Rav Thomas
Paw Paw,#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Wed, July 02, 2008
I have recently read your article about Vector Marketing and Cutco Knives on the Rip Off Report. I recently quit selling Cutco Knives for Vector. Now that I have gotten that out of the way, I would like to confirm your article. First off, the recruiter over the phone did use a script and misinformed me that it was NOT telemarketing and door to door sales. Since I was inclined to ask questions during this phone interview, I was asked not to ask any questions because she was only allowed to give so much information. Next was the training, unpaid, five hours a day, for three days, in which each of these days I had to travel 30 miles to the closest office. During the interview, the manager, told us that it was an exclusive job and a "decision" would be made at the end of the interview. Despite this "decision", everyone in that interview was hired. During the first day of training, we received a Training Manual, which confused me beyond belief why there was so many "fill-in-the-blank" spaces in the script we were apparently supposed to read. Later i found out that it was used as a legal loophole, the information was obtained at CutcoComplaints at BlogSpot. I know that information is not usable, but it would make since, since the blank spots were basically intended for supposed information about their product and their prices for themselves, and Henckels. We were given a price comparison sheet for Henckels which i later found out that their prices on the sheet were highly exaggerated to support themselves. I was also required to drive to Indianapolis twice in one month reguardless whether or not I could afford it. I however did not go, but a manager-given guilt trip followed. I decided to decline to sell Cutco any further. In your article, you had stated that "A Marion County court ordered Vector to stop deceptive recruiting practices as a result of a 1994 investigation." Despite this, the "New Vector" still does this in my area today. I would also like to state that EVERYTHING mentioned about Vector and Cutco in your article is completely TRUE to this day(excluding what they have been saying to protect themselves), as I have experienced this in the last few weeks June 13th-July 2nd. Although I had informed my manager of my departure for the practices yesterday, July 1st, she has still attempted to get a hold of me today and has now had other peers from the office try to get a hold of me for her. I have left the job, but I feel a vibe of continuous harassment to try to get me to come back. I probably have more information to help your cause so if you have any questions reguarding Vector and Cutco, I would be happy to give you the information you need. I am also, waiting on my last check, we'll see whether or not it actually comes. Thank you for reading
Kevin
Lindon,#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Thu, October 20, 2005
I had a great experience working with Vector. As a student I won scholarship money to help me with college. I made around $10,000 my first summer and then went on to make another $12,000 my first semester in college while selling knives. During my time with Vector my organization was responsible for selling over 16,000,000 worth of Cutco Knives and I made over $1,000,000 while working with them. (There were quite a few who did better than me) This opportunity, like all sales opportunities, is what you make of it. No it isn't easy, it is work. It won't be handed to you just because you get your samples and show up for a few meetings. But the truth is anyone, and I mean anyone, can make a lot of money if they apply themselves and work hard for it. It is funny to me that there are people out there who think that they deserve to get paid well for mediocre performance. And even worse is when they don't have the self disicipline or inner motivation to sell a particular product and so their solution is to try to sell another product as if "magically" their "skills" will appear and they will be great at selling another product. If you can't sell Cutco the answer isn't "maybe I should go sell Henkels or cars", the answer is you may want to take a break from all sales jobs until you learn some self disicipline and work ethic. You need a 9 to 5'er for now where you can punch in and have someone who tells you what to do every hour. That is ok. The economy needs those people too. On another note, when I was interviewed with Vector I was told exactly what the job was going to be. Nothing was hidden by the people interviewing me. Now, were they able to convey every single nuance of day to day working and presenting the cutlery? No. But it is unfair to say that any job interview does that for a new employee or sales person. But what I learned after taking the job was how naive I was to sales and the sales industry, not things that weren't diclosed in the interview that I didn't know I would be doing. I was told eveything, as is eveyone that is interviewed. If you don't like what you see then don't take the job. But it is unfair to take the job, give it a half hearted effort for a few weeks or months, and then criticize as if it was the company's fault you failed. Vector is a great place to get real world skills. Sales skills are an incredible asset to have. Even if you only use them one time in your life and that is to sell yourself to your future employer to get your dream job they will be worth having. Chances are you will use them far more than that. IF you want a great experience, working with some of the brightest and most ambitious young people around, then I would recommend Vector to you. It is the most positive atmosphere I have ever been involved in. I loved almost every minute of it!
