I had the mighty misfortune of going to Full Circle for an interview after being contacted by them from careerbuilder.com. I've already filed a report with them too, so don't worry. I had the even greater misfortune of being hired by Full Circle after my interview.
Keep in mind that this company can be found online by several different names and they also have themselves listed under several locations. I pray that there isn't a legitimate company with the words 'full' and 'circle' in their name, because I'm reporting on everything I saw. Just make sure the address and phone number match the ones I listed above. I don't want to slander a decent company.
Anyway, back to my story: They say they're a marketing firm. That's your first lie. They hire 'sales people' (which really means lackey) to go out into Sam's Club's and BJ's and other membership stores to sell make-up and cosmetics in the field. Currently they're selling cosmetics called "Victoria Jackson.
This cosmetic line is actually legitimate, I've looked them up. But the things is... I doubt Victoria Jackson knows what Full Circle is doing with her make-up. Or, if she does, she's been getting scammed too. Because here's a report I found on what Full Circle was before they changed their name.
Apparently Full Circle was called 'Smart Circle.' But they were labeled as scam artists then too. And it's funny, because our boss at Full Circle expressed to how he first started out as a door to door sales man doing just the same thing this article indicates. Perhaps he was once scammed and has now become the scammer.
I do not wish to disclose his name, because I'm not looking to destroy anyone's life here, I just want to make sure no one else falls victim to this and to also shut down this horrid company. My boss can find a legitimate legal job that doesn't require him to scam others. But I don't want to slander his name.
Anyway, there is no website for this company, I assume because they're trying to fly under the radar, hence their several names and the old name switcheroo they already pulled.
There isn't even an official office other than the one room that they have where they conduct interviews. I assume they're renting it from the building or something just so they can be inside an office building and look like they're legitimate. But it's definitely NOT a marketing firm if they don't even have offices or hire people to market anything.
They also say that you'll be making 20% of whatever you sell in the store. More lies! What they don't tell you is that you only make 20% if you sell more than $700 dollars worth of merchandise a day. Good luck doing THAT! What you really get is 15%. And guess what! That 15% is actually split between you and whoever else is working with you (which makes a little sense actually.)
But what DOESN'T make sense is how they calculate their hours. So the Sam's Club they set you up in to sell your merchandise is open for 12 hours right? Full Circle does this bullshit thing where they divide your suddenly 15%, which should be 20%, by the number of 'man hours' as they call it. This means that it's not divided by twelve, the total number of hours the store is open, oh no, that would make too much sense, it's divided by your hours and whoever is working with you. So if you work ten hours and your co-worker works with you during those ten hours, they're now dividing your 15% by twenty hours.
In most cases, this means you're making a good three or four dollars an hour instead of the hundreds of riches they promised you during your interview. The person hiring you will also make sure to walk you to the jewelry section and point out the three hundred dollar ring he's thinking of getting for his girlfriend on a whim, because he has that much f*ing money and he wants you to think you can make that too! They aren't shy about pretending to be rich. I doubt they actually are. I've seen the cars these people drive. Still, they're clearly taking what you were promised to earn and taking it for themselves.
So, aside from making less than half of what you would as a waitress, cashier, or a janitor, the job is also horrendously UNSAFE and SHADY! Every morning they would rack up your minutes with a 'conference call.' They would all talk about how 'juiced' they were to work and how awesome their job was for about thirty minutes while you sit and say nothing because... What do you say to that? My phone bill was $124 dollars in the one month I worked there because they woke me up every frigging morning for a conference call regardless of whether you had to be into work in the morning or until the afternoon, and wasted your time from anywhere between thirty minutes to an hour.
They also had Sunday 'meetings.' Yeah. The office building that they supposedly had offices in is closed and locked every Sunday night when they want to have these meetings. So my first Sunday there they told me to "go around back." This means driving your car all the way around the building, then all the way around the parking deck, between another parking deck, down a narrow road that leads to the back of the building. Here you find yourself in a loading area. It's dark, you're in this little alleyway area, between two dumpsters, and you're waiting for someone else to show up so that they can let you into the service elevator through the loading dock area.
They make you dress up for this too. I was told to wear professional attire so I could sit in my car and feel threatened in a dark alleyway every Sunday, when I'm supposed to be off by the way, because I told them I don't work on Sundays because of religious reasons.
Uh... I don't know about you, but that whole situation is bogus to me. Totally bogus. If you want to have Sunday meetings ever week, fine. Use your f*ing key and let all of the young women that you hired (and forced to dress up) inside instead of making them wait outside in an alley way in the dark all by themselves.
Also, you were expected to go to these meetings for free. That's right, you didn't even get paid for sitting alone in a dark alley way, waiting for your bosses who were constantly, consistently about 45 minutes late every Sunday.
And when they got there and you actually got inside the building by going up through the loading bay, up the service elevator (which I swear to God smelt funny and I thought would plummet to the basement every time I got in it) and out through the second floor, dark hallway because all the lights are off, you wanna know what we did at these meetings? We unpacked all the Victoria Jackson make-up out of their original boxes and into new boxes before sealing them up so that they could be taken to the Sam's Clubs where we would sell them.
Huh, yeah... Just a little suspicious to me. Really. Why would we be switching their boxes? Did we get the make-up illegally or something?
I do not know the answers to these questions for certain, but I'd LOVE it if someone decided to investigate. Then maybe I could actually get the money they promised me.
So yeah, I'd like to report FULL CIRCLE to any website or anyone who will listen. The last thing I can think of to say is that my paycheck for two weeks worth of work is $234.74. Yes. Just to put that in perspective, I worked about sixty two hours for that money. Do the math. I made $3.78 an hour. Twenty percent of the $4,700 worth of make-up I sold? I don't f*ing think so.
Oh and get this, Full Circle promises to pay you $5.15 an hour if you can't sell anything. Yeah, they clearly held up that end of the bargain too. And besides...$5.15? Are you serious? Minimum wage here in GA has just been bumped up to $7.15. Come on.
In closing, Full Circle is the WORST scamming company I've ever run across. I'm only ashamed that I stayed with them for a full four weeks. I just didn't know what else to do. I've been unable to find other work and I needed to pay rent. Clearly... I cannot do so.
Just so you all understand my position, my unemployment will run out in two weeks and I have $400 in my account. That's about half of my rent. If I can't find a job soon, or some money some way, I'll be the newest resident in your nearest homeless shelter. That's how severe my situation has become. And Full Circle has no respect for the people who are desperately seeking work and money and a legitimate way to survive the recession until we can find something in our actual fields of study.
If anyone from Full Circle happens to see this, listen up: SHAME! Shame on you! I'm taking your company down! So you better find honest work instead of hurting others! And if you don't feel even the slightest amount of guilt for what you've done not only yo me, but to dozens of other young working girls trying to get ahead in the world, then you're going to have to answer to God when you die anyway! So good luck with that! May he spare you if you feel even the slightest bit of remorse!
And give me the rest of my friggin money! I NEED it for things like RENT and FOOD!
AnonymousAtlanta, Georgia
U.S.A.
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