Liberty League a scam in Oz, Polaris Media Group next?
After being tipped off by OzSoapbox reader Rod late last week that the NSW office of fair trading had classified Liberty League International as a pyramid scheme, I lodged my own complaint and then called them up on Thursday.
In talking to a representative I was told a report had been concluded back on the 5th May, 2009 and that the finding was Liberty League was indeed a pyramid scheme.
When I went public with this information (Liberty League found to be pyramid scheme in Australia) news spread quite quickly. At the time all I had was my word and supporters of Liberty League pushed the point that nothing had been released in writing, nor made publicly available.
In my Thursday call to the office of fair trading I requested a copy of the report be sent to me in the mail. Over the last week I waited patiently for it to arrive whilst a barrage of disbelief attacked me from all directions.
After not receiving anything yesterday in the mail, as promised this morning I again contacted NSW Fair Trading. After looking me up on the system my information was passed onto another department (of which I was unable to get the name of) and told they would be in touch.
A few hours later I held in my hand written confirmation from the New South Wales government that Liberty League is a scam in Australia.
Of particular interest is the paragraph:
Fair Trading has legal advice confirming that the scheme (Liberty League) is a pyramid sales scheme within the meaning of the act.
Participants and promoters who are involved within the scheme not only risk losing their money, but are also at risk of being prosecuted or being of other action by Fair Trading.
You will note this is the exact same quote I referenced a week ago, confirming that I was actually referencing the report as it was read out to me.
The ramifications of these findings are huge. For the last two years Liberty League has been operating in Australia as a pyramid scheme and I’d imagine are now wide open to litigation based on these findings.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and the above is not legal advice, merely my opinion.
Note that the findings haven’t been tested in court, but I’d be feeling pretty confident rocking up to court with a government document stating the defendant was running a scam.
Having said that I am not an expert in legal affairs and I urge anyone considering legal action to seek appropriate counsel. As the intended recipient of the above letter I hereby authorise anyone to reproduce, distribute and make use of the document as they see fit.
I have edited out certain identifying markers of myself as well as those of the representative who helped me. For their trouble I’d rather the person I was in communications with isn’t bombarded tomorrow by angry Liberty League associates.
Note that there is absolutely nothing stopping anyone from lodging a complaint against Liberty League and accessing the same information I was given. I do acknowledge though that some people have reported they didn’t get anywhere when they called NSW Fair Trading.
The only thing I can think of is that I opened up a case via email beforehand and had a reference number to quote each time I spoke to them. Perhaps they need one of these before they can discuss specific companies – although I’m not 100% certain of this.
In any case, the written proof is there. Do with it as you will.
A good start is to contact anyone promoting Liberty League in NSW and forwarding this information to the Fair Trading departments in other states. A list of these departments can be found in ‘Reporting Liberty League to the Australian Authorities‘.
As an aside I was contacted this morning by a job listing website. They had received legal threats after pulling Liberty League ads and were seeking some clarification on my findings. I’m happy to report that after being reassured I had obtained written proof today, the company will no longer be listing Liberty League advertisements.
Nor will they be listing and Polaris Media Group advertisements in the future either.
This brings us to a very interesting point, does the fact that Liberty League are changing their name to Polaris Media Group completely absolve them of any legal action whilst they traded under Liberty League International?
Again, I’m not a lawyer but I’m tipping it doesn’t.
As for the NSW Office of Fair Trading finding Polaris Media Group to be a pyramid scheme, I’m still in communications with the dept over this matter. One of the points I’m attempting to clarify is whether or not this finding carries over to the new company name or if a new investigation will have to be launched.
Thankyou to those readers who believed me, here’s to ridding Australia of this scam once and for all.
I never doubted you, Oz.
I’m feel for the poor people that bought the hype and racked up Tens of Thousands of dollars of debt for this “business” and who now possibly face a $22000 fine on top.
Excellent, excellent work. No doubts here either. “iwonder” where all the delusional doubters and haters are now?
Interestingly Polaris Media Group (Liberty League International LLI) has released a new product called “Know For Yourself”.
From their website:
This is called the “Information Age,” but sometimes it feels like “The Age of Misinformation.” Maybe that’s why it’s easy to feel lost, tossed by the influence of uncertain information. How can you gain confidence to achieve your own goals in a world where the story keeps changing? Know for yourself.
This is only going to cost you $29.95 US.
Also, the name change was supposedly due to (quote from their Facebook page):
“The name change was the final puzzle in the piece to perfection. This way a brand new company with 20 new products emerges and the oposition will have to scratch their heads for a while as Shane explined especially with the negetave blogs out there why people shouldnt join Liberty League. This is just awsome.”
Again notice the appalling spelling/grammar.
Oh, one more thought. Now that you have the letter, I suggest that you write to the Minister for Consumer Affairs enclosing a copy of the letter and asking why it that Fair Trading is sitting on this advice and not making it generally known so that potential victims aren’t caught up in the scheme and why the department isn’t taking action against the promoters of the scheme in Australia.
On the topic of jobseeker websites, a guy I know works for seek.com.au, and he told me that as soon as they appear on the site, they are taken down. They don’t even bother to try and bill them for the ads, as in most cases, it’s not even worth trying.
Oh, and I hit the Polaris bookface pages with some of my own advertising, a link back to this topic….
Nice one Oz.
@Chris.
The sad thing is Chris, most of them are totally oblivious to anything going on in the world outside of their own little ‘parallel universe’ (Rod’s) which is PolarisMediaGroup/ LibertyLeagueInternational/ Illegal Pyramid Scheme.
All you have to do is read the posts on the PMG facebook and Youtube pags to see how the SuperSaturday event has totally converted once ordinary average adults into something akin to teenage starstruck lovesick puppies… exactly where the money grabbers want them.Let the fleecing of credit accounts begin.
At least those lucky enough to stumble across this website might have a chance of regaining the chance to live their OWN lives again, not a life on the end of a phone to some meathead telling you over and over again that the only way to success is to attend the next conference… Yeah.. get on the training calls… get on the wake up calls… get on the nighty night calls…. stay away from the media… Your friends think you’re nuts??? … stay away from your friends.
Your partner is worried about all the money going out??? … get him/her to a conference.
Good riddance to Lberty League and Polaris.
Welcome to marketing 101. Immersion and identification. From what I can make of Rod’s feedback from the Gold Coast event, plus the Facebook comments, the pitch was to “identify” the top earners/scammers with the stay at home mums / people who have been through financial and personal hardship, and got money.
This is probably why the entire Polaris/LLI downline mentality of using brochure websites that show “normal”, everyday families going on trips/events aka “Fake it till you make it”. Tony Rush has even got a site where he explains his “day to day” activities with the same fake pitch.
It’s all a part of the lead-in to sucker people into assuming that they can do it as well, and equal or better the 3% that make over $13k a year out of this.
The fact the downlines are lying to banks in order to secure credit to go to events/conferences and do purchases reflects on the business mentality of Polaris.
Hype, immersion and the smell of money is a simple yet dangerous trap.
