MLM scam

[pshreck]

Havent posted on 2+2 in almost a year I guess... been preparing for grad school and working... and have not had the ol internet. This is the only thing that has happened to me since then that I have felt is seriously worth discussion.

Anyways, just wanted to spread the word some (and this is already public info, but I didnt know about it until 2 days of my life were wasted), about multi-level marketing (MLM)scams . Look it up on wiki here to get more general info.

Heres my story:

Last week I send out my resume to various companies on monster and hotjobs. I'm looking for some marketing/advertising/PR jobs (to utilize writing skills I tell myself).

After 1 day, well more specifically, after about 12 hours, I get contacted by a company named MPH advertising, based out of CT. They "selected my resume out of hundreds to come in for a day 1 interview". Well, great I say, my resume must be so good that they want me badly (my resume is not that good. The woman on the phone lets me set up my interview time, gives me some avail. times, so I say Monday morning at 10:00 am. I get my suit ready and am out at their office for the interview on time.

I get to the office, and its extremely small and not particularly clean. Also, there are about 10 other young men in women in suits and business wear waiting in the lobby. It turns out we are all there for an interview, all told to come at 10. I wait 90 minutes past 10, after about 8 other people, for my interview. I'm slightly anxious about the interview, and feeling naive, and nothing seems weird to me about all this.

I get into the interview with the 'owner' of the office. He asks me kind of weird questions, asks how much I would "love to make in 6 months to 2 years". Kind of a dumb question I thought, but I just say "the industry average for someone with a B.A."

At the interview he acts really impressed with me, despite the fact that the interview was incredibly general and hollow, and it feels like the worst interview I've ever had. On the spot he asks me to come back for an all day 2nd interview tomorrow where "you will be introduced to the 'management training program'". Since I told him that my minimum salary would be 40k/year and he seemed fine with that, I was kind of excited by how fast this was all moving along.

I come back the next day in the morning and am immediately paired up with 2 extremely young people who will take me out for a day of shadowing the training program. I have to sign a form saying that I understand I wont be compensated for training. I ask them where we are going and what we are doing repeadetly, but they dodge the question until we have driven about 90 minutes to our 'territory'. In the car ride they discuss how many people go to the mall, how many of them are shopping for mens clothing, how many want a tie, a red tie..... all weaved in with weird 'law of averages' math about how many people want things. I actually ask (being slightly conscious that its rude) 'what does this have to do with management, or advertising for that matter?'. They are both young, have no college degrees, seem dumb, and get flustered at questions like this.

After the 90 minute drive, we get to a shopping center near New Haven CT, and "Joe" tells me what we are doing. We are going to go business-to-business to 'promote a product from Sharper Image and Bed Bath + Beyond'. I get a growing fear settling in my stomach and questions exactly it is what we are doing, where we are going. Joe says to just watch.

We first go into a Chiropractors office in an office complex. There is a 'no solicitation sign' on the door. Heres how it all starts.

Joe - "Hey!!!, Have you heard about the new promotion in town!!??"

Secretary - "What? There is no selling in this office"

Joe - "Thats okay!!! (big dumb smile, stupid sounding overly happy voice), this isnt selling! We are promoting a new product from the Sharper Image. You have heard of them right??"

Secretary - "You can't be in here!! Get out now or I'll call the police".

Joe - "Great! Thanks! Hey, heres a free valentines day card (the shitiest card you've ever seen, not even regular card size) for your time!"

As hes attempting to hand it to the secretary she shouts to get out again and we leave the office.

The rest of the day goes a lot like that. We go to McDonalds, diners, nail salons, insurance agents office, banks (with no solitation signs AND security guards... we do this a bunch), gas statsions, and everything in between. I want to be sick, but dont know what to do because I am 90 minutes from my car, and am clearly with 2 people that are a part of a cult like scam. I go silent and wait for lunch, being entirely embarassed at what am apart of, even for the day.

At lunch, the girl in the group discusses the fact that she wants to make 1 million a year, by the time shes 26, and going to college or grad school and working hard is not the way (she admits to having failed out of some college). She says that anyone who stays in this company will be a millionaire in just 2 years time. I am in awe and start asking about how that is possible, discussing the limits of the market, the fact that these products aren't even in high demand, that none of it makes sense.

