5Linx – Legit or MLM Scam?
5Linx Gets Second Grant From COMIDA
The Democrat & Chronicle reported yesterday that COMIDA (which stands for the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency and will be the subject of a story to come later here on the Water Buffalo Press) awarded a $600,000 grant to 5Link, a “telecom” provider based in Henrietta. The Henrietta Blog of the D&C praised the company for brining hi-tech jobs to the area, over 130 of them as reported. As I posted on the Henrietta Blog yesterday:
5Linx uses a business strategy called “MLM” or “Multi Level Marketing” to sell their “products;” what this essentially translates to is a Pyramid structure that recruits people to invest in a startup much like Tupperware or Cutco knives. They do not even sell their own products, they resell things like cell phone service and satellite tv. Much like the Fast Ferry founders and Maplestar, they receive millions in government funding and tax breaks under the guise that they will add “hundreds of jobs” only to see the C-level employees pocket the profits and split town. 5Linx currently employs 30 people and we are to believe they will add 130 in the next year through a work at home pyramid structure that forces their “employees” to recruit others? Neither COMIDA, nor Monroe County, nor the D&C, nor this so-called blogger have done their research and that is why our region continues to get swindled by moneymen who make big promises. Ever seen the Simpsons episode where the town decides to buy the monorail? – that’s Monroe County and Rochester. Mark it down, 5Linx will never create that many jobs and despite what Maggie Brooks says in her photo “pat myself on the back for doing nothing” op this is not a company our area should brag about.
1/17/2007 4:55 PM
Another blogger, known as alocalbusinessman, posted that he has attempted to contact the HR department of 5Linx only to continually be routed into voicemails. Wouldn’t a company poised to take on a massive undertaking such as the hiring of over 130 people at least need an HR department in place to oversee and train the employees?
But let’s just say that 5Linx is legit and is as succesful as their C-levels would like us to believe, why then would they be in need of such a sizable grant from the government (the second such grant they have received)? One might answer to pay for the cost of the massive facility they are building in Henrietta, however, the building of the site was announced before the grant was received. By any measure, should our tax dollars be going to businesses so succesful that they expect better than 100% growth in the near future? Certainly a business so succesful would understand if we used 600,000 taxpayer dollars on something like education or our economically depressed City instead of a big fancy call center in a suburb that has no trouble attracting companies.
One of 5Linx claim to fame is the issue of Inc. 500 that names it as one of the fastest growing companies in America (based on projected hires that haven’t happened yet), but even the magazine is skeptical about the methods employed by the company:
“What it does – Sells VoIP services and video phones to consumers and businesses through multilevel marketing. Why it’s growing – The multilevel marketing model is designed to produce fast revenue growth. It also, of course, produces controversy in many cases. In 5Linx’s case, CEO Craig Jerabeck says strong consumer interest in VoIP helps 5Linx sign up the direct sales representatives it needs to recruit.”
There merits have come under the pretense of video-phone sales but an exploration of their website reveals that the basis of their business is the resale of cell phones, Dish TV and medical benefits cards. Last time I checked medical benefits didn’t fit under the category of ‘telecom.’
More to come -
Update: See average earnings for 5Linx reps in our latest post, 5Linx Redux.
I guess facts really don’t matter — wouldn’t want them to get in the way of making our point, now would we?
It will be apparent to anyone who investigates your claims in any detail that you are the one who has done no research.
Anyone interested in the facts on this can check my reply to his original post here: http://www.blogger.com/publish-comment.do?blogID=24010319&postID=116899257784843733&r=ok
Leaving aside his diatribe on whether the money should be spent in other areas, let me refute a few of his factual errors in the additional info he lists here:
1. Anyone who READS the Inc. 500 knows that it is a REVENUE-BASED list, not employment-based. Therefore, the claim that 5LINX made the list “based on projected hires that haven’t happened yet” is just wrong. 5LINX made the list because its sales grew more than 400% between 03 & 05.
2. So let me get this straight: you went to the 5LINX website, saw products other than voip, and because of this concluded that the company’s voip and videophone sales were a “pretense?”
Let me post the facts for any reasonable and logical people who may read your blog (although I doubt there are many): voip is 5LINX’s #1 product by far. However, given that it is a technology company, 5LINX also sells cellular, satellite and internet. If you bothered to check, you would see that the Company offers significant savings to the customer in all of its product areas, which is why it is growing so quickly.
The medical savings card is offered because many full-time 5LINX reps no longer have low-cost health insurance — and asked the company to provide an alternative. While this product is not insurance, it provides a level of benefit that satisfies the needs of many representatives and customers alike.
I again request that you get your facts straight before you post. Putting up info so easily refuted just makes you look ignorant.
Alas positive1, your refutations seem to be quite misleading as well –
To address your response on the D&C blog, I am not going to give any credence to figures from the DIRECT MARKET INDUSTRY that exclaim how profitable the DIRECT MARKET INDUSTRY is, where are you getting your numbers? Do you expect the industry (founded on the recruitment of others through fantastic claims of success) to say it is not profitable?
Secondly, my diatribe on why the money should be spent differently was the whole point; regardless, let’s say 5Linx is as profitable as you say – why then would they need a half million in tax breaks to buy the VoIP which is supposedly their main product: http://www.monroecounty.gov/files/Communications/PDFs/comida_october.pdf
In response to your claims of savings, a reseller of Time Warner Cable and Dish TV can never offer prices below those of the provider. As far as phone service I have seen 5Linx plans that cost over $80.00 a month, I don’t know anyone in today’s society that thinks that’s a good deal for your phone. You claim to be so logical and well-researched but I see no numbers to back up your claims.
As far as the medical card is concerned, your point that it is for employees only further shows 5Linx as a company making profits by selling items to their “direct sales reps,” real companies who are concerned about their workforce tend to supply health care for them instead of swindling them for ’start-up’ costs and then leaving them on their own to work the street for leads.
As for 70 years of Telecom experience, none of the founders are over the age of 45, I would be interested to know where the 70 years of experience comes from?
My guess – you are either one of these founders or a poor sap who has gotten mixed up with 5Linx.
Here are your comments and my responses in bold:
I am not going to give any credence to figures from the DIRECT MARKET INDUSTRY that exclaim how profitable the DIRECT MARKET INDUSTRY is, where are you getting your numbers?
I’m not surprised…those numbers don’t support your point. The fact is that the Direct Selling Organization is highly respected at all levels, and is widely known as the most accurate in assessing growth in the industry. If you don’t accept those numbers, then refute them! Post your own independently verified numbers.
Secondly, my diatribe on why the money should be spent differently was the whole point
I respect your right to disagree with the County on its priorities. If that was the whole point, then you should have stuck to it.
let’s say 5Linx is as profitable as you say – why then would they need a half million in tax breaks to buy the VoIP which is supposedly their main product:
Please use common sense. Like any good business, 5LINX took advantage of a county program designed to help businesses grow. As Maggie Brooks said, this investment is being leveraged by over $6 million of private investment, which makes it a smart move on ALL parts.
In response to your claims of savings, a reseller of Time Warner Cable and Dish TV can never offer prices below those of the provider.
You continue to make claims that not only have no basis in fact, but are easily refuted. I invite anyone with common sense to investigate 5LINX pricing, particularly in cellular, and see for themselves (you’ll see an average savings of $50 – $200).
As far as phone service I have seen 5Linx plans that cost over $80.00 a month, I don’t know anyone in today’s society that thinks that’s a good deal for your phone. You claim to be so logical and well-researched but I see no numbers to back up your claims.
5LINX voip service costs $25/month. With taxes and fees, it’s just under $30. It includes unlimited local & long distance calling to any phone in the US, Canada & Puerto Rico, as well as to any other customer of the service in the world. You don’t see savings with that???
As far as the medical card is concerned, your point that it is for employees only further shows 5Linx as a company making profits by selling items to their “direct sales reps,” real companies who are concerned about their workforce tend to supply health care for them instead of swindling them for ’start-up’ costs and then leaving them on their own to work the street for leads.
I never said it is for “employees” — you can’t even paraphrase me correctly. I said that the company originally investigated it because our independent representatives needed a low cost alternative to insurance. I also said that it’s a great product for “representatives and customers alike.” Again, don’t let THE FACTS get in the way of your rhetoric.
As for 70 years of Telecom experience, none of the founders are over the age of 45, I would be interested to know where the 70 years of experience comes from?
I feel like I am dealing with a child, but let me explain this simple point to you: first of all I said the 5LINX senior management has more than 70 years of telecom experience, not just the co-founders. Now, this piece of information may help you keep from making a fool of yourself in the future: when someone says that a group of people has xx years of experience at something, the way they arrived at that figure is to ADD UP their individual years of service. Get it?
My guess – you are either one of these founders or a poor sap who has gotten mixed up with 5Linx
I’m not a co-founder, but I have been a full-time representative in 5LINX for 5 years. I control my own time, earn more money than I ever did in government or the private sector, and, most significantly, have helped thousands of people improve their lives. Given that, which of us is the poor sap???
My suggestion: get a new hobby — you’re not very good at this one!
Gosh, positive1, I thought “full-time” reps would be considered employees but I guess that’s just more of the pretty language thrown around to make people caught up in the pyramid feel like they’re getting somewhere.
You’re point about me not giving creedence to your statistics is assinine as the same reason could be stated for you to believe the stats. Why don’t you post a paystub or a W-2 to verify these thousands you supposedly make? Oh, that’s right, probably no accounting department at 5Linx either.
If 5Linx has only posted earnings of $4.9 million how are they investing $6 million in the community? Since you received a taxbreak from the county on the purchase of the VoIP will you be offering the same tax breaks to the conumers in the area? I’m know your answer will be no.
Again, you boast about savings but post no actual numbers to back them up, as far as the price for VoIP it can be had for pennies on the internet.
And please, post this wealth of experience the founders have that make up over 70 years in the telecom industry.
My responses are in bold:
Gosh, positive1, I thought “full-time” reps would be considered employees but I guess that’s just more of the pretty language thrown around to make people caught up in the pyramid feel like they’re getting somewhere.
Well, Swede, you thought that because you obviously don’t understand business. By law, “full-time” reps are “independent contractors,” not employees.
You’re point about me not giving creedence to your statistics is assinine as the same reason could be stated for you to believe the stats. Why don’t you post a paystub or a W-2 to verify these thousands you supposedly make? Oh, that’s right, probably no accounting department at 5Linx either.
First of all, it’s “your,” not “you’re.” Secondly, I posted statistics from the Direct Selling Association (dsa.org), which is one of the largest and most respected trade associations in the world. You don’t accept them? Fine — post your own numbers that refute mine!
Thirdly, I’m sure you have no experience with this, but business owners don’t get “W-2s.” But, regardless, I can’t post any documentation of earnings, because it’s against the law. See, the government believes that people like you need to be protected, so it doesn’t allow me to say anything about my earnings, because you may not realize that mine took work and are no guarantee of what you’ll make.
If 5Linx has only posted earnings of $4.9 million how are they investing $6 million in the community? Since you received a taxbreak from the county on the purchase of the VoIP will you be offering the same tax breaks to the conumers in the area? I’m know your answer will be no.
Well, if you’d READ carefully, you’d realize that the $4.9 million listed in INC was for 2005. The company is significantly bigger now. And, I never said that ALL of the $6 million was from 5LINX. I said it was private investment. There are other parties, such as the builder, making investments as well.
As for “tax breaks” for “conumers(sp),” with all your spelling errors and limited grasp of business, it’s hard to understand what you mean. However, if you’re asking whether consumers will save money on our voip, it’s already one of the lowest cost, legitimate voip services in the industry.
Again, you boast about savings but post no actual numbers to back them up, as far as the price for VoIP it can be had for pennies on the internet.
All right, I’ll humor you. A few simple examples from Cellular: Today, on Cingular.com, the motorola razr phone is $49.99, the Krazr is $199.99, and the Cingular 8525 is $399.99, all after rebates. From 5LINX, those same phones, with the same Cingular service, are: FREE (razr – $49.99 savings); FREE (krazr – $199.99 savings) & $199.99 (8525 – $200 savings) after rebates. That’s just examples from ONE carrier — others are similar. Now I’m anxious to see how you turn the consumer saving between $50 – $200 on the same product into a bad thing. By the way, my numbers can be verified here.
As for voip, put your money where your mouth is: you post a LEGITIMATE voip service, from a reputable company, with full E-911 compliance and call quality comparable to a land line, that retails for “pennies.”
And please, post this wealth of experience the founders have that make up over 70 years in the telecom industry.
I would post specific names and tenure if I thought you responded to logic or facts. However, it’s obvious to anyone reading that you’re not a reasonable person. So, I have no desire to expose these individuals to your inaccurate rants. All I’ll say is that the 5LINX CEO, the Director of GlobaLINX, the Senior Network Engineer, and the Director of Customer Service for GlobaLINX have about 70 years of combined telecom experience, all with local companies.
Look, I’m really tiring of you. As I said, you’re not very good at this, as your aversion to anything that does not support your point of view, even if it’s true, is obvious to all involved. I have no need to waste any more time here — our posts speak for themselves.
Positve1:
I’m a bit confused. If you pay yourself a salary why do you not have a W2? Don’t you withhold taxes?
I create one for myself, as my accountant wouldn’t have it any other way.
Just wondering.
positive1 –
It just gets worse for you buddy.
1. I apologize for the mispellings, I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to do so on my own blog.
2. I checked out your dsa.org and I want to thank you, it gives many tips for identifying possible MLM scams, one of them being that the company is not a member of the DSA. A quich search of the DSA member list reveals that 5LINX IS NOT A MEMBER OF THE DSA. (Can’t wait to hear the excuse for this one, probably another server problem)
3. As far as a reputable company offering cheap VoIP there’s a little group called Google (ever heard of them) that offers free VoIP for GoogleTalk users.
4. As far as your experience claims, if you want to include Jeb Tyler’s job selling phones at a Verizon store on Monroe Ave. then fine, I’ll let you have that one.
5. And the ghost of hst took care of your W-2 excuse.
6. No story has been posted by WHAM 13 since the 16th of January.
Even more –
From wfdsa.org, the website for the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations:
‘WFDSA – Search Results
Membership Directory Search Results
Your search did not return any record. Please go back and try again.’
Responses in Bold:
I’m a bit confused. If you pay yourself a salary why do you not have a W2? Don’t you withhold taxes?
I create one for myself, as my accountant wouldn’t have it any other way.
I make estimated tax payments. And, as a business owner, I’m sure you know that there are several ways to receive compensation — 1099 income being just one example.
As for you swede, you make me laugh! Google talk requires a computer & microphone, another user who also has all that equipment, cannot call regular phones, and has no e911 compliance. Real comparable to what 5LINX, Vonage & Time Warner offer! (that’s called sarcasm, by the way)
And don’t think I didn’t notice the reference to Jeb. It’s good to know that this is personal.
Isn’t it “lights out” @ the halfway house by now???
Positive1: Another question.
“I make estimated tax payments. And, as a business owner, I’m sure you know that there are several ways to receive compensation — 1099 income being just one example.”
Are you a contractor within your own company? Seems a bit odd. If that’s not the case then your Company would be the recipient of a 1099 (from 5linx or other sources) and thus you still need to pay yourself in some manner.
What about NYS Sales tax payments?
Are you a contractor within your own company? Seems a bit odd. If that’s not the case then your Company would be the recipient of a 1099 (from 5linx or other sources) and thus you still need to pay yourself in some manner.
What about NYS Sales tax payments?
By law, corporations do not have to be 1099′d. My method is sound – my CPA was president of the local CPA chapter, and specializes in working with small businesses. I also have a real estate business in another state, and my CPA there has approved of it as well.
Regardless, the fact — which seems to constantly get ignored on this site — is that, as I indicated, income claims in mlm are illegal. It’s one of the most regulated professions in America.
As for sales tax, 5LINX pays that where required on all sales.
positive1 –
Income claims are illegal if you are attempting to recruit a “direct sales representative” and use claims of high incomes to do so; the reason, because the only high incomes occur at the highest levels of the pyramid and are not indicative of the incomes received by most “downlines.” The law is in place to protect impressionable industry newcomers from big promises from people like you, please don’t feel like you have to protect me – I don’t think anyone posting here is interested in working for you.
That being said, positive1, feel free to post whatever you deem vital.
I can’t help but notice you have not answered why the DSA.org, who you have referred to in multiple posts at the ultimate authority on the direct selling industry, does not recognize 5Linx as a member. Is it because of the strict code of ethics to which the DSA makes its members adhere?
Maybe I should clarify.
Who is responsible for the collection of the taxes?
P.S. I noticed alot of Jesus around the 5linx website.
Marketing or Recruiting?
Maybe I should clarify.
Who is responsible for the collection of the taxes?
P.S. I noticed alot of Jesus around the 5linx website.
Marketing or Recruiting?
I have no idea what you mean by “collection of the taxes.” We are all independent contractors. 5LINX reports our income to the IRS and we file taxes as is dictated by the structure of our business (individual, partnership, corporation, etc.).
As for sales tax, as I said, it is charged and collected where required by law by 5LINX or the carrier we market for, depending on the product.
As for your comment about “Jesus,” I don’t know to what you’re referring, unless it is the area where leaders tell their own story in their own words. Obviously, the few individuals who mentioned Jesus did so because he’s an important part of their lives. Is there something wrong with that?
Look, you seem like a fairly reasonable person. As such, you should know that you can find fault with anything if you take things out of context, tell half the story, or don’t bother with the facts. I’m sure I could do so with your business if I had such an agenda. That’s what this guy is doing, as should be obvious to you by his failure to respond to — or even acknowledge — the facts I’ve posted.
But that doesn’t change the fact that the jobs 5LINX promised ARE being created as we speak, and it will become one of the major successes of the COMIDA program. And this guy will look like more of a fool than he already does for suggesting otherwise.
And speaking of you, swede, as amusing as it has been peeking into the life of someone deprived of oxygen at birth, I’ve got to get back to the real world. That means life outside that nice, big building with the rooms with the padded walls and little men in white coats where you live.
Feel free to play on the computer whenever you want, but please, PLEASE, for everyone’s sake, don’t stop taking that medication again!
Positive1:
Sorry for flogging a dead videophone, but when a product is sold, who collects the appropriate taxes for that item? From what you said 5linx pays the taxes, so when money changes hands does it go through you or directly to 5linx.
As a business owner, such as yourself, I am responsible to recieve taxes on products and services (when applicable) and then pay to the State the appropriate amount. Many of my clients, however, have Resale or Exempt status.
The Jesus stuff just seemed a bit odd. Not often do you see bios of that nature in the corporate world. But as you have said this is a marketing structure so perhaps it is the norm. Perhaps it in itself is a marketing tool to gain a greater representative base? Whatever floats your boat.
Any chance your former 6 figure government job placed you in a position to influence County support for this venture? Provided of course such public service had local and/or partisan ties.
I suppose The Handsome One’s attention on the topic is fairly new (at least to me). But you too seem to have been “playing” on the computer for quite some time (Aug. ‘06) pushing the 5linx platform online.
Feels like a game of Clue.
Was it the SVP of Spin, in Henrietta, with the videophone?
Sorry for flogging a dead videophone, but when a product is sold, who collects the appropriate taxes for that item? From what you said 5linx pays the taxes, so when money changes hands does it go through you or directly to 5linx.
As a business owner, such as yourself, I am responsible to recieve taxes on products and services (when applicable) and then pay to the State the appropriate amount. Many of my clients, however, have Resale or Exempt status.
I don’t know that I can state it any more plainly than I did in my last post, when I said:
“As for sales tax, as I said, it is charged and collected where required by law by 5LINX or the carrier we market for, depending on the product.”
What’s difficult to understand about that?
The Jesus stuff just seemed a bit odd. Not often do you see bios of that nature in the corporate world. But as you have said this is a marketing structure so perhaps it is the norm. Perhaps it in itself is a marketing tool to gain a greater representative base? Whatever floats your boat.
Yep…that’s what we teach in 5LINX scammer school…pretend to love Jesus — that’ll get you a lot of reps in this day and age.
Any chance your former 6 figure government job placed you in a position to influence County support for this venture? Provided of course such public service had local and/or partisan ties.
Yes….The County gave the builder of 5LINX’s new corporate office $700k because I used to work for a government that county leadership generally despised. You solved the case, Monk!
I suppose The Handsome One’s attention on the topic is fairly new (at least to me). But you too seem to have been “playing” on the computer for quite some time (Aug. ‘06) pushing the 5linx platform online.
If by “pushing the 5LINX platform” you mean posting the facts in response to a person who posted lies about the Company to serve his own agenda (sound familiar?), then yes, I posted for a few days in August, then again recently. So what?
Alas, as it was then, my work here is done…I’ll leave you and swede — two champions of…whatever…to play with each other.
God Bless!
(well, did it work? Do you want to join now?)
I’m in.
Where the hell is my checkbook?
Who do I make it out too?
What’s the MSRP of the SVP position?
Do I get a complimentary videophone? I gotta have one.
How did you know I have self-diagnosed OCD?
Now that I’m in, I’d like to help out with a suggestion. We need a spokesperson. Is Tom Bosley available? What about Dick Van Patten or those midgets (pardon me, Little People) in S.FLA that hustle real estate tapes. Someone that can really move the GinsuPhone.
Found the checkbook, its in the mail.
The head of 5linx, Craig Jerabeck, owned a company in Rochester called @wireless. Do you know what happened to that company positive1? He was reselling other phone services through 5linx and had an exclusive contract with Verizon. Guess what? Verizon called him a fraudulent dishonest conartist and yanked the contract putting 20 employees out of a job, almost bankrupting 75 franchisees who believed and trusted in him and almost destroyed his family. Luckily Verizon didn’t hold the franchisees responsible for this sloth and gave them direct contracts or 100 more would have suffered. I dare you to investigate that positive1!
The only information we have found regarding the Anonymous claims above is from part of a D&C article from October ‘06:
“@Wireless shut down last year, citing an inability to collect its bills, after a dispute with Verizon Wireless.”
If Anonymous could provide the Press with additional info it would be greatly appreciated.
More to come -
In the spirit of full disclosure I am a 5Linx Independent Marketing Representative that happened upon this post via Google alerts.
Maybe the good citizens would prefer more great companies such as Delphi moving into your great city?
“Delphi, the nation’s largest auto parts manufacturer, filed for bankruptcy. The company’s 12,000 retirees and 34,000 active workers who have spent their lives on hot, noisy production lines, making everything from air bags to instrument panels, are left staring at a future without pensions or health care.” http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/7891/1/290/
Labeling 5Linx a scam with such malice and bias at best invalidates all of your opinions and conclusions. At worst makes you an ignorant trouble maker waging baseless attacks via “YOUR” blog with only one clear intention and that is to feed your own miserable ego.
