Complaint Review: DS-Max Granton M.I.A. - Mount Prospect Illinois

I'm simply shocked and amazed as I sit here reading these comments. I worked for the advertising division of the origianal Granton Advertising in 1994. It was my first job out of high school, and no college could have taught me what I learned at Granton. Mike Terinonni taught us so much about attitude and perserivence. Skills that I still use today and skills that led me to management by the age of 20 with companies like GM and Citibank. GM has more corporate scandal than DS-MAX ever has, but since GM gives you a factory job were you can come in at 8am and do your job and go home to your six-packs everynight at 5p sharp, then GM is more respectable in your eyes. Until, they take your factory job and ship it to China becuase guess what? You lazy-a*s Americans want everything handed to you and lord forbid if you actually have to work hard for it. That's why you lost 600k plant jobs in Ohio b/c 'others' will do the same job for less and work more hours. The only rip-off I ever witnessed in my 18 months with Mike and the crew in Tampa was uhm, well uhm, oh I know- LAZY, ARROGANT, UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE LIKE YOU who think they are too good to knock on doors. Granton provides people with an opportunity to own a business. Guess what? ITS NOT EASY!!! You work long hours, 6 days a week and have to stay positive. OMG!!! Just to help constrast the situation. I currently work for a highly respected multi-national corporation. Their expectations are the same as Granton's, work long hours often 12-13 hours days, 6 days and week and sell, sell, sell. The only difference is that we don't have pep rallies in the morning and no one gives you a high five and says "Juice by you" I wish they did though. I LOVE GRANTON and all it taught me. I still buy VIP cards for the local golf course and my oil change card, 6 free oil changes for $20, JUICE BY THAT!!!

Juice by you Mike. You learned from your experience. You took responsibility for what you did that was wrong. And now you are warning others. Sounds kind of proactive to me! If you see a child about to enter a lake and you know an alligator is in it - do you warn him or just say nothing? Better to live as a rogue and a bum, a lover all treat as a joke to hang out with a crowd of comfortable drunks, than crouch in a hypocrite's cloak. Hypocrites. That is what you defenders of ds-max are. You all don't make any real money. You are all desperate to do or say anything to get the next guy in so you can pay your bills. Yet I can not condem you. Because I have been there and done that and been brainwashed like you all are. All or nothing for financial independance via door to door sails the way ds-max says it will happen! Do or say anything to get the people to buy and the guys to stay! Become great at building relationships so that you will know exactly what kind of guilt trip to throw at your guys! I sincerely hope you all wise up.

I don't know where and when you worked for this fine company, but it must have been long, long ago, before any of the abuses we display here became daily routine. You must have never gone to a rally, must have never gone on a roadtrip, must have never been asked to uproot and move to another city (or have your team taken from you as I was once threatened), must never have had leaders mysteriously disappear. If you had experienced any of that, you would identify with what we report about Cydcor and their subsidiaries. Since you called me out specifically, you must be referring to me as having an empty and meaningless life because I check this site and voice my opinion. Since you're new here, you don't realize that I get an email every time someone posts to one of the threads I've commented on. You're sensless drivel is just a double-click away. You also must not have done a search for Cydcor on this site. As I write this, there are 89 reports logged against Cydcor, 56 against DS-Max, and 4 against the small office I was a part of, Yasny Group (no I didn't start any of those). I feel I have a duty to perform here anon. For 18 months I perpetuated the lie that all it takes is a little hard work and elbow grease to make it in Cydcor. I've watched young people (18-24y/o) put themselves in financial jeopardy because they believed in me and my leadership. I've seen good men and women work hard and come home with nothing to show for it. My gripe does not squarely lie on the potential to make money on a daily basis if you work hard enough for it. My gripe is that the culture of this company conditions its employees to stay with it when all common sense points toward accepting you can't sell and you should find another, more lucrative place to work. There was a guy on my team in DC who was just 18. He interviewed for a summer job before leaving for college. He had big dreams about becoming an architect and had a very good head on his shoulders for such a young man. By the end of the summer, he had traded in his college dreams to stay working with Cydcor (the schedule is far too demanding to work and go to school at the same time). He didn't even enroll for his freshman year. That fall, he was asked to move with a new manager to San Francisco. He wasn't there but a few weeks when he ran out of money, became a financial drain on his new manager, had to switch from Cydcor to advertising to make cash daily, lost all his steam, and finally had to quit. He was left with nothing to show for his efforts but an improved ability to talk to strangers and a neat experience of moving across the country. Neither of those put food on your table. Anon, your comments only apply to those people who could see the forest for the trees; who really understood what they were getting into when they accepted the position; who were smart enough to get out before they got too deeply in debt; who had options they could turn to at the end of the day. You don't speak for the thousands of others who aren't as enlightened as you are. I feel really guilty for perpetuating the Cydcor lies for such a long time and effecting so many peoples' lives. You call it pouting and whining, I call it a public service. You call me childish, I call you ignorant. I don't say this to piss anybody off. I just think it's loathesome.

