Discount Home Shopping Club (DHS)

[edspec]

I have been a member and VIP upgraded reseller for DHS for more than 2 years. I have made it to Emerald Level ($1,000 a month) and was consistently increasing monthly income (paid after 20th of each month).

In August 2002, CEO **** Burke decided the company was not meeting its bills and reduced all compensation to VIPS by 25% so that I immediately dropped from $1,000 a month to $750 the following month and then dropped even further to $250 in the following months as VIPS quit. They had been depending on that income for retirement as advertised by DHS; and current monthly income they had worked HARD for---------and now were forced to find other sources to replace that income and future security.

In October CEO **** Burke implemented a policy that all VIPS who did not increase their number of VIPS the next month would lose 10% of their income as penalty for not working the program. The following month it would be an additional 10% and 10% each month a person did not increase their membership numbers from the previous month.

So, after taking our income, he's penalizing us for not working hard enough with the program each month. Yet, we still pay the same membership fee of $25 a month so it should be our choice to work the program.

The DHS Club is currently building a resort for employee and VIP rewards and the CEO will rent the cabins he's building and furnishing to VIPS as well. The Club owns a 24 foot (boat) ----Mr. Burke says it's not a yacht ---- and the shopping Mall has had more sales in the October and November than in the history of DHS.

Does that sound like DHS is going broke? It sounds to me like DHS CEO is just getting greedy. I emailed Mr. Burke and asked if he planned to keep the Compensation plan at the current numbers since I was deciding whether to put in the time, money, and effort to build my business back up.

HE SAID HE COULD NOT PROMISE HE WOULDN'T "MOVE THE GOALPOSTS" AND LOWER THE COMPENSATION PAYOUTS AGAIN.

He did not live up to the "contract", policies and advertised benefits advertised when I joined. As a result, I believe everyone should join DHS as a means for earning extra income with great caution knowing the rewards to you could change at the whim of the CEO.

I can provide emails from the CEO as proof of these events.


JOIN DHS WITH CAUTION or NOT AT ALL.

Edspec

[SammyCSm]

I have been with the DHS Club for 16 months now. This has been my first
experience with Network Marketing and, in contrast to your experience, mine
has been very rewarding.

Perhaps I have been fortunate enough to learn the correct methods; those
upon which the DHS Club was founded. In any event, I have progressed with
the Club and earn a comfortable income. I think the key to this has been to
promote the wonderful Consumer Opportunity afforded its' membership.
Personal testimony is the best way I have found to encourage membership.
After all, one must "practice what they preach", as the saying goes. For
instance, this past holiday season, I shopped through the Clubshop Mall. On
just one purchase from one vendor I saved $240.00 and received an
additional 4.6% Rebate from the Club. I share testimonies like this one.
People who are intelligent shoppers are soon curious about the Business
Opportunity and the Business Opportunity sells itself.

The Discount Home Shopper's Club has a great compensation plan for those
who choose to join the VIP Business Opportunity. I have researched many
MLM's and none are quite as affordable as this one. Where else can you have
your own business for a $49.95 upgrade fee, $25.00 per month subscription
fee, and $19.95 per annum renewal fee? Most businesses cost one allot more
than this to operate. Also, the DHS Club has been in business for 5 1/2
years with a clean track record. It has a clean record with the Better
Business Bureau, a clean legal record, and a clean record with the F.T.C.

The DHS Club has never missed paying monthly shopping Rebates, CV% and/or
commissions to its' VIPs. Did you know that they pay the monthly shopping
Rebates before they actually receive the Rebate money from the vendors?
Yes, they pay shopping rebates "up front", before the Club has the money in
hand. That's pretty amazing to me!

To set the record straight, the first thing I would like to mention is that
you have the name of the Club incorrect in your posting. It's a common
mistake, but I suggest that one must know their correct business name in
order to succeed.

Did you utilize any of the many wonderful VIP benefits, such as: Travel,
Automotive, Services, Medical & Dental, Entertainment, and Grocery Savings?
Some of the benefits are free. Some are provided for a minimal cost. There are
also benefits provided for International members and for Network and
Shopper members. The benefits of DHS Club membership are astounding! Again,
you can not sell something if you are not familiar with the benefits
and products.

