Complaint Review: Get Moving Today - Nationwide

As I said, I did not spend any money on GMT but after corresponding with Justin, I followed and did more research on the company (over a year ago) and concur with Justin's finding. So let me say for the record that GMT is or was a SCAM and so is TRAVALOGIA or whatever they call it. So I retract and apologize for earlier statments thanks to the WORLDWIDE SCAM NETWORK. Sincerely.

I have received reports today on this so called company GMT in North Carolina. Some members of a church signed up, changed their minds and requested their money back only to find out that the company has filed bankruptcy/ gone under. Consumers Beware of this Pyramid scam.

Justin, gmt! is merely a permission based company selling state of the art technologies to companies and individuals. Let's list a few of the items sold (new product is constantly being added): The first item was an auto-responder which is a business relationship building tool. You could use this in your business as a financial advisor, as well as any person who owns any business. Let's say for instance I own an auto dealership (it could happen). Now, as part of my information gathering (name, address, phone, etc.) of my customers, I would ask for their email address. If you choose to get a FREE autoresponder then you are given 3 campaigns and in return for the FREE tool, you are asked to add a footnote with the gmt! blurb, (the same as hotmail, yahoo, etc.) and send out 100 emails a month. Seems easy enough. I hope you have at least a 100 customers Justin, or perhaps not considering the awful advice your industry has dished out, practically bankrupting millions of people in this country. But this is not personal so let's move ahead. There is another option to use this autoresponder and that is by way of PAYING $199. This would allow you seven campaigns, templates for your business, membership to the Online Success University (where you can learn how to maximize the use of this tool) and a "position" whereby you become eligible for a share of the gmt! profits as new sales are generated (by others or yourself, if you choose to). I have to make a quick point about your prospect friend. If he does not know how gmt! works, what exactly was it that he wanted to share with you? I think he is merely motivated by the numbers dancing in his head. Furthermore, the company does not give any time promises as to when you will receive the $37,566, just that you will..."based on company sales." You should really read the marketing plan of gmt! before making blanket pronouncements of how the money is earned. You can make money by selling to others or simply by participating in buying the products. So you see, it's not unlike your industry. Anyway, back to my auto dealership. As I harvest the emails and put them into my autoresponder, I can send pre-written emails to my customers. My first campaign would be a welcome to the Blank Auto family, I hope your buying experience was a good one, blah blah blah. My second campaign would be sent out every 3 months reminding my customer that they might be due for an oil change and what a perfect time to introduce them to my world class service department. One of the campaigns would be for sending a greeting for their birthday, Christmas, etc. Another campaign would be to introduce my customers to new car lines, perhaps for their kids graduating from high school. Not only is this tool creating a loyalty from my customer base but I'm also saving money by not sending cards to them and I'm also doing my share in preserving natural resources by sending electronic messages rather than wasteful and costly bulk mailing. Chaching! More money! Well worth the $199 for this tool. OK, next product. My own personalized web portal to promote MY business. Now my customers can know a little something about me and I can even upload a picture of myself so they can see how good looking I am. Wow! That in itself is worth the cost of my portal. The next two items are the two best selling products in the entire world. Pain medication and a diet product sold by none other than world famous William "the refrigerator" Perry. I met him in April and the man has lost over a hundred pounds using his own product. Now mind you, he's still a big man and I wouldn't tell people not to buy his product, because it's a scam, within earshot of him. There are a few more items that have been added recently, baby zzzzs, a music CD that helps babies sleep more peacefully. A must in every hew born household, I would suspect. There are also the energy pills, TAD. I need those for my job. Did I mention the gotalk system? Yet another tool to help me communicate with my customers thereby helping my business grow. After all, that's why I'm in business. Did you know that they are about to introduce the mypalmPC? Stay tuned for this one as it promises to revolutionize the way we use the PC. So you see, Justin, there is something there. gmt! isn't just signing people up