Le-Vel tried to sue me for the article below… , AND I WON! The court’s decision is here. Their conclusion states, “We decide in [Lazy Man’s] favor on his first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and tenth issues. We need not reach [Lazy Man’s] eighth and ninth issues.”
The court also ruled that Le-Vel must pay sanctions, which, in my understanding, is money they have to pay for bad behavior with their lawsuit. Score one for this blogger who was only giving his opinion on a reader’s question.
I have provided this information so that you can make an informed decision. I encourage everyone to look for sources that are not influenced by Le-Vel’s money.]
What is Le-vel Thrive?
About six weeks before I published this article, a regular reader, Jason, wrote me:
” [My neighbor] has started this ‘Thrive’ regiment with a patch, a pill, and perhaps some other lifestyle changes, and posts daily pictures of herself on Facebook to ‘document’ her progress with weight loss. To me, this looks to be just another one of the plethora of scams and schemes out there. What do you know about this ‘company’? Perhaps you’ve already written articles on it that I wasn’t aware of. If not… perhaps this could be one to look into and write about for future articles.
So let’s dig in and see what we can learn about Le-vel Thrive.
What is Thrive?
Thrive is a series of products from the Le-vel MLM.
THRIVE Premium Lifestyle DFT™ Patch
A few weeks before publishing this article, Talking Points Memo wrote a great article about MLM which featured a Le-vel distributor: How Utah Became a Bizarre, Blissful Epicenter for Get-Rich-Quick Schemes
This article gives an introduction to the Thrive patch:
“After a week of wearing the Thrive nutritional patch, Denise Holbrook discovered what seemed like superhuman strength. When her husband fainted outside of a hospital, she caught him. ‘How the hell am I holding up a 200-pound man by myself?’ she remembers thinking… In a post, she announced that she thought it would be selfish not to share the supplement, considering it had allowed her to stop taking anti-anxiety medication and stay awake after sleepless nights amid her husband’s deterioration.”
The article continues:
Still, few dietary supplements have the kind of negative reviews that Thrive does, and many have been evaluated with much more thoroughness by the scientific community. (Q Sciences, for instance, claims its products are backed by research at 15 universities.) So why do distributors choose Thrive, in spite of so many stories about sketchy side effects?
When pressed by the author, Denise Holbrook said, “It’s a lot of mind-over-matter.”
So much to process here:
- There’s the obvious adrenaline that would explain holding up a 200-pound man. Also, she isn’t picking the man off the ground – a majority of his weight was probably still supported.
- There are the typical unbelievable claims. MLM companies have unbelievable for more than years.
- The claims appear to violate the FTC endorsement guidelines of “Using Testimonials That Don’t Reflect the Typical Consumer Experience.”
- The claims may also violate the FDA rules of marketing supplements. I do not believe that Le-Vel Thrive Patch is an FDA-approved treatment for anxiety. These types of claims have gotten other MLMs like DoTERRA in trouble with the FDA.
That’s just the stuff from the first quote block. The second quote block highlights the bad reputation Thrive has. The ensuing quote about it being “mind-over-matter” seems to suggest that the Thrive Patch may be the same as the Dove Beauty Patch:
If you intend to watch the video, do it now because I’m going to give some spoilers.
It turns out that the Dove Beauty Patch has no ingredients. Yet all the women were going on and on about how “life-altering” the patch was and that they’d buy it. You can see their reactions on the Today Show as well.
Thrive’s website about the patch says: “The DFT™ formula supports the metabolic rate, promoting clean and healthy weight management without aiding in muscle breakdown or deterioration – like a majority of weight loss products available.”
I’m curious what “dirty” weight management might be if the patch is about clean weight management. Nonetheless, the FTC makes it clear how they feel about weight loss patches:
“Lose weight with our miracle diet patch or cream! You’ve seen the ads for diet patches or creams that claim to melt away the pounds. Don’t believe them. There’s nothing you can wear or apply to your skin that will cause you to lose weight.”
So don’t take my word for it, take the FTC’s.
The same Thrive website says, “Our all natural nutritional formula, combined with our DFT™ delivery system, infuses the derma (skin) with a THRIVE Lifestyle Formula, different than the Capsule & Shake formula. The result is a time released delivery and absorption rate superior to most consumable products.”
However, according to this Wall Street Journal article, you can’t really know if a patch is working without well-designed clinical trials. From a logical standpoint, I know ketchup is getting in my system when I eat it. A ketchup patch? Well, my confidence level in that is close to zero.
Of course, the patch alone would be too easy. Thrive website says, “Individuals using the THRIVE Premium DFT™, in conjunction with THRIVE Premium Lifestyle Capsule™, THRIVE Premium Lifestyle Shake Mix™, and the THRIVE 8 Week Experience™, will experience ultra premium results, unrivaled in regards to Nutrition, Weight Management, and Fitness.”
So let’s look at the Thrive Capsule and Thrive Shake Mix
What is the THRIVE Premium Lifestyle Capsule™?
Le-vel’s website on THRIVE M (the men’s capsule) says, “THRIVE M is a premium formula and a premium approach to your daily lifestyle. Developed from years of experience, science, and perfecting, THRIVE M is the only premium lifestyle capsule of its kind.”
For those keeping track that’s SEVEN uses of the word “premium” in only THREE quoted sentences (going back to the last heading). Someone get Le-vel a thesaurus. It’s easy to call something premium, but that doesn’t make it so.
Thrive M is essentially a multivitamin with a proprietary blend of ingredients which you can see here. The vitamins and minerals are unexciting. With only 11 vitamins and minerals with an RDA daily value, you can do better with many other products. They don’t even put vitamin C or vitamin E in it. You can do much better with Kirkland Signature Daily Multi Vitamins & Minerals Tablets (which provides more than 100% of each).
How much does thrive cost?
That Kirkland vitamin & minerals above costs around 4 cents a pill (at the time of article publishing). For a full year it would cost around $14.60.
In sharp contrast, Thrive M – Premium Lifestyle Capsules Mens is on Amazon for $62.50 for a 30 day supply. It seems that Thrive M isn’t on Amazon anymore, but I had sseen Ebay listings at around the same price. However, it looks like Thrive M is gone from there too. At the $62.50 price, Thrive M – Premium Lifestyle Capsules Mens is about $2.08 a day or $760.42 a year. Update: It looks like some MLM distributors are selling Thrive M 2.0 at $74.00 which would cost more for a year.
(If you want a gender-specific brand of vitamins, you can get Solimo Women’s One Daily Multivitamin Multimineral and Solimo Men’s One Daily Multivitamin Multimineral for about the same 4-5 cents a pill.)
So it appears you can spend about $15/year for a complete multivitamin… or you can spend more than $750/year for an incomplete one (in my opinion).
Reflect on that for a moment. You can spend 50 times more money and get less value by going with Le-vel’s product.
To make matters worse, it is scientifically proven that vitamin and mineral supplements are unnecessary for the general population. See this scientific journal article: Enough Is Enough: Stop Wasting Money on Vitamin and Mineral Supplements. As the article notes, vitamin and mineral supplements could even be harmful. The science has gotten exhaustive and it increasingly says that most people shouldn’t be buying supplements.
A strong case could be made that you shouldn’t buy either product. However, if you are going to buy one, the choice should be very obvious. I’d rather spend $15 over $750 any day.
I’m not being entirely fair in this comparison. Thrive M has a proprietary blend in addition to vitamins and minerals. Actually, in fairness, the Kirkland vitamins do as well (Ginseng at least from the description).
The problem with proprietary blends is that you don’t know how much of what you are getting. This isn’t like the Colonel’s secret recipe or Coca-cola’s recipe that are meant to taste good. This is your health. You should know what you are paying for. However, even if you knew how much you were getting of the ingredients, they may not benefit you. I didn’t see much in the proprietary formula that had the science behind it to show the FDA it had real benefits. That’s a list of approved health claims from supplements.
What is the Thrive Premium Lifestyle Mix™?
The third product is the Thrive Shake Mix. It seems that every MLM/pyramid scheme needs to have a shake mix nowadays. I’ve covered a few with Beachbody’s Shakeology, One24’s NutraBurst, and ViSalus’ Vi-Shake.
Thrive’s marketing of the mix shouldn’t surprise anyone: “THRIVE Mix, combined daily with the THRIVE Capsules and DFT™, completes a premium lifestyle, and a premium you.” I guess they had a few more “premium” mentions in there to get off their chest.
Thrive seems to want you to buy all three products. Fortunately, the shake has many of the vitamins and minerals that were missing from the multivitamin above. Or should I say unfortunately because then you have to buy two products to make up the void in one… and you still aren’t getting much vitamin C and vitamin E.
On Amazon, Thrive Premium Shake Mix costs $45 for 16 servings. That’s $2.81 a serving. That’s really, really expensive for a shake. You could get Spiru-Tein Shake which is about a dollar a serving and has many, many glowing reviews. It might not seem like much, but it is the difference between spending more than $1000 a year on a shake or $350. How many other articles have you read today that saved you $650 a year?
MLMs love shakes and it is easy to understand why. Supplement protein, fiber, and multivitamins are extremely cheap. You can get 24 grams of protein with Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein. At $0.77 a serving and nearly 10,000 awesome reviews on Amazon it seems to be a great value… especially considering that Thrive only has 15 grams of protein. For fiber, you can buy this Benefiber (switch to the 500 gram size). At $20, you’ll get 500 servings of 3 grams of fiber (1500 grams total). The 5 grams of fiber in Thrive shakes would cost you 6.6 cents (we’ll round up to $0.07).
Finally, there’s Optimum Nutrition Opti-Men Supplement. I can currently buy 240 pills (80 servings) for $22.88 (my Subscribe and Save price) or $0.36 a serving. Opti-Men seems to blow away the vitamins and minerals in both of Thrive’s mix and the capsules put together. It even includes its own proprietary blend, just in case Thrive supporters wanted to play the card that there’s other stuff of value in the products.
Between the three products, you’d spend less than a dollar a day to replace about $5 a day of Thrive shake and capsules. That saves you around $1200 a year. Add in the savings of avoiding the patch and it’s nearly $2000 in your pocket every year!
What others are saying
In an effort to provide you with the best information, here are a couple of other sources worth reading.
Truth In Advertising
Truth in Advertising is one of my favorite websites because they, like me, highlight the bits of misleading marketing that consumers should be aware of. The non-profit is truly one of the great unbiased organizations out there looking out for consumers’ best interests.
They’ve twice written about Le-Vel Thrive and each is a great resource:
Registered Dietitian Abby Langer
Abby Langer writes a scathing review of Le-Vel. Here are some of the highlights:
“The greatest branding can’t hide a faulty product, even if you declare that product as ‘premium’… One thing I think you should know is that there has never been any research done to verify that THRIVE works… Wherever they came from, testimonials are really not worth the paper (or computer) they’re written on. What’s really worth something is some good solid research on the product. Search high and low, but you won’t find any on THRIVE. There is none…
I’m not sure what all natural, clean, and healthy weight management is, but congratulations to Thrive for using three huge, completely meaningless nutrition buzzwords in one paragraph! What a feat!…
So THRIVE’s claim is essentially meaningless…
I mean, if I was gullible and not well-versed in science, they might convince me to spend tons of money using this upselling, ‘go hard or go home’ tactic. But me being who I am, I just get a headache looking at the relentless ‘convince you to spend more and more of your money to get an even better result’ BS on the site.
Thrive’s Forslean® is basically a herb called Coleus Forskohlii, which has not been shown in any reputable studies to cause weight loss… What they’ve basically done is throw a bunch of ingredients together… But none of this evidence has been studied in trials using a patch delivery system. And neither has Thrive. Oh, I already said that. Just checking that you get that..no evidence!
The THRIVE shake is super low in calories and I can’t find anything in it of any value. What’s its purpose, anyway? I can’t figure it out. Eat real food.
There is really no compelling evidence that any of the ingredients in THRIVE cause weight loss.”
It’s tempting to quote the whole article, but I think this covers most of it sufficiently. I can see why Abby Langer writes for the Huffington Post with such great insight.
Iron Beaver Fitness
Iron Beaver Fitness writes: Scam DuJour: Thrive by Le-Vel. One of my favorite quotes is at the beginning when they quote Le-Vel’s website and come to the conclusion that the product is irrelevant:
“Le-Vel was created and envisioned with a greater purpose, a premium plan. This plan is not to create a product, or a product line, but to build a global brand, a new icon.” – Le-vel’s website (https://le-vel.com/brand/philosophy)
Le-Vel seems to have threatened them with a lawsuit for hosting images of the products’ ingredients. Clearly, an editorial is allowed to display such images by fair use, but it doesn’t stop Le-Vel from attempting to sue them.
Plant City Observer
Plant City Observer has an article on Le-Vel Thrive titled “Don’t waste your money on fitness fallacies.” Here are some notable quotes from sports editor Justin Kline:
“After spending part of my last summer in college convincing a roommate that his Vemma energy drinks were part of an illegal pyramid scheme (which was actually proven to be true last year), I thought I was in the clear. But on Friday, a good friend hit me up about some energy patches… A quick Google search will tell you that these patches are part of the THRIVE eight-week fitness system, an initiative of the Le-Vel company. And a quick look at the Le-Vel website shows that it’s a similar kind of multi-level marketing company that Vemma was sold through.
Add in the fact that you’re buying products for yourself, as well as to sell to others, and that these companies often ask you to travel and buy tickets to conferences, and you could easily end up losing more money than you make.
But, this isn’t a business column. The other reason I can’t stand things like this is because the science behind them often disproves them. Essentially, there’s a chance that you’re losing money on simple bandage patches, glorified Saran wrap and smoothies you could make from the grass in your back yard.”
Recent MLM Developments You Should Know (Update 4/10/2017*)
I believe that anyone considering a “business opportunity”, should spend a few hours of research. I think these are two great areas to research:
1. Must Watch: A Humorous, Detailed Analysis on MLM
HBO’s John Oliver covers MLM in great detail.
In my opinion, it’s a tremendous read for any potential customers, but I believe no one should be allowed to sign up as a distributor without viewing this video and signing a disclosure form that they did:
There’s a specific Le-Vel mention in that video. I don’t think you want to miss it.
