Written by QuixtarIsACult
Have you ever had an invite from a friend, associate, or a stranger that left you in the lurch wondering just what the invite was all about? Maybe, just out of the blue, an old acquaintance that you have not seen since high school calls you up and invites you to see something that is so important that you absolutely must do it! Your old friend is very vague about just what this “something” is.
Even if you become suspicious and ask if it is “Amway?” Your friend might respond and say something like this: “I can’t really talk about it over the phone; you will just have to see this for yourself.” Your curiosity has been piqued.
You most likely have just been exposed to the “curiosity invite”, one of the selling tactics of a multi-level marketer. Amway, one of these MLM companies has been operating under the name of Quixtar in the United States since 1999, but do not let the name change to Amway Global fool you, it is still basically the same old Amway operating nearly the same way it has for almost fifty years.
Many people may have noticed the series of commercials being run by Quixtar announcing their name change to Amway Global. They claim to be the number #1 on line retailer of health and beauty products in the US, although most of their sales are to their own distributors who by percentage make very few retail sales to outside customers which has been reported to be less than 5%. (NOW YOU REALLY KNOW!)
Their commercials also seek to rehabilitate the Amway name which had fallen into ill repute by fraud and pyramid scheme allegations of the past. They display the two product lines which they are most proud of Nutrilite Health Products and Artistry Cosmetics. During the transition period the company will operate under both names with the Quixtar name to be eventually phased out all together in favor of the new Amway Global.
Quixtar distributors are called “Independent Business Owners” or IBOs for convenience. These IBOs always are part of a system that includes an “up-line” and a “down-line”. These IBOs receive a distributor discounts on the products they buy whether they are sold or consumed by the distributor.
The idea is that any product that they retail at full price provides them with a profit and they are also encouraged to use the products themselves. Nothing unusable about this. Buy at a discount and sell for full retail is a universally accepted method of making a little extra money in the business, but as I will describe realizing a profit in this business can be very difficult to achieve. The remainder of this article will describe their “little Quixtar cult” and their “dirty little secrets”.
Much of what I am going to tell you about “the Business Cult” comes from Tex, a disgruntled Quixtar distributor himself and a modern age cyber-space David who takes on the Amway tool kingpin Goliath by revealing how the kingpins operate their tool scam business. These kingpins run a monopoly business selling motivational training materials to include seminar and rally tickets, and this is commonly called the “tool and function” business.
Calling these top distributors tool kingpins is mild compared to the “lying, cowardly kingpins” that Tex calls them during his on-line battle to have these corrupt people thrown out of the business he believes could be a restored to what the founding fathers intended. I will now describe how these kingpin sellers of tools operate and the harm they do to distributors like Tex who are struggling to make an enthusiastic go of the business.
The tool kingpins head up what is commonly known as the “motivational organizations” which have an entire “down-line” of IBO distributors. In this down-line there are any number of supposedly successful IBOs holding titles like “diamond, emerald, and platinum” while the tool kingpins hold an exalted title like “Crown” or “Executive-Crown” and so forth. A similar system exists in many other multi-level marketing companies, which I advise readers to be wary of also.
In Quixtar/Amway these kingpin’s trappings of wealth serves as the “bait” for starry eyed distributors who believe they can emulate their success and also become wealthy in the business. Visions of money, palatial estates, and luxury automobiles become possible in the success dream that these kingpin distributors inspire in new recruits who want to become like the successful kingpin distributors they see up on stage at quarterly rallies.
These kingpins draw Tex’s ire because of the harm they do to down-line distributors out of greed to sell their inventory of motivational materials with little regard that distributors turn a profit.
Tex told me about their “Dirty Little Secret.” New distributors are led to believe that success in Quixtar comes from the commissions paid by Quixtar for product purchases made by a distributors and the down-line recruits. The dirty little secret is that these kingpin distributors derive most of their wealth from the multi-million dollar tool and function business, not from Amway/Quixtar commissions or bonuses.