and then requiring you to do the same altough they give these great bonuses for doing so. But that is strictly your choice. Personally I buy the products that I feel can help me maximize my biz efforts or for my personal health. That which I have no need for, I bypass. No coercion or mandatory quota. These were products that I would be purchasing elsewhere but now I can do it through them and share in on the profit also. What a concept! And ultimately, the proof in the pudding, the show me the money, the ....well, you know...I am getting checks and they cash too. I've spent just over a thousand dollars and have made nearly three times that amount and I'm not out recruiting. What I did do however, was I bought these products for my family under their names for Christmas and by golly, THEY are getting checks. My parents don't even have a computer. Is this a great country or what? Now I do have to take you to task on a couple of items before I say goodbye. You said, "Additionally he had begun signing up elderly widows who were making little interest on their cds." My question is, are you begrudging your friend for trying to show these elderly people how to take advantage of this opportunity or are you concerned that there won't be enough of the pie left for you? Then you said, "I've reported Get Moving Today to the BBB, but it appears to have done little good. Please stay away from this and any other scheme that involves signing up other individuals as the only way of making money." My questions are, why would you want to sabotage the efforts of your client/friend by reporting gmt! to the BBB when you have no inkling about what they offer or their marketing plan? Has your industry suffered such irreparable damage that you find yourself with so much time to make this crusade against these fine people at gmt!? I looked long and hard for a financial advisor before settling for one and now I put all my gmt! monies into an interest bearing trust. On hindsight, I could have done this for a lot less money than I paid. A $20 book could have provided me with the same info I got for $2,000. But I would have to add that I don't think I would take any financial advise from you if it were given freely. Have a nice day!

Lie #1: MLM offers better opportunities than all other conventional business and professional models for making large amounts of money. Truth: For almost everyone who invests, MLM turns out to be a losing financial proposition. Fewer than 1% of all MLM distributors ever earn a profit and those earning a sustainable living at this business are a much smaller percentage still. Extraordinary sales and marketing obstacles account for much of this failure, but even if the business were more feasible, sheer mathematics would severely limit the opportunity. The MLM business structure can support only a small number of financial winners. If a 1,000-person downline is needed to earn a sustainable income, those 1,000 will need one million more to duplicate the success. How many people can realistically be enrolled? Much of what appears as growth is in fact only the continuous churning of new enrollees. The money for the rare winners comes from the constant enrollment of armies of losers. With no limits on numbers of distributors in an area and no evaluation of market potential, the system is also inherently unstable. Lie #2: Network marketing is the most popular and effective new way to bring products to market. Consumers like to buy products on a one-to-one basis in the MLM model. Truth: Personal retailing -- including nearly all forms of door-to-door selling -- is a thing of the past, not the wave of the future. Retailing directly to friends on a one-to-one basis requires people to drastically change their buying habits. They must restrict their choices, often pay more for goods, buy inconveniently, and engage in potentially awkward business relationships with close friends and relatives. In reality, MLM depends on reselling the opportunity to sign up more distributors. Lie #3: Eventually all products will be sold by MLM. Retail stores, shopping malls, catalogs and most forms of advertising will soon be rendered obsolete by MLM. Truth: Fewer than 1% of all retail sales are made through MLM, and much of this is consists of purchases by hopeful new distributors who are actually paying the price of admission to a business they will soon abandon. MLM is not replacing existing forms of marketing. It does not legitimately compete with other marketing approaches at all. Rather, MLM represents a new investment scheme couched in the language of marketing. Its real products are distributorships that are sold through misrepresentation and exaggerated promises of income. People are buying products in order to secure positions on the sales pyramid. The possibility is always held out that you may become rich if not from your own efforts then from some unknown person ("the big fish") who might join your "downline." MLM's growth does not reflect its value