(Full Disclosure: I wrote this article long before HBO decided to cover Le-Vel. HBO’s and their shows’ network’s opinions are obviously their own, but I do agree with the video cited here.)
Another view of the FTC on MLMs
The FTC Chairwoman recently gave some guidance to MLMs. I think it’s important information for anyone considering joining an MLM. View the FTC guidance here. It is a little technical because I believe the audience is MLM companies.
I believe you should ask any sponsor to provide you with a written statement on how that company complies with the FTC guidance. I don’t believe it should come from a sponsor unless it is officially endorsed by the MLM company and the exact language is clearly disclosed on their website. A salesman trying to get you to join may say that they are clearly in compliance with that guidance, but I believe you should have the whole company agreeing to the FTC guidance.
If the company (as opposed to a distributor) doesn’t state a notice of compliance in prominent view with that FTC guidance, I would personally walk away.
But What About the Business of Le-Vel?
Le-vel has a “refer 2 and you get yours for free” program. Given the financial information above, it seems to me that it is like convincing two people to buy a Honda Civic for $100,000 so that you can yours for free. Any company would happily do that because they are sending out $60K worth of cars to bring in $200,000 in cash.
This encourages people to throw two people under the bus financially to get free products for themselves. I think that’s pretty selfish.
These kinds of programs highlight how overpriced the products are. Obviously, the company couldn’t stay in business giving it away for free.
The rest of the Le-vel compensation plan looks like every other MLM/pyramid scheme that I’ve covered. There’s the requirement to be Qualified and Active, which means that you have to buy the product yourself or sell enough of it each month. As mentioned above, the pricing is banana pants crazy, which is one of a few reasons why no one would buy a MLM product from you. That means you are typically going to be left paying for itself, which makes it look like a Pay-to-Play scheme.
Le-vel seems to have the same car “bonus” as other MLMs. The specifics of the car bonus are left out of the compensation brochure. Typically an MLM company requires you to get a lease in your name and reimburses you as long as you maintain the level. However, as many ViSalus distributors found out, when the pyramid implodes they are left with an expensive lease in their name, no bonus from the company, and little income from the business. It’s a path to financial ruin
However, the most insane part of the Le-vel “reward” plan is the Waiting Room which you can find at the bottom of this PDF. You can place newly recruited people under other people you have recruited in the past. This is the kind of thing that only makes sense in the world of MLM.
If you recruit a person, they should go under you. You should get the rewards for that work. It simply doesn’t make sense to give away those rewards to someone else. Thrive’s brochure is extremely lacking in details (as you can see), and it wastes value space with women in bikinis, beaches, hot air balloons, etc. Instead the Rewards Plan suggests that this Waiting Room concept allows for “very strategic team building.” (Tip: whenever you see “team” in MLM, substitute the words “pyramid” to describe the recruitment hierarchy.)
The compensation plan clearly focuses the rewards on people with the most volume in their downline, not sales to outside people. According to these FTC guidelines, that focus would appear to make Thrive a pyramid scheme. Here’s what the FTC says,
“Not all multilevel marketing plans are legitimate. If the money you make is based on your sales to the public, it may be a legitimate multilevel marketing plan. If the money you make is based on the number of people you recruit and your sales to them, it’s not. It’s a pyramid scheme. Pyramid schemes are illegal, and the vast majority of participants lose money.”
If you need more information on this, this video is very helpful:
Le-Vel Manufacturing Facebook Popularity?
One of the things that most people seem to complain about is how overzealous Le-Vel distributors flood their Facebook. It’s one thing if people are genuinely interested and sharing a product they love. It’s another thing when they coordinate all their distributors to flood Facebook all at once.
Someone passed along their “Rise and Thrive” attempt coming on Dec. 10th at 8AM CST. See this:
(Click For Larger Version)
Of course the Le-Vel leaders want to keep this very quite so that it seems like it is naturally going viral. Overall, it’s pretty harmless, but I’m not a fan of secret cult manipulations.
Final Thoughts on Le-Vel Thrive
Between the extremely expensive products, dubious marketing, and what appears to be a pyramid scheme (see aforementioned FTC guidelines), I think it is clear that Le-vel Thrive is a scam. (For more on scams see: What is a Scam Anyway?)
I think consumers should make better use of $2000 or more a year… and certainly shouldn’t push others to spend that kind of money. Don’t try to convince yourself that a pyramid scheme is a legitimate business. Don’t try to convince yourself that you are helping people by inflicting a significant financial burden on them. If you are really interested in helping them, suggest some of the products that I mentioned in the article (or other equivalent ones from non-pyramid scheme companies) that are reasonably priced.
Finally, I’d like to make a special pleading for the FTC (SEC or other government agency) to look into Le-Vel and ensure all its practices are legal. In my opinion, they should have a statement page stating how they comply with with this FTC guidance. In the past I’ve found that the FTC simply works too slow in catching MLM/pyramid scheme fraud. For example, it took a decade and millions of lost dollars for the FTC to catch Fortune High-Tech’s MLM pyramid scheme. More recently it took nearly a decade for the FTC to halt Vemma for being a pyramid scheme which claimed to be a legal MLM. Finally, it took decades for the FTC to help Herbalife victims.
In each case, consumers found out years later that they were scammed out of hundreds millions of dollars (in aggregate). I agree with Former FTC Economist Peter Vander Nat, Ph.D. in calling for a federal pyramid scheme rule as the status quo is not effective in eliminating pyramid schemes. The damage is already done.
Consumers can and should in my opinion make a complaint with the FTC here.
Lawyer Stuff: Regarding Updates (Added 4/10/2017)
It’s disappointing to me that I have to cover my butt with disclaimers. I believe we (USA) have freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
The courts agreed that I published this article for you (at least in my reading.)
I STRONGLY IMPORE everyone to petition the government with your feelings about this as I have done. The official FTC Twitter account has instructions about how you can communicate your opinion of scams and help others avoid being scammed:
If you think you see a scam, talk with someone. Your story could help someone avoid that scam. Then report it to the FTC at https://t.co/gtPxXAxsek: https://t.co/PWFawyXejS
— FTC (@FTC) May 20, 2020
This article was originally published on June 26, 2015 (or earlier). It contains the best information I found at the time of publication. If anyone has factual information where I may be incorrect in my OPINION above, they are welcome to leave a comment for my own and public review. Readers with different opinions are always free to publicize those opinions elsewhere.
I strive to update this article, and all my articles, with the best information available to help consumers make an informed decision. I may not always achieve that goal due my other career and family obligations, but I do my best. If I’ve been informed publicly (such as Twitter) multiple times over 1-3 months it will probably get my attention. One easier way is to leave a comment.
Just to make it extremely clear to readers and MLM lawyers looking to sue me, the article above is my constitutionally protected opinion. It’s strange that I have to say it and cite the FTC above, but some lawyers act badly when they are offered a bunch of money by a company looking to bully a military family.
This was article originally published Jun 26, 2015 at 11:00
I got pulled into this by a really good friend because it worked wonders for her. My husband and I tried it and now I simply can’t afford to keep it up so am having to “wean” myself off all of these stimulants. Any advice would be GREATFULLY appreciated.
I also wanted to ask, my husband and I have both had lower back pain for years. My husband was the worst and now he is PAIN FREE for the first time in 2 years but now we have stopped the patch (stopping one thing at a time) his pain is coming back.
Could you recommend an alternative for whatever the hell has taken away our lower back pain that is in thrive?
Appreciate your help and will try keep an eye on this post :)
Thrive is overpriced, over stimulants that no human really needs to take!!!
Amy, the reduction in pain is coming from the white willow bark that is in their supplements. White willow contains salicin, which is an anti-inflammatory that has been proven to help with back pain. Willow bark has been used for 6000 years to treat pain, and works very similarly to aspirin but in far smaller doses. I would suggest that your husband looks into a willow bark supplement! You can also google “salicin sources” and find foods that naturally have them. You can get 3 months of white willow bark extract pills on Amazon for $15.
Good luck!
Thank you. Yes I looked into it and we have a natural pill called “Pain ease” and it has White Willow Bark in it among other things. Its working wonders ?
TJ said: “Amy, the reduction in pain is coming from the white willow bark that is in their supplements.”
Not likely. Remember that this is a topical patch, not an oral supplement, and the company doesn’t disclose how much white willow bark is in the patch. The safe assumption is that the amount provided by the patch is insufficient to do anything.
Amy B said: “I also wanted to ask, my husband and I have both had lower back pain for years. My husband was the worst and now he is PAIN FREE for the first time in 2 years but now we have stopped the patch (stopping one thing at a time) his pain is coming back.”
As far as I can tell, there are no ingredients in any of the Thrive patches that would relieve chronic lower back pain, nor are any of their products advertised for such a purpose. The inevitable conclusion is that you are making a mistaken causal inference.
Amy B said: “Could you recommend an alternative for whatever the hell has taken away our lower back pain that is in thrive?”
Yes, consult with a licensed medical professional instead of soliciting medical advice from strangers on a personal finance blog.
Allison Hanna said: “I am interested to know if you ever tried the product yourself.”
God no (because I’m not an idiot who burns money on ridiculous scammy products from pyramid schemers).
Alison Hanna said: “I have been using it for two weeks and it is everything it claims to be.”
What exactly does it claim to be? And why are MLM scammers always so needlessly vague? Rhetorical question BTW; we know why.
Alison Hanna said: “When a product is as effective as this one is, it is easy to jump in board spreading the word.”
Again, effective for what? Plungers and Drano are effective for clearing backed up toilets, but that doesn’t make me want to run out and become a plumber or a Drano salesman.
Alison Hanna said: “I am not expecting to get rich promoting Thrive…”
That’s good. Keeping your expectations at zero will ensure that you won’t be disappointed when you not only fail to become rich but actually become poorer; while alienating yourself from friends and family, which is inevitable.
Alison Hanna said: “…but I certainly am offended that you describe it as a scam.”
ROFL! Feigned outrage is the MLMers stock and trade. A convenient diversion from actually having to justify the product/company.
Alison Hanna said: “How is a product that does what it says, a scam?”
That question should be reverse engineered to begin with the premise that it is a scam; therefore, how could it possibly do anything? And what exactly do “they” say it does? Amy B says it relieves lower back pain. Is that what you’re talking about? Claims like that which have absolutely no logical basis or supportive evidence and are prohibited by law?
So I have read up a bit, I am sorry lazyman that you have a law suit against you.
Here is my 8 week “Thrive Experience”
I have put on 3kg (not lost weight)
I am EXHAUSTED by the end of day 2 without the shake.
I get jittery and a wired SPEED feeling a few minutes after having the shake….and that is about it.
When I stopped the patches I went almost numb to emotions…..kind of plateaued. I am generally a happy go lucky person but this knocked me for six.
When my husband stopped the patches….he went angry. MY lovely, caring, quiet, wouldn’t hurt a fly husband had 2 days of just being angry….WTF!!!
We are now both off the patches fully and happy.
NOW we have dropped to 1 pill a day instead of 2 and half a shake every 2 days instead of a whole one every 2 days.
OMG!! I have NEVER taken anything “Natural” that I have had to wean myself off. Why should I have to do this. I have stopped even talking about it.
My recommendation is that EVERYONE that even intends on becoming a promoter, do your bloody research before you start “Promoting” this product. I feel really bad for the couple of people I have signed up and have now told them that I am stopping and my reasoning as to why.
This stuff IS NOT GOOD FOR YOU!!!
You know how I know, PERSONAL RESEARCH on MY OWN BODY!! What are the long term effects of this stuff? Seriously, think of that before you take it!!!
I have never heard about anyone weaning themselves off of thrive .. or taking the product the way you explained. Sorry you have no clue what you are doing or talking about. Yes, I have gone off the product on a few occasions and the only side effect was I went back to being the tired run down person I was prior to thrive.
This is such a one sided article. What about all those people that feel great and lost a lot of weight with it? If it doesn’t work for you, then you taking it wrong, you have to talk to someone with the knowledge to see what you doing wrong and not immediately start bashing the company ant others. Not good
What about all those people who claimed to feel great drinking MonaVie a decade ago? It seems like they stopped feeling great when they weren’t being paid to recruit others to buy it and sell others on how great they feel.
Don’t place the blame on other people “taking it wrong” for supplements that don’t work. It’s been proven for years and years time and again that they don’t work for anyone… see just one example of the medical research.
You could just as easily claim that wearing cheese on your head helps you lose weight… and if it doesn’t work for you, you are doing it wrong, and should talk to someone with cheese wearing knowledge to see what you are doing wrong and not immediately start bashing a company selling cheese hats as weight loss aids.
I was using thrive on and off but this time send me to the hospital!!!! Yesterday I take the pill, patch and shake and my heartbeat was over a 178, I was not working out! I was heading to work and I start feeling short of breath, I never had any issue with breathing before, so Thrive is not good for you and I didn’t lose weight at all. I will not recommend this product. The worst part is expensive $200,00 a month sometimes they sell packages for $400 and other for $800.00!!
Sandrita said: “I was using thrive on and off but this time send me to the hospital!!!! Yesterday I take the pill, patch and shake and my heartbeat was over a 178, I was not working out! I was heading to work and I start feeling short of breath, I never had any issue with breathing before, so Thrive is not good for you and I didn’t lose weight at all. I will not recommend this product. The worst part is expensive $200,00 a month sometimes they sell packages for $400 and other for $800.00!!”
Sorry to hear that. You should report the adverse event to the FDA. It could save lives.
https://www.fda.gov/food/dietary-supplements/how-report-problem-dietary-supplements
Everyone’s body reacts differently. Thrive has changedd my life , I suffer from Chronic Fatigue Sydrome and Lupus and it has gotten me out of bed where I used to spend my days unable to work or play with my kids. So … speak for YOURSELF. Everyone has different levels of struggle and health challenges!!!
The caffeine levels in Le-Vel Thrive were discussed in the comments before. So it’s not surprising that caffeine would help with energy levels.
Oh I forgot to add.
The patch has White Willow Bark in it.
