Complaint Review: Universal Management

Read the newspaper ad in the News and Observer of Durham, NC in June 2006. Called the ad regarding a job opportunity for management positions since I had my degree in Business Management.

On the same day I called I was asked to come in for an interview at 3:00pm that day. I was so excited and though this company really needed help. Well of course I was fooled like so many others by the pitch of Robert Simmons management team. I was also told I would have an opportunity to make 30,000 dollars a year as a manager with several other partners and open my own office. I was told I would be called for a second interview if accepted.

Of course I was and the following day I was told to come back to a group interview to discuss my new position. You are told about benefits of vacation, weekly commissions, and the opportunity to make a 6 figure income and open your own business location. That week I started training on Tuesday. Every FNP (i.e. Fabulous New Person) starts on Tuesday of each week. You and 10 or more people are hired at the same time to come in and be used as bottle droppers to help Universal Management meet their daily quota of 50+ bottles a day.

They send you out with the Old Dogs (i.e 2 or more week trainee's) to sell perfume throughout Raleigh, N.C. at gas stations, malls, department stores, and anywhere else their are NO SOLICITING signs. And of course you take the risk of being arrested or stopped by the police and told to leave the premises for peddling or soliciting without a permit. Of course Rob Simmons does not provide you with a permit, he tells you that you work for yourself and this is your opportunity so if you get caught or arrested you go to jail on your own accord and expense. Of course if he decides to get you out you are in debt to him at a price you never can repay. Ask several of his team members who have been arrested, including his partner Lela who has various soliciting charges pending in Raleigh today. You go to court by yourself, no Rob or Lindsay to accompany you.

It cost $50.00 to obtain a permit to sell merchandise in Raleigh but it must accompany you when stopped by the police. If you solicit in other counties in North Carolina you are required to have a permit for that county also, and they are not free nor are they provided by Universal Mgmt. Of course his excuse is you work for yourself even though you are walking around with his case of merchandise daily/nightly without evidence of who the merchandise belongs too.

After 3 weeks I had completed all four phases of training and became a Manager. I was ready to work on my brick (i.e. perfume bottles sold toward your opening a office at 2000K per partner). Therefore when you opened a office you had to have 2 or more partners each completing their bricks of 100-200 bottles before opening. And remember you get no pay, only an envelope with $45 dollars cash each week if Rob decides to give it to you.

That is another issue, each week you are suppose to receive bonus incentives for extra effort, contest that Rob runs, and asset bonuses for having worked. Of course he finds many reason to not give you those bonuses or says you don't get it this week but in next weeks envelope to try and keep you their another week. Of course you never get your money. Envelopes are *&*&, Rhino board is *&*&, bonuses are *&*&, asset bonuses are *&*&, fun car is *&*&. Don't fall for it.

Of course I was motivated to complete this program to see if the 6 figure income was valid because I am not a quitter but a hardworker so I stuck it out for 3 months waiting for partners to complete their badges (i.e. phase 1 sell 30 bottles, phase 2 sell 40 bottles, phase 3 sell 50 bottles and, phase 4 sell 60 bottles per week)promoting you to a manager to open your office in the city you desire.

During my training I invested my own money in bottle of perfume, sold bottles to family members, friends, and received donations. I accumulated over 5 cases equaling 75 bottles of perfume from my hard work. Finally I found two individuals that I felt were about done with their training that were serious about this opportunity as myself, at least I thought. After weeks of riding around in your car with individuals you learn alot about a person (i.e. where they live, what their favorite food is, hobbies, background, etc.)

The first partner I chose had previously been a partner at one of Rob Simmons promotions in Greensboro, NC and returned to work for Rob's office as a General Manager. He had been with Rob for 9 months. He had the business processes memorized in his head and seem to know all the ends and outs. He also seem to be one of Rob's right hand men. The other partner I chose was a student of North Carolina Central University who was motivated to start a business and invest his own money if necessary. We worked together and he dropped bottles with no problem when he was motivated to do so.