Number one: Anon, you are anonymous. Your credibility is out the window. Why hide your identity (coward)? Number two: You accused the people who have valid complaints filed against cydcor as being "sad". At the same time you have done nothing to provide proof that Cydcor is not deceptive or manipulative in their hiring practices, except to say that you have a better job now. I only wonder how you escaped the "insulting" backlash of people who quit the company. In my experience, anyone who left for whatever reason, was labeled as weak by the owners, or they were fired (which was a blatant lie). I also find it incredibly suspect that you'd find time to defend a company that you no longer work for. Why would you do that, anonymous? Are you so thankful for the "5's and 8's" that reinforce such unheard of principles as getting to work on time, or working a full eight hours? You also said that people who register complaints against these companies "...couldn't hold on to their jobs," as if these companies actually "fire" people. They don't. I think you said it perfectly, Anon, when you suggested that people act like adults. So why don't you stop playing Playskool Professional and deal with facts instead of the junior-high tactics of name calling. I mean, how sad and meaningless must your life be when you have to lie about how much you make. How sad must it be when you have to pretend to own your own company, despite the fact that DS-Max chooses your company name for you, and DS-Max tells you where you can open your office, and DS-Max tells you what product you are selling, and your promoting owner tells you how to run your office, and your financials are handled by a DS-Max firm. How about the fact that my previous owner drives a s**t-box, was taken to court for an outstanding balance on his previous office, and was issued a cease and decist order by the DOJ of PA? How does someone making "six figures" manage to screw up so much? The truth is DS-Max sucks. There are no independant reports to support the idea that it is successful. Even onwership sucks. It has nothing to do with character or will-power, as Mr. Anon. would have you believe, if it did, they would not hire and lie to every person they can get a hold of.

It took me a while to realize......how sad you all are. I heard about this site through the grapevine. I've been watching for a few days and reading through people's opinions. Honestly, I think this site serves a great purpose - tracking down deadbeat companies and exposing them. But a majority of the postings that I've read about Cydcor are just sad and pathetic ex-employees who are looking for an excuse for why they couldn't hold on to their job. I mean, how empty and meaningless must your life be that you have nothing better to do than come here (day after day after day) to pout and whine about this one job that you (let's just be blount here) weren't good enough to keep. Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of. It's hard doing outside sales. Hell, it's tough doing any kind of sales. But, really, aren't we all just a little too old (and hopefully mature) to still be blaming others for our own short-comings. I was once an employee of one of these offices. And I learned tons about business. I had a great manager who worked hard to help his guys succeed - as many of them are still doing in their own deals. Personally, I didn't enjoy the outside sales enough to stay with it. But overall it was a great experience. I did get paid for the apps that I did and I walked away with quite a few new friends. No sexual harassment...no lies...no fraud...no guilt...no drama. I feel so sorry for this guy Mike, who apparently lives in every state (can you imagine his rent!) It sounds to me like this whole company must have been organized just to get him. Watch your back Mike...I think they might still be after you! I'm kidding. I just want people to know that there are many ex-employees who have no complaints about the company. Actually, it helped me obtain my current job. I'm much more confident now. Now this is just a suggestion - take it with a grain of salt - but as an adult, do you really think that the most responsible thing to do is blame other people. I know that you make others look bad in order to divert attention from your mistakes b/c its easy. Just take responsibility for your own short-comings. I don't say this to piss anyone off. I just think it's childish.

