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October 30, 2003
Passport Memo From Bo Short
By QBlog in Bo Short
On October 20, 2003, I received a copy of the following memo from an anonymous source. The memo was sent out to Passport Associates by Passport Founder and resigned Quixtar Diamond, Bo Short. I'm including the memo in its entirety, without any edits or modifications. The memo primarily addresses Bo Short's interview with Dateline NBC for the upcoming story about Quixtar.
Date: 10/11/03
To: Passport Independent Associates
From: Bo Short
Re: Upcoming Dateline NBC Show
Hello Everyone,
For those of you that are unaware, I had qualified once and attained the level of diamond in 1995 in the Amway business. Having been made of aware of issues in 2000, and having unsuccessfully attempted to cause change, I chose to resign my income and business as an Amway/Quixtar distributor in 2001. I did so as I could not represent a business to be something that I no longer believed it was. Unfortunately, over the course of my Amway/Quixtar career many of us were taught and subsequently
passed on things that turned out not to be true. I have tapes that were made of a number of my speeches that reflect this.
As many of you know, Dateline NBC will be airing a show discussing the Amway/Quixtar business. I do not know the details of the show but I wanted to let you know about my role in it.
The shows producer, wanting to discuss my experiences, attempted to make contact with me on numerous occasions. After a great deal of deliberation I decided to return one of his telephone calls. Following in-depth discussions with my family and after consulting with law enforcement personnel to discuss the safety and well being of my family, I made the decision to discuss my experiences on air.
The reason I believed that meeting with law enforcement personnel was important stems back to an alleged comment that was made in the year 2000 by a senior, tenured diamond who inadvertently discovered that a small group of us were discussing leaving our upline and working directly with the corporation. He allegedly said about us, “I will put a bullet in the back of their heads.” It was this alleged statement that has heightened my awareness to the possible repercussions involved in challenging the hierarchy of their “business support materials” business. While many people may perceive this as dramatic I would suggest that the “wholesomeness” that is presented on stage is not always what it appears to be. Additionally, the potential loss of millions of dollars of income for a small group of people may cause some to react in ways that would be excessive.
I was asked what I thought the corporation or their senior distributors would say regarding my statements. Fortunately, I have copies of notes (not just mine) from meetings, contracts, and memos to support my statements. In my opinion, their reaction will most probably be to assail my character. This is a common political move designed to divert one’s attention from the truth. I would expect them to make inaccurate and misleading statements similar to the following that they posed in response to my resignation.
In September of 2001, I chose not to renew my Amway/Quixtar business and to no longer receive compensation. When contacted by
Quixtar I was told that was insufficient. I insisted that I was through. They countered with a demand that I produce a resignation letter. I find it quite interesting that the business compendium that I used and the one that was published later address this issue differently. To avoid further conflict I sent one that they claim was never received. I then sent another that they finally acknowledged in November 2001. I have never received compensation from them since the end of September 2001 when I told them I was through.
In mid-to-late October I launched Passport as a solution to address what I perceived were very complex problems in this industry. I later read in a letter written June 25, 2002 to an acquaintance of mine, attributed to Gary Vander Ven (Quixtar’s Manager of Global Business Conduct and Rules) in which he said, “Bo Short was not forced to resign. He voluntarily quit when faced with complaints from other IBOs that he violated Quixtar’s Rule 4.14.” I find this to be very offensive and typical Quixtar “spin”.
In my opinion, I believe that they purposely prolonged acknowledging my departure to set the stage for comments such as these. However, they know the truth as to why I resigned. In my opinion, Mr. Vander Ven’s letter is a convenient way to avoid the truth. I believe it is easier for some of them to avoid telling the truth than dealing with the ramifications of it.
The ultimate reason I decided to participate in the upcoming Dateline NBC program was no different than the reason I resigned my income and business in Amway/Quixtar; it was the only right thing to do. Having served as the Corporate Liaison of the group that was challenging the BSM hierarchy in the year 2000, I was privy to private meetings with corporate officials and IBOAI board members (this is the distributor board that supposedly represents the best interest of the distributor base) in
which I heard and learned things that shocked me. While I made some of this information public approximately 2 years ago, the depth of what I learned was never released.
