I joined Lightyear Alliance in June. I was introduced by an old friend of mine after an ousted executive of a failed mortagage company had joined LYA. As other complaints reported, it did cost around $400 to join. It also cost $50 a month for voicemail and a web site. It is a network marketing or pyramid scheme. When you joined they encouraged you to buy several voice-over internet protocol or VoIP boxes, similar to vonage. The boxes cost $50 each and the service another $20 a month, not to mention they never work. They also wanted you to purchase planners from a supposed network marketing guru, Greg Amerman. They had seminars that they expected you to attend bi-monthly to hear Greg Amerman speak. He's made more money speaking about network marketing, than participating in network marketing. They sold me a "biz-deck" which was laminated product cards and paper hundred dollar bills to flash people the LYA business oportunity and bait them with flashing cash that almost no one ever receives, and get them to attend a "presentation." They also have you purchase in home demonstration dvd's if in the event you couldn't get all of your friends and family to a "presentation."
In August I jumped a flight from Tampa to Louisville, Kentucky to attend "Light-Mania." It is the site of the "mega super head-quarters." They took LYA members on tours of the building and the president Sherm Henderson glad-handed as many people as he could. This "opportunity" cost me $100. The merchandise they peddled was over priced and of cheap quality.in the convention they pumped everybody up from all the chapters around the county. The only thing that was furnished for free the entire seminar was a stale sandwhich, they also held a "dance" at the end, & you had to pay for water. On the other hand they were so proud of the fact LYA had given away Hummer's covered in Lightyear insignia, & LYA gave a enscribed baseball bat to our area's leader. But this "multi-million dollar company" couldn't furnish real food or water.
During "Light-Mania" they rolled out a new product similar to calling cards. These calling cards ened up costing people I know over $400 a month in one case and in the other cases it was a similar situation. I tried to talk to as many people as I could when I was at the conference. Every person I had the opportunity to talked to had yet to make a dime from LYA. My sponsor hadn't even made his commission for bringing me in. If you attended the convention they did promote you. Manager to Sr. Manager, Sr. Manager to Regional Manager and so on and so forth.in the process they cut the commission scale, but you also had a limited time period in which to gain so many underlings and a quantity of products to purchase in order to retain the "promotion." Light-Mania cost me $450 for a flight, $100 for a hotel room split 4 ways, and my sponsor was so broke he borrowed $100 from me.
You have to try to get people to join under you to make your money, they don't focus on selling the product so much, but recruiting warm bodies that have $400. When you sell LYA products, from the get go it is hands off. LYA doesn't deal with the cell phone, cable, satellite, or home security system plans after they are purchased. SO when you have problems or it's not what you paid for, or believed you purchased, you don't have any recourse to be compensated for a bad purchase.
My area leader has stated before to our LYA group that if you have people come to meetings if they don't have $400 or are ready to enroll don't bother bringing them to the "presentation." All in all I ended up spending over $2000 and never saw a dime. Between enrollment fees, monthly website & voicemail fees, conventions fees, forcably purchased marketing tools, meaningless seminars, meeting, and "presentations, " this is how LYA REALLY MAKES ITS MONEY.
I was asked to make a list of every single person I knew and could get in contact with. They sat down with me called them to try to recruit them OR get them to purchase LYA products. I alienated every single person they contacted. The people I sold LYA products to hold me accountable for the exorbitant prices they paid, and for the products that never worked properly. This organization is worse than a group of used car salesmen, except the average individual make less money than a used car salesman would.
To top it off I never got a 1099 form so that I could claim my losses.
0 comments