Ask yourself this question, Darryl ..Have you ever met anyone in your office who gave it 100% and DIDN'T make it to management? I can already hear your answer "If they gave 100% they would have made it to management, so I guess they didn't..." How about this one... Has anyone in your office ever gone a week without a retrain or with an observer? That should be an easy yes, it happens all the time. That person should be fired, don't you agree. All they're doing is eating up the territory and not building their team. Yet, more often than not, the manager will let that person rot on the vine (you see, self-esteem does not allow people to quit this job and the managers rarely fire people no matter how much they suck). Why string someone along and hype them up like they are going to be something that they'll never be? How about this one: Have you ever taken out an observer, knew it wasn't for him, but at the end of the day told your manager he'd be good "practice" for one of your leaders to practice retraining? What you're doing is putting someone in financial jeopardy in order to "practice". I call that cannon fodder, and I call that sickening. The bottom line is this. If you (read: Casey/Darryl) are not yet in management, you are speaking out of your a*s and completely ignorant to how your organization really operates. If you ARE in management, you are perpetuating your lie and trying to save face in front of your employees who have been to this site and seen CYDCOR trashed. I think the latter of the two is more disgusting. How any manager can come onto a site like this and defend themselves is deplorable. Another thing, Darryl. I'd be careful who you advise to find another office with another manager. I don't know how it is in Canada, but in the states, if you go to another office you are treated as a. a traitor to your previous office and b. a stepchild by your new office. The manager has no loyalty to you, as his loyalties lie with the people he's lied to the longest (i mean promised success to the longest).

Mr. C.E.O. himself has nothing better to do than throw up a bunch of bullshit numbers.Reality Check!!Nobody here cares two shits about all of your 100 percents and 1'000'000'000'000 bank roll.Why don't you come at this site with some really hard facts.Than maybe, just maybe you might convince ONE poor little mindless zombie that your company is so great.Here is a fact for you "Disco" Darryl....There are constantly new people, sometimes 2 or 3 a week filing complaints about your oh-so-wonderful company.I think even YOU wonder what in the hell you are doing there sometimes. I think that deep down you question your own company.Of course I could be wrong,but why else would you come to a site like this? The fact is that all MLM's come crashing down sooner or later, and so will yours... So if I were you, I would hurry my a*s up and make as much money off of all my distributors as I possibly could. Because I think you are going to find yourself in the unemployment line sooner than you think.One more thing...You have no right to come here and call anybody weak or negative minded. Peace out... Chief Executive Officer

excuse me, darryl, while i roll up my pant legs to walk through all the bullshit you are spilling. your response is as coached as a morning meeting. ..eventually, reality will hit you and you will see that you are as brainwashed as anone else in cydcor, granton, innovage, dsmax, or should i say, whatever the hell it is thatthey are calling themselves these days. and don't kid yourself by claiming you will be a c.e.o. you are just another pawn in their twisted game of chess.

