There is a new website with some info about Tony Robbins Wealth Mastery Seminar. Some of the text from this site will be posted below.[/color:4cb2388cdb]

[www.tony-robbins.org]

Tony Robbins - A first hand, critical view of how the Tony Robbins Company performs and operates
[img:4cb2388cdb]http://www.tony-robbins.org/tony_robbins_1.jpg[/img:4cb2388cdb]

Who is Tony Robbins?
The picture on the left is what Tony Robbins looked like when we attended a recent "Unleash The Power Within" event. Not exactly the athletic, youthful Tony Robbins we expected. And certainly not the Tony Robbins pictured on the products and events his company markets.

As a matter of fact, he was VERY FAT. It was obvious to us that Tony Robbins does not practice his own teachings about health and nutrition but rather uses old pictures of himself along with used-car salesman tactics to push his products and events. Would you buy his products if he used images of a fat slob to market them? I think not


"Unleash The Power Within"
So, that's Tony Robbins?
I would describe the event as very "ritual-like". There was a lot of jumping up and down and hand waving instructed by Tony. This is part of the program if you want to participate. There was some story telling, Tony singing (ugh!), and some group hypnosis. Personally, I do not like being hypnotised by someone trying to seperate me from my money. But it was an entertaining (albeit expensive) event. We did get a pretty good work out though the way he kept us jumping up and down.

We were told by one of his followers at this event that we were lucky (?) to see Robbins because often times he doesn't even show up. We later discovered that was absolutely true. TONY ROBBINS DID NOT SHOW UP FOR THE ENTIRE WEALTH MASTERY PROGRAM we signed up for because I guess he had better things to do. Imagine that. What can you expect for only $3,745.00 per seat?

I thought the guy who filled in for Tony Robbins at the Wealth Mastery event did a feeble job at best of imitating Robbins. It was transparent to me that the whole show was choreographed by Robbins because much of what was said and done by the M.C. seemed "canned" or "scripted". Like this guy was doing "The Tony Robbins Show". I would grade the M.C. with a "C" for imitating Tony Robbins and a "D" for his total performance. The program sucked in my opinion and definitely not worth the money.
"Wealth Mastery" - Did you bring your spouse or loved one?
If you did, don't expect to see them much. The very first thing they did before the event even got going was to separate everyone from their spouse or partner and we were instructed to go off into the crowd and take someone else's spouse or partner (the 4 day event is spent interacting with a partner).

THEN, as soon as they had everyone split up from their spouse or partner and paired up with someone else's spouse or partner, they called a dinner break and told us to go out and have diner with our NEW partner and share the "most embarrassing moments of our lives" so we could really get to know each other. They also told us to share contact information with our new partner to keep this relationship going after the event.

Isn't that wonderful? And this program was called "WEALTH MASTERY".


And what happens during "Wealth Mastery"?
Lots of breaks where they instructed partners (remember who the partners are?) to hug each other and then massage each other up and down from head to foot. This happened over and over MANY times during the event. They told us when to start hugging. They told us when to stop. They told us when to start massaging. They told us when to stop. They emphatically encouraged us to really be thorough and tell each other what feels good and how we want to be massaged. And while this was going on they projected a video against the stage back-drop of a young, attractive woman bending over with her pants off having her rear end slapped (This was not an "X" video but certainly "R" in my opinion)

YES! What a wonderful experience for you and your loved one...ummm...I mean SOMEONE ELSE and YOUR loved one. AND THIS PROGRAM WAS CALLED "WEALTH MASTERY"!

While at the event I overheard one man say that Tony Robbins came up to his wife during the "Unleash The Power Within" event and kissed his wife on the mouth while he was standing next to her. He said his wife was so thrilled she didn't want to wipe her lips.

Even though the man seemed light-hearted about the experience, I found it bothersome. I could not help but think back to this incident when I later read about the Vancouver Sun's story accusing Tony Robbins of having an affair with another man's wife during his September 1999 Hawaii event. From reading the story it is my understanding that he was still married to Becky Robbins when an affair with Mrs. Bonnie Lynch, now Mrs. Sage Robbins took place. The story implied Robbins was an adulterous hypocrite who does not follow his own teachings. There is plenty of news available about this scandal if you want to read about it. I am just repeating what I have read.


So, you've handed over your hard earned money to Tony Robbins...
So, you've handed over your hard earned money to Tony Robbins and then you discover that wife swapping or partner swapping was not exactly what you had in mind when you signed up for a program entitled "WEALTH MASTERY". What then? Did you read the small print?

When we had signed up we were assured over and over by Tony Robbins in person that there was NO RISK and if we were not COMPLETELY happy we would get a FULL refund. Stupid us, we believed him and thought we would save money by signing up for THREE programs. After all, there was NO RISK and we would get a FULL REFUND if not satisfied. THEN we discovered the truth.