to the economy, customers, or distributors, but the high levels of economic fear, insecurity, wishes for quick and easy wealth. The market dynamics are similar to those of legalized gambling, but the percentage of winners is much smaller. Lie #4: MLM is a new way of life that offers happiness and fulfillment. It provides a way to attain all the good things in life. Truth: The most prominent motivational themes of the MLM industry, as shown in industry literature and presented at recruitment meetings, constitute the crassest form of materialism. Fortune 100 companies would blush at the excess of promises of wealth, luxury, and personal fulfillment put forth by MLM solicitors. These appeals actually conflicts with most people's true desire for meaningful and fulfilling work at something in which they have special talent or interest. Lie #5: MLM is a spiritual movement. Truth: The use of spiritual concepts like prosperity consciousness and creative visualization to promote MLM enrollment, the use of words like "communion" to describe a sales organization, and claims that MLM fulfills Christian principles or Scriptural prophecies are great distortions of these spiritual practices. Those who focus their hopes and dreams upon wealth as the answer to their prayers lose sight of genuine spirituality as taught by religions. The misuse of these spiritual principles should be a signal that the investment opportunity is deceptive. When a product is wrapped in the flag or in religion, buyer beware! The "community" and "support" offered by MLM organizations to new recruits is based entirely upon their purchases. If the purchases and enrollment decline, so does the "communion.'" Lie #6: Success in MLM is easy. Friends and relatives are the natural prospects. Those who love and support you will become your life-time customers. Truth: The commercialization of family and friendship and the use of"'warm leads" advocated in MLM marketing programs are a destructive element in the community and very unhealthy for individuals involved. People do not appreciate being pressured by friends and relatives to buy products. Trying to capitalizing upon personal relationships to build a business can destroy one's social foundation. Lie #7: You can do MLM in your spare time. As a business, it offers the greatest flexibility and personal freedom of time. A few hours a week can earn a significant supplemental income and may grow to a very large income, making other work unnecessary. Truth: Making money in MLM requires extraordinary time commitment as well as considerable personal skill and persistence. Beyond the sheer hard work and talent required, the business model inherently consumes more areas of one's life and greater segments of time than most occupations. In MLM, everyone is a prospect. Every waking moment is a potential time for marketing. There are no off-limit places, people, or times for selling. Consequently, there is no free space or free time once a person enrolls in MLM system. While claiming to offer independence, the system comes to dominate people's entire life and requires rigid conformity to the program. This is why so many people who become deeply involved end up needing and relying upon MLM desperately. They alienate or abandon other sustaining relationships. Lie #8. MLM is a positive, supportive new business that affirms the human spirit and personal freedom. Truth: MLM is largely fear-driven. Solicitations inevitably include dire predictions about the impending collapse of other forms of distribution, the disintegration or insensitivity of corporate America, and the lack of opportunity in other occupations. Many occupations are routinely demeaned for not offering"unlimited income." Working for others is cast as enslavement for "losers." MLM is presented as the last best hope for many people. This approach, in addition to being deceptive, frequently discourages people who otherwise would pursue their own unique visions of success and happiness. A sound business opportunity does not have to base its worth on negative predictions and warnings. Lie #9. MLM is the best option for owning your own business and attaining real economic independence. Truth: MLM is not true self-employment. "Owning" an MLM distributorship is an illusion. Some MLM companies forbid distributors to carry other companies' products. Most MLM contracts make termination of the distributorship easy and immediate for the company. Short of termination, downlines can be taken away arbitrarily. Participation requires rigid adherence to a "duplication" model, not independence and individuality. MLM distributors are not entrepreneurs but joiners in a complex hierarchical system over which they have little control. Lie #10: MLM is not a pyramid scheme because products are sold. Truth: The sale of products does not protect against anti-pyramid-scheme laws or unfair trade practices set forth in federal and state law. MLM is a legal form of business only under rigid conditions set forth