UPDATE: Because of this post The Landers Group was forced out of business (or at least has changed names). Our original intent was to shed light on the practices that The Landers Group used, but this post has evolved into a fabulous resource for helping job seekers avoid hiring scams. The tactics that these Multi-Level Marketing companies use are typically the same, so read through the post and check the 200+ comments section to get the latest names these firms are using. This should help you determine whether the company that you’re about to interview with is a scam or not. And if you’re looking for legit entry level jobs, browse around the site—you’ve come to the right place.
If you’re looking for jobs that aren’t scams, browse our archives and use our job search engine.
One Day, One Job is about helping college students find great entry-level jobs. We’ve always taken this literally by featuring companies that look like great places to work (we can’t ever be 100% on this, but we do our best). Well, a big part of finding a great first job is avoiding the not so great (or really awful) jobs that are out there, so, today, we are going to look at a company called The Landers Group, which has been identified as a scam by people online and in the media. As it gets later in the post-graduation job hunting season, many new grads become desperate. It makes them easy prey for employment scams like those peddled by The Landers Group.
I’m Smart, I Don’t Fall for Scams
Yeah, that’s what suckers say. How do we know that smart people fall for these scams? We’ve seen it happen. One of my friends is a freshman at an Ivy League school. He was torn between getting a summer job or an internship, so he was looking at all kinds of options. He told me that he had landed an interview with a really cool sports marketing company. Being a reader of One Day, One Internship, he knew to contact us with questions on how to research a potential employer. He had already scheduled an interview with the company for when he returned home, but he sent us the name of the company (The Landers Group) so that we could tell him a little bit more about it. Within seconds we found a number of Google results that indicated he was in for a learning experience (but not the kind you want to get out of your internship). Our friend is a smart kid. He’s proactive and trying to get a Summer internship even though he’s only a freshman. He was about to get burned.
Why You’ll Fall For It
We’ve never had firsthand experience with The Landers Group or any other company that follows similar business practices, but we’ve found enough evidence through our research to indicate that any time spent in contact with one of these companies is wasted. You will usually find these jobs listed on major job boards with titles like “Sports and Entertainment Marketing – Entry Level Positions.” The job description will go into great detail about all of the wonderful things that await those who apply – excellent pay, travel opportunities, learning experiences, and quick advancement. Take a look at all of The Landers Group’s Job Postings on CareerBuilder. They’ll also brag about their amazing client list. From their website:
One by one The Landers Group has added every major sports team in Southern California to its portfolio. No other advertising and marketing firm in the area can make the same claim… Our unparalleled portfolio includes the Los Angeles Dodgers, the LA Clippers, the LA Kings, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, MLS’ Chivas USA, the UCLA Bruins, and also clients such as Crowne Plaza Resorts, Disneyland, and Sea World. Our unique grass-roots marketing approach has given our clients a valuable edge in the marketplace and it places them front and center in the public eye!
Since it seems that Sports and Entertainment Marketing are extremely popular fields with college students, these job listings must get viewed thousands of times. Many of those who read the job descriptions get excited and apply. We don’t have a reference to back this up, but we’re going to guess that everyone who applies gets an interview.
The “Interview” Process
It’s relatively likely that your “interview” with The Landers Group might be your first ever job interview. Whether you realize that something’s fishy depends on how perceptive you are. We’ve heard that their secretary will not refer to the company by name, probably because they operate under multiple names and don’t want you to realize it. Your first interview will most likely be informational, where they’ll continue the pitch that they started in the job posting. Any questions about what the company actually does or what their entry-level jobs are like will probably get a vague response. You’re also likely to hear, “You’ll have to see it to believe it.” Since scammers usually don’t turn away people, we’re going to guess that you’ll get asked back for a second interview too.
The second interview is where you’ll really get to see The Landers Group in action. You will be tagging along with one of the company’s employees. The story usually goes that you end up in a sketchy car with a sketchy person going to a sketchy neighborhood. Once you get there, you find out what The Landers Group does. They sell coupons door to door. Remember that amazing client list? That’s whose coupons you will be selling. You’ll be given one side of the street, and the employee will take the other. You’ll essentially spend the day working for free. How do we know? We’ve found stories from people who have done it like this and this. If you’re lucky, you’ll just end up having wasted a day. If you’re not, you may end up stranded many miles from home or having had a gun pointed at you and with mud all over your only suit.
How to Avoid Getting Burned
Now that you’ve read about The Landers Group, you will hopefully know to avoid these scams. If you’re not sure whether an employer is legitimate, use what we’ve taught you to do some employer research. Our articles How to Use Google to Find a Job and Turning the Tables: Digging Dirt on Employers are both excellent resources that will teach you what to need to know. And you can always trust us to help you fine real entry level opportunities in sports, entertainment, and marketing. Often, finding out the truth is as easy as doing a Google search with the company name and the word scam – here are the results for “The Landers Group scam.” Also, remember that these companies use major job boards as their main recruiting tool. Don’t think that because something is listed on Monster, Yahoo! HotJobs, or CareerBuilder it is legitimate – anyone can pay to post their jobs on these sites.
Don’t forget that The Landers Group operates under a variety of names. There are also many other companies that use similar business practices to recruit unsuspecting college students into bum jobs. The stories are often different, but the end result is usually the same. Although The Landers Group is focused quite heavily on selling an actual product, some of these companies are even skeezier. Instead of selling, you’ll be doing their bidding by recruiting more suckers to work for you recruiting more suckers. In general these types of operations are known as Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) operations, and they should be avoided unless you are completely comfortable with what you’re getting into. Here’s a post from the Consumerist on other operations that are using tactics similar to those of The Landers Group.
A List of Companies Known to Have Similar Practices
- The Landers Group
- Kelly Advertising
- Granton Marketing
- DS Max
- After Five Marketing Group
- Dalton Management
- Innovage
This is by no means a comprehensive list. If you know of other companies that should be added, please leave a comment with the company’s name and a reference or personal story telling us why they should be included.
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
This was obviously a different kind of post for us. What do you think? Leave a comment. We love to hear feedback.
If you’re still not sold on the fact that MLM “opportunities” aren’t worth your time, check out this in-depth article on how they work and why you’ll end up wasting time and losing money.
{ 828 comments… read them below or add one }
About three days after posting my resume on Monster.com, I received two recruiting emails from well known companies. After rereading them (in slight disbelief) I realized that they showed many of the signs of your typical phishing scam.
all of you people are idiots you cant think outside the box i have been employed with one of these companies for less than eight months and have since been promoted to owner to run my own office in little rock i have put more than 25,000 in my bank in the last 7 weeks so tell me that is a scam i hope you guys can find a real good job where if you work really really hard you might get promoted to a supervisors position after ten yrs and give it a shot it just might work out for you a wise man once said “we do things today that others wont so we can afford to do things tomorrow that others cant” hey if any of you lame people need a job go ahead and give me a shout or you can live the rest of your life working for someone else you know that 93% of the usa works for the other 7% i hope you are happy being someones flunkie for the rest of your pathetic 9-5 lives..
Where in the hell did you learn how to write!! You were promoted to own your own business? That makes no sense at all. But then again you ARE from Little Rock. That in itself says a lot about your lack of mentality.
DTruth, I’m with you. This Shaun guy is an illiterate tool. Good hell…..
Hmmm I wonder what scam company your a “manager” for? $25,000 in less than 2 months? LOL!!! Did you go door to door 24/7 in Beverly Hills or something?? Hey if you make that much…do you think you could send me a pic of your new BMW while we are throwing numbers around? 25k is NOT a reasonable number in this kind of economy…and especially with that kind of company. Get a real job, some real friends, and stop worrying about others dissing on your “career” if your sooooo happy with it.
Shaun, how do you own your own business when you can’t even type complete sentences? As a business owner, you have to be professional and be able to come across as knowing your stuff. You just sound ignorant.
You also have horrible grammar and horrible speech.
I just want to let you know that I agree with you that a lot of companies out there are scamming people and it is a good thing that you are trying to inform people. I would also like to add that I am employed under one of the companies you believe to be scamming people and i assure you that is not the case. Please do your research before you slander the wrong company. We try to help people, not take advantage.
Hey Shaun,
You might want to use that 25K to put something on the web about your “business” because a Google search of your name, marketing, and Little Rock only lists your post as relevant. I’m going to go ahead and guess you’re lying.
it seems you know absolutely nothing about grammar.. and that has got to be the longest run-on sentence i have seen in my entire life. clearly you are an idiot, but your bosses are bigger idiots for “promoting” you to run your own “office”. good luck with that.
Hi Shaun…This sounds really interesteing…… I am in sales and love a good challenge. What do you do? and can you tell me more about this? Thanks
Kristina
Are you kidding me? Don’t ask him questions about his *ahem* business. Unless you’re another employee or “Owner” trying to make Shaun seem legitimate. I’ve worked at one of those companies for a while. It was horrible. The turn-over ratio was probably over 99.9%. They “interview” 10-20 people a day, or however many they can get there. 2-5 people probably fall for the scam, until they get smart and quit. yeah….Find something else if you want a real challenge.
I’m going to go ahead and give this illiterate scrub Shaun Walker the benefit of the doubt and say he’s telling the truth. OK, no I’m not. He’s completely full of sh*t and is just regurgitating something his owner told him in the morning atmosphere meeting (aka: Cram the Cult Down Your Throat 101). In reality, I’m sure this guy is a group leader for one of these MLM-scheme offices and is putting in his 80+ hour weeks in hopes of getting promoted out to run his own office eventually (and is buying the lies that they’ll do it all for him and just put that well-oiled machine in his lap; has no idea he’ll have to save up ~ $15k, find his own office space, assume all legal liability, hire all his own employees….I mean damn, why not just invest in a legitimate franchise or something??). But I digress; let’s play devil’s advocate with our friend Shaun here.
So let’s pretend that Shaun is the first person in the history of MLM-schemes to reach ownership in less than 8 months. Somehow he managed to build a team that is “3+ generations deep”, skipped right through the assistant management phase, somehow managed to put $15k+ in the bank on a 100% commission income (all the while subsidizing his sales crew subordinates out of his own pocket so they won’t quit out of frustration at lack of pay and burn his entire chance to get to ownership), and got promoted right out to run his own office. Let’s say he can still sleep at night because he hasn’t watched countless leaders destroy their lives chasing this dream that “everyone can reach ownership as long as they put in the 80+ hour weeks, cut off contact w/ their friends and family, and buy into the system (or hey, maybe he has seen a few already, but it doesn’t matter as long as his pockets stay lined).
Well guess what, Shaun, even if you did legitimately make it this far (I’m choking back laughter as I write…you’re so full of sh*t), you have NO IDEA WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, do you? Because while the owners have their hands in their leaders pockets, THE VPS HAVE THEIR HANDS IN YOURS. Just wait until you see the actual end result of that residual agreement you bought into. You’ll be kept around long enough to make your promoting owner and his VPs a ton of cash – you might even get to taste a little of it yourself, for a short while. But you’ll then be 1) shafted out of the residuals you just spent 4 yea….er, 8 months selling your soul for by a greedy VP who had a plan for you all along, 2) replaced by someone else coming up through the company first chance they get (because they’ll be cheaper and easier to manipulate than you’ve become), and 3) left holding the bill for legal expenses (yup, they’ll be plenty of them, EVEN IF YOU DON’T RUN INTO LEGAL TROUBLE), a commercial lease you can’t get out of even though your business just got taken away from you (wait, you said financial security? business can be taken away from you at any time = financial security??), etc. etc. And that will pretty much wipe out any savings you set aside, since you didn’t save much. After all, owners don’t just want to live a lavish lifestyle….they are all but REQUIRED to flaunt suits, watches, cars, etc. in front of their office in order to “promote the dream”. Not to mention they almost always have to finance a “merch-house” for their broke, homeless, destitute leaders to live in (ANOTHER lease to be locked into??).
TL;DR – if you’re still enjoying the dream, it’s because 1) it’s all at the expense of your leaders, and 2) you just haven’t been screwed out of it yet by the MLM VPs. Because those VPs started this party, and they only invited you so you’d bring the beer and pay for the clean-up once they move the party somewhere else.
I am glad that you are happy putting that 25000 in your bank s 95% of that money you did not work for, thats the money from those new recruit who only got 20% of their sale. they promised you promotion so you took a bite, and now u are enjoying sitting and getting paid,, at other poeple’s expense. thats really good. im glad you feel so accomplished
Dear Mr. Shaun Walker,
No one in their right mind making 25 k in 7 weeks is going to have enough time to sit there and actually look for websites like this to debunk the company. You would actually be SO busy with everything else that you wouldn’t even CARE that there were websites like this since you are NOT the owner of the company (nor would have the time to care). So with that being said…you are either one of the monkey’s that works for that company and your job is to purposely debunk these sorts of things (that YOUR boss told you to do) or you are in fact the owner of the multiple companies that you need to keep your ‘image’ up. The only pathetic one, is the person actually thinking that one bad review and INSULTING people will make a difference. It just goes to show the brain power behind these companies…and that’s that it is in fact a scam. People who run businesses that are successful, don’t need to go online and debunk with insults. That just proves what kind of customer service you must have and ALSO how you treat your employees. If you try convincing people this way with the job…geesh I can only assume how horrible you are as a boss!! I bet you have a LOT of EEOC complaints against you!!! If it walks like a duck…typically it is.
My son just started a new job yesterday and my husband and I are somewhat skeptical. It seems to be similar to all these companies mentioned in this article. Could someone tell me if GSI in Woburn MA is another SCAM job??
One big run-on sentence and he makes up for it by putting two periods at the end. Very nice!
Is that how your company represents itself? You don’t seem very professional. I’ve worked several jobs that have fast advancement opportunities such as magazine sales and Kirby vacuums, etc etc… and just because you get promoted doesn’t mean it’s a good job or worth the trouble, and obviously if they promoted someone like you. And you can say “pathetic 9-5 lives” just like the people in the magazine business used to, but in reality we worked 6 days a week for 10-12 hours a day for almost nothing.
Zeropunctuation rules!!! Sorry for the punctuation though…
I would like to know how much money you had to invest to get this job you talk about?? I prefer to not invest any money, I need to make money been unemployed for 2+ years and homeless now. Need a real job got any suggestions??
Thank you
Gayla
These companies are all over many popular job sites. They tout event marketing, public relations opportunities, management training, and more. I worked at SV Marketing in Tampa, Florida (also known as Sloan Vinson Marketing) for one month. I never got stranded, and I never got a gone pulled on me, but I did feel scammed and like I was scamming others.
The deal with this company is ‘updating customer’s Verizon bills’. Basically, it was our job to pull Verizon bills from current customers (or other companies, if you’re really good) and call Verizon to make changes. The job is 100% commission, based on certain changes you are able to make to customer’s bills. A few times this may actually save the customer money, but many times it will in fact be more expensive. The recruiting of other employees is a large part of all these scams. The more people you recruit, the more money you make off their commissions. Once you are in the door and recruiting, they tell you all the techniques they used to get you in. To questions of ‘do you pay for gas’, you either avoid it, or say yes- it’s a tax write-off. Just save your receipts, including those for your suits, shoes, car, etc. and get it all back later!
As soon as you have enough experience and employees under you, you have the ‘opportunity’ to move to another location and start your very own business doing the same thing, or selling something very similar (including Staples.com), hence the sheer number of companies that do this.
Not a fun experience- don’t fall for it!
Rocky Mountain Marketing, Inc. [www.rockymountainmarketinginc.net] est. Jan. 31st, 2011, and Skyline Marketing, Inc.) Oct., 2005, are two very new Scam MLM (multi-level marketing) companies taking over the area around Denver, CO. ADD THEM TO THE LIST ABOVE! They work out of the same office in Greenwood Village, CO and all the jobs are posted as Rocky Mountain Marketing, not Skyline. There is no marketing, just foot soldier selling you must do.
They are Child companies of their Parent Co. NEC INC a child of CYDCORE, (listed on the list here) and are taking over the Job Boards and Craigslist Denver. Beware college grads! They tell you they change their company name to become incorporated as an LLC Company [when in reality it is so you cannot trace them up the pyramid to Cydcore (and to NEC Inc. with all its scamming complaints from Braintree, MA)]. They claim they are doing a service for their clients, so it can be hard to find complaints on the BBB because company names change as they branch off, but I want to warn you. It is the child of Cydcore and is looking to spawn more start-up scams around the US (a new Office manager is being molded right now). Do you really want to go door to door trying to convince people to use Quill office supplies because you have coupons and Mrs. Field’s Cookies? They both are soon to get a pilot Comcast account. No sales = no pay, and the days are long and terrible.
There deal is simple: the big company only pays them $$ if they get them customers, you cant blame the big company for using them, but you wont be very happy or well received if you come home without “being on bell” (making a sale and your managers some money – off of your hard tiring work). They dont get paid if you dont sell. I personally wasted too much of my time with this and wanted to shed some of the inside scoop with those who are curious. I’ll chalk it up as a learning experience. Good luck, get out if you are in, and look out for yourself.
Thank you for posting this Tommy, I recently graduated college from Metropolitan State and have been using the college website (Joblink) to apply for jobs. Lo and behold, Skyline Marketing (www.skylinemarketingdenver.com) has a job posted on the college website for Entry Level Account Executive. I applied to the job assuming that all jobs on the college website must be REAL and PROFESSIONAL, however now I know that these so-called “marketing” job scams are ruthless!
As a final word, I love how these companies emphasize wearing professional attire, yet the job consists of driving around town with some stranger and selling coupon books door-to-door or business to business. LOL… Considering how desperate these type of companies are for people to do their dirty work, I bet if someone were to show up in jeans and a white t-shirt they would still get the job!
Anyways, thanks again, I won’t be showing up to the scheduled “interview”.
Sal
I have worked with this company for the last 8 months and so far it’s being great! I’m not saying that we do is easy or anything like that but is not impossible. I don’t understand people like this that post crap just to dishonor other peoples work! This person says that the company hides the company’s website??? I mean come on the only thing you have to do is do a Google search and the first thing that appears in the screen is the company’s website… how is that malicious??? I hate when people that couldn’t get the job done or even worst didn’t even get the job post crap like this!! If you have questions about the company go to the freaking website http://www.skylinemarketingdenver.com or shoot me an email I’ll be more than happy to answer all your questions. Kirk.weishaupt@yahoo.com
Kirk
We found a list of more companies that are either the same as the Landers Group or use similar business practices here: http://www.bigbadmusic.com/scams.htm
We can’t vouch for the accuracy of the list, but here it is anyway.
Evincex Enterprises
Smart Circle International
The Landers Group
Ds-max
Cydcor
Granton Marketing
Innovage
Child Safety Enterprises, Inc
Hyphire
HBH Global Promotions
Bullet Marketing Enterprises, Inc. – Fort Worth, TX
CA Enterprises – Menomonee Falls, WI
CA Enterprises – Fort Worth, TX
Aurora Marketing Group
The Advertisment
Crescent International
SC Marketing Group in Louisville, KY
JSTARR Advertising Platinum Marketing (“they are in the process of changing there name to Madison Marketing”)
Emprise
Arsene-Lee Advertising Group
International Marketing Strategies
MJ Promotional Group/Trinity Advertising, both part of grantonmarketing.com
granton marketing/dsmax has three other divisions in massachusetts: JSJ & Associates, the Kaizen Group, and MPMD, Inc
Gemini Communications in Austin, Texas
Playermakerpromo.com
Lear Marketing Group and Black Diamond Solutions are parts of cydcor.com in Columbus, OH.
“R3 Enterprises” winter park, FL
niko-laos in tampa, fl., Niko-Laos in Tampa, FL.
Northside Marketing
Quantum Marketing Group
Strictly Advertising, Inc. (Miami, FL)
Wentworth Marketing in Denver
“Compass Global Network” in Dallas TX
“Greco Marketing” in San Francisco, CA.
The Yasny Group in Irvine CA
Westward Innovations of Phoeniz, AZ.
MJ Promotional Group of Cincinnati, OH
Jenlyn Consulting in Houston TX
Marketing Sessions (chicago area)
SASMarketing Group (also chicago area)
DeFrancesco Aquisitions, Inc. located in Pittsburgh, PA.
The Advertising Group, Inc in SF CA
Gen X Promotions Cincinnati, Ohio “(the writer thinks there’s also subsidary called Bravo Promotions, but they may be out of Indianapolis)”
D.B. Consulting
J.S. & Associates
Darr Innovations
Top Flight Enterprises located in Pittsburgh, PA.
Aspirations, Inc. in Virginia Beach, VA.
Hilltop Solutions, Inc., located in San Diego.
The Everest Group, or Cambridge Communications (also Premier Marketing Concepts from Melville NY)
Atlantic Consulting located in East Rutherford, NJ
Wincor, Inc., Seattle, WA (actually there office is in Renton)
Woodlynn Advertising, Inc. in Houston TX
The Everest Group, Inc. DUNN HILL ENTERPRISES
Yenkro Enterprises, Inc. Greco Marketing
DeFrancesco Acquisitions
Direct Link Marketing
COR Concepts
JM Concepts
Triple Crown Marketing
5 Point Marketing
Elite promotional Group
Does anybody know anything about Level Tech Consulting Group? It sounds like 1 of these jobs but I can’t be sure. – Ben
I think they’re a scam. I went for one interview (my first ever) and I thought it went terribly. I barely could find the building and when I did I went down to some basement office where there were 5 other people waiting. I had an interview with a guy in a cheap suit who bragged on and on about how he worked for Lehman and went to Princeton and asked barely anything about me. It was the strangest experience. The guy told me that I may or may not get a call back because they had lots of applicants and not to take it personally if I didn’t. Less than four hours later though I received a call asking me to come in for the 2nd round interview THE NEXT DAY. They wanted me to clear my schedule to come in and follow someone from 9-5 around White Plains.
I would avoid this place.
Does any one know anything about HDM Marketing Concepts? Im really wondering about them. They seem legit, but it sounds like one of these scams….
That is exactly what happened to me. I researched the company (worldwide vision) some more after my first interview, and decided not to go back for the 2nd extended (2 hour) interview.
So this level tech consulting is a scam after all? they were quite persistent in calling me and have since had “loads” of people to interview. Should I even bother going? I love how the website states the CEO dropped out of college and made billions of dollars or so? advice please
LA Sports Marketing in Sherman Oaks, CA is a similar scam, I think they changed the name of the company multiple times because of the amount of complains they get.
im supposed to be at a second interview with LA Sports Marketing in Sherman Oaks, CA as i write this. Yesterday when i show up at the office the first thing i noticed was somewhere around 6-8 abnormally gorgeous women working there, dressed too provocatively for the setting. As pleased as i was by this red flag, i also noticed the lack of information i had and the bare walls and temporary looking status of the “office”. As i sat to be interviewed i heard the receptionist give two names which roused my suspicion, then tell the person on the phone that they were interviewing today and tomorrow, Two days before hand she told me that it was that day and the next. As the interview started i right off the bat i noticed something odd, the manager was more selling me something than interviewing me, After a few minutes of him talking he said that this full time position was just temporary and is really meant to get us on the right track into to progressing into higher levels of the company. That was the last straw, it just didnt add up. i did slight, and i mean slight search online about the validity of the company and sure enough….
Don’t waste your newly earned educational achievements on backroom companies that aren’t even clever enough to come up with their own scheme(all these companies use the same methods)Good luck and happy job hunting
I have just applied and got a response that they scheduled interviews today and tomorrow by this same group. the receptionist didn’t give me any other information other than that. i called and asked for “Cindra Anderson”. they put me on hold for a few min and then said she was on the phone. she asked if she could help and i told her that im responding to an email to schedule an interview. she immediately opened my email and read the information back to me about the scheduling. my wife told me that she Google the company and was pretty sketchy. After reading about it i decided not to go to the interview.