Perhaps your clear idolization of a misguided literary legend has deadened the nerve endings. “I hate to advocate weird chemicals, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone… but they’ve always worked for me” That would be the tagline from the movie that your blog is named after.
I would like to identify Delphi and companies like that are the true scammers.
I did a tremendous amount of due diligence in making 5Linx and the direct sales industry a career choice. The industry has been it’s own worst enemy yet like any other is maturing because of traditional business people like myself who have been deceived by corporate America, ie Enron, Delphi etc.
With 5Linx I was able to look the man who made the decisions in the eye unlike CEO Robert “Steve” Miller who declared it necessary to sweeten the 21 top executives’ pay packages, already worth an average of $1.1 million each WHILE Delphi was in bankruptcy.
The Industry and 5Linx has offered me and many of my displeased and displaced co-workers a solution to put our family’s future at the center of our career. At the end of the day my customers know me and the service I provide. 5Linx’s choice to partner with fortune 500 companies played a big roll in my decision. I become the competitive advantage in the equation. My friends and family know the level of service I provide them and the choice becomes self evident. Do business with the kid down at the mall or a trusted friend or family member.
Over zealous marketers and companies for sure have made a bad name for the industry, but those of us migrating here from corporate America view that as opportunity for cherry picking. Bad marketers in the mlm industry and corporate America have created a class of consumer aching for quality service and competitive pricing.
Business is about strategy not tactics. All of a sudden I am doing the same thing I was doing before-serving others. Now I do not have a top heavy corporate machine above taking all the cream off the top. In this equation if we do our job properly we will have customers for life, regardless of what company files for bankruptcy.
My point to all of this is not the merits of 5linx or the industry. My point is or better my question is – are you part of the problem or part of the solution? I really am not even sure why this blog exists and who actually reads it other than the one I mentioned above.
What are you doing to bring jobs to the region? You remind me of the men of old who where afraid to venture to “edge” of the world for fear they would fall off…
Out of ignorance and historical lies perpetrated from the table cloth.
Sincerely,
Edword Walczyk
P.S. As you can see I am not afraid to sign my name or identify my relationship with the company.
P.P.S. I am curious as to the identity of the ghost of hst… It seems a bit suspicious that those are also the initials of the above mentioned literary legend. You wouldn’t be responding to your own post would you; maybe you both are in collusion?
My suggestion to you non business types dont comment on what you clearly don’t know. It only makes you look foolish and embarrasses your family.
Edword,
Thank you for visiting the Water Buffalo Press. Your comments are welcome and greatly appreciated.
I assure you that the ghost of h.s.t. is not affiliated with the Press, though I understand you have no reason to belive this statement.
Thank you also for information regarding Delphi, it is a great aid in our efforts to illustrate the bloated nature of our economic and political climate.
Now regarding your points:
-I can use bias here, it’s my site, that’s the nice thing – I have as much freedom to be skeptical of 5Linx as you do to work for them.
-Yes, I LOVE drugs and alcohol.
-In response to the rest of your argument all I can do is refer you to my most recent article entitled “Find the Red Queen” in the archives, and to other sites like the Democrat & Chronicle blog, and RochesterTurning.com, both of whom are listed in the Links column of our homepage.
Thanks for reading.
Edword the Guru,
I can confirm that I am not in cahoots with Water Buffalo Press or the swede. A matter of chance with reference to HST. Although maybe an influence to both, one could understand your conclusion that I or he/she is the same person.
I assure you this is not the case.
I have used the HST reference for the better part of a year and have to say that you are the first to acknowledge is presence. Kudos.
Our writings styles are rather different (the swede and I) as I believe I was the first to open up with the midget comment, as I suspect the swede may refain from using such crass terminology. I could be wrong.
“I really am not even sure why this blog exists and who actually reads it other than the one I mentioned above.”
Yet you have found yourself here. The blog has been here for a week and a half, maybe?
I can assume that others from 5linx have read the swede’s critique as well.
Maybe not from Google Alerts but Positive Alerts.
As much as people love to bash local news reporters — THIS is why they are so necessary. I know that two reporters with different organizations were checking out rumors about 5Linx and the company checked out. Neither reporter wrote a piece because there were no issues. Leave it to the blogosphere to go off half-cocked and spewing baseless rumors. Hate the local news, but sure beats the online rumor mill.
Yeah you’re right – quotes from 5Linx employees, Monroe County representatives and cited info from the DSA website is completely baseless – why do I even bother?
It sounds like neither of the news publications you refer to bothered to check on DSA membership, but don’t worry, my most recent article addresses the issue.
About a year ago, I was invited to a MLM marketing presentation for a company that sold VoIP and related products. I don’t remember the name of the company now, so I can’t be sure if it was 5Linx or not (although that name does ring a bell).
I was out of work at the time, and I was offered an opportunity to join the exciting new world of “direct marketing”, so I went to the presentation. I suppose it was my fault in the first place that I didn’t ask more questions about what “direct marketing” meant. The presentation was for people who had already signed up, and also for potential recruits, like myself.
These guys do give great presentations. You have to give them credit there. They were polished, they were enthusiastic, and they heavily trumpeted each one of their success stories and implied that level of success could also be yours in a short period of time!
It was easy for me to see that this wasn’t anything I wanted to be a part of, and pretty easy to see that my success depended upon recruiting new people more than it depended on selling the products. Since I am not a lawyer, I can’t tell if this offer indeed met the definition of “pyramid scheme”, but I know some basic math, and that the earlier you get in on the scheme, the more revenues come your way.
The slick presentation didn’t sway me, I had seen enough after about 15 minutes. But I dare say there were many people in the room who were (or became that day) true believers, and were willing to buy into the scheme.
The lesson here is that people need to be better educated against this type of thing. Its easy to fall for a slick presentation. Its easy for people not to be able to understand the math (which indicates that people who come in late have fewer opportunities to make money than the people who come in early). So thank you, Water Buffalo Press, for bringing up this issue and not letting it die.
Thank you for your support – I hope you explored the January archives for the additional articles on 5Linx, including the Find teh Red Queen series and Are We Supposed to Feel Better, question still remain about 5Linx and LeFrois Development and the WBP will continue to monitor the situation in the coming year. Check back soon, as we are working on a story and petition regarding 5Linx most recent application for Empire Zone benefits.
I checked the entries in my calendar and, yes indeed, I did attend a presentation by 5Linx in July of 2005, at a hotel across from MCC. As I said, about 15 minutes into the presentation, I felt this was a suspect way of doing business. And from what I read here at The Water Buffalo Press, it appears that they haven’t changed their modus operandi.
I can remember years ago on a Rochester radio station, one of the hosts of the show had bought into the MLM vision heavily. She was convinced she was going to get rich, and her co-hosts tried in vain to convince her that this was a scam. I have no idea if she got rich or not.
The lesson to me of all this is that there is almost a never-ending supply of people who will buy into MLM. Slick marketing overwhelms common sense. Maybe I should have invested…nah…just kidding.
I wish I knew what the solution is to this. If people could see the entire set of statistics about everyone who bought into MLM and exactly how much money they made, I bet that might make a difference. Perhaps we need to legislate that direct marketers have to provide this information voluntarily with any sales pitch. Truth in advertising — what a concept!
I will be following this story closely here at the Water Buffalo Press, and I have added your RSS feed to my feed-list. Thanks again. (P.S.: I stumbled across your blog after reading a brief article at RochesterTurning)
I also wanted to comment on the comment here by 5Linx employee Edword Walczyk on Jan 25. These comments sound very much like the presentation I heard from 5Linx, filled with non-sequitur logic based upon the idea of a contrived duality. The contrived duality fallacy is when you make it seem like there are only two choices, and since one choice is clearly bad, the other choice is the one you should take. Of course, in reality, there are much more than two choices, and so there there is no logical reason to accept the 2nd choice, which may be good or it may be bad but you can’t tell from the data presented.
Edword Walczyk says: “I would like to identify Delphi and companies like that are the true scammers.” The apparent conclusion is that because Delphi is bad (I agree), therefore 5Linx is good (I don’t agree, there is no evidence presented in favor of this).
Edword Walczyk says: “With 5Linx I was able to look the man who made the decisions in the eye unlike CEO Robert ‘Steve’ Miller who declared it necessary to sweeten the 21 top executives’ pay packages, already worth an average of $1.1 million each WHILE Delphi was in bankruptcy.” Apparent conclusion: Delphi bad (I agree), therefore 5Linx good (I don’t agree, there is no evidence).
Edword Walczyk says: “My point is or better my question is – are you part of the problem or part of the solution?” Apparent conclusion: you bad (I don’t agree), therefore 5Linx good (I don’t agree).
Edword Walczyk says: “Over zealous marketers and companies for sure have made a bad name for the industry, but those of us migrating here from corporate America view that as opportunity for cherry picking. Bad marketers in the mlm industry and corporate America have created a class of consumer aching for quality service and competitive pricing.” Once again…yes, some very bad marketing practices exist (I agree), therefore 5Linx good (I don’t agree).
See the problem here? The only thing that makes 5Linx a good company is the policies they follow and the products they sell. Edword Walczyk makes some allusions to these policies and products, but he doesn’t come right out and tell us what business practices 5Linx follows and why their products are good products. Comparisons to Delphi or anyone else don’t automatically make 5Linx a good company.
The business model that I saw when I went to the presentation left me with very little confidence that this was a company that I wanted to be a part of, so I left.
I am glad that Edword Walczyk has found a company that “has offered me and many of my displeased and displaced co-workers a solution to put our family’s future at the center of our career.” That’s very good to hear that it works for him. (Except he doesn’t actually say it is working for him … he just says 5Linx offered him a solution…)
I would still like to see statistics about all of the people who signed onto the 5Linx program and paid their $$$ up front — how many made money, how many lost money, what were the average profits and more importantly, what were the median profits. If I want to invest in any stock or mutual fund, I can get all the information I need about their past and current investment results. I would like to see 5Linx come forward with similar information. Only if their data was complete and supported the hypothesis that people do indeed profit at 5Linx, would I ever consider investing (and even then, I would still look around for better/safer investments first).
It is assumed that earnings figures for 5Linx employees exists somewhere as Maggie stated in her press conference that the jobs created would be “high-paying” but requests to the County for that information have yet gone unanswered.
The only defendents of 5Linx on this site have been Edword, whose argument was soundly refuted by dj paige, and positive1, aka William Faucette – founder of the 5Linx Millionares Club and the top of the pyramid. Why are these the only defendents? Because these are the only people making money.
want to talk to you email me
informationforyou5x@yahoo.com
my neighbor asked me to go to a five linx meeting tonight.
What do they do at the meeting, and why wouldn’t I just buy something off their website?
At the 5Linx meeting I attended, it was a slick but high-pressure attempt to get you to sign up (or invest) to become a “member” of 5Linx. You pay cash up front to become a “member”. I don’t think “member” is the word they use, but after you pay up front, then you are entitled to sell their products, which of course leads to $$$ for you in commissions (I have no objection to this part if you want to be a salesperson and if you feel these are good products to sell), but you also will find out that you can also earn lots of money by signing up other people to become 5Linx “members”. In fact, as I recall, you can make lots more money by signing up new “members” than you can by selling the products. This recruiting of new members is the part I object to, as it seems like a pyramid scheme, and I felt it was unworthy of my time to consider 5Linx for employment.
Also, as I said here, they will make a lot of slick arguments that are in fact non-sequitur (that means the conclusion doesn’t follow from the premise) contrived duality (they want you to think in terms of only two choices, instead of seeing the many possibilities that exist). Please click that link and read it before you go.
If you still decide to go, be alert for these types of non-sequitur arguments. One that I remember is the following. They tell you that you will never get ahead by working at a traditional company, you can’t be your own boss, so that’s why you want to sign up with 5Linx, where you can be your own boss and determine how hard you want to work and how much money you earn. Now, I believe that you can get ahead at a traditional company, but more importantly, even if you want to be your own boss, there are many choices, not just 5Linx, and many other marketing and business models, that are not the 5Linx Multi-Level Marketing model (in Paige-speak, the 5Link marketing model is a “pyramid scheme” even if it may not meet the legal definition of a “pyramid scheme”).
Finally, read this critique of Multi-Level Marketing.
So to become a member, I would have to pay $499.00, does anyone know where that money go?
Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe that money go to the recruiter and their higher up as bonuses (for recruiting people). A large percentage goes to the top of the pyramid…
So at the bottom of the pyramid, there’s no bonus. Why is the bonus important? Well, if you put in $499, and pay $9.99/mo to use the website, and a fee to use the facility… over a period of 1 year, you would have to put in $878.88 (not counting the cost to travel to conferences, meetings, etc.) The rep at the bottom of the pyramid would have to get more than 183 customers (or services) to break even. Bonuses help the reps break even faster, at the expense of newer recruits’ $499. The person on the top of the pyramid is harvest money as each new reps join.
Please keep in mind that this business work well with warm market (friends, family, referrals). It’s hard to sell to people you don’t know because they wont trust what you’re saying; they don’t know you. So do you know 181 people that will buy the service in order for you to break even? Don’t forget the amount of time you must use to sell the service. To make tons of money is another matter.
Basically, everything presented sounds so good, as long as you don’t do the math and think. They fail to tell you the important information, like how this business really works; all they want is to know if you’re in or not. After $499.00, you might notice something that sounds wrong… you’re pretty stuck until you at least break even. At that point, you would have probably involved other people, including those you care for… The story goes on, eventually, there will be someone who will work really hard and still lose some money.
You can still make commission on the services that you sell, but at the bottom of the chain, you’re only making 1-2% of the service. Who pays you more, corporate (as an example) or this company?
And you’re not really your own boss either, there will always be someone barking down you neck to “motivate” you to recruit new people so you (and your higher up) can hit the bonus (and not including the stress on yourself to break even)!
They tell you, the market will never be saturated to the point where we will see the above mentioned problem, but it WILL. Is this what the government wants for its citizen? For a few who control this company to make money at the expense of MANY others IN OUR COMMUNITY? And our tax money?
DO YOUR RESEARCH!!! And please keep us posted. This is a concern.
I am a former employee of @Wireless. The company pulled so many scams it made me want to puke. It makes me feel even worse that again, Craig Jerabeck and his cronies have duped someone into giving them something for nothing.
I’d be happy to supply anyone who wants with specifics. email me, tivodan1116 AT Yahoo Dot Com
Thanks.
Unfortunatly, last night I was coerced into going to a little “seminar” my friend was having at his house (and I didn’t even get a free meal!!!), and it would seem that my exact opinion on it was already stated by dj_paige in his first post, so that saves me some trouble.
Unlike him however – I stayed for the entire thing to avoid being rude to my friend who unfortunately got sucked in (I’ve got a ton of stuff to print out for him now). But still, at around 15 minutes in I was checking to see if the window next to me was locked or if I would just have to bust it out..
I put on a good show for them though – i smiled enthusiastically (or so they though) – but I was really just laughing at the idea of this “pyramid scheme”.. I even made a joke to my other friend who came with me (who sent me this link) about their logo – flip it upside down and the V becomes a pyramid, and the 5 links become a grin because theyre laughing at the people who buy into it.
I especially liked their point about how revolutionary VoIP (they sound it out – which I couldnt stand either) is… And it is, or should i say, was, like 12 years ago. Throughout the presentation I couldnt help but to keep thinking about NetMeeting, a nice little VoIP tool that came with Windows since Win95 (free of course)… So with a webcam (which’ll cost you $9.99 retail [newegg] w/ a built in mic) and pre-existing internet service, you got yourself video phone for free!
God only knows how much that (by the way – very tacky looking) video phone they have costs, but you still do have to have an internet service (more $ than a cheap phone line). I suppose it could work for them because they sell “discounted” services like that.. But at the seminar I went to – a big point they were making was talking to relatives in distant countries and such, and i really doubt argentina has comcast..
and ok, I understand that, yes, it can work for you. But you really only get out of it what you put into it – and, as said and thought by many others, things like this take a lot more effort then the trickees realize – hell they dont even mention the subject of selling things to people, only recruiting.
Point is, babbling aside, these things are laughable. I’m 20 years old – didnt finish college – and i already have a job paying 40k/year doing nothing with a free blackberry (which I only mention because one of the speakers made it a big point that 5linx gives you free stuff all the time – and the bently, they would not shut up about the bently!)..
I’m honestly glad I got exposed to this, because up until now I’ve only seen these things in tv and movies from the 90s…
I was invited to a 5linx meeting yesterday and it SCREAMED pyramid scam. They prided themselves upon advertising a product which, in my eyes at least, seemed virtually obsolete compared to similar PC software programs. As far as I know, voIP has been around for a while and this company sports the name tag like it is fresh news. Things like Net meeting have already existed for quite someitme and do virtually the same thing. Also, as cited earlier on this page, it seemed more like they were pushing the advertisement of non relevant products and services more than anything else. What does a health benefeits package have to do with voIP? Basically this whole thing seems like one giant scam. And who ever that woman is who supports them, it was either maggie or melanie, she pushes these presentations through Charisma with very little factual information to back it up. At the meeting I attended, there was a caption at the bottom of the screen on the powerpoint presentation. I asked her to read me what it says and she told me that they would get back to it after the conclusion of the presentation. I waited through the whole hting and when I approached her to ask about it again, she responded that she had already packed up the equipment and that the small print was nothing to worry about.
real trustworthy people…….right?
what a joke
I would like to thank everyone for their continued postings. The summaries of presentations have given valuable insight into how this “business” actually operates.
The WBP is currently working with PyramidSchemeAlert.org to expose the illegal operations of 5Linx and we will continue to update you –
“Buy the ticket, take the ride.”
PyramidSchemeAlert.org? Why didn’t I think of that?
This whole thread should be made widely available somehow — perhaps by putting it on its own page with a catchy title so that Google can search for it, and people can find it.
See more on this topic, enter 5Linx in our Search bar for the rest of the posts.
I just stumbled on this website, and found it at first amusing because the blog owner has made so many erroneous and inaccurate statements that I actually laughed out loud. However, as I read on, I was amazed to see how many of the posters believe him.
I realize that posting here is probably a lost cause, but let me refute at least one claim that may border on libel: in an earlier post, “Handsome Swede” said that 5LINX applied to the DSA because of his prompting. He claims to have contacted the DSA a few months back and been told that 5LINX’s membership application was turned down because of practices that were not consistent with DSA standards.
5LINX was admitted into the DSA in March of 2007 (the logo is now displayed on the 5LINX website). Anyone who cares to can contact the DSA to gain an understanding of their application process to learn that, as usual, everything the blogger said is wrong. First, the DSA requires a one year probationary period. Given the Company’s March admission, it follows that the original application was submitted in early 2006, long before the Water Buffalo press existed.
Consequently, the blogger’s claim to have been told that the 5LINX application was denied is an outright lie. The DSA does not reveal information on pending applications. Had he truly contacted them, he would have been told this.
The term “scammer” has been frequently used here to describe people who misrepresent the facts or lie to serve their own agenda. Given that definition, it seems that the biggest scammer of all is the “handsome swede.”
Anonymous (or should I say William?) –
You can find my response in today’s post entitled “5Linx Receives Badge of Inclusion”
The term “scammer” refers to people who misrepresent facts to obtain money or property from their audience, or otherwise benefit in some tangible fashion. I haven’t yet seen any indication that Handsome Swede or Water Buffalo Press has received money or property or benefitted in some tangible fashion from those who heard the apparently incorrect statement of why 5Linx applied to DSA. Nice try though … we can all see who the real “scammer” is and it isn’t a blog that asks for no money or donations.
Oh, its not a lie to get a fact wrong either. It is a lie, and it is a scam, to tell people in seminars that you can become wealthy and retire early when in fact a tiny fraction of those people achieve such wealth, and that tiny fraction is never the people who come in at the later stages of the MLM operation.
If you have a federal ID# or a tax ID# you can’t be a “scam”. 5Linx has one……wake up negative skeptics and do your research. Go to explorefreedom.com and watch “Brilliant Compensation”. You will learn exactly what a “Pyramid” is…..or stay ignorant.
“If you have a federal ID# or a tax ID# you can’t be a “scam”. 5Linx has one……”
Two words — BERNIE MADOFF!!!!
I.M.R sponsors an E.T who sponsors an E.D who sponsors an N.D who sponsors an S.V.P….Do you understand yet?? This is an upside pyramid where the lower you go in this downline the more money the individual makes….You don’t understand this because you are extremely ignorant of “Direct Marketing”. If you actually studied it….you might realize it’s the fairest compensation plan available.
I am a Personal Trainer by trade. I own a Gym. I hire 10 trainers to work for me on a daily basis. None of my trainers have anyone that works for them…This my friend is the true corporate “Pyramid”. Wake up IGNORANT ONES> 5linx is amazing….who ever said everyone was going to be wealthy with 5linx? The opportunity is there…but it’s obvious a small % will get wealthy….what about make money? EVERYONE CAN!!!
By the way….ask yourself these questions:
1.Do I receive residual income or linear income?
2.Do I work for someone or do people work for me?
3.Do I pay taxes like an employee or a business owner?
5linx gives you:
Residual Income
Leverage
Tax Breaks
What does your Job give you? You are actually giving those three things to the owner of the company you work for….Still Ignorant????
Remember what CHRIS ROCK SAID:
SHAQILLE ONEIL makes money……the person who signs his check is WEALTHY.
Just another corporate “Pyramid”…..
I have representatives in my downline that make more money than me….I call that fair. Do you make more money than your boss?
Just another corporate “Pyramid”
Joe – You’re right, how ignorant of me, no company with a tax id has ever conducted unethical business practices.
As far as Shaq, he does not have to recruit an endless string of other players onto the team in order to get that paycheck.
We’ll have to call Joe by a new name: “contrived duality Joe”. Everything he says is a contrived duality, a non-sequitur.
He can’t make a positive argument for 5Linx by explaining to us the details of how people make money; nor has he shown us the statistics that show that the MEDIAN investor, or a large proportion of investors, actually make money. Go ahead, Contrived Duality Joe, show us the numbers … sanitize them so we don’t know who earned what, and let’s see what the MEDIAN return on investment is over 5Linx’s entire set of investors.
Let’s see, CDJoe says “If you have a federal ID# or a tax ID# you can’t be a “scam”.” Hahaha! Sure, as WBP pointed out, the fact that you have a federal ID or tax ID doesn’t mean you are ethical.