Yes, the compensation plan was changed in August. But, those who built their
DHSC business the correct way felt little, if any, impact from the change.
They have continued to increase their businesses and are successful. One of
the great marks of our Leader, **** Burke, is that he is a "hands on"
President & CEO. When changes are necessary, they are changed for the good of the
WHOLE Club and not for the benefit of a few. **** Burke is a great visionary and I
have the utmost faith in his leadership and the utmost respect for him as a
human being. His first priority is, and always has been, the membership of
the DHS Club; especially the VIP membership. Every business is faced with
changes it must make for the good of the whole operation. I, for one, am certainly
glad that the DHS Club is in the hands of such a great leader.

I must correct your statement about the change in the Leadership Income
Requirement that took place in October. The Leadership Income Requirement
replaced the Active Sponsor Requirement and I suggest that the change is a
good one and is fair. Each $25.00 of CV% is the equivalent of
having one personally sponsored VIP. CV% is earned on the total Clubshop
Mall, Clubdepot, and/or Benefits purchases personally made by a VIP and by their downline
members. This is in addition to CV% earned by personally sponsoring another VIP. The
change in October states that if a VIPs CV% declines consecutively for 3
months, their Leadership Income will be reduced by 10% for the last or 3rd
month of the decline. NOT 10% for each of the 3 months as you have stated.
If a VIP increases their CV% in ANY of the 3 months, their Leadership
Income is not affected at all. There is no minimum increase for this
change. Even the most minimal increase wipes the slate clean and the 3
month count begins again upon the first decline in CV%.

The retreat is in its' infancy, but plans are to use it for VIP training.
Not only the training provided by the Club, but also for VIPs to personally use it for
training seminars with their downline Teams. The boat that is owned by the Club
is a modest 24 feet with an open deck for greater seating capacity. It is
mainly used by the VIPs when they go to headquarters for their all expense
paid President's Club trip. They spend 3 days and 2 nights on Palm
Island. A Tropical Paradise that is only accessible by boat.

If you join the DHSC Business Opportunity and learn the correct methods
upon which DHSC was founded, you will become successful. The correct
methods are most important in order to build a successful business and a
residual income.

As with any business, it takes patience, work, and time.
It takes faith in yourself, faith in the organization, and a positive attitude. If
you are unable, for any reason, to abide by these things, I suggest that you will prohibit
yourself from becoming successful with any venture you choose to undertake.

[edspec]

SammyCSm,

I respect your opinion. Your philosophy and writing style is exactly like the CEO, Mr. Burke's. Your details AND GLOWING REPORT about Mr. Burke and about the various aspects of the club are those that Mr. Burke typically reports. He also continuously tells us that

"those who built their DHSC business the correct way" and

the " retreat is in its' infancy, but plans are to use it for VIP training. Not only the training provided by the Club, but also for VIPs to personally use it for training seminars with their downline Teams. The boat that is owned by the Club is a modest 24 feet with an open deck for greater seating capacity. It is mainly used by the VIPs when they go to headquarters for their all expense paid President's Club trip. They spend 3 days and 2 nights on Palm Island. A Tropical Paradise that is only accessible by boat."

(He "....doth protest too much, methinks." Shakespeare)


I notice you do not mention one word about your personal downline or how high you have been promoted in DHS or how many people you lost when DHS changed its compensation plan.

Specifically, a Ruby Director used to need 75 VIPS on their team and now a Ruby Director needs 100 VIPS on their team to qualify for Ruby Director. The amount of money a Ruby Director makes from these 100 recruited and trained VIPS remained the same as when we only needed 75 VIPS. A Diamond Director used to need 150 VIPS to earn $1,500 a month (plus 3 VIP managers, etc) and now that Diamond Director needs 200 VIPS (and 3 managers).

THESE NUMBERS DEFINITELY INDICATE LESS MONEY IN COMPENSATION since, if your numbers stayed at the current level, you would lose money the moment the plan was implimented.

Your comment: "Yes, the compensation plan was changed in August. But, those who built their DHSC business the correct way felt little, if any, impact from the change." must be directed at those on the lower levels who were making only a few dollars more than their monthly dues. Otherwise, 25 or 50 VIPS is a BIG difference in leadership AND VIP income.

