TVI Express Weasel Review Vol 7: Review blog that is neither review nor blog, tviexpress bogus feedback
We're up to Vol. 7
Welcome to another edition of TVI Express weasel reviews, where we highlight various marketing coaches promoting (then, often deny that they were promoting) the scam known as TVI Express.
If you need some background, please read "TVI Express: an international scam" or "TVI Express: the other FAQ"
Today's highlight is on a fellow hubber... DonnaAbreu, who wrote a glowing review of TVI Express about nine months ago, which would make it... December 2009, the feverish period. However, did she work with any facts?
Part 1: Says nothing substantial at all
Donna's hub, about TVI Express review, is at http://hubpages.com/hub/TVIExpress-Review
The problem with this hub is it doesn't read like a review at all. Just read the first paragraph, where I will highlight some words:
"Travel Ventures International work with trust and confidence with each other to maximize everyone's long-term success. TVI Express, a UK based company - has established some of the most simple shared values that unite the entire Company, and all of the Business Organizations that are associated with TVI."
If that's an "objective review", I'll eat my hat, if I wear one. The rest of the first capsule is the same: filled with superlatives that contains no substantial information, like how long as the company been in business, what sort of people are running it, and what does it sell. NOTHING AT ALL.
Part 2: 4 facts are wrong or only partial truth
Ms. Abreu then proceed to list 4 supposed facts about TVI Express, but proceed to throw in some opinion as well, and many of the facts turned out to be NOT facts at all.
1) TVI Express is verified by Trust Guard which is one of the top Compliance Companies in theUS. Address, phone number and legalilties have been successfully verified and you can find a proof of the same by going to the footer of TVI's official website.
FALSE: TVI Express was disenrolled from Trust-Guard on 30-SEP-2009, according to information I got from Trust Guard Customer Support. Currently TVI Express does NOT display a Trust-Guard badge, and you can easily verify this by going to trust-guard.com and look for the "verify now" button on the left nav bar. If this hub was written in December, then Ms. Abreu was passing on OUTDATED information without due diligence.
2) Travel Ventures International is duly incorporated and is managing its financial operations wonderfully well. Many people have got their payouts transferred to their Bank Accounts which shows that TVI is not just a website and is a properly managed International Company.
PARTIAL: TVI Express may be incorporated (in Cyprus and India), but there's no evidence it manages its finances well. TVI Express may have paid "many people" (number unknown), but that does not in any shape or form proves it is a "properly managed international company". This statement is a bunch of opinions, with unverified "facts", not an overall fact.
3) Travel Ventures International's office is on the Business listing of Google and if any business has to be listed on google, they need to get themselves verified. This is another fact that count towards the legitimacy of the Organization.
FALSE: If you search for "TVI Express" on Google's UK listing, you will find that it is "owner-verified". In fact, here's the link for you to see for yourself: owner verified listing. Even the picture was "provided by owner".
4) They have been backed by World Choice Travel to provide Travel inventory to its members which is also the backing company of two more Multi Millionaire Brands.
PARTIAL: the true nature of the relationship is TVI Express is merely an affiliate of the Travelocity Network. That's not backing at all. Go to World Choice Travel website (WCtravel.com) and see for yourself.
Then Ms. Abreu listed the various vendors available through Travelocity, as if they are partners with TVI Express. Indeed, her section title was "TVI Express -- Global Partners".
Yet that is that Ms. Abreu and TVI Express claimed to be.
Does that mean if I open an online store listing Amazon.com's items, I can say that I am backed by "world's largest online retailer"? Can I then listed all the book publishers and their logos as my "publishing partners"? Of course not.
Out of four "facts", two were completely false, and two were only partially true.
Not a good score when you're trying to convince someone.
Part 3: Regurgitated and Perfumed stuff
The remainder of the hub simply repeats company line about compensation, matrix, and so on. It did not identify the product, or how you're supposed to market it. It is filled with superlatives like "promoted faster" (how much faster?), "universal product" (never identified), "backed by established business group" (what group?) that says nothing substantial.
At the end, it points you over to her blog, called, ironically, "TVI Express Review Blog", which has been revised in December to be about Bon Voyage 1000, even though it has kept the domain name.
Part 4: The Review Blog has neither review nor blog
So what's at the blog? It is there where you discover that Ms. Abreu is a self-proclaimed success coach. In her own words, "I am an Online Success Coach. My business focus has always been about teaching others how to enjoy the same level of success that I do."
In December 2010, the "about" page on her website was removed. In fact most TVI Express information was removed except for her own revelation that it's a scam. However, she has plenty of other sites and articles where she reviewed TVI Express in glowing terms. One such place is on a shady website called workathome.com. She also reviewed TVI Express in glowing terms on EzineArticles and similar spam farms.
Following information was OLD, based on what WAS on Ms. Abreu's blog. It's no longer there.
But her review blog, again, takes you straight to a recruiting page about TVI Express. Where they propose to teach you how to be a master marketer.
In fact, she has a page called "Is TVI Express a scam?" (URL no longer exists) on her 'review blog', which is again, neither a review nor a blog. So what did this say?
Her Point 1) Just because TVI Express looks like a pyramid doesn't mean it is a pyramid scheme.
Hey, YOU are supposed to prove that it is not. This is not a court where you do 'reasonable doubt'.
Her Point 2) TVI Express is NOT pyramid scheme because pyramid scheme have fake products and TVI Express's product is travel, a real product.
Ms. Abreu neglect to mention the TVI Express FAQ: "you do not need to sell any products". If there is no sales, then the product is irrelevant.
Thus, her argument is bogus, a logical fallacy.
Conclusion
Ms. Abreu is a success coach that wants you to join her TVI Express downline, using bogus arguments to explain it is not a scam.
Ms. Abreu is now apparently pushing a new MLM, called Bon Voyage 1000. She just published ANOTHER hub on this, with a very similar glowing review.
Ms. Abreu's slogan on her personal website, donnaabreu.com, is "coaching with integrity".
Reach your own conclusions.