Hey Scott,
I'm an avid reader of amquix, and we have corresponded a number of times.   Are you still updating this site? The feedback section hasn't had an update
in a year (best section IMO).

Hopefully this thing has dried up to the point where there literally is no news, but I'm not that optimistic. Amway types and the kingpins are like the oil stain on your driveway.... no matter how hard you clean it, there's always some gunk left behind, and it seems to eventually return.

Thanx for all your work!!!

Check this out:
From http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/
May 3, 2007 -- Locals say no to Blackwater USA. Residents of Illinois and southern California are up in arms over the setting up of private mercenary firm Blackwater operations in their home towns. Mount Carroll, Illinois residents are steamed that Blackwater has set up shop in their town and the story is receiving attention from Chicago's Channel 7 ABC affiliate. Local residents are upset that county officials never held public gearings on the establishment of "Blackwater North."

Blackwater also plans to set up a military training center, called "Blackwater West," in Potrero, a small town 45 miles to the east of San Diego. More than half of the registered voters of Potrero signed a petition opposing Blackwater's plans and the county planning commission's preliminary approval for the Blackwater facility. Blackwater pressured local officials to use local police and sheriffs to intimidate protestors attending a county planning commission meeting on the project. Democratic US Representative Bob Filner is looking for ways to block the project.

Blackwater is headquartered in Moyock, North Carolina on an expansive former military base. Blackwater is owned by the Prince Group, headed by Erik
Prince, whose sister is married to former Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate and
**********************************************************
Amway heir Dick DeVos.
**********************************************************
Blackwater and Prince Group are a bevy of Christian right wingers, including General Counsel Joseph Schmitz, former Pentagon Inspector General and the
son of the late racist GOP and John Birch Society congressman John Schmitz, Sr. and brother of convicted Washington state school teacher pedophile Mary
Kay Letourneau. Joseph Schmitz's brother, John Schmitz, Jr. is married to the sister of Columba Bush, the wife of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
Gary Jackson, Blackwater's president, steered Blackwater campaign contributions to three GOP congressmen who have been embroiled in major
ethical scandals: former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, former House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, and former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis.

Hi Scott,

I've enjoyed your page for several years and owe it to the information on your pages that helped me leave Quixtar about 2 years ago.

Anyways, I was randomly looking around and saw that the Quixtar Wiki ( http://www.quixtarwiki.com/index.php?title=Main_Page) has pretty much been destroyed by IBOs.  Don't know if that's news for you, but just thought I'd send you a note.

Thanks for all the good work,
Martin Peterson

(from a former Emerald)

Scott,

I'll make this brief as I really could write volumes of the abuses that occur in that business. Just like Kenny's law suit states, Amway is a co-conspirator with the big boys in the business.

My location in the group was that I eventually became sponsored by Jimmy Dunn which is part of the whole Gooch-Childers organization. The problems with all the system money are well documented. The whole Yeager organization is ran like the Amway Christian mafia. If you don't abide by their rules, as a direct quote "We'll take your tool money away".

The diamond income is basically made up of 80 to 85% tool money or money outside of the Amway marketing plan. Amway condones this so they don't have
to improve their marketing plan. We calculated it costs the average distributor over $ 6,000 to be "loyal" to their system, so the majority of the people lost money every year. No hype....Just fact.

When you have knowledge and have principles, you are forced to make a decision. You can try to change it or you can leave. At first we joined our friends that started Team In Focus. The principles were good but the emphasis in the comp plan changed periodically so people lost confidence and eventually just faded away.

I will give you a direct quote from Mr. Dunn when I called to tell him I was leaving and going to Team In Focus. Let me put it into context, for years I ran the Kansas City area functions and shipped him money every month for profits on functions. The first words out of his mouth were "I'm taking your tool money"...No surprise. Then the guilt trip of how much he has done for me.

