Katie
Burnsville,#2Consumer Comment
Sat, September 01, 2007
I also fell victim to this company's scheme. I was invited to an interview where they told e to dress professionally, wearing comfortable shoes, and Todd, the branch manager, told me I would be meeting with an outside representative. He told me to clear my schedule for the day. He mentioned nothing about the night schedule also. I arrived at 10:45 for my interview. There was one other person there for an interview. We waited 30 minutes for the boss Todd to come out of the office to bring us back. He had told us we would be taken to a business lunch with a representative. He used words that lead an individual to believe I was going to be taken to an interview professional lunch. He also said if it went well, I would be invited back for a third interview the same day, that's why I should clear my schedule. I was introduced to Josh, a smooth talking tall man. I was told I would be going with him. After about 30 seconds of introductions, I was wisked out the door to a waiting car, which belonged to JOsh. I was under the impression we were heading to lunch, so getting in the car onl seemed logical. After getting in the car, I was informed the seatbelt did not work, in the front passenger side. How unsafe! I am a huge seat belt freak! After merging on the freeway, I was informed we were going to make a few calls before lunch. With only a vague idea of what the company did, I thought we would stop by a business or something for a quick contact. The whole car ride, we were stuck in traffic, since it was going into a holiday weekend, I didn't think anything of spending an hour and a half in a car, with three strage men I didn't know. ( I forgot to ention after I got in the car, 2 other young men jumped into the car with us.) There whole scheme was to keep me busy talking so I didn't notice we had driven all the way to St. Cloud! All of the sudden, the car stops, and one of the guys gets out in the middle of an apartment complex. I still didn't know what was going on, or where we were. At this point, I was beginning to feel like I'd been taken hostage. IN an unsafe car with people I didn't know, in a city I had no clue where I was, and not sre why we were there. I was promptly told to turn my cell phone off and to leave it off for the entire day! Not knowing if I was going to upset someone and make them flip out, I did so. I was not happy. I was told to get out of the car and leave me phone there. I complied, just hoping to come out alive at the end of the day. At this point, it was only me and one guy left. Needless to say, when we got back to the car 3 hours later, sweaty and exhausted, we went to our "business lunch", 6 inch subs at a subway. I snuck into the girls restroom, since i knew they couldnt follow me in there. I wanted out. All I wanted was to tell these guys to f**k off, but I knew if I did, they would have just left me stranded at this subway, and my stuff (Purse, etcetera,) was still in their car. I called my mom to see if she knew where I was, and if she could drive the 100 miles to come rescue me. She told me to call my dad. I was then interrupted by a knock at the door by one of the sellers, "checking on me" I told my dad the safest thing was for me to stick it out. When I came out, they asked what took so long, and I said I had a missed call I was returning. He then told me to turn it off again. I pretended to, putting it on silent. when we returned to the car, he made me put it in my purse, which was left in the car. 3 more hours later, we returned to the car. I glanced at my phone, and saw 20 missed calls, 19 of which were from my parents. Apparently, my parents were about to call the police, and my dad had driven up there, driving around town trying to see if he could find me. I told the men I had a family emergency and to drop me off at the closest public place. He got pissed and started saying, almost yelling at me, that i was going to affect his recommendation to the boss Todd. I said i understood, and jumped out of the car, as he flew out of the parking lot. My father pulled up 5 minutes later to pick me up. I sincerely hope your experience wasn't as horrible as mine, we need to do something to keep these people from basically "kidnapping" people who think they are there for an interview, and making them walk around all day, talking about the job.