Then CDJoe says “By the way….ask yourself these questions:
1.Do I receive residual income or linear income? 2.Do I work for someone or do people work for me? 3.Do I pay taxes like an employee or a business owner?” and asserts that 5Linx gets good marks in those categories. Well, not only would I like to see the evidence (again for all investors, not just for CDJoe), but even if those things are true, that DOES NOT IMPLY that 5Linx is ethical, or that 5Linx is a good investment or a good source of income for most people.
Then Contrived Duality Kristin chimes in with another contrived duality — she makes less than people “downstream” of her. The conclusion that CDKristin wants us to come to is therefore that this must be a good arrangement. That implication doesn’t follow. It may be a lousy arrangement for most people, and again, if we had the statistics, we might be able to judge for ourselves instead of taking CDKristin’s word for it.
See, I can go to any mutual fund or stock in the USA and see exactly how much investors got for their investment. I can’t see similar information for 5Linx. Come on guys, show us how great 5Linx really is — if it is as great as you say it is, come on, show us the median return on investment! I know you can do it, you just don’t want to.
Ding, Ding Paige wins by knockout!
“I.M.R sponsors an E.T who sponsors an E.D who sponsors an N.D who sponsors an S.V.P….Do you understand yet?? This is an upside pyramid where the lower you go in this downline the more money the individual makes…”
1 guy runs 2 guys who each run 2 guys and so on.. how is that an upsidedown pyramid?
And how can you say they are going to make more money.. the lower you go – the more OTHER people there are helping you saturate the market with 5linx garbage (i.e. less customers, less money for the individual)… Because the guy at the top basically has hundreds of people under him making their own money, that he then gets a cut of..
and IMO, you all are getting hung up on the discussion of “is this a MLM scheme or not”… lets try discussing the overall “unspecialness” of their products.
It would make sense that MLM’s work best when theyre products are actually good and/or useful..
And on top of that – who do you think makes more money, the 5linx MLM, or the manufacturers (the ‘legit’ businesses) who make the products they sell?
also, CDKristin.. I’m sure they only make more money than you because they put more effort into than you.. And then you get a cut off them..
That’s an excellent point about the products sold by 5Linx, bdimag. Note how in all the posts where people stick up for 5Linx, they never say what great products they are selling. Why, if they had such great products, you might think that people who were experienced sales professionals might jump at the chance to sell these products, but no, 5Linx has to recruit people to sell these products. Furthermore, to really make the big bucks at 5Linx, you almost have to recruit, because that’s more profitable under their business practices than actual sales. I know, I attended a seminar…
for the 5linx fanboys – the contract cells rates & phone prices don’t seem so bad.
but has anyone looked at their prepaid pricing?
http://tinyurl.com/2nbbnc
5linx is asking: $79 for a Motorola C139 which can be had at wal-mart for about $19.
5linx is asking: $129 for a Nokia 6030 which can be had at Target for $39.95 and at the T-Mobile store for $29.
The Motorola RAZR V3 that 5linx wants $239.99 for can be had for $129.99 at the the T-Mobile store.
So, based on this type of price gouging, one has to wonder what else 5linx is screwing their customers and downline on.
but hey – it’s a free country. and for the fanboys, don’t try to make this manure you’re pedding try to smell like a rose – because it isn’t.
caveat emptor.
The hits just keep on coming.
Great info, Sam! That explains why recruiting is such a large part of the 5Linx business model. No one is going to make much money selling the products they offer. The only way to make money is to recruit new members, and much of that money goes to those folks who are at the top of the “food chain”, not those who have just entered the business.
And that, Paige, is the very definition of a pyramid scheme – but neither Monroe County nor New York state nor the FTC cares apparently. Instead, we’ll just keep giving them tax breaks on the purchase of their inventory and tax dollars via the NYS Common Retirement Fund.
WBP — Of course you are correct about the definition. There was never any doubt on my part. And it is sad that in this country at this time, 5Linx gets away with everything they are doing even though it would appear there are laws against what they are doing (caveat: I am not a lawyer, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night).
What makes these comments so valuable is that perhaps there is someone who is willing to read the details, and not get caught up in definitional sound-bites of a he-said/she-said nature that usually accompany these types of discussions: “5Linx is MLM”; “5Linx is not MLM”.
Anyone who reads this thread ought to be able to see the true nature of 5Linx, regardless of 5Linx’s claims to the contrary, regardless of the FTC reaction, regardless of the NYS Attorney General or Monroe County District Attorney’s position on the matter.
This is still the most visited thread on the WBP, mostly by way of searches along the lines of “is 5Linx a scam” or “5Linx business model.”
I’ve been to one of the meetings and what troubled me the most was that bringing more people in to see was emphasized far more than the products they sell. I am very familiar with the the products since I have worked in Telecommunications for 10 years dealing with resale accounts. Having dalt with those accounts, I know that the margins are not that great which makes me very skeptical that everyone’s going to make substantial gains from converting customers. I left the meeting really wanting to see if most of the revenue is from resale profits or from getting more people to join the business.
Last night my mom started raving about this big opportunity to make money because of some meeting she went to that night. Immediately, as she was describing it, I thought “Pyramid Scheme.” She gave me a card, it had 5linx on it. Of course, I decide to do some research and found this site. I briefly made her aware of some of the articles here and continued to read on my own. I’m not convinced after reading some of the posts here. She’s already set on this thing, didn’t wanna hear any of my warnings, and is already bragging about how much money she’s gonna make. She invited me to one of their meetings. Is this thing even worth going to? If not, should I try to stop her before she loses money with this thing?
Kilo –
All I can do is refer you to our latest 5Linx post: 5Linx Redux, it is linked at the end of the above post.
According to numbers published on the 5Linx website over 90% of people at various levels of the 5Linx ladder (I would call it like a triangle or some other geometric shape) made less than $265 last year. The $260,000 income at the Senior VP level is attractive but do you think it is likely that your mother will ever see that level currently occupied by only .1% of reps?
Finally, when was the last time you paid to get a job?
That’s the reason I gave her when I first declined her offer: “I don’t like jobs I have to pay for to get hired.” I’ll direct her towards the latest article so she can read it on her own and then decide. As far as myself, I think I’ll hold on to my money. Thanks for the tip.
I found this site because two chumps at a grocery store dressed in cheap baggy suits said I looked successful and asked me if I’d like to own my own business. I thought they were out of their minds so I spoke to them for about 3 minutes for personal entertainment value and they gave me each an inkjet avery business card. What a joke this place is. It really angers me how my $xx,xxx tax dollars go into supporting a business that operates on soliciting and using techie buzzwords to market semi-outdated and niche products. They also asked me what I drive… what the hell? Who does this?
Good day to you. I read your blog and understand your points, not agreeing with them, however, I totally disagree with the “pyramid scheme” idea. “Pyramids” are in EVERY corporation! The President is at the top, Senior Vice President, then the CEO, Managers, Workers, Janitors, etc. Have you really ever heard of a janitor becoming the president of the company, except perhaps the son of the owner who may begin there, just to find out what the company is all about? Hardly a chance in you know where.
Let’s take an MLM “pyramid” so-called scheme. Someone comes into an MLM and begins like everyone else (janitor level), but for one thing – he isn’t the son of the owner. He is a part-time mechanic looking for some extra income and an opportunity he can not find anywhere else. He begins at the lowest level and with some information, persistence and drive, he begins bringing himself up through the many other levels, Workers, Managers (where he can dump his part-time mechanics job, if he wants to), CEO, and finally to the Senior vice presidential level, where he can say “Thank God I don’t have to struggle any longer. I can happily feed my family and have a beautiful life.” Yes, you can say it’s a “pyramid,” but then every business has an owner, managers, workers, etc., but that does not make them a scam or a scheme. Take a look for yourself. http://www.5linx.net/wireless_ecom
This argument has been made before in this forum: “Every business is a pyramid!” But those making that argument are missing the point.
As poster Mark S., who is affiliated with 5Linx, has noted in his comments you are charged a fee, I know of no one in my office who payed to work here – we GET PAID.
As Mark S. also pointed out you only make money, and continue to make money, if you continually recruit new people into the pyramid. That entry level janitor you spoke of would not be required to recruit ten other people into the company in order to get his paycheck and I know of no job where one is required to recruit.
You interview for a real job, you are not simply approached by someone on the street and offered the opportunity to earn thousands of dollars if you can just pay the sign-up fee. This is where the main differentiation is seen, the focus of 5Linx is about a stream of recruits paying sign-up, web-hosting and royaltees with no concern for whether the people on the bottom are actually having success selling the product.
The product, especially in the case of VOIP, is a non-factor, a widget. It could be tupperware, makeup, phones, whatever, the product is not the point – the recruiting is the focus.
Wow, Mary Beth, nice example “contrived duality” argument! You fiveLINX defenders sure are good at making “contrived duality” arguments. I am very impressed. It must be part of the culture at fiveLINX, cause you all seem incapable of making any other type of argument in support of fiveLINX. (Or maybe, there is no other way to argue in favor of fiveLINX, which I suspect is the case.)
You see, just because janitors don’t rise to company president at traditional corporations, you want us to assume that therefore traditional corporations are bad, and (fanfare) fiveLINX is good! This is the contrived duality … you want us to think because one thing is bad, the other must be good. Well, that doesn’t follow logically. In fact, the only thing that would lead us to conclude such a thing is possible at fiveLINX or other MLMs, is if “janitors” actually rose to CEO. It doesn’t matter at all that this never happens in a traditional corporation.
So tell us, please, Mary Beth, cite statistics … how often does a fiveLINX “janitor” (someone at the bottom of the employment scale) becomes CEO or Senior Vice President. Seriously, how often does that happen?
I’m willing to guess it never happens at fiveLINX or other MLMs. fiveLINX even posted statistics on its website (the link is above) about what percentage of people rise to the top levels at fiveLINX. Doesn’t look like many “janitors” have made it to the top, cause there are very few people at the top to begin with. And I believe (and so far no one has stated otherwise) that the people at the top of the pyramid did not start out as “janitors”.
But more importantly, it doesn’t matter if once in a rare while someone moves from the bottom to the top. It matters that 99% of the people never make it to those levels. The promises of wealth that even Mary Beth refers to just aren’t realized for 99% of the fiveLINX representatives. Looked at from an investment point of view, putting your money into fiveLINX is a losing proposition. Putting your money into a savings account will result in higher returns.
Henceforth, when I write about fiveLINX, they will be referred to as NEGATIVEfiveLINX, because your expected return on your investment is negative.
I’m thinking about just doing away with the whole damn 5Linx thread, I can’t deal with these twits anymore – and the fact that my tax dollars are supporting this circus still strikes as incredibly ridiculous, although Maggie’s work over the past year just makes this par for the course.
Why don’t you lock the threads so no one else can comment, but leave the threads intact so people who might have heard about NEGATIVEfiveLINX can read all about them. I think it is valuable to leave the threads as they are.
I am not a current Net Work Marketer. I have not found the right product or service that would motivate me to the level of commitment it requires. However, I do believe that it can be very good for those who do and understand what it is and what it takes.
There is a comment above that it would require 189 customers to recoup the entities investment. This is not true it takes 189 customer points a single household can be the source of a handful of points through the many different services. Secondly this 189 is seen as a large number. My roommate is a Nissan salesman. He is required to obtain a minimum of ten new car sales a month basically to obtain a paycheck. He is forwarded a base pay that requires nearly 10 sales to break even on. That means moving 120 new cars a year. This is supposed to be easy to do for a professional now imagine if each customer could be the source of 2-5 customer points that would be 378 points for the same amount he has to obtain as Nissan salesman. How much easier is selling a cell phone service, VOIP, or Satalight than a new car? To be fair not everyone is cut out for sales and marketing. They just aren’t, some people do better at other professions.
Another poster made the comment that they don’t like to take jobs they have to pay to do. I wonder if their job requires a college diploma if it does than it required a substantial financial investment. How many years before all of their education costs are paid back? These people will never be in business for themselves they will always be doing a JOB. And for them that is probably a good thing they will never have to take that kind of risk. Each company has new hire costs for advertising, training, materials, bookkeeping and so on. These costs are normally put on the expense side of the Léger for a traditional employee employer situation. What MLM’s ask is that these people pay the costs of their own employment and they can deduct them off of their own accounts as expenses. If I were an independent contract electrician for example I would be expected to have hundreds if not thousands of dollars in tools provided at my own expense. Now I concede that this becomes a problem when misleading recruiters advertise their opportunity as a JOB. But if I wanted to open a wireless store I would be expected to pay a lot of fees to the company or companies I chose to sell as well as a lot of over head for buildings advertising and so on. Any franchise also requires huge investments.
If I want to become a real-estate agent it costs just at $2,000 in my state for the class the registrations with the board of realtors and so on I don’t even have a job with an office yet and I’m in for over 2 grand. Some companies pay you to train but most deduct the costs out of your first years pay. You get a pay check but it still costs you.
I know a woman, a former manager of mine who is what I consider a successful Net Work Marketer. The company she is part of sells scented candles (these things are like crack to women) not a difficult sales job. After a year she is making an extra $1,000 a month and yes she paid $300 dollars for the privilege. She isn’t becoming instantly wealthy but it only takes her an extra 20 hours or so a month to do that and if she keeps it up within 5 years she will have replaced her regular income that requires 50 hours a week and a 1 hour commute a day.
Lastly it seems like the hosts largest complaint with 5Linx is not even with the company but with his County/ State Government. Maybe you should run for office. You can’t blame any company for making use of any subsidy it might qualify for?
Many traditional businesses do not see black within their first 5 years of opening.
For your consideration
I am allowing this last comment through because you identified my original point in this whole fiasco: the granting of tax incentives by Maggie Brooks and COMIDA.
Geez, wishfullskeptic, could you please provide a logical argument instead of the drivel you posted?
Did you ever stop to think that a college education has a very high value to the student, a value that has been proven over decades of students. In other words, people who complete college have a much higher median income than people who don’t. Its a sound investment. A very sound investment.
Now, people the median investor in NEGATIVEfiveLINX loses money. Investing in NEGATIVEfiveLINX or other MLMs is not a sound investment.
So what was your point about college?
(And please don’t bother with “oh, but some people go to college and never benefit from their investment” or “oh, but some people join NEGATIVEfiveLINX and make zillions of dollars”. We are talking about medians, what happens for the normal person, we are not talking about the extremes.)
Paige –
I was wondering if you could bring some logic to the recent WBP SCHIP discussion. I seem to be the only one in our local blogosphere (yourself included) who thinks such a massive expansion of a program with questionable “success” is a bad idea. Am I off base? Am I interpreting the data incorrectly?
There is a hierarchy of arguments. One is very simple … an argument where the conclusion does not follow logically from the premise. “I can prove the sky is not green, therefore the sky is blue”. This is logically invalid. It doesn’t matter what evidence you present that the sky is not green, the argument doesn’t hold water. NEGATIVEfiveLINX and Creationism/Intelligent Design are two such arguments. These are easy arguments to attack.
Then there are the arguments which can be logically valid given the right premise, and logically consistent with the right evidence. Imagine if the NEGATIVEfiveLINX people had chosen to tell us exactly how their representatives will make money, and they finish with “Isn’t that a fantastic marketing program?” They think it is fantastic, and I think it is lousy. Their reaction is colored by their view of the world (or in this specific case, their view of future profits).
This is where we are with SCHIP. Everyone can read the language of the bill, the words are the same whether a progressive reads it or whether a conservative reads it. But a progressive says “Great” and a conservative says “Horrible” and both reaactions are due to their view of the world and due to the statistics and arguments put forth. Neither is logically right nor logically wrong.
In such a situation, two people can sit down and debate. You can bring in logical arguments, statistics and your view of the world, but you can’t in general say that one side or the other is making an invalid logical argument. The conclusions can follow from the premise. If you sit down and debate, you may eventually find that one of the sub-arguments is invalid, or the statistics quoted are invalid (this is a very time consuming thing to do, and usually requires a fair amount of research and expertise), but then a logical person would have to drop the sub-argument or set of statistics from his argument. In the extreme, you might show that none of the arguments in favor of (or against) SCHIP are valid, none of the statistics are valid, and then the logical person would have to abandon their support of that position, but I think we are a very far way from that.
In addition, the NEGATIVEfiveLINX situation is much simpler, as there is only a single criterion for evaluating success: how much cash you earn after you invest in NEGATIVEfiveLINX. In SCHIP, there are many different criteria for evaluating success: number of children with health coverage, cost of said health coverage, quality (and equality) of said health coverage, should our society move in the direction of socialized medicine, etc. Part of the problem is that many on the conservative side will argue that the most important thing to them is that we don’t move further towards socialized medicine, while progressives will argue that the most important thing is that more children will have health insurance. From a purely logical point of view, neither side is wrong. They just have different priorities. You may feel the priority is wrong, and argue along those line, but this is not a logical flaw, it is a priority difference.
So SCHIP is extremely complicated, compared to the claptrap of arguments and illogic put forth in favor of NEGATIVEfiveLINX.
The last issue is that for SCHIP, both sides use different and often conflicting statistics, and it takes quite a bit of expertise in statistics and health care policy to reconcile these (if they can be reconciled at all). There are also cases where a statistical studies is not valid, but again, it takes quite a bit of expertise to show a study is invalid. In the NEGATIVEfiveLINX case, there is only a single set of statistics, helpfully provided by NEGATIVEfiveLINX, which are not flattering to NEGATIVEfiveLINX. We don’t have to debate the validity of the statistics, we know they are valid and applicable. There are no conflicting statistics.
Can anyone please provide any other neutral websites that address 5Linx point-for-point? This has been one of better websites, with both sides debating their viewpoints. It concerns me that a few impressionable people I know have joined 5Linx, and I want them to hear all sides before they pursue it further.
Truth –
I would be sure to check out the 5Linx Redux post which contains earnings figures directly from 5Linx itself, there is no better overview of what the majority of 5Linx enrollees will experience.
Hey, Truth
You have read all that has been posted here and you still want them to hear both sides? How can you not be convinced that NEGATIVEfiveLINX is not a good investment? What part of the argument in favor of NEGATIVEfiveLINX do you find compelling? What part of the argument against NEGATIVEfiveLINX is not compelling?
And then you want us to point out web sites with “both sides debating”? No way, you find those websites on your own. I will point to arguments against NEGATIVEfiveLINX only. Here is a very good one about why you should stay away from MLMs (not NEGATIVEfiveLINX specifically).
If you really care about these impressionable people, you will stop trying to find “both sides”, and get these people away from NEGATIVEfiveLINX as soon as possible.
My father joined the 5linx business about 6 months ago. Someone had told him that there was a great opportunity for him to make a lot of money with a new telecommunications company. My father was very exited about the business so he invited me to go to one of the weekly meetings. I wasn’t too excited since about 2 years ago a buddy of mine had told me about a company called Excel( another MLM company very similar to scamlinx but that’s a different story) and of course it was just a pyramid scam. Anyway I attended the 5linx meeting and they fill your head with all this B.S and no facts about how you make money. I started to investigate and I ran into this blog and it opened my eyes that this was just another pyramid scam. During these meetings they feed you a bunch of misleading information about their products and services. 5linx is a scam and I would not recommend anyone to even consider investing ( or throwing away $500) in this company. Instead use those $500 bucks and take your family out for a good time. There are so many more complaints and issues that me and my father had but i really don’t have the time to go over everything. so to all of you people out there don’t get scammed, and let scamlinx die little by little.
I have read everything here and am still a bit skeptical on both ends.
Compelling arguments for 5linx are 1) the person who introduced me to the concept has literally shown me the money he is making, the house, the car, and the trips that are being financed strictly through the money he is making with 5linx, 2) technology is always in demand and will continue to be in command, 3) the services offered are services that will be in demand for quite sometime, 4) since people are making money, big money at that, the possibility of making big money is there. In other words, it is possible, albeit perhaps not probable, to make big money with 5linx.
Compelling arugments against 5linx are 1) it is, for all intents and purposes, a MLM business which requires a person to find people to find people who must in turn find people to sell and buy services, 2) for those who are not people-friendly, or who just hate having to convince people to join in order to make a profit, will find making money to be a pain, 3) joining may force a person to spend unnecessary money with hopes of making money, i.e., buying the phone, services, website in order to get customer points. 4) the fact that the video-phone is in its infancy, a larger company with money may create a more advanced video-phone and make 5linx’s video-phone obsolete, 5) if google enters the cell phone arena and is able to have video phone on cell phones it will push 5linx out of business and make those working to sell 5linx products obsolete (though, 5linx may be able to form some partnership with this).
So, I don’t know. I heard the presentation last night and was mainly impressed with the house, car, etc. I just don’t want to have to go out find people to make this work. If I feel I can only make $5000 a month with this I will join. If not, I will not. A $500 investment is not a huge investment if it will return $5000 a month for at least five years. If anyone knows of an investment/business opportunity to earn an additional $5000 a month e-mail me at remusenterprises@gmail.com.
Thanks!
Making $5000 a month right off the bat is not realistic, for the majority of people. There are many networking opportunities out there. I advice checking out the ones that have products that interest you. You will attract those who believe that you believe in your product. Also, to really be successful, you need to put in the time. I believe anyone can make a great deal of money every month if not every single day, if they are willing to do what it takes.
Click on Franco Gonzalez’s name up there and go to his website. Does it scream “SCAM” too you? Note: Mr. Gonzalez talks about how to be successful, but he gives no details in his comment above, just vague advice like networking and hard work. How do you get the details? You can pay money for that information at Mr. Gonzalez’s site. Got that … you can pay $499 to join NEGATIVEfiveLINX, and then pay Mr. Gonzalez more money to find out how to do it properly. How can anyone resist a deal like that?
Hey, did you see, in the comment above, how Mr. Gonzalez says “Making $5000 a month right off the bat is not realistic, for the majority of people.” Well doesn’t that sound reasonable? You see, Mr. Gonzalez wants you to think he is a reasonable person. Then, you click the link to go to his website, and the banner right at the top of the page says “Make $5,000/Week”. And if you read his words, he strongly implies that it won’t take you long until you are making $5,000 a week too. (Sounds familiar … didn’t those folks at NEGATIVEfiveLINX make similar claims? I think they did … ) All you have to do to make all of this wonderful money is to pay Mr. Gonzalez some money.
If such a message was posted at my blog, I would delete the link from Mr. Gonzalez post. Scammer.
Hey, Remus. You said “I have read everything here and am still a bit skeptical on both ends.” Then you go ahead an prove you haven’t read a darn thing … because the 5 reasons against NEGATIVEfiveLINX ignore some of the major arguments against NEGATIVEfiveLINX, and furthermore, you could not have gotten your reasons #4 and #5 against NEGATIVEfiveLINX here, because neither of those ever been mentioned here.