About a year later, Amway and Dunn tried to hold a meeting on a Sunday afternoon in a Holiday Inn here inviting our old group and knowing we would be at a function. We flew home early to attend, I invited Kenny Stewart, and our group came with talking points because by this time they understood that the "system" was the main diamond income. Jimmy's only response was basically "the internet ruined everything" because they could no longer hide the facts. Jimmy was as white as the screen behind this e-mail and the little guy from Amway literally was shaking in his pants. A fun day. In those days they bought a tape for 38 to 44 cents and sold it retail for $ 6.50 because they wanted to help their group grow a business.

I've not done anything with them for over 5 years and I can say I'm quite happy. You can keep up the fight. To me they are not worth the time. If someone joins Amway or Quixtar with all the information on the internet.
They cannot say they have not been warned.

Later,
R

You are a sad, sad example of a man. I have been through your web site top to bottom and all it has done is increase my belief in Quixtar, WWDB and
what they are doing for my family. And I am one of the "low level" distrubutors who is supposedly spending all the money and making nothing! I am not some huge money making scam artist diamond (as you claim they are). The tools, which everyone seems to be so hung up on, have improved my life dramatically. The concepts I have learned there (which really have nothing to do with the business, they are about life) have made me a better man, a better husband, a better father. Just ask my wife! Ask my kids! Ask my mother!!!! The "friends" that I dont spend time with anymore are continuing to fail in life just as I was before.

You claim that Quixtar and its affiliated support organizations mislead people? There are so many lies, speculations and misleading information in your "facts" site that it is nauseating! You really expect me to believe that Circuit City, Barnes and Noble, Disney, Sports Authority, Sony, and the list goes on and on, are "unaware" of all of the "illegal" practices going on with Quixtar? These companies spend more on legal counsel in a year than you will make in your entire life! You really want me to believe that they entered into legal business contracts with Quixtar blindly? You make a statement like that and then try to tell me I am the one making
unintelligent decisions by being a part of this? You've got to be kidding me!

My guess is either you, or someone you know or are related to, simply didnt have what it took to be successful in this business and now you are simply a bitter, sick, twisted person (I refuse to refer to you as a man again) who has nothing better to do with your time than sit at your computer and try to smear what it is you failed at! Lots of people fail in college, why dont you make a site dedicated to smearing their college? Lots of people fail medical school. Why dont you write about how medical school is just a scam to make the executives money? (Im sure there is some other looser out there who has done that already too!). Lots of people fail at their jobs. How about making a site about how their employer sucks and is a big scam artist? ( I know there are tons of those out there. All posted by bitter loosers
like yourself). Lots of people fail at their marriage. their parenting. You name it, people have failed at it and if there is one thing I have learned in life (having seen both success AND failure) is that those that fail always want someone other than their poor pathetic selves to blame!

Your site has done nothing more than convince me more than ever that I am doing the right thing for myself and my family! In fact, I have printed it out and I am going to highlight all of your lies, misinformation, opinions, and just plain garbage and use it to BUILD my business! I will use it as a prime example of the kind of CRAP people will find on the internet written by people with NO life and nothing better to do! If someone chooses to believe your trash, I have no desire to spend my time and money helping them do anything.

I feel sorry for you and hope some day you grow up. That someday you learn you will NEVER be fulfilled by spending all your time tearing things down under the false pretense of "protecting" people and that you will actually do something PRODUCTIVE with your life rather than DESTRUCTIVE.

I know a lot about business. Either way you spend cash to get those deductions, or "business expenses". Give me $1000 and I will give you the $333 tax break. Sure you can write of a few personal items. If you over do it you are just cheating everybody else. If you deductions are legitimate then you are spending $3 for every dollar you get back from Uncle Sam.   I bet you still work for a boss, don't you? If you did not have you boss, you could not take your tax deductions..

