Look closely into the magic pyramid and you will find fun, freedom, and riches beyond your dreams.
Dear Jeff,
If your reading this then you have received the CD I sent back to you with a link to this post. I’d first like to start this letter with a couple of quotes from Wikipedia:
A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, often without any product or service being delivered.
Pyramid schemes are illegal in many countries, including the United States…
As I’m sure you recall we meet briefly at The Home Depot in the surge protector/extension cord aisle about a week ago. I was looking for a couple of surge protectors with right angle plugs (they fit better behind desks) when you walked up and started confusingly looking at Home Depot’s surge protector offerings. After sifting through various surge protectors I found what I was looking for, grabbed a couple, and started to walk away. Before I got too far you stopped me by asking me something to the effect of “what surge protector is best?”
Your question through me for a loop, it’s not that it was a dumb question, or that I was not willing to help you out but I’m just the sort of guy who goes into a store, gets what he needs, and gets out while attempting as little human interaction as possible. I’m just not used to interacting with people in stores unless I start the interaction… it’s an introvert thing I guess. However, I try hard to be a nice guy and even though it went against my standard operating procedure, I decided I’d help you. Plus, you asked a tech. related question… I tend to like answering those types of questions.
In any case I asked you what you were planning on plugging into it, gave you a brief idea of what to look for, and recommended one of the brands available. You asked me if I was in the tech filed and I said “Actually, I’m the IT guy at [name of company] down the street.” You said something about that being cool, thanked me for my help, and I walked off feeling pretty good that I was able to help you out. I was still weirded out by the abnormal interaction though.
Apparently you were listening when I told you where I worked because about an hour later you called me there. I’m guessing that you looked the name of the company up, called the main number, and asked for me. I admire you for remembering my name because I’m terrible with names and frankly I would not have remembered your’s 5 seconds after you told me; even if my life depended on it.
Anyway, what was at this point a slightly abnormal occurrence for me – talking to a stranger in a store – now moved to the category of this is too frakking weird, my head is going to EXPLODE!. Honestly, my first reaction was “what the frak is this guy calling me for?!” You eased my nerves a little by telling me that you realized this was all coming “out of left field.” It helped knowing that you realized how frakking crazy it was that you tracked me down and called me… of course you realizing how crazy it was, and still doing it, could actually make you more insane than not.
Oh, by the way, I hate sports metaphors.
You told me that you appreciated my help at Home Depot and that you thought that it took integrity to help a stranger and all that. Then you really came out of left field and asked me if I would be interested in doing some part time work for your “internet company.” Wow. I doubted that it was possible that I made such an impression in our brief exchange that you would track me down and offer me a legitimate job of some kind but I didn’t want to squander a possible opportunity so I said “sure.”
You didn’t say much about your “internet company” what you did say was that you wanted to meet some time to discuss your “opportunity,” so we set a date and time to meet at a Starbucks down the street from where I work. This was not too odd, I had interviewed for jobs (and got them) at Starbucks before. You then told me that you had some information about your company that you wanted to send me and asked what address you should send it to. When I asked if e-mail would work you told me that you were going to be mailing an audio CD so standard mail was easier. I found this odd because for someone who has an “internet company” I’d think that you’d realize that the internet is a pretty damn good way to distribute audio. Anyway, I gave you the befit of the doubt, maybe you were just the money man and you had people to handle all the technical stuff for you. In any case I gave you my work address and by the end of our conversation I was pretty sure that what you were offering would not turn out to be anything; but I was curious to see what, exactly, it turned out to be.
A few days later I received the CD you sent me titled “Fun and Freedom.” I listened to it. Some guy who went by the name Wade Simmons talked for a few minutes about a system he had that would gain the follower, wait for it… Fun and Freedom! Egads!
Not that I needed to (I already knew what this was) but I did a bit of research – I could not find any information on Wade Simmons, other than some mountain biker out of Canada, who I was pretty sure had nothing to do with any of this. Printed on the CD label was “Copyright TEAM INA.” Googling TEAM INA only turned up this Yahoo Answers post where the answerer said they’d been to a TEAM INA meeting and determined that it was a pyramid scheme. Further digging turned up this(pdf) California Class Action Suit against Quixtar (later dropped). Quixtar is in fact Amway Global, a company known to run, wait for it… pyramid schemes! If you look on page 13 of the suit where it lists Quixtar’s “lines of sponsorship” on line f. you’ll see listed InterNet Associates (INA).
