Here's my experience...
I'm a college student and was at school when i saw a booth that read "$16 pay". So of course it caught my attention. I signed up and recieved a phone call later that day in order to schedule an interview. I went to the interview the next day and was hired. I was told there was job training i had to attend (6 hours for each day, 3 days in total). I attended & their enthusiasm was contagious. I was very excited to start selling. And to be honest, the $153 security deposit on the kit we recieve didn't bother me much (although i don't know how they expected us to give money without having made any yet). I gave my deposit, recieved my kit, & started calling people i knew that i could possibly set an appointment up with.
Then little things began to bother me. For one, i felt really pushed to call people. Some people didn't mind, but i personally didn't enjoy it. Secondly, we were told that if we got 4 yes's (references) from our clients then they get a free peeler. I asked how would they get the free peeler, seeing as the only one we had was the one in our kit. And the manager said "all you have to do" is come to the office, buy a peeler for $4, and go back to the house and give it to them. WTF??? Why would i have to buy it? I understand it's only $4, but that's MY $4. It could be 25 cents for all i care, but they can't tell me how to spend my money. So at this point i was getting suspicious. But still i didn't want to give up yet. That weekend i had a few appts. And i gave myself an assignment: my this weekend i have to decide whether or not i want to continue with this company. After my first 2 appts. I already knew. Matter of fact i was so sure of my decision i cancelled the rest of my appts.
Here were the problems i encountered: 1) i hated the driving. Location to location. It's not like everyone i know lives by each other. It was extremely inconvienent. 2) at first the "flexible" schedule is what really appealed to me, but i realized quickly that it wasn't for me. The majority of vector's employees are college students. Meaning we each have our own schedule with classes & other activities. The spontaneity of the appt.'s were stressful because i had no idea when my next appt. Would be so i couldn't really plan anything because i had NO IDEA when my next appt. Would be 3) you know those sale people that call your house & bug the hell out of you? Well yea, i was becoming one. We required to call our manager in the kitchen of our clients house after we finished our presentation. & if they didn't buy one of the more expensive knife sets then he really had me push them & i could see how it was irritating the client.
So with an empty tank (of gas & energy), i had my mind set. I went to my managers office and quit. I sat there for 45 minutes listening to him trying to convince me to stay, but i wasn't budging so he finally gave in. He took out my contract and prepared to mail it to the company & gave me my copies. I told him i didn't want to keep my kit and i wanted my full refund back. He said i had ship it to the company through UPS but they would provide me with a sticker so i wouldn't have to pay for shipping. He took my bag to the back to remove the leather and rope (which we used to demonstrate the quality of the knives) and brought my bag back with the box i was going to ship it in. Now that i think of it, i should've had him remove the leather and rope while he was in his office. Let me to tell you why. You thought my Vector experience ended here huh? Wrong! The story continues, bare with me please...
GOD BLESS my parents & uncles who convinced me i should take pictures of the knives before i sent it out so that the company couldn't claim they recieved damaged goods. Before i get into it let me tell you something: we were given 7 knives, 6 of which we had to wrap up in a SPECIFIC order in this red cloth. I was never skilled at wrapping the knives in the cloth, it always come out sloppy. And when i went to quit at Vector i wasn't sure if iwas going to give them my kit to ship in or have to do it myself. So while i was in the car, in the parking lot of the building which vector was located in, i checked everything in my bag thoroughly and tried to fold the knives neatly, but i couldn't. With that in mind let's get back to the story.
I was told to wait 2 days before shipping my kit in, so i did and i didn't touch the kit until then. 2 days later i drove to UPS, parked my car, and took out my camera. I proceeded to take pictures of every knife. I soon realized that there were only 5 knives in the cloth. Hmmm... Strange right? I had checked them before i went to quit, so that meant only one thing. So i called my (ex) manager and informed him about my dilemma and he said that the knife must have "fell out". How could that be possible when his only job was to take out the leather and rope AND the knife that was missing was in the middle of the cloth (remember i said it was in a specific order). But i kept it professional and didn't accuse him of anything. I just said i wanted my knife back. He then told me "As long as you ship in 75% of the products, you'll get a full refund." how about a big LMAO to that. I told him i still want my knife because i would like to ship in all the products i recieved. He looked in the back and said he found it and that i could come and pick it up. So i did, but when i saw the knife it wasn't mine and it clearly had been used because there was gunk in the corners and a few scratches, but whatever i cleaned it, went back to UPS, and shipped in my kit.
When i got home later that evening i looked over my contract to see if it really said only 75% of the products need to be recieved in order to get a full refund. And OF COURSE it didn't. It said i had to send in the complete package. I happened to look over the contents and began to get angry again when i realized that the peeler was not in the kit i sent. I was so focused on the missing knife that i forgot about the peeler. So i called again. And talked to both the assisstant manager & the manager & told them. Again they said the whole 75% bs. I told them that wasn't in the contract, but they said they've dealt with this multiple times and what they're saying is true *rolls eyes*. The manager knew i wasn't happy so told me that if they gave me any problems with my refund to call him back. After hanging up, i called the main company phone # and asked if that was true. The women on the phone said "No that's absolutely not true, you must send in everything to get all your money back."
It's been over a week and I've been keeping track of my package through UPS tracking and it still hasn't reached New York yet (which is where the Vector manufacturing is located). I hope and pray this is where my story ends and i get my money back, we'll see!
I hope someone learns from me. Take what you will from my story. But the moral of it is: Do NOT work for Vector!
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