Shaklee
Posted by:
hampton
()
Date: August 05, 2007 12:34PM
I'm curious to hear about people's experience with this company. My Mom has a good friend who became a Shaklee distributor and it has completely taken over this woman's life. Her house is like a shrine to Shaklee, as well as her car (which happens to be a Shaklee bonus car complete with Shaklee bumper sticker).
When I see this woman, I now have to pretend that everything in my life is perfectly fine because if I seem tired, stressed, or with a hint of the sniffles, I will have to endure a lengthy, and quite forceful, sales pitch about how Shaklee can cure all my ills. I've also had to suffer through the "what a great business opportunity Shaklee is" speech.
What I find especially disturbing is that this woman is not a doctor, and yet she freely gives out medical advice. I was particularly angry when my Mom had a very serious health problem and was told that she would be cured by buying several Shaklee products. I would not be surprised if this woman is sued one day.
When I see this woman, I now have to pretend that everything in my life is perfectly fine because if I seem tired, stressed, or with a hint of the sniffles, I will have to endure a lengthy, and quite forceful, sales pitch about how Shaklee can cure all my ills. I've also had to suffer through the "what a great business opportunity Shaklee is" speech.
What I find especially disturbing is that this woman is not a doctor, and yet she freely gives out medical advice. I was particularly angry when my Mom had a very serious health problem and was told that she would be cured by buying several Shaklee products. I would not be surprised if this woman is sued one day.
Shaklee
Posted by:
Lynnv2.0
()
Date: August 06, 2007 11:19PM
Quote
hampton
What I find especially disturbing is that this woman is not a doctor, and yet she freely gives out medical advice. I was particularly angry when my Mom had a very serious health problem and was told that she would be cured by buying several Shaklee products. I would not be surprised if this woman is sued one day.
Not to devert the subject from Shaklee, but it seems as though there is a lot of that kind of thing going on these days:
[www.star-telegram.com]
Shaklee
Posted by:
SFCRetired
()
Date: August 29, 2007 09:44AM
Some years back, I got suckered into this organization. Didn't take me long to realize that a) their products were grossly overpriced, b) some of them (supplements) made me deathly ill, and c) there were not enough hours in my day for me to be able to do all they were asking of me.
For this woman to be dispensing medical advice without either a degree or license I would think would be a matter for your state's Attorney General or other appropriate law enforcement agency.
The only thing I would suggest to you concerning her unwanted sales pitches is a firm, "Thank you, but I am not interested." Repeat this as necessary until she finally understands that you do not appreciate her intrusions. BTW, do not hesitate to interrupt her sales pitch. In such a case, I would not consider that to be rude.
I don't know how old your mother is, but, as a precaution, I would speak to her physician about this woman's attempted prescribing of Shaklee products for your mother's medical condition. He may want to cause action to be taken himself.
For this woman to be dispensing medical advice without either a degree or license I would think would be a matter for your state's Attorney General or other appropriate law enforcement agency.
The only thing I would suggest to you concerning her unwanted sales pitches is a firm, "Thank you, but I am not interested." Repeat this as necessary until she finally understands that you do not appreciate her intrusions. BTW, do not hesitate to interrupt her sales pitch. In such a case, I would not consider that to be rude.
I don't know how old your mother is, but, as a precaution, I would speak to her physician about this woman's attempted prescribing of Shaklee products for your mother's medical condition. He may want to cause action to be taken himself.
Re: Shaklee
Posted by:
lowlande
()
Date: January 22, 2008 01:04AM
I have the exact same experience with a friend. She and her husband got suckered into Shaklee and I've heard questionable things from them about how the "right" vitamins can cure anything, even cancer. I find Shaklee's products to be ridiculously expensive, and "right" health regime seems to involve taking more and more of their products, including a handful of expensive vitamins a day.
Like hampton, I feel like I need to dodge questions about my health since even taking birth control is apparently "bad" for me and puts my health at risk. Their upline distributor is a person that I would describe as manipulative and passive-aggressive. I feel like their personality has dramatically changed as their devotion to Shaklee and their distributor increases. Our friendship has suffered as I've pulled away from this mentality, and I've felt alienated as a result.