Here’s the thing Jeff – I helped you in that day in Home Depot, it may have not been for anything particularly significant but I did help you. I’m not saying I deserve a medal or anything but I could have easily given you a B.S. response, or ignored you; either of which would have actually been easier for me. Instead, I not only answered your question I took the time to pass valuable knowledge to you and you responded to my kindness by trying to scam me.
Ok, I’m not so native as to actually think that you were really looking for a surge protector and genuinely needed help picking one out. I’d imagine your “working” day is spent loitering around stores looking for marks, people you try run your little scam on. Make no mistake Jeff, pyramid schemes are scams and people that perpetuate their existence are, in my opinion, criminals.
I hate, hate, hate, pyramid schemes, multi-level marketing, whatever you call it a rose is a rose and a scam is a scam.
Jeff, you’re despicable, and if it existed you would burn in a very special level of Hell. A level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater1.
Oh, and I left your CD in my car for a couple of days and it got pretty hot in there… so if you CD is a little warped I apologize…
Or maybe it was the heat gun...
1 “Firefly” Our Mrs. Reynolds (2002)↵
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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
HAHAHA. This story is nicely told
I came her looking for iPhone hacks for a friend with a podcast, and stayed to read this whole post.
Thanks.
Ha! I too got this CD from the sister of a friend. She repeatedly emailed me and asked me about the CD. It wasn’t the same CD, but I am sure it said basically the same thing. The friends sister asked for the CD back. I didn’t feel like paying for the envelope or the postage – so I tossed it.
I talked to my husband about it and he actually went to a “meeting” held by the company. He said he ended up paying $250 for a bunch of crappy powerbars (he’s a pretty level headed guy – so don’t ask me how they managed to get the $ out of him). Most of the “upper-management” at the meeting were Mormon. Then they had a candle-light vigil thanking God for their products. Maybe they sell all the powerbars to BYU. Hmmm, can I get a Hallelujah?
I ran into a guy at Costco over the weekend who pulled the same scam on me also. He tracked me down a few days later saying he had an opportunity for me doing some work for an internet distribution company. I traced his phone number back and he appeared to be the owner for the website. So I agreed to meet thinking he was looking for some consulting work for his company. I WAS SO WRONG. He gave me the speech about Rich Dad Poor Dad… blah blah blah… an you can be rich too! He kept insisting that he meet with my wife to go into more details of company and setting it up for us as independent owners. I kept saying no because I need more information before meeting again. What a complete waste of my time. He wouldn ‘t answer my questions on how thier system makes money. I was able to get him to tell me its a few hundred dollers to get linked into thier distribution system.
It looks like they have a few versions of the CD out. My copy is PT105 Six Saturdays and a Sunday by Brad Biegert. I’m not even going to bother listening to it. Thanks for posting. This site pretty much confirms for me that this was a pyramid scam.
Stay away from TEAM INA!
@Mike
Yeah Jeffery told me that I should feel free to “bring my wife along” when we meet. Set off some alarm bells.
Too bad you didn’t thoroughly check it out, I have been in several things before that didn’t work, but this one is actually making money! I’m sure there are a million weird stories out there…people can be weird. This system works, and Kiyosaki has some great info for people who are looking for something better than working for someone else for their whole life and never getting ahead. Team INA has integrity and people who actually walk the walk, don’t just talk the talk.
By the way, for those of you not interested, just tell the person no thanks, return their cd, and wish them well. They obviously thought enough of you to ask you to be in business with them!
Criticism is the death gargle of the non-achiever….what are you offering to others to help them get what they truly want in life? Or do you just care about yourself?
You probably believe in global warming, too.
By the way, this business only exchanges money for products (like Bass Pro fishing poles) and services (like Avis car rentals). Signing up people to get paid is illegal, as you have mentioned, and it would be good to be accurate. Team INA doesn’t do that.
