Complaint Review: Great Expectations - Independence Ohio

I was an employee at a Great Expectations branch and want to set the record straight on how their practices are really done. First off I was hired as a sales rep. When I came in to do my training I was made to learn the pitch that they obviously use at all the locations. I wil say from some of the comments the branch I was at was a little better then others, however the psychological tactics they use are predatory anywhere. Here's how the process works.... Potential customer is contacted from a telemarketer in a small back room.. they set the appointment for the person to come in pretty much any way they can The potential customer comes in to speak with the "councilor" . is greeted by the front desk, "member services department", offered coffee and water and given a questionare to fill out Once done the sales rep takes the questonare and takes the customer to a small room to watch a video, rep get s a copy of a credit card and drivers licence and makes a photocopy, (To my knowledge my branch never fraudulently used those copies but I cant speak for other branches) while the video is being watch a tape recorder is turned on in a back office and credit report is pulled. Video ends, rep comes in, pitch starts...... general warm up followed by the age old sales tatic of "breaking the pact" , "Were you told what was going to happen today? I have a two part job, one is obviously to sell memberships, the other is to protect our current members. What is going to happen is that I am going to explain the services we offer and speak with you to determine if you would be a good match for our current members. If both of us agree that you are a good match for our services, I will most likely offer you a membership. At that time I am simply going to ask you to tell me yes or tell me no, you can do that right?" Asking some simple questions about hobbies and current methods of finding a mate, while doing so trying to desinceatize you to price by talking about how much you're spending now and getting no results. Now the psychological warfare begins... my job.... make you hurt and cry.... "now it says here that it has been _____ long since you had a relationship. Why is that? Tell me about your last relationship." The whole point in doing this is so I could make you focus on the pain of the ending... I was supposed to litterly put you mentaly back in that place and "leave you in the pain", as my director said, as long as possable to create the emotion needed to get the sale. My job at this point was to make someone do 3 things... realize they had no way out, no other way and make them think they NEEDED the services by making them feel like they've been stupid to try anything on their own, making them feel pathetic some would say. Once that had been accomplished and the person made to tear themselvs to shreds came time to talk about the service. Basically there are 3 membership options, and several things that go into them.... club 1.. a Singles vacation club, local events for GE members and the web based singles database. The main thing people care about is the members database where we are to tell them reside, happy, emotionally and financially stable people wanting to meet them to establish long term relationships or marriage. In this database they will get to read a profile, see pictures and watch a video. Those 3 things together are suposed to give someone the chance to get to know someones hobbies, interest, looks and personality before they ever meet. if they like the person they check them and am email is sent to the other stating they have been selected. The other person has the same opp and if they also want to meet then and only then is the last name and phone number supposed to be exchanged. At this point we begin to speak about the things that make GE safe ect. we were told to tell them backround checks would be done ect, they never were, no psychological test were done either or financial check other then a credit report. We honestly would accept anyone who would pay regardless of how crazy they seemed or how high they acted, and let me tell you many people that were offered membership were obviously not emotionaly or psychologically stable, and many were on drugs or just looking for a sugar momma/daddy. MOst of our members were not the "professionals" we told the members they were. Many times a perspective member would even come in and not have $10 to their name, I even had one women who's electricity was about to be shut off and one guy who didnt even have gas money to get home... those were our prime targets, they were more desperate and easier to confince. Now the local events planned were normally good for the members, and in essence the program does work for many people, but lets just say what no one else is... if you put enough people in the membership that are desperate and torn down enough as the others in a pile they are much more likely to find others that are as well. Its just the law of numbers. Now I'm not saying everyone that signed up was desperate and willing to take what ever came they're way, but thats now most of their "success stories" were formed. Great expectation is first and formost a SALES company employing emotional, high pressure sales tactics to get money from those who join. As sales tactics go there is nothing abnormal about it, but false hope and inaccurate info is what makes the senario predatory. It is the job of the company reps to get you involved and thats exactly what they do. As an employee I was disturbed to learn that no safety measures were actually taken on the members behalf and no checks were done. I was simply hired as a sales rep due to my previous sales experience as well as my experience as a certified hypnotherapist. I was advised to use my hypnosis skills to perform skills of covert hypnosis to get people to sign as well as to use my experience in therapy to tear people down and make them hurt more so they were more likely to buy. As anyone looking to become a member or employee, I strongly discourage it.

