Complaint Review: Cydcor / Black Sea International - Nashville Tennessee

I worked for a Cydcor company in the Cleveland area in 2004. I don't remember the name of the office, but it was ran by the same person that is running Black Sea International in Nashville, TN. Like many other reports on this site regarding Cydcor, mine is much like everyone else's. I found the job listing on career builder under sales/marketing, and being a college student needing some sales experience upon graduation, I applied for the job. In no time I received an email to call and set up an interview.

I drove almost two hours to Middleburg Heights where the office was located. I was greeted by a very young receptionist who was extremely friendly, so I thought it wouldn't be bad to work in a place like that if everyone was like her. When I was called in for my interview with Michael Mavrothalasitis, I found he was extremely young, but he was very outgoing and seemed to be extremely knowledgeable about the business.

Later that day I got a call telling me they wanted me to come back for a second interview. I remember making yet another trip to the Cleveland area and having to go out with one of the more experienced sales people for a few hours until lunch. During my second interview, the other person and I were joined by Michael. Michael and I went to lunch together, discussed the "company plan" where I was going to shoot through the ranks in less than a year to earn my own office. Yes, I thought it sounded a little too good, but being a college student needing a job, it didn't sound too bad.

When we got back to the office, I sat in the waiting area for a little bit, and then I was escorted into Michael's office. In a matter of seconds, I was offered a job. I remember him telling me I'd be working in Cleveland and I would be paid for my training. I had already been told I'd be making somewhere around $30k in my first year, and all I had to do was go out into the world and help the poor, innocent business owners realize the other phone companies were ripping them off and then save the day by giving them different options to lower their phone bills. That sounded simple enough.

I went to the office during my spring break to complete some training. Being the planner that I am, I booked a hotel room. When I got to the office, Michael, or "Mavro" as he was called, asked where I'd be staying. When I told him I'd be staying at a hotel, he offered to let me stay at his and Kirk's (Bevington) apartment that they shared with the receptionist. She was out of town, so there was room for me. I know he may have just been trying to be courteous, but there was no way I was staying in an apartment with two guys I didn't even know. He seemed a little miffed that I declined his offer.

After graduation I moved to Strongsville. Between the time I'd went up for training and my move, the office had moved as well. Michael told me they had to move because the other tenants of the old building complained they were too loud. I found out what he meant when I attended my first morning session - lots of loud music and recent college grads going over what they were telling the businesses in order to make sales. I remember there being steps to the sale, and you weren't supposed to stray from the script.

I was set up with Kirk for some training. All was going well until payday. When I asked Michael why I didn't get a paycheck, I was told I wouldn't be getting paid for training until I made my first sale, where I'd receive some sort of bonus. Yes, I was mad because I'd been misled, but I just wrote it off as a miscommunication.

After I'd finished training, I was given my first territory. It was on the east side of Cleveland. I made what I thought was a huge sale that week, almost $1000 at one business, and I was thrilled. I was on the right track. That sale, along with my others for the week, put me in a position to be promoted to a leader. I was given new responsibilities, and one of them was taking out potential hires for second interviews. If I recommended the people I interviewed for a position, they were added to my team. All I had to do was get five or six people on my team and I was on the road to financial stability and my own office. That sounded easy enough.

Of all the people I interviewed, all but one was offered a position, and that was because she decided during the interview that the job wasn't right for her. Of those offered a position, a few took the offer, but I don't think they lasted more that two weeks. I was watching my team get smaller by the day. I was tired of interviewing people, and the more people I interviewed, the less sales I made because I someone tagging along and slowing me down. Fewer sales meant a smaller check, because I was a contractor, commission only, something that wasn't mentioned to me until after I was hired.

I received my next territory in a rural area over an hour away from the office. I was originally told I'd be working in Cleveland only, but I went because I needed a change of scenery. I grudgingly finished the territory, barely making any sales, because most of the businesses already had AT&T or something better. Again, more small paychecks.

By this time I was getting pretty fed up with the whole situation. I wasn't getting paid much, and I was putting way too many miles on my car. At the time, my daughter was in a car seat, and Michael had asked me to move it to the driver's side of the back seat so I could turn around and talk to a third person sitting in back seat and be able to look at them. I refused. I asked Michael once about not making as many sales as my first week, and he told me that was common, because the longer a person was there, the more familiar they got with the whole situation, and the harder it was to basically lie to customers. I couldn't believe it.

After I was assigned my third territory, in Canton no less, I decided I'd had enough. That morning I had found out that a few of the people that had started the same week I had had quit, and I was beginning to wonder just exactly what was going on. On my way to Canton, one of the girls who had quit called me to tell me about what she'd found out about the company. That's when I learned about Cydcor and everything that it was. I quit that afternoon. I couldn't bring myself to lie to people like I was expected to do.

I worked there for maybe two months. I had put everything into that job. I moved away from my family with the simple goal of getting some sales experience so I could apply for other positions I was more interested in. I was going to use the money I made to take care of myself and my daughter. None of that happened. I was misled every step of the way, and the worst thing was, Michael knew my situation, but he didn't care. I wasn't the only person in that situation, though.

Almost all of the people he hired were recent college graduates who had financial obligations and expected to be paid in the manner they were promised when they were offered the job. I don't know, but at the end of the day, I want to be paid for my work, not be given the opportunity to shake the jug, ring the bell or pound on the wall. Those things don't pay the bills. Oh, and for the one big sale of $1000 I had? It ended up being much less than that because after the paperwork was sent in to be verified, a good number of the services I had signed the business up for weren't approved. No one told me that either, until I questioned my paycheck.

Please, if you are thinking of applying to a position with this company, don't. There may be a few people who have stuck it out and are running offices, but from my experience, they didn't get there by using good business practices and ethics.

Jessica

Wooster, Ohio

U.S.A.

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