Does anyone know how to get taken off of their mass e-mail list. I tried to call their number to inform them of unsubscibing, and its a voice message that indicates they will call you back when they get to you. Wow! I have never heard of such a message from a business. Very unprofessional. and the fact that its very hard to locate them, tells you something else. Its been months and never heard from them. Does anyone know of their Head Office? Or is that a secret too. Whoever is looking at this so called opportunity, please save yourself the trouble and just look the other way.

Further to your report on Mr Kipax of BIM corp. it seems to be true that new people must continuously join to make the system work. But isnt that true of all companies? If we all stop buying the product, what company can survive?

By your logic, IBM, Apple, and Toyota are all suspicious companies because they will fall apart and stop paying dividends to everyone who has invested in them, if we all suddenly stopped buying computers and cars.

Is the product over-priced? Compare it to the price we happpily pay for a diamond, which unless you want to cut a peice of glass, is actually worthless. The market, not utility alone, determins the value of all products.

I watched your report on Alan KIpax and BIM corp. with some disapointment.

Your details were vague and often seemed to omit crucial facts and details. If Mr KIpax is indeed operating a pyramid scheme, why has he been able to operate in the open for over a decade?

Yes, I know your expert said that Canada is a haven for scams but are we to beleive that that that means we are so lax that we allow them to hold public meetings and erect billboards?

That is a bit hard to beleive, even if I am willing to accept his credentials as an expert!

I notice a lot of comments address the fact that Wendy's piece did not seek out and interview people who were happy with their involvement with BIM; after all, how could 8,000 members be wrong?


The problem is - and this is what makes MLMs and "pyramid schemes" the ideal financial model for the "less than scrupulous" - is that every single person involved in BIM has a financial interest in seeing the business grow, and perpetuating the myth of the financial opportunities offered by the company.


That's why you usually don't hear much about these schemes until they collapse in upon themselves; everybody involved is busy trying to make money by convincing everybody they know how wonderful the opportunity is. So unless they have been kicked out of the program, or it has collapsed upon itself, all you are going to hear from current participants are glowing reviews.

YOU PEOPLE DON'T EVEN NO WHAT A PYRAMID SCHEME IS. A PYRAMID SCHEME IS WHEN SOMEONE PAYS MONEY AND GETS MORE MONEY FOR DOING NOTHING. GOD STUPID PEOPLE. I BELIEVE BIM IS AN AWESOME COMPANY AND YOU PEOPLE WILL NEVER CHANGE MY MIND!!

HA HA HA HA

ASHLEY SNOW

Pyramid schemes are illegal.
Multi-Level Marketing is not.
The show should clarify the difference.
Some biased reporting was present.

Really CBC...did you not realize the worst crime that was committed here? That was to arrest a man for peaceful protest and assembly - that's his CONSTITUTIONAL right and the RCMP just spit on it by fabricating a charge! This is as bad the video of Dziekanksi being tasered and the RCMP trying to cover it up. Section 26 of the Criminal Code says that anyone disobeying a statute is guilty of an offense. It appears to me those officers should be busted for disobeying the Constitution, which happens to be a statute - the bloody supreme law of Canada.

Yet you guys just let the RCMP go on this and went la la la on your merry way.

It is a shocking thing that people are so easily swayed by the opinions of others instead of taking the time to gather the facts and form their own conclusion. Partial truths and biased experts are not going to give us the entire picture. Shame on us for being so gullible as to think the media has reported the actual truth.

1. $3200 for a membership fee. Kippax is trying to disguise this as a type of franchise operation, but it's got nothing in common with that. There is no true distribution channel at work here. He keeps most of that money and pays part of it to the person who recruited the new member in form of a commission. 2. Seems as if only the members can buy trips through BIM. A "REAL" distribution business allows members to sell to anybody, not just people who buy a membership. If this is really how things work, then this organization only survives from "internal consumption". That, in itself, proves that it's a pyramid scheme. 3. In comparison to other travel companies, the trips cost a lot more. Well, in order to pay the high commission that Kippax is promising, he has to mark-up the price a lot more. 4. So you end up paying $3200 to get access to prices that are more expensive than elsewhere!

I just watched this report and there's one thing that amazes me the most about this:

When will people actually realize the old adage is true:

If it sounds to good to be true, it is!

The only true quick rich scheme in this country is the lottery... and even that's only about a 0.00003% of winning.

Why didn't they go looking for some of the people who were actually making $30,000/month or $13,000 part time and see what they have to say, if they exist.

Posted by Jack Handy
"Just some rough calculations I made:
3200 Ultralife club (a number vacation weeks at a condo of my choice.. that I can pay for.. and I search the site alot.. alot of the deals are for $350 for a week)
Say I used 30 weeks in my lifetime..
10500 +3200 = $13700.00 (estimation)
Now my friends have a timeshare at a condo that I searched on the ULC site and found for $350 for a week. They pay condo fees for their timeshare about $200 a week.. and the initial condo cost them $25 000. SO if they used it 30 times.. the total costs would be $31000.00 (estimated)
I like the flexibility and the price of ULC $13700 OR $31000.. that is a huge difference! "

Except that you can sell your timeshare and at the very least get your $25,000 back. That is a big difference, with the timeshare, you ACTUALLY OWN SOMETHING. Congrads Jack, your loss is $7700.

i am a bim member and enjoying it a lot. just like any job you have to put effort in bim to get paid. story on cbc what a crap. wendy needs to join bim to really see how it works. all those people whinning and complaining get a life.

The women that was a single mother. She was never forced to pay anything

too bim. Ofcourse it is not a scam. You have too work and recruit if You

want too make money at anything. Iam a distributor if You struggle

You ask questions get assistance. Oh Iam broke could not afford it.

That was Her comments. I want My money. Well Then quit complaining,

get the money you paid by working hard. She or no one is ever forced

or pressured. Bim sells itself the travel package is fabulouse.

Never believe anything You hear or read. That single mother should get real.

We all have too work and plan. Like the other negative comments. I have

no sympathy.

I'm in, and until you get busy and research your own information and find out what the truth about what this company has to offer. Let's not believe everything the media feeds us. I think that nobody should blow there horn too loud. as long as the travel opportunities are as good as they say, and, as much time that you put into this to help you succeed,and there is a commodity with time spent to make you feel worthwhile,It's a job and it is not illegal, then what is the problem? And yes, a bonus, you make money and then you can afford to take a holiday. by the way didn't the liberals just get in?

Please do not judge peter any thing like his cousin!
Peter's wife and children lost everything because of him!

Mr. Thorton is just lucky he didn't get tasered by the RCMP in BC, as it is well known that in Canada's one-sided police force likes to "shoot-first...taser you till your dead...then as questions later..." Good job CBC for exposing this criminal. I'm pretty sure he's one of those people who will pay for his crimes one day, because everybody gets what's coming to them!

I was harrassed to attend a presentation and after the 4th offer I finally went just to end the harrassment. A big part of getting people to attend is the BAIT AND SWITCH offer. The suckers involved are coached not to tell what the presentation is, because it's hard to explain, they tell you. But once you get there and if you have any common sense you see it's a pyrimid right away. None of the presenters were credible and the suckers that were involved were the desperate. Even as a last ditch offer I was told I could take emeralds instead of the money, which my friend got sucked into taking. IF YOUR ASKED TO ATTEND DON'T GET MIXED UP, YOU WILL BE SORRY.

It looks like this episode (8 May 2009) of Marketplace was a repeat. So, is this scam continuing? Has Kappix been held accountable? Why wasn't Wendy Mesley up to the verbal fight with him,.? Why didn't she take along the 'expert' with her to that interview her? She was too weak for the job and he was a bully. We need to receive follow-ups to these shows, so that we can take comfort that they don't continue. Otherwise it's just sensational stuff with no results.

Response to Bob: You have the chanse to get rid of the gouvernment, it's call election day, but nex time you will vote liberal anyway so we are the dumb one.

This shure is a piramid scam. The bad news is that our leaders are too busey with their own scams likes brown enveloppes a la malroney, nominating friends as senators (18), to protect us.

How come a pyramid scheme a friend was involved in got shut down by the RCMP and yet this one seems to just fester like a damn gangrene open sore? I just dont get it. Fortunately for me I dont trust any of these "big easy money" promo's. Im poor but Im not takin! Shame on those who do this kind of crap!

Good story. I had concerns when a friend went to see a BIM presentation last night. She is inviting me to come along to the next meeting. I check it out on MarketPlace...am not impressed. I feel sick about her getting involved as she is already $10,000 in debt.
I'm hoping she will follow my advice and watch your investigative report.

Dear CBC, please don't edit or omit any of my comments and I thank you. I am writing in response to Wendy's seemingly biased opinion against the BIM opportunity. I have been to 3 BIM presentations and would like to sign up already but first I need to do my homework and be 100% sure this is reputable. Wendy, I think you are doing the average Canadian a big injustice airing what I take as media propaganda. I wish you would attend a BIM meeting AND interview some successful BIM stories. I remember you also once trashed the highly accredited Dr. Earl Mindell, author of "The Vitamin Bible" when he was MLMing one of the wonderful superjuices, the Goji berry. I believe that the superjuices are a lifesaver for our pharmacuetically addicted, nutrition starved, doped up and dummied down society. And now the attack on BIM could rob many ordinary Canadians a chance to get off the gerbil wheel!

THANK YOU!
Ive been trying to get attention to this non-sense of a business since some of my family members fell victim to this. ITS A SCAM! Its a question of ethics for those involved when they know FULL WELL that they are promising unrealistic goals. Well done Marketplace, hopefully the government will grow a pair and make some changes.

This is reply to Grenil post:

What do you know about WFG.......................... not all the companies are same, I don’t know if you are trying to compare WFG with bim???

Just for your information you can search online about WFG they have website and they have official office in every city and are partners with big banks. I’m sure those big banks and companies such as TD Bank have already checked the company out. And guess what the truth is you don’t make a dime from introducing people in their business and you won’t make a penny in the business until you get your gov’t licence. So another word you won’t make any money until you help or serve the client. I hope itz helpful!!

I wonder what they say in their meeting, nobody tells you anything about the company not even the company name and yet want you to come with them to see it. And few of them even said that they got paid and I asked them to show me their check and guess what they change their statement saying it’s on the way............

this is a scam anyone who hears about this needs to run fast, I would never try to recruit people for this very disgrace to the business world. These people are dream sellers and nothing more. Give your $3600.00 to charity, instead of these bloodsuckers!

I've been to a few BIM presentations. I also went to the Consumer Protection website and read up on what makes something a pyramid scheme. BIM looks totally legal. I'm not involved with BIM but it ain't no 'too good to be true' thing since it requires work and a lot of rejection, if you notice from the comments here.
Most folks go to a presentation already brainwashed! We are taught to think we need to sell our souls to some company who treats us like we are disposable.
I have friends who are making pretty good money in their BIM businesses, and no one pressured me to jump in. I met Mr. Kippax and his enthusiasm for his way of helping folks make some extra money was less in my face than some preachers I've known who were trying to save me from some fictitious place of agony. Folks should distinguish between pyramids and network marketing and get their heads straightened out!

I was taught this...if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

I was invited by a friend to a meeting & these are the things that stood out to me:
-I couldn't choose my own seat.
-One of the first opening lines is "Be open. Listen with your heart, not your head."
-It is a 100% Canadian owned business but the millionaire examples they use on their 4 point scale are all American (US).
-Their rule #1 is "Say Nothing". There is this cloak of mystery around the type of presentation you are going to see. Your sponsor won't tell you a thing and they want it that way.
-The people they had to speak, most have another job. If it's so great why not do it full time?
-They focus so much on how much money you can make without thinking about what really drives and motivates them. It’s not always money.
-You have to be at a certain level on their corporate ladder before you see any money.

I would just like to warn everyone out there to stay out! My husband is in this and they promise a lot of money and that is still to be seen. He's been in it for months now trying to recruit people. The only way you can make money is by signing people up after you, that says scam to me. And i agree Mr. Allan Kippax has everyone brainwashed in those meetings. I've been to one and they are way to long. It shouldn't have to take 2 to 3 hours to convince me it's a good business deal. Even if you can get a SMALL discount with Ultra LIfe it's not worth it. Most people are never going to go on that many vacations. Espeically since you get ripped of by the scam and have even less money than before you signed in. I hope this all collapes soon! I don't even care if my husband loses his $3200, I just want him back. And another thing is that now it's supposed to cost $3600 to join in.

One of my family members came to me with this yesterday and gave me and my husbands one of the tickets. She was at one of the meetings and still had really no clue exactly what those tickets were for. She thought maybe they paid the whole vacation, because she already paid $3200 or that they paid for 75% of the regular price. Turns out it pays only for access to a site where you can get deals. My husbands and I checked several different packages on the UltraLife site and against Expedia - exactly the same package, date and hotel. In about 4 separate ones that we looked at, the prices were almost exactly the same, within $100. Not much of a deal! This person is a kind-hearted woman who bought it because she wanted to help a friend get into the 'business'. She has wasted her money and her friend is wasting her time. This is a scam.

Wendy- Your show on BIM did not get to the real root of this so called company. Ultra life is only the hook. We handed over $3290 and as far as I can see the $3200 is to pay the people at the top.(aka: pyramid scheme) The $90 is the fee to join ultra life and get your brief case of nothing. Give your heads a shake folks how else do you think you get paid. Just think, Bim receives $3200 x 8 =$25600 and that is for only the first row of distributors,combine that with the supervisor position ,the manager position and that alone is $76800. Pay out as Director of sales isn't even close to that. So, Where does the rest of the money go? To Mr Kippax? Oh and by the way he now calls himself Baron of Tranent with Diplomatic immunity from prosecution. How timely since your show on Market Place. The real Baron of Tranent died about two years ago and his title was up for sale in the US for $45

My friend requested me to join and that I would make money and she guaranteed me Sorry to say that my life has been destroyed since I invested all that I had and they promised that if you are a distributor you will be able to sell the product and make money

Please help me I am ready to give back the products for my money. I do not want to get involved since I cannot get members. My friend promised me to help but now she cannot
help herself. It is a real scam can you save me

Great story Wendy, can't believe I am just seeing it now. I have first hand knowledge of how Alan is destroying lives right here in my own family. I have a close family member that is so deep in this scam that they know personally that Alan is a fraud but he is the only hope they have left in life. He has these people by "balls" because they have invested so much money in BIM and previously TTI that if they just use their common sense and walk away, they also leave the thousands they have invested and would now be broke, heavily in debt and no hope for the future. So what do they do, keep selling these "UltraLife" packages to try and make enough money to keep their heads afloat. All the while, driving fancy cars and traveling, not that they can afford any of it, but to keep the front that they are living the "UltraLife". Keep on this story.

an appaling waste of time and my intelligence. csis should be informed.

This program (Market Place) is a scam.
Anyone who gets involved with any MLM knows the risks. Those who fail are the ones who do not follow the program. Read the company rules on their website. Its very good and tells all members what must be done to EARN your $3600.00 back. Its a job and the more effort you put in the greater the reward. not to mention you have to complete your job to get your pay. BIM is for motivated people who have drive and positive a attitude. and there is a pile of money if you work hard. IT IS NOT EASY MONEY! thats why its not a scam. I work 22 hours a week for BIM and I love the Opportunity. Dream Big!

What I don't understand is how can these companies operate for so long. 15 years. It's clearly a pyramid scheme, illegal, and totally ignored by the authorities. That's the crime.