Aspirin is made from White Willow Bark. Why do Le-Vel need to put ASPIRIN into something that is taken every day!!! Totally unnecessary if you ask me. THIS is why we had lost our lower back pain. This is why people have such a great response when they have “pain” issues with joint and inflammation etc…. because they are taking a daily PAIN KILLER!!!!
Also don’t forget that it is a blood thinner.
Did I say, TOTALLY UNNECESSARY!!
And if you are already taking blood thinners then this is really a danger! Also in light of shaman and chris watts story I can’t help but think chris was over stimulated when he killed his wife. He had six patches on his body the day he was arrested!!
I knew Chris Watts was overstimulated with over dosing on the patch plus shake and pills!!!!! I thought of that immediately his whole system was overcharged!!! Thank you for commenting on Chris
Amy B said: “Oh I forgot to add. The patch has White Willow Bark in it. Aspirin is made from White Willow Bark. Why do Le-Vel need to put ASPIRIN into something that is taken every day!!! Totally unnecessary if you ask me. THIS is why we had lost our lower back pain. This is why people have such a great response when they have “pain” issues with joint and inflammation etc…. because they are taking a daily PAIN KILLER!!!!”
It’s reasonable to be concerned but very unlikely that the willow bark in the product would produce any systemic pain relief. The active component in willow bark is salicin, which is present in willow bark at a proportion of about 0.08 to 12.6% by weight.
http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/willow-bark
The oral dose of salicin required to relive back pain is in the range of 120 mg to 240 mg.
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-955-willow%20bark.aspx?activeingredientid=955&activeingredientname=willow%20bark
One would have to consume at least 1 to 3 g of white willow bark to achieve a therapeutic dose of salicin.
https://www.drugs.com/npc/willow-bark.html
The Thrive Patch lists willow bark as one of its ingredients but does not specify the amount.
https://media.le-vel.com/Documents/THRV004.pdf
The main problem with the premise that willow bark in the patch produces pain relief is that it is a virtual certainty that that patch does not contain enough bark extract to produce therapeutic salicin concentrations in the blood following topical dosing.
Omfg I have been on thrive for 2 weeks and have gained weight I can’t lose to save my life FML I fell for this damn scam I’m so pissed I hate this shit why scam on people who actually want to lose weight wtf!!!!!!!
Wow, that’s crazy. I tried a one month supply patches. And that was it, I stopped there. I don’t like the prices. I’ll just lose weight by exercising and eating healthy. Maybe then, I’ll also get my energy back. Because for some reason, the patches gave me little bit of energy and then other days, I’m tired and lazy. Plus they didn’t stick to my skin. :(
Thrive was never marketed as a weight loss product. Recently, the company has branched our in to the weight loss spectrum with things like Thrive Fit and Burn but when the company started never once did they market themselves for weight loss. They marketed for a premium (I definitely agree in the over use category here) nutrition product which offered things like joint support, mental clarity, and yes even weight management (not loss). If you were taking this product thinking it was some kind of magic pill that would make you lose 10 pounds a week by not eating right or exercising that’s on you, not the company. I do know an extensive amount of people who have used this product, yes myself included, who’ve had nothing but good things to say about it. A few have said they don’t like the shakes it gives them, or that the bowel movement that happens shortly after completing the third step is unnecessary or that the sticky residue from the patch is a pain in the ass or that they were glad they tried it but the product just wasn’t for them. It’s a vitamin, a multi vitamin meant to work in to the busy lives we all lead and that is a complete process in the first 20-30 minutes of your day. Yes there are things in it that are in other products that are cheaper and if that’s how you feel then don’t buy the product and go with the cheaper one. I’ve been using Thrive on and off for almost 2 years now. I’ve never had any type of withdrawal symptoms when I stopped taking it. My shit joints didn’t start throbbing in pain upon my first days of non product. I had noticeably less energy and didn’t sleep quite as well but it works the same way as anything else you take for long periods of time like aspirin helping with heart attacks. Dear Lord calm down LazyMan I’m not comparing Thrive to Aspirin what I am saying is that the body adjusts to anything after a long enough period of time. My 8 week experience was pretty alright honestly. You say we’re vague in our experiences and responses so explain this to me. Prior to starting my Thrive 8 week experience and after starting it I was(and still am) a runner. At least 5 miles 3-4 days a week with weight training and active rest days( still on the same schedule). My knees and joints were the bane of my existence, I suffered from chronic headaches and it was a miracle if I could sit down and focus on more than one thing at a time. I started taking Thrive and none of that changed. After a few days I noticeably started sleeping better, actually staying asleep through the whole night( which is a huge help with muscle regeneration and physical recovery). After a few more days I had more noticeable amounts of energy, I didn’t spend as many days getting tired half way through it and by the time I was done work I still had “juice” enough to complete my workouts and what not with no issues from being tired. After about week 4 it was even more clear to me that my joint pain was subsiding and I wasn’t in as much pain the morning after a long run as I had been previously. At the end of my 8 week experience I noticed that I’d dropped a few pounds but that wasn’t from the Thrive. That was from me putting in the effort to be physically active and make wise decisions when it came to food. The Thrive evened me out and gave me the vitamins and nutrition that wasn’t in my food. It filled in the gaps and made my entire routine whole. Yeah, I still take it. Just ordered some two days ago actually. It’s not a magic pill but the thing is I was smart enough to realize that at the start of my process with the product as is the majority of the products consumers.
How exactly is it that you can have such a strong opinion about a product when you know absolutely nothing about what it’s actual intentions are?
Except that weight loss was not EVER a promised s/e. Thrive is meant to help you feel better, there is no free rides people. You can’t just take a pill, drink a shake, slap on a patch and your life is fixed??? Seriously? People who use thrive regularly and find benefits from it are not scammed. Thrive only promises to fulfill your nutritional gaps with premium product. Now if you can factually disprove that then you get on with your bad self. Keyboard warriors are what is wrong with people today. Find a good cause to fight for. Get the email scam artist stealing money, or people who kidnap women for sex trafficking. Find something REAL to complain about. Believe it or not there are actually people taking Thrive because they like it not to become rich!
It seems there are a lot of people who are feeling worse. See the “adverse health effects mounting” section here: https://www.truthinadvertising.org/what-you-should-know-about-thrive/
I wrote about MonaVie more than 10 years ago, which made the same types of claims. Stuff like: people love it, it fills nutritional gaps, it’s a premium product. The company’s pyramid imploded. The FTC describes how that happens with MLMs – https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/993473/ramirez_-_dsa_speech_10-25-16.pdf, with it’s description of how everyone was buying into Burnlounge. The company claimed that people liked the product, but once the selling opportunity went away, no one was interested.
The only way to know if people really like Thrive is just to put online with no pyramiding business opportunity behind it. If people like it, they’ll continue to buy it.
MLM scams are a important cause to fight for. That’s why John Oliver’s video about them has over 15M YouTube views – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6MwGeOm8iI
Noteveryoneisavictim said “People who use thrive regularly and find benefits from it are not scammed.”
And which people would those be? Thrive’s ridiculously overpriced products have no overt benefits, so it’s reasonable to argue that such people don’t actually exist. Not to mention the fact that most people who take the product have a financial incentive that makes them susceptible to the placebo effect, or in just about every case, outright lying. Your comment also conveniently ignores the scads of people who used the products and experienced no benefits whatsoever (the overwhelming majority, no doubt), and the fact that everyone who has ever purchased the products was scammed by vastly overpaying for overhyped cheap mundane ingredients.
Noteveryoneisavictim said: “Thrive only promises to fulfill your nutritional gaps with premium product.”
They don’t even promise that. They don’t actually “promise” anything. And there’s no evidence whatsoever, or even the faintest reason to believe, that anything in Thrive products would qualify as “premium”. Quite the contrary. Simple economics and basic knowledge of the financial structure of MLMs make it clear that their products are ALWAYS either vastly inferior and/or vastly overpriced relative to products on the retail market. The overcharge is baked in to the MLM business model because it is required to keep the pyramid scheme afloat (ie, absurdly high overhead for paying out commissions to the scheme’s participants).
Noteveryoneisavictim said: “Now if you can factually disprove that then you get on with your bad self.”
Cracks me up when fossilized out-of-touch MLMers try to use 25-year old “street” lingo. ROFL!
Noteveryoneisavictim said: “We don’t need to disprove anything. The onus in on you to support your product claims with reliable evidence. You have none because the products are pretty close to worthless, at best. MLM products are akin to strangers offering candy to kids. To be avoided with extreme prejudice.
Noteveryoneisavictim said: “Keyboard warriors are what is wrong with people today.”
Says the warrior, immune to irony, while angrily typing on a keyboard. Pot meet kettle. How can someone be so obtuse?
Noteveryoneisavictim said: “Find a good cause to fight for. Get the email scam artist stealing money, or people who kidnap women for sex trafficking.”
Fighting against predatory MLMs is a great and noble cause, and there are enough hours in the day to tackle more than one of society’s ills at a time—people do it all the time. What kind of one-dimensional doofus would think that it’s an either or proposition? A dodgy MLMer reading verbatim out of their BS playbook, that’s who.
Noteveryoneisavictim said: “Believe it or not there are actually people taking Thrive because they like it not to become rich!”
You should never begin any proposition related to Thrive with “believe it or not”, because the rational default answer, based on experience, is overwhelmingly “NOT”! It’s unlikely that there are more than a handful of rubes who are naïve enough to believe that Thrive could possibly make them rich; most who participate probably set their sights on simply making poverty level wages, or at least not becoming poorer, but alas, even those very humble expectations are shattered in 99% of cases.
I am gaining weight on this product also and get very hungry. Something in it makes me very hungry and moody. Never felt good and did not have the energy they say will have. They keep telling me I am taking wrong which is not true. I believe the White Willow Bark irritates my stomach and keeps me hungry.
are you eating a healthy diet though? Thrive is an ADDITION to a already healthy diet and exercise regiment. It’s not a weight loss or meal replacement system. It’s to fill in nutritional gap with pharmaceutical grade vitamins
Science has spoken very conclusively in my opinion. Stop wasting money on vitamins.
Lots of USP (the gold standard) vitamins are available for only a few pennies each. There’s certainly no need to spend any more money than that.
*VERY IMPORTANT*
It is most definitely a pyramid scheme. Just because you have been able to make money from it, does not make it any less of a pyramid scheme. If you look throughout history at any and every other known reported pyramid schemes, the people involved also made money.. from the little man at the bottom, all the way up to the millionaires at the top.. but the fact that it is a pyramid scheme is not why I am commenting. I see comment after comment saying, “take it 1st and then give a review” we’ll, I have! And thogh, I am far from being a scientist, I would like to share my experience with you. Or a bit of it, perhaps. I was in a desperate frame of mind, sluggish, fatigue, and would have tried anything to lose weight. A friend of mine who had recently lost quite a bit of weight mentioned Level Thrive to me. (Yes, she lost weight, but she had also been dieting and exercising extensively!) She then gave me the contact information to someone who explained the process to me a little better, and I became less weary and more excited, especially when she offered me the 1st 8 weeks worth free! I mean, a company that let’s you try it free must be legit right!?? That was quite a bit of monies worth in product.. I will be 100% honest with you, i REALLY wanted to like this product. At this point, I was stoked, and I even continued to defend it as my mental and physically health deteriorated in those next few weeks to come! I have no reason to lie and am only giving my review because I don’t want what happened to me to happen to anyone else! Anyway, back to it.. So, the 1st couple days I felt no different. All was well really. Into the 2nd week, I felt sluggish and tired, more than usual. And by the 3rd week, it had gotten so bad that I reached out to my “sales rep” who decided to inform to me for the 1st time, that this was just my body detoxing. She went on to tell me that my body wasn’t use to having what it NEEDED and that this was normal, but that if I would just push through it for a little while longer, that I would feel better than I ever had! So, I did.. by the 4th week, I was in such a depressed state, that even my family had noticed and started expressing concern! But, I continued to take it as directed. 2 tabs in the morning, a shake, a patch, and lots of water.. I did everything I was suppose to do. And when I tried to find similar reviews, all I could find was wonderful things being said about it. I couldn’t understand why it worked so well for everyone else, but not me, that was until I stumbled across an article of a man who had killed his family while taking Level Thrive. When i reached out to my “sales rep” about this, she ensured me that this man had already had underlined mental health issues and that it had nothing to do with Thrive.. And of course, like an idiot, I continued to take it. By the 6th week, I was, for the 1st time in my life, legitimately suicidal. It was the absolute worst I had ever felt in my entire life, in every way, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone in the world. So, I decided to do a little deeper research, as I SHOULD’VE DONE TO BEGIN WITH, and had found several other articles, that were somewhat hard to find, concerning that same incident containing scientific opinions that said that they believed that Thrive contained a chemical in which our brains already produce and that some people’s brains produce more of it than others and when not properly distributed and monitored by a Dr, could be very bad for some people. I wish to God I could lead you to the exact articles I had read because, like I said before, I am THE FURTHEST THING FROM A SCIENTIST. I don’t even claim to be all that smart. I am merely just trying to share my experience because I wish to God I would have been able to find more reviews that I could relate to when I was going through this. But there wasn’t. Or at least, they weren’t easy to find. Now, years down the road, I do see more things like this being said that have helped me realize that it wasn’t just something going on with me, like some sort of bad effect that only I had experienced for whatever reason. Though, I am fully aware that a detox process isn’t always easy, this was much more than a detox process!
I work in a Starbucks and my god have all these pyramid scheme people been flooding our stores to use as their “office”. Pro tip: if your “boss” can’t afford to even buy a cup of coffee much less rent office space, you’re being duped. The positive side is that the amount of people has peaked and decreased… Thing about a pyramid is the bottom can only get so big before you run out of suckers. Overheard one person saying “don’t worry about the products, they sell themselves they’re high quality, let’s talk about getting more people on board”. What was it they say about a fool and his money?
Love your comments and this review! Thanks! I’m in Oz with a Thrivist from USA unsolicited trying to scam me right now through fbook. Hit on me outs the blue. Straight up wanted my email without giving me info. Seriously … Its no sale here…
Yougot Duped said: “I work in a Starbucks and my god have all these pyramid scheme people been flooding our stores to use as their “office”.”
