Is Mona Vie a Scam or the Real Deal?

Someone I know has recently become a distibutor for Mona Vie, a juice which purports to give you increased energy, boost your immune system, rid you of any joint pain, feed the hungry and bring peace to the Middle East.

She has encouraged me to try it and become a distributor, but I have politely declined.  The distributor part.  I tried the juice.  It's tasty.  I didn't really stick with it long enough to see any noticeable health or energy benefits, so I can't speak to that part.

It's sold through a Multi-Level Marketing program.  Let's face it, I'm not enamored with the idea of MLMs.  I pretty much assume they are scams, unless proven otherwise.  There have been too many, from Amway to Quixtar, there were the long distance phone ones from about ten years ago, and the super blue green algae.  Remember all that crap?

So, I did a bit of digging.  Not a lot, but I wanted to know what the fuss was all about.  Online, there were a lot of positive things said about the juice itself.  How many of those online comments were by distributors of the stuff, we have no way of knowing.

I guess I have two problems with this juice:

1. The cost.
2. The business model

The cost

It's $30-$40 per bottle, depending on whether you get it at wholesale/distributor prices or retail prices.  Each bottle has 25.35 fl oz.  You are supposed to have 2 oz in the morning and 1 oz at night.  At that rate, each bottle will basically last you one week.  I don't know about you, but even at $30 per bottle, $120/month for an evergy juice sounds rather steep.

The business model

As I said earlier I pretty much assume all MLM distribution models are scams until proven otherwise.  So, I went on the Mona Vie site to see what the business side was all about.  Ultimately, the question for any MLM/Pyramid scheme is whether or not the distributors can expect to make any money on the sale of the product, or are they simply exptected to recruit more people who will recruit more people, and maybe some juice will be sold along the way?

According to the business brochure from Mona Vie, the ways that you make money are:

1. Direct sales:  you purchase at wholesale, and sell at retail for about a 15% markup, but given the cost of the bottles, if you have some regular customers you can make a bit of money this way.  Of course, if someone becomes a regular drinker, wouldn't you encourage them to become a distributor in your "downline?"

2. Bulk order bonus:  If you have at least 200 PV, each time someone you've sponsored orders a bulk order you get paid.  Good deal.

3. First Order Bonus:  Qualified Distributors with at least 200 PV earn a one time bonus for bringing new distributors under you.  I don't know what a PV is, but this part sounds distinctly like a pyramid scheme.

4. Star Maker Bonus:  for Qualified Distributors with at least 200 PV, each time someone you sponsor makes the rank of "star" you earn $40.  Again, money for recruiting, not selling juice.

5. Team Commissions:  This part is in all caps.  It says that the "TEAM COMMISSIONS ARE THE FUNDAMENTAL BUILDING BLOCK OF THE MONAVIE COMPENSATION PLAN."  Then it goes on to explain how the team commissions work:

"The team commissions portion of our plan is binary.  Binary means tha tyou will be placed in one of two legs (right or left) in your sponsor's organization.  You will then be compensated based on successfully building two legs of your own.  Your sponsor (or anyone else in your upline) may also place poeple in your organization.  As your group begins to grow, you are entitled to team commissions based on the total volume generated in your lesser leg."

Huh?

6. Executive Check Match:  From here, it sounds like the money can start to get pretty good.  I don't know how many people make it to the executive level , but I'm guessing it's pretty tough.

7. Leadership Pools:  They have reserved 1% of total company GV for the elite group of Monavie Blue Diamonds.  Sorry, don't know what this means. 

8. Multiple Business Centers:  This is a point at which you are making lots of money.  But like any pyramid scheme, does anyone other than the founders make it to this level?

Then at the end it has pictures of private jets and exclusive chateaus.

Comments

[David A]

What the hell happened to Oscar?
He said he would be back in a month
It's close to Sept

[Ashley]

I think I want some Mona Vie.

