Visalus Sciences

I cannot handle how misleading and deceptive this company is. I do not understand how People fall for this. I'm watching this company slowly takeover the minds of people I thought were intelligent. Everywhere I go in my town people are promoting this stuff.
I have done so much research on this company, and it's hard to find anything credible without having to wade through all the misinformation the company spoon feeds it's promoters to say. Do they not think that when two or more of my Facebook "Friends" post the exact same spontaneous testimonial (I'm talking word for word) that nobody will notice how insincere that is? Are people really that blind? I just can't wrap my head around it.
And what is the deal with another website (I won't mention the name, but form what I have read here it appears you are all familiar with it)? If you try to type in Visalus on that site it is posted as all asterisk so that you can't post the name without hyphenating it to get past that little glitch. As in v-i-s-a-l-u-s. you can't even post the individual words in "body by vi" without them being asterisked out. Is someone paying them off not to post their name? How shady is that?
And their marketing...grrr...We've teamed up with "The Biggest Loser"! No you haven't. You've paid a former producer of the show to make a web show. Former producer!!!!
How do people not see right through this? Or are all my former "friends" just knowingly scamming others?

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Originally Posted by Kelly

I cannot handle how misleading and deceptive this company is. I do not understand how People fall for this. I'm watching this company slowly takeover the minds of people I thought were intelligent. Everywhere I go in my town people are promoting this stuff.
I have done so much research on this company, and it's hard to find anything credible without having to wade through all the misinformation the company spoon feeds it's promoters to say. Do they not think that when two or more of my Facebook "Friends" post the exact same spontaneous testimonial (I'm talking word for word) that nobody will notice how insincere that is? Are people really that blind? I just can't wrap my head around it.
And what is the deal with another website (I won't mention the name, but form what I have read here it appears you are all familiar with it)? If you try to type in Visalus on that site it is posted as all asterisk so that you can't post the name without hyphenating it to get past that little glitch. As in v-i-s-a-l-u-s. you can't even post the individual words in "body by vi" without them being asterisked out. Is someone paying them off not to post their name? How shady is that?
And their marketing...grrr...We've teamed up with "The Biggest Loser"! No you haven't. You've paid a former producer of the show to make a web show. Former producer!!!!
How do people not see right through this? Or are all my former "friends" just knowingly scamming others?

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Visalus is one scary choice in the MLM world to be sure. And, yes, Scam caves to fake lawyer letters and incentives. The scammers rule there. We have a short thread on Visalus:

http://www.realscam.com/f9/visalus-losing-money-582/

I actually rescued a few of my posts from Scam before they got nuked like 4000 other posts I took a great deal of time and care in composing that have disappeared from that place.

Soapboxmom

Welcome to REALSCAM.com Kelly.

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Originally Posted by Kelly

Or are all my former "friends" just knowingly scamming others?

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Unfortunately, that is all too often the case when it comes to MLM.

For whatever reason, Visalus members always seem to be right up there when the topic of the lies, deceit and unsubstantiated claims of health related MLMs is mentioned.

I read that post Soapboxmom. It was very informative. Thanks!
It honestly scares me that they, and all the rest of these scams I've read about here, are allowed to continue to do "business". You'd think they'd be put out of business quickly, but they're not. Why not? Or that they'd crumble quickly, but some seem to hang on for years.
My town has a population of 132000. You would figure that having been operating here for a year already that they would have reached saturation of all the gullible people by now, but apparently not. My kids' school parking lot is full of these "free" BMWs! I would be so angry if I had bought my own BMW only to be surround by all these fakers.
And if I see one more post on Facebook that ends with "Boom!" I am going to lose it. I wish they'd just blow up already!