I’ve seen the same thing. In fact, I can spot them from across the store as soon as I walk in. Ratty clothes, outdated laptop, brochures spread across the table, reek of desperation and failure. I’d feel pity were it not for the fact that they are ruthless liars and predators, the lot of them.
There is no MLM company that is worthy of their so called superior products. Only 1% make $. The rest loss an enormous amount of $ time and effort. They are the newest of cults and people are just flocking to them.
A promoter used my son, husband, and granddaughter in a advertisement for Thrive in that it helps with cancer. It was done without our consent. It’s a terrible scam for all involved. Le-Vel can only hurt your body, just read the ingredients! The stimulants can cause you harm.
Hello Toni. I am sorry to hear what happened to your family. They seem to be a pyramid scam, who are only interested in making money. Do you still have the advertisement where they claim it helps with cancer? I am a college student doing research into thrive and I hope to help other people but I need evidence. Thank you and I hope you and your family are doing well. :)
I have been on Thrive for 2 months now. I have lost 15 pounds, I am full of energy, I sleep better, my digestive system is on track for the first time in years. I know a woman with Lupus that has been taken off some of her medication because she no longer needs it thanks to Thrive. This product has helped so many people. And they never claim to cure anything. As a promoter, I’ve been trained and told, never tell someone that it heals anything, because that’s not what it was meant for. By giving you everything that your body actually needs, it makes you healthier, however that presents itself in your body is up to your body. The stimulants that you’re all making such a big deal about, is stuff like green coffee bean extract, you can find that in a refresher from Starbucks. And there’s about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. Almost anyone can make money selling Thrive. I put no effort into it, I get my Thrive for free, and I’ve made a couple hundred dollars. My upline and her husband sell Thrive for a living, their cars are paid for by the company, their house is paid for, they are financially independent, and Le-Vel has sent them on 6 free lifestyle getaways. Any product looks bad if you only look at the bad reviews. But the good experiences far outweigh the bad when it comes to Thrive.
Hmmm… “I know a woman with Lupus that has been taken off some of her medication because she no longer needs it thanks to Thrive. This product has helped so many people. And they never claim to cure anything…”
I still didn’t say it cures anything. I said that for her, specifically, she has been able to stop taking so much medicine because of thrive. I never said hey take Thrive because it cures lupus. It is an individualized experience, everyone reacts differently.
Hahaha….true Sara, you didn’t specifically say it cured your friend with lupus, you just implied it did. Its like if i were to say; “My credit card number got stolen yesterday and the last place i used it was at McDonalds”. Im definitely not saying an employee at McDonalds stole my credit card, but im letting the reader come to their “own” conclusions based on how I lead them…Its how magicians make a living…oh, and lying politicians. When in doubt, speak in ways that create deniability, yet still in a misleading way.
Good luck hocking this overpriced untested poison to your fiends and family.
Sounds like a distributor. Some of my friends are using it with awesome results they are distributors. I tried it for 7 weeks and quickly became tolerant to the stimulants and would have a horrible crash in the late afternoon. The patches don’t stick and the shakes are disgusting.
Are you referring to SW?
I spoke too soon with my review
Thrive is day generous and you promote should be making sure you DO NOT under an circumstances sell this to someone on antidepressants. Thrive black label put me into serotonin syndrome and I have been sick as a dog for weeks . I told my promoter I was on SSRIs and she did not tell me that black label contains high amounts of hydroxytryptophan which is super dangerous and should not be taken by people on antidepressants. I’ve never been so sick in my life. My digestive system has shut down and I cant stop throwing up . No wonder you people feel good its packed full of natural antidepressants!! Thrive almost killed me . I felt good the first few days and then everything changed. Thank God for Google or I would have been dead . I had normal blood pressure and mine skyrocketed to 150/110.Thers needs to be education here and warnings. I was a desperate single mom who just wanted energy to get through the day . I take back everything good I was saying about this product line . My bad.
I want to thank you for this article. I sincerely hope that you don’t get sued for such an informative piece. A couple days ago, I was approached by a promoter telling me that I was eligible to make $800.00 a month because I drove a white BMW (note how ass backward this claim was). I thought she meant putting an advertising wrap on my car, but oh no! She meant signing people up for thrive. I have yet to get any real information from her. She cannot produce any literature that spells out the compensation structure or the business plan. So I decided to research because I didn’t trust any of it. And I found it difficult to get any real info except on the links that were sited on this article. I appreciate this honest article more than you can know. And I feel happy with my decision to pass on the scam.
[Editor’s Note: I’ve added my responses to this comment in-line.]
The guy that wrote this article is a complete idiot ? For starters he’s saying it’s a scam and has never even tried it for himself…
[Editor’s Note: I don’t need to jump off bridge to know it’s not a good idea. As a salesperson you are the one who is biased.]
I can’t stand big headed men that think they know everything but actually know nothing at all. He’s basically bashing a company that he knows nothing about ?
[Editor’s Note: What about female Registered Dietitian Abby Langer? Is she a big-headed man too? Did you see all the women running Truth in Advertising. Do these people know nothing at all about their areas of expertise too? Maybe you shouldn’t jump to sexist conclusions before you know me?]
I’m mean there must be some underlying issue with this guy…
[Editor’s Note: Yes, I like to help people.]
Is his ex girlfriend on Thrive and now looking better than ever and is a lot happier now?
[Editor’s Note: I’ve been happily married for 10 years and I explained why I wrote about Thrive in the introduction. Did you read it?]
I thought this guy actually had some facts to share with us. Nope, I just wasted 10 minutes of my life reading it ???? If you haven’t tied it you shouldn’t even be able to write something like this and expect people to believe you.
[Editor’s Note: Nope, I had just had some opinions, some math that I think I got right, and links to other people’s opinions I trust. If that’s a waste of your 10 minutes why did you waste further trying to bash me for it?]
For those of you out there that read this entire column and haven’t tried Thrive yet. Don’t let this person block your blessing! How much is worth to you to feel amazing everyday and sleep like a baby at night..?
[Editor’s Note: Ahh, here’s the sales pitch. It’s “your blessing!” Wow. I’ve read some articles about all the caffeine in Thrive (which may have changed since then) and I think some commenters noted it as well. I have never read that helps improves sleep.]
I pay $12.99 a month because I only have to pay shipping.
[Editor’s Note: Is this because you’ve recruited OTHER people who overpay for the product? Or is this the standard price that everyone pays. Please be truthful about the costs that a new person is expected to pay.]
A one month supply consists of taking 2 capsules & drinking an 8oz shake that actually tastes good & then putting on your derma fusion technology patch. I’ve been taking it for 4 months now and I feel better now than I did 15 years ago! I obviously can’t make claims because the guy that created this page will probably come after me?
[Editor’s Note: Or maybe the FDA will, because they warn MLMs that medical claims are illegal and Le-Vel’s Policies and Procedures says you can’t. However, make me out to be the bad guy instead of your company and the government agencies protecting consumers. That seems fair.]
[Editor’s Note: I removed Jennifer’s contact information. This isn’t the place to try to sell Le-Vel products.]
Jennifer said, “The guy that wrote this article is a complete idiot ? For starters he’s saying it’s a scam and has never even tried it for himself…”
I wish I could understand why this logic makes sense to people in relationship to this topic. If scientists say patches and shakes don’t work, and there are no clinical tests that support the claims they boast, then do we still need to try the product? This isn’t someone saying they hate Geno’s cheese steaks, therefore everyone should avoid Geno’s. This is a product that fails to meet its intended purpose, period, and any research that suggests it doesn’t work will be far better than some biased salesperson’s opinion.
Jennifer said, “I thought this guy actually had some facts to share with us. Nope, I just wasted 10 minutes of my life reading it ???? If you haven’t tied it you shouldn’t even be able to write something like this and expect people to believe you.”
I’m curious as to what your definition of facts is. He uses solid references, such as the FTC and FDA, and yet you didn’t find them to be authoritative enough? I think we have entered an alternate reality.
We get it, you don’t think people should have opinions without trying something first. That logic was bad the first time you said, and it is bad this time as well.
Jennifer said, “For those of you out there that read this entire column and haven’t tried Thrive yet. Don’t let this person block your blessing! How much is worth to you to feel amazing everyday and sleep like a baby at night..?”
First of all, who should people trust more? A well-researched an unbiased author, or a random salesperson that tried to post their information at the bottom of the page? Second of all, “block your blessing!”? Are you kidding? The blessing is the time LM took to put together this article, fight against and win a lawsuit against this company, and continue to respond to insane brainwashed “distributors” such as yourself. Third of all, there have been multiple complaints about Thrive being high in stimulants and causing extreme problems with energy levels. The idea that it would help someone sleep at night is absurd.
Jennifer said, “I pay $12.99 a month because I only have to pay shipping.”
Interesting. You only have to pay for shipping, but what about the rest of the people that came after you? I’m not familiar with that sales strategy of giving product away to the “distributors” of an MLM, unless they have a certain number of people that are regularly subscribed below them. It sounds like you are confirming what most of us already know. Le-Vel, much like every other MLM, is a pay-to-play scheme that gives benefits to those that successfully recruit others.
Jennifer said, “A one month supply consists of taking 2 capsules & drinking an 8oz shake that actually tastes good & then putting on your derma fusion technology patch. ”
That is quite the regimen. You have to take 2 inert pills a day, drink a worthless shake and put on a skin patch. That’s a lot of magic elixirs. Why not just strap a horn to your head, put a cape on your back, and run around in your underwear? That probably has the same effect, and it will be much cheaper!
Jennifer said, “I’ve been taking it for 4 months now and I feel better now than I did 15 years ago! I obviously can’t make claims because the guy that created this page will probably come after me?”
Oh stop. Four months of this and you are suddenly an expert in health! Give me a break! You are a brainwash lunatic that is still in the honeymoon phase of MLM. Why would anyone take you seriously over people that have been trained for years to investigate this stuff, or members of the FDA that specifically say these potions don’t work?
Jennifer, do yourself a favor, take yourself off these ridiculous potions and go get some help.
Jennifer said, “I’ve been taking it for 4 months now and I feel better now than I did 15 years ago! I obviously can’t make claims because the guy that created this page will probably come after me?”
Lazy Man and Geoff already did a great job of eviscerating Jennifer’s silly post, but I’ve gotta say that this particular comment of hers really irked me. The reason why Jennifer can’t, or shouldn’t, make therapeutic claims about the product is because it is illegal to do so, not because the “guy that created this page will probably come after” her. As with all MLM distributors, the idea of following the law of the land seems alien to Jennifer, but clearly it shouldn’t. That this bothers her so much indicates that she/him/it has a cracked moral/ethical compass.
Going a step further, it’s not merely the letter of the law that matters, it’s the intent as well, and the intent in this case is to thwart people from potentially injuring the public with products that are promoted as therapeutic agents but in fact have no therapeutic properties whatsoever (i.e., bogus medicine/snakeoil). Preventing physical harm (as well as financial harm) is the law’s intent in this case. In other words, it protects people from shifty self-serving predators like Jennifer.
And what exactly is it that Jennifer fears “the guy who created this page” (i.e., Lazy Man) is going to do to Jennifer if she/him/it makes health claims? Forward the posts to the FDA? That’s really the only course of action he could take . So in reality, Jennifer resents the law and would gladly break it but the only thing that keeps Jennifer in check (at least here) is the fear of getting busted. I’d say then that it’s a pretty damn good law and it is doing what it was intended to do.
And not only does Jennifer resent the law, she seems to resent Le-Vel’s own Policies and Procedures that, by my reading, says she can’t make these claims. It’s bad enough to disrespect the law of the land, but it’s a special kind of disrespect the distributor she presumably signed.
I’m in a very distant last place of things she should be worried about when making claims.
I fully agree with SARA!!!! Thrive is a great product! Most people get to try it before they ever are asked to buy anything. If the person really likes the product they can buy and if not for any reason they don’t have to buy anything! Maybe the real scammer is you, just saying.
Barbara said: “I fully agree with SARA!!!!”
What did “SARA!!!” say exactly that you agree with? That it alleviated her unnamed friend’s lupus? I hope not, because we know that’s complete BS, all-caps shouting and multiple superfluous exclamation points notwithstanding.
Barbara said: “Thrive is a great product! Most people get to try it before they ever are asked to buy anything. If the person really likes the product they can buy and if not for any reason they don’t have to buy anything!”
So what you’re saying is that buying the product is optional for the consumer? Is that supposed to be a revelation? A selling point? How does that differ from any other product? It’s notable that what you said doesn’t even apply to the company’s distributors, who do not have the option of not buying the product (i.e., that pesky old monthly auto-ship requirement). The product is not “great”. It has no demonstrable benefits whatsoever. It is laughable inert BS used as the admission ticket to entice desperadoes and gullible people into joining a corrupt pyramid scheme.
Barbara: “Maybe the real scammer is you, just saying.”
Nope. You and you ilk are the scammers, and there’s no maybe about it.
My Thrive experience has been awesome!
The only qualms I had with the company is that they: (1) have no customer support number so we can’t talk to a service rep or billing department, and (2) they shipped my order and FED-EX screwed up the address because I live in a newer apartment complex and its not on GPS yet. FED-EX blamed Le-Vel because the package was returned to the vendor at the request of the shipper. I therefore paid for a product I never received until my wife, a promoter, sent them a message and they resent everything.
The issue was that because I never received anything initially I called my bank and had them reimburse me for the order. It didn’t affect Le-Vel because they still had their money, but I didn’t know that. So I tried to explain all of this, possibly prematurely, to them and then complained about them not having a billing department phone number so I could potentially pay them directly. In response to my criticism they cancelled my account.
I will not be ordering from them again. I tried to be nice, I don’t order things online too often, my wife is a promoter, and because of a little constructive criticism they cancelled my account without notifying me – Le-Vel has bad business practices and needs to come out of the stone age with their customer service.
I suspect that bad service is built into their business model on purpose. Not having an easy way to redress consumer issues is a great way to pocket people’s cash. If they simply ignore their dissatisfied customers, they don’t have to pay refunds (or pay for adequate customer service support staff). A win for the company; a loss for consumers.
