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Review of AGEL

This is one of a few examples of Business Opportunity Watch Reviews which are available for the public to view on the public section of the website. The reason for making a small sample of the reviews freely available is to help potential customers decide if they want to subscribe, and also to communicate some matters of general interest arising in the case of some of the reviews. All the other reviews are available only to subscribers. A zero score or a low score means that in our opinion the business model or the investment model has flaws and/or that we have found inadequate evidence to back up claims about earnings, sales, profits etc. It doesn't mean this evidence does not exist and it doesn't mean that the opportunity is a scam and it doesn't mean that the promoters are unprofessional or dishonest. Questions arising are normally contained within the body of the review, and readers who are interested should contact the company with these questions and/or questions of their own.

AGEL
3400 N Ashton Blvd., Suite 500
Lehi
Utah
UT 84043
USA
www.agel.com
Tel. 801.806.4200

- Extract from sales copy
- Review
- Your feedback

Extract from sales copy:

The Brainwave

Late in 2004, Agel's CEO Glen Jensen had an idea - a moment of pure inspiration.

Glen is what you might call a visionary. Over 18 years in the network marketing industry – working his way up from customer service through international sales to the executive suite – Glen has always had a sense for what people want and how they want to get it. He turns new concepts and strategies over in his mind, finding better ways to do things. And as he lay awake in the wee hours of a chilly November morning back in 2004, he began thinking about...gel.

Athletes use gels to pound carbs right before competition or in the middle of a race. What if anyone could pound nutritional supplements in the same way — when it’s most convenient for them? Could a highly accessible delivery system like the one athletes use be versatile enough to work with other consumable products?

The answer launched a powerful new delivery mechanism called the Agel Suspension Gel Technology.

A New Category

In the world of network marketing, such conceptual breakthroughs are rare. Every decade or two, it seems, a company like Agel comes along with a fundamentally new product or way of doing business. Such companies define a new category and typically become industry icons. Legions of imitators inevitably follow, assuming lesser positions in the marketplace.

Agel has identified the new category of suspension gel technology and is already the market leader. But Agel is much more than that. Technology products require technology companies to market them, and Agel is committed to using every new system at its disposal to develop, produce, and distribute gel technologies and the personal financial opportunities they inspire.

Automated inventory systems, virtual distribution of marketing materials, global web-enabled support...these are just some of the leading-edge integrated systems Agel has leveraged to become, quite literally, the first technology-driven company in the network marketing industry.

The Power of Technology

Suspension Gel Technology can deliver literally anything the human body can use as well as the speed and convenience that all good technologies deliver. Whatever your body needs, gel can get it to you faster, more accurately, and with more control and convenience. The technology-enabled business systems at Agel mean more personal freedom, more financial power, and a greater speed of growth for Agel team members to reach their dreams. All you have to do is imagine the possibilities...

Why It Matters

Innovation and technology are the economic engines driving prosperity worldwide. Category–creating companies are raising the standard of living from Silicon Valley to Shanghai. And since Agel employs communication technologies that know no geographical borders, its engine for growth can develop freely across the globe.

Agel made history by launching in 10 different countries on its very first day and its rate of global expansion will continue to be unprecedented. With its leadership in the emerging gel technologies category and its innovative use of technology-driven business systems, Agel has opened the door to prosperity to anyone anywhere anytime.

It’s never been done before but Agel just does things differently. While Agel’s competitors focus on products and extracts from the “old world,” Agel is a bold new vision of the future.

Will it be your future? Agel invites you to come along.

Review:

Agel is a US network marketing company which sells a whole range of products based on "a powerful new delivery mechanism called Suspension Gel Technology" - nutritional products to deliver vitamins and energy as well as a range of skin care products.

Agel started in May 2005 and achieved a certain kudos when it was joined by Randy Gage, billed as a "Network Marketing legend" who has "created more MLM millionaires and multi-millionaires than anyone on earth". From various Agel distributors' websites and comments on some forums, it seems that some people joined Agel mainly because Randy Gage had done so. According to a transcript of a training session given to his team on the website at www.mlmrockstar.com, there were five reasons why Randy Gage joined Agel, briefly summarised as follows:

"1. A Sizzle Product Line ... unique, exclusive and highly consumable.

2. Proper Capitalization ... partner with a venture capital firm started by a billionaire and began with all the money needed ...

3. Management Depth ...CEO Glen Jensen ... his track record for network marketing success is unparalleled ... Craig Bradley ... company president ... very highly respected executive in the industry.

4. A Compensation Plan that Provokes the Correct Behaviour ... innovative new breakthrough in compensation plans: the Quadra-Plan ... incorporates the very best elements of the four old-style compensation plans, but leave out the limiting characteristics of each ... up to eight different ways to earn ... most of them are of the residual variety ... the Quadra-Plan rewards you for working in-depth and developing new leaders.

5. Field Leadership ... a step-by-step system for you to follow ... the proper infrastructure, powerful recruiting materials ... the training on how to use the system and the infrastructure ... to build your team and create a residual income money machine with Agel."

So, with these advantages, could you earn money with Agel?

The answer is that you could if you are good at recruiting people. The whole emphasis of Agel is on building a team of people underneath you. The possibility of earning money from selling Agel products to the general public is hardly mentioned. For example, on the "Ten Steps to Success" page of the company's website, step number one is to define why you want to take advantage of the Agel opportunity, step number two is to set a wellness goal, step number three is to order products for your own consumption and step number four is to start building your team. The possibility of making retail sales is not mentioned in the ten steps - all that is said about distributing Agel products is that "sharing product samples is one of the best ways to build your business".

