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new job... sorta fishy
Local H Jay
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
so i applied for a new job with this here Vector Marketing place, and after a weird 'group interview', i was accepted.
now, what gets me are a few smaller details, like how they turned away people in college, clearly better dressed than i ( a senior in high school) in favor of me. i was very sure i was not going to get hired.
similarly questionable, is a required $147 for knives used in demonstrations. they told me it was $540, but marked down at a special price for us (even though they showed us comparisons to competitors prices and they labeled the product at "$160".
so i am really confused. they claimed the rate of pay was $18, but didn't mention until the end of the thing that it was on an appointment basis. so, me, a student with limited time, might not make as much as i'd hope.
honestly i was so excited about finally landing a job i didn't say no. but now looking back i want to make sure i'm not getting into something i want no part of. help?
and this stuff from wiki doesn't help:
now, what gets me are a few smaller details, like how they turned away people in college, clearly better dressed than i ( a senior in high school) in favor of me. i was very sure i was not going to get hired.
similarly questionable, is a required $147 for knives used in demonstrations. they told me it was $540, but marked down at a special price for us (even though they showed us comparisons to competitors prices and they labeled the product at "$160".
so i am really confused. they claimed the rate of pay was $18, but didn't mention until the end of the thing that it was on an appointment basis. so, me, a student with limited time, might not make as much as i'd hope.
honestly i was so excited about finally landing a job i didn't say no. but now looking back i want to make sure i'm not getting into something i want no part of. help?
and this stuff from wiki doesn't help:
Vector Marketing in the past has required sales representatives to make a deposit of approximately $147 in order to procure a set of knives for demonstrations, prompting some to complain about this policy, even though the deposit is fully refundable.[3][4][5] Since Vector Marketing is a multi-level marketing group, students who work for Vector Marketing are considered independent contractors and are not reimbursed for money they spend on gasoline used while working or for the time they spend at training sessions. Additionally, Vector marketing agents often take personal data from online networking sites and contact students under the pretence of having been recommended by a a friend of the called person. While Vector representatives often claim that the benefits of working for Vector are numerous, there is currently no data or evidence to support any claim that Vector improves marketing or communications skills, as training is often contrary to accepted models of successful business.
Local H Jay on
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really
Do not pay them anything and get out. If you have already bought the demonstration set then you might be SOL, although if it's still sealed you might be able to take it back. Although that's highly unlikely given the nature of it.
You know I'm going to make fun of you for this forever, by the way.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
This is a synonym for "complete scam".
When you see this, just keep walking.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
blargh gonna call the guy and tell him to fuck off
Edit: alright, bullet dodged. thanks a ton, guys.
Maybe fees to get a needed license or certification... but no, if the company is going to not require that as part of the job application they should pay for it.
See also: Amway, Quixtar
Both started by the same family? Ugh, gotta love Grand Rapids...
I used to erase the ads they'd put up on blackboards at school (not allowed) and tear down their basic posters that they'd put on the posting boards.... such a scam
I got halfway through their speel and said "Wait what does this have to do with working in a callcenter?"
They mumbled and I got up. The manager stopped me at the door and asked what was wrong. I told them that it was a B.S. pyramid scheme and had nothing to do with what they were advertising as etc. He asked me to leave. So I did.
I felt so defeated for days.
Don't feel bad man those people are bad joojoo.
There's even a chapter (or episode, if you watched the anime) on it in "Welcome to the NHK!"
I think you'd be better off working for a telemarketing company or a dating agency. Really, those aren't bad jobs if you can tolerate lying to people on occasion.
They get a bad reputation because they tend to dazzle the easily persuaded with a bunch of sales figures and success stories, and before you know it you've got a garage full of chocolate body paint and novelty vibrators that you paid $1K for, and you have no idea who to sell it to.
If you happen to be one of the few people who can sell bottled water to a drowning man, there's the potential to make a lot of money.
Well it really is a scam because you never make much of a profit. At best, you make a few hundred dollars after a year or break even. The only people who profit are those high up on the chain: the "ruby" and "diamond" members, to put it in AmWay terms.
It's a scam for the amount of time you have to spend just to break even when you could be working at a real job and bringing home a decent income. It might not be very respectable to work at a fast food place or a telemarketing center or at a support call center, but at least you won't be fucking yourself out of paying off your student loans.
LOLWorthy:
Yeah, they basically fuck you so hard that you become a suspicious, jaded and hateful person later in life. Welcome to the school of hard knocks.
Some recommended reading:
http://media.www.webujournal.com/media/storage/paper245/news/2004/02/04/News/Vector.Marketing.Targets.Unaware.College.Students-596811.shtml
http://media.www.carolinianonline.com/media/storage/paper301/news/2006/09/26/CampusNews/High-Wages.For.Student.Work.But.Beware-2306618.shtml
Unrelated: It'd be nice if colleges used a CMS other than College Publisher. It makes links look fishy.
