Amway?

[Lore-Lei]

So, I was on a... 'job interview' with a girl who works in the optics shop that I didn't get the position to. She called me yesterday that she smugly put away some resumés she liked instead of discarding them, and that she's actually looking for people in a little 'marketing business'. She didn't tell me any details and I didn't really want to push her since she sounded like someone who stealthily wanted to throw in a call while the boss was away.

Today, I turned up to a small restaurant where I met her and some dude along with two other girls she invited and after a very long conversation they begun 'filling us in'. I put it in quotes because they were beating around the bush so bad it felt like if we were being hired in for some drug dealing or smuggling or black market shanenigans. Only around halfway or so into the presentation did they mention that they work at a company called Amway, which apparently everybody knew of but me.

The base premise of it was something among the lines of selling products and recruiting other people into the business. You get extra profit for the people you recruit, extra profit on top of extra profit for people recruited by the people you recruited, so on and so on. Kind of like a pyramid. I found it weird how much emphasis they put on those parts but hardly cared about the actual products, which was mostly health-care stuff, toothpaste, water-purifying system. I've never heard of this brand before, to be honest.

After we were done with that, my mother called. I told her all that happened and in short, her answer was worth "NNNOPE". At home, it turned out both my parents were (technically are) involved with Amway as well, much like their cousins, and they were far from successful. They told me it's a scam and they just want to milk me off my money by constantly going on conferences and interviews I was on.

I wouldn't go that far to call it that though, given the whole thing felt like how my grandmother did her business with all the Tupperware stuff that our kitchen is chock-full of still. And while she did not make millions per month she could stand on her feet in the end somehow. So I'm bit on the edge about this right now, my brain giving off red-flags left and right.

I need more sacond-hand experience (I'm indecisive, I know). If you have heard of or was part of Amway, can you share your experience with how it worked out?

[kaoskat]

My mom did Tupperware for a while when I was a kid and made a bit of extra money for things. She'd tried other things in the past (I think Amway among them). It seemed like her success with Tupperware was because she really liked the product. It seems if you believe in the product and like it yourself, people feed off of that and you'll do ok.

[nessa16]

One of my exes was into this. He went to monthly meetings to talk about the "business" but from what I understand, he was going nowhere fast. He had his own website of products but to my understanding, he had to "invite" people to shop and he didn't have anyone yet. He talked it up all the time but never had sales. It seemed kind of sketchy to me. He said he wasn't making anything "yet" because he wasn't marketing or something like that. Him and his "partners", if they can be called that, tried to get me to join because I have a masters degree in management but I swiftly turned them down while fighting of the urge to tell them that they were all idiots. That's my own opinion based on my experience, as I don't mean to offend anyone. I know many are into Tupperware and Scentsy etc. but those are legit, Amway just seemed fishy to me. Maybe because it's not as well known but the solution to that is good marketing which those others have. I really thought my ex was wasting his money.

[Lore-Lei]

Alrighty then, thanks guys. I didn't go to the 'meeting' today in the end as it seems to be a waste of time or money. The girl still called me regardless, because she expected me to be there and she'd like to have her CD back.

Oh well, next time I'll be there I'll tell her I'd rather not do it.

[melodys_angel]

Never heard of this though I have head of Tupperware/avon and so on.

Sorry I cant give you advice.

[northstar3184]

I don't know anything about Amway specifically, but I had a former college classmate try to rope me into a similar "business". Like the girl you met with, he acted VERY shady about the whole thing. He started by sending me messages on Facebook asking how I was doing, what I was up to, etc... Then he said he was going to be in my area and wanted to visit and catch up. We were never really close friends or anything, but shared a lot of classes and were in the same small department at my Alma mater. I told him it'd be nice to catch up and we planned for a visit.

When the day came, he showed up at my door with a laptop and some disks. His "visit" turned out to be a false pretense to get me into the multi-level marketing business he was part of. After his presentation, he left and called me the next day to see if I'd commit to getting involved. I said "no". He sent me a couple Facebook messages trying to persuade me to reconsider or at least shop through the companies site for things I'd normally buy so he'd get a percentage of the sales. I said I wasn't interested. Then, he deleted me from Facebook and never spoke to me again. I felt very used.

