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This week I saw a new side to being a Young Living customer, and it led me to terminate my account. The people of Young Living were amazing, patient, and as helpful as they could be in the situation. However, something that should have taken five minutes took hours, but at least it's done.
I'm no longer a member of Young Living.
Young Living and the FDA
This week, I received this email from Young Living…
“Dear Kimberly,
The Conduct Success Team is contacting you to notify you that your website currently contains incorrect product claims. Attached is a letter containing the specific sites and trends you must review. Also attached is a great educational tool “Generic Topical and Aromatic Claims,” created by Young Living’s legal team, that will offer assistance as you review your product claims. We have also included our new Spring Cleaning Checklist to help you find all of the areas of your websites that need review.
Please be aware that this letter is in accordance with our Product Claims policy 5.3.1:
“You are prohibited from making inaccurate and impermissible claims about any of Young Living’s products. In particular, you must not make any claim that Young Living’s products are intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease. You must also avoid making any statements and claims that are false or misleading concerning Young Living’s products. You must comply with all laws, both state and federal, regarding any statements made. You also must not diagnose any disease or disease condition or prescribe any Young Living product unless you are a licensed medical professional authorized to do so. Anyone improperly diagnosing or prescribing Young Living’s products may jeopardize the future of Young Living and all of its members and may therefore have his/her sales organization terminated.”
The Conduct Success Team wants to help you align your website with this important policy within the next 10 business days. If your site has not been brought into alignment at that time your account may be subject to further disciplinary action.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. We are here to help you understand the education provided. Thank you and have a wonderful day!”
To remain in compliance, Young Living does periodic audits of their members to make sure no one is making claims that are against policy. Nowhere on my blog or on social media do I claim that essential oils treated, cured, or prevented disease, however, it's more complicated than that, which I learned this week.
I went through my blog and removed all mentions of Young Living. Young Living also wanted me to review the past nine months (the length of my membership) of social media posts (Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and Google Plus) to remove all mentions of Young Living from there as well. I have no idea how even to begin doing that because I'm prolific on social media and post several times a day every day.
On top of that, Young Living needs to approve any link to a book or other websites referenced in any post that mentions their products. Basically, if I write about Young Living's Abundance and link to a website that has a recipe using this oil or talks about the Law of Attraction; they need to approve those links.
I loved Young Living essential oils and didn't want to end my membership or risk disciplinary action so I attempted to track down social media posts. Yeah, that's not easy. I looked into hiring someone to help; that's not cheap. I tried to clean up blog posts and links, but I didn't want to delete good valid information.
I finally came to the conclusion that it was time to part ways with Young Living.
You would think that was the end, but it wasn't. After canceling my membership, Young Living reported me for copyright infringement to social media platforms. They claimed that I took their logo and images of their oils without permission to promote online. This wasn't true and I had to fight that claim as well. Young Living could have contacted me with a link to a specific social media post and asked me to take it down, but they tried to get me removed from Facebook, which would have seriously harmed my blog.
How to Terminate a Young Living Membership
It is not easy to terminate your Young Living membership, but it's supposed to be. I decided to write this post for people who run into any trouble. Someone in their corporate office told me what to do, and it worked. Call customer care, and they will be able to help you start the process of terminating your membership. You might receive the following responses to your request; ignore them, hang up, and call to speak with someone else.
When I called customer care, I was told the following when I asked them to terminate my membership. If you receive the following responses to your request; ignore them, hang up, and call to speak with someone else.
- It's a three-month process to cancel a membership.
- You can only cancel a membership via email. However, we don't have the email address.
- We're customer care; we're only here to help people place orders.
As I stated, if someone tells you these things, hang up and call again.
Step One in Canceling a Young Living Membership
- Contact customer care and ask them to terminate your Essential Rewards membership.
- They will give you confirmation number of your termination; if they don't give you a number, ask for one.
- Keep the confirmation number just in case.