I noticed you "very skillfully" avoided my pertinent questions to you (as you claim the "king pins" do) about what you actually do and if you have even seen any real success in your own life. I also asked you if you had something better and you didn't answer that either. hmmmm. interesting. And I would like to know how taking legitimate, legal tax deductions designed to promote capitalism and free enterprise (what this country was built on) is somehow "cheating everyone else". Or is it just that those of you who are too lazy to do anything ambitious, anything other than kiss your boss's ass for the rest of your life to make him wealthy are pissed off and
jealous. Just like all loosers are of those who are successful. I bet your boss LOVES you! He certainly doesnt have to worry about you ever getting ambitious and leaving! He's got you by the balls. (at least he would if you had any. A real man wouln't hide in his basement and write crap. A real man would get out there and tell everyone in person what he believes based on FACTS. But wait, I guess that would be impossible to do if you dont have any FACTS now wouldn't it!)

Your incredible "knowledge about business" astounds me. by your reasoning, one should never even try for tax deductions because it only costs money to
get them. And Im not sure where you get off saying that I couldn't take any tax deductions if I weren't working for a boss!? Dude, you should open a school! I bet you could get every other retard in America to come and learn from the best! My 12 year old know more about business that you obviously do!

Last night I stood next to a banker who makes over $200,000.00 a year as a BANKER who is doing this business. A couple of rows up was a man I have
personally met several times who is already a millionaire businessman (my guess is he went to a legitimate business school) who turned down a
$350,000.00 a year corporate position because HE is doing this business. I have personally met physicians, engineers, CPA's, the list goes on and on,
who KNOW about business, who are ALREADY extremely successful in life who are not just involved in but EXCITED about this business. Now who do you
think I should listen to? Someone who has no life and nothing better to do than host a blog/web site that is negative and destructive or someone who
has all the things I want in life? I guarantee you man, you have NOTHING I want. Absolutely nothing.

Yes, I do still have a boss but at least I am working towards something better. I have a goal and a dream. To be with my family. To provide for them like they deserve. Show me a job that provides all that! You are the definition of the crab who pulls anyone trying to crawl out of the trap back in. You are simply bitter because me (or anyone for that matter) being successful at ANYTHING simply exposes your failures and laziness. You have the time and energy to maintain a huge website that does nothing more than bash thousands of people who are trying to better their lives. Why dont you take that time and evergy and do something productive?

I would still like to know what it is you have to offer that is so much better but something tells me not to hold my breath while waiting for an answer.

I am so glad that you have posted this site. I attended what I thought of as “recruitment” last night. This morning I decided to do some research to see if it was something I really wanted to get involved with. After reviewing your articles, I have decided not to waste my time, money and energy on this scheme. They make it seem like the perfect idea, but once you get past all the gimmicks and really look into the company, you start to see all the flaws.

Thanks Again!!

Cidnee

here's a flea for your ear...maybe you should check out the connections between the Duke Lacrosse case/DNA Security and BWW. I know for a fact that AMI and DNA are VERY connected...the companies are even on the same street in Burlington, NC. It's also funny that AMI produces for BWW and other motivationals, AND the federal goverment GPO!

I've been reading articles on your site, reliving my five years as a zealous Gold Direct. We started in '79, qualified gold in may '81, and escaped back to reality in '85. The damage done to our relationships with friends and close relatives will likely remain unrepairable.

Our upline pin, Ken and Sue Miller, went Diamond in Sep. '82. As one of his six directs, five of us (we never knew who the sixth direct leg was) dressed in tuxedos and were pall-bearers for the tiny casket containing the dead remains of Ken's alarm clock. An Airforce dentist, we partied as he buried his alarm clock at the age of 32.

Britt International put us on the speaking tour because of our growing group and, I suppose, our stage presence. We could get folks really excited. By late in '83, I began to root for people "to not get in" when I showed them the plan on their dining room table. I was rooting for them to reject my message. Nonetheless, I generally left them holding hands anyway, tears dripping from their eyes because I had showed them "hope". On the way home I envisioned their future. They'd
anti-up money to go to functions, buy tapes, buy books, hire baby sitters, they'd take off work when they couldn't afford it, and they'd wear out their car. In time, they'd wisely stop answering the phone when I called. Till then it was my job to find someone in their family or circle of friends to help my wife and I build up our own PV. In time I felt guilty when they bought their kit, when they said yes to their first function, and when they sold their gun collection. Once, a working class guy living a very modest life proudly showed me all of the wood working equipment he'd collected over a lifetime. He sold it all to attend one more function. He of course never came close to even going direct and told me curtly not long ago that he never replaced his equipment and has never built another piece of beautiful furniture.

