Tony Robbins Tour, why you should save your money and skip this marketing scam!
I’ve been pretty excited the past week or so, in anticipation of seeing the king of life coaching, LIVE and in person. I’ve watched him on Oprah, and known of him for longer then I’ve been in the self-help game. I haven’t read his books, but watched enough of him on TV that I felt fairly sure of what to expect at todays National Achievers Congress, aka #TonyRobbinsTour.
Boy was I wrong.
The company that puts on this event, Success Resources America claims to have done this for 18 years. How is that possible? After the shitshow I lived through today, I find it hard to believe that this company is still in business let alone putting on events that people PAY to attend.
It started with no adequate parking. So after circling the area for an hour, my girl-friend (friend that’s a girl lol) and I decided to park at a mall about fifteen minutes-walk away. Okay… no biggie, shit happens. We were still excited and feeling very positive about the motivational download we were about to receive.
Even though it had taken an hour to get parked and to the venue, we entered the hall and excitedly asked the usher where to sit. It only took a second to survey the small, long conference room and realize that there were, in fact, no more seats. People stood lining the back walls, our section was completely full. PAUSE: Let me remind you that we PAID FOR SEATS. They’d oversold the event by 25%, no small amount. So yeah, not a great start. It took some digging, but finally we were able to locate two seats apart from each other and we each got settled in. It was the tail end of Robert Herjavec’s speech and from what I caught it seemed motivational enough, so I was eager to get out my notebook and begin my learning for the day.
And then some dude named Wayne Gray (who I can’t even find on Google) got on stage. The second he walked out I knew we were fucked. You know how people have these negative images of motivational speakers who are over tanned, over Botox-ed, who run out on stage and grin like loons? Then ask you questions every five seconds just to hear you repeat their words? Welp, it was sixty minutes of that, only in the form of a hard-sell real estate pitch. No, I take that back, it was more like being forced to sit through a time-share presentation on your vacation. Or worse; like having to PAY to watch an infomercial and not be allowed to leave your seat, because the minute you got up to go to the bathroom, or buy a $4 water, your seat would be gone.
To prevent me from clawing my eyes out, I take a look at the list of speakers in the program. I notice two things. 1. After each speakers info there is an application form that we are supposed to fill out where we put our credit card information and agree to buy whatever they are peddling. 2. There are NO WOMEN on the speaking agenda. NONE. As the lady next to me put it; “Just penis’ here today.” In an event lasting twelve-hours, they couldn’t find ONE SINGLE chick to add to the discussion? Or share her experience? Not ONE? Oh yeah, there is no diversity on the ticket either.
This is the point in the day where shit went south real fast.
Then the fire marshal came and kicked all the people who didn’t have seats OUT OF THE EVENT. Yep that’s right, people who paid for seats were kicked out.
By this time my girl-friend was calling it a day and I desperately wanted to bail with her. We were both heated by this point, and asked the ladies at the ticket station who to call to request a refund (considering it was just two hours in, and not AT ALL what we thought we were getting when we bought our tickets). She gave us a customer service number that does not work.
One word….. SCAM.
I am lured to stay because I thought this guy must be the model of how to do “successful” live motivational events, and I’m curious if he lives up to the hype. I mean he’s kinda the go-to name in my industry, so I’m holding out hope that I’ll learn something I can “model after” (his words).
I hunt down another seat, stolen from some poor sucker who probably just had to pee, and get settled to hear Gary Vaynerchuk speak. I’m kinda excited to hear him, I can’t lie. I mean when it comes to social media and brand building he’s THE SHIT. Right away I’m pulled in, digging his message. It’s right up my ally, especially when he launches into the Hustle. And he did have the best line of the day….”It’s called gratitude motherfucker!” Okay, this I can do!
His speech ends and the (HORRIBLE) MC let’s us know that the dude we just saw on stage, was actually not on stage at all. It was a hologram presentation (I swear I couldn’t make this shit up!). Okay, here is where I fucking lose it. I’m sorry but if you are going to PROMOTE a motivational speaking seminar, and one of your three key speakers is not actually at the event, that’s a problem for me. I believe the legal term for that is; false advertising.
