Universal Subscription Agency EX EMPLOYEE FOR USA Las Vegas Nevada
I used to work for Universal Subcription Agency. I had worked there for about 7 months before i quit, and my high day in sales was 15 so i was selling quite a few magazines a day.
They split us up into different crews and every crew has a number i worked for Lamb Sales which is code# 012 and that is Richard Lamb's Crew there is also Steve Ingram's crew etc. Richard Lamb and Steve Ingram are the owners of Universal Subscription Agency. There are at least 10 different crews just for USA that travel all around the US doing this and each crew consists of about 30 people, that is just for USA there is also other MAG CREW'S that are with other company's. some may be listed with the BBB some are not USA IS NOT. There is also a company called ACI (Atlantic Circulation Incorporated) they as far as i know are listed with the BBB.
I used to say the same things that pretty much everyone is talking about in the 7 months that i worked there i have traveled to somewhere around 15 states including KS, AZ, CA, UT, CO, SD, IA, MI, TN those are only a few states that i have stayed in. I suspected that the company wasnt legit. from some of the conversations people told me so i sent some magazines home for my family to see if they would get them. They recieved there magazines after about 4 months which is also listed on the top of the reciepts. (delivery within 120 days) so i thought everything was fine. starting pay is supposed to be 50% but they say that they have to save 20% of that on what is called our "books" that is mobey saved in case of emergancy or dismissal so they gave us 30% of the agent front which is for example (Nickelodeon- AGT FRT $19.00 MGR GRT $22.00)that is a low term magazine for $41.00 without the $13.00 P&H full price is $54.00 for two years) so IF we brought in enough cash to get a 30% draw they were still ripping us off there were days that i should have had a $100.00 draw and i would take a $20.00 draw if any so that everyone was getting paid and so that we would have the money to pay rent at the hotels we stayed at.
I have heard every spill in the book just about and i know all of the dirty buisness everyone was writing there were people that would say we had any magazine that the "customer" asked for and if we didnt have it they would sell them a magazine like "Jane" or one of the other cheaper magazines on our list. Richard Lamb owed me money from my books that i believed to be around a couple thousand dollars from the time i had worked there and he said i would find out within 90 days if he even owes me money. I still talk to people that esed to work for USA and when i asked them if they had recieved there money yet they laughed at me and said " do you accually think you are going to get paid" and even though i wanted to trust Richie i do not think i will ever get any money that i should have earned.
I finally knocked on a ladies door in Tennesse and she asked me what i was doing this for and i was honest with her i told her it was a job and as far as i knew we really did get the trip to Cancu, Bermuda, or Nassau and get the $1000.00 and she told me that i was too smart to be doing this and if i accually did want to quit the job and got back to school to finish my GED and go on to college i could. I am now living with her and i am finishing my GED and getting ready to go to school for Criminal Justice and Communications. I never thought after saying i was doing a contest to help with my communications skills that i would ever accualy be doing that but now i am and i am going to break down this particular company piece by piece if it kills me.
To work with me contact me through the rebuttal key or the editor of this site.
Amanda
hokah, Minnesota
U.S.A.
CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.
6 Updates & Rebuttals
Jgabli1031
fort campbell,Kentucky,
United States of America
there is so much more to it!
#7UPDATE EX-employee responds
Wed, November 04, 2009
i tryed to log in and it would not let me even tho i followed the help ques and everything feel free to post this for me... it may satisfy some of the issues ppl have.. and answer some questions...
my name is jennifer i used to be an employee at atlantic circualtion i was in crew 012 and richard lamb the owner of the company was my crew leader!
It lasted roughly 6 mos. of what i would like to call pure hell. it was in the winter when i was at a friends getting ready to go visit my family and 2 young people knocked on the door trying to see me a magazine and i told them i was not interested, then they asked if i would like a job with room and board and that you could get paid unlimited amounts of money for doing it. i accepted and left immediately. i was 18 years old.
when i got there they were all so pleasant in their hotel that was set up as the bosses office. and we al stayed in a room with a roomate. the next daythey treated me like pie.. so nice and cheered for me and taught me how to do my little spiel.. after a week we went to colorado there we stayed 2 months everyday waking up at 7 am and finishing any where between 6-10 sometime even midnight.. we had a quota of at least 6 sales... when we did not get the sales completed were were grounded to our room it did not matter how old you were u were not allowed out of that room to do n e thing...
weeks went by i was doing ok at my sales and i finally liked a guy there... they thought because he did bad on his sales i should not be with him so they told us both they would fire us if we were with one another. telling me if i wanna be strong then i have to be with a strong person and that he will bring me down to fail. they did this to everyone... and if they couldnt stop them they would fire the worst of the 2 with out notification. with all this pressure on us i was aware of the fact that employess would go to houses and steal things and if they got there amount for the day keep a couple orders in cash. if you had ten in one day you were considered a power seller. any thing over that, is all about honesty.
i was paired up with a girl who was arrested stealing checks from an elderly woman and forging them.. she was fired and arrested.
