DCHL sets sights on graduates
Controversial multilevel marketing firm shifts focus from rural sellers to mainland youngsters
An Asian chain running a controversial multilevel marketing (MLM) scheme recruiting mainlanders as distributors has stopped targeting rural areas for new recruits, according to one former distributor who lost everything after six months with the company.
The DCHL headquarters in Causeway Bay was the scene of a five-day protest by disgruntled mainland distributors in October, who complained the company had sold them products that had little or no resale value.
A 33-year-old former DCHL distributer from Yunfu city in Guangdong, who gave only the surname Huang, recounted to the Post his ruinous experience with the company. Huang was not part of the protest in October.
"My wife and I invested 340,000 yuan (HK$430,000) in our DCHL business, which we borrowed entirely from relatives and friends in our hometown," Huang said.
After a three-day indoctrination course in Hong Kong, Huang quit his 3,000-yuan-a-month job as an electrician to invest in DCHL. He was told at his indoctrination that he would "easily" earn 10,000 yuan per month as a distributor. He invested 320,000 yuan in products and membership fees to become a "count" distributor in May last year. In keeping with the baroque decor of the Causeway Bay headquarters, members are divided into the levels of baron, count, marquis, duke, archduke and majesty duke. Distributors at the lowest level receive no title.