Complaint Review: Marketing FX The Marketing Firm - Chicago Illinois

I found this company while I was job searching. It sounded like a pretty good job and I liked the idea of taking the train to work (save gas and money). I sent in my resume and they called me a couple of days later. I was excited when they called me to set up an interview. I went to the website and gathered information about the company. Although the website was somewhat vague, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what they did. To me it seemed that they were a sales and marketing company for major corporations. I figured since they represented At&T they had to be reputable. When I got to the interview, the building looked nice. I went up to the floor (can't remember what floor it was on) and stepped into the office. They had a secretary and although it was small, it seemed professional. The secretary asked for my resume and had me fill out a questionaire. I didn't think anything was strange. There were several people coming in after me who were also there for interviews. I thought that must be a good sign if they are getting this many applicants (please note, I was still pretty clueless as to what I was getting myself into). After about 10 minutes or so, I was called into this office. This guy interviewed me (can't remember his name). He asked me the standard interview questions. After about 10 minutes of this he said the next step would be to wait for a phone call at around 5:30pm to see if I would be invited for the second interview. He told me there would be a total of 3 interviews. I was still thinking that this must be a good company for them to do this much screening. At 5:30pm that same day, I got a call and was invited back the next day. He told me it would be an entire day and that I would be "job shadowing." He said that I would go out into the field with someone and they would evaluate me and give them feedback. The next morning, me and about 3 other people were there for our "job shadowing" evaluation. Basically they pair you up with someone and you literally go out into the field with them. You can ask them questions and in turn they can ask you questions. When I got there they were just getting out of a meeting and the associates were heading out with their coats on. They introduced me to this guy that I would be going out with. He seemed nice. When we got to his car (which I didn't think was going to make it through the day), he got sick. We went back to the office and I had to wait for someone to come back to get me. They kept apoligizing. At this point I was still pretty clueless (I swear I am not this stupid). A girl came back and I went with her (this was probably around noon). We drove to the northern suburbs. She told me about herself and we made small talk. She was telling me how great this job is and how many friends you would make and the business trips you would take. The job still sounded interesting. We parked the car and got out. She tells me about these territories and told me when we get up to the houses not to say anything since I didn't really know what I was doing. We get to the first house and then it clicks: door-to-door sales. This is basically how it works: you knock on someones door, hopefully they answer, ask them to look at their phone bill, and if they are stupid enough to give it to you, you try to get them to switch to AT&T. These customers do not have a clue because we had AT&T badges on so they think we work for AT&T. The lady at the first house let us inside. The whole thing felt weird. The girl I was with actually got her to change phone/cable plans. After that it was pretty much downhill. We must have walked for 5 hours knocking on people's doors. I do have to admit that if I was that girl walking around and getting doors slammed in my face I would have given up after the third house and gone to McDonald's or something. Most people were coming home from work and didn't want to be bothered. Others wanted nothing to do with us. I actually felt bad for these customers. When I asked what time she is usually done at, she said around 7:00pm!! At first I was like: that's not too bad until she told me she has to drive back downtown to the office. I guess they have to give recaps. I was tempted to ask her to just drive me home but I wanted to see how this panned out. Also, like most people on a job interview you want a job and you are most likely not going to do anything stupid to mess up your chances. We got back to the office at around 8:00pm. The girl I went with told me to wait in the waiting area. A few minutes later Greg asked me to come into his office. He asked how it went and that the girl I was with seemed to think I was a good fit. At that point he offered me the job (no third interview). Nothing about benefits or salary were discussed. Also, this is not my first "real" job. Most companies perform drug tests or do backround checks before hiring. Stupid me I accepted the job without thinking (I was desperate to get a job). However, I told him I wouldn't start for about three weeks. In that three weeks, I interviewed for another job and was given an offer I couldn't refuse. I never did call them and tell them I was no longer interested and was not going to be there. As a matter of fact the first day I was supposed to show up there was the first day of when my new job started (which I am still with and love). They did leave me a voicemail a week before I was scheduled to start to make sure I was going to be there. I never returned the call. Thinking back to this, I probably should have never gone to the second interview. The whole process is vague and they provide no information upfront. It's almost like they try as hard as they can to get you in and then maybe give you the details. Unless you like door-to-door sales, crappy pay, working long hours on your feet in the cold, snow, rain, etc, having doors slammed in your face and getting zero respect this job is for you.