They are both agitated and slightly angry at my questions. Joe says "these aren't the type of questions that get people back for the third interview".

Lunch ends and they do more of the same door to door sales. (Oh, also for a laugh, Joe himself doesnt believe its sales, but in fact 'promotional advertising'. A few times I say 'nice sale' or talk about sales, every time I am corrected). At the end of the day we get in the car and head back to the office. Joe starts off with a quiz about what I have learned, but I immediately answer "I'm sorry, I have no interest in this job". He seems confused and flustered (part of the MLM scam is him getting new trainees to 'move up and become rich'). He says thats too bad because he was going to reccomend me for hire -- after a day of just silence or criticism from me.

I go into how the job is a pyramid scheme and how neither of them will become millionaires, how they are being conned by the office manager (a 25 year old jackass with no college degree who runs this scam). They both get defensive and before we get to my car, there are a few F bombs thrown. I'm lucky to not have been dumped before there... before I get out, I tell them to look up 'Innovage' (the name of the company' on the internet, specifically'Innovage scam'. They both say that I am an "f***ing idiot" and tell me to get out.

Well, they were right. I was an idiot to ever think this job was serious or for real. It turns out it was all commissioned based, and you made about 300-400 bucks a week during the training period (NOT A SALARY). You dont get benefits for a year (but no one lasts that long). You work 60-80 hours a week (because you think you are going to be a millionaire when you are done).

I have done some research since. Legally, the gov't is having a tough time cracking down on these companies because it is not techinally a pyramid scheme, since they dont ask for any money from you. However, the whole thing is unethical and quite awful. They wasted two days of my life and made me feel like [censored] for days since.

For those of you young people in CT, avoid MPH advertising, and anything related to the company Innovage. It is sad that these 'companies' exist, and I am just trying to maybe give some people a chance to avoid being scammed into this, and waste possibly months of their life.

[Pocketducks]

My fiance interviewed with them right out of college. They made her do the job shadow thing for a day. She made the person she was riding with take her back to her car after the first business they visited.

[pshreck]

[ QUOTE ]
She made the person she was riding with take her back to her car after the first business they visited.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have thought about this. It probably comes down to the fact that I didn't want to be a huge jerk about it to these people, and they would have had to drive me 90 minutes back. I did seriously consider just calling my brother to get me, but everyone I knew was about 75 miles away....

[Warik]

I started looking for a job a few days ago after recently becoming unemployed. My strong sales management background makes my resume show up in those searches (even though I posted it strictly for IT & computer programming), so I get about 3 of these a day. I delete them all.

It's all crap. Any company that asks *you* to take the risk for *them* is full of it. They're even more full of it if they ask you to break the law and harass people.

[Warik]

[ QUOTE ]
I did seriously consider just calling my brother to get me, but everyone I knew was about 75 miles away....

[/ QUOTE ]

Free gas, free food, and free beer would buy you a ride back by me. If you're ever stranded in Florida by an MLM scam company give me a call.

lol

[Pocketducks]

Yeah, she didn't care. She said she didn't even want to get in the car with them, but they pushed and pushed. They put up a fight with her before taking her back too. But she can be a castiron bitch sometimes and they were probably afraid for their lives.

[TiK]

[ QUOTE ]
But she can be a castiron bitch sometimes and they were probably afraid for their lives.

[/ QUOTE ]

Awesome.

[slickpoppa]

I don't see how this is a scam. Just sounds like a really crappy job

[pshreck]

Holy crap.... there are freaking support groups for people who were scammed from MLM. Even specifically from the company I applied for, Innovage.

Im considering driving to their office today to do something (not blow up or attack...) but I dont know what to say or what purpose it would serve.

Hmmm... they have the 1st day interview every monday at 10. I'm gonna run in and give all the interviewees the info.

Is this illegal?

[pshreck]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't see how this is a scam. Just sounds like a really crappy job

[/ QUOTE ]

You dont have to pay out any money, but it is a scam in the sense that they entirely lie to you, and over 99.9% of the people that start in the 'management training program' will never become a manager.