Are you being solicited to become an affiliate or member of WorldVentures? Have you heard the terms “scam” or “pyramid scheme”? Read our WorldVentures review to learn all you need to know about the company, its leaders, its products, and your possible earnings.
Background
Founded: 2005
Website: www.worldventures.com
Revenue: $926 million (2016)
Industry: Travel, Multi-Level Marketing Company
Employees: +500,000 members (estimate)
Leaders:
- Mike Azcue – Co-Founder and Former CEO
- Wayne Nugent – Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer
- Josh Paine – Chief Executive Officer
- Paul Jenkins – Chief Technology Officer
- Eddie Head – President and Chief Strategy Officer
- Sophia Stoller – VP of Communications
- Gregg Stephenson – Compliance Director
- Dan Stammen – Co-Owner, Former CEO, and Chief of Business Development
- Kathy McBrayer – Chief People Officer
History of WorldVentures
Mike Azcue and Wayne Nugent, two multi-level marketing veterans, founded WorldVentures in 2005 with the vision of becoming the “Mary Kay of travel.” Their ambition became much more reachable after MLM giant, and WorldVentures competitor YTB International was subjected to a series of investigations and lawsuits from 2006 to 2009, eventually bankrupting the company after it was discovered to be operating a pyramid scheme and engaged in deceptive marketing. This provided an opportunity for WorldVentures, which increased from $15 million in sales in 2006 to $90 million in 2009. Because of his success, Wayne Nugent was nominated for Entreprenuer of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2010.
However, as we’ve seen with the great majority of MLMs, success is frequently fleeting due to the industry’s overly high turnover rates among distributors. WorldVentures was sued by the Norwegian government in 2014, was labeled a pyramid scheme, and was forced to stop its operations in the country. Former top-earning members filed various lawsuits against the company in 2016, saying that the company terminated their contracts in order to divert their commissions to the executive team. In 2017, it was reported that founder Wayne Nugent had settled a tax evasion allegation and a formal class-action lawsuit filed against the company (details at the bottom of the article).
In the middle of many legal disputes, Mike Azcue stepped down as CEO and was replaced by Josh Paine. It’s unclear what position Azcue still plays in the company. Additionally, the company has failed to disclose its 2017 revenue, implying that revenue has dropped dramatically since 2016.
What Is WorldVentures?
Have you ever desired to make a good living while on vacation? According to WorldVentures Holdings, you can! Wayne Nugent and Dan Stammen founded the company because they feel travel is an essential element of life. They both came from MLM backgrounds and led the way to fun, freedom, and success.
How Does It Work?
Simply put, it’s a membership subscription that includes an initial sign-up fee and monthly payments. Every dollar you spend earns you a DreamTrips point. As a customer, you accumulate these points in order to receive Reward DreamTrips. They basically work as discount coupons, allowing you to acquire cheaper prices on the deals you want.
WorldVentures Products
WorldVentures offers a membership that supposedly allows affiliates access to great deals on hotels, activities and day trips, cruises, and car rentals through their website DreamTrips.com in return for a “low” monthly fee. Furthermore, by recruiting new members, you may earn points that can be used for vacation packages. Unfortunately, as former members may confirm, this method does not work.
To begin, members may only book trips and destinations that are available at particular periods that the company controls completely. This implies that your holiday plans must precisely match with the availability of a specific package and location, or you will be out of luck. Second, the points you earn cannot be redeemed until your 1 anniversary, which implies that members must pay a monthly fee for 12 months before they can use their rewards points.
Furthermore, the company has complete control over how many points you may use at one time, so you can’t save up points to use on a huge trip package. Finally, many WorldVentures customers have claimed that their commissions, which are stored in the company’s “e-wallet” system, are inaccessible and nontransferable, implying that many members are not receiving what they are promised. Affiliates have filed several complaints and demanded refunds as a result of the company’s failure to disclose these facts.
Another fact revealed by the 2017 class-action lawsuit is that the company does not control any travel deals but rather gathers them from various sources and then adds their own fees on top. This means that members may readily find comparable deals for far less money on competitor sites such as Groupon and Expedia. The company also misrepresents packages by claiming that they include airfare while the vast majority do not, resulting in a huge misunderstanding of the real cost of packages for members.