I would love to forward my ever growing list of individuals involed in this scheme to the DAFT, refrencing this letter.
AFAIK these individuals are all registered businesses. I’m liking the idea of possible fine of up to $110,000.
Looks like things are just starting to get interesting.
This is awesome news Oz.
This has been an emotional journey for myself and no doubt others. This site along with whirlpool has the potential to save thousands from financial loss. All it takes is a few people to stand up for what they believe is right and to be persistent to get results. Lets keep it going!
This is one of the very few sites worldwide where the truth can be told about Liberty League International
Long live Oz!
Shard/Oz, a couple of suggestions – can you rescan the document so that it shows the official letterhead of NSW Fair Trading. It just helps with identification if people use the document elsewhere.
Secondly, you state “A few hours later I held in my hand written confirmation from the Australian government that Liberty League is a scam in Australia.” Note that the “Australian government” is the Federal Government based in Canberra. What you have is confirmation from a State Government (NSW) department – Fair Trading NSW.
RNQC
ps. No my real name is not Ralph nor am I a QC. This is the user name I use on whirlpool.net.au and I wanted those who know me to see that this was my post. Secondly, whilst I am not a QC I am a real lawyer.
Thanks for the government clarification Ralph, I’ve updated the article accordingly.
As for the letter head there isn’t one. Originally it was supposed to be mailed to me, not sure what happened there but out of the blue the letter was then emailed to me after my communications with them today. I was expecting it to be faxxed or mailed after I spoke to them.
Presumably because the email came from a staff member @ NSW Fair Trading and wasn’t an official publication it doesn’t have a letterhead. Having said that the email address it came from wasn’t a staff members, it was the regional office generic email address. I guess I could request that additionally it be resent to me in the mail but for now I’m not pushing my luck.
I plan to spend some time tommorow sending off a few emails to various government departments, don’t you worry about that :).
Interesting news. I’ve done a price comparison of the Liberty League products to those of personal development guru Tony Robbins on my blog, and frankly it’s not pretty.
With prices orders of magnitude higher than what Robbins charges, which are already some of the highest in the industry.
Section 60T(4) of the fair trading act says that price comparisons is one of the things they look at to see if a product is being used as a cover for a pyramid scam.
I am one of the many being told to spend $27k to get my position. I really believed in the dream. I a feeling foolish. Is there anyone out there like me?
Hi Foolish One… of course you are not alone, with the numbers getting involved with LLI (now Polaris Media Group) how could you be. I invested about $15000 in LLI, before I came out of my trance and saw it for what it really was. I got involved foolishly believing this was a business that was positive and about helping others. Helping the leaders get very rich, and helping the suckers who believed the hype get into debt was my experience.
With hindsight I can see it more objectively and to be honest I marvel at their marketing finesse, and feel it really was like being in a cult… immerse yourself daily in the ‘training’ (or brainwashing) calls, invest in the conferences to show your commitment, avoid those who don’t understand, ignore the negativity, only talk positive, fake it til you make it etc etc.
I’m glad I woke up and saw it for what it really was and I’ve learned a lot about myself in the process. I certainly was naive, and too optimistic about the potential and I know fear of loss is a marketing technique that got me in debt. I signed up for the conference before I’d had any results with Beyond Freedom as I didn’t want to miss out on the $5k profits I would be bringing in.
I also learned that I am sincere in wanting to help others, as I got out when I realised the misrepresentation that was going on and I uncovered the real chance of success. Instead of trying to recoup my money and continuing to promote the opportunity in the face of all of the evidence, as all the LLI supporters are doing on here, I accepted my losses and bailed, and decided to warn others, hence my presence here.
My advice to you… be kind to yourself, and work out what you need to learn from the experience and look for the positives in where the experience has led you. My lesson was an expensive one, but I’m pretty confident I won’t get suckered in again, and my debt has led me to start work with a great company that really do represent the values I believe in.
Do I still feel foolish, yes, but I’m getting over it!
i was told the same thing yesterday , get in now because its gonna change soon it’ll cost ya , $20,000
thanks for the kind words…looking at the “leader board”, some of these people have made 60k this week from people like me. Surely this can’t continue?
Thanks Jenny…I am on your page and my motivation was to help others, I need to keep looking for my avenue.
Douglas, are you like me and are asking questions? I am not having any luck getting ANY answers.
This is great news now there is confirmation. I emailed this to the lady in Qld who tried to recruit me into LLI. I asked her what her thoughts about this were. Her response is that its not a problem as it is not LLI any more but PMG. As if this makes any difference. Just an example of how they try to sweep any criticism under the rug.
Since this she hasn’t responded to any of my emails. Once again typical LLI/PMG attitude of if you ignore the ‘negative vibe’ it will just go away.
I looked for negative proof before joining and didn’t find anything like this until 3 days ago…has it only just come to light or am I just an idiot? I now have 2000 reasons to get some answers
No foolish one, you are not an idiot.
I joined Liberty League over 12 months ago and have recently escaped, $50,000 worse off (Beyond Freedom, Liberty, Summit and about $20k marketing)
When I started there was very little negative when doing research. Liberty League has this amazing way of covering up, any negative that was found was usually someone trying to sell another scam. They told people that, to ignore the negative and I listened, my advisor was very seductive in the way he presented the business.
I truly believe that if Oz and whirlpool were around when I was starting out, I would be $50k better off, along with many others.
Back in Dec 08 I also looked for info before joining, and didn’t really find anything except the LifePath “choose us instead” stuff. Now of course I have found that there was already a lot of evidence out there even back in Dec 08, I just didn’t find it unfortunately. Lesson learned, if there is a next time… dig deeper!
I’m keen to keep contributing so ‘we’ keep ‘our’ great google ranking for those searching now… Search for Polaris Media Group on google and ‘we’ (ie Oz) comes up 3rd and 4th for me, which is above the actual Polaris Media Group page, and whirlpool also ranks first page!
I bet the other Polaris Media companies aren’t too happy with their new namesake.
All the negative comments have been deleted from youtube of course.
Frantically trying to get answers on PMG…anyone who gets anywhere, please blog it
I truly believe that if Oz and whirlpool were around when I was starting out, I would be $50k better off, along with many others.
There is no way in hell I would have spent 2K on this if this info was around when I joined
Oh and if everyone is wondering why I am glued to this blog…well I have no job now and am sitting a home watching my world fall apart. I have nothing better to do as I do not want to “plug in” to all the new “training”
This is there “Open” FB page, alot of activity there mainly refering to how great they are etc…. might be a good place to start depending on what kind of ‘Answers’ your looking for… 🙂
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=130104979520&topic=10462#/PolarisMediaGroup
Thanks Rachel…been there. Doesn’t help me field the frenzy from my recruits who are in NSW and we don’t know if we are within the law or not
I am now looking on the new PMG website to see if they have a DVD to help me tell my kids that Santa won’t be coming this year. I wonder if that is the one that costs $29.95?