At "Go Diamond" weekend at the Twin Towers Sheraton in Orlando in '85, we arrived late and walked into a massive convention hall. It was miles to the stage where the speakers were pumping up the Friday night group of Directs there to learn how to go to the next level. We sat down, not knowing where any of our downline directs were seated and for the first time, failed to get caught up in the excitement. In our rush to get there we hadn't eaten lunch or dinner and I suggested we commit the sin of "sneaking" out to get something to eat. It was exhilarating! I felt like we'd made a prison break. By the time we were in our car we were
laughing and high-fiving. We sat down in a quiet Chinese restaurant and enjoyed the quietest, most joyful meal we'd had in years. My wife ask me if we should sneak back in and I said, "Nah, let's go to the room". Best decision we ever made. It was a first step. My advice to those trapped in Amway hell is to stop going to the functions. It is so liberating.

It has been over for twenty years, but the level of deceit we witnessed in our up-line, as well as some members of our down-line, was staggering in scope.We sat down at the computer tonight to see if we could find out what happened to our former "Amway" friends. Here's what we learned.

1. One of our down-line , a Pearl, who became a Pearl only through a massive buy of inventory, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, in two different States, for defrauding investors in a business he founded with another member of our down-line. His partner, on the day of his sentencing, committed suicide.

2. Our up-line Diamond, who was council to everyone in his leg concerning marriage and relationships, was having an affair, during our shared Amway experience. They've been divorced for years and we learned he'd had to secretly start practicing Dentistry on the side, in another city, also during our shared Amway experience.

3..Our up-line Diamond's up-line Diamond was having and affair with his (married) secretary, and our up-line Diamond's up-line Diamond's wife was also having an affair. Looking back on all of this is so sick. I was told by these guys that I could trust any of the "big pins" to "take chicken soup to my wife if she was in bed." I was so naive, just didn't understand that these great people were not even nice people. It is additionally scary in that my wife is defined by most folks as "gorgeous." Off color comments were frequently made that I foolishly dismissed as good natured compliments.

4. Our up-line's up-line Diamond's Crown Ambassador, Mr. Britt, the "wisest man" on earth, has also divorced having made some seriously bad business investments and been seen in some questionable places.

5. It appears that nearly all of the guest Diamond speakers we came to know during those year are too divorced. Some of this hit hard: the Victors, Jim and Betty Jean Brooks??!! Why? How?

If you are approached with any MML opportunity, especially Amway or Quixtar - - - - run!

My wife and family has been spared the pain of divorce because we decided at the alter, 33 years ago, that our sacred vows were just that: Sacred.

Thanks for listening. God Bless you for maintaining this site.

Jim

Message From A Former Quixtar I.B.O

I was looking at your site Scott and I was rather impressed with the wealth of information your site has to offer. How valid and accurate the information is, I am not one to pass judgment.
 
I choose not to disclose my name in writing this to you but I walked away from the B.W.W Teaching & Training System after being apart of it for little under three years, powering my business through Quixtar. I understand that people come from their own experiences and it does not make it right, it does not make it wrong, it just makes it their experience. One would be quite naive to think that everyone in the Quixtar Teaching & Training Systems were righteous and trustworthy. You will find jerks anywhere, you can find them at your job. Different teams are ran differently. There are clean organizations utilizing Quixtar. I was not surprised that there were no major lawsuits found amongst the Indian & Asian Organizations.
 