Money is the bottom line in any Business. As for learning the "Correct Methods", these have changed since the first of this year and we are now constantly hammered to purchase benefits and products from the Mall when we can find better deals elsewhere on the internet. (I did purchase a Dell computer through there for $1,800 and my discount [rebate] was $9.00.)

We all know the reason DHS is now promoting its Mall is because all Businesses were warned to either have a legitimate PRODUCT to sell or be labeled an illegal Pyramid Program.

Anyway, SammyCSm, I do respect your opinion of DHS, but I have had an entirely different experience and you must admit that the "policies and compensation plan" I joined under have dramatically changed. The change has dramatically hurt all VIPS in DHS.

If everyone else's business is doing so great because they do it "using the correct method", then why were only 10 people promoted to the next level out of 3 million people. (Yes, I know many more were promoted at the lowest levels where less than 20 VIPS were required and only one more VIP meant a promotion)

As I said before, JOIN DHS WITH CAUTION IF YOU PLAN TO MAKE IT A BUSINESS! AND, as the above writer said, the Club believes there is only one way to market this program so you must follow the "rules" for stacking members rather than market as YOU see fit (without spamming, of course).

Edspec,
Who has found a much better opportunity and has already built it to the level I lost in DHS.

[RipCurl]

And I suggest that anyone who GETS an Email touting you to join this stupid, pyramid scheming club, to visit this website:

http://www.theclubbuiltonspam.com

IT chronicles everything ILLEGAL that DHS club does, including the promotion of spamming, and how its members violated 23 state laws in order to spam.

[freedomlover]

With all due respect, Edspec, you are incorrect in many of your statements. It is all too typical for someone to fail at something, then place the blame elsewhere. Of COURSE it was not your fault that your income went down - it was that nasty old Mr. Burke that "decided the company was not meeting all it's bills and reduced all compensation to VIPs by 25%".

That statement alone indicates a complete lack of understanding of the DHS Compensation Plan. What you are saying just plain did not happen. Ever think that perhaps those VIPs in your group decided to quit because their upline (you) lost faith in yourself and the opportunity that you were offering them? Any salesman worth his salt will tell you that success in sales has to do primarily with attitude - and it is obvious that yours is not positive. A negative attitude in a sales organization is like a cancer - and it looks like your case is terminal.

Then you talk about the change in the Active Sponsorship Rule, and you completely misquote that too. It is really amazing that you were able to advance as far as Emerald, if you actually did. Or did your upline build your group for you? That happens sometimes, and you end up with people at levels and they don't even know how they got there (or more to the point, what they need to do to stay there).

Every company has people that succeed and people that fail. You represent the common occurence of someone failing, then placing the blame every place except where it belongs - squarely on your shoulders. I wonder why others have seen their downlines growing during the same time that yours is falling apart? Don't the same rules apply to everyone? Does **** Burke just have it in for you, just wanting YOU to fail? It seems odd that some people are succeeding at the same time you are complaining that the company is out to screw you.

I do agree with one statement you made - join with caution if you plan to work DHS Club as a business. That statement would be true about ANY business you decide to embark on. Anyone should do research on the company and make sure it is one that will be here for a long time, and that the integrity and honesty of the leader(s) is above reproach. I did that research before I became a VIP, and since then have confirmed that DHS Club is without a doubt the best opportunity available on the internet (or elsewhere) today.

Regarding "theklubbuiltonspam" website - keep in mind that no one even views that web page except Bill Cartoon and his cronies. He talks big, but what effect does it have when no one cares what he says? Oh, and ask him this - please show proof of an email spam that was sent out by DHS Club. Still waiting to see that, Bill. What, you don't have anything like that to show us? Is that perhaps because the company does not send out spam? Thanks for clearing that up for us.

Oh, but he has such a clever rejoinder - if the DHS Club did not exist, there would be no incentive to send the spam. I guess this is supposed to imply that the company is thereby responsible for the spam. That is a pretty big jump in logic there, Billy. What about all the spam for Norton software? Are you going after them next? After all, if Symantec did not exist, there would be no incentive for that spam either. After that, let's close up all the mortgage and insurance companies, so that spam will stop too. Then will sue anyone who has a ***** or breasts, so there will be no incentive for those spams either.

