Polaris Media hire Wilkinson PR for crisis management
With the official launch of Polaris Media group just hours away, it seems the company has gone into a massive scale crisis management.
Things haven’t gone as smoothly as the company’s head honchos would have liked. Polaris Media Group advisors are running around issuing legal threats, the NSW government have declared Liberty League to be a pyramid scheme, job networks are refusing to list Polaris ads and a Whirlpool Australian community forum thread is thriving with over 2000 replies where Australians are discussing Polaris Media openly.
In addition to ordering a complete media blackout for Polaris Media Group associates, the company has also recently enlisted the services of Australian public relations company, Wilkinson PR.
At this time associates have been advised not to engage with any media or “bloggers” and to forward any enquiries to a Wilkinson PR email address.
Wilkinson PR have offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth and specialise in “crisis management”. Wilkinson PR co-founder Peter Wilkinson gives you an idea of just how badly things must be over at camp Polaris for them to call in an overseas PR company.
Wilkinson PR only just recently appointed Shirley Saxon to the newly created role “director of lifestyle” (wonder how many ‘lifestyle’ clients they have?) in their NSW office. This is somewhat interesting as NSW was the first state in Australia to declare Liberty League a pyramid scheme.
Saxon’s appointment was only announced on September 2nd so one can only presume Polaris Media Group have only just hired Wilkinson PR to do their dirty work.
The first order of business appears to be burying any negative comment or criticism of Polaris Media Group on the internet. The following was posted recently to the Polaris Media Group Life community forum;
We need as many clicks as we can muster!!!! We need to take responsibility and drown out the nay sayers and negativity on the web.
So, CLICK CLICK CLICK! Click on the uTube videos, click on the polaris website link in google. The way to increase the ratings (especially in google.com.au) is to CLICK CLICK CLICK on the RIGHT links and IGNORE the links with negative comments.
I know it’s tempting to go see what they have to say, BUT it is only driving up their ratings and making you feel BAD. So, don’t do it….. CLICK CLICK CLICK on our links and re-inforce your positive mindset and those of everyone around you….
Once upon a time search engine results might have been easily manipulated by such tactics but these days search formulas are much more adept at sorting results via relevance.
It’s well known in the corporate world that you don’t simply just wipe the slate and rebrand yourself, demolishing all the work you’ve done to promote your existing brand without a an “absolutely necessary” reason.
To be honest I’m not exactly sure what Liberty League thought would happen when they brought their little scam over to Australia. As a country we’re not really known for being quiet about these things, Peter Wilkinson himself has a history with current affairs programs so I’m sure he’s had his share of exposing scams over the years.
It is disappointing to see an American company hiring an Aussie PR group to help them continue to dupe unsuspecting Australians. Business must be in a bit of a slump if PR companies are taking on the likes of pyramid schemes.
The fact that Polaris Media Group have taken upon themselves to hire an overseas PR group should give you an idea of just how desperate the company is to reclaim its positive web presence.
Wilkinson PR recently joined IPREX, which is a global alliance of PR companies. Interestingly IPREX have a quality assurance committee of their own.
The purpose of the Quality Assurance Committee to promote quality in client work provided by multiple partners and to establish and monitor partner adherence to IPREX contract and codes of practice.
One can only wonder if by taking on pyramid scheme scammers whether or not Wilkinson PR are adhering to the IPREX codes of practice.
Good on Wilkinson PR for risking taking a hit on their otherwise quite positive reputation in the PR industry (with both govt and corporate). I guess it either shows they really believe in PMG or have no idea what it is. Then again, when the general rule for Polaris Media Group is to ignore all media requests in the aid of blocking out “negative energy”, it’s a pretty easy gig for Wilkinson PR – just watch the emails come in and delete them all.
I’m a huge fan of the Polaris Media Group’s Search Egine Optimisation strategy, though:
The bigger this story grows – keeping in mind it’s already quite large and the company only launched today – (and incidentally the more times we mention “Polaris Media Group” on here) the harder it’s going to be and I’m not convinced having their minions “CLICK CLICK CLICK” will help them.
In actual fact if they have the same people just “CLICK CLICK CLICK”ing meaninglessly on a bunch of links Google will eventually recognise it as the same IPs clicking all the time and Black Hat them.
