Former IBOAI Directors Ordered to Cease Breaching Confidentiality

[This press release went out nationally today]

Former IBOAI Directors Orrin Woodward, Billy Florence, Don Wilson, Randy Haugen, Chris Brady and Chuck Goetschel Ordered to Cease Breaching Confidentiality

Grand Rapids, MI–-August 15, 2007-- A Temporary Restraining Order Pending Arbitration was sought by the Independent Business Owners Association International (IBOAI) and granted on August 14, 2007 in a Michigan district court, preventing former IBOAI directors Orrin Woodward, Billy Florence, Don Wilson, Randy Haugen, Chris Brady and Chuck Goetschel from continuing to engage in breach of their fiduciary duty, breach of contract and violation of the Michigan Uniform Trade Secrets Act.

The IBOAI presented evidence to the Court that Woodward, Florence, Wilson, Haugen, Brady and Goetschel, whose businesses were recently terminated by Quixtar (see  http://tinyurl.com/2tbbyw), had already disclosed “confidential information and trade secrets which the Defendants could only have learned as a result of their membership and activities on the IBOAI Board.”

The Court concluded, in its Temporary Restraining Order, that “the actions of the Defendants will result in immediate and irreparable harm to the Plaintiff (and its members)” and ordered Defendants, within five business days of being served, to “return to the Plaintiff or its counsel all of the Confidential Information in their possession, whether in hard copy form, electronically, or otherwise.”

The Independent Business Owners Association International, http://www.iboai.com, is the trade association for hundreds of thousands of Independent Business Owners (IBOs) powered by Quixtar.

###

Comments

[ROS]

Once again, thank you for standing on principle and defending our businesses.

Sincerely,

Ros

[josh]

This action seems very heavy handed. I thought there was an arbitration process that protected us from instant termination? I have to agree with one side of the terminated's position. Why can't we have some price relief? Why have so many of the board been ignored for so long. I remember hearing Randy say in 2000 that we needed 20 core products that are price competetive.

[Moderator's response: Josh, TEAM forced the termination by bypassing the arbitration process and filing a lawsuit against the company. There's a lot more to it than that, but know that TEAM left the company with no other option. I believe one of our Board members is going to address your other questions soon.]

[ibofightback]

Supporters of TEAM are claiming that the IBOAI is being disbanded Sept. 1 2007 and the board was told this last week.

Any truth to this?

[Jonathan]

The IBOAI is alive, well, and absolutely will be in existence not only after September 1, 2007 but for many, many years to come. Any statement to the contrary is a lie.

Jonathan Bernstein
Blog Moderator

[John]

This link sheds a lot of info.

http://forums.freetheibo.info/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=24

[Moderator's Comment: As noted in another message, this link was created by a TEAM member and can't exactly be considered to be an unbiased piece of material, even though it claims to "set the record straight."]

[BRE]

Any response to the following blog article posted below?:
http://forums.freetheibo.info/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=24

This seems to be a very credible account from someone not involved in either the Quixtar corporate-side or the TEAM-plaintiff side of the debate.

[Moderator note -- You didn't read the post at that address carefully. The author, Ron Simmons, reported that in 2006 Legacy Group aligned with TEAM. So they are, in fact, directly involved in what's going on even if they aren't named in any lawsuit.]

[Frustrated]

I have to admit that I am terribly frustrated by Quixtar/Amway/Alticor (whatever they want to call themselves), the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and yes the IBOAI.

Let's start with the plaintiffs. They accuse Quixtar of being an illegal pyramid scheme. From the disclosures in the Compliaint it appears that most of the plaintiffs have been IBO's for over 10 years. At what point did they come to the realization that Quixtar was illegal?? Was it the day before the lawsuit was filed?? If not aren't they complicit in an illegal activity.

And if Quixtar is an illegal pyramid scheme, why aren't the motivational organizations which attach to the the Quixtar LOS? Aren't they structured the same way???

This whole lawsuit appears to be a ploy for the plaintiffs to not only get the tools and events money from IBO's, but now also the product money.