I thought I had landed a great opportunity. “Sports” and “marketing” are my interests. Due to time constraints and working my current job, I did not have time to research the company until I was all dressed up and sitting in my car waiting for the engine to warm.
Sure enough, a broad search of the company’s name and the word “scam” came back with more hits than I’d like. After reading them, I decided not to go to the interview, and that was BEFORE I even read the three posts by Noura, William, and Ed.
Like Ed said, I was asked to call a “Cindra Anderson,” and when I did, I was also told that she was on the phone at the time.
Now I have an upcoming interview with a company called American Business Consultants in Westlake Village, CA. Through Google, I haven’t found much that claims the company is a scam, but they show all the signs of one. 40+ job listings on a single site, all used with exclamation marks, use of the words “entry-level” and “training provided,” not to mention they also managed to throw in a sports-related marketing job listing, which is odd considering that they are a “business consultant company” where marketing is not even listed on their career page.
Does anyone know about Cross Country Marketing in Portland OR? Sent in an app 3 hrs later got an email asking for an interview but left no contact information and I couldn’t find the company when I googled it. Could this be a scam?
Time Marketing in Milwaukee sounds like one of these. They must have just changed their name recently because I can’t find ANYTHING about them yet. Anyone here interview with them yet?
Add Galleria marketing, Houston,Tx too. I went for the interview and found 10 people already waiting in the lobby. There was hardly any space most of the people were standing. Almost all got selected for second interview. They called it Field trip, had to sell office supplies for quill. I ditched them after lunch break!
Got two more calls from JDC Marketing,Dallas and ICM Dallas exactly same concept with different clients Staples!
Add Frontline Marketing to your list. I got a call from them a couple days after allegedly applying, I really don’t remember applying to this company. I think they replied to my resume posted on careerbuilder.com. During the 1st interview the owner Justin Hubbard told me that his company was partners with big corporations like AT&T and Verizon Wireless and that I’d be an Account Executive if hired. Then he told me to expect a call by 3:30pm that same day if they like my resume. So the same day they call me for a 2nd interview and schedule it for 9am the next day. When I get there they explain I’m one of the lucky 200 applicants to be chosen, blah blah blah. So it turns out that what they really wanted me to do was sell office supplies for quill door to door. I was there from 9am-5pm and they tried to get me to stay longer! They talked about the 4s, 5s, and 8s and a bunch of other nonsense. The pay does not add up to the work expected. $300 the first week plus 10% of each sale for working 40 hours? Do the math, that adds up to less than $8 an hour! It has scam written all over it.
The location of Frontline Marketing is 9343 Tech Center Dr. Suite 165 Sacramento CA. 95826 so beware! They claim their purpose is to move you up into the company with a manager position. It’s a crock, even the so called managers continue to sell quill office supplies but are just given more responsibilities and expected to spend more hours working. They try their best to sell you the job so you feel as if you have to prove yourself to get it.
Sounds to me that you are saying that literally every marketing
company in the world is a scam, almost to the extent that marketing
it’s self is a scam….
I was looking into a position with Prestige Mtg, in LA which I don’t see
listed, but when I googled them up popped your article.
I know for a fact that many marketing companies are indeed straight up
and great companies to work with and or for, but your article leaves much
to be desired.
Certainly your warning is appreciated, but for sure you can not generalize
as good marketing makes the world go round !!!
He isn’t saying that all marketing groups are scams, but that these marketing groups that advertise in this way are probably not a company worth working for.
These “scam” businesses have the same structure of advertising for job seekers, interviewing, and “persuading” you to be an employee. I’ve been caught up in one of these scams, and after you go through it you can see a clear difference between a marketing group worth working for and a marketing group that is a waste of time.
They try and target recent college grads and people with a few to no work experience because they believe they can trick them to stay for a few months until they can bring in more of these people.
This article is not saying that there are no marketing groups worth working for because there are plenty out there, but there is a growth in “marketing businesses” that are scams, and you have to look out for them. He is simply explaining their process so others do not fall into the trap and are able to weed out the scams from the true marketing groups.
THis article is very informational. I have a interview tomorrow but now I’m totally going to blow it.
Rick, don’t go to the interview and blow it on purpose. That’s a waste of everyone’s time. Just don’t go. You’ll be much better off.
Wow I am so glad I found this, I had an interview with them tomorrow but guess thats canceled LOL
Another person whom we’ve saved from interviewing with The Landers Group! I’m glad we could help.
I have an interview for “STL WorldWide INC.”. Seems like a scam, has anyone heard about this company?
There website is http://www.stlworldwide.com
I have a concern about this. I live in Richmond, VA and the organization went under High Level Management on CareerBuilder. I actually did go on my first interview and filled out an application. Unfortunately I put my social security number on the application. Should I be concerned about my identity being stolen? Thanks.
I wanted to add a company to the list called BMF Global. It started off as the Landers Group in California, but they started a “new” company, changed their name, and set up an office in Tigard, Oregon. Just don’t even put yourself through the hell of interviewing, which will consist of a 10 hour day and pissing people off as you walk door to door and interrupting people’s business. They interview about 30 people a day- that’s how bad the turnover rate is. Seriously, NOT worth it!
I had the exact same experience with company in Orange Co. Ca. Scanno Advertising. I was interviewed and hired the same day, and went door to door in the city selling coupons. I also quit that day realizing that it was scam. I actually wanted to walk out that morning realizing that it was a scam, it seemed more like a cult than a business
So, now that I have read the comments-it sucks!! I have an interview tomorrow :O( I’m really interested in getting into the advertising industry- any suggestions?
If you want a marketing or advertising job, Don’t apply to a company with “marketing” in their name. The best way to get a marketing/advertising job is to apply for one at a normal company. Many companies have a marketing department. Think McDonald’s, surely their marketing department is huge. I landed my awesome marketing job after applying directly at many company’s websites. Find a company you like, and then go on the job listings to see if they have marketing or advertising openings.
Hi Erika,
Yes, it appears that The Landers Group sucks. You’re best bet is to not show for your interview tomorrow. It is not worth your time. As for an advertising job, we’ve posted about plenty of them here: http://www.onedayonejob.com/tag/advertising/
M.A.X.I.S. Consulting is across the parking lot from BMF Global in Tigard.
Their office felt like it ran very similarly and after doing some research, other people have had the same problem.
Don’t go to MAXIS or BMF Global in Tigard.
I worked for a division of the Landers Group, and was actually promoted to management in 8 months. Essentially it is a business opportunity, not an employment position, which most people are geared for. Though it requires a lot of hard and mundane work, it can lead to a lot of money. It is definitely not the cool advertising gig you see on romantic chick flicks.
Yes, the company is misleading, they have been for years. As the internet grows, so does their business. Now they are getting more into event marketing, which doesn’t seem as shady. It really depends on which division you are interviewing for. Some people go business to business, door to door, or sit in a Costco and pitch home improvement quotes. Basically it’s all direct market advertising.
After getting into management though, I always felt as if I was lying, and I was never okay with that. After 4 months in management, I couldn’t handle it anymore, and I decided to leave. Yes, the money was great, but I just didn’t want to do it anymore.
For those of you looking for an advertising position, you’ll find the good jobs are really cutthroat. You will easily be competing with hundreds of people for entry level positions, but you won’t have to sell anything, and you can carry your Starbucks coffee into the boardroom.
Landers is really more for people with little to no experience, though most people who get into management have advanced degrees like myself. You have to have an entrepreneurial spirit which isn’t inherent in most Americans who are raised and educated to be employees. If you’re looking for something challenging mentally, don’t work at the Landers Group. Out of 100 people that come through their doors, 20 will stay. Of those 20, 1 out of 100 will get into management. Out of those managers, 1 of 5 will stay long term. So the shot of getting into management and actually making it are much less than 1%.
Essentially it isn’t a scam, you can do it, they just aren’t forthcoming with how likely it is that you do make it, and they really don’t have the personnel there, or the support to make sure you do.
J, thanks for adding a new perspective to the conversation. You say that Landers is not a scam, but then you say that they are very misleading. I guess it depends what your definition of a scam is. It’s good to know that there are people who can actually make good money from Landers, but it certainly doesn’t sound like it’s worth it.
I have an interview with the Lander’s Group tomorrow, but after this I am definitely opting out. So glad I googled it before I went! Thanks so much for the heads-up!!
I had an interview set up for tomorrow, thanks to this site I am not going, its hard for recent college grads like to to get a decent entry level job, and it is despicable that there are these companies that try and exploit us, thanks for the information and the onedayonejob.com website, I’ll check it out.
Thank you so much! I also had an interview tommrow and I’m not going now.
Please add Dynasty Marketing to your list in Wisconsin. They are the new name for Avalon Advertising located same address and telephone number.
Global Visions Inc. is the same thing in Cincinnati, OH. T.H. Executives is the same thing in Columbus, OH. GDP Marketing is very similar in Cincinnati, OH. I spent a day with Global Visions, and it was the exact same story. Selling coupon books. Smart Circle International seems to be the parent company of many of these businesses, including Global Visions in Cincinnati.
THAX my friend told that it was a scam, i have a interview tomorrow.. THAX John..lol
Recruiting firms: This must be the way to go!
Dynasty in WI is a scam, your right Paula. I did a reverse phone search and found Avalon advertising group!
I like to research a company to be prepared for a productive interview and I guess this one I can save my time on!
Add the Acquisition Group inc. in Framingham Ma. to your list http://www.theacqgroup.com/
I went back for my “second interview” and spent the day shadowing a sales rep who was selling Verizon contracts to business customers. It was a total waste of time and they are very shady in their business practices. A total pyramid scheme.
Chris,
I was actually looking up the Aquisition Group today to see if they were still around. i sadly fell for this scheme and ended up working there for two months. I was fresh out of college and really wanted to get into either Marketing or Ad Sales. On my interview they told me ALL lies. I realized quickly this was a huge mistake but continued to work there. On a sales trip out in Western Mass (Adams) the guys i spent a week with started to tell me how terrible the place is and the ones that love it there are a cult. As soon as I got back from the trip i left and never looked back. I did’nt even give them a reason or an excuse i just left and never responded to the managers phone calls. Now I live in Manhattan and work for A&E doing Ad sales and I love it. I still think about that place and hope they are failing miserably.
Just did their second interview and these people are total scammers! I asked several questions regarding their benefits, why they dont leave business cards/numbers, that sort of thing and the woman totally dodged my questions and tried to justify it with stupid excuses. My gut told me to leave, but instead i stayed so this is a warning to young students out there in need of a job, you will be slave labor to them. if you believe that you were one of the chosen few, you are not. Don’t be fooled they are constantly recruiting people to get more people to sell their deals (which by the way they profit immensely from!).
Hmm…I went to a secondary interview recently for a company called “Emerald Concepts” in Houston, but I had to leave early because of an emergency. Now looking back at my experience and this report, I think this company is in the same boat with them. From the beginning I had my doubts, but my suspicions were aroused on the so-called secondary interview. We were cross-selling “Smart Circle” products with highly dubious vacation packages.
I’m glad I’m cancelling the interview!
take this article seriously!!! i relocated from another city and this was the first job i could get. i knew something was shady with how hard the lead manager was selling the job after my “day of observation” (this is when you go door to door with someone who has been at the job for a month or two). but because i was new in town, i had to take the job until i could get something else more stable and less like the “Boiler Room” (great movie about this exact situation) it’s basically a pyramid. you have a team leader and he has 3 people on his team. his boss is in charge of a few team leaders and that guy’s boss is in charge of the firm. if you stay long enough, you can move to the middle of the pyramid.
anyway i did the job for about 7 or 8 days. not sure exactly how long because i’ve tried to block it out to avoid an emotional breakdown
HERE IS HOW A DAY OF WORK GOES: you get to the office at 8:30 and spend the morning working on your “pitch” with other people and get pep talks from the upper management who will spend their day surfing and shopping while you are going door to door (i live in San Diego). around 10am you and a few other people get assigned to a certain territory and each of you is assigned a certain square mile to go door to door. you cover the same houses 3 times during the day: mid morning, 2pm, 5pm. the worst round is at 5pm when everyone is home from work, tired, and pissy. of 100 doors you knock on, you may close 1 person (if you’re lucky). you get a 30 minute lunch break but other than that, you’re walking and knocking all day. at the end of the shift you are taken back to the office and everyone meets to review who made how many sales that day. and if you made more than $100 that day, you get to ring a cowbell and be praised. yes, i’m serious. by this time it’s about 9pm and you get to go home just to come back and do it all over again the next day.
they also encouraged us to work on saturdays too. like others have said, this job is strictly commission.
on my last day, i heard a guy talking about how he had to pawn some of his stuff just to pay the bills. it was around that time that i realized that aside from the heads of the firm, i was the one of the few who had to worry about paying rent without help from a roommate or family. also on my last day there was a girl doing her day of observation. no one would answer her about benefits and the pay but i told her the truth. she had a disabled husband and kids to take care of. it was the worst job i’ve ever had but hopefully i at least saved that one girl from taking the position.
i have so much empathy for those people whenever i see them in my neighborhood now.
hopefully seeing what their day looks like will give you some insight and steer you away from this waste of time job.
Very similar to Easter Enterprises’ tactics. They advertise a bunch of positions, and when you get there, its a big group “interview” and a sales pitch to go door-to-door and sell vacuum cleaners. If you live in Kettering or Dayton, Ohio, watch out for these guys.
Go to the DX- Max or DS- Max website, and you will all find a strong alumni of people who worked for this company or related companies.
This company started in Canada, and it has grown world wide. when authorities find out and shut down one company, these people open a new one.
I hear there was a big “Caos” day and many people walked out….. My son LOVED the people he worked with when he was at this company, and because of the people he stuck it out of a couple of months… but then he got a better job marketing across the US, where he gets all benefits, and things are good.
I watched my son work 72 hour weeks, trying to make things work. I saw my son get sick, and it was sheer exhaustion. He has not been sick with his new job…….
I think You should create an alumni of workers from the Landers Group…. I think you might all be friends one day, and something good will come out of all this.
As for whats him name…. MATT KELLY— well I hope I have put so much pressure on him that he cracks… I know he has money problems.. could not happen to a better person. And then there is his co horts..
Yes, for anyone who reads this….. run as fast as you can.. This is job is not worth your time, effort, money or a nervous breakdown….
SEAM Marketing in Baltimore is a big SCAM and a waste of time.
can someone tell me if STL worldwide is also a scam, on their website says something about margeting for sports team, golf clubs, spas, etc, I have an interview with them tomorrow
here is their web site: http://www.stlworldwide.com/
Thanks in advance!!!
I just recently interviewed with these people. I spent last Friday going around and trying to sell packages for discounted prices. I honestly feel like I am doing something unjust especially when you go around business to business when people are absolutely busy! They told me that out of 15 people they interveiwed I was one out of the three that they chose to hire. Shortly, I learned that they are continously hiring more people every day to sell their packages. I honestly thought that I did really good to get hired. This company is called Elite Promotions Group located in Birmingham, Alabama. The job advancement opportunities sound too good to be true. It only has been 2 days since I accepted the opportunity to work for them. I noticed that most of the distributors there were anywhere from 19-27 years of age. Really young! And most of these people don’t even have a degree, they are either fresh out of high school or out of the military!!!! I wish I would have looked them up before I wasted my time going up there. I live too far to be scammed!
Join the thousands world wide who once worked for this group.. there are too many to count!!!
http://groups.msn.com/DSMAXTheAftermath
Does any one know where Davis went? He said he left the company to go to Europe and never returned to the company.
Here is a mini test for you to take…
This is in response to a recent poll by happynow that has gotten a lot of attention. I’d like to hear the perspective from people out side of the US. Is the ds-max name as suppressed international as it is here in the US? Please let us know. Thank you for your time:
If you are a new member here & have quit the business in the last year or so I have a little questionnaire for you.
While you were in the business,
1. Did you ever hear of the word DS-MAX?
2. Did you ever hear of the word WWI?
3. Did you ever hear of Larry Tennebaum or Avie Roth?
4. Did anyone ever promote how large this type of business was? (e.g. # of offices in # countries)
5. On average, how many hours a day were you at work?
6. On average, how much did you clear p/week?
7. Did your manager own a car? (make & model if you know) Did he have his own apartment or live with his guys?
8. Did you ever get arrested or ticketed by the police while in the field?
9. Did you pull your Day of Observation out of atmosphere & “bottom line” them before you would have them meet with your manager? (Something like this, “Look, my manager is looking at bringing on 2 people tonight so I need to know if you are willing to start tomorrow & give 110% & then maybe I can get you in to see him.”)
10. On average, what was the percentage of smokers in your office?
Extra Credit:
11. Which of these numbers does not belong.
107 307 53 230 11 701
I had to drive an hour to get to my first interview for Landers Group last week. I thought it was wierd cuz I walked out 5 minutes later with a second interview, still not knowing much at all about the job. I was supposed to drive all the way back out there tomorrow for the second interview, but instead, I’ll be staying home and do some more job hunting.
I’m stoked I researched them a little bit more. Thanks a lot!
Oh gosh im glad i googled The Landers Group and ran into this website, i had an interview with them tommorow but guess what,its canceled now!!! THANK U SO MUCH FOR INFORMING THE PUBLIC:)!!!
THERE IS A COMPANY LIKE THIS IN LODI NEW JERSEY CALLED “WORLD ACCESS MARKETING” THEY SPECIALIZE IN SCREWING PPL OVER SELLING FAKES EXC,,,
I had the exact same experience at the same affiliated company called BMF Global in Tigard. I actually ended up sticking it out for four days at BMF Global and tried to sell their coupons. I was promised the first day by the manager of the office to get paid at least 50 dollars a day while I was training. Every day I worked almost twelve hours and tried to sell the coupans to angry business owners not wanting to be solicited to while they were trying to make a living. Anyways I never ended up getting paid any money and by the end of my training after being promised to get paid the next day for my training. My the end of the fourth day I demanded I get paid what I was promised by Alex the manager of BMF Global. Needless to say I did not get paid what I was promised. Beware of BMF Global, the Landers Group, and anything to do with Smart Circle advertising. It is a scam and watch out for thier managers Alex and Phil. They will promise you the world and you will get nothing in return.
World Access Marketing sounds like a huge scam. Anyone out there actually work for the company and have proof that it is a scam. I tried telling my buddy and he doesn’t believe me because he says that everyone working there has such high hopes and they’re great to work with. Has anyone working for that company actually made tons of money…besides the guys who thought of the scam?
I need your help to shut all these companies including THE LANDERS GROUP DOWN!!! Join the conversation NOW!!!!
Malicious job post
Malicious job posts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A malicious job post is a mischievous in motivation or purpose post of employment of placed text on a Web site, submitted to a legitimate career search engine, from a business which practices business models similar to Multi-level marketing. The intent of the posting is to lure in as many possible job candidates, without concern for the candidates education, experience, or skills. Businesses posting these “jobs” are legal, entry level, and involve multi-level marketing. While the legality of these businesses is not questioned, the legitimacy of these businesses is. Some criticisms include: Clogging up legitimate career search engines, group interviews, wasting career seekers time, and a lack of consideration for genuine employment. The posts are considered “Malicious” based on the companies intent to lure in as many possible candidates, with the premeditated knowledge that the company’s business model is similar to Multi-level marketing and posting openings that appear to be legitimate, when in reality the posts are continuous.
Example: Monster.com [1]
Location Title Company CA-Sherman Oaks-91423 ECONOMY GOT YOU DOWN? Immediate Hire for Entry Level Sales and Marketing – WE TRAIN! The Landers Group APPLY
The Landers Group Posted by Willy Franzen on Friday, May 23, 2008 [2]
Malicious Job Posts/ Join the discussion NOW!!!!
These companies: Eagle Vision Marketing, Inc. The Landers Group, L. A. Marketing, Dynasty Marketing Solutions, Inc,Scanno Advertising, Inc., and Jane Landers Foundation use a malicious practice of trying to lure job candidates into their offices for a position that does not include a salary but is based on a sales commission, and based on a business model similar to multi level marketing.
The interviews often take place as a group. The care little about your education, experience, or background. The “POST” is considered “Malicious” much like websites contain malicious content, or computer viruses. They are at the user’s risk. An example of a “malicious Job Post” can be seen in a daily updated search sent out by legitimate search engine companies. Malicious job posting companies can be seen throughout the job availability update. They make it more difficult to filter jobs that are available, legitimate, and do not involve multi-level marketing as its practice.
Once again add Scanno Advertising and Dynasty Marketing Solutions, Inc in Anaheim CA. They are the same misleading and scamming company.
Malicious Job Posts/ Join the discussion NOW!!!! Dynasty Marketing Solutions, Inc Scam Rip off
Scanno Advertising and Dynasty Marketing Solutions, Inc in Anaheim CA. To all job seekers do not waste your time and gas to visit these rip off, scam artists.
I also made the mistake of going in for an interview with Dynasty Marketing Solutions, Inc aka Scanno Scammo advertising. These people are so full of bull. Stay away from these scammers, rip offs, liars.
Question about Eagle Vision Marketing, Inc.:
Steve, you mentioned Eagle Vision as falling under malicious job posts, but I haven’t been able to find any bad reviews on the company after a google search; do you or anyone else have any more info. you could give me since I have an “interview” that I’m now reconsidering given the nature of their post on careerbuilder.
Glad I found this site regardless
Go ahead and add Pacific Advertising Group in that scam list. I just did a two day in row interview and went through the whole scenario of promises of a management position. I also went to ” a day of observation” and stood in front of a grocery store for 10 hours trying to talk to every customer that walks and walks out.
I was skeptical from the very beginning when they had rap music and a movie playing on the front desk. When the receptionist would answer the phone, she would answer with “Marketing, may I help you?” Not even once she answered with the proper name. I took me 30 minutes to find this office because they didn’t have a sign.
So the whole experience was bogus. I am located in the Las Vegas area so don’t get scammed by this company. All you do is sell coupons, that may or may not be accepted by the so called 500 fortune companies.. for free! Pacific Advertising Group is one of them..
I had the beginnings of this same experience. The morning I was going to go in for my all day second interview I decided to take a second look at their website which looked really cheap with low rez pictures. A google search brought me here and saved me a lot of time and frustration–something I can’t afford while on the job hunt. The office I went to was in Denver…
In the Boston Area:
World Wide Acquisitions: http://www.WWAcquisitions.com
The Acquisitions Group Inc: http://www.theacqgroup.com
Business Solutions International, Inc. (BSI Boston): http://www.bsiboston.com
and
Dynasty: http://www.d-sty.com
this company also goes under the alias as world access marketing or atleast used to.
This may be a new company name because it was very difficult for me to find information on their previous company name.
Pretty much all the same things listed above.
anyone in northern nj please save yourselves the time of coming to this scam job at IS-G in lodi
Thanks to everyone! I am due back tomorrow morning for the “second interview”. The interview today was way too easy, and I’m so glad I read all this information. I had a strange feeling about this, as I really didn’t have an understanding of the actual job. Won’t be showing up tomorrow!
Scanno Advertising, Anaheim, CA.
I also have an interview with Scanno Advertising next week. I’m thinking about going on it and taking a digital tape recorder that I can post online for everyone. What do you guys think?
They run under BMF Global and M.A.X.I.S. Consulting in Portland, OR. If you google their name, this article shows up before their website. Check out what they did to this poor girl:
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=120960222985177900
Hello all, it’s great to see an article like this exposing all of these fraudelant companies. I unfortunately was sucked into one of these companies after I graduated from college(MJ Promotional Group in Cincinnati, OH). At first everyting sounded great, and I would run my own company, and I started in the warm part of fall. Everything was good at first, but then I’d see the increase in turnover, and the people who stayed would just bad mouth the ones that left(the smart ones if you ask me). I was with the company for about 6mos, and made next to nothing, and would like to warn anyone even considering one these companies to STAY AWAY! I have so much information I could provide about my experience if needed, I’ll check back here periodically.