Weak s**t......To all the weak, negative minded individuals who keep dissing Cydcor, here's a REALITY CHECK. My name is Darryl and I've been working for them for over a year and a half--the best year and a half of my entire life. Cydcor is NOT the corporate shark of a company that you losers make it out to be. It's a large multinational network of INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATED offices. Cydcor provides the infrastructure necessary to ensure that these offices can run. Accountants, lawyers, training, sales tools and materials, and most importantly the clients--ALL FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES. To recap my earlier statement in CAPS, each office is managed INDEPENDENTLY of all others in the style and prestige(or lack thereof) that the manager of THAT office decides. During my time with the company--which began in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada--my manager Aearon, only 26 years old, was given the opportunity to open up the market in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and since then has done phenomenally well. When I started, i must admit, I was VERY sceptical myself. The office was being run out of a shabby warehouse that had been renovated into an office--not the greatest impression--but after merely 2 months with the company, and several straight weeks of $500+ paychecks, I decided to make the move to Edmonton with the office and the manager paid for EVERYTHING. The 3100 kilometer trip across Canada--including hotels and food all the way there for eight people besides himself--($2000), the U-Haul truck to ship all of our furniture and belongings($2500), the 3 week stay in a pretty nice hotel while we established the office and found lodgings for ourselves($1500), our first, second and last months rent in a three story town house plus damage deposit($3600--$900/month--x 2 Units= TOTAL $7200) and he even helped us out with cash for the first few months whenever we needed it. Do the math that's $9600+ out of his pocket to make sure that we were COMFORTABLY taken care of. And that's not including the costs of setting up the office. Anyway, regardless of the figures, the manager treated us like we were family and he had no reason to. Since the move, I've travelled to many different cities for business trips and learning seminars--all expenses paid I might add--and worked my way up to a Team Leadership position--the second of four promotions towards Management--(I know, I know I wasn't the fastest ever but I spent over four months doing a test-pilot for an energy campaign and they never promised me that 6-8 month bullshit) and am now on the verge of Assistant Management where the big money starts to come in. And this all on MY OWN MERIT. Never have I even heard of another company where this is possible and to top it off, I've witnessed a very young man get promoted to a Management position where he has already banked approximately $25,000-$30,000 in four very short months. Never did the company make me promises of a "GET RICH QUICK SCHEME". Never did they try to blow smoke up my a*s so to speak with empty promises. They let me know from the beginning that each person takes a different length of time to get to a Management position based on their own learning curve and that not everybody is strong-willed enough or self-motivated enough to do it. I would also like to add that every promise they did make has come true. They promised AT LEAST $300 per week with 100% of my effort and for the past year I've made between $600-$1000 per week--but only because I made the CHOICE to put in 100% of my effort and this is not to mention the phenomenal weeks in which I made between $1000-$2500. They promised a better understanding of my own potential as a person and my own limits as well as people skills in general and I've grown to know myself so much more since I started that the people skills came naturally. Pretty much what I'm trying to say by writing this readers, is not that every office within the network will have such a great manager and not everyone's experience will be like my own, but there are a lot of great managers out there and no matter the experiences of some people--who in all honesty never really gave the business a decent chance or even 50% of their best effort--anyone who puts in 100% WILL see results worth speaking of. Whether that be in the form of $$$ profit or just a better understanding of self. E-mail me if you wanna chat about any doubts you have about the company, both for those that are relatively new to the business and those that have not yet given it a chance. For everyone else--negative bastards and weak pieces of s**t included--all I can say is check your attitude. And if it's not your attitude that's the problem--although that is the most common one--try out a different office under different management if there's one in your area. You may find an awesome manager like mine and if you do you will never regret the experience in that office even if you do not end up making it to management. Sincerely, Soon to be C.E.O. of **** Enterprises Marketting Group Inc.

Hello ex-juicers my name is ryan and for the past fourteen months i have seen everything this people have written at first i tried to remain neutral but then it started happening to me first of all i want the people who have or are stil are leaders to answer this why do you pay out retrains? why do you pay for everything out of pocket and why does youre owner over promote their situation and if this is so easy with the 8,5,4, why cant everybody since thats the amount of people they bring back cant go out and consistently make twenty bucks? ive seen every owner in florida Brian Hall Jared Thacher Dave Grand Mike terrinoni carl foss george delgado and even adam grupp and ive heard the same question asked by various individuals and heard the same pitch what i honestly know i had to find this out on my own? so i ask you this why does everybody say the same thing?

It's always the same line; "You just couldn't cut it." What a great response! I mean, why even bother taking an objective look at the situation to identify all potential causes of failure? Oh wait! I know why... because it would lead to the realization that the company's standards and operating practices are to blame. And (are you with me, Casey?) that would make you look bad. The truth is campaigns, merchandise and territory are all static. Sometimes you hit gold and sometimes you strike out. The most interesting thing about all of this is that "ownership" doesn't even provide control over these variables. So when the law of averages comes back to bite you in the a*s, and it always does, who do you blame? The distributors. You are told time and time again to put your faith in the five's and eight's. But guess what - no matter how much you beleive in the system it cannot change the fact that a certain campaign truly sucks, that the merchandise is horrible, or that the territory is struggling financially or is full of intelligent people who don't make impulsive purchases. You are not alchemists. No amount of faith in the system and 5's and 8's will turn a lump of crap into a gold ingot. As for the products you claim to be at "discount prices", give me a break. The products you sell are no cheaper than they are in a store. The only difference is, most of them aren't really good enough to compete on a store shelf. But with a money-hungry, opportunity-craving, brainwashed-zombie-who-never-questions-the-truth pushing them, they do have a chance. And lets focus on the truth for a minute, if you can muster it. Does your owner provide real figures for average distributor profit? Do they provide real figures for their own profit? Do they ever "fire" anyone? Do they ever ask a distributor, "Do you want to go home, or do you want to break-down your day?" Every owner, including my own, that I've ever dealt with or heard of bragged about a six-figure income, yet they drove a s**t-box (if they even had a car), operated out of a minimalist dump of an office that was often shared to spare expense, and lived in a shack that was bordering on being condemned. They also took advantage of their position of power and the group mentality that is fostered to keep distributors around for their "daily affirmation". Basically, everything you've said, Casey, is irresponsible and reductionistic. Go ahead and keep blaming the distributors for the company's lack of lucrative campaigns and real market research. While you are at it, why don't you also blame the distributors for the owner's and VP's disdain for honesty? Finally, if you honestly beleive that this company "isn't for everyone" ('cause I know that would be the next statement coming from you), then why do DS-Max offices hire as though it is? If the system is so simple, then it should follow that recognition of those who would be successful at it should also be simple.