Shaklee's website and marketing materials are pretty slick; they seems to be written by lawyers and don't make any specific claims, but their underground marketing materials are a different story. My last straw with this friend was when she forwarded an email to me from the Shaklee distributor network about how a Shaklee eyeliner product "actually nourished the cells" while ALL other eyeliner products "cause cancerous mutations" in cells.
The email was a first person narrative from a Shaklee-ite who said her son was a chemistry major in an unnamed, undisclosed college. Her son's college professor performed an experiment every year using popular eyeliners and human skill cells and always came up with mutated cells until her son brought in the Shaklee eyeliner. When I asked why such astounding news wasn't being published in scientific journals or being touted on Oprah, I got a "nobody wants to believe the truth" response.
Remember, it might be good for you, but too much of a good thing is always bad.
Like hampton, I feel like I need to dodge questions about my health since even taking birth control is apparently "bad" for me and puts my health at risk. Their upline distributor is a person that I would describe as manipulative and passive-aggressive. I feel like their personality has dramatically changed as their devotion to Shaklee and their distributor increases. Our friendship has suffered as I've pulled away from this mentality, and I've felt alienated as a result.
Shaklee's website and marketing materials are pretty slick; they seems to be written by lawyers and don't make any specific claims, but their underground marketing materials are a different story. My last straw with this friend was when she forwarded an email to me from the Shaklee distributor network about how a Shaklee eyeliner product "actually nourished the cells" while ALL other eyeliner products "cause cancerous mutations" in cells.
The email was a first person narrative from a Shaklee-ite who said her son was a chemistry major in an unnamed, undisclosed college. Her son's college professor performed an experiment every year using popular eyeliners and human skill cells and always came up with mutated cells until her son brought in the Shaklee eyeliner. When I asked why such astounding news wasn't being published in scientific journals or being touted on Oprah, I got a "nobody wants to believe the truth" response.
Remember, it might be good for you, but too much of a good thing is always bad.
Re: Shaklee
Posted by:
Awaken7
()
Date: August 19, 2009 04:34AM
Shaklee PRODUCTS!!!!
Wow! This sounds to me as the same kind of brainwashing Soka Gakkai (SGI) Organization (also mentioned in culteducation.com) was trying to play on me!
They told me that "The only way to get a better life," was to join their cult and do their rituals!
Thank you for your information.
A woman I know told me she wants to do a 'presentation,' of their products that lasts about one hour. But now I know that she is going to try to make me join her organization, buy their expensive products with the promise that they are soooo good and I'm going to make a lot of money!
I found other pages in the internet with complaints and a lot of praises. Yahoo questions, Scam.com and Hilaryshepherd.com.
This woman gave me her card and the way is presented is so deceiving. Why don't they just plain say they want to sell you their pricey products and involve you in the corporation with a fee so that you can start generating a lot of money for the company while you make a little bit of money or even lose some?
I thought this article was one of the best I found in the internet and this business really sounds like a pyramid scam:
"[www.ftc.gov]
This is a rebuttal to comment 522418-00655 on the proposed business opportunity rule made by Bill and Hedy Vann Wellness Cunsulting [sic]. Multilevel marketing companies (MLMs) such as Shaklee mislead recruits with promises of unrealistic income. The attached Shaklee recruiting brochure is from comment 522418-00655. The Shaklee distributor incomes featured in that brochure are $84,240/year and $276,480/year. Shaklee is a company that reports about $500,000,000 in annual sales, but also has 700,000 distributors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaklee_Corporation). Therefore, Shaklee grosses only $714 per year per distributor. It is mathematically impossible for more than a fraction of one percent of distributors to be making the example five and six figure incomes from the brochure. In fact, if Shaklee's commissions were one-third of gross sales, then the average Shaklee distributor would be making less than $20/month before expenses. Shaklee's products and pyramid-sales business model are very similar to Amway/Quixtar's. Forbes Magazine has reported that the average Amway distributor netted only $780/year, but consumed $1,068/year in goods (http://mlmlaw.blogspot.com/2005/01/what-do-forbes-and-fortune-have-to-say.html). Therefore, the average Amway/Quixtar distributor lost money. Because of similarities between Shaklee and Amway/Quixtar, it's likely that Shaklee distributors are also averaging losses. But Shaklee does not report the gross or net average incomes of its distributors in any of its business opportunity advertisements. Shaklee only reports exceptional incomes of salespeople in the 99-th percentile of all distributors. Those exceptional incomes are displayed in such a way as to make them appear typical, which is misleading and unethical. Shaklee recruits should also be told how difficult it is to sell products to customers because