@Laurie
Thoroughly check it out? Did you not read the post, I spent several hours researching who TEAM INA is and what they are is a pyramid scheme and pyramid schemes are scams; plain and simple.
If you can’t see that this TEAM INA thing is a scam then you are either a part of the scam or diluted.
As to your implication that I should have just told Jeff “no thanks” and returned his CD: Perhaps I would have if he’d of been up front with me and explained what he was after. He was rather cloak and dagger about the whole thing, add that to the fact that he was trying to pull me into a scam means that I was not to interested in extending pleasantries.
@Greg
“Criticism is the death gargle of the non-achiever….what are you offering to others to help them get what they truly want in life? Or do you just care about yourself?”‘
Wow you obvioustly drank the kool-aid.
TEAM INA is associated with Quixtar/Amway Global who are known pyramid (aka – scam) scheme pushers.
If TEAM INA is legit, they should keep less suspicious company.
I’m not sure what global warming has to do with this issue.
TEAM iNA – my 2 cents in 931 words
This post was a great affirmation of a polite decline my wife and I chose to make when faced with an invitation to participate in Team Ina.
I was shopping at a Costco with my 2-year-old chatting away in the kiddie seat, when a friendly couple in their 30s with their own toddler in their own kiddie seat struck up a conversation with me. It was pleasant enough, although a little unctuous — which had me wondering if these folks were swingers. Regardless, it was all quite sociable — very much along the lines of how my wife and I generally make acquaintances in everyday settings. There was no mention of trying to sell me anything. It was all, in my perception, a happy accident.
As I wished them well and went to resume my shopping, the wife urged her husband and I to swap cell numbers. This, too, was trustworthy enough because our chat had revealed they lived in a zip code where my wife and I are in escrow; and, he worked in broadcast media production, as do I. All good, right? Wrong.
The holidays pass, and I receive a phone call. Again, it’s all collegial enough: keeping the channels open with chitchat about career, creative vocations, getting the kids together some time. Fine. (It’s still kind of unctuous mind you, but totally within bounds.) Then comes the pitch.
He has a CD he’d like to send me. It’s about a business that he and his wife have started online. They are looking for partners. Inside my head and chest, I have already banged the gavel and delivered an eye-rolling verdict of “nope.” But, because I do respect the live, direct request, I accept his offer to mail me the CD.
It arrives after New Year’s. His business card, which I am looking at right now, is an embarrassment. It reads: “TEAM iNA” and is followed by his name and the subtitle “Independent Business Owner.” More on that in a moment…
I listen to the CD on my way in to work the next day. Much like the biz card, it in no way names what the business is about. There is just a man’s voice, speaking somewhat articulately at a speed that is questionably swift. He is talking about his longings, why he left teaching, how his plucky impatience for wealth showed him the light, etc.
Finally at the end of this odd fast-talker’s spiel, there is vague mention of the merits of a business that allows me (or you) to proft by simply spending money that we already spend in our monthly budgets on certain ‘consumables.’ Hmm. Consumables. Cereal? Toothpaste? Radial tires? What?
Now, back to that subtitle on his business card. You recall it said ‘Independent Business Owner.’ When Mr. X and I finally got to speak on the phone again about his offer, I said this:
“Mr. X, I appreciate you having your dreams and goals, and I commend your gung ho energy, but I am going to decline your offer. I am going to tell you why because you took honest time to send me this packet and because I believe what I have to say might help you on your endeavors.
I do not enter into business with an entity that does not reveal up front what is for sale. Generally, anyone that I might enter into business with who presents me with his or her card has declared to me what it is they sell: electrical work, financial planning, jewelry. You name it.
In your case, Mr. X, you have given me only the benefit of reading that you are an ‘Independent Business Owner’ and that I may somehow profit by purchasing ‘consumables.’ That’s just not the way I do business.