Thats only the start, the marketing costs are huge, hundreds if not thousands per week, competing with your fellow associates. They won’t tell you that, just “there are lots of free ways to market, and saturation does not exist”.
I was told by my advisor to not ask the leaders at the conference about how they market the business “it is a big conversation killer” he said.
But they will give you advice on how to get a loan or multiple credit cards to purchase conference tickets if your bank says no!
Thanks for sticking around Jenny, it’s great to have someone so supportive who’s been through the business themselves to offer some level of comfort to those that are dealing with their first Polaris cold shower.
Don’t feel too bad foolish one, even I got the tiniest of warm fuzzy when I watched a 10 minute promo off youtube yesterday. If I give Polaris Media one thing it’s that they know how to market well, unfortunately the business model they’re marketing isn’t as nice as their videos.
Then there’s the slew of blog comment spam, internal press released passed off as genuine that they’re trying to flood google search results with.
Very easy to see how people get sucked into this.
On the home page, a DVD is for sale called Know For Yourself, I guess showing people how to ignore the negative and only listen to the LLI/Polaris Media Group Propaganda.
You’re not the only one mate. Check out the Whirlpool Forums thread on this. Over 2000 posts and not one straight answer from a LLI associate.
there is a good description of the new “Polaris” strategy here: http://thishomebiz.com/blog/liberty-league-is-kaput-step-up-polaris-media/
It looks to me that Polaris is adopting the “Amway” model; initially with an emphasis on acquiring customers, but I predict that fairly soon the emphasis will shift to recruiting new members. It does however neatly side step the problems with pyramid selling laws. So in that regard, the “Polaris” model is not the same as the “LLI” model.
Here’s a link to my comment on another thread relating to what you said… I believe this is the line of thinking of these “ASSociates”
https://behindmlm.com/companies/polaris-media-group/breaking-news-confirmation-of-liberty-league-report/#comment-30878
But how much will it cost to aquire customers for the intro product… and will the focus then be on getting them to ‘invest’ more and more.
I found it cost more than $1000 in marketing to get a Beyond Freedom sale, which of course meant the $1000 profit didn’t cover my expenses. The only way to really make money was to get your Beyond Freedom purchaser to then ‘step up’ and buy a conference ticket, as there then were no additional marketing expenses. Except of course you had to buy your own conference ticket first to get qualified, or pass up the first 5 conference sales.
With the number of associates here in QLD it will be interesting to see how each associate will advertise and differentiate themselves to get their 100 retail customers.
My other issue with the ‘rebrand’ is that once again all of the existing associates are going to be ‘encouraged’ to invest even more. Knowing the LLI modus operandi I’m sure under Polaris they will all be told they need to ‘step up’ and buy the complete new product range to demonstrate their commitment and ensure their success.
Seems associates are getting upset that the truth is outranking the hype on search results.
Currently BehindMLM outranks Polaris Media Group’s own website on search engine rankings although I’m not sure how long that will last. Wouldn’t that be a PR disaster on launch day.
Anyone also notice how after the document was uploaded all the bullshit spewing out of associates keyboards has dissapeared?
So much for credibility. I guess it’s kind of hard to insinuate that the Australian government works for Lifepath now that it’s not just me and a phonecall.
I wonder if they had a wakeup call this morning:
“Hi guys, Run for the hills!
*click*’
Hi Oz, On my google search – Number 1 “BehindMLM”, Number 2 “Whirlpool” and their web site is no where to be seen…YAY! Welldone all…..
foolish one so sorry to hear about your loss. As you know it is indeed a pyramid scheme as the money you have ‘invested’ has no value and is very hard to recover.
Maybe when you find your answers you can help out Michelle. You have a story to tell. Hopefully something good can come out of your experience.
Here is a section from the 3-way call tutorial doc on Polaris Media Group’s back office.
Sounds like same old, you will find a way to get the money to show your leadership…..with a few subtle disclaimers.
And of course anyone can get started with the new discounted Beyond Freedom for $495 and the DVD Know for Yourself for $29.95 to “groom” the prospect to ignore the negative, and set up for future purchase. Very clever.
Give it three months and they’ll be competing with ebay and tradingpost. As soon as people realise the products are worthless they’ll be offloading them all over the place.
Tony will be flogging DVDs left right and center on Twitter.
For anyone interested in there is an event order form at the bottom of the page linked below.
http://pmgnorthstar.com/boc/au/
event order form(pdf) – bottom of page
“Our mission at PMG is a noble one, to make a positive difference in the lives of individuals through our proprietary educational cirriculum and extrodinary documentaries.”
Seems poor spelling is compulsory at LLI/Polaris
With respect, the Amway model (and other legitimate MLMs) and the LLI model are vastly different.
In Amway you can recruit a million people and you won’t make a cent, or you can recruit no people and make a mint through retailing. In the LLI model recruiting and selling the product are intertwined.
While with some clever wording they try to hide the reality, money is made not through selling anything, but by recruiting people who effectively *must* purchase the product in order to make money recruiting others.
The restrictive return/cancellation policy is further emphasis of this.
In Amway and other legitimate multi-level companies you can return product for refunds within 90 days or even more.
With Amway you can do so even if it’s been used and is unresellable. With LLI you have 10 days after ordering to cancel Beyond Freedom, and just 2 days for the seminars.
Thank you so much for the abundance of information you are providing the public here. I am a student that came across my ‘advisor’ via the CPA Australia website while i was looking for part time work related to my commerce degree. The first thing that struck me when i visited the website was that i had no idea what they were trying to sell me. There was lots of hype but i just went with it and gave my email.
A call from my advisor to find out if i was a ‘match’ (im assuming a sucker for her sales pitch) and then I was put onto a phone conference which was supposed to explain the business and products to me and was done so by some super enthusiastic LLI member. When the floor was left open for questions at the end something extremely fishy happened. One of the callers said: “I typed in LLI in google and found that…BEEP BEEP BEEP…hello…are you there? hello?…looks like we’ve just lost him.” up until this point i was a sucker for what was going on but when this happened i snapped back into reality and was like WTF…that was soo fishy, so i googled the company myself. UNFORTUNATELY there was hardly any negative info on LLI in the first few pages of results, only people from CCP and other people trying to put down the company to sell their own product.
A few days earlier i was contacted by my advisor about ‘Changes, changes, changes!!!!!!’ (note multiple exclamation marks for enthusiasm) about how they were now called Polaris Media Group with a shit load more products blah blah blah. Again the hair on the back of my neck stood up…i was like hmm wtf and why when there were claims of ‘proven to work’. It was THEN that i googled Polaris and saw some shit on youtube that makes no f*** sense, about opera singers and piano teachers and some random girl climbing a hill and how it was all ‘SUCCESS’ ‘AMAZING’ ‘SUPER DOOPER’ sort of bullshit.
A few search results later i came to Oz and i have read a shit load of information you have collated. I just want to express my utmost gratitude that you guys have saved me from getting conned. At this stage my advisor does not know that i have had a revelation through Oz and thinks im going to become part of the team. Im thinking of some devious questions to ask her and see how she reacts. Any ideas?