I guess one of the “Leadership Team” will still be monitoring this and frantically be trying to research ways around destroying the Google Quality Score (assuming they actually know what QS or “Black Hat” means, which I highly doubt).
Oh what a tangled web (pun intended).
Clickjacking is bad.
Google will ban the relevant organisations from all Google searches and advertising streams if this is their current strategy. Polaris is digging its own grave.
And yes, Google can recognise clickjacking.
In response to your post about Wilkinson PR and the Polaris Media Group: as with all our clients it is not appropriate that we disclose details of our relationship. However, we can say the company sought our services on Friday 4 September.
As with all new clients, there is a period in which we engage to learn more about the company and its business. Due diligence does take time. The early advice we have received from the company’s Australian legal counsel is that PMG is legally compliant, which is important.
We have recommended to the company certain steps it needs to take in order to operate its business in Australia. The company has welcomed this advice.
The next steps are for PMG, its legal and compliance advisers and the relevant Australian regulators.
Peter, good to hear from you.
As part of your due diligence, please be aware that there are *two* schemes to consider – the LLI scheme (pre-9-9-09) and the PMG scheme (9-9-09 onwards). As I understand it, they are very different schemes; at least on paper. It is the LLI scheme that Fair Trading NSW claims to have legal advice about.
I say “on paper” because there are similarities and both schemes can in fact be marketed by LLI/PMG distributors in very similar ways. Further, in my view, there is a strong argument to be made out that even though LLI/PMG claims that these distributors are “independent contractors”, they are in fact agents of the company, or alternatively, that the company is knowingly concerned with their agents/distributors sales and marketing activities.
I wish you well with your Brief.
Independent “contractors” I hear you say.
Any relation to contrartists?
Sorry. Couldn’t resist.
Good comments both PW and RN
PMG is advertising itself as a “financial service” and it’s legally compliant according to it’s Australian legal advice?
Someone must have fudged the AFS registration for PMG then.
to be perfectly honest, I don’t believe LLI/PMG is selling a “financial product” or “financial service” within the meaning of the ASIC Act nor would it require an AFS licence.
I would like to see how they promote their one day seminars as by my understanding these seminars will be offering both business and financial advice.
Then again, if the seminars are only for ‘distributors’ and not the general public, I guess they can offer advice on whatever they like.
Alot of iffs and butts at this stage. Should be interesting to see how things pan out.
I am just glad Wilkinson has thus far managed to keep their own name intact. The subtext of Peter’s post, however, does tell me that even he wishes to keep PMG at arm’s lenghth.
Doesn’t really fit the mantra of having the “utmost faith in our leaders”. As a subcontractor and not a direct employee (Peter would likely be too intelligent, I do know him by reputayion) he likely has even less REAL information than we do.
For their AU launch, PMG has already had to dip into their margins for a PR agency, and they’re probably beginning to tender pitches from local SEO agencies. I guess they’ll need to start skimming those massive salaries pretty soon.
Thanks for contributing and clarifying some things Peter.
That’s interesting as that was the day the NSW Dept of Fair Trading issued their press release. So instead of making a public announcement or refuting the claims (cmon they had to see this coming, I made public a letter from DOFT 2 days earlier), Polaris ran straight to a crisis management PR company.
I’ve yet to receive confirmation from DOFT NSW but I was told if they are operating the same then a name change does not matter.
As of yet I haven’t sat down and analysed the compensation plan (apparently a PDF was being released today?) but so far there’s been a lot of confusion with the new plan. As Ralph points out there’s a lot of similarities but also differences between the two models.
Without going into the number crunching specifics, the main difference is the introduction of the lower entry point products and an alleged focus on the retail side of things. Now the problem with this is nobody got into Liberty League to make chump change, and with 20/40% flat compensation, nobody is going to be making a six figure income selling beyond freedom as a retail product.
The main money maker in this business will still be the conferences and the top 2, the high commission products still will have the same problem that nobody is going to them unless they think they’re going to be able to emulate the person’s income who sold them the tickets.
This leads us back to the problem with Liberty League over how to market this business. With all due respect Polaris Media distributors are delusional if they think customers who weren’t buying their products without the income opportunity are all of a sudden going to be bashing down the door to buy them now at a higher price individually.
What will inevitably happen is the top earners will once again be forced to market their lifestyle as a selling point to prospects and those under them. This in turn will force the ‘retail products’ to become nothing more then stepping stones towards becoming qualified to retail the conferences themselves.