These schemes are the worst, as not only do they dupe you of your money, they get you to dupe your friends and families. People should know better, but then the police shouldn't allow them to get that big either. No, we arrest the protester who was outside trying to warn people.

I went to a meeting in early Fall 2008 and saw right through the stuff they were peddling. I felt sick to my stomach that people were getting screwed. I phone the RCMP and they didnt care and I also phoned the Better Business Bureau... its all bull..Baron
Anyway... I suspect that members of this group know its a pyramid... not only the top guys but most of the others as well...

I was disappointed in the program, but just because it did not expose everything. There is more that was not explained about the company that needs to be put out there. Unfortunately for us my husband joined into the program without my permission using the income tax money we received last year and he was invited by his brother . If you think that Travel thing is not worth it you would need to see what Alan has going for "purchases" now health stylus' for $600 that you stir in your water and will help your health, reverse-osmosis systems for $3600 and more of these lovely products. Oh but that's not the kicker we got our "news letter" and at his gala he was presented as a Baron and a Diplomat and that now you can tell people that anything bad heard about this program is preposterous because not just anyone can become a Baron. They have to be checked by the FBI, etc. Agh!

Hey thanks so much for this
I have been invited for this tomorrow and thank God i saw this. I was wondering if there is something like this like a video or link for WFG and ACN.
Please let me know if you know

thhe bim is the best thing to happen to me i made lots of money tell the good so bim is good to make good money

BIM and Ultralife Club - somebody asked which site had been googled in the Market Place show - Well I wouldn't know, but I googled some myself and here is one site www.bestday.com/ I compared six hotels in Acapulco from April 1 to 8 - 7 nights #1 Ultralife $255 bestday $196 2 adults #2 Ultra $246 Bestday $189 #3 Ultra $1349 Best $960 Ultra $981 Best $696 Ultra $753 Best $533 #4 Ultra $292 Best $224 #5 Ultra $440 Best $496 #6 Ultra $695 Best $576 Ultra $456 Best $449 - This is only from one site - I found many - So I actually paid $3280 for someone to do the searching for me not a good deal. Market Place didn't do a good job, but they did tell the truth.

Great setup and promise but Mesley failed to deliver in the end.
Why? Please be better prepared to deal with target of your investigation. Do the court judgments mean nothing?
I am very disappointed that the expose didn't fulfill it's mission.
Please consider a follow-up and be better prepared to nail the scam.
Thanks! for the head's up.

Where are the testimonial of the broke gentleman who made $200,000. or the Lady that could nt pay here bills and now is wealthy. or the revenue canada investigator who was sent to investigate this "scam" and is now a wheathly BIM member.
If you can please show me where I can rent a 6 person Condo for 7 days for $345 dollars i dare you to show me.(8.21 per person per day) 5 star.
I know this from experience. So for me the membership has saved thousands. FACT...!
i also belong to a Roadside Emergency Club. To bad i have not had to use it yet.
obviously your negative critisism is unfounded I aM a very pleased customer who bought a great product for 1/2 price. OH and by the way my friends like to travel as well. So ofcourse it would not be fair for them to be paying $15,000 upfront then a yearly maintnence fee.. ...... they too love BIM.

spelling mistakes in the literature should throw up some red flags...check them out in missisauga until next week...worth a laugh, but not 3200

Be alert!BIM has invaded Winnipeg!My wife and I were invited to attend a dinner at a friend's house a couple weeks ago. I was never told what was gathering about - we got there , we had dinner and then the HOST presented a what so called business venture from BIM.It looked pretty legitimate at first but in the middle of the presentation, the HOST showed us the chart of what BIM calls - the Corporate Ladder. The very moment the HOST showed us the chart, my wife and I knew that the "business venture" was form of a Pyramid Scheme..BIM -legal business venture or not? We do not know. It's up to the Authorities to determine the legality of that particular business.Fortunately, my wife and I did not buy into that. Why? because BIM is too good to be true. No company will give it's investors a 500 percent return on their investments.IF IT'S TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE THEN IT'S NOT REAL AT ALL.

Wow, some of you "Kippax disciples" are so gullible and predictable. First of all, go to www.wyndham-vacations.com; that's the site the travel guy was using. The site offers nothing but condos, and the price offered is for the entire week regardless of how many people you have. (There's dozens of similar sites out there.) Secondly, you just paid $3,200 for the "privilege" of RENTING something for MORE money than the general public would pay - that's not very smart. The only reason I can see for anyone still believing in this charlatan is their own personal greed, and if that's the case, you'll get exactly what you deserve when the pyramid collapses.

I attended a BIM meeting in Red Deer. I did this as a favour to a friend. The presentation itself was waaaay to long and unprofessional. If you have a reputable company and a good product you should be able to sell and get your point across in 45 min and have your people out within an hour. My instincts about the owner were to stay away as far away from this company as possible. If it wasn't for respect for my friends I would have walked out early on and when Alan Kippack put his arm around me to congratulate me on become a member I thought I would hurl. Its unfortunate that people are going on the reputation of their friends and not doing the due dilegence and researching the company for themselves before they sign on the dotted line. Thanks Marketplace I would have liked to see more meat in your story but there was enough to re-confirm my decision to stay as far away as possible.

regarding the show credit card catch as a informed consumer, I know exactly what is on my credit card statement.I have watched a few episopes of marketplace and it is not surprising to me that the so called investigative types on your staff do not know what is on their statement or what they are paying for every month. They are obviously as much investigaters as your experts are expert.

Not sure - I did see a presentation - but was boggled - osI was under the impression that the cost of a vacation at a resort could include from 1 - 6 persons - whereas when you google a site otherwise and get the cost - they didn't say how many people that would be for ie 1 - 6 . Are they comparing apples and oranges. ?

No I am not promoting BIM - just asking questions.

The value of the product is a red herring. The most important point here is that most people get scammed not because they are looking for a good travel package, but because they are looking for a good income opportunity.

Most people would not buy the Ultralife product if there were not a business opportunity attached.

Our first hand experience with many people on Alan's 8-4-2-1 Aussie 2-up pyramid "boards" showed us that well over 90% of participants LOSE money, most of which ends up in Alan's pocket.

When people complain, he calls them "lame and lazy" or worse, "lying, cheating, thieving distributors." Not the kind of person we'd ever want to work with again.

Is there a similar scam but called YTB? I received a dvd of similar circumstances but to pay $500 plus about $1.65 per day for 365 days a year

seriously people... can you not tell how manufactured this show is? I'm assuming most of you are adults. please learn to be subjective if you're going to educate yourself from the information you've seen on your tv

A guy apparently googles better deals on a website, but they dont tell you which one, and strangely enough they are no where to be found. Another dude (a so called 'expert' on pyramid schemes (really?? that could be anyone!!?)) says bad things about bim... some other dude gets kicked out for not following rules and now resents bim (but they dont say why he actually got kicked out?)

Bim may not be what its cracked up to be... but judging from this (and other episodes I've seen), marketplace just seems to be about exploiting people and businesses using a heavy and unfair bias to get ratings (hoorah modern day media, thanks for 'selling' instead of 'giving' us the news)

Wendy...well done by this exposing this Ultralife scam.

Referring to your "travel expert" Rossvegas Feb 7 above.... I don't want to take anything away from what he says regarding Ultralife. However, I would like to challenge his remarks about "timeshares".

Timeshare do have forms of property ownership it is true but his comment leads one to assume that this ownership has value. Try selling on the open market and any value is minimal to nothing.

We got into one with Diamond Resorts International for $17,000 have had trouble ever since. Booking problems, bad call centre and increased maintenance fees of $1000 /year. We just want to walk away.

Caution anyone looking at buying a timeshare front. Don’t do it…walk away. Take the money and put into an investment and get back perhaps $1000/yrenough for you to find a place and you’ll still have your capital.

I just want to say that BIM is not easy money. Yes I have otten the equivilent of the product back plus more but I did have to work for it. I am excited to continue with the business and know that it will go for a long time. Do your research and know how this business actually works. Plus we are able to travel at discount prises and meet a whole lot of new friends. Bless all of you BIMmers. GO TEAM GO

[They] had a booth at the Vancouver Outdoor show last weekend. They were pressuring people to give them their names and contact info. for a "free draw". Right! Thanks for warning me about them; they didn't get my name!

The Readers Digest story has needed to be told for years. I remember my mother being increasingly certain that she would "win the million." Family members expressed their concern to her so many times that she began to hide how much she was buying. One evening she called to tell me that she had won $30,000. She was not a delusional person, she handled all her own bills and kept meticulous books, but she believed she had won money - she was disappointed and embarrassed when she realized it wasn't true, but she kept playing. When she died, there were thousands of dollars of books, CDs, DVDs and video tapes in her apartment, many still in their packaging and mostly crap. In talking about our concerns with friends and colleagues, it is sad and amazing to learn how many senior citizens are swept up in this. Seniors aren't as used to computer-generated mailings and are often taken in by the personalized greetings, fake signatures and other tactics used in this direct marketing enterprise. Sometimes loneliness makes them vulnerable to friendly overtures. Regardless, this is clearly deceptive advertising and should be reformed and brought into line with acceptable marketing standards, as has apparently already happened in the US. I would be interested to know what proportion of RD's revenue is earned by magazine subscriptions and by the unrelated direct marketing, for which we appear to be paying a subsidy through our tax dollars. I hope you are able to follow up on this story as events unfold.

I have received 3 and 4 letters in one day. One was a letter telling me I should not cancel a series of books as I had ordered them, and I owed them money, I got a little angry and suggested that when one book was ordered that they might say it was one a series of how many. I also pointed out that I pay every bill as I receive them. also I got one recently telling me I had to order the one item in the letter or I would lose me position in the (whatever). I only order things that I want and mostly make --no purchase necessary--- as they say, but that is not always on the letter.

When you get a magnifying glass and read the day of the prize award, it sometimes is not to be drawn for a year or more in the future, in spite of the deadline which is stated to be in a couple of weeks.

Re "HOW NOT TO WIN $500,000 Is it possible to receive a copy of this episode? My father in law is addicted to the Readers Digest Sweepstakes buying CD'S, tapes, calculators etc. He has been told that he will win within the next few months. I hope Marketplace will follow up and go to our politicians and law enforcement officials to take action to protect our seniors from these con artists

I would like to understand why the government would subsidize a company that can afford to produce so much paper waste while also misleading people.

I was asked to attend the emerald scam a few years ago. A seedy hotel room with sales people wearing oversized cheap suits. Felt creepy initially. I listened then told my friend it is a scam, a pyramid scam. Her friend said she made money on it... I left... a waste of my time. My friend lost her money in the scheme, trouble is she could not afford to lose it.

Enjoyed your exposure of the Readers Digest offers and contests. Last year I decided to subscribe for the first time in decades, but have been so totally put off by the constant barrage of 'official' mail that I will never subscribe again. I have often wondered why they didn't lower the cost of the magazine since all of these oversize and heavy mailouts must cost a considerable amount of money to print and mail--now I know that our government is subsidizing it--shameful! However, the fact that some people might be sucked in by their ridiculous offers and spend money they do not have for items they do not want sickens me. Thankyou for a wonderful show.

I found your BIM broadcast very interesting. I don't want people to think that all MLM are scams like this. Many have such as Avon, Pampered Chef, Discovery Toys, Xocai, etc. have wonderful products at fair prices and people get paid on the sale of a product or service, not recruitment.

I have been entering the sweepstakes for about two years now. I did tell them not to send me anymore phony chrques. I have purchased music, and a couple books. I am always told I have a great chance of winning (one of the chosen few) I have now decided to quit while I'm ahead, it is not worth the effort and the stamps. Enjoy your program, keep up the good work.

Watched with great anticipation the Readers Digest episode as my father is identical as the 88 year old victim on the show. Not only did my father lose 10s of thousands of dollars, but he also took out a secured loan, played RD more and more, was always short of money which drove my mother helplessly into the ground and then he felt he had to sell the house because he couldn't make ends meet.

Despite his sons efforts to make him stop, legally and medically - there's was nothing that good be done.

What IS being done? Who do we contact?? This infuriates me that a company like this can operate with such deceit in Canada preying on seniors who trust too much, cant read the fine print - and want to leave a legacy for their kids.??

l watched your show tonight. l'm a reader's digest subscriber but not for long. After seeing your show.
l'm very upset with reader's digest, how they do not care about scamming their subscribers to buy merchandise to increase their odds of winning a contest, that you are not required to purchase anything. l also did not like how they would not even do an interview.
Shame on them for misleading so many seniors into buying stuff.
l'm definitely going to cancel my Reader's Digest subscription. Thanks for opening my eyes up.

Thank you for your report on Reader's Digest "Sweepstakes" practices. I want to know - what took so long to stop or address Reader's Digest mispresentation? Have you ever tried to stop their mailings to your home? It's a nightmare - and this applies whether you enter the "sweepstakes" or not. And now I find out that Reader's Digest is subsidized by the government! This ensures that I'll never read another one of their publications until they set the record straight.
Thank you

I use to sign up for those products that Reader's Digest offered in their sweep stake contests. I did not spend a lot of money. But once I did not pay for one of the Reader's Digest product on time. My name was place on a collection agency list and I got a rude call from a collection agency that Reader's Digest had hired to get money for products they sell to people. I did pay for the product in the end, but I also phoned Reader's Digest office in Charlottetown Prince Edward Island office. Yes Reader's Digest has an office in P.E.I and that is the office that does all the mailing for Reader's Digest. I informed Reader's Digest to remove my name from their mailing list which they did. I have not received any Reader's Digest mail since that phone call I made to them.

When I saw the Market Place show on Reader's Digest I was very upset to find out that my tax money is being spend on a magazine...

I feel sorry for that elderly gentlemen from Alberta who spent money like I did in hopes of winning one of these Reader's Digest prizes. If the daughter of this gentlemen wants a refund for all these products her father brought through Reader's Digest, maybe she should get the same collection agency that Reader's Digest hires in Montreal who came after me for a $25.00 book to go after this magazine. Maybe then Reader's Digest would understand what it's like to deal with a rude collection agency and maybe give a refund to this gentlemen.

I get my magazine every month, and they published the winner's photo and name in the magazine. Did you get in touch with these winners to testify

Having been a loyal reader since I was a child, (I'm 45), below is the e-mail I sent to Readers Digest, I am disgusted and will no longer buy the mag.
Thanks Marketplace!!

After viewing the latest "Marketplace" TV show, I will no longer be buying your magazine, I used to buy it monthy in the grocery store. After seeing how you do business, I will no longer be supporting you. It just reeks of "Publishers Clearing House" The least you could have done was have a proper media person answer the interviewers questions instead of fleeing through a door, it looks Very Bad!...

Thanks for focusing on this important issue. I am a new comer to Canada and I subscribed to Readers Digest magazine last year. Their way of -cheating - their readers has shocked me and I think the magazine has lost all respects form their readers.
My response to their cheap way of treating their audience will be no to renew my subscription with their magazine. They do not deserve any respect from us.

THANK YOU, SO VERY MUCH for doing such a fine job of investigating the Readers Digest Sweepstakes and putting together a thorough story that will warn people of the pitfalls. I also think they should be ashamed of themselves in this time of environmental concern... I've received ENORMOUS amounts of their junk mail monthly since subscribing to Readers Digest and I can't believe how many trees must be wasted for such a marketing ploy. I personally will not only cancel my subscription, but I will take this to my federal government representative as there is NO WAY taxpayers should EVER have been subsidizing their private, non-charitable operation... just how many years has this been going on????!!!! Someone's head should roll in Ottawa over this!!!

those that made money in bim will say positive things about bim, those that lost money will say negative. Someone needs to tell the negatives to get to work and then they could be positives too.

