Complaint Review: Advantage Promotions - Charlotte North Carolina

I would like to share my experience and story of a recent interview with Prestige Marketing / Advantage Promotions, but first I would like to say that I am glad that I did some research regarding the company and found invaluable information that probably prevented me from making a waste of my time and money.

I, like so many others, received an email stating that the company had received my resume and they felt that my qualifications could fit well in to the company and the companies success. Along with a brief overview as to what their company was all about and what the job would consist of, they wanted me to call and set up an initial interview. I made the call to schedule an interview and upon my first call, I was asked to call back because they were in a sales meeting and my call was very abruptly ended. I did call back and schedule the interview, which was to be conducted in Charlotte NC, at their office. My interview was conducted by a lady, whose first name only was given to me, and her name was Lindsey. The interview took place in a small office space, where there were several team posters and sports items posted all over the walls. I was shown a few "sample posters" of team schedules with various business ads or sponsorship ads placed on them. The posters were laminated and looked to have decent quality but the school's logo and some of the artwork did not look exactly authentic, just my observation. The interview seemed to go fairly well but I could not help but notice that the materials I was given at the end of the interview just seemed very generic and did not have a professional appearance for a sales job that was directed towards high shchools, universities and minor league teams. Again, this was just my observation. I was told that I would be having a second interview the next day with the national sales manager, as well as the regional sales manager and this would be a conferance call. The thing that struck me as strange was that I was to call them instead of them calling me? Anyway, I left the interview with a few things that struck me as strange or odd, but I was somewhat upbeat considering; 1) I was looking at a job I could work from home, 2) Was told I would start with a base salary of $30,000 plus, 3) Would be paid 25% commission on all my ad sales and there were average weekly sales quotas mentioned in the interview, 4) I would be given an existing "book of business" to maintain and grow and also to get new business on board within my "protected area", which would consist of an area code like (336).

As I drove up the interstate I had a lot of thoughts running through my mind but I was still pretty much upbeat about my experience. After I had a chance to look through the packet of information I was given at the interview, I could not help but have some doubtful thoughts run through my head about the job, the company and the overall experience I had up to this point. So before I made the call the next morning for my "second interview via conference call" with Larry O'Brien, I began to do some research. Luckily for me, though it was very disappointing, I found a lot of written reports from people that had been seemingly taken and had been given some very bad information on the overall job performance and actual income payouts. I read too many reports that all sounded similar with regards to the interviews, the poster appearance, the hostile communications from top managment within the company when asked specific questions, and people not getting paid for whatever sales they had generated in their early days of working for the company. And there were more items that all sounded too familiar within the reports I was reading.

I say all of that to say this, I am glad I did some research before I became another person that was mislead or had to suffer a bad experience and waste valuable time and money that no one has to waste when looking for another job, a second means of income, or anything they are doing to provide for themselves and their family. It is companies, businesses, people or individuals like this that I do not tolerate and feel that they need to be held responsible for the actions they portray upon people. I am just fortunate that I was able to possibly minimize my becoming a frustrated victim.