As well, the BSM group (Team In Focus) I was associated with was started as a way to “fix” what we perceived as wrong with that business and create an ethical, equitable program. Unfortunately, financial improprieties amongst a couple members of the TIF leadership created an intolerable situation. I could not be associated with people that would betray the trust of the people they were supposedly leading as well as working with. Having lost faith in the leaders in the “field” as well as the
“corporation” I had no alternative but to resign.
I was asked why I would expose my experiences and findings in the public forum now. The answer is three-fold. First and not to overdramatize the situation; I believe that public knowledge offers my family more safety than my knowing something that remains in the shadows. Secondly, I believe this information can protect people from falling victim to, what is in my opinion, abhorrent behavior at best. And thirdly, I have a beautiful daughter whom I love with all my heart. I believe that I have a responsibility to teach her that doing the right thing is not always easy…but it is always necessary.
I do not know how much of my interview will be used in the show. The taping encompassed several hours. I was very forthcoming and told only the truth as I know and experienced it. I was never asked to embellish any part of my story. I did tell the producer that it was my opinion that the overwhelming majority of the distributors were good, kind, pursuers of the American dream and unaware of the complexity of the situation. I did not even learn the depth of this myself until the year 2000.
I am available to answer your questions. I am so proud of what you are doing in your business, powered by Passport. I would encourage you, as always, to have fun, and tell the truth. I believe more than ever that we have an opportunity to do something great together. People are looking for the truth. They do not want to do something that delays gratification for a lifetime…they simply want something that will work the way it is presented. Our true test as a company will be to provide just that.
I am proud to know you.
Always Lead,
Bo
October 29, 2003
The problem is...
By QBlog in
I hear a lot of Quixtar advocates dismiss any sort of negative opinions about the business by saying, "they just had bad uplines" or "they're bitter about not making money." Statements like that attempt to discredit the message by attacking the messenger. However, the advocates aren't alone in this practice. I've often heard similar types of attacks by self-proclaimed Quixtar critics. "Don't listen to her, she's just trying to rip you off" or "he doesn't care about you, he just wants to go Diamond."
I detest those types of character assaults because they attempt to remove focus from the issues and avoid answering the tough questions. And over the past few months I've discovered that a lot of the debate surrounding Quixtar is nothing more than dancing around the issues by name-calling, hurling empty accusations and good, old-fashioned character assaults. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
When we're honest, we can step back and separate the message from the messenger and judge that message on its own merits. Being open-minded doesn't come naturally so it takes a certain resolve to try to shelve our personal bias and understand exactly what someone else is saying, even if we may not immediately agree.
Would it make sense for us to ignore repeated warnings about the quality of our drinking water simply because we don't agree with the politics, social status or race of those issuing the warning? I would hope not. Intelligent people look past the personal differences and try to determine the validity of the claims. By the same token, would it make sense for us to attack an entire industry because a few bad apples have behaved criminally? Again, I would hope not.
The Quixtar debate is no different than any other debate where human emotions are involved. Those on both sides of the issue get upset and act irrationally. Some have every right to act in this manner and others just can't avoid foolish behavior. I don't pretend to be the force that will bring acceptance and understanding to the warring factions like some Quixtar Ghandi or MLK. I just hope that I can, in some small way, inject some rational thinking into what appears to be a predominantly irrational debate.
October 27, 2003
Smacked with the stupid stick
By QBlog in
I need a stupid stick. A big, fat wooden rod with the word "stupid" engraved on the side in big, bold letters. I would use my stupid stick every time I heard someone say, "Isn't the workforce a pyramid?"
SMACK!
This is undoubtedly the stupidest rationale for legitimizing pyramid schemes. Why? I should smack you just for asking... but I won't.
Instead I'll explain (ain't I nice?). All J-O-Bs are structured with the leadership at the top and varied tiers of leadership all the way down to the most insignificant employee. Graphing this out does sort of look like a pyramid. But that means absolutely nothing because any system with clear leadership looks this way.