Can someone please explain this to me? I'm new to all this shady scamming stuff and I'm trying to understand what they are trying to accomplish here.
Blyth Inc. majority shareholder/ owner of Visalus Sciences has released in the last few days that they are issuing an IPO for FVA Ventures, that will then be known as Visalus Inc. I've researched FVA Ventures and my first discovery said it was a "marketing consulting" company. Then I stumble across this: http://pro.edgar-online.com/ipo.aspx...id=70551&ipo=1
(if I'm not allowed to post a links a link just take it down and accept my apologies. Still learning)
In any case, from the looks of it it seems like FVA Ventures is really Visalus or a sort of shadow company that holds the info that Visalus doesn't want everyone to know. I'm not sure if I'm getting this right. My instinct tells me it's how they get around being transparent. Am I right? And what about this IPO? Promoters claim that it adds legitimacy to the company, but from what I've read here and there all the "founders" have taken their money out of Visalus and put it in Blyth. That seems a little insincere as promotes don't have the option of sheltering their money that way. If Visalus tanks, the founders don't have any loss. Am I getting this correct?
Also, there is this new thing they are pushing where Ernst & Young has named Ryan Blair a winner of their entrepreneur of the year award for Visalus, but on E & Y website it's for FVA Ventures. And another thing that stood out is that they are giving a similar award to a lady from Henry Ford Health Systems, which is where one of Visalus' medical advisors works his day job as an ENT.
Am I wrong in thinking that it all smells funny and that Ryan Blair and the rest are absolute masters of finding legal loop holes to squeeze through?

this is one of those is "it the truth THE WHOLE TRUTH and, nothing but the truth" situations, Kelly.

The first thing that struck me when I took a very quick look was this:

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The winners for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2012 Award for Michigan & Northwest Ohio are:

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Not quite as prestigious as first thought, Eh ??

The second thing which struck me was the "EDGAR" link you posted.

"EDGAR" is the acronym used by the Securities and Exchange Commission. (SEC)

And, yes, that's the same S.E.C. which just brought down Zeek rewards:

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...ams/secgov.jpg

This from the SEC website:

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Filings & Forms

All companies, foreign and domestic, are required to file registration statements, periodic reports, and other forms electronically through EDGAR. Anyone can access and download this information for free. Here you'll find links to a complete list of filings available through EDGAR and instructions for searching the EDGAR database.

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Securities and Exchange Commission website

HOWEVER,

the link you posted is for a site called "EDGAR pro" and is owned by "Edgar*Online*" pro.edgar-online.com

NOT a government agency and NOT the official S.E.C. EDGAR database

As the REALSCAM.com logo in the top left hand corner of your screen says:

http://www.realscam.com/images/misc/realscam-logo1.gif

YOU decide.

Ahhh, thank you! Now I'm learning.
I've been reading about that whole Zeek Rewards thing and other MLMs and I'm starting to see a pattern of familiar names and recruitment marketing.
To be honest, it's more than mildly disconcerting. I never knew this all existed. And I doubt that anyone who is new to "network marketing" or "direct sales" is aware that there are all these professional MLMers who jump from one "business opportunity" to the next.
They pay for their distributor kits and think they have this chance at making all this money not realizing that big guys at the top are being paid big bucks to join at the top with their downlines. Newbies don't stand a chance unless they are really willing to hustle (in both sense of the word).

So, I'm curious. You would think that a company like this one would want to keep their financials a secret, and it's near impossible to find anything on earnings. But they just recently filed with the SEC in preparation for an IPO. So, I searched and searched and finally found the filing under " FVA Ventures Inc." It lists almost everything, including potential risk factors to investing in their stock and the company's earnings over the last two and a half years.
There were a few things that stood out. One was a potential risk that they might lose a big promoter. Specifically, one of the founders, who they stated, with his downline, was responsible for 50% of the company's earnings. You would think that would raise some red flags.
Then there is a part that says they don't think they are a pyramid scheme, but the qualifiers of that term are open to interpretation so there is the potential risk that they could be charged as such.
Finally, they stated that as of June 30, 2012 they had approximately 114000 promoters and 1285000 customers. I couldn't help but think that their promoter numbers sounded a bit low considering all the marketing they do about the company's growth.
So, why on earth would they open themselves up to scrutiny like that?

There is a reason most MLMs don't go public and issue stock!

You are so right man. I actually got involved with selling with this company, and it is so mother f'd up. They tell you to go up to your friends and family to sell your products to them. The stuff isn't cheap and even though it tastes all right they make it seem it like it's the best friken thing that's come out in the world. They really don't offer anything new in terms of ideas. All they say if you drink their empty half tasteless drink instead of fries and burgers and if you excersize more, that you will SURE LOSE WIEGHT! First off, I'm fit already, and I have a six pack, so that didn't appeal to me, but really the novelty they hold to the idea of losing weight by not stuffing your face all day and excersizing is what they count on.