Melbourne Boy
Great to hear from you, it is amazing the positive impact this site has had in such a short time.
I reckon you should ask how much your advisor has made so far and the cost to achieve that. No chance of getting an honest answer except if they are totally new. Even then the response may be “on track for a six figure income this year”.
Have a bit of fun with it, stay in the loop and see how far you can take this.
You don’t have to be devious just use the opportunity to ask some honest questions and to address any concerns you might have. I wouldn’t mention the internet or Oz on the call though – you’ll probably get hung up on.
“Influence Live” seminar costs $18,000, fair dinkum , who pays that kind of money !!!!!!!
It took 2 days but they no longer like you Dan, they’ve decided your too Negative and have deleted your post 🙂
Two days is most likely a record…. I feel vindicated, two days and a heap of people would’ve seen the link back here, and hopefully, had a read and and a think.
Need more proof?
http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/About_us/News_and_events/Media_releases/2009_media_releases/20090904_pyramid_schemes_alert.html
Great news once again. Another step in the right direction.
This week I have sent my complaint form off to the Office of Fair Trading QLD, directed at my advisors KJA Enterprises PTY LTD based in Queensland.
I thought that a 2 level approach would be good, report Liberty League International and the main Players operating here in Australia. Hopefully QLD will come onboard and take this matter to court.
Any evidence!!!!!! Obviously the Dept are not aware of how long the tenticles of the LLI monster have reached.
IMO that is why it is so important to lodge complaints in all states.
How can I convince my partner that LLI is a BAD IDEA!!! He is so stubborn and is only looking at the so called “positives” about joining. Im really worried. HELP HELP HELP!!!!
Direct him to the NSW Fair Trading alert, potential for massive fines and police/criminal record for being involved in an illegal operation.
Who would you rather believe, sweet talking crooks or the law?
Is it really going to be worth it if he gets caught?
Dear Rachel’s Partner
I’m an ex LLI Associate, and have been active on this website to help people realise that LLI isn’t the positive business opportunity it is portrayed as.
I have a postgrad degree, have been involved in 2 traditional businesses in the past, and been interested in personal development for years.
When I came across Liberty League in Dec 08 my first reaction was that it sounded like they had just created a range of products in order to have a business opportunity.
Instead of walking away, I wanted to believe the promise of helping people while creating a wonderful income. I joined the business, and bought the Beyond Freedom product as I believe you need to experience something if you are going to promote it.
Within days I met with Rachel Oliver, who outlined why it was so important that I buy my conference tickets straight away, so I don’t miss out on the potential profit, that would otherwise have gone to her as my advisor… see she was doing me a favour. I was excited so I put my Liberty ticket on credit card.
Over the next few months I did the Beyond Freedom program every single day, I listened to the cds in my car, I wrote in my journal etc.
I listened to all of the training calls and regularly got on to the business overview calls, as well as watching all of the video clips on the website.
At the same time, I advertised on Seek, in a local paper, on Facebook, google, I had flyers all around the neighbourhood, and I emailed all of my contacts in the personal development industry.
I was excited about the potential of the business – I knew I was going to be receiving profits of $1000, $5000 and $8000 and it was very exciting. Because I was so positive I put more and more of my expenses on my credit cards, knowing I would be able to pay it back with the income that would be coming in.
I received my first qualifying sales for Beyond Freedom, and then I made my first profit sale. By then I’d spent over $15K, and I’d made $1K. I had a lot of leads coming in, and was following the system of putting them on the calls and following up with 3 ways, and many would say they would get started on the call, and I’d be excited, but then they’d change their mind.
Finally, I started to realise I couldn’t pay my bills… I got cash advances on my credit cards to pay my other credit cards, and then eventually the rent went unpaid, and I realised all my credit was gone.
I worked out that it was costing me well over $1000 to get a Beyond Freedom sale, so I needed a conference sale to turn things around. My one profit sale wasn’t doing anything, so I didn’t get any sales passed up from him, yet I still thought about how to get him to buy a conference ticket.
I was telling people that I was on track to earn a six figure income, as I was desperately still trying to hold on to my belief. But I started to feel like a fraud, I was so far in debt, how could I honestly promote the business as being about creating financial freedom. I heard from the woman who had introduced me to LLI that at the conferences nearly all associates are 1st timers, as most people fail and by then I’d come across the figures that show that 85% of active associates on average $13,000. I realised that I had gone in the business to help others, but I’d gotten to the point where I just wanted people to join so I could get some money to pay off my bills, and I knew they would probably find themselves in a similar position in a few months.
So I got out. Looking back now I see a marketing machine that is incredible… a large part of the content of the Beyond Freedom cds and dvd is out how the business changes lives… so get to a conference… the training is to a large part about how the business makes so much money, but you need to get to a conference… They tell what to say if someone questions how much money you’ve made, when you haven’t made any… I’m on track to earn 6 figures… they tell you to avoid the media and anyone who isn’t positive about the business… and I did and I got sucked further and further into it. The fact that the DoFT has released a press release warning about Liberty League suggests to me at least that my first reaction was right, and that I was right to get out.
So for me, joining LLI wasn’t a good decision.
Now I know they have changed to Polaris, but I still have concerns. They are using testimonials that relate to LLI to promote Polaris, which is an obvious misreprentation. I believe the business model will still be about upselling people as quickly as possible… before they wake up to the reality that making 6 or 7 figures isn’t as easy or as simple as the promise. And I believe that it will cost a lot to get a customer or associate, so you will have to upsell to make money.
So I hope you will take all of the above into consideration before you decide to invest.
Rachel… my advice to you, don’t lend him any money, keep yours for yourself, and develop some hobbies if he does get involved so you have something to do while he is immersed in the cult like environment…
I’m an ex LLIer and I too can relate to Jenny’s story…
Every LLIer’s website I’ve ever seen tells outright lies to convince people of something that is not mathematically sustainable.
And like Jenny and many other ex LLIers, I went into the business because I loved the idea of helping other people and put my heart and soul into it and yes, I did believe it was possible and yes, I did follow the “system” but it’s just NOT possible for more and more people to keep joining and competing in the same old advertising spaces for new recruits which is the foundation for the incomes generated for the lucky chose few.
And god forbid you should ask a question like, “teach me something about effective marketing”.
All you get some idiot ranting and raving on the phone for an hour about how your whole success hinges on how big your “want” is and if you’re not generating leads it’s your fault because your energy’s not right and somehow someone you’ve never even spoken to or heard from yet can pick up on this from a twenty word newspaper ad (you copied and pasted off the LLI website anyway). This is what they called “Black Belt Marketing” – sitting listening to self-confessed former drug attic tell you you’re a worthless piece of s**t because you can’t generate leads.
Yeah right, if that’s “access to assistance from multiple seven figure income earners” quote, unquote, go f%#K yourself Polaris and LLI….
Realistically the “product” is the “business opportunity” itself. The Beyond Freedom course is basically worthless and nothing more than a series of motivational testemonials from those who were in on the ground floor and therefore perhaps did quite well out of it….