the contest is real.. but it is not for school or churches or n e thing lik that and i will say they tell you specifically not to lie and say that it is, but they all do it anyway. its not like the boss is standing right there. when it came time to quit .. they would urge me to stay telling me they will give me a bus home soon... and walking in the 2 foot snowin montana i came across a family who just so happened to live in michigan his whole life, he used to be a polic officer when i knocked on the door he smiled and said come in.. and he could see tears in my eyes and could see i was freezing, he gave me a soda had me call my parents and gave me 20$ for food for the bus ride home.. and on the way there we stopped at the hotel in which i was staying and atlantic circulation REFUSED to give me my belongings clothes etc they said they would mail it to me and that it was already in the truck to go.. naturally i never got the package..
all in all i was depressed the whole time as an employee, they try to motivate the managers to hit on the girls and sleep with them to motivate them to do well, they lie to you and when they are done you feel awful about being you.. they make you feel like garbage, like a work horse.. i tell you all of this but this is not even the whole story.. what a shame!
jennifer
Mikemotion
Green Bay,Wisconsin,
U.S.A.
Looking for family member doing sales
#7Consumer Comment
Sat, November 01, 2008
I am interested in working with you on this. I have a family member who is currently selling on one of these teams. I have spotted a myspace communication from another person, and eventually with many others who apparently have sold mags in these teams. What I have noticed is that all of their myspaces contain family and friends asking them to contact them... many for a year or two. In our case, there is just no reason that the family member would not want to call someone in the family. Whats with that? Like they all have been told to have no contact with home or old friends, in any form. Please get in touch with me if possible so I can gain additional insight on how it works on the inside and why people are not contacting people at home or old friends.... just weird!
Amanda
Hokah,Minnesota,
U.S.A.
wow small world
#7UPDATE EX-employee responds
Sun, January 28, 2007
Christmas party in Phoenix we stayed at the sunshine hotel. i was there for that one i was dating a guy from your crew Mike G. that is until we all got kicked out and we took off to California and some others went to Colorado or something.
I remember Veronica getting drunk and pulling a girl off one of the tables who was chanting her crew number i don't know if she got into another fight later. But there's alot of fighting that goes on if you don't get your quota or listen to the old heads. "as the mag crew turns" it's all a big soap opera the dating the fighting, the cheating, the lying. all of it.
I ran into another guy the used to sell magazines for USA yesturday i think he worked for Steve's wife or something he did it to get off Meth but he said he would never join a mag crew or advise anyone else to do so ever again. Unless your stuck on the sales talk to boss gives out to keep you or you really have nothing better to do Mag crew's can be a nightmare. especially when you can't get out.
Candace
Lemoore,California,
U.S.A.
yup
#7UPDATE EX-employee responds
Mon, January 22, 2007
Oh ya i know them! Me and Veronica got into it one night in Arizona at a banquet. and ya i know what W.A.B is haha. What you said about going to the hospital i have a similar story...i was working in Arizona it was my 2nd day alone, i was walking in a neibhorhood and a dog started chasing me. He bit the back of my leg and i fell in rocks and broken glass. When the van picked me up i was crying and bleeding and the van driver (matt) was like how many and i said none and told him what happened...he called me a liar and droped me off 10 miles away from the hotel and made me walk home...after that i knew i wanted to go home!!!
I hope all door to door sales companies stop...its basically away to get confused kids together to do dirty work. All they do is smoke pot, eat at fast food restraunts and work. YOu never get a good meal and hardly any rest. If they come nocking at your door DONT BUY, just an suggestion.
Amanda
Hokah,Minnesota,
U.S.A.
USA
#7Author of original report
Sat, January 20, 2007
Then you probly know of Roxy and Veronica the queen witches and two of the biggest rip off artists that drove richie's end of the company into the ground anyways sucks for them at least it's a few less people scammed by them by working for them. I got so sick one time i literally couldnt move i laid down on the side of the road my stomach hurt so bad and she still called me a W.A.B. (you should know what the stands for) and tried making me work. i went to the hospital that night and it ended up being from eating all the gas station food and not eating rightsince they would never take us out to get something good to eat once in a while a quickie through a mc donalds or something like that.
If anyone is thinking of doing joining or know someone who is thinking of it, any ads in newspapers that say "travel the usa" pretty much anything about that DON'T DO IT! usually they are listed more than once with different headlines and numbers but the same person will answer usually. the only ones that ever make it or end up liking it are the ones that are scam artists all ready before they get there and even then alot of them don't make it especially guys and unless you have connections for marijuana they will treat you like dirt. But they still will not let you leave usually you have to sneak out of the hotel and either leave everything you had with you (they will not give it back without police force. trust me i've been in the situation and seen it happen to others as well) or find a way to sneak out in the middle of the night without anyone ratting you out. and there is usually someone who will and usually that results in a physical argument.
Candace
Lemoore,California,
U.S.A.
Contact me
#7UPDATE EX-employee responds
Fri, January 19, 2007
I know exactly what and who you are talking about. i also worked for steve Ingram #088. I did it for about 3 Months and hated every minute of it. I finally left with 2 of my friend (we told no one). It sucked working day and night getting hardly no pay and having to do it 7 days a week. The only good thing was meeting new people. i am glad you got out. when i got out i started college (nursing school) graduated with my AA and now am curently engaged.
Candace
Riverdale, California