Back in 2008, I asked if MonaVie was a scam and with over 6500 comments from readers I came to the conclusion that MonaVie was a scam. Specifically, I showed that “MonaVie is a grossly overpriced product, with little nutritional value, wrapped in a poor business opportunity that appears to be illegal pyramid scheme, supported by nonsensical ‘scientific’ studies and illegal medical claims.” In years of research it was one of the top 5 scams I’ve encountered.
As pyramid schemes are known to do, MonaVie collapsed as shown by Google Trends. At its peak it claimed to be doing a billion dollars a year in sales. A couple of months ago, they announced the “exciting news” that they have been bought by a company called Jeunesse Global. Except that like everything with MonaVie, they can’t even sell themselves properly and a a judge may block the “FORECLOSURE“ so that MonaVie employees can get value for their stock.
When your company is foreclosed upon it is hardly worth writing “exciting news” in a press release… especially if it leaves your employees with worthless stock.
The MonaVie article tops my blog with 6500+ comments.
However, comments on my blog about Jeunesse go back to 2012 and I now that I have had a few people email me asking about the company. It’s time to review Jeunesse to see if it is a scam.
Jeunesse Products
I thought about doing some extensive research into the products, but in writing about the business (see below), I had almost 2000 words which is a considerable review.
Also, after reviewing dozens of MLM companies, I’ve found that in EVERY case the products are vastly overpriced and the distributors claim that it is because they are of superior quality. The attempt is to push the discussion towards a subjective quality discussion rather than address that pricing is reflective of the admission ticket to the “business opportunity/pyramid scheme.”
This is why you don’t see any MLM television companies. It’s almost always “lotions and potions.” And of course Jeunesse is no different. And of course the FTC used warn of MLMs using lotions and potions (PDF). They’ve broadened the writing now to cover other MLMs, but it is telling that Jeunesse is another “lotions and potions” MLM.
At some point I could see spending more time on the products themselves, but after Nerium and Rodan and Fields, I have little interest in looking to skin creams. It’s too easy for distributors to Photoshop before and after pictures and say, “See… it works!”
I could spend more time on their AM and PM pills. Their Telomere Maintenance Complex and Stem Cell Maintenance Complex is laughable.
Jeunesse Finiti is much more interesting with the TA-65 that I’ve seen distributors marketing. Look at all the warnings on the on the WikiPedia page for it. And Nature has an article where experts say that it isn’t tested. Also, there’s the evidence it evidence it has been linked to cancer.
This is all stuff I could find in just a few minutes looking at TA-65. In the future, maybe I’ll spend a couple of hours and expand this section.
The Business of Jeunesse
A lot of people ask me about the business of a particular MLM. In most cases the answer isn’t particularly quick. In this case, there is pretty obvious, irrefutable evidence that Jeunesse is a scam. The majority of comes from the secret backroom deals. After that I’ll comment more on Jeunesse’s compensation plan.
Secret Backroom Deals for the People at the Top
The office of lawyer Thompson Burton, who typically works for MLM companies, is actually suing Jeunesse on behalf of its client.
While that link only presents one side of the story, you can clearly see that Jeunesse’s Darren Jensen engaged in providing at least one special undocumented deal for high-level distributor Matt Nestler. These secret deals to bring over high-level distributors and their downlines creates a misrepresentation of the business. These people are held up as success stories in that MLM for new distributors to see as examples. However, they are given preferential spots at the top instead of doing the work of a new distributor. I’ve never this described in any MLM compensation plan.
The dispute between Nestler and Jeunesse reached the level where the police had to be brought in. BehindMLM suggests, and I agree, that it looks like Jeunesse set up Nestler to take his lucrative downline, especially because he passed the polygraph tests.
Combine the secret, favoritism deals and the shenanigans of murder accusations and potentially stealing a distributor’s business and I’d want nothing to do with Jeunesse.
The Jeunesse Compensation Plan
I found this 4 minute video on the Jeunesse Compensation plan:
The actual compensation is actually much more complex with bonuses for top earners and the need to understand terms like Commissionable Volume (CV) and Personal Volume. And don’t get me started on Group Volume and Personal Group Volume.
When you’ve seen the number of MLM compensation plans that I have, you get an idea for when things don’t add up. For example, the video says that you don’t earn any money until you recruit people on the left and the right. This seems like a good time to bring up the The FBI’s definition of a pyramid scheme:
More specifically, pyramid schemes—also referred to as franchise fraud or chain referral schemes—are marketing and investment frauds in which an individual is offered a distributorship or franchise to market a particular product. The real profit is earned, not by the sale of the product, but by the sale of new distributorships. Emphasis on selling franchises rather than the product eventually leads to a point where the supply of potential investors is exhausted and the pyramid collapses. At the heart of each pyramid scheme is typically a representation that new participants can recoup their original investments by inducing two or more prospects to make the same investment. Promoters fail to tell prospective participants that this is mathematically impossible for everyone to do, since some participants drop out, while others recoup their original investments and then drop out.
In this case, recruiting two people doesn’t recoup your investment. You need to get 600CV on one side and 300CV on the other to earn a measly $35. I found an interesting PDF chart of prices and CVs from what appears to be one distributor. It seems like to earn 200 CV you have to get someone else to be spending around $300 on “autoshipped” product every month. So if you get 600 of that ($900 every month) on one side and 400 of that ($600 every month) on the other side, you get $35. So if you balance everything well and you get people to spend ~$1500 every month, you can get $35. As best I can tell, that $35 isn’t even enough to pay for your own qualification to earn commissions.
It’s worth noting that I’ve seen every presentation points out that you can earn 750 of these $35 cycles every week or $26,250 a week. However earning a single $35 “cycle” appears to be extraordinarily difficult from the math above. Do this extraordinarily difficult thing 750 times each week and you can make a boatload of money. They may point out that some people actually do it, but they’d be ignoring the fact that they are at the top and essentially get to start out with it already done for them (see the secret backroom deals listed above).
The point is that these presentations go out of their way to sell high numbers such as $26,250 a week or even $105,000 a month. Such as this one:
These presentations appear to be breaking the FTC guidelines of endorsements, by stressing “what’s possible” instead of “what’s typical” and they don’t have the necessarily disclaimers.
Is the Jeunesse Compensation a Pyramid Scheme?
That’s a great question. I gave you the FBI definition above. Given that alone, I would say it does appear to be a pyramid scheme.
However, the FTC has it’s own MLM/pyramid scheme guidelines which have some overlap:
“Not all multilevel marketing plans are legitimate. If the money you make is based on your sales to the public, it may be a legitimate multilevel marketing plan. If the money you make is based on the number of people you recruit and your sales to them, it’s not. It’s a pyramid scheme. Pyramid schemes are illegal, and the vast majority of participants lose money… Avoid any plan where the reward for recruiting new distributors is more than it is for selling products to the public. That’s a time-tested and traditional tip-off to a pyramid scheme… One sign of a pyramid scheme is if distributors sell more product to other distributors than to the public — or if they make more money from recruiting than they do from selling.”
When I watch those videos about the Jeunesse compensation plan, they spend all the time explaining about how you recruit people to the left or right, only briefly mentioning selling product if at all. It seems clear to me they are pushing you towards recruiting (bad) and not selling to the public (good). It doesn’t seem like they should be mentioning earning $25,000+ per week in commissions from a downline. In order for that independent distributorship to be legitimate and not a pyramid scheme, someone earning that would have to be working extremely hard to earn more than that through sales to the public (according to the FTC guidelines above).
For me, the FBI and the FTC words are enough, but I like this video which gives a little more detail about pyramid schemes:
I’m not sure what else needs to be said on the topic.
Quick Takes on Jeunesse
Here are some random things that I found that I thought were interesting. It’s a potpourri of information.
Jeunesse Executive Team
This is kind of a bonus section because I thought it was odd/funny.
The Jeunesse website makes a point to highlight their Executive Team. I found it interesting that after the CEO and COO they put the CLO and CVO. These people are ahead of the CFO, the Chief Financial Officer. Go ahead and search Google for CLO and CVO. I’ll wait. Didn’t find Chief Legal Officer or Chief Visionary Officer did you? Me either. Feel free to insert your own lawyer joke, but it’s hard to believe that they’d put CLO (or CVO for that matter) that high up on the totem pole.
What about Jeunesse and the Inc. Magazine 5000?
I think it was just two weeks ago that I explained this in my Plexus article and that built on the research I did when MonaVie was in the Inc. Magazine’s 500. As covered above, that wasn’t a sign of success. In fact, the company declined soon after getting the ranking.
In the world of MLM companies often “pop and drop.” At the start, they hype everything and people believe it is going to be the next big thing and rush to jump on board as its growing. However, once it becomes clear that each person would have to recruit many, many other people to make any significant money… and can’t recruit them… it drops.
