Anyone know anything about a company called Genistar?

quidsinquentin

Hi all.

Friend is going to a presentation by a company called Genistar. It's about finances, becoming debt-free, etc, etc.

I've never heard of them and I was wondering if anyone on MSE had?

Cheers

lovinituk

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1397047

quidsinquentin

lovinituk wrote: »

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1397047

Cheers.

That's a few years ago - anything more up to date?

lovinituk

Looks like a different take on MLM. I expect the only 'advice' you will receive will be from new users saying how amazing it is and how it changed their lives.

If it walks like a duck...

StopIt

Oh god, a financial advice MLM? I've now seen it all.


Run away! As always, these "Get money for doing nearly nothing" schemes basically are "We make money from mugs" schemes.


Stay well away.

Jtracey

I worked for genistar for a time, it's seems all well and good on the surface, helping yourself out of debt, helping others etc. it soon becomes clear that's not where the money comes from though, if you do the math the amount of money you earn is from the fees your recruits or "team"pay.
Avoid please, I learned the hard way.

quidsinquentin

Thanks all that replied, especially Jtracey.

Sorry I didn't follow up immediately but work got in the way.

I'll advise the friend to stay well clear.

Thanks again.

CM1066

I first heard about Genistar from a friend I hadn't heard from for almost a year. I asked how she was, what she was doing, then had to listen for over half an hour to the gospel according to Genistar. She told me she was earning £1,500 a month for 8 hours work a week. Alarm bells rang when she began to talk about giving up her present job to go full time with this company. I asked her for one of the Director's numbers, as I wanted to find out more. I phoned him and he assured me that everyone earns commission on the merit of their own sales, and that it's not shared with anyone. I still failed to see how she was earning so much for so little.

She later got in touch with me to invite me to a Genistar do in London on the 20th May where I would be able to find out all about it. A few days later, I eventually agreed to go - a trip to London had an appeal. Then came a text saying I couldn't go unless I signed a form - she wanted to meet me so we arranged a date and time. The evening before we were due to meet she asked me to bring a cheque for £140, my drivers licence and my debit card!!! I was furious. I felt like telling her to take a hike but knew she'd bought her fare, so decided to meet with her. Her response was that I couldn't attend the 'do' in London unless I paid £140, and said I should have been told this when I phoned the 'Director'!! I went ahead and met her. We went to a Costa Coffee and I ordered myself a coffee - she wanted bottled water. I paid! She didn't offer to pay for her water. When we sat down she said she would go through everything with me, and it would take a couple of hours! I nearly fell off my chair. I told her I didn't want to sit there for two hours listening to her. She then said she would do a quick run through - half an hour. I said that is still too long. But what she didn't realise is that when the Director spoke to me, he told me about Citisolutions (Genistar is a revamped version of this and has the same directors). I know a great deal about this company because many years ago an Australian friend of mine was studying for his IFA exams and using Citisolutions software. It cost him £12,000. He told me it was all about Financial Education etc. etc. Then one day he called me from Australia and said he was done for. He said Citisolutions was a Ponzi scheme and he and several others in Australia had lost all of their money. They were trying to get it back. I don't know how successful they were because eventually I lost touch with him and his wife, but it was a terrible thing for them to go through. I told her this, and she wouldn't listen.

She kept stopping me from asking her questions, and would not answer the ones I managed to ask her. Certainly there was no intelligent answer to the commission/pay structure. So I then asked her, 'Why are you wanting me and J to join you then if you don't rely on my contacts. Why are my contacts so important to you?' She told me that I was completely misunderstanding her.

I know how an MLM company works and has 'upliners' and 'downliners' as I have a friend who works for Arbonne. If I had Genistar, my ex-friend would be my 'upliner' and if I signed people up to the scheme, I and they would become downliners and although we would get a portion of the commission, the upliners/and people in HQ got 75% of the commission we would normally get. Nothing is sold by the reps, but a potential joiner signs the Financial Planning form, it goes to HQ, then Financial products are sold to the target contacts (aka my friends and family), thereby creating commissions from Mortgage Companies, Building/Bank saving schemes, Building and Contents insurance companies etc. etc.

I informed my ex friend I would never exploit my friends and family as I have far too much respect for them. She told me that I was 'attacking' her!! I think she got upset because her dreams of getting rich quick as a result of my well connected friends and family suddenly disintegrated into a pile of ashes. And she had a massive vision for this part of the country, which I will not mention because, in her words, it was 'untouched'. But what she doesn't realise is that this part of the country is mostly farming, a huge proportion of people also work for themselves, and work extremely hard to make a living and not one of them would be interested in a 'get rich quick' scheme. I also have a vague recollection of my ex-friend muttering something about becoming a millionaire within five years. Well, not at the expense of my lovely friends and family she isn't.

It's my personal opinion that Martin Lewis and Money Saving Expert have all of the answers regarding best ways to pay down a mortgage quicker and information on all kinds of Bank accounts, Life insurance, and any other kinds of insurance without anyone signing up to Genistar....

Sorry about the Not Quick Reply!

patman99

At a guess, your ex-friend will come unstuck soon. Enough. Anyway, these sort of scammers seem to get away with it time and time again.


The best thing to do around is to spread the word about these scammers so eventually noone will fall for these scams.

Arleen

patman99 wrote: »

At a guess, your ex-friend will come unstuck soon. Enough. Anyway, these sort of scammers seem to get away with it time and time again.


The best thing to do around is to spread the word about these scammers so eventually noone will fall for these scams.

Didn't happen for last 100 years, and unlikely to change as most people are greedy and lazy, so the idea of making a lot of cash for few hours of "work" will aways draw them in. As they say; a fool and his money are soon parted, and people who fall into them do not bother to do research.

MakeAChange_2

Wow what an interesting read, thank you, I will definitely keep that name in mind and avoid