[LadyMoondancer]

The only multi-level-marketing product I'll give a pass is Tupperware, because it's a genuinely good product.  All the other ones seem very shady and like borderline scams to me.  God help you if one of your friend joins one of these, they will do nothing but try to sell you things.  Suddenly you are not their friend, you are their potential source of income.  It really changes things.

Also, this girl just grabbed some resumes "she liked", which were sent to the business where she has a day-job?  Is that even legal?  It certainly seems unprofessional to me.  If she starts haranguing you to join her little Amway club, tell her to stop or else you'll tell her employer what she's doing.

[Strawberry Swirl]

Eh, my mom does Avon, but it's not exactly a money-maker. She mostly does it so she can get discounts on some of their stuff (we're both bath/shower product addicts.) In the end though it's really not that special.

[Corona]

Their main business is selling you countless books, tapes, and seminars for hundreds and thousands of dollars, not you making money. Dateline did a piece a long time ago on Quixtar (another version of Amway) and Amway here. It's kinda dated but it gives you an idea.

I'd call that girl's employer and report her regardless if she keeps harassing you. She shouldn't be stealing resumes from Job A to hire for Job B, even if it wasn't a pyramid scheme.

[Lore-Lei]

Also, this girl just grabbed some resumes "she liked", which were sent to the business where she has a day-job? 

They were to throw it out in the trash anyway, at least according to her.

Their main business is selling you countless books, tapes, and seminars for hundreds and thousands of dollars, not you making money. Dateline did a piece a long time ago on Quixtar (another version of Amway) and Amway here. It's kinda dated but it gives you an idea.

That is disturbing... like some cultist group. 

[Aliyahbetd]

I would definitely call her employer! Being told to throw/destroy does not mean she could take it! She essentially stole a lot of personal information from people.

[Corona]

Their main business is selling you countless books, tapes, and seminars for hundreds and thousands of dollars, not you making money. Dateline did a piece a long time ago on Quixtar (another version of Amway) and Amway here. It's kinda dated but it gives you an idea.

That is disturbing... like some cultist group. 

Funny you should say that. I did my senior capstone on cults and drew heavily from one cult specialist that classified Amway, Quixtar, and Herbalife (another MLM thing) as financial cults since some of their recruitment tactics and language are seen in what's traditionally considered a cult.

[lunar_scythe]

Also, this girl just grabbed some resumes "she liked", which were sent to the business where she has a day-job? 

They were to throw it out in the trash anyway, at least according to her.

The info on most resumes and applications would be enough to use it for identity fraud, they should be shredded. 

I would definitely say something to the business; if you want to avoid giving her name, you could just say that a person contacted you about Amway using the resume you turned into them and they need to take better care of people's personal info.

[ringwraith10]

Also, this girl just grabbed some resumes "she liked", which were sent to the business where she has a day-job?  Is that even legal?  It certainly seems unprofessional to me.  If she starts haranguing you to join her little Amway club, tell her to stop or else you'll tell her employer what she's doing.

It is extremely not legal. The only advise that I have to give is that you call her employer right away and tell them that she is harassing you and got your number off of stolen CONFIDENTIAL paperwork. This girl has broken the law in several ways, and the least that will happen to her is that she will be fired. If you are comfortable, you may even want to report her to the police and make a police report that she is harassing you and that she found your personal information on confidential documents. Then you can let the police notify her employer so you don't have to.

Edit: Just want to add that I am on search committees quite frequently. I know the laws regarding that sort of paperwork. As I said, look up the phone number for your local police station and tell them that you want to report harassment and a breach of privacy on the part of a company you interviewed with. You should NOT have  to endure random strangers doing whatever they want with YOUR confidential information.

[Sweet_Stuff]

My parents were in Amway briefly back in the '80s. If I remember correctly my aunt and uncle (my mom's sister and brother-in-law) recruited them - or it was the other way around..anyways..

My parents attended a few conferences/meetings; they were their own best customer! We'd get their candy (I think chocolate and gummy bears..?) and popcorn..It was surprisingly good.
They ended up getting out because it just wasn't profitable to them..yeah, buying your own stuff doesn't help.. 

I know a few people who are in Avon and Scentsy, etc. Only one is super profitable with it. My thoughts on all those types of businesses is that you not only have to have good marketing and business skills, but you also have to know ALOT of people, who know alot of people... Sorry, I wasn't, and will never be, that popular..