More hilarity on TVI Express "fan" websites

Why do you think a LIVE TVI Express Indonesia website has "dummy content"?

http://tvi-expressid.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=91

When you open the MAIN site, you find that the website is virtually an EXACT clone of tviexpress.com, albeit translated into Indonesia.

However, the editor clearly didn't bother to produce a REAL "member card", since the numbers are exactly the same as "Mike Branson" card on TVIExpress.com!

Another delusional Indonesia believing that cloning some websites will make money...

Related articles

• Indonesia Agency APLI Warns TVI Express AGAIN: no license! (kschang.blogspot.com)
• Even more funnies about TVI Express alleged award (kschang.blogspot.com)
• More report of TVI Express Fraud Out of Indonesia (kschang.blogspot.com)

TVI Express owned by Warren Buffett and Sir Richard Branson... NOT!

Yet that's what a LOT of people believed...  Including this guy in Spain.

The company is called TVI Express and the owners of this mega project is the billionaire investor Warren Buffet and Richard Branson owner of Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Records.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&langpair=es|en&u=http://sancristobaldelalaguna.olx.es/tvi-express-iid-63671538

Rohit From India Comes with a Presumption

Image by larryosan via FlickrRohit from Mumbai India made a comment on my hub http://hubpages.com/hub/TVI-Express-is-an-international-scam (on 21-FEB-2011)

Mr.kschang, can you name any MLM/Network Marketing company on the planet which is not referred as a scam?

Is that relevant to the statement "TVI Express is a scam?"  No. There's a PRESUMPTION there that TVI Express is MLM. However, when some distributors of TVI Express claim TVI Express is NOT MLM, while TVIExpress.com says it uses MLM as its business model, who is right and who is wrong? And why does TVI Express itself says "you don't need to sell any products"? What then is it marketing?

You are not even a part of what you are writing, neither am I. You are simply ASSUMING things, making your own assumptions / opinions / etc.

I have hypothesis backed up by facts and observations made by professionals, such as newspapers, websites, and more. It is far more than a mere "assumption", unlike Rohit here. He assumed something without realizing it.

People like you, I dont know why waste their time & energy writing all this non-sense & eating huge server spaces for nothing, TOTAL WASTE of resources.
People are getting bored of this scam!!! ROFL.

Clearly Rohit have NO IDEA how much MORE server space is wasted by the sort of spam TVI Express SUPPORTERS have put up out there... In fact, you'll have a hard time finding my article...

And is it even relevant? This is getting close to ad hominem attack: "Don't you have something better to do?"

People are just getting lazy coz in Network marketing you dont get a physical Office with an AC. This is hard work buddy, not everyone can do it.

Rohit is ASSUMING that TVI Express is MLM. TVI Express indeed CLAIMS to be MLM, but what does it sell? Why would its own FAQ says "you don't need to sell any products" if it is really MLM? Does he even know he is assuming?

Like Actors, Models & Sportsman get paid to endorse Products, Network marketing simply gives a common man that opportunity, to endorse & earn. If people can earn thru that, why do you have a problem with it (u called it haram! - Dude you are just trying to defend what you wrote.)

Rohit is not dealing with facts here. 1) He is ASSUMING that TVI Express is MLM, with NO verification. 2) He is assuming that I invented the reference that TVI Express is haram. I did not. Aceh Muslim Council in Indonesia did. Thus, his observation is a LIE.

Am part of another NM company & had earned a fortune out of it, try it you wont regret.
People like Warren buffet, Richard Branson, Bill Clinton, etc. are not idiots to promote NM companies or own them, THEY JUST KNOW THE POWER OF IT. CHEERS...

Richard Branson had divested himself of Virgin Cosmetics, the MLM, in 2009. Clearly, it was NOT a good investment for him.

Warren Buffet owns merely ONE MLM company, which is a TINY portion of his portfolio.

Bill Clinton thanked exactly ONE MLM, and for its SERVICE aspect (making money available to third-world entrepeneurs), not how much money it is making the contributors.