And this isn’t an anomaly in MLM; its a cardinal rule.
I do have to say I agree with you on the aggravation with the lack of direct phone contact. I’ve had a few issues as a customer including an auto shop being sent after I’d cancelled it. I contacted customer support through the website, received a response with directions on how to get it returned, I followed the directions and had my money back 3 days later.
Sara is an idiot, that’s a fact. I feel like I’m a walking contradiction because I use and actually really like what Thrive has done for me and yeah I mean everyone has an opinion… something about them being like assholes or something, I just don’t push mine on everyone around me. My opinion, not my asshole. I guess in your standards I’m dumb for “falling for the scheme” but honestly, I got my very first week of Thrive for free and it was my choice to purchase it or not. I liked how it made me feel so I went for it. I have the money to purchase it so why not? It’s also the only multivitamin I’ve ever taken that hasn’t caused severe stomach issues so again, why not?
I do appreciate how angry everyone seems to be over something as small as an opinion.
LazyMan, I wouldn’t recommend jumping off any bridges.
Sara, you’re an idiot.
It’s America and people are free to choose. Your opinion is worth as much as an old shoe. You have failed to mention anything about how how the body absorbs nutrients. Those cheap vitamins are just sitting in your GI tract . They should sue you for this one-side, and poorly researched pile of garbage…
Mad Thompson said, “It’s America and people are free to choose.”
Absolutely correct! You are free to not absorb the information given in the post, and you are free to reject logic and wisdom. You are free to put your head in the sand, and you are free to believe in the boogie man!
Mad Thompson said, “Your opinion is worth as much as an old shoe.”
Given the history of comments on this article, I think it fair to assume his opinion is worth much more than an old shoe. I would classify it more as a fine wine, as the post gets more and more valuable to more people the longer it is left online.
Mad Thompson said, “You have failed to mention anything about how how the body absorbs nutrients. Those cheap vitamins are just sitting in your GI tract .”
Actually, most of them are flushed out, just like the expensive vitamins you are taking. There is no science to support one version of the vitamins is better than the other, and to this point, your view of paying more money for the same product is fundamentally flawed.
Mad Thompson said, “They should sue you for this one-side, and poorly researched pile of garbage…”
Your wish has already been granted…unfortunately. On the plus side, they are draining your assets to do it. Any money that you have been giving to Le-Vel has had a percentage taken out to perform bad lawsuits against people expressing their first amendment rights. However, much like the products and the company itself, it will ultimately a waste of money, and Le-vel will continue to have criticism online because of the structure of the business, the false health claims, and the deceptive marketing tactics utilizing unrealistic examples of wealth.
I would love to pint out that Thrive vitamins contain “synephrine” which is called bitter orange also. Look it up, this stuff acts like Ephedra which has been outlawed in the USA. The combination of synephrine, caffeine and a few other ingredients can be deadly for some who have previous problems. I’m actually disgusted how people have been drawn in by this stuff and don’t check the ingredients. I had a friend give me a three day trial. The first day I tried it, my heart was racing! I am a paramedic and I didn’t like how it made my heart feel. I checked my blood pressure and it was insanely high. 152/101. Day two, I took the vitamins and drank the shake but did not put the patch on. It still made me feel like crap, so I began researching the ingredients. Not good. When I posted my research on Facebook, I was attacked. One of the promoters put a note up saying that Level stated there was no ephedra in their product. I never said it had ephedra in it!!!! LOL Liars trying to deflect!
I agree thrive is a waste. However, many supplements are good. For example, I have noticed a big difference when taking selenium and brown seaweed (for iodine). It has helped my thyroid a great deal.
I find it funny doctors typically bash vitamins saying they don’t work and then prescribe prenatal vitamins. My dr. Told me that the generic target brand prenatal were just as good as prescription. If vitamins are crap, why bother telling pregnant women to take them?
When my dad was in ICU, the doctors made us go home and get his Ester-C and a few other supplements he was taking. Sorry, they aren’t all crap.
Lesley72, I think you have a few different arguments here. I will give you my opinion, but I think you should consult a doctor.
1. In case you missed the above, consult your doctor.
2. Please, please, please refer to #1.
I think that selenium supplements are under $10 a year. (I think they are under $5, but I want to be safe with the recommendation due to Le-Vel suing me.*)
In my experience, salt is typically iodized.
I think you could have all the salt and selenium for less than $10 a year. Again, I suggest you talk to your doctors and see what they say about it.
Lesley wrote, “I find it funny doctors typically bash vitamins saying they don’t work and then prescribe prenatal vitamins. My dr. Told me that the generic target brand prenatal were just as good as prescription. If vitamins are crap, why bother telling pregnant women to take them?”
There are very specific cases where vitamins will help. LISTEN TO YOUR DOCTOR!
Prenatal vitamins are not crap, but this isn’t a discussion about them. I can’t ask you more times to please listen to your doctor. They are very, very cheap in my experience… maybe a $10 for the entire pregnancy. If money is a factor, I’ll give you $10 via Paypal, just hit me up here: http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/contact-lazy-man/. Please use the same email address you left in this comment.
* As always, any comment that I make in the comments is my opinion at the time. It is a reaction to help readers. Lawyers citing any comments agree that they need to acknowledge in court that I’m attempting to help people. Lawyers also agree that to the full context of the comment.
Mad Thompson said: “It’s America and people are free to choose.”
It’s not a free choice when the MLM purveyors of BS snakeoil products lie to consumers. America is a land of laws, and the law forbids deceptive marketing of Thrive products, especially as medicinal agents. If, after being properly informed that your product is BS, someone still chooses to buy it, I would have no objection. I’d scratch my head the same way I would if someone chose to set $50 bills on fire. But no informed consumer would ever buy your product without the pyramid scheme and misleading product claims.
Mad Thompson said: “Your opinion is worth as much as an old shoe.”
Opinions supported with facts and logical arguments, like Lazy Man’s, carry a lot of weight. Your bitchy threadbare sniping, on the other hand, is utterly worthless.
Mad Thompson said: “You have failed to mention anything about how how the body absorbs nutrients.”
The article is about Thrive’s BS products, not a general discussion about how nutrients are absorbed. The only failure is with your unrealistic expectations.
Mad Thompson said: “Those cheap vitamins are just sitting in your GI tract.”
I’d ask which “cheap vitamins” you’re referring to but it’s not worth feeding a troll. Pretty much any inexpensive supermarket multivitamin is going to be absorbed just fine. It’s not rocket science; just very basic pharmacology. There’s no evidence that your MLM-For-Idiots brand of vitamins is absorbed any better than any retail brand; and the fact that your overpriced asinine product is being used as bait for a pyramid scheme guarantees that each and every claim about it will be unmitigated BS.
Mad Thompson said: “They should sue you for this one-side, and poorly researched pile of garbage…”
Hah! You should be paraded down Main Street in a dunce cap and pelted with tomatoes for that moronic post. Unlike this blog host, you didn’t bring any research to the table; you didn’t even make a single cogent argument about anything; just bitched like a petulant child.
Poor Vogel will have nobody to pick on anymore after this site gets shut down.
What are you gonna do with all your free time Vogel? Trip little kids on their way to school, kick over old woman in wheel chairs, steal pacifiers from babies? So many options for that twisted little brain of yours.
This critically-acclaimed website aimed at helping people achieve financial freedom through savings and investing is in no danger of getting shut down. I’m proud to have served 10 million over 10 years.
JillG said: “Poor Vogel will have nobody to pick on anymore after this site gets shut down. What are you gonna do with all your free time Vogel? Trip little kids on their way to school, kick over old woman in wheel chairs, steal pacifiers from babies? So many options for that twisted little brain of yours.”
That’s some pretty bizarre victim role-playing coming from a desperate parasite who tries to scam the most desperate and vulnerable members of society into buying worthless snakeoil products and joining a pyramid scheme.
The site doesn’t appear to be going anywhere soon, so I’ll still be here kicking the crap out of lying immoral MLM scammers and snakeoil peddlers.
Your ill attempt at trying to put someone down does not make you look any better then the so called “MLM scammers and Snake oil peddlers.” This guy who wrote this research really did not have much to say aside from his own personal belief that this is a “pyramid scheme.” He never even tried the product himself, so how can he sit here and conduct his research when there is not much said about it to begin with????? Those of you who have not even tried this product have no room to speak on it. Put your foot in your mouth and go on about your lives. If someone wants to spend their money on a product that may or may not be legitimate then that is their own choice. MYOB!!!!!
If I didn’t have much to say then why did they spend (I think) hundreds of thousands of dollars to silence me.
There are lots of different types of breads that I’ve never tried. However, I can make an informed decision about the health from the nutritional label. Have you tried every wine that the world has ever created? Do you need to before you express your opinion about wine in general? Of course not!
Have you ever jumped off a bridge? Do you sit there and question gravity because you have never done so?
Mandii said, “Your ill attempt at trying to put someone down does not make you look any better then the so called ‘MLM scammers and Snake oil peddlers.'”
Oi vey. This comment couldn’t possibly have any hypocrisy after an opening line like that. It’s already clear Mandii has no intention of refuting the article and just wants to attack.
Mandii said, “This guy who wrote this research really did not have much to say aside from his own personal belief that this is a ‘pyramid scheme.'”
First of all, this statement makes no sense. If he wasn’t going to write about “his own” (weirdly rhetorical) opinions, then which beliefs was he supposed to share? Second of all, he provided plenty of resources to support his position. Interestingly, your comment has 0 resources to support yours, which leads me to think the research you have conducted is — non existent.
Mandii said, “He never even tried the product himself, so how can he sit here and conduct his research when there is not much said about it to begin with?????”
This article isn’t focused on the product, but rather the “business opportunity” associated with the product. It’s becoming painfully clear that you haven’t read the article, or your reading comprehension is extremely dismal. It would be nice if you focused on the article itself instead of attacking the author.
Mandii said, “Those of you who have not even tried this product have no room to speak on it.”
LM already did a good job addressing this, but I’d like to throw out one more example. I have never tried an abortion, therefore by your logic I shouldn’t be able to share a thoughtful opinion about it? This line of rhetoric only works on the laziest thinkers.
Mandii said, “Put your foot in your mouth and go on about your lives.”
Advice you should apply to yourself.
Mandii said, “If someone wants to spend their money on a product that may or may not be legitimate then that is their own choice. ”
Okay, two problems here. First, there is a problem with actual demand and proving it exists. Second, there is a morality to the situation that should be addressed.
In accordance to the first point, I will reference Vemma. Before Vemma was shut down, they were reportedly bringing in around $200 million dollars a year in 2013 and 2014 according to this article, https://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/consumers/2016/12/20/vemma-tempe-based-energy-drink-company-settles-feds/95667174/. After the shut down, Vemma was making less than 12 million dollars a year according to this article (they show 3 months of less than 1 million dollars in gross sales), https://www.truthinadvertising.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Vemma-Quarterly-Report-6-20-16.pdf. Their sales dropped over 90% after the FTC stepped in and shut them down, which suggests there wasn’t a desire for the products without the “business opportunity”. This shows there isn’t a desire in the marketplace for overpriced MLM products.
In accordance to the second point, why would you want to support an illegitimate company or product? This lack of moral fiber seems to be spreading, and quite frankly, it isn’t helpful to your growth. Maybe I’m naive, but it would seem to be better if we supported corporations that increased the GDP, brought more jobs to our communities, and did not violate the terms of the FTC. The idea that people should be able to do whatever they want with their money is fine as long as it is within the confines of the law. I would think, logically anyways, that most people would want some government oversight to stop illegitimate businesses.
Mandii said, “MYOB!!!!!”
Again, advice you should apply to yourself.
Mandi said: “Your ill attempt at trying to put someone down does not make you look any better then the so called ‘MLM scammers and Snake oil peddlers’.”
How absurd! I was admonishing a Visi troll (JillG) who made a completely unprovoked attack against me, accusing me of having a “twisted little brain”, among other things. I responded more civilly than they did; yet you have nothing to say about the Visi idiot and instead condemn me? That’s indefensible. I have little doubt that you are either the same person using a new pseudonym, or another random Visi shill trying to provide cover for one of your partners in crime. Shame on you either way.
Mandi said: “This guy who wrote this research really did not have much to say aside from his own personal belief that this is a “pyramid scheme.” He never even tried the product himself, so how can he sit here and conduct his research when there is not much said about it to begin with?????”
That’s like asking how you can know plutonium is radioactive without having tried it yourself, or asking how an oncologist can understand cancer if they have never had a malignant tumor. In other words, your attempt to invalidate his argument on the basis that he hasn’t tried the product is, well, just plain dumb. It is also a mantra that is used ad nauseam by MLM shills when they are facing criticism that they can’t contest with reasonable counterarguments.
For the record, LazyMan did not merely express a personal belief. He has a pretty thorough understanding of pyramid scheme regulations and MLMs after writing about them for a decade, as do I, but more importantly he compared the company’s business model with the FTCs regulations to support his assertions. And he cited multiple sources to buttress each of his very detailed statements.
Everyone here, including you I would presume, can plainly see that Visi is a blatant scam, and given the obvious red flags, trying the products would be moronic.
Well you know, I’m not gonna get into it but it’d like to point out that without proof that you “could be sued” by this company and your having a go fund me… you could be scamming all of these people. ?
No, I HAVE been sued by the company. It’s a matter of public record if you want to investigate it.
I became a promoter about a month ago. I truly put effort into introducing the product to others because my husband and I actually love it.. I was brought in my a friend that was able to purchase my startup kit for me, so I got to start for free. Now, I have done nothing but spend money trying to make money(that is not how a job is supposed to work -first red flag).. My husband and I could never afford to purchase these products at the prices listed on the website so I tried hard to get two people to purchase a package a piece so we could get ours free. I truly believed in the product. It never happened, no one could afford it and I understood.. But now, I feel horrible for even trying to, like the article said “throw two people under the bus financially to get free product”. Im glad I didnt make a sale so that I didnt actually harm anyone financially.. But I genuinely feel bad for signing up a few others as promoters. They are counting on making money and changing their lives, and I seriously do not want to tell them “im sorry you guys, I got us into a scam”…
An MLM is a really good way to lose friends. Hopefully you can Salvage your friendships. I immediately put distance between myself and anyone involved in 1.
