SAN DIEGO/EWORLDWIRE/May 16, 2007 --- The Fraud Discovery Institute (FDI) has released a new video on You Tube with consumer fraud expert and Better Business Bureau Vice President Gary Almond. Almond has worked at the Better Business Bureau's largest U.S. office in Colton, California since 1992. According to the Better Business Bureau Web site in Utah where Usana Health Sciences Inc. is headquartered, the company is not a member of the Better Business Bureau ('http://www.saltlakecity.bbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=2000510&language...').
In the interview conducted by FDI's co-Founder Barry Minkow, Almond offers several red flags that anyone considering a business opportunity in product-based, multi level marketing companies like Usana Health Sciences Inc. should consider before becoming an independent contractor of the company.
"What is interesting about our approach with this new video is that we take Mr. Almond's specific areas of concern and immediately compare and contrast them with the real-life experience of former Usana (NASDAQ: USNA) Associate, Joseph Chirco," said Barry Minkow.
"For example, immediately after Almond states that problems with these kinds of business opportunities occur - companies do not often disclose to the potential distributor that the majority of associates never break even in the business opportunity. The camera cuts to Joseph Chirco who states that, had he been told upfront that 87 percent of his potential Usana contemporaries never made any profit - and, in fact, lost money, he "would have never joined."
Almond lists several points of similarity that, according to Chirco, were also present in his experience as an Usana associate. "I lost both time and money," said Chirco.
Almond addresses the rationale for why distributors are often reluctant - at least, initially - to file complaints with the Better Business Bureau when they fail as associates in a business opportunity.
The question was raised in the interview because, although not a member of the Better Business Bureau, Usana Health Sciences Inc. has less than two dozen complaints in the last 36 months. According to Almond, relatives and friends typically invite new prospects to become associates, so people are less inclined to formally complain. Additionally and also according to Almond, companies often blame failed associates for not working the business correctly or for not purchasing enough training tools and tapes to succeed. "If the associate is made to feel like he was the reason that his distributorship failed and not the result of the 'Usana System,' then that person is less likely to complain," Said Barry Minkow.
Almond also dissects an example of a standard, multi level marketing business model, where promised savings or compensation of up to 75 percent attributed through the elimination of the middle man through 'manufacturer-direct-to-distributor savings and/or refund, and that prospects rely upon receiving the money in one form or another when signing up. In the end, that is "not the case," according to Almond.
When asked what he is doing to recover his lost money in the Usana Health Sciences, Inc business opportunity, Chirco states on the video that he "has consulted and cooperated with a distributors class action suit lawyer."
Neither Chirco nor Almond received compensation for their interviews.
For additional information, contact:
Barry Minkow
Co-Founder, Fraud Discovery Institute
'http://www.frauddiscovery.net'
(Top)