Here's the difference. Pay attention. In a J-O-B, the people "at the bottom" get paid by "those at the top" for their efforts. In a "pyramid scheme" the people at the bottom pay "those at the top" for their efforts. That's the difference. Learn that and avoid the smack of my stupid stick.
For the more advanced students I'll also add that in a J-O-B the people at the top aren't really the ones paying the people at the bottom for their efforts. The customers or clients are doing the paying. Just something else to think about.
October 26, 2003
Winter Reading
By QBlog in
I recently noticed that there are quite a few books on the market (some still in print) with the word "Quixtar" in the title. Books specifically written for Quixtar IBOs and that profess to include tips and advice on how to improve your Quixtar-based business. Here's a list. Which ones have you read?
October 24, 2003
Oldie But a Goodie
By QBlog in
1. Avoid any plan that includes commissions for recruiting additional distributors. It may be an illegal pyramid.
2. Beware of plans that ask new distributors to purchase expensive inventory. These plans can collapse quickly -- and also may be thinly-disguised pyramids.
3. Be cautious of plans that claim you will make money through continued growth of your "downline" -- the commissions on sales made by new distributors you recruit -- rather than through sales of products you make yourself.
4. Beware of plans that claim to sell miracle products or promise enormous earnings. Just because a promoter of a plan makes a claim doesn't mean it's true! Ask the promoter of the plan to substantiate claims with hard evidence.
5. Beware of shills -- "decoy" references paid by a plan's promoter to describe their fictional success in earning money through the plan.
6. Don't pay or sign any contracts in an "opportunity meeting" or any other high-pressure situation. Insist on taking your time to think over a decision to join. Talk it over with your spouse, a knowledgeable friend, an accountant or lawyer.
7. Do your homework! Check with your local Better Business Bureau and state Attorney General about any plan you're considering -- especially when the claims about the product or your potential earnings seem too good to be true.
Start your own blog... seriously
By QBlog in
I realize that many people visiting this site have never heard of blogs before and are quite unfamiliar with what has become the "blogging phenomenon." My nature is to share, educate and inform and because of that I've created a helpful Make Your Own Blog: TUTORIAL page.
The page explains why you might need a blog, how to set one up and provides links to helpful resources to get you started and better understand what blogging's all about. My hope is that this tutorial will de-mystify Web publication for some of you and possibly inspire a few folks to actually start a blog of your own.
If you're reading this, then chances are that you have some interest in Quixtar (positive, negative, neutral or just plain curiosity). My primary goal is to increase the diversity of discussion about Quixtar by giving those interested in Quixtar a simple and easy method to publish thoughts, opinions and feelings about the business.
If you're an IBO and aren't sure about the rules governing personal sites I address that issue in the tutorial. However, you don't even need to create a blog about Quixtar. My secondary goal is to simply educate folks about the world of blogging in general. Make a blog discussing you dog, trip to Mexico or why you're sick of politics. The point is, just start a blog. Try it out. If you don't like it, then stop. But I'm betting that you'll like it a lot more than you expect.
Thanks for the Memos
By QBlog in
I posted a sort of teaser earlier this week about some information (a memo) I received regarding the upcoming Dateline NBC story on Quixtar. I'd hoped to be able to share more information by now, but for a variety of reasons I'm waiting to give more details until next week. This is a sort of apology because I really hate to promise something and then not deliver. Thanks for understanding and I appreciate your patience. Details coming soon (D'oh, that sounds like another teaser!).
October 22, 2003
Differing Perspectives
By QBlog in
I don't really know all that much about Mother Teresa or the Catholic Church. From all I've been told, MT was a great woman who devoted her life to helping those less fortunate. Needless to say, I was somewhat shocked when I read this account of MT by Christopher Hitchens in Slate. He dares to call her a "fraud" and then devotes his column to "prove" that she's getting much more praise than she deserves (in light of her recent beatification). I don't know much about all this so I'm not sure what to believe but Hitchens reveals some details that at least help me understand why some in the Catholic Church are opposed to her canonization.
