herbalife is a scam company

[IRON37]

I cannot stand these guys. I thought I would shed some light on these idiots so you dont waste your money. Awhile back I made the mistake of talking to the local distributor of herbalife here and I was shocked. In the ad that i responded to for a "trainer", lo and behold theyre really just a shitty supplement company trying to push their products. The manager had the nerve to tell me that this crap cures cancer hahaha...amongst every other ailment known to man (according to his sales pitch anyway). I have to give them credit though because I was up to my neck in their bullshit before I finally stopped him and kindly declined because I knew what they were trying to do.



Mark Hughes, who started Herbalife in the early 1980s, was found dead in August 2000 in the $27 million mansion that he had bought by suckering people. The 44-year-old apparently had all the money he could ever want but couldn’t kick his alcoholism. He died after a four-day-long binge of drinking alcohol in combination with anti-depressants.
Go herbalife!




--Why the deceit? People have been approached by distributors who will not mention the word "Herbalife" up front. The products are mentioned but the sales approach is distasteful. However, talk to a successful distributor and they will "sing the praises of Herbalife". And it supposedly being able to cure cancer lol.



--If a product is as helpful and revolutionary as the sales copy states, why is it not sold through mainstream retailers in order to help as many people as possible? Because nobody wants their shit..think about it.



--How can one determine a products efficacy if most of its customers (and/or testimonials) are also VENDORS?? After all that is the basic multi-level marketing model - recruiting new distributors is critical to building revenue.




--And one of the biiiiiig issues I discovered: Why is there no nutrition information for ANY of the products published on their site?? Guess they dont want you to know what you really are/ arent taking. The supplement market is unregulated to those who dont know. In other words, I could go out and put some flour in a plastic bottle and write whatever name I want on its label and actually sell it legally. No questions asked.
So whos to say what really IS in their products?


How can any MLM company maintain ethical consistency when employing so many "independent" distributors? It is clear that some of these distributors employ dubious tactics to gather potential recruits and keep selling this shitty product for their own financial gain. If you cant get people to buy your crappy product then whats the next best thing? Get those suckers to SELL your product in any way they can.



If youre interested.
heres some links to more info on herbashit:

http://www. freewebs. com/herbalifereport/


http://www. rickross. com/groups/herbalife. html


http://www. mlmwatch. org/04C/Herbalife/herbalife00. html

 

[marshallmadman]

Isn't this pretty much the case with about every "supplement" people fall for? The one that really pisses me of is Ultra 90! This crap has gotta be the biggest scam ever. They advertise on the radio, and the ladies voice makes me want to ram my car into a telephone pole just to kill the radio.

 

[pesty4077]

My favorite is Enzyte, the owner Steve Warsham has 112 federal counts against him, including money laundering, mail, wire, fraud, etc. They, still have the nerve to advertise that false product on national TV.

 

[BlueNile08]

Hey man just wanted to say you have a really good point, and that was well written... I am always skeptical of any MLM product....

That being said... I have a personal friend who sells/uses it... both her and her husband... and they are in superb shape... both in their late 30s too...

Neither one of them has ever touched any AAS.

She tried to get me on the Herbal Life Bandwagon and I told her I was perfectly happy being a 215 pound bloody knuckled gorilla who smashes AAS/GH into his body and eats his steak medium rare.

You do have a good point though and in fact I sent her the link to your thread to see if she wants to address what you said... because like I said she is in awesome shape... as a matter of fact when I think about her it makes me happy in my pants. Im not gonna lie to you.

Anyway, great post dude.

Semper Fi

 

[SacToSD]

This all reminds me of the naturopathic doctor I saw about my testosterone deficiency... he tried pushing this herbal shit on me and said that I had "adrenal fatigue" w/out any tests. He said he wouldn't prescribe me any testosterone unless I went onto his herbal crap (a mix of ginseng and b vitamins... what he called the cure to everything). I am a total non believer in herbs, supplements, and all the rest of that voodoo shamanism. What a crock.