Billy thinks he is pretty smart publishing people's addresses and phone numbers - but it is interesting that his OWN address is somehow missing from his website. He even registered the domain name in such a way that his mailing address could not be viewed. Something to hide, I wonder?

Every company has winners and losers. There will always be those that just can't cut it. For me, I will continue to enjoy the income and benefits I receive from DHS Club for many years to come.

A lover of Freedom and Free Enterprise

[RipCurl]

Originally posted by freedomlover
With all due respect, Edspec, you are incorrect in many of your statements.


He is most correct. There are many disgruntled x-DHS club members who share the same feelings.
That DHS club in all their glory cannot compete in todays market, and trying to make it "legal" by offering products when their bottom line is really dependent on how much people you can sign up under you.

This is a program that borders on being a Pyramid scheme. The only reason they get around it being a Pyramid Scheme, is that they actually do "offer" soemthing (discounts to purchase crap - though you can find those same crap for much cheaper elsewhere). But whole heartedly, the entire DHS Club is sham and borderline scam, that skitters on the edge of being illegal.


That statement alone indicates a complete lack of understanding of the DHS Compensation Plan. What you are saying just plain did not happen. Ever think that perhaps those VIPs in your group decided to quit because their upline (you) lost faith in yourself and the opportunity that you were offering them? Any salesman worth his salt will tell you that success in sales has to do primarily with attitude - and it is obvious that yours is not positive. A negative attitude in a sales organization is like a cancer - and it looks like your case is terminal.


Many people understands DHS Club totally.
Skittering on the edge of actually being an illegal Pyramid Scheme.. They just edge on by because they offer something to buy (through their Clubshop site), but take away the crap, and you'll find that 90% of their "business" has to do with their members trying to sign people up under them. The more people you have under you, the "more" money you're suppose to make.


I do agree with one statement you made - join with caution if you plan to work DHS Club as a business. That statement would be true about ANY business you decide to embark on. Anyone should do research on the company and make sure it is one that will be here for a long time, and that the integrity and honesty of the leader(s) is above reproach. I did that research before I became a VIP, and since then have confirmed that DHS Club is without a doubt the best opportunity available on the internet (or elsewhere) today.

Yes join with cautioin. All that they teach you (especially on how to get people to sign up under you) ACTUALLy violate state laws (ie spamming).

Do you want to be associated with a company that advocates the breaking of several laws?

I have 100+ different spams from DHS Club members that are still active today, despite **** Burke's claims of clamping down on their members to not "spam". Their whole business model depends on spamming in order to get their members; all the while their members who do spam, break laws in the process.



Regarding "theklubbuiltonspam" website - keep in mind that no one even views that web page except Bill Cartoon and his cronies.

Oh that's really nice. Call us cronies?
Unlike the criminals who run DHS? hmm? Anyone who spams for DHS to get members actively break laws , trespass on chatel , and violate federal laws concerning computer security.

I rather be a cronie than be associated with criminals.



He talks big, but what effect does it have when no one cares what he says? Oh, and ask him this - please show proof of an email spam that was sent out by DHS Club.


No one cares what he says? He's one voice in the the 100's of others who have a say over what can eneter our mail systems.

DHS Club and whoever hosts their crap website, and mail servers are activiely blocked by 1000's of isp's everyday. thanks in part to the criminal activities of its members. They have been kicked off of no less than 5 isps' in the past. Being kicked off must mean that they are doint something really bad. OR condoning the activities of their members who are doing something bad.

Visit freedomsarmy.org lately? That nice list of isp's who Block DHS CLUB have many heavy hitters on their list. Must be that something is very wrong with DHS CLUB if national isps like Covad.net wants to block their rubbish.


Still waiting to see that, Bill. What, you don't have anything like that to show us? Is that perhaps because the company does not send out spam? Thanks for clearing that up for us.

Since tghe "company" relies on its members, its members do send out spam.

Do you want a copy of every DHS CLUB spam I've received over the last 3 months to accounts on a domain I own that dont exist. (ie sending to mary@mydomain.com doesn't mean there is actually and address at that domain. But since i get the catch-all to wrong email address into my postamaster acct, you gotta wonder why a dHS Club member would want to spam a non-existing acct?)

I have over 350 DHS CLub mailings/spam that I would love ot share with you.


Oh, but he has such a clever rejoinder - if the DHS Club did not exist, there would be no incentive to send the spam.