So 50,000 aus dollars and one year later I’m grateful I’ve finally managed to find another “job” and with a bit of help from heaven above I may be able to save my modest yet beautiful home from foreclosure I’d worked my goulies off for 25 years to save the deposit for….
As for the new Polaris Media – I have just been emailed this very day the new pricing structure for the revamped and extended product lineup but quite clearly once again it’s over-priced for what it is and most importantly, the culture of the company hasn’t changed.
And whatever it is, is NOT designed to help “other” people – which really is what it IS supposed to be about. As Napoleon Hill once said – be a person of value, not a person of money.
So my advice to you is:
DO NOT put any money into this SCAM.
Do not put yourself in a financially vulnerable position.
‘Cause your partner can kiss every dollar he puts into this goodbye…
Thankyou for sharing your story V.
As much as I can create awareness about this company nothing has the quite impact of hearing just how this company has impacted on people’s lives from those previously involved.
I wish you the best of luck in your current ventures.
Sadly I got sucked – and it cost me about $80,000. I am embarrased as I am reasonably bright person, family man etc. I have been to a couple of these conferences – they are fun but absolutely not worth the extremely overinflated price – and yes its all a about the money. For example I paid about $us4000 to hear a specker, who was brilliant for 4 hours – I listened to the same speaker very recently for $70! It seems there is also an association with this group and the scientology church – what a mess. Changing the name to Polaris Media Group is indeed an attempt to keep legal – along with changes to their “compensation plan”. I have also been abused for airing some concerns about these recent changes by one of the “top” poeple – this reminded me very much of the type of tactics employed by the Church of Scientology with which I had a very breif encounter 20 year ago.
I find it interesting that so many people would showcase their apparent failure and blame a company for their results.
If you bought a business and didn’t put time, marketing research, and hard work into it and it failed, would it be the person you bought that business’s fault for you not succeeding? Myself and my partner run 4 different businesses and we actually use this company’s personal development programs to help us achieve the results and success we are enjoying in those businesses.
Strange, perhaps I am just part of that 5% of people that MAKE things happen rather than look to external factors to blame…..
Livvy.
You are missing the point somewhat. Most of the people posting here with a history with Liberty League have bought into the system and followed it to a tee, put in the hard yards and still failed. The system promoted by LLI and now Polaris is the key to failure. The key to success is to have gotten in early as with any Pyramid scheme.
They also bought into the belief that they would be taught by leaders in the company which apparently turns out to be a series of brainwashing gobbledlygook phone broadcasts of no coaching value whatsoever.
You said it… you are one of the successfull 5%
Your success comes on the back of the other 95% that fund it.
Livvy, the websites of existing participants blatantly lie about what is required to “succeed”….
So called “access to seven figure income earners to guide and train you on your path to success” is a total joke.
When I asked for “access” to such guidance, my request was was completely ignored and instead I was continually referred to my “summit adviser” who herself had not had any success either (even though she blatently lied on her own website that she had indeed “succeeded” including using me as a testimonial!)
So I wanted access to someone who actually HAD success I could duplicate. Because my advisors “advice” was to throw thousands and thousands of dollars into ad campaigns that clearly didn’t work…
When I raised the issue I thought the training was hollow and inadequate, I was outcast onto a limb left to flounder around looking for a way to make it work.
And I worked my butt off for nine months usually seven days a week and often staying awake all night – reading everything about marketing, advertising, copywriting and selling that I could get my eyes on.
So called “black belt marketing calls” remind me of stories I’ve heard of monday morning sales meeting of “teams” of hyped up gurus sitting around a coffee table snorting lines of coke – there’s not one ounce of good solid usable “training” comes out of it but it sure as heck felt good (to some) after the meeting.
How ’bout I record a call and post it here for everyone to have a laugh over, you’d all split your sides – hours and hours of totally useless bull…not “marketing training”, which is what I continually asked for…
ALL LLI websites portray another lie – this rediculous idea there is “no personal selling”…Another load of bull… The only people I vaguely glimpsed who were successful were ones who could talk the leg off an iron pot. Which unfortunately I am not one of those people…
Intelligent? Yes, I can program php, html, seo optimize, blah blah blah, but I know “selling” is my weakness because I’m shy, so I never go near it, yet what do I find myself in the middle of through deceptive advertising?…
No one on one presentations? What do many successful LLIer’s do? They do hotel get togethers…
I’ll name them and the dates and venues if you don’t believe me!…
Another tactic of successful associates is to know exactly what NOT to say, how to answer questions evasively with mis-representations of facts – also known as deception.
My advisor told me (and others on the team) it’s perfectly okay to lie about success because, and I quote, “you’ve already achieved it in your mind so therefore it’s true so it’s okay and ethical to portray it that way…”.
Well EXCUSE ME LIVVY, for merely asking that someone have big enough BALLS to tell the truth exactly as it is, because if they had, I would NEVER have got involved in the first place.
I wasn’t looking for a “quick buck”, I wasn’t looking for get rich quick, I WAS looking for a business of integrity with an ethical backbone and LLI is NOT ethical.
If you can’t see that then you’re just too deep in the cult, but you know LLI are looking for people of some common denominators and those are a low IQ combined with gullibility…
And one more thing about deception (because I resent you implication) I did not “research the business”…
The initial(BEFORE joining) online business presentation at the UWS website CLEARLY stated the “investment” required to get started in the business is “2500 to 3000” US Dollars.
On the very first (ahem) “training” call AFTER shelling out the 1500 US, was a “business” plan call that then states you need to have a budget of 30,000 USD to be successful (because if you don’t go the conferences you won’t be successful – apparently).
Now not withstanding the fact I didn’t have that kind of money in my budget, it got up my goat from the beginning I was deceived from day one (but I pushed on regardless).
Why the heck the massive deception? Why not be honest and tell people the truth from the start? I’ll tell you why not, because if they were honest from the start many less people would join up!
Now if anyone’s interested to know the facts I’ll post the UWS url’s here and we can ALL go check the numbers out….
Ohhh, I forgot, it’s Polaris now, so none of that matters any more does it?…
Roger,
You are a brave person to share your story. A lot of us can relate to your pain having lost a lot of money amongst other things in the horrible cult that is LLI.
I went into LLI with good intentions as I’m sure you did too. I am an educated person too and generally don’t make stupid decisions. LLI was the worst decision I ever made.
Warning to those looking at LLI/PMG – stay away from Rachel Oliver, Michael Berry (her advisor who scammed me), all of them!
I find it interesting that PMG is all about Shane Krider…what happened to Brent Payne? Did he all of a sudden grow a conscience?
We have moved on with our lives, I’m glad we weren’t ‘successful’ because people like us have gone onto to live our lives. People like Rachel Oliver are going to have their names tarnished forever for being snakes.
I hope Dept of Fair Trading in QLD takes on the NSW finding and shuts down LLI and PMG for good. If only they would help us recoup our losses, but unfortunately we’ll have to suffer that.
