It seems that my learned friend has read only the first part of the 'England's case against Amway continues'. There is the second part below and he should read that also fully before coming to conclusion.
Our friend conveniently skips the fact that the Amway products are not marketable.They are seldom sold to anyone other than the salespeople themselves. In Indian context, it is not a fair practice. And they priced far higher than comparable goods.
I would like to point out what is said in an open court by an Indian High Court judge in the State of Andhra Pradesh, India, while delivering judgement on a writ petition No. 20470 and 20471 of 2006 filed by Amway India Enterprises on July 19, 2007, that "it is evident that the whole scheme is so ingeniously conceived that the inducement for aggressive enrollment of new members to earn more and more commission is inherent in the scheme. By holding out attractive commission on the business turned out by the downline members, the scheme provides for sufficient inducements for its members to chase for the new members in their hot pursuit to kmake quick/easy money."
".....From the whole analysis of the scheme and; the way in which it is structured it is quite apparent that once a person gets into this scheme he will find it difficult to come out of the web and it becomes a vicious circle for him."
Criminal activity: The very scheme itself is against the law of the land in India under the provisions of the Prize Chits & Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978. The learned judge rightly pointed out that it is a criminal case and that too a cognisable offence. It is in the interest of the public at large, such companies should close operations not only in England but anywhere in the world. The intention is criminal only to make fast buck for the vortex of the pyramid depriving everyone of their money.
It is really heartening to note that the England government had decided to review the case obviously with the intention of throwing the company out of its shores.
Our friend conveniently skips the fact that the Amway products are not marketable.They are seldom sold to anyone other than the salespeople themselves. In Indian context, it is not a fair practice. And they priced far higher than comparable goods.
I would like to point out what is said in an open court by an Indian High Court judge in the State of Andhra Pradesh, India, while delivering judgement on a writ petition No. 20470 and 20471 of 2006 filed by Amway India Enterprises on July 19, 2007, that "it is evident that the whole scheme is so ingeniously conceived that the inducement for aggressive enrollment of new members to earn more and more commission is inherent in the scheme. By holding out attractive commission on the business turned out by the downline members, the scheme provides for sufficient inducements for its members to chase for the new members in their hot pursuit to kmake quick/easy money."
".....From the whole analysis of the scheme and; the way in which it is structured it is quite apparent that once a person gets into this scheme he will find it difficult to come out of the web and it becomes a vicious circle for him."
Criminal activity: The very scheme itself is against the law of the land in India under the provisions of the Prize Chits & Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978. The learned judge rightly pointed out that it is a criminal case and that too a cognisable offence. It is in the interest of the public at large, such companies should close operations not only in England but anywhere in the world. The intention is criminal only to make fast buck for the vortex of the pyramid depriving everyone of their money.
It is really heartening to note that the England government had decided to review the case obviously with the intention of throwing the company out of its shores.
3 comments:
You conveniently skip the fact that I and hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, regularly and successfylly market Amway products, and not only to other Amway "salespeople". Indeed, as the FTC in the United States has recognized, sales to Amway reps are as legitimate a retail sail as to anyone else. Indeed, if you liked a number of the products, wouldn't it make sense to pay a small membership fee to purchase the products at a discount? Many people who join decide the business is not for them, but continue as members for this reason.
Would you have us believe that paying a small membership fee to save money on products they want to buy is somehow defrauding them? Would you prefer they pay more?
Amway products are not cheap, but in any honest and fair comparison they are not priced higher than comparable goods. Euromonitor, an independent research firm, has classified the Artistry range of products, a significant part of Amway's products, in the "prestige" category alongside brands such as Clinoque, Lancome, and Estee Lauder. Have you checked their prices lately? Artistry is usually quite a deal cheaper not more expensive.
Nutrilite, Amway's #1 product, is another story altogether. There really is no comparable product. The next best competitors tend to also be in the direct selling marketplace and generally cost more than Nutrilite. So again, they are cheaper than the nearest competitors.
I've found that most folk who do price comparisons and consider them expensive have done comparisons not with comparable products, but with considerably inferior products.
Amway's Nutrilite and eSpring brands have won numerous independent consumer awards, include "Most Trusted Brand" status in Asia year after year. Consumerlabs in the United States found that Nutrilite consumers were, by a significant margin, far more satisfied with their purchases than consumers of other nutritional products.
With all respect to the learned judge, his statement is ridiculous. According to you (do you have a link to an original source by the way?) he stated - "once a person gets into this scheme he will find it difficult to come out of the web and it becomes a vicious circle for him.". A legitimate criticism of the Amway model, and indeed other MLMs, is that the exact opposite is true. This is not a matter of opinion, simply a reflection of the statistics. In general, more than 2/3 of those who register with Amway do not renew their registrations for the following year. Indeed, half of them never even place an order after joining! Amway IBOs make nothing on these people, and Amway's own revenues from joining fees are a trivial.
"Difficult to come out of the web"? Reality proves him wrong - it's extremely easy. Better to complain it's too easy to join, and that perhaps we should raise the barriers to entry so that folk who are not willing or able to do the hard work necessary (and it is hard, by no means "easy money") do not even join in the first place.
I'd also point out that in 2003 the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, in response to concerns regarding Amway, issued a communique stating - "The provisions of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Scheme (Banning), 1978 seek to ban the promotion or conduct of prize chits and money circulation schemes. The provisions of the Act had come up for scrutiny before the Supreme Court of India which ruled that the 'Network Marketing Plan' and direct sale of goods and services by the direct selling companies do not fall within the mischief of the aforesaid Act"
The judge in the UK has thrown out claims that Amway's model is illegal. Numerous US judges have thrown out similar claims. It operates successfully in more than 90 countries and territories. The Indian Supreme Court and Indian Government have declared it legal.
Have you considered perhaps, given the multitude of expert opinion the business is legal, that just maybe the Andhra Pradesh High Court judge and yourselves are the ones that have misunderstood?
Indeed, it is clear to me from the judge's words that he has not understood the Amway business. If folk are promoting it as "quick and easy money" then this is understandable. What the UK judge found was that people were overpromoting the business, giving people unrealistic expectations. What's more he found that Amway had not been policing this area properly.
If this is the case in India, which I suspect it is, then Amway needs to up it's game in this area. But that doesn't make the Amway business model illegal - it makes how some people are promoting it illegal, and Amway guilty of neglect.
I've just found and read the Judge's reasoning. Raja Naren, a Diamond, is cited as evidence of "quick and easy money", since as a Diamond he no longer needs to work significantly to earn a significant income.
It took Raja Naren several years of hard work to develop a business of that size. It would seem the Judge believes that years of hard work does not count in determining whether the money was "easy" or not.
Clearly the Judge and I have extremely different opinions on what "easy" means
Dear Shyam, it is great effort from your side in creating awareness about unscrupulous companies like Amway, goldquest, herbal life and other members of the Indian Direct Selling Association. The above said companies and the members of IDSA are nothing but Money Circulation Schemes camaflouged with goods and services. Even though all these companies called their schemes with different names but they are all Money circulation schemes banned under the Provisions of Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (banning)Act 1978. It is not only AP High Court, even the Madras High Court has rulled against Amway and such schemes.I congratulate you and your team for the great effort in creating awareness about these fraudsters and their cronies.
Post a Comment