If DHS CLUB ceases to exist, it would bring a sigh of relief to sysadmins everywhere.


I guess this is supposed to imply that the company is thereby responsible for the spam. That is a pretty big jump in logic there, Billy.

WTF are you talking to? Billy? Haa, one should learn not to assume that Bill Would post here.

Yes the Company is responsible for its members. If youre a parent, aren't you responsible for the actiosn of your children. If your child breaks your neighbors window, doesn't the neighbor ask you for you to repair it? Or pay for the repairs? NOT YOUR Kid.

These "members" spam on behalf of DHS CLUB, and DHS club is responsible for the actions of its members. IF its members spam (hence violating the contracts of the ISP's they belong to), DHS CLUB is responsible for dealing with its members who do spam. If they dont, they are supporting spam, and hence should be blocked. DHS CLUB earns money from its members, and if spamming is hte way that members earn money, DHS Club is earning money from spamming. ITs simple and easy logic.

Spam > Member > DHS CLUB
If DHS CLUB decider to actually terminate members who spam, the company would earn a better repuation. Unfortunately, ****y burke doesn't want to deal with spamemrs cause why would you cut the legs of those who are earning you the most money?

The club thrives on spam, and its the only way they make money.


What about all the spam for Norton software? Are you going after them next? After all, if Symantec did not exist, there would be no incentive for that spam either.

AND if you bothered to go to their website, they have explicitly stated they are not responsible for that spam and want anyone who receives any spam that touts the sale of Norton software, they want it repoted to them immediately.

ONe should be careful of pointing fingers and whining "well they do it" without researching first.

99% of all the NA spams sent was not authorized by Norton, and they are taking actions against those who offer their software without permission. 99% of thos spams that tout NA software actually are selling illegal copies of their software.

http://www.symantec.com/spamwatch/

has information.

So, again, what was your point?


After that, let's close up all the mortgage and insurance companies, so that spam will stop too. Then will sue anyone who has a ***** or breasts, so there will be no incentive for those spams either.

Man your ignorance on spam really shines through
Suggest you take your feeble attempt at this "blame" the other guys as well post elsewhere, cause you just dont understand the epidemic that spam has become

bTW, most of those mortgage spams/*****/viagra/weight loss/whatever are actually scams anyway, but if you have been battling spam as long as most of us have, you'd know that already.


Billy thinks he is pretty smart publishing people's addresses and phone numbers - but it is interesting that his OWN address is somehow missing from his website. He even registered the domain name in such a way that his mailing address could not be viewed. Something to hide, I wonder?

Hey stupid is a stupid does right? Want to broadcast your personal info all over the net, that your pergoative. Some of us are more careful about what we put out on the net.

All the information he's gathered were or are available to the public via WHOIS , or the sites that were spammed. Nothing wrong with reposting information that can be found easily in ohter ways.

Have a problem with that?

And you can find Bills address easily if you know where to look.




Every company has winners and losers.

Fortunately for DHS CLUB / all of them are losers, and as soon as they go the way of the dodo bird, the happier sysadmins, and the isps' I deal with will be.


There will always be those that just can't cut it. For me, I will continue to enjoy the income and benefits I receive from DHS Club for many years to come.

Yeah, they can't cut it alright. They have to resort to stealing, spamming, and breaking laws.

That's the American way. Stomp over the people lower than you and make you feel better about yourself.




A lover of Freedom and Free Enterprise

freedom of enterprise doesnt mean you can break into computers and steal their resources so you can make a quick buck.

Hopes that DHS CLUB dies a very painful death.

[freedomlover]

Well, you keep on hoping for that painful death, Bill. We'll see what happens.

What I hope is that anyone who bothers to read your drivel will see that it is the same garbage that you post on your website - nothing more than the opinion of one person. What's your self-given title again? "Lead Volunteer Investigator"? Wow, that sure sounds like you must be an important person with a lot of authority. About the same authority as the unarmed nighttime security guard at the local nursing home.

Maybe some day when you have a job, you won't have to sit at home and count how many spams you get, and try to annoy those of us that actually work for a living.

The debate will end with your long and boring response to this post - I have work to do.