Thus, it is clear Rohit simply does NOT understand the situation at all.

Some more classic TVI Express "Weasel Reviews"

Welcome to another episode of "TVI Express Weasel Reviews", where we review the reviews of TVI Express, and expose the weasel who post bogus reviews in order to promote TVI Express, an international scam. 

Today's highlight is on http://phyllis.boseviews.com/2010/06/11/the-ultimate-3rd-party-tvi-express-review/ . It claims to be the "ultimate 3rd party" review. Does it live up to its name? Sadly, it did not even come close, as it did not address any of the negative issues. It's clear that the author did no research for this at all.

Introduction: sets a bad example

Just the overall look of the article is already raising red flags. Random ad words promoting shoes are inserted into the article at random places, even in the middle of a sentence. 
Furthermore, it is a copy of an existing article, posted at http://www.articlesbase.com/affiliate-programs-articles/3rd-party-tvi-express-review-1432429.html  At least this article doesn't claim to be "ultimate" review. Yet the author of the original was a guy, and the person posting it here is called "Phyllis". So can't be the same person. This blog post was PIRATED!
But was the review any good? Unfortunately, no.

Copying Out of Date Info = STUPID

The original article was written in September 2009. Thus, reposting it in June 2010 makes it OLD and months out of date. Yet the article itself has no date reference, making the entire article unreliable.

Who are TVI Express?

Travel Ventures International are better know as TVI Express. They are a relatively new company based in London, UK. TVI Express is a home based business opportunity based on the internet and has sales representatives in over 50 counties and growing.

As the TVI Express website itself proclaims "over 150 countries" (as of June 2010), this information is severely out of date.

Incentive? What Incentive?

The second section is not much better, as it managed to be misleading even without being out of date.

What are the benefits?

At the end of the day, TVI Express is a travel company. They have a fantastic start up incentive, and continued incentives afterwards too. Representatives also get great discounts. TVI Express have partnered with some of the most reliable companies in the travel industry ranging from car rentals, to airlines, to resorts.

One of the greatest advantages is that TVI Express is internet based. This is a great home business opportunity.

Well, the "start up incentive" are... what?. What are "continued incentives"? Great discounts... on what?
Then the guy swallowed the company line whole, claiming "partnered with some of the most reliable companies in the travel industry" when the TVI Express website said no such thing. In other words, the original author either invented this partnership, or he got the information from a member without even checking it. Either way, it is wrong.

Teamwork... for what?

The next paragraph shows that the author has absolutely no idea what TVI Express sells, yet he does know that you need an aggressive team.

My next point could be both positive and negative, depending on your circumstances. Your commissions come as a result of a team effort. The reason I like home buisnesses is because my success is a direct result of how hard I work. I tend to find myself extremely ambitious and in these circumstances prefer not to be reliant on a team. I am in charge of my own future. When it comes to a team commission structure, you have to be sure that you are in a team where everyone is as ambitious as you. If they are not as ambitious as you, you could find seven people riding on your hard work. Hopefully, this will not be the case as the commission structure does look good. There are ways to move ahead if you team is holding you back. But the best route is by far an ambitious team.

So no matter what TVI Express sells, even if it sells nothing, you need an ambitious team, according to this guy. And what is a "team commission structure"? It's clear that this guy did not even read the TVI Express compensation package. There is no "team commission"! He can't even get the number of people in the matrix/board right... It's 15, not 8! And notice, he still have not figured out what TVI Express sells!
Next paragraph is not any better:

The compensation structure for TVI Express is cycled. Once you make it to the top and you build your team to it’s full extent, you rotate down to the bottom again and repeat the process. You can repeat this cycle endless times each month, week, and even day.

First, it is "its full extent". Second, did not mention the two separate boards. Third, what does the cycling do? No idea.

It's clear that this guy understands nothing about TVI Express, or even read the FAQ or watched the presentations at all.

Who did you speak to again?

The author then tries to explain away some confusing stuff, and I do applaud him for that.