[Chris]

I love the claims and the scientific infusion of all these benificial fruits. I am trying it for the first time, and I like it's sweet, oaky and slight tarty flavor. I have noticed some slight pain reduction in my back, and a lack of my large appetite. I have been sleeping about 6-7 hours, which is slightly less than my 8-9, but I wake up feeling great. I may become just a drinker or a distributor at this time I am not sure. I am going to experiment with my 85 year old father who has several problems and see if this product benifits him. I will keep posting and will start a blog and pictures for the experiment on my father. I will talk to his doctor's and see if he will consent.

[Wesley]

First, the MLM angle. About 99% of people do not make money in MLM. If you look around you see many of the same people in the early stages of most MLM products because that is where the money is made. They get in, make money, and get out.

Second, if the product was really great it would be picked up through normal distribution chains. But normal people will not pay $120 for a small amount of fruit juice in an expensive bottle.

And, is there a single, solitary ailment that this product does not claim to fix(can we call it the Obama?), but alas, all claims are anecdotal, hence unverifiable. I was reading a story on ADHD the other day and a distributor popped in that it cures that as well. That spells scam to me.

[Mark Morgan]

Apparently I read a study inline earlier about monavie having 3 times less goodness than an apple??? 3 times less goodness than peanuts and both are a fraction of the price! MLM are not about the product its aout making money its simple some people dress it up and some claim the product is the best out there but its not we go into these things for the lifestyle and dreamns we have in hope of acheiving them!! My opinion is of the fact if we want easy money then MLMs are the way forward dont get concerned in the product just get in early as you can as they usually only have a 10yr lifespan max and by then no one is really making any money! Sure thi product has good qualities but so does any fruit or veg but u dont make money by buying from your local supermarket! This can make you rich very qucikly and drink the drink instead of spending £3 or $5 on a smoothie or coffee! Im not a distributor or associated in anyway but I can see the business model works fantastically, whether the product is the best I doubt that as a tropican OJ will give the same feling no doubt but the thing is Tropicana the comapny are making all the money out of those drinks Monavie gives YOU the opportunity to make the money!

[Michael]

Lot of mixed feelings I can see! I have been drinking the juice and can feel it! On top of that my grandmother introduced me and she is 65 retired doesn't care about making $. She has fibromyalgia, which is a disorded were you are in constant pain! I have never seen here so active in my life since she has been on the juice. On a normal bases she gets 12 corisone shots and now they have been reduced to 4.

My distributor ID #2313116
I'm located in Vancouver, BC and have done well with the business that I am moving to England to promote the product since it was just introduced Sept 8, 2009.

If you have ever been self employed than you will know that you get out of your business what time you invest in it. So I will shake off any negative reviews because I not only the juice works but so does the business model.

It's great I love it!
Drink it, Feel it, Share it!

[no thanks!]

Where are all the people who said they'd check back to let us know how it worked out? I just spent most of my day reading this entire thread and I think maybe ONE person came back and it was not positive. Where's everybody else? Probably feeling stupid for paying a ridiculous amount of money for juice.

I feel fortunate that I escaped this scheme. Some supposed "friend" that I hadn't even seen in about 10 years or so contacted me about becoming part of a business that he and his wife "bought". When I asked what the business was, of course I got no answer...just more pressure to set up the meeting so he could tell me more. I will give the guy credit for being persistent, but unless this juice cleans my house, diapers my children and cooks dinner, there's no way that my getting involved with selling it could "give me more free time."

After I finally (and incredibly) convinced the guy that I absolutely wanted nothing to do with whatever business he was getting into, he then proceeded to try and sell me the product, claiming of course that it reduced his cholesterol, his mom's his dog's, the mailman's and his pet rock's. And it gave him tons of energy! Wow! Thankfully he did mention the name of the product so that when I *finally* got off the phone I could google it to see what the heck it was.

This thread has been a hoot. Oh, and to the cult members (oops, sorry, distributors), you do your product SUCH a good service by calling people who don't agree with you nasty names. Totally convinces me to buy the stuff!!!

