ACN quietly acquires Team National
ACN has quietly acquired Team National.
The announcement was made on ACN’s FaceBook page on January 8th:
What’s immediately unclear is what this means for Team National distributors going forward.
I first learned of ACN’s acquisition of Team National from a reader earlier today.
In an attempt to confirm, my first port of call was Team National’s website. Nothing there, so I moved onto their social media pages.
Team National’s YouTube channel hasn’t been updated since March 2019. Team National’s Facebook page is regularly updated, however there’s no official announcement.
Rather the first mention of ACN was a “Super Saturday” event on January 14th:
When following Team National’s January FaceBook posts, this comes out of the blue.
Similarly there’s nothing about Team National on ACN’s website. The only acknowledgement of the acquisition is the previously referenced ACN FaceBook post.
One interesting discussion about the merger I found comes from Justin Weeks and John Melton.
Weeks is a former Team National distributor. He left the company in August 2020.
Melton is a former ACN distributor. Both Weeks and Melton are now Modere distributors.
Weeks’ and Meltons’ discussion took place in a video titled, “The TRUTH about ACN absorbing Team National”.
The video was uploaded to Weeks’ YouTube channel on January 7th, 2022.
Keeping in mind there’s a bit of marketing going on, here’s some relevant commentary between the two;
Justin Weeks (speaking on Team National): Long story short, one of the things (Melton) asked me that really hit home was, “Justin, I understand you’ve had success … but how many people on your team are winning?
And you know it was embarrassing to say. I could count on one hand how many people, out of thousands of team members, y’know were having success.
There wasn’t a lot of duplication happening. It was like pulling teeth to get someone started in (Team National).
We were doing the old school home presentations. We started doing some Zoom meeting but it was a lot of travelling, three-way calls, just a lot of stuff that no one wants to do. And it just isn’t easy to do.
John Melton: Let me guess Justin, most of those calls and meetings revolved around the opportunity to make money?
Justin Weeks: Yes, that’s exactly what it was.
John Melton: There wasn’t a whole lot of emphasis on customers and it was all about making money, recruiting, recruiters to recruit recruiters. And it was all about y’know, the hype and the possibility to get rich.
Meanwhile most of the people are spending more than they’re making. And they’re frustrated.
They’re trying to stay positive, but at the end of the day it was hard to make money (Team National’s) compensation plan.
Which is funny, because your company (Team National) just partnered up with my old company (ACN) – which was the same way!
It was all three-way calls, home parties, home meetings, hotel meetings. And it was all about making money.
At the end of the day if you were just getting customers, there really wasn’t much compensation.
Not to go off on a tangent, but I found Melton’s comments somewhat ironic given how he markets himself on his personal website:
Justin Weeks: Right, exactly. And that’s what it was all about.
Y’know recently … as of yesterday or the night before last, I heard that the company that John, actually I was with my company about the same time John was with his company, he walked away for similar reasons, and then his old company just absorbed my old company.
And y’know I’m hearing all these stories from all these people. And I just feel like there’s a lot of people out there John, that are confused, potentially being misled.
There’s a lot of people that I care about right now, that’s [sic] being told one thing; that, y’know basically their company is gone.
Their company is gone. It was absorbed. But they’re saying, “Oh, now it’s… this is the “2.0” version of your company”, which … that’s not the case.
Their company’s gone, as of in a few weeks.
They’re being told all these things and being hyped up about this new opportunity that was always in existence, before their company was absorbed.
But now it’s this new big thing, and they’re being told all these things … because obviously they want to keep their genealogy structure. They want to keep their business going.
John Melton goes on give a spiel about ACN. He states that the company is “struggling with recruiting”.
BehindMLM reviewed Team National in April 2013. While we found a confusing compensation plan, there wasn’t anything overtly suggesting recruitment was a focus over retail.
Our ACN review revealed a similarly confusing opportunity, mostly due to its sprawling size.
Team National marketed discount memberships. I suppose those will just be integrated into ACN’s product range.
At time of publication Team National’s website and social media pages are still online. Justin Weeks’ comments suggest this won’t be the case for long.
CEO Angela Chrysler made an appearance on Team National’s FaceBook page on January 11th.
In the livestream, Chrysler shows off her “ACN gear”. She goes on to explain what’s happening going forward;
One week ago Team National announced that we’ve entered into a business relationship with ACN.
So TN and ACN are coming together … what does that mean?
That means we’re gonna continue to serve our customers for the month of January, but then in February you’ll have access to ACN perks if you are a member.
Chrysler does state she’ll be around to “support” Team National distributors, but doesn’t clarify whether she’ll have an executive role within ACN.
Team National was founded by Richard (Dick) Loehr in 1997 and eventually launched as a standalone MLM company in 1999.
ACN’s acquisition effectively brings an end to the twenty-two year old company.
Team National is the second MLM company acquisition by ACN in six months. It follows Kynect Energy last August.
Update 24th January 2022 – Justin Weeks has deleted his “The TRUTH about ACN absorbing Team National” video.
I did have a link to the video in the article but as such I’ve disabled it.