So MLM companies can make the Inc. Magazine 5000 which measures revenue growth, but they don’t sustain it. It doesn’t stop them putting a badge on their website though… as if to say, “Hey we are legit!”
The reality is that Inc. Magazine wrote about how bad MLM is back in 1998.
My Gift to You
If you’ve read this far, I appreciate your dedication. Whether you found what you were looking for or not in the article above, I want to help you with your financial situation. It’s what I do.
Here are two things you can do to put yourself in a better financial position:
- Create an Emergency Fund – Dobot squirrels small amounts of money from your checking account to its FDIC-insured account. It’s 100% free. You simply have to create a goal of having an emergency fund. You don’t have to think about it and you’ll likely never notice the small amount of money being moved. I’ve squirreled away more than $1100. You can read my Dobot review here.
- Track Your Money – Over the years, I’ve gathered so many financial accounts. Banks, Brokerages, Loans, I got multiple of them all. The best software for tracking them all is Personal Capital. You can’t get to your destination if you don’t know where you are to start. Personal Capital gives you that… and, like Dobot, it is completely free.
For more, visit my five minute financial fixes article. If neither of the above is helpful, I’m sorry. I appreciate you for just being here. The person recruiting you has a financial incentive to present only one side of the story. Kudos to you for searching for more information to make an informed decision.
My friend, who is fired up about Monavie, is now extra fired up about Jeunesse. And here I thought that Monavie was the greatest ever…ha ha….Lets see what company fires them up next year.
I’m so sick and tired of seeing stuff and Jeunesse on my Facebook News Feed. Trying to bring more people in. And, if you don’t listen to them or do what they recommend then, you aren’t serious about your life and your “potential”.
Lol! Lol! Lol! “Not serious about your life and your potential!” A very common term in mlm :-D
I’ve even seen distributors posting ads on real spa Facebook posts, very nervy to try to compete with licensed pros.
It seems his review his fairly lopsided to say the least. He is not revealing ALL of the facts of Jeunesse. I would be very careful believing all his statements. Knowing both sides to this subject that Lazyman gives definitely makes him a “lazy man” because he did NOT give ALL the facts about the financial plan of Jeunesse. So I am telling all readers of any reviews on any product or company remember this, either side will always try to sway you to what they believe even tho it may not be the complete truth. You research yourself and be comfortable in what you come to believe!!!
“Shauney F”,
What relevant “facts” did I leave out? I’ve covered dozens of MLMs/pyramid schemes over the last decade.
If you are thinking about this, spend a minute to “follow the money.” If there’s a person recruiting you, you probably want to run away. I never ask you to spend any money.
I agree you’re quite right. As a Jeunesse distributor I was told everything before I signed up and I was aware of all the details. Also I don’t try to sway people , if people want to try the product or business opportunity I provide them with everything and leave out nothing including the cons and they must make their own decision. I can personally vouch that the reason I joined was because I was a skeptic who wanted to prove their products wrong and after testing them out and pushing them to the limit I was proved wrong. I’m open to accept both the good and bad and if I come across something I don’t like I won’t keep doing it.
There is more to the financial plan of Jeunesse. You left out quite a bit! I do agree partially on the fact that a lot of MLM’s make the “Upper” levels rich. But I have learned in life that in whatever you do you make it what it is.
[Editor’s Note: Actually there are things that are systematically broken. If I put you in a competition where you had to hit 10 holes in one in golf in a row, you’d probably complain that it is practically impossible. That sums up what joining an MLM is. That’s simply the math, and you can’t make it anything different.]
In most MLM’s one Out of maybe 20 people will make a go at it only because they have the drive.
[Editor’s Note: Actually, the mathematics of MLM/pyramid schemes ensure that those 19 people (or more) have to fail because if they were able to recruit like the top of the pyramid, the world would run out of people. Also, keep in mind that only about 5% of the population are dumb enough to get roped into an MLM scam.]
Others sign up thinking that maybe they can make some money. I have been in a few MLM’s and the products were good products but people always prioritize whether or not they “need” them. That is a big factor for most people. Jeunesse does have good products and the Instantly Ageless is the #1 MLM product EVER.
[Editor’s Note: I’ve covered MLM for more than 10 years and I’ve never heard of this product. I certainly think that Amway’s Nutrilite vitamins have many, many more sales.]
I have researched other skin care products and most of the MLM skin care company’s products are mostly chemicals. Jeunesse is not.
[Editor’s Note: I’d be interested in what Jeunesse’s is then. Even pure water is a chemical composition of hydrogen and oxygen.]
I have researched in depth this company and others. The only way they would be a scam is if they did not have products to offer. That makes any MLM illegal. I think you are just a Naysayer of MLM’s to put it bluntly and you don’t like them. Your reviews are NOT neutral. And I would tell anyone to beware of a review that is one sided.
[Editor’s Note: Well keep in mind there are now four pyramid scheme lawsuits filed against Jeunesse. My coverage of Bernie Madoff wouldn’t be neutral either. I hope you wouldn’t cover school gun violence neutrally. Some things don’t deserve neutral coverage.]
I don’t have a person recruiting me. The $35 bonus you refer to in Jeunesse’s financial plan for their distributors is not the only way to make money with this company. There is also the wholesale/ retail income, bonuses for signing up other distributors, When someone buys retail off of your website, you get paid from that….shall I go on?
I think if you are going to post reviews about anything you should be able to “report on it all” not just your opinion of it. You know what they say about opinions!
Only stupidly or uneducated people will get involved with Jeunesse products!
Well, I hope to education them :-).
So you say if someone buys retail off of your website you make money? HOw do you make money on a product you pay retail for and then sell for the same price? How does that part work ? Someone is trying to get me involved stating the same thing. From what I saw people buy and sell for the same price. That doesnt make sense.
The company pays a sales commission, it’s a very standard thing called an affiliate sale.
I don’t buy a product at retail and then sell it back to someone at the same price. That would be silly as there’s no money to be made (as you point out).
Very well said! And yes, the priducts are awesome.
so i see you did not post my last response. MMMM? So one question…. Is there ANY MLM company you would recommend????
All comments are moderated and approved when I have time.
Found a very interesting comment on a review page: “Ok everyone…. These types of products have a main ingredient of sodium silicate…. The same thing in the little moisture absorbant packages in shoe boxes that says do not eat. I originally saw this as Lechlers Theatrical Makeup Wrinkle Remover 25 years ago when I entered into the Pro Makeup Realm. Lechler is a paint manufacturer(very good co)and this is an ingredient regularly used in making paint. Silicate is non toxic and inert. The product does work! The problem is it does so by dehydrating the skin. Modern formulations have added different ingredients to soften the harsh effect but none the less the main ingredient is still the silicate. The product creates a temporary effect good until you wash your face. I would use this product, it does work, but only for very special events and i would make sure to heavily hydrate the skin after use with a strong moisturizer as well as remaining hydrated(drink water) while you are wearing it. My concern is that the cumulative effect would be to worsen the condition of the skin with regular or long term use as.” It isn’t cheap so why not spend your money with a dermatologist that has the latest products and a license to protect. The “distributor” has nothing to lose. I researched this company and won’t be spending a dime.
Ummm… Sodiom Silicate? Wrong answer, SeaBee! You mean Silica Gel. SiO2. Porous sand. Effectively, little more than glass pellets. A G.R.A.S. product (Generally Recognized As Safe) if its put into a balm or cream, you’d end up putting baby powder on your face, because it’s very purpose in life is to dry things out!
Sodium Silicate *is* hazardous; they’re alkaline materials and pose hazards to the skin and eyes. The physiological effects of contact vary with the alkalinity of the silicate involved, and range from causing irritation to causing chemical burns.
Hi there,
ref: “So if you balance everything well and you get people to spend ~$1500 every month, you can get $35.”
I think you’ve left out: If I were to get the 900 points (300/600); my upline would get 900pts as well, as well as his upline and his upline’s upline etc (all 900). Not 300/600 but 0/900 depends on which team are you on.
So I wouldn’t agree with your statement.
Do more extensive research maybe?
Best regards;
Why would I care about the points my upline gets? That certainly be a deciding factor in whether you start a business.
The only defensible reason to care is that you are looking to building a pyramid scheme of recruiting people and hoping that they buy into your tale of “just recruit more people” so you can be in the upline.
You are free to disagree with my statement, but it appears to be completely accurate. You don’t say it is inaccurate.
Do more extensive research on what a pyramid scheme is maybe?
TO: Shauney F,
You said that in most mlm’s, 1 out of every 20 people make it, only because they have the drive. Could it be that 99% of people don’t make it because they are trying to sell overpriced products that no one wants to buy? How come everyone that approaches me about their mlm business, always brings up the business opportunity first? They never talk about the products. So if the products are so good, then why don’t mlm companies focus on actually selling the products, instead of selling an opportunity? Maybe it’s because they wouldn’t make much money if they only sold products? Therefore, they end up focusing on “recruiting, recruiting, recruiting.”