This is evident in that the conferences are the only consumable product, nobody is going to be continually buying the beyond freedom dvd programs, they’re a once off purchase.
There’s further evidence of the old pyramid scheme still being evident under the new model too. For example pretend we have Distributor A, Distributor B and Customer C.
Distributor A is Distributor B’s advisor. Distributor A is qualified to sell a conference and Distributor B isn’t.
Distributor B brings Customer C to the business and customer C buys all of the products including a conference. Now because Distributor B is not qualified to sell the conference they are also not qualified to receive the 40% commission on the conference sale either.
This means the commission is then passed up to Distributor A. Under Liberty League there are many cases of people having been with the company for many months without making a sale (qualifying). What I believe will happen is the commission that the non qualified distributors will make will be passed to their uplines until they are qualified.
This is where the real money will be made and to maintain the income a Distributor will continually need to stock their downline with unqualified distributors who are able to sell conference tickets before becoming qualified themselves.
Mind you this is from what I understand one example after having listened to the Q&A call Sector 7 posted in my ‘product line’ post. Again I haven’t had a look at the compensation plan in depth to offer a comprehensive analysis.
All Polaris have really done is to inflate the qualifying product line, set a lower entry point into the business and by calling the inflated product line numbers a ‘retail opportunity’ appease the regulators (although my talks with the DOFT over this are still continuing).
I really do hope you come back to read this information as I have no financial interest in Polaris Media or that of it’s competitors. I’m just a guy trying to apply some non-hyped common sense to their new business model. This is exactly what I did with Liberty League and it was only later that it was classified as a pyramid scheme.
Once I’ve sat down and analysed the compensation plan I will write a seperate blog post about it (this is almost a blog post in itself) but I wanted to address you personally over this matter.
What made you think they were engaged to give only “one off” advice? PR companies run campaigns or strategies. Their skill is in situation-based coaching to those who need it and/or drafting media statements and/or liaising with stakeholders. It certainly makes sense that PMG would want to have a PR company on board until the negative publicity goes away.
Our job is to keep pumping out the truth and only the truth to counteract their spin.
I have the distict feeling that the associate componant of PMG is imploding. I can offer much info
only if I am assured my personal details are protected from the “machine” that is LLI/PMG
I understand Oz, just that we are getting into very hairy legal territory and one will always look after number one when in front of a judge! I am an associate with much to say and want to share and add to what you are uncovering. I am on the front line
No guarantees, no info…
I for one will vouch for Ozs integrity and honesty. Anyone out there who wants to speak their mind, whatever your view, this is as good and as safe a place as any.
Thank you Martin,
I will take that as a conclusive referee.
I am an educated individual and humour me on with my motivation, however, I am one of many whom have been whipped up in a storm of doubt that was totally unexpected. I have had a really difficult weekend. Due to information that has come to light ( my own research and this blog), I have refunded every member of my “team”. The value of whatever their investment was. I have believed in the product and the business model, but have conducted it with integrity. We have little information about PMG, the company that was has disappeared. I have interesting information. Would anyone like to comment with me?
Ok, I will take that as a no. I stand alone.
The calls around the Country are rampant and most “leaders” are off-line. Associates from all “levels” are desprately looking through the contact lists for someone to talk to. Albeit the underlying fear of “questioning”. If we question, we need to re-visit or “Beyon Freedom”. Well, let me tell you…I am ont on a media fast if my arse is on the line with a legal situation. It has now become apparent that enough of us “non-evolved” persons have rattled cages and the compensation plan deadline may be extended! Who else hs the guts to comment?
That is very noble of you, but why did you feel it necessary to refund everyone’s money? And how have they reacted?
My reason was that there is too much unknown. The people involved have understood and I will keep them informed. I have more at stake then them financially. When a compnay goes into a phase of change such as this, trading must cease until it is on certain ground
There was deadline to invest, by COB Monday to assure a level of compensation for products we haven’t even seen. This is not good business practise. A leap of faith isn’t a suitable reason, thankyou. It seems many have sat on their hands and there is a level of panic in the bunkers of PMG. We were guaranteed a certain level of profit, before SS and now everything changed and we MUST invest by a date to guarantee ourselves a slice…not happy Jan
There is no way in hell, anyone would get a refund for any monies spent unless it was legislated
I mean that any product or conference ticket purchase( which is qualification for the grandfathering) will be non-refundable, in my opinion. All was due in the bank account of one’s “advisor/enroller” b close of bank monday. This would guarantee a life position of commission that no-one understands. I base that information on the amount of calls and “underground” conference calls between associates.
