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]
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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.
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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]