Also, every single one of those websites and blogs that says it's not a scam, is actually protecting you from the fact that essentially it is in fact a scam. But really it's only a scam in the way that its a microcosm in economic life today. To explain, like in today's reality, we live in a world where a very very very few amount of people actually benefit wholly and, not only this, but supersede all others in their accumulation of wealth in its many material forms. Like this, very very very few people in Visalus are actually able to see the sort of profits that they describe. For obvious reasons these people are highlighted the most, and as a result people feel as though they too are able to reach this level.

Of course this is completely true, you or me or anyone of us may very well become BMW owner, or reach the $100,000 level. The only thing is though, at what cost. Are you willing to alieanate your self from your friends, are you able to make this you're full time job, are you able to constantly tell half truths about your products, are you able to cleverly word your presentation of these products to avoid promissing to much explicitly and yet to leave enough to the imagination that people still want to buy? And worst of all, are you able to recruit others on the idea that they too can make large amounts of money, knowing full well that you'll probably see them leave the program very shortly once their expectations aren't met and their hopes fizzle out, and they realize they've spent too much money in the first place and have alienated thier closest friends and family? ( I never went to anyone in my family or friends to ask to buy this.)

Something I found is that a lot of these people who do well, have sold many products like these before, weather visulus or some other product. I met a guy through this that worked for world financial group, and was quiet successful doing this as well $100+. The way that worked was you can help to arrange people debts and finances, all good, no problem there. But then like visalus there's the incentive to sell more, to more people, and sell different products. You can sell all types of different insurances, and stocks, and bonds. Of course all with little to no coverage for unnecessary occurances in the first place, or low divedend products.

Anyways, I'm getting off topic by talking about World Financial group. But this guy who I mentioned earliear that worked for world financial group moved to visalus with but load of his friends. My point is these guys have wonky moral compasses when it comes to making money. I still haven't figured out if it's completely deliberate, or that they just don't fully comprehend the amount of money they've basically swindled out of people at their last job. The fact is that generally people who are succesful in visalus often have a similar past of working with similarly structured companies such as Visalus. Visalus like world financial group, or many companies like it are structured in a pyramid structure, where the people who get in early and are higher up to begin with will make the most money.

(among some other proffessions I met of these people were salesmann of ( shotty candles, knives, excersize equipment, door-to-door energy contracts(no kidding, they're called Direct Energy and they tried to sign my grandpa up to this) actually had a complete expose of this company with the faces of supervisors making rounds in my city))

So to sum, despite its many caveats you could feasibly make some amount of money on this. The fact is 99.9% people don't fall within the category of people that fit the requirements. And in my opinion that's a good thing if you need to sleep at night, I wouldn't feel right selling people things they don't need and pretending that I'm motivated as a health promoter. I don't think any modern society could exist without salesman to move products in some way, but when you have an organization like Visalus that has a structure dependent on the fact you need to have an image of a health promoter instead of a salesman, then that crosses the line of underhandedness to me. I have to give credit where it's due, Visalus is a company that offers it's people many ways to make money and get started, but the numbers most certainly aren't on your side, and to tip the the other way isn't worth it.

Now some may argue that, or some may have read all this past stuff and decided that they're truly special, and that they're not an asshole and that they can still this product in a moral way. The fact is they will force you to sell to friends and family, as soon as you enter, they get you to make a list of all the people in your friends and family that you first want to approach about Visalus, then you're "supervisor" or "guider" or whatever the **** they call him is supposed to sit next to you as you make these phonecalls. Now of course you're only starting off and not a pro like these sick bastards, so what you're supposed to do is hand over the phone(with your friend or family member on the other line) and let them close the deal. ( just imagine what your friends or family members are thinking about you at this point.)

Or you may be thinking that with enough motivation or with the right 'mindset' you can solve any task before you. I can tell you this way of thinking is probably what bothered me to no end.