Hi, Love your program. Shocked last night by how much Readers Digest is subsidized by our gouvernment. I shall watch the program again tonight just to make sure that I heard that right. Everything I get from Readers Digest is thrown in trash in my home. After all Publishers Clearing house had to change slogan on their envelope. Thanks Wendy and Erica for trying to keep us informed as consumers in these trying times. Callica

Hi, I enjoyed watching your show about Readers Digest last night. I didn't realize that I was hoodwinked about actually winning any of these prizes. I believed that I would actually win something and I'm deeply dissapointed in them. I didn't have to much invested in their books so I don't have any great loss. I do like to read the Reader Digest but I will not trust them again. Thanks for the truth about their scam. Gordon

I was incensed, again after viewing the Marketplace Reader's Digest piece.

My 90 year old mother had been a subscriber for over 50 years.

In the last few years if her life i tried to stop /cancel her subscription to this vile company. Unread books were piling up in her apartment along with countless sweepstake envelopes and sales pitches. My countless emails, letters, phone calls were unsuccessful...i even resorted to telling them she was deceased but still the books kept coming.

I think the Reader's Digest practices are vile, despicable and would like to know how or what I should have done to stop my vulnerable elderly mother from being abused by that company

I would like to say that this report was unbiased - as Dr. Ho was held up to the spotlight and the doctor from queens has his claims taken for face value - as though he need not prove his claims -

Dr. Ho (the marketing engine that is the product named after the good doc)in my opinion is mistaking the good sense in having colon health with weight-loss - which eating right and excercising does -- but using Dr. HO to draw a comparision with the doctor at Queen's Uni is about as meaningful as Dr. Ho's before and after pictures.

It is unclear whether or not the report was making a comment about over-priced and unsustantiated-claim laiden colon cleanses - or the benefits of cleaning out your colon - in this case - the messenger is to blame.

The segment of Marketplace that covered the Reader's Digest Sweepstake game brought back memories of how taken in my mother-in-law was by the promises of a windfall. Since English was not her first language, she never clearly understood that buying all the products would never lead to a cash prize. She believed that, someday, she would receive the financial reward promised in all the correspondence she received from Reader's Digest. Since we did not live in the same city, we had no idea how much money she had spent on useless material in the hopes of receiving money. After she died in 1994, I had the task of clearing out her home. It was quite a surprise to discover Reader's Digest books and tapes that she had stored in many cupboards, unopened, that she had purchased believing she was close to winning the sweepstakes. There was no way she would ever read the books and, not owning a tape recorder, she would never hear the music. After her death, I wrote to Reader's Digest and asked them to cease sending mail to her address and reprimanded them for preying on seniors. Much to my surprise, a sort time later, I received a phone call from Reader's Digest telling me that my mother-in-law owed them money for the latest purchases. When I explained that she had died and no money was going to be sent to them, the representative asked me if my mother-in-law had an estate because the payment could come from that. I told them in no uncertain terms that they would not be receiving any payments. Mail continued to be sent. I returned everything, unopened. In time, the mail ceased and I have never heard from them again. I will never purchase anything from Reader's Digest. Your programme did a service to reveal the way Reader's Digest carries out its business and serves as a warning to seniors and their families to be very careful in any dealings they have with this company. Keep up the good work!

My mother-in-law was scammed by mail lotteries, one of the worse offenders being Reader's Digest. Like many of the seniors profiled in the program, she really believed that she was going to win something. ...We began to be suspicious when she suddenly had no money for clothing or food. When we got control of her mail (and her bank account), we found she was getting up to 30 lottery notifications per day. Her small apartment was full of books, records, CD's, recipe collections and other items from Reader's Digest. She didn't know why the items were coming, but she had gamely been paying for them.

A lot of these lotteries are run by fly-by-night scam artists, but it continues to bother me that a supposedly reputable company like Reader's Digest would knowingly prey on the elderly like this. The elderly DO NOT understand the fine print, and are easily taken in. It is indefensible to profit off our senior citizens in this fashion. Obviously Reader's Digest are fully aware of what they are doing, and are motivated by the huge profit that is to be made by their deceptive promotions.

I was very shocked to learn that the Canadian government subsidizes Reader's Digest.

I have never felt the same about Reader's Digest since we discovered the depth of deception that they practice, and I don't read the magazine anymore.

Your piece on the Reader’s Digest contests was particularly timely for me.

In the past, I’ve occasionally received entry forms for these contests, had a hearty laugh at the claims of my proximity to a prize, and recycled them.

Several months ago I received yet another contest entry package. This time I decided to play along, under two contest rules of my own: (1.) I would carefully jump through all the hoops required to maintain my chance of winning (if in fact any such chance actually exists) but (2.) I would equally carefully refuse any offer that could lead directly or indirectly to a purchase.

It actually takes a commitment of time and careful cross-checking to be able to follow all their ludicrously complicated procedures without accidentally agreeing to buy something along the way. It’s like writing a test. Once, they nearly got me with the old “free gift” ruse (where acceptance of the free gift starts regular delivery of stuff you will be billed for). I had a momentary lapse of judgment and thought “NO commitment. NO obligation. NO need to buy anything ever” could actually be taken at face value. Fortunately, I checked my work before turning in my test - er, entry.

The most insulting amongst their devices is the fake hand-written messages and ersatz rubber stamps they use to try to convince you that an actual human being touched this stuff on your individual behalf. (Sure, in stacks as they came off the press...)

I’m disturbed to find that there are so many folks out there innocent / gullible enough to fall for this stuff. I suppose I knew that this must be the case or they wouldn’t do it. Thanks for bringing it to light.

A friend who lives in Texas & whose 'senior' mother lives in Vancouver has recently talked to me with great concern regarding her mothers obsession with ordering Reader's Digest products. She is positive she will be winning the 'big prize'! Her home is full of products that (as the gentleman in your piece) has never opened and no doubt has spent thousands of dollars on these items. I have forwarded your web site for her to view. You mentioned a 'class action' - what is happening? Thank you for bringing this to the public's attention - it's about time we followed the American system of controlling these companies.

The show on bim was very low quality journalism. the travel expert Ross is the president of a timeshare company.I would like to ask him if the travel deals are available to the public cheaper than the ultralife club how does he get people to buy his timeshares with upfront costs greater than $20000 and yearly maintance costs of greater than $500 hmm.
The pyrmid expert is against any mlm company including Amway.
What is next the avon ladies or the tupperware parties?
Dave Thorton has alot of issues did your research department google him? For some quality entertainment google Dave Thorton ... and your eyes will be opened.
Wendy I am sad to say you did not let the facts get in the way of a good story.

These mailout misleaders have frustated me for many years as do telemarketing. What I have found is that many of these unsolicited mailouts contain a self-addressed envelope that has paid postage if mailed in Canada and the companies are only charged if you mail it, Well that what I do . I stuff the envelope with another companies junkmail and mail it off
If we all did this, it would cost them a fortune and we would certainly receive alot less junk . Great show
Dennis

I don't even subscribe to Reader's Digest; but somehow or other I am receiving this annoying mail. Ignoring it doesn't work. I stuffed some of their return envelopes with lots of other unsolicited and unwanted flyers, political phamphlets etc. etc. and returned it without postage to RD's but ha ha the joke was all on me. This seems to have geatly encouraged them and I'm receiving more than ever.

I'm really annoyed to think that our tax dollars are contributing to this nonsense.

Wonderful, informative show. Keep up the good work.

I watch your program on both the readers digest sweepstakes and the clean colon. It is sad to know that Canada has become a safe haven for all type of scams. I have watch in disbelief that not only is this fraud against the honest people but that our own government instead of protecting the people they sponsor and protect big companies with funding. These ones are not above the law, someone should be held responsible. Good job with reports keep them coming Knowledge is power to the listeners.

I have been suspicious of these Readers Digest Sweepstakes for some time. As yet I have not seen those BIG Winners as promised. I am very outraged that we, the Taxpayers give RD millions of dollars....for what ??? so they can deceive the public further.... I do like the magazine, but quit buying any of those products.

Keep exposing the misleading sizes / contents of groceries on the supermarket shelves. Wouldn't it be nice to have things available in sizes, which make things easy to compare,( as they do in Europe) like 100g, 250g, 500g,1000g etc. etc. NOT 236g, 475g, or 83 ml, 925 ml etc. I think you got my point. PS: I like your show.

My mother-in-law spent basically her life savings on Reader's Digest...purchasing many of the items. We tried to get her to stop many times, we even returned items that were sent to her and asked for her name to be removed but to no avail. She felt if she purchased she would have a better chance of winning. She passed away in November/08 and the family is now left with many bills to pay. She would have had money to pay these bills but instead a large portion went to Reader's Digest. The legacy she has left her children is bills. If anything can be done to have Reader's Digest return dollars spent to families in Canada, as it was in the United States, I would be so greatful. I can only imagine the amount she has sent to Reader's Digest over the years. I'm a daughter-in-law and watched your program on T.V. tonight. It is such a shame that the elderly are taken advantage of.

I just finished watching this program about cleaning the colon, I am rather shocked that this doctor would say that going to the bathroom 2 - 3 times a week would be normal. Is he normal? It makes perfect sense that the body would eliminate after food. Normal bowel movements would be 2-3 times a day!!!! Completely shocked and surprised by his nonsense!

I appreciated the story done tonight about Reader's Digest's sweepstakes fraud. When I was a student in university I subscribed to Reader's Digest. I soon got bombarded with all the sweepstakes mail as people in your report have. I didn't buy anything they were selling, but "just in case" went through all the steps required to 'win' without buying anything. A tedious process it was. But I did win. I won a grand total of 50 cents. I was one of the many winners of a 3 million dollar prize. I guess there were 6 million of us who won! I soon tired of all the junk mail and cancelled my subscription.

This past fall I subscribed to the magazine Our Canada. Unknown to me, it is owned by Reader's Digest. A shame. It's a good magazine, but within a month I was again receiving hordes of junk mail about sweepstakes. I have contacted Reader's Digest about my disgust and they have promised to discontinue the mailings. Too late. I will not be renewing my subscription, especially after seeing how they are robbing from the elderly as shown in your report.

I am one of these reader digest victim.
I now have them sending winnings entry by Canada Post where I need to sign for it.
I get over 15 entry mail each week. What can I do about this.I have tried several times to stop this membership?

Peoples statements that Marketplace was biased and unfair, which they weren't, are regardless. After all who needs a show to tell you that BiM is a scam. It's got scam written all over it! Why hasn't it been shutdown? Because the government gets around to dealing with these scams when it's already too late...

everyone is given the OPTION to join no one is forced. And it is made clear that you make money only if you work. Which from my view is pretty normal. Come on people take ownership of your decisions if you made a bad one and lost money its no ones fault but your own, next time make a more educated decision. dont blame your naivety on someone else

In response to Bruce, I heard about that when it was going around and I looked into it when I read your comment. Curious to find out that those useless travel vouchers came from none other than Ross Perlmutter. Makes you wonder what kind of "expert" he really is.
As for Marketplace I agree your report was very biased. Anyone can find negative experts about anything if they try hard enough. I expected better from the CBC.

Shirley & Jim - Yes, when you book a room through a public portal, you can book it for the same price for the room's capacity.

Have you ever went to a hotel and paid on a per-person rate? Of course not...I have no idea what you're talking about!

I was impressed that you focussed on this matter, Wendy.
Thank goodness,there is still some good investigative reporting going on in this country!
Bim keeps emailing me and I cannot get them to stop as their system does not allow you to access it if you have forgotten the old access code they stuck you with.
Please do follow up stories and keep up the good work!Thanks!

I too got caught up in this "business", which I really regret now. I haven't used the Ultralife club "product" even once because it costs more to book a vacation with it than it would to just do it online or through a travel agency. I noticed a few people on here commenting about how valuable the Ultralife club package is, and to all those people (who I suspect are working for Allan Kippax), I'd like to say: would you like to buy the product off me if you think it's so valuable? Tell you what, I'll even give you a deal, I'll sell it for half the price I paid. Now I'm going to take a guess here and say no one is going to want to buy it from me.

I even called BIM and asked if they could refund my money if I returned their UNUSED product to them, and of course they refused. Funny how BIM thinks their product is so valuable but they're not willing to buy back a completely unused package for a fraction of the price (I was willing to accept less money than I paid for it). BIM also only gives you 10 days to return the product after the original purchase date, which they only do because they are required to do so by law (every consumer is given a 10 day "cooling off" period to return a product under the law). Most reputable companies would at least provide a 30 day refund policy, but it's clear that BIM just wants to sell off their useless products as fast as possible to those that they can convince to buy it by spreading their lies (alas, I was one of them).

Help BIM is now in Grande Prairie Alberta and we don't need them here

I worked for Mr. Kippax as his EA at Treasure Traders. His charismatic personality is very dangerous indeed. I am appalled that as yet he has not been charged. I have seen many lives ruined at his hands. Thank you for bringing this story to air. I suggest that you try to contact Treasure Traders former distributors and see what they have to say with regard to the "can't lose" dogma he is selling. This beats the worthless gem stones.

why is nobody talking about the fact that he already ran a similar type of scam already (Treasure Traders)and had to shut it down. Is it possible that the pyramid started to collapse? It is just unbeleivable that this guy can just start another business and get right back on track with no reprocussions. I have been to many presentations and I am embarassed to say I joined. The product is garbage if you have joined, do yourself a favour and call Access(the company who gives you the card) and ask them what it costs to get there card. The Access card is basically the whole program and you can get it for an embarassingly low price. I won't tell you as I'll let all of you have your jaws drop to the floor when you hear. Let's just say u may want to take real good care of that binder because it is the most valuable thing in that box. Great show Marketplace but a more detailed follow up is much needed. Dig deeper and do more due dillagance and show him to his face that his product is not worth the binder it came in. don't even get me started on the business side of things, the rules change on that side every other week whether its the cost changing between CDN and US currency or there being a ninety day limit on making a sale or your board will get crushed(cancelled) Nothing like buying into one system and having the rules changed mid way. If you haven't yet bought into this so called dream, take it from somebody who is very embarassed and regretful. DO NOT! For those of you who are in and still trying to recruit, you should all be ashamed of yourselves because deep down at some point, you have figured out it is not a legitamate product or business. If you have a conscience and figure it out, you will stop, cut your losses and do anything in your power to get your friends and loved ones there money back.

Are people really that ignorant to these scams in this day and age that Marketplace needs to do a show about it? Unreal....

If something looks/sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

Although Alan Kippax has found a way around the law (unfortunately) this business is both un-ethical, as it draws in the uninformed and immigrants, and it plays on people's greed which causes problems in families.
Al, you were once my friend and I miss you but I cannot condone what you are doing. You know what you're doing and why it's wrong.

Im one of the 7999 distributors for BIM, Ive quit my full time job because I make more money from this then I ever did before working monday to friday. Oh ya I also go on vacation every other month with the ultralife club. When have you ever stayed at a gold crown resort in a 3 bedroom room over looling the tropics. oh ya only cost me 600.
cbc's show marketplace was very biased and one sided.
Scott was the only distributor to be suspended from bim because he was stealing sales. And our meetings which are trainings sessions and presentations are not closed door I invite you to come check it out!