It’s all well and good for blind associates to rant and rave about us being the problem, but how can this many people who have been so badly effected by these snakes be wrong? Wish I never ever got involved. Am so lucky my partner stood by me even though I wanted to kill myself at one stage I felt so depressed.
Oz, thank you so much for getting the word out there and even though you have received threats, good on you for standing strong. It’s because of people like you we are saving people from going through the absolute hell that is this blood sucking cult.
Before cult members respond, don’t bother. You act like you’re experts on personal development. Like I’ve said in other posts, I would pay 10 times the money to see Tony Robbins, he actually makes a positive difference.
Beyond Freedom was a joke and so is the junk that PMG are marketing.
Like Roger, I am an educated person and am very successful in life. For some stupid reason, I thought LLI was a genuine opportunity to help other people. How naive I was. But if I can prevent one person from getting sucked into this marketing machine, my participation here on BehindMLM will have been worth it.
Rachel, listen to Jenny, I too an an ex-LLIer and want to know how Rachel Oliver made it so quick. she brought over all her Herbalife people into the business. LLI people disguise personal confidence and are really arrogant because you won’t blindly spend over $20,000 on holidays with guest speakers…
Don’t Join Polaris either
Would be great if some of the 110k could go to the victims. I’d be in line 🙂
Wow, I just went through the most blatantly misleading and hyped up Polaris conference call after responding to their ad on http://www.mycareer.com.au
I am glad I found this forum, if not I may have believed their statement that ALL Polaris members (or associates or whatever they are calling them) will secure financial success.
This is scary that so much talk can lead to no information . . . I am still confused . . . all for only $29.95!?
Wow. Incredible stuff Almost Scammed.
That is nothing more than an outright lie, yet there is nothing stopping them from operating in this manner.
I’m not sure if anyone really knows if or when anything will actually happen to these guys, but surely that must be illegal. Either that or there’s a loophole that needs to be plugged.
I cant believe they are still advertising in the SMH. Fridays paper had a self employment ad for http://www.blitzyourlife.com
I think part of the problem is that none of these sites specifically state exactly what it is you’ll be doing or who the company is (which is LLI/Polaris media 101).
Classified ad transparency regulations would go a long way I think.
SMH Classifieds / mycareer.com.au will not allow companies like this to advertise in the employment classifieds but they are allowed to advertise under business opportunities so that’s how this polaris group managed to get into a respect newspaper/website.
Hi All,
I am from England and have just narrowly escaped being sucked in to the Polaris scam. I was looking for jobs around personal development and clicked on the website of a ‘lady’ from Aussie. She phoned me and said the basis of the business was little more than a four minute phone call(such as she was doing at that point)but I couldn’t find out exactly what the business was. This was followed by me accessing a’conference’ call, and then another call from her. I said I still couldn’t make head or tail of what the business was really about. She suggested we have a three-way call with someone in my own country. This is taking place on Sunday (it is Friday evening now). I have just come across your comments by googling ‘Polaris fraud’. Thank you all so much for alerting me and telling your stories. I have come very close to being in the same bad situation and I am just so grateful that you have let me in on the truth of this scam. Thanks and keep going Oz!
You saved another person being sucked in Oz. Well Done!
Great work Oz.
Maddie – well done for looking into the pyramid scheme. I, unfortunately, was not so lucky, as this info wasn’t here when I signed up…and I was desperate for “something better” – prime prey for Liberty League/Polaris.
You may also want to check out Oz’s threads on Polaris now being publicly linked to Scientology etc.
Congratulations once again.
Thanks Oz. I wish there were more sites like this.
I just got off the phone from one of the conference calls and a direct call with an “mentor”. He seemed a genuinely nice and honest man. He had pictures of his child on his website.
I am in the process of self publishing a simple motivational book and thought this program might give me some marketing assistance.
One of the things I have learned the hard way in life is “He who hesitates does not get hit with a payment book.”
I appied my own advice and started researching the company and luckily discovered your site. Thank you again!
I have found a way to print and web-market my book entirely on my own for less than $2000 and my book appears to offer more insight on integrity and personal responsibility than all of PMG’s products combined. I plan to sell it for $10.
I am not writing to market myself here though I guess it may not hurt. I only wish to persuade people to thoroughly investigate any supposed “opportunity”.
I have been scammed before and it will not happen again. Another scam you may want to investigate is the POD (publish on demand) industry.
I almost got sucked into that one but I did my research and found enough information to make a better decision.
My main site is still being developed but I would definitely like to have an OZ link on it to help guide people away from fake offers and scams.
You Do Good Work Oz,
Thankyou,
Nathan Gray
were does success4younow.com fit in?
OMG I just can’t thank you all enough for alerting me. I am to receive a call tomorrow asking me to provide my level of interest on a scale of 1 to 10. Fortunately, I have been researching this all day and my suspicions arose with the change of name of the company from Liberty to Polaris.
I must say, however, that the person with whom I spoke has been upfront with me and as I said to her it was good to have a real person to speak with and not a virtual person.
I also would like to point out that I was amazed that these people are so upfront with their personal details on the web – where they live etc. I actually found a list of people and their private phone numbers etc. I was worried that I would be on such a list.
Initially I was boggled by what I saw as professionalism that they are up-to-date with all forms of marketing from websites to facebook to twitter. Now I realise what a twit I could have been. After this enlightening research my level of interest is ZERO.
Jane,
If you allow the naysayers control your decisions, becoming an entrepreneur will be a long and arduous task as most of the naysayers are not entrepreneurs themselves. Trust your instincts and take action. All entrepreneurs make mistakes so count on making several but these mistakes are what bring you to your goals faster.
Unfortunately following blindly what strangers tell you on forums such as this can lead to distraction, misinformation and confusion. Do your due diligence on the company, but also do your due diligence on the people you are taking advice from on forums like this.
John,
Thank you for your input. I have not “followed blindly”. I have made a considered decision after researching further than this forum.
I do believe the company is extremely professional, presents well and has some great ideas. Again, I state that at no time has this program been “sold” to me. The decision has always been mine and I appreciate and understand this.
I have just made a decision not to continue further, at this stage.
Perhaps in the wee hours of the morning when I stumbled across this Forum, I wrote a little too dramatically!
Best wishes.
Good descision Jane.
Great decision Jane, I wish I had Oz when I did my “due diligence”, I would of been better off $50k+ and not in the current financial state I am in.
Looks like Jane did…
So where is the truth John? On YouTube?, Facebook? Know for Yourself DVD’s?
I’ll tell you where it is. IT IS HERE!!!
John, are you really an entrepreneur or just following a system that is really of no value? I think your use of the term is not justified and you are fooling yourself with that blab.
You, John, have followed blindly what con artists have told you to by the sounds of it if you are any way involved with PMG. I know what, because I once followed them (albeit for a few months).
The problem with PMG (one of them anyways) is that it very cleverly leads the person to think that they have control over whether they make money or not. That it is up to them. That they must ignore all “negativity” despite their gut telling them otherwise. That coupled with the high you get from thinking you will be “financially free” is VERY hard to get past.
