Trek Alliance--"If it looks too good to be true, it is too good to be true."

October 2001
By a former distributor

My friend recently contacted me about a "business deal" with this fairly new company called Trek Alliance. He said that Trek had gone literally debt free after just a few months of existence. Now I know why. This is because they make most of their money by screwing people over.

Unlike other stories that I've read about how most people were recruited under a different company name, I was recruited under the name "Trek Alliance." I even looked at their website to see what they were all about. I was too stupid to do any further research before the training session.

When I showed up for my recruitment session the same upbeat music that others have mentioned was playing in the background. The people were all really upbeat and enthusiastic about what they were doing and I thought that this wasn't a bad idea. I never expected them to tell me that I was going to have to invest $4,000.00 to get my two "Businesses in a Box," which contain samples of everything that Trek Alliance sells. There was just no way I was going to do that.

The main speaker at my session supposedly made a six-figure income. This lady said she got involved through a party that Trek Alliance sponsored. The day I was there they had a barbeque/kegger and everyone was invited to attend, but I didn't go. She said that when she started, she was just some college student that liked to get drunk, without any direction in life. But soon she dropped out of school to go full-time with Trek Alliance. She insisted that by the end of her career Trek would make her "a millionaire."

By the end of my training session I was numb from all the information thrown at me. I am a college student with student loans and I just don't have $4,000.00 to invest. My friend said that he didn't have that kind of money either, so he only spent $2,200.00 for one "Business in a Box." That sounded more appealing to me.

My friend's sponsor was his next door neighbor who knew the ropes about recruiting. He came over the night before and drank beer with us and pulled me aside, saying he knew that I was thinking about how it all sounds "too good to be true." But he advised that was exactly what he thought before he got started. He of course wouldn't tell me much about the details, except that I needed to come to the training to really find out about it.

On the ride home from our training session my friend told me how he thought that this was a "fool proof plan to get rich" and that it allowed him to dream again. I was convinced by then to at least give it a try. It seemed to me that if I didn't do this I was going to regret it. So when we got back to his place, I signed up for my mandatory starter kit which cost me $50.00, after taxes and shipping.

I was all ready to somehow find the $2,200.00 to get started on my inventory. Then I decided to do an Internet search to find some pointers from other people who were Trek reps. One of the search results was your website so I clicked on it to read about it. What I saw made me sick. Every single thing that I read was consistent with what I saw and what I was told. I now know that I don't want to pursue this any longer.

I emailed information to my friend and he is so sorry that he got me involved. Luckily, Trek Alliance states in their policies and procedures that they will buy back inventory from reps who want to get out. Hopefully, my friend won't lose all of his money. But he will still have to pay the 10% restocking fee, which will cost him out at least $220.

Let this be a lesson to anyone who sees a deal like this: "If it looks too good to be true, it is too good to be true."