The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
MLM [Multi-level Marketing]
Island
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Reposted correctly from D&D....
MLM or multi-level marketing isn't a new concept; and various ones seems to be legit. They do tend to get a bad rap because of pyramid schemes; so I am overly cautious with all of them.
My wife has become obsessed with Norwex cleaning products. They claim that their revolutionary micro-fibre cloth can clean 99.9% of all bacteria with only water. Now I have been having quite the argument with the wife over the merits of the product along with the potential "scam" possibility.
Any search I do for Norwex, is just filled with "networking" blogs; or bought ads. Searching for any negative comments is impossible. Now I have worked at various companies; and I have NEVER found a product that doesnt have one nay-sayer.
My internet detector is going crazy on this one, I think there is something fishy about this whole thing. I've been on the web long enough to detect when something is up; but trying to convey that feeling to my wife is a little harder.
So D&D this is my plea... help me to either:
A) Prove myself wrong and that this technology is feasible, and is not a scam.
Help me show my wife that this is not a good product; and IS a scam.
Thanks,
MLM or multi-level marketing isn't a new concept; and various ones seems to be legit. They do tend to get a bad rap because of pyramid schemes; so I am overly cautious with all of them.
My wife has become obsessed with Norwex cleaning products. They claim that their revolutionary micro-fibre cloth can clean 99.9% of all bacteria with only water. Now I have been having quite the argument with the wife over the merits of the product along with the potential "scam" possibility.
Any search I do for Norwex, is just filled with "networking" blogs; or bought ads. Searching for any negative comments is impossible. Now I have worked at various companies; and I have NEVER found a product that doesnt have one nay-sayer.
My internet detector is going crazy on this one, I think there is something fishy about this whole thing. I've been on the web long enough to detect when something is up; but trying to convey that feeling to my wife is a little harder.
So D&D this is my plea... help me to either:
A) Prove myself wrong and that this technology is feasible, and is not a scam.
Help me show my wife that this is not a good product; and IS a scam.Thanks,
Island on
0
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
You know what to do.
Facebook: MeekinOnMovies
Twitter: Twitter.com/MeekinOnMovies
My 10 commandments of game reviewing
7 Great Games Playing Watch_Dogs will remind you of/url]
Far Cry 4: 10 Essential Features it Must Have
10 Videogames Ruined By The Hype
They don't care if YOU sell it, the idea is that YOU buy it and they stop worrying about it.
What do you get for purchasing their inventory? Are they willing to buy back excess at ~90-100% its purchase value? If not, it's a scam.
Do they require you to purchase obscene (wholesale bulk) amounts? Scam
Is there any annual, monthly, or startup fee? Scam
Condensed to one sentence: If they focus on signing up new members (bonuses for finding new sellers, extreme start up costs, etc.) over selling their products, it is a scam.
My wife's big sticking point is that she just wants to buy the mop. She had become very paranoid about chemical cleaners (no thanks to her friends who are selling Norwex and are pushing that angle). She wants to know what the big deal is if she just BUYS the mop and doesnt get involved with the selling. I asked her why she would want to support something this is obviously a scam; and her response is she cant find anything like this magic mop in stores.
Perhaps this isnt an argument I cant win. She is stubborn like myself, and is dead set on getting this product. I have done similar things with console purchases, with the main difference I bought my consoles from Best Buy and not from my best friend at a party.
Is buying from a scam worth it? Is there any other type of magic mop that you guys are aware of?
Spouse wants to buy affordable but expensive and useless thing? "That's nice, honey."
Spouse wants to join MLM scam and fritter away the retirement fund? "Over my dead body!"
It's knowing when to draw the line that's important.
Let her buy the fucking mop! What are you, her father? Unless this is a $300 mop, who the fuck cares? Either she buys it, it works, and enjoys using it, or it doesn't and she throws it out.
Problem solved.
The products used in MLM schemes aren't the "scams." The method in which they distribute them are. As long as she isn't interested in becoming involved in the marketing, who cares?
I can't tell you how many products I've bought from stores that turned out to be shit. This mop may be one of them. I don't think it warrants an argument.
There's nothing wrong with her throwing money away to help her friends out. But she's deluding herself if she thinks some mop with water is going to clean bacteria. Move it around? Sure. Kill or destroy it? Nope.
Google indicates that it's a $90 mop, which is a hell of a lot for what appears to be a swiffer sweeper.
If she has a hard on for the Magic Microfiber Cloth, tell her to buy a swiffer, get one of the cloths (either buy the refill pack or try and talk a Norwex salesdroid into giving her one to try before she buys), and see if it's any more effective than the swiffer pads.
A gadget can make household drudgery more fun, or at least more interesting. Whether it works or not is irrelevant. I've bought plenty of gadgets, some were useful, some were useless. If you can afford it, no problem.
I very rarely put up a fuss about the stuff she buys; let alone talk about it on a forum.
I believe its a frivolous purchase, wont perform as is claimed and is only encouraging her friends farther into the scam portion.
My wife and I have a very good relationship and this isnt so much an argument as much as a debate about the merits and issues with this product. We have agreed that the product is essentially a glorified Swiffer. I just need to come up with a alternative product so she wont buy this one. (Norwex claims its the only microfiber cloth that uses silver?!?)
All purchases are usually discussed as a team and seeing as this mop is pushing $100, there is some debate regarding its need/want priority.
Something that claims to eliminate 99.9% of bacteria without any actual data is most certainly a scam.
I certainly wouldn't want them to think I was a "payer".