I was an employee at a Great Expectations branch and want to set the record straight on how their practices are really done. First off I was hired as a sales rep. When I came in to do my training I was made to learn the pitch that they obviously use at all the locations. I wil say from some of the comments the branch I was at was a little better then others, however the psychological tactics they use are predatory anywhere. Here's how the process works.... Potential customer is contacted from a telemarketer in a small back room.. they set the appointment for the person to come in pretty much any way they can The potential customer comes in to speak with the "councilor" . is greeted by the front desk, "member services department", offered coffee and water and given a questionare to fill out Once done the sales rep takes the questonare and takes the customer to a small room to watch a video, rep get s a copy of a credit card and drivers licence and makes a photocopy, (To my knowledge my branch never fraudulently used those copies but I cant speak for other branches) while the video is being watch a tape recorder is turned on in a back office and credit report is pulled. Video ends, rep comes in, pitch starts...... general warm up followed by the age old sales tatic of "breaking the pact" , "Were you told what was going to happen today? I have a two part job, one is obviously to sell memberships, the other is to protect our current members. What is going to happen is that I am going to explain the services we offer and speak with you to determine if you would be a good match for our current members. If both of us agree that you are a good match for our services, I will most likely offer you a membership. At that time I am simply going to ask you to tell me yes or tell me no, you can do that right?" Asking some simple questions about hobbies and current methods of finding a mate, while doing so trying to desinceatize you to price by talking about how much you're spending now and getting no results. Now the psychological warfare begins... my job.... make you hurt and cry.... "now it says here that it has been _____ long since you had a relationship. Why is that? Tell me about your last relationship." The whole point in doing this is so I could make you focus on the pain of the ending... I was supposed to litterly put you mentaly back in that place and "leave you in the pain", as my director said, as long as possable to create the emotion needed to get the sale. My job at this point was to make someone do 3 things... realize they had no way out, no other way and make them think they NEEDED the services by making them feel like they've been stupid to try anything on their own, making them feel pathetic some would say. Once that had been accomplished and the person made to tear themselvs to shreds came time to talk about the service. Basically there are 3 membership options, and several things that go into them.... club 1.. a Singles vacation club, local events for GE members and the web based singles database. The main thing people care about is the members database where we are to tell them reside, happy, emotionally and financially stable people wanting to meet them to establish long term relationships or marriage. In this database they will get to read a profile, see pictures and watch a video. Those 3 things together are suposed to give someone the chance to get to know someones hobbies, interest, looks and personality before they ever meet. if they like the person they check them and am email is sent to the other stating they have been selected. The other person has the same opp and if they also want to meet then and only then is the last name and phone number supposed to be exchanged. At this point we begin to speak about the things that make GE safe ect. we were told to tell them backround checks would be done ect, they never were, no psychological test were done either or financial check other then a credit report. We honestly would accept anyone who would pay regardless of how crazy they seemed or how high they acted, and let me tell you many people that were offered membership were obviously not emotionaly or psychologically stable, and many were on drugs or just looking for a sugar momma/daddy. MOst of our members were not the "professionals" we told the members they were. Many times a perspective member would even come in and not have $10 to their name, I even had one women who's electricity was about to be shut off and one guy who didnt even have gas money to get home... those were our prime targets, they were more desperate and easier to confince. Now the local events planned were normally good for the members, and in essence the program does work for many people, but lets just say what no one else is... if you put enough people in the membership that are desperate and torn down enough as the others in a pile they are much more likely to find others that are as well. Its just the law of numbers. Now I'm not saying everyone that signed up was desperate and willing to take what ever came they're way, but thats now most of their "success stories" were formed. Great expectation is first and formost a SALES company employing emotional, high pressure sales tactics to get money from those who join. As sales tactics go there is nothing abnormal about it, but false hope and inaccurate info is what makes the senario predatory. It is the job of the company reps to get you involved and thats exactly what they do. As an employee I was disturbed to learn that no safety measures were actually taken on the members behalf and no checks were done. I was simply hired as a sales rep due to my previous sales experience as well as my experience as a certified hypnotherapist. I was advised to use my hypnosis skills to perform skills of covert hypnosis to get people to sign as well as to use my experience in therapy to tear people down and make them hurt more so they were more likely to buy. As anyone looking to become a member or employee, I strongly discourage it.