For all the skeptics of this 5Linx “business”, why be on the sideline and criticize? If you are that curious why not find out from within? I admit to having my own reservations, however in addition to “internet researching”, I will find out on my own the validity of the product. I am well aware of the validity of this marketing strategy. Very similar to aspirin, it only works if you take it.
Why be on the sideline and criticize? Because if I find out from within, I have to pay money, and then as the statistics show, most people lose money. That’s a pretty good reason… besides, if someone tells me to jump off the Empire State Building, I don’t necessarily have to believe them when they tell me what a great feeling it is.
I would rather find a business opportunity where 93% of the people make money, rather than NEGATIVEfiveLINX, where there own statistics show that 93% of the people lose money.
For all the unrealists, I didn’t realize that this was a race to make thousands of $$ in a week?
If you want to do this full-time, that’s up to you, but those of us who still work AND have other streams of income coming into us by owning other business, it suits me just fine. It’s funny how people who are scared to take risks in life are always the ones on the outside looking in, and some of them sitting around saying “woulda,coulda,shoulda”!
It’s January 2008 and if you don’t see the tremendous growth in 5Linx that the tens of thousands of others do, then you’re either blind or stupid! I guess Avon, Tupperware and kids selling candy for their schools are scams,too right?
Pick up the magazine and read it some time and ask the local NBC affiliate that did the news piece on us,too.
There is nothing wrong with looking at a business opportunity and seeing the risks (93% of the people lose money) and the rewards (a small number of people make money), and only then making your decision, despite what the NEGATIVEfiveLINX people tell you. They want you to jump right in, don’t even worry about the risks! Does that sound like a reasonable approach? Not to me. Of course it sounds reasonable to them because each time someone jumps in, that is — ca-ching — money in the pockets of the NEGATIVEfiveLINX person who did the recruiting.
TheRealPositiv1 blathers on without meaning: “I guess Avon, Tupperware and kids selling candy for their schools are scams,too right?” No one ever said that. Just the opposite, Avon and Tupperware and those kids selling candy are not scams, and here we go — contrived duality alert! — just because Avon and Tupperware are not scams, it says nothing nada zilch about whether or not NEGATIVEfiveLINX is a scam! Only the evidence available about NEGATIVEfiveLINX indicates whether it is a scam or not, and the majority of the evidence, discussed here and many other places, indicates that NEGATIVEfiveLINX is indeed a scam.
I’m still waiting for someone to make a logical argument in favor of NEGATIVEfiveLINX … not a contrived duality argument, not an argument that says “I made money, so therefore you will too”, an actual argument in favor of b>NEGATIVEfiveLINX stating why NEGATIVEfiveLINX is a good business with good products and good policies. Waiting… Waiting…
paige, although it is true that most people who join MLMers do not and are certainly not guarenteed to make a profit.
But the people who do make a substantial living are not picked out of a hat. It is not a lottery…the most bucks goes to those who learned the business. Retailed the product, and also of course learned to indentify, build, and keep leaders(recruiting).
The 90% failure stat is applied to ALL new businesses. The SBA says that somewhere around 95% or all new business fail within their first year. Afterwards, 95% of the surviving business fail within their first 5 years.
So when lookin at a venture that would require my own effort and desire. I do not have such a low opinion of myself as to base my success on the statistics of the masses.
Furthermore, your previous post has several bold writings that read NEGATIVE. I am positive that you are a very cynical person and I do hope that you will not live your entire life in this way.
But, in support of the negative people I do believe that while the principles of the business are sound. There are those that get into the industry and use recuiting methods that are not entirely legal. That of course is the responsibility of the individual and if any of you feel that you may have been victim of such an individual, I would suggest informing the company or your local BBB, FTC, and DSA offices of that individual’s activities instead of writing blogs. Your services are far more useful in the field.
I understand that Paige is saying a lot about 5linx being a scam. Well I would have to say that 5linx has solid products which are a value to the market. The qouta for a solid product does not have to be met by being the ONLY one of its kinds etc etc. Mcdonalds has a solid product but their product has no nutritional value and even increases disease. So the issue is not the product, which is solid. VoIP is getting bigger, not like 5linx is the only one that sees this trend or the opportunity. VONAGE sells VOIP and is not a MLM. The policies are great in 5linx because they are made to protect the consumer and hold IMR’s accountable to proper distribution and recruiting tactics…like i said if you feel someone within the organization is not following those practices…then alert the local authorities and the company.
FINALLY in reference to those that want to join 5linx i will tell you this…MLM is a learning curve like much of life. So read the books on personal development, listen to the tapes and most of all hold yourself accountable for your check. On the application is does not state that YOUR success is the responsibility of your sponsor.
TAKE CARE EVERYONE
There isn’t a guarantee on making $ in 5Linx or any MLM! You get what you and your network put into it. You build at your own pace. If it is a scam as you indeed think it is Paige, than why do people like Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump attach their names and promote Network Marketing! I’m not in it to become a millionaire; if it happens, so be it, but I AM NOT counting on it. It’s called building a safenet. Do you have a guarantee of a job when you wake up tomorrow morning?
Good thoughts. I don’t think there is a person alive who doesn’t appreciate the power of the mighty dollar. I think it is human nature to want financial freedom for yourself and your family. Unfortunately, we live in a “Got to have it now society” and our generation has seen an explosion of get rich quick opportunities pop-up, promising large amounts of wealth with little skill, effort, or time required. If you are considering the 5links MLM oportunity I warn you to be careful because most (if not all) MLM’s share the same model. This is how:
First of all, its’ promoters would like you to believe that it is the wave of the future, a business model that is gaining momentum, growing in acceptance and legitimacy, and will eventually replace most other forms of marketing. Many people are led to believe that success will come to anyone who believes in the system and adheres to its methods. Unfortunately, the MLM business model is a hoax that is hidden beneath misleading slogans. Calling it a “great business opportunity” makes no more sense than calling the purchase of a lottery ticket a “business venture” and winning the lottery a “viable income opportunity for everyone.” MLM industry claims of distributor income potential, its glorified descriptions of the “network’” business model, and its prophecies of dominating product distribution have as much validity in business as UFO sightings do in the realm of science. (Again, this is my opinion and I am not trying to steer anyone away from this oportunity, but its been many posters on this blog’s past experience and that of family and friends who view MLM’s as deceptive to say the least.)Bottom line. Don’t quit your day job.
My husband and I just joined 5linxs over the weekend. I believe they have a product that will one save money and is needed we have kids going to college and I think getting this out into the public and business would be great. I am currently a genenral contractor and business has been great I don’t think it would hurt casting my net on the other side and seeing what it does for me. See my plans are to make it to the top level so I can receive the big pay out when they go public.
I see it as being like microsoft. Good luck to all of you who are trying something new I am excited.
HAHAHAHAHA….I love how the MLM idiots always throw out the line that Donald Trump loves MLM or variations thereof.
I think that lie is lesson 3 at MLM meetings.
Donald Trump NEVER endorced any form of MLM. What DID happen is many years ago on the Tonight show, Johnny Carson asked him what would he do if he lost all his money and started over. Donald trump said, “I would join Amway” Everyone laughed. He wasnt serious about Amway, he was making fun of MLM. Many times since then Donald Trump has said many times to stay away from MLM.
For Angel who just joined 5linx, dont quit your day job and check back with us in a few months when you to will be screaming “SCAM”…and we can all laugh at you.
Donald Trump endorsed ACN (a MLM)
http://www.acninc.com/acn/us/opportunity/trump.jsp
Here’s the info on 5LINX on INC 500 fastest growing company
http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2007/company-profile.html?id=200703360
thanks
http://www.VoipResiduals.com
Here is a question for everyone here:
What is a “job”?
Does it imply a steady paycheck that helps the local economy, or a sub-contractor that makes money by selling distributorships? This activity may give unreliable income and more likely than not, create an unsteady “employment”.
If a person wants to be an entrepreneur and invest money in a venture, I would call that a venture/business proposition.
If COMIDA wants to give away taxpayer money to such a venture, I would question their intelligence and competence.
-Searchlight.
Amen to that brother, that has been our point all along. And of course, as with all things COMIDA, 5Linx has yet to deliver on the number of jobs promised for these tax breaks.
april 1 5linx new compensation plan hits and guess what folks the rich get richer lol if you no what i mean
Kevin –
We don’t KNOW what you mean, why don’t you share with the rest of the class.
Axiom–please e-mail me as I just joined and would like to talk with you.
As for the skeptics–No Pain No Gain.
they are making it even harder for people to get to the top
and guess what they are giving the people at the top more
money remember this number Senior Vice President $236,904.
it will still be 1% but that number will double which makes it sad for new people all the people that are at the top in 5linx came from another company with a already built downline TRUST ME I KNOW MARK MY WORDS THIS NEW COMPENSATION PLAN WILL SINK 5LINX
PS. THERE WILL ALSO BE A $50 A MONTH WEBSITE FEE
From the 5linx web site
“Note: 5LINX® is no longer offering traditional phone service, traditional long distance or ZOOMLINX dial-up Internet service.”
http://www.5linx.com/opportunity/index.html
If they are no longer selling phone services what in the heck are they selling?
A non for profit that I am associated with got wrapped up in the hype regarding 5linx. The promise was made of customers “saving” money on services they already use and the non for profit getting a residual. However after “grilling” the 5 linx rep and getting no results they suggested I contacted their customer service line. In doing so I was told by their customer service rep that there are basically no discounts on the service plans. The discounts are with the phones. On the satellite tv service there are no discounts at all for the customer. The digital phone service is just like a Vonage Company in which they buy lines from the major phone companies. They charge people $499 to join so I asked “What is the $499 for?” She said it was to be a rep. I said “So the $499 is what gets recylced on an on to make the pyramid work” She said, “Yes.” I was floored! The businesses are just a front. It’s no different than passing around $100.00 like Elite Activity (another MLM) except they have so called “tangible” items. If the reps sell these services they only get “points” which move them up in the ladder. The real money is getting more reps because they need the $499 to really be sucessful. The only “real” business they have is their phone service. But again they are just buying lines. If for some reason the business is investigated as a scheme this would reek havoc on those who have the phone service. I would discourage businesses from getting involved in it just in case. Does MLM work? For some yes, for others no. It is what it is. MLM always sounds good. The reps always sound good. They always say they are not MLM. Before anyone gets into anything – DO THE RESEARCH. The cost of living is TOO high right now to waste money. Don’t be swooned by every comment on making a fast dollar. DO THE RESEARCH. Its a red flag when they tell you to hurry to sign up. It’s a red flag when the rep can’t answer simple questions or is evasive. Its a red flag when you have to spend your money to work HARD for someone else. Believe me, Multi-level marketing is “HUSTLING” at it’s very best. Like I said before “It is what it is”. You can buy into and hope it doesn’t crash or you can invest in making the lives of people. Be kind to people, be respectful, give your time or services to the needy and give to charities. You’ll get a greater return on those things.
Blogga Pleeeeeease! 5LINX is a legitamite company with an outstanding opportunity. They don’t write about you THREE YEARS IN A ROW in INC Magazine as one of the fastest growing companies in the country (800% growth over the last 3 years) if you are some fly by night “skip town” “pyramid” business. Think about this… Would AT&T, Sprint, Comcast, Verizon, Direct TV, Dish Network, Verizon and others hitch their wagon to a company that wasn’t legit.
When some complainer above said that 5LINX is discontinuing their traditional phone service so what are they going to sell now, he or she failed to mention that they meant “landline” phone service not VoIP. Even Verizon is jumping on the band wagon and trying to hurry up and get out of landlines and into the VoIP market.
Some other snapperhead suggested that the rate was $80/month for the service. It’s $24.95/month and includes UNLIMITED local and long-distance calling in the U.S., Canada, China, France, Spain, Italy, Ireland, the UK and more. Beat that with Vonage, Comcast, Verizon or your mama. Even if you find it cheaper, those companies aren’t going to cut you a commission check at the end of the month based on your monthly service.
As far as the whole “MLM” thing… It is what it is. Do alot of work, make alot of money. Do a little work, make a little money. Do no work, make no money and complain about it on a blog to squash out everyone else’s dreams who are willing to put in the time and effort to have a better life.
The beauty of 5LINX is that we are marketing services that people are going to pay for every month anyway. Most MLMs market services that people don’t want or need or products that cost more than you could buy them for at the store. 5LINX markets services like home phone, cell phones, Satellite TV, high-speed Internet, home security systems and more.
If you would like to have a 2nd income without having a 2nd job then get back to whomever told you about 5LINX and get started today. There are less than 40,000 representatives in the whole country and we are getting set to expand globally. Can you say… Cha-Ching!!!?
To Your Success,
Doug_E_Fresh
you will not cha-ching with that new compensation plan
lol hell you couldn’t cha-ching with the old one
lol these 5linx reps are so retarded. its sad how they take advantage of good people’s hard earned work money.
ive just taken it personal because one of my family members got scammed by this weak ass enterprise.
Doug_E_Fresh, thats got to be the most informal name possible for someone to represent an enterprise.
5linx brags how their in the top 500 list in inc magazine, well I say fuck inc magazine, if you do a simple research and look at their website, it doesnt even come close to being legit, look at their top 100 list. lol, some company called Panda ____ beats out 5linx by 400 spots? i might as well make my own proprietorship and slap a name on it and i bet it would be in this top 100/500 list
in the end, I am sure if you ask anyone working for 5linx about returning back their 499 fee, i am sure 99% of them would say yes.
with that fee, you might as well give it to me, and I will double/triple it in the time duration for you to even gain it back with this stupid ass 5Linx
end rant/ Ralph
p.s. use common sense when dealing with scams like this, the sad thing is how this enterprise has gained most of its revenue by exploiting nice and legit people
Kevin – The new comp plan is BETTER than the old one and I have been doing just fine with the old one.
Ralph – What’s retarded is that grown men are using lol in one sentence and then talking about making people money in the next sentence. Your family member didn’t get “scammed”. They probably joined the company, did no work and made no money. If they would have EARNED any commission they would have been paid. It’s called netWORK marketing not netEASY marketing. The problem is that people join a company, do no work and then bitch about it and call it a scam.
Hymph!
i have family members that are in 5linx there compensation plan is the worst i love network marketing but don’t jerk me off (excuse my language) tell me i got to get 3 reps in 30 days then you pay me 500 dollars then to make it worse they pay the upline most of the money. if you look at the people at the top and do some homework on them they all came from another company with a already built downline
except some of the people from the camaroon group and there’s a story behind that as well.
at least im a customer i bought a cellphone from my brother
but the opportunity STAY AWAY FROM THIS ONE
Okay, Kevin – let’s call a truce. Good for you for being a customer for your brother. I am sure that he appreciates it. He and your other family members would also probably appreciate you not trashing the company that they are involved with. You’ve made it clear that it’s not for you so do something else.
I am sorry that you are not thrilled with the comp plan but that doesn’t mean that 5LINX doesn’t have a strong company with ties to every major communications company out there with an opportunity to build residual income on bills that people are going to pay every month anyway.
My 70 year old retired father lives near Annapolis, MD and was paying over $70/month for his standard issue phone bill courtesy of Verizon. Now, thanks to my affiliation with 5LINX he pays $30.51 (including taxes) per month and has the same quality service, the same phones and even the same phone number. I’ve earned several thousand dollars with 5LINX in less than 6 months but even if I hadn’t, helping him and others save $500/year is well worth my $500 investment.
Speaking of the start-up $500… not too many companies have a comp plan that allows you to re-coup and even double your investment in the 1st 30 days in business. Even fewer comp plans allow you to reach a level of $500-$1,000 per month in the 1st 60-90 days (hitting Executive Director or the 50/100 customer clubs) while offering services that EVERYBODY NEEDS.
I like many others believe that 5LINX offers an excellent opportunity. Whatever you are involved with, I wish you success.
Ok, with all of this back-and-forth between 5linx supporters and detractors, I have ONE question for the 5linx supporters/reps/contractors….
HOW ARE YOU MAKING YOUR $?
Is most of your income/bonuses coming from actually selling the products that this company offers or are you making residual income from those folks you’ve recruited (i.e., your downline?)
In all of this back and forth, NONE of you have shared exactly HOW you’re making your money. I don’t care how much money you’re making – I doubt anyone would give the actual or even estimated income stream.
I just want to know where the majority of your residual income is coming from….
If ONE of you could please answer that question – without telling me how good/bad 5linx is – it would be greatly appreciated.
– Kim
P.S. I have no avid interest in/for/against 5linx. I just want truthful, unbiased (is that possible?) information.
Thank you.
thanks doug and i wish you the best and to you kim your residual comes from the voip phone service, the medical savings discount card,the home security system, and your 50 dollar website. but it takes about 3 to 5 years for the residual to build up most of the money you will make now will come from enrolling reps and helping then get customers that money is paid weekly.
I need a honest answer to this question. In todays economy with all the cut backs going on and companies going under do you think that it’s fair to charge someone $499 to join up plus $29 dollars amount plus a annual renewal fee of $99 dollars, So that They could have an average $55 dollars or $261 or may be $2700 annually? If you can show me how this makes sense I will be more than happy to sign up. People need security in what ever they are doing. What if that $499 was there last pay check and they never knew it. How would you feel to know that you were sold on a falls dream income and now you family is out in the cold. I agree anything you want you have to work hard for it and it will come true but don’t tell people you can do it in a specific time period as every ones potential is different. A MILLIONAIRE WILL NOT TELL YOU HOW MANY TIMES HE FAILED BUT HE WILL LET YOU KNOW THAT HE IS SUCCESSFULL. Making a six figure income is possible but you need to do your research first before you commit to anything. You need to take your blinders off and see 5LINX for what it is a success or a rip off. Some one will profit from this MLM company will it be the owners, your recruiter, your clients or will it be you. I will sit on the fence for this one and do more research on this company before say deal or no deal.
5Links is a fraud.
One gets about .30 cents for each customer which comes to $3.60 a year. One would need well over 16,000 customers to earn a decent living. Say $60,000 a year. The company brings anybody on board including known criminals.
For all the honest people who joined or work for 5Linx this is not directed toward you.
I have 4 video phones that I can’t even give away. They where purchased for $200 a piece and the company will only give me $50 for them. Even the ones that are still in the original packaging.
The company turned off my telephone over 4 times and I paid one year in advance for the service. When I called I was told I didn’t have a valid credit card on file which truly doesen’t matter if I had already paid for the service. They doubled billed another customer of mine 6 months into their service without a plausable reason. This customer came over from Sun Rocket and also paid one year in advance.
My advice for 5Linx is to stop the con and figure out how to deal honestly with the public domain.
just 1 correction tom it’s 50 dollars a month now
so you pay 550 to come in
The numbers un covered.
Initial membership. $495
Monthly web hosting fee. $29 x 12 = $348 a year
Initial supplies (optional) $500
Here’s the amount you can expect to make based upon actual numbers in my back office.
I have 4 paying customers that have brought me in a yearly income of $9.90 which equated to.
$9.9/12months/4 customers comes to .20cents a month per customer (free and clear).
So that means my last figure of $.30 for each customer was high. I got off the phone with rep services and they just told me it was .40 per customer.
One still needs large numbers to make a profit.
Kevin said:
“most of the money you will make now will come from enrolling reps and helping then get customers that money is paid weekly.”
so that means, in order for me to actually make money with this company, I have to sign up and pay $499, (of which the person who I signed up with gets a cut), go out and persuade other unspecting folks to join 5Linx and pay $499, of which I get a cut….then I have to persuade them to find even more unspecting folks to join and pay $499, of which they and I get a cut….
based on the information that others have shared, the residual income from actual customers isn’t the money maker, it’s the recruiting of other reps…..
I must be naive, but that sounds like MLM at it’s best – a PYRAMID……
Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
So kevin you mean to tell me that his company really makes most of its money from inward consumtion from its employees?????????????
Dose somebody out there know who Dr. Stella is? She is in Nigeria with the 5Linx message.
Okay – Here’s a breakdown on the commission potential. I have been with the company for 6 months and have just reached the position of Executive Director. I am not proud that it took me 6 months, should have been quicker but alot of people quit before they get here, hence the bad feelings and low income.
My residual income from customers is not much, that takes a while to build so the main source of revenue in the beginning is helping your new Business Partners get qualified in their 1st 30 days. Your 1st goal is to enroll 3 Business Partners and 10 customer services in your 1st 30 days. This will pay you a $500 commission. You can earn another $500 by upping the customer services from 10 to 20 in the 1st 30 days. You receive half of these bonuses if it takes you 60 days.
After you have 3 and 10 you make $50 to $100 each time that you have a new business partner on your team get qualified (4 customer services) as long as you have at least 2 come in for the month then when you reach Executive Director you can earn roughly $125 per qualified rep or roughly $200 per rep if you have at least 5 join your team for the month.
I have 22 Business Partners on my team (I personnaly enrolled 6) so if those 22 and I can bring in a total of 5 reps in April I should earn roughly $1,000. If we bring in 10 it would be $2,000 and so on. $1,000-$2,000 per month is not bad extra income from a part-time business that I do without interfering with my full-time job of booking charter boats in Baltimore, MD.
The money gets bigger and better from there but it takes time, it takes work, it takes an ability to follow the system and not re-create the wheel. People do quit but that’s because they came in on hype. If you honestly research the company on the BBB, Inc. Magazine and other sources (like you would research a real company) you will find, as I did that they are very solid and growing quickly. If your only research is on a blog to see who’s bitching about the company than you are not serious about it and you are just looking for an excuse to not join. That’s fine, the business isn’t for you if you are looking for a way out.
You can also earn approx. $350-$700 per month if you gather and maintain 50 or 100 customer services. That is monly residual income as long as you add 2 new customers per month. In my experience the customers don’t quit. We are saving them significant money.
I just made a video yesterday (1st draft so it will get better) that I am going to post on You Tube and on a URL to be named later today. As soon as I get it up on the Internet I will provide the link. It’s one man’s opinion of this opportunity and a detailed explanation of the timing, the products and the marketplace. It does not link back to me at all, I just created it for the team to use to send people to that wanted to learn more.
Enjoy the day,
One more thing – The company has a promotion on the table this month that allows you to earn an extra $1,500 in your 1st 30 days. If you join in April and enroll a total of 5 Business Partners and 20 customer services in your 1st 30 days they will pay you $2,500. I know that it’s legit because the same bonus was on the table when I joined and they paid it to me. That’s a 500% return on your money in 30 days. Easy?… No. Take work?… Yes. Do-able?… Definately!
hey tow funny you said that the company makes there money from all sorts of ways.