I actually went and watched a presentation on the Jeunesse opportunity last week. Your article hit the nail on the head! The representative had been with MonaVie before it got bought by Jeunesse. The biggest red flag for me at the presentation was he was telling us about all these great products but not actually trying to sell any of the products. His agenda was telling us all about how we could “buy into” the Ambassador level and sponsor “6 people on your left and 6 people on your right” (wait…is that a pyramid shape? LOL!) and how we would earn $35 a cycle, “which adds up to a lot of money when you have 200 cycles being completed routinely. He talked really fast in the hopes you wouldn’t catch everything he said or wouldn’t comprehend enough of it to ask questions.
And the plot thickens again.
Alex Morton leaves Vemma for Jeunesse! It’s all so amuzing, they are so simple.
Bob Proctor makes a hasty video condemming Alex and Luke Kish for disrespecting BK Boreyko. Proctor then took the video down because he compared Alex’s actions to the Pearl Harbour’s tragedy. Really funny stuff.
I know! It’s very sad that people can’t see through the non-sense of the mlm industry. The Alex Morton situation is a perfect example. It just boggles my mind that people buy into the cult like mentality of these companies.
Just wanted to point out that everything in life is a pyramid!
You only have to look at your family tree or the running of a company or the country. There is always one at the top and, in business, it’s the one at the top who earns most money.
So I don’t understand why people always go on about pyramid schemes and mis crying the idea.
As in any business, there are ups and downs and without continued work, nothing will happen.
There’s no such thing as a free meal in life!
See Myth 11… Corporate America is Not a Pyramid Scheme.
You are confusing a hierarchical organization that isn’t based on recruiting people and getting them to invest their money with pyramid scheme that are.
Not sure why you are “mis crying the idea” whatever that means.
Rebecca said: “Just wanted to point out that everything in life is a pyramid!”
Um…so is a sphere a pyramid? How about a cube?
I guess when all you’re armed with is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
I started receiving charges on my credit card for over $300 and $400 recently. The problem being is that I have never heard of this company. Now they are putting false charges on people’s credit cards. Definitely a SCAM!
Dave B, I’d call my attorneys general office and report it immediately. I’d also dispute the charge with the credit card company.
I was Head of Marketing, Branding and Advertising in my previous company, and would never touch anything MLM, until I saw how well the products worked on many friends who were’t sellers, just consumers and raved about the products’ health benefits (cancer cases inclusive) and the visible improvement in their skin within weeks, next I thought no harm trying a product that I’ve seen that actually works since I’ve tried everything and many renowned brands and even went to the Derm for expensive lasers for my skin and nothing. Within 2 weeks my skin improved dramatically and I went back to show my Derm – it wasn’t just my face that was now smooth and soft and no longer dry and blemished (even after washing off the product the skin still feels incredible like my toddler’s). My entire body with my once scaly legs is now “normal” and my eczema went away in days. I haven’t had a migraine in weeks and seem to be immune to colds and flus since being on Reserve. All I did was share my experiences with my friends and family cos I was really amazed and in 6 weeks I made about USD11,000. So from a first hand experience from a skeptic who was biased against MLMs, and as an experienced marketer, I recognize MLM to be a form of marketing except that instead of paying media companies tons of money from an advertising budget carved out from forecasted profits, MLMs pay the walking salesmen the advertising fees instead, which really is fair as word of mouth is more credible. At the end of the day, the products work incredibly well and many people, even real doctors have testimonials of their own family recovering from terminal illness while on Reserve. Oh as for the USD35? You only spend USD86 a month to maintain your account monthly which equals to a box of Reserve of which its benefits is really something (my teenage daughter’s acne-ridden scarred skin that was causing her grief is now so much better and she has been described as glowing and radient) then you sit back and marvel in wonder each time someone buys something (only cos it works) and you see multitudes of USD35 cycle bonuses in your account on a daily basis. Wealth is about having time with money, which can only be achieved with passive income. Not such a bad concept now that I have the time to do my charity work everyday and never have to ever see the inside of an office again. Plus there other ways to make money such as the retail profit, the referral commission, the leadership bonuses that even at my low level down the chain gets…I have to say, I’m one happy ex head of marketing, branding and advertising EMPLOYEE.
Hey LNG,
Good anonymous comment so that we can’t verify your story as being truthful in anyway. (Before anyone gets on me for anonymous, I cite my sources, LNG cited nothing.)
If MLMs want to pay salesmen commission for selling product, I’ve got no problem with it. That’s fine instead of paying for alternative forms of advertisements. However, they NEED to get rid of the MLM/pyramid structure for recruiting people. Just make it free and give everyone x% of sales they make. It’s very easy, and thousands of companies do this. It’s called affiliate marketing.
Pay to play, pyramid schemes are very, very different.
I could go on, but fortunately Jon Stewart did my work last night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqmtjlSxA_g
“Bullshitters have gotten pretty lazy… and their word is easily detected. And looking for it is kind of a pleasant way to pass the time. Like an ‘I Spy Game of Bullshit.’ So I say to you tonight, friends. The best defense bullshit is vigilance. If you smell something say something.”
I’ve been covering MLMs now for 9 years and NOTHING comes close to the amount of bullshit in it. They use all the concepts that Jon Stewart mentioned in that speech and a whole lot more.
If you want to do charity work, start by educating the public to stay away from MLMs/pyramid schemes where 99.5% of people lose money.
LNG said: “I…would never touch anything MLM, until I saw how well the products worked on many friends who were’t sellers, just consumers and raved about the products’ health benefits (cancer cases inclusive)…I recognize MLM to be a form of marketing except that instead of paying media companies tons of money from an advertising budget carved out from forecasted profits MLMs pay the walking salesmen the advertising fees instead, which really is fair as word of mouth is more credible.”
I think what you really meant to say was the following:
“I recognize MLM to be a form of marketing except that instead of paying media companies tons of money from an advertising budget carved out from forecasted profits, MLMs pay desperate a$$holes like me to troll message boards with nonsense about how craptastic pyramid scheme snakeoil products cure cancer.”
Hey LNG,
Are you trying to say that out of the thousands of skin care products on the market, that Jeunesse is the only company that has worked for you? I find that hard to believe. Keep believing the snake oil lies that the MLM’s tell you.
It still just boggles my mind how much of a cult these mlm’s are. Jeunesse is not different. I see these mlm people post on FB all the time. They say things like, “We don’t sell products, we just share.” Or they love to put down people who work a regular job or own a regular business. They will also say things like “Your 9-5 job is a pyramid and you are working to make others rich.” SMH. I just don’t get how people can be so brainwashed. It’s very sad.
Indeed KD… this is exactly why I write these articles.
I appreciate you writing these articles! I also like the fact that when you google “Jeunesse scam” it brings up your website as the top match.
Cool, let’s hope this helps get the information to consumers before they get brainwashed.
I have had no previous experience in MLM’s, my parents “done” Amway & kept us broke buying overpriced products from theirselves so I’ve steered clear. I joined Jeunesse for the retail profit in Instantly Ageless (didn’t even know they had other products, nor did I know about a compensation plan). Instantly Ageless really does exactly like in the video, crazy! I made over $500 the first month. After about 2 months, I signed a plastic surgeon who said it was incredible & he hadn’t seen anything like it before. At that point, I decided to learn more about the company & found stories about Reserve. Here’s mine…..
I’ve had back/neck pain for 3-4 years. Mondays & mornings have been the worst for me. It’s been at least a year & a half since I could stand in one spot in the mornings without excruciating pain in my lower back, have even been sitting to put my makeup on. For the last year, I’ve been seeing a dr/chiropractor weekly, getting shots in my back & on meds. The day before I started taking Reserve, a 4 hour car drive had me crying from neck pain. So, here’s my time line that I’ve been updating from when I started taking it….
• 2 days on Reserve, a very persistent knot in my neck reduced by half its size even though it hadn’t changed in the last 6 mo under dr’s care.
• 2 weeks – drove 6 hours, rode a few roller coasters & drove home without a flare up.
• 4 weeks – over 40 hours to/from Florida without flare up & started taking AM/PM & Finiti.
• 6 weeks – was able to stand in the morning without pain in my lower back!!! HUGE milestone!!!!
•11 weeks – couldn’t seem to get on top of my neck inflammation, started taking 3 Reserve a day for a week.
•12 weeks – dr. was amazed at the the improvement in just a week & my range of motion, was able to touch my chin to my chest for the 1st time in 3 years. He insisted I take 3 a day for one more week.
•13 weeks – first time I only felt pressure in the areas that usually cause pain. My doctor is dumbfounded, literally.