[me]

To the people who claim that the migraine headache experienced by some is just the body "detoxifying", please provide some PROOF of this...something scientific, not just "because I said so because somebody else said so". Honestly this makes no sense. If all somebody does is add this juice to their lifestyle without any other changes, wouldn't it stand to reason that the juice would have to constantly be detoxifying the body from all the other things they continued to ingest/come in contact with? Wouldn't the person then have a constant headache if that were the case? What is actually SUPPORTED by science is the link between migraine headaches and the consumption of certain foods, especially processed foods:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21596506/

Hmmmm....most dried fruits??? Could the "special" freeze-dried Acai berry be a culprit here?

Another thing to consider is definitely the fact that the founders used a MLM instead of simply making it widely available through retail stores. This is no altruistic endeavor to "share" it...it's simply a way to make money and avoid the FDA. If the company actually had to advertise this product, there's no way they could make the health claims that people are being sold on. So instead they have the distributors doing the marketing, which absolves the company of liability for whatever bogus claims the distributors make. They float out a U of F study and give pointers on how to make up some anecdotes, and viola! Doesn't it also stand to reason that if you make these unsuspecting folks invest hundreds of dollars in this product (and marketing materials) that you are only ensuring that they will fervently believe anything and everything to try to make it worthwhile for themselves? This is why they focus almost completely on signing people up as distributors and not on actually selling the product. Who needs plain old customers when you've got thousands of distributors roped into automatically purchasing the product in the pursuit of some promise of wealth?

Also, don't you think that if there was a significant amount of Acai in this drink, that they would be BOASTING about that percentage and not HIDING it??? Come on folks, use your brain! Or is Mona Vie killing brain cells along with cancer cells?

The conclusion I've arrived at is that it is a drink with some benefits, but those benefits seem to mainly be from the glucosamine...Everything else is likely circumstantial. I think someone would be better off:

1. Buying a glucosamine supplement for much cheaper. Your joints will feel just as good.

2. Getting a gym membership and start working out every morning. You will have added energy throughout the day and thus be ready for a good night's sleep at the end of the day. You'll also likely reduce your waistline and improve your health.

3. Eat three different fruits each day (they can be the same three fruits every day, but you need three different ones...not three apples, for example). Many real doctors and nutritionists actually stand by this for health benefit. You don't need 19 fruits a day (hello diarrhea!!!). And while we're on the topic of fruit, so far in this thread I've read three different accounts of how many servings of fruits are in Mona Vie...so what's the real number guys???

Follow the above three suggestions and you will save money, you won't ostracize yourself from your friends and family (who are likely just humoring you and buying your product simply because of your relationship with them anyway) and you won't be left out in the cold when the company eventually folds and production ceases.

[Jonathan]

LOL!!! I really love how EVERYONE who sells Monavie sounds like a brain washed drone. "IT'S YOUR FAULT IF IT DOESN'T WORK BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE THE DRIVE AND THE AMBITION THAT I HAVE!!! BEING NEGATIVE ISN'T GOING TO STOP ME!!! ARGH!!! I'M KING OF THE WORLD."

Give it up people!!! I'm tired of the "It's not a pyramid scheme if there's a product attached to it."

The product is just a cover for your lousy pyramid scheme. I wish people would quit trying to push this on me. All you do is ostrasize your friends and loved ones.

[Kitty]

wow.. i just wonder how much u guys get paid for posting something like that?

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=725773769]

Genesis Today offers an Acai Berry Juice blend that offers 24,000mg of Acai in every 8oz serving. It scores a whopping 2400 per g on the ORAC scale and is available next to the Orange juice in Wal-Mart for under $7 for 64oz. There is no question that the Acai fruit ranks very high on the antioxidant chart. The only question is why pay $30-$40 a bottle for Mona Vie, when you can get a nutritionally superior juice for a fraction of the cost? That is a rhetorical question that really does not require a canned response like the ones you might get from a Mona Vie executive, citing an article that talks about how processing affects the quality of Acai....it does, but the procedure used by Genesis Today is scientifically proven to produce a product that scores higher than Mona Vie on the Orac scale. Don't believe the hype!!!