by the FTC and state attorneys general. Many MLMs are violate these guidelines and operate only because they have not been prosecuted. Recent court rulings are using a 70% rule to determine an MLM's legality: At least 70% of all goods sold by the MLM company must be purchased by nondistributors. This standard would place most MLM companies outside the law. The largest MLM acknowledges that only 18% of its sales are made to nondistributors. Accountability Needed An FTC trade regulation rule that forces honest disclosure of potential MLM distributor income is desperately needed. Toward this end, Pyramid Scheme Alert has launched a petition drive urging the FTC to force multilevel companies to disclose the true income of their distributors. The requested data would include: (a) the total number of distributors involved in the company for at least three years (or since the company's founding if less than three years); (b) the average incomes of all distributors who have signed up for a distributorship by percentiles, not just the ones deemed "active"; and (c) a "weighted" overall average income of all distributors so that the extraordinary high incomes of the small number at the top are not calculated in with vast majority so as to give a more statistically valid figure. Reprinted from http://www.mlmwatch.org/01General/10lies.html Author: Robert L. Fitzpatrick _________________ Mr. FitzPatrick consults and writes about trends in manufacturer/distributor relationships. He founded and is president of Pyramid Scheme Alert, a consumer advocacy group focused on exposing and preventing pyramid schemes. He has served as an expert witness in several cases involving pyramid schemes and MLM companies. He writings include False Profits (a book about MLM deception) and "Pyramid Nation" (a booklet that laments the growth and "legalization" of pyramid schemes.)

The whole pyramid issue is for the most part a bunch of garbage, not for what it is, but for peoples understanding of it. Pyramid is a buzzword in most peoples minds and they throw it around without having any true idea of what it is or what it means, they just know the shape and whoooo boy if anything takes on that shape it is a scam. It is also this sort of ignorance that breeds paranoia in people and gives good MLM a bad name In truth, a bad MLM probably isnt mlm at all but a pyramid scheme operating under the guise of MLM. There is no denying that there are plenty of pyramid schemes out there and on the internet. The popular chain letter pyramid scheme has even made its way on to the internet. However there is a difference between a pyramid and a pyramid scheme. There is nothing wrong with the shape itself contrary to what anyone would like to say. Most if not all major corporations are shaped in a pyramid structure starting with the CEO being at the top. The US government is another example. The problem occurs when you are paying money for nothing, there must be a product or service involved if there isnt, then it is a pyramid scheme. This is where the issue of recruiting can come into play, paying 100 dollars to join a company to get nothing more than the right to recruit others. On the other hand, as I said, in some companies you must be a purchaser of the product to earn commissions on your sales of the product. There is an exchange of goods and or servicesin that case and I see nothing wrong with it. You see, all MLM and I do mean all, whether it takes the form or name of Referral Marketing or Network Marketing, it doesnt matter, they are all in one degree or another a pyramid and that is okay. However, like I said, in my experience people rarely know what a pyramid scheme is. They think about a pyramid and automatically assume it is a scam. In the case of GMT and the way it is structured, it isn't possible at all. As GMT incorporates more and more products, even the last man in the world who joined would have the possibility to make money. Even still though, think about the grand scale to which we are speaking, "the last man in the world", like I said technically possible but not plausible. The bottom line though is. this is a business; it should be treated that way. By that I mean, there are no promises when you start an MLM business. Surprise, you can fail. MLM isnt a guarantee. At least 90% of all small business owners fail so why expect magic when you join an MLM. And to the guy who says, well I was promised 10,000 dollars in two days and I didnt receive it so the whole industry is garbage. Well, you know what, shame on you, not shame on the company. I would say that even good MLM companies have bad promoters and that doesnt make the company bad. If you bought into the puffery then you probably bought what you paid for. This after all is a business, a business requires work. MLM isnt perfect but it does have great advantages like leveraging of people and companies. But, you know that if you want to make money, the money has to come from somewhere and if not from your sales, then