Now let's talk about Quixtar. Why have they let this go on SO long. They have had to have know of these problems with this and other groups for a long time. But never took action. Now this lawsuit is in the public, and us IBO's who are trying to build now have to explain why all these super rich airheads are fighting over.

IBOAI, you need to step up and clean your ranks of all IBO's (yes that's diamonds too) who break Quixtar's rules of ethics. You all have allowed all of this to go on for years, but since it makes you money you've turned a blind eye. STOP IT. You all claim to be men and women of character. I challenge you to stand up now. Stop the practices that you know are unethical. Take the lead in cleaning this up. You can take the high road and set yourselves apart.

Help us fix this so we can get on with buidling our businesses.

[helpme]

All this talk of rules violations is in my opinion just (expletive deleted). Why don't you just be real candid as a board and tell us that these members walked off, were terminated and are suing. This makes complete sense. But you (the board) and Quixtar are trying all this CYA of how many rules we all must all the sudden be violating. Do you really need a cover story? It seems to me this is the same kind of thing when other diamonds have gone off the deep end. You all the sudden have all these soooo important rules that have been in violation for years.

Now I haven't been doing anything for a couple years for personal reasons, but I still think it's a slap in the face that just because we use TEAM for support, we are all being invited to take a hike.

Isn't the purpose of the board to protect us, the IBO's, not make us all want to quit because you are insulting some of the people, and methods, we have been building the business with for years?

[Moderator's Note: TEAM members were not asked "to take a hike." In fact, TEAM members all received an email from Jim Payne encouraging them to contact the Company to learn how they could keep their businesses going, even if you had been incorrectly trained about how to run a business that complied with Quixtar rules. If you want us at IBOAI to arrange for someone at Quixtar to contact you, we'll do that, just submit that request to pr@iboai.com.]

[Charles]

I have to echo some of the comments of FRUSTRATED. I have been an IBO since the early 1980's and have never really been comfortable with the heavy-handedness of the shadow BSM operation. Not enough was done to teach people (dare I say it, one-on-one) in not only getting people to a meeting but also to understand the products and how to retail them. I like Rich DeVos' comments in the June 2007 video that maybe we should get back to each IBO having 25 genuine customers.

One thng that would help towards that goal are true price-competitiveness with the shipping costs factored in. The net cost after shipping vs the retail price still needs to be the same or lower than the competition. Whatever happened to making some of the products "in-house" that are now made by other companies? Let's get back to basics, not complicate it even more. I was recently in the market for an 18 cu/ft refrigerator to replace one that came with a house that I recently bought. The best price in our catalogs was over $700. I was also seeing a regular price of $300 (with a shipping charge rebate of $55) for a big name brand in Home Depot. Try marketing that to a customer that only sees the net price as a barrier.

[Frustrated]

Just a quick clarification:

I don't necessarily think that Quixtar is an illegal pyramid scheme. I don't think the BSM business are illegal pyramids either. I was just attempting to draw some comparisons between the two and show the (in my opinion) baslessness and inconsistencies of the allegations in the lawsuit. I don't think I did that very well.

[ibofightback]

Moderator, you say "TEAM members were not asked "to take a hike."

Whether it was meant that way or not, that is EXACTLY what the Alticor blogger communicated in the "Just go, TEAM, go" post. IBOs identify with the organizations they work with, so telling TEAM to go is quite obviously going to be interpreted as referring to all the IBOs who use the TEAM system.

This is obvious to anyone who actually understands how this business works. This post by the Alticor blogger is just one of a series of incidents over the past year that has made it clear that some obviously influential people within the corporation do not actually understand the business they are running.

It's a serious problem.

[Moderator's comment: We have no control over what's said by someone at the Alticor Blog. We also can't control what's said at any of the multiple blogs and other websites that have been criticizing and hurting the business for all IBOs for many years, in the guise of being consumer advocates. The IBOs who were terminated were Quixtar-powered IBOs and the Quixtar blogs, most of the blogosphere seems to think, are pretty fair, whether or not you agree with them. ]

[ibofightback]

Moderator, i know you can't control what is said on Alticor or other blogs. I never claimed you could. What you do have control over is your comments, and you stated -

TEAM members were not asked "to take a hike."