What does this have to do with Quixtar? Nothing directly. Except that it illustrates to me that everything is not always as it seems and that it's important to keep an open mind. I'm not really a fan of Hitchens but does that mean I shouldn't look into his rather proposterous claims? Not at all. Maybe there's some truth to them. Maybe not. The question I ask myself is "what if the claims are true and I did nothing?"
Of course I'm talking about principles here and not really the issue of Mother Teresa. I honestly don't care if she's canonized or not. That's not the point of what I'm saying. The point is that there is merit in maintaining an open mind.
Amway an "ugly end?"
By QBlog in
This guest column from the Atlanta Journal Constitution is a small demonstration of the public perception of Amway. It's basically the "confessions of a telemarketer" and I'm not quite sure I understand why it was published but it was an interesting read. The last two paragraphs are what really caught my attention:
My true self would float above the grimy cubicle, watching as some other boy sat in that cracked plastic chair with chrome legs and tried to sell something he didn't believe in to strangers. Then my true self would go home and take a long hot shower, scrubbing and scrubbing with Irish Spring.So, the question (maybe a rhetorical question?) I keep having is "why is Amway so vilified by the general public?" I don't have a great answer to that question. Do you?I finally realized there was no future in telemarketing for me. I knew that littered path could only lead to an ugly end. Direct mailings, used-car sales, maybe even Amway. I had to get out before it was too late.
October 21, 2003
Dateline NBC story is "Must See TV"
By QBlog in
I recently received some interesting information about the upcoming Dateline NBC story on Quixtar. I'm withholding the details for now but I'll vaguely say that I've been quite dubious about the impact the show will have on Quixtar or the IBO leadership, until now. I'll share more soon.
October 20, 2003
Quixtar and their idiot savants
By QBlog in Blog News
I just got an email from a guy named Gerald J. Reardon (who I assume is in Quixtar) containing his name and both his old and new 16 digit credit card numbers as well as the name of the issuing bank.
I had to do a double-take. He sent in his email address too so I emailed him about it and told him to call his credit card company immediately, among other things. I have not heard back from Mr. Reardon.
I have no idea who this guy is, never heard of him before in my life, never had any sort of contact with anyone named Reardon that I know of and certainly NEVER solicited this information from him. I don't want this information from him or anyone else. I have contacted the issuing bank and sent them a copy of the email just to let them know what was going on.
This is truly bizarre. I've had sites on the Web in one form or another for about 4-5 years and nothing like this has ever happened. What's really weird is that he sent in all this info but didn't send in his expiration date. Hmmmm. Everytime I've had a card change numbers I've also had the expiration date change too and to my knowledge, a card isn't much good with a correct expiration date. So for what purpose would he send me this information? He certainly wasn't trying to donate money to the site (I have a PayPal link for folks who want to do that). It's just really strange.
The reason I assume the guy is in Quixtar is because his return email address is @quixnet.net. Something about all of this smells extremely fishy. More later... maybe.
Amway just won't die
By QBlog in
Quixtar IBOs are often quick to point out that their business, Quixtar, is NOT Amway. They say Amway is a separate company and that Amway has nothing to do with Quixtar. Fine, whatever. I always heard that if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, etc.
But this post isn't about that argument. It's about the fact that Amway lives on in the media while Quixtar is noticeably absent. I ran across this interesting article from DirectMarketing News about a new ad campaign starting up Monday. The article says "there are 15 million individuals nationwide involved in sales, according to infoUSA research. The figure includes direct sellers from companies like Avon and Amway all the way to salesmen of industrial equipment."
The article was published today. For an American audience. This isn't the first time I've seen this. Over and over again (check my archives) I find references to Amway in North America. But Amway doesn't exist in North America right? Oh, I get it, it's all the stupid reporters who don't check their facts. Right? That's the line I hear when I mention that everybody still calls Quixtar by the "other name."
Well, guess what. Reporters do make mistakes and they are often lazy but Alticor, Quixtar and Amway know this and yet are doing very little to use their mighty PR machine to get this detail corrected. Why? I have my suspicions but that's all they are. I can say this: Companies regularly monitor what's said about them in the press. When there is an error or misuse of the company name they have lawyers and PR goons quickly draft a letter intended to correct the mistake. I know, I've seen these letters.
