Complaint Review: Instile Acquisitions aka Cydcor-D.S Max - Brookfield Wisconsin

The Instile Acquisitions website hosts a resume for a Donald Alan Kernan Jr.  He is a known scammer.  Please find following the numerous Cease and Desist Orders filed against him by the State of Wisconsin:

dfi.wa.gov/sd/orders/S-13-1332-14-FO01.pdf

wdfi.org/newsroom/admin_orders/13_archive.htm

By posting his resume and passing himself off as an investment and financial planning expert, Doanld Alan Kernan Jr. could face criminal charges for violating those orders.  He is already adjudicated to have defrauded victims out of $500,000.00 in his phony investment scam.  He is also tangled up in several court cases.  Why would Instile Acquisitions have any involvement with a known scammer and fraud?

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Ok, so I was reading through some of these comments, and having experience with this company, and some of its branch offices I want to add some things.

The "each company is a pyramid" thing is misdirection. Yes, all company ladders in the corporate world eventually lead to one person. Pyramid schemes are not "usually" illegal, they're illegal. And yes, pyramid schemes are when one person profits off of subsequent participants in said scheme. Unlike a corporation where employees are paid for their services, and the profits go to the big man on campus.

InStile is not a pyramid scheme, each person who works there is paid based on their performance. Each client that they work with sets an agreed upon commission rate that is paid to each rep who successfully generates sales for them. However much like the whole pyramid statement, the "base pay options" are also smoke and mirrors. The whole reason why people ask about base pay options is because commission is scary, the idea that one won't be paid for their efforts unless the desired outcome is reached frightens people. Often times when someone asks about base pay, it's because they are scared they won't make the sales standard, at least at first, and want some kind of security until they are more comfortable with what they are doing.

Instile (and some of its branch offices) will tell an interviewee that there are two payment options available upon employment: 100% performance based (read "commission") pay or a secondary option of a $300 base pay with 25% of your performance pay. Now reading that seems reasonable, and it will often deter any further probes from the new hire/interviewee. However there are unmentioned stipulations to the base pay option. In order to receive the base pay, one must meet the company's production standard of 5 accounts per week. Now let's break that down based on their current pay scale(yay math!):

Their current client pays each account rep up to $100 per account closed. Let's say that we closed 5 accounts worth $100 each. At 100% performance pay, we've earned 500 before taxes (they W-2 your commission). Not too shabby if you can pull it off. Now, if that same person were receiving the base pay option, they would earn $300 + $125 in commission pay for those 5 accounts, totalling $425 earned (again before taxes), a $75 decrease in pay.

Now, if that person is making the production standard every week, then there is no reason to take a base pay option, and doing so would put the rep at a loss. Therefore, I see the whole "base pay" option as a false security and slightly deceptive.

The interviewing process makes it difficult to be honest with prospective employees. Each lead rep is responsible for building a sales team of their own, which means they do the interviewing for the second process, which is the day long shadow. This person is walking with you for 4-6 hours and has plenty of time to ask questions that they by all rights should. Throughout this process reps are coached to avoid key words and phrases like "door to door", "commission", and a few other phrases that can potentially scare a prospective employee. Instead they use phrases like "performance based" and "face to face".

The office environment is great, and everyone likes to get to know each other outside of the office. In fact they have a mandatory night out called "team night" where everyone has to show up to hang out after work, regardless if they are tired, exhausted, or generally non-social outside of their job. The field work, actually going out to gain sales door to door, is less pleasant. People are not fond of strangers randomly showing up at their house and trying to introduce themselves, their client, and become your best friend in a 2 minute window. It's not uncommon to be threatened by the people who you are trying to work with to pay your own bills.

The neighborhoods are a game of roulette. Sometimes you get a really nice neighborhood where people are at least willing to hear you out, and at least 2 or 3 will buy. Other times you walk into neighborhoods where houses are boarded up and you can easily get jumped or mugged solely for the color of your skin, let alone the fact that you are covered in clothing identifying you as an employee of the Fortune 500 client you represent. But hey, it's all about hitting that penetration goal, right? (The number of customers seen : the number of customers that buy).

But if you can stick it out and make it work, this is a decent opportunity. There is money to be made at the ground level, and after building a successful team of your own the company will give you a chunk of their money to go start your own office. Sales in general is an ugly business, and I just wanted to set some things straight on both sides. Yes, it can leave a sour taste in some people's mouths if they fail at it, but at the same time if you're successful at it you can live a very nice life.

I came across this post and have to agree 100% with the poster and Tony.  Morgan, whoever he is, like usual is playing the lets not take responsibility by blame everyone else.  I was part of Cydcor for over a year and saw it for what it was, believed in it and the politics screwed me over in the end. Very few people become "owners" and if so many people are owners since 1994...Where are they all?? They left too because of the deception.  My post may be short but look up Cydcor and you will find volumes of mad ex-employees that were lied to and misled.  I wan't going to post anything but Morgan's statement about all corporations being pyramids and then stating that pyramids are illegal is baffling. Meaning every company in the world...Illegal.  Nice...America is illegal. Ford, Apple, Best Buy, the little guy that runs the laundry place...Illegal.  He's probably a communications or PR major and knows nothing about what business really is about. CEO, CFO, COO...generally report to a board and shareholders. Do your research on Cydcor and Instile. If you work for Cydcor good luck.  Have them explain your check and why they take money you earned. Commission only, no growth, no help, drama, build a team...whatever.  I'm fine where I am running my "illegal" non-profit organization.