Before we could move forward Rob had another office that had been trying to open for 2 months. First they were scheduled to open in Wilmington, NC on July 15th, 2006. I left for vacation in Las Vegas on July 16th. When I returned I had been fired and called a looser and a *&*& by Lindsay one of the owners. I did not hear if for myself but several of the old dog trainees shared this information with me and called my cellphone in Las Vegas and said I had been fired. Before leaving on vacation I informed Robert Simmons two weeks in advance that my family planned this trip 1 year ago. He told me it was fine to leave, in fact I could take several cases of perfume with me to make some extra money. Of course I had no idea this was another scam idea and I was only being setup.

Before leaving on vacation he sent his FNP's and old dogs on FUN car in Fayetteville, NC. Fun car is suppose to be voluntary, but of course if you don't participate you are a looser, or fired. Everyone teams of in their cars with perfume and stays overnight in a town 1-2 hours away from Raleigh location to sell perfume all day and all night until you meet Robs quota which normally is so high it never can be met, and I mean 150-175 bottles had to be sold on most weekends to meet his office quota of 400-500 bottle that week. Normally you had 5-10 people on fun car. Also please beware, most of Rob's old dogs have no cars, or cars with no insurance, or drivers with no drivers licenses, or DWI charges against them. Most of his office team has 16-21 year old young adults who are nieve and very vulnerable to authority.

He takes these type people for granded. I have seen some of his old dogs drive their cars with no gas, no insurance, no money in their pocket just to take out Rob's new trainees to sell perfume each day. They breakdown, have flat tires, major car repairs and of course Rob helps with none of that. All expenses are on you or anyone who rides in your car must free hash (i.e. beg for money from strangers to pay for gas and repairs). And if you are fortune enough to have credit card, you pay for it yourself with no reimbursement. And of course the new trainee's have no money because they came looking for a new job and most of them are broke or just have enough money to get buy that day.

They have no idea that their cars will be used to sell perfume everyday, ever night at their own expense. I even had old dogs from Robs team get in my car and pay no gas money, drop no bottle of perfume all day and then ask you to take them home. I had to feed people because they had no money. Where was Rob, no where to be found. I never saw him had one bottle of water on 105 degree days to his FNP's or old dogs. He would tell us to free hash. He is insane.

As I was saying the Wilmington, NC office was suppose to open. Didn't happen. The next week they came back from satelite (i.e. you and your partners travel to area you want open in and find a rental property to lease, apartment and drop bottles everyday to eat, and pay for a hotel). No lease, no apartment, in fact their opeining date got pushed back by Rob and moved to Fayetteville, NC. Several weeks went by and he sent the same team out to Fayetteville, NC (i.e 20 year old, 23 year old and 18 year old)Well of course they came back without a office and no apartment lease.

The following week he went out to Fayetteville to look for rental space. Rob came back with a list and sent the same team out on satelite again for 1 week. They came back with a pending lease. The entire team had bad credit and could not get a lease or apartment in their name. Why? After 6 months or more working in Robs office making no money, getting no envelopes, they lost their apartments.

One of the partners was evicted, her lights turned off, the other partner is about to be evicted and her lights already turned off for months. They were living where ever they could find someplace to stay. The third partner lived home with his parents who had DWI charges against him and the only partner who had a car that was falling apart. No front end and slick tires. The other two partners have no cars to drive. Can you imagine this. How will they open.

Of course I became friends with one of the partners and rented a car for them to go on satelite the second week of August 2006. Not only did they keep the rental vehicle over the time period, they left me stuck with $528 dollars overage on my credit card for not returning the vehicle as planned. Of course Rob would not repay me nor withhold any money or commission they earned to reimburse the money they spent. Trusting people on his team in good faith is a joke. They made an *&*& out of me. As of today that office has not opened in Fayetteville, NC.

The following week Virginia Beach, Va office went out on satelite. That included me. After Rob Simmons boss forced him to send us out because we had been asking for weeks, finally he sent us out on August 16, 2006 until the weekend to return on Sunday. The satelite went well. The area was juice of course. We were give 150 bottles to sell in 5 days. That did not include the 3 case of my personal bottles and the other partners 1 case of his personal bottles. If we sold all 11 case all proceeds were to go toward the opening of our office in Virginia.