I very quickly worked out it was a complete scam the first time around (much like you have), but rather then ignore them I used to take advantage of it.
Step 1: When they first approach you, pretend to be interested. They usually suggest that they meet you for a small interview. Suggest a place that's convenient for you, say a coffee shop, that you know is expensive and has good coffee. They are so desperate to recruit, they will ALways buy the coffee >: )
Step 2: During the interview, look as skeptical as you can, but don't say much. Raise an eyebrow every now and again, and perhaps snort a laugh. It makes them so pissed off; they can see they're not swaying you, but they don't want to stop the spiel. If you occasionally go "Oh, ok. Sounds good" they raises their hopes alot. Allow them those few seconds, then soon afterwards respond a few times with less enthusiastic "Oh.... I see... ah huh...."
Repeat as many times as you feel they deserve.
Step 3: At the end, they'll try to close the deal and lock you in. Resist. If you're good at talking, and don't mind minor arguments, you can even start to question things. Why would I want to get involved? What percentage of people ever make this kind of money? Yes, it basically is a pyramid scheme, even if you've made the diagram into a square.
Say something along the lines of "I'm perfectly happy in the job I have now" they'll usually respond along the lines of "But can that job make you $1000 a day?" In which case, you can end by saying "You know what? I enjoy my job. And frankly I find that far more important then making lots of money. Money isn't everything you know".
They know they've lost the deal by then. Most will shake your hand and leave, and you can be happy in the knowledge that you got a free coffee, wasted their time, and put them through a mountain of psychological trauma too XD
Visited New York, Nashville and LA for a coupla days each just to do some touristy shite, then went to work up in Portland Oregon.
On my 2nd week I got pulled over by the cops after they got a report of a shifty looking character going about the streets asking which houses in the neighbourhood had kids (I was selling school books!
Still made fuck all money though, but was worth it for the experience
He told me about it right before he left, and I told him good luck, but if they mention knives, run. He didn't understand why Vector Cereal would have anything to do with knives.
When he said no to the interviewer, they were extremely upset he said.
1 tells 10.
10 tell 100.
100 tell 1000.
1000 tell 10,000.
10,000 tell 100,000.
100,000 tell 1000,000.
1000,000 tells 10,000,000. Ten million.
10,000,000 tells 100,000,000.
100,000,000 tells 1,000,000,000. The population of the US is around 304,000,000.
1,000,000,000 can't tell 10,000,000,000, as there are just under 7,000,000,000 people in the world.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
I had a friend who got really into one of those... it wasn't Excell, I think it was ADM or ADP or something like that. I can't remember the name. But they wanted a 500$ "employee sign-up fee", and they paid like 5 bucks per sale... but 100$ if you could get someone else to sign up as an employee (netting them the 500 bucks again). He ended up losing every last friend he had: two of them because he sold them the company's crappy ISP service (which put them into a HORRIBLE contract for what was basically dialup charged at twice the going rate), and the rest of them he lost in his desperate - and at times, aggressive - pleas for them to join the company so he could make his money back.
great, great job sniffing this out for what it was, OP!
I had an interview with Primerica once. About 30 minutes in they stopped and asked if it was something I was interested in. I politely answered No and left.
They got to the point where they start asking for money to sign up for their marvelous whatever-the-hell-it-was, I asked if I could borrow the cash from one of the presenters. I mean, if it's such a fool proof system for making money, they shouldn't be too strapped to spot a guy a couple of c-bills to start up, right?
But uh, yeah, to the OP. Scam. Don't bother, although if you're interested I do have some nice knives you might want to look at.
I still have the knives I bought though for a "discount". They still work well, they're still sharp. I guess the same could be said of a lot of knives, but there you go.
I happened to make a little money out of it. Not enough to really make a living, but enough that I wasn't completely fucked by the experience like many have been. I only did it for about 3 months or so and never really put a hell of a lot of effort into it. Sold some shit to my friends' moms.
I also lied about some of my appointments and got a few dollars that way. Shady, but it's not like they didn't deserve it. It was hard as fuck to get them to pay me for those appointments. Very fucking hard.
I don't know how you all equate this as "paying money to work". I guess buying tools as a tradesman is "paying money to work". Or buying a computer as a CS major.
I'm not saying it wasn't a shitty experience, it was. It was awful, but enlightening. I became a lot more cynical after that.
now i'm just pissed they're still wasting my time.
Then do "that was a joke, laugh" in your best macbane voice.
(then hang up)
Did they take your money, or did you promise/sign any contracts?
no. i filled out and application, got the 'job', and then called back and told them to take their job and shove it in i'd say about an hour.
didn't sign anything, no moneys. they just have my number and if this keeps up i'll get theirs blocked.
It's pretty fucked up. You basically end up selling your soul and doing terrible things to get people to give you money for something they don't need.