A tribute to those “lucky draw winner.....”
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There are many lucky draw winners who had paid dearly to learn their lessons. May them be a lesson to us. We do not have to pay to learn the same lessons.
telemarketing
time share
MLM
NM
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Please read the link. Thank you.
http://www.sgforums.com/?action=thread_display&thread_id=108659 -
hmm, i posted in the thread many months ago
its abt timeshare..i didnt see any or much discussion on MLM and telemarketing.. -
I quote the post by “tomhunk” Senior Member – dated 24 December 2004 • 11:58 PM
Singaporean says:
"I'm sorry"
Or confession of a timeshare salesman in Soc.culture.society. Aug 8, 2004
Posted by George
I have been in this industry for many years working for two of the most well known companies along Orchard Road. I deeply regret and feel a sense of remorse for all those people who have bought these memberships through me.
I have realised that what i have sold on behalf of the company is not what buyers actually want but how we can make money out of the poor unsuspecting clients who are lured to the company.
This is why :
a.. You are lured to visit the presentation with a promise of a free gift either by a telephone call or picked up from the streets responding to a street survey.
b.. You are told that the presentation will last you only 60 - 90 mins but end up sitting for a few hours until you are drained.
The programme takes the following sequence - An introduction by the consultant and welcome to the round table. Offer of drinks, tidbits. Introduction to the Manager. Get to Know You session
(A survey sheet - to size up your finances, holiday habits and motivations which will be used against you later towards the end of the presentation); the pencil pitch presentation showing how the membership works and how you can go for an exchange holiday.
And before you are taken on a walk to watch a gallery and TV/Video presentation you are conditioned with the list price of the membership which will awe you. This will be subjected to a bargaining session at the end so that clients feel that they got a good bargain.
And when you get back to the table after all the presentation that's where the real battle starts. The battle is between your greedy and impulsive nature versus the price quoted for the membership!
Once you succumb you are taken to the contracts officer who will explain about the membership and advice you on the terms and conditions.
By the time you sign on the dotted line you have been drained of your energy and alertness and don't read the fine lines of the contract.
It is only when you get out of the company or get home that the reality of the situation sinks in. Remorse. And you review what you have been told
c.. Timeshare membership (depending on what size units u take up - Studio, 1-Bed; 2-Bed units) will cost you from S$10K - S$30K or more and that you can pay by interest free instalments. (the prices are bargainable and not fixed).
d.. You were shown beautiful pictures of the best hotels and resorts that you can go to with your family which mask the cost to you over the years.
e.. If you are tired of going to the same resort (which your membership entitles you to) you can exchange for another by joining a holiday exchange company which charges you $150 per year in membership. You have to fork out another $200 to $400 for a week of exchange.
f.. You have to pay S$300+-S$500+ for Maintenance Fees for your timeshare membership (after paying for your membership of S$10K - S$30K) every year for the rest of your life or the term of your membership.
This is so that, you are told, that proper maintenance can done to ensure that your resort (which you do not own) is well taken care of. (You are not told that the Maintenance Fees are subjected to inflationary pressures and may go up gradually but never down).
g.. The membership can be sold and you belief that it could be a hedge against inflation but in reality it is extremely difficult to resell your membership once bought at any given price (i have been waiting to sell my timeshare membership since 1990).
The companies i worked for even cheated me of my commissions. Life as a timeshare salesman is a dog's life. You spent long hours from mid-afternoon to late in the night waiting and entertaining UPs (unit potential) in small round tables in the DECK (room where presentations are made).
You are bullied, threatened with dismissal, taken advantage of, fined for the silliest of reasons, mocked at for being a weakling Singaporean (when u report sick and come with an MC - this by ANGMOHs who think they are naturally superior than us).
There is also a fine system within the company where the poor timeshare consultant is
penalised for trivial reasons and one wonders where all the money collected in fines go to.
Soc.culture.Singapore -
Get rich quick
MALCOLM LIM used to earn over $3,000 per month when he was a teenager, by selling health products to his friends through multi-level marketing (MLM). Now in his mid-20s, he has quit the business for good because, in his words, "I don't want to be a legal conman."
