Is Vector a scam?

nightmarenny

I am a young college student who is thus, desperate for cash. It was a godsend then when a company gave me a call. They said I had been recommend by a good friend of mine(this was confirmed) I went to the interview and the Branch manager of Vector(which sells knives) gave a long presentation which involved mentioning that you would have to pay a 147 dollar deposit for the demonstrations. I received a phone call later telling me I was hired. So I asked my parents for a lone. My father had a long talk with me and said it had to be a scam.

So, has anyone had any dealings with this company? Is it a scam?

Invisible

Yes.

Any company that wants you to sell knives, insurance, energy bars, etc. and requires you to pay a fee for the privilege of selling their product is almost always a scam.



Edit: Oh and the reason you were recommended by a friend is because friends and family are pretty much the only people you'll ever get involved (either as recruits or as customers).

Xaquin

It's a scam. I remember thinking I should check this out. So I did. I remember saying to myself "wow, scissors that can cut through a penny. Cool. .... see you guys later"

one wasted day hehe

Typhoid Manny

generally if it occurs to you to ask if something is a scam, then it's a scam.

Gabriel_Pitt

It's not a total scam, but the only way you're going to really make any money is by having a lot of relatives who need knives, and are willing to by the over-priced ones your selling.

Sentry

Yes, this is a scam that normally prey's on high school students, so you're actually a little behind the curve.

And as always, remember Thantos's law: If you have to ask if it's a scam, it's a freaking scam.

Robos A Go Go

If you know a ton of people who need knives, like perhaps a family of serial killers, then you might make some money from this.

Otherwise you're better off with conventional employment.

Free Hotel

This is a scam, do not do it, you will get fucked.

Figgy

I actually posted this same thread last year. Do a search and there I much more there to look at specifying why it is a scam and testimonials and stuff.

koconutmonkey

It is a weird company, but damn do they make good knives. I got suckered into the pyramid like scheme of using family members to get more demos and such. I still have a set of knives, they are awesome products, just a weird deployment.

If you have a lot of family members and friends who are willing to give you a shot, and if you think you are comfortable selling to these members, then I say go for it. If you are questionable about your selling technique, or asking family members for friends names and phone numbers, then its not a good idea.

Duffel

Your dad's right, he just saved you from getting screwed by some extremely unscrupulous people.

It's not a job really, it's a pyramid scheme where they take your deposit and dump you off with loads of this nearly worthless merchandise. These sleazebags used to come soliciting around the dorms at school, too. There was always a few people who fell for it.

nightmarenny

I'll never trust the wallstreet jornal again.

Sentry

nightmarenny wrote: »

I'll never trust the wallstreet jornal again.

The Wall Street Journal is an English-language international daily newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation

That should have been your first clue.

TheDragon

It's funny how often Vector comes up here. See previous threads for the same advice:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=66824&highlight=vector+scam
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=46269&highlight=vector+scam
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=80923&highlight=vector+scam

Thanatos

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssss.

Raziel

That's too funny. I was going through those old threads about Vector, and people keep mentioning Kirby as the prototypical ponzi scheme.

My mom had a Kirby vacuum ever since I was born. That titanic chrome-plated bastard is still kicking around. God bless their trusting immigrant hearts.

But, yeah. I know the economy's tanked, bud, but you can still get a real job. This door-to-door salesman crap went out of style in the 50s.

Topweasel

I only know about them because my company (which is an automotive software provider) keeps getting confused with them. I think Raziel said it best. Its not a pyramid scheme as it a ponzi scheme. They have a product, a good product at that. But like Kirby they are a lot more expensive then the stuff you can get at the store, so instead of selling them at the store, they have you sell them by having you purchase the knives off of them and then you sell them.

If you want a set of the knives I hear they are worth buying. But I wouldn't become a door to door salesmen for them.

As for Kirby my parents have an almost 20 year old kirby that still seems to run great. It had to get repaired once, but those things are tanks.