The Small Print (Back to the very beginning) .
Amidst the height of the hype and promising sales pitch from Tony Robbins promising a full refund if not satisfied, they handed us a legal document to sign. Of course we signed it. We trusted that the document we were signing was just a formality confirming what he was telling us. Not so

First, when my wife called to asked for a refund for the remaining events (because we were not willing to attend them) she spoke with one of Tony Robbins' sales people (name withheld) and was given a run-around. My wife was told that they (the sales person) needed to talk to me first. Fine.

I called the sales person back and said look, we want a refund and I explained why. I got the same run-around as my wife did.

First they had the nerve to tell me that asking for a refund was a sign I needed more counseling.

Then they told me I obviously have issues with jealousy that they can help me with!

When Tony Robbins' sales person finally figured out we really wanted a refund they told me the document they had us sign gave them the right to keep 50% of our money if we choose NOT to attend any of the events!!!

I told them I was angry because that was NOT part of the hype when Tony Robbins was pushing us to buy the package. I said that as a matter of fact, nothing was even mentioned about keeping ANY of our money. $20,000.00 is a LOT for a working couple and we had to max-out two credit cards to pay for it.

The conversation ended when Tony Robbins' sales person asked for our fax number to fax us the document we unwittingly signed. After giving the sales person our fax number they hung up on us. No "good-bye". No explanation as to how we could get back what little of our money they did not plan to keep. We never received a call back.

After TWO PHONE CALLS to the Tony Robbins Company SPECIFICALLY ASKING FOR A REFUND, all we got was a run-around.
Tony Robbins and charity
During the two events we heard Tony Robbins preach repeatedly about the virtues of charity. How charitable he is. How charitable we should be. How we should donate money to THE TONY ROBBINS CHARITY FOUNDATION and he ran a competition amongst the group to see who was the most generous giver. He told us that he believes that what we give away to others comes back to us many fold and so we should be as generous and as giving as we can with others. He said this was so important that no matter what our financial state we CANNOT AFFORD to be anything other than charitable and giving.

Easy to say when your the one asking for a handout.

For as wealthy as Tony Robbins is and for as charity minded as he claims to be, why does he need to take our money from us? We worked hard for that money and we trusted his word. We were willing to pay for what we attended. We were just asking that our money be returned for the events we had not and were not willing to attend. We made a mistake not knowing what we were getting into. Once we discovered how the programs were run, we wanted out. There was no sacrifice to him as these events are first-come-first-serve and you just pick a date when you see one that suits you.

It seems to me Robbins is quite charitable when it comes to giving away other people's money and committing other people's time and resources to charity and then taking credit for it. But "charity" seems to be nothing more than an opportunity to market his many companies and doing so at someone else's expense. Do you think I am wrong? Take a good look at what he does and tell me something different.


Conclusion
I have read and heard others accuse Tony Robbins of being a "hypocrite". While I am NOW sympathetic to those opinions, I do not want to make such accusations myself. Only to share my honest and truthful experience with you so you can decide for yourself whether you should respect his character or not and whether the teachings and products of this type of person are right for you.

If you find my web page valuable, please Bookmark it and share it with a friend.

If you have a comment or experience you would like to share, please write (Take care to enter your email correctly). We are also collecting links to related websites that we will post in the future. If you have a link of interest, please let us know.
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[www.robbins-tony.com]

Have You Been Ripped Off?
When I called the office of the District Attorney in my county to discuss my complaint I was told, and I quote: "his (Anthony Robbins's) sales tactics are down there with used car salesmen". That is a direct quote.

I was also told that in our county alone the Anthony Robbins Companies has racked up 13 consumer complaints in the last 36 months with the Better Business Bureau. That is 13 complaints in one county alone!

If you feel you have been ripped off, here are a few tips:

#1. When you sign the contact with the Anthony Robbins Companies, the state you live in will probably allow a 3 day "right of rescission" for you to back out of the contract. But if you paid by credit card you have 60 days to file a dispute. If you did not get what you paid for you have the right to dispute the charge.

#2. File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. They are there to help consumers against the unscrupulous. Their online complaint form can be found here: Better Business Bureau.

#3. File a complaint with the consumer protection department of your District Attorney's Office. Your county probably has online forms. They will assign someone to investigate and advise you.

#4. Write to us and tell us about your complaint. One person who contacted us through this website suggested if there were enough people we should file a class action lawsuit. Certainly worth looking into if there are enough of us. If nothing else it would help the Anthony Robbins Companies get some well deserved free publicity. I can assure you that would be high on my list of priorities. [/img]

Your man made the news yesterday:



[www.latimes.com]


Motivational Guru to Give South Gate $45,000 Refund
City will regain funds that its ousted treasurer had spent on a Tony Robbins membership.
By Hector Becerra
Times Staff Writer

December 15, 2005

Here's one testimonial you won't find on motivational guru Tony Robbins' next infomercial.