If this business is really killing it, like they say they are, then why are they meeting with growth capital investors and high interest rate lenders to finance the business?
I assume the owners are trying to get as much money out of the business before it tanks. If you look up both owners, they are professional MLM creators. They work the MLMs until the market gets saturated (or in the case of one of the owners, they get shut down for fraud) they then pack up, sell everything, screw over those involved in the business and move on to the next marketing catch phrase they can build pyramid scheme around. “YOU THRIVIN’, or just SURVIVIN’?
Lmfaoo I am dead okay!! @ “you thrivin’ or just survivin’”
You have some impressive data here. while some may agree with you. I can assure you; Thrive a scam? I THINK NOT. I have been a thriver for over a year now. with the super fast absorption rate the DFT’s provide me and the ingredients filling my bodies nutritional gaps , I feel better then ever. Thrive is not a weight loss supplement. from personal experience I can tell you the way it works . is though your metabolism. it put the nutrients into your body that you are lacking, getting your metabolism back on track. And as a result your body experiences. all day energy. weight support , joint support and much more. you can get all the proof you need by visiting Le-vels fan page at [Editor’s Note: Website redacted.]
Anecdotes are not evidence.
You are a sucker who will realize that you are being taken for a ride and hopefully nobody else is involved. You act like a cult member that is trying to push your nonsense onto others.
I do not pity you, nope, I laugh at your blatant stupidity for falling for something that does not work.
First of all Thrive is not meant to be used specifically as a weight loss supplement. It’s simply putting vitamins in your body. It has been proven to work and many celebrities even use Thrive! And second of all….people make their own choice to buy it just like anything else. Nobody can be forced to purchase it….it’s their own choice so nobody is getting thrown u dee the bus. Many people spend this much money way on shakes and vitamins and whatever other supplements they take…it’s no more expensive than anything else. Protein shakes cost just as much as the lifestyle shakes. Everyone had their own opinion and experiences and not everyone will like it….but most people do!!
Rebecca said, “First of all Thrive is not meant to be used specifically as a weight loss supplement. It’s simply putting vitamins in your body.”
According to Thrive’s website, “Whether your goal is to lose weight, get in the best shape of your life, or simply be the best you can be, we know the 8-Week THRIVE Experience will get you THRIVIN’ in all areas of your life! ” (https://le-vel.com/Experience).
Hmm if I didn’t know any better, I would think it was designed to help people lose weight…Maybe you should spend more time reading your corporate manifesto and less time listening to idiot salesperson spewing out garbage.
Rebecca said, “It has been proven to work and many celebrities even use Thrive!”
Wow, that’s incredible! I wasn’t aware celebrities were qualified in health nutrition and science…they must know much more than the FDA about this subject. For the record, TINA (Truth in Advertising) seems to completely disagree with it being “proven to work” https://www.truthinadvertising.org/what-you-should-know-about-thrive/
Rebecca said, “And second of all….people make their own choice to buy it just like anything else. Nobody can be forced to purchase it….it’s their own choice so nobody is getting thrown u dee the bus.”
You are absolutely correct! People make bad choices all the time, but Thrive does a great job of teaching their sales force to manipulate and deceive (give people bad or incorrect advice) in order to sell more product. Rebecca, if I asked you, “Would you shovel s*** for 2-5 years without pay and then be GUARANTEED $250,000 a year for life afterward”, would you honestly be able to say no to that? Let’s stop the charade, as we know your questions are as loaded as your excuses.
Rebecca said, “Many people spend this much money way on shakes and vitamins and whatever other supplements they take…it’s no more expensive than anything else. Protein shakes cost just as much as the lifestyle shakes. Everyone had their own opinion and experiences and not everyone will like it….but most people do!!”
Again, no resources and just flat wrong. MLM shakes are always more expensive than the rest of the competitors and LM does a great job of showing that your companies prices are extremely high. You making an unfounded blanket statement like “…not everyone will like it….but most people do!!” which clearly is unfounded and is worthless garbage without a resource. According to cursory searches on the web from sources that aren’t Le-Vel or Le-Vel reps, it would seem they have an overarching negative feedback. It may be time to pull your head out of the sand and actually read the article instead of postulating a bunch of crap.
Rebecca said: “It’s simply putting vitamins in your body.”
For something so simple, they try to make it sound like it’s as high-tech as a Mars landing. Putting aside the extremely awkward way you phrased that statement, if one’s goal is simply to put vitamins in their body, all they have to do is eat food. They could also take a vitamin supplement, which costs pennies on the dollar compared to the laughable overpriced BS you’re selling.
Rebecca said: “It has been proven to work and many celebrities even use Thrive!
Liar! It has not been proven to work.
And celebrities you say??? ROFLMFAO! How could that possibly go wrong? Oh yeah, like this…What a dolt!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Sciences_of_America
Rebecca said: “And second of all….people make their own choice to buy it just like anything else.”
So if I sell you something I’m advertising as cancer medicine and it turns out to be dog piss, oh well, caveat emptor? It’s not a fair choice when you lie your F-ing ass off, like you and every other MLM scammer does on a daily basis.
Rebecca said: “Nobody can be forced to purchase it….it’s their own choice so nobody is getting thrown u dee the bus.”
Au contraire. Somewhere upward of 95% of your participants get thrown under the bus, as they have been conned into joining an alleged business opportunity that has odds of paying off that are only slightly better than buying a lottery ticket. And many distributors don’t have much of a choice at all; if they stop buying the product on monthly auto-ship, they will no longer be eligible for commissions. That’s why so many waste so much money and fill their homes with worthless MLM products before they come to their senses and quit.
Rebecca said: “Many people spend this much money way on shakes and vitamins and whatever other supplements they take…it’s no more expensive than anything else.”
More BS! There isn’t an MLM in history that sells their products at a price that reflects their true market value. Markups are typically 10 to 25 times higher than comparable retail products. This feature is baked into MLM because paying out commissions to an inefficient distributor base inflates their overhead enormously.
Rebecca said: “Protein shakes cost just as much as the lifestyle shakes.”
WTF is a “lifestyle shake”? I dunno, but I think I might like to give you a vigorous one; might wake you up and knock some sense and basic decency into you.
A large container of most protein shakes cost about $30-$40. Which is about the same as the lifestyle shakes. I have used this product for months now and I do know what I’m talking about. I’ve looked into it, done my research….and know what I’m talking about. It is not a scam. It’s offering vitamins to your body. If that’s a scam then I guess anyone who sells vitamins must be running a scam??
Rebecca said, “A large container of most protein shakes cost about $30-$40. Which is about the same as the lifestyle shakes.”
First of all, nobody goes by the measurement of “a large container” there are servings, and you pay a certain amount per serving. Even if the ounces are the same, there may be a difference in price if one container has 30 servings and the other has 50. So, let’s do some math for lazy Rebecca since she again refuses to utilize a resource and is making bad scientific claims.
Thrive can’t be purchased on their website, therefore I have to use Amazon for this example. Le-Vel has a 16 serving powder for $50.00 according to this link: https://www.amazon.com/Level-Premium-Nutrition-Micronized-Thrive/dp/B00J870KN8/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1483654813&sr=8-1&keywords=thrive+shake. That means each serving costs approximately, $3.125
Orgain protein shake costs $21.11 for a 20 serving container according to this link: https://www.amazon.com/Orgain-Organic-Protein-Powder-Chocolate/dp/B00J074W94/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1483654970&sr=8-3&keywords=Meal%2Breplacement%2Bshake&th=1. That means each serving costs approximately $1.055.
That means your shake mix costs 300% more than the leading competitor. You don’t have to sign up for a monthly subscription, you don’t have to recruit others to try and get reduced cost on the product, and you don’t have to attend seminars or meetings. Sounds like lazy Rebecca’s research is about as useful as a bucket with a hole.
Rebecca said, “I have used this product for months now and I do know what I’m talking about. I’ve looked into it, done my research….”
Your research??? What research? All you have done is spout off nonsense with no resources and have continue to be incorrect about…EVERYTHING. Who cares if you have done something for months…you are the least reliable witness as you have a financial bias and an ineptitude for logic.
Rebecca said, “It is not a scam. It’s offering vitamins to your body. If that’s a scam then I guess anyone who sells vitamins must be running a scam??”
You sound like the moron from the movie Idiocracy. It’s got vitamins for your body and that’s what your body needs, makes about as much sense as plants needing electrolytes.
According to this valuable institution, The Mayo Clinic, (http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-blog/multivitamins/bgp-20056285), vitamins are not very helpful and you can get them through your regular diet. LM has also done a good job of bringing in posts about vitamins being overrated/not useful.
Regardless of their effectiveness, the bottom line is this is a financial blog and you are arguing a tangent like the rest of the shills from your company. There is not a financial advantage to buying Le-Vel but rather a detriment. There is not a vitamin advantage, because vitamins are not an advantage. Shakes have been proven time and time again to be a gimmick at best and a complete failure at worst. They are sometimes a short term fix, but mostly end up being a waste of time and money.
Wow. Seriously no need to be so rude and nasty. I am not someone who goes around spreading lies and making money off people. I haven’t sold Thrive at all I am just a customer who is satisfied with the product and what it has done for me. And YES I have done research on it because I don’t just go around believing anything I see.
Rebecca said: “I have used this product for months now and I do know what I’m talking about. I’ve looked into it, done my research….and know what I’m talking about.”
Hey parrot, do you think that your BS is any more compelling when you say twice that you know what you’re talking about? You don’t know what you’re talking about. your sheer ignorance is painful to witness.
Rebecca said: “It is not a scam.”
Oh, in that case…ROFL! Fool!
Rebecca said: “It’s offering vitamins to your body.”
ROFL again. You sound dumber than a sack of hammers. Who talks like that other than MLM stooges?
Rebecca said: “If that’s a scam then I guess anyone who sells vitamins must be running a scam??”
Well vitamin supplements are useless for most people, and in some cases, harmful, but at least the folks at Centrum don’t charge absurdly astronomical prices for cheap mundane products like Thrive does. Nor do they lie and make outrageous promotional claims of any kind. I can get a good multivitamin on sale for an average price of about 7 cents a day. It may be useless — no more so than your products — but at least it’s not financially destructive and doesn’t subsidize a bunch of lying MLM predators. A no brainer.
Bull, I buy protein shake mix in a much bigger container for half the price and I get even better results. Also if you do not live in America, do the math hunny, the price including shipping and exchange rate! Very very expensive!
Rebecca said, “Wow. Seriously no need to be so rude and nasty.”
Strong language is the only way to penetrate someone’s skull that is as warped as yours. Not only are you claiming to only be using the products while leaving out the business opportunity, but you are also claiming that they work. You are either the worst kind of scummy manipulative liar, OR you are one of the dumbest members of society. Your pick.
Rebecca said, “I am not someone who goes around spreading lies and making money off people.”
Well then I’m not sure why you continue to spread lies about Thrive. You haven’t done research, you don’t know proper nutrition/health science, you don’t have a basic idea of which vitamins you are “putting in your body”, and you don’t have a clue about what Thrive is marketed to do.
Rebecca said, “I haven’t sold Thrive at all I am just a customer who is satisfied with the product and what it has done for me.”
I’m going to call BS on this one. No sane “customer” goes around to websites that post negative reviews about a product and write inflammatory reviews. If the product worked for you and you didn’t have a financial bias, then you wouldn’t be looking it up online or wasting your time trying to convince people it is good. You are either in denial or a heretic, and either way, you are a scummy person for continuing to associate yourself with and defend a company like Le-Vel.
Rebecca said, “And YES I have done research on it because I don’t just go around believing anything I see.”
Rebecca, you claiming to have done research is like a kid claiming they didn’t raid the pantry for chocolate. I don’t understand why you keep making this claim without any support. If you think the definition of research is lie and deceive, then yes you have done a lot of research. As far as I can tell, you don’t believe everything you see as we have given you REAL research, and you continue to ignore or deny it. You are worse than a gullible person, you are a hypocrite, a liar, and a cheat.
But you’ve done your research right?? Why are we suppose to believe you over anyone else?? You don’t know me, therefore you have no clue what I do and what I know. I came across this article because as I said….I do look things up and I do know what I’m doing! You call me a liar and cheat when you don’t even know me says an awful lot about the kind of person you are. If you knew anything about Thrive you would know that the Lifestyle shakes and Thrives brand of shakes that contain many vitamins that our bodies need. And like I said…I do not sell it I just use the product….yes people actually do that!!! It can be used without having to sell it imagine that!!!! Thanks for your rude and idiotic comments but they don’t mean anything to me because I don’t know you and I like you I’m not going to judge you based on a couple comments.
Wow, I think Lazy Man, Vogel and Geoff sound very angry…. I think maybe you would be more convincing in making your point if you weren’t so angry and rude… I don’t take Thrive myself but I’m definitely considering it… I know people that do and they love how it makes them feel! They are NOT promoters…Nothing you have said would change my mind….Why? Because I think you are to angry about what has happened to you regarding Thrive, to give an intelligent opinion… The way you are handling this issue is poor and unprofessional….It sounds like you are just trying to take this company down because you are so angry….I am Sorry that you had a bad experience..So ok, tell your story, however Let people make up their own minds.
I don’t think I’ve been rude. It’s very fair for me to have gotten angry at Le-Vel for their SLAPP lawsuit against me and letting Truth in Advertising get away with a lot worse criticism.
You should probably understand that my article didn’t change much with the lawsuit. So I don’t understand why you’d think I’d be angry. And again, I was simply answering a reader’s question, so it’s hardly the case where someone should side with multi-million corporation that has been criticized by dozens of organizations to single out my family. It certainly doesn’t show respect for how my wife has served and continues to serve our country.
You can’t just say, “sorry that you had a bad experience” like it was going to a bad movie. At least you can’t say that to me.
And of course people are allowed to make up their own minds. I’m not hunting them down and stopping transactions. However, perhaps they should note that Truth In Advertising has reported on adverse health events.
For any normal person, making up your mind should be easy.