Because, then you'll never get rid of the parasites.
This statement doesn't mean anything without some kind of context. For all we know the same test could be done with a paper towel and 99.9% of bacteria might be removed.
If she wants less "toxic" cleaners tell her to get Simple Green.
If you don't let her have this one, expect a grilling next time you want to buy some over-hyped X-Box game, or whatever you are into. Don't turn money into a running argument. Unless you are just scraping by financially, try not sweating the small stuff. Don't even bother discussing small purchases unless they are getting out of hand (e.g. you find 15 mops in the closet).
This is one of my sticking points as well... allowing the scam to continue.
We have come along way, she used to enter every contest under the sun; until we talked about mailing lists/personal info/telemarketers etc....
Perhaps you are right. I'm all for marital harmony, (and the sex that goes along with it.) We are not in the greatest financial state right now for a few various reasons; so controlling spending is a big issue. This could just be the product that is bringing our situation to light; and why it is a much bigger issue then just a pointless purchase.
That, and the fact that I think she is wanting to buy it now out of spite.
I'll second seeing if she can buy just the refills to use with a swiffer or something. If her friends really want her business and also care anything about her, this shouldn't be a problem.
Then, for God's sake sneak in and spray the floor with some 70% isopropyl alcohol or dilute clorox every once in a while. It won't make your floor shine, but to be completely honest it's more likely to actually kill something than pretty much any detergent (or sekret cloth) you'd buy anyway. And who cares if it makes your floor shine, because she's apparently going to mop it obsessively anyway.
But,
The only way you're ever going to remove 99.9% of bacteria using water is if it is steam. I don't care if the magic cloth is made from the skin off of a unicorn's balls, cloth alone does not kill germs unless there is a chemical or heat source involved.
Norwex claims it's cloth kills germs because it is embedded with silver. This works in theory, but there are a lot of problems associated with silver nanoparticles that don't get discussed by the salespeople. Namely, silver is extremely toxic to marine environments (meaning you'll be introducing tiny amounts silver into your water treatment system every time you rinse the cloth out), and it isn't known whether or not using it will cause the existence of silver-resistant bacteria, and since you have no way of measuring the build quality or amount of silver on the cloth you could very well be buying a Head On style product that has an amount of active silver so small that it is effectively useless.
This means you never really know how effective this cloth will be.
If your wife is less than thrilled with using chemicals to clean the house with, talk to her about looking into steam mops. They scale in price, don't use a lot of electricity, require no chemicals, are environmentally safe, and lastly - they kill germs. There are zero downsides to using steam, it cleans better than any other mop style, and (depending on whichi device you buy) you can also use it to clean your counter tops, carpets, curtains, upholstery, and all sorts of other things as well.
That's all it claims to do. It cleans bactieria, it doesn't kill them. You can certainly move bacteria with a microfiber cloth and some water, but you don't need to put a $90 broom handle on it.
EDIT: and that's only bacteria. Doesn't the wife want to clean the actual visible dirt instead of microscopic organisms that are going to repopulate the surface in a day anyway?
double edit: oops, just saw that it has silver in it. That will certainly do something but as it has been said, silver down the drain is a no no. The steam mop is the way to go it seems.
Yeah the premise of this product seems flawed- you're leaving a constant film of silver particles all over your floor, which, as SmokeStacks has brought to attention, is a bad idea. Or there's not enough silver to be making a difference either way.
This is a possibility. This is also compounded by the fact that my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law is in love with the product and are making it seem like the best thing ever. It's impossible to talk to her about it now as she clams up whenever the discussion comes around to it.
There's no logic to their reasoning. OOOH, the dirt is gone, and this handy dandy brochure from the company says my floor is clean. Therefore my floor is clean!
I've never seen her this unreasonable.
This is clearly not a row about a mop, but about money and control. At this stage it doesn't matter who is right, since the damage done is nothing to do with who is right, but that neither of you can compromise and put your pride into check for the benefit of the other.
Alternative, cheaper products:
http://www.google.com/products?q=silver+antibacterial+cleaning+products+mop&hl=en&aq=f
Not telling people to eat silver, but a popular Indian sweet called burfi (kinda like marzipan) often has silver leaf attached to it.
The man pictured supposedly has plain old (quite pronounced) argyria. Probably not enough silver in these magic mops to worry about that, though.
Oh dear.
Try to go for a compromise at this stage: If she insists on buying the actual junk product, fine. Let her buy it. But leverage your reasonableness to steer her away from ever getting involved in the marketing part of the scam. All MLM schemes are total scams that you will lose your shirt over if you attempt to turn them into a primary income source.
Yeah. He thought it would save him from Y2K. Or Gargamel. You pick.
Unless this mop of hers also steams and perhaps makes a sandwich, I'd step in here and point out the steam mop. That's just me, though.
xbl - HowYouGetAnts
steam - WeAreAllGeth
EDIT: If you married her and this is the worst she does, she's good enough for you and you for her. So be happy!
There are other stressors at work, (money, were in the midst of a move/reno....) I married my wife because she was different then me; I am not disappointed in her. We just try to stop each other from doing stupid things. UPDATE: We have both admitted to escalating this farther then it should of; and were just pushing each others buttons. She was more upset about the way I was presenting my argument to her then the argument itself. This got her back up, etc etc. Once we removed the egos on both sides, everything was sorted out in 5 mins. Gotta love being married...
We will be looking into the steam mops as well as some alternative enviro cleaners. There have been some interesting options/info in this thread.