Two-Thirds Of Poll Respondents Rate Data Network Affiliates’ Pitch A ‘Complete Failure’; Nearly 90 Percent Rate It ‘Poor’ Or Worse

UPDATED 11:53 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The sales pitch of a multilevel-marketing (MLM) company that plucks the heartstrings of members by suggesting it can help law-enforcement and the AMBER Alert program locate abducted children has been rated  a “Complete Failure” by 66 percent of respondents in a PP Blog Poll.

Meanwhile, 88 percent of respondents rated Data Network Affiliates’ message “Poor” or worse.  Only 12 percent rated the sales pitch either “Good,” “Very good” or “Exceptionally professional.”

Separately, some DNA members said the firm, which had been barraging them with sales pitches, has been less communicative in recent days. The company has been mysterious from the start, registering its domain name behind a proxy in the Cayman Islands while incongruously suggesting its services could be beneficial to the U.S. government.

DNA initially explained that its domain was registered privately in the Caymans to prevent management from having to “put up with 100 stupid calls a day.”

Customer service has been conducted via a free Gmail address for months, although the firm in recent weeks has published a street address in Boca Raton, Fla.

Fifty votes were cast in the PP Blog Poll, which was unscientific. Despite the low turnout, the poll results suggest that respondents were deeply turned off by the DNA sales pitch — to the point of revulsion. Regardless, 8 percent of respondents rated the pitch an “A,” meaning they viewed at as “Exceptionally professional.”

Some PP Blog posters have speculated that voters might have rated the pitch “Exceptionally professional” because it deliberately was crafted by MLM hucksters to recruit members into an insidious lead-capture system through which they’d be pitched relentlessly on products other than DNA’s purported database product.

Under this theory, the pitch was deemed “Exceptionally professional”  because it achieved the dubious purpose of lining up people by the tens of thousands to be fleeced.

DNA, whose members have claimed Donald Trump and Oprah Winfrey endorse the company even though there is not a shed of evidence that the claim is true, purportedly has attracted more than 130,000 members. It is possible that some or all of the 8 percent of respondents who rated the sales pitch “Exceptionally professional” believe the pitch has merit beyond its ability to suck people into an insidious system.

The database product purportedly is being built by members who appear in the parking lots of doctors’ offices, churches and giant retailers such as Walmart and Target to write down license-plate numbers or take photos with cell phones or video cameras of license plates for entry in the database.

One of DNA’s leading pitchmen on conference calls has described the parking lots of medical facilities, places of worship and retail stores as wonderful places to gather data. He further suggested that members should behave in an inconspicuous fashion when gathering the data.

DNA delayed its launch date twice in February. After its “free” data-collection program purportedly got under way in March, the company quickly began pitching other products to members, including a $127 upgrade that purportedly would improve the ability of “free” members to enter license-plate data into the system.

The company said its “Pro” data-entry module was better than its “free” module. Prior to the introduction of the “Pro” module, “free” members did not know they would be receiving a data-entry tool the company itself described as a clunker.

News about the “Pro” module began to spread March 10, only days after DNA told members who listened to an “Oscar” night conference call that the company’s “free” affiliates would “receive the same kind of commitment and respect from our DNA management team” as paid members received.

DNA said its “Pro” module was part of a Business Benefits Package (BBP).

“Upon close inspection of the B.B.P. you will find a minimum of 10 times the cost of such package to the end user in value savings and benefits,” DNA said in an email to members. “The two that stand out the most is (sic) the FREE 1000 REWARD DOLLARS with FREE REFILLS and the $402 Travel Agent Value Package for only $49.”

In recent weeks, DNA mysteriously referred to its BBP package as the “BBB” package. Precisely why DNA would change the acronym of its package to the acronym associated with the Better Business Bureau was unclear.

“6 OF THE 10 WILL BUY THE B.B.B. AND GET 1 OTHER TO BUY THE B.B.B. WITHIN 24 HOURS,” DNA declared earlier his month.

Earlier, in April, the company announced that it was in the cell-phone business. The announcement came out of nowhere, and DNA boldly declared, “GAME OVER — WE WIN.”

Without doing any checking, members raced to YouTube and Craigslist to announce that DNA was offering an unlimited cell-phone talk and text plan for $10 a month and, for $19.95 a month, was offering unlimited talk, unlimited text and 20 MB of data.

DNA, which had no experience in the cell-phone business and yet declared it had slayed all competitors, later announced it had not researched pricing prior to announcing the plan.

“[W]e found that there are no such service plans to be found by any carrier, anywhere on the planet, by any company in the industry,” DNA said in an email to members that un-announced the announcement weeks earlier of the $10 unlimited plan.

DNA insisted it would have a new plan by May, but May passed without such a plan. The company then said it would have a plan in June. No such plan has emerged.

A video on YouTube implied that DNA had a branding deal with Apple’s iPhone and that the phone would be called the “DNA iPhone.” The video asserted that DNA is the “ONLY Network Marketing Company With Branded iPhones.”

Meanwhile, a separate YouTube video implied that DNA not only had an iPhone, but that the iPhone came with a “No Term Contract” for $10 a month.

“You are Not in Kansas Anymore!” the second video screamed. “This is Global Baby!”

Apple, which is known to defend its brand and intellectual property vigorously, did not respond to the PP Blog’s request for comment on the claims.

DNA also has bragged about something called “RETIRE BY CHRISTMAS 2010 with DNA
in “3″ to “6″ steps . . .” and various guarantees, including a purported “$100,000 DNA Minimum Income Guarantee” and a purported “$1,000,000 DNA Minimum Income Guarantee.”

It is possible that the purported “income guarantee” exceeds the revenue DNA has posted to date. Like Narc That Car (Crowd Sourcing International), DNA’s purported Dallas-based competitor, the company publishes neither revenue figures nor the names of purported clients of the database product.

The BBB has raised pyramid concerns about Narc/CSI.

DNA also has urged members to imagine themselves driving 10,000 miles a year in pursuit of their DNA businesses to qualify for an IRS tax write-off of $5,000.

In 2009, an MLM company known as YourTravelBiz (YTB) was enjoined in California from making tax claims under the terms of settlement of a pyramid-scheme lawsuit by Attorney General Jerry Brown that ordered the firm to pay $1 million.

DNA has acknowledged that Phil Piccolo is part of its organization, and web records suggest Piccolo was actively involved in YTB. Separately, Narc That Car President Jacques Johnson was a director in YTB, according to court filings.