•14 weeks – woke up with no pain what so ever, took NO meds at all the whole day!!! First day in over a year to go pain free!!!
While taking it, I’ve also been able to stop taking blood pressure medication & my carpal tunnel is completely gone .My doctor got my blood work back to be able to compare before I started taking all of this to being on it for 2 months. My immune system is way up! He’s amazed at the difference in my inflamation & that the knots he hadn’t been able to get to go down, at all, are now completely gone.
I have learned now, if it’s at all possible to take the 1st box at 3 a day, it just speeds up how quickly it gets in your system. Even now, if my neck is feeling like it’s trying to flare up, I’ll take 3 a day for a day or 2 & it stops me from taking a trip to the dr for shots.
I honestly haven’t sold any at retail price, only my price & I make nothing from selling it at my cost. My husband & I haven’t & don’t want to make money with Reserve. We want to help others ease their pain.
Yes there are people that push the business side. There are people like that in every single business that there’s money to be made in. Be realistic.
You can pay $49.95 to get product at distributor cost & a free retail website. If you just want to make money selling retail, you don’t ever have to sign up a single person to make money. Last time I checked, it wasn’t to hard to recoup $50, was able to do that in a week.
These products, my favorite being Reserve really do change lives & there are lots of people that really do just want to show others the same thing I’ve learned, I don’t have to live with pain & accept shots in my back, weekly appointments & meds as a way of life. It can be different.
There are countless ads on Facebook that are using videos from Instantly Ageless, Dr. Oz & Ellen’s name to sell a crap product based on a “free” trial & the small print, of course, says you’re giving them permission to charge your card $89-$179 in the first 14 days & continue doing so if you don’t catch them & cancel your card. These are not Jeunesse ads. And there’s no “real” reports of Jeunesse taking money out of people’s accounts.
Lazy man, if the truth is enough to condemn something, why participate & encourage in the exaggeration of the company? Be honest about what it is & what it’s not. Don’t leave out information to perpetuate a misinformed opinion of it. And also don’t be closed minded & loudly opinionated. God gave us 2 ears & one mouth for a reason.
i also wanted to know about the product like reserve. My mother is suffering joint pain and yesterday she fell down while climbing on staircase. i come to know about reserve that it is very good for health specially for every problem one solution that is reserve . I wanted to purchase the reserve but before that I want to know really reserve is useful for joint pain . reserve is having any side effects or not. please advise me as urgent as possible to purchase this products.
I would not advise you to buy any of these products.
After reading over my comment, I apologize for sounding so Bost at the end. You’re certainly entitled to your opinion & Hannas down know more about MLM’s & pyramid schemes than I ever care to know.
I only know my experience which isn’t at all like described in your article. And I agree wholeheartedly that there are snakes in the company; they’re in every company!
Wow, trying that again…..After reading over my comment, I apologize for sounding so bossy at the end. You’re certainly entitled to your opinion & hands down know more about MLM’s & pyramid schemes than I ever care to know. I only know my experience which isn’t at all like described in your article. And I agree wholeheartedly that there are snakes in the company; they’re in every company!
Michelle,
I’ve reviewed a couple dozen MLMs in extreme detail at this point (you can see some on the sidebar of the website). In all the health ones, there are numerous “testimonials” that the product cured this condition or that condition. One of them (Asea) is literally salt water.
I’ve done all the listening, but the story is the same.
So either there are 50 miracle cures that exist in the world and they all coincidentally are sold via MLM… or these people are lying, experiencing the placebo effect, or just like the people who claim to be abducted by aliens (experiencing cognitive dissonance). In fact Dr. Bowden wrote an article about it
I have not left out any information that I feel relevant and I’ve been more than open-minded. Before you call someone close-minded, you might want to learn what it means by watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T69TOuqaqXI
Hi ! I’m a 17 year old and i have questions.
Is this a review, an argument or an opinion ?
Why is it so negative and not neutral ?
What MLM companies do you recommend ?
What systems do big companies like apple and coke using ?
Do you consider both sides of the coin before you type these reviews, arguments or opinions ?
If you don’t recommend MLM to a young person like me, then what should i do to help me gain this “financial freedom” that every MLM is talking about ?
I’d call it as educational commentary, which is a combination of a review with an opinion based on factual analysis.
It isn’t negative, it is geared to helping consumers avoid being scammed. That’s a very positive thing.
Here are the MLM companies I recommend: Is Every MLM a Scam?
Apple and Coke do not use MLM. Go to business school and learn about how they work.
What is the other side of fraud to consider? Do you consider both sides of domestic violence before you type an opinion on it?
Here’s are a couple of articles that will help you on the path of financial freedom:
– What Does an Annual $200,000 in Retirement Income Look Like? (2015 Version)
– The Ultimate Guide to Financial Freedom
???????????? S’up Bro?????????
S’up Notta Hamman Egger?
The biggest Pyramid scheme in life is being an employee!!
Corporate America is Not a Pyramid Scheme
This entire comment thread is interesting. I agree with Lazy Man.I found the page because one of my friends has just signed up to become a distributor. I knew it sounded suspicious so I started googling.
Here’s my question: If this product…or Nerium…and any other miracle skin cream is so effective, then why isn’t it being sold at makeup counters and/or in dermatologist offices? Why rely on MLM?
I teach Business class at a college and I’ve worked in sales and marketing. If you have a great product then you will protect your brand. You don’t want your product represented by minimally trained people.
Well said, Jen. The weird thing is that often the companies try to place these products as being scientifically superior.
Hi Lazy Man,
After read your comment. I am curious whether you have try or buy any MLM products before? Is MLM products no good?
I think my wife has some Pampered Chef pots and pans around here. Whatever they are, they seem to work like normal pots and pans. I wouldn’t say they are no good.
Thank you all for your interesting reviews. Im 20 years old just looking for way to earn more. I just had a long chat with a person who is partnered with jeunesse and i needed to clear my mind a bit and think this through. I admit i dont know much about business but i find it a bit odd how they focus on adding team members more than selling the products .
Thanks, I’ve found that whenever I see “adding team members”, it’s wise to think, “building a pyramid scheme.”
Research:
Jeunesse products used and also sold by: private clinics, beauty salons-boutiques-shops, makeupartists.
People who use: skin doctors, fitness centres, coaches, models, famous people.
Availible: 120+ country worldwide officially.
Media cover: Famous magazines like: Cosmopolitan, Vogue etc.(up to 100 different worldwide magazines) featuring in many tv shows worldwide.
Good videos, products with results and fun. I got offered not a business in the first like u all talking about. I got a skin serum and it worked and i bought more. =P
To LazyMan: How much u make money with this forums ?
Which reputable skin doctors are recommending Jeunesse?
I’m not impressed by makeup artists and famous people. My blog has been covered by more reputable publications that Cosmo.
All the same could be said of MonaVie, ViSalus, and Vemma. Look where they are now.
I don’t make any money on any forums.
I read these comments with interest. Please allow me to share some insight as a successful Jeunesse Distributor. This isn’t my first company, although I have never been as successful as with Jeunesse and no, I am not at the “top of the pyramid” and I never will be. But then again, the cashier at WalMart will never make as much as the Manager who will never make as much as the CEO, it’s a pyramid scheme. Kind of like grocery stores, Gas stations, retail stores, newspapers, insurance companies, our military and even our government. The guys at the bottom will never make as much as the guys at the top……… But wait! Something is wrong here!!! Because I am making a LOT more than many of the people above me in this “pyramid! Whoops! Now how is that possible?? As for the points, they are only one part of our compensation plan, that being the binary side, there is also a unilevel side. This is a non-flushing hybrid binary with a unilevel matching bonus structure built in. The points matter to anyone to enrolls someone. They also matter because they are not just your volume, but the volume of all those you enroll as well as all those enrolled after you by your upline as well as everyone in between you and your upline. It doesn’t take long to get 300 points on one side and 600 on the other when you work with the right team. I will tell you that while the products have made a HUGE difference in my life, the opportunity has changed my world which is why I promote it. After a very bad accident, I spent 15 years on SSI disability. When the products helped me recover, I petitioned to be removed from disability, but guess what! No one would hire me! I started working this business and I now make more in 2 weeks than I did all year on disability. Network Marketing, IF you choose a company with a good product and good compensation plan, is the best industry out there! Why? Because it creates a level playing field! It doesn’t matter, your experience, your education, race, religion, political affiliations or criminal background. If you roll up your sleeves and go to work with the right team, you will succeed! Now define success. For some, that’s an extra $500 per month, a bigger house, for some it’s a “new” used car. Jeunesse is the fastest growing network marketing company in the world and in history and that is because our products are incredible and our compensation plan works. Does that mean everyone succeeds? Nope. Why? There are a few reasons. They didn’t talk to anyone about the product or the opportunity, they joined under someone who didn’t work with them, they joined the wrong company, or a variety of other reasons. Kind of like why some people get promoted and others don’t. But again, you have to join the right company, so really do yuor homework. I love this industry and yes, there are definitely some scams out there. There are also people within every company who are less than ethical and Jeunesse is no exception in it’s distributor base. But joining a network marketing company is a business decision, you shouldn’t do it because someone drew impressive circles on a white board. Joining the right team is critical unless you want to do all the work by yourself. But at the end of the day, Jeunesse would not be where it is in 125 countries and counting, if it was a “scam”.
