Posted by:
NeverMo in CA
(
)
Date: January 28, 2014 04:57PM
I'm asking because they are an MLM operation, and also they are headquartered in Utah (or at least manufacture their products there), which makes me wonder if it's a Mormon-owned business. A close friend invited me to a DoTerra "party" she was hosting over the weekend. I hate the overpriced junk sold at such parties, and I hate MLMs even more, but to be nice I usually will attend and make at least a token purchase if a friend is hosting.
A few things about the DoTerra party really bothered me, though, in particular the health and medical claims being made by the presenter (and her many minions who were present) about these insanely overpriced oils. Yes, I know some aromas/plants have been known for centuries to have certain properties, like lavender being calming, tea tree oil helping acne, etc. (And if nothing else, at least most of the oils smell great.)
However, the presenter (not my friend) was spouting utter crap like that "When our bodies encounter a virus, they attack it with fat and surround it with layers of fat. That's why even if you exercise all the time and eat well, you'll never lose those last five or ten pounds"...until you use DoTerra oils, of course, because certain essential oils "dissolve fat."
Much worse was that at one point she called on one of her customers to give a testimonial, and this poor young mother who appeared to be dressed in thrift-store clothes told us, fervently, how she protects her young children from catching H1N1 not be getting them a flu shot...but by dabbing a drop of a certain DoTerra oil under their noses each day. 95 people, including young and otherwise healthy people, have already died this season in California from H1N1. None of them had had the flu vaccine (yes, I do realize that vaccine does not guarantee a virus won't be contracted). Somehow I doubt DoTerra oils would have saved them.
There were also several pregnant women in attendance, and the presenter never mentioned that certain plants have been known for centuries to induce miscarriage. She also said all or most of the oils can be taken internally, and I have read on various aromatherapy websites that ingestion of essential oils can be very dangerous, especially for infants and children.
Basically, the whole thing was pseudo-scientific crap, and had my friend not been hosting it, I would have walked out as soon as that one woman had started talking about fighting H1N1 with oils.
I feel terrible for my friend who is from a poor background, as is her husband, and not well-educated. She is currently unemployed, her unemployment has run out, and her husband does not earn much, yet she has shelled out over $500 (!) on this crap because she is completely taken in by the woman who was presenting. She talks about her like she's a combination of Dr. Oz and Oprah. I was going to purchase one or two of the less costly oils DoTerra oils, just to help my friend out, but when I went to their website as she directed me to, I saw that I had to sign up to be a "consultant" myself in order for my friend to get a cut of the sale.
WTH is that? Has anyone heard of this before? At similar events I've gone to for food, cooking products, jewelry, whatever, I just write a check or fill out my credit card number on a form and then get my product in a couple of weeks...I've never had to sign up to be a "consultant." I can choose to just buy the oils directly instead from the DoTerra website also, but since if I do that my friend won't make any money (and that was the only reason I was going to buy anything), I don't see the point now.
I wish I had some info I could use to convince my poor friend that she is likely going to come out of this with very little money for herself. It's not like most of her friends and family have any more money than she does to purchase this stuff. Thanks for letting me vent!