Complaint Review: NWDC LLC - Gresham Oregon

My son had a similar experience working for NWDC selling Kirby Vacuums, and was ripped off.  He was told he would be doing "Customer Service," then was told it would be sales in the form of vacuum demonstrations, but really it was door to door sales for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.

He worked for seven days straight, until 11pm some days, having doors slammed in his face.  He sold three vacuums, mostly to family members trying to help him out.  Then he caught a cold and couldn't work for two days, and was told that because he hadn't worked for six straight days on the second week, he would be receive only 10% of his commission!  Unbelievable, and unfair. 

These people are unprincipled and ruthless.  They are preying on young men like my son who are in need of work.

They seem to get away with it by calling their employees "independent contractors."  The contract is to work 6 days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day and do at least 60 demonstrations in a month, in order to be paid at all.  Any violation and you will get 10% of the agreed pay.  I don't understand how they can be considered independent contractors if they are told when to work, and driven around in a company van.

The odds are stacked impossibly against the employees, and the company is motivated to rip them off.

So here's my experience.

Saw an ad that these people were hiring. I figured, "What the heck? It's a salary gig." So I called. Got interviewed later that day.

So I went in, filled out my application. And let's just say I don't have the "perfect" background having gotten involved with someone I shouldn't have.

But after explaining myself openly and honestly, I was accepted. So I went in for orientation. And first of all, folks, they want five, yes FIVE "character" references. No problem. I gave them that. Then, come to find out, they do not pay you for orientation. They say that this is voluntary. Okay, I know I'm not the brightest person on the planet but even I know that if you're scheduled to be somewhere, you're not volunteering. I wanted to get my phone out and take a picture of this document BUT they have cameras in every room and a listening device so I couldn't. They give you a schedule of when you need to be there for this training. And you're not getting paid for this? RED FLAG #1.

But I go along with it. Why? Because I'm desperate. I need the job. I have a kid coming in October. And I need to be able to take care of my kid.

You would think that going to orientation, they would give you tax forms to fill out. Thus far, I've been there for two days. I've yet to see the tax forms. RED FLAG #2.

The management claims that they were going to call you at a certain time of day for whatever reason. Okay. They didn't call me. But that's fine. I'm not going to red flag that.... yet.

The assignment for this weekend is to take this $3,500 vacuum cleaner home and make appointments to demonstrate. This is supposedly to get feedback from friends and family and to get practice and familiarity with the product. And if you do 10 of these shows, they'll supposedly give you $50. For two days of work? And they're going to call these people to confirm that you had given these shows. They have times set on this piece of paper. And you need to fill out these people's names, addresses, telephone number, and occupation and these managers are going to call these folks supposedly to get feedback of your work. I'm going to call RED FLAG #3 on this one.

They have this piece of paper showing employees who made X amount for the previous week in sales. Tell you what. Show me a pay stub of theirs with that dollar amount and I may believe that.

To summarize, I do not believe anything these people are telling me. I do not trust these people. I think these managers are liars. Unfortunately for me, I have to try and stick this out. I have to hope that I get paid every month as they have promised. I don't care if I sell a vacuum cleaner or not. Quite frankly, it's not likely I'll actually sell one. But as long as I get paid to go to these places, do the demonstration, and all that stuff, I can handle that.

I know this is a scam. And if anybody's reading this, don't fall for it. If you call these folks up, they're not going to answer the phone stating the name of their company. Oh yeah, RED FLAG #4. I think they answer the phone saying "personnel" so if you call them up, and you get that, HANG UP!!!

I realize people are desperate for work. I am too. But unlike you folks, I don't have many options. I need to stick this out. You have options. PLEASE take heed to what I've posted and don't make the same mistake I did. If Jack In The Box or McDonalds would give me 40 hours a week to work there, I will do that in a heart beat. I don't care. It's a job. And for a guy who messed up and wants to redeem himself, I'll take that minimum wage job, show up to work every day, work hard, and do so with a smile on my face and with great pride.