Travel Ventures International- TVI Express
A Five Essentials Review 0*’s
TVI is being downgraded to ZERO (0) stars and classified as a SCAM and Illegal Pyramid, Read more below.
Five Essentials Reviews follow the format established on the primary page, “Wha Cha Usin”. The rating system is simple, 5 *’s per Essential. Perfect score is 25 or an average of 5*’s. Five Essentials Reviews are completed on pre-launch and launched opportunities, however, only launched opportunities are rated, because pre-launch many opportunities are not fully operational and/or have incomplete product suites.
There will be more Five Essentials reviews forthcoming, Diamond Holiday Travel, LGN-Prosperity, Pxyism, Dream Style Vacations, Royal Cruise Matrix, Traverus Life Path Unlimited, Wealth Masters International/Carbon Copy Pro, and more, stay tuned.
Again, in the spirit of telling you where I sit before I tell you where I stand, I have positions in TVI, 2 of which are currently sitting on an Express Board, one fully qualified and a small team of 79 associates. So I do stand to benefit if my board and those of my team do move. However, I stopped promoting TVI in December based upon many of the issues disclosed here in this review.
These reviews are researched and written from the perspective of someone looking at, analyzing and performing their due diligence relative to making a decision on whether or not to become an associate of a particular opportunity and begin representing that company and products.
In the end, it’s a personal decision each associate has to make, either those already in or those thinking of joining, regardless of how that happens (I’ll get to all of the feeder programs popping up later). You have to decide for yourself, if, based upon what you discover in this process, you can promote a company and opportunity.
Breaking News: May 2010
TVI is being downgraded to zero (0) stars and classified as a SCAM and Illegal Pyramid.
The Australian equivalent of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released the following in this link:
It has been re-printed below
ACCC home
ACCC obtains restraining orders against operators of alleged pyramid selling scheme ‘TVI Express’
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has acted quickly to obtain orders restraining three individuals from promoting an alleged pyramid selling scheme called TVI Express.
On Friday 14 May 2010, in the Federal Court, Sydney, the ACCC obtained ex-parte injunctions restraining Laulhati Jutsen (also known as Teddi Jutsen), Tina Aroha Brownlee and David Graeme Scanlon from promoting the alleged pyramid selling scheme.
Pyramid selling schemes are deliberate scams designed to benefit the originators while taking advantage of later recruits. They operate on the basis that members receive commissions for recruiting new members. However, they inevitably collapse leaving most participants out of pocket.
The TVI Express scheme is promoted by the respondents through various websites including the site www.tviteamoz.com and the TVI Express Oz group on the site www.facebook.com. People who wish to participate in the scheme are required to pay a membership fee of $330. Once an individual has paid the $330, they receive a ‘travel voucher’ and the opportunity to receive commission payments for recruiting other people into the scheme.
The ACCC understands that Ms Jutsen, Ms Brownlee and Mr Scanlon had planned to hold presentations across Australia and New Zealand this week to promote the scheme. The orders obtained by the ACCC will prevent these presentations from going ahead. If the individuals ignore these orders, they risk being in contempt of court.
The court orders also restrain the individuals from knowingly accepting payments from, or making payments to other participants in the scheme. The individuals are also required to place notices on various websites alerting members of the public to the ACCC’s court action.
The ACCC will now prepare the matter for final hearing. The ACCC will be seeking orders declaring that the individuals engaged in contraventions of the Trade Practices Act 1974 and injunctions restraining them from engaging in similar conduct in the future. The ACCC will also be seeking civil pecuniary penalties against the individuals.
Release # NR 104/10
Issued: 17th May 2010
ESSENTIAL ONE–The Company ***
Where are they located?
The office locations were formerly disclosed on the company website. Associates from different teams within TVI have checked those addresses and locations to verify for presence and functionality. Based upon their experience and prior known information, communicated via the company website, there are corporate offices located in:
Cyprus:
TVI associates have visited this office and it is a building housing a company whose primary business activity is corporate registrations and they will neither confirm or deny TVI has offices there or is their client.