The “compensation” video was released to the back office tonight. Most find it totally confusing
Umm.. Your statement just screams out that PMG is engaging in full line forcing in order to keep cashflow past the deadline, at least the way I read it (Section 47 of the TPA)
I also just had an afterthought. If Polaris Media have advised all distributors to forward media enquiries to an email address that uses your domain name, then presumably there is more to the services Wilkinson PR are currently engaged in with Polaris Media other than offering once off advice.
Well, products are yet to be seen and a lot of money has changed hands. PMG is supposed to be LIVE now but there is a lot missing, even for those with “back office”
And also potentially third line forcing as well.
With or without the competition test of Section 47, having PMG engage in “the supply of goods or services on condition that the purchaser buys goods or services from a particular third party, or a refusal to supply because the purchaser will not agree to that condition.” still looks like exclusive dealing in regards to the grandfathering scheme.
Well, no one is earning money out of “know for yourself”. That would be purchased to promote. In my opinion, associates will be buying the 10 packs to give out to prospects. You only get points ( some commisssion thats unknown) for buying 10 at a time
Yes Phife, you must be sitting where I am
Can you elaborate. What other company outside of PMG are you forced to acquire goods or services from?
Specifically these comments from Peter,
I kinda got the impression Polaris came to Wilkinson with a disaster, they reccomended some stuff and Polaris then went away. Like Al I took it as Peter ‘keeping Polaris at arms length’.
I can’t be the only one who feels that anyone who is anyone in this group is now “see no evil, hear no evil” and are very quiet. The problem is that the “heard” is the cash cow and if the heard is restless, they have a problem.
I tried so hard to understand Shane’s explanation of ‘preferred customer’ something about it being rolled out in November, ther’s a 20% discount and another website community at an extra $48 per month. AWESOME AWESOME!
It’s more along the lines of “to stay with us, you have to pay up”. That was one of the undertones wrtten in E’s statements. It’s been a while since I’ve had to work with a company dealing with Section 47, but from a business perspective, it’s still forcing a payment on a contract for services not delivered i.e.
The bit that matters is it’s forced.
I will close my conversation saying that I am waiting and hoping that PMG sorts itself out. I am not negative but I rule by logic. At this time, I am disappointed that this organisation has chosen to introduce its morphing in the way it has. This is something I have never seen done before. If it was a listed company, this could not have happended the way it has. I am not damning it but am willing to say that I am, and many are very concerned and feel that our business acumen has been discounted. I await further information but do not enjoy the slow dribble technique that I, and many are enduring.
Thanks E, appreciate you openly sharing the situation.
Man, I think America has been asleep for the past 9 years while this company’s been running.
It looks like we’ve given them more hell in the past couple of months than they’ve had for the 9 years they’ve been running.
Oh ,and thanks E for the info. I’m sure many will be willing to continue where you left off in the not so distant future.
Lance, I think it has been a long time since you worked with s. 47. Take my word for it,what you describe is not a breach of s. 47.
Let’s try and stick to facts and analysis that you are sure of.
Hi E.
Care to elaborate?
In the scheme of things, the company were/are but a tiny speck in the American market whereas here in Australia, being a much much smaller market, something like this tends to stand out a bit.
Thanks E for sharing. We are all appreciative of how difficult it is to come forward with your thoughts.
Several associates/ex-associates have shared information on BehindMLM and I haven’t shared their information with anyone.
I take user privacy seriously and will only share your details if asked to by yourself. You don’t even need to comment with your actual email address although your IP address is logged.
Additionally you can email me your correspondence and I can publish the information anonymously, I have done this before for other readers. My contact details are located on the right at the top of the sidebar.
I’m not sure how you want me to guarantee your privacy. Check your inbox, I’ve sent you an email.
As you’re aware the directive released yesterday by Krider is an effective media and blog blackout of information. If your information is accurate I’m sure there are others out there wanting to share their experience but like yourself might be worried about reprisal. These things take time but rest assured associates are reading the information made available here.
I should know I randomly get traffic referrals from email accounts off Polaris associate’s websites.