Though I never hit any significant pin levels or turned a real profit, I found my experiences with Quixtar & B.W.W a tremendous learning experience. I enjoyed being apart of the Britt System. Where else would I read 25-30 books, not just about business, but about life in general? These are books that were written by people that changed the way we live as human beings. Can you place a price on that? Out of those books that I read, one was written by Terry Felber, the other was written by Dexter Yager. The Pursuit, written by Dexter Yager was one of the best books I have ever read. I compare it Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad. In fact, Robert Kiyosaki compares Dexter to be very similar to his Rich Dad in his business teachings. This can be found on the book's back cover.
 
Even though I excelled in my marketing education, this business challenged me to get out of my comfort zone. As a result, I became incredibly networked. Sometimes I wonder how did I come to know so many people? I may not have liked my upline at all times, but there was always someone above me who would give me a hand-up and not a handout. They always welcomed me into their homes and treated me with the utmost respect. I enjoyed being around motivating and uplifting people. Who likes to associate with people that are cynical and bitter about life? I am not going to mention names because there would be too many to acknowledge, but I have been influenced by Gord Bzdel(Upline Platinum) and Frank Mikolas(Upline Diamond). Here are two individuals that have been through thick and thin with Amway and Quixtar and yet they continually serve their respective teams.
 
We all look at the Amway and/or Quixtar Business Model with the intention to earn another source of income, or because someone we know talked to us about it. I know that money is not everything, but when people do not have any, then it becomes everything. I have not met anyone in this business that was forced to build it. If someone does not like the business, they should have returned their kit to the corporation, along with any necessary products or services purchased. Period. These individuals did not have to stay in the business.
 
I know that Amway and Quixtar have high turn-over rates for distributors and I.B.O's. In the B.W.W Literature Package it shows in the fine print the percentage of people who hit specific levels. It is not like they do not have access to that information.
 
Feel free to post this on your site.

This is amazing. Thank you for making this website… There is nothing wrong with wanting more money but it is the person’s/prospect’s morals that come to question with quixtar/armway’s proposed business plan…Unfortunately for them, I am one less to consider because I refuse to put my morals and ethics into question by lying to a bunch of friends, to have them lie to a bunch of other friends, and them to others all to ultimately make me money.

 What they do should be illegal and although I felt guilt at first for being so pessimistic and skeptic about an “old friend”, a guy I barely knew in high school, and his sponsor tell me they had heard a lot of good things about me and that I seemed to be an outstanding guy that would fit perfect into their “team”, I feel much better now that I have read some of the things on your site and know my skepticism saved me a lot of money.

 Again, I sincerely thank you for creating this site.

When my husband asked his upline Sapphire once why WWDB still taught "True North" when Brad Duncan's business taught a different way, he was told and I quote "that's just something we say from stage...". I guess that statement could then be applied to everything they say. How about, "this is an honest, moral business ... I mean 'that's just what we say from stage'"!!!

Keep up the good work!! :]

I have never read something so stupid in my life you sad strange little man. How much money do you make? Now compare that to Yager, yea I thought so buddy. So just because you failed as an ibo, don’t try to make others.

Scott,
I found your website once again and thouroughly enjoy reading your updates about the happenings in the AmQuix world. I was involved several years ago and am glad we got out. The more we think about the experience, the more we shake our head and question how we could have been so blind. Keep up the good work.
--
Aubrey

Hey scott, I have some friends that have started this quixtar deal.  I have looked into it for the last month and half, I understand how it works and that u really can make money if u put the time into it and recruit a lot of people and convice them to join.  The only problem I see is that you will start haressing people with an oppertunity and then you have to spend money to get your BV or PV to make money.  Now im not married and i dont even send $100 a month on living expenses.  And some people like to go out shopping like me for my stuff on what I am going to buy.  I see that it does work and im not sure if I should join the cult.  Im not ready to drink the Koolaid..       