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=632892212]

Hi all,

I just signed up to be a distributor, I've listened to a lot of the lectures and have been involved in a few of the meetings.

Mona Vie is not only about selling juice. The question is, what are you seeing in the product?

Mona Vie is a part of a company called TEAM. It's called TEAM for a reason. TEAM strives to solve problems by focusing on three aspects: Health, wealth, and wisdom. I challenge you to find any problem that cannot be solved by having better health, more wealth, or more wisdom.

The health aspect is resolved by the juice. Sure, it's not FDA approved... look at your run-of-the-mill multi-vitamin. Those are not FDA approved either. Yet most doctors worth their salt will recommend everyone to take multi-vitamin, simply because not many people nowadays eat a balanced diet with all the nutrients they need. The nutrients it supplies are fact. Whether it helps you or not is different. Some people get helped by vitamins, others do not. Mona-vie is a dietary supplement.

The wealth is the business aspect. Sell Mona-Vie, sell motivational tapes, and you'll start earning a little bit of income. The reason why most people don't make much money from it is because they lack the skills. Mona-Vie business is not for everyone, nor do they claim for everyone who joins will get rich. If you aren't good at fixing computers, would you complain when you don't make much money having a computer fixing business?

Wisdom? John C. Maxwell, a master in leadership, has a lot of wisdom to dish out. Zig Ziglar, one of the leading figures in motivational speaking, also has a lot of wisdom to dish out.

I have read two of Maxwell's books; 21 Laws of Leadership and Today Matters. I've listened to many of Ziglar's CD's. All of them have to deal with relationships with people. How can you be a good leader if you don't have good relationships with your followers? How can you stay motivated when no one thinks you can do it? Therefore, I assert that a person's wisdom can be gaged by his relationships with the people in his life.

Through the Mona-Vie business, you will learn how to deal with people. You listen to the CD's, go to a few meetings, then you go with your sponsor to try to sell to people. No one can ever get 100% of people they talk to to buy their product. But if you're good with people, more people are likely to buy your product.

And that's Mona-Vie.

[Hopefull in toronto]

They were just at a trade show in Toronto they marketed it as a healthy energy drink tryed it good taste got it for free came in a little can he said nothing on "healing powers" just energy with no "crash" didn't talk any money but we are going to talk tommorrow

Anyone else there? If so please post your toughts !!!

If I sign up I don't wanna get f£¥ked over

[John Smith]

monavie sucks

[S]

Hi

I just signed up to Mona Vie. The good thing is, that you don't necessarily need to order the product, but I was curious on how it tastes. The price is way too expensive. I paid for ONE bottle GBP38,- incl. VAT and shipping. Not even a bottle of Moet et Changdon is that expensive. I hope it tastes like liquid manna, otherwise I am not happy. I am in discussions with Mona Vie on how to justify this price. Let's see what they come back with. There is no way of selling this product in the UK market with this price. We are in recession...d-uuuh.

I will keep you posted on my findings and experience.

Cheers S

[fastball]

Someone I went to high school with now sells for Mona Vie, and I saw his page through facebook. I have no intention of going into Mona Vie since I have a very good, well paying, very satisfying job at the best hospital in America. I'm just currious why companies such as Mona Vie try to sell their product via this "pyramid" system, rather than a traditional distribution system where I can go to my local grocery store or health food store to buy it. Also, the people who are distributors and "executives", I feel sorry for them and moreso for their families, wives, husbands, children, etc., because this system provides no solid foundation. If Mona Vie can no longer provide the product, everyone tied into it will crash and burn financially, and very quickly. The fast cars, the jet set lifestyle, all the fancy glitz and crap (and I read the compensation guide: they actually have some system for high end executives where they will give them $1500/month for a Mercedes Benz car payment) - it's so easy to crash and burn if there's no solid foundation for the company.

