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CobraChi Corporation, Cobra Group Liars, Manipulators, Exploitation of young people desperate for a job Colchester Essex
Hi, my name is Chris and I am writing here to explain to all people what the cobra company is all about, and how i managed to escape after only 2 weeks.
The Opportunity:
I had been working part time for 8 hours a week while studying my A Levels in the Colchester/Clacton area. After finishing college and getting a place at university i decided to take a year out so i could get some money for the next year.How great was it that when i saw online an advert for FHM (fun + hard work = money) earning and i quote: "15,000-25,000 OTE"
The Ad also stated that i needed no experience. Now this should have started to ring the alarm bells, but i really needed some money, and this sounded perfect. I sent off my CV immediately and recieved a phone call the next day from a very bubbly woman that I was to attend an interview the next week.
Again, this should have raised some issues that it was all moving so fast but I had thought nothing of it at the time.
The First Interview:
I arrived on the first day suited and booted all ready to impress the managing director whom i was assured was "brilliant". Upon arriving at the office I noticed 3 others all waiting for an intervie the same as me, wow, rushed much?
I then went in for my interview, at which my managing director (to be named hereafter as MD) told me all about my previous experience. Having been involved with retail selling for over a year she commented on this and kept me distracted from learning anything about what i would be doing.
I got a phone call about 2 hours after my interview stating that I could come back for a second interview. Great! Except that it was the next day....
The Second Interview (Ob Day):
I arrived at the office early excited that i had made it to the second interview. (Little did i know at the time but so were about 80% of the people who sat a first interview, cunningly however not the same guys i saw sitting waiting for it)
I was told i would attend an observation of what the guys actually do on behalf of all these "huge" name companies that Cobra represents. I was taken into the field by two females, in their mid 20s who said they loved working for the company. I found out later that one had only been with the company for three months and was already a "Leader".
When we arrived at the field i began to ask questions about pay. This job was going to be based 100% on commision, and i had to make sure what i was getting into. No doubt though that the woman i was chatting with "turned negatives" and i was fairly satisfied. It was a fairly short Ob, and a saw the woman that would be my leader make 18 in ten minutes. Pretty impressive i thought at first.
The Final Interview: Upon arriving home from "Ob Day" I get my final interview with the MD. Again any negatives that i have, she uses the sales technique that is taught (for legal reasons i probably cannot disclose these techniques, but anyone that has been in the same boat as me will know how to "turn negs").
After I leave I get a phone call within half an hour telling me that I got the job and that I would need to turn up at the office for 12 the next day for training.
Training: 5 Hours of constant pitch practice, and then trained on all aspects of the product i was assigned to. I was told that the next day we would be going to London for a Regional morning meeting.
First Day: I got on the early train from my home in clacton and met the rest of the FR's (Field Representatives) in Colchester. We went to London, met some very rich men who would not stop shouting about how rich they were, then came back to the office. Collected some "merch" (the forms for applications) and headed back to the train station where we were selling for 6 hours.
It was 8pm, I had made 30 (wow 5 an hour), and i thought it was home time. But no, it was back to the office to "de-merch". And then back on the train to clacton. I left in the morning at 7am, and got back home at 10:30 pm. Not really a "short day". For more than 12 hours of work related activity I had netted 30, so about 2 an hour then?
False Prospects: Every morning a meeting took place with ludicrusly loud music to basically wake everyone who had had 5 hours sleep the night before.
In each meeting we had prospects of ownership, leadership and 6 figure salaries pounded into our heads. Then any "Bell-Ringers" (a term used by cobra as anyone making 50 a day, or 60 as a leader) were read out. Unless there were none of course, which invariably happened.
Over the course of the next 2 weeks i was so blinded by these false prospects and loud music that i had not at all noticed that only about 6 people i had made friends with inside the company had actually left! I am still in contact with one of them, and she quit. But i was led to believe by the MD that she was 'fired' because she was not making the company any money. It is seen within the corporation that you do not talk of anyone that has left, and any of it WILL be negative, and must be instantly "turned".
Suddenly however, on the train home after making 17 in one day, whilst spending 14 on travel and 3 on lunch (for about 10 hours work) I realised what was going on.
The 5 steps of a sale that you get taught right from the beginning, and the rules that you have to follow. That had been implied toward me from day one!
The phone call: introduction
the interview: presentation
second interview: short story with turning negs
final interview: turning negs and closing
trianing: rehash
The law of averages is applied every day, that the more people you ask that say no, the more likely you are to get a yes.it is also applied in the interview technique, Cobra KNOW that only 1 in 100 is going to make it to becoming an owner, and thats if they succeed.
Over 5000 offices have been opened over the past few years, but only a select few hundred remain open. Why?
Because Owners become bankrupt.