Malcolm (not his real name) is among the thousands of Singaporeans who had been lured to join these schemes in the hope of getting rich quick. He made - but also lost - lots of money. Now he wants to "expose MLM's dirty tactics."
Malcolm reckons there are about 10 big MLM companies here, plus another 50 to 80 smaller firms.
Because of the recession, many people have joined these schemes - from clerks and secretaries to doctors, bankers and stock brokers.
What, exactly, is MLM?
Also called Network Marketing, it is a system of selling products - usually health supplements or beauty care products - through friends and relatives.
The emphasis is on building a large network. If you get 10 people to join, and each of them get another 10, you will have 100 people selling the products under you.
If each of the 100 recruits another 10, you will have 1,000. They are your "downlines". The commissions you earn from their sales can be substantial.
MLM companies commonly claim that a person could EASILY be earning $10,000 per month within six months.
"That's in a perfect scenario," Malcolm says. "It never happens in the real world."
They further claim that the products are sold at reasonable prices because shop rentals, advertising and other high costs have been removed.
Malcolm reveals that the typical profit margin is at least 500 to 1000 percent. The bulk of the profits go to the MLM bosses. Only about a quarter is distributed as commissions.
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Pyramid selling
MLM is similar to "pyramid selling", which is banned in Singapore. But most have been modified to operate within the law and the Singapore government is now reviewing the ban, to avoid penalising companies that are legitimate.
Malcolm argues that the government should impose stricter controls instead. "Even if the companies operate legally," he says, "they cannot control what their members do."
Malcolm joined his first MLM programme when he was at the Polytechnic. "The response was fantastic," he recalls. "Young people are not interested in health products, but when you tell them they can make money, they all join.
"In three months, I had more than 1,000 downlines. I was a money-making machine for them.
"But as I rose up the ranks, I began to discover things that I did not know before. For example, the 'consultant' who made the presentation.... his big house and big cars, they are all sponsored by the MLM boss. It's a false front, to give the impression that he is successful.
"Once, I was aiming to reach the manager level. They told me I needed 8,000 points. I was doing so well that I could achieve 80,000 points. But if I did that, the extra 72,000 points would go to the person above me.
"So I slowed down my activity. Then, just before the month was up, they said there was a computer error and actually I needed 20,000 points. They use dirty tactics like this to prevent you from moving up."
Then there is a monthly maintenance. "Every month, you have to buy $200 to $300 worth of products. If you are in a higher level, you may have to buy more than $1000 worth.
"You either keep recruiting new people, or you keep buying. Otherwise, they forfeit your commissions.";
Malcolm left the company and joined another. After attending more than 10 presentations, he thought he picked the best. It turned out to be even worse.
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Ran away with money
"They cooked up a story that one of the shareholders had run away with the money. So they withheld about $30,000 worth of commissions and bonuses from me."
Is he sure the story was cooked up? Perhaps someone did run away with the money?
"I had friends in secret societies," he reveals. "They managed to catch this guy and he admitted that he took some money. But not all of it. About $2 million was missing, but he took only $500,000. The other shareholders must have taken the rest.
"To succeed in this business, you need to have absolutely no conscience," Malcolm says. "Do you seriously think they sell health products on the concept of health? Everytime I tell my customers how good the product is, my conscience keeps telling me what an asshole I am.
"I decided to quit. When my children go to school, I don't want their friends to say, 'Wah... your father is a legal conman!"
Published version in TODAY
was edited and cut by about half -
Good story, but lots of flaws.
Lack of argument, but mainly stories and urls to 'prove' the points...sigh...i question mod's lack of intelligence and maturity to make this a sticky....
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Yes, just stories.Originally posted by laurence82:Good story, but lots of flaws.
Lack of argument, but mainly stories and urls to 'prove' the points...sigh...i question mod's lack of intelligence and maturity to make this a sticky....
For the story on time share, it is quite nice and fit the experience that I had with one of them. -
And the point of posting just stories?Originally posted by pisces8:Yes, just stories.
For the story on time share, it is quite nice and fit the experience that I had with one of them.