It is not a scam in the traditional sense. It is far worse. In Thailand, it has become a cult of personality. I attended a meeting with my partner having no idea what I was going to. As I walked in the room and was cheered and high fives by about 30 people, it reminded me of my days in a Pentecostal church back in Australia. The hype was ridiculous. Everything was there along with a cult like reverence for their leader and numerous testimonials about how Jeunesse had saved my life etc etc. after watching the penultimate video in which an extremely wealthy woman was shown to proclaim “I believe in Jeunesse” I had to walk out. The heads of the organisation are the beneficiaries. The multitudes leave their brains at the door and hand over their cash. I feel sorry for them.
I would add to this comment that from what I have seen of the business model and the pseudo-religious high pressure selling tactics built around reverence for a few characters of questionable integrity, I can see a business built around making the few (mostly already rich) much richer whilst delivering little or no benefit to the masses whose money fuels the organisation. A classic cult. Morally bankrupt and driven by greed at every level.
Shari Bigalk,
You confuse a hierarchical organization, which doesn’t have a significant recruiting component to make money, with a pyramid scheme, which does. They are two very different things and MLMers mislead people into thinking they are the same.
Please understand that Corporate America is Not a Pyramid Scheme. A software engineer at Google makes a lot of money and doesn’t ever have the intention of recruiting anyone and making money in that endeavor.
Shari said, “Because I am making a LOT more than many of the people above me in this ‘pyramid’! Whoops! Now how is that possible??”
This does happen in pyramid schemes. It’s pretty rare and usually not a whole lot more money, but it can happen. In fact, in the FTC guidelines on pyramid schemes, you’ll see nothing about “can’t make more money than the person above you.” So I suggest you familiarize yourself with that document.
Shari said, “It doesn’t take long to get 300 points on one side and 600 on the other when you work with the right team.”
By “team” you mean “pyramid”, right? They are synonymous in pyramid schemes.
Shari said, “Network Marketing, IF you choose a company with a good product and good compensation plan, is the best industry out there!”
Quite the opposite – around 99.5% of people lose money. I made more in my first hour of dog sitting than most MLMers will ever make. Also there’s this: The Business of MLM (or What Gives Freddy Krueger Nightmares)
Shari said, “Why? Because it creates a level playing field! It doesn’t matter, your experience, your education, race, religion, political affiliations or criminal background.”
Clearly education doesn’t seem to be a factor because MLMers aren’t trained to know that they are in a pyramid scheme. As for race, religion, and political affiliations, they shouldn’t matter in any business. That’s discrimination. MLM should probably focus on the criminal background aspect a lot more than they do. They are known for passing around the same snake oil salesmen from MLM to MLM and it’s hard to say that’s a good thing.
Shari said, “If you roll up your sleeves and go to work with the right team, you will succeed!”
Nope It’s Not a Matter of Effort, failure is a Mathematical Certainty.
Shari said, “Jeunesse is the fastest growing network marketing company in the world and in history and that is because our products are incredible and our compensation plan works.”
From what I can tell MonaVie and ViSalus grew much faster. They are essentially out of business after the pyramid scheme collapsed on them.
Shari said, “Does that mean everyone succeeds? Nope. Why? There are a few reasons.”
The only reason that matters: mathematically they must fail.
Shari said, “But at the end of the day, Jeunesse would not be where it is in 125 countries and counting, if it was a ‘scam’.”
And yet Herbalife finds itself in the same situation. It is in a ton of countries and just about every regulatory agency in the United States is looking into it for being a pyramid scheme. You’ve followed the news on that right?
Lazy Man, you would not say Jeunesse is a scam after you tried the reserve for 6 months, I feel sorry for your mind still living in 20 century, my mom and my friend’s cousin recovered from cancer by Jeunesse products . You should look more into their product before comment on it.
Please don’t give me the Try My MLM Product Scam.
There are dozens of MLM companies whose distributors illegally claim their products work for cancer over the last ten years. If any of them worked, the companies would quickly rush to get the clinical trials done to show the FDA that they have a cancer medication. None of the dozens of MLM companies have even tried.
As doctors and researchers have published, No Your MLM Product Does Not Work.
I’m sorry your mind is stuck in 1980’s when people didn’t have the access to research MLM scams.
Moon said: “my mom and my friend’s cousin recovered from cancer by Jeunesse products”
And there you have it in a nutshell — the danger of snakeoil MLMs like Jeunesse demonstrated vividly by a distributor who has no compunction about killing cancer patients with illegal claims about bogus cures.
In other words, your claim is not merely BS; it’s extremely dangerous self-serving BS.
My sister is one of the suckers flogging the Jeunesse ‘business opportunity’ to everyone in the family and everyone on Facebook. She gave me a box of ‘Reserve’ for Christmas. I read the ingredients on the box. It says one packet contains 37.5MG of Knotweed (20% Resveratrol). This equates to precisely 7.5MB of Resveratrol per packet, yet their corporate website claims the product delivers 75MG of resveratrol per packet, and their ‘distributors’ are all claiming it delivers 187MG per packet when I ask! They even produce a shady-looking ‘lab document’ which says 187MG per 30ML (1 packet). Who’s on 1st, what’s on 2nd and I don’t know’s on 3rd (lol) It’s like Keystone Kops – Nobody knows what is in their own ‘amazing’ ‘wonderful’ ‘cutting-edge science’ product…which they are trying to sell to anyone who will listen.
I see literally HOURS of ‘training’ videos on YouTube for Jeunesse, but sadly none of them contain any training on the products. It’s ALL training on how to recruit people. No wonder nobody knows anything about the products. The products don’t matter to them. All they care about is signing more people up. Jeunesse Global is CLEARLY a pyramid scheme. It’s just a matter of time before they get caught by authorities.
To Happy:
Happy, every single one of the ‘appearances’ in those magazines, INCLUDING Inc 500, were advertisements disguised as articles. Those appearances were PURCHASED by Jeunesse Global; paid advertisements. The little disclaimer you see on each (i.e. ‘Branded Content’) is your red-flag.
You’re either a fraudster yourself, or you’re a victim of the deception perpetrated. Methinks you’re the latter, as are most people. Most people are innocent, but very gullible and misguided. Sorry.
The MLM company you are speaking about on this site peaked my interest about 18 months ago. This MLM has had explosive growth in the Asia markets and particularly in China where 10’s of thousands have been recruited. I work in China and live in the USA. I was approached by a Chinese friend about this wonderful MLM opportunity. As I said I do business in China so I am somewhat familiar with the rules of conducting business in China and a particular area of interest to me is the Direct Marketing area which the MLM companies fall under. It is very clear in the governing rules in China that MLM Is not allowed.
To be a direct marketer in China you must be licensed and few licenses have been granted, there are some for many American companies the rules also require some retail stores. But again the rules clearly indicate no MLM allowed.
So I asked the people that were attempting to recruit me to this MLM.
First question I asked is if they are not licensed to conduct direct marketing in China how can they do it? The answer came from a group of people who had just signed up with this MLM. They said: simple, we are independent contractors for this MLM and we don’t technically sell it in China we order the product from Hong Kong and have it exported to mainland China. The money is paid to an account in Hong Kong and then the product is shipped three weeks later. So technically there is no transaction in China.
Second question, so how if the transaction is done in Hong Kong are you paid? Oh they said the MLM has been very creative and has set up accounts with HSBC bank in Hong Kong to pay to a debit card that they send each new recruit. The beauty of this they said was we can extract it in China or any other country and technically our government doesn’t know.
Third Question, you said you are an independent contractor, for an outside company hiring outside contractors there are significant steps to follow have you done this. Answer: we don’t know.
Fourth question: Do you report your income taxes to the Chinese government? Answer: we were told by the MLM that it is up to us if we want to but our money is generated outside China.
The numbers of recruits are huge and the big training sessions are held in Hong Kong or Taiwan but not to HK or Taiwan people going to the mainland to sell, to mainlanders who have traveled to these locations to skirt the rules of China to get on the band wagon.
Look at the reports about this MLM’s growth the most significant growth is in Asia and in China where it is not allowed.