I was able to speak to several people during my research about TVI Express. Warren Buffet and Richard Branson as well as some very well known companies are mentioned on their website. Their website does not claim to be backed by these people and companies, but rather that Warren Buffet and Richard Branson back the Direct Sales/MLM industry as a whole. This has created some confusion with sales reps which is merely a misunderstanding rather than dishonesty. TVI Express is backed by a UK business group.

It is interesting what he failed to mention who those people are, or how are they related to this article. As for Warren Buffet and Sir Richard Branson... Clearly this guy did no research, because if he did, he'd have found that Sir Richard Branson does NOT own any MLM company at the time TVI Express launched. He had divested himself from "Virgin At Home" several months before this article was written. And Warren Buffet does not support MLM industry as a whole. He simply said "dollar for dollar, [MLM companies are] some of the best investments I've ever made". If there was a misunderstanding, TVI Express shared the blame by misquoting Warren Buffet. And finally, the author simply cites the company line "TVI Express is backed by a UK business group" with no verification and no details.

I can help you, he proclaims

At the end, it's finally clear what this alleged "third party review" is about... He is a "marketing coach" and he wants to help you succeed in TVI Express, even though he does not understand TVI Express at all.

If you are with TVI Express, just because you have found a great opportunity does not mean you are guaranteed to make money. Only 5% of people in the MLM and direct sales industry make money! What can you do? Well, for starters, do your due diligence. If you have already started, create a marketing strategy as soon as possible. If you have not yet started, get your strategy going first! It’s easier than you think! People starting want to make money. They are looking for a leader to teach them how to do so. Brand yourself as soon as possible!

Note that the author never once identified the product of TVI Express, did not notice the contradiction in the TVI Express FAQ that there is no sales, yet there is required recruiting. He just brushes that under the rug with four words: do your due diligence, without explaining what to look for. Instead, he wants to teach you marketing strategy, self-branding, and leadership.

Conclusion = WEASEL REVIEW

TVI Express distributors and shills certainly are NOT shy stealing content from each other... esp. old outdated content. What's worse, they also steal these weasel reviews that look neutral, but are not. These allegedly neutral reviews are essentially un-researched echoes of company PR material, written by "marketing coaches" who just want to sell you their special "system". They are trying to make money off TVI Express without getting involved... By cheering on other people to join. 

To me, this is dubious ethics, and borderline fraud. It is fine if the opportunity is legitimate, but TVI Express is NOT legitimate. It is like yelling "water is great!" and tell others to jump into the pool, except the yeller did not even check the pool's quality! Why? So the yeller can sell some pool toys! When confronted, such yellers will shirk any responsibility, claiming that "due diligence" is on the part of the participant, not the toy seller. That's why I call it a WEASEL REVIEW. 

Stay tuned for more weasel reviews.

Funny Indonesia TVI Express "slogan"

Cover via AmazonTVI Express Indonesia have a member who opened a Facebook presense called "TVI Express Celebrity". So what sort of slogan do they have?

Bertindak tanpa terlalu banyak
berpikir. Bertindak dengan insting dan intuisi.
Jangan percaya kepada akuntan anda kalau mau memulai bisnis.
Lakukan saja.

And the English translation is...

Acting without too much thinking. 
Acting by instinct and intuition.
Do not trust your accountant if you want to start a business.
Just do it.

And who did they claim the quotes came from? Sir Richard Branson.  However, ALL FOUR QUOTES HAVE PROBLEMS.

Sir Richard Branson has a book called "Screw it, let's do it!" Inside, the first chapter is called "Just Do it", but the quote was taken out of context. The chapter in the book actually says if you want to do it, then figure out a way to do it. Learn how to do it. Find a legal way to do it. And so on. Sir Richard Branson never said to jump in blindly and ignore any "due diligence".

Furthermore, all of the other quotes are either wrongful attributions or misquotes. The quote about the accountants? it's actually

I never get the accountants in before I start up a business. It's done on gut feeling, especially if I can see that they are taking the mickey out of the consumer.

