I paid £250 for a Beckster and Chris Adams bootcamp about a few years ago. Everything about it was pretty dodgy. I also realise this makes me look like a massive chode, but I think it's best if you get an honest view. Anyway, here we go:
Having seen videos of Beckster I added him on facebook (yes i know that's weird, I was just looking for more routines) and he invited me to a "FREE seminar worth £50 with a MASTER PRACTITIONER of NLP." This is quoted verbatim, as the words were capitalised.
So we went to the seminar which was quite energising and fun, they got us to jump around and put people in a good mood. Near the end of the seminar they started selling the product:
THIS is £1200! ONLY! Oh, wait, it's going down! £600! Wow! What's that? You want it even cheaper? OK then, £500! It's really extra super special and we're only ever going to do this once!Then I realised that half the people in the room worked for the company. What happens is the guys like Beckster use their status and influence to manipulate these poor losers into working for them AND THEY TAKE THEIR MONEY!!!! THEY MAKE THEM WORK FOR THEM AND TAKE THEIR MONEY!!!! yes it's fucked up!
So afterwards I get harassed by tons of these weird, weak losers:
They: "So, you thinking of doing the bootcamp?"
Me: "Nah not really, can't afford it"
They: "Yeah so you gonna do the bootcamp?"
Me: "no"
They: "I'll take your name down, what is it?"
Me: "I'm not doing the bootcamp"
They: "What's your name mate?"
Me: "fuck off"
Although I started chatting to a bunch of them... then Beckster took me aside, outside the room
He: "How much you willing to pay for this?"
Me: "i don't have much money"
He: "yeah how much"
Me: "ummm maybe £200"
He: "well the least we can run it for is three settlements of" he writes £99 on his wrist
So I agreed. One of the guys from the seminar (we'll call him N because he plays a part in this) I thought this guy was just like me, heard about the event and turned up to see what was up. He accompanied me to the cash machine to get cash out (how fucking weird is that) and i had to go to three different cash machines to finally get the money out. To be fair, if this guy wasn't hyping me up and distracting me the whole time i would have given up.
So I paid. then i dragged my new friend N out. after all, what's the fucking point if you're not going out?
We had some fun. got some results and went club hopping meeting some girls. he wanted the security of chatting up complete mingers and getting me to approach. and he just couldn't control himself in front of slightly hotter girls. but i was having a good time so it didn't bother me.he also spent a lot of time approaching groups and telling them that he teaches the hidden art of seduction and getting them to put their names down on an email list. cool.
so that was that and i was signed up for the next bootcamp. turned out i couldn't make it, rescheduled for the next. again, couldn't make it. So i said i'll do it when i get back from uni ( a few months later)
A few months later, I gave Chris a couple of calls. nothing. called everyone's number i had from this thing. nothing.
I was fuming. £250! Fuck that! looked up Beckster's number for bookings online.
Me: "hi beckster. i wanna schedule a bootcamp"
he tries to sell me something.
Me: "I've already payed you £250"
He: "oh in that case, the company's broke, sorry" translation = no refund, no bootcamp, nothing, fuck you
Me: "come on man i paid you £250"
He: "talk to chris about it"
Me: "give me his number"
he tries to sell me more shit, and offers me a job (which as we know from earlier, takes both your time AND your money)
So now i have Chris' number.
"hey chris (explain my situation)"
"oh right yeah, ok man i'll give you a 1on1" <-- as="" beckster="" br="" cool="" dismissed="" him="" im="" inclined="" just="" me.="" of="" pretty="" seeing="" think="" this="" to="" was="">
so I had two 1on1's with him. one then, and another a few months down the road.
For £250, I got:
To go see him in his parents' house. To listen to him talk about his experience with women and write some notes. Mostly the same as the stuff you read online. I traveled for about 1hr30 each way to hear him talk for 1hr30 each time. basically it works out at £75 an hour. Pretty fucking expensive for a guy just talking about his experiences.
To be fair to him, the first time i went to see him, i came out feeling completely elated. Just walking down the street I felt I had acquired what was needed to reach the next level of consciousness. Lights and colors seemed brighter like they do when you're on drugs.
The second time round though, i was more skeptical of the whole thing.
Half way through i quizzed him on the advice he was giving me:
"do you do this?"
"no i just thought of it just now" - fucking great
Some background on Chris Adams the "life coach":
30 years old, still living at home with his parents, occasionally popping in and out of rehab. "life coach". I still haven't seen ANY evidence of him even getting close to an attractive women.
There you have it. an honest review.
Oh, and what happened to N?
Well I didn't hear from him again bar once when I talked to him on facebook. He was livid. Completely pissed off with Beckster and Chris. They had taken his money, his time, and they had taken what was remaining of his tiny dot of self esteem. He didn't have a girlfriend or any more luck with the ladies, and he was angry at the world for inventing NLP and being manipulated. I tried to cheer him up, but fuck knows, he's blatantly going to carry that pain he's experienced here quite far into his life. (Or maybe not? I hope not, for his sake)
in short Beckster and Chris took my money and gave me nothing for it.
Wow, just wow.
ReplyDeleteThe "seminar" business seems to always follow the same pattern. Have people jumping up and down, make them happy, give them the impression that they're progressing in life and make them feel as if they are the ones who have some secret knowledge. I know this because I've been scammed as well, not by pua guru's, but by Tony Robbins.
ReplyDeleteI actually went to one of his seminars, but now that I look back to it, I just can't believe what a scam it was. They give you fake diet advice, cause apearantly this is the food that Tony eats in order to only sleep 4 hours a night. They let other people tell stories about the success that they've had with Tony Robbins's stuff. But all of this is staged.
When you're participating and deep into that stuff, you usually don't notice that you're being scammed, but sometimes these people would contradict themselves. f.e. Another guy (Joseph McClendon) told a story how he was deep in debt and broke, but when he managed to go to a Tony Robbins seminar, he paid off all his debts. But think about it, if you have debt or are broke, how can you afford a ticket for a Tony Robbins seminar? I mean it's not as if these things are cheap.
Looking back on this experience, it was just my inexperience and insecurity at the time that made me believe that stuff. And this is exactly what they do, they prey on insecure and naïve people.
It's sickening if you think about it, especially when you get confronted with people who defend this stuff "well you shouldn't have fallen for it in the first place". Nice ethics you have buddy!
"they had taken what was remaining of his tiny dot of self esteem. He didn't have a girlfriend or any more luck with the ladies"
ReplyDeletethe ultimate problem.
the solution is so simple, it's a wonder no one else sees it.
what is the solution?
ReplyDeleteIf I remember rightly, that Chris Adams guy scammed Beckster out of more money than anybody. This was years ago though. At least 5, I think.
ReplyDelete