1.products they sell they only own 1 product which is the phone service. the rest you can sell for free if you wanted to cellphones,dish network, home security,health card. there are affiliate programs that will pay you good money to sell these same products.
2.and we all know about the 550 i wont tell you that there going to ask you to buy a videophone which will cost you about 300 dollars. 550 + 300=850 start up 50 dollar a month website 50 x 12=600 a year and this is per rep they know the average person wont get 20 customers in 30 days so you will not make the $500 back and you see where there large numbers are as far as postion
Active Independent Representatives are those that enrolled or renewed during the year. The distribution of qualified representatives by position is: Customer Representative 45%, Independent Marketing Representative 48%; Executive Trainer 6%; Executive Director 1%; National Director .4%; Senior Vice President .1%.
45% and 48% the lowest postion in 5linx know multiply those numbers that i gave you 600 a year and 850 start up cost
not to mention that some people come in and dont even get any customers in 30 days to get the little payout they do give you when you just start. thats why they changed it so that if you get 1 customer now when you come in they will give you a whole $25 and your upline will make?? that’s another story. and here’s 1 reason i know of a national director in 5linx that has over 1000 reps in his downline
KNOW HOLD YOUR BREATH ON THIS ONE THIS IS JUST A EXAMPLE OF 1 PERSON THAT’S IN 5LINX REMIND YOU THERE ARE 1000′S of reps in 5linx out of his 1000 reps only about 500 of the got qualified to get that 25 dollars so 5linx keep 250,000 if the other 500 didn’t get qualilfied thats 500 people times 500 dollars 500×500=250,000 and this is just a example of 1 person so the people at the top went to the owners complaining that people are not getting qualified which means there not getting paid either. so they made it easy to get qualified to keep everybody at the top happy
there is no true residual income in 5linx which to me makes the industry look even worse then what it looks already
As one reps said, you make your money buy bringing in new reps. The product is secondary.
The Links product is horrible. As a matter of fact I am cancelling my 4 vodeo phones and lines today. Oh! those $200 phones are really worth about $50 which is what the company will give you after the 30 day period is up.
You will never earn $350-700 a month on 100 customers. That is pure puffery.
Did you know that ACN has pending action against some of there top income earners such as Steve Carter and Jamie Wollard. Its on Google in the public domain. Another newley appointed Senior Vice President Anthony Devaux has litigation pending in Chicago. It seems he threw an elderly man out into the streets and got his house. This is also in the public domain as well. Operation Push of Jesse Jackson lore is trying to help the man get back into his home.
I actually talked to a Hispanic guy who filled me in on Mr Devaux of Hati last week.
No matter how you spin the numbers its a con.
4 video phones for sale $50 a piece. Maybe I will see how one holds up under a sledge hammer. The folks from da Links says it won’t even get a scratch.
Here’s the complete article.
Newley Promoted Senior Vice President of 5Linx Antonio Deveaux.
Is this the type of conduct 5Linx promotes in its sales force. “You Decide”
Rev. Jackson: Subprime Lenders Prey On The Weak
Jackson Calls For Restructuring Of Mortgage Debt Market
CHICAGO (STNG) ― Sub-prime lenders and scam artists are “preying upon the weak,” according to Rev. Jesse Jackson, who is calling for a restructuring of the mortgage debt market.
At a news conference at the Daley Center Thursday, Jackson, President of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, stood with 87-year-old Tellie Howard, the victim of a scam artist who offered to help Howard and his family remain in their home when the family was faced with foreclosure.
Howard thought he had found a friend when Antonio Deveaux offered to help Howard and his family remain in their home in a “rent to buy” arrangement after Howard signed over ownership to Deveaux, but now Howard and his family face eviction from his home of 46 years after
Howard, according to a release from Rainbow PUSH, didn’t know that Deveaux simply obtained a delay in foreclosure before selling the property to a third party — who moved to evict the Howard family even though they were paying rent.
His ownership and home equity gone, Howard was back where he started – facing eviction – but much worse off after being scammed by Deveaux, according to public defense attorney Dawn Keller.
“To prey on people that are older — black and brown — is criminal,” Jackson said. Jackson held the press conference to condemn deceptive practices in real estate, from steering minority homebuyers to sub-prime mortgages to “outright fraud” like Deveaux’s acquisition of Howard’s home.
“The practices of steering and scamming must end,” Jackson said. “Sub-prime lending practices continue to prey on people that are elderly, minority and undereducated. In Chicago, the homes affected by this type of scam are usually found on the South and West sides of the city.”
Sub-prime lenders and scam artists alike “are preying upon the weak,” Jackson said. “It is important for the public to know that they are potential victims. Anyone can find out you’re in foreclosure and use that information to take advantage of you.”
Tellie Howard’s home is just one of six facing foreclosure on his West Side block, according to Rainbow PUSH. Intervention by Cook County courts has allowed Howard and his family to continue living in the house until a full investigation is completed of charges that Deveaux has scammed dozens of people facing foreclosure.
Jackson is calling for a restructuring of the mortgage debt market to avoid home foreclosure in situations where bad loan products, rather than poor consumer judgment, have created an untenable situation for homeowners.
To all who have posted here,
The bottom line is this:
The MLM a.k.a network marketing a.k.a direct selling industry is no different than any other. There are over 5k companies that are in this industry today and most of them are legit business opportunities. What most people don’t realize is that any MLM business is just that, a business. It requires hard work. You can get rich quick but it is not a get rich quick scheme. If you as the independent representative don’t work, then you won’t make any money. It’s as simple as that.
As far as getting in early or late, that doesn’t matter. Everyone who starts, starts at the same position. Typically, the people who get in when the company is young have it harder because they have to go through the growing pains of a startup company. However, those who stick it out usually make it.
With regard to the percentages of people who make it to the top of the compensation plan, it is what it is. How many people actually make it to CEO in their 30 – 40 – 50 years on their job. I think you’ll find that the numbers aren’t that different. The bottom line is that you guys are right, the average person doesn’t make it to the top . The extraordinary person does. Or at least the person who is willing to put in the extraordinary effort.
The fact is, most people go to work and do just enough not to get fired. In any given industry, 20% of the people do 80% of the work. I ask, how can someone bring that sad type of work ethic to a business and think that they are going to get rich? Let’s be real. The MLM industry works. It’s the people that don’t. It’s obvious that the people who put in the effort and spend the time to learn how to build mega organizations do well. The one’s who don’t, usually quit.
In case you all are wondering, I am not a 5LINX rep. I have been involved in the MLM industry and I have had some success. I have not reached the top of my comp. plan but I do know and understand what it takes to do that. Just so you know, I am a six-figure income earner in my regular job but I do recognize that there is a ceiling to my earnings there and I know that I can far surpass that in my MLM business.
It is obvious to me that many of the people who post here are sadly undereducated about the industry. Like may people that I talk to, they can tell me everything about an industry that they have no experience in. And people wonder why only 5% of Americans actually do get rich.
As far as the pyramid thing goes…for all you who obviously do not know the definition…A pyramid scheme is one in which a person gets paid simply to recruit others and no product is sold to customers at fair market value. A legitimate network marketing company is one in which no money is paid out until a product is sold to customers at fair market value.
What people have to do when evaluating a company is work the numbers on the compensation plan. If there is more money made from recruiting than there is from customers, than that compensation plan is not in the independent representatives favor.
The company that I am with, for example, pays me $20 – $25 per customer per month. I only get paid $10 – $20 recruitment bonuses. Obviously, I can make alot more money by simply marketing the services. I never have to build a downline to do well. That’s the type of opportunity people should be looking at. Also, a person can start for as little as $135 all the way up to $400 so it is affordable for people and the income opportunity is limitless.
First of all 5linx is partnered up with major companies like AT&T, T-mobile, sprint, Nextel, Time Warner, Direct TV, Dish Network…etc. Second they don’t “re-sell”. what 5linxs does is they bring the customer to the compnay instead of having the company wait for the customers. You should get your fact stright before you post crap like that. check BBB before you post numbers that don’t show fact.
Ever Job out there is a pyramid. Top you have the owners or CEO under them is the president and VP, underthem is Human resources, Regonal managers, Distric managers, under them store managers asst. store manager, Supervisors, and under them the workers. so whats about the pyramid. the only differece the company is paying you cash for hour. where the ones up top get bonus and commisions for all your hard work so. whats the difference?… oh yah you get hourly thats right. same crap. hourly means money now where commision means you have to work a little bit harder to earn more.
if its a scam why was 5linx featured on channel 4 new
Free your minds, people! I’m glad you printed that, Ron; every JOB is a pyramid!! If a job floats your boat, so be it! Some people want more in life than to sit on their asses and collect a paycheck from someone who overrides you (sounds familiar to you, MLM haters!??). The same stuff you guys preach is what you’re a part of; having others dictate to you when to go to lunch, when to go on vacation, etc…
Stop being so negative and trying to turn others away from business opportunities that you or your brother’ sister’ mother failed at ! With the state of the economy and none of us getting Social Security anyway, why not try and be successful at anything else ? Technology evolves daily is a multi-billion dollar industry. Some of you are the same people that would have laughed at Bill Gates, Larry Page & Sergey Brin (Google), Steve Chen Chad Hurley &Jawad Harim (You Tube).
people that are in 5linx still can’t explain there numbers
i love mlm but these numbers nasty and 5linx compensation plan is the worst and makes mlm look bad.
5LINX® Earnings Statement: These are the average annual earnings for U.S. 5LINX® active Independent Representatives in 2006 based on position: Customer Representative, $55; Independent Marketing Representative $261; Executive Trainer $2,536; Executive Director $10,816; National Director $67,147; Senior Vice President $236,904.
Active Independent Representatives are those that enrolled or renewed during the year. The distribution of qualified representatives by position is: Customer Representative 45%, Independent Marketing Representative 48%; Executive Trainer 6%; Executive Director 1%; National Director .4%; Senior Vice President .1%.
ok, well due to an amazing 2007, let’s see what the earning stats for 2007 say.. And you’re still responsible for what you make! It’s not a job, it’s a business!!!
we will see because this looks bad
Executive Director 1%; National Director .4%; Senior Vice President .1%
also did you know the people at the top of the 5linx already had built down lines only one guy that i know of personally made it to the svp from scratch i won’t mention his name and that’s only because he had a good business before and knew some heavy hitters. the point is 5linx is not made for the average person. and there numbers which will never lie proves it just look for yourself
Representative 45%, Independent Marketing Representative 48%; these are were most of the reps are making a whooping
55 and 261 dollars a year
Kevin, I fully understand what you’re saying. I also had no prior experience and was looking to find an opportunity for something that could possibly work long-term for me. There’s no reason to believe that 5Linx won’t continue to prosper and attract many new representatives because they keep on top of new technologies, something that will continue long after we’re dead! Whichever approach to build the business (a carryover downline or build a new one), there’s still work involved for each individual. I have been in for 1 year and at the ED position part-time along with my job, I have no qualms about the income I’m generating. If you don’t share ANY opportunity that you’re involved with, you don’t make $! We all see the same presentation, right?
Too many people here are focusing on what the “top” people make. It’s like comparing Lebron to Michael Jordan!! Well who said that EVERYONE here wants to be at that level? Of course there’s more work involved and harder to achieve, but if that’s what you want to strive for, go for it! I’m comfortable moving at the pace I’m at right now. ND by September’ National event is the goal and it’s very doable.
that’s great and i wish you the best
well my friend sucked me into one of these presentations today.
here is my question.
i’m only 18, i don’t need a steady income, this opportunity would be nothing more than a side job making me a few grand a month and most importantly,
my friend who is already a part of it just agreed that she would let me borrow the $628 AND signed a contract saying that i am not being held reliable to return the money to her if i do not make a profit off of this company”
plus if i sign up by tomorrow i will receive an $3000 bonus, which she claims i will receive for sure and i can easily repay her.
she claims she is making 6 grand a month right now [also 18]
my question is, do i have anything to lose? i mean honestly..is there any way for them to suck me in..if i don’t even have to pay the $600. i could essentially take the 3 grand bonus and run
Bob –
The 628 is just an initial cost, you will also have to pay for website usage and the actual products; you buy them and then you sell you them.
And this puzzles me:
“if i sign up by tomorrow i will receive an $3000 bonus, which she claims i will receive for sure and i can easily repay her.”
If you have to repay her that is called a loan, not a bonus.
Ask to see her W-2 tax form that shows she makes 6 grand a month, she seems to have no problem sharing her income with you so she shouldn’t mind actually proving that she makes that much money.
Bob, go to college, work hard and get a real job in four years.
I have been living on this temporary earth long enough now to understand there are “whinners and cry babies” on every street, but after reading many of the comments on this website I did not realize most all of them come here to do their crying!
Here are just a few quick comments to consider:
The BBB has listed just 5 complaints over the last 12 months against 5LINX and just 15 over the last 36 months (3 years) this is amazing….
I know of companies who have 15 complaints in just one month and some in just one week….
…so this alone should show all the “whinners and cry babies” how respectful this company is, but then “whinners and cry babies” will whin and cry as they do!
I had a lawyer tell me anyone can sue anyone, but that doesn’t make their claim legit, so of the just 5 over the last year and just 15 over three years I would say many of them, if not most of them, are made up of “whinners and cry babies”
If the “whinners and cry babies” would take a few minutes to read about the background of the 3 individuals who starting this company they would understand their long track record of integrity and success and would understand their whinning and crying about this company is not justified.
How many people actually believe they can start a company “in the real world” for just $500 dollars?
Whether someone invest $500 dollars or $500,000 dollars to start a business, the main objective is to make their investment back…..”whinners and cry babies”, would you agree with this??
This can be done with this company,5LINX, without sharing this opportunity with anyone, but by just selling the services.
If you become a member of the 50 customer club someone said it pays over $500 dollars a month….and then all you have to do is maintain 50 customers and add just 2, let me say that again, just 2 each month, and you will be making $500 dollars a month, each and every month, on your $500 dollar investment and you didn’t show this oppurtunity to anyone!
I would say this will be a great return for a long time on your investment. Would all the “whinners and cry babies” agree with this?
I have read where people must pay $500 dollars or $99 dollars to make money with this company, 5LINX, but that shows that 100% of the “whinners and cry babies” truly don’t know nothing about this company…
There are 2 other ways you can sign up to work with this company and it doesn’t cost you one red penny to get started, but then all the “whinners and cry babies” will still find something else to whin and cry about!!!
I read where a few people actually try to help all the “whinners and cry babies” understand that every single business on this temporary earth is a form of MLM….
Those who work their way to the top of their perspective companies make more than those who are satisfied with their daily living routine, but the money still comes back down to them as well.
I read where some of the “whinners and cry babies” whine and cry about the $29.95 website and hosting of this website….
Well, you are not forced to have this website or pay for it. If you want a website, go pay for someone to built you one and then find someone to host it for you and see what it cost upfront and then each month!!!
Bottom Line:
We come into this world crying and we all whine as little children, but unfortunately it seems so many continue to whine and cry their whole life until their souls are require of them.
Hmmm…if all the “whinners and cry babies” would meditate on this saying it seems many of them would grow up….
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
It seems to me that most all of the “whinners and cry babies” are trying to get “something for nothing”, but if they would put forth a little effort in whatever they do, they would come to understand this saying…
“A slothful man buries his hand in the bowl, And will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.”
It has been shown that in most all cases, within any organizations 10% of the people do 90% of the work.
I would say most of that 90% are “whinners and cry babies”
Steve
hey steve last month 50 member club payout was $189 if you get in the 100 customer club they pay you double the payout
there are over 30,000 reps in 5linx and about 35 people in the 50 member club and about a handful in the 100 customer
Hey Kevin, where did you get your info concerning the amount? You are right about the 30,000 reps in 5linx. You are also right about getting paid double for the 100 club. Hmmm…Kevin, I wonder if you know how the amount is determined that goes into the payout pool each month?
I have been a 5Linx representative since November 07 and I cruised to Executive Director in 4 months. At my current rate and growth hopefully I’ll be National Director by the National in September and will probably make Senior Vice President by this time next year. But even if I don’t hit my goals by certain dates I’m going to reach them none the less. My point is I had no prior background in network marketing or MLM. I’ve made 10 times my initial investment since joining. It hasn’t been easy but anything worth having requires work. I make 140k a year as a consultant but 18 years ago I started out at 18k so another point is you have to crawl before you learn how to sprint. I have that good ole college degree that one blogger spoke of but have been laid off twice one year and stabbed in the back numerous times. If corporate America is for you then fine but don’t criticize anyone willing to put forth an effort and look into opportunities. To address the comment that everyone at the top came with their organization, so what such as life. I came with nothing and I’ll be a SVP next year, and so have more than half of the SVP’s that we currently have. I laugh at people that complain or listen to other complainers without doing research on their own. The bottom line is there are too many documented publications and business agreements with other Fortune 100 & 500 companies to really worry about the complainers. We will always need workers so keep on working for someone. It sounds to me that there is quite a bit of resentment and anger generated from these people, must be conservatives. If MLM isn’t for you then don’t do it, it’s a business and no business is guaranteed, if you aren’t willing to put the work in to make it a success then you won’t become successful.
This looks like an argument between the rich dad and the poor dad. Obviously from Robert Kyosaki’s Book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”
If you go to youtube and search for Robert Kyosaki, Network Marketing you’ll have a pretty good idea of how to look at network marketing. I fully support Network marketing. It gives you a much better opportunity at a much lower risk to make yourself into a very wealthy individual rather than trying to get some job at some big corporation and waiting for someone to promote you after 30 years of working to make it up to the top so you can hopefully earn a 6 figure income. To the gentleman who’s talking bad about 5Linx. You are so negative that I bet if you walked into a dark room you’d develop. Anyone who takes your advice is deffinently doomed to failure. I would imagine someone with your outlook is not very successful of happy with their quality of life.
Wow. I have spent the last three hours reading this blog in its entirety and I am amazed at the arguments. Even though they became weaker as bloggers posted comments, it was still astonishing to see how people felt about 5linx and MLM.
Here’s my story:
My Father got me into 5linx in March ’08. He told me it would be a great business opportunity for me since I was in school and all. At this time, I was working for an indirect cell phone company that provided services for T-Mobile, Sprint, and Alltel. I was the top salesmen in my district and I was always on the top 25 in the whole company. So here I am, an 18 year old kid making close to 35k annually. I was making more money than any of my peers could imagine at the time. I was content-for the time being. Now two years roll by and I get tired of my company. I got a chance to meet the founder of my company, Robert Quireshi, who was a big time real estate mogul in Florida back in the mid-80’s and bought this small company and expanded it all along the east coast. I only came in contact with him for only 30 minutes but in those 30 minutes I could sense the lifestyle he had…..that I wanted. And for me, 35k is a lot of money but thanks to my father, I’ve been exposed to a lot more at one time. My father owns a mortgage company in the Washington DC metropolitan area. And for 10 years, my father’s business flourished until the recent decline in the market as we all know. Now, me personally, I don’t want to make 250k a year…I want to do that in a month. And even without 5linx I still have a plan that can achieve that.
When I first heard 5linx come out of my father’s mouth, immediately, I thought “scam”. Mainly because I had customers who would come to my store complaining about T-mobile plans being too high without even knowing. And when I saw their contracts, it said “5linx” on the top and I would get so pissed at this company. Then, I would later go on the internet and do research. The first thing on yahoo was “5linx a pyramid scam??” and that was my mindset for that company. Now my father, mind you, a successful mortgage broker, is trying to convince me that 5linx isn’t a scam. Mainly because bigger companies wouldn’t be associated with a fraudulent MLM company. I bought it, but I was still skeptical so I didn’t do anything with 5linx for two months. I finally got a chance to go to one of these “presentations”. I’m not gonna lie, they kind of sold me, and I’m a salesmen as well. They gave great examples like bill gates revolutionizing the world with computer software- without building a computer. Examples like the newest richest man in the world doing telecommunications in Mexico. They were legitimate (or at least I thought so). They showed the comp. plans and I couldn’t believe it so I quickly dismissed it to the back of my mind to later analyze.
My father kept trying to persuade me that 5linx was legit. He even got me to become an “ET in 30 days” and I got the $1,250 bonus (that’s what it was in the month of April). $1250 was cool but I wasn’t amazed enough to go 5linx crazy. I checked my virtual office and in my running personal account, there was $256 in the account (I had already took out the bonus). I called my father and told him what I saw. He said, “That’s the beauty of residual income and MLM when done right”. So I gave 5linx another shot.
I got a chance to go to their regional conference; last week actually. And for some reason my whole perception of 5linx changed. I was still kinda skeptical but I kept an even more opened mind at this conference. My friend, who is also 20, is at the National Director level. So it finally hit home for me. I was still a bit shaky so I asked to see his personal running account and he showed me. Now, you can take this however you want but he had over 18k in his account and he told me this was the average for him. Now on the flipside, his father was doing all the work only because his father’s full-time job is a conflict of interest with 5linx. Nonetheless, I was convinced I could do this- especially with my sales experience.
Coincidently, I became my first customer and that put me at the next position in the company as an Executive director or “ED” as far as customer points. My father still handles recruiting people but im handling it now. While reading this blog I really got scared that I was a part of a scam but I have come to the conclusion that 5linx works if you know what you’re doing. You can’t possibly rely on what people tell you 100%. They (5linx) say that “financial freedom is as easy as 1, 2, 3” which I don’t believe. At the regional, one the PSVP’s said we were like real estate agents. Instead of property we own, we “own” people or down line reps. I still think I’m one of the very few that caught the severity of that statement. So for the earlier anti-5linx bloggers, you guys are right; 5linx wants people to focus on recruiting rather than selling services. I mean, come on…..to be at the top of this company you only need to sell 25 services personally?? But you have to recruit a boatload of people to really “make money” and get to the top. As a salesman, I know I can sell at least 35 of their services in a month because I did that at my old company and half the time, I did business outside of my store when I wasn’t on the clock-not getting paid. So that’s kind of like an investment on its own. Maybe that’s why I was so successful because I didn’t mind spending money to make money.
Now the founders of 5linx are smart. They know they are going to have people who are not like “lil’ jo-jo” on the corner trying to make a fast buck. They know that there are people who think like most of you bloggers and aren’t gonna fall for the glitz and glam of a BMW or a Bentley, or amazed at the high payouts for the company. That’s why they pay more on recruitment so that wise salesmen don’t make a huge fortune on selling products 5linx doesn’t get paid as much for.