Of course we sold 64 bottles, 5 on credit card machine and all other bottles by cash. When we left Rob's office he gave us 3 deposit slips to put all money in his bank account. How the chain of command works is the highest senority person collects all money for sales each day and settle up with each partner daily and deposits the money. Of course Ben was the senior partner since he had more bricks than anyone and had been with the Universal Management 9 months. His title was General Manager and on this trip he was told he was the Senior Partner.

Each night after we paid our hotel expenses we gave all perfume money to Ben. He would complete the paper work and count all money that had not been deposited each day and lock it up. Of course myself and the other partner Kendric had no idea the scam we were in for. Due to a family emergency with Kendric's family we decided to leave Virginia on Saturday morning and drop perfume bottles all the way back to North Carolina on our way home. We counted our inventory at the hotel parking lot and left Virginia Beach with 93 bottles that morning. When we arrived back in North Carolina we had 86 bottles remaining in the trunk.

Of course we had gas expenses and food for 16 hours of merchandising so Kendrick and myself dropped our personal bottles for gas and food and did not have any cash purchase to settle up with Ben on Saturday evening into Sunday morning in the a.m. We made 2 credit card transactions only which we could not keep because they were input into Rob's credit card machine which deposits funds directly into Rob's bank account. Of course I drove my car and Kendric drove his car. We arrived back in Raleigh, N.C. at 3am Sunday morning. I dropped Ben off at his home in Durham, NC at 3:30am. We recounted the merchandise. He had 86 bottles and 7 personals of his own and an envelope with the cash and deposits slips from our Virginia satelite.

Ben requested that Kendric and I work on Sunday to bring our numbers up and sell perfume on Sunday. Well of course I refused since I drove for 4 days and nights and could not take another day of merchandising. On Sunday I received a call about 8pm from Kendric stating Ben had been arrested for passing counterfeit money at the Kangaroo gass station on Hwy 55 in Durham, NC on that Sunday August 20, 2006 around 4pm. I could not believe it. Again, another criminal background in Rob's office.

Kendric had picked Ben up from home to take him to purchase a money order for Rob's merchandise that had been sold in Virginia and met Rob at 5pm to settleup all merchandise and cash from our satelite. During that time Kendric got handcuffed and Ben was arrested and taken to jail. These are the types of people Rob keeps under his wing. Honest and loyal people are used, called *&*&, liars, and loosers. Yes Rob, I was told everything you and Lindsay said about me. Even after I called AAA on my Gold AAA credit card to have your car unlocked after Lindsay locked her keys in the car. Loyal people are not appreciated by you. Only used and scandalized.

But remember God does not like ugly. Your business will fail just because of what you stand for, DISHONESTY!! Thank God Kendric was released since it was determined by the police that he was not involved with the counterfeit money. They had been sitting at the gas station and had been watching Kendric car the whole time while he was sitting in the parking lot. They saw Ben get out of his car and thought Kendric was in with Ben and the counterfeit money. Kendric and I both called Ben's girlfriend Michelle who stated all the perfume and cologne we dropped off Sunday morning was sitting in her apartment waiting for Rob to pick it up. She stated their was no money in an envelope at her apartment.

I verfied with her on Monday August 21st, 2006 that Robert Simmons came buy and picked up all 86 bottles of cologne including Ben's personal bottles. He received his merchandise. Also Ben had purchased one money order at the Kangaroo gass station with real money and the manager (Monty at the Kangaroo Gas Station HWY 55 in Durham, NC) held the money order Ben purchased that was found in his parking lot by a customer later on Sunday and turned it in.

I spoke with the manager at the Kangaroo gas station and he stated that A white male by the name of Rob Simmons picked up the money order in the amount of $220.00 dollars and a deposit slip from Bank of America with $105.00 deposit made in Virginia on August 18th, 2006. This can all be confirmed by the store manager in Durham, N.C. So Rob did get some of his money back from Ben Snelling one of his business partners. Who knows what this scam was? Anyway....

That evening I received harrassing phone calls from Robert Simmons asking me where was I and his merchandise and why hadn't I reported to him. He called Kendric and told Kendric he was going to prosecute he and I for taking his money...What a joke!! Of course he ordered Kendric and I to settle-up with the Senior Manager Ben before we left Raleigh on August 16th, and we did. If you every start this program you will find out that everyday you settle up all money and merchandise to Lindsay and Rob twice a day for bottles of perfume sold and if you night merch you settle up with the car leader that day.