There is a certain type of person - let us call them "natural born team leaders" - who could succeed at network marketing with just about any company with a good product or service. These people - energetic, outgoing, and with a certain confidence and charisma - spend much of their time meeting people and giving presentations. They have the knack of attracting people to follow them and, as a result, they are able to build a strong team.

Most of us, however, are not natural born team leaders. To succeed in building an MLM team, we would require a product or service which - through our own personal use - we had found to be not just "good" but "exceptional". That way, it would be second nature for us to recommend it to family , friends and neighbours as something we had discovered which was really special.

Whilst you will not make a major income from retailing the products to family and friends, the important point is that you are sowing a warm seed bed of future recruits into the business. Even if you think that you are no good at selling or team-building, you would find that it was a natural progression to talk to your happy retail customers about joining the business.

So, if you are interested in joining Agel and you don't consider yourself to be a natural team leader, then what you need to do is buy a small selection of Agel's products and try them out for yourself for a few weeks. You should not, at this stage, allow yourself to be pressurised into joining the Agel business.

Do you find that the Agel products do you so much good that you want to recommend them to your crusty aunt and your sceptical neighbours? If so, then you will have the basis for building a good Agel business. If not, then you should not proceed unless you are a natural born team leader. And do not believe anyone who tells you that all you need is an Agel website because the website will do the recruiting for you - it won't. Network marketing is a face-to-face people business and those who do well at it are people who spend a lot of their time telling people face-to-face about their company.

So how is Agel doing in the UK?

According to its website, Agel now operates in 14 other countries around the world plus Europe. No address is given on the website for the European office, but from the international dialling code for the telephone number it seems to be in Holland.

Agel certainly got moving fast with its business. As above, "Agel made history by launching in 10 different countries on its very first day" (presumably in May 2005). And according to a press release from Agel Enterprises LLC dated 20th September 2006, the company was "open for recruiting new European Agel distributors, starting on September 11th 2006". One of the 20 European countries in which Agel apparently "opened" on the same day was the UK.

Agel has UK distributors who run promotional websites for Agel, and a page headed "First Ever European Leadership Summit in Germany October 20 2008" stated that this event was attended by "over 500 Agel team members from over 15 countries including Germany, Portugal, the United Kingdom ...".

BOW contacted Agel on three occasions at the end of 2008 to ask for a copy of the UK distributors' agreement. As readers of BOW will be aware, multi-level schemes in the UK need to comply with the Trading Schemes Regulations. Agel's legal department then told me that they were working with a UK lawyer regarding UK matters and told me to contact her. I contacted her, but received no reply.

Four months later, we still can't see any reference to the requirements of the UK Trading Schemes Regulations either on the Agel website or on on Agel distributors' web sites.

Here's a link to the BERR booklet on the Trading Schemes Regulations:

http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file24757.pdf

Also, we note that the UK pages (http://uk.agel.com and http://uk. agel.com/opportunity/success_stories) have disappeared from the Agel website.

Surprisingly, something else which has disappeared from the Agel website is the question "What countries does Agel do business in?" which previously appeared on the FAQ page in the General category, with the answer, "As of January 1, 2007 Agel is doing business in the United States, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Kingdom". In fact, as at April 2009, we couldn't find any list on the Agel website of the countries in which it is currently doing business.

There are a number of UK distributors Agel websites, so obviously Agel is still operating in the UK and one would assume that it is doing so legally, so we've asked again for a copy of the UK distributors' agreement.

BOW wrote to Agel with the following questions:

1. Has Agel's "breakthrough" of Suspension Gel Technology attracted scientific interest?
   
   
2. Have Agel's products been subjected to any independent tests to show that this technology gives them superior performance which benefits the average user?
   
   
3. Agel seems to encourage distributors to concentrate on building a team of people rather than on making retail sales. What percentage of Agel products are consumed by members of the public who are not distributors?
   
   
4. I refer to our previous correspondence from November and December 2008 in which I requested a copy of the Agel UK distributors agreement. You asked me to address this question to Agel's UK solicitor. I did so, but did not receive any reply.
   
   In the meantime, I note that the UK pages (http://uk.agel.com and http://uk. agel.com/opportunity/success_stories) have disappeared from your company's website.
   
   The question "What countries does Agel do business in?" which previously appeared on the FAQ page of the Agel website has also disappeared, together with the answer with its list of countries which included the UK.
   
   I should be grateful to now receive a copy of the UK Agel distributors agreement, together with your confirmation of Agel's current status in the UK, so that I can communicate this to readers.
   

As we have not received any reply from Agel we are giving it a zero rating.

In the absence of Agel's reply, we can't say for sure that the Agel opportunity is illegal in the UK. However, there is an absence of the evidence that would normally be obvious from the website to show that Agel is legal in the UK. Anyone in the UK wanting to sign up should - as with all MLM companies - make sure first of all that they have been given a copy of the Agel UK distributors agreement.

Rating:

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BOW Notice: A zero score or a low score means that in our opinion the business model or the investment model has flaws and/or that we have found inadequate evidence to back up claims about earnings, sales, profits etc. It doesn't mean this evidence does not exist and it doesn't mean that the promoters are unprofessional or dishonest. Questions arising are normally contained within the body of the review, and readers who are interested should contact the company with these questions and/or questions of their own.


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