Keep in mind that you're canceling your Essential Rewards membership, not your Young Living account.
Step Two in Canceling a Young Living Membership
- Remove all payment options to avoid any accidental billings.
- Don't buy anything else from Young Living.
- Your account will go dormant in 12 months, and they'll automatically terminate it.
It's just that easy.
My Thoughts on Young Living Essential Oils
Despite my experience, I still believe that Young Living is an amazing company and I love their oils and will miss browsing their collection each month to fulfill my Essential Rewards order. I've learned a lot from other Young Living members and will miss the community as well.
There are two things that Young Living has working against them – their inability to maneuver smoothly through an online marketing world and the FDA.
Young Living and Online Marketing
We live in an online world where everyone has a blog, and if they don't, they're considering starting one. When I started my Young Living adventure, I should have paid more attention to the guidelines surrounding what I could and couldn't share in a blog post and on social media.
I can't share anything that suggests that essential oils are beneficial for health and wellness. People who use essential oils know that they work, but the FDA is coming down hard on companies who make these claims. I do understand the danger of someone incorrectly choosing essential oils instead of medical treatment, so I don't fault Young Living's guidelines. In fact, this is exactly why I don't do raw feeding consultations, and I'm clear that I'm not a veterinarian or nutritionist.
Sadly, Young Living isn't prepared for the blogging world. If you Google “essential oils recipes for dogs” you're going to find lots of blogs that are sharing treatments using Young Living oils. Keep reading, and you'll find even more blogs making claims about the health and wellness benefits of essential oils that are against compliance. These claims are valid and the author's personal experience, however, the claims can't be published on a blog that links to and/or mentions Young Living or their trademarked products.
Young Living has a lot of work cut out for them to get all of those site brought into compliance. And they need to start by educating their employees on how to deal with bloggers and content creators and how to engage with customers (even past customers).
Young Living and the FDA
As I stated, I understand that Young Living has to be careful about the claims that are made about their oils. Many distributors are making claims that aren't supported by the FDA. Did you know that I'm not allowed to share a flea and tick repellent using their oils? There are laws about what can be called a repellent and what cannot. Basically, if it's filled with poisons, I can promote it. If it's all natural and safe, I can't say a word. Go figure.
That was the turning point for me. I love my dogs, and I want to be able to raise them naturally, and I know my readers feel the same. I'm okay with giving up a potential business opportunity (Young Living is an MLM business) in exchange for the freedom to share natural recipes with my readers. So I'm no longer a Young Living distributor.
Where Do I Get My Essential Oils Now
As this was all unfolding, I was reminded by a friend that it's important to buy from a brand that makes pure (organic) oils. Too many people jump into the biz and are pimping untested products. To keep my dogs and myself safe, I did a lot of research and was introduced to two companies that sell high-quality essential oils.
- PlantTherapy.com
- SimplyEarth.com (a subscription-based company)
I love them both because they're focused on providing quality essential oils, educating people on how to use essential oils, and everything I've received from these companies has received THIS IS THE BEST OIL EVER response from me.
I love my oils.
This was so helpful! Thank you!!
Wow, thank you for sharing your experience of leaving YL. I have been with YL since 2001, and in that time I’m sorry to say the product quality has gone down and the prices have gone up. Some oils still cost the same but you’re now paying for 5 mL, not 15!
I ordered massage oil from them recently, and had to have a replacement sent because the original had a leak in the bottom of the bottle. And in another order, a 15ml vial of lavender oil only had ~13ml in it.
And now if you want to switch up lines, you have to get permission from THREE people in the current upline. Easier to wait a year and then sign up with somebody else. Or find other oils!
Really sad to see what’s happening to the company. I just spent all my PV and will be cancelling ER shortly.
Hi Debbie…
You’re canceling your Essential Rewards membership, not your Young Living account. The ER membership allows you to buy oils and earn points for free products. You can still be a member who buys oils here and there without being an ER member. Hope that makes sense. Once you cancel your ER membership, you can then remove your payment information and in about 12 months your account will be considered inactive and be deleted/canceled for good.