Btw you’re forgetting several major companies part of DS MAX in St. Louis, DC, Boston and Chicago. That’s where some of the big money earners were. I can’t recall the names becasue I worked for the company in 2004-2005. I know Tom Spiro in Chicago and Derrick something in Chicago as well. The owners of the companies in the other cities, were almost mythical figures that you only met at regional conferences, where the brainwashing was put on to the max. I really hope this all helps.
Oh yeah Derek Colontonio is in the other CHicago office in the suburbs, and I do believe that Mark Kernan is in St. Louis. The office in downtown Chicago run by Tom Spiro is called Victory Promotions, or Victory Marketing. And the office in DC is called CRC Marketing if I do believe.
I have an interview in 1 hour with BMG global in Portland, OR. I think I’ll call about 5 minutes after I was supposed to be there to cancel it. That seems like the type of respect these types of companies deserve.
I was wondering why the job description was so vague, so I got curious and googled it, and came to this site. Thanks for the info, glad I didn’t waste the gas money or time putting on a business suit and going to the interview.
I think you guys should check out Ares Enterprises, based in Seattle. While I haven’t actually been there, their job posting is like a carbon copy of the ones mentioned.
Did you hear that The Landers Group closed, but is re-opening under a new name of SPORTS MARKETING INTERNATIONAL????????
Matt Kelly lives in an apartment????? I thought he had millions!!!
Have you seen the latest employment ad???????
NEW PLAYERS!!!! NEW PHONE NUMBER!!!! SAME LOCATION!!!!
ENTRY LEVEL SPORTS MARKETING & CUSTOMER SERVICE – WE TRAIN!
Sports Marketing, Inc.
Apply Now >>
Job Snapshot
Location:
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
Employee Type:
Full-Time/Part-Time Employee
Industry:
Sales – Marketing
Advertising
Entertainment
Manages Others:
No
Job Type:
Entry Level
Marketing
Customer Service
Experience:
None
Relocation Covered:
No
Posted:
11/12/2008
Contact Information
Contact:
Brittany James
Phone:
818-907-8612
So we have Brittany James….. is this a new hired gun????
wow, thats what I have to say wow!!! As I think I am doing research on the company I had an interview with, I come to find out that it has a possibility of being a scam. I called the person that contacted me about an interview and asked questions about your company having a reputation for being a scam and she didn’t have a response. I asked what would I be doing and she said biz to biz selling. she was very vague and couldn’t give me a straight answer. Thank you for this site and to all readers please be aware!!!
scanno advertiding stay away!!!!
I had a gut feeling about Pacific Advertising Group being a scam, their website is just so vague and never says what someone in the business actually does daily. I looked up exactly what the article says, Pacific Advertising Group scam, and found you guys. Well, I canceled my interview right away, after I called and one guy answered “Advertising?”… I knew that was it. Will there be any problems with these people? As in will they bother me in any way? Thanks.
Well I too am glad I did a Google search. I was contacted by Pacific Advertising Group. It apprears that these guys are part of this Landers scam.
I have to admit, I became skeptical when I looked at their website. It had NO information on it that was of any use and the text on it looked like someone bought a cheap template and added regular text to the top. Very low quality. That prompted my search which brought me here.
Thanks for saving me some time today.
I landed a 2nd interview with The Acquisition Group in Framingham, Ma and will be canceling. I was looking for a Marketing position not a sneaky sales job.
Pacific Advertising A.K.A JMO Promotions is a scam….no website because they are new to Vegas….well if they were moving to Vegas and had a company in another state, they would still have a website….RED FLAG!
Let me be the third one to put “Pacific Advertising Group” in Las Vegas in the list……….like you have all said…..seemed pretty shady to begin with…….crappy office, no real information is given about the company……….sure glad I came here…………guess it goes to show if it seems too good to be real, it probably is…
Add Latitude group to the list in Emmeryvile CA. Alon Brenner was promoted by Landers group and heads this scam office.
Sports Marketing International is shady business. I wasted an entire day being “evaluated” annoyingly going “business to business” for more than 10 hours. Save your energy and time by staying away from these predators.
Wow- I am very glad I googled MAXIS and found this page and other like it. I will definitely stay away and not interview.
I would like to add Dynasty Marketing Group in Milwaukee. They do all the same things that you guys talk about. The door to door. The B2B as they call it. Business to Business. The manager will just keep leading you on to believe that you can do it. It is just a big brain washing campaign. If you don’t want to lie to people everyday and for the rest of your life. Then don’t ever get involved with these companies. You will loose money working for them.
Have you heard anything about New Light Marketing? They are in the area as well and seemed fishy
Have an interview tomorrow with BSI Boston….but….now I think I might cancel. Does anyone have any scoop on them?
I interviewed with a marketing firm just like this in Columbia, SC. It goes by the name Apple, Unlimited. This company has almost all of the aforementioned signs and symptoms listed above. Unfortunately, they have a fairly insidious tactic to lure people in: they do event-based marketing for non-profit organizations.
Basically the breakdown I got is that they set up tables in front of Wal-Marts and other such places. You send up selling water bottles, oversized children’s books, race cars, and other items under the guise that you are generating funds for the non-profits. You get a tiny slice of the price of the items as your commission (the only pay you will see) and the rest goes up the heiarchy, with the managers and the owner taking progessively larger and larger bites of the income you made.
After you’ve been there a while and have sold enough of that crap, they make you an “assistant manager” with a fixed income, and you are responsible for getting more gullible college grads and jobseekers to do the same work you were doing. Eventually you get promoted to manager, and are encouraged to relocate to another city where you will set up your own “event-based marketing firm” to start the cycle all over again.
All this I learned just from my “second interview,” which was just an excuse to get me to take a day off of work from my current job and help two of their employees sell some of their stuff. I basically worked for free that day, and they told me nothing of what to expect when I went out there. They did not tell me I was going to be two hours away from home in front of Wal-Mart on the hottest day of the year, sans sunscreen and wearing my most uncomfortable pair of “interview only” dress shoes.
Basically these marketing firms sound like a pyramid scheme, or like the Mafia, with all the profits flowing up towards the top of the pyramid while you do all the grunt work. I basically told them I wasn’t interested in the job. I’m a little wiser now, however, and I’m glad in a way that I did go through that experience, because I’m able to help people avoid those same traps as well.
Matt Kelly has owned several offices….. I guess he dumped Curly and Latta — and now he has Brittany James…. He is running his ads under both Sports Marketing, Inc, and Sports Marketing International, Inc… BEWARE that is all I can say!
To the asst manager who wanted to say nice things and work hard….. HORSEPUCKY is what I have to say….. you practically kill yourself working for this company……. and it is not the way GOOD companies work.. I just talked to an attorney who works down the street from the LA office, and when he sees these people come to his office, he just wants to tell them to quit…… he knows the pain, and so do I.
if you want to read about matt Kelly…. go here——- you will get an ear full….
http://groups.msn.com/DSMAXTheAftermath/alumni.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=8436&LastModified=4675705291669381390
How can anyone look up to this guy…. and the las Vegas office, yeah, I worked with the girl that was about to leave to set that office up————– nice girl, hard worker, and she left her boyfriend behind for this job……`
OMG, I JUST applied to Scanno and Dynasty Marketing at CareerBuilder, but I’m so glad I googled those two names! I live in OC, CA, and worked for a pharmaceutical company as a temp worker, but got laid off recently. Now that I think about it, it all comes to a sense: even those huge multi-billion-dollar companies let people go and can’t afford to keep them–why would those little companies whose names you’ve never even heard of would hire “experience-less” newbies as entry-level managers and/or sales agents, especially at this kind of economy? I’ve been to several shady interviews before and now I finally came to a conclusion: Any company that requires YOUR OWN MONEY for training is likely to be a scam. Likewise, any company that would gladly hire inexperienced people as professionals (sales, marketing, etc.) is likely to be a scam. Thanks, Willy and others, for your valuable information!
I learned
There are also new companies in Charlotte, NC. It seems like they change their name often and keep their websites vague. One resource I found VERY helpful was the Better Business Bureau. DO NOT apply to:
Queen City Events
Prodigy Conceptz
90 Ten Marketing
Triple M Events
JLT Marketing and Association
ACG Marketing and Associates
Precise Marketing Concepts
EIB International Inc/EMS
I found it helpful to plug in the phone number of the company on the BBB’s website.
I just had (and canceled) an interview with Banker’s Life, as an insurance agent. I noticed they apparently have a 90% turnover rate. Also, they were deeply involved in Enron. Someone said on a forum that the company expects you to sell to your friends, then you get fired.
BSI Boston is now going under the name Northeast Consulting – BEWARE.
A word to the wise…. Matt Kelly is sending out 1099- MISC reports, and you need to review them… He is saying even if you worked for the Landers Group…. the you worked for Sports marketing International which is a misrepresentation if you didn’t…
You will need to talk to your accountants or tax preparers to find out how to deal with what he declares he paid you, as these sums may not be correct…
I am horrified to learn for 10 consecutive 72 hours weeks of work, all that was made prior to pay outs was $2,000….. what kind of employment is this?????
Everything this man paid out was cash….. how can we be sure these sums are correct?????
The MAXIS Consulting Group is one of these companies located in Tigard, OR. Big ups to this website and for doing my research before going to meet these folks!
My son recently took a job with a company I’ve been suspicious of from the beginning. It’s called RedZone International based out of Hawthorne, NY. The same deal: he got called in just on the basis of his sketchy resume; he came in for a 10 minute interview and was told only 5 of 30 would be called the next day; the next day he got a congratulatory call from them and told to come in and get “work papers”. He started the following day at 5:45 where he met the team leader at his house and then basically shadowed him all over New Jersey for the whole day. He got home at 7:30. The following day he didn’t get home until 9:30PM, because the “team” went out for dinner (for which he had to pay) and then had to go back to the office to purchase a $40 “package” which has to be memorized for work. Imagine that! They have to pay for their own work materials. I so want my son to tell them off and walk out but I don’t want to get him started in the workforce with a bad attitude. In the meanwhile, his car is in the shop and he’s rented a car to get to and from work; purchase a suit and a couple of shirts and ties; and now purchased the $40 “package” required for his job. Unbelievable!! Anyone heare of Redzone International?
The company, “Ample Opportunity” in Orlando, Florida is A COMPLETE SCAM. I ended up running away when brought me in secret with a mean girl in her brokendown car to a boulevard to a tatoo shop sell discount office supply BULLSHIT. They said “it’s not door to door” but it is. They said on this “day two interview” that I will be going to different companies meeting managers. BULLSHIT. CAREERBUILDER is not trustworthy, and completely loaded with these entry level job scams- it makes me not just careerbuilder at all- avoid this website at all costs.
so i went on a first interview with pacific advertising group and it didnt seem right.
told my husband about it , he said it sounded weird so he tried looking up info and the ‘official’ website had something about denver and didnt give any info. the officeis ghetto,small, and they were kinda blasting music. a lady went to the restroom and i was being nosey and looked and saw a big empty warehouse behind her. the office itself had three small rooms. when the recptionst answered the phone she said ‘marketing’. so yeah.
enjoy wht ive found:
BBB RatingBack To Top Based on BBB files, this business has a BBB rating of F.
Reasons for this rating include:
Failure to obtain a required competency license.
Length of time business has been operating.
BBB does not have sufficient background information on this business.
Click here for an explanation of BBB Ratings.
LicensingBack To Top As of 10/24/2008, the Bureau has been UNABLE to confirm this company has a valid local business license for the locale in which they operate. IF A CONSUMER DOES BUSINESS WITH AN UNLICENSED FIRM, THEY DO SO AT THEIR OWN RISK.
http://www.vegasbbb.org/bbb_rated_acc_rpt.asp?bbbid=78157&tr=rated&lg=F&ex=11%2C15%2C26#rat
I appreciate everyone’s contributions, I just heard from MAXIS yesterday, as well as Oregon Marketing Group which appears to have the same address. Phoenix Marketing Group looks like a similar setup based on website and a location that is also in Tigard, Oregon. I also have qualms about Cache Marketing Alliance especially with no website to look at. I hope someone finds this info useful.
Thank goodness for older brothers…
BSI (Business Solution Inc.) wanted to have an interview with me last year and my brother told me it was a load of crap… then today I got an e-mail from Northeast Consulting Inc wanting an interview with me, mind you I don’t ever remember applying for this position with Northeast Consulting. I am so glad my brother came across this website to see that BSI = Northeast Consulting! Thanks for everyone’s comments, it’s super helpful to see that I’m not the only one who has fallen for this-almost twice!
for the publisher, please email me, ive worked for the landers group for 2 years and i have some dirt i would love to spill
Does anyone know about EIB International in Chicago area?
Who do I talk to about reporting these companies, I have and address and phone, but I won’t post those yet, because they might have people doing net searches for that stuff and have them clear out or something.
My name is Ron Amos and I can honestly say after being involved with Smart Circle International, and Dynasty Marketing Sollutions that these companies are scam operations. I was one of the those unfortunates that went to one of there interview and was alledgedly hired. I worked for two weeks, (12 hour days Monday thru Friday and 14 hour days Saterday and Sunday) and was fired on my 14th day after having sold three subscriptions for them to Direct TV. When I asked them for my money for the two weeks I worked, they said I made no sales and therefore I would not be getting any compensation.
What I was told on my interview was that if I got hired that I would be paid $500 a week while I was in training that any sales I made the commisssions would go to the Sales rep they sent me out with. I was further told that at the end of my third week I would then have the choice to go on straight commission or continue to just recieve $500 a week which ever was the greater.
So when the alledged owner of Dynasty Marketing Sollutions Dewayne Long fired me, I asked him for my $1000 pay for the two weeks and he said I had no pay coming because if they paid people like that they would go broke before they would make enough sales to cover such an expense. He then tried to play stupid and say that he was going to have to find out who was telling intervees this pay information. I told him it was the first lady I interviewed with Latrees (I still don’t know her last name) and Dewayne said she would never say anything like that. Si retoreted, “So you aren’t going to pay me as I was told and I am not going to get paid for any of my sales either? He replied that I never made a sale so I had no commissions coming either. So, I have Dewanye Long, Dynasty Marketing Sollutions, and Smart Circle International all caught in a conspiracy to defraud people from the hard and I mean had earned money when they go to work for them. I am in the proccess now of figuring out how I am going to file crimminal complaints and civil law suits naming all of them including Direct TV for there deliberate, fraudulent, activities.
Sincerely
Ron Amos
Citizens Law Group
Specialists in prosecuting Government officials
Hi Ron, are you willing to participate in a lawsuit against Smart Circle and many other owners? please e-mail me back at JBAT101@GMAIL.COM
red flag like #10 for northeast consulting/bsi boston= there name does not show up on the sign for the building or for their office on the third floor.
I AM SO GLAD I FOUND THIS SITE!!! I just graduated and really want to get into a business related field in Chicago. You can add GLM aka Green Light Marketing (as I found out), VMI, and EIB International Inc to the list. They all had the same careerbuilder info–different addresses and phone numbers–and their websites appeared to be a little unprofessional so I was a little warry to begin with. Not only that but the next day I received emails from all three saying they wanted to set up an interview, but I needed to call them to set it up. So I did some research and found a lot of info on ripoffreport.com. All I can say is DO RESEARCH! A good place to go to is the Better Business Bureau website (bbb.org) or even call them. If you can’t find them on the site or have a low rating THAT IS A BAD SIGN!!!
Geeeeezz guys… Look its not a”scam”. Its just not a “career”. Its probably one of the best things that a college grad can do to learn basic sales and work ethic. I did it when I was 18 and made anywhere from 150 – 200 bucks per day. Not a whole lot but I was learning alot about how to talk to pure strangers and motivate people. I only worked there for 6- 8 months but I ended up meeting my future business partners there. 9 years later we have 3 successful businesses that are doing GREAT! You get out of it what you put in. There are no benefits, or salary, or cushy leads thrown your way. But get used to it if you want to have a career in sales and make money. I think it was a very positive experience for me and and my partners. The ones who complain will probably be the ones that always complain… and for that they get a nice steady job that earns between 30 – 50k…
I might have ran into one of these scams (Pacific Advertising Group). Thak you for the heads up I will look out for it.
i saw red flags all over the place when i walked in for my interview, the sign for the company looked like it had been placed there recently, when i went on my 2nd interview out in the feild with the manager, her car still had new jersey tags on it yet she said she had been a manager there at this Virginia location for over a year, we were kicked out of several places for people claiming we had been trying to sell them stuff they didnt need. It was a weird day and never wanted to go back to that place. I didnt go to college for 4 years to sell crap door to door.
Wow, this is very enlightening just went to an initial interview for GLM Inc.(Green Light Marketing)in Chicago. They seem like a legitimate company and wasn’t too knowledgable about them so I decided to do some research on them and found several negative reports on Ripoffreport.com and now I found this site. In my opinion if a company is getting several negative reports and they aren’t well known then it is best to trust your instincts. Seems like GLM (Green Light Marketing) would be a waste of time. Thanks to all who post on this site.
Holy crap. I am SO glad I found this! I had an interview tomorrow with a company called Sports Plus STL, in St. Louis, Missouri. Totally not going now! That is so frustrating that it’s all a scam. I posted my resume online and literally FIVE minutes later, they called to set up an interview. Here is their website: http://www.estream.com/sportsplusstl/
Dynasty Inc. Huge Scam! BEWARE
I have a few more for you, all in Pittsburgh, PA. The Garysson Group, Executive Sports, and 3 Rivers Innovative Strategies. They all have flash, fancy websites however none of them are actually legitimate.
Has anyone ever heard of Superior Concepts? They are located in Oklahoma City. The claim to be a “Sports and Entertainment Marketing Firm”.
i have a “second” interview with a company in TX under the name HDM Marketing Concepts..anyone know anything about them? they have the “flashy” websit, but everything that has happened is matching up with everyone that says these other companies are “scams”. they told me i would be selling INTUIT, somewhat like QuickBooks, to small businesses, they said its “face to face”….another way of saying “door to door?” did not go to college to do this BS. oh they also told me my second interview would be job shadowing. if you know anything, let me know.
I had a similar experience with a “company” called Evantage Inc in North Dallas. I just graduated college and I got a call from them. I should have been suspicious about their website because there was really nothing on it and no literature at all anywhere on the net which should have raised a red flag. They claimed they moved from New York and Atlanta to expand here in Dallas.
Usually these places will rent out a suite in a big building. Their company name won’t even be anywhere on the door. Only about 4 people will be in there. Usually 1 HR/secretary girl and 3 others who have offices who do the interviews. The offices are bare and nothing on the walls at all. The interview is very brief and vague. It’s all a big scam to get you in there. Anytime they say on your 2nd interview you will shadow someone, that’s apart of this big “marketing” employment scam. You will be going door to door and business to business using shady tactics to try and sell people stuff.
I emailed them my resume ( I don’t graduate till Decemeber 2011) and got a email and call the next day. I am to have an interview with them on the 26th and have found the website a little fishy. Thanks for your post, I don’t think I’ll waste my time and money for a 15 minute interview for door-to-door selling
I worked for Scanno Advertising Group for about 5 months and got far enough in the MLM scheme to become a team leader and start travelling to different cities to learn/network/work. I quickly had to drop out because it just plain wasn’t worth my time anymore. It was all commission. I worked 12 hour days as “Team Leader” and still the $12/18 per hour average i was making based on my direct sales wasn’t cutting it and wasn’t worth all the pressure and exhaustion that came along with it (I was stressing about making rent & not having a social life outside of work). Very few people are cut out for it. The only thing good that came about it was that I lost about 10-15 pounds from walking my ass off ALL DAY & everyday (and even some saturdays) trying to talk to at least 200 people that day (that’s the number they give you if you want to get consistent “yesses”). I learned alot about sales and being able to talk to and read any and every type of person, which I’ll take with me forever, but like I said, its gruelling work and only a select few who are fast talkers and REALLY REALLY love doing that kind of stuff will succeed. That’s why they recruit anyone who applies…because it hard to find that person who will stick with it. Its all a numbers game….
Hey has anyone heard of Northeast consulting based out of Braintree, MA??? I’m supposed to go on an interview on Monday, but I’m wondering if it’s gonna be a waste of time. The website is http://www.northeastconsultinginc.com/.
CORConcepts was a rip-off as well as MarketingFX…these are are in the Chicago Land Area, but has anyone heard anything about Sports Marketing Inc.?
THANX FOR NOT LETTING ME WASTE MY TIME ON USELESS THINGS WHEN I CAN BE TRYIN TO GET A REAL JOB THAT’S NOT TRYIN TO ROB PEOPLE OF THEIR TIME
Had the exact same experience with a company called Boomerang Marketing in Chicago. Hesitant to call it a full-blown scam but DEFINITELY misleading! Any legit question I asked was met with a vague answer or simply “we’ll discuss that later in the hiring process”
Ended up wasting a whole day being driven around Chicago suburbs by shady characters. Around 4 hours in I asked to be taken back to the office (and my car!) and they refused. I started telling all the legit business people they were harassing what a scam the company was and not to trust them…at least it made them take me back!
Add TJC Inc in Cincinnati and TableRock Inc to the list in Cincinnati (I think subsidiaries of Cydcor). I worked for tjc for 3 days, plus the all-day 2nd interview, and made NO money for my time. Thank God I got out when I did.
Don’t forget, NY Promotional Events. They are a huge scam group in Deer Park, NY. and somehow they got the NY Times to post their ad in the Marketing section of their jobs board. Is that how bad the economy has become ?
They claim to offer positions in “marketing, customer service, event coordination, and public relations” but in reality, it’s all fused into one actual position: solicitor. I called up and spoke to a girl named Alexandra Giblin. She is extremely friendly and sets you up for an immediate interview, and of course you become excited because you feel as though you’re on your way to getting a great job.
You interview with either one of three people: A girl named Jessica Lopez, or two other guys named John and Rob. They each tell you how they made a success of themselves starting at entry level marketing, to inspire you. They then set you up for a secondary interview to observe at one of their “events”.
Well, much to my surprise the “event”, the fund-raiser marketing event we attended, was in front of a gas station harassing people who are just trying to pump their car with gas to buy Nascar FW1 car wax. These are their so-called “events”.
Also, they won’t mention until last interview that there is no base salary- it is all commission based. Now, ofcourse most of the money earned goes to NY Promotional Events, right into Jessica Lopez’ pretty little pocket, while you get whatever tiny percentage they feel like throwing at you.
A HUGE waste of time, do not even bother they are SCAM ARTISTS.
Thanks so much for the informative comment! I almost wasted my time with Pacific Advertising Group. I am also in Las Vegas area and the receptionist answered the phone exactly the same way that RL described.
Thank you so much!
OK guys, I’m just going to emphasize the company name with the word scam next to it, so that it gets more google hits. I went to the first preliminary interview today and I was invited back for a follow up tomorrow. Bull. I mean in reality they are a company, but they are shady and they’re a company hidden beneath scaly skin. I knew something up: tons of young adults waiting in the lobby–a white, loose-leaf paper reading, “The Acquisition Group” scotch-taped to the front door–a quick, dodgy interview with a sleeze to, “put a face to a resume”–small, tiny office for forty-plus employees. The whole thing was a sketchy experience, but I must admit that they are easy to fall for–even if you are bright and “don’t fall for scams.” This thing is easy to fall for. Don’t get scammed! The company’s name was: The Acquisition Group Inc. SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM. Don’t fall for it. They’re on Monster.com. They’re on indeed.com. They’re on careerbuilder.com. Don’t fall for it: The Acquisition Group is a scam.
