Complaint Review: Esquire Marketing Concepts - Birmingham Alabama

Lori, Lori, Thank you for filing this report. I worked for Steve Kim in the Orlando office. The only lies on this report are the ones that state that Steve Kim is an honest employer. Steve is one of the grossest individuals I have ever met. Everything is true about him down to his misconduct with his employees outside of the office. This behavior was going on when I worked there in 2005! He is a pig of a human being and it makes me sick that he has not failed yet. He does not deserve to be in business. Cydcor is a total joke. Is Brandy still the figurehead of the organization? What about Daniel Kim? Any of these names sound familiar? Please run. How can we make sure that Melton and Associates also gets tagged? I don't want any other young college grad to be involved with Steve, Cydcor or any other of their off shoot scams.

A very new spinoff run by "Katie" is Intrigue Marketing, which is now located in Oklahoma City, OK. She ran Venetian Marketing in Birmingham.

Esquire Marketing Concepts, Inc. has changed their name to Melton & Associates. Steve Kim has fled to Dallas, TX to start another company which I do not know the name of yet. Cydor continues these scams of creating a company and then once the word is out that they are horrible, they change the name and move the management around to start again. Watch out!

yea jacob youre right... venitian marketing is ran by one of steve's pions, katie. and the whole thing about the start up in 2004 is thats when steve started in orlando florida before he moved to birmingham in 2005...

Beware! There is another MLM in Birmingham, and it is directly connected to Esquire. It is called Venetian Marketing. Watch out! The websites are identical...same lies.

Beware! There is another MLM in Birmingham, and it is directly connected to Esquire. It is called Venetian Marketing. Watch out! The websites are identical...same lies.

Beware! There is another MLM in Birmingham, and it is directly connected to Esquire. It is called Venetian Marketing. Watch out! The websites are identical...same lies.

Beware! There is another MLM in Birmingham, and it is directly connected to Esquire. It is called Venetian Marketing. Watch out! The websites are identical...same lies.

I worked there right after it started in Birmingham. Have you checked out the website? It says that Esquire was started in 2004. Where does that come from? It isn't even a year old. Yeah, the "business trips" are a joke. Of course, they don't tell you about any of that before you start.

jacob when did you work at esquire? I had certain questions about a certain "K" and Steve when I was an employee there... what is said in these reports is true... you work ALL DAY EVERY DAY, then you are required to hang out with your co-workers after work... I personally was going thru a rough time while employed for Steve and all though he tried to act concerned.. he was only concerned that I was not in a cingular store making him money... my home and car were both reposesed because I had to go on a road trip and was not able to pay my bills because my team didnt have money... i had to purchase food and personal items for people and when i asked steve for help.. his only reply was "sorry"... for a while i thought these people were good friends and i even had a relationship with someone from another office... which of cousre he denied because he was the leader of that cult... my warning to you is to get as far away from these people as possible.. if you go to an interview with a company that sounds like this ask them if they are with cydcor or ask them if they know avie roth... people in cydcor follow his every command like he was some sort of GOD... BEWARE!!!

It definitely sounds like Encore Marketing is a Cydcor office. Another note- "K" commented that she doesn't know of any managers from other companies who don't work less than 12 hours a day. Try again, and enter the real world. Of course you think Steve is a great guy, but how many times did you have to sleep with him before you were convinced of it?

After reading all the comments, I can't help but thinking that "Encore Marketing" with branches in Miami, Macon, GA. and Jackson, MS. is another Cydcor clone. Selling BellSouth products in Cingular stores, changing customer's bills, submitting LOA's and getting almost NOTHING in pay sounded so familiar. If anyone knows whether Encore and Cydcor are related, please post. I was with Encore for two months, and nothing would give me more satisfaction than watching this pathetic little company shrivel up and die.