I was smart enough to keep my part time job while i worked for Cobra (although strictly speaking, i was self employed). The company knew i had a 2 week notice period, so i took one week sick then handed in my notice, which i retracted 2 days later.
Please, anyone who is reading this. Do not get involved with these guys.
You will end up spending all of your money and have absolutely no social life, i was still able to go out on weekends because my part time job was at weekends and allowed me to do so.
Anyone who is involved at the moment, get out of it. Now.....
Chris
Clacton/Colchester
United Kingdom
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Anubhuti
Pune,Asia,
India
Cobra group in India, maharashtra, pune
#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Mon, February 09, 2009
I came across this site and have already been through most of the comments regarding Cobra Group. I have also been a part of this company. I am from India and Cobra has its Franchisees here as well. After completing my engineering and not getting a date of joining from the company i was placed in through campus i was disheartened and low on confidence. Also there were no opportunities for freshers in market and this is when i stumbled across the company called VELOCITY which is a franchisee of Cobra group in India.
Responding to a mail i called them to schedule an interview. No questions asked i was called for an interview the next day. Dressed in my best formals i went there, only to find a shabby office above a cheap hotel, still excited, i was made to sit in a room (whose air conditioning was not working) and was given a dumb questionnaire to fill. It had five pages and they were probably trying to guess that whether we can speak english or not. Anyways having filled the questionnaire, the female working as an HR took our first round of interview (only later i came to know that female was actually a receptionist). The interview felt weird because three people were being interviewed at the same time. nothing was mentioned about the job profile we were only told it was a marketing firm and after a training of 6-8 months(depending on our capabilities) we would be promoted to become BDM and would then draw a PAY of 200000 Indian rupees per month. We were then told that we would be informed whether or not we were selected for the second round or not.2 days from then i got a call saying that i was shortlisted and i had to come for an interview the next day. Me being out of town could not make it for a week and they were more than happy to reschedule my interview for next week.
i went back for the interview in the same shabby office and was interviewed by the owner who explained me about profile which was still not clear in my mind. I was then sent out for observation with a leader. she seemed to be really nice and friendly and paid for my coffee and sandwich as well. She took me to one of the most shabbiest buildings around and ended up conning the person she pitched. The job seemed different and profitable. we spent time talking to 2 more people and ended up having a cold drink and biscuits in one of the house.
She dropped me back by 4 in the afternoon in office i was given another dumb questionnaire to answer where i had write abt my days experience and other s**t.
Then the owner interviewed me again and he seemed like a very nice chap, a typical person to have crush on. i was told to go home and i would be informed through phone about my selection. just as i reached home i got a call from them saying that i was selected and had to start from the very next day. All excited i reached office at sharp 10:30 the next day and i heard some extremly loud party music being played. When asked i was told that the atmosphere in offc was very casual and the trainees, trainers and team leaders were getting charged up for the day.
i was sent home at 12 in the afternoon after completing all the paper work.
next day my first day at field i was sent with a female who seemed very friendly and nice and i got my first cheque. excitement levels were increaing. Till now commision based pay had not been mentioned i was only told that my sal would be decided after 6 days of my work evaluation. The female who seemed ultra nice when she first took me out suddenly became ultra mean when i started high rolling within a week's time without her help. Not talking to me and i realized that she deliberately ignored me and discouraged me infront of everybody.
But, i still high rolled for three consecutive days and was promoted that was when i got the salary close, where the commission structure was mentioned, but having been brainwashed by then i was ready to work towards making my own business.
that was when a new guy joined, from him i came to know he he was bored with his job and that is y he came here looking for a new job. And very cunningly he was told about the salary structure only after he resigned from his previous job. and that is when our relationship started. But kept it away from my owner's notice
withing two weeks of my joining we went for an all india rally, where we got to meet the first indian VP (or as they claimed) At rally everything became clear and somehow me and my boyfriend we realized that this was not the place for us to be.
Still back from rally we came back to work my BF called in sick and i after completing my target for the day, retraining a guy and recruiting an observation i went to meet my BF for 10 minutes before coming back to office. my boss came to know of it and ripped me infront of all sitting there at the moment. He used comments like "I would have arranged a meeting for u two if you both were so dying to see each other". "It doesn't matter what you two do after office hours but you can't meet him during office time"
That was when i had enough of all the c**p and i decided to quit. so saturday i took two observations recruited both of them, sunday took one of my recruited guys for retraining and told him about the fact of COBRA and adviced him to leave and he ran away for good.
I came back in the evening to hand over my badge and was literally emotionally blackmailed into staying back and was told things like i am leaving a life of luxury for a job where i'll keep working for some one else.
But thankfully i left the company in 3 weeks because had i stayed there any longer i wouldn't have been capable of doing anything else besides door to door conning as i call it.
me and my BF who quit 2 days after me were promised our bond money within three months its been 4 months now and we are still waiting but we won't let go of the money hard earned by both of us