Well, unfortunately, I join the myriads of people that have already reported this company for the various underhanded and shoddy recruiting techniques as well as the horrifying working conditions therein. This particular vein of Smart Circle had us going to local BJs (Sam's Clubs, essentially) and attempting to offer home improvement.
I, like many of you, applied via Careerbuilder, shotgun style to apply to whichever job may yield a result. I recieved my call from the Tampa manager named Begin, who was interested in me. I was happy to answer questions, drove down thirty minutes from my home in Tampa to their location, which ended up being a tiny tiny rented building. Begin asked me to go with on a shadowed run with a leader Chuck. Chuck made no leads during this whole experience, but nevertheless it seemed relatively uncomplicated, the service seemed like a noble one and far from underhanded. The pay was dismal, hours long, but he assured me my commuting would be covered via carpooling or compensation for using my car, which I warned him was in good condition but not precisely capable of massive drives. I figured that home improvement was a tough sell, but for free and very little qualifing factors, easily a good job.
However, upon a few more days of work with Chuck, my suspicions began to rise, as he would take his lunch and vanish for three or four hours, instructing me to tell Begin, our fellow boss, that he was simply in the bathroom. Our daily meetups in the morning featured a variety of managers from other areas, most notably a man named Gabriel from South Florida, who instructed us to cheat and lie our way to recieve a lead.
We were repeatedly barred from moving around BJs after recieving a myriad of complaints from customers within the stores attempting to generate leads. The general technique we were to employ was to literally shove a lamenated sheet in customer's faces and ask if they were interested in improving their home in the future, which many were not interested, as expected given the horrible state of the economy. Gabriel was especially notorious for breaking the policy BJs had instructed, going as far as to check customer receipts and promptly shoving the lamenated sheet in their face, a method far from appreciated.
As for Begin, he evaded any and all questions regarding pay unless they were directly asked after our shifts, which usually were 8AM - 8PM (although you were paid for 8 hours). Despite my pleads of my car being in less-than-wonderful condition, he demanded I drive to Sarasota repeatedly, which is an 110 mile round trip drive to attempt the lead generation techniques. Ultimately, these repeated uncompensated drives lead to an 850$ repair bill on it, which I am still to this day unable to afford.
Fellow employees were equally damaged by Begin and Chuck. They consistantly and are always hiring, scaring their employees by warning that they're to be fired if they do not generate 3-5 leads per day (which may sound easy on paper, but forcing people to a lengthy questionare while they're attempting to shop is hardly a simple task).in the month I worked with this company (whose name never remained the same; Smart Circle, Florida Contractor Incorporated, our checks came from Centaur Comminications), I saw seven different people walk in and out through the doors, ranging from guys who admitted they were former drug users to one that ritualistically came to work high.
After being laid off by my more esteemed previous job I worked for two years, I have attempted to file for unemployment, and this company is attempting to block my unemployment money while I attempt to work dilligently to find another job. I will continue to fight Centaur/Smart Circle until I recieve my benefits.
In summation, I earned around a grand total of 700$ for a month, losing 800$ from my car and around 200$ in driving expenses. Do not apply here, do not come in for their interviews, it will do far more damage. Concievably flipping hamburgers would be more rewarding and beneficial to you. Avoid Begin, he is a shady, fake individual at best, he owns no vehicle and borrows it from Chuck, as he lives with the guy and they share a title on a horrible car.
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