A recent letter was about the word "Bubble Wrap." I wish I had a copy right here because it was really funny. Turns out "Bubble Wrap" is a Registered Trademark and can't be used in a generic sense by the press. A reporter can get in trouble for saying "the package was wrapped in bubble-wrap." They prefer that non-Bubble Wrap packaging be referred to as something like, "individually sealed plastic packaging containers." It was bizarre.
Anyway, I digress. The point is, the Quixtar folks don't seem to mind that 4 years after their company began (in 1999) the majority of America has never heard of the name and still thinks Amway operates in North America. Just weird.
October 19, 2003
Discussion Board Talk
By QBlog in
The infamous GetFacts site, also known as Insider's Perspective, is now offline. The URL was http://www.getfacts.com/ amway/emails/index.html but now that pulls up a File Not Found
page. This message was posted on the getfacts.com home page:
We have taken down this site.So, QuixtarNOW site goes to Read Only. GetFacts, ailing for months, officially goes offline. This all happens within a couple of months. Let the conspiracy theories begin.It was a great idea but not enough time in my life to be able to put it together.
Sorry.
Wait. First a plug for the quixtarBLOG Forums. To my knowledge, they are now the ONLY Forums on the planet discussing all Quixtar perspectives. Of course, I could be wrong about that.
Some of our friends
By QBlog in
When my wife first started as an active IBO in Quixtar she contacted a lot of her friends and asked them to join her in the business. None of her friends had ever heard of Quixtar, they had never been former Amway reps and few had been involved with any sort of MLM: except one.
Mary (not her real name) and her husband had been involved with Amway several years ago and achieved limited success. They told my wife that they "loved Amway but after a while just didn't have the time to devote to the business." When they saw the Quixtar plan they immediately signed up and seemed thrilled at the opportunity to get involved with a "new, improved Amway on the Web." (The husband was an IT administrator)
However, there was somethng peculiar about their involvement as Quixtar IBOs. After signing up they both told my wife that they refused to be put on Tape Of the Week, would not attend any functions and doubted that they would ever show the plan to anyone.
I was somewhat confused and tried to figure out why they would become IBOs and yet refuse to participate. I'm still a bit baffled. They stayed true to their word and soon after my wife's activity ceased, their personal buying also ceased.
I only share this story because it still puzzles me after all this time. I don't understand why they would sign up without any intention of aggressively building their business. I'm baffled about why former Amway folks, who have only praise for the business, would take such a reserved position. Just one of those things that pops into my crusty old mind on a Sunday evening I guess.
October 16, 2003
The Trouble With Quixtar: 5
By QBlog in
Because blogs are inherently conversational and generally informal I thought it might be fun for me to take a few days to work out some of my issues with Quixtar right here, in this public space. Some posts may not make a lot of sense on their own but I hope that as a collection these posts will all tie together to accurately describe what I call "The Trouble With Quixtar."
To keep things organized I'm titling each related entry The Trouble With Quixtar and then numbering them sequentially. Also, please understand that this is a personal effort for me to fully comprehend why I am unable to embrace Quixtar, or any MLM business. This is my personal struggle with Quixtar. > 4 <
I hate phonies. Phonies are people who never mean what they say and rarely say what's really on their mind. Fake. Disingenuous. Hypocritical. Phony.
I could almost swear that phonies exude some sort of malodorous scent which turns my stomach whenever one approaches. It takes a certain fortitude for me to endure even the briefest conversation with a phony without bursting into tears or projectile vomiting. I'm honestly not sure that phonies are even human though I've not discovered any empirical evidence to suggest otherwise. Call it a hunch.
I knew a guy in college who was a genuine phony. Circumstances were such that I was forced to interact with this young man on a daily basis. I observed him constantly defaming his own friends while bragging about his own accomplishments. He regularly lied and often cheated to get what he wanted. Yet, in spite of his mostly despicable characteristics, he was an extremely gregarious fellow and well-liked by seemingly everyone at school.
