Team Beachbody Scam

Weight loss and health products are some of the most common products you will find in business opportunity scams.  The vast majority of these business opportunities will not provide enough income to cover the cost of the products you purchase from them while you are a representative.  One of the most requested business opportunities my subscribers have asked me to look into is Team Beachbody.  Here is what I have found.

Team Beachbody Scam Claims

Now you can help friends and family feel good and get healthier too, as a Team Beachbody Coach. When you do, you’re making a real difference in people’s lives and enjoying great benefits for yourself.

We’ve already paid out millions of dollars in weekly commissions to Coaches. That’s because we have a plan that works. You’ll get the best sales tools and training to help you succeed.

Our Starter Kit gives you all the tools you need to get started and be successful.

The Coach Opportunity has no inventory requirements.

Here is how the Team Beachbody business opportunity is presented:

Team Beachbody Scam Presentation Video

Team Beachbody Scam Reality

Founded in 1998 by Carl Daikeler and Jon Congdon, Beachbody, LLC, operates Beachbody.com and TeamBeachbody.com. The Santa Monica, California-based company is the creator of fitness and weight loss solutions including P90X, INSANITY, Brazil Butt Lift, Slim in 6, Turbo Jam, and Hip Hop Abs among many others.

The business opportunity that Team Beachbody offers you is to refer people to a duplicate of their website and receive a commission for the things they buy. Also, you have the privilege of recruiting others to do the same thing.  You pay them a one time fee and a monthly fee to have this privilege.

There is no reason you should pay a company for the privilege to direct people to a duplicate of their website and recruit people for them.

Requirements for Becoming a Team Beachbody Coach

  • Be of the age of majority in his or her state of residence
  • Reside in the United States, U.S. Territories, and Canada or in a country where Beachbody has officially announced that it’s open for business
  • Have a valid Social Security Number, Social Insurance Number, or Federal Tax ID number
  • Purchase a Coach Business Kit (optional in North Dakota); and
  • Submit a properly completed and executed online or physical Coach Application (originals only—no copies) and Agreement to Beachbody. Information submitted on the Application, either online or physical copy, must be true, correct, and current as of the time of submittal, including, without limitation, the applicant’s personal actual and correct current address, email, credit card information, and tax identification information. Any information considered fraudulent will cause the Coach to be subject to disciplinary action, including suspension or termination of their business.

– Source Team Beachbody Policies and Procedures 

How do the above requirements qualify you to coach other people?

In my opinion, Team Beachbody offers coaches that are not qualified to coach. It would seem their coaches are really MLM sales people.

“…The key to success with Beachbody is helping others succeed. 🙂 Only 5% of my paycheck is based on my own personal sales.” – Source Top Beachbody  Representative

Helping others succeed means that 95% of this representatives money is coming from their downline. 

To receive coach leads from the company you are required to purchase their products though a personal Home Direct Order (Auto-shipment).

Coach Connection Program
Coaches currently Qualified with a Paid-As Rank of Diamond Coach or above are eligible to receive new Coach leads received by the Company. Qualified Diamond Coaches must satisfy the following criteria to receive Coach leads:

Must achieve at least 100 PV originating from new or ongoing Home Direct orders in the last 30 days, of which at least 50 PV originates from your personal Home Direct orders. – Source Team Beachbody Policies and Procedures

You have to compete for retail sales with the companies own advertising on late night TV.

“If you plan on building a successful Beachbody Coach business, you must be on board with Shakeology and drinking it yourself.” – Source coachquestions.com

The average income per year for a person that is only retailing Team Beachbody products is $500 per year.    The cost per month for Shakeology is $129.95 which is $1,559.40 per year.

You will find hundreds of complaints about Team Beachbody at the Better Business Bureau for the last 12 months.  Here are some examples:

1. I looked at pricing and specifically did not complete my order on the website. But, they shipped it and billed me without authorization. On July 12, I had seen a TV commercial from them referring to online downloadable workouts. I wanted to see what the price was for those. I had to go as far as adding an item to the shopping cart just to see the download pricing. I stopped after two steps, because I found it was too expensive, and never completed the order. I even received an email from them telling me I still had items in my shopping cart that I could purchase. Then, only a couple of hours later, I got a shipping confirmation. I absolutely did NOT complete the purchase. THEY completed the purchase without my authorization and shipped the product out trying to obligate me. I informed them immediately. Their response was that I should ‘TRY’ the product and ship it back to them, even though I NEVER ordered it.

2. They keep sending me protein pills and billing my mastercard…I have returned them 3 times….not opened..at my expense…and the phone number is out of service and they refuse to respond to my emails. I am contacting mastercard today. I want them to stop sending me the pills and refund my money! Thank you.

Here is how one Team Beachbody member explained their experience with trying to leave the business opportunity:

Every time you try to cancel, you get a message like, “your account will be cancelled within 72 business hours. “Or — today’s line was, “your request is being expedited and will be cancelled on Wednesday.” They deliberately delay the cancellation to make people forget about it. $15.95 is just enough to fly under the radar and not be a huge priority. But if you don’t actively follow up with them (multiple times!) they charge for you another month or two.

Some companies call this “retention,” but this is ridiculous. I’m sure they get lots of “extra” charges in the gray-area time while people are trying to cancel. This is a dishonest business trapping people into giving up a few extra bucks. Customers should not have to call multiple times to force them to cancel. – Source Team Beachbody Forum

Team Beachbody attempts to control who you and people in your home do business with:

Coaches who are enrolled in another network marketing opportunity or who have any member of their immediate household enrolled in another network marketing opportunity will not be eligible to earn the Star Diamond Leadership Bonus such as being invited to participate in any Elite or Leadership events hosted by Beachbody. – Source Team Beachbody Policies and Procedures 

Cost

$39.95 Business Starter Kit

  • Coach welcome book
  • 30-day access to your coach online office
  • Personalized coach website
  • Support tools

$15.95 Monthly Coach Fees – Access to your coach online office.

$2.99 Weekly Club Fees – To qualify for the customer lead program, one of the requirements is for a coach to be a club member.

Products

Challenge Packs
Fitness Program
Shakeology
Shakeology Boosts
3-Day Refresh
Beachbody Performance
Ultimate Reset
Team Beachbody Club
Trainer
Mens Apparel
Derm Exclusive
Womens Apparel
Nutrition and Supplements
Equipment and Gear
Coach Products and Tools
Accessories

Product Pricing
Coaches may not sell Beachbody products below the list price contained in the Beachbody retail price list, nor may they offer additional incentives, including but not limited to free or reduced shipping charges, on the sale of Beachbody products.

Compensation Plan

The compensation plan that Team Beachbody offers is nothing new.  There is a startup fee and a monthly fee.  To advance in rank in the compensation plan, you have to personally purchase or retail a minimum amount of product each month.  Also, you have to recruit people into the business opportunity to advance in rank in the compensation plan.

Commissions Earned

  • Challenge Packs $40–$105
  • Retail 25%
  • Team Beachbody Club Member 15%
  • Memberships 40%

Earn from the sales of your entire downline organization. Cycle whenever you have 300 Balanced Volume Points. Earn between $14 and $18 each cycle, depending on rank.

There is no limit to the amount of levels your downline can grow to.

Excessive levels in a downline is another sign participants are expected to sell primarily to their downline, rather than to the general public. This makes it an exploitative money transfer scheme. – Source The problem with 5 or more levels of compensation.

Personal Volume: Accrues from sales activity that the Coach initiates—a Coach purchasing for themselves and/or a Coach selling to their own customers.

Rank Requirements
Active Coach  Emerald  Ruby  Diamond  1–15 Star Diamond
Personal Volume Requirement  50  50  75  100  200
Organization Requirement  0  1 active Coach per leg  1 Emerald Coach per leg, 1 add’l Active Coach per leg  1 Emerald Coach per leg, 3 add’l Active Coaches per leg  See Compensation Plan for Star Diamond Organization Requirements

INACTIVE STATUS – The status that exists for a Coach Business when 49 Personal Volume (PV) or less has been accumulated in any Bonus Qualification Period. Inactive Status will cause a demotion to the rank of Coach and will also cause permanent removal of all Team Volume banked at the time the Coach goes Inactive. Upon achieving a minimum of 50 PV or greater, the status of a Coach will be changed to Active, and TV may again begin to accumulate for that Coach Business.

Click Here For The Team Beachbody Compensation Plan

Income Disclosure

Beachbody does not guarantee any level of success or income from the Team Beachbody Coach Opportunity.

44.73% of Beachbody coaches do not receive a bonus or commission.

69% of Beachbody coaches make $500 on average per year.

91% of Beachbody coaches make $3,454 or less on average per year.

Team Beachbody is a great way to make less than part time minimum wage.

Click Here For The Team Beachbody 2014 Income Disclosure

Return Policy

Beachbody offers a 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee (less shipping and handling charges) to all Customers, retail customers, and Coaches for all of its products. Please review the specific guarantee with each applicable product (from 30 days to 90 days, depending on the product).

A retail customer who makes a purchase of $25.00 or more has 3 business days (Saturday is a business day) after the sale or execution of a contract to cancel the order and receive a full refund consistent with the cancellation notice on the order form.

Upon cancellation of a Coach’s Agreement, the Coach may return products and sales aids held in his or her inventory for a refund. A Coach may only return products and sales aids that he or she personally purchased and which are in Resalable Condition. Upon receipt of the products and sales aids, the Coach will be reimbursed 90 percent of the net cost of the original purchase price(s), less shipping charges.

Team Beachbody Scam Conclusion

In my opinion, Team Beachbody is just another business opportunity recruiting scam.  Their coaches have almost no requirements and are MLM sales people. They require increasing personal volume as you advance in rank in the compensation plan.  Recruiting is required to advance in rank in the compensation plan. There are many reports of difficulty in canceling your auto-shipment orders and monthly coach fees.  There is little opportunity to make a significant income retailing the Team Beachbody products.  I would avoid the Team Beachbody business opportunity.

Here is a second opinion on the Team Beachbody business opportunity:

Beachbody Coaches may argue that in the end people are getting healthy, so who cares about all the scammy stuff that goes along with it. If you are really interested in people’s health, then I suggest you simply coach them without Beachbody. Form a buddy system and keep each other in check. – Source Lazymanandmoney.com