And then, just when I think it can’t get any more fake, the MC announces a big surprise! They’ve decided to give away a vacation for four to Disneyland. Say whaaaaat!? No way! Out come two stage dancers to hype the crowd, and the DJ turns up the dance music. One of the dancers is clearly a pro, beautiful with all the right moves. The MC tells us that to win the prize we’ve just gotta win a dance-off. Immediately I make a mental note that the hot chick (who seems to clearly work for them), who’s been dancing to the crowds delight, will be the “magic winner.” How fake could this get? Well they go through the whole song and dance (pun intended) and guess who wins???? Yup, the hot chick. Aka the audience hype girl. Now I can’t prove it, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the audience just got played.
Then the hard sales pitches resume in earnest. Each more horrible than that last. I was trapped at a used car lot with no escape! And oh God! The way they sell this shit seriously makes your skin crawl. It’s the same pitches used in the 90’s when my parents would go to pyramid scheme events offering to make you rich overnight selling pre-paid phone cards. “But hurry, if you sign up now and give us your credit card you can save x $. But WAIT that’s not all!” I mean, was I in the twilight zone or the set of QVC?
I can’t.
The one that really pissed me off was Gerry Robert, trying to sell the crowd on signing up for his multi-thousand dollar “become an author, get rich” workshop. Basically playing down real authors, and saying that anyone can, and should “write a book” and use it as advertising. I’m sorry, I take that personally. And real writers and authors the world over should too. Of course he was offering some deal “only if you sign up now and give your credit card information.” As he showed us pictures of his custom-built private jet.
Shoot me please.
At this point I’d been sitting in this room since 8:30 AM. It was now 3:45 and it was taking everything in me not to walk out. You could feel the energy in the room. We were over it. And where the fuck was Tony? You know, the guy we thought we’d come to see? Where was he?
At close to 4:00 he comes on stage and I can barely muster a clap at this point. I’m trying to rally with everything in me, but my reserves are tapped out. Exploited by seven hours of pure shit. I think he must have picked up on the energy thing, or was maybe tipped off by the speakers before him, because that was his topic the first hour. I’m not saying his points were not good ones, they were. But there was something about the way he delivered them that felt condescending. Like he was scolding us for not BRINGING IT off the bat. IDK maybe that was just me… but that’s how it came across.
But I gotta hand it to him, after an hour or so his “magic” was starting to work on the crowd and even on exhausted, over-it, me. I was trying to be a good sport, jumping around with the best of them; like a real cult. Clapping on que and giving strangers messages (yes we did that) and high-fives until our palms stung. By about 6:30 the room started to let loose.
I was able to get some good stuff from his message, but nothing we haven’t already heard. I couldn’t shake the feeling we were somehow being manipulated. But the crowd was now digging him, and it seemed like I was the only one feeling this way.
But, people kept leaving in droves between dance parties, because the event was promoted to end at 5:30. We’d all planned on that, got sitters around that plan etc. He kept making these comments, like those of us who were staying where the good ones, the serious-about-success ones. As if the ones who had a life to get back to, or were starving to death were somehow losers. And I’m thinking, listen dude; I had to get a sitter for this, I’ve been sitting here for twelve hours, my stomach is eating itself, I haven’t had any water all day and I gotta pee like a mother! Don’t judge me if I finally call it a day and go home to drink a well deserved bottle of wine.
I finally ducked out at 7:20 and he was still going strong. Someone on my Facebook said he was still going at 8:30. I’m sorry but if an event is communicated and advertised to end at 5:30, but the actual plan is to not even get started till then, isn’t that information we are entitled to know? Had I know he wouldn’t be there till 4:00, I would have come at 4:00. But they know this, and they wouldn’t make the big bucks this way. So instead it’s done deceitfully. I feel he uses his platform to pressure people into buying all these “tools.” He’s the ultimate “closer” finishing the day by coming on strong with the; “don’t let fear stop you.” And the; “you must take BIG action.” And the; “change your attitude” messages which leave you questioning your gut reaction to all the slimy sales pitches.
It feels manipulative.
Bottom line, the day felt like the worst hard-sell, pushy, dirty, scam ever; wrapped up in a pretty box called “motivation.” I feel robbed.
I want a refund.