At this point, I got the reply, “Well, this is not product-driven, it’s dream driven.” Despite the erosively ignorant insult such a comment is toward basic business practice, I proceeded with patience. After all, the world needs less of these types roving around. If Mr. X could be impressionable enough to buy into such a program, perhaps he could be impressionable enough to get out. So, I continued:
“I’m not sure what it means for a business to be dream-driven, but not product-driven. I can certainly understand how a company’s mission statement must say something about goals and dreams. Take Nike as an example. On some level, Nike commits itself to presenting athletic people who are living their bliss with products that make that pursuits more enjoyable and safe. There is no question that athletic footwear is their mainstay, and they have no qualms about saying as much. So, Mr. X, I would recommend that you change the information on your business card to reflect something about operating an online department store.”
At this point, Mr. X asked me with a hesitant voice, did I still want more information maybe? And of course, I told him, no thank you, and wished him luck. As I recall, the last seconds went like this:
Me: I will mail your CD back to you, and I will keep your card. In fact, I have a whole binder full of cards from people I meet, and I do refer to it when opportunities arise. Certainly, there is no harm in my keeping it.
Mr. X: Well, if you decide some time that you want to get the kids together maybe, or even if you so want to look into this more, maybe give me a call.
Me: [PAUSE] Maybe.
Of course, the proper suffix to add to that ‘maybe’ is the one I did add in my head: ‘maybe not.’
@matt
Thanks for sharing your story.
Adam
IF and I say IF you truly did your research you would have discovered that Amway Global is not a pyramid. (Yes Amway Global is a Multi-Level-Marketing business.)
IF they were a pyramid they would not have been allowed to stay in business for 50 years and fortune 500 companies would not partner with them.
Companies like Sears, Office Depot, Best Buy and they corp lawyers would not allow them to partner with Amway Global if it were a pyramid scheme.
It is a real business but it is NOT for everyone. obviously its not for you.
What harm was there done? None! Someone asked if you were interested and you are not, LET IT GO…GET A LIFE ADAM!
@Jeff
First let me say that pyramid schemes and multi-level marketing schemes are the same thing. It’s akin to the sugar coating of creationism by calling it “Intelligent Design” it’s all the same.
I would agree people do make money from multi-level marketing/pyramid schemes. No doubt. If someone wasn’t making money then they wouldn’t exist.
However, the people that are making the money are not the people at the bottom of the pyramid, the average every day folk that get sucked into these things. No, the people that are making the money are the people at the top of the pyramid, i.e. – the people running the scam.
If TEAM INA is such a success why had I never heard of them before? Why is the TEAM INA website lacking information on who they are, and what they do?
I mean I can walk into a Best Buy and know exactly what they are selling, why is it such a secret with TEAM INA?
Being around for 50 years does not make Amway Global or TEAM INA legit. All it means is that there good at staying just behind that legal line.
I understand that people like you who are involved with these things are desperate and diluted enough to think that it’s working for you. You spent money on TEAM INA (or similar) and are desperately trying to justify to yourself and everyone else that it was worth it. I understand that when you read things, like this post, it can be hard because it’s like someone yelling WAKE-UP when you’re sound asleep.
I find it ironic that you tell me to “GET A LIFE” implying that my writing of this post indicates that I don’t have one. The irony being that you took the time to comment on a post that you imply was a waste of time. This post was published as an open letter to Jeff explaining the reason I was declining his offer.
Listen, if Jeff was upfront with me from the get go. If he’d of just asked me if I wanted to join his pyramid scheme I would have said “no thank you” and it would have been a non-event. Instead Jeff lied and manipulated my kindness in an effort to try to suck me into a scam.
Adam
This will be my LAST post since you are clueless, uninformed and simply UNEDUCATED? And a college degree does not necessarily equate to being educated.
NO company can stay in business for 50 years like Amway Global and being an illegal pyramid scheme.
Team INA has been in business for 25 years and they do not sell a specific product for you to review. Team INA is not secretive, they are a FOR PROFIT organization (like many groups) designed to help support and encourage people to build Amway Global IBOs.
Before you go on a tangent of if they want to help us why do they charge us, don’t go there. Yes they make money by selling the material, but so do many others groups like Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki, Dale Carnegie and Brina Tracy. Its a business and they run it as such. I don’t begrudge anyone for selling their work.
