WOODTV.com & WOOD TV8 - Dateline NBC investigation of Quixtar's "get rich quick" scheme
(May 6, 2004, 6:55 p.m.) Amway and Quixtar are about to make national news with a Dateline NBC investigative report that promises to expose how well known Amway success stories really make their money.

24 Hour News 8 learned of the investigation Wednesday and worked with Dateline NBC to obtain pieces of their report today. NBC's report calls Ada based Quixtar, the mother of all get rich quick schemes.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people flock to arenas across the country, convinced they've found the true path to financial salvation. The people on stage are distributors for a company called Quixtar, which says it has had $3 billion in sales since 1999. They say the company's special formula for success has made them rich.

Dateline NBC says when it brought its hidden cameras to a recruitment meeting, they too were promised easy money. Eric Scheibeler told NBC's Chris Hansen he heard a similar pitch when he signed up. "What do you have today?" asked Hansen. "Financially we have nothing as a specific result of this," replied Scheibeler.

Quixtar tells NBC that this is not a get rich quick business. In fact, some of its own literature says the average distributor makes about $1,400 a year. But this former high-ranking insider told the network wealth is routinely dangled in front of the loyal followers.

"Is that actually achievable by selling Quixtar products?" Hansen asked. " "Based on my experiences, no," answered Bo Short.

The world is finally catching up to this??? We've been calling them "Scamway" for years.

They built my city on this scheme, so I have a hard time being critical. When the Van Andel Institute makes some breakthrough on cancer research, maybe we can say that something good (for the world, not just pretty buildings downtown) came out of all this deception.