Why is the CBC screening most of the positive responses to the BIM Corporation and the fact that many people have sent responses and asked for legitimate responses from Wendy Mesley. Why? because the CBC nor Wendy want to actually have to answer the facts that this broadcast was the real scam. I guess if the 8,000 current members of BIM get together and cause enough noise, maybe the CBC will have to answer to the public about their practices. I thought Canada was a place you could believe and trust the media, this might as well be Iran. Good job CBC......

Too bad you can't report the truth, nor speak to people who are involved! Way to report on your truth, not the actual truth. By the way, your 'travel' expert, comparisions, should have used Canadian funds, not usd, so really its the same price! Nice work morons! Should learn how to report the facts, not the lies ........ I'm sure you won't post this because your not about to have people think that you were wrong!

A little to late with the BIM story. Bim has been operating for years in Toronto and there are more players that are worth digging into other than Alan Kippax. I've been invited to a few of these events, and yes, I am guilty of taking other people (Luckily none signed on). However, the original person who took me lost nearly $30,000 on top of having in family in fighting for those who trusted him and also joined BIM. The sad part of this story is BIM is NOT the only organization that is operating on this mass level. On a weekly basis I am invited to other "Get Rich" seminars, and some... not only put BIM to shame with the amount of people they recruit but circumvent the law (such as not having to follow CRTC Laws). The correct terminology of these Pyramid scheme is now "Network Marketing" As economic times worsen the more these "Network Marketing" companies will start appearing . I think the real story here is WHY is the Canadian Government NOT enforcing the law? Worse is once these companies have access to you credit, see what happens if you do not pay them in full. They can and will affect your credit and, again, equifax and transunion will allow it because our Canadian Government does NOT enforce the law. People know that Pyramid Schemes are illegal and so are ponzie schemes but when a "Network Marketing" Company advertise in the media, when they hold open forums for anyone to attend, and when the speaker for the "Networking Company" boldly states that "If we are doing anything illegal then why have we been in business for ? number of years making new people rich, etc.." And if anyone wants to enquire about a business good luck getting a hold of anyone who will verify if they are legit. I mean, if you can't even bring in our own Federal Police (RCMP) to enforce the laws then we are truly the Nigeria of the Western World. The worst part is Nigeria is a corrupt 3rd World Nation. What is Canada's excuse? I believe the real story was not BIM. It should of been on the disgusting behavior of the RCMP. Someone should remind RCMP that they are employed and paid by the people of Canada. I have a legal right to record any public figure in a public place. SO, why didn't Marketplace push on the RCMP for their actions? Why is Marketplace not questioning the federal government on this? CBC breaking story on problems within the OLG made a huge difference and a totally turn around of OLG. Don't you think it is about time to work with the Fifth Estate and demand that these "Networking Companies" be accountable? If you don't, then you story on BIM will simply be another drop in an already corrupt system.

There are some people joining BIM not for Kippax's questionable sales tactics, but partially because BIM has members who are in professional POSITIONS OF TRUST like past pastors, doctors, RCMP, dentists, lawyers ect who are inviting their own familiy, friends and clients to join. This is what convinced us to join never being in a business of this sort before. Some of these professionals are standing up doing BIM's usual testimonials (some being well paid to tell their testimonies as they were in Toronto) to convince anyone in the presentation to join. Even if people were questioning BIM's legality, some people are being told it's legal by these professionals who either were honestly sucked in themselves, or then there are the others choosing to turn their cheek claiming to still be convinced BIM is legal because possibly they and their families are in it so deep financially and emotionally. This is why when it crashes so many people get hurt and relationships are strained or ruined. So yes some may blame the people who join for their own ignorance, people make mistakes, and it is a hard lesson to learn! For those that still beleive in BIM and are members , ask yourselves where is your focus in your business? Is it to sell the "exceptional" package for $9000.00, have you sold any.. or is your focus to recruit more friends,family,and clients.. to get them onto that BIM sales board as fast as possible to get that $5000.00 commission? We hope Marketplace does a follow up show, to give your viewers an opportunity to see what the RCMP and Governing agencies do, or not do. Grateful for your work!

Does anyone remember Alan Kippax flogging Fortune in Motion (FIM), a pyramid scheme back in the mid 1990's that sold travel packages until it finally collapsed. Business in Motion (BIM) owned by Kippax sounds looks like a glossier version of the same old familiar scheme. Kippax is a really bad impersonation of someone who cares. He's a money hungry flim flam man and the only way to stop him is through the legal system. Complain in writing to the Competition Bureau, the Government, your local MP, and anybody and everybody who will listen. Good luck to you all. Joanne

The biggest reason for me though is this:

Any business – to survive must provide a product. And it must sell that product for a profit. If you cannot sell that product for a profit – then you are doomed for failure.
Well the ‘Can’t Lose’ promotion that BIM promotes is that you buy your product for $3200 (whether it has value is another story) and then when you reach the 4th level you get your money back.
Therefore there are only TWO OPTIONS
1 – Everyone ‘Can’t Lose’ and gets their money back – which means the company makes no money.
2 – People do lose and do not get their money back since they do not reach that level.

And even further – commissions paid on the sale of that product are more than the purchase price of the product.
Commissions are $5000 for every person who buys a $3200 product.
So again – there are only TWO OPTIONS with this:
1 – Every person you sell a product too you get paid $5000 and the company only receives $3200 – therefore the company loses money every time someone sells a product and will eventually go broke.
2 – Again – some or most people do not get their commissions – and LOSE – and that is how the company makes money.

So to me it is totally illogical.

BIM does not offer any 'real' product but in reality they probably will never be charged with running an illegal 'scheme of pyramid selling' contravening the Competition Act which is adminstered by the Competition Bureau (part of Industry Canada)

In England, TTI (BIM's predecessor) was temporarily shut down by the Department of Industry and Trade pending a full scale investigation. Their legislation makes it possible to shut down an organization like this temporarily if there have been a sufficient number of complaints and if preliminary findings indicate that there is a reasonable liklihood that the operations are illegal. That was all it took to send Kippax and his followers back to Canada where this type of legislation does not exist. Obviously they never resurfaced over there and the investigation was closed due to the untimely death of Peter Kippax who was the face and name of the business over there.
Don't be so quick to blame the RCMP and the Competition Bureau for their apparent failures to close down this despicable character. The laws in this country favour him rather than his would be victims. Lobby your MPs for legal reform if you feel strongly enough about it.

The reality is that he succeeds because there are a sufficient number of ready participants who are willing to turn a blind eye to teh truth that is staring them in the face. How can you not blame the victims. Most of them have been lured by the promise of easy money and deep down they know that the opportunity is to good to be true. They involve their family and friends and then complain that they have been victimized when they have also preyed on others themselves. In the end most people either abandon all of those people that they have victimized in the name of BIM and continue or they feel responsible and they join their prior friends in the 'pity party'.

Another significant factor is that they $3200 buy in represents an amount that very few people will go to great lengths to retrieve. By and large they feel foolish and just fade into the background without making any serious noise. Once again Kippax wins. He has perfected this program and is constantly changing the rules to keep the people who are losing interest coming back for more and to confuse the hell out of them at the same time.

Of course Alan Kippax is the main villain here but not all of the 'bucks' stop with him. There are countless others who are aiding and abetting. We need to hold them accountable as well.

Bean Counter

Hello Wendy,
I wish to extend my displeasure with your introduction of Scott McCluskey as a speaker of truth. Nothing could be further from the truth. Why didn't you ask Scott why he had to leave the Bim Corporation? Why didn't you ask Scott why he was up at the front of the Bim Presentation inviting people to come into what he personally called the best business he had ever come across. Myself and my husband both heard him describe BIM as the best business to be in, on more than one occassion.
I hope you will appologize on a future program or at least interview the people who are happy to be in BIM.

I personally checked two days ago into booking the West Kelowna Resort through the Ultralife Club and through the internet, and the Ultralife Club was over $100 a day cheaper than booking it yourself. How long did you have to search to find something that wasn't as good as the Ultralife Club's price? I only spent a few minutes to find something that was favourable about the Ultralife Club. I know people in Kelowna who went on Vacations booked through the Ultralife Club and they were very happy with their vacations.
How do you see the truth, through the eyes of what will cause a sensation? I am disappointed as Marketplace used to be one of my favourite shows. I think a return visit to Kelowna to speak with several happy members of Bim would make so much sense.
Regards
Ellen Aitchison

I am and always have been and always will be a big time supporter of CBC. Both television and radio. I used to work for CBC. The vast majority of what comes out of CBC is far beyond the quality of anything from any other similar media. Some programs are horribly bad. Only a few though. All of your reporters are excellent. By far superior to all other similar media. That includes you. You're great. You just don't have all the facts. If I were you I'd do a Marlon Brando and refuse to do it until the producers, researchers etc., get their act together. Incmpetence on Marketplace hurts you too. Not just CBC. Yoyr last program was absolutely biased reporting. One sided. One part of the equasion. Read your viewer comments. So much missed. Why is Scott out? What did he do? Tell us about Dave Thornton and Scott McKluskey with the same amount of time and investigative research placed on Kippax and Business in Motion. Your travel expert is not. Why wouldn't you tell your viewers. That's not incompetent, that's dishonest. Talk to some of the people that are active participants in Business in Motion. Look at some of the cheques and bank balances of the active participants. Talk at least a bit in depth to those are involved who say they've lost their money. The only people I know who could say they've lost money are those who listen to biased reports and dishonest, disgruntled people and walked away from the whole process. It's sort of like going to Walmart or Future shop, selecting a product, leaving the store without taking it and then calling those legimate business people scam artists. The fact is their money is there waiting for them. Tons of people will do what I've described here and it is more you to blame by far than Business in Motion. I guess you might know some people just don't want to work and then blame somebody else because the money is not just rolling in. You and people like you are their excuse and their justification for failure. You did a dishonorable thing using hidden cameras. Why could'nt you be up front? What's so hard? Do you have to resort to this lack of nobility to get a program on the air. If "yes", cancel the whole idea. Most of your viewers want, wanted, waited for this great online source your non expert used for comparisons. Do you really want to do something for your viewers? Tell themwhat will be useful.. Finally, as you are grasping for straws to make some kind of a program, you go to another country for expert advice. The American you used to tell us about "pyramids" was categorically wrong on almost all points he made. Really, get your people into the legal facts (for starters in Canada) (duh) so at least you can satisfy yourselves you have honesty and accuracy. Is'nt that what investigative honest journalism is all about? Thanks.

Excellent show.

The persuasion skills are the same as are used to peddle franchises: authority (the Almightly, in this case), social proof (see everyone else joining?) and scarcity (join now before someone else does).

Blaming those who are not fraud-proof is similar to saying that she deserved an assault. It is at best an admission of ignorance and, at worst, apologizing for or enabling fraudsters.

I wish Canada were not a harbor for white-collar crime!

In the interest of accuracy: If level 1 has one participant (the initiator), and level 2 comprises 2 recruits for a total participation of 3, then at level 22 there are 2,097,152 recruits and a total participation of 4,194,303. (Not 33 million as stated in your programme.)

e = 2 ^(n-1) where e = the number of participants at level n and the total number of participants = ∑e.

How did this show support any of the facts it tried to put out. It said it was a scheme but it didn't provide any hard evidence. All I heard was a couple of opinions from some "experts", and a story from one person who lost his money, for a reason that was left unexplained. And I'd also like to see the website that was supposedly found that beat the prices of the Ultralife package, which was also left out in the show. I would think if you were going to show that the product was not the value of which it claims, when Kippax challenged you to show him a better value, you would have shown it in order to support your claim. All in all, there were no facts in this show that were supported with any evidence, just people's opinions.

Ok so from what I saw here... NOTHING IS GOING TO BE DONE ABOUT THIS?? Canada's simply a haven for this sort of thing and oh well?? That is really dreadful.

Thankyou to Ms. Mesley for trying to do a favour to the vulnerable and just plain stupid people that get caught up in these scams.

As for the ones that are asking for an unbiased opinion you are most certainly one of the handful... that are heading up BIM. You're just attempting to save face while trying not to make it look obvious that you are connected to this...

I watched your show and I have also met literally hundreds of BIM Distributors who have quit their jobs. They are making this so called non-existant money and also opening up the job market for those 120,000 people who were laid off in the past several months - how about showing both sides of the story. If I wanted just the dirt I would have read the National Enquirer.

We have heard that Wendy Mesley is now a member of the Bim Corporation can you please confirm this

I would have liked to have heard from people who are enjoying the UltraLife product and the business side of BIM. Further, my brother-in-law decided to "get out" of the BIM within the 10 day money back guarantee and he received his full amount back. I wonder why that Scott individual didn't take advantage of this with BIM? Should all companies have to extend their warranties b/c a consumer is upset? I would like to see a more balanced approach to investigating stories so consumers/viewers can weigh the info. and make a decision for themselves.

I bought a package and knew what i was buying. We love to travel and this was much cheaper than a timeshare. My friend has made some money because he put in the effort. We may never make any money but we joined for the product. For those who feel scamed, were you not listening to the presentation? (p.s. so what is that other travel site mentioned cause i can't find a condo for cheaper than $604 a week)

I have seen this before in BC Almost the same scheme no keys or Vice president, yet still a pyramid scheme. That was about 15 years ago and it came from Ontario. Guess what the product was yup it was travel but vouchers that turned out to be useless. Mr. Kippax has taken the same scheme and refined it so that the authorities have a more difficult time shutting it down. The comments of the people that are defending BMI have made money and none of their friends or family have been burnt yet, just wait it will come. Should you get in early you will do well it is those that get in late that lose their money. You may win big and get paid out but is it worth it at the expense of your friends and family. You may as well be stealing their money and your relationships will be destroyed.

Sean, this is the type of "balanced" perspective I am looking for. Someone who has been apart of BIM and lost money (not "kicked out" of BIM and lost money like Scott).

Thanks again for your comments.

I recently watched your piece on BIM. I would like to think that news shows such as this would show an impartial view on any business they investigate. I would also expect to see both sides of a story and let the people watching come to their own conclusions. It became apparent very quickly that this piece was a "witch hunt". I personally know of many people that have been extremely successful with BIM (I have seen their pay cheques) - did you interview any of them? Did you air any successes and positive, life changing things that this business has done for people? No, you chose to take the side of one disgruntled person out of the 8000 distributors. AND it was never made clear what he did to get "kicked out" of his distributorship (perhaps he is the one at fault here - did you investigate that?). In any given business - ANY - you will find some unhappy parties. I am extremely disappointed with the integrity of Marketplace and I will no longer watch it or take ANY news show at face value or think that they represent an impartial view. Talk about a wake up call!

I think many people who were ripped off by this scam are to embarassed to admit it. The fact myself and some friends were duped out of over $3000 each of our hard earned money is something I know that we rarely, if ever mention to others. I haven't even told my family about it, so I understand why Wendy was unable to get very many people too appear on the program. However I do assure you there are lots of us who got taken for a ride...most of us by our own friends/family. Thank you to Wendy and MarketPlace for bringing these issues to light.

I too am curious as to where people are finding these "better deals" online. I have just spent an hour comparing an Ultra Life deal with the same product- same room quality at the same resort for the same week. I used the Expedia and Travelocity sites to compare. (Red Tag could not give a 7 day comparison, so was not used.) I would save $20/ day on this particular vacation by booking through Ultra Life. Granted this is not a huge savings, but even if that is all I ever saved per week, the package would be worth $21,929. Take off the $3200. paid for the UL membership and I still saved $17,929. This is what I learned when I followed MP advice and used Google.