The part of today that made me truly sad is that I saw 7,000 people who wanted to change their life, and find a way to live their dreams. They came to get information and tools on HOW to do this, that’s what our tickets supposedly paid for. But it seems to me, this event exploits their genuine desire, instead sucking them into potentially spending thousands of dollars on these random programs. They promise big money with apparently “no risk” and bla bla. I’m sorry but that just feels so dirty to me.
Maybe that’s why they are billionaires and I’m not…
This video kinda says a lot about how this man really is. See the dude crawling behind him? Yeah there were four of them, whose job it was to CRAWL (and I do mean CRAWL) after every step he made. I’m sorry but your NOT the POTUS.. is this really necessary? What are they protecting him from? A rabid fan who rushes out to give him a high-five, or God forbid a hug? Kinda speaks volumes if you ask me. More videos of the event on my YouTube channel.
*P.S. I know many of my readers are diehard Tony Robbins fans, it’s nothing personal… this was my experience.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
PSS. I can’t seem to get my comment section to work, it just says “forbidden” (how scary is that!) when you try to comment. Sorry guys, I need a web designer bad! Feel free to comment on my Facebook, twitter or Instagram also videos on my Snapchat -all @ SarahCentrella
UPDATE: March 4, 2017 10:41 AM
In the past 24 hours I’ve received nearly 200 messages/comments from people who thanked me for posting this and speaking out. It is good to know that I am not alone in this experience. I’ve heard from people who were DENIED access to the event because it was oversold and have not been able to reach anyone to get their money refunded. THAT IS FRAUD. This company needs to be shut down.
Author | Life Coach | Motivational Speaker and single mama. I'm a chick on a mission to prove anything is possible for ANYONE. My story featured in the New York Times, Steve Harvey Show and NBC.
Seems like it was a circus show. Sorry you had to go through this, and Tony Robbins has to put up with this as well to earn a few more bucks for his million dollar empire. To me, feels like prostitution. Best read his books, cheaper, on your own time, and worth every penny.
This is the promise…..You will get training on Sales and Marketing, Negotiating, Personal Development, Business, Wealth Creation, how to maintain Motivation and so much more! Special industry leading experts will share tips on successful strategies for investing in real estate and stocks to maximize wealth creation. $250 later….one sales pitch after another. Total disappointment. I lost all respect for Tony Robbins!
He has a 6 day event in Australia starting at $6000 (includes a discount), after reading this I guess Tony will only be talking for some of it! Will it be worth $6000?
If it wasn’t worth $250, do you really believe that paying more just to hear a week long of the same bull will make a difference? If you need motivation, don’t join a crowd that pays to gawk at some “guru” who looks and sounds better off than them. Find it in a time-tested friend or family member who really cares about you. They’re closer than we think, and they’re there all the time. If you need education and have $6,000 to spare, go to a community college and learn a trade or skill that fits your interests and personality, or helps you improve skills that you might already have. Look around you, use common sense: how many people do you know that made a better life for themselves by learning a “secret” trade, skill, technique or strategy in six days? Getting rich is a process, and it’s not even a goal in itself, even these guys that gather crowds to sell them pie in the sky had to start low, and took time to get to the wealth they enjoy now. The sad thing is, they’re really not teaching anything, EVER. It’s all just repackaged pep talk, slogans and half-baked “strategies” based on well known business practices that OTHERS have applied in their own professional lives. I have yet to find ONE person who followed through with at least ONE technique, strategy or plan they bought from these “self-made” gurus and became at least a little better off, let alone as rich or even half as rich as them, based on their “teachings”. If their success were truly based on their teachings, you would hear hundreds, thousands of stories from real people who followed and applied those strategies, with real proof of what they did and where it got them. Instead, you see photos or “testimonials” of paid people (often actors) in expensive cars and expensive mansions that they never owned or will ever even dream of owning, only presented to you with a first name and an initial. And we believe them, because we want to believe them, not because they convinced us. The only people who make money out of these schemes are the shysters who peddle them to the gullible, desperate crowds, and the only money made is out of “the sale” of whatever it is they’re pimping, not out of the “strategies”, “techniques” and “secrets” they would sell to you to use for success. They should all be outlawed, IMHO, but this is America
Ich war letzte Woche auf dem – Cryptocurrency Investor Summit in Berlin, organisiert von Success Resources. Ich kann mich nur anschliessen, eine sehr amerikanische Verkaufsveranstalltung. Fast wie Eine Kaffeefahrt, auf der sich so manche Oma einlässt und dann mit lauter Dingen zurück kommt, die sie auf der Fahrt gekauft hat, für viel Geld, die sie aber überhaupt nicht braucht.