There are also some very supportive ex-associates that read this blog too, I’m sure they will be available to offer support having been through the company themselves.
When you mention the ‘legal situation’ are you referring to the NSW DOFT ‘pyramid scheme’ classification or something else?
Are you worried about not being paid out by Polaris for products purchased for qualification over the last fortnight?
I’m slightly confused. When you say refund are you talking about a total product refund or commission payout based on purchasing products to qualify under the new Polaris compensation plan (which seems as easy to understand as a bowl of spaghetti) prior to the grandfathering deadline (which I thought was the 8th September)?
Ah ok, thanks for clearing that up.
So as it stand Polaris Media Group distributors were given a Monday 7th of September deadline to qualify for the new compensation plan whose details hadn’t even been released yet or understood by majority of those in the company? On top of this they were told there would be no refunds either?
In addition to this senior advisors are AWOL and distrubitors under them are running around confused.
If I’m understanding right that’s what you’re saying right?
Oh this doesn’t surprise me at all! I have deliberately held back on commenting on the new compensation plan because it seems to be a nightmare to navigate. Was the PDF released this morning too?
Feel free to forward any compensation plan info to me and I’ll try and dissect it publicly for you guys. I’ve just checked and I’ve got a packet of panadol in the bathroom cabinet so I should be right.
That’s odd, Tony Rush himself was boasting about Polaris selling out of 20,000 copies of Know for Yourself in 3 days on Twitter a short time ago. I wonder why nothing has been shipped yet.
I’m sure everyone is scratching their heads to the new changes. I’m still trying to understand how this whole thing works, even my source doesn’t understand the compensation plan.
So far from what i make of it (Shane’s explanation on the audio), associates who bought the lot prior to SS became Director level meaning: 40% sales profit plus 10% profit of your first generation enrollment sales plus 5% off second generation sales.
You also become a Gold Foundation member which entitles you to website insignia and front priority seating at conferences. Woo f’n hoo!
Then there’s also preferred customers and that platinum thing. Can’t remember what preferred customer was but platinum includes free usage of one of the online things from memory (there’s so many now that they’re charging for I forget which one).
Thank you so much for sharing E, it’s a real eye opener to hear about what’s going on from the inside. I’d encourage you to pass on the details of this site to those in your network.
The more testimonials from ex or current associates the information presented here becomes attached to the harder it is for its validity to be questioned or dismissed.
Not to mention it gives the ACCC and DOFT something to read in their spare time.
No worries E, thankyou again for sharing and feel free to drop by anytime.
I suspect a large portion of the rushed rollout was due to the NSW DOFT pyramid scheme classification. If that classification was made known to Liberty League back in May when it was made, that gave them just 2 and a half months to make some pretty drastic changes to their company and start again as Polaris Media Group.
This would explain the mass confusion and hap hazardness of the transition and fits much better then the ‘we started this change 18 months ago’ nonsense that has been bandied about by the PR machine.
Tell me about it. Krider sounded like he was busy playing with his dogs and making dinner in the background (it was obvious he was on speakerphone) and was just making it all up as he went along.
I think in the future I’m going to start all my phone conversations with ‘Hey xx, come on out!’ Then i’ll get upset and ROYALLY CRACK IT if they don’t thank me for calling them out.
@E
Welcome, and thanks for the inside view. Not pretty.
It’s the Rajneesh all over again! When the wheels finally fell off Golden Flights they had a last quick round to clean up any leftovers, then vanished. “Underground conference calls between associates” are a death rattle, certainly for LLI and possibly for PMG.
Is it really the case that here in Australia there is no governmental authority responsible for protecting citizens from scams such as LLI and PMG? I am not involved in either but have a friend who is (and who, after spending nearly
$40 000 in 9 months has so far taken in $2000 (sold one “Beyong Freedom for LLI). He still “believes” and refuses to look at this site or even to discuss the issues, and asks me to show him in the “Courier Mail” any government notice naming these two companies as scams. Of course, I have seen no such notices and can not even find reference in the newspapers to the NSW Office of Fair Trading report. My poor friend doubts that it even exists and says that if it does it has nothing to do with PMG, which is “a totally new company”!
I suppose this is the result of living in a capitalist world, one increasingly aping the horrors of life in the USA, where interference by government (i.e. the people) in the way wealth is aquired is considered “Socialist” or “Communist” etc..But I am angry that after paying my taxes all my long life none of that money is being spent on identifying and eliminating these exploiters of our more naive citizens.