Distributors in the Quixtar business spend most of their time trying to recruit new distributors into the business where an annoying invite to see their plan is routine procedure. They are urged on by the teachings of their training materials and their up-line “mentors”. IBOs strive to build a down-line business and new recruits are encouraged to buy the tools and function tickets described as the key to becoming a Quixtar success story. This makes the tool kingpins very happy because they profit handsomely.
In times past, distributors were told that the tools were sold at or near cost and that success in the business came from Quixtar not from tool sales. The 2004 Dateline expose on Quixtar corruption pulled their dirty rug out from under the Genie and exposed the dirty little secret of their little Quixtar cult. Although Amway/Quixtar has denied these allegations ever since, the truth has been out in the open and Tex believes that he and his fellow IBOs have been and are continuing to be victimized by the “lying, cowardly kingpins”.
Tex says the tool kingpins operate a bait and switch operation where their tool sales benefit by high distributor turn over that the kingpins tool system helps bring about. New distributors will buy tools while veteran distributors need not as many and therefore become less profitable in the eyes of the kingpins. New recruits come into the business wanting to achieve some level of success, and then get driven like cattle into the tool kingpin’s “money making machine” and find themselves in a losing catch 22 situation. Like “Simple Simons” they will buy the tool kingpin’s wares and attend the seminars and rallies until they eventually become discouraged by high loss, unfulfilled expectations, disillusionment with the dream and eventually quit.
Many of these ex-distributors put their accumulated books, cds, videos, and magazines up for sale on ebay hoping to at least get pennies back on the dollar. Many times these materials receive no bids, go unsold and remain relatively worthless!
The up-line distributor in anguish must now recruit another enthusiastic face to replace the distributor that quit. Remember, his goal is to retain new distributors who will help him become profitable by buying products. An IBO in search of a new distributor is like a man trying to run up a down escalator: two steps up and one step down; one step up and two steps down! His continued efforts hardly benefits him at all while at the same time it produces a pot of gold for the tool kingpin leprechaun.
There are three distinct groups of people in the Amway/Quixtar business, the company owners, the tool kingpins, and the body of every day distributors like Tex. The first two groups benefit and prosper from the business while the last group of distributors do all the recruiting, buy nearly all the products, and also buy all the training materials to include seminar and rally tickets. This group has less time to spend with their family and many suffer social stigma which can include disappointed family members and the alienation of friends.
Children are many times handed off to sitters for care so both parents can work the business together, a common Quixtar strategy. Amafights over the business are common. Distributors many times are asked to make incredible sacrifices to stay in the business, which because of its dependence on mind numbing propaganda, up line oversight, and instructions to ignore the negatives, becomes what I describe as “THE BUSINESS CULT”.
Tex urges IBOs to take a stance and contact the Federal Trade Commission and make a complaint. He also urges people to write their state and federal representatives about the tool kingpin corruption. Amway founder, Rich Devos, some years ago condemned the very same corruption that is STILL alive and well in Amway today. Tex, the little David, wants the current Pharaoh at Amway to take the Goliath tool kingpins off of the battle field.
Failure to vanquish the tool kingpins will force Tex to call for Amway to be shut down as a pyramid scheme and thereby put an end to the pernicious business cult. Most importantly, if you are presented with a Amway business opportunity, please use your own good common sense and do the right thing. Save yourself some aggravation and avoid the corrupt kingpin sellers of deceit! The money you save can be invested towards a sure thing early retirement where walking the beach is truly an achievable dream unlike MLM schemes and scams.
18 Jul 08 at 8:54 am
Thanks. Tracy, once again a old vampire is being resurrected as the new and improved werewolf.
18 Jul 08 at 11:22 am
Thanks for the additional visibility. What we REALLY need to do is put our heads together and figure out how to END the tool scam.
I don’t think mere blogging is enough.
18 Jul 08 at 11:46 am
I agree - Both the tools scam and multi-level marketing companies in general need to be ended. However, the realities of doing that are that it’s next to impossible. Our next best bet is education of consumers so that they don’t get taken in by these scams. I know it’s a long road and our impact is small. But hopefully as other bloggers see that we’re standing up to these companies, they’ll help promote the message too.