I attended one of the BIM 'presentations' on invitation from a friend. I didn't have the heart to tell her I wouldn't touch BIM with a barge pole. It screamed 'pyramid scheme' to me from the get go.
Any business that relies on me recruiting others to make my money is obvious (to me anyway) not a good scheme.
You might want to investigate this "healthy chocolate scheme". It is pretty much the same thing except the chocolate is so over priced, I am still trying figure out how they convince people it is worth it. If you Google
"healthy chocolate" they have the market sewn up... Keep up the great work.
Lori

I am curious Wendy, why you DIDN'T interview BIM distributors who ARE working hard to make their sales. I hope you realize that you have done THEM a great disservice with your one-sided 10 minute program. As for "pyramid" schemes, what does that term even mean? Every institution in this country is shaped like a pyrmaid i.e. government, churches, schools, hospitals, etc, etc!! The Ultralife product also offers (as was left out) a discount card which can be used right here in a small town called Fort Frances, as well as throughout Canada/US. Do you mean to tell me that businesses all over North America are also scammers for accepting our discount card? As for our corporate ladders, they will never bottom out because distributors can go through as many times as they want (this was also left out of your report)! AND, a distrutor is NOT forced to go onto the corporate ladder - they can merely buy a product (we have several) and walk away!! I think a bigger scam are government lotteries and casinos which are both supported by government and the general population! Alan stood up for his company and that's what I would have done if you had come after me with your mind made up that I was cheating people. No one forced me to join, and I do not force others to join. And we are told right up front that "we get out of this business what we put into it". For those who are too lazy to work at their sales - well too bad! If someone works in a clothing store, and sleeps in the corner instead of making sales I don't think they would be on the payroll very long. As for PB, whoever you are, why would you have paid $3,200 US when everyone else pays in Canadian funds. I suspect you're not being honest here -in fact is your testimonial even honest?? Makes one wonder. I know Wendy that you probably won't publish my comments, but I would like to thank you for hurting those of us who are working hard to succeed in this business.

Anyone that falls for the having to pay $3,200 fee deserves to be stuck. I have no sympathy for anyone! It is greed that causes people to get fleeced and there are people ready to take their money. The guy mentions Product- only thing I see is useless binder.

This week The Competition Bureau did not grant you an interview. Last week Health Canada did not grant you an interview. I thought that our elected officials are supposed to be accountable to the citizens who elected them. Why are they not willing to speak to Canadians via The Media?

I've made a comment earlier but for some reason was not posted. I am very disappointed in your one sided opinion Wendy. Did you know that Scott was a presenter? Probably not, do you know the reason he is no longer a presenter? Get all of your facts straight before you broadcast something you don't know much about. Did you know the resons David was arrested? If you go online you can read some other reasons why he was arrested.
Also, what site did you and your "expert" look at? Is that a secret?? Very disappointed in your journelism...At least I know I can sleep at night

I also would like the internet address of the site where he was checking prices for comparison against the BIM Ultra Life info.
Ron

Did your investigative reporter actually ask Scott from Kelowna how much money he made from BIM before he was made to leave the corporation because of his illegal activities. He was expelled for good reasons. What are they? No one else I know was expelled.
I like BIM. I like the product and I think it is well worth the money. Believe me I have not found any cheap vacations on the internet or elsewhere such as these. Since I have actually used the Ultralife Club discount 3 times and been very happy with the accomodation I received and the Ultralife club I wonder why your program did not even ask people who bought the product and like it. Your story is not only untrue but biased, prejudicial and one sided and it did not investigate the complete story. One more example of the press only telling what they want to tell. A satisfied Ultralife customer and BIM distributor.

Just as I thought. Those of us who have emailed positive info re BIM are not being given a voice, how interesting. But then, I only sent in my comments to prove what I already pretty well knew---that the news industry is only interested in NEWS spelled + or -. The facts are really immaterial. If the rest of the country were to awaken to this fact, you would probably be off the air unless you returned to the progran that I believed you were at one time (or was I asleep, too?).
Lynne

I am a member of BIM and no I have not had the success that many other people have had with the company, but in all honesty I have not been doing what a person needs to do to be successful in any network marketing business and that is create sales. Nobody makes any money in network marketing if you don't either recruit other sales members or have retail customers. BIM is not a get rich quick scheme nor is it a promise of easy money. What it is though, is a promise of exceptional money if you do the work that is required. The comissions that are paid are fantastic, but if you don't do the work you don't get paid. How is this any different than any comission sales people?

I think that marketplace could have done a lot better job of explaining to the veiwers what Mr. McClusky did to have his accounts frozen. In order to have him have any credibility at all this should have been brought to light. I think the reason that it was not, is that he would have lost all credibility if the viewers actually knew what he had done, so it was intentional left out.

Marketplace should be viewed with glasses that expose it for what it has turned into, not a shining example of jounalistic integrity but a sensationalist, witch hunt program that has only one purpose... to sell advertising and create revenue for the nearly bankrupt CBC Corporation!

Thank you

Appreciate your show very much and respect Marketplace’s attempt to highlight businesses that take advantage of consumers and investors, especially knowing how vulnerable people can be at an economic time like this. However, I`m not sure I heard much in the way that evidence that BiM falls into this category. Instead, I heard a few generic concerns regarding pyramid schemes, a highly theoretical argument for what would happen if everyone in Canada joined BiM (an argument, incidentally, that could be made against any business, conventional or otherwise – i.e. “market saturation”, usually remedied by service/product diversification), a few personal, borderline libellous attacks against Alan Kippax that were essentially irrelevant (what does his involvement in a fatal car crash have to do with the legitimacy of his business?), and the testimony of an individual who had a bad experience, but who did little in the end to either clarify the nature of his experience, never mind prove the company was actually bad for consumers or investors.
With respect to the travel expert who suggested BiM's prices weren't ultimately competitive, apart from the question of whether the interviewee has a personal business interest, or whether he was comparing apples with apples, should it surprise anyone that BiM might not necessarily have the very best deals on every package it offers? So what? I generally visit a particular big box electronics store for my music purchases because generally they offer the best prices. Recently I found a better deal on a CD at a competitor and bought it there. Does that mean my usual store is uncompetitive, or worse, a scam? Excuse the pun, but isn't that simply the nature of the marketplace? What would be meaningful is a broad cross-sectional price comparison, not one particular package. Without that, the Marketplace analysis presents itself as weakly researched.

After noting the times of the first respondets I can only believe that the first several dozen comments were the orchestrators behind this smear campaign. If your American "expert?" had ever attended a presentation he would not have given his opinion as he did. As for the timeshare-whoops travel expert he conveniently still has not divulged his alternate web site for cheaper prices. Two properties out of 150,000 plus! Give me a break!! Timeshare companies cannot survive without companies like Ultralife Club. Come to think of it why didn't Mz Mesly interview any people from ULC? Also why weren'y any of the many thousands of happy and successful Bim Distributors interviwed? It is the same old left wing tear down anything you can mentatlity of the CBC.
As for D Thornton a professional rabble rouser with no visible means of support, he was warned twice before being arrested that he was in violation of the law. Conveniently his co-hort, who was suspended by Bim for unetical business practices, why was he hiding acrfoss the street?

My young adult son was recruited by trustworthy members of [a] Church in September 2008. He has lost $3200 that he can ill afford, and jeopardised his financial security. He was foolish, but I am disgusted at the actions of members of that church, as I understand there are others who have found themselves in the same predicament.

The person who brings you there needs to pay $5 for you to see the presentation only to go towards paying for the room.
Once you finish being paid at the director level you can quality for more money (a reward for working harder in the beginning) and you are now out of the system and start over again (this is the key reason that makes it work, you dont have a "continuous downline" like the scams do. You can go through as many times as you want to. You can even use the original $3200 go get back in again (BIM knows you are going to get your $3200 back so they allow you to use it again over and over, would a scam type company allow you that kind of a thing? I dont think so). You do get a money back period when you get in if you change your mind, again would a scam company offer this?
I was sceptical at first myself, Alan sat down with me on his own time for 2 hours and explained in great detail how it works. It is simple math. Each time a certain amount of money is put into the system and a certain amount of money is paid out. This never changes and is all done by a computer.
I have used the Ultra Life Club myself in the past and while the savings for hotels are not tht great, I still saved at least $40 on my room each time, the real savings is in the resorts. How about an all inclusive (flight, accommodation and food for $1000 per week per person or a resort that sleeps up to 8 people for $400 a week, try that on any free site). You also get a card that is quite like the Treasure Chest Book but it is good for any city in North America (this is simply included with what you get). There are aver $2500 in savings in Calgary alone if you use the card for each coupon available here, thigs like 2 for pizza, bowling, car rental discounts, etc, etc, you can use the cad over and over, there is no limit.
To those people who say they "lost thier money" I say hogwash the only to not get your money back is through your own stupidity. The company gives more that enough chances for people to not only get thier money back but make a decent living as well. Those people simply gave up and walked away.
This is a business folks, you get back what you put in, they tell you that at the beginning of every presentation. If you dont treat it that way you will fail. This is not a get rich quick scheme, they dont work. As Alan said he has been doing this for 15 years now, get the picture.
The scammers here are the media, plain and clear. After ratings (to make more money by getting you to watch more of those commercials you are all complaining about), they twist a story to what is going to bring more viewers (9/11 ring any bells here, we all know what kind of media circus that was).
Come on people lets all show what we pride ouselves in here in this great Country, education! Go to a meeting and make your own decision, no one will hound you to join and will gladly thank you for your interest and wish you well as you leave by your own choice.
Bim is real, I got my $3200 back in 3 weeks. I have taken a while to start making money but that is because I treated it as a side thing (I got back what I put in, there you go). These are people just like you and me.
CBC shame on you.
If you decide that BIM is not for just because of what you saw here (without finding out for yourself) then I have a car to sell you but you can only see the tire. Fair enough?

Stop bashing the RCMP we have the best police force in the world. God Bless them they have a very hard job.!!

Wendy, I applaud your efforts on exposing this company, but it seemed like you did a half... job of it. It's great that you compared the ultra life prices with a generic website, but you failing to mention the website you compared it with seemed like a major flaw. It looked like you set up that whole thing with the expert and just made up prices lower than the ultralife website had offered. Showing public protestors who had purchased the product and were unsatisfied seemed promising. It looks like a pyramid scheme, but I'd like to see you do some more resarch on the actual product. What would really make up my mind is if you posted a bunch of price comparisions online to disqualify the bim product and therefore confirming to everyone that this is indeed useless product. Also, I don't believe 20 minutes is long enough to show everyone the full story. Maybe you should go back to having no commercials and not showing the same thing before and after them.

This is a totally biased report which has shown no legal proof as to what BIM Corp. or Alan Kippax has violated.
The woman reporter was very antagonistic, so of course she'd get a heated reaction.
Also the members that "lost" their money didn't explain exactly why they lost it.

This video is a negative and worthless piece of the usual media propaganda to belittle the entrepreneurial spirit in man that allows him not only to dream big but to also accomplish great tasks.

"The man who reads nothing at all is better educated then the man that reads nothing, but newspapers."
Thomas Jefferson (3rd President of the United States of America)

Why would an investigative reporter use a direct competitor as the authority on the company being reviewed or scrutinized? Mr. Ross Perlmutter should be ashamed and know that he deserves the same scutiny about the Timeshare industry as what he just tried to do to an alternative. Why? because it would hurt his paycheck in the end. Being the President of that industry and all. Cafeful what you ask for Mr. Purlmutter. It amazes me that the lobbyist type people can get this response from a goverment sponsored television station against the private sector. Imagine if there was an actual private non bias TV station. CBC would be out of work...

Unfortunately I do not feel sorry for these people that get taken by EASY money schemes (buyer beware), however, I am concerned how these... men (like alan kippax) are able to use Canadian Law to operate an unethical... operation
-case in point - we live in a democracy where it is the RIGHT of the minority to be heard - the B.C. protest seemed orderly and exercisng the Right to be heard .. yet the RCMP were used by Kippax to temporarily silence the protest ... regards

Unfortunately I am a member of the BIM scam. I was wondering if anyone can give me information on how to get my money back??? Please HELP!!!

RCMP would rather protect the pyramid scammers from the protesters and Competition Bureau would not even respond to the phone call! Yet they all continue to collect salaries and benefits. All we have for our own protection is "buyer beware".

So, Ross could you please give those who asked, and me, the URL for the website you used to compare the prices with Wendy...thanks

We've been to four separate BIM presentations over the past few months but have not yet committed to the business. Even after watching your broadcast, we remain uncertain. In our mind, you didn't make an absolutely convincing case that BIM was a scam.

On the "product" side of the business, the comparison of the BIM travel deal, with the travel deal found by your travel expert, did not clarify the number of persons covered by the price. It is our understanding that the BIM travel deal is the price paid for a large condo that could be shared by anywhere from 4 to 8 people travelling together. Can the same be said for the deal found by your travel expert or is the latter a price per person based on double occupancy? If you're going to compare, then make it "apples with apples".

The person who organized the protest in Kelowna should have been given the opportunity to provide more details regarding what "rules" he broke, followed by Kippax's rebuttal.

It seemed to us the show ended with the count 3 to 2 for Kippax. He stood his ground and left Wendy appearing awkward and at a loss for further words.

In response to Nancy and her Nigerian objection rightly so.

Isn't it a shame that 90% of any population has not the authority or the edeptness to pick these bad apples and put them where they belong.
Perhaps a fine cider.

I think it is absolutely insane that nothing can be done to shut this down and severe penalty should be on the 'king pin' of the entire operation. It is infuriating that someone can continue to get away with such fraud and yet our legal system stands with their hands tied. Amway...long known to be a pyramid sceme, was forced to change their entire operation if they wanted to remain a 'business' and even they had actual products that they were selling!! Surely there must be some way to stop this man and to punish him stealing through misrepresentation....How does this differ from a financial planner promising to invest your money and then fleeing on his private jet??

I was wondering what took you so long to investigate Alan Kippax, aka Mr. BIM, Thank you for doing so. I'm a skeptic and have been fighting off half my family, who are in the BIM Corporation and pressured me to join since may 2008, and feel proud of myself for refusing to buy into the "dream" as they say.Plus Mr.Kippax, whom I had seen at my first,and last BIM presentation,was so arrogant ,that there was no way i'd give him a red cent of my hard earned money!Again, thank-you for reinforcing something i felt all along , and possibly saving some from making a financial error.

That's very interesting. The above statement goes for everything that the media does and says. They edit things to suit themselves. I think that maybe if there was an investigation done on Scott the fellow responsible for this you may find some interesting things. I was present at a meeting where this man stood up in front of a room and literally tried to coerce people into working with him. I am proud to be a member of BIM as I have made money and many many people I know have made money. Never in any of the literature or presentations does it state that the Ultra Life Club offers better prices than anyone else. It is also stated very clearly that this is a business and it takes time and effort like any business to make it work. Why is it that when there is something that is doing alot of good out there and is helping people it becomes a negative in the eyes of the media. It's no different than the recession. If people stopped watching the news and other media programs this world would be only filled with positive energy. It is a downer for people and it is always one sided and edited to suit the media. As one journalist said, the media is not aloud to tell the truth or they will loose their jobs. It is what they do and people thrive on all of this negativity. Consider what your life would be like if everyone focused on the positive in things as opposed to the negative. I feel that this should be rectified by Marketplace and the other side should be told. I feel that a legitimate and above board company has been totally slandered because one fellow didn't follow compliance and it just wanting revenge.

