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Story 1: The Amway Guy
So about 3 or 4 months ago a guy a couple years older than me, probably about 23 or 24, approached me at work and started telling me about an internet marketing business he's involved with and how some of the people he is working with are in the Orlando area (couple hrs from me) and he is actually from Colorado but just down in Florida because his wife's family is down here. Needless to say, I ended up talking to him for a little while since the store wasn't too busy at the time and he was telling me how I seem like I would be a good fit for the business if I was interested etc etc.
Anyways, he came across to me as a nice guy and we ended up exchanging email/phone numbers and we talked on the phone a couple days later and he explained a little bit more about the business and emailed me a couple links, one of which was a video talking about being an IBO (independent business owner) and more about how the actual business worked and what not. (Keep in mind, at this point I wasn't familiar with MLM or anything of that nature) So after looking at the site and watching the video I am already a little "iffy" about the whole thing but at the same time I'm thinking "eh, maybe this can be cool. Let's take a look at the second link". So, I open the second link and the first thing I notice is the word "Amway". It was a link to his Amway store or whatever. All i knew about Amway was that the Amway Arena was where the Orlando Magic played.
So after I looked over the two links he sent me, I shot him an email letting him know I checked it out and he gave me a call that night and we ended up talking on skype. He pulled up his webcam and had a whiteboard and drew out a visual picture of how the whole "down line" thing worked and how the more people I got in my down line the more money I make etc. At this point he had me interested but I was still skeptical so i told him to give me a day or so to think about it.
After thinking about it for awhile, I had decided that I wasn't interested and was going to pass on the "opportunity". I googled things like "Amway", "Amway Scam", "Amway Reviews" and the VAST MAJORITY of the stuff I read was all negative, talking about how it was a pyramid scheme etc. which was obviously a big red flag. I called him to let him know I was not going to go through with it and didn't want to waste any more of his time or mine. And that is when he hit me with some emotional hook trying to reel me in one last time, and guess what?
He actually DID reel me in. By the end of the phone call I told him I had changed my mind and was going to go through with it and asked when should I start? He said the following Monday, which was a couple days away so during those couple days I had time to think about it one last time before I pulled the trigger on this whole thing.
So, after thinking about it one last time, I went with my instincts. I ended up calling him and told him no for the last time. The best part is that after we hung up from that last phone call, he actually had the nerve to text me asking me if I would be willing to give him the phone number of my sister, friend paul, and friend chris (all of who I had mentioned during the skype call when he asked me if I knew anyone i could possibly get to sign up on my down line) so he could see if they were interested. Needless to say, I haven't spoken to him since.
Story 2: The 5linx Guy
A month ago, a guy approaches me at work looking for one of my co-workers and I told him she wasn't here today so he handed me his business card and asked me if I would give it to her and so of course I said "sure". After he handed me the card, he begin telling me about 5linx and what it was all about. I'm not going to go in to detail of what he said because frankly, half the time I had absolutely no idea whatsoever what he was going on about. He would jump from one thing to another. From the very beginning I already knew I wasn't interested because one, he couldn't even explain the business to me without going on 50 tangents and two, I could already tell this was another one of those MLM things. But, I'm a nice guy, so i just let him talk until he got his message across (which by the way, he never did complete that misson). At the end of the seemingly-endless conversation he pulled out another card gave it to me and I made the mistake of telling him I would check it out just to get him out of my hair.
The next day at work, the co-worker that Mr. 5linx came in originally looking for was working with me and I told her that he had come in to give her his card. She told me that he had been in before talking to her and that he was annoying her and she wasn't interested either.
A week or so goes by and Mr. 5linx is back in town. He comes in on a day where my co-worker wasn't there again so guess who got stuck talking with him? Luckily we were fairly busy at the time of day he came in so I wasn't stuck in another one of his hour long sales pitches where he pitches literally NOTHING but a bunch of random words jumbled together that amount to nothing but a giant headache.
I seriously can't stress enough what a horrible salesman this guy was. He needed to take some notes from the Amway Guy.
On the second visit, he was basically just trying to be buddy buddy with me to build a relationship so he can later hang me out to dry. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt but man, this guy had "slimy salesman" written all over him. Nothing wrong at all with being a salesman.. but I can't stand the slimy/scam artist ones.
Anyways, he came in again for the 3rd and final time and it was at night so we were not busy so it was just him and I and he was going on and on about nothing again. Mind you, this is his 3rd chance to sell me on this thing and I still haven't a clue what he's talking about. This particular night I really wasn't in the mood for it. Right when he approached me he got kind of nervous like he knew I didn't feel like talking to him but he still tried anyways. I was just short with him and told him I wasn't interested but he kept yapping. He tried to reel me in one last time like the Amway guy did but he failed. He tried the whole, "you're a smart young guy etc etc..." By the end of the conversation he got the point that I REALLY was NOT interested and then as he was walking away he said, "just go on the website and if anything just reject it and tell me to leave you alone" and I just smiled and said "i'm pretty sure I've made it clear that I've rejected it already". And he just did his little fake laugh thing and went out the door.
LESSON 1: Go with your instincts! If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and walks like a duck, it's probably a duck.
LESSON 2: A couple google searches can go a long way. Due diligence is a must.
Over the last couple months that I've been reading this forum I have seen what some of the people on here have to say about MLMs and let me just say that I am soooooo THANKFUL that I didn't get sucked in to one. Doing my research combined with trusting my instincts paid off.
