Comments on: Medifast and Take Shape For Life: Weight loss pyramid scheme?

By: Medifast lawsuit update : Sequence Inc. Fraud Files Blog

Medifast lawsuit update : Sequence Inc. Fraud Files Blog — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:50:34 +0000

[...] FDI produced several press releases on the findings about Medifast, and I reproduced and quoted some of those releases and reports, as well as wrote my own analysis of the company… questioning whether TSFL could be considered a pyramid scheme. [...]

By: Medifast multi-level marketing scheme called into question by expert : Sequence Inc. Fraud Files Blog

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:09:06 +0000

[...] to a mid-2009 report issued by FitzPatrick. The full text of the current report is found here. And here is my analysis of Medifast and Take Shape For Life from last year. Related [...]

By: Fraud Discovery Institute ends investigation of Medifast Inc. : Sequence Inc. Fraud Files Blog

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:04:45 +0000

[...] the company was criticized for the fact that its financial growth was due almost completely to the recruitment of new “coaches” into its Take Shape for Life (TSFL) division. A month ago, the most recent report on Medifast’s recruitment business was published by [...]

By: Medifast files lawsuit, Fraud Discovery Institute reopens investigation : Sequence Inc. Fraud Files Blog

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:16:14 +0000

[...] and undisclosed legally mandated reporting requirements.” Again, I said no such thing. In the blog posting Medifast referenced, I actually said: “We’ll never know for sure, as Medifast doesn’t disclose how much money [...]

By: Clay

Clay — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:11:09 +0000

Hi Tracy – my wife and have lost 110 lbs between us in 6 months. I have gone from a size 40 waist to a size 34 in those 6 months. No promise to get rich was made and only a curserary mention of “oh by the way, if you are interested you can get income by being a coach and helping other people.” No heavy handed recruiting. So now my wife is a coach. What’s wrong this this? Isn’t this how businesses are supposed to work in a free country? Additionally, the cost of the product without the coaching is exactly the same as the cost of the product with the coaching…because Medifast knows that “with coaching,” the success rate of the diet goes up dramatically. After having tried South Beach, Akins and a host of other diets…this one worked! Your article makes TSFL sound like a Bernie Madoff scheme where greedy little men in penthouses are taking money from unsuspecting dupes who, in the end, are left bankrupt. Those onlything TSFL took from me is 53 lbs and 6 inches. And I am happy to pay them for that.

By: Gina Scalise

Gina Scalise — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:47:27 +0000

Tracy,
I have to but in on this conversation. I am a client of TSFL my family has lost a total of 200 lbs in less than 3 months. We have tried many programs and have never had this success. This being said, no one has ever approached me or my family members to get rich and become a coach. There is no pressure to sell anything or join anything. My doctors office has been signing up their patients to obtain optimal weight. Who cares who is making the money, it is a program that is very easy to follow and is saving peoples lives from a lifetime of obesity and unhealthiness. I have been on every program out, and this is by far is the only one I can say my family will follow for the rest of our lives. I have also been involved in many mlm companies. TSFL doesn’t have to promise financial rewards the program speaks for itself. I am going to become a coach to help my friends and family become healthy. By no means did anyone promise me financial success of freedom. I will keep my job and this will be my contribution to a very unhealthy, overweight community. There will always be those individuals who join one mlm after another, make a killing and move on. This is one mlm that should be for individuals who really care about people not money. You will always find the few opportunists that will promise anything to make a buck. They hit pay dirt because the program sells itself without any promises. It is just plain simple it is a great plan that really works and can become a leader in weight control.

By: Tracy Coenen

Tracy Coenen — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:33:22 +0000

Ben – I understand the business model just fine, and you actually proved my point. They recruit with PROMISES of riches, but almost no one makes a living wage in TSFL. You couldn’t possibly sell enough of those meals to make a living. And you made almost nothing from recruiting, although that’s not what you’ll be told when you’re recruited.

MLMs are NOT just like any sales job. They’re presented that way, but it’s just not how it is. Imagine if grocery stores had sales people who went out and tried to sell food person-to-person. Could the salesperson make a living doing that? Of course not. That’s why having YOU retail food is just idiotic.

The bottom line is that Medifast is making money hand over fist from these recruiting activities, but the people being recruited are making next to nothing.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:01:42 +0000

Hi Tracy: Your comment, “They’re making money by recruiting people with the promise of riches” is not accurate. I worked as a Health Coach for a year and the money came from selling food NOT recruiting people. As a Health Coach, you make very little from the people below you and you make nothing from signing people up. I had 13 coaches below me and they generated very little money for me or anyone above me. We all made a pretty good amount 20%-30% on the food we sold, just like any sales job. Here is link to the compensasion plan right from the website: http://www.tsfl.com/pdfs/TSFL_CompensationPlan.pdf There is nothing to hide. I hope this helps you understand the business model. Ben

By: Lauren

Lauren — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:09:04 +0000

Hi Tracy,
The word “opportunity’ is not the same as the word “promise’. Do you have anything that TSFL has written or said stating that they promise whoever coaches will get rich? If you do I’d like to get the link. I honestly think that so many people are looking for an easy way out, get quick rich scheme. That they see the upside of something and just think it’s going to happen overnight. ,As you obviously know success requires hard work and may take years to obtain. There are so many who just aren’t willing to sacrifice that much work, train themselves, wait, or how about this one….change. We can know that because those at the top are few and those at the bottom unfortunately are many. Human nature is like water, it takes the path of least resistance. I wonder how many people go into anything hoping for a quick turn over and when it doesn’t happen they get disgusted and quit. I saw it in college, the military, and, my goodness, even Walmart and my neighborhood grocery has a high turn over rate.

I’ve been scammed before (at 22 yrs) by real pyramid schemes and it doesn’t feel good. But I’ve learned to ask questions and discipline my self that anything worth doing is going to cost me . I’ve learned if something sounds to good to be true then get away from it. But I’ve also learned there are possibilities out there that may pay off and then again they may not. Hince the California gold Rush…few got rich but hey the country expanded.That’s just life but if you don’t have to sell your first born to try something go for it. Just being alive is a risk.
Have a great day!

By: Tracy Coenen

Tracy Coenen — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:48:47 +0000

Lauren – I don’t think anyone has suggested the products are bad or don’t work. And no one has suggested that people shouldn’t get paid for selling the products. QUITE THE CONTRARY. The people making the “real” money (and there are very, very few of those) aren’t making money from selling the products. They’re making money by recruiting people with the promise of riches. That’s the problem.