RUNN1NGMAN

In theory, they're not a scam. However, the business model they have rewards members of the organization what are able to recruit impressionable (i.e. dumb) kids and dump a truckload of knives on them. They operate in the grey area where what they do is legal, but it's so close to the line that the Justice Department has about 50 file cabinets full of data on them.

People compare it to a pyramid scheme because while they tell you you can make money selling knives, what they don't tell you is that all the unbelievable success stories are of people who sell their inventory to new recruits. No one is making much money selling to the public.

Heartlash

They're a multi-level marketing scheme like Avon (read: pretty much a scam, but a legal scam).

Fireflash

A real job should never require you to pay things upfront.

Monolithic_Dome

See, the thing is people, who want knives, most of them already have knives. They went and bought them, at the store.

Dman

I went for a job interview with these guys a few years ago.

I thought it was suspicious how they really make it seem like you'd be really lucky to get hired by them and then they turn around and "hire" everyone who showed up for the interview by selling them demo knives...

The only way to make money is if you have a huge social network of people your willing to scam into buying overpriced knives who are willing to recommend you to all their gullible friends so you can scam them also.

If I ever becomes a door to door salesman (scam-man) I think I'll just buy stuff at garage sales and pawnshops to sell to the gullible. Much better margins.

RUNN1NGMAN

Dman wrote: »

I went for a job interview with these guys a few years ago.

I thought it was suspicious how they really make it seem like you'd be really lucky to get hired by them and then they turn around and "hire" everyone who showed up for the interview by selling them demo knives...

The only way to make money is if you have a huge social network of people your willing to scam into buying overpriced knives who are willing to recommend you to all their gullible friends so you can scam them also.

If I ever becomes a door to door salesman (scam-man) I think I'll just buy stuff at garage sales and pawnshops to sell to the gullible. Much better margins.

And just think, if you succeed in the company, one day YOU can be the guy making big bucks by selling demo knives to gullible college kids!

firewaterword

Xaquin wrote: »

It's a scam. I remember thinking I should check this out. So I did. I remember saying to myself "wow, scissors that can cut through a penny. Cool. .... see you guys later"

one wasted day hehe

This reminded me of something a few years ago, when my step-mom's nephew convinced her to buy a few of these knives and the scissors. My dad was tying to impress me with the penny trick; he snipped the penny, and half of it flew up and hit him in the eye, causing him to unleash an impressive fountain of curses.

It was pretty funny. Thankfully it didn't blind him.

Casually Hardcore

A scam.

Any company that requires their employees to pay a fee and take 10 hours of unpaid training is a scam.

I guess if you want a decent set of knives and have a day to waste, you could buy the demo set and waste ten hours of your life, and never look back. Otherwise, fuck them.

Hakkekage

It is a scam. The only reason why I was blinded to this fact was because one my my classmates' brother was a bigwig at the office, which seemed to me like it wasn't ENTIRELY bad.

It is. It is awful. Yes, I rather easily made back my deposit and much more, but they are awful fucking people. It was stressful, and they got way up your ass for not pushing these expensive knives on people you knew. And then once a week you had to be at the office, for which you don't get paid, for a fucking stupid and vapid 'award' thing where they go fucking batshit loco for selling $X, and then ream you for not selling more. It's dishonest as fuck.

The only upside is that the knives are good. So it's not a scam product. It's a scam marketing system. And it ticks me off that they could sell perfectly legitimate, high quality knives very well if they didn't have this ridiculous fucking pyramid scheme.

Raziel

Scam is probably too harsh a word. They're not out there to deceive you. It's just that you will essentially be taken advantage of. When you consider that it is YOUR job to market and sell the product, you get a very small slice of the profits.

It's not a scam, it's just a very poor use of your time and earning potential.

SammyF

Raziel wrote: »

Scam is probably too harsh a word. They're not out there to deceive you. It's just that you will essentially be taken advantage of. When you consider that it is YOUR job to market and sell the product, you get a very small slice of the profits.

It's not a scam, it's just a very poor use of your time and earning potential.

On the bright side, the knives I left with ten years ago are still in pretty good condition.

