Back in late 2001 I went to a presentation by some Norwegian distributors of the Nikken products. Afterwards I did quite a bit of research and wrote about what I found. First only in Norwegian but then a German guy asked me if I could translate it, so I did.
I could write a whole lot about the reactions I've gotten on that paper, but instead I'll write shortly about this lawsuit I was told about.
Unfortunately the web page documenting it over on the website of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein has been removed, so you'll have to dig it out of the Google cache if you want to read the whole of it (and in case you're wondering what you should search for, try the title of this entry :)
I've tried to contact the law firm, asking them about more information as to what happened with the case, but they didn't feel like getting back to me. The document they had on their website did explain the reasons of the suit though:
Plaintiff alleges that the Nikken multilevel marketing apparatus constitutes an "endless chain" scheme, as defined by California law. California Penal Code section 327 defines an "endless chain" as a scheme where compensation is based on recruitment of distributors into the scheme and not upon sales of product to the public. As alleged in the complaint, under the Nikken marketing system rewards and compensation are primarily based upon signing-up new distributors, not upon selling products to the outside world, i.e., non-distributors.
This of course interested me though, since I've always thought this was a legitimate business idea where you could actually get a return on your investments. As I mentioned the lawfirm never got back to me.
There's been a couple of cases in Scandinavia too, but regarding a different company (Nature's Own) and they got sued because they fired sucessful distributors. One of the cases happened in Sweden and got settled out of court, the other's Norwegian and is yet to be decided.
(Updated 2003-04-21: Added the Nikken category to this blog entry)
Comments (6)
Thank you for what you do. No news from Nikken. Another distributor stollen (?).
We will know in July what happened after our lawyer go to the court.
I don't know what happens in the State with the class action? Maybe Nikken paid ?
Another lawsuit is beginning in the States for the same reasons : successull distributors fired.
I've heard Platiniums were recently fired in Germany. Have you heard about that ?
Have a nice day
Bernard Raquin
Posted by Raquin Bernard | June 9, 2003 6:57 AM
Posted on June 9, 2003 06:57
Like to know more about Platiniums fired in Germany. I may have good advice for them. Please advise. My e-mail address is esuzannep@hotmail.com. Thanks
Beth
Posted by Beth | June 27, 2003 6:33 PM
Posted on June 27, 2003 18:33
Hi, I want to express my gratefullness for this critical note regarding companies based on network marketing/pyramid sale schemes like Nikken.
I found my feelings very well translated in your article and it helped me to settle arguments against this kind of organizations.
Hopefully it will turn minds of starting Nikken participants, I wonder ...
Best regards,
Mariella
Posted by Mariella de Boer | September 14, 2003 9:51 PM
Posted on September 14, 2003 21:51
Hi, about the german distributors wich got fired. It is an easy told story. They broke the roules. Thye tried to get another network started. Wich is no problem for NIKKEN, as fasr as you only ask first level (frontliners) or sponsor. (Why? You can demage the NIKKEN-network. Wich the compnay has a right to protect.) I never heard that NIKKEN threw anyone out, just like that.
(By the way, the norwegian letter the outher guy posted, just sais, that he might get thrown out. It seemes that NIKKEN thought she/he has been an distributor who didnｴt fellow the reglementation.)
Posted by Hans | March 7, 2004 4:37 AM
Posted on March 7, 2004 04:37
I'm very interested to read these comments as they have confirmed something which was really confusing me. This weekend we had a Nikken distributor do a demonstration of products and their uses for humans & horses at our stables. Many of us were interested in buying and went to his seminar later in the day, but found the focus to be almost entirely on the business opportunities (which none of us are interested in!) Whenever we enquired about the product and prices the answers were evasive and the subject was steered back to distributing. If you cannot simply buy the end product, then effectively that product does not exist, which means it is pyramid selling - pure and simple! I found this ironic as a large part of the seminar was about how Nikken is not about profit, it is about improving people's health, but it would appear you can only have your health improved if you become a distributor and therefore increase the profit of the company and the distributors above you. Hmmmmmm..........
Posted by Claudia | May 18, 2004 12:28 PM
Posted on May 18, 2004 12:28
Claudia, Nikken IS about health. Just because you met ONE bad distributer doesn't mean that the entire company sucks. Nikken is great, and as a distributer I can tell you that in MY group we ALWAYS seek to first find out what our customer WANTS. If the customer says "I don't want to sell, I just want to buy some products" then i'll immediately let him buy whatever interests HIM. That's REAL, HEALTHY selling. The distributer you met is, unfortunately, lacking some of the fundamentals that we all learn when we first enter Nikken. I urge you to not allow yourself to miss the wonderful opportunity that Nikken offers just because of ONE bad distributer. If you would like to learn more about Nikken, please feel free to contact me at haimramon@hotmail.com or any other Nikken Wellness Consultant you know.
Daniel
Posted by Daniel | June 12, 2004 12:51 AM
Posted on June 12, 2004 00:51