He was a stereotypical phony. I learned that it was best to avoid him because my nature is rather confrontational and I find it hard to be diplomatic in the face of such obvious phoniness. However, he wasn't representative of all phonies. Nope. Phonies come in all shapes and sizes. There is amazing diversity among phonies. Some are harder to spot than others but all share one defining characteristic. They never mean what they say and rarely say what's really on their mind.
October 14, 2003
Quixtar Bonus Calculator
By QBlog in
Here's a Quixtar Bonus Calculator I found linked from this guy's site. Spend a minute on his site. He's an IBO but he also links to the top Quixtar critic's sites. Interesting stuff.
October 13, 2003
Rational Thinker
By QBlog in
60 Minutes aired a segment last night about cars, SUVs and fuel economy. The story was basically asking whether Detroit could make SUVs more eco-friendly by improving gas mileage. Basically, Detroit says no and the environmentalists say yes. Detroit's line is that consumers won't buy the modified SUVs and the environmentalists say they will. Who's right? Who knows.
Then they discussed some of the methods employed by the environmentalists to force Detroit to improve fuel efficiency. Lobby congress for tougher restrictions. Appeal to the consumer. Directly pressure Detroit to modify their vehicles.
That's when it hit me. Why don't the environmentalists just build their own damn fuel efficient car? If they know so much about what people want and what's best for the consumer then they should spend their money to make their own SUVs. Then, if the consumer really wants it, he'll buy it and will ultimately force Detroit to follow suit because Detroit wants to remain competitive. This method uses the marketplace to enact change instead of legislation or propaganda.
So, how does this relate to Quixtar? Well, it occurred to me that using the marketplace as a tool for change is exactly why Bo Short founded Passport.
While I don't know all of Bo's motives for starting up Passport, he has professed that enacting positive change within the MLM industry was one of the primary ideas behind Passport's creation. Love him or hate him, he is the most accomplished and visible critic of Quixtar/Amway and for that I believe he deserves some amount of respect.
No, I'm not advocating Passport. My opposition to the MLM way of doing business remains. However, I am a rational thinker who tries to understand things, even if I may not agree with them. For some reason a light bulb clicked on last night and I saw Passport in a new light. It's still an MLM, but maybe, just maybe, it's a better MLM that will force Ada to follow suit if it wants to remain competitive.
Now, where's the keys to my SUV? I need to go for a drive.
October 11, 2003
Interesting: Quixtar Positive
By QBlog in
For all of you who feel that this site is overwhelmingly negative, I ask that you check out who Google thinks is the most Quixtar positive site on the Web. The most popular search engine on the planet can't be wrong... right?
October 10, 2003
Don't screw with Amway
By QBlog in
Justice is swift for the guy who ripped off Billy Britt.
FYI: Old comments return
By QBlog in
The old blog archives, linked on the left under Comment Archives, have been restored. However, some of the posts they are attached to will not show how many comments have been added to that post, even though they are still there.
This is annoying and another reason why I switched blog tools. If you want to read a comment from last year just click on those archived posts until you find one.
Lesson learned, never depend on someone else to do what you can do yourself.
October 9, 2003
Not a good day to be Doris Shaw
By QBlog in
This just in from MLive.com:
Doris Shaw denies any business relationship with murder suspect. Apparently, Lyle Youngs II has been charged with killing two people, one of which is listed as a creditor in Shaw's recent bankruptcy filings. The connection between Shaw, Youngs and the deceased creditor, Frank Lopick, is complicated so please read the article. Shaw is being mentioned here because she's under investigation for bilking 225 people out of millions of dollars, in part to fund her $2 million Amway business. I've mentioned it before here and here.
October 8, 2003
Benefits of retailing
By QBlog in
I had a "moment of clarity" yesterday and thought I'd share it with you.
The greatest benefit of capitalism is competition in the marketplace. Competition creates better products, innovative ideas and keeps prices low. The advantage goes to the consumer who gets new and better products (and services) at cheaper prices.
Within a closed system, such as a monopoly, there is almost no competition and little incentive to improve products (or services), create new ones or keep prices low. With captive customers, the advantage goes to the business monopoly and the consumer suffers.