I went to a BIM meeting in Calgary and my first thought was pyrimad scheme, they had three slick talking salesmen. The part that makes me laugh is there claim that sell "precious jems" for ten cents on the dollar, come on give me a break. if it is that easy why borrow $100,000 and you would have a $1,000,000 in precious jems. what a joke

Kippax, backed by the government and police protection, that how it appears, disgusting...and we are in afghan protecting others...

In my opinion, this is what marketplace has done - made themselves look like incompetent journalists (again). All you've done is take an angry individual (Scott from Kelowna) who got caught breaking the rules of the company. This story has peaked my interest in BIM and I plan to see for myself what this company is offering.

Someone should inform this RCMP officer that people have the right to use their camera or videocamera in public. If someone wants to take his picture while he's doing his job, they can. If he doesn't like it, he should pursue a different line of work.

Wendy, I googled Ross Perlmutter's name as I wanted to call him about getting those cheap rates. What I got instead was a total shock. It turns out that Ross is the VP of Sunset Resorts. Sunset resorts is a vacation club that offers you 40 weeks vacation if you join their club.

Wendy, I am go to give you the "benefit of doubt" that you did not knowly use this person as "Your Expert" given that he is in obvious direct competition with BIM. Please do your homework better next time. It's amazing to me that I was able to find this information about Ross easily but I have not been able to find the cheap prices that he claimed were easily found on the internet.
re: www.sunsetresorts.com/pages/aboutus.asp

I find it truly amazing how so many people criticize something that they really know nothing about - aside from what they see on television! The Marketplace broadcast was biased and poorly done. Where is fairness when all that you get to see is the negative side of the issue? I was under the impression that "fair reporting" covered both sides of an issue. But then, since when does the media ever tell the whole truth and present it in the manner that it claims to - as unbiased reporting? It's more like a witch hunt where anyone who doesn't conform to their way of thinking is evil, wrong or crooked. Perhaps if the nay sayers were to really question the ethics and honesty of our news media ( for the most part ) they would see a much clearer picture. Doesn't it seem funny that Marketplace never told the story as to just what happened in Kelowna - what REALLY happened with Scott???? And as for Dave Thornton - well, his own credibility is questionable at best. Marketplace came up with two people who have personal vendettas with Mr. Kippax and BiM - so where were the people who have good things to say??? Come on folks - if you are going to tell a story and present it as the truth, then tell the WHOLE story - both sides of it. This whole thing is typical CBC yellow journalism - slanted, biased and misleading.

First: I found it pretty upsetting to find that Scott was portrayed as a victim in this story. The first presentation I ever saw, Scott himself presented. He told me how he had researched the company and had done his "due diligence". That the company paid there taxes and the product was second to none. He went on to explain that he had worked in the vacation ownership industry for something like 13 years and had never seen anything that could compare to this product. He had worked in BC, Alberta, Mexico, and no where could he find a better product!! In fact he was presenting the product at that meeting. It was only after the company had expelled him from the company, for stealing other ppls leads and people, that he changed his mind. Knowing this, it makes it hard for me to believe anything the Markeplace portrays in there stories. You got this wrong, what else have you gotten wrong over the years that I have believed because I trusted you???

Second: I did purchase the Ultra Life Club and have used it twice now. And I have been extremely happy both times. I have done a bit of traveling over the past year and a half and have always had to spent hours on the internet looking for deals. With the Ultra Life Club it was quick, easy and cheap!!! I an extremely happy with my purchase!! No more hours searching for a good deal:) I would love to know the web sites your travel guy was looking up as I have never been able to find deals that quickly or cheap.(even taking into account you were comparing Canadian funds to US funds).

Third: Last year when I was in Hawaii I went to a meeting there, in order to get a free tour, and they where selling something similar to the Ultra Life Club only they had less weeks, only 2 per year. The price of their club was 9,000US. It was exactly the same idea and prices. Does that mean that there product was worthless as well??? I am glad I purchased the Ultra Life Club I have had only good experiences with it. In fact I have already saved the 3200.00 I spent by going through the Ultra Life Club and I have only used it twice!! This also makes me doubt the reports from the Marketplace. What else have you reported that has been bias. It makes me sad to think that I probably believed you and chose not to purchase those products based on your reporting:(

Forth: People are so fearful of the Pyramid structure, but in actuality almost every company is a pyramid structure. That does not make it a pyramid scheme!!!
So many good companies and people are constantly fighting this fear, especially in MLM's and network marketing. But its structure does not make it a scheme!

Thank you Marketplace for busting these so called scammers.
Their offices and presentation is all over the place here in BC. They are having meeting every single night and due jealousy and hatred from the members, the members are divided according to that "millionaire board", so there's presentation by certain individual every night in different places. I truly hope that the authorities will go over this people and be able to shut every single BIM office. I hope the hotels will banned them as well. Great work marketplace.

Coincidentally, I was at a BIM meeting in Red Deer while my daughter was home watching this program. BIM has little to no overhead- the directors even provided lunch and cleanup in the warehouse offices during training sessions held earlier in the day and week. Directors pay the rent. Before the presentation starts you are told to be quiet, turn off phones and recording devices and not get up for what turns out to be 3 hours!
I had a sense the style of sales was based on evangilizing, which of course no one has to go to the altar, no one has to fork over the $3200 however the desire to belong is strong, the desire to be able to live high in an economic downturn is very compelling... I was unconvinced by the presentation however I came into it pretty much blindfolded because I am an adventurer and I went with a friend of a friend thinking it could be anything from Earth finance to fancy pants party. I had no idea. Soon though the rote questions started, what are your dreams, what would you do if money was no object. I braced myself for a pyramid or some such scheme. I was asked by the main presenters if I was "in" and I did tell Kippax I am a non profit girl and the whole thing made me dizzy. From the onset the product is weak, the presenters pump-up Kippax as a fine man who is very concerned about others doing well, and it is a sad sad statement on humanity. Well now... and then there is the internet. Why wouldn't a person do their homework and at least google BIM and his cohorts? I do not mean to lay blame on those who buy in, however, decisions based on emotion alone are often "off". I plan to write our local paper and send this link to the friend who introduced me to BIM. Thanks for the show.

I agree with the post by kjam on February 7, 2009 12:23 AM Wendy why didn't you take on the challenge that Kippax offered to you. The basis of your whole argument that BIM has a worthless product breaks down if you cannot prove that your hand picked expert "Ross Perlmutter" is telling the truth. My guess is that you were unable to reproduce his results and therefore chose not to take on the challenge. Lisa

Wow it is incredible that you haven't even touched on the other travel things offered from the Ultralife Club. You have proved to me that you not only don't investigate to the fullest and yes in fact you are only out there to try and dig up dirt. I find it very interesting that you didn't interview any of the BIM distributors that have been quite successfull with this buisness. Not only do you get a great product for 3200.00 but you have the oportuntity to make some money if that is what you intend to do. I personally know of a few distributors that have made quite a bit of money and also have enjoyed great holidays with the Ultralife. I am wondering if this is so illegal why hasn't it been shut down?? I think maybe it's time that you not only investegated the unhappy guy's complaints and asked why his distributorship was taken away from him. I would like to see Wendy take on the challenge of talking to the happy distributors, but we all know that that isn't going to happen. Too bad cause you have proved that you can't believe anything that the media says.

Unfortunately I am a member of the BIM scam. I was wondering if anyone can give me information on how to get my money back??? Please HELP!!!

I attended a meeting the other night in Red Deer, AB. It is unbelievable!! BIM is like a cult, all this chanting and ranting, these people are so hyped up it's like they are on drugs!!! You can just tell there are people "planted" in the meeting so that it all seems too awesome to pass up! It is clearly a pyramid scam. Alan Kippax himself was even there. He is a real piece of work. He bragged how there is an RCMP from Kelowna who is even in BIM. He did say his name but to be honest I can't remember it. This RCMP from Kelowna has even endorsed his so called "Gem" certificates, just trying to enforce with the "Guests" that the gems are real and of significant value! It’s no wonder the protestor was arrested and not Kippax... It's all a joke and I for one thank MarketPlace for airing this episode in hopes that it shuts Alan Kippax down!!

This BIM is a scam as far as I am concerned. I was privileged to be present today in Edmonton AB. Allan Kippax could sell ice cubes to the Inuit. It was like watching a Jim Jones in action. He boasts about the honesty and integrity of the company which I believe is the farthest thing from what BIM represents. What I don't understand is why the RCMP won't step in and shut this pyramid scheme down....in a time when families are losing jobs and money, is it right to stand by and allow this guy to take advantage of people this way?

I found it very interesting that your travel “expert” Ross Perlmutter is the president of the Canadian Resort Development Association (CRDA). Do you not think that this is a conflict of interest? Ross where are those easily found sites that you claimed to find? This is the worst kind of reporting. Marketplace handpicks an expert with his own agenda, who then provides information that is deceiving.
I will watch Fox News from now when I want to be entertained. AT LEAST IT HAS MORE CONTENT THAN COMMERCIALS. Karl

Marketplace, you need some b---s! When this fast talking con artist challenged you to show that his product had little or no value, why on earth did you back down?

Are you the brave revealers of scam artists... unless they don't cave in when you make your first accusation?

You seem to be on the same payroll as the RCMP, the Competition Bureau, and our Securities Regulators, who all desperately need more teeth and the b---s to use them.

Does business have a free ticket to operate outside the law, not to mention morality?

A plutocracy is a system where the wealthy and powerful (typically business interests) control gov't to serve their own interests. Has a plutocracy quietly displaced our democracy?

Its sad to see people misled by... BIM. Whats even worse is how Canadian authorities refuse to stop BIM asap. The lack of response from our authorities and government in matters like this make me temporarily ashamed to be Canadian. Good job police/government. lol

The RCMP has become such an embarrassment. I watched them take the side of the wealthy scam artist when someone tried to quietly protest from across the street ("You're under arrest for disturbing the peace! The neighbours are complaining!") and it made me feel disgust. Were the police on the payroll? It makes you wonder.

I was at a recent BIM presentation in Red Deer and within minutes I knew this was a pyamid sceme by definition, any time that the product is not worth what you can get for a fraction of the cost elswhere and the money you make is only dependent on the signing up of new recruits ,then the motivation is making money from others rather selling a low cost vacation.

Just some rough calculations I made:
3200 Ultralife club (a number vacation weeks at a condo of my choice.. that I can pay for.. and I search the site alot.. alot of the deals are for $350 for a week)
Say I used 30 weeks in my lifetime..
10500 +3200 = $13700.00 (estimation)
Now my friends have a timeshare at a condo that I searched on the ULC site and found for $350 for a week. They pay condo fees for their timeshare about $200 a week.. and the initial condo cost them $25 000. SO if they used it 30 times.. the total costs would be $31000.00 (estimated)
I like the flexibility and the price of ULC $13700 OR $31000.. that is a huge difference!
The way you can't lose... which was cut off by Marketplace... is that even if you don't sell more ULC packages, you still have your vacation package.. the PRODUCT you purchased. Your spot on the board was free and you don't NEED to sign people up unless you want to make your money back.
I am happy with my ULC package and I don't even care about the board part.
The program was VERY one sided and edited.

In this reporting, you mentioned you bought a traveling package. After viewing your report, it is obvious to me that you do not see nor agreed to the value of the product. Since you have it, use it or let someone else use it. After all, if the product is genuine, it will save you or your friend(s) a lot of money. Then, when you get your money back, let us know ...on the air.

I would like to commend Wendy and the Marketplace crew for this excellent piece on BIM. The show captured all the unethical business practices conducted by BIM.

I personally got involved in this business (much to my regret), because a very good friend of mine recommended it. To all those who would blame regular, ordinary people for getting involved, please ask yourselves: "if my wife, my mother, father, brother, sister, or friend recommended something as a 'good investment', would I look at it and potentially get involved in it not necessarily because I did my due diligence but because of my trust in that person?" If the answer is "yes", then you'll know why BIM is able to recruit so many people.

BIM PREYS on people's emotions and their desire to make money. Let's be honest, we all (or at least most of us) would like to find LEGAL ways of maximizing our incomes. So when a certain product, service or program is recommended to us then it does peak our curiosity. And the fact that these services are SEEMINGLY perceived to be authorized by the federal government (BIM is registered as a business with Industry Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency), would give a person a sense of security. In other words, we walk into a store in a mall and we ASSUME that the store is operating legally. It's the same thing with BIM, we see that they are federally incorporated and registered and we ASSUME that the business is legitimate. And this is where the government's lack of competence becomes very evident. Every government has an inherent responsibility to protect it's citizens from fraud, which includes protecting people from predatory, unethical and potentially illegal business practices. However, as showcased in Marketplace, Canada is seen as a haven for "scams" and where business based on scams can thrive, which is unfortunate because obviously our tax dollars are not being spent very well. I guess from the government's point of view, as long as a business pays their income tax the government will make money, never mind all the people who are getting ripped off.

But back to BIM, they virtually brainwash people during their presentations and in turn, those people go out and try to recruit their friends and family telling them they "Can't lose". Well, let me tell you that not only CAN you lose, you most likely WILL lose. And when you do lose all your money, you feel a sense of despair and you feel embarrassed for having gotten involved in the first place. So you start to blame those who got you involved, and it rips apart your personal life too. Again, for all those who would blame someone for getting involved, please understand, most people get caught up in BIM out of a desire to make money thinking it's a good investment because it was recommended by a friend or family member, and they've seen the hypnotizing and literally brainwashing BIM presentations. And BIM usually target people who are not financially well off, like students, the elderly etc who are looking to make a bit of extra cash. So really you can't blame people for wanting more, for wanting a better life and BIM should be held accountable for all the misery they've caused (personal and financial).

I noticed that there were a few people on here who are stating that BIM is a great business, and I would venture to guess that these are the few people who've actually made some money through BIM. But I will assure these people that the VAST MAJORITY of those in BIM have LOST money. In fact, BIM is conducting their own marketing campaign at the moment encouraging people to speak out against the Marketplace show (obviously it's got them worried, kudos again Marketplace and CBC), so I would venture to guess that there will be a few people coming on here and speaking about the glory of BIM. Well, if you could get ALL the people who EVER got involved in BIM, I will guarantee you that the number of people who lost money and have a negative view of BIM will outnumber the number of people who have anything positive to say by a factor of 10:1 (in other words, for every 1 person who made money, there'll be AT LEAST 10 who've lost money). So please, if you're considering getting in BIM, please know that the odds are against you of being successful. I speak from experience.

And one last comment about their Ultralife Club product, it is absolutely useless. I have not used it once since I'd actually have to pay MORE to book a vacation if I used it, not less. I'll also guarantee you that most people who signed up for BIM have NOT used the product, since it's virtually useless (again, there will be a few who have used it and these will be the few, VERY FEW, people who have made money). The only reason that they have this so-called "product" is to find a way to legitimize their scheme, but I would say that Canadian law should still prohibit this activity. I truly hope that as a result of this show, people how have lost money in BIM will come together and pressure the government to act against this company, and make sure that they don't continue to cause harm (financially or otherwise) to people.