K, let me start by saying I worked for the same campaign as you. I however did not worked for the same company if you can call it that. I worked for Fortune 5 Marketing in Jacksonville Florida. Your rebuttal is the one that is full of lies. First let me bring to light that you are not all managers The scheme goes like this Trainee, Leader, Assistant Manager, and Manager. You know this well since you even state in your report you are working to be an Assistant Manager. So, now you are working to be demoted? Hmm.. Second, you most defiantly know that you do no work for base pay PLUS commission. Its minimum wage and if your commission bypasses that then you only get your commission. Here, I'll break it down for you If you are a leader now, and I'm guessing you are since you say you're working to be an assistant manager, let's say that you work from 8am to 8pm (we'll just pretend your not there till 9 verifying LOA's okay?). That's 12 hours. That means that you work 72.00 hours a week. So 72 hours times the minimum wage, its 6.15 in my state equals $442.00 a week. Not too bad. (Yes I did the math right, overtime seems to be optional to these people) But wait!!! You have a leaders meeting that lasts from 8 to 8:30 that YOU DO NOT GET PAID FOR. So there goes 30 min a day out of your time (3 hours a week). Then there is this so called lunch hour that you know you don't take, but you still don't get paid for, so there's an additional 6 MORE hours out of your paycheck. Then your manager makes you sign out at 7:30 PM every night even though the bell party doesn't begin till 7:45, no matter how late you stay, with no explanation why. So there is an additional 3 hours out of your 72 hard earned hours. So now you're left with 60 hours a week that they decide that they will pay you for. Still 369.00 not that bad as long as you don't have rent, car payments, a stomach. ect. So let's get on to the deductions! Let's say you spend $5.00 a day in gas. (30.00 a week) lets say you DO take that lunch break, and oops,you have a trainee that doesn't have any money. So we'll say, 10 dollars one day for you and your trainee, and 5 dollars for lunch rest of the days (35.00 a week) Still 309.00 not too bad. But wait! There's more! How about Team night? Oh yes, the night you and your little minions go out to drink and party. And yes, its REQUIRED! SO let's just be modest and say you have a beer and dinner. That will usually cost you around 30 dollars, since it seems no one ever wants to meet at a fast food chain. Now you have 279.00 in your wallet. On top of team night, you also may have office night; (also required unless one wants to be considered the outcast of the office) this is a bi-weekly maybe monthly thing in most offices. This night your manager wants to go bowling. So, three games, shoes, some food, and a beer, well say you just blew 45 dollars. Now your paycheck is 234.00 dollars. But let's say that you (gasp!!!) bypass your salary, (kind of hard to do when the thing that you sell the most only gets you $7.00 in commission) Lets say you make oh, $500.00 dollars. Breaking it down per hour based on the 72 hours you work is a whopping 6.94. You can get more than that for fewer hours at your local fast food chain. This is barley enough money to live off of!!!!!! But don't worry, you won't have time for anything else but work anyway. Enough with pay, lets get to this we do not give false information to customers thing I'm pretty sure that you have to call in to someone to get the customers current bill information, and before I left I know they changed the systems. They do not tell you if this customer has any additional things on their bill such as inside wire maintenance, or Equipment maintenance, or any international long distance plans. They just let you know what regular plan they have and what regular long distance plan they have, and they also include taxes when they tell you what the person's phone bill is. So let's say this person has, BPP, with the nickel plan. That's 25.99 without taxes or anything else. But lets say the person giving you the information forgot to mention that they have both maintenance plans (a 9.00) charge and that they also have a $5.00 international plan as well. So all of this with taxes is running them, oh, $80.00. So you decide to go for the big buckaroos and sign them up with the complete Choice unlimited plan. Its only 49.99 why wouldn't they want it it's cheaper and they don't have to pay 5 cents a min for long distance???? So you're taught to confront the customer just like this. Awesome, I just got your information and I can defiantly help you out today! What im going to do for you is put you on our new and updated plan, its exactly like your plan now but you get more features on your phone, and its only going to cost you 49.99 plus tax. Customer is very excited; you get the information and the signature. This is when you tell them they get long distance for free now, just to get them hyped up so you can rehash. So customer, who are you using for your internet? AOL! Ugh, look, since you're obviously a wonderful Bellsouth customer this is what im going to do for you today, I'm going to let you have DSL internet for only 32.99 a month. Oh, you'll think about it later? Im sorry but this promotion is only good for today. Well, you know what, since you are such a great Bellsouth customer, what I'll also do for you is throw in a $100 gift card just for trying it out. That will give you $75 dollars to cover your modem, and you'll have an extra $25 to spend on whatever. Okay? Great! Get customers info again. Yay for you. You just signed a customer up and made a little cash. But, you lead the customer think that he or she is getting free long distance, internet, and more on the phone for what they were paying before. Now let's do more math shall we. The internet is 32.99 a month, plus an additional small connection fee every month, plus tax. In essence, the internet will end up costing them around $50.00 a month. Next the phone, the plan is 49.99 plus the maintance plans they did not tell you about so, that's 9 more dollars, plus the international plan they had, so that's 5 more dollars, plus the long distance tax, that's .99 cents then the federal tax that's 7.15 then the other taxes, about 15.00 more dollars. That means this customer will be paying about 87.13 JUST FOR THEIR PHONE LINE! In essence, they will be paying around 140 for the package that you lead them to believe would only be $80.00. If that is not manipulation, I do no know what is. You most defiantly hide things and you most defiantly misrepresent information How? Do you say that you misrepresent? Well, there is a sheet that the customer has to sign with the prices of each individual package on it. The only tax that is shown is the $7.15 tax. They train you to skirt around the tax issue and if the customer is insistent, to just tell them it may be a few more dollars. You also tell the customer that your only going to be there that day (hence the REAL meaning for having to switch stores everyday) You also tell them that deal ends that day as well, when you defiantly know the promotions for weeks at a time. So K before you go on here and try to lie to the public, remember there are many many many of us that have worked under cydcor and know its schemes and we will call you out on it. Do not be deceived by the promises your manager gives you because as soon as one of those customers calls Bellsouth to complain because of YOU. You better believe that anyone who's taught you anything about skirting around customers questions will retract what they said to keep from getting fired with you. You better believe that the company you're working so hard to protect will be the first one to throw you under the bus if any complaints arise. Regards,