So I have a different approach when it comes to 5linx- focus on selling but only recruit based on my own ideology of the company. Believe it or not, I do believe in keeping some type of ethics when doing business (to a certain extent..Lol). I don’t want to brainwash people into joining a company they aren’t cut out for. Even at my wireless company there were so many customers I could’ve easily swindled but I didn’t because playing on one’s ignorance or naïve-ness (if that’s a word) is a very evil thing to do(not to sound all humanitarian-like). And that’s what 5linx does. But can you blame them? Someone made a comment about McDonald’s having no nutritional value (which I don’t personally believe) and causing diseases (which I do believe-obesity) but more and more people go there everyday. And I can bet that 75% of their “regulars” (and I’m being generous) don’t stop to look at the nutritional charts they post at EVERY store and see what they are getting into; Mainly because we don’t go in anymore….we do drive-thru(lol). And that’s what 5linx does. At that regional conference there were at least 400 people present both members and guests. 5linx knows that even if all 400 were to join that day, maybe one or two individuals would make it to the top. What happens to the remaining 398? 300 would be in the red $499 and -$50.00 a month and the remaining 98 would break even and slowly grow with no significant revenue. That’s why they don’t show stats of how likely people will make money in this company….because they know most won’t; and they have laws to protect them in the process. Maybe that example was a bit exaggerated but it could happen.
I know my story has been all over the place and inconsistent with “choosing sides” but this is how I think. I would only wish 5linx would tell people that their company is not for everybody and people will lose money in a way without sabotaging their business. As for me, I’m going to continue focusing on selling their services while recruiting people that feel the same way and make my money so I can carry out my financial plans that I was going to do whether 5linx was there or not. And if I so happen to not get any further than were I am now, oh well; I’m still young. But I am greatly appreciative to all who commented about 5linx. Though some were outright erroneous while others were scarily true, I learned a lot about 5linx from your comments and the data you guys backed it up with. I know my story doesn’t have any hard facts and data but it’s true. I have no reason to lie about a company that isn’t paying me to do so. And if they were, where’s the dignity in that? My parents are from Nigeria and their culture (well, I guess mine too) believes honor and respect, as cliché as that sounds. I don’t approve of 5linx’s ways of attracting people or most companies for that matter (Cigarette companies anyone??), but that’s the way of life and capitalism (as I see it). As the many 5linx up line representatives would quote: “some will, some won’t, so what, NEXT!!!!”
I apologize for any grammatical errors and improper English used…..but hey, im young (on corporate America standards)…give me a break.
*Oh and my pops is a national director on his way to the SVP position.
lets just say i paid $640 and asked for refund…but guess what the 5linx mother fucking uplines paid with their own credit card when i requested refund it went to their credit card and now im fucked
how bout that fuck 5linx
The person who wrote this probably never had a management or marketing course. The MLM that 5Linx work with is just like any company structure (Ceo, CFO, Manager, Supervisor, employees). It’s a commission base work just like in the banking industry when the employee sell the credit card, the operation manager gets a commission off the sales and the Area Operation Manager gets a portion of the commission as well. The people who got scam was not the 5linx fault, it was the person uplines that made the company look bad. Just like employees in many other company that still from the customer. Success magazine did thier research and it didn’t scream scam.
well i see they posted there numbers from last year
and guest what there all down from last year
the numbers don’t lie and by law they have to put thoses
numbers up it’s funny they talk about growth yes the number
of reps are growing but they payout goes down here look for
yourself
5LINX® Earnings Statement: These are the average annual earnings for U.S. 5LINX® active Independent Representatives in 2007 based on position: Customer Representative, $39; Independent Marketing Representative $198; Executive Trainer $1,640; Executive Director $6,478; National Director $28,921; Senior Vice President $170,668.
Active Independent Representatives are those that enrolled or renewed during the year. The distribution of qualified representatives by position is: Customer Representative 49.8%, Independent Marketing Representative 43.3%; Executive Trainer 5.1%; Executive Director 1.2%; National Director .5%; Senior Vice President .1%.
5LINX® Independent
2006 numbers
5LINX® Earnings Statement: These are the average annual earnings for U.S. 5LINX® active Independent Representatives in 2006 based on position: Customer Representative, $55; Independent Marketing Representative $261; Executive Trainer $2,536; Executive Director $10,816; National Director $67,147; Senior Vice President $236,904.
Active Independent Representatives are those that enrolled or renewed during the year. The distribution of qualified representatives by position is: Customer Representative 45%, Independent Marketing Representative 48%; Executive Trainer 6%; Executive Director 1%; National Director .4%; Senior Vice President .1%.
The thing that turns me off is the desire (or unmitigated need) for “employees” of this company to enlist and recruit to pull others in. Even if you set aside the pyramid and scam references it is amazing that so many people would be willing for you to share in their success and wealth…..all you have to do is sign up. Truthfully with gas at $4.00 a gallon not many people I know are going to part with $500+ to get in on this “money making” appeal. How can you sign up so many people to get you elevated and move through the ranks? And others at the bottom who see the others up higher making money will bound to be discouraged and quit reducing your income making you go out and wrangle some more people with $500+ to burn. Trying to tell people to look at it objectively gets you labeled as a dark cloud naysayer who wants to take away all hope and a great opportunity from people. At some level I’m sure money can be made but only by a chosen few. The rest are left to scratch at the remains and wonder if their lack of success is from “not working hard” or “having a poor work ethic’ or “not believing in the program”. In this modern day and age the art of selling dreams never died it is only made over with a new facade and relabeled.
Most people scream “scam” at most opportunities, but will sit on their ass and complain about how they’re effected by the economy. Well guess what: as it gets worse, you get nothing!!! Be it 5Linx or any other home-based opportunity, the ones that are “scared” of success due to their shortcomings are the ones who make up all of the negative atmosphere here with all of this “5LINX hating”. If you don’t take chances, you won’t succeed and it’s as simple as that! If you fail at something, it doesn’t mean you have to stay down, but if you choose to, then quit and keep it moving. Stop discouraging others because “YOU” didn’t make it. Different person, different philosophy.
Read “Lower your Taxes-Big Time” by Sandy Botkin. Right off the bat it states that “anyone who doesn’t own a home-based business is brain-dead because of the tax write-offs!”.
Granted there are some good people associated with 5Linx.
READ ABOUT THE NOT SO GOOD!!!!!
Do you know that one of your own 5Linx SVPs fleeced an elderly mans mortgage on his home and attempted to throw him out into the street.
Do you also know that Jesse Jackson and Operation Push is going after this guy.
Here is the full article of one of your own.
87-Year Old Ex-Chicago Cop Victimized In Foreclosure Rescue Scam; Fights To Stave Off Eviction
(originally posted 12-29-07)
In Chicago, Illinois, the Chicago Defender recently reported on the story of 87-year old Tellie Howard, a former Cook County, Illinois Sheriff’s Deputy facing foreclosure who was reportedly scammed out the equity in his home of almost 46 years by foreclosure rescue operator Anthony Deveaux [aka Antonio Deveaux] in a transaction that was intended to be nothing more than a simple refinance of his home so that he and his wife could take care of an existing mortgage in default and have some home improvement work done. Not long after signing the purported refinance papers, a woman showed up at his front door, told him she was the new owner of the home and that she wanted him out, giving him a month to vacate.
According to the story, the matter forced Howard to place his 82-year-old wife, Addie, who is of ill-health and needs dialysis three days a week plus other care, in a nursing home until the nightmare with his home can be straightened out. An excerpt from one of the articles:
According to a lawsuit filed by the Cook County Public Guardian’s office on behalf of Howard’s disabled wife Addie Howard — who is now a ward of the state and living in a nursing home — Anthony Deveaux [aka Antonio Deveaux] bought the property from Howard and his wife for $230,000. “Mrs. Howard is deemed disabled and mentally incompetent, therefore ruling out any assertions that she signed a real estate sales contract. Mrs. Howard was not present to sign any documents. Mr. Howard said he didn’t sign his property over to Deveaux. Mr. Howard thought he was signing a mortgage refinance contract, nothing else. Deveaux knew that Mr. Howard didn‘t know he was signing his home away,” Dawn Lawkowski-Keller, an attorney in the public guardian’s office said.
***
Lawkowski-Keller also said Deveaux is making his living on scamming the elderly out of their homes and speculates that the more than $100,000 in proceeds from the alleged fraudulent scheme to buy the Howard’s home financed a Bentley automobile that Deveaux reportedly owns. “He conducts get rich quick real estate seminars and has videos on You Tube about his lifestyle. You can see him driving his Bentley on there,” Keller said.
For the whole story, see:
Elderly man conned into signing over house (3rd story from the bottom of page) (Chicago Defender, 11-28-07),
Judge stymies attempt to foreclose on elderly man’s house (Chicago Defender, 12-28-07) (no longer available online),
See also CBS2 (Chicago) report on Tellie Howard, Rev. Jackson Pressures Lenders On Foreclosures (read story #1) (read story #2) (watch video).
Definitely sorry to hear that and he should be dealt with accordingly, but that is not a strike against 5LINX! We can run background checks all day on every individual in any corporation and will find continuous dirt!
i love 5linx
its NOT a scam!
I’m 19 and about to becomE an Executive trainer by my 2 weeks, which mean $1,500 for me, which also means that I made my money back, right?
EXACTLY!!
i can understand people’s retraction to 5linx’s opportuniy offer but we have to at least agree that 5linx is not a scam but at the same time is not for everybody. I too saw the earnings for each position and its about right. Since the last time i posted on this website, i still hold the position of ED (Exectutive Director). I can say that i make more money recruiting than selling which was i despised of the this company in the beginning. Even at ED position, i can make close to 3,000 in a month. the most i’ve made was about 1,800. But you cannot deny the product. I mean, if there are people who talk about iphone, there are going to be people who talk bad about the videophone as well. there’s no running away from that. And as far as that elderly man’s case, whether it’s true or not, 5linx will still continue to make money and wont be shut down because there are bigger, public companies out there that has done worse. that’s just the way of life….or business i should say
Once again…
Granted there are some good people associated with 5Linx.
READ ABOUT THE NOT SO GOOD!!!!!
Do you know that one of your own 5Linx SVPs fleeced an elderly mans mortgage on his home and attempted to throw him out into the street.
Do you also know that Jesse Jackson and Operation Push is going after this guy.
Here is the full article of one of your own.
87-Year Old Ex-Chicago Cop Victimized In Foreclosure Rescue Scam; Fights To Stave Off Eviction
(originally posted 12-29-07)
In Chicago, Illinois, the Chicago Defender recently reported on the story of 87-year old Tellie Howard, a former Cook County, Illinois Sheriff’s Deputy facing foreclosure who was reportedly scammed out the equity in his home of almost 46 years by foreclosure rescue operator Anthony Deveaux [aka Antonio Deveaux] in a transaction that was intended to be nothing more than a simple refinance of his home so that he and his wife could take care of an existing mortgage in default and have some home improvement work done. Not long after signing the purported refinance papers, a woman showed up at his front door, told him she was the new owner of the home and that she wanted him out, giving him a month to vacate.
According to the story, the matter forced Howard to place his 82-year-old wife, Addie, who is of ill-health and needs dialysis three days a week plus other care, in a nursing home until the nightmare with his home can be straightened out. An excerpt from one of the articles:
According to a lawsuit filed by the Cook County Public Guardian’s office on behalf of Howard’s disabled wife Addie Howard — who is now a ward of the state and living in a nursing home — Anthony Deveaux [aka Antonio Deveaux] bought the property from Howard and his wife for $230,000. “Mrs. Howard is deemed disabled and mentally incompetent, therefore ruling out any assertions that she signed a real estate sales contract. Mrs. Howard was not present to sign any documents. Mr. Howard said he didn’t sign his property over to Deveaux. Mr. Howard thought he was signing a mortgage refinance contract, nothing else. Deveaux knew that Mr. Howard didn‘t know he was signing his home away,” Dawn Lawkowski-Keller, an attorney in the public guardian’s office said.
***
Lawkowski-Keller also said Deveaux is making his living on scamming the elderly out of their homes and speculates that the more than $100,000 in proceeds from the alleged fraudulent scheme to buy the Howard’s home financed a Bentley automobile that Deveaux reportedly owns. “He conducts get rich quick real estate seminars and has videos on You Tube about his lifestyle. You can see him driving his Bentley on there,” Keller said.
For the whole story, see:
Elderly man conned into signing over house (3rd story from the bottom of page) (Chicago Defender, 11-28-07),
Judge stymies attempt to foreclose on elderly man’s house (Chicago Defender, 12-28-07) (no longer available online),
See also CBS2 (Chicago) report on Tellie Howard, Rev. Jackson Pressures Lenders On Foreclosures (read story #1) (read story #2) (watch video).
Just sort of wandered on this post through a search of the Company.
I have enjoyed 50 comfortable Years from Marketing, mostly MY product, as developed from the wonderful though process, we are all endowed with.
But I have also enjoyed considerable Income (Only used for Wealth Building)form Marketing Products as an affiliate and some with the MLM business Model.
However I will never “pay” any company more than $50 for the “privilege of reselling their product. And that payment better put some “hard” goods in my hands, if they are to follow the letter of the Law.
It never ceases to amaze me how the uninitiated will part with hard earned dollars, or even as promulgated by some, Borrowed Money to chase a Rainbow, before they have invested One Dollar in the Basic of Business Foundation.
This has been enjoyable reading. If anyone would like an evaluation of any opportunity, I offer a 30 minute Free evaluation. It has saved many thousands and allowed others Increased wealth.
My product is My Knowledge and Experience.
Visit my Page and get to know me
http://www.chuckbartok.com
Actually it’s my husband that have become addicted to MLM. It cost $500.00 to become involved in 5linx. Their concept is, this is a great “Business Opportunity”. Their product is a video phone, and several other technological products, cell phones, satellite, broadband, internet, that are really resales from existing companies. If you sell one of these products you create points for yourself. Starting your team you have to get 20 customer points by selling products and 3 qualified IMRs,(Independent Marketing representatives). IMRs start the process of building your organization. If anyone can accomplish this process in 30 days they will receive $1,000. Once you make Senior Vice President which you achieve after becoming a trainer, executive director and national director 5linx will make payments on a BMW.
If you achieve Platinum Senior Vice President 5linx will make payments on a Bentley. My husband have the ideal they are giving these cars away.
My husband have been with 5linx for at least two years and I don’t think he’s made $200.00 and that’s gross exaggeration. My husband is one of their most committed people and it’s affecting his self esteem, because he can’t understand why it’s not working for him, especially when their paid scam artist appear to be so successful. Then again he’s easily brainwashed. He is in credit card debt from the cost of attending seminars and purchasing supplies. I maintain our household. He’s talking about quitting his job because he thinks a full time commitment might be the answer. It might be too late for my husband but I hope this might help some other distraught people.
The majority of their members are minority.
Thank You for offering this web site.
Hey there Phyllis, I really feel for you. That’s hard to hear that your husband’s self-esteem is being harmed. I know it’s much harder for you to be living it. I hope your family pulls through this.
We have a similar situation going on in my family. My sister is ensnared in an MLM scheme, and just like your husband, her response to the plain monetary reality (read – failure) is to dig her heels in and attempt to do it full-time–the exact opposite of what she and her children need.
The reason that your husband and my sister are doing what they’re doing is that part of the MLM design is indoctrination to certain self-perpetuating “principles.” It is constantly reinforced by the company that people who fail do so through personal defect and lack of effort; because they’re quitters. They are told that ANYONE who can follow simple steps will succeed. The fact is that the MLM structure and continuation requires this belief. The people who internalize these ideals are precisely what makes the MLM work even though those individuals are almost certain to fail.
A friend, whom I respect and even admire in many regards, gave me the 5linx pitch. From the point I listened to the recorded call, presented as a live conference call, I was pretty skeptical. He gave me a more full, sit-down presentation, and I remained skeptical.
I did some reading and some critical reasoning, and the plain fact is that for most people, 5linx, or any other MLM scheme IS NOT going to produce any real income. No one can refute that. You can be a cheerleader and say “5linx works!” Well, sure it does, for a minuscule group of people.
Now, I could say I was going to quit my job and go into playing the lottery full-time. Most people would say that’s crazy. But in actuality, anyone who can follow the simple steps of buying lottery tickets can become a millionaire. That’s an indisputable fact. There are plenty of examples of people who have done it. With the lottery or MLM, people who have made small wins or see (or believe they’re seeing) examples of success around them become more convinced that they can win big too. Add to that the belief that it’s effort or method that determines success, and that person is roped in.
It’s not effort, commitment or method that determines success in MLM. The structure itself REQUIRES that the vast majority make little or lose in order for a tiny percentage to make money. Break down 5linx published numbers, and it proves that.
5linx 2007 total revenue is reported as $25,041,349. By the statistics they published, there was 1 SVP for every 1,000 people. We’ll assume that that is every SVP was profiled in the PR ad/mag 5linx produced, putting their number at 32. Now, if you’re pro-5linx, resist the knee-jerk temptation to blurt out “There’s way more than 32 SVPs!” at this point–you’ll only make yourself look foolish. That would make things significantly worse for the accounting of that revenue.
With 32 SVPs, an SVP ratio of 1:1000, and the published compensation figures, you can determine the following:
——–Number–Comp——Total Comp
PSVP—-4——-$600000—$2400000
SVP—–32——$171000—$5472000
ND——160—–$29000—-$4640000
ED——384—–$6500—–$2496000
ET——1632—-$1600—–$2611200
IMR—–13856—$198——$2743488
CR——15936—$39——-$621504
Total Compensation $20,984,192
(PSVP compensation wasn’t published, so $600,000 is a conservative estimate.)
The total compensation paid to the sales force was $21 million dollars, but this does not include compensation of the 120 regular employees of the company or the executives. At a mean of $50,000, that would be another $6 million.
So, we can make a fairly conservative determination of minimum compensation total at $27 million. Against total revenue of $25 million, that doesn’t work. Even $21 million total compensation wouldn’t work.
As I said, the structure of the MLM itself REQUIRES that the vast majority make little or lose in order for a tiny percentage to make money. If everyone could succeed through their efforts, there would be a pool of money. If you flattened the upside-down pyramid of compensation, there would be $780 for each person (who is paying to start and buying devices and services themselves).
Phyllis, see if your husband can get an explanation for that. It might help him to look at the numbers.
Now, you can still ignore that and myopically focus on the car (payment), like my sister does. She fully believes that getting that car is a realistic expectation–she actually PLANS on that happening by next year. You can say “I’ll take my 1 in 1,000 chances of getting that BMW and making $170K. My commitment will make the difference.”
Well…there’s a problem there. The ratio of SVPs, as a “snapshot,” is 1:1000, but there is the matter of churn, which is similar to the concept of turnover. Churn is different from turnover though in that it is a constant effect at the bottom of the pyramid. People at higher levels have already won, they hold on to their positions. The company has an interest in discounting that and framing their numbers only including active participants or people who participated for some minimum period of time. That increases the apparent individual successes. Churn rates are not published, but they are estimated to be 60% to 90% for various MLMs. We could assume a charitable churn rate of 60% and an average drop out of 4 months for 5linx. Your ODDS of getting that car are no longer 1000:1 (those were never “odds” anyway). They are more really almost incalculable, but you could very safely put a factor of 20 on it. At, 20,000:1, it’s starting to look like you’re talking about quitting your job and playing the lottery full-time.
I have been reading these exchanges with interest. One of the unfortunate things about the internet is that any drivel gets published. Handsome1 has the patience of water entertaining the nonsense from uninformed folk.You cannot be a rep with any MLM company unless you are an adult. That means you can think for yourself and have the discipline to read an agreement and tell when you are being had.My experience is that people get hurt when they overreach themselves trying to get to the top by creative means. My experience reveals also that lazy, undisciplined and unorganized people have no shot at success in MLM. It is not traditional business, you cannot just wing it and hope for a windfall. Oftentimes when people who think they have done enough to succeed fail they do so from being busy and not necessarily effective.Every great endeavor has a system 5linx or direct selling is no exception. MLM has been around longer than 50 years and will be here long after this blog is no more. Someone here wants to know why 5linx takes incentive from government; why are Microsoft, Apple and such companies recipients of incentives from government?
I’m a representative for another direct sales telecom provider, and even through my struggles in the business, no part of me believes that network marketing can’t or doesn’t work.
If you get involved in an opportunity like 5Linx, you WILL get paid what they say you will be paid IF you do what is required. 5Linx isn’t about getting rich quick. It’s about stepping outside of your comfort zone. It’s about growing as a person. It forces you to build relationships.
As for “you need to recruit to make a lot of money”, of course. One person workig 8 hours a day is profiting from working 8 hours a day, but if 100 people are working 8 hours a day, you’re getting 800 hours of work out of one day. Does it not make sense that if you were the one who trained, or had the biggest influence in training, all of those people you should be compensated for that?
For the people who look at network marketing as a “scheme”, you really just can’t see it for what it is. The different between a pyramid scheme and network marketing is a product or service that has value. And if a company doesn’t spend money on advertising, how are they supposed to get their name and product or service to the general public?
Stop thinking about network marketing as “pyramiding” and think of it as “referring”.
“A friend of mine saw what I was doing and became interested, wanting to do the same thing, so I referred him/her.”
The meetings are there for the people who get involved who don’t have presentation skills. For the shy people who want to build a residule income. We’re not all superstars at ever aspect of the business, but that’s why you build a team. A team of people who are really good at selling and a team of people who are really good at presenting the opportunity.
The people who become “brainwashed” are the people who can look at network marketing for the opportunity that it is. It consumes them because the compensation plan makes sense.
*Small companies make small money and big companies make big money*.
So if you get involved in network marketing, with any network marketing company, regardless of who has done what, who makes what, and who sells what, you start in the exact same place as the guy who just made SVP started. He just did what it took to get to that level. He put himself out there. He stepped outside his comfort zone. He found out how to approach every situation with a win/win attitude. He found the customers who wanted to save money, whether they were the friends and family that wanted to help support him, or the small business down the road who wanted to save money on their 1-800 number. He started small and built big.
Network marketing isn’t a scheme, it’s just misunderstood.
You don’t have to quit your job to do something like 5Linx. You don’t even have to recruit to make money, it just takes a lot more time, a lot more contacts, and a lot more work. You can go out and keep all of the customers to yourself. Do all of the driving, make all of the phone calls, answer all of the questions, and hoard it all in your matress. Or… you can build the customer base with your friends. Show them the ropes. Teach them what you know about the business. Tell them what worked for you and where you failed. You can coach them to be successful, to make money, and then to train others to do the same.
If you don’t think the model works, look to ACN. ACN has been in business for almost 16 years and has seen growth *ever* *single* *year*. It has reps that have been with the company for 14+ years.
“Network marketing” just simply means “we don’t do traditional advertising”, and as the sooner you understand what that means for a company and for the people who represent that company, the sooner we can get shit like this page off of the internet.