When quite clearly they were - even if only through poor choice of language leading to the meaning being misinterpreted.

[Moderator Comment: Your opinion is welcomed.]

[rdknyvr]

Moderator, you will find IBOFightBack to be one of the staunchest, but still independent thinking, supporters of the Alticor companies... and now the IBOAI blog too, I would think. Whenever he take the time to post here, he's worth reading carefully, as I'm sure you have been. You should also add his site to your own personal links to check on a regular basis, as he often "gets the scoop first": http://www.ttaa.biz

With appreciation and encouragement for your thoughtful work, :)

[Moderator: We're very familiar with IBOFIGHTBACK's website and a moderate, independent voice is always appreciated!]

[MichMan]

>>> Moderator: TEAM forced the termination by bypassing the arbitration process <<<

Does the IBOA support the current arbitration process? At least one federal court has found Amway's arbitration process to be unfairly stacked in Amway's favor. (Stewart/Schmidt vs. Gooch/Amway)

Amway trains and approved each arbitrator. If an IBO wants an independent arbitrator, the IBO must pay additional costs.

Does the IBOA consider that fair?

[Maureen]

Dear IBOAI

The purpose of your organization is to represent IBOs. The IBOs pay for this service. So represent me, please.

I am an IBO--have been for almost nine years. I have purchased an average of $1,500 (at IBO cost) in products from Quixtar for almost nine years. I have vigorously defended Quixtar/Amway to family, friends, and prospects for almost nine years. I have abided by every rule in the rule book for almost nine years.

Can you please tell me why my business, my livelihood, my sole source of income, is being threatened by Quixtar? Late Friday I received an email from Quixtar stating that the business support materials I have been using are now illegal, and if I continue to use them I can be terminated. Can you please explain to me why this is justifiable?

[Moderator: We can't speak for Quixtar, but we know they read this blog and we have made sure that your message was relayed to them directly as well.]

[MP Zildjian]

GOD DRIVEN, CAUSE DRIVEN, DREAM DRIVEN.
YOU CANNOT STOP SOMETHING THAT CAN'T BE STOPPED.
WHAT GOD ORIGINATES, GOD ORCHESTRATES.
THE MEDIA WAR WILL CONTINUE.

[Gary Ingram]

What about Bill Newton's resignation from the IBOAI Board? I too came into this business with the understanding that the IBOAI (formerly ADA) were looking out for the newest IBO and that protected us from investing time, money, and energy into a business and having the deal change. Sounds to me that the Corporation has neutered the IBOAI.
Every IBO pays $9.00 to support the IBOAI. STOP!
IBOAI Support Fee

The Independent Business Owners Association (IBOA) International (www.iboai.com) advises and consults with the Corporation on all aspects of the business, taking an active role in shaping its future. Common areas of focus include products and promotions, bonus programs, business support, the Independent Business Ownership Plan, IBO Rules of Conduct, international business expansion, new technologies, ordering procedures, and much, much more.

What has the IBOAI accomplished recently? Sales incentive programs to motivate IBOs, business automation that helps make doing business easier, compelling product campaigns to meet the needs of today's consumers, support and training to improve business materials and service, and initiation of changes in the Rules of Conduct that address our ever-changing business climate.

What business traits does the IBOA International forecast as integral components for success?

High-level service
High-quality products
High-tech operation
Worldwide in scope
Interpersonal by nature
It's what Independent Business Ownership is about today.

It's what success looks like now and in the future.

And, it's what the IBOA International, in partnership with the Corporation, strives to help every IBO achieve.

