So I was fresh out of college and I only had a job flipping burgers in a pub. I still lived at my parents' house, and I was dying to start making enough money to get out on my own. Enter in what I thought would be a great job.
I found an ad in the newspaper which sounded like it was requesting a personal assistant. It sounded like a job that would include traveling and lots of fun, so I decided that I would call about it. I got a machine and left a message. I was called back to let me know that I had an interview.
When I got to the interview, I found out that it was a sales position. I hate sales, but I stayed to see what it was about. The presentation impressed me, and it seemed as though the system that they set up could work. I was still skittish though. Once they told me that I could just recruit people to do sales, and still make money, I decided to try it on a part time basis.
Phoenix USA had lots of offices around the eastern part of the US with different names. Twin Dynasty, Diversified Solutions, Coastal Enterprises, and a ton of other names were used for these "training centers." You see, it was stressed that we were independent representatives, and that Phoenix USA was just our supplier.
I quickly found out that most of the people in the "interviews" were actually already employees. Looking back, it seems surreal, almost like an indoctrination into a cult. Almost brainwashing through repetetiveness, if you will.
Enter the guy who had the title of the biggest moneyearner in the company, Eli. He pulled me aside and told me how he did business. He said that he kept product on hand at all times to sell to his salesforce at price. He said he acted like a warehouse. The numbers made sense, even though they were coming a mile a second.
Then, he dropped a bomb on me. Two people who had come in after me were on there way to the office now with $5000 apiece. If I wanted to make the money from them, I would need to get in my money first. Once I did, I'd be locked in. He stressed that I didn't have much time. So, I quickly ordered $5000 worth of products (ignoring all the sirens going off in my mind).
There was one catch to his advice though. I was to keep it secret that I had been told about this. He claimed that everyone would get incredibly jealous if they found out that he was giving me this advice.
Quickly, I was set up and made to feel like the new young star of the office. I came in first thing in the morning, and I stayed until I had to cook at the pub at nights. It appeared as though everything was going well. No money yet, but hey, it was coming.
They tried to drill out all personal life in and out of the office though. I was told to not talk to the people in there who didn't have money yet. It was frowned upon that I went to go visit my girlfriend, who lived in another state, every other weekend. They tried to stress that I should be at EVERY Saturday training session, no matter where it was.
Not too long into things, I ended up quitting my job to focus on my "new" career fulltime. But, I found out that I needed to re-verify my order. Jenny Cooper (one of the bigwigs, and the one I "interviewed" with in the first place) assured me that things were ok, and I still made it by the cutoff point for a promotion.
Things appeared that they were going well. I had a few people in under me and the "special" $200 training was coming up. I was beginning to have my doubts about the company, as I hadn't seen a dime yet. But, the training session did its job, and once more became one of the herd.
What did it was one of the owners talking to me (Wally Ponder, I believe). Jenny introduced me, and he had mentioned that she had talked about me. Made it sound like there were big things ahead of me. And he'd help me up to the next level, IF I met him halfway. So me, being excited, agreed.
Then a few more people under me bought up promotions. Which placed me within $500 of the top position you could acheive until you trained others up to that level. Then, all hell broke loose.
It started simply, with a lunch. A few of us had become close enough friends to eat lunch together on a normal basis. A comment was made about the chain, IE: who was under who. And suddenly, we found that nobody knew the order in which we were all placed in the chain. Everyone had been given the same talk I had gotten, about being a warehouse and being special. Not only that, nobody had seen ANY money outside of their inital rebate yet.
Well, after many discussions with the higherups (which I was technically now a part of), the wool got pulled back down over many people's eyes. But the lies were wearing thin. Even after a local news station ran a special about this business, and it was a negative broadcast, most people decided to stay.
Once I got my check, and found out that I had been lied to about my promotions, I decided that I had had enough. The system may have worked on paper, but the people in the system knew exactly how to cut me out of it. I wanted my partial rebate.
At this time, I was blacklisted. To speak with me would mean that you would be shunned. When I showed up at the office to get a box that had arrived for me, I was quickly shuttled in and out of the office. A friend who tried to say hello got hustled off quickly.
Later, I found that people were getting told that I made money off of them; that nobody had ANY idea as to why I decided to leave. Nevermind that I was unemployed and couldn't even meet the minimum payments on my credit cards.
I sent back the product that I had ordered. I have record that they received it two years ago on December 21st. I called often to check on the subject of my rebate, only to get the runaround.
Finally, after about 4-6 months, someone new came into the office, to "clean it up." I was told that my rebate had been shoved into a drawer with all the other rebate requests. He looked over my paperwork and sent me a form to sign that stated that they owed me $4999. All was good, or so I thought.
Months passed with no rebate. I kept calling, only to get the answer that I'd get it eventually. Finally, I was told that one of the owners had cut loose and left the company hurting financially. But, I was assured that I would still get my rebate.
So, I kept waiting. And kept calling to check on it. Eventually, the phone line was disconnected, and I have yet to receive any of the money owed to me. (Which, I believe, technically constitutes as theft, as they have MY stuff, yet have not reimbursed me for it.)
The moral of this story... If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And if you encounter ANYONE who was involved in the upper levels of Phoenix USA (owners, any level above director, people who claimed to make lots of cash from it, etc.), RUN. Run fast and take whoever you can out the door with you. You'll be doing them a favor. They go after people who desire better in life, and end up leaving them in debt.
And they're still out there. The creators of Phoenix USA came from Equinox. And now, I hear that Bwana Thurman has created Paragon USA. It seems as though as soon as people catch onto one, a splinter group breaks off to keep it going.
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