Firstly I'd like to thank this site otherwise i would have started work today at 7.30am for IPGmarketing - sorry DS_MAX - or is it CYDOR? You'll appreciate if you have read this far that it's very hard to tell.
Whether your aware or not, this company has now reached scotland. It has three units in Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow (and some in Dublin Ireland and England) the latter being where i went for my interview.
I should have known earlier but it wasn't until i was half way through the day that i realised something was amiss. The girl i was with (trainee rep) was just far to perky (although that's not a crime). When i asked her questions the answers were rehearsed, she kept quoting phrases i learned in high school in team building classes, and plenty of american slang which didn't suit her course glasweigan accent.
I was forced to walk miles B2B watching her sales pitch to dismayed people behind shop counters. It wasn't long before it hit me that this was a scam. She kept suggesting to consumers that the products she was selling was on behalf of well known companies such as "boots", "toys r us" and "armani" and i was actually quite disgusted and had a good mind to speak out.
Why didn't I? Well the reason was i didn't know where i was. She was driving to towns in the middle of knowhere, i would have left there and then if i had saw a bus station or train station but it was not an option so i kept my mouth shut and observed.
Now the thing that really annoys me that it's quite easy to get sucked in. Before i checked this website, i was talking to my boyfriend that same evening trying to justify the system, arguing that it may work, that hey i might be earning 60k in 8 months (which is what i was told). I found myself trying to justify the day i had rather than admit i'd been duped.
The real pity is the girl i was working with really thinks she'll be a manager in three months. She really thinks she'll retire in 10yrs and while she pays for her meals, petrol, insurance fields trip to dublin in the summer etc, she is not aware that she is earning less than minimum wage. (i worked out that i would earn 4.16 per hour if i was to believe i'd get 250 for 60hrs work). Even the manager Mike, at the end of the day told me that i could possibly earn 250 per wk. POSSIBLY what does that mean? It means i wont even get 250 a week! I'd
earn more at MacDonalds! (and i'm not suggesting there is anything wrong with working at MacDonalds).
Well you'll be glad to know I'm spending this Monday morning doing somethig more usefull than lugging a body bag full of questionable goods round towns and villages in the middle of no where for less than minimum wage for 12hours.
I called the girl i was working with what i had learned, she responded as i knew she would with pre rehearsed answers so i texted her this web address and told her if she belives the law of averages (1 in 10) then she hasn't got a hope in hell of being a manager, and if she does she'll be sacrificing herself as an individual, she'll be a clone, drone, moan moan!
I aslo contacted every newspaper in scotland, have given them this site also, and told them of my experience. I also contacted the recruitment pages where i saw the advert, told them my story and asked them not to advertise for this company anymore.
Been busy i hear you say, well thats not all... I also called "Boots", "toys r us" etc and told each of them individually that they may have a case for false advertising, that their brand name being used questionably.
Finally i am adding my story to this page. Now i'm not scared of hard work, i'm not lazy, workshy or uneducated. They will try and put you down, make out it's your fault and that your missing out, your the loser. Don't trust it! It's not a case that you couldn't stick it out, it's a case that your not easily fooled.
I would like to urge more people to complain about this kind of thing/company, i have never witnessed it before and was until now unaware it even happened here (or anywhere else for that matter). But scotland will find out about it. Hopefully the papers will put a story together and hopefully that girls parents and friends will read it and warn her and others before she/they get in too deep.
And before i sign off, i'm now going to send a chain e-mail to everyone in my address book, urgung them to pass this on and spread the word. We are not fools. I will not be insulted, and my conscience will not allows what seems like really nice, good people being exploited and used for profiteering. I hope you'll all do the same.
Melanie
Glasgow
United Kingdom
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