Complaint Review: Peak Promotions / Cydcor / Granton Marketing/DSMAX/etc. - New Brunswick New Jersey

I was hired by Peak Promotions right after I graduated from college.  It was a "management in training" program, and like everyone else, I completely fell for the sales pitch.  Of course, I didn't miss some of the obvious warning signs, like everyone who worked there lived with their parents.

First off, Jeannene said she only hires college grads, because she wants to make sure they can be taught.  Which was crap, because during my time there (I lasted 3 months before leaving), she hired an 18 year old right out of high school.  Having a college degree didn't help me at all.

Second thing that pissed me off, the company had a rule that the person who produced the most the day before would would always give the "pep" talk to the entire staff.  Well, I (a non-team leader) sold the most, and instead of me giving the pep talk, had the assistant manager give it, because he was a "team leader."  Which I would be ok with, except later in the week, she had another non-team leader give the pep talk, because "she had a great idea."   talk about an insult.

I never saw the drug use, but I did meet many people who would be awesome to hang out with, but I would never wanted to work with.  A lot of back stabbing, a lot of questionable businesss practices, and I had quite a few big sales completed that I later learned were invalidated by either AT&T, Peak Promotions, or another party, for reasons that I never knew about.

I asked about getting anything for the mileage on my car, or the gas used, and was told "just write it off on your taxes."  yeah, well, if you don't own a home, you typically don't itemize, which means keeping track of all those miles didn't help.  I did upgrade my wardrobe, but I did end up spending a lot more than I brought in.

They say if you work hard you, will be management in 6 months.  But they have a 98% turnover rate.  and you can do everything they teach you (and many of their sales techniques are legit), but there will be times when the customer just isn't interested.  I had quite a few "no hitter/management days", which cost me in gas, wear and tear on my car, and time.  No one can survive with that unsteady of an income.

They also NEVER fire anyone.  After all, employees don't cost them anything, so the more they hav e, the better. if they produce 1 sale, that's all revenue for the company; if they don't, oh well.  but they still say if you produce, you will be promoted.  

I turned down a consulting career because I thought Peak was a company with a future; boy do I regret my decision.  It's not worth it, if you want to do sales, get into real estate.  If you want to do management, find a much less shady company.

I wasted 3 months of my life, countless $$$$, and will never do anything like this again.  and I did this back in 2003.  Now I have a job that allowed me to buy my own home, and accepted a VP position where I am the #2 person in the company.  took me a few years, but I was able to recover from the waste that was Peak Promotions

signed,
A Former Employee from East Brunswick NJ

this place is a joke, Luckily I caught on to the entire thing before I had to waste an entire day of my life for them. My favorite part of the experience is the whole interviewing process. It appears as if only the eleite make it past the first interview, when in fact everyone makes it and they try to make you feel better about yourself by saying you were "chosen" out of all of the applicants that day to make it to round2, where you follow some one around knocking door to door to try and sell some bull$hit product. If I wanted to walk around banging on doors, I would become a jehova's witness, anywho this place is trash, stay away from it, all comission based also, if you want a comission job that pays alot more then 6$ a rip then go and sell cars or something...

To everone reading this please don't take the job, don't think you wont get it, they even hire drug dealer,sorry Paul. Thats just the start of it they tell you benifts come in managment, ya when you pay for them also all this F***ing support they talk about is CRAP!They tell your family everthing will be great mean while they send you to a new state with one person to start an office then the money you save for your NEW OFFICE they tell you how to spend it.The best part of the money is that your owner (Jeannene) can just tell your Hub who by the way is not a CPA and you must have and pay that Hub $200.00 per week out of your money, can just request a check and she'll have it with out you knowing. Oh wait there is more one thing about that support that is so great when or if you get sick; ya no support she even made me close down for getting sick.I guess that was the best thing she ever did for me,Thanks Jeannene

I am an ex-employee of Peak Promotions. The owner, Jeannene was a very nice person. While I understand how she may have favored some people over others due to how much money they brought in, she was concerned about those who were not doing well by having the more successful people train those individuals. There were no hidden surprises. From day one, I was explicitly told that I would not have health insurance and that this job would involve door-to-door marketing. I had no problem with this and accepted the position. In fact, this job did teach me quite a bit about human relations and dealing with a wide variety of people. What really bothered me and the main reason why I left was due to the conduct of the other employees there. It seemed like I was the only person there who did not do drugs. In fact, drugs were distributed and used casually as if it were normal, even during "business hours". During a trip to Philadelphia, just about everyone there was high. Some employees would return from the field high after a day's "work". They would even talk about it. During a BBQ at someone's house, people were openly smoking up and doing drugs. The then-pregnant wife of (first initial J, the blond Polish guy) was also smoking up and drinking. On top of this, some employees there had no scruples. I was shocked when male employees would aggressively hit on female employees.. even one who was married with one child and his wife was expecting another! The fact that he bragged about this was awful. The fact that he was a manager on his way to becoming an owner was even worse. Who would want to work for such a person? I believe that a good working environment involves a clean, professional, and warm atmosphere. There was a lot of jealousy and hostility towards some employees from others. During leader meetings, a lot of backstabbing went on. The fact that the "leaders" referred to another employee as "a cancer that spreads" was beyond me. Several homophobic, gay-bashing remarks were made about another employee both to his face and behind his back. Sorry.. even all the money in the world (as they claimed I'd make if I got to owner) is not worth working for these druggies and dishonest and dirty playing individuals. I was genuinely sad for the owner, Jeannene, for hiring such a bunch of losers. I understand that they raked in the money but it is not worth it one bit. I wish Jeannene nothing but the best and one suggestion: start drug testing your employees. If I can tell that they're high, imagine what the clients must think. Also, a lot is said about having a positive attitude and leaving the negativity at home, as my leader would tell me. Why not do the same? Stop the gossiping and petty remarks. Have a more positive attitude. That is what the word "leader" means, afterall.