Esquire is just as the first writer described. I am an ex-employee, and never would have worked for the company if I had not been lied to. I was completely mislead about the hours worked, benefits (there are none), and the manager. Steve lives with about four other employees and does not make the money he claims to. These people are completely broke, but trying to sell others on an "opportunity." I have never encountered more crooked people. I was there for only about two months and witnessed around 50 people quit. Do not waste your time.

To my surprise, while I was researching Esquire, I found other subsidiaries of Cydor on this website. It seems as if there are many groups under Cydcor that have the same scam just different products and campaigns. The step ladder is the same and so are the tactics. Their stories are so similar that it's a mystery how this company is still in business. This is only a few but if you run a search on google with the title ?Cydor scam? you will pull more results than you can read. There is nothing more to say. I just hope that I've helped keep Esquire Marketing Concepts Inc. and Cydcor from ruining someone else's opportunities. wolfram.org/scam/cydcor.html ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff34556.htm wahm.com/boards/Forum39/HTML/000056.html

Ok, so I understand you don't want to argue but I thought peopleshould know about the lie you were spreading.

I came to work. Two months after I got hired I realized that this was all there was to this job. Monday through Saturday 7AM to 8PM. I had nothing to show for it. I could mention many other people who also had bad experiences with this company. I'm not on here to argue. I was only warning other people who may have been unfortunately called by Esquire to work like I was. Honesty was not a part of what I experienced. He knew I had bills, my manager knew I had bills and neither of them was honest to me about the real money I'd be making. I know plenty managers and the best part about being a manager is the fact that you train employees so that they can manage under you, making it possible for you to occasionally have a day off. Making money doesn't come with working hard and long, it comes with working smart. I do appreciate that you all allowed me to recognize a scam, never again will this happen to me. If the truth was not twisted how many people would choose to raise their bills willingly? No one. If anyone is in the area I would like them to go into the Cingular stores and listen to what people say about Bellsouth and about what these representatives want to do to their accounts. Before you take this job, just do this and there is the truth. Seeing is believing. This so called salary is $5.15 an hour and it isn't base plus salary, it's base or salary. Can you pay your bills with this money? How many people would take this job knowing this information? Why is the worker turnover rate so high? Why do you all not keep employees?