There are no quotes by Sir Richard Branson that I can find on the remaining two alleged quotes. Yet they sound a lot like the bull**** I found earlier on TVI Express Indonesia websites where the various TVI Express leaders tell members (who read concerns on websites such as this blog here) to ignore all criticisms and just jump right in when "momentum is good".

Conclusion: TVI Express Indonesia are using celebrity quotes, chopping them, and wrongfully attributing them in order to promote a scam.  Just like TVI Express itself. That's why you don't find Sir Richard Branson mentioned on TVI Express website any more.

More Weasel Talk on Kaskus from TVI Express supporters

I don't speak Indonesian, so I use Google Translate to browse a few pages in Kaskus.us, the largest Indonesia web forum, where a healthy debate about TVI Express has been ongoing. What's not so healthy, however, are a bunch of sorry excuses offered by TVI Express supporters they offer up to "counter" the various facts illustrating the scam known as TVI Express.

I don't claim to know the nuances of Indonesia language, but it's clear plenty of TVI Express supporters, such as Rudy Phan (tviexpressdollar) are using WEASEL LOGIC to counter facts and logic.

For example, when confronted with the fact that TVI Express is illegal in Georgia, USA, their reply can be summarized as "that's only 1 state out of 50 states in the USA". What they will not discuss: Why would TVI Express be legal in the OTHER 49 states, and just be illegal in Georgia? Is Georgia's law that different? Scam is scam, no matter how you dissect it.

When confronted with the news that Muslim council of Aceh Province in Indonesia has declared TVI Express "haram" (unclean), their reply can be summarized as "that's only one province in Indonesia" and "the local TVI Express rep must have explained it wrong". No supporter bothered analyzing the actual decision, on WHY TVI Express is haram: it is a money game, pure and simple.

When confronted with the fact that TVI Express is NOT in London, but still claims to be "headquartered in London", Rudy Phan / tviexpressdollar posted supposed "rebuttal" of that fact, claiming that Heathrow is really a part of London, and there is no such thing as "London city limits". Mr. Phan, people who live in Tangerang must be surprised to find that according to you, they actually live IN Jakarta, not Tangerang, just because the International airport serving Jakarta is closer to Tangerang.

When confronted with the fact that TVI Express does NOT have a MLM license in Indonesia, Rudy Phan came up with an explanation that TVI Express is NOT MLM, but rather some sort of a new franchising that has SOME aspects of MLM. However, there are a dozen different refrences on TVI Express website referring to itself as network marketing or MLM, thus making Rudy Phan a liar, and violating TVI Express Ethical Marketing rules.

When confronted with fact that TVI Express had presented a misleading quote from Warren Buffett that seem to imply TVI Express is owned by Warren Buffett, Rudy Phan (and plenty of others) claimed that TVI Express made no such claim, and Rudy Phan went as far as accusing me of invented the accusation. However, references can be found ALL OVER THE INTERNET that TVI Express supporters claimed that TVI Express was either invested in or is owned by Warren Buffett (and sometimes, Sir Richard Branson as well).

TVI Express supporters simply ASSUMED themselves to be right, and everybody else to be wrong, and focus on the aspects of "inconvenient" facts they can discredit. If there's nothing to discredit, they will invent something, as illustrated above, even when there are easily found facts to the contrary. They lie.

You know what this sound like? Deniers. Deniers simply refuse to accept facts. They will try to find fault with everything contrary to their position, by assuming their own position is right.

The most famous deniers are the holocaust deniers. These are the people who denies that Holocaust of the Jews actually happened during WW2. They claim the holocaust never happened, or did not occur to the extent that the Jews claimed. Evidence proving the Holocaust was "manufactured" (by the Jews, of course). Testimony was "coerced" or "faulty memory". They refuse to account for the OVERWHELMING amount of evidence, claiming it's a global conspiracy.