In 2002, then-South Gate Treasurer Albert Robles took a group of city employees to a seminar at the Hyatt Regency in Garden Grove. In the parking lot of the hotel, along with hundreds of other people, they walked across rows of glowing hot coals — part of Robbins' self-help regime.

Afterward, Robles became a "platinum member" of Robbins' company. The connection — for which the city paid $65,000 — has since become a source of discomfort after Robles was convicted of bribery and municipal corruption.

This week, Robbins' company agreed to refund $45,000 to the cash-strapped city. So ends the strange relationship between a famous self-help juggernaut who lectures CEOs and celebrities and the small working-class town.

As a platinum member, Robles went to private events in Fiji and Prague, Czech Republic — and had little tolerance for employees who didn't get with the program.

"One of the employees testified that the director of public works … did not want to walk on the hot coals and Robles berated him," using a vulgarity to describe him, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Cynthia Valenzuela, who prosecuted Robles during his federal bribery and public corruption trial earlier this year.

Robbins' attorney, Peter Selvin, said the organization had no knowledge of Robles' misdoings when they received his application for platinum membership.

"Once it became clear to us that a former city official used misappropriated funds to pay for a membership in our organization, we felt returning the money to the city was the right thing to do," Selvin said. "We gave the money back willingly. We have no relationship nor have we ever had a relationship with the former city official in question."

Robles declined to comment.

Earlier this summer, representatives for Robbins' organization testified in federal court about Robles' platinum membership, which was described during the trial as the organization's "most VIP program." Among the exhibits were pictures in Fiji and Prague — including one of Robles clad in shorts sitting across from Robbins.

"You do have to pay for the trips, but [platinum membership] gives you direct access to Anthony Robbins," Valenzuela said. "You get to network with these people who apparently can afford to be in the platinum program."

Federal authorities alleged that Robles masterminded a kickback scheme involving several city contracts that cost South Gate $12 million. City officials said that fees from attorneys whom Robles and his allies hired before being recalled from office last year and other contracts cost the city several million dollars more, though they do not have an exact number.

The Robbins platinum membership was one of several perks prosecutors said Robles had the city cover. He also purchased a beachside condo in Baja California through a shell corporation in his mother's name.

At one point, South Gate's deficit was $6 million.

City officials praised the Robbins organization for repaying South Gate.

"It's great that the Robbins people recognized that it was appropriate to return most of the money," City Manager Gary Milliman said.

Since Robles and his allies' ouster during a recall election in 2003, the city has gone after companies, law firms and individuals it alleges unfairly benefited because of Robles.

South Gate has recovered more than $3.3 million alone from law firms that were connected to Robles, City Atty. Raul Salinas said.

In addition, a waste-hauling company agreed to repay the city $8.5 million and to sell its assets as a result of deals during the Robles era.

"Paying for a platinum membership for this program may be appropriate for individuals or companies who can afford it," Milliman said. "But South Gate is not among the top echelon of corporations in America."

Valenzuela, the federal prosecutor, believes Robbins may have unwittingly been pulled into Robles' orbit.

"I think Albert Robles' actions put a lot of people in very compromising positions," Valenzuela said. "And I think Anthony Robbins is one such example."

I met Robbins years ago when he was working the "fire walking" circuit. Nice,but intense kid then. Looks like he's really full of himself now.

I just added a part to the TR page on wiki [b:67ae7545fb]Concern of similarities of Robbins techniques to those employed by cults[/b:67ae7545fb] and is provides as a reference a link to this very thread. I thought some of you may like to take a look and elaborate on it if you felt inclined. It must read NPOV however - No point of view.

Enjoy!

[b:67ae7545fb]Glen Stollery[/b:67ae7545fb]

Hi there!

Lots of great information in this forum that seems to be providing a much-needed balance to various grand claims out there.

My uncle passed away 2 years ago, and left me 2 books, Unlimited Power and Awaken the Giant, as well as 2 tape sets...the old Personal Power, and the REALLY old Unlimited Power tape set. I have really enjoyed these tape sets, but am sad to report that I did not make a million dollars and buy a castle within a year. :wink:

However, I have been able to focus my efforts and make some good changes in my life (got in shape, promoted at work, taking courses, etc.)

This thread has been a really good read. I am especially interested in checking out the picture a few posts above about Tony Robbins being out of shape. God forbid that he's HUMAN after all. The site [www.robbins-tony.com] seems to be down, and I can't even find it on the Internet Archive...

[www.archive.org]

...which is unusual. What happened to this site? Any other place to access the content?