What James Lee said is true. I am from Hong Kong, I visited Jeunesse office in Hong Kong as my friend introduced me their antiaging products. I would describe myself an end user because I have no interest in selling any product to anyone while I am already having a busy life. I bought their products and tried for about 2 months all because I wanted to see if they work like what people said. Honestly, I didn’t feel much difference after using, no side effect (fortunately) and no obvious improvement neither. My friend who introduced the products to me only had little improvement of her skin. I don’t mind buying expensive products as long as they work slightly they are supposed to be. Here are what I think: 1) Products and Prices. Their products might work on somebodies but according to the prices(Distributor prices), they are overpriced. If you spend the same money on natural and organic foods and have a planned diet and spend more time on exercises, you might have same or even better result. 2) Business and Marketing. The people running this company are truly MLM blood suckers. The thing they care about is not your health, they care about your pocket. I think the product is not a bad product if it is priced 80% lower. If you sell a health product, you are not supposed to make it like a miracle or whatever amazing stories because a product is supposed to work when you are selling it! If it doesn’t work and you are selling it that is a fraud. It is still a fraud if you overwhelmed its function. People in this company are using standard health products as a gimmick, branding them with stories and whatever nice lifestyle images, then overpricing the products and selling them thru MLM. With the popular internet and social media, they could easily catch attention from people, as well as greedy people who buy the idea of MLM/Compensation plan and whatever you call it.
So let’s make it short, a product should work when it is sold, no surprise no miracle no overwhelming, ok? A product should be priced reasonable (comparing to other similar products/substitutes/replacements that could bring similar results), ok? Fair enough? So, if anyone of you agree with these 2 points, you should understand there will be no place for so many lazy and greedy people.
Hello. An ex-colleague recently sent me a link to the Jeunesse website and after watching several of its recruitment videos this afternoon I can assure anyone not yet convinced that this company is definitely a pyramid scheme and essentially running a scam. DO NOT BOTHER WITH THESE FRAUDSTERS. And to those terribly misguided individuals who keep comparing the despicable acts of companies like Jeunesse to “life” and other forms of money-making in general i.e. jobs, shut up and wake up! While many, many jobs do in essence take advantage of us as people in terms of what we get out for what we put in, none of them rob you of your money based on false promises. What you see is what you get and you earn money for the work that you do. Jeunesse sells you on a lie and is the surest way to lose a lot of money. Don’t be naive
If you watch the dateline episode on Quixtar, there is a “high-ranking” member that suddenly has a “change of heart” and throws BWW (Brit World Wide) under the bus. At first, because of his good looks and southern charm you are inclined to believe what he says, and a lot of what he says is true about the evils of Quixtar/Amway/Alticor/W/e the heck it is…After doing a little digging though you can see that the man (Bo Short) is such a clever con artist he actually goes onto the show to get people to quit Amway so they can join Jeunesse where he became a leading partner. This is how scummy the people in the MLM world are, and how strong their manipulation runs. He actually tells the truth about the corruption of Quixtar, but it certainly isn’t for the consumer’s best interests. It is just another way to edify himself and give credibility to this new line of crap.
Thanks LazyMan. I have been looking for something like this for a while. What a great read and I totally agree!
Nothing in life is for free!
The story may be different in China. My wife joined the membership two weeks ago for paying less. She was placed in a Jeunesse team in China. She just wants to be a customer. Without recruiting any persons, she has ten people in her team now. Those persons were recruited by the distributors above her. There are may people in China and Chinese people like to try the nutrition products such as Jeunesse Reserve. It’s not difficult to grow your team there.
Well that appears to be a pyramid scheme if the people above her are recruiting into her instead of herself. It definitely seem to make any logical sense.
China has strong anti-pyramid scheme laws and I would be surprised if Jeunesse is run multi-level there… but I admit that I haven’t cared to look at how they operate in China.
Jeunesse only allows two teams for a specific distributor. A distributor places A in the left and B in the right. When the distributor recruits C, C would be either under A or B. A or B gets a team member without recruiting.
That looks like a pyramid scheme to me. Why reward people not doing anything? Why not reward the people doing the work with a commission? Again, it doesn’t make any logical or business sense.
Thank you for making it available.i just met someone in jeunesse stuff in my country and wanted to know about ut.
Thanks that you took soooo much time writing this review I really enjoyed it! But as Im always a bit critical I have one question. In the Video taking about what a pyramid scheme is, it said that a pyramid schemes when you try to recruit your family member, friends, people from church or even strangers. Then was is not a pyramid scheme, because that would mean that you can’t recruit anybody to not be a pyramid scheme… and somehow I find that some points aren’t being discussed clearly
Jonas,
I didn’t feel any comments showed any important information that I left out. If I did, please let me know which specific information you are referring to and I’ll do my best to include it.
Often when I write about MLM, the distributors of the company come and claim that I left information out, but a vast a majority of the time I find:
1) we disagree greatly one what is considered “important” (i.e. they say, “Well I make money…” and provide no evidence or proof)
2) they don’t state what the information is. This becomes an empty comment of no constructive value.
I didn’t make the video that you asked about previously. I think they stated it that way because they wanted to stress that just because family, friends, and people from the church may seem trustworthy, this is not a good test for whether a company is a pyramid scheme. I’ve read quite a few sources comparing MLM to being a cult. I recommend you take a step back and ask yourself, “Hey if my friend tried to recruit me into cult, do I just say, ‘Cool, let’s do this’?”
If you are looking for more information on Jeunesse, I recommend this extensive article by nonprofit, consumer organization, Truth in Advertising, on Jeunesse.
BTW I don’t know if it is a bit harsh to come to a conclusion that fast (I may be wrong) , because as some others commented you left some important information out. I don’t know too much about Jeunesse, but from the comments its seems a bit weird. I know that its hard to write a review because it takes a ton of time. Even a small school project takes tons of time:) haha
I have a few schoolmates who are into this company. My husband was part of Primerica for a New York minute and got out. He has been a real estate broker for 20+ years. This is what I have learned…if you want money and success, earn it. Learn to work in a bad economy and good. Fishing in a barrel is only good when there are lots of fish in the barrel. If you are hungry, you will figure out how to put food on the table and a roof over your family’s heads. MLMs are not a good thing I’m afraid. But they must work for some folks. I am not interested, nor is my husband. We are focused on the real estate market.
MonaVie, a scam, you ask? Sure was! Now you ask if Jeunesse is a scam, sure as the sky is blue. If you have to ask, listen to your gut, do your research, of course these products are bogus. It’s all about money. Not how much money you can make, but how much they can drain from your pocket, to continue to promote the highest most corrupt distributors. You will never make a penny. Lol, you say, CLO and CVO, those positions are made up, because there were/are too many chiefs at the table, family members who need jobs, left over MonaVie big wigs. Vemma distributors running to Jeunesse, wonder how much incentive and pay went into that MLM move! MLM is a game, how to make the most money, by rewarding their top distributors and selling fake crap. Product battles, distributor loyalty issues, patent battles, product ownership battles, how could any business model surrounded by so much controversy be legitimate, if it were legitimate, the products would be for sale via normal retail channels.
LazyMan.
I’ve followed you for a few years…watched as people have tried to discredit your ideology, assessments, etc. These companies are all the same…
Well, I guess the latest development with this ‘company’ are going to be unsettling for many.
I appreciate what you do…please keep sharing information, insight and spreading the word.
https://www.truthinadvertising.org/jeunesse-top-distributors-face-pyramid-scheme-racketeering-allegations/
Some info you may be interested in
https://www.truthinadvertising.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Alboltin-v-Jeunesse-complaint.pdf
Thanks info guy. I’ll give it a look. Truth In Advertising is doing a great service in covering these MLMs. I think we’ll have more consumer organizations join the team soon.
Love it! They are finally going after these pricks using RICO. I have been suggesting that strategy for years now; since the Monavie days. Glad to see it’s happening. MLM deserves to have the crap beaten out of it; then relegated to the dustbin of history; the graveyard of bad ideas.
To see that a company promotes a ‘serum’ which is supposed to improve skin because it contains ‘stem cells’, makes me laugh. Stem cells are NOT viable outside a controlled environment and as of 2016, based on the clinical and research data we have on stem cell use, they CANNOT survive in a cream suspension! Even if they did, just leave the bottle in a handbag, carry it around during a hot summer day, and those cells are DEAD. Just those pretentions make me very suspicious about this company, to say the least.
And also, what cells are we talking about ? It seems they are stromal stem cells. So what ?
HELP,IHAVE BEEN SCAMMED BY THIS COMPANY,WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK TO SOME ONE PLEASE THANK YOU.
I recommend you call your state’s Attorneys General office and speak with them. This page can probably help you find out who that is and the number to call.
Ha! Well done Lazy Man!
Let’s bump this thread up!! Very useful. You should have Google Translate it in 150+ languages.
