Complaint Review: DS-MAX - Coral Group

Ok I love going on here and reading people's stories and I came across DS/MAX which I remember was the big name for the Coral Group Inc in Denver. Here is my story:

I graduated from college with a hospitality degree and at the time I was working at a restaurant. I went on to careerbuilder,monster,jobbing.com you name it my resume was on there. I saw a posting asking for hospitality majors to check it out. I go in and see that they are hiring marketing managers and they train you with everything you would need to know. I filled out and application and within 15 mins of sending it, I got a call from Laurie.

Laurie told me I was an excellent canidate and that I should come in for an interview. I went in for the 1st interview and as everyone has said they called me for the 2nd interview to get a feel for the "field" or "territory". I at the time was a nieve young lady and I just wanted to make it in the world. Not money hungry, just wanted to work hard and earn good money.

The 2nd interview I got out with Lisa and Lisa is very energetic, friendly, and we instantly hit it off. I went around with her and saw what she was doing. It's funny they use all of these professional terms that come down to one thing YOU ARE SOLICITING!!!!!!! When I realized that I wasn't too sure about the job.

Lisa then took me out to lunch. I forgot to mention a gal that had been working for them for about 2 weeks came along with us to split up the territory. So us 3 are at lunch and Lisa pays for me and then gives me paper work that shows a ladder and what you make make in sales in order to move up the ladder. She PROMISES me that I will be making 600 a week by the time I am fully trained BULLSHIT!! and I will be a manager in 3 months. BS too.

Unfortunalty I decided to give it a try and see if I too could make it. Of course they hired me that night (after working 11hrs for free) and asked me if I could leave my job right away or come in on my days off to start. I opposed and said that I am a perfessional and that 2 weeks notice is what I am going to do.

Lisa called me every 3 days after I got hired. At first I thought maybe it was personal and that she just liked to chat with me, but then I realized she was just making sure that I was not going to bail out on her.

I start the position and learn that I will make $50.00 a day A DAY OF WORKING 7AM-730PM until I am trained and then they will not give me any money if I do not make any sales and that it was 100% comission, which I was told AFTER I was hired. I for some reason thought if I didnt sell anything that I'd at least make a base pay STUPID ME!!!! Also they encourage you to come in on Saturday's to get ahead. You go door to door in neighborhoods AND KNOCK ON EVERY DOOR AND TRY TO SELL THIS CRAP. Who the h**l wants to have some kid kncoking at their door at 10am wanting you to buy spa crap? Not me personally and when I got doors slammed in my face I couldnt blame them and it got me very depressed and I felt this job was low low low.

Every morning sucked for me and I just sucked it up. The account managers are just a bunch of kids 18-24 which gave me hope at the time since I was 20. Anyways every morning you would practice your pitch which was given to you on day one and you practice it OVER AND OVER AND OVER an account executive would come over to me and be like "give me your pitch" and then they would always rag on mine suggesting something different just to have the next account exec give me completly different advice but still ragging. Every morning you would chant and high five people who rang bell (sold 10 pieces). The chants, slogans, and quirky words are beaten into you mentally. "JUICE" "Sweetness" or my fav "negging me out" since negativity is not allowed PERIOD END OF STORY.

Most of the account managers were arrogant, power tripping, lieing assholes who got off by putting people under them in place. Discouraging any conversation that isnt about their campain of selling of the discount cards "merch" The merchandise would be a spa package or paintball. Some of these were good deals and some were stupid. They would encourage you to ignore soliciting signs and say we aren't soliciting we are doing a campain through direct marketing with face to face contact AKA SOLCITING. I have been chased out of offices by security and shunned by admin staff. A team member almost got arressted YES ARRESSTED FOR SOLICITING. He convinced the officer to let him go somehow and our boos told him to KEEP SELLING and F*** THAT PIG. For a professional atmosphere EVERYONE USED HORRIBLE LANGUAGE EVEN THE CEO who is a sexist pig.

Now here's the most funnest part of all!!!!! Once you drive to some industrial part of town or a city where NO SOLICITING is allowed, you then get to walk business to business NOT SKIPPING A d**n DOOR and going in uninvited and not interested in buying anything from the place you are at but to in fact convince the employees in there to buy ur crap using "aggressive innovative marketing" to spend 50.00 on the spot for a spa package that is worth about 300.00 in spa services which is nice but forceing people to buy it TODAY AND WE ARE DOING THIS FOR ONE DAY! BLAH BLAH. I will use spa since that was my main campain when I was there. I felt like a bottom feeding, lieing rat by day three. I got a side of people that I dont like to see. So many rude people that shunned me away or wouldnt even give me the chance to talk to them about what I was selling. I would walk into a place, try to sell, and get rejected 99% of the time by annoyed people and I understood their annoyance as I dont like being approached by these rats either. I would go around with other people that would have the same issues but since there is NO NEGATIVITY you cant talk about the lack of sales and while I was traning if I made a sale soley on my own, the account manager with me would get most of that money. My account manager bailed out on the job after my 1st week there and I was just another brick in the wall at that point.

I then decided to go on a road trip!!! O goody so I get to pay for gas/lodging/food/every single fricken thing!!!!!! I drove to Omaha from Denver for a week of selling soe 2nd rate hockey teams tickets. I went with 2 guys and shared a room with them, which is so wrong in my eyes now that I think about it. What if one of them did something to me? Not like a back round check is performed to get hired. After going home with less than I brought out there I knew it was time to go and just bailed right after that, got my old job back, and moved to Florida with my family.

So a week goes by and I made less than when I worked at the restaurant. I lost money and I was so angry that I fell so such a scam. Yes you can make it in this company but you have to be a lieing, cheating, misleading, arrogant, and all around fake person to do so which I am not nor can I convince people to buy products. I am not a sales person, nothing wrong with people who can sell stuff but its not in my blood to do it. All in all unless you can sell your soul to work 11 hours or more a day walking around on foot RAIN/SHINE/SNOW to annoy people who didnt want anything from you in the 1st place then by all means but honestly STAY AWAY FROM THESE MARKETING PEOPLE ANY JOB WHERE YOU HAVE TO WALK AROUND AND SELL s**t IS NOT WORTH YOUR TIME IT'S A FREAKEN SCAM.

I have been contacted by other marketing firms since then and I dont even give them the time of day. I you disagree with me fine but I know what I saw and it screamed SCAM.

Thank you for reading me long story :)

Jennifer Lake Worth, Florida
U.S.A.

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