Complaint Review: Agent 1099 - Santa Monica California

Agent 1099 placed ads on the internet to hire several dozen closer agents throughout the country, to work from home, selling Fanbank subscriptions to locally owned small businesses. Subscriptions cost a small business owner $110 a month. The first two weeks were paid training and earned $50 per day. After the first two weeks, agents were paid $92.32 per day plus $110 commission per Fanbank subscription sold. You are expected to make at least 150 cold calls per day in an attempt to set up appointments and sell Fanbank subscriptions. Training is a bit to be desired. You learn as you go. I began my third week, so my wage increased to $92.32 per day.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, there is a brief 10:00 PST conference call meeting via GotoMeeting for all closer agents. On a recent Wednesday, the usual 10:00 PST meeting was canceled. Instead, there was a 10:30 PST meeting scheduled for all closer agents. I logged into GotoMeeting about five minutes before it was to start. By 10:30 PST, as many as 65-70 closer agents also logged into the meeting. All of us waited patiently for the host to arrive and start the meeting, but it was silent. Many of us sent chat messages, asking if anyone else can hear anything. Nobody could hear anything. It was a phony conference call…a ploy…a trick to deter us from doing our jobs, making cold calls. Instead, while all 65-70 of us were awaiting this conference call, the company shut down our email addresses and restricted access to the Agent 1099 applications. They threw us all 65-70 of us out on the street. As I later noticed, I received an email five minutes before this meeting was to begin:

After an in depth evaluation with the management team, we feel that this is not going to be a good fit. This is by no means, anything personal or anything regarding your skills. We simply feel like it's not a good fit between us at this time and will have to end our agreement.

Therefor, this will confirm that effective *********** your independent contractor engagement with AGENT1099 has ended. All of your company logins have been shut down and will no longer be accessible to you. As you move forward with your future endeavors, we wish to remind you that you have certain post-termination obligations to AGENT1099 under your Independent Contractor Agreement, including your obligation under Section 7.0 to neither use nor disclose the Company’s Confidential Information. 

You will of course be paid for all hours up until this point. Funds will be available in your bank account within 2-3 business days.

We thank you for your time and interest, and wish you nothing but success in your future endeavors. 

Best,

Amy

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Amy Maestri

Director of Operations

310-356-6455

[email protected]

www.Agent1099.com

After realizing what just happened to dozens of us, I went out to vent on Glassdoor and give a very unfavorable review of the company. But there are ten reviews about the company on Glassdoor and all of them are very favorable, and my negative review could not be saved. Glassdoor would not save my negative review. Here is what I tried to enter:

Agent 1099 works with Fanbank. The last few months the company has been hiring many closer agents throughout the country. Training has a bit to be desired. Three days a week there are company conference calls. On a recent Wednesday morning, our company conference call was canceled and replaced with a closer agent conference call.  About 65-70 people were on the conference call, but there was no sound. Many of us complained, sending chats to the host that none of us could hear anything. It was a ploy...a trick. The intent was to draw everyone away from their responsibilities and join a phony conference call. Five minutes before this call took place, all of us got an email from the company, telling us our jobs were terminated. So while we were being diverted to the conference call, all of us had our email logins and access to the applications shut down by the company. And to think I turned down another job opportunity that paid more so I could work this one.

For that matter, I am convinced the favorable reviews on Glassdoor by Agent 1099 employees are fake and no additional reviews can be entered.

In immediately searching for another job later that day, I noticed the same Agent 1099 ad for the same position…closer agent. It was listed only two days earlier. This tells me they hire people for a few weeks, try to get Fanbank exposure out of them, then throw them out onto the street and hire a whole new crop of employees. So if you want a job working out of your house for a few weeks, then get thrown out onto the street, only to be replaced with new personnel, then this is the job for you.