I hope this shows up on Google, and I hope that this was helpful to people.
Take care, everyone.
The new name is Global Marketing Inc. It’s allllllll over careerbuilder.com and hiring sites like that. Of course, I was intrigued by the listing and sent my resume and was really surprised when I got an email response a few hours later. Too good to be true because it is! The person saying they are the human resource manager is Stacy Joseph. They gave me the address to the company and when I searched the address in Google, it’s a completely different company! I also called the number they provided and asked them for their website, the “receptionist” said it’s still under construction but in the job posting it says this company has been in business for a long time. BS up the wazoo. DO NOT APPLY FOR GLOBAL MARKETING! Here is the email I got:
“Global Marketing, Inc.
3333 Bowers Ave Suite #130
Santa Clara, Ca 95054
408-200-9895
Thank you for your interest in a position with Global Marketing, Inc. My name is Stacy Joseph, and I am the Human Resources Manager. I’ve received your resume, reviewed your qualifications, past experiences and skills, as well as compared your resume to others received. After evaluating these things against our criteria, I would like to invite you to come in for a personal interview with one of our managers.
Congratulations on being selected, as there were many resumes that were submitted and reviewed. With new locations, new clients, and current campaigns that include some of the area’s professional and amateur sports teams, as well as a few of the region’s premier restaurants, golf courses and entertainment venues on the horizon, it is important that we set up an initial interview as soon as possible.
Please call our office at 408-200-9895 between the hours of 9am to 5pm to schedule an initial one-on-one interview. Please note the interview will take place at our Santa Clara location. Thanks again and we look forward to speaking to you soon!
Sincerely,
Stacy Joseph
Human Resources Manager
Global Marketing, Inc.”
Ha Ha! I love that i found this site three weeks after I worked for one of these companies. All is as it should be, even down to the spiel on gas. The funny thing is I had a knack for asking the questions like “who pays for gas” and “what happen to the receptionist I talked with on the phone” (as they tend to use many names). lol, anyway, yes it works, I made like $130 on my first day and quit on my second. It sucks, totally not professional, and not recommended for any college grad with real education seeking to put your talents to work. M.A.X.I.S consulting group inc is definitely one… “you’ll be nothing more than a glorified door-to-door salesman”! – Me
Here’s another couple in Colorado that I almost fell for..
Entertainment Marketing AKA W.I.T. Enterprises
on 7475 Dakin St in Denver, Co
Steven Reagan
HR Department
Entertainment Marketing, Inc.
Off: (303) 412-6747
http://www.ent-marketing.com
And The Marketing Group
Katy Jones
6160 S. Syracuse Way, Ste. 100
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
Phone: 303-220-9604
Fax: 303-220-9607
Email: hr@rockiesmarketing.com
Hilarious!
Wow. I’m about to move back to Colorado. I would like to report that “The Marketing Group.” has since changed their name to Rocky Mountain Marketing Inc!
But it’s the exact same address and phone number! I sent my resume…here’s the e-mail I got back:
Hi Jd,
You had recently submitted a resume into us via e-mail. We are very much interested in discussing this position with you further as well as potentially setting up a time for you to come in to interview with us. If you are still actively looking for a position, contact me @ 303-220-9604 between the hours of 9 am and 4pm. If you are no longer interested in a new position, please contact me as well via e-mail or phone so that the Human Resources Department can update your file properly.
Thanks and Have a Great Day,
Please feel free to visit our web site and twitter account!
Rocky Mountain Marketing
6160 S. Syracuse Way #230
Englewood, CO 80111
The complaints about The Acquisitions Group are all true and it is a scam. I traveled 2 hours because of the tough economy for the first interview which was a sheep herd of people going in to fill out paper questioners and then a 10 minute interview which is only an employee asking you more questions. Talk about a waste of time. The atmosphere there was very unprofessional. (Blasting Hip-hop music while I am trying to answer questions is rude). I knew the company was cheap because the receptionist desk was the same one I had in my apartment that I got for $60 at Wal-Mart. I have researched the company and it is all a scam. It is easy to fall for but thanks to other internet posts and articles I will not waste another 4 hours of my life and gas money for the second interview. Thanks to all who have complained. “The Acquisitions Group” = Scam Scam Scam Scam Scam Scam Scam Scam Scam. Let’s see if that gets google hits.
THANK YOU SO MUCH, I had an interview, but not going. I also found a link to this which might be helpful to anyone else questioning this
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=120960222985177900
It’s an article about the landers corp, which is suspiciously close to the “MAXIS Consulting group” I had an interview with, but not anymore
I got the exact same email as KB, and I worked there for a week. It’s a scam.
Omg ! NY Promotional Events is a HUGE SCAM !
I was set up with a interview with this girl Alexandra Giblin. She tells you to call her “allie” she is so nice and bubbly it makes you feel comfortable ! But she is lying to you, she tells you before your first interview that they have office, marketing, customer service, and public relations positions available, and they train you !
I was like so excited when I got the interview, I bragged about it to my mom and dad and my girls. I was so embarrassed, they stuck me in front of an ugly gas station in a bad neighborhood and I had to bother people to buy some car cleaner. It was so humiliating !
I did this for two weeks, and then when I got my pay, i only made $40.00 !!!! Forty dollars for two weeks work !!!!! I was so angry, I wanted to sue ! I didnt know it was commission only !!!!!!!!! But they insist that they told me it was commission only, and I couldn’t do anything about it cuz legally I agreed to it. ARRR !!!!
Big waste of my time !
I am on the side of the ONE guy I saw write something positive. Does anyone know what direct sales and marketing is!? It is going door to door and that can mean either to businesses or to customers homes. Making one or two hundred dollars a day is pretty darn good for an entry level postion. Some of these companies I’m sure are sketier than others but I know the one I worked for had a respectable manager who worked very hard to shake the stigma of door to door sales being a “scam.” Most are real companies with real people working there and make real paychecks. Not many, but some employees do advance into managemnt roles within the company. I am not sure how this would be the case if it were not a real company.
If you are NOT interested in going door to door here is a tip, do not reply to ads for Direct Sales and Marketing Companies!!!!! I was not brainwashed but I no longer work there. I put the sales experience on my resume and have a great job now but I wouldn’t have gotten my curtrent job without experience. The sales and marketing jobs you are all hoping and expecting to get are not for entry level people like yourselves. Entry level postions are not glamorous and direct sales is no exception. Quit complaining and get over yourselves…. college grads are a dime a dozen. I was one, you are one or you will soon be one! Good luck to you all you complainers and I hope you find a position that is right for you, but you aren’t going to find it on this site!!
Thanks direct sales. You not only taught me discipline, work ethic, and how to communicate effectively with others, you made me a lot of money. Thanks to all the so-called “scammers” out there who were willing to give me a job, when I DIDNT have any experience. I am sure some people have had bad experiences in the past with some of these companies, but do not judge all companies the same way. If you google Subway or Walmart scams, you will find a million different things on these companies. Does that mean that these companies are scams. NO, of course not. It means the internet is a very place for people to express their OPINIONS. Also, from my experiences, if people want to have a great career and be “successful”, then they have to work A LOT. When people are going to medical school, they have to put people in the worst possible situations to see if they can handle being a doctor. Simply, it is all supply and demand. Sure, everyone likes the idea of being successful and being financially stable, but once they find out that they have to WORK, then they usually find a easier route. For example, everyone that starts out going to med school/law school doesn’t become a doctor or lawyer, because it is hard and you have to WORK LONG HOURS. The longer I write this, the more pissed I am getting by all these average, spoiled people on the job board. Do some real research before getting on these boards and letting people who you’ve never met before influence your decisions and your career. Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Jamie Foxx, Colenel Sanders (ha), Donald Trump, Mark Cuban all started of doing residential sales. They turned out OK. Some people are satisfied with making 50k per year and that’s fine, but if you’re not, then you should check out a direct sales company. Only do it, if you are willing to work your ass off. Have a good one.
Hey. Has anyone experienced anything with the Maxis Consulting Group or should I pursue a job opportunity there? Portland, OR.
Thank you to ALL of YOU! I was going to travel to Tigard for my initial interview with Maxis Consulting. I was very excited and have extensive professional experience. I started my research after my conversation with Human resources named Terry. Very nice and very professional. After reading this website I was concerned, but still was giving them the benefit of the doubt. II figured I’d call and ask a couple basic questions and if they could answer those without a problem I’d attend the interveiw. After all this type of business is not for everyone, but real business IS for me. I called human resources and spoke with Kathy. I just had three questions:
1: What type of duties would I be doing during the job?
2: Is there door to do sales?
3: What is the pay during training?
I was very respectful. I didn’t have an attacking mindset because after all I still believed that this company was not affiliated with Landers or BMF. In fact, I hadnt even heard about Landers or BMF till this website. She told me she couldn’t answer what duties nor pay because they simply work to set interviews and schedule new employees. She told me door to door sales means residential and they strickly do business to business. Which is a friendly and non threatening way of saying door to door with businesses. When I asked her about the job duties she told me she didn’t know and that was the purpose of the interview. I explained to her I just wanted to know before I drove down (6 hours) because they were compared to Landers and BMF. She suddenly became VERY defensive and said it was only because BMF used to be located across the street, but no affiliation. She then told me there were many qualified applicatants and that she didn’t feel like wasting ten minutes of her time to explain to me the duties of my job. All I wanted was a one minute version not an indepth account of my daily activities. That should be at the interview. She continued on attacking me and told me that I was the one choosing to relocate and it was me who was deciding to apply for them. I couldn’t believe how agressive she was being! She also told me a manager would not call me to talk about the position because a real employee would show up for the interview.
The funny part about this is.. I don’t mind selling business to business. It’s a tough job, but gets your feet in the door and the training and expeirence can really set you up for success in the business world. I admit it’s not for everyone, but it you can look past the 72 work weeks for little pay for a short amount of time, business can lead to huge success.
I realized that if 10 minutes of her time was being “wasted” by answering a few quetions then truly they must be the same type of job. If a business wants you they will spend their time selling you THEIR company. A real qualified employee brings sucess. You wouldn’t let them slip away!
She also said they receive hundreds of these type of calls every week which makes sense to her frustration. I just can’t believe I almost drove 6 hours to interview with them. THANK YOU ONE DAY ONE JOB!!!
PLEASE add Dynasty Inc. (or just “Dynasty”) and Worldwide Acquisitions to this list. They are both SCAMS and NO ONE deserves to be sucked in!!!!!!!
Here’s one that I almost fell for… bummer, I was getting my hopes up for a good marketing job.
Northeast Consulting, Inc. in Braintree, MA.
Here’s there official website: http://www.northeastconsultinginc.com/
And here’s a couple other articles about this scam:
http://freethebasement.blogspot.com/2009/03/job-searching-marketing-scams-and-you.html
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/457/RipOff0457511.htm
The M.A.X.I.S Consulting Group is was The Landers Group has change their name to in the Portland area. Having been suckered in the “job shadowing” for a similar multi-level marketing company in Seattle that sold office supplies to companies door-to-door and getting stuck for an entire day 55 miles from home with no way to leave I knew right away what they were after I interviewed with them a year and a half ago. Unless you like selling Mariners tix door to door, stay away from the M.A.X.I.S Group in Portland, they are the Landers Group.
Thank you all. My college son was very excited about being called to interview with the company of Force. He then was called back for a second interview that said it would take 8 hours working from 12-8 (p.m.) I decided to look into this before he went for the second interview and found this site as well as others that discussed what a scam this is. Shame on these people for trying to take advantage of people. In these economic times when people are desperate for jobs and money is tight it is ridiculous someone is out there trying to scam an average American. I researched and found a list of names these business operate under but all lead back pretty much to the same set up and scam. Right down to the “slick Indian” guy doing the bate and switch interview tatics to throw off naive unsuspecting people desperate for work. Thank you again to all who take the time to respond to these and put this information out there so others do not have to suffer.
My Fiance fell for this scam unfortunately.
He has worked in a company in LA called ” Sports Marketting International”. These people that work there are VERY shady. He never ever got paid and he worked 16 hour days. When ever he would bring this up to his “Manager”, he would get excuses and get “promoted”.
If you run across this company, or any like it… RUN!
My advice? Visit the website before you go for an interview. If they seem as though they’re talking to a potential employer instead of a potential CUSTOMER, then they’re basically just trying to get people to work for them.
you can add Polaris (Financial District) & NY Partners in NYC – 35W (blocks from the Empire). SCAM – SCAM – SCAM – A-LOT! found these on the craigslist job board/post.
I asked very precise Qs prior to my meeting … “is this a salaried position, or commission-based structure?” Of course … I was given incorrect info from my initial phone screening/invitation for an interview. $43 later … I’m home and upset that the opportunity was NOT genuine. What a little lie can do – thanks Jenny. And for the hiring manager, Dave … to insult and put down a fellow employee for giving false info – stating “that she doesn’t know, and has no idea what’s going on” … yet she only works in HR.
NY Partners – prides themselves in working with an energy provider in TX with whom you can only take a logical guess to who it is … other than that same shpeal that others have written on this forum.
Keep it movin everyone … these are the breaks … and we”ll all get our chance to shine!
Not sure if it’s already listed but add Sports Marketing Inc. in Sherman Oaks, CA. I was going to go for an interview and I’m so glad I did my research first. I googled the “President” Matt Kelly of Sports Marketing Inc. and got lots of great information. Thanks a lot! Here are some other reviews:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/The-Landers-Group/Multi-Level-Marketin/The-Landers-Group-Matt-Kelly-FEE59.htm
http://www.ripoffreport.com/The-Landers-Group/Employers/The-Landers-Group-Kelly-Adve-787CD.htm
i responded to an ad on craigslist for Polaris NYC. they called me immediatly. did a quick google search and found out there are shady as hell.
stay away from these slimeballs.
T.A.G. Marketing, Los Angeles, is another scam. I applied on Careerbuilder to a post advertising “entry level marketing jobs”. Allegedly, their company serves Fortune 100 companies like AT&T and Staples. I received a call back later that day from their receptionist, Samantha Marroquin. She wanted to set up an interview immediately. So the next day I went in and the reception room was the standard fake job fare: cute receptionist, big screen TV tuned to ESPN, loud pop music playing over the stereo, and about a dozen wide-eyed young applicants waiting for an interview. Jeez, can’t these scam artists put in the effort to be a little creative/unique? I interviewed with Katie Hsieh who mumbled incomprehensibly whenever I asked her specific questions regarding the job. I declined the offer to attend the second day-long interview, so I was spared that excruciating ordeal, but I DID fall for the initial interview. I’ll tell you why: the receptionist was nice and professional, and I didn’t ask for detailed answers regarding job duties. So there you go! Ask “What exactly does your firm do, and what specifically will I be doing in your entry level position? What specific product are you selling?” Any real business will easily answer such questions.
Long story short, T.A.G. Marketing Los Angeles California. SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM.
I am a former employee of the Landers Group, and your right, they lure you in with all these big name companies that they “represent”. I fell for it and began the entry level position, within a week I was promoted to the next level. The schedule was horrible. I worked all day from 7am-7pm(9-5 in the field) Monday-Saturday. I had no other problems besides the amount of time spent working. I made bell everyday(profit of 100.00) and the weekly paychecks were great for a 19yr old. That is until our weekly pay schedule was thrown off and we were getting paid bi-weekly, then the bi-weekly pay never came and we were waiting on “backed up leads” to be verified before our pay was distributed. There were so many ups and downs of that job but you could never show it. Everyday after a hard day of soliciting we’d come back to the office and if asked how your day was your only response should be “Awesome”. It was as if I was working with a group of robots. I can recall one day working inside of a Sam’s Club and I made $15 the whole day….I finally quit that crappy job and got a real job with a steady paycheck.
#1 in google for the landers group – congrats willy!
Does anyone know anything about Sports & Entertainment Advertising in Denver? They said there are employees who are in charge of door-to-door sales but that’s not the position they want me for. Has anyone heard of this line before or does it sound legit?
Does anyone know anything about SC Marketing in Anaheim? Located at 701 E Ball?
Great Post,
Was just about to send my resume to the The Acquisition group in Framingham, Ma. Thank God I googled them first.
I just had my second interview yesterday with a company just like these, in Raleigh, NC. I had a bad feeling about it from day one but went anyway because I need a job.
My question is do any of these type companies represent big name companies like Sears and Home Depot, or is this the same type of thing.
At the moment I am thinking I should accept my losses and run. Any advice?
I had my first interview with M.A.X.I.S Consulting Group today. My interview was with a very nice bubbly lady named Carrie. She seemed to have a lot of knowledge of the company but spoke very quickly. She said the first interview was just to get to know me and a second interview would be much more informative. She implied that she needed an assistant manager to start asap. The second interview was to see how i related to all the higher-ups and if they thought I was a good fit. So the first interview was short and sweet and I left feeling good, hopeful of my new position. Needless to say I’m not going to my second interview, I am however going to call to ask a few questions. If the response is the same as the rude and defensive responses that others have received, I will share a few words back.
Thank you everyone for all your stories and comments, additionally I just moved here and am actively seeking employment. Any ideas…shoot me an e-mail.
thanks,
Miranda
Archetype Solutions is a scam…you can find them on EVERY job search site…even Myspace…AVOID THEM!
I can’t tell you how many times I have had been threatened to have the cops called on me….embarassing.
So, Old Employee, which of the scam companies are you pimping for? Do you enjoy taking money from people to satisfy your selfish immoral ends? Enjoy hell, boy.
I am happy for these postings also. I just got a call from Pacific Advertising Group and for some reason I wasnt really happy about the call. Even though I really really need a job. So I googled it and came here. Im happy Im not the only one that felt that way. Thanks guys.
Add Dynasty Marketing In Burlington, MA to the list. After scheduling an iternview with the so called venue and sports management firm I decided to cancel. When I googled the company I couldn’t find any history or anything about the company. When i searched Dynasty Burlington, MA all I could find were blogs about how the company is a scam. When I applied I received an email response within 2 hours, telling me to give them a call and im the perfect candidate to set up an interview. I thought it’s the other way around they call there potential employees? I then sent them another application using another email and false name with made up stuff that had nothing to do with marketing, such as cashier at a grocery store again im the perfect candidate.
For your advice do not waste you time, money, or breath on these so called professionals
Another one of these companies just started in Walnut Creek California. I went through interview #1 and also began researching feeling as though I was not receiving straight-forward answers. I just googled the mission statement of East Bay Concepts and found 5 matching websites.
i just wasted a week and a day buying into this shit….me and two other chics did some research and feel so stupid for wasting our long hours with these fake people delivering empty promises…two of us have degrees and are not stupid by any means…we were skeptical and did our research and now we have lost time we cannot get back. anyone in the tempe, mesa, tuscon, scottsdale, phoenix area beware of anyone calling themselves owners named vince, johnathan or carissa….sux because i thought these were good people… they even call themselves christians …. what a let down, especially to someone who just moved to the area…dangggg
oh ya…they call their “business” fiat lux enterprises…another to add to the list
So here is my bullshit story. Much like the stories posted above this isn’t too different. I actually have a decent job but am looking for better pay. I applied on careerbuilder to a job at SMI or Sports Marketing Inc. Total BS. So I go to the interview… cute receptionist? Check. Big screen tv playing sportscenter? No, the tv was playing Never Back Down. Awful. Nobody ever says their last name at the business either. So when I went in “Andy’s” office there wasn’t anything personal. he talked fast, fed me some lines about the White Sox being a client of theirs. They also can never give a number. Everything that should involve a number Andy would say, “They have been a client of ours for a few years now.” Or, “Here at SMI, we have been in business now for… a number of years.” What the fuck does that mean you D-bag? I was there for no more than 25 minutes and he said he would call me back around 5:30 after they reviewed my qualifications against the other candidates. Sure enough, at about 5:45 Andy calls me. I didn’t answer, so he left me a voicemail, where he fumbled in pronouncing the name of the company. Awesome. I call the guy back. He says after further review I was one of the top candidates and he would like me to come back tomorrow and spend the day from 9am to 6pm. Kiss my ass. I said I can’t. So he won’t let this go and asks me when I am free. I say I will find out next Thursday. He asked me to call him then. Thinking long about this, I decided not to call him back. Stay away from SMI, Sports Marketing Inc. in the Chicago area. This place was located in Lombard.
PLEASE ADD:
ECS inc of Long Island City to the list of scams. After reading the post above made by “KC” i realized that i received the same e-mail ALMOST EXACTLY word for word – seems all that was changed was the contact information. RED FLAG.
“ECS, Inc.
44-02 23rd St.
Ste #420
Long Island City, NY 11101
I’d like to thank you for applying to ECS and for your interest in a position with our company. A member from my management staff has received your resume, reviewed your qualifications, past experiences and skills, as well as compared your resume to others received. After evaluating these things against our criteria, I would like to invite you to come in for a personal interview with one of our managers.
Congratulations on being selected, as there were many resumes that were submitted and reviewed. With new locations, new clients, and current campaigns that include some of the area’s professional and amateur sports teams, as well as a few of the region’s premier restaurants, golf courses and entertainment venues on the horizon, it is important that we set up a preliminary interview as soon as possible.
Please call our office at 718-706-6230 to schedule an initial on-on-one interview during our office hours, which are Monday-Friday from 8am – 5pm. Thanks again for your interest and we look forward to speaking with you soon.
Sincerely,
Sarah Peterson
ECS, Inc.
Human Resources
careers@ecs-inc.net “
I am so glad I found this. I had a phone interview with a company called PMA Concepts tomorrow. I started doing research so I would be able to talk to them about the company, then I came across this website. Thank you so much.
VMI, COR concepts, FX marketing, SMI sports marketing = SCAMS…They are all the same. Stay away and dont waist your time!
Well, I have to say, working for TOM SPIRO at VICTORY PROMOTIONS was an experience. I had a great leader who showed me the ropes, worked hard, learned tons and because of my efforts to push myself to be better, make more money (come on guys, everyone likes a massage!) I have subsequently always been employed, I do what it takes and am pretty stoked about it. Working a commission only job teaches a person what work really means, and if you’re good at it enough to teach other people how to make money, that’s a gift. I love my job now. I wouldn’t be as rediculously awesome at it if I didn’t know what I was doing. And I learned all that stuff on the street. Working for Victory Promotions was probably the best thing I’ve ever done. And no, it’s not forever, and yes, it’s totally hard work. But if you can do that, you can do anything.
If you’re unemployed and looking for work, go earn it. That’s what employment is all about- ensuring that stuff moves from person to person, business to business. Sell stuff. Practice because it’s not the easiest thing to do but you can learn how to do it. Earn your money. Once you prove that you can earn it, someone will hire you to work for them. And you’ll know how to ask the right questions and land whatever job you want. You learn how to turn a No into a Yes. It’s a skill, it can be taught, practiced and developed. But even when you’re working for someone, it’s important to know deep down, you’ve got to earn your job too. It’s not a gift or an entitlement. People who work hand and do what it takes are valuable and make bank.
Stop whining, start working. Do what it takes. Talk to the people who earn the most money in the office and do what they do. And then you’ll be earning money too. And then you parlay your SKILLS into a job that you really want.
I’ll hire anyone who was successful door to door. Because I know they have mad skills. They worked for them and will do great in business because they have a solid foundation.
You can add JCW Marketing in Charlotte NC. Had an interview tomorrow that I will not be attending. It is exactly what has been described.
I worked for PMA Concepts, and after going through the experience, I have to say that as far as I can tell these companies aren’t scams, but are very, very misleading. They are extremely vague with the job description, they throw around big name companies that they “partner with” ( whether it’s true or not I don’t know) they tell you that, they’re only bringing back 4-5 people out of 50 that are interviewed today and you’re one,and on your second interview, the day that you shadow your potential team leader, you’re still not told what you’re going to do until you get close the territory for the day.