I was an employee at a Great Expectations branch and want to set the record straight on how their practices are really done. First off I was hired as a sales rep. When I came in to do my training I was made to learn the pitch that they obviously use at all the locations. I wil say from some of the comments the branch I was at was a little better then others, however the psychological tactics they use are predatory anywhere. Here's how the process works.... Potential customer is contacted from a telemarketer in a small back room.. they set the appointment for the person to come in pretty much any way they can The potential customer comes in to speak with the "councilor" . is greeted by the front desk, "member services department", offered coffee and water and given a questionare to fill out Once done the sales rep takes the questonare and takes the customer to a small room to watch a video, rep get s a copy of a credit card and drivers licence and makes a photocopy, (To my knowledge my branch never fraudulently used those copies but I cant speak for other branches) while the video is being watch a tape recorder is turned on in a back office and credit report is pulled. Video ends, rep comes in, pitch starts...... general warm up followed by the age old sales tatic of "breaking the pact" , "Were you told what was going to happen today? I have a two part job, one is obviously to sell memberships, the other is to protect our current members. What is going to happen is that I am going to explain the services we offer and speak with you to determine if you would be a good match for our current members. If both of us agree that you are a good match for our services, I will most likely offer you a membership. At that time I am simply going to ask you to tell me yes or tell me no, you can do that right?" Asking some simple questions about hobbies and current methods of finding a mate, while doing so trying to desinceatize you to price by talking about how much you're spending now and getting no results. Now the psychological warfare begins... my job.... make you hurt and cry.... "now it says here that it has been _____ long since you had a relationship. Why is that? Tell me about your last relationship." The whole point in doing this is so I could make you focus on the pain of the ending... I was supposed to litterly put you mentaly back in that place and "leave you in the pain", as my director said, as long as possable to create the emotion needed to get the sale. My job at this point was to make someone do 3 things... realize they had no way out, no other way and make them think they NEEDED the services by making them feel like they've been stupid to try anything on their own, making them feel pathetic some would say. Once that had been accomplished and the person made to tear themselvs to shreds came time to talk about the service. Basically there are 3 membership options, and several things that go into them.... club 1.. a Singles vacation club, local events for GE members and the web based singles database. The main thing people care about is the members database where we are to tell them reside, happy, emotionally and financially stable people wanting to meet them to establish long term relationships or marriage. In this database they will get to read a profile, see pictures and watch a video. Those 3 things together are suposed to give someone the chance to get to know someones hobbies, interest, looks and personality before they ever meet. if they like the person they check them and am email is sent to the other stating they have been selected. The other person has the same opp and if they also want to meet then and only then is the last name and phone number supposed to be exchanged. At this point we begin to speak about the things that make GE safe ect. we were told to tell them backround checks would be done ect, they never were, no psychological test were done either or financial check other then a credit report. We honestly would accept anyone who would pay regardless of how crazy they seemed or how high they acted, and let me tell you many people that were offered membership were obviously not emotionaly or psychologically stable, and many were on drugs or just looking for a sugar momma/daddy. MOst of our members were not the "professionals" we told the members they were. Many times a perspective member would even come in and not have $10 to their name, I even had one women who's electricity was about to be shut off and one guy who didnt even have gas money to get home... those were our prime targets, they were more desperate and easier to confince. Now the local events planned were normally good for the members, and in essence the program does work for many people, but lets just say what no one else is... if you put enough people in the membership that are desperate and torn down enough as the others in a pile they are much more likely to find others that are as well. Its just the law of numbers. Now I'm not saying everyone that signed up was desperate and willing to take what ever came they're way, but thats now most of their "success stories" were formed. Great expectation is first and formost a SALES company employing emotional, high pressure sales tactics to get money from those who join. As sales tactics go there is nothing abnormal about it, but false hope and inaccurate info is what makes the senario predatory. It is the job of the company reps to get you involved and thats exactly what they do. As an employee I was disturbed to learn that no safety measures were actually taken on the members behalf and no checks were done. I was simply hired as a sales rep due to my previous sales experience as well as my experience as a certified hypnotherapist. I was advised to use my hypnosis skills to perform skills of covert hypnosis to get people to sign as well as to use my experience in therapy to tear people down and make them hurt more so they were more likely to buy. As anyone looking to become a member or employee, I strongly discourage it.

