My Story: I might be one of the only people living in Hong Kong who had never heard of Amway, before about one weeks ago. One of my wife's colleagues, had given us a tape to listen to. I listen to the cassette tape, about a guy in Australia, who ones was a vet and now claimed he had freedom and was making lots of money, or something like that. The tape didn't tell me anything and I honestly could not see where it was leading, perhaps I am a bit slow. To cut a long story short, I (wife not interested) was invited to a 'meeting' just down the road from w here we live in Hong Kong. There was 2 other couples, myself and my wife's colleague and a man who explained the 'plan', called 'PERSONAL BUSINESS OWNERSHIP' (There was no copyright on the photocopy I was given, so I assume it is OK to copy the PBO). I made a few comments which are in red.
As you will see from the 'Plan' is looks very rosy and the way it was explained, it is easy to start thinking that you will soon be a very rich person.
During the 'Open meeting' a few days later, I again saw the 'Plan' and again McDonalds was used as an example of how easy it is, all we have to do is to learn how to show the plan to others and bingo, we will make a lot of money. We just needed a dream. During the same 'Open meeting' attended by about 100 people, we were told that the translator (Chinese) had 'made it' in only 64 days. It is made to sound so easy and of course, you do dream that you can also do it in 64 days or less.
I seriously thought the concept and the idea was good and having being told that Amway was in joint venture with Nike, Sony, Pepsi etc. one immediately thin that I can earn easy points just buying what we need for our own house. In the process I even get 30% of normal retail prices. This is of course totally untrue, for a start they do not have any of those nice brand names in Hong Kong. I thought even if I do not know a lot of people in Hong Kong, I could certainly make money out of the retail business. I mentioned this to someone, but was told that NO NO, this is not retail business, the money i s in getting people to sign on, this is NOT Amway door to door selling, this is Interactive Distribution a completely different business. This is at least the way it came across to me and I still planned to do something and making a Internet site to promote 'My business' .
There were 2 points which I my opinion would make the business work, based on the information I had been give, and that was 1. The product and I had already been told about Nike, Sony, Motorola, Pepsi and Coca-Cola and I was told that of course these companies would not be chasing Amway to sell their (they meant Pepsi etc.) product unless this was a good and honest business. I was also told that Amway was used as a guideline for other MLM companies to be allowed to operate, as Amway of course was the best. The other point was the cost, as I believe the Chinese are very good business people and they will not buy something unless they get a good deal. Again I was not worried because we 'get 30% discount' and using this 'Plan' which cut out the normal distribution system. It was explained that these days it is the wholesalers and the retailers who make all the profit, not the manufacturing industry. This is apparently also why there are so many Import and Export companies in Hong Kong, according to the distributor. For this reason the cost would be a lot less the 'normal' goods. It was therefore natural to assume that the prices would be unbeatable. Was I wrong in assuming this??
Never having heard of Amway, or seen any negative press about them, I felt I had no reason why not to trust them, after all it was introduced to a colleague of my wife and she had done it for nearly a year.
Now all I wanted to see before I signed up, was to see the product and the prices, so the sponsor took me to the Amway shop in Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. I had asked my wife to come along, as I thought it would be interesting for her to see, but also she knows the prices of everyday commodities, so she would be able to help. We were rather surprised to see how expensive everything was, but was then told that it was because it is all concentrated (saving transport cost, why ship water), It was all Amway products, where was all the major brand name products?? My sponsor did not know, but would ask the Upline.
My wife then bought a price list and a catalogue (yes you have to pay for it), I was told that it would be in the starter pack, so there was no need to buy one, but we insisted that we thought it would be a good idea. It would help me study the products and make pr ice comparison.
When I went to the 'Open meeting' I had asked them to explain how the 4% leadership bonus worked, as I could not work out how everyone could get 4% leadership bonus. I also asked about where all the brand name goods where, as in both meetings and in between. I was told by the Upline to my sponsor that he had personally called Amway in Hong Kong and was told that Hong Kong did not yet deserve the other products, because they was not selling enough (I assumed Amway products). I am not sure i f this is a direct lie, as apparently Japan is not stocking all these brand names either and they have 1/3 of the world-wide turnover. Perhaps someone else can enlighten me?
This was my main concern, In the 'Open meeting' presentation, they even add multinational brand names to the companies mentioned in the 'Personal Business Ownership' again mentioning Coca-Cola, Nike, Sony etc., so one naturally assumes that one can buy this products at 30% discount, why would anyone otherwise be interested?? If these products are not available is this not false advertisement?
In the meantime, I have spend many hours looking at the various sites and specifically at the court cases there are and have been against Amway and the various distribution companies and my personal opinion is that this is definitely not an organization any honest, moral or ethical person should want to be involved with.
Dated: 24th October 1997