of their high prices. For example, Shaklee charges about $50.00 for a one gallon bottle of liquid laundry soap (http://www.shaklee.com/product/81295). Shaklee's three pound box of dishwasher detergent retails for $14.95 (http://www.shaklee.com/product/00288). Similar cleaning products are available for around one-fifth of the Shaklee price in grocery and retail stores throughout the country. But when Shaklee recruits distributors it never mentions that they will face an uphill battle justifying the high prices of Shaklee products to customers. Multilevel marketing companies attract recruits with unrealistic promises of income and don't warn potential distributors about the high prices of the products they will be selling. MLMs know that most of the distributors they recruit will lose money, but never tell them that fact. When advertising a business opportunity, all multilevel marketing companies including Shaklee should be required to tell recruits their product prices and the average net (after expenses) income of all distributors. If these requirements are added to the FTC's business opportunity rule, then MLMs will have to stop their common, but misleading and unethical practice of reporting only the average gross incomes of distributors at high levels in their pyramids."
Wow! This sounds to me as the same kind of brainwashing Soka Gakkai (SGI) Organization (also mentioned in culteducation.com) was trying to play on me!
They told me that "The only way to get a better life," was to join their cult and do their rituals!
Thank you for your information.
A woman I know told me she wants to do a 'presentation,' of their products that lasts about one hour. But now I know that she is going to try to make me join her organization, buy their expensive products with the promise that they are soooo good and I'm going to make a lot of money!
I found other pages in the internet with complaints and a lot of praises. Yahoo questions, Scam.com and Hilaryshepherd.com.
This woman gave me her card and the way is presented is so deceiving. Why don't they just plain say they want to sell you their pricey products and involve you in the corporation with a fee so that you can start generating a lot of money for the company while you make a little bit of money or even lose some?
I thought this article was one of the best I found in the internet and this business really sounds like a pyramid scam:
"[www.ftc.gov]
This is a rebuttal to comment 522418-00655 on the proposed business opportunity rule made by Bill and Hedy Vann Wellness Cunsulting [sic]. Multilevel marketing companies (MLMs) such as Shaklee mislead recruits with promises of unrealistic income. The attached Shaklee recruiting brochure is from comment 522418-00655. The Shaklee distributor incomes featured in that brochure are $84,240/year and $276,480/year. Shaklee is a company that reports about $500,000,000 in annual sales, but also has 700,000 distributors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaklee_Corporation). Therefore, Shaklee grosses only $714 per year per distributor. It is mathematically impossible for more than a fraction of one percent of distributors to be making the example five and six figure incomes from the brochure. In fact, if Shaklee's commissions were one-third of gross sales, then the average Shaklee distributor would be making less than $20/month before expenses. Shaklee's products and pyramid-sales business model are very similar to Amway/Quixtar's. Forbes Magazine has reported that the average Amway distributor netted only $780/year, but consumed $1,068/year in goods (http://mlmlaw.blogspot.com/2005/01/what-do-forbes-and-fortune-have-to-say.html). Therefore, the average Amway/Quixtar distributor lost money. Because of similarities between Shaklee and Amway/Quixtar, it's likely that Shaklee distributors are also averaging losses. But Shaklee does not report the gross or net average incomes of its distributors in any of its business opportunity advertisements. Shaklee only reports exceptional incomes of salespeople in the 99-th percentile of all distributors. Those exceptional incomes are displayed in such a way as to make them appear typical, which is misleading and unethical. Shaklee recruits should also be told how difficult it is to sell products to customers because of their high prices. For example, Shaklee charges about $50.00 for a one gallon bottle of liquid laundry soap (http://www.shaklee.com/product/81295). Shaklee's three pound box of dishwasher detergent retails for $14.95 (http://www.shaklee.com/product/00288). Similar cleaning products are available for around one-fifth of the Shaklee price in grocery and retail stores throughout the country. But when Shaklee recruits distributors it never mentions that they will face an uphill battle justifying the high prices of Shaklee products to customers. Multilevel marketing companies attract recruits with unrealistic promises of income and don't warn potential distributors about the high prices of the products they will be selling. MLMs know that most of the distributors they recruit will lose money, but never tell them that fact. When advertising a business opportunity, all multilevel marketing companies including Shaklee should be required to tell recruits their product prices and the average net (after expenses) income of all distributors. If these requirements are added to the FTC's business opportunity rule, then MLMs will have to stop their common, but misleading and unethical practice of reporting only the average gross incomes of distributors at high levels in their pyramids."