Note: even though I joined this forum back in May, I didn't start using it until November. (just in case you're wondering how I didn't know about MLMs yet and how they are bad news)
So about 3 or 4 months ago a guy a couple years older than me, probably about 23 or 24, approached me at work and started telling me about an internet marketing business he's involved with and how some of the people he is working with are in the Orlando area (couple hrs from me) and he is actually from Colorado but just down in Florida because his wife's family is down here. Needless to say, I ended up talking to him for a little while since the store wasn't too busy at the time and he was telling me how I seem like I would be a good fit for the business if I was interested etc etc.
Anyways, he came across to me as a nice guy and we ended up exchanging email/phone numbers and we talked on the phone a couple days later and he explained a little bit more about the business and emailed me a couple links, one of which was a video talking about being an IBO (independent business owner) and more about how the actual business worked and what not. (Keep in mind, at this point I wasn't familiar with MLM or anything of that nature) So after looking at the site and watching the video I am already a little "iffy" about the whole thing but at the same time I'm thinking "eh, maybe this can be cool. Let's take a look at the second link". So, I open the second link and the first thing I notice is the word "Amway". It was a link to his Amway store or whatever. All i knew about Amway was that the Amway Arena was where the Orlando Magic played.
So after I looked over the two links he sent me, I shot him an email letting him know I checked it out and he gave me a call that night and we ended up talking on skype. He pulled up his webcam and had a whiteboard and drew out a visual picture of how the whole "down line" thing worked and how the more people I got in my down line the more money I make etc. At this point he had me interested but I was still skeptical so i told him to give me a day or so to think about it.
After thinking about it for awhile, I had decided that I wasn't interested and was going to pass on the "opportunity". I googled things like "Amway", "Amway Scam", "Amway Reviews" and the VAST MAJORITY of the stuff I read was all negative, talking about how it was a pyramid scheme etc. which was obviously a big red flag. I called him to let him know I was not going to go through with it and didn't want to waste any more of his time or mine. And that is when he hit me with some emotional hook trying to reel me in one last time, and guess what?
He actually DID reel me in. By the end of the phone call I told him I had changed my mind and was going to go through with it and asked when should I start? He said the following Monday, which was a couple days away so during those couple days I had time to think about it one last time before I pulled the trigger on this whole thing.
So, after thinking about it one last time, I went with my instincts. I ended up calling him and told him no for the last time. The best part is that after we hung up from that last phone call, he actually had the nerve to text me asking me if I would be willing to give him the phone number of my sister, friend paul, and friend chris (all of who I had mentioned during the skype call when he asked me if I knew anyone i could possibly get to sign up on my down line) so he could see if they were interested. Needless to say, I haven't spoken to him since.
Story 2: The 5linx Guy
A month ago, a guy approaches me at work looking for one of my co-workers and I told him she wasn't here today so he handed me his business card and asked me if I would give it to her and so of course I said "sure". After he handed me the card, he begin telling me about 5linx and what it was all about. I'm not going to go in to detail of what he said because frankly, half the time I had absolutely no idea whatsoever what he was going on about. He would jump from one thing to another. From the very beginning I already knew I wasn't interested because one, he couldn't even explain the business to me without going on 50 tangents and two, I could already tell this was another one of those MLM things. But, I'm a nice guy, so i just let him talk until he got his message across (which by the way, he never did complete that misson). At the end of the seemingly-endless conversation he pulled out another card gave it to me and I made the mistake of telling him I would check it out just to get him out of my hair.
The next day at work, the co-worker that Mr. 5linx came in originally looking for was working with me and I told her that he had come in to give her his card. She told me that he had been in before talking to her and that he was annoying her and she wasn't interested either.
A week or so goes by and Mr. 5linx is back in town. He comes in on a day where my co-worker wasn't there again so guess who got stuck talking with him? Luckily we were fairly busy at the time of day he came in so I wasn't stuck in another one of his hour long sales pitches where he pitches literally NOTHING but a bunch of random words jumbled together that amount to nothing but a giant headache.
I seriously can't stress enough what a horrible salesman this guy was. He needed to take some notes from the Amway Guy.
On the second visit, he was basically just trying to be buddy buddy with me to build a relationship so he can later hang me out to dry. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt but man, this guy had "slimy salesman" written all over him. Nothing wrong at all with being a salesman.. but I can't stand the slimy/scam artist ones.
Anyways, he came in again for the 3rd and final time and it was at night so we were not busy so it was just him and I and he was going on and on about nothing again. Mind you, this is his 3rd chance to sell me on this thing and I still haven't a clue what he's talking about. This particular night I really wasn't in the mood for it. Right when he approached me he got kind of nervous like he knew I didn't feel like talking to him but he still tried anyways. I was just short with him and told him I wasn't interested but he kept yapping. He tried to reel me in one last time like the Amway guy did but he failed. He tried the whole, "you're a smart young guy etc etc..." By the end of the conversation he got the point that I REALLY was NOT interested and then as he was walking away he said, "just go on the website and if anything just reject it and tell me to leave you alone" and I just smiled and said "i'm pretty sure I've made it clear that I've rejected it already". And he just did his little fake laugh thing and went out the door.
LESSON 1: Go with your instincts! If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and walks like a duck, it's probably a duck.
LESSON 2: A couple google searches can go a long way. Due diligence is a must.
Over the last couple months that I've been reading this forum I have seen what some of the people on here have to say about MLMs and let me just say that I am soooooo THANKFUL that I didn't get sucked in to one. Doing my research combined with trusting my instincts paid off.
Note: even though I joined this forum back in May, I didn't start using it until November. (just in case you're wondering how I didn't know about MLMs yet and how they are bad news)
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