Linda
Lake City,#4UPDATE EX-employee responds
Sat, September 10, 2005
I got caught up in this in 1997, recently I looked into selling again.(seems I would only consider it when I'm down on my luck and broke) I guess I'm a sucker through and through. I more recently found out that the competition that Vector Marketing used to upsell their product (Henkels) is not over priced as reported by Vector marketing! misrepresentation and clearly lies being told to people interviewing for jobs. I never made any money selling especially not what I was promised to make rather I was encouraged to turn over the profits into more products in order to boost my sales.. never any monetary gain from this ordeal rather family and friends were to buy over priced over rates on shipping. Granted the product is decent but the prices and the tactics really need to be improved and a total overhaul of company policy needs to be revamped in order to compete with the competition today since I find that Henkels is really cheaper than CUTCO!!! huh lies lies lies! the prices are higher than Henkels... I wonder if I can sell for Henkels instead of Cutco.. I wonder if they lie to sales reps the way Cutco does. What is our world coming to when you try to make an honest living and people prey on those who need to survive. From my understanding the people who are on the top make the money, because those on the bottom boost there sales up and they get more and more bonuses.. they don't care how many people they burn on the bottom.. they take the best sales rep and promote them to be as dishonest as they are. How can they live with themselves? I was even told I could not sell online, that Vector/Cutco had a policy banning online sales..Funny but I see a ton of people selling online most trying to recoup money lost and getting out from under them! others underselling the product got me how they do it.. but look on eBay! I was thinking maybe if I get to the 10,000 sales and get a 30% discount I might make money,, but hey I think I was through this before and figured I would have to have a ton of money to get to that point and then would I really make anything? NOPE WHO AM I KIDDING! I doubt very much unless I stole from the company and got to management and was handed telephone sales from the corporate office like they all do! and learned to lie to people the way they all do. I would be far better off selling cars: at least I know I would get paid doing it and not have to lie! Selling is about listening to what the customer is looking for and most often the best business is when the people come to you looking for a product not when you have to HUNT them down and shove it in their faces! Proving to them it is worth what you are asking for.. a GREAT product speaks for itself .. so why then does CUTCO require such tactics as to train people to sell the product by lies and deceit? they would be best to get away from Vector and deal with the public directly the product is not the problem it is the manner in which the product is represented to the public and the manner in which the people are approached to sell the product... surely they will survive without VECTOR! [email protected]
John
New York,#5UPDATE EX-employee responds
Sun, September 05, 2004
Transparency is a current buzzword within the company and they say they're changing. Well they've said they're changing for about a decade now, and they're still misleading and deceiving people. Try calling up a Vector Marketing office and getting them to tell you it's actually a contract for you you to call people up starting with everybody you know and solicit appointments then go over to their house and sell them knives, you will have to purchase or put a deposit on a set to demonstrate with, or that instead of getting paid by the hour you will get paid either commission or a flat rate for each appointment meeting their requirements; and you'll see exactly how transparent they really are. Because, afterall, who'd even come in for an "interview" sales pitch if they knew the truth upfront? About making $10,000 in one summer, did you know that in 1994 the Wisconsin Consumer Protection Dept surveyed 940 Vector Marketing recruits in 1992 and found that almost half either earned nothing or lost money and workers in that state earned less than $3 a day on average selling cutlery for Vector. It isn't even a "position" they are offering as Matt wrote above, it's a contract which is completely different from a position because those with a position in a company are employees legally required to be paid for all their work including training and phone time, are entitled to certain benefits, and rights such as not being forced to purchase samples. Calling a contract to work for yourself a "position" is the kind of fraud Vector's been sued several times by the authorities for. People come into a Vector office looking for a legitimate job interview and end up getting a sales pitch for a business opportunity and Vector wonders why they get called a scam! The young lady who was overworked in the assistant manager role and told to be vague and misleading to potential applicants, and the disgruntled rep who only lasted 2 months because he was misled about the job and didn't even get his last paycheck until filing a complaint with the Dept of Labor are just the tip of the iceburg. You can find too many complaints to even count by looking up The Complaint Station and Students Against Vector Exploitation, which this ripoff report refers to. The bottom line is that reputable companies don't have all the complaints Vector Marketing has, they don't even have to mention the word "transparency" becase it's just common sense to them, and they don't repeatedly get sued for and admit to fraud. There are clearly better places to work out there.
Matt
MCMINNVILLE,#6UPDATE Employee
Sun, September 05, 2004
To whom it may concern, After reading the article titled "Vector Marketing - Cutco ripoff Firm misled sales recruits to sell knives students say Olean New York" I could understand some of the feelings of those who complain about their experience with Vector. But in all fairness, I felt it necessary to offer another perspective. I feel quite qualified as I've been with the company longer than most (6 years) and have found success as well as challange along the way. For the record, Vector is currently hard at work to be completely transparent both to the reps they hire and to our valued customers (of which I have over 1000). I know from experience that it is very challanging to manage oneself on a consistant basis. The company does not mislead new reps when they say they can make $10,000 their first summer, some reps do, but most do not. I've seen alot of reps come and go, but that is the nature of the beast with this job in sales. And it takes more than a month or two at the job, even if you are good, to see the fruit of your labors. I think that reps should consider themselves to still be in training untell they have sold at least 25k worth of product. I don't believe Vector misleads anyone who comes in for an interview. They fully disclose the position but I do agree that they should emphasize a little more the degree of challange the new reps face. Maybe throw out some hard stats like only 1 out of 10 reps make it longer than 3 months in the job (I made this one up as an example). It is always easier to be a complainer than an overcomer however and those complaints mentioned in the article are from those that would rather find fault than overcome adversity. I can understand the young lady who was overworked in the assistant manager role, but the discruntled rep who only lasted 2 months? He failed at it because he did not follow the clear instruction of his manager. And the meetings they are encouraged to attend are so they can become excellent and make the money they wish to make their first summer. If one actually does what they are trained to do, they will make 10k their 1st summer and provide a product to folks that they can be proud of for a lifetime. I support a wife and three children on nothing but selling Cutco through Vector and although I know a hundred ways the company could improve, I think I could list 1000 reasons to be thankful for the position they afford me. The product is the absolute finest, the management I've been in contact with are both kind and professional, and the training they provide is both instructional and enlightening. Call Vector Marketing challanging, but it is surely not a rip-off to anyone. The reps who stick with it, find it one of the most rewarding experiences of their lives. I will probably go onto another sales position in a year or so, but I would be nowhere close to where I am without Vector and Cutco Cutlery. And by the way, if you've never used a Cutco knife, your missing out, they are really the finest (see www.cutco.com) Thanks for your time. Hopefully this will balance the scales a little. Truly, Matt Hansen Senior Field Sales Representative (Currently at $400,000+ in career sales)