them to my blog and tell them to leave a comment and I'll take care of them!