Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous–Amway Edition

Dick DeVos might have lost his lead over Jennifer Granholm, but don’t feel too sorry for him. If DeVos loses, he won’t get to stay in the Governor’s residence on Mackinac Island (the only reason I could see why anyone would want the job of Governor of Michigan) but he can return to his home above thanks to the Amway fortune. According to the Detroit News, “Amenities at the DeVos homestead include an indoor underground swimming pool, a tennis court with a $22,000 lighting system, a wine room, a billiards room, seven fireplaces, a Jacuzzi, eight bathrooms, five bedrooms and a four-car garage connected to the main house by a covered walkway.” If he needs a break from the main home in Ada (above), there’s always the second home on Lake Makatawa in Holland (below).


Perhaps you too can become an Amway distributor and get to live like this. Or perhaps not:

“Amway and its clones are ravaging huge numbers of people every year with this story that they have this special system for earning income,” FitzPatrick said.

He said the company had to go global to survive because it had worn out its welcome in the U.S.

“The actual result: 99 percent of all who sign up and pay their money to distribute products don’t make a profit and 80 percent of its products are bought by company salespeople and never resold,” FitzPatrick said.

Former high-level Amway distributor Eric Scheibeler, who now lives in Pennsylvania, has written extensively, online and in a book, about what he saw as “fraud and deception” in Amway’s overseas and domestic operations. He has produced copies of letters he sent to Dick DeVos describing the alleged fraud that he says were never answered.

“There is systematic fraud. Amway has been promoted as having no downside and potential of generating a six-figure income, but it has almost a 100 percent loss rate for recruits,” he said.

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