Many a soul have fallen. This has got to stop.
All the stupid fake evil user defending this scam can rot in hell.
I’ve heard they are trying to push it at real medical doctors who, sometimes, being business ignorant, end up loosing their time with these scumbags instead of treating people who are actually sick.
Sorry for the offensive language.
This has got to stop!
Best,
B
A very good one.. Lazy Man.
My Chinese friends even claimed and informed me that some hospitals in China are using Reserve for cancer patients. I am not sure if these are true or not. I did see some positive results from two of my friends’ skin and numerous pics…. but I am still don’t believe it. Jeunesse products may not too bad, but they cannot be a miracle ones and price is high. The way they sell the products to you is very pyramid scam. I already cut off two friendships due to this. Once they joined in, they talk about how good the products are all day long, nothing is more important than these products. I am tired of this, so just simply cut them off.
Keep it up and want to see more discussions.
TJ
I’m sorry but personally i think and KNOW that jeunesse is not a scam because have any of u even tried any of their products? CUZ IT CAN CURE F-CKING CANCER! My grandfather had cancer and his CA for cancer was at 12.0 and after drinking Jeunesse his CA dropped to 3.6 in less than 6 months and u can choose not to believe this but i know for a fact that Jeunesse saved a hell of a lot of pain in my family! and TJ the products are quite a miracle bc no other products r able to cure cancer yet and if someone u care a lot about had really bad cancer u would try anything to cure it and maybe jeunesse is a bit pricey but it sure is worth it if it can save lives, so pls, don’t say anything about sth if u haven’t tried it. Also its true that in China, some hospitals do use it to cure cancer patients. also many ppl make a lot of money doing this so…. don’t judge a book by its cover if u haven’t even tried shit!
Emma,
No, no… one thousand times… no! See this article from Truth In Advertising.
Please remember when MLMers claimed that MonaVie cured cancer nearly a decade ago. Yeah, it wasn’t true.
Oh Emma. You may want to look into what can and can’t be said about products, according to the FDA. No product cures cancer if there was the wouldn’t be able to claim it. You’re hurting this crappie company. You say that this Jeunesse Juice cured your grandfather’s cancer… come on. Jeunesse doesn’t even have a juice, monavie had an overpriced juice that was never clinically or otherwise proven to do anything. Just because Jeunesse put their stamp on an old product doesn’t mean that the juice has changed. Juice made from acai berries grown in Brazil put into a bottle and combined with a high price and a ridiculous pyramid scheme, makes these greedy liars their profits and furthers the corruption by taking advantage of more and more uneducated people. Have you tried these products?! Are you doing your research before buying into this crap?! Monavie doesn’t exist any longer for a reason.
Emma (The Jeunesse Troll) lied: “I’m sorry but personally i think and KNOW that jeunesse is not a scam because have any of u even tried any of their products?”
Wow! That was some messed up English and twisted logic. Why does it seem to be that all the staunchest anonymous advocates of BS pyramid scheme snakeoil are illiterate? Well, we know the answer.
Emma (The Irate Jeunesse Troll) screamed: “CUZ IT CAN CURE F-CKING CANCER!”
Oh jeez! All-caps profanity and exclamation points don’t make your moronic claim any less absurd.
Emma (The Deceitful Jeunesse Troll) said: “My grandfather had cancer and his CA for cancer was at 12.0 and after drinking Jeunesse his CA dropped to 3.6 in less than 6 months and u can choose not to believe this but i know for a fact that Jeunesse saved a hell of a lot of pain in my family!”
BS! Prove it or piss off. You can’t, because it didn’t happen, and you won’t because you’re a hit-and-run troll.
Emma (The Unfathomably Stupid Jeunesse Troll) said: “the products are quite a miracle bc no other products r able to cure cancer yet and if someone u care a lot about had really bad cancer u would try anything to cure it”
None of your products cure or even mitigate any of the symptoms of cancer. The suggestion that they do is moronic. They are more likely to cause cancer than to cure it. The desperation you speak of is exactly what the remorseless con artists who sell worthless snakeoil seek to exploit.
Emma (The Soul-Dead Jeunesse Troll) said: “and maybe jeunesse is a bit pricey but it sure is worth it if it can save lives”
Their products have never saved a life, but they most assuredly have ruined many. They are worthless.
Emma (The Delusional Jeunesse Troll) said: “Also its true that in China, some hospitals do use it to cure cancer patients.”
No, it’s not true, idiot.
Thank you for the extensive research
launching this july in India, lets see how really amazing the products are, if the products are really amazing, then there are 2 worst fears- to know more just click the link and join…
[Editor’s note: Link not available, this isn’t the place for salespeople to recruit/promote. I think there are significant reviews of the products if people focus on the ones that DON’T come from salesmen. If they come from salesmen, they probably shouldn’t be trusted.]
Kitty said: “What are some of the reason that people dislike mlm in the first place?”
Hmmm. I suspect you already know full well (as you probably hear the complaints daily) and are just playing possum, but regardless, a few reasons are: (a) MLMs lie chronically about both the quality/value of their products (very poor in actuality) and the viability of the so-called business opportunity (nil in actuality); (b) MLMs lobby vigorously to weaken laws that would protect consumers from their predatory tactics; (c) MLM salespeople have a unique combination of being staggeringly unqualified for the work they are doing and being incessantly annoying in their attempts to convince friends and family to join their doomed pyramid schemes.
Kitty said: “Becos (sic) of high monthly personal sales target?”
No, I have never seen a single person ever lodge that as a primary complaint against MLMs. I think you are being purposely obtuse by making such a suggestion.
Kitty said: “Becos (sic) of uplines will always earn more than downline?”
No again, that’s a strawman argument that you invented so that you could slay it, even though this is not a primary complaint about MLMs. It’s also not true; in the vast majority of cases anyway. The top-ranked distributors in MLMs are there because of secret sweetheart deals and break insertions, and the average distributor will never surpass them.
Kitty said: “In a corp world, it is impossible for an executive to learn (sic) more than a manager but it is possible in Jeunesse.”
That’s just straight up BS. MLM distributors are neither managers nor executives. MLM companies do however have a normal corporate structure, totally apart from the distributor network, just like non-MLM companies, which includes managers and executives, and the former do not make more than the latter.
Kitty said: “Jeunesse comm (sic) plan is design in such where the team have to work together and grow together. Thats (sic) extremely helpful to newbie.”
No it I most certainly not. For the upline distributor, “training” recruits (i.e., in reality brainwashing them to not quit) just adds more uncompensated hours to their already poorly compensated workload. For the trainee, it offers no real training because it is merely a case of the blind leading the blind. The cumulative sales skills of your entire distribution network couldn’t even fill a thimble.
Kitty said: “Becos (sic) Jeunesse products are highly priced? People are willing to pay a fortune for branded stemcell (sic) potion and cream, so why is Jeunesse labelled “highly priced” when the products are created by dermologist (sic) and doctor and had the patent technology.”
Yes indeed, people criticize MLMs because your crap-grade products are always insanely overpriced; by multiples of 6-25 times over retail. And people aren’t willing to buy your crap lotion and potions on the open market, which is why you have to flog them by using them as the entry ticket to a pyramid scheme. There is nothing unique about having some doctor shill for your worthless products. All MLMs do this (argument from authority) and in every case it is to hide the fact that the products are overpriced garbage. It comes as no surprise that some shifty docs are willing to say nice things about crap MLM products when they are paid enough to do so.
Kitty said: “Many of our distributors have greatly benefited from the products and share the goodness to others. We have seen many life examples in the team.”
BS! Your products are overpriced overhyped crap. Again, it wouldn’t be at all surprising that a few of your distributors might say good things about the products, given that they have sunk so much time and money into building a so-called “business” around selling them.
Kitty said: “Jeunesse is not the mlm company that you thought it to be. In case, it is a risk-free business.”
It is every bit the shit company that I think it is. To call it risk-free is both an aggregious lie and a grave disservice to consumers.
I noticed many say Jeunesse is mlm/pyramid or the products doesn’t work etc.
What are some of the reason that people dislike mlm in the first place?
Becos of high monthly personal sales target? -Jeunesse doesn’t have that.
Becos of uplines will always earn more than downline?
– Jeunesse compensation plan allows downline to surpass the learning of their upline. Living examples are known to member.
– In a corp world, it is impossible for an executive to learn more than a manager but it is possible in Jeunesse.
– Jeunesse comm plan is design in such where the team have to work together and grow together. Thats extremely helpful to newbie.
Becos Jeunesse products are highly priced?
– People are willing to pay a fortune for branded stemcell potion and cream, so why is Jeunesse labelled “highly priced” when the products are created by dermologist and doctor and had the patent technology.
Many of our distributors have greatly benefited from the products and share the goodness to others. We have seen many life examples in the team.