I’m so high right now.
wow this site has discouraged me so much, i think i wont be able to do this 5linx thing now, i have signed up and i think that you can make money doing this but i have been reading this blog and im like wow can i really do this or is this just a scam, i mean i really know people who are doing good or are they just telling me that they are doing so great, i need more answers from some people who are really making some money doing this shit excuse my language but the few people i know they now do this full time!!!
Dior, it’ll work if you want it to work. It’s really that simple.
I did a little more research, and it it turns out network marketing is scamming people into paying for a service or a product they want or need while rewarding those who have shared the business opportunity with the most people.
Scumbags. Fucking dirty rotten asshole scumbags. They should all pay for ridiculous, ineffective advertising expenses like tradional companies.
What this world needs more off is garbage. More garbage manipulitive marketing campaigns. More direct mail to clutter up my mail box. God I love that shit. I want more people to call me at home to try to sell me something over the phone while I’m watching a bootleg copy of “Iron Man”.
Forget about paying people a lot of money to expand a company’s customer base from the comfort of their own home. What an absurd idea! And those damn network marketing pyramid schemes that pay the people who are the best at it are a joke.
“What? You’ve helped introduce thousands of people to your home based business opportunity, helped train them and keep them all motivated? And you’re getting paid a lot of money for that? You fucking douchebag. You shouuld rot in prison.”
We need more people like the guy who started this page. People who post articles titled “*Network Marketing Company* – Ligit or a ‘Multi-Level Marketing’ Scam?” and then make no argument at all for the ligitimacy.
Screw journalism school, all the world needs to hear is my opinion on something I haven’t done *any* research on!
waterbuffalopress, I ask: if I challenged you to start your own company and told you that you weren’t allowed to do any mass media advertising of any kind, how would you get the word out about your product or service? And how would you compensate the people who are out there building your customer base?
Maybe you wouldn’t pay them anything. Maybe you would pay them all the same amount. Maybe the ones who have told very few people should get paid as much as the ones who have told thousands? Maybe your article is a fucking joke and you have no idea what you’re talking about.
I don’t even represent 5Linx and I think it’s a wonderful company. It’s good for the enviroment and it gives every day people an opportunity to build a residual income so they don’t have work every day of their lives, having more time to spend with their family and friends.
You need to educate yourself on the difference between a “Pyramid Scheme” and “Network Marketing” company. I’ll do my best to help you:
In a “Pyramid Scheme”, if I do nothing other than get my money in before you, I’m going to make more money than you. In “Network Marketing”, if I get my money in before you and then sit on my hands while you work your ass off, you are going to make significantly more money than me.
Stop writing articles about things are aren’t fully educated on. Stop trying to discourage people from having everything they deserve if they are willing to put in the work. Save your negativity for your own miserable friends, family, and coworkers.
There are people out there that need this.
this whole institution bothers me. the arguments made were all aimed at emotion. they waved the dollar signs in front of your eyes. The whole presentation was about how wealthy they were going to make you. And the die hard 5linx employees there just would not shut up about their cars. It was like the cult of 5linx. It took complete “belief” and trust in the company. there were no hard facts about the company itself. i loved how they kept trying to scare the audience with the poor economy. and the most troubling part is that there is no emphasis on the actual product. they simply don’t care. once your get a certain amount of points for selling services its all about getting new recruits. I was stuck there because we carpooled. so i had to stick out the saturday training sessions they have. all the shady practices used to sucker in new recruits were laid out. for example the lies they tell friends to get you just to go to one of their meetings.
I happen to agree greatly with kyle. You see people, the only thing in life that limits you are the limits you put on yourselves by thinking so negatively. And I’m afraid that until you all learn this you will continue to get nothing great out of life. It’s was all the business people that have posted so far on this page understand as well as all the people that started the company. I don’t understand how you can all sit there and complain about your lives and your jobs, shut down anyone that is doing better than you are and then expect to get anything better out of anything you do. You have to know that you can before you can; what do you think the story of the little engine that could was about? If anything, the one thing 5linx has shown the most is that they follow those same priniciples. I refuse to feel sorry for anyone that does nothing but sit and tell themselves “I can’t.” So to everyone that has posted anything negative at all on this blog; go right ahead and keep telling yourself you can’t make money with this comany, and then you can go right on making no money with this company. Or how about your love life? Friendships? Family? I bet some of you have some kind of problems with depression right? Well it’s all the same. Success is merely a state of mind, any truely successful man will agree with me. If you want anything good out of life in any area of it you have to first know that you can have it, no doubts, no fear. I don’t remember who said that, “There is nothing to fear but fear itself,” But they most surely knew the secret of life. I won’t be back because I have nothing further to say to any of you except that I wish you all well. I have faith in all of you to get exactly what you want out of life. But it’s time you all start having a little faith in yourselves…
I went to one of these meetings last night. I saw it on a flyer at my University. It had no information whatsoever about the company. It had “$2000.00″ in big bold letters covering over half of it. It said “international businessman hiring 16 people…” I was skeptical, but I was like, “Well… maybe this isn’t what I think it is.” Turns out, it was. You’re not kidding, they don’t shut up about the Bently. Heck they even showed up late to their own meeting. I don’t think it’s a scam, per se. I wouldn’t want to do it because if it went sour, what would the people whom you sold the products do? They would get mad at you. They would blame you for their loss of money. I don’t think Universities should allow fliers for job opportunities that don’t even MENTION the name of the company to be posted. I wish it had said 5linx on it, so I could have found this blog (more specifically, the comments on this blog) before I went to the meeting and wasted two hours. Now I’m going to an interview at Six Flags tomorrow. At least I know that there I’m not gonna have to go “Please buy this what looks like a baby toy video phone and come to this meeting to blahblahblah.” Just my 2-4 cents.
We went to the meeting and was dumb enough to join and when I requested my money back within the 10 days they had an excuse after excuse as to why they wouldn’t give it back to me so now I am pursuing it from a legal end. Unless you know people who will sign up that is how you make money. If anyone is interested do your homework and ask alot of questions before signing up.
I actually took the time to read each post an I am not a member of 5linx but I have checked it out. All I can say is that you can do a search on any home based business and find pages just like these where there are those who will completely dog the opportunity….keyword opportunity! Not gaurantee! and in most cases the opportunity can create what you want it to provided that you take full advantage of that opportunity. If you are looking for a reason not to join you have plenty of them here but seriously nothing said here whether good or bad will determine YOUR OUTCOME..
so now that you have all this info..make your decision.
I do agree with one of the earlier post which simply said do the research on the company…not what negative or angry naysayers have to say.
I don’t like when people “misinform” others in order to get them to attend a Business Opportunity meeting, but I will say this: “scared $$ don’t make $$”! how many of you have spend $499 on completely nothing, with nothing to show for it? You’re scared of success, you’re being effected by negative thinking (and negative bloggers!) and you will always have your hand out for a check from your boss, point blank!
When are you people going to look at Network Marketing as a “Plan B”? If you’re foolish enough to leave your job because you got $2000, you’re a fool !
I guess Sprint was a “scam” also when they took advantage of deregulation in their initial stages also because no one heard of them either!!
Did you know what the Direct Selling Association is(which if you’re not a member, you’re NOT legit!)? LOok it up and shut up!
It’s very tiring listening to non-educated or just plain ignorant people who think EVERYBODY wants to take your little $499! The economy is tight people and when your windows of opportunity close, what the hell are you going to do if you are unfortunately unemployed like the other 600,000 people who lost their jobs this year?
I went to a meeting maybe like 6months ago I must be honset i was interested, until they start talking about that $500 i mean of you looking at it like why do i have to pay you for a job to make money but you have to realize your pretty offering services to people that they already have for a cheaper price like cell phones bills new top of the line phones internet services at cheaper rates and pretty much if you dont pay to become apart or if you dont bye into this business how can you offer these services i mean the oppourtuinty was brought to me again maybe a week ago from a really good friend and they told me if i willing to apply myself to this they will pay the $500 doallars for me and yea there doing very well in this i mean concern i do understand but if your not really willing to check it out or havent really even done research on it or even went to a meeting why what does your opinpn matter if your willing to put the work in i say it just might be worth a try and im not saying that just because someone paying for me if i had the money 6 months ago i would have done it so all you neg. nellys piss off you just mad cause you wanna try it so bad but your lazy all you wanna do is sit on your A** and say neg. shit. Peace and love and have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN
ok well, i need to get this out of the way. i have read from the top to about a quarter of the way down and a few from the botton up. a lot of you seem very educated so if if my missepelling and lack of propper grammer piss you off i apologize. some of you not so much but thats besided the point
now i have a very good friend who has been doing this 5linx for about 6 months and is doing ok. nothing impressive but he doing well for himself compaired to him 6 months ago. so he is trying to get me on board and i have met a lot of people with in 5 linx that are all very cool people and i concider them my friends. howerer, i have a strong feeling they are very fake. my friend for instance. he has changed such a great deal since he has started this rthing and i dont know if thats really him or if its him pretending to be someone else around all of his friends that are…i think i read c-level. now i dont know what exactily that means but if it means higher up then yes, his c-level friends.
so i was super stoked to do all of this but then i started hearing a lot of criticism about 5linx. now i have landed on this blog that has stats about other stats disproving these stats but then this guy failed to mention this and bullshit bullshit bullshit. i just dont even know any more. no one wants to be a sucker and that what im sketchy about. $628 my not be much to some but thats a pay check for me and i have shit to do. and on that i just recently attended a big GLA event and it cost 178 dollars to get in. no it was at the anaheim convention center so i imagine it was pretty expencive but if you company is so wealthy then why charge. the only reason i wound up going is because one of my friends payed for me. they charged everyone. even the “employees” or whaever they want to call them selves.
LMAO. It seems all the “well-educated” supporters of 5Linx seemed to disappear after comment #155.
Amyway, 2By2.net, Infinet.com, ACN, Primerica, 5Linx….they all spawn from the same shithole. I have a few random comments I’d like to make. First off, the truly successful people in these MLMs are the ones that start the pyramid from the top. Here’s how it works. Few rich slick stalking bastards come together and form their inner circle to devise a new pyramid scheme. Then they find a saturated product to hide behind, and boom they start their black magic. Once that magic starts to fade, these rich fucks that started it disband and form their own MLM companies. It’s all a game. And now you see these random people with their youtube videos trying to get you to visit their one-column quickly hashed up websites.
listen i went to there event last week so the hype but i think im smarter than that met with a lady who i know whos in it but dont know here well so dont belive her met the co founder jeb and anthony deavuex and a few others now i know the stats 97 percent fail but 3 precent makes it now i asked her after the event when i met with her to go over the company 707 document im not interested in making calls to family meet strangers and trying to sell and all the old market ways of mlm i asked here about sposorings her mood changed she seem a little upset now my question to u all because u seem to know more than me on this subject is if the object is to make et or ed or nd in a certain amount of time why not pay for me it helps me because now i know i have lost nothing so far i find customers to get me qualified and i do the same to someone else who does the same if any one here can answer these ? for me i sure would appreciate it and im not for or against this comapany as of yet just want to hear some real talk forget the hype………and also i did some research and the bbb is crap if i can find the link i will post it but all they need to do is get a answer from the comapany after someone complains and they give them a satisfactory rating and if they shake the company down to inform them if they dont pay they will post there unsatisfactory rating to me that is the fox watching the hen house but thats a different story …… and im sory for the run on sentences and mis spelling but its late thank you all and hope to get some good advice from both sides
Redd do you know how to speak good english????
Ok, listen up. 5 Linx is no different from the other, more notrious “telecommunications” company, ACN. Essentially, both companies are based off of recruitment. THERE IS NO PRODUCT..all you damn fanboys need to shutup…ILL MAKE IT VERY CLEAR:
The products offered are already provided by other companes 5Linx is a third-party in the sales of the services and phones they offer; thus for 5linx to make money, they MUST charge more. This is quite obvious, with a bit of research. Take this example:
-BlackBerry Curve 8330 Titanium
Sprint PCS Online: $569-$370=$199 (instantly online, meaning its done before checkout). Of course, this is with a new contract or a renewal.
5Linx: $99.99, wait, THATS LESS. BUT HOW??! Oh righhhttt, the one thing everyone seems to ignore is the REQUIREMENT OF A NEW ACCOUNT. Now the word “account” is VERY important here. A new ACCOUNT does not mean a new CONTRACT, oh no no no, it means you cannot have a current contract with sprint and expect to renew your contract. You need a new account, as in a person who does not currently use any sprint (or another service provider) services. OUCH, thats much harder that you thought isnt it? Try convincing your friends to cancel their phone service FOR A FEE
So what can you take away from this? Well, first we must analyze the method through which 5Linx reps “sell” their products. First of all, as a new representative, the first thing you must do is pay for the demo units. But don’t forget the fine print they DON’T read to you.
************************************************************IN REALITY, THE DEMO UNITS ARE UNITS WITH CONTRACTS, YOU ARE CHARGED MONTHLY FOR HAVING THEM, WHETHER YOU USE THEM OR NOT.
************************************************************
That’s right, you paid $500 to pay an additional $30/month. This is just for the voice DTA unit by the way, I don’t know about the video phone. (Voice DTA essentially is a phone that connects to high-speed internet to enable phone-like conversations between two units. Still, why pay an extra thirty bucks a month (on top of internet bills) when you can pay a flat fee of say, nine bucks for a microphone.
Oh and don’t forget, this extra $30/month means more residual income for, you guessed it, your upline.
Needless to say, your upline then encourages you to buy a new cell phone,for work of course. This new phone also contributes to his residual income, while you essentially just pickup another monthly bill.
After that, your upline will tell u to replace your current TV services with theirs. So if you have a contract already, that means canceling that contract (most likely for a fee), and ordering services through 5Linx. Again, you end up paying for cancellation and installation, while your upline enjoys the monthly bills you pay.
But wait, THERES MORE!
Little did you know that there are TWO PARTS to the 5Linx scheme.
First!
************************************************************
CUSTOMER POINTS (EARNED THROUGH PURCHASING SERVICES) ARE REQUIRED TO “UNLOCK” YOUR PAYCHECK, YOU WONT GET PAID UNTIL YOU’VE EARNED ENOUGH POINTS. AND OF COURSE YOUR UPLINE HAS ALREADY GOT THAT ALL FIGURED OUT, ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS BUY MORE SH**!!
************************************************************
Second!
************************************************************
THE MORE PEOPLE YOU SIGN UP, THE BIGGER YOUR BONUS! WHY? BECAUSE THE 500 NEW REPS PAY GOES TOWARD THE POOL OF BONUSES AVAILABLE!RECRUITMENT ALSO ENSURES PROMOTION, BUT DONT FORGET, YOULL NEED MORE POINTS AS WELL!!
************************************************************
So, take a second to think about this. When you add these two steps together you get a simple equation of manipulation and stealing. Those who really make money in the company are literally devoid of any ethics or morals in business. Here’s why.
To succeed in 5Linx, you need to bombard as many people as possible as quickly as possible with the proposed possibility of being rich. Then, once you have successfully signed some people up, you must encourage them and ensure them that they are on their way to success. This will help keep them from backing out before the 10-day grace period for a refund. Next, you must make your new reps will want to buy the products for themselves. How can you sell a product you dont own right?!!? WRONG! This step is crucial as it adds to your residual income and customer points- the second part of the promotions system.
So in essence this is what happens
YOU -> 3 new reps w/ their new contracts and bills= YOU with a bonus (i think its 500)
So while YOU sit pretty with your new money and watch as they eat it up, your downlines are already acquiring debts in the form of new bills.
Of course, on a larger scale, the number of bonuses and bills gets much larger
************************************************************
But wait you made money right? Ya, but at the expense of others’ FAILURES AND DEBTS.
************************************************************
Ok so you CAN make money, but not ethically.
************************************************************
TO MAKE MONEY IN 5LINX, YOU MUST BE WILLING TO COLD CALL EVERYONE ON YOUR PHONE LIST. YOU THEN MUST BE WILLING TO PITCH THEM INTO PAYING 500 DOLLARS TO ADD MORE SERVICES ON TOP OF WHAT THEY ALREADY HAVE. BE PREPARED TO LOSE MANY FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS OVER THIS.
************************************************************
So those of you fu*** who enjoy making money off of purely stolen money (as you MANIPULATE people for it), enjoy yourself while you can. Kharma will bite you in the a**. And don’t expect your SVP’s to help you when it does.
SORRY! Forgot something important.
I realize you guys will counter with “but if they don’t want to work then that’s THEIR fault.”
HAH you make me laugh. YOU, along with everyone else here, KNOWS that most of the people you recruit WONT succeed. IN FACT, if they DID, your bonuses would LOSE value as they take away from the pools. You say that people are unmotivated, but even if that is the CASE, you CONTINUE to recruit them? Why?? BECAUSE FAILED REPS MEANS MORE INCREMENTS OF MONEY FOR YOU AND NO LOSSES FROM YOUR BONUSES…
AH, and here you thought you were being successful.
ryan i understand your your point, heres mine if its possible to make any profit then you have lost nothing and if u can teach others to do the same whats wrong with that.. Lets take sprint they have been ripping people off for years i’m not sold on 5 linx im still doing research but if there services is better than lets say att or most other porviders wheres the harm i understand that there are hidden fees or there things in their fine print but how is that different from any other company. AND IF 5 LINX ISNT A GOOD COMPANY CAN SOMEONE REFER ME TO ONE THAT IS
I’d like to start by thanking the people who’ve opened up this obviously controversial topic; thanks to the water buffalo press, handsomeswede and ghost of hst. I am ashamed to say that i once was affiliated with this organization of pocket-pickers. Funny thing is, one of the people I tried in vain to make my “business partner” was a close friend who mentioned this blog to me after i had taken him to a seminar. He was still a bit skeptical, so he got on the net and found this precious source of information I wish I would have stumbled upon before making the decision to fork over $628 to become wealthy, financially independant blah blah blah. I was informed of this “opportunity” by an acquaintance, attended a seminar and convinced this was it; this was my break. It took only days to realize that I had agreed to become a recruiter/telemarketer/SPAM mailer- TO MY OWN FAMILY AND FRIENDS NONETHELESS!!! I was never informed of the $50/month web hosting fee’s, 10 day grace period (I tried to bail out assuming there was the traditional 30 day), or even the monthly charge on THE 5LINX VISA CARD that they use to “pay” you. Because of this, i was barraged with overdraft fees which set me back even further!!! When I approached my upline about this, he gave me the run around, had me call this number and that number, all to get the same response. I found myself thinking of who i could basically screw over to regain my losses, and realized that’s probably how this whole marketing strategy was invented. Few basic steps of success? Step 1. Give hope dreams promises and aspirations Step 2. Feed notable “facts” 3. Sit back and collect. Isn’t that fraud? … ISN”T FRAUD ILLEGAL?!!! I’ve counted my losses, got a REAL JOB at a desk, typing away all day as a translator for a successful business, making money the good, honest, traditional way- EARNING IT. And if that never gets me a mansion, a personal jet, or a fucking bentley- FINE! I’D RATHER BE POOR AND INNOCENT THAN RICH AND GUILTY. This is an association where everyone except the ones at the top are racing to find someone to exploit, someone to inject with false hope and aspirations, someone to GET RICH OFF OF. And although I am disgusted by that type of person, I pity them; they’re only trying to make up for their losses.
Oh, and redd; sprint, the company who you say is and has been ripping people off, came to be by the same means. Turns out they used to be South Pacific Railroad INTernational, and used this exact method to get where they are today. Hm, how funny… 5linx taught me that… i guess it wasn’t a total waste of my time/money. pffffffffffft.
I have a friend of 33 years who has become involved with 5linx. She has tried to recruit me on several occasions. I have repeatedly told her that I am not interested in this business “opportunity” but she still insists on bringing it up every time I talk to her. It is getting to the point that I dread talking to her. I have no problem with people who want to do this type of thing, but if I tell you that I am not interested; then that should be the end of the conversation. I listened to her sales pitch and I was not impressed. I have never been interested in sales of any kind. I am a high school Social Studies Teacher and I love my job. I know this may sound strange, but I do not want to be a millionaire. I like my life. If I get laid off, I will take that time to further improve myself or find some other type of work. I tried to explain to her that 5linx was not the only answer. I think she has become desperate because she put her money into this and it has turned out to be not what she expected. She is trying to recruit a friend who has four children, was recently laid off, and who is living in Section 8 housing. This woman cannot afford to give up $500.00 of her income, but this has not stopped my friend from trying to recruit her. This makes me sad. I came to this website to find out information that would once and for all get her off my back. I want my friend back. I do not want a sales pitch every time I talk to her. I agree with 5linxsmells I do not need the promise of a Bentley to make me happy.
“The love of money is the root of all evil”
I am sorry but some of you people are absolutely ridiculous. I have recently signed up for 5linx and am skeptical and have my doubts but some of the stuff I read here is just dumb. Some of you guys talk about getting rich and Bentleys and BMWs and get rich quick. I have been in sales for a long time and know that the best way to grow your organization is to offer a competitive product at a good price and provide good service. On VOIP 5linx has the best pricing next to Vonage. If Google and NetMeeting and all these other companies have this technology why does Vonage have over 3 million subscribers? The smart person would say I want a piece of that business. Land lines will be a thing of the past. For example I already have a Verizon hard line phone at home which I pay over 50 bucks a month for. Why is Verizon trying to get me to switch to Fios? They are already getting my money for the hardline. It is just where technology is headed. We are just hearing about 3g networks superfast internet for phones. Do you know they are already and have been for some time now working on 4g. The average person would not know that.
Example 2. Any good business knows that good people know good people. My day job right now will pay me $1000 for finding an employe that will saty at the job for a number of months. Who better to find liek minded individuals than people who are already doing the job. Why spend money on advertisments and ads when you can just offer incentives to the people who try to grow your company. People give this too much thought. It is an opportunity. No one can force you.
My first job when I moved to MD I made 25k. I took a job selling appliances at 100% commission and made 55k my first year. If they had told me the potential earnings and then said you have to pay us $500 for us to hired you I more than likely would have said yes. It was a 30K increase.
In 5linx, you can make your $500 back in the first 30 days.