Rebecca said, “But you’ve done your research right?? Why are we suppose to believe you over anyone else??”
Are those serious questions? I supplied you with facts, unbiased resources, and informed conclusions based on those resources. This is why my platform is credible and yours isn’t. You spout nonsense that is unfounded from twisted salespersons that told you how to present your philosophy, or worse, you just simply made your crap up. You have continuously failed to include any articles or resources (not even biased ones from Inc magazine, Le-Vel’s website, or the DSA), and yet you claim you know things. Your perspective is suspect at best, but quite frankly useless.
Rebecca said, “You don’t know me, therefore you have no clue what I do and what I know.”
But I do know you and the rest of the shills who support companies like Le-Vel. You are all the same, and as I continue to evolve and grow in this field, you people continue to stay stagnant with the same nonsensical programmed responses. You have the same English skills as a 3rd grader, you have the same cognitive abilities of a person with a low IQ, and you are incredibly gullible. You are the perfect target for a rip-off/scam like Le-Vel or any other MLM, because your ability to be rational or think critically is either limited or non-existent.
Rebecca said, “I do look things up and I do know what I’m doing! You call me a liar and cheat when you don’t even know me says an awful lot about the kind of person you are.”
Simply stating, “I do look things up and I do know what I’m doing!” is meaningless drivel, and continues to perpetuate the stereotypes of you being the description I listed above. Again, I do know who you are, you people are all the same.
Rebecca said, “If you knew anything about Thrive you would know that the Lifestyle shakes and Thrives brand of shakes that contain many vitamins that our bodies need.”
The denial has kicked into full force now. Both Vogel and I have proven lifestyle shakes and their vitamins are not what the body needs, and they continue to be an outlandishly expensive product that is not competitive in the market place. However, that does not seem to penetrate your thick skull as you continue to repeat yourself and your ridiculous unfounded philosophy in a pitiful attempt to have some kind of correctness. This is the last futile attempt from a limited person with limited cognition.
Rebecca said, “And like I said…I do not sell it I just use the product….yes people actually do that!!! It can be used without having to sell it imagine that!!!!”
Well, that is not something to be proud of either. That means you are a terrible shopper and you like supporting bad/corrupt businesses while spending way too much money for a generic product that is regularly available elsewhere. I’m not sure why you are using so many exclamation points as this is a really sad/pathetic statement.
Rebecca said, “Thanks for your rude and idiotic comments but they don’t mean anything to me because I don’t know you and I like you I’m not going to judge you based on a couple comments.”
It is quite clear that my comments mean nothing to you, because your mind is made up and evidence, facts, and logic will not penetrate your brain. Your head is so deep in the sand you may as well be digging to China.
Wow! English skills of a 3rd grader and a low IQ. Your rude comments say a lot about what kind of person you are. Just because I don’t throw a bunch of scientific words out there doesn’t mean I’m an idiot. And your nasty comments honestly make you look like an idiot yourself. As for Thrive….there are actually many many people who use the product without promoting it. Just like there are many many people who go to the store and buy vitamins. You don’t have to be a promoter to use the products. The comments you have made about that actually make you sound stupid not me. Anyone can buy anything they want and not be promoting it. Yes we can all get vitamins through what we eat but let’s be honest nobody eats healthy 100% of the time. We all have nutritional gaps that just can’t be filled with our daily eating habits which is why people take vitamins. With Thrive your getting vitamins, minerals, enzymes, probiotics, antioxidants, plant extracts, protein, and fiber. Thrive helps with joint support, inflammation support, lean muscle support, digestive and immune support, cognitive performance, and weight management.
Anyways….I’ve got better things to do with my day than sit here and listen to your idiotic insults. Thrive is not for everyone if you don’t like it it’s simple….don’t use it!!!
bahahahaha… if it’s so great, and so “natural” and so perfect, why do they put shellfish in it and NOT make it clear and clearly marked??? anything that may be an allergen should be identified. just over 3 days use and I was so sick…. oh and of course the company would not take back the unused product
This really is entertaining. It IS clearly marked that it contains shellfish.
I spend my money on it because it works for me. There’s my input for the financial aspect of this conversation. My bank account is nobodies business but mine and my husbands. If I couldn’t afford the ridiculous price as you say, then I wouldn’t be buying it.
I have worked in the healthcare field in nursing for the past 15 years so I’m pretty sure I do know something about health. And yes our bodies do need vitamins. And there is not one single person who eats healthy everyday of their life.
It “may” be clearly marked now.. but it wasn’t when I tried it. Got the “3day trial” and the individual packets were not marked…took that while waiting for my $200 worth of products. I took one days out of that product before reading the very small print on the main package, not the individual packets handed to people to “try it”.
I’m glad you find my illness entertaining… for someone in the “healthcare field” you should be more understanding.
Is there some reason you are defending something that is obviously NOT for everyone? The website and pushers should tell people that it contains a possible allergen and that it is not just vitamins and nutrients.
Rebecca said: “Just because I don’t throw a bunch of scientific words out there doesn’t mean I’m an idiot.”
I agree wholeheartedly. That is not the reason why you’re an idiot. It’s everything else.
Rebecca said: “And your nasty comments honestly make you look like an idiot yourself.”
No, in fact Geoff’s comments were like a breath of fresh air in the midst of your stale threadbare misinformation about Thrive.
Rebecca said: “The comments you have made about that actually make you sound stupid not me.”
You obviously aren’t very self-aware. Geoff’s comments are articulate, thoughtful and substantial. You, on the other hand, really do sound like a 3rd grader, and now you’re just whining like a frustrated butt-hurt child; adding nothing to the dialog but crocodile tears.
Rebecca said: “Yes we can all get vitamins through what we eat but let’s be honest nobody eats healthy 100% of the time.”
People don’t have to “eat healthy 100% of the time” to get the vitamins they need. For anyone who chooses to take vitamins anyway, it would be insane to opt for Thrive because it is ridiculously overpriced and any money spent on the products feeds an exploitative pyramid scheme. The value proposition is a no-brainer.
Rebecca said: “We all have nutritional gaps that just can’t be filled with our daily eating habits which is why people take vitamins.”
Most people take vitamins because they mistakenly think doing so will compensate for a poor diet. But it doesn’t. It’s a foolish decision. But as far as foolish decisions go, the best value proposition is to not overpay for idiotic MLM products. A good quality retail multivitamin can be had for as little as about 7 cents a day.
Rebecca said: “Thrive helps with joint support, inflammation support, lean muscle support, digestive and immune support, cognitive performance, and weight management.”
“Lean muscle” as opposed to “fat muscle”? Dolt! There is no such thing as “lean muscle”; it’s just muscle. And you say it provides inflammation support??? The last thing I would want is a product that supports inflammation. You’re really staggeringly illiterate and uninformed in all matters nutritional and medical.
Rebecca said: “Anyways….I’ve got better things to do with my day than sit here and listen to your idiotic insults.”
Ha! No you don’t. Your time is worth about a dollar an hour. If you weren’t doing this, you’d be bugging friends and family members on Facebook to buy your laughably worthless shite! They must be thankful for the reprieve.
Rebecca said: “Thrive is not for everyone if you don’t like it it’s simple….don’t use it!!!”
Right, it’s not for everyone. It’s only for gullible idiots and desperadoes, and you won’t find any of them here. I don’t need your permission to not use it, nor to lampoon this moronic scam on a daily basis. See ya later scammer!
Lean muscle is a concept related to lean body mass, which is the content of the body minus fat. Lean body mass is used to calculate basal metabolic rate. Lean muscle is less of a scientific term and more a term of art that refers to muscle that is independent of, and not obscured by, fat.
So again tell me there’s no such thing as lean muscle? And again, how stupid I am? All I did was voice my opinion about this product…I DO NOT bug my friends and family to buy it so they didn’t need and reprieve from me. And as a mother of 3, one child with autism, a wife, a daycare provider, and previous nursing assistant for the VA, and current nursing student…my time is worth more than $1. The fact that you feel you need to spew all these insults at someone you don’t even know is sad and pathetic. Walk a day in my shoes then we will see what you think my time is worth. I will not stoop to your level of name calling.
Rebecca said: “I spend my money on it because it works for me. There’s my input for the financial aspect of this conversation. My bank account is nobodies (sic) business but mine and my husbands (sic). If I couldn’t afford the ridiculous price as you say, then I wouldn’t be buying it.”
Nobody gives a flying F about why you choose to make indefensibly stupid financial decisions, like buying horrifically overpriced vitamins from a bunch of degenerate pyramid schemers. You can choose to burn money with a blowtorch for all I care. The purpose of this site is to guide consumers to make better financial decisions. Your choice to make bad financial decisions serves as a cautionary tale, nothing else.
Rebecca said: “I have worked in the healthcare field in nursing for the past 15 years so I’m pretty sure I do know something about health.”
Ha! BS!!! You’re no nurse my dear. You don’t have the intellectual fire power to light a match, let alone get into nursing school. You MLM scammers are such horrifically bad liars. You’re so dumb you don’t even know what smart sounds like. But your impressions of what you think a smart person sounds like are truly hysterical to witness.
Rebecca said: “And yes our bodies do need vitamins. And there is not one single person who eats healthy everyday of their life.”
No one needs to eat healthy every day of their life to get the vitamins they need. The fact that you would say such a thing proves that you’re no nurse (either that or you’re the worst one in the history of nursing). And again, if someone wants to take a vitamin supplement, there isn’t a single valid reason why they should overpay for sketchy shit from a bunch of lying know-nothing MLM scammers.
Rebecca said: “Lean muscle is a concept related to lean body mass, which is the content of the body minus fat. Lean body mass is used to calculate basal metabolic rate. Lean muscle is less of a scientific term and more a term of art that refers to muscle that is independent of, and not obscured by, fat.”
No “lean muscle” is a misnomer used by ignoramuses who know nothing about physiology. It is an amalgam of “lean body mass” and “muscle mass”, and people parrot it because they are too ignorant to know the difference; for instance, the crap website Livestrong.com from which you cut-and-pasted that entire paragraph, without attributing it to its source, and presented as your own words. You did so because you are desperate to win an argument about something, even if it’s completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/339082-define-lean-muscle/
Rebecca said: “So again tell me there’s no such thing as lean muscle? And again, how stupid I am?”
OK. My pleasure. There’s no such thing as “lean muscle”; and again, astoundingly stupid.
Rebecca said: “And as a mother of 3, one child with autism, a wife, a daycare provider, and previous nursing assistant for the VA, and current nursing student…my time is worth more than $1.”
Huh? Just yesterday you tried to mislead us by saying:
“I have worked in the healthcare field in nursing for the past 15 years so I’m pretty sure I do know something about health.”
http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/le-vel-thrive-scam/comment-page-3/#comment-1355012
And now it turns out you’re not a nurse at all but rather a nurse assistant, the difference between which is night and day. A nursing assistant certification (assuming you even have that) can be obtained in as little as 6 weeks with only a high school diploma as a prerequisite.
http://cna-classes-online.net/how-long-does-it-take-to-become-a-cna/
So while its vaguely possible that you may be qualified to clean up vomit, change bed sheets, and wipe old people’s asses, you have no qualifications or credentials whatsoever in medicine, physiology, nutrition or any of the other the subjects you’ve been pontificating about. This explains why you’d use a misnomer like “lean muscle”, write like a 3rd grader, plagiarize other people’s work and present it as your own, mislead about your qualifications, and hype a ridiculous scam like Thrive.
Rebecca said: “Walk a day in my shoes then we will see what you think my time is worth.”
I already know what your time is worth – close to nothing – because that’s what bottom-feeder MLM scammers typically earn. I would also predict with a high degree of certainty that you would abuse your minor petty position as a nursing assistant to sell worthless Thrive products to unsuspecting naifs. That is, if I actually believed any of your BS background story – we’ll get to that next.
Rebecca said: “I will not stoop to your level of name calling.”
I wouldn’t mind if you called me names if the insults were accompanied by comments with substance, insight, and validity.
Now let’s get to the interesting part. Le-vel’s Facebook page contains 3 anonymous boilerplate testimonials from people all claiming to be nursing assistants.
https://www.facebook.com/LevelBrands/posts/643362172427992
https://www.facebook.com/LevelBrands/posts/796932970404244
https://www.facebook.com/LevelBrands/posts/801429126621295
These were not posted by actual Facebook user accounts but rather by the company itself. They are all virtually identical with the exception of the author names used: Kristina Hibbert, Megan Hart, and Amanda Encinas. One of them, Kristina Hibbert, even claims, just as you did, to be a mother of a child with special needs.
Predictably, a Google search for these names plus the word “nursing” turns up not a single nursing assistant. The only question I have is whether Le-vel buys these BS manufactured testimonials in bulk, or they have some little troll in their office whose job is to pen this crap every day and post it to Facebook.
So yeah, Rebecca, you’re full of shite. I don’t believe that you’re a nursing assistant at all. Even your claims to be a mother and a women are suspect. You seem much more like a troll inventing BS to deceive people. Another MLM weasel in sheep’s clothing. Shame on you!
Ok now you’ve crossed the line!!!! I am a mother of and autistic child and have busted my ass to take care of him and make sure he gets everything he needs. You are one heartless person. My son has overcome more obstacles in his 15 years than most of us do in a lifetime. Don’t you dare tell me that I am not a mother or even a woman! And yes you know what I did say I have worked in healthcare and in the nursing field, which includes nursing assistants!! Yes I did get certified and ya know what I hope when you get old you don’t need one of us to wipe your ass or clean up your vomit or help you eat or help you walk. I’ve held hands of many of our veterans as they leave this world with no family by their side. There is so much more to being a nursing assistant but I guess your just too ignorant to notice. Let me just fill you in a little bit….I take vital signs, bathe, dress, fees, apply topical medications, test blood sugars, take care of wounds, so tube feedings, help patients with ambulatory, range of motion, hospice care, insert/change/remove catheters, take care of colostomies, and much much more. But the most important part of the job is caring for the people….and for the majority of them it’s making them as comfortable as possible in their last moments of life. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stayed overtime and just sat with a patient until someone else could do that they wouldn’t die alone. Now tell me again how all I do is wipe asses and clean vomit??? People like you make me sick….you can sit there and judge someone without even knowing them. And you have the audacity to talk my children saying they may not exist!!!! You are a heartless ass and that’s just putting it nicely because this is public. You can insult me all you want I’m an adult WOMAN and can take it but don’t you dare ever insult my children especially my son!