Does anyone have a suggestion as to what one might do to help?
unless the media take a hold of it , a message from a good friend ,sadly means nothing
Wouldn’t it actually be better now for Polaris to come out and publicly reject the old pyramid scheme of LLI and tell everone that this is completely new company, learnt from the old ways, blah blah blah?
Now their bills are being added to:
1) PR Agency
2) SEO Agency
3) Social Media Specialist
@ Al Ber.
I’d imagine the small outstanding issue of a $5 million lawsuit against Liberty League International would be hindering them from publicaly declaring anything about the former mess.
@Stan
Yes actually. I’m surprised that nobody seems to have yet suggested the old standby – write a letter/e-mail of protest to your local member of Parliament. You should have at least four targets, your State upper and lower house members, and Federal rep and senator(s). Then there are the State and Federal responsible Ministers for Fair Trading and general law enforcement. Google “members of parliament” or you could start here;
http://www.aph.gov.au/House/members/index.htm
Thanks, Roly, I’ll get on to that. But I believe that I should not have to…..aren’t there supposed to be official watchdogs/ombudsmen/ business police etc.? What do these “Offices of Fair Trading”, ACCC, ASIC, APRA etc do all day? Aren’t they supposed to keep an eye on things? Do none of them ever Google?!
It’s always a bit of a shock to people who have never felt the need to protest about something before, to discover that The System doesn’t actually work as advertised. You present the powers that be with a compelling argument and reasonably expect that something rational will get done. Well it won’t. (e.g. Silicon Chip’s Leo Simpson v the Qld Electrical Licensing Board – excellent argument, but no traction)
We now have an expensive pipeline that looks like being a white elephant because nobody would take on board that the water “savings” were almost certainly an illusion, an accounting artifact. The desal plant would be far better part of a co-gen plant, but nobody is listening. ISP filtering is a total crock but a few extremists have the Minister’s ear, etc. It’s why people go to the media in the hope of some leverage, but they are just as likely to be used as fodder and cast aside.
Should it be like this? Absolutely not, but the following are what I have found the real rules of the game to be.
The squeeky hinge gets the oil, but sometimes you have to make a bloody loud squeek. This case should be open and shut, but it’s a bit like getting a sleeping elephant to roll over. Be a *polite* but insistant and *persistant* pest. Keep following up. Make it easier for them to do something than just ignore you hoping you will lose interest.
Make sure you get the *names* of the people you talk to, and make a point of it so they are aware you have noted it; can make a big difference if they know they can be identified. Often the Members’ *secretary* is actually the best person to talk to.
Your primary contact will most likely be some ASQ whos’ job it is to fob you off if at all possible. When you start getting refered up the chain, as Oz now seems to be with the DoFT, you are getting somewhere. Your stance must be that you have your teeth firmly in it, you’re in for the long haul, and you’re not going away until it’s fixed. Pleasant but definite.
Ask for a personal appointment with your member when they are in their local office (that generally grabs their attention). If Parliament is sitting be satisfied with seeing the secretary (who may well be the front end of this horse, Members themselves are often more rat cunning than your actual smart).
Have your facts straight, concise, and give them a short and to the point presentation (again the personal sec. may be better than the actual Member). Don’t bullshit and don’t threaten e.g. what you will do if they don’t act.
Have a document kit ready to leave with them listing the gist of the issue, what you expect them to do about it, company and individual names, estimated scope of the fraud, annotated lists of web sites, e-mail addresses and so on. Put your name and contact info on every sheet.
If your member is a backbencher or in opposition their scope for action may be very limited, so try to frame your request for action with that in mind; this is what I want (scammers in the slammer), this is possibly how you can help me get it (reading the DoFT ruling into Hansard, asking the AG why he is asleep at the wheel while Aussie battlers are being fleeced out of their homes and life savings, make representations on your behalf to ACCC and the entire regulatory alphabet soup).
Opposition Members can be pressed to ask a question in the house of the AG, which in this case will be much more powerful if coming from a scam *victim*. The House generally treats *real* constituent questions such as this with respect (i.e. they shut up and pretend to listen).
