Amway - good idea but bad in practice (ctoc.co.uk/homeworking_work_from_home.htm)

Member Name: Biffa

Product:	ctoc.co.uk/homeworking_work_from_home.htm
Date:	09/12/00 (264 review reads)
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We all want to earn more money, it's a fact of life. I always seem to have month left at the end of the money and never the other way around, and with a few 'work from home and earn loads of money' ideas around it's worth looking into - or is it?

A few years ago, well about 9 years ago to be precise, I was involved in Amway. The speel that they give you makes it sound fantastic and you'll wonder why you didn;t look at it before. There's always someone who seems to be making a shed load of money from it. But what they don;t tell you is that there are many more people struggling to make it work.

Amway is a pyramid-selling organisation in that when you join and hand over your already-hard earned money, which was £70 back in those days, you will instantly turn into a monster with little respect for anything else other than the dim hope of getting somewhere with it.

For your money, you get a pad of order forms, a mixture of products to use when doing demonstrations, a video and some other items 'essential' for running your own business from home.

You will actively be encouraged to attend team 'meetings' - which in effect are brainwashing sessions. You'll be told all about what a fantastic idea it is and how you should run off and spread the word to every Tom Dick and Harry that you know well, know to say hello to or complete strangers who happen to mention money in a conversation with you.

The way it works is simple - the more people you recruit to join, and the more products they sell, the more you earn. The more products you sell, the more you. You earn from the people who join up through people you've already signed up, so the potential to earn money is seemingly endless. You'll be asked to recommend the plan to friends, family, co-workers etc etc.

To show how 'brainwashed' some of these people become, I was once asked if I was going to be attending
a big rally in Sheffield. I said no, as it was on the same night as my A level nightclass and I really wanted to pass my exams. The response - "What's more important to you - some exam or us?"

The products themselves cover quite a wide range - from cosmetics to vitamin supplements; car wash to window cleaner and metal polish to carpet shampoo. The quality of them isn;t that bad either, but they are VERY expensive compared to what you can buy in the high street shops.

I eventually gave up when I had to spend well in excess of £50 of my own money on products to earn a cheque for 3% of what I'd sold. It seemed to defeat the object of trying to earn money if all I was doing with it was spending it on products to shove in the cupboard under the sink. For the products that you sell, you in effect buy them at trade and then sell them to make a profit.

If you're thinking of earning some money from home, I'd give this a wide berth. You'll find youself stocking up on products you don't need and being brainwashed by people who think Amway is better than sliced bread. Give it a miss.

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