I stopped working only after a week because of physical aliments but I have no problems with the work itself, it’s quite easy, but it just wasn’t for me. The only real problem I have with the company was that I was told my paycheck ( I did get leads during my time there) would be mailed to me within two weeks, it’s been more than a month. Whenever I call the receptionist says that the lead manager is on a call and will call me back, he hasn’t so far, and today I kept calling the office and no one answers. I want to think positively of the company, but the way they’re treating my situation is making me think otherwise. I didn’t work for free, I produced and I want to get paid.
Bottom line I feel that this (these) company isn’t a scam, because you do make money, or so I was told, but they are very sketchy with details and how they reveal themselves to you. I feel that no matter what the job is your potential employer should always be upfront on what the job entails.
So, you’re telling me that you were misled by this company, still worked for them, and haven’t been paid, yet you don’t think it’s a scam?
Willy, in my case I guess you’re right it was a scam, because I haven’t been paid yet even though I worked and put in hours for the company, but as as much as I could tell there were people who were getting paid and making money, so that’s why I’m not so quick to call it a complete scam. Dishonest and misleading yes, but it’s not a situation where you don’t have to put in large amounts of money ( no money for that matter) just to work or showcase the products. But don’t think that I’m letting them off the hook because I am pissed and frustrated with my situation, because no matter how small the paycheck maybe, its money that is owed to me. I wouldn’t advise anyone to work there or a similar company unless you’re truly desperate, because in my view not getting guaranteed money for that kind of job isn’t worth it.
Company in Atlanta claims they are a company under AT&T…Fire, Inc. sounds like the same type of thing.
Yep. The Acquisition Group. And just in case you google it and spell it wrong, The Aquisition Group. Definitely appreciate the head’s up about this one. THANK YOU!
Please add Sabres marketing and Royal marketing to the list! (exton, pa)
Acquisition Group
I was contacted because they viewed my resume on Careerbuilder. I was called and told they were looking to hire a new director of marketing. The interview was set up very fast within 24 hours which I thought was unusual. I looked at their website and found it uninteresting and decided what the hell… I’m free anyway I’ll go and see whats up. When I arrived to the interview I sat and waited about an hour to meet with a guy. He took my resume and application did not even look at them and started off talking about the company. Periodically he would stop and ask me if this was something I was interested in. Towards the end I stopped him and said “This does not sound anything like the duties of a director of marketing. It sounds like a direct marketing/sales position” He smiled and said exactly. I told him what I was told I was interviewing for and he said that there is fast growth potential into that position. Kinda irritated I said “but that’s not what I was told I was interviewing for which seems a little misleading.” He went on the state more perks about the business and how face to face sales works and how a business makes money. Really irritated I stopped him again and said “did you actually read my resume.?” he said yes and I proceeded to say “you realize I have an MBA and around 9 years experience as I COO for a European Corporation along with 3 years experience as the VP of sales for fortune 500 software company.” He said “yes and that is all great experience which makes you a very competitive candidate for this position. I said “then why are you explaining to me how business works when I obviously have been a C level exec for a company. He stated all companies are different in how they generate money”
(which is true but sales is pretty straight forward) and I stated I’m interested to know more about your compensation package, he went on to explain a guarantee weekly and commissions then jumped into say you have 6 figure potentials with us. I said like a smartass “great but what if I’m shooting for 7 figures in the next two years is that possible?”
And of course he said no. After asking him how long he worked there which was about 1 year I asked if he had made 6 figures which of course was also no. I proceeded to ask what companies they do business with specifically and he named of a company I was formally the Internet Marketing Director for. I asked him about that company and he went on stating all these facts which were not facts but more so misleading information meaning they purchased from the company. I stated well since I have made purchases from Wal-mart, Costco, LL-Bean etc… can I say that I do business with them yes… but that does mean I do business for them…no… Very very irritated I said you must think I’m a fool then by telling me this and even conning me into an interview for a position you are not actually offering and then telling me all these BS perks. Along with the fact your sorry company thinks it’s ok to exploit educated people for shit pay and the fact you think I spent 6 years in two Ivy league institutions to work for 500- 600 bucks a week is truly fucking insulting. I realize times are bad but if you read the bottom of my resume where I provided you with my salary History and requirements you’d know I have a History of making near 7 figures and you probably cannot not afford me at this time. He then said I think we are done and I got up and left.
To my surprise I got an email when I got home, Automated of course asking me in for a 2nd interview. Wow did not see that one coming after a cursed and totally disrespected the disrespectful hiring manager that sucks poor saps in daily to make him money while half of them wait to get paid. It’s very sad it’s not like the old days when people could get jobs by achieving in their fields educated or not. It’s companies like these that are the problem with our work system today. That is also why an education means less today and it’s harder for small companies to exist.
Now I am a candidate for a job as a C-level exec and am even ok with work for less than 60k a year if it’s with the right company and a company going somewhere. I kick myself in the ass daily for leaving my old post to move for my kids but I am one of the lucky few that have a lot of capital to live off of till I find another good job. For all the other poor people that end up taking these positions with these companies only to get screwed in the end expose them for what they are “professionals yes but not in the world of good business, they are professionals at taking advantage of people in hard times and new college graduates lacking to common sense to see through their bullshit”
does anybody know anything about a company called NCIS, they are a fragrance company, they changed their name to ACO I was wondering if they were fake.
I worked for one of these places for a few months in St Louis and I agree with the FEW people on this message board that have something positive to say. Its DIRECT marketing, what do you think its going to be? Its hard work but at the end of the day you felt as though you earned your money. Yes I “sold out” too and now work a desk job with a steady paycheck. But let me just say that having door-to-door sales on your resume REALLY helps. After putting my direct marketing experience on my resume doors started to swing open for me and I am now on a career path I enjoy. It really shows you what hard work truly is and makes you appreciate getting steadily paid. All I’m saying is go experience it for yourself, if you dont like it its only one day out of your life, your not employed anyways what else do you have to do?
I second Jennifer’s comment about Sabres Marketing (Exton/Phila/etc) ~ it is not a real company!!!! beware! Also, anybody heard of Legacy Concepts Inc (www.legacyconceptsinc.com) in King of Prussia, PA~ I have a feeling this is another scam! There is a real Legacy Concepts based out of AL with a different website… I don’t think there would be 2!
Has anybody noticed that these scam jobs all use gmail accounts?
Wow! I’m soooo glad I read up on this. I sent in my resume for the” Aquisition Group” of Framingham MA yesterday and they set me up with an interview today. I had a dentist appointment and they didn’t mind if I was late. They were “wrapping up” interviews though and had to get mine in asap. I went to the interview and it felt really strange. There were no company signs just paper taped up on the window. They said they had been there for two years. Shouldn’t they at least have a real sign by now? Inside It was just a bland office setting blaring loud music.
The man took me in for my interview and it lasted all of 10 minutes. I learned nothing about the job except they market for Verizon and Staples. I just told him about my hobbies and experience in marketing which was nil. About 3 hours later they had a “board meeting” and I was invited to the second interview. The whole thing wreeked of scam to me. I can’t afford to quit my day time job for this.
Wow.I am really amazed at these experiences. JCW marketing group and Elevations are just like this. I live in Charlotte NC, and i answered 2 job opportunities for both of these companies. Both ads were extremely vague and the ads were almost identical, I almost thought they were the same place but they are both 2 separate places as I have checked up on them some. At both places they wanted to set up an interview, but they would not say what the job was ; they called it a career opportunity. And when I attempted to call JCW back to find out more I was unable to reach the lady who had set the interview. No one ever picked the phone up. I was however able to0 reach Elevations, at which I cancelled my interview. I did resaerch on them and was not happy wth the things people were saying.I do agree with the people who say that is how direct sales are but I think it is unethical to advertise for positions that do not exist and purposely mislead applicants. The ad I answered did not mention direct sales. So people in Charlotte NC area watch out for Elevation Inc
and JCW Marketing Group. And there are also a few more just like them. Just check out their ad for a job see what it looks like and beware of any other company that has anything in common with them.
I got an interview at the company called Sports Plus Promotions at St Louis MO, do u know if this job is a scam? help
I have a second interview with Legacy Concepts Inc in King of Prussia, PA but it sounds very similar to these other companies. Anyone know anything about it? I have a feeling it’s also a scam
Thank you for this website. I had an interview scheduled this afternoon with JCW Marketing. As a college graduate, I was really looking foreward to this. However, I found it funny that no website for JCW Marketing existed, but just their job postings. I called the person, and they said it was under Colossusmg.com, which was under construction because “basketball season just ended.” I don’t know what league she was talking about in January just ended! I looked under the Better Business Bureau and couldn’t find JCW. In fact, the phone number I was given was actually linked to the other company, Colossus Marketing! This was enough for me to raise red flags, so I started looking at some sites and found this one. Thank you for helping me realize this was a scam…
This is unbelievable!!! I went for my first interview at The Acquisition Group in Framingham, MA today. Traveled about an hour for a 10 min “interview”. A little over 2 hours later I recieved a phone call to come in for my second interview tommrow. But after researching and reading all of these posts, I do not plan on going back. What a waste of time and gas. I didn’t really get any information about what I would be doing. Just that my second day would be all day shadowing someone. What kind of “interview” is that? Isn’t that more like orientation, and you get paid for orientation? I now realize that there is no guaranteed pay and that is all door to door sales based. I can’t afford to drive 2 hrs, work all day and not have guaranteed pay. There were quite a few people in the lounge with me waiting to be interviewed, and some of them seemed to be way over qualified for this position (just by talking with them). This comapny seems weird and like they don’t really read resumes, they just try to lure you in to doing something, before you even realize what you doing. It sucks because I was going into to the interview thinking it could be a good opportunity. Guess Not!!!!
Soooo glad I found this blog. I applied for a posiiton with World wide marketing last night, but couldnt find a web address. I got a call back to day and the girl gave me the address http://worldwidemktg.net/ founded by adam gerald. When I googled the company name and the owners name to find more info, I came across ACG marketing, started by the same guy with the exact same website, just in NC: http://webpreview.estream.com/acgmarketinginc_com/. There is no real information on either of these websites about what the do, but from this site, I think I get a good idea. I’m Canceling my interview…. ACG Marketing is now World wide marketing or world wide concepts.
Bella Marketing in Culver City needs to be added to this list. I had an interview with them today. They work out of a tiny office park. They aren’t even listed on the building’s directory and their door sign simply reads “MARKETING.” In addition they answer the phone “Events and Planning.” A big red flag for me happened while I was waiting for my interview. The woman at the desk was calling people the entire time to schedule interviews. Technically she was doing a preliminary phone interview, but everyone got an interview appointment. That wasn’t such a big deal until she called one potential. Obviously I could only hear one side of the conversation, but I could deduce the other side. The potential had asked what the job was, to which she replied “Well, I’m only HR, so I can’t tell you much about the job. But I’m going to forward your resume to our hiring manager, and if you get selected for an interview you’ll receive a call in the next two days. They’ll tell you more about it then.” The one person who asked more about the job, didn’t get the interview. As for me, once I got home I decided to do a little more research on the company. All website results were about hiring opportunities. Even over half their website (once I actually found it) was about applying for a job. I got the second interview, but needless to say, I cancelled.
Has anyone heard of Universal Direct Inc (Ontario, CA)? I have an interview with them tomorrow, but they seems a bit off to me.
Global Marketing Inc. opened a new branch in Hollywood, Florida. I will not go for my second interview tomorrow. I was hopeful but skeptical about this job. The two that are running this “branch” are Carl Foss and Premal Colaco.
GLOBAL
4651 Sheridan St. STE 301
Hollywood, FL 33021
Thank you for your response to our company. After carefully reviewing your resume, we would like to congratulate you and invite you to come in for a preliminary interview with our management team. The preliminary interview gives us an opportunity to meet you in person and go over your experience. It also gives us the chance to share with you the different types of career opportunities that are available with us, and decide whether there is a match.
We are a sports and entertainment-marketing firm. We design, develop, and market aggressive promotional ad campaigns for professional sports teams, hotels, spa’s, and resorts. Because our advertising is affordable for our clients as well as our customers, our client portfolio has outgrown us.
If you feel like this is a good fit for you, please give us a call as soon as possible because we will be filling immediate entry-level positions as soon as possible!
I just scheduled an interview with the Acquisition Group for next week. After coming across this website and doing a little of my own research I am going to cancel that interview. Especially since I discovered that Simple Marketing Solutions, Inc. is located at the same address.
This post was so helpful… Unfortunately I wasn’t lucky enough to find out about this “multi-level marketing” scam before the dreaded observation day. I just got back a few hours ago and it was terrible. My interview was with Legacy Concepts in Birmingham, AL (which, by the way lala, is an MLM scam as well, trust me!) It isn’t necessarily a scam, but the opportunity for advancement is sketchy, and I couldn’t imagine doing what the girl who was training me did today! She was basically promoting the “growth potential” the whole time, which is obviously appealing but presumably false. The job entailed offering customers a free windshield wash for “customer appreciation day,” and checking the windshields for cracks. If they have a crack, you go into your salespitch for a certain glass company (I won’t name them because they probably aren’t even aware of the sketchiness involved.) If you have full coverage insurance, your policy will most likely cover it but if not the “associate” goes into a cash pitch and tries to sell the service anyway. This position is only supposed to be anywhere from 10-30 days, and then you move on to manager training, then to associate manager, and so forth within four months. I just don’t buy it, and I’m glad that resources such as this are available to warn unsuspecting victims of the inaccuracy of these job descriptions.
Can anyone tell me anything about a company calling it self Multi Smart Group? I recieved an email from someone name Roger Anderson today about multiple positions they have. The message also refers to a manager name Ms. Martin. I checked google and found a list that included multi smart group and multi smart group scam. If this is a scam please send out a warning to let me and other people know. I have been sent job offers from other scams like the Merrill Lynch scam last year. Does anybody remember that one? I will wait for a response before I decide whether or not to go talk to the Sheriffs department about this. I did not respond to the message but I do not want to blow the whistle on some thing before I have a little more info.
Does anyone know anything about RAM Marketing? Seem to be recruiting big time in the southeast. Family member is going to travel at her expense from TN to Macon, GA for “training” on Saturday. Sounds fishy to me. Coupons and “get your own biz” type of hype. Red flag went up on posting site where one of conditions of applying was NOT having a current job. What is this?????
I feel like everyone on this site is a bunch of unemployed babies. lol
Did anyone ever hear of Sabres Marketing. I just had an interview there today, based out of Exton. They seemed good but I cant find any info on them on the web. Please help!!
Okay i just saw the comments about it being a scam. Why is it one? God my mind is spinning with scams, and people saying things that are scams when maybe they just werent good at the job and are bitter.
Brian I had a interview at the same place in exton. They are for sure a scam, im a little bitter about it considering they have all of my info now. I tried calling them back to talk to someone and I have never gotten to talk to anyone. I would love to go there with the police and see if there is something we could do about these shady people.
Sabres marketing definitely needs to be added to the list. My second interview went almost exactly like the description says. Except going door to door it was business to business with many telling us to get out because they don’t like solicitors. Pretty much the most ridiculous thing I have ever done. Luckily I read this website before I went in and wasn’t expecting a whole lot, just wanted to see if it was really true, and yes, everything written about these jobs is true. It is a huge waste of a day, save yourself and don’t even bother.
also, I think there is a legitimate marketing firm in Philadelphia called Sabre Marketing. I think what this shady sabres marketing did was look for legitimate businesses in the area and make a name very similar so that when you searched them on google the website of the real company came up and had you believing that this company did more than soliciting.
Thanks so much. I was going to go on my second interview tomorrow at the Acquisition Group in Framingham, MA. I was pretty skeptical because the links in the emails they sent me didn’t work and there was basically nothing online when I was researching. Really glad I found this page. I won’t be going there tomorrow.
So, some thoughts on this. I worked at one of these evil companies (I won’t name names, but it was in the MD suburbs of DC) for a few months. Yes, they are horribly disingenuous and deceitful. But, as long as you don’t buy all the ridiculous BS about management, leadership, and moving up, it’s actually a pretty helpful learning experience. I had done one of the 2nd round interviews about a year before at a different company in the area (one I literally ran away from – while set up in outside at a strip mall, I told my “leader” that I had to pee, then ran out the back of the store and caught a cab back to the office and then snuck back into my car, I was duckin everywhere, it was some serious James Bond shit), so right from the get-go I knew the deal, but I was only in town for a few months, and it’s so tough to find a short term job these days, so I just went along with it. Really, if you know you’re only in it for awhile, it’s not that bad. I got stoned as hell everyday and basically just walked around talking to people. We were selling baseball tickets and paintball passes, so people were generally receptive, and I ended making around 100 bucks a day. The trick is to just not do what your boss says – change into comfortable clothes and shoes when you leave the office, make up your own pitch, smoke some joints, do whatever, just try to have fun with it. Oh, and if they tell you you’ve made it to “leadership”, just decline (the old “I’m not ready for that kind of responsibility” line worked way better than it should have, but then again my boss was pretty dumb), You will learn a lot about sales and personal interactions, and you’ll definitely be richer and better off for the experience. Don’t put it on your resume or anything, but it’s not the total waste of time everyone here makes it out to be, provided you have fun with it. Made a few friends too!
Oh, and a great way to mess with them, in addition to posting here and on places like RipOffReport.com and complaintsboard.com, if you have some free time and are a tiny bit twisted like me, is to make a fake email address (free and takes 30 secs) and then find the ads of these companies and email them a fake resume and name, applying for a position. They are humorously easy to find, anything on craigslist or monster, etc. that says “entry-level management” or “sports and entertainments marketing” or really anything that looks sketchier than a real company is for sure one of these Smart Circle/Cydcor/Ivonnage/DS-Max etc evil empire companies. I live out of the country now, but every time I give them my friend’s phone number (mostly just for him to have fun with it) on the resume, and he messes with and leads them on, schedules interviews 3 or 4 times and then doesn’t show up. It won’t bring them down, by any means, but it will do a bit to slow the incoming tide of fresh meat, which is the only way they survive really. Try it, it’s fun!
Here is a company that is very similar to Marcus Evans – I was stupid enough to think it was a legitimate company that cares about its employees and couldn’t get out of there fast enough upon arriving for an interview. The interviewer actually told me that he hates his job – now there’s motivation. Stay away from Global Events Management – it sounds an awful lot like Marcus Evans.
Does anyone know if Source Inc. operates one of these scams? I’ve seen a fishy job posting by them, and a suspicious email a friend got. They operate in the Chicago area, in Downer’s Grove.
Does anybody know anything about a company called Simple Marketing Solutions and whether they are a scam or not? I got contacted for an interview and it seems fishy to me that their site for the branch in MA is the same as their NY site.
Erica,
Simple Marketing Solutions is not a scam. Their home office is in Boston, MA. The NY location is their sister office.
Does anyone know anything about alternative advertising in nyc. I can’t find anything about them on the net. I have an interview scheduled with them and want to make sure it is legite.
I have and interview schedule with them today in Charlotte. Thank God for this site! I like to prepare for my interviews by knowing about the company. But now that I looking at their website and thankful having a job now and having been on plenty of interview before their are pleanty of red flags! Like what does the JCW stand for? Whats up with the random picture of so called ads you produced for said clients. Why cant you name any of your so called clients. I mean there is also no history about the company like when it was founded and where and by whom,things that you can easily find about any other company. They didnt come up in the BBB website. They advertised on linken in too which is how i found them. Im glad i decided to look them up. Now i wont be wasting my gas on them and can go apartment hunting instead!
I had the exact same experience with a company called JB Promotions (http://www.jbpinc.net) in Detroit, MI (more specifically Livonia, MI). I had my “second interview” today. I thought something was fishy from the start, their website didn’t say what they did exactly and pretty much strictly talked about careers with the company. Everything that was said above happened to me only I shadowed some guy at Home Depot, they said I was simply an observer but I felt like he was trying to get me to get a lead and was very vague about what they did and how the company was organized. Their office was very small and dirty, there was a different company name on the sign on the door as well as on the application.
I was never planning on taking the job if they offered it to me after today, it was unorganized and I didn’t like how the company felt. I just chalked it up to interview practice and a learning experience.
Again, the company is JB Promotions (www.jbpinc.net) and they are located in Livonia, MI a suburb of Detroit. STAY AWAY!
Does anyone know if the company SABRES is a legit business? They are supposedly a marketing, advertising, promotional company that specializes in sports marketing in the Philadelphia area. They posted a position on Careerbuilder.com They sound too good to be true but I wanted to see if anyone could prove me wrong from their own experiences. Thanks.
Has any one heard of JCW in Charlotte NC? I got a call from them for an interview, IThe website looks a little fishy.
Hey Mark, I have an interview with JB Publications, Livonia, MI today. The website did seem fishy – very general and without any specifications about what exactly they do. Any idea what their compensation structure is? And what exactly did you do at Home Depot – did you guys set up a kiosk and promote some product? Your response will be of great help. Thanks!
I’ve been seeing alot of scam reports from Northeast consulting. I’m supposed to have an interview with them tomorrow as well but……
Yikes. I just came back from an interview. I knew something was off when I heard MC hammer music in the background and signs for “Cash for Gold Parties” everywhere. The name of the company is Vision Marketing in Des Plaines on 2720 River Rd. Ste 18, They make it seem so believable, “If we don’t call you back, the company decided to go in another direction and good luck on your search” Puh-lease. I was in that interview with 3 other people. They took in 3 people every 5 minutes. Insane!
Well………I guess that does it for me. I was scheduled to interview w/JB Publications tomorrow SO I AM VERY HAPPY THAT I FOUND THIS INFORMATION.
I thought it was odd that I was contacted “1″ day after sending my resume on Careerbuilder. I mean, seriously, when does THAT happen ever?
Gas isn’t free and I would not have been happy w/the waste of my time for an MLM or something. This was very fishy and vague..
Add Ascent Promotions, Pacific Advertising group, Archtype, and a few other in WA/OR
I have did a lot of research on these companies. They do a lot of bad business and charity scams!!!! Along also with check fraud, kiting and working long hours for less than min wage!!!
They are sales “cult” and they are hard to get away from once your in. It’s very mind altering. They thrive off of your dreams and goals. PLEASE read before you take an interview with ANY of these companies.
I belive they are rooted from DS-MAX and Quantum. Which you can find a MASS amount of info about their DARE program scam online. Just type it in google plus the word SCAM. Rip off Report has TONS of information (www.ripoffreport.com). They take a good portion of the money for themselves and lead consumers to believe they are making straight donations. They do this with now operation smile and the breast cancer foundation and others.
http://consumerist.com/2007/06/man-escapes-working-for-ds-max-esque-charity-scam-lives-to-blogs-his-tale.html
Here is a webpage with an ENTIRE breakdown of how these companies work/came about and how they are meant to be manipulating def look at this one:
http://childsafetyinc.blogspot.com/
Has anyone heard of 4 Fifty 8 Acquisitions out of Raleigh, NC? I have an interview with them on Thursday and wanted to know if I should be concerned with being scammed…
Watch out for “Tri-City Promotional Group” in Cattlesburg, KY. They said they were going to bring me in for an “Evaluation”, and instead, I ended up going out with some other guy selling junk to businesses, people along the side of roads, in parking lots and at gas stations. A good eight hours and a full tank of gas wasted, and no pay or anything.
So you guys have just saved me SOOOO much time. I am actually sitting under the hairdryer right now as I type and just thought I’d do some last minute studying before my first big interview before graduation next month. I found it odd that there was no “Global” found under any google, bing, yahoo, or askjeeves search and that the only website available for me to look at was the one provided in the email I received from the “HR manager” 1 day after sending in my resume. Well needless to say I will not be going to my scheduled 9am interview with Pierre at Global Marketing in Greensboro, NC tomorrow. I am PISSED I must say because I was really excited but it’s all good. Thank God for this site. Here is the letter I recieved in my inbox. I will share this site with ALL of my friends who are on the job hunt like me… UGH!!!