I came to work. Two months after I got hired I realized that this was all there was to this job. Monday through Saturday 7AM to 8PM. I had nothing to show for it. I could mention many other people who also had bad experiences with this company. I'm not on here to argue. I was only warning other people who may have been unfortunately called by Esquire to work like I was. Honesty was not a part of what I experienced. He knew I had bills, my manager knew I had bills and neither of them was honest to me about the real money I'd be making. I know plenty managers and the best part about being a manager is the fact that you train employees so that they can manage under you, making it possible for you to occasionally have a day off. Making money doesn't come with working hard and long, it comes with working smart. I do appreciate that you all allowed me to recognize a scam, never again will this happen to me. If the truth was not twisted how many people would choose to raise their bills willingly? No one. If anyone is in the area I would like them to go into the Cingular stores and listen to what people say about Bellsouth and about what these representatives want to do to their accounts. Before you take this job, just do this and there is the truth. Seeing is believing. This so called salary is $5.15 an hour and it isn't base plus salary, it's base or salary. Can you pay your bills with this money? How many people would take this job knowing this information? Why is the worker turnover rate so high? Why do you all not keep employees?

I came to work. Two months after I got hired I realized that this was all there was to this job. Monday through Saturday 7AM to 8PM. I had nothing to show for it. I could mention many other people who also had bad experiences with this company. I'm not on here to argue. I was only warning other people who may have been unfortunately called by Esquire to work like I was. Honesty was not a part of what I experienced. He knew I had bills, my manager knew I had bills and neither of them was honest to me about the real money I'd be making. I know plenty managers and the best part about being a manager is the fact that you train employees so that they can manage under you, making it possible for you to occasionally have a day off. Making money doesn't come with working hard and long, it comes with working smart. I do appreciate that you all allowed me to recognize a scam, never again will this happen to me. If the truth was not twisted how many people would choose to raise their bills willingly? No one. If anyone is in the area I would like them to go into the Cingular stores and listen to what people say about Bellsouth and about what these representatives want to do to their accounts. Before you take this job, just do this and there is the truth. Seeing is believing. This so called salary is $5.15 an hour and it isn't base plus salary, it's base or salary. Can you pay your bills with this money? How many people would take this job knowing this information? Why is the worker turnover rate so high? Why do you all not keep employees?

I came to work. Two months after I got hired I realized that this was all there was to this job. Monday through Saturday 7AM to 8PM. I had nothing to show for it. I could mention many other people who also had bad experiences with this company. I'm not on here to argue. I was only warning other people who may have been unfortunately called by Esquire to work like I was. Honesty was not a part of what I experienced. He knew I had bills, my manager knew I had bills and neither of them was honest to me about the real money I'd be making. I know plenty managers and the best part about being a manager is the fact that you train employees so that they can manage under you, making it possible for you to occasionally have a day off. Making money doesn't come with working hard and long, it comes with working smart. I do appreciate that you all allowed me to recognize a scam, never again will this happen to me. If the truth was not twisted how many people would choose to raise their bills willingly? No one. If anyone is in the area I would like them to go into the Cingular stores and listen to what people say about Bellsouth and about what these representatives want to do to their accounts. Before you take this job, just do this and there is the truth. Seeing is believing. This so called salary is $5.15 an hour and it isn't base plus salary, it's base or salary. Can you pay your bills with this money? How many people would take this job knowing this information? Why is the worker turnover rate so high? Why do you all not keep employees?

To begin I would just like to say that I am a current employee of Esquire Marketing Concepts Inc. The report filed is accurate, however it is not 100% true. I do market Bellsouth services to customers in the local Cingular stores and I do have to pay for my own gas. However, I do not manipulate customers into believing that I am doing something for them that I am not doing. We switch stores daily so that the specific rep does not get to comfortable in a store. It is proven that you do better when you step out of your comfort zone. We do work long hours, but we are managers. That should say something right there, manager!!! How many managers of other companies work less than 12 hours a day? "Lori" says she never made a check over $161. Well, I worked with "Lori". She knows that we have a guarenteed salary... If she would have showed up for work. With the average rep making salary plus a commissions check for around $600 a week. I am currently pushing Assistant Manager. I do a good job at what I do. I make good money. I do not lie to or cheat any customers. My job is all about integrity. If previous employees think that it is a corrupt job then it is because they are corrupt people. We do not "Hide" anything and we surely do not give "misrepresented information" or manipulate customers. Steve is not a corrupt man. Steve has the highest level of integrity out of any person I know. He does not run a cheap labor office to keep himself from losing his campaign, he runs and opportunity office to help people become better managers. I promise you that you can use whatever information Steve gives you to run a successful business!