Even short petitions must be presented to, and noted by, the House. This presents another chance to get the company names mentioned (but don’t expect anything to actually happen). Petitions to Parliament can be a little tricky because they have to be in the correct form to be presented but all the details should be obtainable from your Members’ secretary.
Key points are; it must be about something Parliament has power to do; it must be couched in respectful language (no *demands*), and quaintly it must end in a prayer [q]and your petitioners will, as in duty bound, humbly ever pray.[/q] Petitions in unacceptable form are a totaly waste of energy.
In short, nothing much will happen unless we continue to make a fuss.
This is fascinating. Even a QC involved. What really bugs we, as an associate – albeit an inactive one watching what is going on – is the scammy Supersaturday event on the Gold Coast – $us350 to go excluding travel, accommodation etc etc – only to be told all this crap of this new “exciting” opportunity. There are not many that I know that actually appreciated it – except of course the usual “talk it up” delusional rubbish that is so cult like idiots that are brain dead for the $$$$$. From this “training” event PMG – whomever they are now – as Im sure included many of the “top” ppl inclduing the EMC – walked away with $us500k at least! This is immoral and wrong. I have been screwed and many that I know feel the same. I have 45 on my team – I now have 4 left – the rest have gone…..
Thank you Roly….that’s a great read as well as looking like very sound advice!
I just love this reply to why there’s no leaderboard
What sort of company transforms itself and goes LIVE before all its products and systems are ready? Sounds amateurish to me.
I was an associate also who attended the ss. However i did get something out of this. To hurry up and get out. Im not a business minded person, but it doesn’t require alot of brains to realise what a load of crap. Firstly a name change? Then more products? Then an entire new compensation plan? To me thats a sign right there. All we needed to do was open our eyes and see. People on the monday morning call spoke of how it was phenomenal, orsum and so on. All i kept thinking was, did i miss something cos the entire day dragged and i got a sore butt sitting so long listening to crap. It almost felt like towards the last 2 hours they were blabbering on trying to kill time. Well i am here to support this site and help people realize that its not all what its made out to be. If i can help people save there hard earned money, and keep it in there own pockets than that makes me feel good. I, like many others invested alot of money, thanks to the ss it woke me up and got me out. So well done to the EMC that organized it all and made a large percentage of us realise just how much a scam this really is.
@E
I think thats orsum of you to refund your team. Good on you. Im also not shy to speak out about everything. I only wish more would. But as said, they will and they are definately reading this blog. How do i know? It was associates that put me onto this site. They to have left.
Not a good start for Polaris Media Group. The new PMG backoffice is only partly operational, I realised after logging in with my cancelled user name. (see what happens when you try and save costs on getting a website built)
No compliance guide, no contact page, no call schedule, no recorded calls, no sample ads, and the list goes on.
There are a few unsecured call scripts:
http://www.mypolarisonline.com/docs/polarisprospectingscript.pdf
http://www.mypolarisonline.com/docs/three-waycalltutorial.pdf
https://www.mypolarisonline.com/pbmau/docs/GetaReferralScript.pdf
http://www.mypolarisonline.com/docs/800script.pdf
Also all the products don’t appear to be there.
But there is a link to a press release about how the launch was a great success because they sold 10,000 DVD’s.
All very laughable…
What other company has their people pay to hear of a company restructure? Really ?
None. Yet another sign that the entire thing, even inside the rebrand as PMG, is a scam.
According to Tony, this has all been in the works for the past 18 months.
http://mlm.com/mlm/user/viewthread?thread=27866#275428
Seriously, what sort of business sets itself up half-arsed?
People are going to invest (lose) thousands of dollars into this so-called business yet the product and structure is not finalised.
Great to hear from yet another disgruntled associate. I’m glad all the work and effort Oz is putting in is paying off with helping people. Along with Whirlpool, I think we have more truth on both these sites regarding LLi/PMG than the entire PMG and other informational sites out there. I too, am going to see this to the very end!
That’s the kind of info I needed…I was sure people were leaving in droves.
E, sas and other ex-LLI peoples, send your emails to Oz, he will keep your names out and get your stories told. This company, and I use the word company sparingly, needs to be brought down.
You can see that this re-branding is nothing more than a last ditch money grab by the top scammers to keep themselves afloat. Hopefully, if it is brought down here in Aus, then the Americans will have a better chance of taking it down over there and killing it off completely.
Self Help and Personal development is fine, but trying to scam thousands of dollars from people to do something that a $30 book can teach you is wrong.
