A Pyramid Scheme: Amway

Thursday, October 24, 2013

A very friendly man by the name of Jose* walked into my restaurant and approached me about an exciting business opportunity. Jose told me that he understood what it was like to work every day and barely make ends meet- Jose had noticed how my husband and I worked 12-hour days, seven days a week. Jose said he that he knew of a new business opportunity that allowed you to work minimally and make thousands of dollars.

Jose then proceeded to try to sell me Amway products which he assured were healthy and had the ability to cure diseases. My husband and I were very hesitant, so Jose invited us to one of his meetings at the local university. Jose mentioned that we had to pay for the entrance and weekly materials, but he would cover us for the first meeting. Since there was no monetary risk, my husband and I decided to attend the meeting the following night.

As soon as we entered the meeting, everyone was so nice and talked about the success stories of others – people they had never met. My husband and I survived the cult-like meeting, and immediately decided not to come back again. As soon my husband informed Jose that he was not interested in the “business opportunity”, Jose became very persistent and did not stop harassing us for weeks. Jose even encouraged his up-line to visit our restaurant and to convince us that Amway was the way to go. They were so desperate to keep us as part of their downline that they even paid for our membership fee and ticket to a bigger meeting in Orange County.

We eventually gave in and started to buy their products. We found it very difficult to sell their products, so my husband and I ended up using the products ourselves (many of which we still have, two years later). I do not think it was a great investment and regret caving in to their pressure. I do not recommend this to anyone because it is extremely difficult to sell their overpriced products.

- Maria from California

*Name has been changed