Global
3100 Smoketree Ct. Ste #802
Raleigh, NC 27604
919-876-4445
Greensboro Location:
204 Muirs Chapel Rd.
Greensboro, NC 27410
Hi Ryann!
I’d like to thank you for applying to Global and for your interest in a position with our company. A member from my management staff has received your resume, reviewed your qualifications, past experiences and skills, as well as compared your resume to others received. After evaluating these things against our criteria, I would like to invite you to come in for a personal interview with one of our managers at our Raleigh or Greensboro location.
Congratulations on being selected, as there were many resumes that were submitted and reviewed. With new locations, new clients, and current campaigns, it is important that we set up a preliminary interview as soon as possible. Please contact our main office at 919-876-4445 to set up a meeting with our HR Manager in either our Raleigh or Greensboro branch. Thanks again for your interest and we look forward to speaking with you soon.
Sincerely,
Emily Snyder
Global
Human Resources
919-876-4445
website
MIICAH MARKETING SOLUTIONS IN FARMINGTON,MI
Is the same exact way, Pyramid structure, sneaky, pushy and shady..no need to go into detail just stay away from them, they are just like the companies listed above. So sad
After reading most of these posts I decided that I should also put in my two cents. The common theme in most of these posts is that all these companies are a scam. Many people have used the phrases “Multi level marketing” and “Pyramid scheme”, when most of you obviously have no idea what they are. A Pyramid scheme requires you to purchase products or services and then try to sell them to friend, family, etc. Also, in a pyramid scheme as well as MLM, you are required to recruit others and you make money of those you recruit. While I cannot speak to the legitimacy of every company out there (listed here or not), I can say without a doubt that many companies are getting a bad rap. Most direct marketing companies out there are PERFORMANCE based. That means that you get paid in direct relation to the amount of work you put in. I have worked for a direct marketing firm for a while now and have never had problems paying my bills, nor have I been ticketed for soliciting, or anything else for that matter. What I do is help businesses to increase foot traffic by offering discounts to the community. We offer direct personal contact with every business in our client’s requested locations. This provides our clients with a type of advertising that is more cost effective than more traditional types of advertising. For example: Did you know that ValPak coupons sent via mail have a redemption rate of less than 1%? A promotional package that requires a purchase or small investment has a redemption rate of 80-90%. This is why our clients hire us!! It may be unconventional, but it works. This type of job is not for everyone, but that does not automatically make it a scam. It takes a lot of hard work to get ahead (most things do.), but that doesn’t make it a scam either. There are a lot of factors that determine weather a company of this type is successful or not, most of it has to do with the management and training, just like any other company. To those of you that were legitimately scammed, I am sorry that you were taken advantage of. To those of you who are just not right for a company, grow up. Just because you went to college doesn’t automatically mean you will get your dream job right after graduation. A degree doesn’t mean as much these days as it once did. Just accept that you were not meant to work for this type of job and keep looking for something that will require no work and keep you busy until retirement.
I would like to add another scam job posting North Inc, I got suckered in for about 2 days. I went to the interviews and I started training. I went to the “Pre-Managment meeting.” All to find out about the company… Cydcor. The Asst Manager was very shady. North Inc, sells ATT uverse in the St. Louis region, well I did some research all to find out this information. Luckily I realized this was a pyramid scheme and a scam. So anyone that is in the St. Louis region please do not fall for this.
Thanks for the heads up on JCW Marketing in Charlotte. I will be cancelling the interview I had tomorrow immediately. Here’s the web site they sent me: JCWMarketingGroup.com. Never really says what they do. The web site basically is just a push for people to apply to work there. What a waste of time!
I have an interview scheduled with them that now I won’t be going to.
SALES / MARKETING / ADVERTISING – Entry Level Positions: Worldwide Concepts
It tipped me off that it might be a scam because their letter head at the top of the email is spelled wrong…its supposed to be their logo and it is spelled wrong…not likely
Thanks this helps alot. unfortunately I had to learn about all this first hand. I like to pride my selfe on being wise and discernful but when times become desperate you look and take anything that comes your way. I learned you can waiste alot of time and money not just simply doing some research.
I posted my resume on Monster.com and within an hour I received an email from BELLA marketing, inc and BLUEPRINT marketing. Both interested in doing an initial phone interview as a part of their “three step interviewing process.” I googled their companies and looked at the clients pages of their websites and they SAID THE SAME THING. word for word. Bummer, but glad I caught on!
I have a second interview with h.d.m. marketing tomorrow. On a whim i decided to google it and see what was said about this company. Your link came up under “h.d.m. marketing concepts scams”. so obviously i clicked on the link. I don’t see anything that specifically mentions the company now that im on the site but im still a little concerned now. Any advice?
HDM marketing is opening an office where i live McAllen Tx… Was thinking of applying but now im a little worried it might be a scam. Did you ever find anything out about HDM marketing?
I am relieved that I came across this. I posted a resume on careerbuilder two days ago. Yesterday, I got a call from North, Inc., one of the companies for which I applied. I told her I was interested in the job and would be moving to the area (St. Louis) in July. She said that they weren’t hiring for July and August yet, but to give her a call when I get to the area. This sent up a red flag, because I thought surely they would fill the position by then. After reading on here about other scams, I looked into the business. I believe that they are an actual marketing company, however, I feel that they use the same scamming practices as these others. One thing I did notice was that they ARE accredited under the Better Business Bureau. My advice is to know what you are applying for, and do your research. Take the time to do it now, or you’ll just be wasting your time later.
FX Marketing was very similar to the Landers Group where they basically force you to go door-to-door in Chicago (including uncertain areas in the southside) trying to convert people to At&T’s services. Despite the fact their HQ is located in Rosemont, they would make you drive/take the train all over the city without any reimbursement. They basically will hire anyone on the second interview. Beware: They do not pay you for the first three weeks because it is consider as a “training” phase.
Primerica in Virginia is a scam. If you are contacted by Ken Ripa or his father Tad Ripa for a “business opportunity,” then you know you’re being pulled a fast one.
Does anyone know if Leveltech Consulting Group is a scam too??? What about 7 Promotions?
Another one I came across today, “www.impactexecs.com”.
Job ad here: http://www.jobs.net/Job.asp?jid=J8G41X6KL02D06GKYT2
Emerald City Marketing in Seattle is another one.
Is this company a scam???? several postings and spoke with someone who applied and has made it to 3rd interview stage. First 10min. interview, then job shadow for second interview and for the 3rd 30min or so interview. Let me know please…. portland, or
The company was archetype inc. she applied for…??? does anyone know…was based out of NY as archetype solutions and have moved offices to the westcoast…let me know please..also they have an office in seattle, Wa….thanks!!
I would say be wary of any company that contacts you to set up an interview within an hour or so after getting your resume. They’re probably a company like the ones on this list that have high turnover and so are speeding people through the hiring process.
Stay away from Impactexecs.com…I sent an email asking them for more information about the company. My email did not include a resume. I got a reply email from them stating: “My hiring team and I just got the chance to review the resume that you sent in for our entry-level position and… ”
They asked to meet with me but 1) I never sent in a resume! and 2) There website contains NO information about the company. They then posted 2 youtube links on the email attempting to show that they are a ‘cool’ company. They asked to meet with me tomorrow without knowing who I am or talking to me in person. Do not fall for this…they are not a real company!
They are currently posting an ad on Craigslist…avoid! I came across them in Chicago. Hope this helps.
Hey everyone another new SCAM company is RESOLUTE MARKETING CONCEPTS based in Pensacola, Florida. I luckily avoided the second interview. Looks like they came from ACG Marketing and Associates, Inc. (Charlotte, NC/Pittsburth, PA). Avoid these scumbags.
I got this email same exact thing as my friend got last year from the landings, mine in from JB promotions detroit MI. I called and feel like an idiot only cuz this has happened before.
I’d like thank you for your recent application as well as for your interest in a position with our company. My manager and I have been going through resumes and applications and after reviewing yours, we felt your previous experiences might help make you a good match for the position we have available. She is interested in scheduling an interview with you so that we can discuss the position more in detail, however, we did have a few questions we wanted to clarify before moving forward with an appointment. Please contact me.
So companies called LA Sports Marketing in Sherman Oaks, CA and SC Marketing in Anaheim, CA want to bring me in for interviews. I found out about the positions on monster.com. I’m suspicious because they got back to me very quickly and its so hard to get an interview with any sport org. Should I call them back?
By the way, this website is awesome. I graduated last year and I’m in the middle of the job search.
SCAM: They want you to sell Dodger, Angel and Clipper tix at Costco and Sams Club.
You can definitely add 4 Fifty 8 Acquisitions, Inc. to the list of scam jobs!! They go business to business cold calling for office supplies that no one buys!! 100% Commission, No Benefits, Use your own gas and vehicle. Everyone in the company is SHADY!! BEWARE!
4 Fifty 8 Acquisitions, Inc. used to be called St. Croix Concepts, Inc. Go to ripoffreport.com and look these up!! You can add Micalan Group, LPG, Inc. to this list also. You will see ripoff reports for all of these companies on that website! If you google the names of these companies, and a whole bunch of job search sites show up with their ads, you know its shady, and they’ll hire anyone, and are always hiring!! They are always hiring because turnover is soooo high! People quit when they realize how much money they are losing, and there is NO opportunity!
Here is another to add:
DSTY Inc.
Website http://www.dsty.us/
Address:
8200 Greensboro Drive
Suite 933
Mclean, VA 22315
781 359 9700
I had an interview with them in Mclean, VA and it smelled. The guy was dressed to the nines, didn’t ask any questions about my resume or myself, and it was located in a big office suite with no names or logos. Told me they had a year and a half waiting list of clients and wanted me to come back to “shadow” someone.
I skipped it.
Add Entertainment Advertising to this list in Livonia, Michigan.
How So? I have been searching for blogs or any “negitive” information about them and yours was the only comment I could find. If you could fill me it in you would save me alot of time and effort. Thank you
Polaris is now a company running this employment scam, they claim to work for quill, but quill denies any connection to them. The office is run by Elana Stein who is a real wolf in sheeps clothing beware of her and her cronies Taylor Howard and Ryan Nichols.
The hearbreaking thing about this scam Is that many of the door to door salespeople are very nice, sweet people who are just so happy to have a job(or what they believe to be a job)in this economy that they will not ask the necc questions any sane person would ask on the first interview. They promise things like “office pay” in the future and owning your own branch to keep these poor salespeople from leaving. It is really a horrible thing these people are doing. I feel sorry for the 50 people who work at Polaris that are completely fooled into drinking the kool-aid, I have never expierenced anything like this Jones-town meets Avon calling biz plan.
What type of office has rules like ” no asking how your day was” you may only say ” what worked for you today” , what worked for me was using a combination of common sense and the web to realize I too was a victim and a sucker!
Add these to the group of scams:
A2z Placement, Sphere Management, KCS Concepts, Galleria Marketing, MPC, Nationwide Employment Solutions, The Job Cooler, American Career Group, Web Development Group, Higher One, Triumph, ACG
I’ve been browsing for entry level jobs and I started recognizing a trend. Be cautious, everyone.
JT,
Are you not the same guy that cried in the office and begged and pleaded for your job when you were warned that if you do not meet standards you would be let go!!!!???
Add on WORLDWIDE CONCEPTS, INC. in Birmingham. I came for the second interview and they immediately tried to get me to get in a car. I refused to get in the car because it was a male and and I am a female. I knew they were trying to get me to go out and sell stuff. Thanks to this website I knew what to look for. WASTE OF MY TIME. I didn’t go to college for four years to work like that. I went to recognize the scammers.
E. MIchaels Marketing (alabama) Soon to be Maverick Promotions (virginia beach)
emichaelsmarketinginc.com – interviewed with them realized it was a scam right away reporting it to BBB. Watch out VB they are changing their name to Maverick Promotions
I interviewed with Venture Marketing in Alexandria, VA a couple of years ago and they sound like a similar company. The “marketing” job opening article was in the Sunday Washington Post, so I thought it was reputable. When I got there, I was in a waiting room with about 10 other people as the churned us out one by one on interviews. I was told they really liked me better than most of the other people in the room and I was asked to come for a second interview a couple of days later. When I showed up for the second interview, there were 10 new people in the waiting room. One by one we were paired up with current employees of the company and sent on a day-long excursion to see first hand what we would be doing. The particular person I was paired with was tasked to go to small companies and ask if he could order them office supplies from Quill. We were visiting offices that had already ordered through this person before. I thought it was strange that none of these customers wanted to place another order with the company. Throughout the day I was told to memorize some key company ideals such as the law of averages. I was also told repeatedly that I would work from commission so I could earn as much money as I wanted to. I accepted the job when it was offered to me later that day, but got cold feet a couple of days later and notified the owner of the company that I preferred a job where I could sit at a desk and make a standard living that did not fluctuate day by day. I do not feel that I was scammed, but the interviews were a waste of my time. I have heard there is a similar company in New York City that does the same type of “marketing” for Quill.
I had that same experience with the Venture Marketing solutions in 2004. I went through the same interview process. I commuted all the way from TOWSON, MD for about a month after I got the job. I only stayed that long because I hit a lick in the begining and made a couple grand by selling a bunch of printers to an office that was just opening. The money slowed up after that and it cost to much to even travel there. The core members of that group make all the money the door to door people quit and are replaced with new monkeys. The “ceo” was Justin Jordan but he took over between my first and second interview so I was a bit confused.
You can add Polaris to those involved in scam. They work out of a modified tenement apt in times square. The office employs mostly people who live with their parents and have no idea they are being walked all over. I went on a second interview with a guy who brought PB&J with the crusts cut off for lunch because he had no money, yet he loved his job. That’s the genius part of the scam people want to believe they are part of something great. Most of the people I met live over 90 minutes from the manhatten office. Ouch!!! I never believed suckers like this actually existed, but they do.
I just got scammed like this today in Nashville, TN. These people knew I live two hours away from Nashville, and still asked me to come up for an interview. I knew that something fishy was going on, but it didn’t seem exactly like a pyramid scheme. I’ve dealt with those before too. Based on all the stuff that I’ve read here there is no doubt in my mind that is what this company is doing. They are going by World Vision, Inc. But they claim to not be affiliated with the World Vision International that does humanitarian work. Glad I read this before going to second interview!
Allow me to add on to the disparaging comments about these kinds of companies operating as real ‘sports and entertainment marketing’ job opportunities. I actually was looking into JCW Marketing in Charlotte with a careful eye, because I already went through the routine discussed in the article above when I relocated to Raleigh a few years ago. Nothing but a SCAM. I would definitely recommend avoiding wasting your time, unless you desire employment that is commission based coupon selling. They tell you its not door to door, but that is exactly what the ‘job shadowing’ involves. I went to the second day interview in a full suit and dress shoes. It was the middle of summerm, like 90+ degree heat. I left extremely agitated, suit sweated out, and feet in pain from all the walking. The person I was shadowing ended up having to be picked up from heat exhaustion. I hope no one EVER gets caught as I did. Definitely will not get caught out again in Charlotte.
any one heard of worldwide concepts, atlanta
My brother is graduating in June and got an interview with Archetype Inc in Tigard, OR. I am worried that it might be a scam as I have seen it twice on this website. Does anyone have any information on this company? I can’t seem to find much. Thanks.
I just want to ad another – NorCal Group in San Jose, CA! This company takes a very deceptive approach and please be wary of their tactics because it is a scam – not only do you not need a Degree to work there but it is in an insult to your time and you intelligence to take the appointment with them – the whole business model is really skeevy.
I believe someone already posted about these two places but they’ve changed their websites-
Worldwide Acquisitions, Inc. is now at http://www.wwacquisitions.com
DSTY Marketing (Dynasty Marketing) is now at http://www.dsty.com
everyone on this site is wanting that corner office doing nothing but playing cards on the computer. IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. listen up 22 year old colege grads, the unemployment rate is at 9%. stop whining and work for your money like everyone else.
My son was looking for a job and got a quick call back from a company called “International Marketing Inc” that sounded suspiciously like these scam sites. Wanted him to come down to Richmond VA from Washington DC to sit for second interview (first was over the phone). After reading this site he changed his mind.
Also found their own website misspelled their name.
JCW Marketing.
Thank you for this site and the posts. As an experienced ad executive with 12 yrs of B2B sales experience and dealing with a hard market I was open to exploring the options with them only to find that it was fishy, unporfessional. If something appears shady upfront trust your gut that it is.
Add DSTY in McClean, Va to the list!!
I realized that most of these scam companies love to say that they have clients that are fortune 500 companies on their site. That is an automatic red flag.
Second all of their sites are noticeably homemade, and they still never really tell you anything about the company. I almost went into an interview with one of these companies (Leveltech consulting). They had the worst website ever. It was shabby, and not even completed. They had a bunch of comming soon areas. The best part of the website was in the contact section where they put a picture of their building with the camera angled to get the two large skyscrapers in the background making it look like that is where the actual office was. Although I never actually went into the interview. I know the area, and I know that their building was the small one that was barley noticeable in front of the sky scrappers.
I am ashamed of myself for almost getting pulled into this, because I usually know better, but I was excited to get any call at that point.
When the recruiter called I asked her a question about the position. She gave me a very politician answer (she didn’t answer the question). At that point I knew something was wrong. I told her I was going to pass on the opportunity. She asked me why. Now, it may not have been very professional of me, but I already knew I wouldn’t take the job anyway, so I told her that the job offer seemed strange and shady. She actually sounded a little nervous, and asked me if I saw the website. I told her that I could make a website too, but that wouldn’t mean I was a legitimate company, and then I hung up.
Today I am reporting this group to BBB, and to the NY attorney general. This Leveltech Consulting Group has been all over every single job search engine for months. I feel like it is not right that these places get away with misleading job posts, and clog our engines. People say reporting these places is a waste of time, but I have reported two other businesses in the past, and the BBB actually took care of it. We need to prevent these people from taking advantage of us.
Just had a reader e-mail me about the SoCal Group. Anybody have any experiences with them?
Southern California Marketing on Ball Rd in Anaheim….if you go to OCgov.com and find the section regarding Fictitious Business Names….Under the Business Name section type in Southern California Marketing…press Run Search….the following information comes up….Southern California Marketing…Business Owner, SCANNO ADVERTISING, INC.
The employment senario is the same as all complaintaints above, first interview, call back for a second interview…BUT they want you to do “marketing” for an 8 hour day on your second interview.
What I suggest to everyone is to go to your District Attorney Website, and check under Economic Crimes and read the law, then if you’ve had a bad experience with one of these like companies see if they have fallen out of the perimaters of the law, then you can file a complaint. Good Luck everyone, be careful with your job searches and try to investigate any company you wish to apply to on the internet first.
I just recently graduated and had ’3 interviews’ lined up for after graduation. First was with Red Zone International, second with Metropolitan Sports Group, and third with Level Tech. All three… SCAMS!!! Red Zone was into credit card processors, MSG into selling coupons for their Fortune 500 clinets in the sports and entertainment industry (the Yankees, Nets, 76′ers, Spas, Golf clubs… etc.) and LevelTech was into selling for Direct Energy.
Something seemed fishy about these companies and so I did waste my time going through the interviewing process but turned down the positions because neither of these companies seemed legit.
just ‘interviewed’ with Leveltech inc, SKETCHY! I am extremely scared now b/c I gave them more info then I should have. HELP!
I am an employee for a very reputable hotel in Houston Texas, i was looking for something more in the field of Communications / Marketing and Advertising. So I did what everyone else did and put myself out there on Careerbuilders / monster / etc… and submitted my resume to 4 marketing and advertising firms in the Houston Area. Within 30 minutes to 24 hours I had appointments and interviews set up with all 4, i thought at least ONE of them had to be a fit for me… but they all fall under the categories of pyramid schemes, “face-to-face” / door-to-door, ‘management trainging programs’, ‘event based marketing firms’, etc… i could go on and on with the information provided in just the initial phone call setting up the interviews, as well as the first telephonic interview.
(the first 2 actually had websites designed by the same company listed below http://www.anissaroth.com/portfolio.html don’t trust anything on her ‘portfolio’
The MPC Group
Pure Global Enterprises (PGE) (This is NOT related to PG&E)
The SKE Group (no website or ANY information even upon request!)
and CRDB, Inc
I’m so mad at myself for getting excited about these jobs. If it hadn’t been for the prompting of one of my best friends, I would never have looked into this further, just accepting their websites at face value. He fell for the same scheme years ago and was kind enough to warn me about this scam… I guess I won’t be spending my only Friday off going from one interview to another… I’m sleeping in instead
Good luck to those recent College Grads looking for jobs and to those looking to further your careers!
Has anyone heard of NBC… in Nashville, TN? I had my second interview yesterday and it was definately direct marketing/door to door sales, and the “interview process” lasted 8 hours…. commission based, etc…. Any info on the legitimacy of this firm?
Strictly Inc and Divine Edge Inc in Atlanta Ga are both scams. I went in and went on second interview and quit. I wasn’t aware it was a scam but it was unorthodox. All the information was very vague. I knew I was not walking for 6 hours harassing people to buy Braves tickets. I also didn’t like the concept of them dropping me off in a shady neighborhood with no transportation and being at the driver’s mercy as to when you return to the office. I definitely think people need to be warned. Thank you for the information
AH! so another to add to the scam list….”Fiat Lux” who claims to be the premier events and advertising agency in Arizona. I had an interview with them last week, and it went the same as all the ones previously described in the texts above. I was told it was a “get to know you” session, and if they liked me after that they would invite me back to an on site day in the life of a fiat lux employee so I could see what they were all about, and if the liked me then I would be sent back to the office to fill out a questionare and a third interview and I would know right away if I got the job or not. Thankfully i did research on the company to be better prepared for my second interview. After doing research on the company, I found that it was just a scam. I was interviewed by a male named Vince. After reading through other rip off reports this evening I later found out that Vince used to be a part of another marketing scam agency called “axis”, which operates under pinnacle systems, alliance, and evincex .. yes (eVINCEx) who apparently claims to have climbed from the bottom to the top and even got a company with his own name in it. He is now the hiring manager who interviews at fiat lux. He seemed like a nice person, but after starting a company with your own name ini t, why the heck would you move to another. These are all scams!!! Please dont waste your time interviewing with these companies, its not worth it! While receiving an interview upon graduation may seem really excitng, make sure you research the company before your first interview so you dont waste your day like i did!!!
Thank you so much for posting this and saving me the time and trouble. I came across it in doing some pre-interview research. I just cancelled my appointment with them.
I’m glad i found this last night. I have an interview with SC Marketing in Anaheim. Thank You guys!!!! Now back to finding a REAL job….lol
I just received a preliminary interiview with FCE Global but I havent been able to find any info on the company and was wondering if it was a scam. Any info is appreciated. Thanks
NDM Marketing in San Antonio,Tx. I also decide to submit my resume through Career Builders and received a interview two days later. The lady that answered the phone, one could tell was not proficent in English. I asked her questions about benefits,etc. and she would have to put me on hold to get an answer to my question? Finally a lady by the name of Nicole took over the conversation an sounded a little impatienant. She told me that after three month there would be benefits. She did explain to me that NDM sells Intuit software to small businesses. I asked her about whether it is salary or commission and she told me that discussion would be answer by the interviewer. However if you look under Career Builders they have so many other jobs avialable not related to their selling Intuit. Can someone explain?
Pacific Advertising Group (PAG) came up in my searches for jobs so I checked out their website (which took a while to even find since the job name said PAG). It is very vague which seemed sketchy to me so after googling PAG, this website came up. Sure enough, PAG was listed in many of the above comments. Thanks for helping us job seekers avoid job scams!