[musicman]

In reading the information on the DHS Club in this forum, Everyone seems to be so focused on saying that DHS Club is only here to be a downline building club -- and there is no legitimate product.

There _Is_ a Legitimate Product!

The product is access to the Clubshop Mall -- where I have received some rebates -- AND also the Benefit Package. (Which I have had Telemarketers trying to sell me for much more than DHS Club Offers it!!)

If you take advantage of _only_ the Grocery Savings from the benefit package, you will save more than your monthly fee!

And there's much more that just that savings!

This is what sold me on the DHS Club! I would get the benefit of the product Even if I Didn't sponsor anyone!

I have marketed DHS Club this way with success! I receive Rebates from the Mall, Savings on items in the benefit package, and make a residual income.

I could show anyone how they can Save $$ with the DHS Club -- even if they don't sponsor 1 Person!

No Spam -- No Hype --- Just showing the value.


I do agree -- Take a Careful Look at the DHS Club -- You'll see why it's been arond since 1997 and has not received a single complaint by any governing agency or personal Lawyer!

I have taken advantage of several of the offers below.

How many could you use Right Now?


VIP Shopping Service(save $$ on any product you would buy locally-just call the toll free number and get the Lowest Guaranteed Price)

Hotels Discounts
Travel Certificates
Rental Car Discounts
Travel Discounts

Automotive
Roadside Assistance
Deductible Reimbursement
Auto Insurance Tips

Services
Legal Discounts
Credit Card Registration
Floral Delivery Discounts
Interstate Moving Discounts

Medical & Dental
Discount Pharmacy
FoneMed
Eyewear Discounts
Home Health Care Supplies
Hearing Aid Discounts
Medical Discount Plans

Entertainment
Movie Ticket Discounts
Golf Directory Discounts
Ski Directory Discounts
Theme Park Discounts

Grocery Savings
Grocery Coupons
Grocery Store Directory
Monthly Newsletters
Special Offers

[mkrate]

I started investigating DHS Club after I realized they have gotten hold of my email, and messages will not stop. Any given person sends it only once, but with two million members it's a lot of emails.

It bugs me that I have to PAY for EACH email! I doubt that all 'gigantic' profits would suffice to pay back all the money stolen from 'prospects' like me.

What a great club! They have discovered a way to steal and make a profit out of it.

Anyway, the real purpose of this message is to say that there are clubs that do not cost anything and do not resort to spaming (AFAIK). I have been a member of ebates.com for three years now, and got $30 back from $1300 spent on Dell.com, not $9 for $1800 :)). I do not have a downline, I do not want one, nor have I ever received an email saying that I should get one. The only email I got from them is when they changed some of their policies.
I am sure there are other clubs like that out there. DHS has no justification in what it does.

[winning714]

I would ALSO caution everyone who joins DHS to not do so in the hopes of making a Residual income or income for life, or any really good income at all. If you just want to shop in the Malls with the rebates, do so as a free member. And there are other sites on the internet with better rebates SUCH AS EBATES.COM.

Both Freedom Lover and Musicman sound like the writing of **** Burke as Edspec said above. (Read his actual words below)

When the compensation plan got changed----and it did, the number of VIPS who were in the Club dropped dramatically. Those that stayed were so far up the chain that they still considered a few thousand dollars a month as good enough to 'Not rock the boat" since Mr. Burke made numerous calls to the Executive members regarding their memberships and loyalty. If he found people working other programs, he found a way to remove them from DHS. That's why the upper levels are continuing to work DHS without the security of knowing the requirements would not change again.

SammyCSm if this is your first Network Marketing Experience, you probably don't have the skills to determine whether this is truly a good program or a scam. I do compliment you on regurgitating company line----From **** Burkes Mouth to YOURS.

Try comparing this program to something like www.GMT.com that is getting accolades from marketing experts all over the world. What has DHS gotten besides criticism and being known as the SPAM winner of the internet! You decide if it's a scam.

When the number of recruited, paying VIPS were raised so that each leadership level was harder to obtain, we all fell a step or two lower (with less pay) and needed to recruit more people in order to receive the same pay we received the month previously. I'd call that a pay cut and a change in the compensation plan.