This story shows another side of the pyramid scheme. We Canadians pay high taxes for so called services, programs, etc. It is like an investment. But most Canadians are saying they are not getting what they invested i.e. taxes. Is it any wonder why the RCMP favored this scammer. Our own politicians have the same mind set as this guy. Anyone notice that the only arrests we see in this country today are sex offenders and perhaps the occasional grow-op. There seems to be no laws to protect us from scammers, gangsters out west, etc. Our country is a haven for criminals, and contrary to what many of us believe, the world outside knows that better than we do.

This episode was invaluable to consumers as myself who could have been another victim of this 'get rich quick' scam. i'm glad you've exposed BIM's pyramid. Although I have a degree, I don't think you need to be educated to know that this is a huge scam and our 'government' is obviously useless with ignoring such crimes. Keep doing your great work Marketplace!

So again Rossvegas where can we see that website that you found the better deals on compared with UltraLife? Please answer this question for us.

Lets add in a couple more tell tales signs.... A useless product (maybe a fruit juice? or maybe a muffin recipe) best not to have it actually do anything...Promises of untold riches...anyone can do it. More than five layers of positions above you (the distributor elite, director, gold director, diamond pearl, elite diamond pearl type thing) A minimum level of purchase, initially or ongoing, to qualify as or continue as a "distributor", "representative", "member". More money can be made by recruiting your friend to distribute the product than could ever be made by simply selling the product to him. If this is the MLM you are in....you are involved in a ill-legal Product based pyramid scheme and they are everywhere.

Noni, Goji, Youth juice, Skinnees, Amway, Nikken, NuSkin...the list goes on and on.

What these schemes have in common is a small group who remain on top and derive profits from those at the bottom. The structure demands a continuous flow of new recruits to the lowest layer who pay their money, work to recruit more, and ultimately fail. Most often those who leave are stuck with hundreds of dollars of worthless product in their garages, in the case of BiM, $3200 worth, which were purchased to obtain or retain the priviledge of being allowed to recruit more victims...friends, family, everyone is a target as they work to recoup loses. After their failure, most blame themselves. "I did not follow the process, or work hard enough" so very few complain....and the scheme continues unabated....

The legislation is in place. The penalties are defined. It is time for the Competition Bureau to take a hard look at every Multi-level Marketing process and to respond promptly to complaints. If they fit the form of a product based pyramid scheme...shut it down and charge the promoters.

It is also our responsibility as consumers. Do your research. Understand the model. Read the information at Quackwatch.com, or pyramidwatch.com. Read the book False Profits.

The first step is to google the product and the word FRAUD together in the same search query....be sceptical...it is your money!

And just an observation of Kippax...being involved in an illegal activity for 15 years does not by default make it legal.....it simply mean you have created more victims than you should have been allowed too.

Keep up the good work and how about a show on the generic characteristics of a Pyramid scheme so your viewers are educated on what to watch for...?

Would like to have the address that your travel expert used when comparing rates with the Ultra Life Club.

Is it a scam? I think it's close to one but they are selling a product. Does the product have value? While it's questionable, there may be some value in it for people who have difficulty navigating the internet to find travel deals. Would I sign up? Not in a million years but unfortunately there are a lot of people around who think they can make money by sitting on their duffs and that's simply not true.

Hell, even Kippax works long hard hours traveling all over the country-on crutches even, but his reward is worth it, unlike many of his recruits. Unfortunately I think he has found a loophole and as long as there are gullible people and lax enforcement of laws in Canada, he's going to continue to milk this cow until it is dry.

Watching his face turn redder and redder when he was challenged made me think that you may not want to p--- this guy off unless there is a camera around.

I noticed that "kudos to Wendy" were posted praising her work she did. By presenting complaints about the lack of time the producers are going to get more 'time and / or money' for the show. So you have produced a self fulfilling show. Where are all the emails saying how happy people are with BIM? I believe many hundreds if not thousands must have emailed and called with positive spins to their Kippax experience. Where are those dissenters to your story. Your story had a complaint and you "investigated" to prove the complaint... not to find the truth. Please tell the truth about the lone crusader you brought in from Kincardan On, Mr David Thornton. CBC News is very good at having at least 2 -3 sources to confirm a story.. even both sides. I guess this isn't news worthy.

I would have liked to have seen a more even show, it seemed that the show simply was on to try to prove that BIM was a scam. Why didn't we hear from more of the people who have joined not just the 2 who say they lost money? We heard they have 8000 members yet we only hear the story of 2 people who were not happy, how is that unbiased reporting? I have invested $3280.00 to BIM and I agree that what I received does not seem to be worth the money, as of yet I haven't had any return, the board collapsed and now I seem to be left hanging. I suspect that I may be out the money I invested and that is why I was hoping for more in your report, but alas am still left unsure.

Yes I am another of those people that has been scamed by this BIM company but I will admit I did not get anyone else to buy in as I wanted to see what I will get. When I tried to book a vacation on line for an all inclusive holiday it would cost $150. per day per person just thought that was very expensive and did not go with it. Did go on vacation that I booked through a travel agent and it was much cheaper. Also they offer hotel rooms at a cheaper rate all you need to do is phone the number in the binder that they provide you for $3200. and try and make a reservation, at the other end they tell you that you have to call the hotel itself and you do that and they tell you that they do not know anything about this company. So I guess I have just got a binder that cost me $3200. and is not worth the paper that it is written on.

Wendy, a great show! As stated by many, it's to bad it wasn't longer and that you didn't have the opportunity to dig deeper with "Mr Arogance" urm I mean Mr. Kippax. Being a BIM distributor, I know first hand of the deception. I joined for the travel and albeit there are deals available, however, the UltralifeClub portal provides exactly that, a one-stop window into all deals available via other travel sites. The fact that you can even contemplate making extra money is truly misleading. Yes, there are a number of individuals who have made great amounts of money in this scheme which are highlighted on the BIM website as World Records of which Alan himself is mentioned along with other Mentoring Centre personnel. I find this a direct conflict of interest.
As for travel deals, just google!
Im looking forward to a follow-up on this story and some deeper investigation by the powers to be. I will not allow anyone I know to enter this game of capture the key...its phoney!

Interesting show but a proper investigation would deliver an unbiased report. We never heard what the Kelowna man did to be kicked out of the company. The product is exceptional and Kippax was not given the opportunity to defend it. Every business has a corporate structure and would not function without it. Allan Kippax is not the only person making loads of money here.

I am the person identified as the "travel expert" in this episode, and I would like to shed some additional light on the serious problems associated with this product...

First of all, the components that go into one of these Ultralife packages can be easily purchased by anyone for under $100. It is nothing more than some discount coupon books, a password for a website offering condo vacations (at prices HIGHER than those available to the general public) and a nice binder. There's no 'magic' there.

The fact is, when this pyramid collapses (and it will), owners of the $3,200 package will be left with nothing more than a few useless passwords, some expired books and some very angry friends. It's a horrible value, and the fact that it is being sold for $3,200 is simply reprehensible.

Why? The best example I can use is to compare it to a golf club.

When you join a private Golf and Country Club, you generally have some type of ownership or secured 'right-to-use' associated with it. You can go to your Club, dine in its restaurant and feel the grass under your feet. If you want, you can sell your membership to someone else, and you can do that because you OWN it. Secured vacation ownership products (such as timeshare, fractional ownership, points-based programs and others) work the same way: there is a REAL property out there somewhere, and you are guaranteed that you will ALWAYS have access to it.

This "travel club" (and others like it) are really nothing more than "rental" clubs. It is almost as if they said: "Give me $3,200 and I'll give you a list of all of the public golf courses out there! And unlike timeshare (which requires you to pay your portion of the overall maintenance costs), you only pay when you USE it!" (Uh yeah....that's called a green fee.) Ultralife doesn't own ANYTHING, and subsequently, neither do you. Ultralife has simply been granted access to some "wholesale" condo rentals, but by the time those "deals" hit the Ultralife member, they've been marked up to the point of being a non-value. Worst of all, the access to those offers can (and likely will) be withdrawn at any time from the suppliers.

Ultralife's own documents clearly state that it ISN'T a timeshare (i.e. it offers no security whatsoever to the purchaser). It also states that it can't be resold to others, so unless you can convince some unsuspecting soul to fall in line behind you, you're stuck with it.

Thank you to Wendy and the crew for shining a bright light on this operation, and I'm extremely sorry to have burst the bubble of those who are still drinking the BIM Kool-Aid....

I agree with most people here that the RCMP and the Competition Bureau should have more power to stop this kind of activity. Also, as previously asked by Carol....what was the online site the fellow checked to compare BIM's vacation places? Continue the great work !

I found your “expose” to be bias sensationalism, and was very disheartened by your “so called” experts.

Your travel “expert” Mr. Ross Perlmutter is the president of Canadian Resort Development Association (CRDA),
which is not travel but actually Timeshare, and is run for the basis of Timeshare. Why was that fact omitted from
your broadcast?

If you are going to do investigative reporting you need to give all the facts not just the ones that suit your own
purpose.

CBC Market Place is providing a great service for Canadians. The recent financial market meltdown has raised Canadian awareness that we lack appropriate legislation and enforcement to protect Canadians against white collar crime.

Canadians are losing in excess of $20 billion per year due to investment fraud and wrongdoing. What is wrong?

It's time for Government to ensure that legislation provides for protection and enforcement and that the perpetrators are made to pay restitution to their victims.

In these difficult financial times many Canadians will be tempted by scams as they try to recover from disastrous loss of savings due to investment fraud and wrongdoing.

Canada is a trusting society and Government must act now to avoid canada sinking into the abyss of a trustless society.

Can we accept that "Canada has become a haven and incubator for sacms?" or "The Nigeria of the north"?

Thank you Wendy for your fearless confrontations. Now if only Government will act.

Wendy is not going to provide you with the discount travel site online because they didnt figure in for 6 people for 7nts. What they quoted you for was each person!! And yeah I cant fine the site for the Banf Mountain hotel listed at any website either! And Bahamas at 57 bucks per nt for 6 people was it also all inclusive as UltraLife Club? .....wow why isn't Perlmutter advertising his travel business! Will he stand behind those prices? NOT

Sorry but you did a poor job at really exposing the fraud that BIM is all about. You should have enlisted the help of someone that really understands Networking Marketing, both the good and bad. By simply suggesting that anything that has a multilevel payout is a pyramid, you did a disservice to the industry and missed a great opportunity to really expose the garbage BIM is marketing. You started with exposing the lack of value in the product, but you missed the opportunity of stripping down the compensation plan and that would have sent shock waves through their current membership. I would only need a few minutes to review it and show you the huge wholes that exist in it. Then you would really understand why it is illegal.

It is sad that our law enforcement officers have turned a blind eye to this fraudulent business. It is going to be a formidable task to take them down, now that they have huge amounts of money to hire lawyers and drag things out in court for decades. One can't deny that it is a pyramid scheme. The fact that the protestor was hauled off to jail makes me ask, are the police in his hip pocket too?
8000 people don't have a problem with it now, they will sing a different tune when it collapses.

Your Broadcast on BIM. What you did not say, is the man that is vowing to bring BIM down, is that he tried to take customers from other people that he himself did not bring to the meetings, and he was given several opportunities to quite doing this before they suspended him. If vacation packages are so cheap online, then why is it that travel agents charge outrageously high prices? Also when you compared prices, did you compare star for star? BIM's vacation packages are generally sold per week and online are quoted per night. I too got asked to join in on BIM, but have not recruited anybody.If I loose money on this, I have no one to blame but myself. What I do know is that people are not forced or threatened if one chooses not to buy in. The other thing you did not disclose is that the "Ultra Life Club" package holds 150 weeks of vacations across the world over a thirty year period, and you can take as many weeks at onetime as you wish.

I am very disgusted by the media continuous depictions of Nigeria in regards to being a scheme country. To make such a general statement about a nation is irresponsible and uncalled for. Even when ur covering a story that is happening right here in ur backyard Canadians/Americans still fill a need to mentions Nigeria. Its too bad that the 90% of hardworking, loyal, honest and trustworthy Nigerians need to suffer because of a handfull of bad apples and the media is not making it any easier. Maybe if we focused on why this is happenning maybe we could find a solution to the problem instead of speakin bad of a nation. I am a shamed to say i live in a country that has nothing good to say about mine.

BIM is now in Edmonton...Please shut them down.

What kind of bully tactics were those police up to? Peaceful protest can't be broken up, on their whim. The chap who was arrested should launch a civil suit. I have a feeling the cop with the chip on his shoulder must've bought the BIM product personally, and decided to take out his frustration... These "officers" should be suspended.

I am wondering why there were no interviews of somebody who was positive about BIM, besides Kippax. We only heard from two people, David Thorton who very obviously has history with Kippax and is out to "get him", and the other fellow from Kelona who got kicked out for doing something wrong, and I'll bet he did something dishonest in BIM, so he got disqualified from the company, and now he's mad and wants revenge. We didn't hear what that was all about, did we?? I would like to hear the whole story, not just one side. I am very disappointed in CBC for this very obviously bios report.
You did not have all the facts, and you were out to slander this man, and no matter what he said, your program was out to make him look like a scammer!
Why didn't you interview anyone that has a good opinion of BIM and has been doing the business for a number of months/years, and is doing good honest work.
I have been to BIM presentations, in fact several of them, and you totally misrepresented their presentation, putting on little clips, from here and there. How despicable.
And then to bring up a automobile accident?? What's up with that? What in the world does that have to do with the business. You were out to slander and ruin this man, that's what this program was all about.
Also, very obviously, you didn't pay any attention to the presentation at all, b/c BIM does not work like a pyrimid, at all! This whole program was a false representation, and I repeat, I am very disappointed in CBC.
Also, please don't change my wording and "edit" my comments to make THIS say what you want it to either!

What was the site that was used to compare the BIM's travel package.

a huge pyramid scam ocurred in colombia last year, people lost around 50 millions dollars . they disgused it as a company call DMG and the owner David Murcia Guzman ,his mother, and family members were arrested in panama.
the colombian guvernment had established new and strong laws against this pyramid scams.
I don't understand why we have to wait to see it happennig here to that extent.
come on canadian guvernment do something.

From your broadcast, BiM sure looks like a scam, for the few who are angry, there seem to be thousands who are not. I'm not defending BiM, but it appeared that Marketplace attacked the topic with their mind already made up that it was a scam, then built a case to support that mindset! We need a clear and public definition of what a pyramid scheme really is. People fear what they don't know. There are good people, working in legitimate businesses that are constantly fighting the hurtful "Pyramid" label(ie. Amway), because people don't know what defines a true pyramid. Just about every business in North America has a basic Pyramid structure, and that doesn't make it a pyramid scheme(ie, Microsoft, RBC, etc.).

I watched your show about B.I.M., last night. I would have appreciate to hear more from Mr. Thornton about the positive judgment he got against B.I.M. and TTI. Continue your good work!

Canada, what a joke. RCMP + Canadian Gov = worthless Thank-you market place for bringing this to our attention
we obviously have to protect ourselves as we now know the people we pay to protect us will do NOTHING.

I thought the show last night about BIM was a balanced view of what is going on. It is vital that people are aware of the inherent dangers of what appear to be pyramid schemes. That being said, I thought the method of interviewing the man running the business was fair. Wendy approached him in a forthright manner and asked the questions. He responded the same way. I always find that when you ask somebody questions and they respond at a much higher decibel level, it undercuts the credibility of whomever is doing the yelling. That seemed to be the case on the show.