Please get all the ex and disgruntled LLI people you know of to come over here, and post their stories. The more people who come to this site and post the truth, the harder it will be for LLI/PMG to refute it. And the more people are searching on the internet for information, the more people will see this and hopefully think twice about giving their hard earned money to cheats and liars.
The truth is there is no such think as “getting rich quick”, unless your the one who thought up the scam. Nothing comes to those who are afraid of hard work. I know this personally.
I spent many years loafing and coasting by in easy sales jobs. I now hate retail with a passion, and have recently resigned and gone back to study to do what I should’ve done 10+ years ago. But, I’m also a realist. I know that even with all my study over the next 2-3 years, my first job will be an entry level one, much below the money I was making 2 years ago. And, I don’t care, cause I will be in a career I will enjoy, and because of that I will be working harder than I ever had. And loving every minute of it.
Hi all
I unfortunately signed up on the 2/09/09 and was fed the libertly League model with all of the their spin. Yes I was fooled!!I was told the company was changing names and was encouraged to buy Beyond Freedom as soon as I could and then would be qualified straight away to sell and profit from the product.
I have finally been able to see the PMG compensation plan, and yes it was not what I signed up for. NOT HAPPY!
Does anyone have access to pre-recorded calls/messages that are designed for new prospects? I would be very keen to listen to them (I might even want to sign up!! joking)
@Rod
Thx
3rd file “geta” not found 21:38 12/09/09
Something that particularly strikes me is that for all the positivist rah rah and buzz phrases, these guys are bogglingly DISorganised.
There is a thing called a Disaster Recovery Plan that all enterprises need to at least consider, a Plan-B. What do we do if the wheels fall off?
Eight years they say they have had to consider what they would do if their scam was ever exposed, but we can now see in many ways that the shift to PMG has not been thought out, properly planned, or carried through. These Big Thinkers seem to have trouble coping with significant details.
It doesn’t actually protect anybody; it would have been a hard sell to the user base anyway, but in this frantic panic it doesn’t seem to have carried the rank and file as they may have hoped, so it looks like the basic organism is in serious trouble. But the key people are bound to pop up again pushing something similar.
Welcome to the new walking wounded. Waking up now after the DoFT ruling will help keep Associates out of trouble, making refunds even moreso ‘tho I understand many may not be capable.
And welcome too to those still defending LLI/PMG. I’m interested to see your point of view, and I commend Oz on a forum that is open to both sides.
Those who have been wounded need to consider their next move. What their possible liabilities are, need for legal protection, options for recovery and refund, possible class action, and how to deal with strained relations with family, friends, and the bank.
@Greg
Make a formal complaint to Trade Practices in your State. Puts some air between you and the scam and improves your chances of getting something back.
I am not sure if this has been posted already Ralph, but here are the interim recorded Business Overview Calls for PMG. Note how long these associates on the calls have claimed to of been with Polaris Media Group (the deception continues).
The first preference is to put the
suckersprospects on a live call, second option the recorded calls below.USA: http://pmgnorthstar.com/boc/us/
Australia: http://pmgnorthstar.com/boc/au/
Europe: http://pmgnorthstar.com/boc/eu/
Also below is the script that is followed during the interview of the unsuspecting, If they “qualify” they are put on a live/recorded call. (Note these scripts are for the business opportunity component of PMG, much the same script as the previous LLI one.)
http://www.mypolarisonline.com/docs/polarisprospectingscript.pdf
BEWARE: THE BRAINWASHING IS VERY POWERFUL
Thanks Roly
I contacted my advisor via e-mail and asked for a refund and within 5 minutes was promised a refund. Hopefuuly will appeear soon. PMG is imploding on itself.
It’ll be interesting to see if that is a put-off or, I hope for you, comes to real dollars in your pocket. Let us know. But I’d still talk to Trade Practices about it, if only to try and reduce your own liability.
Here’s a few old compliance approved scripts
https://www.libertyleague.com/admin/scripts/scripts.pdf
Here’s a link to the class action brought in California against Liberty League and Payne & Krider. You will note that the defendant is Liberty League Holdings formerly known as Big Ass Britches and now presumably known as Polaris Media Group. http://www.courthousenews.com/2008/07/31/Liberty%20League.pdf
I was in full boat and got out money back, I was sweating