Team National is an old school pryamid scheme buyers club. Family memeber gets schooled on this.

by Tom Higgins
(Winona, MN)

My experience with TN (Team National) began in November of 2015. My cousin Karen calls out of the blue. Hadn't talked with her in a year but happy that she called. She mentions she and her husband would like to come visit in the next few days. I thought it odd as they live 5 hours away. It put my wife and I on the spot as they would most likely have to stay overnight.

But ok. Family is family.

Well the Friday visit is upon us. We are happy to see Karen and Justin. We are all pretty similar in age mid 40's and been friendly with them in the past. I am grilling steaks and looking forward to having a few beers and watch college football with Justin. We barely have them in the house and Karen blurts out "We have a life changing opportunity" for you two! Oh boy.

Unbeknownst to Karen we have a strict no MLM/pyramid scheme/door to door salesmen etc.. rule. She must have caught the look on our faces as she back peddles quickly.

Well, we let it slide as things are going well. Our son is off at college so its just us 4 for dinner. Then it arrives. Justin tells us we need to discuss the opportunity right after dinner. "Its too big to wait".

I can literally see steam coming from Carrie my wife's ears. I want to keep peace and assure them we will talk. We clear the dishes and get ready for the lifetime opportunity!

We gather in the living room. Karen has her Ipad out. They announce proudly they can save us money on almost every purchase we make and to boot we will get a commission back that is huge! She then goes into the TN pitch and shows us some cheap ass furniture that we can save a fortune on. We haven't said anything yet. They take turns telling us how we will save a fortune and get rich as we recruit others!

Finally Carrie blurts out, this is a scam and you have lost your investment. My lovely wife isn't a softie and usually speaks her mind in a direct fashion. She pulls out her laptop and almost immediately is peppering them with TN scam stories and the fact that less than 1% ever make any money. She obliterates this nonsense in a direct and cutting way. A tad uncomfortable at this point.

To their credit they keep plugging. Then the death blow.

They mention that we can save thousands on a car. Well we have been SUV shopping for a few weeks. Carrie pulls out a quote we received today from our local Chevy dealer. A 2016 Tahoe LTZ. She hands the quote to them and says if you beat it by $1000 we are in. Of course what they don't know is we are well checked out on car pricing and have bought 10+ vehicles from this salesman. Our price is superb.

Karen says we need to join first then see the big car discounts. Carrie laughs in her face. Karen fumbles around on the phone in private, not sure who she is calling on Friday night at 8:00. Justin is still prattling on about commissiosn on every day products. Carrie is laying the death stare on him. Karen finally comes back after about 60 minutes and announces they are leaving. Carrie couldn't resist and asks when we can pick up the Tahoe. Karen bursts into tears and screams at us for being too stupid to see the savings.

Umm ok. Off they go! Don't come back!

I quickly call a few other relatives after they leave and find out this stuff has been going on for a few weeks.

Luckily no one has bought into this.

I found out recently they gave up on TN and have delved into at least 2 other MLM's.

Lesson here is that this MLM stuff is a quick way to lose friends, family and your money.