Or at least, it was….
—-Because now PMG is going under.
—-Now PMG is being investigated ( I know this for a fact but will not give further details here)
—-Now people KNOW FOR THEMSELVES what cruel, conniving, ruthless, selfish, greedy and overall LAZY people the “leaders” are.
John, you really do need to grow a spine and start standing up for what you REALLY believe. Not just what people have said that you can make money from.
(Which you don’t anyways- BIG point).
I challenge you John to prove otherwise of your income.
Hi all.
thank god i found this site, as i was close to joining this scam!! being advertised here in spain!!! will advertise in local paper ‘beware of polaris media group’ SCAM!!!!
CHEERS
iwonder – i just wrote a long message to you on here and it disappeared – bugger. Would really appreciate it if you could get in touch with me through Oz. Would like to know more about what you’ve written. You know I’ve been on the forum for ages and want to get the word out about the LLI/PMG scam/scheme/bottomless pit of misery.
Hi all, I believe we are all entitled to a refund and I am in the process of requesting one. Anyone else done the same?? I wrote a long message before but it has somehow been deleted.
Sorry about that it wasn’t deleted, I just forgot to hit approve after formatting it.
I actually left LLI back in september after attending the super saturday conference when realising this is a joke.
However, after emailing off my request to stop all my conferencing pins, etc and also getting a reply from them to say this is all been cancelled, i am still getting billed and so far it has got to a total of over $450.00.
Everytime i send a email requesting to stop all the payments, my same reply comes back, this has been stopped on so and so date.
What alot of f*****n crap this is. Im still going through it with them. So now im dealing with the banks as well to dispute this.
Its funny. When you dont have the money to pay your monthly subscriptions they are the first to email you, when you wanna cancel and end it nothing happens.
Has anyone got any other ideas…P####d off
Thankfully, I actually managed to get them to honour my cancellations, and they even reversed one charge on my credit card, that they took after my cancellation.
There seems no rhyme or reason why they cancel some and not others. I can only assume that they are bogged down with people trying to cancel out of it.
Is your upline advisor still around? Or have they seen the light and moved on too?
Probably best to dig out the 3-way list, and phone and EMC member, demanding immediate cancellation and reversal of all stolen money taken since your cancellation.
Good Luck!
You know what i did on the same night i decided enough was enough and leave this scam…i called my credit card company, made up some excuse that i didn’t recognize one charge on it and they cancelled the card right away to send me a new one with a different number a few days later. It made my life easier right away and i was never charged any money. Hope that helps~
I was scheduled for an event at Crown Plaza in Auckland tomorrow, Saturday, but found your information. Well, I couldn’t find it any earlier as they weren’t giving out their real name until I received their email this evening.
It runs under http://www.lovinglifenow.com.au and Loving Life Now is what they use for a Facebook fan page with 650 fans, maybe not that many – yet.
I thought it was probably some scam but couldn’t google anything meaningful searching for ‘loving life now scam’. Well, this name is hard to google to begin with but this is also another attempt of the company to change names.
Please optimise this site of yours to include the above name in searches.
Thanks for reaching people!
Every associate can (and does) get their own marketing website, that they can name WHATEVER they like. Most of them use the templates offered by http://www.thehomebusinesspeople.com/
So there’s possibly still hundreds out there, still trying to make a go of it, and sucker the unsuspecting in.
I notice the “loving life now” website does have a very small link at the bottom of the page to Polaris Media Group – but if you don’t know what you’re looking for you’ll never notice it!
My wife did Liberty League now Polaris for 4+ years.
Winner of A Rising Star Award
Here is a husbands view.
You will pay “The Leaders” monthly to be a member.
You will buy your own advertising.
You will buy a website.
You will pay to maintain it.
You will have printing cost.
You will have to pay for a long distance/international calling plan.
You will buy and hang bandit signs.
You will buy leads.
You will pay to fly to the conferences.
You will pay to stay a extra day.
You will be told to ignore negative postings about the company.
You will buy recommended books and CD’s.
You will pay their friends at Unified Wealth Solutions
You will spend far more than you will take in.
You will be brainwashed.
You will end up broke.
You will be ashamed.
Is it worth it? NO!!!
As with any “Business Opportunity” do your due diligence.
Thanks to you OZ, and to all the other contributors here, particularly those who have lost money in LLI/Polaris. You have greatly helped my decision to pull the pin before making any commitment.
I was up to the first conference call and “smelt a rat” because all they would tell me about was six-figure incomes and not the actual business model. As soon as the “associate” gave me the Polaris name I googled it and here I am.
After reading everything here, I called Consumer Affairs Victoria. The lady I spoke to was very polite but wouldn’t/couldn’t confirm or deny any knowledge about Polaris or LLI. However I did get a message from her tone that they knew something.
After talking to CAV I submitted an online complaint/report which should add to the numbers on their database, and maybe one day they will go public. Thanks again, everyone.
Thanks for doing your bit legend9 and alerting the authorities in VIC. Am glad this site prevented you from making a mistake that a lot of us on here seriously regret.
SCAM SCAM SCAM – don’t give them a cent it is a rip off and they should be stopped. They sound nice and convincing but they are just ripping you off blind, none of it is reality and it is brainwashing innocent people into thinking they can make millions, what a crock!
To all who read this blog – the company itself is not a rip off. The company sells and markets products. How associates choose to market the products may or may not be the most appropriate way. For those of us that did join and did or did not make money was our responsibility.
No one went to your homes and put a gun to your head, we made a choice to get started and it is time to stop wining, complaining, blaming, etc. Be adults take responsibility and move on, however we choose to do that is up to us.
Whether that be to go onto another business, go back and get a job, it up to us.
Filing lawsuits when we the people make our choices in life, it part of what is wrong in this World.
I myself have invested in the company and the products and am grateful for that choice. I alone made that decision and have learned many great things and met many great people.
Before I joined the business, I did not watch the news and paid very little attention to the media and do my best to stay away from the impending negativity it places on society.
The news and media and blogs like this place negativity and fear in people and it needs to stop.
Thinking positive will not stop bad things from happening to us, it will make our lives better to get through things when life goes in the direction we had not intended it to go in.
The only way you can be brainwashed is by allowing it to happen.
I emphatize with those who have invested, did not make money and got into debt.
Now I have to re-group my financial status.
If you work for a company and blatantly go online to bad mouth the company, your co-workers, how long do you think it would take for your butt to be terminated.
Get off your buts and do something with your lives in a positive energy way.
Want a wake up call – read and listen to Larry Winget’s books and cds.
God Bless all of you, have faith that things will turn around and move on.
So get off your buts, move on and do something with your lives.
Unfortunately you are completely wrong on this point Coleen. Last week’s 4 Corners programme on ABC TV Australia showed just how easily decent people can be brainwashed. The confirmed link between $cientology and LLI/PMG only underscores the point that people of good faith can find themselves brainwashed. Following is a link to 4 Corners
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2010/s2862588.htm
For those who have not seen the show, it really is compulsive viewing, and an eye opener for those who think they are too smart to be conned.