How do you go about deleting all your payment methods if you cancel your membership first? I mean will I still be able to get into my account after I have the cancel or is there a time from to do so? Could you please email me with your reply as I’m not sure I’ll be able to find this blog again.
Thank you, Debbie
Hi Candice
Any images that you got from Young Living (or YL marketing photography) should be deleted everywhere – on your blog and social media. If you took the pictures yourself, then they are yours to use as you please.
I know this an old post but I’m really hoping you see this comment. I’m currently a Young Living distributor but I plan on terminating my membership due to the same reasons you mentioned in your post. I have a blog as well where I have shared about Young Living. Do I have to delete these pictures and posts from my blog? What about Pinterest? Do I have to delete my pins that have pictures of Young Living products? What about pictures that I took of Young Living products? I’m so confused and I’m not sure what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
This is great info! I am going to cancel my membership as you suggested: by cancelling my ER account and then just not buying anymore product. How simple!
I’ve been a member for 14 months and have spent just over $2,000. I was invited to a party where I learned about EOs for the first time and was instantly sold! I new nothing about them before that, but I’ve always been into clean, healthy living. So YL was my first experience.
Of course, over the last 14 months I’ve spent a lot of time learning as much as I can. And it seems like EO 101 is always make sure you’re buying quality oils by reading the CG/MS test reports that should be freely offered by the seller. I asked YL multiple times for reports and they don’t share them. The last time I asked, they basically said it would be too difficult for a layperson to understand anyway and that they have created their own tests to make sure their oils are quality. Firstly, that was quite offensive. Like all other intelligent consumers who choose EOs over chemicals, I am quite intelligent, and a few google clicks is all it takes to learn how to read those test reports. Secondly, where is the quality control in creating your own tests? Then they tout the Seed to Seal promise. Again, they made that up.
So I kept researching, and even in some of their own literature and blog posts a name kept coming up: Robert Tisserand. Apparently he is the godfather of EOs. He even has an article about the need for access to batch test reports. YL simply will not provide them. So many other companies do. Plant Therapy does, and each report has a comment about the oil smell, quality, and texture from none other than Robert Tisserand. Not to mention their oils are a fraction of the cost.
So I decided in December after the insulting email response to my final request for batch test reports that I was going to leave the company. But, I’d already spent so much money, I didn’t want to lose my ER and the free bonus oil I would get after my 12th month of being in ER. But it comes the following month, so I had to stay an extra month. And I didn’t sign up for ER until the month after I signed up for YL, so that’s why I stayed 14 months…
So at this point I have over 200 Rewards Points to redeem. Well, I figured the best way to redeem it is to get Rose. The most coveted oil of oils… Guess what! Rose EO cannot be purchased with Reward Points!!! I’m furious! Just another confirmation that YL is not the company for me! So now I have to figure out what is worth buying with these points before I move forward in cancelling…
Sorry for the long rant. I’m just happy to find others that understand!
Is it weird that even as I write this I’m afraid they will find out I’m planning on cancelling and somehow rescind my points??? A consumer should never feel this way about a company they’re a member of…
Thanks for the update. I’m aware that I wasn’t the only one. I simply chose not to have an account because YL was analyzing my blog posts too much, even ones that didn’t mention their oils. I’ve found two other countries that are more fun to work with, have a better understanding of blogging and social media, and choose to educate their affiliates on what we can and cannot say. I found that YL was too busy to have these conversations, directing me to speak with other YL members. Unfortunately, members shared contradictory information so it was a challenge to know what I could and could not do.
If you’re a YL member, I’m glad that you’re having a positive experience.