Another famous group of deniers would be the evolution deniers, also known as creationists, who believe the Biblical version of creation: it only took 6 days, and earth is only a few thousand years old. Science? They got it all wrong. Fossils? Don't mean nothing. Evolution? Crackpot theory. Why? The Bible, of course.

TVI Express supporters are basically denying every bit of truth out there, or trying to negotiate the fact and hope it will go away. It's illegal here? It's still legal there. TVI Express not in London? Expand "London". TVI Express MLM? I say TVI Express no MLM (even though TVI Express calls itself MLM). Just like the other deniers, they refuse to accept the OVERWHELMING amount of evidence indicating that TVI Express is a scam.

The old saying goes: Where there is smoke, there is fire. The smoke is now chokingly thick (over a dozen countries investigating, supposed leader Tarun Trikha gone from advisory board, trip redemption problems, TVI Express charging fees for "free" trips, no transparency of officers or owners, no real payout in real money, and much much more)  Yet TVI Express supporters are STILL claiming there is no heat and no fire. 

What's next? What other lies will TVI Express supporters tell just to hang on to their dreams?

Rudy Phan continue to spread lies about TVI Express

Recently, Rudy Phan posted a blog entry where he claims I invented the "Warren Buffett owns TVI Express" lie and I use it to slam TVI Express over the head.  (He has also disabled copy and paste from his website. ) However, it's quite simple to defeat. From translated entry:

Then, who is spreading that the "Warren Buffet is the owner of TVI Express"?

One anti-TVI Express, Kasey Chang, he wrote many negative opinions about TVI Express. And his writings were highly favored by those anti-TVI Express in Indonesia, especially in the group up and thread Kaskus.  One of his writings titled, "TVIExpress.com Scam:" Warren Buffett owns TVI Express "and 6 other Lies it and its Members are Telling".

Well, Rudy, I'll make a liar out of you right now. Your fellow TVI Express distributors invented the lie, not me. Let's start here:

"TVI Express: Either people are joining NOW, or they wish they would have a year from now! View a business presentation of the fast growing networking marketing company on Planet Earth. Discount travel membership. 00-value vacation for joining. Warren Buffett and Richard Branson lead investors."

-- http://www.publicspeakinghowto.com/presentationskills/tag/tvi-express

Are you going to claim I wrote this , Mr. Phan? How about this one?

"Reviews on TVI--->>  Warren Buffett  and RichardBranson are indeed investors in TVI andthat is a fact!

-- http://www.perpetualmotion.ws/OtherOpportunities

Or this one?

Online TVI Express Conference

The world's richest man Warren Buffett (investor) and Richard Branson (owner of Virgin Atlantic Airlines and Virgin Records) have launched a mega project that was launched in January 2009 and present day are about 800 000 members.
-- http://events.emagister.co.uk/conferences/conferencia_online_explicativa_sobre_tvi_express_viajes_y_turismo_gratis_/16215

Or maybe this one?

...Remember that TVI is Warren Buffett's program, and this is for real!
-- http://www.ideamarketers.com/?How_to_profit_using_internet&articleid=790830

 Had enough? How about one more?

This is the owner and creator of TVI Express... Warren Buffett
-- http://www.emprexas.com/anunciantes/oportunidad-de-negocios/tvi-express-trabajo-internet-ganar-dinero.htm

So, you obviously do not do any research, Rudy Phan. I found these links just by going on Google. It's clear you did not. Perhaps you do not want to see the truth.

What other lies are you, Rudy Phan, going to spread for TVI Express and/or against me?  

In case you want to read the original article in which Rudy Phan claimed I lied, it's here: 

http://hubpages.com/hub/TVI-Express-is-an-international-scam

Go down to Lie #4: Celebrity endorsements, and read it in full, before you come to any conclusions.

And get it through your head, Rudy Phan. Either you are lying for TVI Express, or TVI Express has lied to you all along and you're repeating the lies. Nothing you do is going to change the fact that TVI Express is a scam. What you are doing is weasel talk, or as Native Americans said, "speaking with a forked tongue".