Man kann natürlich auch etwas mitnehmen auf dem Event, etwas lernen, und ein paar Crypto Spezialisten die aus Berlin waren hatten auch echt was auf dem Kasten (Die waren aber extern und hatten mit Success Resources ansich nichts zu tun), aber jeder der Redner von SR wollte einem etwas verkaufen. Und die Preis egingen von 100€ schnell zu 1000€ und zu 10.000€. Und viele Leute sind da echt drauf reingefallen. Das komische war auch, dass auf Nachfrage ob man auch online kaufen kann nur die Antwort war: Nein, nur auf diesem Event, aber es gibt einen Discount. Also. Leider sehr Unseriös, doch eher Abzocke und sehr Profitorientiert.
I saw he was coming to Ottawa and spotted your post. I’m so glad I read it. I’m so sorry you had such a dreadful experience, but Thank you for taking a bullet for us. Have you ever heard from the TR organization?
You are an idiot for: falling for Robbins to begin with and thinking that being a “life coach” isn’t a scam. Get back into the kitchen, take care of your kids and stop scamming people.
Honestly I had a really positive experience from this in Philly last week. None of the parking or over selling or anything like that. I don’t see why it’s an issue that there weren’t any females…you knew that going into the event. Wish you had the experience I did!
And how much money have you made with what you “learned” there?
Girl! I’m shocked Tony would associate himself with this company! I made the mistake of signing up for the millionaire mind and from their signing up for another and then read the reviews!
I’m currently trying to get my 2,000 back . I canceled it the three days as required to get it back, however I can’t get anyone on the phone!!!
I’m dealing with the exact same issue. Went to the MMI, signed up for an additional seminar, did my research, and the asked for a refund. I even got an email from Success Resources confirming my cancellation and refund. It’s been months and still no money back!
Success Resources is a complete scam riding the backs of genuine people like Tony and Gary V
Tony Robbins sadly is just as bad to pimp himself out at the end of events for a Thousands as a guest speaker, closing in on the emotional gauntlet only he is famous for giving! Don’t open your purse to these people. They ride the grey area of the law. Gerry Robert is at the Hilton Garden on Alert Rd Ottawa this weekend, he’s short of Tony Robinson this weekend, but he’s hard selling on emotional guilt and pumping up the folks on an overdose of greed with how much money they will make on their self published book. I shared for people to search on Bing as a search engine, Not Google, as he uses Google for his books and he’s clean as a whistle there. Bottom line, stay away from these types that discredit University Degrees and discredit research to write your books, saying anyone can write a book and self publish, this is true! I would much rather have a credible publishing house pay me money for my book, than pay Gerry Robert $20-$60K for a zero guarantee!
WOW! I literally was filling out my credit card info when I came across your article. Thank you for saving me $147! This is so disappointing and shameful. It’s sad that there is no one you can trust on genuinely wanting to help people. They only care about selling bullshit
Wow, I’ve been having the worst ever experience dealing with “Success Resources” as I’ve been trying to transfer my ticket to someone else 3 weeks before the Tony Robbins Sydney event – but reading your review, I’m somewhat glad and mad at the same time! These guys need to be reported and charged for false advertising and fraud. I’ve been shaking my head at them for the past week that I’ve been dealing with them because the customer service is just horrendous, but it sounds like it goes way beyond that.
It sounds like I am one of the people who had an AMAZING experience with this event! Yes, too many lengthy speakers before Tony Robbins, but I felt they shared valuable information and I got so much out of the Real Estate Workshop I signed up for. I am a chronically early person so I managed to get there before the crowd and find a great seat. I was tired by the time Tony came on but he sure gave us our money’s worth. He got the group up once very 10 minutes or so to dance and scream to get our energy pumping. My main problem and only one so far is the organization of the event. Tickets were supposed to be emailed the day before and weren’t so I had to call them. They had to send them out. etc. Hope this helps some people see that it is a positive wonderful experience for some people! It was for me.