 

[mr. boom]

herbal-provider.com

 

[STEVO 47]

My favorite is Enzyte, the owner Steve Warsham has 112 federal counts against him, including money laundering, mail, wire, fraud, etc. They, still have the nerve to advertise that false product on national TV.

Funny you say this. I just saw that advertisement the other day and
thought, what the hell

 

[GoneForFuckingEver8]

NO WAY! i responded to an ad for a trainer as well, and a guy called telling me about it. i was supposed to set up all the community bullshit and sell crappy supplements. i hung up after a few minutes. i wonder if it was the same company?

 

[killerphysique]

I rigorously protest herbalife every chance i get! They are soul-less parasites with absolutely no knowledge of fitness or nutrition. They attend a seminar and think they know everything. Here's a true story...

My boss's wife has Krohn's disease. Her sister is on the herbalife kick and introduced my boss's wife to her rep. She said it can help with her Krohn's disease and help her lose weight. She asked her doctor if that was true and he said absolutely not. In fact, when she asked if any supplements or even a diet would help her lose some extra weight, because the steroids she's on for her disease (antibiotics, not AAS obviously) make it hard to control her weight. The doctor said no, the steroids make it very hard to drop any weight as they effect her thyroid function. When she told this to the rep, her exact words were "well doctors don't know everything". The fucking nerve of some people.

My gf wanted to shed a few lbs and got talked into trying it by a rep and when i found out i made her promise not to get her anymore and made her a meal plan myself and she's steadily losing healthy weight, not that she needed to in the first place, but i understand wanting to lean out

Also, there's a rep who sometimes "works out" at my gym, who always wears her herbalife shirt, and tried to confront me and my training partner about trying it. I'm 8% body fat (while bulking) and was about 6% at the time, so idk what inspired her to confront me in the first place. I simply said I wasn't interested before she was done with her first sentence and walked away. Any woman who is 5'6" and weighs at least 230 lbs, shouldn't be sporting a shirt/product for weight loss.

But i digress, sorry to rant everyone. But like i said, i protest them every chance i get. They are the worst thing to happen to fitness since McDonald's!

 

[alisaman]

I rigorously protest herbalife every chance i get! They are soul-less parasites with absolutely no knowledge of fitness or nutrition. They attend a seminar and think they know everything. Here's a true story...

My boss's wife has Krohn's disease. Her sister is on the herbalife kick and introduced my boss's wife to her rep. She said it can help with her Krohn's disease and help her lose weight. She asked her doctor if that was true and he said absolutely not. In fact, when she asked if any supplements or even a diet would help her lose some extra weight, because the steroids she's on for her disease (antibiotics, not AAS obviously) make it hard to control her weight. The doctor said no, the steroids make it very hard to drop any weight as they effect her thyroid function. When she told this to the rep, her exact words were "well doctors don't know everything". The fucking nerve of some people.

My gf wanted to shed a few lbs and got talked into trying it by a rep and when i found out i made her promise not to get her anymore and made her a meal plan myself and she's steadily losing healthy weight, not that she needed to in the first place, but i understand wanting to lean out

Also, there's a rep who sometimes "works out" at my gym, who always wears her herbalife shirt, and tried to confront me and my training partner about trying it. I'm 8% body fat (while bulking) and was about 6% at the time, so idk what inspired her to confront me in the first place. I simply said I wasn't interested before she was done with her first sentence and walked away. Any woman who is 5'6" and weighs at least 230 lbs, shouldn't be sporting a shirt/product for weight loss.

But i digress, sorry to rant everyone. But like i said, i protest them every chance i get. They are the worst thing to happen to fitness since McDonald's!

Asking a doctor about nutrition advice is the same as asking McDonalds employee for it.
Bodyfat % doesn't equal healthy body.
What does it mean "losing healthy weight?"
And the doctors don't know everything, in fact they know very little besides what they learned in med school - knowledge, that is ancient by todays standards, and anybody can get it by reading the same books - you can actually get them in library!!!! It amazes me how many people act, as if doctors have this secret knowledge, nobody else can get hold of.