They sell support material to help and encourage people in the development. No one is required to purchase the material. People like me buy it to help us grow and succeed. It is optional to buy and we choose to buy it.
Also it’s very arrogant of you to say “If TEAM INA is such a success why had I never heard of them before?” I am sure there are several individuals, groups & organizations that are very successful that you have never heard of!!! Just because you have never heard of someone does not mean they are not successful.
I happen to know Wade Simmons personally, he is a very successful person, a great person to know, he cares and loves his family very much and it shows. Just because you don’t know someone does not take away from their success.
You don’t get the business and most likely never will, Jeff tried to be kind and share a great opportunity with you. He did not try to manipulate you nor take advantage of your kindness, which at this point I seriously doubt you have much if any kindness. No approach is perfect, someone will always disagree with it. get over it and get over yourself.
Adam good luck with your pessimistic view of like and people. It’s people like you that can’t stand to see other people get further in life, that can’t fathom that there are people in the world willing to help others better themselves.
@Jeff
I’m starting to think, that the Jeff this post is addressed to and you are one in the same. Of course the IP address you’re posting from is in California, not Oregon like I’d expect.
In any case, whether you’re the same person or not my point(s) remain the same. It’s obvious you are deluded beyond hope so I will save my fingers from typing the same thing over and over again.
In your defense of Amway Global and TEAM INA you’ve resorted to Ad hominems. If you have no better resource to back up your claims that TEAM INA is legit, then I agree our conversation is over.
What is a traditional job, to you, is it not a pyramid scheme too? There is usually only 1 CEO, president, or whatever, that gets more money then the people that are starting out. The people at the top are getting paid for the hard work of the people on the lower rung of the “Corporate Ladder”. It is funny how a “Corporate Ladder” looks a lot like a pyramid. Are you ever going to make it the top of that ladder? Most will not.
Scamway is just a way to start a business for people that don’t have any other way to do it. They may get brought in under the assumption that they can make large amounts of money, but when you start any job, you think that you will be there forever and make it to a highly paid management job or higher in the company, by working hard or kissing the right A$$. Scamway is the same way, but you get paid for the effort you put into your company. Will you make as much as the person that started the company, no, but you can certainly make money.
I don’t agree with the way they go about getting their clients and wish that it was as easy as approaching someone and saying do you want a job. For some reason they believe in the song and dance of building your dreams and showing you what the company can do for you, instead of telling you straight out who they are. Most people have a bad taste in their mouths for Amway and a traditional approach is not possible. The bad taste has come from people thinking or being told that it is a pyramid scam, you can never make money and only are comfortable with earning money by working the boring traditional way and don’t think outside the box. It is by no means easy money, but it is a job.
I think of a pyramid scam as a company that asks you to send money straight to them and you get nothing in return. Then they tell you to recruit more people and they pay you what you sent to the person when you joined and then you send money to the top of the pyramid and so on. There is a fee to start up, but you are a small business owner then, with discounts on many products that you already buy, and you get a start up kit of products. If you do nothing else, you have simply bought some products, which in turn doesn’t sound like a pyramid scam.
Amyway has only gotten bigger and can be seen with commercials on Tv and in magazines. It is starting to get more main stream and more accepted, but the biggest thing, is that it is not for everyone, but neither is selling real estate, writing computer programs, or flipping burgers, but people don’t attack those jobs.
@Kerry
In the second paragraph you refer to Amway as “Scamway” twice and then go on to defend them as not being a pyramid scheme or a scam… it’s a bit confusing but completely in-line with the half-assed excuses others have been giving for Amway, TEAM INA, and Jeff.
The only thing anyone defending Amway, TEAM INA, and Jeff have been able to offer is their assertion that it’s not a scam, pyramid scheme or multi-level marketing and it “really does work.”
After all this huffing and puffing by supporters there are really important things that we don’t know or have:
“Amyway has only gotten bigger and can be seen with commercials on Tv and in magazines.”
Oh, really? Well then if they are on TV sign me up! Because everything you see on TV is legit. Gosh how could I have been so stupid!?
Excuse me, I just got an e-mail from a Nigerian prince who wants to send me a million dollars. All I have to do is email him my bank account information!