I wrote to him about this situation and the UNHAPPINESS OF MY DOWNLINE,

HERE IS HOW MR. BURKE RESPONDED TO ME:

******************************************
You also stated, "When you changed the compensation plan, you hurt your hard workers more than you'll ever know. ". I feel that the implication here is that I have been unaware of the consequences of modifying the plan, for those that chose not to properly utilize the Vertical Plan that we put in place. I realized then and I do now what the effect would be. When we were forced (before we were ready) to put the double opt-in in as well as strengthen the spam policy, the number of new members dropped overnight by 90%. The number of new VIPs dropped by 30%, leaving us with $25,000 less in monthly revenue. This put is into the red. We had to modify the plan to ensure that we would stay in business.

In doing so, we worked hard to develop a strategy that could be employed so that VIPs could make up the difference in a short period of time, while also improving the plan (like allowing for pass up credit). Some groups "bought into" the changes and understood why we did them. Some did not. Frankly, your upline did not.

The ones that did have been growing steadily. You can see who these people are each month in our newsletter.

We certainly did not want to hurt anyone. Leadership requires us to make difficult decisons sometimes, that can have negative ramifications. Knowing what I know now about SPEWS, black hole lists, upstream bandwidth providers, in-house maintenance of our domains, etc. (the reasons we had to clamp down on spam complaints, which negatively impacted our cash flow, which required us to modify our plan), I would have done things differently.

But I didn't know then, what I know now.

Bottom line - those that had faith in me and in our keeping DHS Club "off the rocks" so that we are here for the long term, have done well this past year. Those that lost faith, have not. Some are regaining it. Some are realizing that the programs that looked so good, are not. Many of these are returning to work their DHS Club business.

You stated, "They aren't stupid, they'll stay until the money runs out. ". Because of what we did and the way we always protect the LONG TERM best interests of the company and our Members, the money will not "run out". We are debt free, except for some small declining loans on real assets. We are here for the long haul. Sure, any business can and will suffer setbacks. We are not immune from it and neither are you. What we have to do is figure out what causes the setback and overcome it.

**********************************************
I also pointed out to him that it didn't look like DHS was losing money from the resort he was building to reward execs and have conferences (saving money from staying in hotels, you know), the yacht DHS owns (for once-a-month transportation to an island where DHS execs stay ----I guess there are no hotels on the Florida mainland.) and I misunderstood about him owning the island that he mentions so often...so I admit I was wrong there. Here are his comments:

*****************************************
I am leaving my office shortly to go to Ocala for the weekend Conference there, so I will be unable to respond in a manner that you deserve, until Monday. I appreciate your bluntness. Only a problem well stated is one half solved. More communication is better than less. :)

A few things though quickly...... as they deal with ethical behavior on my part.

Your statement, "In addition, the organization saw you building a resort, owning a yacht, an island (?) and you traveling all over the world. Why, all of a sudden were WE to blame for the company going broke?" is not quite right. We are developing a retreat from a percentage of the profits that we have as part of a long term benefits program for Executive Directors and for a Training Facility. There is a lodge there and one cabin has been completed. Starting in January, qualified Executive Directors will be able to stay there for free. We began to look at the costs (and future costs) for cruises and we could see that spending $50,000 per year this year and more each year was not the best use of the money. We want to motivate people to work and we want to get people together, but we felt we would be better off if we invested this money into our own facility rather than "renting" a cruise ship each year.

This provides a stronger balance sheet to enable us to get increases in our Merchant Accounts to grow the Club as well as provides future income for our VIPs based on their members using the facility and gaining overrides and CV from their rentals.

It also provides us with an employee benefit which a number of our employees have used and appreciated. This creates loyalty and longevity in employment.

This is LONG TERM thinking, versus short term. We do not borrow to develop this, but all development will be a result of reinvesting a percentage of our profits into it to have a stronger future. If we don't have it, we won't develop. If we do, we will. The cabin built there was done from the set aside from last year.

FYI - My wife and I own a cabin which we had before DHS Club, about 1/2 hour south of Duck's Nest. We do not need Duck's Nest. It is not for us, but for our employees and VIPs.

Next - there is no yacht. The company does own a 24' boat that we use for employee motivation and when VIPs come to HQ for their expense paid trip. I have used it once personally since May, the weekend before the last group of Execs came here to ensure that it was running okay, as well as getting a little personal R&R.