This is what you would expect of a registration in Cyprus. Very similar to registering a US company in Delaware or Nevada. The reason is to maintain privacy and anonymity. There are tax related reasons as well. This is normal and expected for a business registered in Cyprus.
Heathrow, UK:
TVI associates have also visited this office and found a temporary agency in this location providing space and staffing on a contract basis, a very common practice here in the US where, for a fee, you can have someone answer your phone or reserve conference room facilities for a specific meeting or meetings. As of December 2009 there was no permanent TVI corporate presence with permanent staffing here in this location. In the past TVI has represented this location was available to take meetings with TVI on an appointment only basis, which is consistent with the functionality purported by TVI and confirmed in part by associates.
Bangalore, India:
Here again, TVI associates have visited this site and there is signage for TVI, though as of December 2009 these offices also were not fully functional. And once again, people must decide for themselves, what importance to place on the office locations, their functionality and the fact that they are no longer disclosed on the website.
Is their corporate presence legitimate and consistent with a multi-national, multi-million dollar company?
Reference the previous discussion. Currently the TVI company website does not disclose any corporate locations.
Customer Service via phone is an area in which TVI has really improved. Where 30+ minute wait times used to be the norm, there are more agents handling calls and even when you are 6th in the queue your wait time is likely to be less than 15 minutes, which is good considering the number is not toll free.
Support tickets submitted via the “system” are still very slow and it usually takes days, even weeks to be addressed, if and when they actually are addressed.
Please note that I called customer service recently (February 12th, 2010) and it appears the India office is now taking calls since the wait time being the 6th caller waiting was less than 15 minutes and from the sounds in the background there were multiple agents working.
And I was able to get a payment issue resolved. I had submitted a request for payout to an STP account from my ewallet February 3rd, well originally January 12th, 2010 (so overall the process took a month). While I had her on the phone she was able to get the transfer approved, which was great, though it seems nothing was going to happen unless I called, even though it had already been 8 business days since I re-initiated the request, they promise 6-8 business days.
So the good news is Customer Service has improved. And as is usually the case you have to take it upon yourself to make sure things that should be done as promised within the timeline promised, actually get done.
Company ownership and/or management team, who are they, are they accessible?
This has been and continues to be a big question mark for TVI.
To date, the company has not come out and disclosed who the “Prestigious UK based Financial Group” is, who are the primary partners and even if the ownership desires to remain private, who are the key players of the management team, what are their areas of responsibility and expertise and how can they be contacted.
Another major area of focus has been the transparency of the leadership. The website now lists the advisory board members and people the site is calling “Admiral” and “Vice-Admiral”, etc, which infers President, Vice-President, but does not specifically indicate these positions, which is important. It’s important because this implied corporate structure is not the same as actually having that structure with titles, responsibilities, etc.
And still when you “Google” the names listed you will not find anything substantive on any of these people beyond their being listed on the TVI site and identified there, no business profiles, prior achievements, prior companies, etc. And still there is no way to contact these people, there is no indication of what their roles and areas of expertise and responsibility are at TVI, no press releases, no public statements, etc.
Disclosure of the ownership and/or management team, their establishing a higher profile and communication to and between the TVI associates would certainly help clear the present lack of transparency.
Does the company and/or principals/management team have a track record and/or experience in the industry?
This question is unanswerable because, as previously stated no one really knows who they are and/or what their background and experience really is.
What measures has the company taken, are they continuing to take to insure legal compliance?
“Compliance” is not addressed on the company website. There is also no mention in the FAQ.
When you combine the lack of transparency, the absence of any mention of compliance and/or measures being undertaken, or counsel that has been retained with the fact that after a year of operation, there are no verified testimonials of associates having taken their free 6 night/7day hotel stay. Out of a reported more than half million associates worldwide, that is an attention getting statistic. Even it were 1000 that represents only 2 tenths of 1 percent. The fact is as of December 2009 there weren’t even 100 and without redeeming these trips, there is no unique product, which poses a significant compliance issue with the FTC, at least here stateside for US-based associates.
