IBS: Squeaky Clean?
Disclaimer: The author of this site; Ron Johnston is unable to verify the accuracy of the comments made about IBS or the distributors named. I therefore offer the right of reply to IBS anyone who wishes to contradict these allegations.
However I believe the tool scam is alive and well, and the IBS
big-wigs are profiting from the dreams of distributors; the vast majority
of whom are losing money.
This is an E-Mail I received from a former IBS activist:
"My partner and I became Amway distributors in January 1989. We went that evening to a friend's house, Lyndon Farrington, who was then a Pearl, showed the 'Plan'. Lyndon was accompanied by his then fiancée Jeanette Howard. I was enthralled by all that Lyndon said that evening, and I went home believing that in 2 to 5 years I would be financially free!
The person who sponsored me was personally sponsored by Lyndon Farrington and in a very short time my upline had got me to 15%. Lyndon and Jeanette then went emerald and got married. I idolised that couple, there honesty, down-to-earth attitude and dedication. For me the best speaker, the best motivator in the whole IBS organisation was Lyndon Farrington, with Mike Beasley, (Emerald) a close second. Lyndon and Mike were great friends, (with each other); I didn't get to know Mike Beasley that well. I have been to many functions, and have seen Mike Beasley speak of Lyndon and Jeanette with great affection and admiration.(That was to change to despise and condemnation when Lyndon split from IBS, then soon after from Jeanette). I was part of the Amway/IBS organisation for several years and missed only two functions in that time, I would attend the monthly rallies at the Motor CycleMuseum (NEC), Lyndons group. Each month many couples would walk across stage, 12%, 15%, 8%, Silver, Gold and Direct. "Upline Direct So and So, Upline Emeralds Lyndon and Jeanette Farrington!" I saw the growth, the freedom, the lifestyle, the car and home.....AND I BELIEVED!
Then it all went sour:
Before the split from IBS Lyndon and Jeanette were possibly the biggest Emerald pin in the organisation, they had three downline Emeralds, a vast number of Directs, and their business was growing at a fantastic rate. The last Emerald couple of Lyndon's to walk across stage were Chris and Adele Pomelli. Allegedly, someone in the Pomelli downline started punching numbers into a calculator. If a tape costs £x.xx, a function ticket costs £x.xx multiplied by xx,xxx (the number of distributors in the IBS organisation), Then someone must be making mega money, who?
Pat and Greta Gregory, Jerry and Mandy Scriven? They were the top Diamonds of IBS, with perhaps the De Sousa's and the Butler's. The question could not/would not be answered, but the question would not go away. Eventually, Lyndon was cajoled and pressurised into asking at the top, people wanted answers. A meeting was arranged with Pat Gregory, (I do believe Mike Beasley was with Pat regory). The meeting ended in a massive argument, downline should not ask questions. The question of Lyndon's extra-marital relations may have been mentioned at this meeting. Maybe I am naive and gullible but I do believe Lyndon wanted to run the business in an ethical and honest way.
The breakaway from IBS came soon after that meeting, and Lyndon took with him most of his group plus Pomelli and his group. Others decided to stay with IBS. Lyndon invested quite a large amount into his new business, tapes, books, add-packs, speakers etc. Another couples come into the saga at this stage: Nigel and Diane Gimbert: and they together with thePomelli's may have invested in Lyndon's new business, with the promise of interest and pay-back once things got moving. It then came to light that Lyndon was having an affair with Diane Gimbert, very few knew of this at the time, maybe Jeanette knew, maybe not. Apparently Lyndon was told by Pomelli to get things sorted, this sort of thing could only damage the business.
Another story, (how true, I don't know!), is that Pomelli started to blackmail Lyndon. "If you don't give me a percent of your business Jeanette will be told of your affair" or words to that effect. I don't go along with the blackmail story, if Pomelli knew, then others knew. Lyndon's marriage was on the rocks anyway. I believe it was inevitable, Lyndon had to get out, fast! How could he work with and alongside Nigel Gimbert now? (Lyndon did not by the way end up Diane Gimbert, he is now with Heidi).
The next thing we all knew, we were all back with IBS, and after weeks of listening to mostlyPomelli tapes there name was now taboo. No explanation from IBS or from my upline. I felt that after several years of investing literally thousands of pounds in a dream of freedom and financial security there should be some explanation, but I was patronised and treated like a small child. We went to the next function at the Motor Cycle Museum (NEC), the place was half empty and hardly anyone walked across stage, that was it, We Quit!
We continued to receive the Amagram and Newsline, but the business was now a skeleton of its former self. A cancer had grown in the IBS organisation, (maybe it had been there from the start), and Lyndon quitting stirred up a hornet nest that sent shock waves throughout the organisation, that even sent ripples across the pond to the USA. It was, I think, for the better. A Direct now receives a discount on tapes and function tickets that he/she passes downline, so that profit from tapes etc. are now available to everyone, not just to the big pins at the top.
I don't know what happened to Pomelli or Gimbert, or to there group, but it seems to me to be a sorry state of affairs, many honest couples invested time and money in a dream, they should be entitled to answers."
See also Peter Palmer's comments about IBS on my Forum page
The Hype:
This is how IBS and other AMOs attempt to seduce you:
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