18 Jul 08 at 11:53 am
Tracy…
Information and the distribution of that information is the real enemy of any cult. People that are schooled in MLM information are less likely to accept that opportunity. That can be viewed as a positive. These people are not friend of the common man. They are a friend to their own greed. They serve a master and worship filthy lucre.
18 Jul 08 at 2:27 pm
I do NOT agree MLM companies in general should be ended. If you can convince me otherwise, go for it.
The Amway/Quixtar tool scam is a separate issue, however.
18 Jul 08 at 2:36 pm
Nah. Not really interested in trying to convince you of that.
18 Jul 08 at 3:02 pm
That’s okay, you wouldn’t win.
18 Jul 08 at 3:49 pm
Tex…
If you can cave the kingpins in maybe we all win?
18 Jul 08 at 4:08 pm
Everyone except the lying cowardly “kingpins.”
The winners would include all other IBO’s, prospects, customers, and A/Q.
19 Jul 08 at 10:14 am
Tracy…
It seems as though this post on your Page has brought the entire The Truth In Amway Forum crashing down. In an effort to prevent a commentator from bringing up the post, it seems that Ibofightback through error or intensionally killed his forum database. My opinion is that these TOOL SCAM allegations have prompted the Insider to implode his own forum. The tool scam issue has brought these people into the light of day, and the most viewed string of comments on his own blog were the embarrassing String that I and Tex exposed their Tool Scam and whom ibofightback didn’t want the Younglings to see. These younglings are either new IBOs or prospects looking for the information that Insider wants to all be favorable. Too bad, the most viewed pages on this own forum were full of negative truths that had to be dumped somehow.
To think that bloggers don’t have some influence in the world is to think wrong. Thanks Tracy for helping others see the truth of these merchants of deception and providing information that these Amway recruiters do not want their prospects to see.
19 Jul 08 at 1:23 pm
Sorry to disappoint you QIAC, but you had little to do with my forums crash except that at the time I was proving you were putting up fake posts pretending to be other people.
Forums are back, Amway Talk
Oh, but that’s right, you’re banned for being personally abusive to people, several times, ignoring warnings about it, and now of course for doing fake posts from made up people.
Good to see you’re soooo honest … not.
19 Jul 08 at 4:18 pm
Although I would love for you to be correct, I have been saying similar things on various blogs for 3 years.
What we need is to turn it up a notch, by getting organized and taking down the tool scam once and for all.
19 Jul 08 at 6:40 pm
Tracy…
Ibofightback has put this explanation for why his TTAA Forum data base was lost on his (un)Truth About Amway website:
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Well, I’d been planning a site dedicated to the forums for a while, for a number of reasons including the potential benefits to search engine rankings. The plan was to get it all setup and looking pretty and then migrate all the existing TTAA posts across.
Unfortunately, it didn’t happen that way. There’s a lot of things going on in the background with my other business interests that affect my websites, and an unfortunate set of coincidences involving that, matched with a particularly stupid mistake by myself while investigating QIAC’s dishonesty (see the post in the Critic Watch forum) meant I badly corrupted the TTAA forums and don’t have access to the backups. In theory I might be able to restore it all, in practice it’s not worth the effort.
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I’ve already explained why this blithering dunder-head has killed his own data base. His forum had become a bigger detriment to recruitment than a help. Isn’t that the whole purpose of his propaganda oriented efforts. Dump the bad lot of comments that he didn’t want the Younglings to see.
If I somehow helped take his forum down, shouldn’t I get a medal or something?
19 Jul 08 at 7:51 pm
I think you should! One way or another, I think congratulations are in order!
27 Jul 08 at 11:47 am
Dirty Little Secrets of Their Little Quixtar Cult PART II
To continue the woe of the tool kingpin expose, again Big Hat reveals some information that made me understand the connection between Quixtar Amway tool kingpins and down line distributors. Actually the Kingpins see the down line distributors as “yes”, of all things “DISTRIBUTORS” of the “Tools for Fools literary club. “The Business Cult” down line distributors are roped into doing the bidding of their cult leaders kingpins in this scheme.
