Grace Marketing And Consulting MLM/Pyramid Scam, Misleading Job Advertisement, taking advantage of college grads Austin Texas
In my first month after recieving my Bachelor's Degree from a well-known university, I applied to an ad placed by Grace Marketing and Consulting on craigslist for a job that claimed to be a position in entry level marketing / advertising/ sales/ promotions. I went to the job interview and their office seemed a little shady, they informed me they would be moving to downtown in a nice office and that this position was just temporary due to their recent move.
The second round job interview is 9 hours! You will spend 8 hours knocking on doors in neighborhoods, hassling employees at strip malls and bothering people at various office parks trying to get them to buy "Smart Circle" discount cards for Grace Marketing and Consulting clients. They service they provide is having the reps walk around and try to sell these cards, therefore getting the name out for that company. Would be nice, but their clients don't pay them anything, therefore they have no money to pay you!
They only money you make is a small commission off of the cards you sell. That equals is about $15 bucks in your pocket for each $50-$40 card you sell. You will spend your own money on gas to drive your own car around town, lunch everyday, permits for solicitation($10-$75 a piece depending on neighborhood), and all other expenses needed to do your job. It all comes from your own pocket and the girl I shadowed sold 2 cards (so she only made $30) for the day despite the fact that we knocked on about 80 doors and hassled about 30-40 people at strip malls and office parks.
They will feed you some crap about how 1 out of every 10 people you talk to will want to purchase what you have to offer. I'm guessing she would have sold a lot more if it were actually true. After our day of shadowing, you wait in their office while the person you shadowed talked to the CEO about hiring you. They'll talk to you and tell you that they aren't sure if your serious about the job and they need you to tell them more good things about yourself so that they know your serious about wanting the job.
You'll be offered the job, and then told to hide and enthusiasm you might have until the other prospective employees can't see you. Then you'll be told that your friends and family will probably be suspicious and jealous of your new job. You are told to tell them you are going through a high level management training program. Oh and did I mention they promise you that if you work really hard and bust your a*s for them they will give you your own company branch and make you a CEO in as little as 3-6 months!
It is not your typical rip-off, but it is surely a pyramid scam (after you move up the ladder or door knockers, they assign other door knockers under you and then you get to keep a portion of the money they make as well as your own). No one that is college educated, or hell even has a lick of common sense, should be dumb enough to fall for this s**t. You will work your a*s off, end up in the hole (from always having to spend your own but never making any), and not have a decent job to add to your resume.
Stacie
Austin, Texas
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Samantha
Austin,Texas,
U.S.A.
Over-exaggeration!
#3UPDATE Employee
Mon, March 03, 2008
I find it quite funny that everyone who writes these negative reports were people who never worked there. Sure the sound of going door-to-door is very frightning. However, do you think that 20-30 college graduates would go door-to-door willingly if there were no pay off in the end? I don't think so. Let me explain. The owner/CEO of Grace Marketing started out at the very bottom like everyone else. He went door-to-door. After 6 - 12 months (not 3-6 like everyone is saying) he eventually became a manager.
There are 4 different positions of the management training program and the first two require going residentially. Also, only the first position is the only commission based position. It is definately difficult to make it to manager or else everyone would be managers. As far as who our clients are, we work for several different companies such as the San Antonio Spurs, Texas Rangers, Dallas Stars... Where else can you legally sell pro sports tickets at buy one get 7 free? The advantage for working for the company is you get to attend all these sporting events free. Since we were selling Spurs tickets, the Director of Marketing for the Spurs comped for our whole crew to attend a Spurs game for free.
We also work for small venues such as movie theatres, car washes, etc. Those are just side jobs. WE ARE A SPORTS MARKETING COMPANY. WE WORK WITH PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAMS. SO IF OUR COMPANY IS A SCAM, SO IS THE SPURS, RANGERS, AND STARS BECAUSE THEY ARE OUR CLIENTS! Anyways... If and when you do become a manager, the starting salary is $200,000. That is why we all work here. I don't mind working my a*s off for 6 - 10 months going door-to-door in order for me to make 6 figures and be my own boss. Another factor that scare people about the job is that the first position is commission based only. That can be a terrible thing or a great thing. As far as me, I am not lazy and I have a great work ethic so I ALWAYS make good money. My last check was for $891.00 in one week!
If you are lazy and don't work hard, no, you will not make money. I know for a fact that this company is not a scam and is a great fun company to work for. My fiance is also in the company and was promoted to manager a couple of months ago. So I have witnessed first hand that this is not a scam. I have watched someone go through the whole progam and I am myself. So before you make assumptions and over-exaggerate only after an interview, make sure you know what you are talking about first.
Peter
Brighton,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
DS Max You've Done It Again
#3Consumer Comment
Tue, July 03, 2007
Oh DS Max you can call your self Innovage(sp) or Grace Marketing but your still conning kids. You tell them they'll be mangers but they just peddle useless crap. They work their butts off for hours on end and you pay them practically no money. To keep them in line you force propaganda down their throats (HEY WHAT!! JUICE!!) And many actually get to be manager? One in a hundred? One in a thousand? Your nothing but a MLM Cult. No I'm not bitter you wasted a year of my life.
Juice yall.