After looking for a job for a few months I decided to give Instile (distributor of Cydcor) a try.  The people looked professional, I liked what i heard about the pay (eventhough it is pure commission), and after my second interview, which was a full day of shadowing, I didn't mind going door to door. After my first week though, the excitement wore off and the questions came in.  After peeling back the layers, and finding out the truth I did decide to quit.  Here are some initial red flags I had. Initially, I was told that with hard work I could "own" an office in months, but after hearing that people at Instile had been there for over 2 years made me leery...I started to do research on Instile and didn't find anything which made me feel better, but when I found out that Cydcor was the name of the real company that had the control, I googled it and found hundreds of thousands of complaints all over the internet and people that went throught the same interview process and were "mislead" about the whole "opportunity." I guess it works for some people, but in my situation I didn't have the time to drive myself all over Wisconsin to only make $250-$400 doing 6 sign-ups a week. People quit there all the time and when I was there everyone acted like nothing was wrong, but outside the office people complained and had nothing but negative things to say about the politics and pay! Even my "leader."  So I left. I found a job a few months ago and am a lot happier and stable now. I am glad Morgan posted something in response, but making all companies a pyramid sceme instead of taking responsibility and providing answers on Cydcors business ethics and practces is exactly why they have class action lawsuits and upset ex-employees. As an american I also take offense to her statement of all business being a scheme and that's the only reason I told my story. America is not a pyramid scheme, Cydcor...is.

The person who started this complaint is dead on accurate... Anything dealing with Cydcor is an outright scam. There is no salary offered like the rebuttal states. During the interview process they will give the impression that their reps make about 800 a week, when in reality it's about 300-500.  As for the card getting declined, now it's obvious that the rebuttaler is a scam artist, the owners credit card gets declined for the hotel room the employees were supposed to smash into, and that's unauthorized charges. The owner doesn't make any money, he basically just gets brainwashed into thinking it's ok to be broke while Brad Park and his wife laugh it up.  Stay away from this company, if need be I can get into more details if anybody has any questions.

The truth about InStile Acquisitions is that they are a very well-managed company! Their hiring staff and upper management are really great people looking to help others with their opportunity. I know this because I worked for InStile Acquisitions. 

 The reason why you can't find a whole lot about them online is because they are such a great company and a lot of people enjoy/enjoyed working for them, so there is never a bad thing to say.
The hiring process is actually long and time consuming. They need to make sure the right people are hired and put the opportunity in the right persons' hands. If they don't call you back after the 1st interview, that means they don't feel you are the best fit for the position. It's nothing personal, it's life and sales and marketing are not everyone's cup of tea, if you know what I mean.

There is no "scam" about the operators of this company. They are highly credited and their clients are Fortune 500 clients. Why would they have these clients if they felt they wouldn't do them right!! A "Scam" operation is a company that leads people to believe that they are something they really aren't.

Copied directly from the website in the FAQ's section: "Is it true that I have to do face to face sales at the entry level and account management positions? YES! and here's why: Sales is the basis of all business, and in order to truly understand business, you have to develop a deep understanding of sales. By training our people in face to face, direct sales and marketing, we prepare them to become major players in today's competitive businesses environment. 100% of our managing partners began at the entry level in sales and marketing, positioning them to understand and empathize with the day to day challenges of their associates and developing them to be effective managers."

This tells you exactly what we do and every word of it is true. People need to understand that talking bad about companies that don't deserve it is ridiculous and disrespectful. I no longer work for the company due to circumstances that I could not work FULL TIME. So I feel it is my responsibly to speak up and clear this up because I know if I ever needed a FULL TIME job they would take me back, because those are the type of people that care about their employees!

 Sincerely,
Anonymous

It never sits well getting a complaint on a website called "Ripoff Report" about your company.  So I figured I would take a minute to clear up a few things.

First, a "scam" is a fraudulent or deceptive act of an operation. I apologize if someone felt mislead, that is not our intention and would be completely unproductive for our company. Nothing on our website or job posting is untrue, 100% of information is accurately written. This ex- employee clearly spent some time with our company; enjoyed himself and made decent money. He was let go for undisclosed integrity reasons and immediately choose to attack us.

Our Account Executives do work on performance, along with an offered base salary. So that does change weekly pay accordingly. As from any company credit card being declined on a business trip, that is because this individual clearly tried to charge unauthorized charges on it- to know this type of information. So that is fraud on that ex-employees part.

Lastly; please know, every single corporation in the world is a pyramid. Every company has a CEO, President, COO etc. and individuals that work is multiple departments under them. 

As far as pyramid scheme that is a usually illegal operation in which participants pay to join and profit mainly from payments made by subsequent participants. I can reassure, no one that has ever walked through the doors had paid me to work here and nothing illegal has never and will never be taken place through my doors.

I encourage everyone to do their own research instead of listening to someone's very bitter opinion. Thank you for reading.

All my best.