Everyone in YL had to shape up their stuff a few years ago like this not just you. Bc the FDA demanded it. Everyone. Blogs are particularly tricky bc you’re public. Private groups however have more freedom. Things have calmed down now, and they’ve added products that can be legally making claims which helps. I think you should give it another shot. Everyone had to do this, everyone deleted their groups and started over.
I managed to cancel my Essential Rewards membership this year just by using YL’s online chat function. I’m about 8 months into not purchasing from them any longer, so my account should officially be inactive/closed by next March. I assumed there was something more proactive that I needed to do to request a cancellation of my entire account, but if I just need to lay low, then I’m on the way! Thank you for this post.
While I understand what you’re saying, it isn’t just happening in the essential oil industry. My friend sells organic gourmet garlic and legally they cannot claim that garlic cures or helps people avoid any type of sickness or anything. Its also in all supplements and vitamins and all kinds of products in the “health” industry.
Its sad, because oils and garlic and so many other natural plants/supplements DO cure and DO help avoid sickness and all that, and so many prescriptions create more problems. If you pay attention you’ll notice the “safe” jargon on all supplements, they “support a healthy respiratory system” or they “support healthy digestion”, but you won’t see YL or doTerra or any oil company claiming they help fight a cough or lower respiratory infection, etc.
But, as a distributor, making those kinds of claims (even if they are true) it does open you, individually, up to legal issues. If someone bought an oil from you after being told it helps treat food poisoning and it doesn’t or they have epilepsy and it triggers a seizure, then you would be liable as a distributor. So, really, annoying as they are, (which they REALLY are!!), those rules are there to protect individual distributors from medical liability from customers.
This is very obviously a pyramid scheme, you guys should definitely terminate all your membership accounts and subscriptions
Paula, thank you for your kind words. I still love their products and order their oils through a friend. I also order oils from two other suppliers today. I just don’t think YL has caught up to the social media world and I doubt that they ever will simply because it’s constantly changing. They have to not only protect themselves from the FDA but also monitor the Internet to make sure thousands of reps are doing things right – that’s a huge job. I hope that this blog post helps folks. I wanted to share my experience while also stating that I’m not mad at YL, it just wasn’t a good move for me to be a rep given my blogging business.
Kimberly you are awesome! I just found this article when doing a Google search. I love the way you addressed this issue in a professional and classy way. I am a YL member/user and I am sorry to hear about the issues you had. I love their products too. You are correct that YL has some work to do concerning this issue. Darn FDA can make things so difficult. I wish you much success, you have a new subscriber!
Hi Sharon – I don’t have experience with this; I recommend reaching out to the person who signed you up or calling YL. You can also block the messages – some carriers offer this option.
I cancelled my YL membership. How do I get all the emails stopped from coming to my cell phone. They’re constant and not necessary now that I don’t have the membership anymore.
Hi Carolina
I love the Thieves cleaner too, so I have a friend order it for me. Just got a new bottle this past weekend. I have learned that Thieves isn’t something owned by Young Living so it is possible to make it yourself.
Dee, can you make the Thieves all purpose cleaner with Thieves EO? I was told that the two are quite different. I was thinking of joining for the cleaner. But if I can make it with the Germ Buster EO from plant therapy, I will go that route.
I know what you mean!!! The relief is real. I still order Young Living’s blends, but I place an order through a friend. I’m nervous about having a membership again after my experience. I also order oils through Plant Therapy (https://www.keepthetailwagging.com/planttherapy) and I have a monthly subscription box through Simply Earth (https://www.keepthetailwagging.com/simplyearth). I love my oils 🙂
What a relief! I just called the customer service number in YL’s Singapore office to stop my Essential Rewards membership, which means any future purchase I made will not accrue PVs for rebates and no long enjoy the discount, which remained at 20% after more than 2 years. I would have gotten my 25% discount if not for missing the deadline for the 22nd month. And I went ahead with the purchase, but still they didn’t extend the additional 5%. Such inflexibility and to me high-handed to a “professional buyer” (i just found out) are not acceptable from a customer service point of view. i had several hundreds of PVs deducted through expiration. These MLMs i just feel its a win-lose partnership, They win-you lose.