I hope for the sake of the innocent bystandards of the members of this system that it doesn't happen or they have things planned well so they can fall back on a regular, reliable job if this fails.

Also, in times like these, where "regular" jobs are scarce and unemployment and the economy is hit hard, this is the environment where such fly by night companies with high flying salesmen take advantage. But like I said, these kind of companies are very shaky and can fall as fast as they rise.

[William]

I know this is a old post but its all good.

Come on..If MLM are scams, why did they generate over 40 billion last year.

so about about all those emails i get about winning the lottery? they make billions does that mean its not a scam now?

what about all those fake antivirus programs? they make 100's billions are they not scams aswell?

this is just my 2cents. Ive been checking on this for the last couple days and seems if you want the juice become a distributor if your in it to make money don't even bother. i have nothing against the juice./ but when company's have to sell like this i don't trust it. again nothing about the juice! sounds like most say it really works. but how many of them are trying to sell the product? prob most if not all that say it works.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1815735743]

U never know unless u try it. and think about the cost of eating out. the juice keeps u from wanting to eat out and stay in and eat healthy !

[Chamely D]

Well let me tell you can't get nothing in life without working hard. MonaVie is not a scam is just that people think that the company is going to make them rich and it will if you work at it. This is the ONLY company that actually gives you the opportunity to make what you want. Anyone can do this but this is not for everyone. If you not going to be dedicated you are not going to succeed. You cant expect for the company to pay you if you are not promoting!!!If you see you are not making it happen is because you are talking to the WRONG people only open minded people and people that really drink it will see. Is going great for me and my family. It saved a lot of lives in my family and it has helped me a lot with my pain and my pocket. I LOVE MONAVIE!!!! Best company out there to make money and feel great.. Is not about selling we are not sales people. All we do is. DRINK IT FEEL IT SHARE IT....We show the opportunity to people if you not interested next this will grow with or without you. It reached the billion dollar market in 4 years. It took coca cola 24 years. And is the official drink of the boston red sox and the angels so it must be working. Before you talk Do some research....... MONAVIE!!!!!!!!!!

[john]

your all stupid suckers....

[Jim Campbell]

This is a high priced MLM program, that's all. It's not about selling the juice. Someone takes a product, any product and then it's all about recruiting other people to make money. 3K to get started in this one. The last one was picture phones that you needed $50 bucks to get in. These MLM do well when the economy is down where people really need cash and turn to this. I've heard too many stories of people losing alot of money on these deals. If your good with people, try sales in a different platform. Don't do the Mona Vie deal. I wish you the best of luck.

[S]

Hi

I just signed up to Mona Vie and ordered a bottle to see what it tastes like. Received the bottle and it is absolutely fantastic and so yummy. The only negative is that the price is way too expensive. I paid for ONE bottle GBP38,- incl. VAT and shipping. Ouff.

I hope they will lower the prices eventually...

I will keep you posted on my findings and experience.

Cheers S

[Todd Armbruster]

I am a new distributor. I have been drinking it for a month now. I have had insomnia since I was in combat in the 90's. After about a week of drinking the Active I have been able to sleep 6 to 8 hours a night. Big difference compared to what I used to sleep 2-4 hours per night. Also, I am a type 2 diabetic and my A1C level is 5.6 which is a normal level. My Dr. said in 3 months if my level stays the same he will try taking me off of my monthly medications and see what happens.

[Greg]

still deciding on whether to jump in and become a distributor, i tried it I like it. I have a couple friends that i am going in with and we'll see. Its not like selling cigarettes (and thanks to all those guys ..sarcastic). here in boston cigs are 8 bucks a pack thats 56 bucks a week and over 200 a month . people dont stop buying them because they are too expensive. anyway keep up the good chat.

[Surprised]

honestlty i was skeptical but ihave had a decreased immune system - medically diagnosed issues- usually i am very scared when someone walks by with a cold - this is the first time in a long time when the whole office has been sick and i havent - the only thing different i have been doing is mona vi - so i think i have to join the it works club? who would have ever thought...