I was an employee at a Great Expectations branch and want to set the record straight on how their practices are really done. First off I was hired as a sales rep. When I came in to do my training I was made to learn the pitch that they obviously use at all the locations. I wil say from some of the comments the branch I was at was a little better then others, however the psychological tactics they use are predatory anywhere. Here's how the process works.... Potential customer is contacted from a telemarketer in a small back room.. they set the appointment for the person to come in pretty much any way they can The potential customer comes in to speak with the "councilor" . is greeted by the front desk, "member services department", offered coffee and water and given a questionare to fill out Once done the sales rep takes the questonare and takes the customer to a small room to watch a video, rep get s a copy of a credit card and drivers licence and makes a photocopy, (To my knowledge my branch never fraudulently used those copies but I cant speak for other branches) while the video is being watch a tape recorder is turned on in a back office and credit report is pulled. Video ends, rep comes in, pitch starts...... general warm up followed by the age old sales tatic of "breaking the pact" , "Were you told what was going to happen today? I have a two part job, one is obviously to sell memberships, the other is to protect our current members. What is going to happen is that I am going to explain the services we offer and speak with you to determine if you would be a good match for our current members. If both of us agree that you are a good match for our services, I will most likely offer you a membership. At that time I am simply going to ask you to tell me yes or tell me no, you can do that right?" Asking some simple questions about hobbies and current methods of finding a mate, while doing so trying to desinceatize you to price by talking about how much you're spending now and getting no results. Now the psychological warfare begins... my job.... make you hurt and cry.... "now it says here that it has been _____ long since you had a relationship. Why is that? Tell me about your last relationship." The whole point in doing this is so I could make you focus on the pain of the ending... I was supposed to litterly put you mentaly back in that place and "leave you in the pain", as my director said, as long as possable to create the emotion needed to get the sale. My job at this point was to make someone do 3 things... realize they had no way out, no other way and make them think they NEEDED the services by making them feel like they've been stupid to try anything on their own, making them feel pathetic some would say. Once that had been accomplished and the person made to tear themselvs to shreds came time to talk about the service. Basically there are 3 membership options, and several things that go into them.... club 1.. a Singles vacation club, local events for GE members and the web based singles database. The main thing people care about is the members database where we are to tell them reside, happy, emotionally and financially stable people wanting to meet them to establish long term relationships or marriage. In this database they will get to read a profile, see pictures and watch a video. Those 3 things together are suposed to give someone the chance to get to know someones hobbies, interest, looks and personality before they ever meet. if they like the person they check them and am email is sent to the other stating they have been selected. The other person has the same opp and if they also want to meet then and only then is the last name and phone number supposed to be exchanged. At this point we begin to speak about the things that make GE safe ect. we were told to tell them backround checks would be done ect, they never were, no psychological test were done either or financial check other then a credit report. We honestly would accept anyone who would pay regardless of how crazy they seemed or how high they acted, and let me tell you many people that were offered membership were obviously not emotionaly or psychologically stable, and many were on drugs or just looking for a sugar momma/daddy. MOst of our members were not the "professionals" we told the members they were. Many times a perspective member would even come in and not have $10 to their name, I even had one women who's electricity was about to be shut off and one guy who didnt even have gas money to get home... those were our prime targets, they were more desperate and easier to confince. Now the local events planned were normally good for the members, and in essence the program does work for many people, but lets just say what no one else is... if you put enough people in the membership that are desperate and torn down enough as the others in a pile they are much more likely to find others that are as well. Its just the law of numbers. Now I'm not saying everyone that signed up was desperate and willing to take what ever came they're way, but thats now most of their "success stories" were formed. Great expectation is first and formost a SALES company employing emotional, high pressure sales tactics to get money from those who join. As sales tactics go there is nothing abnormal about it, but false hope and inaccurate info is what makes the senario predatory. It is the job of the company reps to get you involved and thats exactly what they do. As an employee I was disturbed to learn that no safety measures were actually taken on the members behalf and no checks were done. I was simply hired as a sales rep due to my previous sales experience as well as my experience as a certified hypnotherapist. I was advised to use my hypnosis skills to perform skills of covert hypnosis to get people to sign as well as to use my experience in therapy to tear people down and make them hurt more so they were more likely to buy. As anyone looking to become a member or employee, I strongly discourage it.