We had to go to this head leaders house and listen to him spew out these business philosophies that you here from 1am infomercials. all along allong the lines of... "hey, are you tired of your job, are you tired of making the same amount of money as the guy next to you when you know you deserve more? do you want to break away from the pack? Do you think that you have something more special to offer than what your 8hr job can offer, or- or - are you tired of having a 'job' to begin with? What is a job any ways, right?"..... With this sort of bullshit they invoke a stunning amount ideas and emotions, all meant to seem simple and easy to follow, but which also come with assumptions, and create scarecrow arguments, especially towards the invalidity of the way most people tend to earn their living, as a result making you're way of thinking and those around you a villain, or an obstacle which must be overcome.

Who can disagree that they feel they have something special about them to offer to the world, the thing is we all really do. I don't give a damn what people think, we're all special, even the guy who happens to be spewing out the nonsense I mentioned above. But you can't equate this to the idea Visalus is in any way an avenue of this self expression in our lives, or any money making scheme for that matter. To it seems like saying ' you love your kids don't you?! You want the best for your kids don't you?! Then you want to give them everything they want don't you?! Then you need to make the most money you possibly can don you?!' ... what I'm trying to say is that you don't need to resort to manipulating people's emotions to get them to become good salesman. It's not professional, it's not what they teach you in any Undergrad business class, or in any MBA or in any board room or law practice(my dad) or medical school(older brother).

They try to tell you that this will give you practice in sales, but the fact is professional salesman are never taught to overlook the implications of their product. So if your considering being a salesman as a lifelong profession, I would consider what I've said so far closely. Also know that as a salesman, the number one rule is KNOW YOUR PRODUCT.

This is something that Visalus doesn't allow you to do. All nutritional references to Visalus are made dependent on company, this means Visalus is allowed to fund the research and choses which information is given to the salesman as well as on the product labels them selves. On the whole though from my research alone, I've found some conflicting information, not all of it bad, but in itself should be concerning. A lot of this has to do with the fact the things like the amount of Vitamin b12 for example is found in different levels depending on the study. Although some studies have been conducted independently, some of these are funded by Visalus, which WILL ALWAYS cite these ones over others. What isn't known yet is the amount of toxic metals and BPH , MCPMB, that is usually at safe levels for these and other shakes such as protein shakes and stuff like that. If you'd like some starting point on info for visalus look up More Ingredients Reveal More Dangers With Visalus Products - Healthy Families for God

i know for me personally, it gave the fukin runs hahaha, but that might have been other things, but I never got hives until I tried Visalus, and now I get hives for other things too, so maybe it triggered it.

As I'm sure could be said about many things, whole books worth of pages could fill what I've learned about not only Visalus, but companies like it. A lot of which i never mentioned here as this whole writting was just a bit or procrastinatory break in between studying for my differential equations course at my university. NNL ( short for none the less) I'm signing off, and I hope this was all of some use. It's all up to you from here on out. Good luck

2014 Class action lawsuit filed on behalf of duped distributors. Once again, retiring early in MLM/NWM was just a dream.

http://www.sommerspc.com/newsitem/72...ss-Action.aspx

I don't know anything about Visalus Sciences or the people that are on this thread for that matter. I do know this... This type of marketing is not for everyone. Not everyone has the motivation and drive to be successful. Most of you people on this thread are unmotivated, unhappy, paranoid and negative. You will never see real wealth in your lifetime. You will always be on the outside looking in. You will struggle financially and portay your self as a victim. If Visalus Sciences has a product and they recruit people to sell it... what's wrong with that? You don't have to buy it but don't judge people who do and people who sell it. This is America and everyone has the right to prosper... You clearly will not but thats ok...

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Originally Posted by eriklievano

I don't know anything about Visalus Sciences or the people that are on this thread for that matter. I do know this... This type of marketing is not for everyone. Not everyone has the motivation and drive to be successful. Most of you people on this thread are unmotivated, unhappy, paranoid and negative. You will never see real wealth in your lifetime. You will always be on the outside looking in. You will struggle financially and portay your self as a victim. If Visalus Sciences has a product and they recruit people to sell it... what's wrong with that? You don't have to buy it but don't judge people who do and people who sell it. This is America and everyone has the right to prosper... You clearly will not but thats ok...