JP

There's a degree of criticism of TR within the NLP community, mostly about the addicitve high from the events... his fans aren't developing the skill sets that are required for good NLP practice because they walk away with the belief that an intense feeling state of passion, energy, adrenaline high, lots of hugs is the same as having well refined skills built up from years of exhaustive effort. Facts are, you want to be good at a craft, you must do the gritty learning from the beginning.... too many LGATS and "instant knowledge" courses suggest that hard work and sacrifice in a rational way is a dead end for losers who don't see the light...(not meaning be slave labor masquerading as a from of personal development is a credible substitute for real study of a subject) AND give a terrible misimpression that real knowledge is GOTTEN in a magical, intuitive flash, and that thinking hard in a logical, linear way is a bad thing, "trapped in your head", better than having your head trapped in your ass though.

So tony promoting greenies, alkaline, veggies etc diet at the same time hi is lookalike somebody eating 2-3 kilos pork sallami per day?

Quote
nutrino
There's a degree of criticism of TR within the NLP community.

That's true. He has a reputation as "a bully", trying to bully people into change.
Love
Kath

Does this happen to all of them ?

Is this a superstar neurosis that only the strongest personalities can resist ?

Is it the result of being known on a first name basis by pumped up fans living out a fantasy relationship ?

Tony, Werner, Ron, John-Roger..... sheeesh, even Dracula had the class to refer to himself by his familial name...

Could you imagine, "bwaaahaaaahaaaa.... I ammm... Tony" ?

The Tony Robbins website mentioned above has changed its address to [www.tony-robbins.org]

Here is the pic of Tony that went missing.
[img:b583ec7cb7]http://www.tony-robbins.org/tony_robbins_1.jpg[/img:b583ec7cb7]

Here is some new content excerpted from the website, in case it is forced offline by a lawsuit from you know who.

________________________________
excerpted from [www.tony-robbins.org]

Conclusion
I have gone through a great deal of effort to share a side of the Tony Robbins Companies that you will not hear or read anywhere else. There is no shortage of people making money by propagating the Robbins marketing image and very few exposing the underbelly. I believe those non-profits that praise the Robbins teachings have been successfully indoctrinated by Robbins and are therefore unreliable. I do not care how rich or famous they seem to be.

Personally, I think the experience is dangerous emotionally and financially. If you read the links I have posted you will learn about the psychosis some people experience from attending these types of group therapies and the psychological risks involved

A number of people have written to us expressing an opinion about Tony Robbins that I think is worth sharing. The opinion is that the Release The Power events are designed to "hook" people into the program. The late-night infomercial star uses group hypnosis and constant physical and emotional pressure to break people down and make them susceptible to suggestion. THEN he makes his high-pressure sales pitch for his Mastery University. The purpose of M.U.? To drain your cash. Some get hooked into the program cycle and think they need his products, his support to function. Those are the ones that really get into trouble. Based on my experience this makes sense.

If you find my web page valuable, please Bookmark it and share it with a friend. If you have a web site, feel free to link to us. We would appreciate it.

If you have a comment or experience you would like to share, please write to us. We are also collecting links to related websites that we will post in the future. If you have a link of interest, please let us know.

mailto:Arty.B@hotmail.com


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And what happens during "Wealth Mastery"?
The subjects covered were stock market, real estate investments and tax avoidance.

The stock market portion is just basic information. I heard nothing that I had not already heard in one of the free seminars given periodically by the Charles Schwab Company. As a mater of fact, I felt the most useful information I heard during the whole event was given by the Charles Scwab representative. How to look for trends, type of stocks to look for, how to use charting software, stop losses, options, etc. This is all wonderful information and seminars are FREE from Charles Scwab. You do not need to pay $3,750 to learn these things.

The real estate portion was absurd in my opinion. I have worked as a license real estate agent and have some strong opinions about ethics in this business. The scheme suggested is to find home owners in distress (death of the spouse, laid off from work or some other tragedy) and convince them to sell for pennies on the dollar AND carry the paper (loan). Then lease the property with an option to purchase. The tenant pays a higher than market rate (higher payment than your loan payment) and either defaults and you keep his/her investment. Or pays you a high lease rate and buys at fair market. Either way you come out ahead.

Seriously folks. What kind of person would do this? And what part of the universe can these tactics be applied?

Tax avoidance - Ahh yes, taxes. Would you like to learn how to skirt the hairy edge of tax avoidance/evasion? Then this is for you. Have you ever heard stories of what happens when the IRS believes a tax payer is evading taxes? Can you afford to have the IRS freeze your bank accounts and seize you assets? For months or even years? While you pay thousands of dollars (or whatever your currency is) to a tax attorney to prove your innocence? Do you think the IRS agent will give a crap if you tell them Anthony Robbins said it was ok?[/img]