People think that it is a get rich quick scheme. You have to work. I know a few people that are willing to take a risk and work hard to earn a few extra bucks. I am tired of typing but some of you are ridiculous. If its not for you then leave it alone. Pre-Paid Legal, Avon, Mary Kay, Tupperware, Cutco, ACN, 5linx and the list goes on. They are viable opportunities that could work for some. If you dont try or dont want to offer the services products or saving to people who may legitimately need it then its your loss. If 5linx was selling a phone for 100 bucks cheaper than their carrier why would they not buy it from 5linx. Its apples to apples. If not then so be it. Let them spend more than they have to. Whether its phones, watches or peanuts. If I knew of a way to offer it for cheaper than the competition I will set up shop to sell. Yall talking bout scam and pyramid. Yes I believe that the new peoples money helps fund some higher ups but so what. If I made an additional 5k for the year for selling a few products and suggesting the business to like minded individuals then I am good. I refuse to work till I am 65. An opportunity is an opportunity. Take it or leave it alone. When these people who offered you the opportunity start showing some success you will wish you listened. But instead you will be “happy” working your 9-5. Thats not for me.
For me to even consider this investment or opportunity or scam or whatever you personally want to call it I have to have three solid reassurances:
1) The services are actually cheaper than what is already on the market and flexible meaning a “no cancellation fee option”. It’s possible with telecommunications because AT&T offers DSL without a commitment.
2) The products are completely refundable. I can take a risk and make an investment, but it’s wrong for me to impose that risk on my customers. Who would reasonably trust someone to sell them a product that they can’t completely refund in a 30-90 time frame? You won’t know if your service is crap in less than 30 days. People only get a bill once a month. If I told you to buy my product but you might lose money even if you’re unhappy with the equipment or service then I look like a conartist. Like those people who sell you gold rings and when you find out its not real gold you can’t find them to make a return. At least with the Cutco it’s completely refundable. The 150 you put into the company for your set you can get back anytime by just returning the set AND your customers can return the products at any time without risk.
3)This is the cheapest option. I can build my own website for free. I don’t need 500 to do that. If I can call my friend in Iraq for free through my yahoo im and see him on a 10$ web cam because my laptop comes with a microphone…why would I need to spend 25 a month for the phone service, 200 for the phone and convince all my friends and family members to do the same? Because let’s face it, yahoo is free but this service is not and it’s worthless if you’re the only one in your family with it.
I’ll do more research. But a sales person has to first look at things like a consumer. Forget the Bently and the opportunity for a second and see if just the products and services are fiscally the best of the best. If you want to take advantage of people go ahead, but I’m not that way. I’m only attaching my name to the best that’s out there.
MLM to me, are all schemes.
Why should i pay someone $500 for a job?
All I can say is with the economy being the way it is, if you are going to get involved in MLM make sure it’s a product or service that people really need and can’t live without. Also make sure it’s a financially sound company that will probably be around for a long time. And then are there any competitors? If so, how many? Are there several ways to market (personal website, hand out tools, personal market, businesses, companies)? In other words, who will buy and will people be able to afford it? Use common sense. Don’t pay out a lot of money up front that you can’t make back right away. Can you find people who will see the value in the product or service so they will be willing to offer it to someone else. Have people you recruit use the product or service to see that it really is something that works for them so they can tell other people from personal experience. Many jobs are on their way out. Homebased businesses are the way of the future. We are being replaced by computers. Has anyone heard of the robot nurse in the hospitals that can take your vitals by wireless means. Everybody had better have something in their back pocket that can bring in additional streams of income. There are a lot of homeless people out there.
Help your children grow up being familiar with ownership rather than being job oriented. Once you get bitten by ownership, there’s no turning back. God Bless anyone who has the courage to step out and have something of their own. In order to succeed, you sometimes have to fail. Regarding 5linx, I was just introduced to it and came across this blog. I don’t know enough about it to recommend it but I have something else that I do. It’s Prepaid Legal and ID Theft protection which is the best homebased business available that works. Go with what works. But you have to get up off your rump and make it happen. We sell ourselves everyday on our jobs. Anyone can do this business.
Check this out what kind of services this company do
http://www.ripoffreport.com/searchresults.asp?submit22=Search+All+The+Latest+Rip-Off+Reports+Now%21&q1=ALL&q2=&q3=&q4=&q5=globalinx&q6=&q7=&searchtype=0
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/436/RipOff0436884.htm
ur an idiot. do the research and then make the comments. and please refrain from comparing anything to the simpsons if you want to be taken seriously.
What’s scam or a pyramid, I’m being (sarcastic). That’s what everyone say’s so tired, of reading that “garbage” is a business like any other business, your not gonna become rich over night for the skeptics, it takes time and hard work,Like when you start any other business. Problem is alot of you guys got involved with some business it didn’t work out, your mad at the world so now you wanna hate on any other company that’s successful.
$500.00 is a Franchise fee, to own a partnership the company 5linx is giving you the opportunity to invest, like if you invested in Mcdonalds over 50 years ago.That’s pretty cheap, years ago i tried starting my own tshirt company, $4000.00 dolllars $500 is no comparison Fyi..
All this crap makes me sick, people have no idea what they are talking about. I used to work for a company that paid me $200 for referring a new employee that worked there for 90 days, and as we were always short of people, they were always hiring. I made an average of $1000 a month just from my referral bonuses, then my hourly wage, then my performance bonuses. My W-2 from my last year there was for $23000 for my hourly, and $18000 from all my different bonuses. But most of the people I worked with just got their hourly and constantly bitched that they weren’t making enough. And do you know why? Because they were too F@#KING LAZY to get off their ass and put forth the effort! Even to do their job WELL and get the $6000 a year bonuses just for doing their job!
I’m currently working as a truck driver, and I train new drivers. I’m an Owner-Operator, which means I lease from the company. That means I pay the company to work for them. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid; If I work HARD, I get paid BANK. After my trainees go out on their own, I get paid $0.03 per mile they drive for their first 6 months(That’s an extra $360 per month per trainee). I also get a bonus if they become an Owner-Operator, however, being an Owner-Operator is not for everyone. If you don’t like to work, if you like to take lots of time off, if you don’t know how to budget, if you don’t plan ahead, if, if, if….. You won’t make it as an Owner Operator…
The same principles apply to any other endeavor. I have done MLM in the past, and I did well with it, BECAUSE I was focused on WHAT I NEEDED TO DO in order to make MONEY!! If you aren’t doing well in MLM, there is probably a reason- laziness(you don’t talk to EVERYONE about the product and/or the oppurtunity), fear(of rejection or disapproval[what others think of you]), or just lack of enthusiasm(why should someone be excited when you aren’t?) Whenever I gained a new customer or downline rep, I would give them 5 of my business cards and ask them to give the extras to friends or aquaintances that might be interested in the product or opportunity. Also, I spent HOURS talking with my upline, picking their brains. I also read quite a few sales books. One of the best out there in my opinion is by John F. Lawhon- The Selling Bible: For People in the Business of Selling. I HIGHLY recommend reading this book to anyone in ANY sales job. I credit this book with making me one of the top salesmen with the most reapeat and referral customers in every company I’ve worked for in a sales position. Here is the link to it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Bible-People-Business/dp/096167363X
Sorry my rant has gone one so long, I just despise people who try to pull other people down because THEY don’t have the drive to do something. Columbus, the Wright brothers, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Donald Trump- THEY all had people tell them they were crazy, that it wasn’t worth it, etc. Speaking of The Donald (as he is known in New York) He has said many, Many, MAny, MANy, MANY times “If I lost EVERYTHING and had to build my way back up to the top, I WOULD JOIN A NETWORK MARKETING COMPANY” Why? Because he knows that it is a way to become rich, IF YOU HAVE THE DESIRE, COMMITMENT, AND ATTITUDE to work the business and build it. Most people quit trying after 3-4 NOs. If you want to succeed in any type of sales, you need to realize that you might go through NINETY-NINE (yes, 99) NOs to get just ONE YES!!
Any comments? message me at http://www.myspace.com/danieltenneson don’t bother adding me as a friend, I only add people I know, or a friend of a friend. Sorry.
Just an FYI…I get a 1099 in my sales position though I work in radio, because I am sub contracted to sell their products and services. Generally, commission only employees do get a 1099, ask any realtor….
I used to be in 5linx and I liked the concept initially but to make people think that anyone can do this is totally misleading. First of all everyone don’t have have enough friends and family who will help you make money or be willing to change their services to save a few pennies or just to help you out. Second you can talk till your blue in the face to people and if they don’t like you personally it don’t matter what your selling, they won’t buy. Third I got a problem with up lines doing all they can to suck you into their organization and then leave you high and dry. They say they will help you then once you give your money they send you to the university. What happened to the personal help of the recruiter? How did you make it buddy? Don’t tell me, show me! If you don’t make them money their practice is to leave you alone your not worth their time. But its not like that when they bust their tails to recruit you. They are not baby sitters which is their favorite line, that jansou aren’t doing the
I’ve read page after page of this volley in search of truth .I AM a successful network business owner .There isn’t much out there that I’ve not tried or know about.You learn quickly from failure and disapointment and you become very skilled in analysis.Just today, someone asked me to attend a peresentation of a business opportunity.They told me that thier ” business partner would be coming to help show it to me ” .They were not brave enough to answer me when I asked the fatal question ” what is it ?” .The only reply was ” I’ts an MLM , and thier products are exclusive to them ” . I immediatly started my investigation and due diligence and ended up here.
I can tell you from experience people,MLM stands for “MAKE LITTLE MONEY”.Thier structure builds this way: (1)they make money on signing up people (2)you build your so called business in a horizontal layer (3) often you are paid on levels and when you’ve NOT met that quota at the end of the month, they wipe it out and you have to start all over again (4)The guy at the top makes ALL the decisions( so where is the “FREEDOM “). When someone in your horizontal structure does well, they BREAK them away from your business group and you have to rebuild all over again.(5) Thier uplines (or) senior partners (whatever they call them)often compete against each other and break off on thier own leaving partners (or ) distributors high and dry.They talk of support and training but when they get your money, try getting support or training out of them.
These kinds of opportunists are always suspect and give a bad name to good network companies.We don’t pratice or tolerate any of those behaviors.I did some checking and found that this opportunity the person wnated me to look at is in facr 5lynx. I see nothing that would attract me to this company over my currnet network business.
MILAR
Milar,
What company is it that you are involved with?, If you don’t mind me asking. There is much money to be made in the industry if you get involved with the right company! Also, companies with breakaway bonuses are a must. I love that, doesn’t matter how successful you help someone become, you still get paid! Of coarse they get the majority which is great. Although I believe I’m in the best company since sliced bread, I do keep an open mind. I thought 5 linx was pretty credible and had a compensation plan that I did not end up chuckling at when I compared to our plan(which hasn’t been topped). Input please?
I have never read so much egotistical and empty rhetoric in my life. If you don’t want to be subjected to marketing, direct selling, advertising on any level I suggest you go live in the woods and barter with the animals and mother nature.
Direct Selling is as old as time…when farmer’s traded cows for chickens or hell milk for eggs from my neighbor…then my neighbor told me that if I went to his neighbor I could get beef for my eggs as well as milk imagine that….wow…somebody told somebody else about what I offer and bang!!! we are in business…we eliminate the middle mand and make a buck…what a simple concept. Instead we are here debating about the tax issues, scamming and the biggest scan is all of us getting up everyday trading hours for limited dollars and giving uncle sam the biggest cut of it all…
ya’ll need to run blog on the government and stop tripping….
i’ll be out there selling making the dollars that allows me financial freedom…Some will!! Some won’t!!! So What!!! Who’s Next
5LINX BABY~~~
won’t be back for anymore dialogue…happened on this site by chance…wont’ be wasting my hours here….time for 5LINX
YEAH!!!!!
Most MLM’s including “5stinx” are total BS. Only brash care for only themselves arrogant, obnoxious idiots need apply. You have to be a complete retard to believe any of this nonsense. 5linx is the Amway of the digital age. They use questionable ethics to get people to attend their witch doctor meetings, hosted by a “Senior Vice President.”
SVP my ass, these shylocks are nothing more than a bunch of spin doctor voodoo scientists, who couldn’t hold the SVP title in ANY legitimate company. They should be shut down.
This is a scam operating, for all the world, as a legitimate business. The scam is that is charges people hundreds or thousands of dollars for the opportunity to make money by recruiting other people to buy into the opportunity to recruit others to recruit others. In short, it is a chain letter. The money is laundered through fees and purchases of products. None of the products are unique. All are grossly overpriced. Built into the products is a 40-60% margin that is passed up the chain.
The pay plan is a classic chain letter in which last ones in send money to those above. They are induced to try to recruit others to send them money. The majority of all “commissions” wind up into the hands of the top 1%. This is done with an elaborate “commission” formula and due to the fact that the vast majority of people involved are ALWAYS in the lower ranks. They churn each year at a 50-70% rate. So, money comes in, for fees and products. Sales are driven by the bogus income promise. The income is based on “endless” enrollment — similar to Madoff’s plan of paying earlier investors with later ones, which requires more and more of the later ones — of new “salespeople.”
The main revenue source for all this is the money paid in by sales people themselves in fees and product purchases. No one makes a profit (almost no one) from actually retailing the products. Money is earned by getting more people to become “salespeople.”
See http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs034/1101777062460/archive/1102422173232.html
What makes all this so meaningful is that 5Linx is just one of hundreds of similar companies. It is a verifiable fact that 99% of all the participants never earn a profit in any of these schemes. They all use essentially the same pay formula and structure. The loss rates are guaranteed by this kind of plan and structure. 5Linx is a spinoff of another called ACN, which has Donald Trump as its spokesman, although now Trump is starting his own. ACN spun off from earlier versions, etc. This kind of classic fraud, employing the endless chain trick, is now part of the business fabric. Through direct lobbying, the government has been silenced from regulation. Fraud now enters our lore and business culture as a “business” . What was swindle is now “sales.”
well… two years after the story came out… how many employees has 5linx created jobs for?
i went to a 5link presentation about 2 weeks ago. the person at that actually hosts the seminar was already wealthy before he joined 5links, and he also owns 4 othe buisnesses. they usually use washed up athletes or wealthy people to lure you in. but what i noticed about the training which was so obvious they paid people to sit in the audience to be their hype men. for an example. (they sat some ghetto ass chick next to me and every time the ed or et wqhatever stated a benefit she would say ” for real” or “oh sign me up right now”. she did a terrible acting job. but to me it was not neccessary, because for the 1st time out of like 5 other companies (quickstar) this was the only company that offered a product that i can actually sell (the video phone)and plus you get $50 for every phone that you sell. it sounds wonderful but i am so glad that i read the blog before i signed up because like the host mentioned i would like to see the average earnings for all of the sellers. also i didnt know about the fees for the credit card. this may not be good for someone who is broke it seems to benefit the one that are financially established. because if you got dough people are going to follow you because they are thinking that they are going to reach that level. think about it. the guy who gave the seminar owns 4 shipping companies before he joined 5 links. so all he has to do is fall back but i have to keep in mind that it wasnt 5links that got him that escalade. and i would like to enter into the company the way he did. it just seems that the money is for the guys at the top because the focus was on bringing in new members. so think about that instead of 5links paying for marketing, 5links is being paid for marketing (crazy SH!T). $500 to sign up and the main focus is recruiting more people at the price tag of $500 per person. that is $1,000,000 for every 2 thousand people that join. when they make their quota the price to join will be slashed in half and after that then you start seeing commercials about 5links at that point it is way too late. so at this point may fall back to see how my friend does but i hope it will not be to late to make money at that point. i would love to read testimony from someone who is lower level meber of 5links. because no one has come one here and said “i love the company and i ahve made x amount of dollars in X amount of time. it seems like the people at the top of chain are the ones responding to this blog because all they seem to do was defend 5links instead of telling us what we want to know.
something tells me that people like Real world^ are going to be just simple 5link customers in 2 years. costco didnt do any marketing. they relied on word of mouth. but the thing is they didnt have people trying to recruite people to recruite peopl hoping to make a profit off of the info.
No economic venture is a sure thing, certainly not for everybody. All of us will fail, more than once. Consider that a major league hitter who succeeds only 30-40% of the time is considered Hall of Fame material, so great is the skill required “to hit a round ball with a round bat,” as Ted Williams put it.
Not surprisingly, baseball has almost as many detractors as network marketing. I won’t question the motives of those on either side of the discussion, although I do take exception to the rather uncivil tone of several posts. Since I know people still making money in Amway, the grandfather of MLMs, I’m inclined to believe it isn’t simply a pyramid scheme. And I say that as someone who hasn’t got anything good to say about my encounters with the folks involved with Amway. So I’m not surprised to learn that there are a lot of people with terrible opinions about 5linx, especially those who have no facts or first-hand knowledge upon which to base those opinions.
As an aside, to illustrate what I mean, when my son began writing to me about “Fahrenheit 9/11,” of which I’d seen several clips, I pointed out misstatements I’d noted in those clips. My son emailed me, “You can’t critique Michael Moore’s movie if you haven’t seen it.” So my wife and I drove to Dallas and, with notepad in hand, I paid close attention to Moore’s opus. By the end, I had 13 falsehoods or distortions which could be confirmed through other sources. I don’t know if it changed my son’s mind, but he was impressed that I took him up on his challenge and listened to my case with respect.
Similarly, some of the posters are simply scandalmongers who have nothing better to do than complain. Most likely, they post in a similar vein to several other blogs as well. Their lives are too small and narrow for them to engage in more intellectually and spiritually (in the most general sense) rewarding pursuits. Hey! Go to the zoo. Watch a movie. Read an intellectually challenging book by someone with whom you disagree. Join a discussion group with REAL people. If you’re so inclined, join a church or an ethical society.
As for 5linx, one thing that hasn’t been mentioned, but which is significant, is that people are not “forced” to recruit new distributors for 5linx. Many who sign up with the company are customers only, and many engage strictly in retail. These retailers may, or may not, sign up new distributors. I say “may” because it’s possible that a new customer, once he or she recognizes the income potential of being an independent marketing rep, is likely to ask how to become one.
I know one Customer Representative (sales only) here in Arlington, TX who focuses exclusively on sales and service of 5linx products (primarily VoIP). He makes around $4,000 per month (which is based on the time and effort he puts into the business and isn’t “typical” for every CR; their income will depend on how successful their own sales efforts are).
Having worked in life and health insurance sales, I concur with those who say sales isn’t easy and certainly isn’t for everyone. I suggest it is a bit easier if you’re selling a tangible item like phone service. However, just as someone’s success isn’t typical, neither is someone’s abject failure. Basketball great Michael Jordan said, “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
That’s why I take all the whining “5linx deceived me” stories with a grain of salt. Just like those folks who signed up for Adjustable Rate Mortgages and now believe they deserve special treatment, I suggest you think before you speak.
Were there some crooked lenders? Undoubtedly there were, and they should be prosecuted. There were also some greedy borrowers who saw a chance to get something for nothing (or nearly so). Are there network marketers who oversell the business? Yes, I’ve heard some. As to the complaint that “if you don’t produce, they say you’re not worth the time and move on,” you’ll find that in nearly every selling field — and in sports, for that matter.
In the case of 5linx, everyone who failed or finds fault with it charges it with being a “pyramid scheme.” Since such arrangements are illegal, and since there are apparently so many of you out there (Swede, Millar, Anonymous, et al.), why not take your case to the Attorney General; or, you can file a civil suit with your own attorney; or, you can go to the Federal Trade Commission Consumer Protection Division.
I’ll tell you what I know about legit companies – being 24 and gotten to work and talk to many legit bussiness owners – especially when I’m studying to become a Master in Science and Engineering Physics – I know when it feels “right”.
Nothing felt right from the start to the end.
At firts I was contacted through my cell phone around 14 pm.
A guy named Jan asked me if I was employed, I answered no, he told me he had looked me up at the website for te unemployment office and needed my email for a job offer. This is nothing strange, but everything after this is what makes it odd.
He tells me that he’s “taking a chance” (implying he’s laying himself on the line for my sake) and inviting me to a conference. He made it sound like it was crucial I did not miss it. He went on saying he would email me in 4 hours with all his contacts and more information on what it was all about.
I didn’t get the email until 7-8 hours later.
All it said was the location to the conference and a time for when I should be there. This link was also included in the mail: http://telebild.se/
The button that says “Om oss” means “About us” as in “about the company”.
Now usually, that part of a company’s website is THE wall of text from the deepest reaches from hell and they always go into great detail about they being the leading company in their field and that they’re gonna rule the world.
Usually in so many words that you won’t have the time to read it all through.
This site has like 3 lines. That’s it. 3 Lines.
It all felt very odd. But being unemployed and the government breathing down my neck to get a job – I had no choice but to attend.
2 Days later it was time for the conference, Jan even sms me to make sure I won’t forget the conference on hour before it started.
I arrived 5 mins before it started, when I noticed more people were invited than myself – I thought it would either be 1) A pyramid scam or 2) A new company eager to make themselves known. Either way it would be a waste of time.
As we sat there and they got into what it was all about – the words “Pyramid Scam” wchoed between the walls. They showed the product, and how it worked, and I was actually impressed about it. Sure it was way over-priced, and they tried making VoIP sound like it was invented yesterday, but I thought there might actually be a market for the small portable phone with a decent framerate and detail.
But as you’ve all said – they talked almost only about getting people in – recruiting people – more than the phone itself. All they talked about was “The more you recruit the more you earn without having to do anything”. They hardly said anything except you had to sell atleast 6 units of the phone at the beginning.
To be honest it sounded like I was being drafted by Scientologists. Especially when they said “No one’s leaving this room before everyone’s got their questions answered” also making it sound we had no choice but to sign the papers before we leave. They said over and over “…Let’s get these papers signed quickly and get you guys started.” like we had no choice.
When I read their contract, and saw I had to pay $260 (half of $500 because of some summer campaing) I thought it was because they were giving me stuff to get started. But for that I had to pay $800. (Since when did you pay for a job?)
I was excited, because I thought this product might have a good chance of actually going well with their prices for the VoIP (excluding the price of the phone whihc is over-priced) but it all just felt wrong – from the way I was introduced there to almost getting forced to sign a contract without getting anything.
I told them I had no money and could not afford to start a bussiness with them, they then asked if I had a credit card or anything like that. It also felt very wrong, because with the high interest rate on credit charges I would almost immediately be in very high debt.
I finally got out of there – disappointed.
I liked the product, and I wouldn’t mind working for them legitimately as a Tech-Support guy or as a legit. retailer or salesman because I believed in the product but I won’t want anything to do with pyramid schemes.
I have but one thing to say about 5Linx. I have a friend who keeps on coming around my house bragging about how much money he’s making since he joined 5linx. What strikes me is that if he’s making so much money why keep on bugging me so much about joining? It’s been all talks about joining for $495 and be on my way to making the big bucks and get a free car from the company. He keeps on making it sound effortless to make the money. He does not talk much about the products, the focus is always on joining and get more people to join. At this point I must say it smellls more like trouble than an opportunity.