Why I Walked Away From MLMs

****I have done my best to make this blog post as non-specific in regards to which essential oil company I was affiliated with as possible. I will not name the essential oil company nor any persons I dealt with during this time.****

I still remember the day that I signed up to be a part of let’s call them XYZ essential oil company. I was new enough to the essential oil world, that as I “drank the kool-aid”, I thought I had found “my people”. People that were on the same journey as myself. I was moving away from “big pharma” into a healthier way of treating myself and my family.

As we sat at my kitchen table filling out my paperwork, I felt a sense of pride. I told her that I was not in it for the paycheck and that I would not be the typical advocate. I was not interested in teaching classes or recruiting anyone. I am a stay at home mom with 3 kids and I do not have any local friends that would be interested in selling essential oils. I would not pressure anyone that decided to join my team to sell oils either.

I was immediately put into closed and secret FB groups for those that use and sell XYZ essential oils. As I read posts after posts and then the comments listed in the various groups and pages, I was left in awe at the advice and essential oils beliefs. It was not uncommon to hear things like “It’s ok to give essential oils to newborns internally.” or “Don’t stop using the oils on the hole that is now in your skin. It is just toxins leaving your body.” or “It’s ok that you can’t breathe after applying XYZ oil blend to your chest. Just keep applying it. It needs time to work. “You are resisting and blocking the oils subconsciously from working correctly.” “You will get used to the oil.” and “You cannot be allergic to essential oils. It is just not possible.” When someone posted their toddler had issues with photosensitivity after applying citrus oils/blends, they were told to apply more essential oils to the burns instead of taking the child to seek medical help. The parent listened to the group. The end result was horrific. The parent was still being told it was “just built up toxins being released from the body”. The words what will “cure” this or that were used all the time. When people would question why XYZ did not cure their ailment, they were told they “did not use the oils correctly, in large enough doses or for long enough periods of time”. It did not take me long to walk away from the groups and pages. The advice was just insane and I could not believe what was actually being told and listened to.

A team was eventually placed under me by the higher-ups in my line. I began getting small paychecks here and there and then at a more steady pace. I bought over $200 a month of essential oils/products to help with my monthly goals and occasionally, someone bought oils from me.

About that time, the FDA stepped in and began to question essential oil companies, their claims, and the advice being given to consumers by those selling the oils. All Hell broke loose in the forms of letters and lawsuits being filed against them. The companies panicked. Advocates were no longer allowed to have anything that directly tied them to XYZ oil company on their sites, pages, groups, blogs, etc.

I began to get emails and phone calls from XYZ Essential Oils telling me that I was non-compliant with their new policies. I was already in the process of removing everything from all my social media. I changed out my pictures, redid my blog posts, removed posts from various sites. The phone calls and emails still poured in. It was demanded that I then delete comments that pertained to essential oil questions that had NOTHING to do with the company specifically. I once again complied. I was not even allowed to tell anyone what company I was using in person or in an email. It was that crazy.

Then I got a letter threatening to not only suspend me from the company, withhold my paychecks, but that they were also considering suing me for noncompliance. I had done everything that was asked of me and more. The calls continued, the emails continued, the letters continued for months. They were using Google searches that had not synced yet with my changes and not bothering to click on the links that sent them to a “content does not exist” or “content has been removed” banner. They did not even bother to read my posts to confirm any changes had been in fact made.

The last straw came when I received a FB DM from my up-riser. I was told that the monthly totals I was spending on my oils were not enough any longer to warrant me being on their team. They wanted to restructure their team to get them more money. At this point, I was told I was nothing but “dead weight” to them. I was left in awe. The messages continued. I contacted the company and asked what could be done to stop this. I sent them actual screenshots of what I had received. Their response was for me to go inactive for 6-8 months and allow my team to be restructured under someone that had the sales and spent the money that was being asked to be spent by my up-risers.

I unfriended anyone that was on my team, I stopped talking to anyone about essential oils or any company that sold them. I stopped buying from XYZ company immediately.  Putting as much distance as I could between myself and anyone associated with them.

I recently received another PM from the up-risers telling me that I needed to contact the main company to be moved under another person in my team as they had already restructured it to suit their needs. When I looked into moving under another team altogether as a wholesale customer, I was told I would have to pay the fees and start everything over again being required to buy one of their minimum $100+ dollar kits.

At the same time, I began getting numerous emails from the company telling me that I needed to make my posts compliant with the company. I needed to remove all posts that contained the words PTSD and depression. It did not matter if I mentioned essential oils in the post or not. Soon I began getting phone calls asking me why I removed all the content that affiliated me with them. When I asked them “Are you serious???” They laughed and told me “They had been a tad bit overzealous with their reaction the FDA letters.”

That was it. I was done. While I love the products the company sells, I will no longer be affiliated with them in any way nor any other MLM company in the future. I know that there may be many legit MLM companies but over 3 years later, I am still having issues with this company.