If you hot “your money’s worth”, that means you really learned something of true value and you started making money in real estate with the knowledge you acquired there. You might just be that ONE person that I’ve never heard of, who truly improved their life and made real money out of the valuable teachings at those seminars. Please, do share the details of your success, so the world would finally shed any shadow ofvthe doubt about how honorable, selfless, gifted and helpful these extraordinary people are!
Really appreciate your taking the time to write this and post! I went with my office manager, took a day of my practice- loss of production in a small business and we were hugely disappointed with the event. vulgar speaker with every other word was degrading – Gary Vaunerchuk, who may be a genius at what he does, but definitely NOT a motivational speaker by any means.We had to walk out as his aggressive manner was off putting. no seats after we stepped out for a break- waiting for 20 min to get a concession food and no seats after we got back. No assistance offered with seats and had to walk out.
I don’t know how this organization stays in business and I agree it is a big SCAM. I don’t recommend attending anything put up by this organization. They will not refund your money and its all about self promotion of most of these speakers.
I’m currently listening to or better yet ignoring Wayne gray… And his real estate whole sale residual income through real estate shpeal. After strugling to find parking and being dumbfounded at the amount of suckers who actually came to this, myself included. I feel so stupid right now. I had just noticed no women speakers as well! He keeps saying I have little to no time and its been close to an hour an a half….. People are so pumped up still!!! Omg. Oh, here we go, stand up and go to the tables in the back….. I’m leaving. Ide rather go watch a movie and eat a good burger….
Funny, gray was talking about coming in from AZ. Yeah, tampa is falling for this guy lots of people lined up to pay $997. Getting his money’s worth from tampa. I came to hear one of the guys from shark tank but it’s free and its Thursday night so I’m not expecting much. If I went to TR and this guy was selling I’d be a little more than butthurt too
Saw him today in Orlando. He used the same tool on us….I only have limited time. What is really shady is that you can’t google him. I also heard once you sign up for the 3 day retreat, they ask for more money
Nor will you find anything negative about Robbins on google. Seems like he used his $$$ to wipe it clean. I only found this article, because I used Bing.
Wow. What a racket. I’m in a situation with this company now. I bought 3 tickets to an event with Robbins, Robert Herjavec and Gary Vaynerchuck that was supposed to be in November. They changed the date to January shortly after. 2 of the 3 ticket holders can’t make the new date and won’t be able to attend. Then I found out that both Gary V and Robert Herjavec dropped out, so my main reasons for wanting to attend in the first place went away. When I called to see about a refund I was told there was a no refund policy. I argued that since the date and the speakers had changed its really not even the same event. I was told by the operator that if it was up to her she’d process a refund but that her boss won’t do it. I asked to speak to her boss, the office manager. She put me on hold and when she came back she said he refused the refund but offered to upgrade one of the tickets but not to refund the other 2. This went on for a while before she came back and told me that her boss will not speak to me about it and I was out of luck.
However, several minutes after my initial call the operator called me back. She said in a very hushed tone that she was going to speak to someone else on my behalf tomorrow to see if they would process the refund. We’ll see.
The bottom line to me is that this company scheduled the event, the event was completely changed and those who can’t roll with that change are out hundreds of dollars and it’s just our tough luck. No wonder so many people think these things are a total scam.
So glad that you have made this post so everyone knows the truth. I love Tony Robbins teaching and techniques, I think his methods have merit in its own right, and I have gone to some of his events by his company and others. And I can say this, at the end of the day, they all just trying to make money. These type of “seminars” have been done for decades! All you paid is to sit a listen to a line so sales speakers trying to sell you their books and tools. Some just give you a few tips during their talk but that just about it. All SCAM. If we want to change our lives we have to find our own ways. No one can help us with that. So sorry that you have gone through the experience and 7000 and millions have gone before that also genuinely seeking success and being exploited by these company. We can learn Success through books which some have taken time to write it down details and some use the took as “advertise” for their program. Hope many people will see your post and avoid the scam. Best wishes everyone.
You’re awesome, thanks for saving my moeny and time! I saw the add and was tempted but it sounded too good to be true and yep sure enough lol. Take care!
My experience at NAC was actually the OPPOSITE of yours. I just went to the one in Nashville this week and had previously read this article, so I was bracing myself for a total scam. But it turned out to be easily one of the top 10 experiences of my life! Most of the negatives you mentioned here did not apply to my experience, and so I think it may have been more unique to the NAC you went to.