If only this information had been around in 2006….
*sigh*
I worked for both Beth and Matt. It sucked. The worst part is that I quit my previous job to join The Landers Group. The only reason I stayed with the Landers Group was because I needed the money and I had to hustle everyday to sell Dodger tickets. I finally got a job after THREE LONG months.
I gotta hand it to them though…face to face sales builds character and confidence. That much I am grateful for…
There is a pacific advertising group at Fife wa. I am not sure if they are the part of same group mentioned here.
I couldnt find their official website. They are not listed in the business directory of the city. And they seemed pretty much the same, receptionist listening to music, The calls were answered without mentioning company name with “advertising” How may I help u?
Newest SCAMS in Los Angeles:
Bella Marketing
Pioneer
Simple marketing solutions interview was just Luke that only u sell office supplies to buianess all day and promised 4 steps to owning own 500 company
Add EMG Inc to your list. They are exactly like all the above have stated. THEY EVEN SOLD MY INFO!!! I am now getting sales calls and texts and so are the people I listed at references! They in Denver Colorado advertising on craigslist. FUCK THEM
Does anyone know about LI acquisitions?
GSM Consulting advertised on Career Builder B2B sales. I checked their web site and they mention System analysis, Product management. However when you try to click these topics, they will not let you see what they are involved in. Very limited info on their web site. They are out of Amarillo,Tx.
I decided to look up NDM Marketing in San Antonio,Tx that I posted about last week and they no longer come up. They have become GSM Consulting. These people are a bunch of flukes. Is this legal to be one company today and another tomorrow. I though you have to registar. Some poor sucker which could be me is going to see on Career Builder a job that pay $100,000
I had an experience with The SoCal group. Another company to add to the list is Damen Grand Inc. in Irvine. I sent out my resume to both companies one day, excited about positions in sports marketing and business development they offered. I heard back from both the next day and was really encouraged. I went to my interview at Damen Grand and it went well, but there were some red flags in the back of my mind so I did the Google search on scam marketing companies and read through the hundreds of experiences almost exactly as mine. I received a call back from Damen Grand and played phone tag with them for a day then decided to cut off communication with them and never heard any more from them, I then proceeded to cancel my interview at The SoCal group. About a month later a friend had an interview with SoCal group and heard of my experience so she also decided to call and cancel and told them straight-up that she didn’t believe they were legit and continued to ask them what it was they did exactly but NEVER got a straight or clear answer, only that they do B2B marketing for Fortune 500 companies. STAY AWAY from these companies; it’s not worth the time.
What I decided to do was to search through the career pages of companies I’m interested at working at through their website, such as banks and airline and travel companies, it is harder, but I believe much safer and will be more rewarding in the end as they offer real jobs.
A note to those who think that complaining on here is from a bunch of over-privileged college grads without experience; get off your freaking high horse. I’m 23 and have always had at least one job since I was 13 years old, and I worked my ass off through five years of college to earn my degree in Business Administration. I did not put in all that work to become a door-to-door salesmen of tickets to a baseball game, sure that can be a job for someone, but not for someone who put hours into studying operations management and strategic management and marketing, and business law, and business communication, and organizational behavior, and human resource management.
Some guys on this blog claim that we don’t know what direct marketing is because we are young and inexperienced, but as time has passed and technology has developed and business has changed so has the definition of direct marketing. I have studied and bought into the theories of customer relationship marketing and can confidently say that these SCAM jobs have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with direct marketing. The conventional understanding of direct marketing is to send out a bunch of advertising mailers and hope to get business from .005% to .03% and peddle your crap to them. The old belief of direct marketing was to sell things directly to the people, or door-to-door, hence, direct marketing. But looking at business from a more modern perspective how in the hell does that create a lasting source of sustainable competitive advantage? How does that contribute positively to a company’s brand image, which should be its longest lasting and most enduring source of sustainable competitive advantage? The answer is that the old definition of direct marketing does NOTHING to differentiate a company from its competitors.
Moving on to what direct marketing is now. Direct marketing should focus on the most valuable customer base and most growable customer base. It means focusing on customers’ needs sets and expanding them and being able to customize their orders. Direct Marketing is a back-end tool of the 5-tool set of the integrated marketing communications which means it should have nothing to do with the selling function of marketing, but with relationship building with customers.
Now let me say that I don’t necessarily think these jobs are scams in the sense that they are trying to steal information from you, during my experience I didn’t feel like I was being defrauded, but the scam is in the misrepresentation of the job. It’s time to call a spade a spade; they are door-to-door jobs where you spend all day selling stuff, they are not entry-level sports marketing jobs and entry level business development jobs as business students know them today, and they are not even close to direct marketing jobs. I hope this is good input and I hope I was able to sufficiently educate those who misunderstand what direct marketing really is. I don’t think there is anything wrong with door-to-door jobs, but it is wrong and unethical when you flat out LIE about what they are while you prey on the naïve. There is no other way to look at it. That is all, feel free to discuss.
P.S. I didn’t even spend time writing about database management, which is another HUGE aspect to direct marketing.
Dont go to Vector Marketing either! Look up Cutco scams BEFORE you go to the interview (thats where they BRAINWASH you).
First investors 7 promotions and ny business partners same story wasted my time on group interviews and then being offered a “job” with no paid training. Also went on a long wasted day of selling coupons for staples so borinnngggg!!!!
Add KCS Concepts Inc to the naughty list.
Although I have no real evidence that this is a scam, I did a little digging and found nothing on the BBB about them. I applied at this link http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?ipath=EXIND&siteid=cbindeed&Job_DID=J8C71Q6VZQM6L65DT47
They contacted me for an interview through email, I emailed back and then some lady called me to schedule an interview,but I missed the call. I then googled KCS concepts and COR Concept’s website popped up. These two are conected. I started looking at it and quickly realized that it says nothing about what they actually do or sell. The website that was in the email was http://www.kcsconcepts.com , that website also says nothing about what they do. I’m not calling the lady back.
SKE Managment Group (Houston, TX)
CORConcepts
and KCS Concepts (Houston, TX)
Im pretty sure they are all scams!!!
Wow, I am like many before me. I had an interview in two days, and was very excited about getting a chance to explore “Sports-Related” Marketing. The prospect of this kind of job seems like a lot of fun.
However, because I know the truth, now, I will be bypassing this entirely.
There is another group similar to this that I would like to point out. They have the same marketing and recruiting type set up. Their product is dealing with people’s finances, though. They are known as something like World Group Securities (again, the name changes all the time).
Just thought I would point that out as well. Thank you again for this very informative article.
Southern California Group is in fact the same as Landers Group. Same scheme, pitch, and failure to answer upfront questions. Everyone there at first appears very friendly and nice, however anyone with half a brain will pick up on the level of superficiality and fakeness in the office. The company does the exact same interview process, then takes you on the full day interview where they just throw you in the field to do door to door sales all day. They all say its temporary and everyone starts off this way with promises of moving up in one year. A year is too long for anyone to do door to door sales, especially young educated professionals with college degrees. Its tough to say no in this job market, but we are all worth more than this. Don’t fall for it, and keep at the job search. Good luck!
It turns out that STL Worldwide a.k.a. STL Concepts in Miami, FL is the same thing.
STL is a scam, are you sure? I have an interview today……. thinking of not going…..
I can attest to a lot of this. I’m currently in my first week under one of these types of companies, and started having doubts already. Sure enough, once i put in a little extra research after figuring out a lot of the details first hand (that were not in any way conveyed during the interview process), I’m seeing what I am a part of. As mentioned above, the company is not a scam in the sense of what it is selling, its a scam in the sense of job representation. I fell right into “desperate college grad” and they offered me a job and the chance to start up right away. Everyone at the company is young and outgoing, but most importantly naive. The sales training is certainly legit and helpful, but the hours are just absurd for what we are being paid. I’ve already seen 3 colleagues from last week stop showing up (obviously quit), and the superiors of the company have not even mentioned their names or why they stopped showing up. I think I’ll stick this out for a couple days because like i said I’m gaining valuable sales experience, but in the big picture of things, I dont want to be part of a pyramid scheme. I dont think a 70 hour work week for low pay is the reason i went to business school for four years.
East Bay Concepts does the same thing
I responded to an internet ad for an entry level marketing job as most of the previous testimonials referred to . It was with a co. who called themselves JCW Marketing Group./Charlotte NC.. My first interview was brief & very vague.They sell left over sporting events tickets to companies for promotional purposes. I was told I might be considered for a management spot. I was promised a 2nd interview but never was called. I called twice about it and was told I’d receive a return call after my initial interviewer was consulted, yet I never received a return call. I called a third time & asked if the position had been filled, & it had not been..I was told by the HR person who is all of 20-25 years old that she is making the decision to have me in for a 2nd interview tomorrow, an all day affair with a sales rep. This sounds all too familiar w/the comments made by others who’ve experienced similar scams. JCW Marketing Group is not on the list of likely offenders. I’d appreciate it if anyone in the Charlotte NC area has also interviewed with them, & is this co. legit? Should I go to the interview tomorrow 6/30? Please respond if you have. Thanks much! I have a family to support & I don’t need a big waste of time like this, if it is one.
LA SPORTS MARKETING
- this appears to be the *new* landers group. same client list i have been reading and also located in sherman oaks, ca
I have an eye for spotting these types of companies now. I was fooled while in Haddonfield, NJ by a company called EAST COAST BUSINESS CONCEPTS. They did the d2d verizon “customer retention updates”, which a lot of readers have had noted they also had experience with. I went on the job shadow and saw the guy talk fast and bamboozle older business owners, churches and people trying to start legitimate businesses.
another “company” in the LA area running a scam is GamingSocial – they want perspective employess/internship candidates to sign up for 2 free-trial websites as part of the interview process
One more for the list… same company with Matt Kelly at the head but under the name Sports Marketing.
Here is their website: http://www.lasportsmarketing.com/
They also have an ad on Craigslist right now: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/mar/1810698233.html
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MARKETING, INC.
Website: http://www.sc-mktg.com
This is the first email I received:
Southern California Marketing, Inc.
741 E. Ball Rd. #203
Anaheim, CA 92805
714-956-4901
Hi!
Thank you for your interest in SC Marketing, Inc. Your resume has been processed and we are interested in speaking with you further about your background and career goals. SC Marketing, Inc. develops and executes innovative Sports and Entertainment Marketing Campaigns for clients throughout the Orange County area. We lead the market in sports and entertainment advertising, dealing with high profile clients ranging from sports teams, restaurants, hotels, resorts, and golf courses.
SC Marketing separates ourselves from other advertising firms by conducting direct sales and marketing, so all of our clients and consumers are dealt with face to face. Our whole forte is targeting markets that radio, billboards, and direct mailers cannot reach. We do everything from on site promotions at hospitals, big corporations, retail establishments, as well as business to business sales; we are looking for people who prefer to be out and about versus just sitting at a desk all day. We are currently filling entry level positions which include exposure to outside sales, marketing, customer service, and account management. We are looking for individuals who are seeking an opportunity for a management position.
The next step in the interview process will be to contact our office at 714-956-4901 to set up a one on one meeting with our interviewing manager. During this interview, we will express to you our company goals and plans for expansion and also discuss more specific details such as qualifications, requirements, compensation and training as well as further discussing your qualifications and career goals. All interviews will take place in our Anaheim, CA location. We can be reached in the office Monday through Friday 9 AM to 5 PM. Please feel free to check out our website http://www.sc-mktg.com. Thanks again for your interest and we look forward to speaking with you soon.
Sincerely,
Sarah Calderon
Southern California Marketing, Inc.
Human Resources
714-956-4901
SECOND:
I had a great time talking with you and I am looking forward to meeting with you for your interview on 06/30/2010 at 1:30 PM. If you have any further questions about our company or our extensive client list be sure to give us a call or please feel free to check out our website http://www.sc-mktg.com. Listed below are the directions to our location, if you have any problems with the directions please feel free to call me. If you have any issues come up that could prevent you from attending, please do not hesitate to give us a call. Have a great day and we look forward to meeting with you soon!
THIRD:
Congratulations on your 2nd interview! Please make sure you have your day cleared during your interview time, as you will be in and out of the office with one of our account managers. Please bring with you another copy of your resume for the person who will be showing you around our company and come prepared with any additional questions that you need answered. Once again, CONGRATULATIONS and we will see you 07/01/2010 at 8:30 AM!
THEY TOLD ME TO WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES. THE WEBSITE IS REALLY VAUGE AND THE FIRST INTERVIEW WAS PRETTY MUCH EXACTLY LIKE WHAT EVERYONE ELSE DESCRIBED. VERY RUSHED AND MOSTLY HER TALKING ABOUT THE COMPANY. I WAS TOLD DAY TWO WAS 8:30 – 6PM AND WE WOULD BE IN AND OUT OF THE OFFICE.
Got this in an e-mail from a reader:
i, I was reading your article on Lander’s Group which I found while doing general research on Archetype Inc in Tigard, Oregon. Thought you might find this interesting.
I don’t know if there’s a solid connection here but BMF Global, the company that Lander’s became seems to be up to the same thing at the same location as Archetype Inc. AKA Archetype Solutions Incorporated in New York which sounds an awful lot like these other scams. I’m going to paste at the bottom of this a copy of an email I sent to a friend who had a lead on a job with Archetype Inc that sounded quite fishy when I asked for details, it’ll cover what I found.
I figured that based on your previous reports you might be interested in this kind of follow-up.
So I started by just googling some things, it started to look really fishy and then I brought David Ross in to help, here’s the stuff we found.
First, you might want to read this.
http://www.onedayonejob.com/jobs/the-landers-group/
The company changed their name to BMF global (http://www.onedayonejob.com/jobs/the-landers-group/#comment-3000) who if you type their name into google all that comes up are reports of fraud and there was a piece in the Portland Tribune about them: http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=120960222985177900 Now consider the description of BMF on this page: http://www.jobdango.com/jobseekers/EmployersProfile.aspx?EmployerId=7d8e4781-1abb-42e4-acbd-5dd85dd1adfd It might sound oddly familiar. Check out the address too: 7000 SW Hampton St. #200 Tigard, Oregon 97223
At that same location, slightly different suite number
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1C1CHMD_enUS306US377&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=archetype+inc+tigard&fb=1&gl=us&hq=archetype+inc&hnear=Tigard,+OR&cid=0,0,10904117495429657225&ei=zMcWTI3yD5C8NvbjrKAL&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=4&ved=0CCQQnwIwAw
That’s just plain goddamn fishy, but if that isn’t enough, check the rest of this.
I believe in one of the above things they covered the idea of operating under different names.
Here’s Archetype Solutions Incorporated in New York
http://archetypesolutionsinc.com/
A description of the job: http://www.glassdoor.com/Interview/Archetype-Solutions-Interview-Questions-E240083.htm
And here’s Archetype Inc.in Tigard
http://www.archetypeinc.com/
Notice the same A symbol and the fact the websites barely exist and don’t necessarily function? Kind of interesting for a marketing firm, eh?
If you look up Melissa White, President of the company as seen here
http://www.archetypeinc.com/people
along with Archetype in google you can find this guy’s resume confirming she was the same gal behind the New York Operation under his work experience.
http://www.mandy.com/home.cfm?c=whi377
Also, they have no Better Business Bureau rating
http://www.bbb.org/oregon/business-reviews/marketing-consultants/archetype-in-tigard-or-22544698
Some extra references to look at
http://consumerist.com/2007/06/how-to-spot-a-ds-max-style-mlm-scam-job-ad.html
You might wanna read the comments too
http://consumerist.com/2007/06/how-to-spot-a-ds-max-style-mlm-scam-job-ad.html#comment-1687553
Remember the Fortune 500 claims..?
I recently went to one of the interviews in IL. I am not going to list the company only because it has a good BBB report and no one has had any comments about it. I was suspicious about the company (and still am) after reading their job ad in careerbuilder. Again first interview they mentioned that it would be quick. Just to put a face to the resume and get to know me. It did go by quick. The office was nice and the people in the office were very nice and professionally dressed. I went on to shadow for the second interview. They told me feel free to ask any questions, which I did. They also asked me many questions. We went to Home Depot and was told we must sign in at the service desk. Our name company and how long we would be there. Other vendors were there as well. We just asked customers if they were finding everything all right and we tried to help them with what they were looking for. We then asked if they will be doing any renovations to their kitchen and let them know what they were offering which was the free consultation for cabinet refacing. They pondered and asked more questions but neither one was interested and the guy who I shadowed told me right in the beginning in the first interview that they don’t expect everyone to say yes. Only about the 20% of the 80% in the store. Makes since to me. He stressed getting qualified leads and not pushing someone to get something they don’t want. Which is true because you get paid once they confirm their appointment. He broke down to me the pay $100 was the total paid for the lead $40 went to the office and $10 went to the corporation and $50 for you and they would like everyone to do 4 leads a day working from 11-8 mon. tue.thur. and fri. Half a day on wed starting at 230. We only stayed for an hour. It was not far at all.
I was told that it would be very hard work, and you will be pushed to the limit to see how you would be able to handle running your own business. I can say that is not really a bad thing. You can find out if you have an entrepreneur mind set, if you can actually handle the stress of doing business. I asked questions such as What is the most challenging thing as a manager and what do you like most about the company. They were good and educated responses. I have yet to start. I will go because well right now I don’t have anything better to do. I’m finishing my last year of school online. I will not go door to door nor have I been told that i need to. I filled out a W4. Stated that if I do not get commission, then I will get hourly pay. Fair enough. The made it clear that they want to teach people so they can manage there own company. They gave a time line of what they expect from you. That’s fine to me because it’s a personal challenge. Sorry so long. I just want to see things for myself and if you want I will let you know how it goes for the first week. BTW all the manger’s and assistants did have nice high end vehicles.
I have seen a few questions regarding SC Marketing in Anaheim…I had all the same e-mails and same experiences during the first interview and the lady was extremely vague. I definitely had an off feeling about all of it…I mean, she only asked me one question about myself!
Still, they always answered the phone with “SC Marketing” and had SC Marketing very prominently posted on the building, nothing generic. I’m curious if anyone has actually followed through with SC Marketing after that second interview offer because I keep postponing mine…
I went through the entire process for Southern California Marketing. All I have to say is that they got me pretty good. I should have been suspicious from the beginning because when does a company call you back to remind you of your interview?
I went to the first interview and later that day they called me for the second (all day) interview. During the second interview the “account manager” was giving me a lot of information on how big their company is and the new accounts they got (he mentioned yankees). He continued to bs me by telling all the different things they do to market for their clients. The guy’s name is Abnor Pineda btw. Anyways, he said, “today we’re doing residential (door to door) just for today”. I didn’t like the whole door to door idea because my family warned that this is the only thing I”ll bee doing, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt. We went through the entire day and at lunch I noticed we had to pay for our lunch (he covered my meal so I got something out of it). This is when Abnor started to discuss how much I would be making. He told me I would be making 400-600 plus commission every week. I thought to myself “sweet this at least covers my bills”, so he had me sold at that point. He also went over on how within a year you can move up through the company fast and make a lot of money. I could care less because I only wanted to pay my bills. At the end of the day I took the “final interview” and of course and got “hired”. The next week I was to start my first “training day”. I showed up early and they were teaching me how to pitch to people for 2 hrs in their “Atmosphere” room or what I like to call their brainwashing room. People were to keep a positive attitude and never bring anything negative to say.
After, we went out to the “field” and to my disappointment we were doing door to door again, so I started to get little upset. At lunch time I had to buy my own lunch and was in a bad mood. I had to get to the bottom of things, so I asked him, “how much will i be making?”. He responded by saying “Didn’t I tell you? It’s commission only”. I was pissed and he noticed the expression on my face and he tried to sell me success stories of people and how much money they were making now.. It’s a load of crap. The suckers made 7-10 dlls commission on each piece they sold, and the “average” number of pieces sold by each seller is 10. More times than often people reach below that mark. Do the math if you reach the avg everyday, that’s 70-100 bucks a day working 12hr days. That’s 9-10 dlls an hr and you had to buy your lunch everyday (not allowed to bring your own). I wanted to leave, but we were far somewhere with his car so I was stuck.
I didn’t show up the next day for training and Abnor kept texting me and calling to see if I would come in. Don’t fall for their bullshit
I THINK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD INTERVIEW FOR THESE COMPANIES AT LEAST ONCE, IF NOT TWICE… read on for the reason.
On a whim, I moved to CA without a job or a place to live so I was semi-desperately searching for something to do that might bring in a little money so I didn’t have to rely entirely on my savings.
I was not new to the idea of sales scam companies. I had once considered selling knives door-to-door which is basically like supplying the murder weapon to strangers. So when I went on Craigslist and saw the “marketing” companies I went ahead and interviewed. I figured that one of them may be feasible as a stand-in job until I found something more permanent and real.
The first interview was standard procedure. Both companies made sure that other potentials were interviewing at the same time to make the position seem in-demand. The office lobbies were well decorated in a minimalist style. The interviewing offices were, of course, lacking. Neither had a computer and both had an OLD phone system. They ask the basic questions to make you think they care and blow smoke up your ass every chance they get.
I then moved into an apartment so I knew I had to take some sort of chance.
The second round of interviews were vastly different. At company ‘A’ I was joined by only 2 other candidates. We were immediately (without introductions) paired with a trainer/mentor. Ironically, they paired the Asian candidate with an Asian trainer, the Hispanic candidate with the Hispanic trainer and me (blond) with the blond trainer. I found that part to be hilarious for some reason and actually laughed a little during the pairing process. We were then escorted down to the trainer’s individual crappy cars and sent on our merry way.
The sales technique was explained to us while driving (during L.A. rush hour) to our designated areas. I was instructed not to talk during the sales pitch and only speak if someone directly addressed me. My job was to observe, learn and look enthusiastic. We were selling spa packages to employees while they are at work. Probably the worst sales plan ever! Let’s go bother minimum wage employees at their place of work while their bosses are within earshot and see if they will fork over $120 to a stranger for a spa package the don’t need. LMAO.
Regardless of how stupid the task was, I did get to see Hollywood first hand. Not in a touristy or just getting lunch in the area type way. I went into every business within 3 miles of Mann’s Theater. Most of the day was spent just shooting the shit with my trainer who was pretty cool, after she stopped selling the position. I SPENT money on my lunch and almost bought some unnecessary crap at the stores we visited. After 9 hours my feet were killing me, the sweat was soaking through my clothes and we hadn’t sold a single spa package (shocker).
When we returned to the office, I was taken into the BIG office and asked if I would like the position. I already knew I didn’t but told them I would think about it because I had another interview the next morning. The “boss” was upset by this (another indicator that they are a scam, fyi) and said that if I were serious I would say yes on the spot. I stuck to my answer and after he regained his composure he commended me for doing just that. I left and went back to my new apartment to unpack before my new, random roommate got sick of my stuff laying around.
At COMPANY B’s second round of interviews, I arrived rather early and sat in the lobby next to the receptionist. She had obviously been taking notes at the first round because she remembered things about me that I had forgotten I had shared. Fairly impressive tactic if you ask me.
Myself and 12 other candidates were corralled into a small room. We were briefed on what was going to happen (we would be selling DirectTV door-to-door) and were conveniently within earshot of enthusiastic cheering coming from the next room. I was already dreading this day since my feet still hurt from the previous “interview” and probably looked angry and judgmental rather than nervous and enthusiastic like the others. I felt bad for the young guy beside me who probably just graduated college with a business degree and his parent’s were expecting him to make something of himself. He was over-dressed and couldn’t stop shaking/bouncing his leg. His discomfort was making me uncomfortable. I wanted to grab him and say “this isn’t real, relax dude”.