Big Hat tells me a few things from time to time. He is of the opinion that the Kingpins are doing way more to promote a utter fleecing of the sheep then I’d ever have imagined possible. The insider information seems to point at a particular “near-soldier” in the “organization”. At this point I must stop to remind you that the kingpin’s organization has been described as being structured similarly to that of the syndicate, which in my opinion, is reason enough not to become involved in a Quixtar Amway opportunity anything; indeed this goes for nearly any MLM scheme many of which operate like a cousin Vinnie to Amway.
A dirty little secret is that there are these “near soldier” folks who are out pushing their own agenda onto the “over-sold” dream believers. This is a continual pushing of the tools, the mostly useless propaganda and blarney that the cult is instructed to believe (regardless whether it actually does more harm than good). These types of people act like a baby vultures. You might say these baby vultures could be comparable to drug pushers. Tool Kingpin after all secretly advocate their own greedy interests while trying to make the “Independent Business Owners” believe they are advocating their success: quite a duplexity! The tool scam has been outed and continues to be a problem of ever concern for kingpin panderers of deceit.
An article on Forbes “Climbing To The Top” has shed some light on just how kingpins like bad boy Orrin Woodward works. This article Dirty Little Secrets of Their Dirty Little Quixtar cult part II is well ahead of the curve. I would have to say that Monavie sure got a black eye from the Forbes Article, and just like being in the ring at a prize fight, you can get a nice head-butt from the guy in front who took a full shot if you know what I mean. And that is what happened to Amway., and since Amway was standing right behind, Amway got a black eye too. That is how I describe this situation. I am not going to try and spin it like others might. It is just another major embarrassment for both companies. These people after all are not angels. Former Am-Kingpin Woodward shines light on a very nasty situation going on in Quixtar. I call it the tools for the fools club.
The recent tool scam and revelations made by Big Hat, and now this Forbes article just goes to show that there is a stir in cyberspace, that the tool scam is being widely circulated. As the Quixtar environment heats up with the reputation rehab ad campaign so does the pace of critical notice. It would seem that our government agencies are tangled up in red tape and are unwilling or unconcerned enough to step in and do something about it. One thing I can tell you for certain is that the fleecing of all the lambs still continues. The kingpins are the turkey vultures sitting on their money perch who look down on their valley of duped carrion and feel smug that they are the only real winners in a cruel game where nearly everyone else are losers in the long and short of things. These are secrets that your up line does not want you to know and part of the dirty little secrets of their little Quixtar Cult horror story expose.
The tool scam, the product scam, and the business cult scam are reason enough to stay far removed from Amway anything; Quixtar sucks, Amway sucks, Alticore sucks, and I would be very skeptical about even MonaVie nosing in for a nipple? Which seems to suck a little too! Quixtar Cult Intervention serves to help mankind become free of pernicious business cults. People are being harmed and flushed routinely by these meat grinders of a business, which is really front for the cult and as every one knows, nothing good goes on in a cult.
Quixtar Cult Intervention continues to pull the rug out from under these Amway Genies. There may be a lot of other reasons to not to want to waste you time on Amway, but these tool kingpin scoundrels are one of the biggest! Orrin may be bragging but he pulled the covers off of these other greedy kingpins and their money making machine that the Quixtar cult drones keep walking through. Beware of Amway!
27 Jul 08 at 6:19 pm
Just to keep everybody on track:
http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/forbes/2008/0811/050.html
28 Aug 08 at 6:26 pm
Dirty Little Secrets Are So Prevalent Now A Days Pedro.
25 Sep 08 at 10:29 am
I HAVE TO DISAGREE I HAVE BEEN INVOLVED FOR 14 MONTHS AND I BRING IN ABOUT 1000 EXTRA DOLLARS A MONTH OF EXTRA INCOME THAT I CAN JUST PLAY WITH OR SAVE. SO I HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT IT IS A GOOD COMPANY
25 Sep 08 at 12:49 pm
John Shill…
Empty Claim. Did you check out the Vehicle History Report on this vehicle before you bought it?
Check it out here: Amway Vehicle History Report