No seminars, no training, no education materials to “help” you convince people to join?
~VOW
Basically, I was recruited by someone I’ve met on Facebook. Lyoness is very big in Hungary, and since I’m originally from there, I met this guy’s advertisement for it and went for it.
Now, the thing about Lyoness is the following. It can only work if you recruit others, there is absolutely no question about it. I am actually torn between two competing thoughts in me; one is that is is a legitimate business opportunity, the other is that it’s a scam. Well, for starter, the guy told me that it is absolutely free to join. That is absolutely not true. Once you sign up, you will get an email, stating that they are thanking you for purchasing three $75.00 Walmart cards. OK, so you buy those, because that’s the only way you can become a member. However, once you buy it, it turns out that you cannot really use them at all, because they become part of your first units in the system. You can “top them up”, if you want, but for that you need to pay a few hundred more in order to spend it on gift cards. So, if you think of it as an investment, that’s OK. Well, the guy now is telling me that it would be much better if I invested $3000, because that way, once I recruit more people, I get more money back. But if I change my mind about it, they won’t just give my money back, because for that I need to give them another few thousand dollars, in order to get more gift cards. So basically, if you’re very good at convincing and recruiting people, and they’re also very good at that, then yes, this is a great opportunity for you. However, if you’re not that type of a person, then if you pay them the amount they want you to pay, you will be very sorry that you did, unless you have much more money to redeem your investment and get thousands of dollars worth of BP, Walmart and other types of gift cards.
Interesting.
Thanks for the info. So the ‘free’ membership cards handed out by Intertile and other retailers are not actually free.
If I was you Gabor, I would run as far and as fast from this and the person trying to hook you as I could.
To boil down GaborNYC’s post to the meat of the matter:
Of course there are seminars, trainings, and education materials. But if you’re implying it they are mandatory…absolutely not! That’s totally up to the discretion of the person that may see this as a potentially business for themselves.
Would people need to go to seminars, trainings and education materials to shop? No…anyone can do that. What we are showing people about Lyoness is that they can incorporate Lyoness into the many rewards programs that people are already a part of and utilize it.
Have you ever DECLINED the seminars, trainings, and educational materials? EVER? Might wanna try that.
And how much money have you spent on said seminars, trainings, and educational materials? How much have you spent on travel and lodging to attend the seminars and training? How much educational material are you expected to buy to distribute to your “down line?”
~VOW
I’m sorry to hear Gabor. But I believe if I can help you with some of your understanding of the company, I’d be more than happy to. I believe what you made Gabor was a ‘down payment on future purchases’. The USA is currently in Phase 2…every country goes through a 3-phase process. Phase 1 is the legality of the company, phase 2 is the solidifying of the infrastructure, the ‘prelaunch’…and phase 3 is the ‘branding’ stage of the company. When phase 3 hits, you will be allowed to recommend people to Lyoness, where a membership to them is absolutely FREE for them!
That being said, we are not in phase 3 yet…we are still in phase 2…in phase 2, there are 2 ways in which you can become a member right now…1) you purchase a one time amount of $450 worth of gift cards which they will send you your $450 worth of gift cards in 2-3 days. At that point, you are a Lyoness member, you can shop and receive its benefits. 2) you make a down payment on future purchases where you have now accounting units in the accounting program system.
Regardless of how you joined, via gift card purchases or down payments, it was free for you to become a member. You still have $225 worth of accounting units or if you would make a gift card purchase, you’d get the amount you paid for…
Gabor, you can actually sell your units to a new member or to your recommender and his upline.
As a matter of fact, I have declined such trainings, seminars…I obviously pick and choose what I may possibly benefit from.
I have spent approximately $250 total on two separate trainings of which were local…this includes gas, food…
I have not paid for any education material because I don’t need to be educated on shopping…plus, every member has all the education material about the company in the back office…I don’t need to purchase any educational material because I show people how to teach smarter…not selling anything, only adding benefit a person’s everyday habit.
Which countries are in phase 3 now? None?
Also:
If you are unable to find new [del]suckers[/del] members then you 've lost the money?
I haven’t finished reading the thread, but I do love breaking out this clip.
This thread is all kinds of awesome.
BTW, Googling DocV888’s email address (posted upthread) comes up with some interesting results (basically, him desperately trying to recruit more members on other forums.)
Anyone actually interested in this, or other MLM businesses, should be required to watch Penn & Teller’s episode of “Bullshit” on the subject. They do a good job of illustrating what we here all already know. I think it’s on YouTube.
If things are going to be so much better when(if) this plan goes to Phase 3, why would I want to join now? Wouldn’t it be safer and more profitable to wait until this thing is totally functioning?
No, your money isn’t lost. It’s just something to know and that you can get your money back if you like…unlike many mlm’s where i doubt after 12 months of autoships, you can actually sell your units to other people.
I’m on this forum simply to explain the company a little bit better. I don’t need to recruit anyone on this forum…
I forgot, countries that are in Phase 3 right now are Austria, Finland, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Hungary.
Does Lyoness offer a prospectus?
Dude, you wouldn’t be able to recruit anyone on this forum. We’re dedicated to fighting ignorance, not falling prey to it. 
You mention the ability to sell your investment like it’s as easy as walking down to the store to pick up a gallon of milk. When I’ve dumped money into this thing and realized it’s an MLM that won’t pay out 'cause I can’t convince a bunch of people to recruit a bunch of people into this, how am I then going to find someone to unload my worthless investments on (and I mean how would I actually do it as well as how could I morally do it)? Maybe I could sell it to the person who recruited me, but I highly doubt he would offer me anywhere close to full price.
DocV888, can you clarify something?
Let’s say I buy a Lyoness membership. The next day I come down with a severe case of Simple Chronic Halitosis, and realize that I will not be able to do any recruiting. I don’t want Lyoness to make an exception for me, and I do not want to earn any profit (my solitude has left me in a Buddha-like state). I just want to break even.
Will Lyoness mail me a check for all the money I have sent to them (minus reasonable transaction fees, of course–Sam’s Club charges membership fees to get their discounts)? Do I have to wait any amount of time?
Note, discounts or “cash back” based on spending *more *money with a merchant does not count towards breaking even. I would, though, say that gift cards (or the Lyoness equivalent of a standard gift card you’d buy from a store) would satisfy me–it would be like getting store credit from a merchant that doesn’t do cash refunds.
That is, if an item is normally $100 but I buy it at a discount for $90 (or get a $10 cash back), and that is the same special super-duper member price that I’d pay if I were remaining a member, this is not the same as getting my money back.
However, if the regular price is $100, which is then discounted to $90 because as far as the merchant is concerned I’m a regular Lyoness member, and I use a Lyoness gift card or whatnot to pay the $90–so that I get the $100 item with no more cash outlay than I originally put in–then that would satisfy me.
**In short: If someone wants to stop giving Lyoness more money and wants to stop participating in the service (for whatever reason), how does Lyoness provide them with actual cash and merchandise equal to the amount they had put in so far? **
All I know is that the mints must not have been very good, as they never were less than full, and payment was on the honor system.
Or maybe that was for the Lyon’s club or something.