Back to my termination experience, so, the only thing one member cancels is the Essential Rewards, which revokes your discount privilege. But you retain your membership so the door remains open in case you need to crawl back. See? The operator did not tell me about the 12 months of inactivity before the account will be deleted. I did ask for a confirmation number of termination though.
And yes, removed all payment methods, ie, all credit card details prior to calling in case of any petty billing. One LIABILITY cleared! i am happy!
I miss Thieves, Stress Away, Abundance, and Peace and Calming. I’m thinking of ordering from a friend if I can’t find an alternative.
Plant Therapy does have great oils for anxiety which I use for myself, but I haven’t diffused them for my dogs. The ones I like are Worry Free and Self Esteem.
I too am planning on canceling my YL membership. I have also been researching and have decided to go with Plant Therapy. While I really loved YL products, I am so over having to purchase $50.00 every month and pay excessive shipping and handling charges. The two products I will miss the most are the Thieves Multipurpose Cleaner and Stress Away. I’ve read a lot of customers find the germ buster EO from plant therapy to be comparable to thieves. Does Plant therapy have any product that would be comparable to Stress Away?
This blog post is simply what worked for me. I followed these steps and my account was canceled. I don’t know of another way.
I never signed up for the essential reward program with yl but I want to cancel my membership. How do I go about? Do I still call costumer service? Or just wait until YL cancel it themselves?
Thank you Kimberly for posting on how to terminate my YL account.
It’s very sad that Young Living EO fell victim to, as with so many MLM items; they have missed the forest for the trees principle. Their business model and MLM tactics, have far exceeded the selling and education of using a great product.
Avery, I’m interested
How do you like Rocky Mountain oil’s? Do you find that they’re comparable to Young Living? Better or equal?
I’m not 100% sure on that point. When I did some research on this, I did find people who stated that you couldn’t sign up with another essential oils MLM company for 6 months but I couldn’t find this verbiage on the YL contracts that are published online.
Hello.
So if we dont want to use YL anymore, we can’t work for another MLM company? I’m trying to figure this out. Thanks
As far as I understood it, the stipulation was that I couldn’t sign up with another MLM company. I now buy my oils through Plant Therapy (https://www.keepthetailwagging.com/planttherapy). They are a family-owned company with organic oils and they smell amazing. We did a smell test and found Plant Therapy oils to be comparable. What I love is that I don’t have to worry about canceling an account.
Check them out here: https://www.keepthetailwagging.com/planttherapy
Hi, I cancelled my YL in Dec then again in Feb of this yr, looks like they finally cancelled it. Did you ever read section 3 of the Policies and Procedures about how you can’t work with another mlm etc for 6 months, the wording seems strange to me in the last sentence. I would like to get my oils somewhere else also. I did love the YL oils.
Interested. Who are you with?
Thank you so much for this. While I only got oils from them once (and I was kind of hoodwinked into that) and really didn’t want any part of the company because that’s not how I operate. I got an email from the customer care: resolutions@youngliving.com. We’ll see what happens and how long it takes. They admit that they are slow in the process but in their auto-reply email they say that the email I put there is for “voluntary account termination requests”.
Interesting. I have been with YLEO since May of 1997 and do love almost all of the products with a few exceptions namely the dental floss. Love the mouth wash though so it is all good. I don’t do any promotions as back in 1997 I just had a party, lots of people enrolled and now I get a small income every month that pays for my oils plus a few hundred dollars more.
I am frustrated by the new website and not living in the US is also a bit of pain now that we can’t get all the products or if I want one from my country and one from the US I can’t combine them for my monthly ER order. I appreciate that they keep the quality up by NOT using something inferior or that they protect plants by reformulating and not using such oils as Rosewood but it is frustrating when one is using something consistently and cannot get it for several months.