from the sales of someone else, it doesnt come out of thin air. If people approached this industry in that respect and stuck with something instead of quitting a company after two months, two months of doing nothing, then I think they could make it work for themselves... The trouble is they dont and that becomes the industries fault and bad words spread much faster than good. Under FCC regulations, GMT qualifies as a legal mlm company. There is plenty to sell, webportal, auto-responders, Briansong product and The Fridge Diet designed for sells to its members and customers ( as all websites do) with the option to sign up as well. Maybe you do not have a problem with MLM, but rather not knowing the difference between schemes and MLM. Since you made the accusations along with reference to FCC,(without stating what they are) here are the ones in question that you refused to mention. HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LEGITMATE BUSINESS AND A DISGUISED PYRAMID SCHEME Pyramid schemes seek to make money from you (and quickly). Multi-level marketing companies seek to make money with you as you build your business (and theirs) selling consumer products. Before you sign up with a company, investigate carefully. A good way to begin is to ask yourself these three questions: 1. Start up Cost?(GMT free sign-up options,$199/$274/$364 for product only) IF THE COST IS SUBSTANTIAL, BE CAREFUL! The start-up fee in multi-level companies is generally small (usually for a sales kit sold at or below company cost). These companies want to make it easy and inexpensive for you to start selling. Pyramid schemes, on the other hand, make virtually all of their profit on the signing up of new recruits. Therefore, the cost to become a distributor may be high. CAUTION: PYRAMIDS OFTEN DISGUISE ENTRY FEES AS PART OF THE PRICE CHARGED FOR REQUIRED PURCHASES OF TRAINING, COMPUTER SERVICES, PRODUCT INVENTORY, etc. These purchases may not even be expensive or "required", but there will be considerable pressure to "take full advantage of the opportunity". 2. BUY-BACK OF INVENTORY? (GMT, no inventory or stocking) IF YOU COULD BE STUCK WITH UNSOLD INVENTORY, BEWARE! Legitimate companies which require inventory purchases will usually repurchase any unsold products if you decide to quit the business. Some state laws require buy-backs for at least 90% of your original cost. 3. SALES TO CONSUMERS? (GMT/yes, repeat sells /yes) IF THE ANSWER IS NO OR NOT MANY), STAY AWAY! This is a key element. Multi-level marketing (like other methods of retailing) depends on selling to consumers and establishing a market. This requires quality products, competitively priced. Pyramid schemes, on the other hand, are not concerned with repeat sales to users of the product. Profits are made on volume sales to new recruits, who buy the products, not because they are useful or attractively priced, but because they must buy them to participate in the scheme. Concerns addressed. Thank You.

Under FCC regulations, GMT still qualifies as an illegal pyramid scheme. There is nothing to sell except a website designed to recruit other members to sell the website. I don't have a problem with MLM, but I have many problems with a pyramid scheme in which the ONLY way you make money is by getting other people to give you money. By the way, organizers of pyramid schemes are guilty of felonies and can serve jail time. Just something to think about.

As a free IAssocite in GMT, I can only ask the question of "Where is the rip-off here?" As a "free" iAssociate, I have been able to jump start my business comunications with the free auto responder from GMT and have not paid a dime. Of course I am not stupid enough to think that I am not doing free advertising for them. There is the "trade-off" not a "rip-off". You have the option to use it for your own purpose, sign on as an associate to market your own business, or make other purchases. The key word is sell! sell! sell! If walmart had the sells , they would not be closing so many stores.(product legitimize all business...duh!) And furthermore, if people were losing money, you better belive this website would be over loaded with complaints. There are bad apples in every aspect of business, financial advisors as well and I think this individual should have been reported here(BBB) and in Hickory. This person should be exposed and reported to GMT. Maybe even your local athority. You did a great dis-service to people in Hickory by not doing so. Again, where is the rip-off here? You both sound like two bad financial advisors to me. It is obvious that you have a disdain for MLMs. Oh and by the way Recruiting people is not the only way to make money with GMT that is just one option of many. I was in sells long enough to know that if you don't produce, you don't make money and maybe even get terminated. There is no pressure to perform in GMT business. Just get in where you feel comfortable. Anyways, lets have a real rip-off story here. I appreciate the BBB!