1. There were MORE than enough seats.
2. I left to go to the bathroom and no one stole my seat.
3. There WAS diversity on the ticket with Joseph McClendon (Tony’s right-hand man who shares the stage with Tony at all his UPW events).
4. There WAS a woman who MC’d the whole event and also spoke: Loren Lehav.
5. There were a lot of offers for people to sign up and pay for courses, programs, and software. But they were designed to help people get to the next level AND some of the offers were FREE. I actually liked Wayne Gray and the other speakers who did “sales pitches”, it got the wheels turning in my head about possibilities of getting to the next level and becoming financially free, even though I didn’t buy their program/seminar.
6. Gary Vaynerchuk spoke to us. And he wasn’t a hologram. XD He was GREAT!
7. The tickets to this thing actually kept getting lower the closer it got to the event, as low as $20!!!!! $20 to hear Tony Robbins speak?!?!?!?! He usually charges $1k to hear him speak, because he’s probably the greatest speaker on the planet. So that price is just insanely cheap. I have no problem listening to people promote their programs if it means hearing TR for so cheap.
8. Tony went longer at our seminar also. But apparently that’s what he always does. And no one left. Everyone was happy to spend an extra hour with Tony having our lives revolutionized.
9. Just like with anyone who has companies worth $5 billion and has influence on presidents, etc, there are crazy people that target them and will kill them, so it doesn’t seem strange at all that there are body guards for Tony there. And Tony moves ALL OVER the room, so unlike most speakers of that level who stay safely on stage, his body guards needs to move.
10. Also they emailed me saying they would email me my ticket 72 hours before the event, and they did just like they said. So I had no issue there. But yeah, tickets are non-refundable once you buy them.
11. Also, also, it seemed like the guy who ran the event, Gene, was really nice and he walked around before the event introducing himself and shaking everyone’s hands. So that made a good impression on me.
***All that to say, my experience was COMPLETELY different than this review, so the review may have been more of an isolated event OR maybe they’ve made some good changes to make the event better since this review was written. I strongly encourage people to go to the National Achievers Congress. It was seriously the greatest speaking engagement I’ve ever been to and instantly became one of my top 10 life experiences! And no, I don’t have any affiliation with anybody working this conference. But this review almost discouraged me from going to this event, and I just wanted to make sure people on here could hear a different, positive experience from the event so that they would check it out! Thanks for reading and letting me post my experience!
Went to the NAC Atlanta. When I bought the ticket, the event was from 8-6 one day with three speakers. Over time it turned into two days 8-8 with 12 speakers. I paid $14.95 for a silver ticket. I wasn’t going to dedicate two days, so I picked day one hoping Tony would be there. He wasn’t as good as when I saw him twenty years ago, but that may be due to his imperfect health from mercury poisoning. Should have stayed vegan Tony rather than resorting to fish. He was still speaking at 7:40 and I’d had more than enough. I left. I bought parking tickets on-line the day prior to avoid problems the day of. I got enticed to take the real estate course and secondly the day trading class. I don’t have the money to sign up, so that was good. The people next to me are taking the real estate course. We exchanged info, so I could see from them if it works. I am glad I started researching before coming up with the money to register for additional courses.
Clearly Russ Shipp either works for Success Resources or he’s just delusional!! Just like all the other millions of suckers out there I’m trying to get my money back too ($1,400). I’ve tried contacting them by phone, email, facebook, linkedin etc. but it’s obvious they have no intentions of getting back to me. They basically take your money and run and hide. This company is heartless, rude, unfair, selfish and very cruel. Dealing with them by simply asking for my money back ($1,400) has been an extremely stressful, time consuming and horrible experience. It’s clear to see Success Resources are disgraceful, immoral, nasty little crooks.
I like a couple of his books but after seeing his “Build Your Own Brand challenge” free internet series he has going on, I’ll pass on paying the big bucks I’m he’ll be soliciting after this free event. It features speakers that sound like they’re high on double expresso’s lecturing endlessly about changing “your brand” without really saying much. That’s a true art form if you ask me. I enjoyed reading your thoughts on these rah rah tours.
really awesome work brother.
very nice and effort