I will continue as I have an active downline and it is really nice that I haven’t had to pay for beauty products, skin care, household cleaners or essential oils because my cost is covered. It is what they call the Golden Handcuffs!
I found this blog because I wanted to know for a distributor how often she had to order to keep her downline. Looks like it is 12 months. She orders every 6 or when her PV is high enough that she gets a decent check.
Love those oils also but have to cancel as a new passion project has presented itself into my life that I’m really excited about. (I also have a huge stockpile of oils to last a longggg time) It seemed strange to me when I cancelled my ER that it couldn’t be done online..really…in this day and age? I’m hoping my membership cancellation goes smoothly today. Thanks for the tips!
Thank you so much for getting back to me! Unfortunately, our project has ended. Appreciate the response though.
Thank you so much for getting back to me! Unfortunately, our project has ended. Appreciate the response though.
Avery Prommer –
I am interested in chatting with you, but I don’t need compensation for my time.
Hi Avery, I have had many bad experiences with YL. I would love to talk to you.
Your downline would revert to the person next person above you (who signed you up, or your sponsor up).
What happens to people on your downline when your acvount is cancelled? I have been wanting to but hesitant what would hapoen to others i signed up .
hi leaving youngliving to for the same reasons I am studying aromatherapy love the oils but love to share the benifits to.
Hello! I work with a research company and we are interested in talking with people who have left Young Living. We would love to chat about your experience with the company, as well as your reasons for leaving.
If you – or anyone on this thread – would be interested in talking, please reach out. We can offer compensation for your time and the interview will be 100% private.
Thanks!
I purchase my oils through http://www.apothecary-shoppe.com affiliated with American College of Healthcare Sciences. It’s where I’m currently enrolled and half-way through my Master Aromatherapist degree!
Thanks for the tip.
Leaving YL and buying from Rocky Mountain Oils not a MLM company and shipping is free in the USA.
My exact thoughts, however will keep guard up for a few months just in case! Thank you for your openness and honesty, it helps others that might find themselves in the same situation down the road , such as my case.
Light & love!
Good question. I wanted to prevent them from billing me for any eroneous charges. If they don’t have your credit card or banking information, you should be safe.
I didn’t even sign up for the rewards before getting the feeling that you ladies are discussing. And I’m really put off by the pushy sales attitude and not educating people as much, kind of scares me actually.
My question is… with out an ER do I even have to worry about canceling account? I only made initial order.
Thanks
That’s awful!!! I had something similar happen to me with Life’s Abundance. It’s so sad that there are shady people in MLM because they ruin it for everyone.
Hi. Thank you so much for your post. I was looking for a way out and you provided so much useful information. I have been a victim of a scam with one of the distributors. I was tricked into joining for cash incentives that never happened. I then asked the company to switch sponsored bc I do not want to be associated with such unethical business practices. They refused to help me and actually supported her. They tried to charge me money to change sponsors then my three uplines refused to sign me out of their scam artistry. One member tried to help me but it just did not work. So I am cancelling the essential rewards and pulled my credit card info like you said. Now I wait. Thanks again.
Absolutely! If I could sign up with YL again, I’d do it in a heartbeat just to save on their oils. I buy through a friend now so that I can still write about them without either of us getting into trouble with the government.
If you don’t advertise YL products, but just want to buy them at a cheaper rate, would you recommend joining? Thanks!
I think it was some weird misunderstanding. They didn’t seem to understand how blogs worked or how social media works. I still love their products but have found it easier to not be affiliated with them; this way I can promote whatever oils I want, however I want, without worrying about breaking one of their rules.
Tonight, I’m going to make facial moisturizer.
That’s crazy that Young Living didn’t want you to post images of products YOU bought!
I do this all the time, as well as MANY others, maybe because I’m not building a business or have any customers. Seems they had a BIG bone (doggie bone, Lol) to pick with you.