Re: Shaklee
Posted by:
Bill
()
Date: January 23, 2010 01:01AM
hampton,
You have by now, read the responses from the naysayers. And its good that you see any option from different angles.
All I can tell you is from my experience.
* The products are indeed good. Once I began using the Sal Palmetto, my reoccurring condition stopped and has not comeback for the last (18) months. Honest.
* The products do "cost" more than what you find at Walmart/grocery store. But "cost" is relevant . Walmart/grocery stores are offering products for quick turnovers, thus "low" price. But do they work as well? If it is results you are expecting then "low" price products actually rip you off and thus are very costly.
* Multi Level Marketing is a business model that rewards according to effort. This effort revolves around product movement, or velocity. You would be in a business. Or you would be a customer. Unlike corporations where the director does not have a financial incentive to see you grow, prosper, and maybe be more-so than him, MLM does indeed allow you to prosper to what ever extent you expend effort.
Shaklee, and its business model is not a cult. It is a way to leverage time and risk. You are in business for yourself and you get to take advantage of any business tax considerations that apply. Unfortunately, since anyone can take advantage of this model, you will come across people that misuse it. But this also applies to government, financial institutions, corporate pressure and organized labor.
You, Mr. hampton, would operate your business as you see fit as long as it is honest and follows company policy.
Listen, I did not like broccoli as a child because I did not try it. As an adult I tried it and enjoy it. Don't be misled by the naysayers. Check the product out, check the industry out that the products service, and the logic of the business module.
As for myself, I am in business handling Shaklee products. They work for me as a user. The business end has paid me over $800 in the last two months. Not enough to pay my mortgage, but enough to pay two car payments. And I am not even a "high level" recognized superstar yet. I have regular repeat customers so they appear to getting their value.
Check it out. It is not a cult
You have by now, read the responses from the naysayers. And its good that you see any option from different angles.
All I can tell you is from my experience.
* The products are indeed good. Once I began using the Sal Palmetto, my reoccurring condition stopped and has not comeback for the last (18) months. Honest.
* The products do "cost" more than what you find at Walmart/grocery store. But "cost" is relevant . Walmart/grocery stores are offering products for quick turnovers, thus "low" price. But do they work as well? If it is results you are expecting then "low" price products actually rip you off and thus are very costly.
* Multi Level Marketing is a business model that rewards according to effort. This effort revolves around product movement, or velocity. You would be in a business. Or you would be a customer. Unlike corporations where the director does not have a financial incentive to see you grow, prosper, and maybe be more-so than him, MLM does indeed allow you to prosper to what ever extent you expend effort.
Shaklee, and its business model is not a cult. It is a way to leverage time and risk. You are in business for yourself and you get to take advantage of any business tax considerations that apply. Unfortunately, since anyone can take advantage of this model, you will come across people that misuse it. But this also applies to government, financial institutions, corporate pressure and organized labor.
You, Mr. hampton, would operate your business as you see fit as long as it is honest and follows company policy.
Listen, I did not like broccoli as a child because I did not try it. As an adult I tried it and enjoy it. Don't be misled by the naysayers. Check the product out, check the industry out that the products service, and the logic of the business module.
As for myself, I am in business handling Shaklee products. They work for me as a user. The business end has paid me over $800 in the last two months. Not enough to pay my mortgage, but enough to pay two car payments. And I am not even a "high level" recognized superstar yet. I have regular repeat customers so they appear to getting their value.
Check it out. It is not a cult
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