How To Take Action

Before I start this section, let me say that distributors are still people. Any action you take should be directed at stopping the growth of the Amway business or stopping the flow of income, and not directed at an individual person. I know there are times when a person wants to "get even" with their ex-upline, but the best way to "get even" is to hurt the business.

The best way to stop the Amway business from spreading is to educate people about with information. State and government agencies should also be made aware of people's experiences. Feel free to use any method you like.

1. Make your voice heard: I recommend this for anyone who is reading this page! Please tell your friends, family, and everyone else to do this as well.
   • Add your name to the growing number of people who are petitioning the FTC to investigate the Amway business. To add your name, simply e-mail me the following information: your REAL, full name; your mailing address; and your city and state. The longer the list of people, the more likely it will be that the FTC will take action.
   • File a complaint with the FTC explaining your experiences and how the Amway business has affected your family. Again, the more people who write, (both individual letters and as part of a petition) the more likely it will be that the FTC will take action. Write them at:
     Consumer Response Center
     Federal Trade Commission
     6th Street & Pennsylvania Ave., NW
     Washington, DC 20580
     (It is extremely important to include your full name, address, and the detailed experience of how the Amway business has affected your life.)
     -OR- Fill out an online form! A growing number of people have expressed their desire to have the FTC reopen the 1979 investigation into Amway. Add you name (and experience) by clicking here. The FTC online complaint form.
   • Send a copy of your complaint to the National Better Business Bureau (BBB). Or simply go to their website by clicking on this link Be sure to include the following information:
     Company Name: Amway Corporation
     Company Address: 7575 Fulton St East
     Company City, State, and ZIP Code: Ada, MI 49355
     Company doing business as: Business Opportunity- MLM/ Direct Marketing
     (Be sure to fill in all the blanks, especially the "nature of complaint" section.)
   • File a complaint with the Michigan Better Business Bureau. Their online complaint form is served by the national BBB's site, but the physical address is:
     Business Bureau Serving Western Michigan
     40 Pearl NW, Suite 354
     Grand Rapids MI 49503
     Phone: (616) 774-8236 (from Western Michigan only)
     -or- (800) 684-3222 (24 hours)
     Fax: (616) 774-2014
     Email: grnrapcb@gte.net
     website: http://www.grandrapids.bbb.org
   • Send a copy of your complaint to the Governor of the State of Michigan, John Engler.
     Governor John Engler
     P.O. Box 30013
     Lansing, Michigan 48909
     Phone: (517) 335-7858
     Fax: (517) 335-6863
     EMail: migov@mail.state.mi.us
     "When sending e-mail to the Governor, please include your name, address and phone number. This information is required if you would like a response. Once your message is sent, you will receive a computer generated acknowledgement to confirm that your message was received by our office."
   • If you feel criminal activity has taken place (including any kind of MLM or "pyramid scheme" abuse), contact your state attorney general. Click here for a list of sites. Again, the more complaints they receive, the more likely they will be to investigate.
   • Express your opinion online: (after all, there's no charge for postage)
     • Write e-mail letters of support to the web sites you like. This will encourage the authors to put up more information.
     • Start a boycott: Write e-mail letters to any company whose products are sold in the Amway catalog. Tell them that you will no longer purchase their products as long as they use Amway as a reseller. Tell them that you will no longer support a company who supports the practices of Amway distributors. Spread the word. The more people who write to the companies, the more companies will take notice and the sooner Amway will be without products to sell. Click here for a list of companies whose products appear in the Amway catalogs.
   • If anyone you know mentions attending a meeting to "see a business idea," tell them that the innocent-sounding "business opportunity" is actually an Amway open meeting. You will have just "spoiled it." And, chances are, a lot of people won't go to the meeting if they know it is the Amway business. In fact, click here to go Inside the Open Meetings.
   • Tell as many people as you know to research the Amway business on the Internet- both the good AND the bad points. After all, this is the same advice distributors give: get the "whole story" before making a decision.
     • Look at Amway's own home page and decide if it tells you enough about the business to want to become a distributor. Does it state the start-up costs or how many hours the "average" distributor spends building the business? Does it tell you how soon you will see a "return on your investment?" Does is tell you how many products are available in the catalogs? Does it tell you anything about the support tools?
     • Look at the web sites that are critical to Amway and verify any of the facts.
     • Write e-mails to the authors of the web sites (whether positive or negative towards Amway) for more information. Most web-authors are more than willing to help out.
     • When you hear statements, statistics, or "facts of life" from distributors, ask for supporting evidence. Many, many distributors simply "parrot" back facts they have been taught. And many of the statements have either been taken out-of-context or have been slanted to support the Amway business.
     • Join the discussion newsgroups that talk about Amway or Multi-Level Marketing.
   • If you are feeling brave, you could go to the business meetings and do the following.
     • Take your remaining stock of tools to the next meeting and try to sell them. Maybe even set up a table outside the meeting room. This is best accomplished when the meeting is held in a hotel. Note: you may need permission from the hotel to sell items. Just stress that the things you are selling support the meeting. And don't forget the big sign saying "Amway tools for sale here. Cheap. No profits will go to the upline."
     • Don't bother trying to tell the new people they are at an Amway meeting. Chances are very good that the vast majority of the people attending the meeting are current distributors. Along the same lines, there is really no point in interrupting a meeting trying to "expose the secrets." Any arguments you have will fall on the deaf ears of distributors who have been conditioned to ignore any negative information, especially with their upline standing in front of them.
     • Get in touch with the prosecuting attorneys involved in any one of the lawsuits against Amway. Check to see what information they might need and offer to record the meetings on tape (audio or video). Of course, this would mean doing some research on your own to find the contact information. But, I am willing to wager that any information you provide them would be worth the time that it took you to find them. If anybody at the meeting asks why you are recording it, just say, "The information is so good, I know someone who'll want to listen to this over and over" (which is the truth).
     • And my personal favorite: attend meetings with a tape recorder and record the meeting. If you want, create a transcript of it. The deceptive, misleading, and "rule-breaking" statements will be discovered very easily. Some distributors may claim that the information at the Open "needs to be properly represented by someone with knowledge of the business." Why? Most likely, it is so someone can defend what is being said. After all, isn't the purpose of the Open Meeting so people can "see the business" for the first time? There is only reason distributors would NOT want the meeting recorded- if they thought something improper was being said that they didn't want the public to know about.
    
2. Join the MLM Survivors Club

   Hosted on Yahoo, this is a forum where people can read messages from other 'MLM Survivors' and post their own questions and responses to MLM's. If you have an experience to share, this is the place to post it. There are probably many other people with a similar situation and they can probably give you advice or help. Or, share your experiences with others so they may learn about the techniques the MLM's used on you.

   Click here to go to the MLM Survivors Club

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