This is not going to be some slam against Melaleuca, but it is going to be honest. This is in no way meant to offend anyone in any means.
I found that my experiences with Melaleuca (StayinHome&LovinIt) to be very negative, misleading, time consuming and expensive. I'm not saying that it is necessarily Melaleuca's fault. I would pin point it more towards my "mentor."
When I first got that intial call to join Mela they made it seem like an absolutely wonderful, highly profitable company. I was really excited to get involved with something legit. They said they weren't MLM they were Consumer direct marketing, which is kinda the same thing, just glorified in my opinion. When I listened in to the 30 minute call and heard all the success stories and then listened to my mentor tell me how it's a guarenteed money making system, I wanted to start right away.
So now let me go back and let you know how I was first mislead, even before hearing the presentation call. I was told by my mentor that I would simply be "setting appointments." That's all! She said all I do is set up appointments. She never mentioned that I would be having to sign people up in order to make money, nor did she mention that in order to make money, others had to spend. Granted I did hear all of this during the presentation call, but she smoothed it all over in the end by dancing around the subject and making it seem like all I would be doing is setting appointments.
So I signed up and placed my first order, because I heard so many people brag about the prodcuts I had to try them for myself. They were good, I'll give them that, but to me, they weren't life changing and superior to everything I've bought in the past.
So I get signed up and trained and she kinda threw me out to ocean of cold calling and finding my own leads. She never did a call with me to make sure I was comfortable with what I was doing, she only sent me a dozen encouraging emails a day. So I had to learn on my own. She had mentioned in the beginning that she would help me get leads and that I could run 100% of my business off of free leads. WRONG! She didn't help me get any leads, I had to get them myself. Those free leads, 98% were worthless. Here's an example of how it went for the first month. Wake up, grab a cup of coffee, sign on to try and get leads, work from 8am till about midnight plugging in my website for leads.
So then I go to her and tell her I'm not making anything on free leads and I was getting worried. I was only working for Mela and I wasn't pulling any money in and that 45-60 dollars a month in manditory products were starting to hurt. Then she tells me that the real money is in paid advertising. So I start putting into to paid advertise and the cost racked up fast. From 50 dollars to over 300 and still no leads. When this happened I noticed my mentor started calling and emailing me less and less. Once I didn't meet "her standards" I wasn't important and she just abandoned. Then when I called her to tell her I had to stop she had the nerve to get rude with me and tell me "Fine if you want to kill yourself with those damn walmart products go right ahead, I won't be one to cry at your funeral" I mean come on! My jaw hit the floor when I heard that. Someone that claimed to be "my friend" is now being so rude and telling me I'm going to dye because I use downy?
Not to mention here as a little side note that I found a dozen other people in Central Florida alone that have worked with Mela and were in the same spot I was in. The kicker was when I placed an ad in the Pennysaver and someone called me looking for a legit work from home job. She stopped me in mid description of Mela and said "You work for Melaleuca right" I said yea how did you know. She went on to tell me that she has been with Mela for 44 months and has made only 30 dollars. She said her mentor (She didn't mention the name but I had a nagging thought that it was the same mentor I had) had dropped her when she wasn't successful. She told me she was blind and wasn't able to work a normal 9 to 5, but she sticks with Mela because the shipping to her door was convenient. So that really got me. I had only been there afew months and was in the whole and not making money, but there are people out there that have been in it a lot longer with the exact same problems I'm having.
I read on here that a lot of people had problems unenrolling, but i didn't. I just sent them over a fax and within 48 hours my account was canceled. So that much I can say they were good on. I didn't have to go through a 6 month trial probation or anything like I've heard a few of you out there have.
I'm not saying that the company itself is bad. I'm saying that their stay at home employees candy coat everything and are very misleading. Then again I am not stereotyping everyone and putting all of the group members in the category. I'm just letting it be known that I can name off atleast a dozen I know that mislead a lot of people. Who knows, maybe if I would have been mentored by a different person, an HONEST person, things would be different.
Like I stated in the beginning, I'm not on her to slam the company. I'm just letting people know how I was ripped off and mislead by some of the "mentors." By the time I quit I was about 300 dollars in the whole and none of that was ever returned to me.
Thanks
Anon
N/A, Florida
U.S.A.
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