In terms of the fellow who was arrested and then released, I thought the RCMP handled the complaint properly. You can engage in tortious behaviour without expecting repercussions.

I don't think that anybody who has not been a peace officer understands how tough it is to do what you have to do when an acrimonious scenario has been created in which to do it. The RCMP member handled it properly.

Unless, and until this business has been shown to be operating in a dishonest manner, they have a right to do business unhindered.

It is hoped that everybody who watched this show understands what dealing with this company may end up costing you.

Thank you very much for exposing this unethical business. I have personally experiences how BIM and other pyramid schemes has ruined the lives of its participants and their families. My father has been participating in this scheme for a few years now and has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars! I’ve watched my parents’ marriage fall apart as my father has stolen thousands of dollars from my mother in the name of business risk for BIM. Even after watching your show and loosing so much money, he still feels this is a legitimate business because of the false promises made to him. That is how powerful this entity is. It preys on people in vulnerable financial situations and exploits them further. The government and law enforcement needs to act now before more desperate people are lured in during these challenging times. I would like to know what advice the experts have for people like my father who have already lost money; is there any way of getting it back?

Once again another pyamid scheme arises. Let's look at the real reason they are outlawed. People are always looking for a get rich quick solution (i.e. gov't lotteries, race tracks etc) but these are not controlled Eventually someone will take the law into his or hers own hands and do bodily harm to the person who scammed them, and then I as tax payer have to foot the bill for the police to investigate and imprison the wrong person. I have some sympathy for those who get caught up in the frenzy, but I have to fall back and remember the old saying if it's to good to be true it isn't. Remember to teach our children about these false prophets and maybe they will just fade away. Education is a wonderful thing and I commend your program for airing this.

I also would like the internet address of the site where he was checking prices for comparison against the BIM Ultra Life info.

Are there any above board MLM companies? If so, how about investigating them and doing a show on some of those good companies. In this time of economic doom, some positive success stories would be nice.

A few weeks ago I attended a presentation in Branson, MO, for a "Travel Club". It ended up being very close to the identical thing that Ultra Life Club is, and for about the same cost. They have been selling these packages in Branson for about 18 years. What's the big deal?

Marketplace should do a show on Marketplace and realize there is only 10 minutes of content in a 30 minute slot. Scenes are repeated 3 or 4 times.

I purcahsed the Ultralife Club because of the great value offered. I was unable to find comparible pricing on the web. In your story you interviewed a Travle Agent who said there were public sites that offered accomodations for much cheaper. Could you please send me a list of those websites?

I enjoyed your investigation on BIM. I signed on with a similar sounding scheme last summer.
They are called FHTM Canada(Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing). They sell a variety of products, which are popular among todays consumers.
This sounds all too familier with your show tonight.
I could send you information on this marketing company including training cd's and other tools, they use.
I enjoy your show and would like to help if you are interested.
Sincerely....Steve Griffiths

Watching the arrogant attitude of Alan Kippax during the interview made me cringe with distaste. Knowing that many BIM meetings are held in churches, and hearing Mr. Kippax compare what his "business" is doing to that of the work of Jesus is absurd! It would appear that Business in Motion is built upon sand - nothing but the foundation of greed. I applaud the courage of the man from Kelowna who was able to recognize the truth and take action to stop the playground bully. Good work!

The whole story was not told. The product does have great value. The discount card was not even mentioned where you could save up to 50% pizza places, restaurants, eyeglasses, bowling alleys, theatres, and much much more. We have a truck driver in the organization that travels to Arizona every year and he was able to go to Arizona and Hawaii, 1 week in each place and paid half the price it cost him to just go to Arizona alone - Flight in! BIM helped him find the best deal. Get all of the facts, we are buying a product which does have value, we get paid for doing a job. Pyramid, is illegal we have had people from revenue canada try to find something wrong and police, rcmp etc. that investigate to find anything illegal, to no avail.
yes, they to have joined our company. Alan has changed many lives and for the few disgruntaled, they did not do their job. But, all in the end it is a win win situation you will get your money back and keep the product. It is not recruiting it is networking! It is entirely up to the individual to see the value or simply just walk away. No gun or pressure is laid on anyone. Your choice and your choice alone.

Looked forward to this story.... I feel like I got ripped off!
30 min program say 26 with the bumpers 10 mins of commercials(I thought marketplace was supposed to be commercial free!) and your left with a pretty skimpy story. Wendy why didn't you at least whip out the computer and take the challenge or get a current Bimmer to take a challenge.
That would have been interesting. I never heard of it before
but I'd be curious to go to a pitch meeting to hear the scam for myself. This show needed to be refunded!

I have equal disdain for BIM as well as the people who unsuccessfully bought into the scheme.
At what point is the Government or the RCMP responsible for the greed and stupidity of Canadian citizens?
I myself have spent and lost easily well over $3200.00 on the B.C. lotteries much to my own personal disdain.
Do I feel the need to organize a protest? Blame someone else?
Not at all. I took a suckers bet and I will just have to live with it unlike the so-called protagonist in tonights airing of Marketplace (McCluskey)who took his friends & family down with his own brand of stupidity and avarice.

Wendy, I was very disappointed during your interview with Kippax because you did not ask him exactly what his product is that he is selling - giving people a password to a website is not a product. You needed to get from him where exactly the $9000.00 value is in this alleged product and you needed to point out that you found cheaper vacations on a free website. I was also surprised you didn't ask him about the Kelowna guy not getting his commissions and why he wasn't getting his money back. I always thought in this country, if you were dissatisfied with a product you could make a case to get your money back. I think you could have pushed a little harder on Kippax to get some answers instead of letting him bully you during the interview. I also agree with the previous comment where Sylvie pointed out that your show is getting shorter and you have too many commercials. It is time for the CBC to get back to its roots and start doing investigative journalism that actually makes a difference - and broadcast those shows without excessive commercials and advertising!

Well Ms.Wendy, maybe you should try BIM before you go making assumptions. People outside protesting? That is hilarious! If they are upset becuase they didn't do what they were suppose to do in the business, thats their own fault. You DO have to put a little effort in to get something in return. BIM is not a lottery. Their not just going to hand you money!

The comment was made that 22 levels would be the entire population of Canada. That is only 4,194,300. It would take 25 levels (2 to the power of 25 = 33,554,400). Otherwise, a good piece of work.

Some of us are not looking for "a financial fix" but better ways to simplify our lives and live happily within our means with smaller footprints.

I don't understand people sometimes. If it's this easy to make so much money, why do people dedicate themselves to academia to become doctors, lawyers, investment bankers, portfolio managers etc. Sometimes it's just common sense - if it were truly this easy, everyone would be doing it. We wouldn't have a Prime Minister, provincial premiers, politicians... they'd all be doing it. we wouldn't have as many universities and colleges because we wouldn't need to learn the "conventional" ways of success and prosperity.

Everyone deserves what they get - Kippax deserves every penny he is able to get from those gullible enough to fall for his scheme. The victims deserve to lose their money for trying to take shortcuts in their life and not having the intestinal fortitude to make a decent proper effort at improving their lives. A fool and his money are soon parted - a saying created and proven by people time and time again.

Kudos to Wendy and Market place. A great heads up format for the many "short cutters" scams out there. Hopefully people can put 2+2 together and get the right answer. If it's true good to be true then it probably is. Keep on publicizing these predators. Also check out Lucid properties if you are looking for fodder.

Kudos to Wendy Mesley and the the Marketplace team for putting the spotlight on BIM. Ironically enough, a friend of mine invited me to one BIM's sales pitches featuring Kippax himself in Red Deer last night. The red flags shot up before I even got to the meeting when he wouldn't tell me what I was about to see. He left me with the impression it was something like a money management seminar. It just goes downhill from there. Seeing as Marketplace only gets 20 minutes out of a half hour slot, the team could only scratch the surface of what goes on in those pitches. It's a hypnotic, brainwashing pitch (unless you're like me and went in with a skeptical mind to begin with). The pitch is comparable to a poorly scripted infomercial with bad actors. That part where Kippax screams something to the effect of another member joining the BIM corporation....that's all for show. He goes around the room to every person who isn't a member and screams that catch line. None of those people were in, it's just to make you think everyone is joining in. Fortunately, I didn't commit myself to the scheme because the gut (which usually never lies) told me no. That and my idea of a vacation is not laying on a white sandy beach doing nothing while drinking rum.

Thank-you Wendy for this exposé! I spoke with David (the scam buster) for a half-hour back in June 2007 after I had been approached by a couple of my friends to join BIM. My friends joined in on the call and it quickly became rather heated and very confusing for me. I knew David was on to something, but ultimately I decided to join my friends because they seemed so excited and sure of themselves. (Note: BIM's new Perpetual Motion program was quite new back then and we hadn't at that time known anyone who lost money in it; everyone we'd spoken to had at least come out of it with their initial investment back, and some had made many times more.) The long of the short is all of our initial boards collapsed despite my friends both gaining a gold key early on (which they were told was worth $100,000+ in the long run). With the collapse, we were now out US$3,200 each.

Then, last year, BIM introduced a program called Adopt-A-Networker. This was supposed to give us a 2nd chance on a fresh board (after paying a fee), but again after we each joined new boards they too collapsed.

I have been getting emails from BIM almost daily about their meetings in various cities around Canada, and the thought of so many people being scammed out of their money makes me sick. For me, $3,200 was nothing to lose sleep over, but for my sponsor it was her life savings (as a Ryerson Univ. student).

I am deeply disappointed in the bulling behaviour of the Kelowna RCMP. We have the legal right to protest and we also have the right to video tape the ridiculous behaviour of the RCMP. To the genuine hard working and honest RCMP minority out there, please disregard this.

Understanding BIM is very important before one can talk about BIM. BIM training states clearly that the amount of money earned is in proportion to the amount of work you but into it, "no guaranteed" on income. Show me another Company that trains members like BIM and i'll join them, I have yet to find a member of BIM that was forced to join. One must be healed accountable for action taken.

The possible reason for not acting on Alan maybe the people that are involved. I know of local Kelowna RCMP officers that have "bought in". Alan admits that you should buy in before it splits and that it is a product of value? Following the rules of signing up people in order to make money makes it a pyramid scam. After reading the competition bureau's competition act example 7 and 8, how is this even in question.

The US expert did HIS math, but obviously dosnt understand how this corporate ladder works. Once you reach Director of sales (level 4) you recieve your entire $3,200 back and can walk away with your Cash and Product, or re-enter and start from scratch. I was hopping to see more, but obviously we only saw and heard one side of the story......

I wonder if anybody is doing well with BIM and if there is, would CBC let them tell there story? It seems we only hear the bad side of a couple of so called experts and victims. Why were there no interviews of some regular people doing BIM?

I wonder why there was no interviews of somebody who was positive about BIM besides Kippax. We only heard from two people, David Thorton who obviously has history with Kippax and the other fellow from Kelona who got kicked out for doing something wrong. We didn't hear what that was all about. I would like to hear the whole story, not just one side.

Way to go Marketplace! Thankyou for investigating BIM!!

In September 2008 I was invited by a prominent church member to an "awesome business opportunity" meeting in our church, I trusted them and now I'm out $3280.00, several of us were under the pretense we'd have our money back in a few months. I emailed this individual and was told to start pulling my weight and recruit people, until then I dont get any money, however in the meeting we were told to just "ride the board", since then I've tried emailing and conveniently the email no longer exists. The only people that have prospered were the ones that recruited us, leaving the rest of us hanging. I made a horrendous decision to participate in this pyramid scam, I'm a single parent that barely make ends meet every month. I NEED MY MONEY BACK!

This is jokes! I work at that hotel and was working when they were interviewing that Kippax guy. Thats what those cameras were for... They pray on people who need money and its pathetic. Yet I till can't figure out how stupid you have to be to fall for their BS!!!

You bring a lot of good stories to us; however it would be nice to know if anything is done after the show has been on the air. I have been watching your shows for many years. I remember the show being aired for a full 30 minutes (no commercials); now you have quite a few commercials. One set of commercials, 5 minutes of show and then more commercials. Also you repeat a lot of the same thing after each commercial. But I still enjoy your show; keep up the good work and let the public know about all the things that you uncover about anything and everything.

Obviously the so-called expert from the US did not watch the entire presentation. Once people move up to Director of sales, they are either promoted to another position if they are qualified, or, recieved their initial money back and fade away, or, re-enter and do it again.

This is what seperates classic Pyramids from an Omni Matrix.
THIS is why it is still going on.

There were a number of very good points made in this story.

First, I thought it was appropriate the Scott was treated in a respectful fashion. Often, victims of business opportunity frauds are treated as if it was there fault.

Second, the challenge to our regulatory authorities was made clear. BIM appears to be an illegal pyramid, where is the judicial investigation? Why should we have to wait 15 years.

Third, David Thorton's role as a lone crusader was nicely highlighted.

I do have some niggling complaints.

Robert FitzPatrick is an expert on fraud, he understands the psychology of the grift. But, the mathematical calculation of the pyramid doesn't capture what is so deeply wrong with these frauds. What is deeply wrong is the deceit and the use of compliance techniques to cheat.

Oh, and Mr. Kippax, your 100 experts who will testify as to the value of your product - you are going to soon have to produce at least one, if the MarketPlace challenge to the Competition Bureau has the desired effect.

Wendy, after seeing your investigative journalism on the BIM story, I don't even have to be in the same room with Alan Kippax... Kippax is a bully and bragging he's been conning money from people for 15 years. Canadian laws seem to favor scammers. Kelowna RCMP had a legitimate complaint and they passed the buck. Seems like the feds should do the job that they are getting paid to do. The Canadian government, and Kippax have the same agenda, emptying the wallets of Canadians. You think the feds wouldn't like the competition. Keep up the great work Wendy.

The behaviour of the RCMP officer was reprehensible. What kind of police? force are they? They have succeeded in ruining the good reputation their predecessors had worked so hard to develop. The competition bureau appears to be completely in the wrong hands and not representing the average Canadian taxpayer at all. There should be further investigation into just what it is they are supposed to be doing and I hope Maketplace will pursue this.

Instead of going after individual small fries, why doesn't marketplace expose the incompetence and corruption of our government and police? If we clean them up then the other problems go away. OOPS I forgot the CBC is government, question answered.

We have friends involved in chocolate and juice schemes and they were not too shy to push "membership" or the right to sell a "product" on us. "Look, you are my friend and when I am making $500,000 a month I want you right there with me". I was not happy and did my research. If I have to pay for the "right to sell", something is up. Attaching useless products to the "right" is a nice way to hide a pyramid scam.

Hard work and sweat equity are the only ways to get ahead - period. I get frustrated with those who get sucked in not because I have to hear about it but, because they are usually the people who can least afford it.

I want law enforcement agencies (i.e RCMP, Competition Bureau) to stop passing the buck and its "lassez-faire" attitude and investigate this company fully. Also this should be an independent investigation and get serious. If this scheme is proven to be a pyramid scheme then in addition to imprisonment, then his assets should be seized and given back to the victims.

The most shocking part of the report was seeing someone arrested and jailed for exercising their right of peaceful protest. And then the charges were dropped. The police are out of control in this country.

Anyone who still believes that our police and troops will stand up for our freedom is sorely mistaken. Myth busted!

What happened to the RCMP? They use to be the pride of Canada now they are nothing but a disgrace.

what was the online site the fellow checked to compare BIM's vacation places?

Check out Allan Kippax's previous pyramid scheme "treasure traders international"