Tell that to all those who purchased tickets and made travel arrangements for the event in Hawaii.
The associates didn’t throw the terrible Macau China Influence event, the company did.
I don’t know whether to laugh or vomit. Warning people off a scam like Polaris is only negative to the scammers.
It’s very positive to all those that didn’t spend tens of thousands to be safepointed for Scientology.
You, too. Stop drinking the kool aid.
the business is probably good.but its nt as good as it seems when they advertise it.once yu join yu see the reality of hw much more cash yu need to “invest” before yu start making money.but before joining they tell yu the start up cost is very low $49 only.
once yu r in it they tell yu ,yu hv to do A,B,C,D,E, …….to be successful.and all these steps require more and more money.
i have lost 4000 to this opportunity.After advertising and buying leads i followed all the steps and spoke to over 200 people out there,but no one was interested in joining the business.
so if no one joins then yu dnt make any money.i really feel robbed coz before i joined i was told i’d need $49 and once i came “on board”,i was told that in order to acieve success i was supposed to:
1)activate myself at all levels by buying the products
2)do some advertising and of which it was made clear to me that the paid ads were the most effective
3)websites and systems had to be paid for monthly
and many more.i am struggling to pay off my debt of 4000 as it is
Sounds like a certain religion I know of…
Thanks to this website i will not get sucked in by this scheme and keep my money for myself.
It all looked so good on the surface. Thanks to you all for the info.
Your link was to an article regarding sex crimes. I think you meant to link to the previous month’s Four Corners about Scientology:
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2010/s2837513.htm
What just happened to me has led me here. I just joined Polaris about 6 weeks ago, just got Beyond Freedom Evolution and I have been motivated about success. I still am but not with Polaris.
I was contacted with this e-mail that I´m invited to be part of this special training for new distributors, not to tell anyone and to reserve my spot ASAP because theyre only accepting … But to do this you have 3 weeks to get fully activated meaning 20K.
Anyways I felt honored to be part of this and joined, thank god for the cancellation policy. I felt something bad as soon as I got the e-mail to make the payment, it came from the same person who sent me the initial e-mail. Then I felt a conflict of interest. I asked if my advisor gets any of this and was told no because my advisor is not activated on the conference levels.
Coincidently, I got a message shortly after my advisor asked me if I was ready for this. My advisor told me that he/she got that same offer and wasn´t ready and just told me that if I´m ready then great.
Right then and there I realized that this is how the top earners make their money, and started to be very skeptical about the whole operation and that is the business.
The next day I wanted to see the integrity of these people at the top so I said I wanted to back out, and realized I wasn´t ready. The reply I got was a bunch of arguments, and then I found 2 key contradictions after my counter arguments which is when I got my answer.
I then asked to stop trying to convince me and then it stopped And from reading all this I see the big picture on how the business operates. They seduce you with all this positive energy which slightly deviates offcourse without people realizing it.
I want to be successful but not because I´m desperate to pay off a 20K loan or whatever and from making others go through this. I don´t want to become this person. I´m sure some people really make it big out of this but at the major expense of many who don´t succeed and lose tens of thousans of dollars?
I wonder how they convince themselves to do it. Maybe it´s from the euphoria and the change in beliefs that they get at the top.
Anyways I hope I get something good out of beyond freedom and change some beliefs I have that are holding me back to make it to the next level.
Hey Mats, sorry to hear about your experience with Polaris.
This suspiciously sounds like a marketing ploy, as opposed to any real ‘special training. By creating a sense of urgency and priviledge I guess the idea is to coax you into handing over 20k right there on the spot.
Because your advisor wasn’t activated, their sale passes to their advisor. ‘Does my advisor’s advisor get any of this?’ would have been a great followup question.
Smart move on your half realising that if your advisor didn’t take up the opportunity you were being presented with, then something’s up. There’s two ways to get activated at Polaris, either front up the money yourself or convince others to do it.
If you’re not willing to front up the money yourself, how can you expet to convince others to do it?
Mind sharing what the contradictions in the arguments given were? Sure it’ll make for interesting reading.
Good luck with whatever you wind up doing and advancing to that next level.
I’ve only slipped into this thread today, but I would like to make one comment (having done a lot of my own research into pyramid schemes and their imaginary projected financial returns).
I’m constantly amazed at how much — apparently endless — time and effort these fraudsters put into defending their scams on web sites such as this. I can only assume that they must all possess a “never-say-die” attitude that’s been ingrained into their gullible little brains by their upliners, or, conversely, they’re just plain, old-fashioned stupid.
Probably the latter.
I too was almost sucked in, i googled and searched the web and rang back for more information and could not find what they were marketing, but kept finding references to training and conferences and realised that the whole thing was a scam.
I rang back again and asked what they were selling and was told that i would have to attend a conference and it would all be explained to me. The websites i checked confirmed my suspicions and i went no further with it.
Hi, just wanted to say a big thankyou to all for saving me from polaris, i was intending on purchasing a starter pack in a few days but found this site and decided to send a lovely email to my so-called mentor Pauline Ohalloran. Will be interesting to see if i hear back from her!! this was my email:
Thankyou all once again!!
Such a great response Sandra. Would be good to hear Pauline’s response, If any. I wish I could recover my losses. I always wonder if anyone has ever managed to do this?????
Good to hear there has been another person saved. All the best. C
hey all.. well to my surprise i actually received a response from pauline. There were no answers to any of my questions which i was expecting but this is what she had to say:
If that’s how you feel Sandra there’s nothing else to say. I’ve loved every minute of my time with both LLI and PG and achieved everything I came here for and so much more, however I’m not here to convince you in any capacity. It has to be the right decision for you. My apologies that I sent the previous email earlier today before reading this so please disregard and I’ll remove your details from my data base and wish you every success for the future.
Regards,
Pauline O’Halloran
Sandra
I don’t know if any of you realize it but they are doing the same thing with a company called “We are Avant”. They are based in Scottsdale, Arizona and have all the same people at the top. The products are the same with just a different name.
I attended a “Weekend Training” @ the Westin Spa and Resort in Scottsdale and there were many people from Australia there. The “training” was all hype and nothing but a recruiting tool to convince you to once again drop thousands of dollars in their pockets so that one day you could make it too.
Check out their Face Book page “Avant” it’ll make you sick!
Hi Doug, realized and written about!
Feel free to check out my coverage of Avant on BehindMLM.
The new company name now is Polaris Global.
A new name to get your money for shit courses and training.
@mark
The topic has recently become active in one of the other threads, with some updates.
https://behindmlm.com/companies/polaris-media-group/kaz-spence-comes-clean-about-pmg-polaris-global/
LLI/PMG/PGM has been relatively dead for more than two years, but it has suddenly become more active, planning events in England and Ireland in April.
You will find the rest of the articles (around 60) about LLI/PMG/PGM, by clicking on the company name under the headline in this article. They are all OLD, mostly from 2009 and 2010, with a few from 2011. The ones from August to October 2009 are probably the most interesting ones.