Noone keeps Robs money but his Senior partners. Ben was his General Manager in his office for 9 months and put in charge of our satelite by Robert Simmons. So why would a professional business man as himself put a 20 year old in charge unless he trusted him? Yet and still he continues to ask Kendric and I for the money Ben collected on our satelite on August 19th, 2006. I became very suspicious and contacted Kendric by cellphone to see what he had been told by Rob and we found various stories coming from Rob. He never told us the same thing.

Robert Simmons told Kendric he was going to have him arrested if he did not bring the money to him. He never called me again after Monday when I told him that I had verified with the Manager of Kangaroo that a money order was at the store and Michelle had all his remaining cases at her apartment from our satelite in Virginia. I have not heard from him since that day. Of course Kendric and I figure the police seized the counterfeit money and any other monies Ben had in his possession during the arrest and thats all we know. The police report is public record filed at Durham County Clerk of courts in Durham, N.C. 27701 report filed on August 20, 2006 under Benjamin Snelling age 20, black male. This is all a fact and recorded on record in Durham County North Carolina.

Figure it out for yourself. Something fraudulent is going on with this company. Just think if I had gone to work on Sunday with Ben and Kendric I could have gotten arrested too. Robert Simmons deals with bad people, criminals, and minors. People he can take advantage of, people who are desperate, people who need a job, people who have no money and are in a bad situation.

He take his team to beer and wings on Thursdays at the Ale House on Wake Forest Rd. in Raleigh and buys alcohol for minors. That is a federal offense. He is a person that violates the law and doesn't follow it. I have come to the conclusion that he does not care at all. He does not reimburse his FNP's or old dogs for any business expenses or business mileage. He uses his new people and old people who sell perfume and cologne for him in any way possible. He does not care about you. He just wants to make a quota each week and fill his bank account. He does not go out and merchandise in the field with his team. He just yells at you and calls you loosers or wimps.

A real man will get out their and show his team how its done. He does not open new offices and will not open any new offices with the team he has, which includes minors and criminals, and homeless people. You cannot start a business unless you have cash or some who will invest in you. I have not seen Rob write any checks. Even the Greensboro, NC office opened with their own money. Ask them, what did Rob invest in their business. You cannot sign a lease if you are under 18 years old, nor can you sign a lease with bad credit. You have to have a cosigner, and that will not be Robert Simmons. He puts nothing in his name.

He walks around with hundreds of dollars in his right corner pocket boasting about how much money he makes. Well he makes nothing, the FNP's and Old Dogs make the money for him. We are all fools. Don't be a fool!! There is so much to tell and see. Don't waste your time. Don't drive your car. Please do not hesitate to email me if you need any information. Trust me, I tried for 3 months and gave Rob and Lindsay the benefit of the doubt.I got fired for taking a planned vacation. Lost my envelope that week that should have been over $500 dollars in my 4th phase with bonuses and overrides for the bottles I sold.

Well I got $117.00 dollars only after Rob's boss told him to pay me. I 100 clubbed twice. I did not get published in the newsletter. I did not get my 100 club ring or my diamond. I never was acknowledged for selling 100 bottles in 10 days twice!!! I waited two weeks after I returned to get that envelope with my $117.00 dollar overrides. I have checks my friends and family wrote with my commission on it. Rob never paid me my money/overage on the checks. I have credit card transaction for bottles sold over $20 dollars and I never got my override money for those bottles in my envelope. He took 9 personal bottles from and FNP that I trained who wanted to work at night and Rob would not assign her any bottles to sell by herself. I trusted her and assigned my personal bottles to her.

Lindsay took them from the FNP and told her I stole them from the company. They are such dishonest people and liars. Don't fall for the pitch. I stayed Hoping for an opportunity to open a business. Well it didn't happen.I wanted to become an entrepreneur. Well you cannot open without partners. Figure it out. Its a scam!! Guess what, it will never happen with Universal Management unless you pay for it all out of your pocket!! Beware!!

Pam aka Juicy Fruit
Hillsborough, North Carolina
U.S.A.