I found this company while I was job searching. It sounded like a pretty good job and I liked the idea of taking the train to work (save gas and money). I sent in my resume and they called me a couple of days later. I was excited when they called me to set up an interview. I went to the website and gathered information about the company. Although the website was somewhat vague, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what they did. To me it seemed that they were a sales and marketing company for major corporations. I figured since they represented At&T they had to be reputable. When I got to the interview, the building looked nice. I went up to the floor (can't remember what floor it was on) and stepped into the office. They had a secretary and although it was small, it seemed professional. The secretary asked for my resume and had me fill out a questionaire. I didn't think anything was strange. There were several people coming in after me who were also there for interviews. I thought that must be a good sign if they are getting this many applicants (please note, I was still pretty clueless as to what I was getting myself into). After about 10 minutes or so, I was called into this office. This guy interviewed me (can't remember his name). He asked me the standard interview questions. After about 10 minutes of this he said the next step would be to wait for a phone call at around 5:30pm to see if I would be invited for the second interview. He told me there would be a total of 3 interviews. I was still thinking that this must be a good company for them to do this much screening. At 5:30pm that same day, I got a call and was invited back the next day. He told me it would be an entire day and that I would be "job shadowing." He said that I would go out into the field with someone and they would evaluate me and give them feedback. The next morning, me and about 3 other people were there for our "job shadowing" evaluation. Basically they pair you up with someone and you literally go out into the field with them. You can ask them questions and in turn they can ask you questions. When I got there they were just getting out of a meeting and the associates were heading out with their coats on. They introduced me to this guy that I would be going out with. He seemed nice. When we got to his car (which I didn't think was going to make it through the day), he got sick. We went back to the office and I had to wait for someone to come back to get me. They kept apoligizing. At this point I was still pretty clueless (I swear I am not this stupid). A girl came back and I went with her (this was probably around noon). We drove to the northern suburbs. She told me about herself and we made small talk. She was telling me how great this job is and how many friends you would make and the business trips you would take. The job still sounded interesting. We parked the car and got out. She tells me about these territories and told me when we get up to the houses not to say anything since I didn't really know what I was doing. We get to the first house and then it clicks: door-to-door sales. This is basically how it works: you knock on someones door, hopefully they answer, ask them to look at their phone bill, and if they are stupid enough to give it to you, you try to get them to switch to AT&T. These customers do not have a clue because we had AT&T badges on so they think we work for AT&T. The lady at the first house let us inside. The whole thing felt weird. The girl I was with actually got her to change phone/cable plans. After that it was pretty much downhill. We must have walked for 5 hours knocking on people's doors. I do have to admit that if I was that girl walking around and getting doors slammed in my face I would have given up after the third house and gone to McDonald's or something. Most people were coming home from work and didn't want to be bothered. Others wanted nothing to do with us. I actually felt bad for these customers. When I asked what time she is usually done at, she said around 7:00pm!! At first I was like: that's not too bad until she told me she has to drive back downtown to the office. I guess they have to give recaps. I was tempted to ask her to just drive me home but I wanted to see how this panned out. Also, like most people on a job interview you want a job and you are most likely not going to do anything stupid to mess up your chances. We got back to the office at around 8:00pm. The girl I went with told me to wait in the waiting area. A few minutes later Greg asked me to come into his office. He asked how it went and that the girl I was with seemed to think I was a good fit. At that point he offered me the job (no third interview). Nothing about benefits or salary were discussed. Also, this is not my first "real" job. Most companies perform drug tests or do backround checks before hiring. Stupid me I accepted the job without thinking (I was desperate to get a job). However, I told him I wouldn't start for about three weeks. In that three weeks, I interviewed for another job and was given an offer I couldn't refuse. I never did call them and tell them I was no longer interested and was not going to be there. As a matter of fact the first day I was supposed to show up there was the first day of when my new job started (which I am still with and love). They did leave me a voicemail a week before I was scheduled to start to make sure I was going to be there. I never returned the call. Thinking back to this, I probably should have never gone to the second interview. The whole process is vague and they provide no information upfront. It's almost like they try as hard as they can to get you in and then maybe give you the details. Unless you like door-to-door sales, crappy pay, working long hours on your feet in the cold, snow, rain, etc, having doors slammed in your face and getting zero respect this job is for you.

