Complaint Review: Vector Marketing CUTCO - Columbia Missouri

(Note: This is rather long. Sorry. If you're like "Hey, tl;dr" that's cool, hahaha.) Whenever I see a complaint against Vector/Cutco, I notice several things. First, there is confusion about whether you make X amount of dollars either hourly or per appointment. Seeing as how so many people state that they saw "X/per hour" on the ads, I'm starting to get suspicious that Vector may actually be guilty of false advertising in said ads. The second general complaint is the location of the office. Most of the complaints are the same in that the offices are usually in a "shady" side of town, and are in less than impressive shape. Thirdly, there is what is called "white knighting." Anybody who has seen the many Cutco complaints has come across these people. They're the ones who are constantly defending Vector from all attacks. They usually do so through insults or overly exaggerated stories of success, and then trying to pitch Cutco to you somewhere in the reply they give. As a current employee of Cutco, let me give you my experience thus far. A friend of my brother worked over this past summer for Cutco before going to school in Louisiana. He told me about how Vector let you set up your own schedule and be "your own boss." Curious, I went to Vector's website and filled out an application. I got a call 30 minutes later, asking if I could come in for an appointment the next day at 4 p.m. I went, and in the same vein as other reports, got hired along with all others who were applying. I went to the training, suffered through it, and got ready for my "Fast Start". For those who don't know, the "Fast Start" is where an employee tries to sell a certain amount of cutlery to complete a goal they set for themselves. The employee tries to do this within his/her first ten days. This is one reason why it seems some employees are really pushy to get an appointment. The office I work for is in Texas, outside of Houston. It is behind a Valero. It either has country or rap music blaring really loud every time I stop in to drop off order forms. I don't know why. I didn't think anything of it until I saw other reports that mentioned either rap or country music being played. It's not really that strange, but more funny than anything else. The office consists of one real desk, two of those faux-wooden tables you see in elementary schools, and a card table. One room is full of chairs for no apparent purpose, since nobody has used it since I've been working there. The carpet is shoddy, and the walls are not in great shape. Our office alone, according to one manager, hereafter called "M", sold nearly $80,000 dollars in just over three months. When I jokingly asked if that meant getting a new office, he merely stared at me. He doesn't like jokes, I guess. It is true that you work first off of family and family friends first. Then you start to range out to friends of friends, friends of those friends, etc. At this point I was thinking that I could make some good money just off of appointments without having to sell anything. I know that sounds lazy, but I used that as kind of a way to get something good out of an appointment even if I didn't sell anything. However, those appointments must be verified by a manager, and if they are not, you get no pay for that demo. This is where I started getting the first of my headaches with Vector. In my Fast Start I sold $1400 worth of cutlery while still working at my main job. Not as good as some others, but I was still glad to have the extra cash. However, I had an additional 6 demos that where no sells. Quick point. If you arrange a demo and get no sale, you still get X amount of dollars. At the office here, it's $16 per demo. If you do sell something, you get commision. Judging on which is higher, you either get base pay or commision for each appointment. So, by now you're thinking, "Okay, commision on the sales you made plus the basy pay for the 6 no sell demos." Right? Wrong. I got a check for my commision, but it was short the 6 demos I did. I brought this up with "M", who replied "I couldn't varify that you actually did those demos." I responded that I had turned in my Qualified Presentation Report. His answer was "None of those appointments were varified, sorry man." That's $96 dollars I was shorted. That's a good deal of gas money. Then there are the PDIs. This is where you call your office and report how well (or not so well) you day went. "M" explained to US to call HIM around six every night. I thought that was easy enough. Until "M" started calling me half a dozen times a day. I'm not joking. You may believe that I'm exaggerating, but I tell you I'm not. I'm not the only person to work at our office that is a bit crepped out by this. He would ask how many demos I had set up yet, how much I expected to sell that day, etc. He does this multiply times, each time asking the same questions (well, he did, but I'll explain that later). Once or twice a day wouldn't bug me, but the fact that the calls are at all hours (11 p.m. once even) is annoying. My answer to that problem was simple. I stopped answering my phone. "M" even left me a message saying I would be fired for not calling him back. That was two months ago, and I'm still selling Cutco. I enter all orders online and only go into the office to turn in my orders. I haven't had one call since. I have stopped cold calling people. I find it easier to let people I've sold to to tell their friends about Cutco. If they are interested, then my contact info is given and they can call me when is best for them. No longer do I have to go through the process of trying to corner potential customers ASAP by putting pressure on them. I've still been able to sell a good amount of Cutco to keep extra cash in my wallet. I'm sure someone will come along and refute things I've said here. Just know that everything I put in here is either from the manual I recieved (and it seems manuals differ from office to office from what I've heard), from taking down what "M" told us in my notes during training, and from what I've been told personally when I'm in the office. In short, everybody's opinion is different. It's up to you to decide whether Cutco is a scam or not.

It seems as though you are blaming a perfectly reputable company for your own short- comings and misunderstandings. If you had paid attention in your initial interview, you would have understood that you get paid PER APPT and not per hour, and that you would be taught how to get leads from customers, not that they would give you leads. And if you weren't able to sell to anyone the greatest product of its kind, then that's your fault and not the compan's. You probably went into the job with a negative mindset, and that's all you ended up attracting was negativity, and you can't expect to do a good job if you are negative about it. Obviously, the job is not for everyone, but that doesn't mean it is a scam. Just because a few people fall through the cracks and don't do well doesn't mean that happens to everyone. I happen to be a Sales Professional with the company and I have been selling Cutco for 7 years now. I started, just like you, as an 18-year old poor broke college student. I, on the other hand, followed the program and was not negative, and I ended up paying for 5 years of college, have gone on to purchase my first new home at the tune of $465K in Florida on the water, and I make 6-figures selling knives. The job isn't easy, no sales job is, but it is quite simple: you smile, cut food with customers, and show them how it works, and they buy it, and it turns out to be one of the best investments in thier kitchen they will ever make! If you are reading this considering to purchase Cutco, then go ahead. You get what you pay for in life. To buy something that will last you literally forever, it should be expensive. And if you are reading this considering the job, don't take it if you do not want to work to achieve something. If you are looking for an easy Mikey Mouse Wal-mart job, then don't do it, you'll end up like this guy. But if you are a positive, outgoing, and hard-working person who strives to succeed in life, then by all means, take the job because it honestly has been the best thing that has ever happened to me.