Qnet India Vihaan Direct Selling Pvt Ltd - Fraud

Complain against M/s Vihaan DirectSelling(India) India PVT
A company’s independent representative(IR) feom Qnet Vihaan PVT visited my resident and convinced me that if I join and work in this business I’ll avail a lot of opportunities. She further illustrating herself along with so many members who have joined earlier, had already earned lakhs and lakhs of rupees even if they work ( getting incentives/commission by enrolment/recruitment of people to this business by purchasing of this travelling kit (product) ) for a short time of span. The method and manner of approach of the IR to their prospects is by not allowing a considerable time for them to think and decide by using successively and repeatedly phone calls day and night. Any way by trust and faith I have joined this business of the above mentioned firm on the ** July **** by paying an amount of ` *,**,***/- (Rupees Three lakhs Twenty Thousand) only being the cost of travelling fee for ** alternative years.

That, first I had notice that * weeks later from the date of joining(after I have made a payment) the commission had been disbursed to my direct upline into my Vihaan Account even I have not yet utilised the product(not yet travel). This means that the product they used is merely a means of disguising or laundering investments in the pyramid. In fact, money from sale of the product goes through the company’s infrastructure to the top level of independent representatives (IRs) and only a portion of payout is rebated to participants which is clearly indicated that company runs in pyramid schemes and it is illegal as per the law.

That , further if I also used the product I’m running at a lost from the fact as stated below :-

Since the company allow us to go in the alternative years say if I go for foreign trip on Nov **** then I have to go the next trip on Nov **** which created gap of * years time . Part of the above amount is used by the company for the *st trip on Nov **** but the remaining amount is with the company’s account. The company is enjoying the interest of the above remaining amount for the * years gap before I go to the next trip and so on. Thus I lost the interest of the above amount. May be perhaps this interest that the company earn is in the form of commission payment to the upline IRs.

That, its activities are prohibited in some countries from the fact that the company has posponed the trip to Dubai and change to Malaysia. The reason they give is due to certain circumstances but the fact is that as reported by Moneylife, the strict action by Saudi Arabia, has made QNet to cancel V-Con, its high-profile, flagship annual event that was scheduled to be held in Dubai between *th to **th September. The company did not give any reason for the sudden cancellation of V-Con, but thousands of independent representatives (IRs) or agents, who were set to go to Dubai are seeking a refund the $*** each that they have paid to attend the event as well as their air tickets. On * September ****, the Ministry of Commerce & Investment in Saudi Arabia had issued a warning against QNet saying that its activities are prohibited in the country.Thus in the long term many countries will follow the same procedure. I wonder why QNET did not set this Vcon in our country till this date ? . Which we conclude that this company is unreliable.

That, on perusal of the memorandum of the Department of Consumers’ affairs vide O.M. F.No..**/**/****-IT(Vol-II) dtd **th Sept **** (enclosed herewith) the company has found to violated most of the guidelines set up by the DCA which are stated under as follows :-

*. That the IR who cheated me from Vihaan Direct selling had later executed the contract agreement with the said company on the **th July **** after she had enrolled me as a member of the company Vihaan Direct selling entity on the **th July and had received an amount of Rs *,**,***/- which means that I was force to sign the contract of agreement indirectly since I have already made a payment one day before(without seeing the contract agreement) which is a clear violation as per the clause * subclause *(a) of this act which states as under :-

“ Every Direct Selling entity shall execute a contract agreement, whether directly or indirectly, with Direct Sellers before enrolment”.

*. She has already created my account(generating my ID and password) in the company’s website without my prior permission and without explaining how to change the password in the company’s website and in the due course of time thus exposed my private detail’s information and process of transaction. This is another violation of the guidelines as per clause * subclause * of this act which states as under :-

“ Direct sellers and Direct Selling Entity shall take appropriate steps to ensure the protection of all private information provided by a consumer ”.

*. The company doesn’t issue the identity card to its members and it is evident from the fact that I don’t receive the company’s ID since the date of joining till date i.e for the period of *** days. This is also a violation of the guidelines as per clause * subclause * which states as under :-

“ The Direct Selling entity shall issue proper identity document(s) to its Direct Sellers.”

*. The company doesn’t have an office in our state which is a violation as per Clause * subclause * which states as under :-

“ It shall have an office with identified jurisdiction of its operation in the state to enable the consumers and direct seller to acquaint themselves with price of products, return or replacement of products and efficient delivery of goods and services, and post-sale redressal of grievances.”

Instead their business matters relating to enrolment, signing of contract agreement, cash transaction, etc are done in the coffee shops, restaurants, outdoors, houses, etc which are not the appropriate places.

*. The IRs of the company fails to produced the price list (in Indian currency) of their products of different brands. Since their products price is in US $ .

*. Michael Ferreira the world amateur billiards champion associated with Qnet, a network company. He holds ** % shareholding in Vihaan Direct Selling India Private Limited, which is the franchise for the Qnet brand in India. On **th sept **** Ferreira , along with * other directors of Vihaan, were arrested by the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police in relation to Qnet scam. Thus being the key management personnels which have been convicted with imprisonment and as per Clause * subclause * as stated under, the company doesn’t fulfil this condition:-

“ The promoter or key management personnel should not have been convicted of any criminal offence punishable with imprisonment in last * years by any Court of competent jurisdiction.”

*. Clause *(*) of the guidelines stated that “Any direct selling entity conducting direct selling activities shall submit an undertaking to the Department of Consumer Affairs, stating that it is in compliance with these guidelines and shall also provide such details of its incorporation and other business details as may be notified from time to time”

That, since the company doesn’t comply with most of the guidelines set by the Department of Consumer Affairs and hence it was not allowed to sign the undertaking required by the Department of Consumer Affairs i.e. it is not registered under the direct selling entities (the name of the company “Vihaan Direct Selling Ltd” doesn’t exist in the list of direct selling entities.

“ No person or entity shall promote a Pyramid Scheme, as defined in Clause *(**) or enrol any person to such scheme or participate in such arrangement in any manner whatsoever in the garb of doing Direct Selling business.”

That, on further research I have found that several reports on the media about this company which may be listed below :-

A. “QNET is a chain where a person is fooled and then he is trained to fool others to earn money” says Bombay HC order

B. QNet and Vihaan Fail to Make Entry in the List of Direct Selling Entities in India

C. The minister of state in the ministry of finance listed the ponzi schemes in the Rajya Sabha dt **.**.**** and QNET is one among them

D. FDSA too rejects Vihaan's membership application

E. Proceedings for shutting down MLM company Vihaan Direct Selling initiated


Considering from the above facts and knowing the company’s history record mentioned above I have concluded that I have been misguided for which compel me to tender my resignation, return back the product( a QVI card) and request her to refund the said amount but she refused saying that the company has given a period of * days refund window after joining the business whereas I have signed the agreement stating that the company has a **-Day Buy Back Policy which is very clear as to confuse me and waste the time by not giving me the chance to ask for a refund.

Further as per para * clause * of the guidelines set by Department of consumer affairs mentioned above the IR is violating clause * subclause *(a) of the Direct selling Guidelines set up by the DCA where execution of the contract agreement is done after enrolment in the company.