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you are so obviousely a pro mlm troll scammer it is not even funny! it is also obvious you have not bothered to
read the HARD FACTS posted. Did you not even bother to read Chars post from July 2014?
The 'this is America...' line is total BS as well. in America people do not have the right to yell 'fire' in a crowded theater, nor do they have the right to engage in illegal pyramid schemes or sell dangerous products--
individual rights are NOT unfettered in America, and MLM crooks should not be allowed to 'prosper'!

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Originally Posted by eriklievano

I don't know anything about Visalus Sciences or the people that are on this thread for that matter. I do know this... This type of marketing is not for everyone. Not everyone has the motivation and drive to be successful. Most of you people on this thread are unmotivated, unhappy, paranoid and negative. You will never see real wealth in your lifetime. You will always be on the outside looking in. You will struggle financially and portay your self as a victim. If Visalus Sciences has a product and they recruit people to sell it... what's wrong with that? You don't have to buy it but don't judge people who do and people who sell it. This is America and everyone has the right to prosper... You clearly will not but thats ok...

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lol. there is so much wrong in the post it belongs on a conspiracy site

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Originally Posted by eriklievano

I don't know anything about Visalus Sciences

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Here's a little nugget for ya...

I looked through the white papers and all but were by one guy: Michael Seidman. This fits the MonaVie mold of using Alexander Schauss and LifeVantage using Joe McCord to create research to market their products. This is probably the time to point out that Michael Seidman has a past history of selling the public on products that aren't shown to work

The ViSalus Scam Exposed
Quackery and faith healing in Motown – Respectful Insolence

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Originally Posted by eriklievano

or the people that are on this thread for that matter.

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Of 3000ish threads you could have read to get to know us, that does not say very much for your mettle in research.

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Originally Posted by eriklievano

I do know this... This type of marketing is not for everyone. Not everyone has the motivation and drive to be successful. Most of you people on this thread are unmotivated, unhappy, paranoid and negative. You will never see real wealth in your lifetime. You will always be on the outside looking in. You will struggle financially and portay your self as a victim.

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All you MLM do-bees have the same droll rhetoric...

http://www.realscam.com/f9/achieve-c...524/#post78101

http://www.realscam.com/f8/flexkom-a...html#post41641

http://www.realscam.com/f9/paid2save...html#post76786

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Originally Posted by eriklievano

don't judge people

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Ironic Much?

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Originally Posted by eriklievano

If Visalus Sciences has a product and they recruit people to sell it... what's wrong with that? You don't have to buy it but don't judge people who do and people who sell it. This is America and everyone has the right to prosper... You clearly will not but thats ok...

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If this was a great opportunity you wouldn't have lead with a load of bullshit that could have easily been scraped off the shoes of any of the last 20 people that hualed it in. Where are the numbers? Start with the total number of distributors making ANY money and we will crank it up from there.

As for what's wrong, if there are little or no true retail sales then it is and ILLEGAL PYRAMID, more than all but a very few, less than 1% few, will LOSE MONEY.

this is what recently put these mlm shitbags on my **** list. My mother had diabetes. her alleged 'friend' decided to join this crap and felt she should approach my mother. What evidence did she have that this **** wasn't just sugar powder? NONE. but that didn't stop her from bullshitting my mother into buying the ****. And then double charging and shipping her to initial orders.

IM(very)HO, any MLMer making ANY claim WRT his or her product and diabetes / cancer / heart conditions or any chronic illness should be prosecuted after first having their eyebrow hairs plucked out one at a time with a pair of rusty pliers.

yeah......that's just way too good for them.

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Originally Posted by littleroundman

IM(very)HO, any MLMer making ANY claim WRT his or her product and diabetes / cancer / heart conditions or any chronic illness should be prosecuted after first having their eyebrow hairs plucked out one at a time with a pair of rusty pliers.

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i agree! such deliberate deceit and flat out lies are evil and predatory!

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Originally Posted by kath

i agree! such deliberate deceit and flat out lies are evil and predatory!

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It's not just the deliberate deceit and lies that annoy me.

It's the morons who suddenly become instant experts by virtue of buying a starter pack, listening to their "uplines" sales spiel and then go out advising chronic disease patients how their magic juice can cure "you-name-it"

Totally agree littleroundman. Totally agree!