Even putting this aside, with such a low number of redemptions, if the booking portal does come live March 1st as promised (the third extension of this promise), what kind of financial burden will redeeming tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of trips place upon the company? Some associates are already having a difficult time getting paid, how will that affect the payment process?
ESSENTIAL TWO–The Product **
What market sector and specific niche is the company competing within?
TVI offers two products in the Travel Industry, the hottest product sector for internet opportunities.
What specifically is the product?
TVI offers a travel booking portal that is a “white label” of the Travelocity and World Choice Travel, booking engine. Comparing TVI searched itineraries against Travelocity searched itineraries finds no appreciable difference and in some instances the TVI engine under-delivers.
This product is the simple derivative of an affiliate relationship and contract between TVI and the portal provider and any company with enough money and members would be able to broker the same or better deal and for this reason, it can not be considered a “unique product” At best it is “value added” to help and assist in arranging the free vacation that is offered.
The 6 night/7 day hotel stay is the unique product and is a fantastic deal if indeed it becomes redeemable.
Right now, TVI maintains that March 1st a real time, live booking engine will be available to deliver this product. There are a half million members out there who are anxiously waiting the launch.
If you are on hold for customer service, you will hear the recording of TVI offering return air fare as part of the product suite. If you enquire about this facet of the product suite, it’s not available and no one can tell you how to get it, with whom should you speak to get it, etc. There should be a better explanation on the site.
Is it in demand? Can the product hold interest on its own?
Short answer is YES. Success and demand in the Travel industry for opportunities and products is well documented and represents the hottest segment of the industry at present. There is no shortage of new opportunities with travel based products, and even some that offer the same or similar product. But only TVI offers the 6 night/7 Day hotel stay.
As discussed the travel booking portal is nothing more than affiliate agreement and because the pricing does not appear to be generally superior it appears that the agreement is not brokered in favor of the associates and the commissions are going to the company as opposed to being passed down to the membership in lower fares and better pricing.
One determinant the FTC uses is the degree of real and perceived separation of product and income generating opportunity. In other words do people just get in because of the money they can make or is there real value to the product? In the case of TVI, there is real, perceived and true value to the product suite if they redeem the trips, although even then if you ask, the vast majority of associates will answer $250 to make $10K, that’s why they got in, not $250 for a free hotel stay.
THREE–The Compensation Plan **
What is the investment? And are there any additional charges? Monthlies, autoship, etc.
The least expensive way to enter into TVI is via a prepaid voucher, which if obtained from someone who cycled either Traveler or Express Board can be the face value of $250 or less or more as the seller demands.
If you are to purchase your voucher it will likely be $275 to $300. And payment can easily be made with credit card or debit card on your sponsors replicated associate site from which you are signing up.
The <$300 investment is one time only, there are no monthly or additional fees.
Again, because TVI does not separate the product from the income opportunity and there is no buying the product without participating in the opportunity, i.e. you get placed onto a Traveler Board regardless if you want to work the business or not, this is a compliance issue with the FTC for US based associates.
How many positions are you allowed to have?
In TVI, your wallet is your only limiting factor. You can buy as many positions as you want, which is both blessing and potential stumbling block.
It is common knowledge amongst the TVI ranks that there are many boards stalled because one associate has purchased multiple positions. This is a strategy employed by some and it does make sense in some instances to purchase enough positions to split a Traveler Board and move a position to the Express Board to either qualify an existing position there on the EB or move a person off making them their $10K.
But what does that create? If there are 7 positions filled on an bottom level on an Express Board and the person at the top has either one of their own or one of their associates positions a the top of a Traveler Board, when that TB position cycles, they follow their sponsor to the EB, fill the 8th spot, that board splits and that person at the top cycles for their $10K. So let’s say that a Traveler’s Board just split and the associate at the top of that board is now in a position to cycle and follow to their sponsors EB. So there are 8 open positions, well, it would take $2K to create all those 8 positions, but with a payday of $10K, would you spend $2K to net $8K? A lot of people would in that situation.