Thanks on whatever input u have. 
nate

Mr. Larsen,
It is so interesting to read about Quixtar from your site. Having been a distributor during the days of IED (pre-INA/ProNet), knowing the Robinsons,
Holidays, and Leets personally (I still have their working home phone numbers), and watching the downfall of INA after I became a direct, I couldn't agree with the overall view (and fact) that all of the income is made from the sale of tools, not products. Our tool income, if we had achieved Ruby, would have been three times our bonus checks (about $60K a year). Then INA changed the tape cut policy to exclude everyone except Emeralds and above. We, fortunately, had to withdraw from the system completely to take care of my father's business.
In hindsight, we were fools, and so is any other person who joins ANY of these systems. The Amway/Quixtar business is hard...very hard. If it wasn't hard, then how come there are so few upper level pins (diamond, etc.)? When we left, there was approximately 400 diamonds and above. I suspect that there are far fewer now.
Last I heard, many of the INA Emeralds were going back to work, and the Leets were opening a retail store for baby clothes near Mission Viejo, California. Craig Holiday had a cooking school in the works, and none were Diamonds anymore. I know my line is no longer direct in volume.I hope that this saves others from blowing $20k on tools and seminars in blind loyalty to a false god-Quixtar/INA.

John Charles (not my real name, of course)

I just read your blog page and re-lived so many horrific memories of being involved in Amway. It became the multi level from Hell. Every one of our upline with the exception of 1 couple has been divorced and often remarried to someone else in the "group". It caused my husband and I to go bankrupt and spend many years processing the misconceptions we learned from the business.
Stay strong and be glad you are not involved in the business

Our Pastor has become an IBO with Quixtar. Do you have any references that would be helpful to me? Quixtar has invaded our church in a big way and it is causing major division. Our Pastor has been confronted many times about this but is so deceived he refuses to listen. He honestly believes that all of the information on the internet is false! I am looking for information looking at Quixtar from a Christian perspective. I have seen the document MLM and The Church but have never seen anything about leaders or Pastors doing it.

 Thanks for your help.

Even more to add …

 Interbiz meetings have/had a regular speaker (Terry something) who does a whole schpeal on how “If Quixtar is a pyramid, how come I can earn more than the guy above me ???” and he also rants about “If you know a better idea, then please show me!!!” Anyway, I finally have the answer to the first of his two brush off sales type questions:

 The payment structure for IBOs with Quixtar is not a pyramid, its actually “LOCALIZED PYRAMIDS:” The guy above you can only benefit so much from activity by anyone below him as his proceeds are “capped per line” below him. So actually its even worse than a pyramid. Much harder. You still need to build a pyramid below yourself to get anything at all of value. They say this is to motivate people to do their own work so we’ll have a much bigger team of motivated people!!  Its in this complexity that some of the swindling takes place. With these people, however, sharks and losers, if it wasn’t this complexity I suppose they would just find another …

 NOTE: I am not trying to destroy this business as I retain my IBO status still, just to buy some products. But rather, I wish to expose the truths so that this business can improve! Some of the ideas are excellent. That is my motivation for writing to you.

 And I keep forgetting to tell y’all. And this one you should put on the front page of your site Scott:

 The whole thing about 100 PV is a non-dislosure/fineprint/mislead-you/buyer-beware type woosh-over lie. I have received the bonus AND bracket bonus a few times with much less than 100 PV and Quixtar explained to me over the phone when I asked why that I only have to spend $100 on products (before shipping and taxes) or 50 PV to qualify for it!!!! And all along Interbiz people told me 100 PV , 100 PV, 100 PV …. After being asked point blank how much do you have to spend to qualify for your bonus? What a bunch of lousy &$#@&*)!!!s …. And I’m sure when it gets around that they’ll be ready with “ Oh well, we never knew either” or “things have changed now” … etc…

 Anyway, keep pumping out those truths! Only truth can set things free!!!

I have a friend who is in this business and becomes violent when Quixtar/DCInternational is negatively talked about. He will not even spend $$ to go out to lunch somedays because of the business. His "mentor" no longer allows him to go out to local establishments because its a "bad environment." When asked about how much he is making a month he said $100 and I said why don't you calculate your gas, lodging, etc expenses and he grew angry. Please add him to your email list.

 http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20061210/ai_n16903064