We were then moved into the next room where the cheering had been taking place. The other “employees” were standing around a chalkboard that literally had a pyramid type drawing on it (ironic?) showing the sales levels. A few people were congratulated for their astounding success the previous week/month and the entire room was so loud with cheers that I thought my ears were going to bleed. It all felt very, um, rehearsed. We were most likely actually listening to the rehearsal while being briefed earlier.
I was paired up with a woman and then we were asked to meet at OUR cars. I thought it was interesting that they used the candidates cars and gas for their little show. I hadn’t been expecting guests in my car that I just drove clear across the country with all of my possessions so needless to say, it was a mess. My trainer ignored it at first.
I started driving and since I had already lost interest and never received any real answers, I started drilling my trainer. “Do we all stick together when we go to the houses? How much do we make off of a sale? We work at night, so you mean to tell me, you send young adult women to strange homes in strange neighborhoods alone at night? Has anyone ever died?” She was very nervous answering my questions and completely stopped when I asked if anyone had died. I was serious though. It sounded like the most dangerous job right behind prostitute. When I realized that Company A was already looking like a dream job comparably and that I would be wasting my day by going on the sales route with a woman I already couldn’t stand, I told her that I had changed my mind. I gave her my honest reasons and she haughtily told me to drive her back to the parking garage. She got out and made a snide comment about the cleanliness of my car. I smiled and waved goodbye then went to the nearby mall, grabbed a soy latte and treated myself to a new dress.
I eventually turned down the spa package company by calling my trainer’s cellphone on a weekend.
I honestly think I would go on another round of interviews at one of these scam companies just because it is entertaining and makes for good stories. If I am ever unemployed again, I will start looking them up. My true profession is as a writer so I love to experience new things and meet new people. These companies are great fodder for my stories. If you are into the business side of things, the interview process can provide some great insight into the ludicrous world we live in and possibly offer some perspective.
Recently, I almost fell for one of these misleading positions too. It’s great to look back at now for entertainment purposes. I write as a hobby, and I found your story highly entertaining. Do you have any work posted online that I could check out?
If anyone out there is on chicago’s craigslist and is looking for a job in marketing you should try to avoid both “develop inc.” and “eXclusive dynamics.” Both of these companies seem to be fraud- as in I have no idea what they do even though they claim to be marketing companies. When I have applied for any job at all on careerbuilder they seem to find me but when I somehow submit a resume to develope inc they rushed to meet me, gave me a fake number, and had no website. When I found a real number I called for a real website and it is almost identical to the exclusive dynamics site- both offer no real info on clients or experience. I also remembered that they had wanted “sports-minded people” which I am pretty sure would have nothing to do with the job. When I tried to cancel the interview by phone to the “if you need to cancel call this number” number and no one would answer and at the end a recording said “no one is here to answer your call, try again later.” Totaly unprofessional. So I tried to e-mail back with a cancelation responce and the MAILER-DEMON of yahoo said not a valid address/undeliverable!
Definitly a scam!
Just went on a ‘interview’ with Vision Marketing in Des Plaines, IL. It was the second round interview that I had gotten because I wore a suit and after talking about myself for 30 seconds clearly ‘had balls’ during the first interview. This should have been the red flag but I came back to see if I was wrong. It ended up being door to door sales the next day, and I left as soon as I could. The whole time my ‘trainer’ was explaining the position to me, he was selling it. The more he talked the more clear it was that Vision Marketing in Des Plaines, IL is a multi-level marketing scam. The bosses make money, while you sell some junk to people who don’t want to buy.
they have a new name in Illinois called source, inc. they are a pyramid they say hard work but bullshit!!!!!!!!!!! you sell a $21 package you get, $7, the act manager gets $3, boss gets $10, $1 for supposed client*(prob not). they are liars but if you need a job to make some good money and if you work hard and get good at it you can make money. don’t stay with them. get out, make money, go on to better things. life is better than this job and if you are smart you can learn some really good marketing and sales techniques to use in your future career.
I wish I would have done more research, but I am too a victim. Yesterday was my 3rd day on the job and it was technically like my 3rd interview. I applied 3 of these job postings and all three were at the same location. It seemed fishy but i tried anyway. Big mistake! Everything these bloggers are posting is so true! While reading all these postings i felt like crying…its exactly the same experiences and shaddy-ness i went through. Please add these 3 “companies” to your list guys: NorEastern Management/ 3 INC/ 5 Line marketing/ and I think there is a fourth called Assurance or Alliance…all four of these so called “companies” are a scam; pyramid corporate structure; and MLM–>ALL LOCATED AT: 207 E. MAIN ST in NORRISTOWN, PA and they market directly to the King of Prussia area. Don’t fall for it or waste your time. My only advice for you if you do decide to persue it, is pollish up and really practice on yur lies and bullshiting skills…you will need them to make money and move up the pyramid, good luck! oh and by the way your looking at over 60hrs a week-all commision based salary, shaddy insurance benefits, got to use your own car, gas, cell phone, etc. Thanks to all of you out there that have made my decision much easier, b/c i didn’t believe it at first but now I do!
Anyone have any info on Big Business Solutions out of Woburn, Ma??…although I fear I know the answer!
Johnny, Big Business Solutions = Worldwide Acquisitions. Door-to-door Verizon FiOS pyramid scheme. Stay far away.
PAG advertising in Denver is also linked to The Landers Group. I researched who owned their website, and it said the administrative contact is Lindsay Fatta. She is listed on multiple Landers Group press releases, as well as in an article on the group on ripoffreport.com. When PAG called me, they told me about several big-name clients and claimed I would be interviewing for a position in marketing and event planning. I then looked at their Web site and found that other than claiming to be PAG advertising on Champa Street in Denver, it gave no information. PAG’s portfolio page only says what industries their “clients” are in, and gives no specifics as to who these clients are.
I find this whole phenomenon to be pretty creepy. Hopefully companies like PAG in Denver will continue to be revealed on the internet for what they truly are so unsuspecting undergrads don’t continue to be scammed. I may e-mail both career offices at the universities where I received my degrees to tell them they should send their students lists of companies to avoid and techniques to detect scams (such as bogus websites like pagadvertising.com).
Yes… Big Business Solutions is the same company as World Wide Acquisitions…. They just changed their name this week (same people, same office in Woburn, MA) and they too are a big scam company! Genuine Acquisitions in San Jose, CA is also a “branch” company stemming from World Wide and is also a scam… Be careful out there, these companies ruin lives…
LevelTech out of White Plains, NY is one of these companies.
You can tell by their piece of crap website. They try to pose as a legit marketing firm but it’s obvious that there’s something fishy. They called me to do an interview so I looked up information on the company and found this blog THANKS you saved me some time. Moral of the story, do research on a potential employer.
Companies to add to your list:
Blue Rock Partners
Vector Marketing
Elite Marketing
Five Line Marketing
STL Worldwide
Red Zone International (Redzone International) scam
User Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
by AJ
07/28/2010
This is the worst company ever! Complete scam! They bring you in for a first interview and ask you to come in for a second “shadowing” day. They forget to mention, however, that from 10-5 on that shadowing day, you will be walking around going door to door to different businesses soliciting their services. I went in for my shadowing day, and they told me we were going to get in a car and go to another office. Little did I know, that ‘office’ was the streets of the Bronx, NY. I was completely trapped with no way to get back to my car in Hawthorne. No one told me we were going to be walking around all day (probably because they know I wouldn’t have showed up) and no one told me to wear comfortable shoes. I had blisters all over my feet by the end of the day and I was drenched in sweat since it was 100 degrees outside and I had a suit on. I even told the woman at lunch that I was not interested in door to door sales and I wasn’t interested in a job that was commission based. She said to stick it out because the manager has other jobs that aren’t ‘in the field positions’ and were salary based….COMPLETE LIE!
It should be illegal what this company does to prospective employees. They completely fool you and pretty much kidnap you for a day. Unless you’re interested in going door to door trying to ‘lower businesses phone bills’ with Verizon, don’t waste your time with this so-called company.
Thank you so much for posting this. I have an interview with them on Tuesday that I will not be attending.
So I submitted my resume through career builder and got a call from JCW Marketing Group and want to set up an interview. Does anyone know if this is a scam beause I can’t find any news articles about them, just their website.
Hey i got a call from Red-zone International too. They left me a voice mail saying that they have a spot open for Business Executive Manager and that my resume fits the requirements they are looking for. My interview is Monday-August 9th, i need some opinions, should i go or should i not go?
Add EMS to your list. They start off all of their phone calls as “Hi we received your email inquiry about employment with *insert name of client here* They’re working for AT&T to sell U-Verse at 100% commission. At first I thought it was a response to the Manager of Relations position for AT&T directly; the phone person said “yeah we will discuss all the positions at the interview” and asked me to choose a 30 minute time period between 10-12:30. I started asking her different questions about AT&T and she couldn’t answer anything. I never emailed EMS; they must have found my resume on Monster or Careerbuilder. Don’t do it!
I’m pretty sure “Boston Sports Group” is related to the same scam. They are in Woburn which apparently is the Massachusetts capital of bullshit scam companies (see northeast consulting, worldwide acquisitions, and big business inc).
How do you know for sure Emerald City Marketing is a scam… let me know how you know, thanks! Just wondering because I called to inquire about their job openings today.
There are always pros and cons to everything…
I am writing to inform people on the good side of the business.
I stumbled upon this site when I was researching on Archetype, Inc. I saw a bad review on here about the company, but im not like most people. I dont just listen to what everyone else says. So I when in for my interview to see for myself how it was really like and guess what… its like how WILLY described it. They weren’t scammers. I was new in town the admin suggested places to eat and go (nice girl) I went through to the second interview and didnt really know what to expect but after the day progressed i knew it wasnt for me. ITS NOT FOR EVERYONE. overall I had a good experience and i didnt take the job because at the time the pay wasn’t right but overall the people were nice and they seemed professional….
The other companies may or may not be scams but all i am saying is dont complain about other companies if you had a bad day.
If you really got SCREWED LIKE, DIDNT GET PAID FOR TIME WORKED THEN THATS A DIFFERENT STORY
*****BUT IT SEEMS LIKE MOST OF YOU ARE JUST BITCHING BECAUSE OF A BAD EXPERIENCE YOU HAD OR A MISCONCEPTION of the company….. why do you think they set up a second interview… so you can see what it involves before you start…..you dont have to say yes to the position.. I THINK THAT’S AN OBVIOUS ONE!
FACT- YOU CAN MAKE MONEY WITH DIRECT MARKETING. SO NOT EVERY COMPANY IS SCAM.
Robert Kiyosaki says…
“If I had to do it all over again, rather than build an old style type of business, I would have started building a network marketing business.”
Read more about what he says about network marketing.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Robert-Kiyosaki-and-Network-Marketing&id=4589011
I AM SORRY YOU ALL HAD BAD EXPERIENCES BUT MINE WAS ACTUALLY GOOD. SO I MIGHT AS WELL WRITE ABOUT HOW MY DAY WAS TO COUNTERACT ALL OF YOURS.
NOT SAYING THAT THEY ARE ALL LEGIT BUT IT SEEMED ARCHETYPE WAS.
i meant to write NOT LIKE HOW IT WAS DESCRIBED BY WILLY…. SORRY
This is also in response to WILLY’S post. The website wasnt working for me either until i updated my flash. I asked the girl over the phone and at first it seemed sketchy too, but was told they use the newest version of flash so once i updated it it actually worked for me and i was able to navigate through all the icons and pages…
not trying to dog on you man… i just wanted to respond with a positive to your negative..
Please add 4fifty8 Acquisitions to the list. They’re based in Raleigh, NC, and use the exact same techniques I’ve seen mentioned here, right down to promising pay for training and then withholding it. Moreover, the manager promised a base wage in addition to the 28% commission they offer, but on my last day of training – incidentally, my last day at the company – I found out that the bonuses employees make for various commissions milestones actually make up that base. No thanks! I wasted a week on them and I’d rather not see anyone else do the same thing.
Anything on Damen Grand Marketing based out of Orange County? I cannot locate this business on BBB….
Add BBc aka. Birmingham business consulting to your list. Same bull, selling at&t u-verse.
Was is someone saying they are employed by at&t uverse or selling it?
Add MARKETING PROFESSIONALS in New Brunswick, New Jersey and METROPOLITAN SPORTS MARKETING in Clifton NJ…exact same practice…first interview and second interview scheduled immediately but thats an 8 hour day with another employee….DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME…whats’s amazing is that they’re all over the career builder sites….SCAM ALERT!!!!!
This company is a scam!!! They represent themselves as a mystery shopper coporation. They are based out of Ontario,Canada they send you a check and then tell you to cash the check. Once you deposit the check in your bank account they will tell you to take a portion out of the check and then send it through western union and rate the customer service. Once you have completed the job they will pay you $150 an hour. Their phone number is 905-781-1233. Please do not trust this company !!!
the name of the company is INTERNATION MARKETING COPORATION
I worked at Sports Marketing International out of Sherman Oaks for 6 months. I quit in April, or as they would say I WAS BLOWN OUT, but i quit. For the past few months ive looked back at my experience and the only thing that keeps me from saying it was a wasted six months was that i learned how people could be so cruel in takin advantage of others. I was picked to go to the Bahamas for owners R&R and i quit just before that becasue i realized, like everything else, i would lose money by goin on this TRIP. It is tough to call it a scam because you can get paid more than many other jobs but it is short term. I was makin around a thousand a week for about two months but then i began to lose it because i had to pay the supposed members of my team. By the time i quit i had 20 bucks in my account from all the expenditures you have to put into it. You pay for gas, pay your team out, bounced checks which you usually cant get back, car problems. Its a huge waste and somethin full of false promises. I thought it was so good. Three weeks into it you will find yourself crying…wondering why you are doin it and then the temptation of running you’re own office pushes you. I had four guys on my team which was enough to move on to assistant manager. What got me out was when i realized i would have to lie to many other people to keep my office open. My conscience took over and I’m sorry to everyone i had put on to help me move up. YOU WILL REGRET IT.
BTW what should have been the bell ringer was the fact that it is 100% comission job and they would scold me big time if i did not meet my quota, which is odd after they had told me after being hired that there is no quota. They need you to do what should be their work. A pretty smart way of keeping the lazy rich. Beth Curley was the one whom pushed me out. A cruel person. I would however love for someone to go for an interview and when you meet the old redhead just sit through the interview and at the end say THANK YOU BUT I FEEL I HAVE TO REPORT THIS TO THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU.
I am SO glad I found this site in time! Thanks for putting these people on blast guys!!!
I went to interview with a company called Business Consulting Solutions for a part time administrative position. I was already a little skeptical about the place, since I had visited their website beforehand, and noticed that none of their major team members had included their last names on the company profile (including the President of the company)! I’ve been doing administrative work for about four years now and it just seemed a little off that the “man in charge” wouldn’t introduce himself to potential customers or employees.
Anywhoo, I went in for my ten minute interview and was hit with red flag after red flag. There was no mention of hours, compensation, or what exactly it is that these people actually do – just vague descriptions. In fact, the only thing I got out of the interview was “We work with Verizon…blah, blah….you’re very outgoing…blah, blah…we do a lot of recruiting…blah, blah…would you be interested in a sales consultant postion?” I figured “Why not?…maybe it’ll pay more???” and was later scheduled for a second interview the next day. I was told that I would: 1. be introduced to the staff for 20 mins, 2. “shadow” someone in the field all day, 3. Come back for an office meeting. Luckily, I never made it, because I felt the need to do further research and landed on this site!!! WHOOT WHOOT!!!
I feel absolutely awful for those people who will be out today from 9-5 walking around in this 100 degree heat! Hopefully someone else will find this post helpful! I’d stay clear from Business Consulting Solutions – unless going about misleading people is your cup of tea.
Anyone heard of a company called BEG Boss Executive Group in Denver? I just came across your site and read your stuff. My daughter is trying to set up an interview with them next week, but has to fly from Mississippi to Denver to do it. I’m hoping they are legit, but now am not sure, as so much of what was said sounds like all your stuff. Let me know. Please.
Looking for a position in Sports Events and Marketing, just found the new website of the Landers Group. It’s funny how it even contains the exact same text you qupted above!! Everybody, be aware of: http://www.lasportsmarketing.com/
Thank you for leaving information about this company. I’ve been researching anyone that sends me an email and I can see PAG has left a mark in Colorado, Vegas and Kansas. The funny thing about them is that when I googled them more than one link comes up for their website and a few words here and there are changed. Take a look at http://pacificadvertisinggroup.com/main.html and compare it to http://www.pagadvertising.com/ needless to say, I’m very thank full and also keep an eye out for SUMMIT ADVERTISING Inc in Colorado, Same fishy add, first thing you find when you Google it is “SCAM”. I read a few reviews from people claiming having their social security stolen. You won’t know it’s this company until you receive an email from a Gmail account with the company’s name on the header.
Good Luck!!
Damn why did I ever choose marketing as a major in college…Is it me or is Mass where there are all marketing scams…Isnt there any legit entry level Marketing positions in Boston mass. I found this website too late and already did the 12 hr day and when u sell something u ring a giant cowbell and basically make 10$ for the day lol fucking bullshit….with that said is ” BOSTON SPORTS GROUP” in wouburn mass a scam…..Probably is cause everything in Boston Mass sucks balls for marketing jobs. I had a good job for 2 years at State Street but got laid off cause of the economy, now im fucked SHOULD I MOVE OUT OF STATE?
I’m so glad I found this article, I set up my 2nd interview for Friday and I am definitely not going now. I just don’t know where to look anymore for a job, Careerbuilder and Monster are swamped in these scam companies, its so discouraging, should’ve stayed in school that extra year…
The company I interviewed with is called Break-Thru Corporations and also goes by the name Mc Kinley Inc. The exact ad you described is what they used in their job posting. I just graduated college and of course I am looking for employment. I was slightly excited for my interview today because I thought it may be a sign that I was quite possibly, employable. Before my interview, I had to fill out a questionnaire which I thought was odd because we had to bring our resumes’ as well. Didn’t our resume already have our employment and contact information? I thought this was suspect. Then as I sat in the waiting room I noticed that the receptionist was calling the people scheduled for interviews to make sure that they hadn’t gotten lost and to make sure they were still coming. Which also struck me as odd because it is not the employers responsibility to make sure you arrive to your interview. Also, if you were lost you would pick up your cell phone and call the office. I was called in for my interview and the guy seemed friendly enough. The interviewers name was Rich and he was chatting me up about his daughter, the weekend, and some other irrelevant topics. During the interview I noticed some red flags. First, he didn’t ask me many questions. Nor, did he ask how I would make up for my lack of experience in such a competitive field. Rich didn’t describe what they actually did for the job which also concerned me. He said they were expanding so much that they needed to hire a bunch of people right away. Towards the end of the interview he said he would call me later that night to let me know if i made it to the second interview, then for no reason at all he changed his mind and told me I already made it to the second interview. Rich told me to show up tomorrow morning at 9:15 AM and to wear flat shoes because we would be doing a lot of walking. “Why would I be doing a lot of walking for an office job?” I thought. He also mentioned that sometimes the lower level sales employees had to “roll up their sleeves and get a little dirty”. This statement also made me suspicious. I waitressed all throughout college and had no interest in any such thing. Rich also mentioned something about selling tickets to sports games. The whole thing seemed fishy to me. Rich didn’t ask me if i had any questions for him and didn’t give me a chance to say much. Soon after leaving, I realized that my second interview scheduled for tomorrow would not be paid work day. I knew this because he hadn’t mentioned anything about what how much money I would be making there. I knew that any company that would not pay for training is just not right. The final sign to me that “Break-Thru” was not legit was the other people waiting to be interviewed in the office. One interviewee was wearing shoes that looked like stripper heals and the other woman looked desperate for a job. One of the office workers was wearing a skimpy and very short floral jumper with stiletto pumps. That kind of attire is not very professional and this Florida, not LA.
After much contemplation throughout my day, I decided to google the matter. I quickly found the company I interviewed with on a scam site. It didn’t take me long to figure out that I was just one of many hopeful people duped into thinking I had a chance at a good job. Sigh.
Also, many on here are questioning whether these jobs are scams or not. However, anytime a company is omitting information about what they really do, not paying you for training, and in many cases not paying the 50$ a day as promised then that is a scam. Moreover, that’s not a real job with a reputable company. I have no doubt this experience would be useful to someone interested in cut throat sales. Still, I wouldn’t put one of those places on my resume. Also, misleading people into thinking they will be doing an office job when really they will be doing a door to door sales job is just not right. They also lie to you and act as if this is an exclusive job opportunity when in fact, it is not at all. These people are constantly hiring people for no other reason then that they have a pulse. Why would anyone want to work for a company that lies right to your face from the very star t!?
I’m glad I caught on before I went into my second interview! I only wished I could have warned the other people in the office with me!
Here’s copy of the letter I received asking to schedule an interview…
Hi Emily!
Thank you for your interest in Break-THRU, Inc. Your resume has been processed and we are interested in speaking with you further about your background and career goals. Break-THRU develops and executes innovative Sports and Entertainment Marketing Campaigns for clients throughout the Orlando area. We lead the market in sports and entertainment advertising, dealing with high profile clients ranging from sports teams, restaurants, hotels, resorts, and golf courses. Our list of clients has tripled; our struggle is not how to grow; it’s how to keep up with our ongoing growth!
Break-THRU separates ourselves from other advertising firms by conducting direct sales and marketing, so all of our clients and consumers are dealt with face to face. Our whole forte is targeting markets that radio, billboards, and direct mailers cannot reach. We are currently filling positions which include exposure to outside sales, marketing, customer service, and account coordination. We are looking for individuals who seek an opportunity to move into a management position.
The next step in the interview process will be to contact our headquarters at 407-951-5819 to set up a one on one meeting with our interviewing manager in our Orlando office. Thanks again for your interest and we look forward to speaking with you soon.
Sincerely,
Brooke Fields
Break-THRU, Inc.
Front Office Manager
407-951-5819
And here’s a copy of the letter with the website of their so called business.
Dear Emily,
This email is to confirm your scheduled appointment for 08/20/2010 at 12:30 PM. Below you will find directions to our office. Please remember to bring a copy of your resume and dress professionally to your appointment.
If you have any questions or problems finding us, you can reach me at 407-951-5819. I look forward to meeting you!
Sincerely,
Jennifer Forman
Break-Thru Advertising
Click Here to View Our Website (http://www.break-thruinc.com/)
Break-THRU, Inc. Develops Community Marketing Campaign with local Sports and Entertainment Clients
Break-THRU advertising SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM!
East Coast Business Concepts is a similar scam! They led me to believe i would be shadowing a manager in a office, and when I got there I had to get into and employees’ car, and walk around the streets of downtown Philly for 6 hours asking to see local businesses’ electric bill. Mind you, I was told to dress in my business professional interview clothing, so I ruined my dress shoes and my feet were bleeding and had huge blisters by the end of the day. Not only is this misleading, it is incredibly unsafe!
Has anyone ever heard of the following companies as being scams? They are both based out of San Diego.
iMAGE INC
San Diego Marketing Group
I googled both and the only one I was able to find any information on was iMAGE and to my understanding they are DEFINITELY A SCAM. The San Diego Marketing Group I am unsure of. They both had VERY similar pitches in their job descriptions (or lack there of).
At this point, any information would be very helpful! Thank you to all! This posting is awesome!!
Does anyone know anything about a company called POLISH in SAN DIEGO? It sounds kind of like these other companies, but I’m not sure.
I am sorry to say that I was suckered into the second interview. Here are a few things I learned.
1. They are using HR type interviews. There are numerous interviewees there. So you feel there is competition. The first interview is typical. They ask for resumes, They go over your past experience and accomp