Is this a pyramid?

katskorner · 6 June 2005 at 7:51PM

Anyone heard of Forever Living Products that are part of The QLS Group at all? I think it may be a pyramid scheme and I have been invited to take part - they didn't tell me it was pyramid but I have done a bit of digging. If it is then there is no chance I want in.

Has anyone else come across this at all?

pricefighter · 6 June 2005 at 8:16PM

Its not Pyramid Selling this is of course illegal. FLP are a Multli Level Marketing company like Kleeneze or T Plus,and they have lots of distributors working for them recommending there friends and family to start with.They are members of the Direct Selling Association.

Ted_Hutchinson · 6 June 2005 at 8:42PM

There is information about Pyramid Selling on the DTI SITE
FLP have their own website ForEver living Products and there are plenty of distributor sites also.
Forever Living Products
Business Opportunities
While I am sure there are many people who use these products who believe they are beneficial there is a lack of independently produced peer reviewed scientific research which actually substantiates those benefits.
I personally would be unhappy to persuade my friends and relatives to part with money to pay for overpriced and overhyped products which have no scientific validity substantiating the implied benefits. If equivalent cheaper products are readily available from other health type outlets and other distributors are supplying direct to customers at discounted prices online the prospect of maintaining high margin sales over the long term is somewhat dubious.

katskorner · 6 June 2005 at 8:50PM

Thanks Ted. This is what I though about the whole thing - dubious. I have my own business that I am trying very hard to establish and it is so easy to be convinced to do things on the side to get some income while I start my business off - but I don't think this one is for me. I will stick with what I know and keep on doing my easy to use web design.

pricefighter · 6 June 2005 at 9:12PM

I am not a representative of this company but to suggest it is dubious is a tad unfair .It is a full member of the Direct Selling Association which is approved by the OFT.It holds Investor in People awards.Its been around a long time,and makes no secret of what its about.Its not into Pyramid selling. Not all MLM companies are dubious!!!

Ted_Hutchinson · 6 June 2005 at 9:26PM

pricefighter wrote:

I am not a representative of this company but to suggest it is dubious is a tad unfair .It is a full member of the Direct Selling Association which is approved by the OFT.It holds Investor in People awards.Its been around a long time,and makes no secret of what its about.Its not into Pyramid selling. Not all MLM companies are dubious!!!

What I said was "the prospect of maintaining high margin sales over the long term is somewhat dubious which is different from saying the company or sales method is dubious. I've since spent a few more minutes looking at the FLP company website and am sure my initial opinion, that it was more hype than substance is correct. Take for instance the pages on nutritional supplements. A reputable company would be able to produce and publish a scientific specification for the amount of active ingredient the tablets contain. FLP supplements don't have any such indication, which is the reason the moneysaving expert type of consumer would soon get tired of paying over the odds for products which don't commit to a clear standardised scientific specification and rely only on hype to sustain the selling impetus.

kazzerina · 28 June 2005 at 10:43AM

Further, I was invited by a friend to an FLP "party" last night. She did not tell me that she was selling the products in this way - or that we would have to sit through a 30 minute DVD about how this was not a pyramid scheme. My friend's sponsor told us how she earns £400,00 pa for p/t work and then told us after the presentation that the company's UK turnover was £35million last year - so she reckons she is bringing in a huge share and for the amount of people she must have in her "team" to earn that sort of money, there must be many who are losing money. The products were overpriced and established, reputable retailers such as Holland and Barrett were denigrated. I left as soon as I could. I would refer you to http://www.mlm-thetruth.com/Forever%20Living.htm and also advise you that throughout the evening the focus was on recruitment and NOT selling - there wasn't even a price list available for the products!! Nuff said!

BFG_2 · 28 June 2005 at 5:49PM

Most MLM's work on selling vastly over-priced worthless tat - either plastic widgets or vitamins or ebooks/self-improvement stuff'; they all have the common denominator of being cheap to make but can be claimed to be worth a lot more.

Eg: Tub of 50 multivits - mfg costs approx 5p, sold by the pyramids boys for £35 (insert own figure). How can anyone feel comfortable with these rip-off ways of selling; it's not so much the profit margins that are dodgy, but the fact that they claim that the products will 'enrich peoples lives/make them happy/make them rich' etc.

Of course the best (as in scummiest) ones work by making sure they 'provide one to one support' for anyone stupid enough to buy their unproven cr4p ie they lock into and exploit the vulnerable in a systematic and long term way. Eg they call the 'dieters' up and if it's good news from dieter it's "coz you're taking the tablets", if it's bad news it's "coz you're not taking enough tablets". Heads I win, tails you lose.

Of course there are some good MLMs out there, it's just that the names escape me at the moment. No good, can't think of a one. Anyone care to venture the name of a good'un?????????

katskorner · 28 June 2005 at 9:13PM

Thanks all. I am steering well clear!

ponsonbysmyth · 28 June 2005 at 10:43PM

BFG wrote:

Of course there are some good MLMs out there, it's just that the names escape me at the moment. No good, can't think of a one. Anyone care to venture the name of a good'un?????????

TELECOM PLUS. Yeah of little faith

roaming_rhino · 29 June 2005 at 10:20AM

Kleeneze / forever living products / telecom plus

are all good ethical companies promoting an opportunity to create a substantial residual income

those who choose to work all thier lives on a 45-50 year plan to get to retirement with nothing much at the end of it result in why 95 % of UK working aged people struggle for money in th UK today (39.5 million people)

2 of the above named companies are Publicly listed companies
Pyramid selling/opportiunities/ games or whatever you choose to call them are illegal and are shut down by the DTI every year

Anyone who believes/ thinks the above named companies fall into that bracket will inevitably fall part of the above 95%

One bit of advice I was given 10 years ago

Never take financial advice from employed people. If they know how to be successful , they would not be employed

Is this a pyramid?

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