National Magazine Exchange (NME), Scams consumers into purchasing magazine by doing the following:
Sending out mailing enticing the consumer to call and confirm their entry number into a sweepstakes. According to FL law, there must be a sweepstakes, and the company MUST pay out. At this time the sweepstakes is $1,100, 000 and can be payable in either a lump sum of $550,000 or 30 annual payments of $36,666.67 - So this part is legitimate.
As a former employee working there for ONLY two weeks (I was terminated today, 5/20), I will tell you that the agent is instructed to discuss how the consumer would spend "all that money", and engage in a short conversation which would include the agent sharing a "life experience" with the consumer.in other words, make a connection with the consumer to get the consumer relaxed while the agent is now setting the trap for the magazine sales pitch.
After step two has completed, the agent is now to respond from his/her computer screen with (Word for Word scripting): "Mrs Jones, Today might be your lucky day because now The National Magazine Exchange has selected YOU to receive two diamond quartz watches. You'll receive a men's and a lady's model. They're both very attractive and have a real diamond at the 12:00 setting. And they're yours FREE just for participating in the Readers Exchange program.
The next screen is where the agent reads that Mrs. Jones will receive 3 nationally published magazines and the ability to change them during your service for only $1.29 per week. That not for each one, but that's for all 3 magazines, and you have a choice of... (Read the list of magazines offerd). The scam to the consumer is: How can this be the consumer's lucky day? The company is about to try to pinch $1.29 per week from the consumer! And I found out about the "during your service" part. When I inquired about how long the service was, I was told that the service is 48 months!
That's 4 years of $1.29 per week.
Lets see: $1.29 x 52 = $67.08 and $67.08 x 4 years = $268.32
Regretfully, I took the job at NME because I'm self employed as a computer technician with 32 years of experience, but I've only been in FL for three years, to take care of mom who refused to move back to NY. My business is not doing too well down here yet, and I'm still waiting for it to kick off, so I took a job at NME as a work from home agent. I was up in NY all of my life and I ran my computer repair company out of my house on Long Island for eight years. I had 315 REGULAR CUSTOMERS throughout all of Long Island. I treat my customers like GOLD because they put the food on my table and pay my bills.
Anyway, How NME rips off the employee:
I worked there from 05/11 until today (05/20). They claim they pay you every week via direct deposit. Their work week is from Monday to Sunday. I worked a total of 34 hours from 5/11 to 5/15. On Monday, 5/16, I received an email to another email I have and they said I only worked 14 hours! I had to send it back to them explaining that I worked 34 hours and gave them the dates and hours I worked. I was then told that it would immediately be adjusted and they would mail my paycheck out to me as opposed to direct deposit, which is what they claimed I was supposed to have in the first place. Well today was payday and guess what - NO PAYCHECK! I was informed by the payroll manager Joanne Wilder that my paycheck would be mailed out today. We'll see, but I'll be ready to call the FL Attorney General's office if I'm not paid.
NME says they have a three tier pay rate: (A) The first six weeks the employee is paid $8.50 per hour. (B) After six weeks are up, you DROP DOWN TO either a straight minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, or if you are getting magazine sales, you will get $7.25 per hour PLUS $1.45 commission per magazine, whichever is greater. (C) Now there is a third pay scale which if you get enough sales, you will receive straight commission of $9.00 per magazine. Payroll will "evaluate" which option is the greatest, monetarily, and pay the employee the greater of the three pay scales. Now, besides the fact that I haven't been paid my first paycheck, how can an employee trust this company to get the commission that they owe you to be correct when they can't even get the hours worked correct?
Finally, an NME Disclaimer in regards to their hiring process:
When you are terminated, they pay your last paycheck as a straight minimum wage paycheck of $7.25 per hour, regardless of how many sales you have generated for this "company" (and I use this term LOOSELY)! Period. End of sentence.
Bottom line: Don't do business with this company AND do NOT work for this company.
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