This is the last you will hear from me….lucky you! I will not sit here and be treated like an idiot when in fact I probably know much more than you do. Have a wonderful day!
Rebecca said: “And yes you know what I did say I have worked in healthcare and in the nursing field.”
No you did not say that you worked in the “nursing field”; you said you worked in “nursing”, implying that you are a nurse. It was obvious to everyone, given your displays of intellectual impairment, that you aren’t a nurse. You could have attempted to be honest from the get-go and told us that you were a nursing assistant instead of trying to posture as something more than that. A nursing assistant knows nothing about the subjects we’re talking about here, and yet you chose to hide behind fictitious credentials to create an air of authority. A scammer til the bitter end.
Rebecca said: “ya know what I hope when you get old you don’t need one of us to wipe your ass.”
Me too, but if worse comes to worse, I’d at least let you audition as my ass wiper, since that’s apparently what you’re best qualified at doing — not dispensing inane advice about nutrition and physiology and other subjects you know nothing about.
Rebecca said: “There is so much more to being a nursing assistant…”
Again, you’re just so desperate to win an argument about something that you’ll now derail this discussion by giving us a worthless lecture on the roles and responsibilities of nursing assistants. Snore…
Rebecca said: “But the most important part of the job is caring for the people….and for the majority of them it’s making them as comfortable as possible in their last moments of life.”
While you try to sell them your worthless hocus-pocus patches. Your modus operandi is clear. You prey upon the sick, vulnerable, ignorant, and desperate.
Rebecca said: “You can insult me all you want I’m an adult WOMAN and can take it but don’t you dare ever insult my children especially my son!”
It’s very amusing to watch you meltdown and play victim in this desperate Munchhausen-like attempt to garner sympathy. I said nothing about your alleged son, insulting or otherwise. So you can take the gauntlet you just threw down and slap yourself upside the head with it.
Rebecca said: “This is the last you will hear from me….lucky you!”
Really? Do you mean it this time? You said the same thing a couple of days ago and yet you haven’t been able to shut up since. More insincerity on your part. Lucky would be never having had to sit through your tiresome insipid BS in the first place.
Rebecca said: “I will not sit here and be treated like an idiot”
OK. You can stand up then, or go somewhere else, and be treated like an idiot.
Rebecca said: “when in fact I probably know much more than you do.”
ROFL! Apparently they didn’t teach you about the Dunning-Kruger at the ass-wiping academy you allegedly attended.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Geoff and Vogel, can I just say, “Thank you!!” I enjoy reading all of the completely on point replies you both make to the delusional thrivers. There are a few of them in my family (in-laws) and I just shake my head and laugh every time I hear them jabber on about how, “it has been life changing! I love changing lives!” They all were heavy soda drinkers and now they’ve replaced it with thrive stimulants, but they try to come across as though they are an authority on nutrition and wellness.
Rebecca said, “Just because I don’t throw a bunch of scientific words out there doesn’t mean I’m an idiot. And your nasty comments honestly make you look like an idiot yourself.”
No, purchasing exorbitantly expensive generic products makes you look like an idiot. Not understanding their marketing and what they are used for makes you look like an idiot. Supporting a corrupt business and continuing to defend their misleading products makes you look like an idiot. Oh, and saying “I’ve done research”, and then continued to NOT bring ONE resource makes you look like an idiot.
Rebecca said, “As for Thrive….there are actually many many people who use the product without promoting it. Just like there are many many people who go to the store and buy vitamins.”
There were also many people who drank Monavie’s water and preached it would never go bust (News flash, they were wrong). These types of bad anecdote’s and useless fluff also make you look like an idiot. If I told you that many people were rubbing horse manure on their face because it is great for acne, would that be sufficient evidence (Rhetorical question)? Again, there is more and more proof showing vitamins are not as helpful as people think and some are detrimental, but that still doesn’t seem to be penetrating your brain and is still irrelevant to this blog as it is about personal finance.
Rebecca said, “You don’t have to be a promoter to use the products. The comments you have made about that actually make you sound stupid not me. Anyone can buy anything they want and not be promoting it.”
No, you don’t have to be a promoter, but an overwhelming majority of their sales comes from promoters selling to other promoters in the hope of making money. There are very few Rebecca’s (idiots) in the world that opt to spend extra money for generic and not competitive products in the market space. Your reckless disregard for your bank account is another example of your idiocy.
Rebecca said, “Yes we can all get vitamins through what we eat but let’s be honest nobody eats healthy 100% of the time.”
First of all, there are people who eat healthy 100% of the time, but clearly that isn’t you. If your ego could get out of your own way, then maybe you could understand that your reality is not accurate to the world’d reality. Second of all, you don’t have to eat healthy 100% of the time to get essential nutrients as Consumer Lab states what percentage of the American population is deficient in a variety of vitamins (http://www.consumerlab.com/answers/How+likely+are+Americans+to+be+deficient+in+vitamins+or+minerals%3F/vitamin_deficiency/)
Rebecca said, “With Thrive your getting vitamins, minerals, enzymes, probiotics, antioxidants, plant extracts, protein, and fiber. Thrive helps with joint support, inflammation support, lean muscle support, digestive and immune support, cognitive performance, and weight management.”
This sounds like more regurgitated crap your sponsor told you. I’d be impressed if you even knew what a probiotic is, and if you took the time to look at the comparison I made earlier with Orgain, then you would see the item offers all of these vitamins and minerals “you need”. Again, your head is so far in the sand, that your modus operandi is to be “right” rather than accurate.
Rebecca said, “I’ve got better things to do with my day than sit here and listen to your idiotic insults. Thrive is not for everyone if you don’t like it it’s simple….don’t use it!!!”
Then shoo away Rebecca and try not to inflict any more damage on others on your way out.
You are correct that Thrive is not for everyone, but the better way of putting it is, Thrive is not for ANYONE.
Christina,
Thank you for the kind words. Hopefully your family will snap out of it sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, these MLMs have been around for a long time and they are very good at programming people with their rhetoric. I’m glad you can see the irony in their nonsense and steer clear of this nastiness.
Rebecca said, “I spend my money on it because it works for me. There’s my input for the financial aspect of this conversation. My bank account is nobodies business but mine and my husbands. If I couldn’t afford the ridiculous price as you say, then I wouldn’t be buying it.”
Rebecca you missed the point entirely. If this works for you, then the competitor’s products will work to because the competitor’s products are either the SAME or BETTER. The only reason you would use this product over the competitor is to reap the benefit of building a “team” (pyramid) below you and receive compensation as well as free product. Rebecca if you choose to ignore the facts that is fine, but that gives me the right to anoint you with the title “financial dunce”.
Rebecca said, “I have worked in the healthcare field in nursing for the past 15 years so I’m pretty sure I do know something about health.”
Rebecca, I’m not sure that is something you want to mention after supporting nutrition shakes. Either your nursing has nothing to do with health science and nutrition, or you are in complete denial over the fact that nutritional shakes are not effective at their objective. There have been many studies to prove that nutritional shakes don’t work for the long term, and there has been no certification from the FDA to suggest these shakes have a medical benefit. This is officially the dumbest thing you have written to date.
Rebecca said, “And yes our bodies do need vitamins. And there is not one single person who eats healthy everyday of their life.”
Your first statement is more obvious fluff, but your second statement continues to be flat wrong. There are many people that live a completely healthy lifestyle and eat good foods. I’m not sure what bubble you are living in, but is so far out of reality, that it scares me to think you are supposed to be a practicing nurse. It would appear the healthcare standards have deteriorated even worse than I could have imagined.
Rebecca, please explain your crusade to defend Le-vel products. I’m happy about my car, but I don’t go all out defending it on someones blog who has compared it to a Ford Pinto.
Would be interesting to know if your comment’s ip address points to an office at Le-vel’s headquarters, or other similar defensive comments across the web. With your comments ip, a who-is search could be performed on it, or similar comments across the web could be easily identified with some coordination.
Now Rebecca, before you cut loose on me, why would you waste your time doing so? Is this something that happens with all Le-vel *Cough* customers? They see the light and say to themselves “Oh my god… Le-vel’s Thrive is great! I have to go on the internet to spread this news! Defend it against nay-sayers by sharing how I feel, stating ‘I’ve done my research’! Is this spiritual?”
I am just a customer. I started out just by saying how it has worked for me and how it has been a good investment for myself because I like the product. It’s gone on because I keep getting attacked for everything I say and I get very defensive. I know I need to let it go it just irks me that someone is so judgmental and such a name called without even knowing me. And then to attack my career and my children is very uncalled for. Don’t worry I won’t go off in you lol!
If anyone here is going to comment anonymously, they shouldn’t refer to unverifiable and irrelevant information such as their occupation and family’s medical condition(s).
Thank you.
Rebecca, the reply that followed your first comment wasn’t an attack, but it sure put you in a bad light. Most people would have simply left it at that, and never returned, specially after your comment about Le-vel’s Thrive is not meant to be used specifically as a weight loss supplement,
https://www.lazymanandmoney.com/le-vel-thrive-scam/comment-page-3/#comment-1354785
…which was debunked by Geoff, who provided a link to the Le-vel site which states
“Whether your goal is to lose weight, get in the best shape of your life, or simply be the best you can be, we know the 8-Week THRIVE Experience will get you THRIVIN’,”
https://www.lazymanandmoney.com/le-vel-thrive-scam/comment-page-3/#comment-1354824
For someone who states that they do their research and know what they’re talking about, how did you miss that information? Starting at the source never came to mind?
https://le-vel.com/Experience
In a later comment you wrote “And YES I have done research on it because I don’t just go around believing anything I see.”
https://www.lazymanandmoney.com/le-vel-thrive-scam/comment-page-3/#comment-1354878
…but from your first post you stated “It has been proven to work and many celebrities even use Thrive!”. So you don’t go around believing everything you see, but you truly believe a celebrity endorsement is proof that Thrive works? Celebrities wont put their name behind any products unless they’re gettin’ paid. Their name is money, and they’re not gonna support anything for free.
https://www.lazymanandmoney.com/le-vel-thrive-scam/comment-page-3/#comment-1354785
And since Lazy Man brought this up, if you’re posting anonymously, why on Earth would you tell us about your occupation and family? I could also tell the world I’m related to Prince Charles and that I have a club foot under the name Henry. Are you hoping that even though you don’t believe everyhing you read on the internet as you stated above, readers would believe everything you’ve posted so far?
I’m sure no one who comments here lives next door to you, or knows you personally. So for your anonymous self to take offense to replies posted here is unbelievable. You need to seek psychiatric help!
But if you’re a Le-vel employee, I’ll would start looking for another job if I was you. The top brass are probably irked by your performace here. Good luck!
Rebecca said: “I am just a customer.”
Ha! BS! No one believes that for an instant. Everything you have said to date screams loudly that you are either a Thrive distributor or one of the company’s trolls posting under a fictitious nom de guerre. Below are a few choice examples; these are not the words of an ordinary customer:
“It has been proven to work”
“Nobody is getting thrown under the bus.”
“Not everyone will like it….but most people do!!
“As for Thrive….there are actually many many people who use the product without promoting it.”
“With Thrive your getting vitamins, minerals, enzymes, probiotics, antioxidants, plant extracts, protein, and fiber. Thrive helps with joint support, inflammation support, lean muscle support, digestive and immune support, cognitive performance, and weight management.”
Ignoring the blatant rah-rah Thrive cheer-leading, these are not the comments of an ordinary customer but rather someone who is professing to have insider knowledge about the company. You sound like a Thrive brochure.
Also funny how your biographical details match up closely to the distributor Kristina Hibbert on Le-Vel’s Facebook page who allegedly claims to be a nursing assistant and a mother of a special needs child.
https://www.facebook.com/LevelBrands/posts/643362172427992
Rebecca said: “And then to attack my career and my children is very uncalled for.”
You got called out for pretending to be a nurse and making fallacious arguments from authority, so don’t feign victimhood.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority
I actually have great respect for nursing assistants – the ones who aren’t self-serving assholes trying to peddle worthless Thrive patches on naïve and vulnerable patients. As for your alleged children, no one came even remotely close to attacking them. It’s sickening that you would throw them under the bus like that to defend yourself. Shape up!
Rebecca said, “I am just a customer. I started out just by saying how it has worked for me and how it has been a good investment for myself because I like the product.”
Woah woah woah…that is not how you started out. You started out making bold, unsubstantiated claims such as:
“Thrive is not meant to be used specifically as a weight loss supplement. It’s simply putting vitamins in your body. It has been proven to work and many celebrities even use Thrive!”
“Many people spend this much money way on shakes and vitamins and whatever other supplements they take…it’s no more expensive than anything else. Protein shakes cost just as much as the lifestyle shakes. Everyone had their own opinion and experiences and not everyone will like it….but most people do!!”
Don’t act like you were someone reporting your own opinion based on your experience, because those quotes, which came from your first post, were a mission to disprove this article. You have tried to provide counter-points about people needing vitamins (completely unrelated to the article and incorrect), incorrect theses about price (which have been disproven), and attempted to project an unsubstantiated claim about protein shakes being beneficial (again not pertinent to the article, and also wrong).
Rebecca said, “It’s gone on because I keep getting attacked for everything I say and I get very defensive. I know I need to let it go it just irks me that someone is so judgmental and such a name called without even knowing me.”
Rebecca, instead of focusing on the name calling, perhaps you should focus on relevant and accurate details. The “Judgments” have been well founded based on your lack of knowledge about this field, your righteous indignation to form and spew opinions that are both wrong and dangerous, and your inability to command the English language (I’m no English scholar, but at least I can formulate my sentences intelligibly). If you want to be taken more seriously, once again, utilize resources to support your opinions, use a dictionary to understand what certain words mean, and take the time to make grammatically accurate sentences and paragraphs. Instead of being defensive, try making a change to your own behavior and abilities.