********You may elect to opt out of the IBOAI Support Fee. To do so, send your written request for a refund to:

Customer Support (58C-2A)
Quixtar Inc.
7575 Fulton Street East
Ada, MI 49355

OPT OUT OPT OUT OPT OUT OPT OUT OPT OUT - Sounds like as soon as anyone "stands up" to Q on behalf of the IBO they are just handed termination papers. If Q can do it to the likes of Bill Newton, Billy Florence, Don Wilson, Randy Haugen and the rest that have invested their lives in building their business Q can do it to you too!
OPT OUT OPT OUT OPT OUT OPT OUT - DOn't support the IBOAI any longer - they apparently don't care about anything but protecting their own business and have "rolled over" !!!

[ss3251]

I heard from a reliable source that Quixtar has recently changed their contract with the IBOAI to a month to month basis. Is this true? It looks to me like Quixtar could choose to end their relationship with the IBOAI pretty quickly if they chose to.

I also was wondering if anybody from the IBOAI was in Grand Rapids at the court house today? There was a session to adress the restraining orders that have been asked for. I know the TEAM was present and Quixtar's lawyers were present. Was the IBOAI represented there? It seems to me that the IBOAI should be represented at any court session when Quixtar and any IBO is involved. You are our voice right?

[Moderator's Note: IBOAI's interests were represented at the courthouse and will be the next time, too, but note that just because IBOAI represents all IBOs doesn't mean that it agrees with the business or legal practices of all IBOs. With hundreds of thousands of IBOs in the biz, there are bound to be some who step badly out of bounds and we're sure neither you nor others with legal, ethical practices would want IBOAI to support them just because they're IBOs, right?]

[jthompson]

Jonathan,

Just wanted to pay you a compliment - you are moderating this blog very well - with respect, response, and reliabillity.

I have a question about the IBOAI statement release - saying they support Quixtars decision to terminate TEAM ibos like Don Wilson, Brady, etc... - Were all the remaining IBOAI board members behind that statement? I think it adds tremendous credibility if the names of very credible ibo leaders like brad, joe, danny, etc... put their names on these IBOAI releases.

thanks and keep up the good work.

[Jonathan's response: thanks back to you for your participation and support. I will pass your suggestion regarding adding Board member names to statements that are made, but can tell you that yes, what was said reflected the consensus opinion of the whole Board.]

[Tex]

Keep in mind consensus and unanimous have different meanings.

[Moderator 2 Comment: Very true. This was by unanimous vote of the Executive Committee, which is empowered to make decisions in between official Board meetings. For information on the structure of the IBOAI Board, go to http://www.iboai.com/IBOAI-Structure.asp. It provides links to all the various committees. Alan]

[ss3251]

Moderator please reply to my question regarding the IBOAI contract with Quixtar. I have been told it has recently changed to only be a month to month contract. This can't be a good sign. Please explain your view of this.
Thanks.

[Moderator: Look for a definitive explanation on the IBOAI's contract with Quixtar in the next 24-48 hours.]

[Gary Ingram]

Jonathan - you still haven't posted my post from yesterday. Complied with rules of this blog - but apparently don't like someone excercising freedom of speech declaring to withhold our support of the IBOAI and request a refund of the $9 support fee.

[Jonathan: Here's your message and I'll look for your other one, Gary, but there's a difference between freedom of speech and spamming and it's obvious that a group of Team members has been dispatched to this and other blogs for the purpose of repeating the same messages, and giving the same URLs, over and over and over again. Most people call that type of communication "spamming" and that's how we'll be treating it too. So the URL has been deleted from this message prior to posting.]

[jthompson]

Jonathan,

i saw what you call spamming all over as well... in fact thats how i found out about TEAM's blog forum.

But i got banned... and my 80 posts.

[SPARTAN]

Jonathan,
I'm sorry. I'm sorry Quixtar is ruining their reputation. I feel sorry for the employees of Quixtar who have been so helpful to me over the years. The thousands of Quixtar employees will be in my thoughts and prayers, as their lives are being run by a select few.

[Tex]

SPARTAN,

Get the story straight. The damage was done by your "leaders" and the other "leaders" who have taken advanatage of the IBO's via massive tool profits for decades. If Quixtar directed these "leaders" to not disclose tool profit, they share the blame. However, your "leaders" still could have reduced tool prices to reduce the massive resulting profits.