No, I'm not saying Quixtar is a monopoly. It's not. But, there are some elements of the Quixtar business that behave like a monopoly, especially when retailing to non-Quixtar customers is discouraged. See, within the Quixtar system there is a sort of captive consumer. Each IBO must buy from Quixtar if he wants to get that bonus check. Because there is an almost guaranteed source of revenue from these IBOs, Quixtar has very little incentive to innovate, improve products or lower prices. I'm not making any accusations about their products, just observing that the incentives resulting from competition have been removed.
Now, does Quixtar abuse its customers with bad, overpriced products? I don't know and I'm not saying that they do. That's for you to determine. Some claim to have witnessed such abuses while others claim the opposite. I'm just reporting my humble observation about the Quixtar business and capitalism.
October 7, 2003
I don't make this stuff up
By QBlog in
I've said that Quixtar doesn't "get" the Internet for a while now. I got an email the other day from someone (name withheld) who came to the same conclusion. Here it is:
Just thought I'd share a bit of my Quixtar experience with you. I have been an IBO for 3 years. I haven't been active for about a year and a half however. I decided that I didn't want to renew this year for a whole bunch of reasons, the main being that I will not participate in my upline's business or any others until the cost of the 'system' comes down dramatically.Anyway, I logged on to Quixtar to cancel my automatic renewal. Surprise, you can't do it online! So much for being a tech savvy business (and the site is awful compared to other online retailers). So I called that night to cancel by phone. Surprise, you have to call Monday through Friday during business hours! Who wants to call while you are at your job?!?!?
Funny as it seems I got an e-mail the next day. It said that it was renewal season and that my automatic renewal would go through unless I contacted Quixtar at a non 1-800 number (616-787-7828). What kind of company is this? It also said that I could e-mail the company by e-mailing business.support@quixtar.com. I did. The message I got back was that someone would be contacting me. Nothing yet.
I guess I'll just have to call on Monday. I don't care if someone is pro or anti-Quixtar, the fact of the matter is that this company leaves a lot to be desired.
Resources Updated
By QBlog in
I've updated the Resources page to organize the info and add the Church Marketplace link. This page will continue to expand over the next few weeks.
October 3, 2003
Arguing about Quixtar prices is stupid
By QBlog in
Hey, who has the best prices? Quixtar? Wal-Mart? Costco? Mr. Bean's Corner Drugstore? Who cares? Absolutely nothing is accomplished by arguing Quixtar's prices. Why? Well, because they don't charge $4,000 for a bar of soap and until they do, there's no way to unequivocally demonstrate that Quixtar provides either a good or bad price on their products.
How can I say this? Well, I like name brands. I won't buy jeans at Wal-Mart. I'd rather spend $50 on a pair at Eddie Bauer or J. Crew. We could argue all day about the comparative quality of those jeans but I won't budge. I like my $50 jeans and am more than willing to buy them.
Or, what about peanut butter? I happen to love Jif brand. It's just my favorite. I can buy a cheaper brand and argue about which tastes better but I like Jif, so back off. I'll gladly pay the extra couple bucks to get my Jif.
Then there's the coupon thing. I don't clip coupons. I could but I don't. I could clip coupons every Sunday or wait until something is on sale and save a bundle. But I don't because I just don't care. I'd rather spend my time doing something else, like posting to this blog. You could argue that cutting coupons saves money and I just shrug and say "whatever." I guess it's a quality of life thing.
The point is, anyone who argues that Quixtar prices are too high, or wonderfully low, is just being ridiculous. The only way to make that argument work is to demonstrate, in detail, that the exact same products offered at Quixtar are offered elsewhere cheaper, or more expensively. But you know what? You can't do that because Quixtar doesn't sell SA8 anywhere else. Nor LOC. Nor any other Alticor products. So, until there is a direct comparison, the argument is just pointless.
October 2, 2003
Who's name is blacked out?
By QBlog in
Just wondering who's name from Dateline NBC has been blacked out in the Quixtar Response letters. Is it this guy? If so, I'd like to try to give him a call and see if he might tell me something about the upcoming story. Anyone know where there's a list of all the Dateline NBC producers?