Capncrunch7

I worked for them last summer when I only had two months between semesters and couldn't find a regular job. It's not a scam, it's just an awful fucking job.

I sold about $5,000 worth of Cutco (which is the product that Vector makes) and only pocketed about $600. So yes, you get horrifically taken advantage of.

On the plus side, I and many of my friends and family (whom are the ONLY people you will sell to) have wonderful knives that we are happy with.

On the down side, $600 for two months of work is AWFUL, many of my friends and family will always know me as the 'knife kid', and I just had a general icky feeling from every interaction I had with my boss and the office.

Google vector marketing and you'll find hundreds of discussions that all say the same thing.

cooljammer00

The knives are cool, the job and business practices are shit.

Not worth it.

XOCentric

Is Vector a scam?

Ohmyfuckisitever. Fuck Vector and their total bullshit internal structuring/ preying on naive people looking for legitimate work.

Vector sells Cutco. knives, these knives and other kitchenware that is actually really good at cutting and ergonomically pleasing in the hand. That is where the good about Vector ends.

You can get kitchenware for way cheaper that fills the same functions.

While I was away for 4 months last summer doing military training, my girlfriend started working for Vector, because they advertise "good profits! you are only limited by your own drive to sell" or some other bullshit like that.

She got fucked, and in the process WE got fucked, which really translates into I got fucked, and if anyones doing the fucking, it's me.

What they really do is give you a base kit to demo for people (read family and friends, and friends of both). Then if you move a set amount of product, you can either get a cut, OR you can use some of that to get more items to demo, theoretically increasing your sales because people will be SO fucking amazed at the shit that the only outcome is for you eventually selling their product off your yacht.

We are not in the barter system anymore, where else do you work for knives?

They also expect you to drive your own ass around to prospects houses, in presumably a vehicle that runs on your own drive to sell.

Oh, and she was frequently "asked" (pressured) into coming into the office on her own time for free to do what they call "phone jams", to call new contacts.

Man, I could go on for an hour about this, but Im going home, so FUCK VECTOR, DO NOT WORK FOR THEM.

Argus

I would say yes, considering I've already had two or three letters from them, which specified only that they were hiring for some unmentioned task at every town around me, even the towns that have 1,000 people in them. My brother (same age) also got a letter from them. When any company is sending out letters actively seeking employees to any breathing hunk of meat instead of you having to apply to them, you know that you probably shouldn't work for them.

Doc

koconutmonkey wrote: »

It is a weird company, but damn do they make good knives. I got suckered into the pyramid like scheme of using family members to get more demos and such. I still have a set of knives, they are awesome products, just a weird deployment.

They are awesome if you are used to the $20 knives that you can get at a grocery store. Most Cutco products cannot compete with other knives in their price range. I have their 9 1/4" chef knife, and I replaced it for day-to-day use with a MAC MTH-80. I've not looked back.

Satsumomo

Good friend of mine just got into this whole Xango craze thing.

It's scary, all his acquaintances are just as obsessed with their new "Life purpose" and "Life projects" and how Xango is the shit in magical potions that heal your body. They even go as far as to call each other "Xangorites".

Whoever runs this Xango business is a genius, they've got awesome national conventions and recruit tons of people. I'm happy for my friend though, as it seems he's going to be one of those recruiters and not just a gullible college student. At least I hope it is, he really never tells me much of his "project" but he's so secretive about it that I'm inclined to believe he's being trained to recruit like crazy.

So, who wants a $50 bottle of brown juice?

Blackjack

SammyF wrote: »

Raziel wrote: »

Scam is probably too harsh a word. They're not out there to deceive you. It's just that you will essentially be taken advantage of. When you consider that it is YOUR job to market and sell the product, you get a very small slice of the profits.

It's not a scam, it's just a very poor use of your time and earning potential.

On the bright side, the knives I left with ten years ago are still in pretty good condition.

Yup. I was there exactly long enough to get my sample knives and a free vegetable peeler for making X appointments, and then I left.