First of all. I do pay my retrains, and somtimes more than one in a single day. Like I said before, anyone with a remote amout of skill can make at least fifty dollars a day, if not much more, If you have trouble doing this you are simpily in the wrong line of work. Maybe you should try somthing that requires a little less problem solving skills. The people that purchase the merchandise from us know very well what they are buying. Whether it is a name brand like Disney or an Innovage product like Gormet Traditions, they buy the products because they cost very little and most of them can be used as gifts. We visit the people that only make "two to three hundred dollars a week" because they are the people that need to save money by buying products at discount prices. If they didnt need it, they wouldnt buy it. And as far as reimbursments are concerned, have you ever heard of a 1099? Anyone that signs an IDA is informed that the company does not reimburse any gas, food, ext. and that if a 1099 is properly filled out, the costs can be written off of your taxes at the end of the fiscal year. Frankly I am tired of hearing complaints from people who just couldnt cut it, who try to find somone else to blame for their own failers.

Wow! So you have brainwashed sales zombies sell stuff that makes crayola and disney money. Why is it that? Why are you conning a guy making only 2 to 3 hundred dollars a week into this? And the way you promote it - you try and come off so slick. Like this is an acceptable practice. That it is perfectly ok for guys to spin their wheels for months in your organization paying out money to retrains and unreimbursed transportation expenses.

Wow! So you have brainwashed sales zombies sell stuff that makes crayola and disney money. Why is it that? Why are you conning a guy making only 2 to 3 hundred dollars a week into this? And the way you promote it - you try and come off so slick. Like this is an acceptable practice. That it is perfectly ok for guys to spin their wheels for months in your organization paying out money to retrains and unreimbursed transportation expenses.

Wow! So you have brainwashed sales zombies sell stuff that makes crayola and disney money. Why is it that? Why are you conning a guy making only 2 to 3 hundred dollars a week into this? And the way you promote it - you try and come off so slick. Like this is an acceptable practice. That it is perfectly ok for guys to spin their wheels for months in your organization paying out money to retrains and unreimbursed transportation expenses.

I am currently an employee of a DS-MAX office located in the eastern reigion of the United States. After reading the responces made by the ex-employees, I see the same negative tone, spoken by distributors that just couldn't cut it in the field. It seems to me that anyone that has been trained properly, and still cant make enough profit to pay a re-train, should never have answered the ad in the first place...maybe you would have had better luck at McDonalds. It doesnt take a spectacular amount of skill to do what we do. Only a little bit of motivation and enough intelligence to follow a simple system. I currently have team-members without a GED that can easily profit from a days work, even after paying new recruits. Speaking of promotions...if you thought you were waiting for one..you obviously had no clue what was going on in the office. There are very simple guidlines to meet to be promoted, it is somthing that is earned, not somthing that will be handed to you. I have personally seen three different co-workers get promoted into ownership and are all leading very lucritive businesses. As far as ripping people off, you might want to speak to Disney, Crayola and the many other companies that choose to have their products distributed by our CRIMINAL offices. If the products are ripping people off, then why have people been purchasing them for over twenty two years? So, next time you want to mention slaves, you might want to refer to the people whom you are trying to brain wash with your illigitiment complaints.

I also worked out of the mount prospect office, and knew Kernan, Holmes, Demanski, etc... also around the time that Matty Holmes was promoted to Omaha. This is an organization that will do whatever it takes to gain your trust, figure out your weaknesses, and then exploit them. These people make you trust them and then take any information you give them as a way to help convince you why you need to get to management. They expect you to give up any social life you have, work insane hours, and then make you feel like s**t when you need a day off for personal reasons (illness, family, etc...) I just wish I came to my senses earlier than I did.