 

[tlong]

I'm going to have to go ahead and commend this post. I work at a supplement store (huge chain) and people buy this shit all of the time. I can't bad-mouth products because i would lose my job, but they have fuckin gummies to enhance weight loss... WHAT THE SHIT... i can't pure hype and garbage. green coffee been gummies? aahhh i'm so angry..

 

[desibaba]

To be brutally honest I find some of the claims made on this forum about "Humanofort" kinda out there as well. Supposedly that stuff can cure everything from cancer, diabetes and increase your natural testosterone and HGH as well as improving your sexual capability in the bedroom while making your penis larger by at least 2-3 inches but since its sold by a sponsor its fair game I guess. If its that good how come it hasnt made headlines yet. Any time you hear about any supplement that has magical properties should be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[triathloncoach]

I never used herbalite because it just looks fake. The brown glass bottle just gives it look. But never trusted it

How do you find a 5 year old thread?

 

[letsrun4it]

How do you find a 5 year old thread?

when a big investor went short on them earlier this year claiming it's a pyramid scheme, this would have been a good thread bump just to say "look he nailed it!"

 

[Fitness 500]

How can any MLM company maintain ethical consistency when employing so many "independent" distributors? It is clear that some of these distributors employ dubious tactics to gather potential recruits and keep selling this shitty product for their own financial gain. If you cant get people to buy your crappy product then whats the next best thing? Get those suckers to SELL your product in any way they can.

That's the key. MLM and network marketing are just stupid pyramid schemes. I hate MLMs and network marketers with a passion.

How do you find a 5 year old thread?

I didn't notice this thread was this old until I read your post. Does Herbalife still exist?

 

[triathloncoach]

when a big investor went short on them earlier this year claiming it's a pyramid scheme, this would have been a good thread bump just to say "look he nailed it!"

Two big investors shorted herbalife in 2013. They both lost money. This thread started in early 2009. The only thing I will say about this company is that it must make a lot of $. I'm not voting against it. It thrives on greedy and lazy people. WINNER!!!

 

[SizzlingLobster]

That's the key. MLM and network marketing are just stupid pyramid schemes. I hate MLMs and network marketers with a passion.



I didn't notice this thread was this old until I read your post. Does Herbalife still exist?

Yep they are doing far better than ever too somehow...like letsrun4it mentioned...a big name investor named Bill Ackman heavily shorted the company even as the stock price consistently increased over the last year. He and another billionaire investor named Carl Icahn have had huge and hilarious arguments over it...Icahn has made around 500 million dollars off it supposedly but doesnt state his exact position...he won't say whether he is long the stock or just rode it and got out after making money.

However the stock is a favorite on Wall St. for the upcoming year yet again and some say it will rise from around 80 bucks per share to around 115 per share in the first quarter or the year. Looking at the financials and the way the company is set up Ackman swears it is a pyramid scheme and that's why he has been shorting it so heavily. It's almost impossible to disagree that in the long run that is the way it looks.

My fiance is a distributor and we've talked about it and the fact is she makes some money and get big discounts and knows if it does come crashing down it won't affect her. I use some of their products because she gets a huge discount and some of it is fine for the offseason. Either way it will be very interesting to see what happens to the company in the future.

 

[SizzlingLobster]

when a big investor went short on them earlier this year claiming it's a pyramid scheme, this would have been a good thread bump just to say "look he nailed it!"

Well as of now he certainly didn't nail it...his hedge fund Pershing Square lost quite a bit of money shorting it...although like I mentioned in the long run I believe he is right.

 

[triathloncoach]

Carl Ichan is Herbalife's largest shareholder, so he is definitively long
Ackman's fund lost $700 million shorting Herbalife in 2013. And he is still shorting them. Crazy stuff..

 

[luv2kurl]

I have always thought those types of companies were a scam