Talk Is Cheap...Do something.
"You know, the FTC has said before that Quixtar is perfectly legal. So I don't get what you have against it."
Sound familiar? Of course it does. I can't remember how many times I've read this statement in some form or another. There are three problems with it though.
The first is that the ruling IBOs speak about was made in 1979. Quixtar wasn't even in existence then. The ruling had centered around Amway. This of course brings up a whole bunch of other arguments. But we'll save this for another post.
The second thing is that this ruling is twisted by the IBO to make us think that the FTC has nothing but praise for Amway/Quixtar. Actually what the FTC said was that Amway/Quixtar was found to be "not illegal". While some may say that this is getting a bit nit-picky, I would contend that it makes a world of difference. Why would the FTC have to even address the issue of legal vs illegal if it weren't investigating Amway/Quixtar in the first place? Are we to believe that they simply pulled this ruling out of their butts one day out of boredom? After numerous complaints and subsequent investigation, they decided that because of adherence to some basic rules that they were 'not illegal'. Not quite a hearty endorsement if you ask me.
Finally, I have to wonder if the FTC has really checked up on their ruling. Does anyone think as I do that if the FTC were to revisit and reinvestigate Amway/Quixtar that they'd find anything different? We may never know unless they receive enough complaints to warrant a new investigation.
Which makes me wonder about something else. We certainly talk a lot about this. We gripe about how we were deceived, how much money we spent, what we signed and how it was explained to us, what we were promised, etc. But have any of us done anything about it? The FTC investigated Amway/Quixtar because of complaints sent to them by average Joe's like you and me. They have a very simple form on their site that takes just a few minutes to fill out. Has anyone filled it out?
Talk is cheap. If you want to make a difference you gotta do something.
posted by jason @ 7:56 AM
7 Comments:
Jason:
Just to clarify one point, the FTC in 1979 did not rule that Amway was "not illegal." In fact, it ruled that certain aspects of Amway's business actually were illegal. Specifically, the FTC ruled that the incomes were represented in a deceptive and fraudulent manner. That is why the FTC ordered Amway to always publish statistics regarding the percentage of people reaching any particular pin level and the average actual incomes at each pin level. Those numbers in the SA-4400 showing how dismal A/Q is for its particpants are there because the FTC required it after finding Amway to be operating a fraud. It's all in the FTC's order.
What can be fairly said is that AS OF 1979 and based on the evidence presented to the FTC, Amway was not an illegal pyramid scheme because at that time, its retail sales rules and buy back rule actually served to tie the payment of bonuses to retail sales to customers.
Can that still be said today? According to Forbes and Amway's own documents, by the early nineties, less than 20% of the products were retailed to non-IBOs.
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FTC might not be able to pin down Amway completely, but that just means they didn't have enough evidence (of pyramiding)
Same thing can be said about Michael Jackson. It doesn't mean he is innocent; it's just that there may not be enough evidence.
And we all know, OJ Simpson did kill Nicole.
FTC taking notice of Amway is bad enough, as you said.
Also some IBOs (Michael of plucknews.blogspot.com) said Amway won against P & G and all the lawsuits against Quixtar / Amway, they were usually the victor. It is funny if you read about Satanism fiasco.
Amway licked their own spit by having that dumbass diamond who said Satanism an apologetic Amvox message. So they didn't stand by that Satanism claim, they were kissing P & G butt to forgive them. So they were more like 'spared' then 'won'.
I am doing something!
Not only is Quixtar a member in good standing with the Better Business Bureau, but 1000+ corporations find Quixtar not just legal enough, but reputable enough to have their names associated with it. They have corporate teams of lawyers who study possible joint ventures before they sign the contract, right? But you in all your accumulated knowledge still say Quixtar's an illegal business. I'm glad I didn't listen to you. The checks we get in the mail are pretty sweet.
You all are a bunch of idiots I am sorry but I make about $9,000 monthly and i put in my 40 hours (a month) but continue to say it is illegal. Disney.Com as well a BassProSHop.com must think it is pretty illegal and thats why they joined up as partners as well. I am so happy you are all so educated
Most of the comments to this blog post are in favor of Quixtar/Amway. Interesting...
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