Jeunesse is not the mlm company that you thought it to be. In case, it is a risk-free business.
Kitty, it’s been a long time since I looked at Jeunesse.
I’m not sure why you can’t spell “because”, maybe it’s a weird auto-correct thing. I’ve just never seen it before.
Anyway here are my responses:
Kitty said, “Becos of high monthly personal sales target?”
I am presuming that you mean that you have to qualified to earn commissions. Otherwise the “target” would be whatever you want it to be. You could “target” to sell zero. The FTC seemed to point out needing to be qualified to earn commissions here: https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/993473/ramirez_-_dsa_speech_10-25-16.pdf. So please respond back and tell me that Jeunesse followed the FTC guidelines and removed that.
Kitty said, “Becos of uplines will always earn more than downline?”
No, no one ever said anything like this. Please don’t make up stuff and then try to prove your made up stuff correct. It only makes you look silly for making it up in the first place. Every MLM allows for the possibility of someone in a downline to earn more than someone in their upline, but it is extremely rare that it happens. And you never see someone way down the downline earn more than someone near the top.
In the corporate world a star software engineer can earn more than his manager. You said, “learn more”, but I think you meant “earn more” as it would make less sense the way you wrote it.
If a pyramid/team/recruited hierarchy grows, it eliminates the ability to retail the products to the public. The number of salespeople outpace the demand for the products.
Kitty said, “Becos Jeunesse products are highly priced?”
Is Jeunesse selling stemcell potions? Wow. Companies can patent terrible products. There are a lot of dermatologists (not dermologist) and doctors out there. Can you pass information on the large-scale, peer-reviewed journals?
Kitty said, “Many of our distributors have greatly benefited from the products and share the goodness to others. We have seen many life examples in the team.”
Many of the people in MonaVie said that they saw it cure cancer. This was shown to be a scam 10 years ago. Didn’t Jeunesse buy the assets of MonaVie?
No MLM is a risk-free business. It’s quite the opposite where no one seems to be able to find a single MLM that can even boast about a 2% success rate.
“What are some of the reason that people dislike mlm in the first place?”
@Kitty
One reason is because companies that use multi-level marketing take advantage of the less fortunate. The company makes these people believe that they are going to help them when in fact the company is only looking to exploit them.
Sad but true, and proven over and over again.
I agree this Jeunesse is probably a scam.
what confuses me: they say doctors worked to create these products , plus they got a Nobel prize for it?! is that scam too?
Where’s the official/trustworthy information the Nobel prize? Sometimes a company will pay a doctor to create a product just so that they can say they’ve made the claim. You want to look for large-scale studies that were published in reputable peer-reviewed journals like New England Journal of Medicine.
Truth In Advertising had an recent update to the pyramid scheme claims
This article is so foolish! Guys why you post such stupid things! I am working with Jeunesse Global only for 10 months without any background expirience in past. I have earned more than 20000$ in this company WITHOUT previous background, have earned a fantastic trip to Croatia from the comapny, have a team in 7 countries!!! You tell me that this is a scam. I am telling you that you are completily wrong!! I can show a check if you want!!
I’d rather see you with a letter of approval from the company to make income claims like you just did.
Please see: https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/993473/ramirez_-_dsa_speech_10-25-16.pdf
Haridev said: “I am working with Jeunesse Global only for 10 months without any background expirience in past. I have earned more than 20000$ in this company WITHOUT previous background, have earned a fantastic trip to Croatia…”
So let’s compare that income claim with the document from the FTC that Lazy man posted, which says:
“A legitimate multi-level marketer must accurately represent its business opportunity and what a participant is likely to earn. These representations must be truthful, non-misleading, and substantiated.”
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/993473/ramirez_-_dsa_speech_10-25-16.pdf
So here’s the truthful part (and what Haridev should have said to comply with the FTC). According to the company’s IDS, roughly 77% of distributors earn nothing; 95% earn between nothing and a paltry sum of $214 a year. And these are earnings BEFORE deducting for expenses, so in effect, that 95% earn nothing as well. All in all, 99.6% of distributors receive $15,978.97 or less per year, which is well below poverty level wages. A mere 0.5% earn more than 20K, which is the amount that Haridev claimed to have earned in 10 months.
https://www.truthinadvertising.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/New-Income_Disclosure_Statement_Jeunesse-United_States.pdf
So not only can we be quite certain that Haridev’s claim is pure BS, it also provides evidence of the lengths that the company’s distributors will go to skirt the law and deceive people. Shame on you!
I believe that this comments that you post, and replies on my comment are made by loosers who are eager to sit and waste time to calculate someone’s income rather than start to work and see results. Shame upon you DEAR that your negative mindset destroys you life! All you can is just sitting in such forums while many great leaders earn money in Jeunesse and becoming reach and famous!!! You are just jealous thats it!!!
Haridev said: “I believe that this comments that you post, and replies on my comment are made by loosers…”
ROFL! If you’re going to attempt to insult people, you should at least know how to spell your insult properly. I am definitely not “loose”.
Haridev said: “You are just jealous thats it!!!”
Quite obviously, no one is jealous of a business where less than 1 out of 200 participants makes more than poverty-level wages. That’s like saying people are jealous of panhandlers. What kind of delusion-inducing MLM Kool-Aid are you drinking?
Jeunesse products proved it’s worth without photoshoping I have my own experiences.Not one but many.
Extremely one sided review. I am curious if you do review all the places you eat and shop the same way. Because unless you own a farm or a manufacturing company , EVERYTHING is distributed through a chain.
Well, you can read around 2500 articles on this website over the 12 years I’ve been blogging and judge for yourself.
If my MLM articles seem one-sided it may be partially because they are pyramid schemes where more than 99% of people lose money and consumers of the products are overpaying. That’s why you won’t see a MLM refrigerator company… you can’t con people into paying $5000 for a $500 refrigerator.
2 questions:
1) Why all the products of this brand can not get FDA certificate?
2) and why The Jeunesse is still running if this is obviously a scam like what the author said?
1) Which FDA certificate are you talking about?
2) It costs the FTC millions of dollars and years of time to shut down a single MLM – see this article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-27/an-insider-explains-why-the-ftc-can-t-put-an-end-to-pyramid-schemes (subscription required now, but it was free for years).
There are over a thousand MLMs. I don’t see the United States funding the FTC with the billions of dollars of lawyers it would need.
Also, the President of the United States was heavily involved in running MLM scams, not to mention his own “University” scam.
Some interesting info I just heard. Jeunesse in Greater China was just shut down and the President of Jeunesse Greater China was arrested and taken into custody along with multiple employees, possibly 15 or more. From what I understand all business has ceased, sign-ups, payments, and shipments have ceased. If I hear any more info I will let everyone know.
https://behindmlm.com/companies/jeunesse/770-million-worth-of-jeunesse-products-seized-in-china/
Smuggling product to do business illegally in China without regard for the lives of the people involved just to grow their scheme and make more $.
It’s interesting the wealthy people involved are always the success stories. Nobody has ever started at the bottom as a basic distributor and now are at the top.
It’s foolish and sad that simple minded people believe they will become rich doing this.
They fail and walk away learning the hard way.
There is not a job in the world or employer who recruits people to fail and see human beings as numbers to grow their personal situation like MLM.
I’m a salesman and I sell good products for a commission and the retail partner who buys from the developer or distributor makes a lot of money and I’m well compensated earning an honest living. Even if I don’t “succeed” I don’t walk away from the job completely broke. I managed to earn something enough to survive in addition to gaining experience and building a resume and on to the next sales job.
In 20 years as a Sales Professional I’ve made $1500 in a month and I’ve made $36,000 in a month.
The brainwashing MLM does to people can be applied in a real sales organization with real success. I tried MLM when I was 20 years old. I took the cult culture and applied it to selling cars and was extremely successful!!! Their sales training and recruiting pitch is good it’s scamming others for your personal gain and bull shit product claims that are the REAL ILLEGAL MORAL PROBLEM.
Most sales organizations are commission based pay with a draw so your compensated for your time and if you don’t sell they just terminate your employment and you walk away having earned enough $ to live.
Rich people manipulating the common folk into wasting their time and efforts to end up worse off financially then when they started is disgusting!!!
I experienced at a young age MLM by answering an ad in the newspaper. Everything was bait and switch and the cult like brainwashing was sad. Eager young minds looking to make a start at adult life exploited by money hungry scammers.
If you want to make a few hundred dollars be brainwashed and brainwash others it’s not a bad deal.
Your better than that and smarter than they want you to believe.
Good for you Lazy Man. Educate the simple minded. If you don’t like corporate America start your own business like millions of successful entrepreneurs do without scamming the innocent and weak minded dreamers of the world!
Well said MC! Always refreshing to hear from people with a good head on their shoulders and an intact moral compass.