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Pyramid selling fiasco!


Lestat

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I was approached by a gent whilst out shopping a few weeks ago and he started telling me about this really easy way to make loads of money - how I could triple my wages by employing this simple selling tactic which he was going to teach me.

 

I let curiosity get the better of me and said ok, we arranged to meet up for a coffee few days later and he talked me into taking brochures and cassettes home to listen to.

 

When we next met up I had made my mind up that I couldn't be bothered with it anymore and told him so, he wanted me to join for £200 and promised that it would quadruple in the coming months. I told him no and found it quite hard to get rid of him in the end - he was showing me photos of millionaires within the company and allsorts!

 

I did manage to get away in the end but have recently heard from another friend of mine ( who took it all in too easily ) she paid £250 and keeps getting annoying phonecalls to go to meetings in Birmingham and Nottingham etc. . She is fed up with it now and wishes she'd never started it. She has asked for her money back but was told she wouldn't be able to get it back! her next step is the police . . has anyone else been approached by these guy's? it'd be interesting to hear what you did?

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Sounds like you were lucky to get out before they had stolen your money. My brother keeps nearly getting sucked in to this that or the other. I don't think he's gullable, just over confident. He doesn't see the downside to anything.

 

The last one was a time share and offer for a free holiday, which he confidently told me "it's not a time-share, it's a holiday investment programme" after driving to doncaster and being lectured for 4 hours, about a foreign free holiday, which it turns out you might have to take anytime within a 10 month timescale at 48 hours notice, and you would have to spend 1 day of it attending a seminar and visiting properties on resort for sale, and in addition you would have to take their expensive holiday insurance and pay for transfers and tax etc... He didn't sign up because he couldn't afford £1500 a year for the next 25 years to enter the scheme, which they were only told about in the last ten minutes!

 

The one before that was a pyramid selling scheme. Which had another name, "it's not a pyramid scheme it's a global investment scheme". It's a pyramid scheme I insisted, come around and see the video about it , there are loads of millionaires already. By this time I had my head in my hands!

Some months ago I was approached by a guy in Leeds who must have seen me leaving the 'day job' and asked if I wanted to earn more oney.

 

It took me about 30 seconds to realise he was pushing a pyramid scheme, and as we have no room at The Towers for a large pile of Egyptian Masonry, I put my best foot forward and left him in the dust.

 

Just get all the details and shop them to the DTI.

 

:)

Hi Les,

 

Pyramid selling, multi level marketing, network marketing etc, can be illegal. It is against the law to persuade somebody to pay into a scheme by promising them benefits if they recruit further people, although recruitment rewards can be given. A scheme must also legitimately be selling a product or service.

 

This type of thing was big in the 60s & 70s. There are a number of legal companies like Amway that use these techniques but there is a product. Again with companies like these, you have to be aware.

 

I have been to a few presentations or have had stuff trying to get me to join such schemes. They promise the earth & you end up out of pocket. I had a mate who stumped up money for a scheme by a company called Alchemy. He was very postive about it & gave me a video to watch. This video had a man who went on about being overworked & under paid, had few holidays, drove a clapped out car etc. He then said how Alchemy changed his life. He had loads of money , worked a few months a years, many holdays a year all over the world & had a number of flash cars.

 

The thing is that it NEVER said what it was selling.

 

I declined my mates offer to join but he was trying to persude me to part with my money. He told me "don't come running" when he is driving round in his flash car.

 

Many month later, he was angry that he paid his money & got nothing. Soon Alchemy hit the headlines. See below.

 

http://213.38.88.221/gnn/national.nsf/0/01B9CA75A93D0D218025688D00314977?opendocument

 

I would get your mate to report the company to the Sheffield trading Standards, office of fair trading, DTI & the police. Look at the links below for more detail

 

http://www.bcentral.co.uk/issues/administration/selling/tradingschemes.mspx

 

http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/facts/pyramid.htm

 

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/sheffield/

 

Dean of Disco

I had a mate who got suckered into something like this. I eventually got to learn that he'd spend about 10 hours a week on the "business," trying to recruit new people, trying to sell stuff etc, and made about £40 per month. Out of this he had to pay £10 per month to gain entry to various seminars and presentations which could be held anywhere in the country. He tried to recruit me, tried very hard and it put a great strain on our friendship. My opinion is that you should just laugh in the face of anyone who tries to sucker you in to anything remotely pyramid esque.

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