I found this company while I was job searching. It sounded like a pretty good job and I liked the idea of taking the train to work (save gas and money). I sent in my resume and they called me a couple of days later. I was excited when they called me to set up an interview. I went to the website and gathered information about the company. Although the website was somewhat vague, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what they did. To me it seemed that they were a sales and marketing company for major corporations. I figured since they represented At&T they had to be reputable. When I got to the interview, the building looked nice. I went up to the floor (can't remember what floor it was on) and stepped into the office. They had a secretary and although it was small, it seemed professional. The secretary asked for my resume and had me fill out a questionaire. I didn't think anything was strange. There were several people coming in after me who were also there for interviews. I thought that must be a good sign if they are getting this many applicants (please note, I was still pretty clueless as to what I was getting myself into). After about 10 minutes or so, I was called into this office. This guy interviewed me (can't remember his name). He asked me the standard interview questions. After about 10 minutes of this he said the next step would be to wait for a phone call at around 5:30pm to see if I would be invited for the second interview. He told me there would be a total of 3 interviews. I was still thinking that this must be a good company for them to do this much screening. At 5:30pm that same day, I got a call and was invited back the next day. He told me it would be an entire day and that I would be "job shadowing." He said that I would go out into the field with someone and they would evaluate me and give them feedback. The next morning, me and about 3 other people were there for our "job shadowing" evaluation. Basically they pair you up with someone and you literally go out into the field with them. You can ask them questions and in turn they can ask you questions. When I got there they were just getting out of a meeting and the associates were heading out with their coats on. They introduced me to this guy that I would be going out with. He seemed nice. When we got to his car (which I didn't think was going to make it through the day), he got sick. We went back to the office and I had to wait for someone to come back to get me. They kept apoligizing. At this point I was still pretty clueless (I swear I am not this stupid). A girl came back and I went with her (this was probably around noon). We drove to the northern suburbs. She told me about herself and we made small talk. She was telling me how great this job is and how many friends you would make and the business trips you would take. The job still sounded interesting. We parked the car and got out. She tells me about these territories and told me when we get up to the houses not to say anything since I didn't really know what I was doing. We get to the first house and then it clicks: door-to-door sales. This is basically how it works: you knock on someones door, hopefully they answer, ask them to look at their phone bill, and if they are stupid enough to give it to you, you try to get them to switch to AT&T. These customers do not have a clue because we had AT&T badges on so they think we work for AT&T. The lady at the first house let us inside. The whole thing felt weird. The girl I was with actually got her to change phone/cable plans. After that it was pretty much downhill. We must have walked for 5 hours knocking on people's doors. I do have to admit that if I was that girl walking around and getting doors slammed in my face I would have given up after the third house and gone to McDonald's or something. Most people were coming home from work and didn't want to be bothered. Others wanted nothing to do with us. I actually felt bad for these customers. When I asked what time she is usually done at, she said around 7:00pm!! At first I was like: that's not too bad until she told me she has to drive back downtown to the office. I guess they have to give recaps. I was tempted to ask her to just drive me home but I wanted to see how this panned out. Also, like most people on a job interview you want a job and you are most likely not going to do anything stupid to mess up your chances. We got back to the office at around 8:00pm. The girl I went with told me to wait in the waiting area. A few minutes later Greg asked me to come into his office. He asked how it went and that the girl I was with seemed to think I was a good fit. At that point he offered me the job (no third interview). Nothing about benefits or salary were discussed. Also, this is not my first "real" job. Most companies perform drug tests or do backround checks before hiring. Stupid me I accepted the job without thinking (I was desperate to get a job). However, I told him I wouldn't start for about three weeks. In that three weeks, I interviewed for another job and was given an offer I couldn't refuse. I never did call them and tell them I was no longer interested and was not going to be there. As a matter of fact the first day I was supposed to show up there was the first day of when my new job started (which I am still with and love). They did leave me a voicemail a week before I was scheduled to start to make sure I was going to be there. I never returned the call. Thinking back to this, I probably should have never gone to the second interview. The whole process is vague and they provide no information upfront. It's almost like they try as hard as they can to get you in and then maybe give you the details. Unless you like door-to-door sales, crappy pay, working long hours on your feet in the cold, snow, rain, etc, having doors slammed in your face and getting zero respect this job is for you.

Marketing FX (Cydcor) is a shady company. It belongs to a group of companies called Cydcor, which was born from DS-MAX. I was desperate for a job coming out of college, that I didn't see the scam aspect of the job. I ended up wasting 4 months of my life at that "Job". Everything you described in your report is true. Furthermore, we were made to work 10-12 hour days Monday to Friday, and 8 hour days on Saturday (which were said to be "Optional" ). They took much of our free time with "Team Night" and events and unpaid meetings on Sunday. Many of my fellow coworkers were bilked of their commissions and faced bankruptcies, evictions, and repossessions. My wages didn't add up to minimum wage for Illinois. My manager lived with other coworkers in a low rent apartment (Merch house) without a car. There was a cult like culture set up with the "Hey everybody hey what" chant and bell ceremony. Finally, I saw offices fold up and employees lose their jobs (So much for the "No Layoffs" theory) I will admit that the System we were taught does work for sales, and that my manager was nicer than other managers within the Cydcor mold. I don't blame him, I don't even blame AT&T (Cydcor is slick enough to pull the wool over their eyes too), I blame Cydcor and their pryamid scheme for the troubles.