WorldVentures Compensation Plan
To fully understand the potential business opportunity, you must first review the WorldVentures Compensation Plan. The first thing you should notice is that there are no actual cash figures for commissions and bonuses in the document. This should raise a red flag for anybody considering joining the company. According to the compensation plan, there is a mix of commissions that may be earned from direct product sales as well as recruiting individuals into your down-line (the classic sign of a multi-level marketing company). It should be a red flag if you don’t know how much money you’ll make when you join up for a business venture.
All we know about the membership structure is that affiliates must pay an initial $99.99 signup fee and a monthly fee of $24.99 for the base package. Gold memberships start at $199.99 and cost $49.99 per month, while Platinum memberships start at $299.99 and cost $99 per month.
Types Of Membership
Gold Tier
You pay a one-time fee of AUD$295 and monthly payments of AUD$74. This earns you 200 DreamTrips points, which you may spend right away. For each new active member referred, you will receive 100 DreamTrips points.
Platinum Tier
You pay a one-time fee of AUD$443 and a monthly fee of AU$148. This earns you 300 DreamTrips points, which you may use whenever you want. Every new active member you refer earns you 200 DreamTrips points.
The Reality Of DreamTrips
While DreamTrips may seem wonderful, there is a catch. Although you will receive an initial amount of DreamTrips points upon signing up, you will not be able to redeem any of your earned DreamTrips points until your anniversary date. When you reach the one-year milestone of paying monthly fees, you may only use a certain number of points for any purchase. Any points accumulated will expire yearly if they are not used.
Always keep in mind that airfare is not included! The offered rates are for a minimum of two individuals because single travelers pay nearly double the cost. This is most likely why they advise you to travel with friends and family instead.
Joining The WorldVentures Biz
If you’re not pleased with your membership alone, you may convert it into a personal business! The WorldVentures coin has two sides: the customer side and the representative side. It is absolutely voluntary to become a WorldVentures sales representative, but anybody, regardless of background or expertise, is welcome to apply. In fact, they have seminars, workshops, and even boot camps as part of the training for all of the reps – but you have to pay for those as well!
You start earning money by getting commissions and meeting sales targets. There’s a complicated compensation plan demonstrate how lucrative it might become as more people sign up, and yes, it does like a pyramid scheme.
Representative Business System
The business side of WorldVentures is referred to as RBS for short. To become a member of their ‘One Big Team,’ you must pay a one-time cost of AUD$590 as well as a monthly fee of AUD$177. For every platinum sale, you will receive around AUD$74.
Once you’re finished, they’ll even set you up with your own website! All reps are paid using a ewallet that requires a back office login. There is also an online option through their payment gateway using a Paylution Visa card.
Refer Four And Pay No More
If you have at least four persons on your team, WorldVentures will fully waive your monthly fees! Keep in mind that if any of your referrals drop out, you will still be charged unless they are replaced by new active members.
The Process Of Cancellation
If you wish to cancel, you may do so at any time by contacting their customer service department. Be aware that there have been complaints about the process being too long and incidents when they failed to provide refunds.
WorldVentures Income Disclosure Statement
According to WorldVentures’ Income Disclosure Statement, 80% of affiliates do not earn any annual commission, while the top 99% earn less than $2,000 (before expenditures) for the full year. Given this information, which the company has provided, do you believe you have a good chance of making money if you join?
Customer Reviews
Customer satisfaction is another important factor to consider while joining an MLM. A glimpse at WorldVentures’ Better Business Bureau website reveals an alarming number of customer complaints coming from misleading product advertising, the company backtracking on refund promises, and the inability to receive help with booking package concerns. Overall, the complaints reveal a practice of the company and its affiliates misrepresenting about membership perks.
Legal Issues
- WorldVentures was banned in Norway in 2014 after the government successfully sued the company for operating a pyramid scheme.