Next - there is no island. I wish there was. :) We do take the Execs that come here over to Palm Island to stay there. (We take them by use of our boat).

Finally, I do not (yet) travel all around the world. Last year I went to Sweden to do a Conference. I flew all night Friday night to get there Saturday morning to do the Conference and came back the next day on Sunday. Conference attendees each paid a samll amount to help offset the costs of the Conference. This year I went to London and I do go someplace about once a month to do Conferences. Once in a while, my wife will go with me and we take a few days off for some R&R at our own expense.

I do Conferences as an investment. We have been told by many people that it was their attending a Conference that made the difference. That is where they got their commitment. If you have downline that attend, it will benefit you.

FYI - It has been almost six years since I started this company. Only this past year did I take my first week of vacation and yes, it was at my own expense.
*********************************


My name and email is available if you wish to contact me. I've never been happier to be outa there! AND, I've already replaced that income with GMT!

God Bless,

[Poncer]

I joined, and got an e-mail saying I don't have to spend one dollar because I won a free magazine subscription. Guess what? They billed me for the magazine, and I never even got one single free magazine from them. I refuse to pay them one cent. It is just like the Concorde group. I was told I do not have to pay one cent to earn money on there, and when I read the deal, it said I must spend almost $200 in health products before I can earn money. What a bunch of rip off artists.

[Tommy2K]

Ripcurl stated:

"Many people understands DHS Club totally.
Skittering on the edge of actually being an illegal Pyramid Scheme.. They just edge on by because they offer something to buy (through their Clubshop site), but take away the crap, and you'll find that 90% of their "business" has to do with their members trying to sign people up under them. The more people you have under you, the "more" money you're suppose to make."

Like Nixon said you won't have me to kick around any more. Well Rip. You won't have **** to kick around much longer. Seems like they are having a harder and harder time "Skittering" these days and getting member's checks out on time has slipped to the bottom of their To-Do list.

As of today 7/30 no one in our group has received their commissions checks. Same thing happened last month. Doesn't look good Rip. You may have to go get a real job soon.

[xdhsvip]

It is good to see someone who tells it like it is. I have been with DHS for 4 years or more, gone to the Fla home office, took the "tour" on ****s "boat",
attended the Convention, even taught Conferences, being an EXECUTIVE Director and making $2,000.00 a month. Having every hope of making more, until **** changed the comp plan last year, then my downline started dropping out. His demands were more than they would meet given the fact that we we no longer allowed to do our own Co-ops, to gain new members. He had us to "harvest", which was time consuming, not to say anything about stealing other businesses' members, or attempting to, at the least.
He got behind on our paychecks, and each one got smaller. He ended up with Ducks Nest, his own personal retreat and told us it belonged to DHS, and us.
Well, IF we got to stay in it, we paid just like everyone else, He did give a few discounts, WHOPEE!
I FINALLY quit, and let him keep a months' pay, because, now his demands are so great, they are impossible. NO one in their right mind would work harder and make less. SEE if anyone would like their paycheck held IF they didn't meet his requirements. This is what he is now doing.
Oh I mustn't forget to add, he has a co-op and we could buy members from his co-op. It gets better, for he also AUCTIONS OFF VIPS. Takes BIDS, can you believe that?
(I did enjoy his preaching sermons at the convention, though. Always nice to hear from someone who is so honest)!

[MARCUZ]

Rip Girl i agree with what you said :p

[Meroveus]

I'm not very familiar with DHS - looked at their website extensively 4 years ago, got a very bad feeling about it, and forgot it existed. But it's become a very common phenomenon in business to: build a business professionally and ethically, then once you've made a ton of profit, find a way to edge your employees out, making even more money, then let the business go and enjoy your gains. Particularly online, if you have just a few people who can say they've been treated well by you at first, everyone will jump onboard and sing your praises.

People don't seem to grasp that the best scam is to start out being very legitimate, gain credibility, then start making "honest mistakes" or "bad judgment calls" or my top favorite: "changes for the benefits of every other member except you, whiner". People seem to believe that if someone was once apparently honest, he must really have been honest and always will be. Just not true.

Good luck to all of you. As a neutral third party, it seems to me those criticizing the program are making more solid, number-backed arguments than those supporting it.

Mero

[MARCUZ]

I agree with Mero True true true, just had to add a post :p