I love their products, but have been thinking about canceling my membership due to their slow shipping, and being OOS all the time, which is how I came across your site. I thought even if you didn’t purchase in a long time, it didn’t matter, you would STILL be a distributor and all you needed to was place an order for $50 or $100 dollars.
How? I have not ordered in a year but would like to cancel my account. Thanks
I wish it had been that easy for me. I was told differently, but in the end, the account was canceled and that’s all that really matters.
Actually, all you have to do is send in a fax and it’s done within 24 hours!
Not sure how old this post is but I was just on hold with Young Living’s member services line for 25 minutes, it was awful. But when they finally did answer, she refunded my starter kit over the phone and I was told to cancel the actual membership, I have to email resolutions@youngliving.com and provide my signature, printed name, member number, pin number, address and phone number. Once they receive that information, I’m told they will cancel it. Side Note: I am within their policy of cancellation within 3 business days of original transaction.
That’s so frustrating, especially because you’re always so careful to make accurate claims and to reiterate that you’re not a vet or nutritionalist. Sometimes we need to take a few steps backwards to start to move forward in new ways, and I believe that is what’s happening for your blog in this situation. Well done.
Me too. I do see the value of getting on the phone with people because we had so many misunderstandings via email. It’ll be interesting to see how successful they are in getting every blogger out there into compliance.
Thanks for the tip, Andrea!
Personally, I’ve never cared for Young Living for several reasons, but that’s for another discussion. Check out Nature’s Gift (naturesgift.com); they are a small company out of Tennessee, source their oils from reputable producers from all over the world, and are very picky about the oils they carry. Product quality is excellent, prices are reasonable, there’s no MLM to contend with, and the owner, Marge, is passionate and highly educated about using them safely and effectively. Give them a try, I don’t think you’d regret it. 🙂
We order from a company called Pranarom in my building at work. No membership and we don’t resell on the web or anything. They have always been easy to deal with, less expensive than doTerra etc and just as high in quality.
That’s what I thought would happen with Young Living. Even now, they’re telling me that I can’t post any pictures on social media of their products. How can they stop me? That’s like saying I can’t post pictures wearing Old Navy jeans or an NFL t-shirt. How exactly are they going to shut this down?
doTERRA sent me an email with lots of links and I deleted everything. Then 6 months later they sent me another email. They would tell me I had corrected everything and then I would get another email a month or so later saying there was more. It really got to be a pain. One summer I would share instagram recaps on my blog with a collage of all the pictures I had posted. One week I got a shipment of oils and shared that picture and they wanted it taken down. It was just too frustrating. That was on my personal blog.
They finally canceled my account. I didn’t want to part ways, but their inability to understand social media and blogging made it impossible for me to continue as a customer because I would always be out of compliance because I can’t track down old social media posts to fix or delete them. Someone there told me that they were supposed to send me the links to everything they found – they sent 3 links and told me to find the rest.
Sounds like it’s YL that’s in trouble, not you. What a mess! I’m glad you disentagled so easily, though.
It was not easy to cancel the account. I received confirmation this morning that the account has been canceled. I get the impression that Young Living doesn’t know much about social media or blogging. They have their work cut out for them if they want to bring everyone into compliance.
Wow, Kimberly, you have stated this all so well. I, too am leaving YL for the exact reasons you stated.
It also worries me that too many distributors with mlm oil companies don’t have any knowledge about the oils and safe use of them beyond marketing literature from the company.
After over 10 years of using YL oils, and loving them, I have been researching and trying alternative oil companies as well. I have tried a few blends from Plant Therapy and have been pleased. Fortunately, there is a fantastic store and educational resource for me locally that I highly recommend. They are also online at cherylsherbs.com.
I know exactly how you feel except my situation was with doTERRA. It’s really sad how things are as far as essential oils, but I quit talking about them because of it. I have debated on talking about oils with the name of the oils but never with a company name or picture that includes one of their bottles.