So they spend the $2K, create 8 positions, double qualify some of them, even jump them up a level or two on the split. The TB splits, they cycle, follow to their sponsors EB taking the 8th and final spot there to create an EB board split, someone makes $500 someone $10K, maybe it’s the same person so the net cost was really $1500 to net $8500, and even better deal, but the two travelers boards are now littered with 8 positions between the two of them that aren’t doing anything because they really don’t represent independent businesses, just clones that have outlived their usefulness and now will be stalled there along with any unfortunate businesses that happened to also be on those TB’s.
This is a very unfortunate unintended consequence of being able to purchase multiple positions.
The Math, can the compensation plan sustain itself on it’s own?
TVI indicates they pay out 72% of the gross revenues and the math proves that correct, meaning the company is now operating on 28% margin from which the company has administrative costs, return to investors, incentives, and the trips to name a few of the bigger cash hogs.
Take just the 6N/7D hotel stay, even at consolidator rates, the company is not taking in enough money on $250 (72% payout is $180, leaving $70) to pay for the hotel stay, let alone all of the other expenses that are claiming a share of that $70.
It’s easy to see where if even a quarter of the half million + positions in TVI claimed their 6N/7D it would be an enormous financial obligation for the company, not to mention the incentives. The hundreds of laptops alone that have been earned is a substantial dollar amount.
What is needed to create the first $100,000
This question goes directly to how exactly do you make money in TVI?
When you cycle the first board, the Traveler Board, you make $250 cash and get an evoucher for $250, which sometimes you can sell for $250 or you can use it to re enter onto a new Traveler Board.
Once you cycle the TB you enter an Express Board following your sponsor. Same construction as the TB, same number of positions, only this time when you cycle, you make $10,000 and then follow your sponsor onto another EB. And in order to qualify for the $10K, you have to have two businesses in your downline come up to join you on the EB, which means that they have to cycle their respective TB’s.
Although with no jumping, mathematically it would take 274 positions joining TVI for a position entering a TB in the first spot to cycle off for the $10K, it has been done in far fewer and there are associates with 400+ positions in their downline that have yet to cycle an Express Board.
A common experience is 100-125 people in your downline to cycle the first time, 200-250 the second cycle and another 100-125 people for each cycle thereafter,. The reason the number of associates doesn’t dramatically decrease per cycle is because in reality a lot of activity 5+ levels down from your position doesn’t have a dramatic effect on your positions on the EB, though your residual can increase.
So to make an annual income of $100K is going to take an organization of about 900 people because your residual bonus based upon the Leadership Ranks is going to make you close to $10K in the first year with an organization of that size.
FOUR–The Marketing/Support System *****
Does the company provide marketing support, training, tools, etc?
Associates for their $250 one time fee get a replicated website to send prospects to, power point deck; support website, FAQ, banner ads, wall papers and some general marketing tools.
The actual marketing support is minimal and beyond “word of mouth”, some very limited internet tools, the company does not provide much help to associates in this area.
An area where it appears the company does offer significant support is in events and conferences.
The website now (February 2010) indicates 7 possible associate events and they all sound first rate. With the exception of the “Elevation Retreat” which implies it was already held in Grand Cayman, but is usually held in Hawaii, none of the events has taken place and none indicates a firm date.
And the “Fortuity” events which indicate you can check a country or location for an upcoming event, none of the choices shown indicates an event as of the writing of this review.
Finally any corporate event is usually heavily publicized by the company because it is both a trademark and hallmark of success.
To date, there are no photos and/or videos and/or testimonials of any of the live events.
And now the company is publicizing its 1 year anniversary, but hasn’t had and doesn’t have scheduled an annual convention where they are supposed to distribute the incentives earned, the laptops, the trips, the cars, the villas, the jets.
Are there established teams which provide these same services, tools and mentorship?
Yes, absolutely. This is the strongest part of TVI, however, it’s not connected to the company, directly.
There are several major teams around the globe providing very strong tool sets, marketing services, mentorship, some at cost, others free. It varies and I would highly recommend doing research into the various teams to determine which might be the best fit for you if you’re going to become a TVI Associate.
The latest trends in TVI are “Leadership or Power Legs” and “Feeder” systems.