Obviously Jeannene is delegating, yet again. Let's talk about the management at Peak Promotions- now spreading its poison to Virginia (Aspirations Inc.). As far as the accusations of fraud are concerned,are you talking about the signatures and initials that Jeannene regularly forges on incomplete apps? (By the way this is NOT who you think it is) Trips? Thanks for the ticket, now where do we stay? How do we eat? and how (in some cases) do we get home? As for the "warmth", the attitude from this manager is as fake as her nose (and her... nah I won't go there). An attitude of backstabbing and gossiping is carefully formented by this owner, who always states publicly that she abhors such behavior.("A fish stinks from the head down" right Jeannene?) Loyalty to her people? Lets talk about keeping people who are the top producers around to pay bills, all the while planning to never promote them out. Why is Micah still there? 13 weeks in a row in her $1000 club and this poor guy is STILL in the field- the system is pure? Maybe she is just using him to pay her bills, just like she did Marco and Tom. What about telling someone to their face that they are "one of her favorite people in the whole world" then publicly telling all who will listen that that same person is a loser who will probably collect unemployment on her. Or how about inappropriate comments- like the time she suggested that Janet was sleeping with her trainee when she happened to be 15 minutes late. The list of Petty comments would fill the whole website. Oh, and back to FRAUD- one of the rules of the AT&T campaign is that you can't sign up Allegiance telecom customers- why then would this owner tell her people to do just that? Loyalty and fairness?: Why is Jaclyn STILL THERE? Jeannene, face it, you lie to people telling them that they have an opportunity that you'll never allow them to have, and those that you promote to ownership you never allow to run their own business- what happened to Johanna? Did she want to be too independent? Also, how many innapropriate relationships have you had with your employees? Does Noe know about Joe? Anyway, I've used up enough space Keri. Loyalty? Integrity? Not to mention Karma? Don't make me laugh. PS Whatever did happen to Christine? Did she ever make it to Hub manager like you KEPT promising her? I'll keep posting as the reports come in- your inner circle is not as tight as you think it is Jeannene. - Seymour Grossman Attorney at Law (the official alias of the official spokesman for the Disgruntled Ex-Employees(Victims) of Peak Promotions membership 12 and growing

dear keri, 2 month ago i would have shared your sentiments and said the same thing about my particular owner. he was a great guy, i would have said. and the same goes for the assistant manager too. it didn't matter that they broke laws left right and centre(sorry, center), because they where good guys, and where helping me make money, that was until i relised that they where only interested in them selfs. they got us to break laws, like pitch people on the street(illegal in this country), enter places with 'no salesman or hawkers' signs on the door, and worst of all illegally trespass by going to the back door if we coudn't get into the front one. all they wanted was the money, they didn't give a **** about us, this came clear to me just as i was about to walk out. the assistant manager also gloated to me about wanting to have sex with a female employee who was under the age of 18 when he was around 25 or 26 (another illegal activity). he even said to my best friend "i going to have sex with your cousin". i really really hope nothing happened.... because she was a nice girl and he was a b*****d taking advantage of her.

Because Jeannene had to let you go after some of you committed fraud, lied to the customers, and even put fake TPV numbers on your applications thinking that you would get paid for them??? AND how can you call her cheap??- when some of you were sent to the Bahama's, some of you were sent to Miami, some of you were sent to California (paid for by Peak Promotions, Jeannene, & Cydcor)??? You seemed to be smiling then and had a lot of "good times" from what I heard directly from all of you and all the pictures I see. What are you so disgruntled about??? Because you invested maybe a year of your life learning about work ethic, attitude, and how to get the most from yourself?? I have to honestly say that if you have invested as much time, energy, and hardwork into this company (as you are claiming you did) and you say that you are walking away empty handied with bad attitudes and have learned NOTHING- then you are missing the boat on LIFE! I know Jeannene personally and have worked with all of you. I have seen Jeannene go out of her way to help every single one of you. I would have lost my attitude with you too if I had been Jeannene and I don't blame her for getting rid of some of you. You've gained something- You obviously have met 10 of your best friends. - Working with Jeannene was THE BEST EXPERIENCE of MY LIFE!!! -from someone who knows all of you very well!!!