- Former WorldVentures executives Myron Wick and Virginia Walker sued the company for breach of contract in 2016, saying that the company neglected to pay them commissions that they had earned.
- Randy Ostrom, a former member, sued WorldVentures for breach of contract in 2016, but was denied a settlement during arbitration. Following the arbitration, it was found that the arbiter has close ties to WorldVentures and its legal company.
- In 2017, a RICO class-action complaint was filed against the company, alleging that it is nothing more than a pyramid scheme with members experiencing average yearly losses of $1,000.
What I Like About World Ventures
- Vacation packages may be quite appealing.
- Points may be earned while spending money.
- Also the potential of earning money.
What I Don’t Like About World Ventures
- Options may be limited as compared to the standard Expedia or Costco travel.
- It’s possible that you’ll end up traveling alongside other WorldVenture members.
- Even if you’re not traveling, you’ll have to pay recurring monthly fees.
- involved in too many legal issues.
Is World Ventures A Scam?
While it isn’t exactly a scam, the business model is classified as multi-level marketing, with the most of the money made at the top. It may be tempting to believe that you can acquire an unlimited number of members, but network marketing has been proven to be unsustainable in the long run. According to WorldVentures’ most recent annual income disclosure statement, up to 80% of representatives made no money at all!
Conclusion
While using World Ventures for travel may save you some money, starting to sell for them will cost you much more. Making money via DreamTrips memberships involves significant risks that well outweigh the benefits. Get-rich-quick schemes exist, but don’t let the numbers fool you. In the world of multi-level marketing, the struggle is real, therefore if anything seems too good to be true, it certainly is!
What Is Our Top Recommendation For Making Money Online?
Our review team has come across a program in the real estate industry that is next level!
Although it’s not real estate in the traditional sense, it’s all digital.
Where World Ventures falls short is in scalability.
There’s only so much time in a day and there’s only so many people you can reach to sell by yourself.
MLM companies know this! Which is why they push so hard for you to recruit for your downline…you can’t get rich with it as a one man/woman show.
But what if you could make even more money off of little local websites without having to spend hundreds of dollars on overpriced products and a bunch of time recruiting people to sell under you?
With this digital real estate program, you can make recurring monthly income without constant sales to your friends and constant recruitment!
Sound too good to be true? Of course it does! But it isn’t…in fact, business owners wish they had this skill!
All you have to do is build and rank a LOCAL website and forward the jobs off to a business owner in town, you could even email it to them!
This works for literally any service based business, tree service, plumbing, towing, etc.
How do you get paid and how much?
Simple, after you forward the jobs off to a business owner and he makes some money off of them, you simply ask to make the deal beneficial for each other.
A fair price to charge per lead, depending on the industry is 10-20%…let’s just use the tree service industry for example and go by worst case scenario.
Let’s say you build and rank the site and only 10 jobs a month come in. The average tree service job is anywhere from $500-$2000!
That means at bare minimum you have an asset worth $500 a month!
See why they call it digital real estate now? That’s a rent payment.
The great thing is how easy it is to scale. You don’t have to worry about:
- Your upline getting paid before you
- Begging your friends and family to buy from you
- Recruiting people all the time
Remember World Ventures? You only get what’s left of the pie if you meet a monthly quota…
The course we recommend actually allows you to collect HUGE FLAT RATE DEALS. Truly passive income!
The training program takes making money online to a whole other level. The owner of the program walks you through how to build and rank a site hand in hand, with the occasional voice over when he is sharing his screen.
You will learn the importance of keywords, website name, how to send call notifications via email, backlinking, etc.
Once the training program is completed you will also have access to a Facebook group much better than the World Ventures MLM group in our opinion. This group is much more active.
Unlike World Ventures, where you’re getting maybe $10 per sale, you could be getting 10-20X THAT.
A business will always want more leads and another job. In fact it doesn’t even matter that the job isn’t coming from their website name…they see it as it is…expanding digital real estate.
Unlike World Ventures, more people have been able to walk away from their 9-5 job as well.
Digital real estate allows you to have total passive income with most of your day being spent WITH your friends, NOT selling to them.
Now, I know you probably have tons of questions…