“Leadership and Power Legs” promise fast and multiple cycles. You come in with your two people and they come with their two, etc and the manager places you, you always follow your sponsor, it’s built 2×2 so there is no jumping, your qualifiers don’t beat you to the Express Board, you have a constant stream of qualifiers, no stalled boards you get in once and never pay again.
Sounds wonderful and it does work for those at the top. Because of the model, the mechanics of board splitting, 2 boards go to 4 to 8 to 16 to 32 to 64 to 128 to 256 and so on. Well if you happen to be one of those folks on even the 64 boards, it takes 512 new people to split all 64 boards just once more and because there’s no jumping, you only move to the 2nd level, but now the number of boards just doubled so instead of 512 new people, it’ll take 1,024 new people to split the board to move you to the 3rd level, then another 2,048 new people to send you to the pay position and finally another 4,096 people to cycle you off. That’s a total of 7 + 512 + 1,024 + 2,048 + 4,096 or 7,687 people just to get you off the Traveler Board. Now in some systems which employ a “follow me” strategy and when you cycle the TB you use the voucher to buy back in under your sponsor this total number is less. The point being if you’re one of the later ones in, it’s not as good for you as the first people in. Eventually the leader legs or power legs or whatever you want to call them die out because they simply cannot support the numbers needed to make them function.
The “Feeder” systems employ this same strategy and so are consigned to the same eventual fate, however their attraction is that they cost much less to get in. A popular one is $37 to enter a smaller 2×2 matrix and when you cycle twice, not only do you have enough to buy entry into TVI, you also have your two qualifiers so you don’t “have to do anything further, just sit back and wait for your $10K. $37 for $10K sounds like a good deal to anyone.
One last thing, TVI says it has a very strict corporate policy on cross-recruiting and cross sponsoring, but the reality is much different from the rhetoric. There are “feeder” teams out there who are cross recruiting and cross-sponsoring, there’s even a couple, who to their own credit, indicate if you are already a TVI Associate you can’t join their team, but there are others with much fewer scruples. Just be aware that if you’ve built a team not using a “Feeder” system” eventually they will find you and your team and you could lose some people, which might adversely affect your boards.
FIVE–The Model **
Is this general model something I can work with? Can I see myself doing this? Is this something I can put my dreams and future behind?
Ultimately this is the “WHY” every marketer must answer for themselves. The company and model can do everything possible to make it easier to succeed, faster, but in the end analysis, it is still network marketing and as a marketer you do have to get out in front of people and share the opportunity with them.
TVI was the first with this type of model and it does help to mitigate this aspect by actually having a component of other, unrelated businesses cooperating to help fill the current matrix-people helping people.
This is what makes TVI special, the “kumbaya” factor is very high with the cooperation that is possible on the boards.
About the TVI model and many of the multiple board matrix models out in the marketplace right now, one of the issues the FTC will find and take issue with is incorporating “breakage” into the business model. “Breakage” occurs when people enter a matrix or board and do nothing. This is human nature and will happen to a certain percentage of associates in any opportunity, that is fine, that is expected. Making it part of the business model and counting on the income generated from these “dead” positions, is not. Financially, the model has to be set up so that if everyone who got in succeeds, then they would all be paid.
Relative to TVI this is important since breakage is a known factor in their model and the reason they can make payouts now is because so many who do get in, do nothing. Figures indicate that less than 5% of the people that enter, cycle to make the $10K, some have that figure lower than 3%. For this reason alone, the teams using “feeder” systems now are very dangerous to TVI because a larger percentage of people will succeed and there will be less breakage.
Breakage is also a factor in the redemption of existing products, given if everyone redeems their 6N/7D hotel stay, this is an enormous financial obligation for the company.
Based upon the Five Essentials criteria outlined in the original article on these Reviews, TVI Express earns a total score of 14 out of a possible 25. Five Essentials Rating = 2.8 *’s
Breaking News: May 2010
TVI is being downgraded to zero (0) stars and classified as a SCAM and Illegal Pyramid.
The Australian equivalent of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released the following in this link:
