Sipology and Unethical Conduct - Call to Action

http://colourthekitty.com/unethical.html

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.626070312906096&type=3

 

I need your help. My friend Lauren is a Sipology Independent Consultant. I joined under her because we both believe in the products. However, the woman Lauren joined under has caused some issues we cannot get the head office to address.

 

Lauren spent a year and a half building her VIP group. She had MANY members and lots of activity. Her sales were low because she was still building the group and dealing with some family emergencies.

 

Lauren attended the yearly conference and a group picture was taken. This is where the hurt began. When that picture was placed on the back of the catalog, Lauren had been cropped out! Everyone else was there, but Lauren had been cropped out. She was still willing to move forward and grow her business with the company though.

Peg Schieck - Lauren's upline, had created a launch group for Lauren. The way those work is after the launch party the upline drops from the group to go help newer recruits. That was not how it worked in this case. 

Right after Lauren began asking some legitimate questions, Peg then told Lauren to "get a better attitude and not to come back until she did" and booted her from the team chat AND her own VIP group!  Peg is not a corp office member and does NOT have the authority to terminate anyone. Yet, she stole the VIP group that Lauren had spent a year and a half building.

Peg then kept Lauren's name on it and her personal graphics until we basically threatened her with legal action to remove them. In doing this it torpedoed the business Lauren had worked so hard to build! It was also an emotional blow at a time when Lauren was still recovering from a couple deaths in the family and the passing of her beloved  dog Tobi.

Lauren and I tried to address the issue via proper channels. First we called the head office but never received the promised callback. Then we emailed the head office only to be told we cannot  change uplines no matter what. We would have to go inactive for a YEAR and then rejoin the company under someone else! Even though the very terms on the company website state that a consultant may NOT interfere with another consultant's business. Yet, this is exactly what they are permitting Peg to do.

Every solution they have offered penalizes US - not Peg, who stole Lauren's VIP group and has earned income from the sales that group has produced since Peg replaced Lauren's links  with her own. Not one solution penalizes peg for what she has done, compensates Lauren for the stolen sales or even offers any reasonable solution.

The company refuses to penalize Peg, they only wish to penalize us for speaking  out about the issue! Why should we have to create a new account, with new links for customers when we have spent so much time into customizing our current links and advertising? Why does Peg get to keep the VIP group she stole and the sales she got from it?

When calling and emailing the head office went without a resolution, I began asking in the Sipology North America group. I was "silenced" in a group that prides itself on inclusion! My questions were deleted. Private messages to the company founder have gone unanswered. The post was seen by a few though and they recommended we reach out to Kayla. So we did.

A three way chat with Lauren, myself and Kayla also resulted in inaction from the company. I have long emails between myself and the head office where both Lauren and myself have expressed our concerns about Peg continuing to benefit from the theft of the VIP group as well as any sales we make now. Why should she when she did so much damage to the business Lauren was building? Why should she continue to benefit from what we do now? Peg is the one who violated the company terms and conditions, NOT us. It certainly appears the company's message of being inclusive and supportive is a line of bullshit.

Direct quote from Lauren - "Essentially peg thought she could control me, but when she kicked me off the team and I announced I don’t need her, she got pissed and stole the group to try to get me to fail"

 

Peg is a horrible human being who hounds recruits, steals their VIP groups and thus financially benefits from ruining the businesses her recruits try to build. This is extremely unethical and why the company allows it to continue is confusing, unless this is the type of behavior the company wants. Maybe they want thieves and people who commit fraud instead of those who try to build a legitimate business.

 

Every dollar Peg has earned from the VIP groups she has stolen IS fraud! And the company flat refuse to take any action to stop the behavior or compensate those recruits who have been victimized by Peg. 

Who knows how many other Sipology "Consultants" have done the same? I am concerned only with the actions of one, Peg Schieck! Peg has blocked me but this is her VIP Group - at least it bears her name, she might have stolen it from another recruit, who knows.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/649993659113605/

Direct quote from Lauren - "leading up to the falling out, I was very active with the team relationships, helping Peg with strategies to advance her leadership, leading team zoom trainings. I was scheduled to lead the next two sessions when this went down"

 

After Peg had booted Lauren from the team meetings and her own VIP group, Peg had the audacity to demand Lauren go work a show for her, but Lauren was NOT permitted to bring her own supplies to make any sales for herself!  

 

Direct quote from Lauren - "Crying while Crafting https://youtu.be/lF5R52NTrAE And then after this video I found out she stole my group"

 

Peg doesn't want INDIVIDUALS in her downline, she wants zombies who will perform like a circus monkey at her desire. She wants to book shows but wants other consultants to work the shows she books, but the consultant is NOT permitted to promote their own link at these bookings even though they are providing the labor for it! 

Peg is fake, it shows and uses her downline for labor and free groups to steal once the recruit builds it. Peg is unethical and dirty. 

The saddest part is when explaining all of this to the head office, these concerns are totally ignored and brushed off! This has been going on for months now and we are at our wits end trying to find a workable resolution.

It isn't too much to ask to be removed from Peg's downline considering everything Peg has done! It is a simply click in a computer yet no one at the head office is willing to even try!

Personally, I would like to see an audit into every person Peg recruited who left the company! Find out just how many others have been driven out because Peg stole the VIP groups and basically hounded them out after they worked to build it. I highly doubt that will EVER be looked into though :(

Lauren and I would be satisfied with them simply moving us to someone else's downline or having no upline. Let us build our own team and move forward with the products we believe in.

Not a difficult request. Not an unreasonable one either. But for months the only response the company gives is that it cannot be done or silences us in group discussions.

 

 

Here is where we need your help. Directly below this comment is the company contact information.  I am asking EVERYONE to pick up their phone and call corporate, demand an answer to why they have permitted Peg to violate the company terms and conditions, yet are penalizing Lauren for speaking out after corp brushed it off without action. 

I would like to see their phone so busy that these calls are the only calls they are getting UNTIL they do the right thing and penalize the one who violated the company's terms instead of the victim!

 

Flood their email too! Make  sure voices are heard on the matter and they can no longer ignore the issue or brush it under a rug.

 

Once you have done so comment "done" and the name of the person you spoke with or a screenshot of the email you sent. 

 

ALL participants will be entered into a drawing for a set of custom made potholders (made by me)! 

 

Let's see if this company will step up and do the right thing, if not let's make damn sure the world knows they support unethical behavior from their pet consultants who are permitted to violate the company's own terms!

 

 Sipology Support Team CDN: 905-574-0132 | US: 716-408-0875 

CDN: support@steepedtea.com | US: help@steepedtea.com

 

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research links (for me tossed them here so I didn't have to dig them out later)

 

https://onlinemlmcommunity.com/ethics-in-network-marketing/

 

https://jojobonetto.medium.com/accountability-and-ethics-in-multi-level-marketing-6c6581a83f6a

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/jun/01/online-beauty-schemes-selling-social-media-younique-arbonne

 

https://www.entrepreneur.com/franchises/business-opportunity-multilevel-marketing-keep-away-from/34878

 

https://www.dsa.org/consumerprotection/code-of-ethics

 

https://www.thecuriousfrugal.com/network-marketing-facts/

 

https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9462&context=dissertations

 

 

https://www.acquisition.gov/far/52.203-13

 

https://www.justice.gov/jm/jm-9-28000-principles-federal-prosecution-business-organizations

 

 

https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-136/consumer-protection-for-gig-work/

 

 

https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/data-ethics

 

 

https://openstax.org/books/business-law-i-essentials/pages/3-1-business-ethics

 

Negative employee relations. If employees continually see a discrepancy between what’s expected of them and how leadership behaves, this contrast can create serious problems in the management of employees. Some employees may become disengaged, while others will stop working as hard. After all, if the same rules don’t apply to everyone, why even bother? The downside to negative employee relations is that the entire company becomes less productive, less responsive to customers, and less profitable.