Update 11th December 2023 – ACN has discontinued its perks offering, leaving former Team National membership with “no value”.
Justin Weeks’ video is gone. Guess that recruitment campaign is over.
Can those of us get our money back who just paid for the lifetime membership right before it ended or at least part of it back?
That sounds like a question for ACN support.
So much for Dicks dream continuing. Angela sold out!!
Don’t believe her father would have ever done this. He’s probably turning over in his grave. Wonder if she screwed all of he office personnel as well. Call there numbers just get recording. What a joke!
She has screwed so many people! Karma is a bitch!! What goes around comes around!
I’ve been asking for a refund. I just joined in June 2021, just before they eliminated the lifetime membership offer.
Only joined for that reason, thinking I would have a lifetime to get my investment back in savings, not barely 6 months time. Under that impression, I had yet to purchase any of the products offered at a discount.
I have no desire to purchase from the 5 products offered by ACN. I’m wondering if there will be a class action lawsuit against them.
I’m still flabbergasted! Am hardly able to believe it happened. Wonder what Darren Hardy thinks about it.
I’ve been in three other MLM, and they all did basically the same thing, left people hanging.
TN reps will do way better with ACN!
Now they can give discounts on everything AND make money off all the services you all pay for every single month for the rest of your life. Lightbulb?
Fourth time is a charm. Amway, Herbalife, Advocare, and finally Team National.
How many MLM schemes should one couple try before the lightbulb comes on? You’re either the bug – or you’re the windshield.
The people I met with those companies were amazing people. Fine people. Yet, the CEO’s and upper tier made out like bandits – and the rest of us were left holding our wallets, our hopes and dreams with very little success despite the efforts and costs.
Shame on these CEO’s. As far as, ACN – I think not.
I was a life time member wish I could git my money back. I was a member servile years.
Don’t get fooled yourself. No matter how much friendly and enthusiastic people in these MLMs seems to be, they are NOT your friends. They are your colegues, co-workers at best.
Your competetive concurrents in most cases. And quite often the ones trying to exploit and decieve you (“fake it till you make it!”).
Member Discount Shopping Programs are not a viable product, especially at the prices at which they were being offered.
The product was not unique and beneficial exclusively to needs of customers. Some people can sell oceanfront property in Arizona but most cannot.
It seemed there was little development of the product and therefore its value disappeared and questionable media coverage exposed this dsm/mlm program as a risk to buyers and sellers.
It was bound to fail with this type of business model. I tried selling it but it is a hard sell product with little future potential.
You have to provide something that gives a proven benefit to the customer for the purchase price, it’s really that simple.
This is my opinion of why Team National’s program failed the test of time.
I have been trying to cancel my lifetime membership for several months. Now I am receiving phone calls sometimes 2 or 3 times daily from collection agencies stating that they are representing Team National.
I feel like I am being harassed by Team National. I request that all calls, email, etc cease immediately.
I have tried to call the number XXX with no success.
Again please remove me from any debt collectors, contacts and such from Team National.
Thank you.
Have you tried contacting ACN? Sounds like things have really deteriorated if this is widespread.
I am beyond angry because when my wife and I purchased our lifetime membership we considered it an investment that we could use as we got older having been a young couple with 1 child and now we have 3 and can now afford nicer things that we’d hope to use our membership on.
Not to mention, TN never had marketing or spokesmen and or even success stories of Black customers.
Sure maybe one or two, but at one time we were members of one of the fastest growing teams in Atlanta but many burned out for lack of support from corporate.
I was a former rep for ACN in the early years and to be honest their products and services still suck! I mean, who actually needs the stuff they’re selling?
There are so many alternative options for everything the sell!! They are irrelevant and the fact that TN sold out to them makes me angry and sick to my stomach!
I want my money back but know I’ll never get it.
I also wonder if there is a lawsuit against them. I bought a lifetime membership planning to see the money in savings over time, and with immediate family being able to enjoy it as well, as promised.
Now my children aren`t able to use it and I’ve only ever recieved one rebate check from them for about $50. Definitely no savings any where near the amount of the membership!
How can they be allowed to sell a lifetime membership to you & immediate family and then not follow thru and have no recourse!
Hate that I went to add my now adult children to the lifetime “perks” and now there not available.
I will like to join the class action lawsuit if there is one.
Yes I would also like to join the lawsuit if there is one!!!!
Same here, I made a lifetime investment. I managed to develop one leg with depth and isn’t get any help whatsoever with the other leg and was ignored for decades.
I, too, had/have a lifetime membership with Team National and would be glad to join anyone starting a class action lawsuit.
They could have given half of our money back and knocked us down to the three-year membership.
I can’t log on and don’t know how to get in touch with anyone from ACN.
I too would join a class action lawsuit. I joined as a lifetime member expecting my children & parents would be able to use the membership as promised. However I barely even got to use it and then it went out of business.
I did not get to use it long enough to get my money back and my family didn’t get a chance to use it at all. I have absolutely no use for ACN. That is not what I signed up for. Not right!