Complaint Review: West Coast Promotions - Santa Clara California

I am a part time Security Officer in SantaClara.Due to lack of work hours I grabbed the newspaper to look for more work. I saw the Ad " Receptionists and Assistant Managers Needed...no experience needed, will train."

So I called right away and left a message. As soon as I got home from work that day a message was left for me from West Coast Promotions from a woman named Rosie, she sounded loud and very cheerful.

I called immediatly waisting no time, and what do ya know! She said they could see me in a couple of hours for an interview! I admit I was both excited and looking forward to getting another job. I thought they must really need people.

As soon as I arrived I noticed that the office didn't really look that professional, and I thought it looks like they just moved in...they'll need time to make it look better( walls needed painting,carpet was dirty,wierd smell). There were many other women there for interviews as well, They along with myself were nicely dressed in suits.

Rosie was answering phones, she seemed so happy to be working, and explained to those who asked any questions about the job that all would be explained during the interview - which was a lie. As soon I was called in for my Interview...there was also another girl called in with me...competative I thought.

The Interviewer's name is Evan. He talked a million words a minute and vaguely explained that he works for a promotional company that made millions last year and is expanding rapidly! So rapidly that they're opening a chain of stores in the Bay Area and will be training Assistant Managers!Also that they needed a receptionist to answer phones. He explained that there will be training in Marketing,Accounting, hiring/firing and that we'll be in charge of our own Location! We'll be making roughly 30,000 to 40,000 a year!

Before the Interview I filled out an Information sheet that had asked to rate myself on a scale of 1-10 and to use three words to describe my best qualities. Because Evan was talking to rapidly and didn't use much detail about the assistant management job ...the training sounded so wierd to me , I let him know I was more interested in the receptionist position because he mentioned that I would be paid weekly. He said I would have to call back a a very certain time that same day to find out if I have a second interview, Rosie gave me her number and an odd time to call back 4:32p.m - strange I thought.

So the time came and I called, Rosie then told me in an excited voice that " Congradulations! you have been selected for the Assistant Management Position!" and I was like wow! They saw potential in me and feel I was best suited to be an assistant Manager! and she let me know when the second interview was.

Little did I know I was going to experince so much manipulation and deception from Rosie and Evan and Alberto and Liz. At the Second Interview there were 13 other people and I was like - great...I have to compete with them for the position. Rosie then explained about some guy who was a master Parfumist who started from nothing and built an empire for himself,and explained about how big name companies back then took this guy to court because he was selling parfumes that were made of the same indgredients and that there's no way you can patent a fragrance and blah blah blah.

Oh yeah we were also asked to bring a notebook and take notes of everything...and she mentioned she was going to be noticing and picking out the weeds from the group......noticing who looked interested and who looked bored. She mentioned Larry Hahn...a millionare who is the head of the company..she mainly talked about how much money he has and how much money she has been making with the company...and how we can own our own store...buy whatever we want...be our own boss...not feel like we not important,and have better self image and all that stuff. She gave us a time to call back - again a wierd time to call back.

I ended up being selected for the job! I was so excited! I told my husband , my family...and I also told myself...this seems too good to be true, but I'll go and find out!Anyways, I show up at the office for my first day of training, we're told to bring a thick 3 inch binder and pens and stuff, to look professional...and our day began.

I was in a group of people..all of them I had never seen at the other interview...I thought they must have done many. We were educated in parfumes - what certain words meant -eau de parfumes and such. We were taught some marketing things...more talk than anything. then we were shown the parfumes and smelled them...they smelled good. We were told that it is the exact same thing that they sell at Macy's.

Then we were shown an order form....and guess what! Rosie tells us that we're doing a contest! Using FFAR (family,friends and relatives)just to practice our approach and to get some marketing experience and who better to practice on than our families! And for 2 days only they'll be able to get the discounted price of 28 dollars!!!but after that no discounts.And the Prize was $750.00$ Dollars to whoever sells the most! Evan came and helped us get excited about selling. Though at that time I hadn't realized ...and they hadn't told us at all that we would be selling parfum in parking lots.

All of us there seemed desperate to make some money. I didn't win the prize but we were all back the next day....along with some new faces of people we all had never seen. The others appeared to be working for West Coast Promotions for many weeks/months and they were all female. I think I was the only one who looks nice ..I wore suits while others really dressed down...to the point that they looked like street walkers at times....I found out why a couple days later.

It had been a couple of days of note taking and learning very little about Marketing and it was mostly talk about us having our own company...I noticed how we took notes and Rosie seemed to talk of other things rather than really educating us on management and accounting.She had mentioned our work schedule and it included working 6 days a week....which I thought was extensive but hey...for a good salary why not!?

Then upon my 4th day there we were finally given samples in a little cardboard box,there were four and the other people who apparently have been there longer took their time in helping us memorize them. Later we were paired up with one of them, that they would teach us more about our jobs.

Soon enough off we were, I forgot her name, we were in her car driving on San Thomas expressway. I had no Idea where we were going. Then we pulled into a shopping center, and she said come with me. I was thinking....maybe we are going to present our product to someone important ,perhaps meet up with another office for more training.....I WAS WRONG.

I followed her into a starbucks and I thought, great coffea time and then watched as she started trying to sell parfume to the cashier...then I looked around and everyone was staring at us. I looked at myself in my nice suit-holding a cardboard box of parfumes thinking " holy &^%!" As soon as we left I asked her if this is what we were going to be doing all day and she said yes, but not to worry - it's only for today to get some experience, I also asked if this was legal and mentioned that soliciting is not legal here.

Needless to say I was very disappointed at the fact that she was my driver, because had I said I quit she would have made me walk back to the office that was at least 10 miles away...and I had heels on! I put up with it for that day...I felt embarassed walking with her store to store to have business owners yell and treat us like garbage commenting on the soliciting thing.

At one point the girl I was with saw an Officer patrol vehicle enter the shopping center and she immediatly turned the other way and screamed "Cops! Turn around, lets go!" - I couldn't believe I was there. Another horrible thing happened, while we were going business to business she kept asking for free items, she insisted that because the customer wouldn't buy parfume that they at least give a tip of 1.00 or any spare change, or anything. I asked her...why are you asking those things? Don't you think it's wrong? I also asked if the police could arrest us and she said no and not to worry about it.

This is exactly what she said " I'm supposed to show you this,"they"(meaning west coast promotions)want us to teach you and show you how to get free stuff - it's fun and part of the bonuses we get while on the job, you should see some of the other girls...they're straight-up hustlers...they can get whatever they want from anyone." I was shocked at that comment.

Because I am a respectful woman I did not ask for anything free.

Also, I signed a contract stating that parfumes were in my possession. Rosie explained it was simply a document stating that they are trusting you with the product and should any damages happen that you are personally responsible for paying for them...such as if parfume bottles were to break. And since we were going to be with the company we only needed to sign that document once and they would keep it on file, it was never mentioned that it was an Independent contractors license/agreement.

Rosie and Evan never mentioned that we were going to be selling parfumes in the streets, or that they encouraged asking for tips and free items from any stores that we entered....they told the other girls who were training us to show us how to do it.

After we were through we went back to the office...my feet were so sore from walking in my heels. All the new people along with me had a terrible looks on their faces. Rosie then spoke to us about how it's necessary to go out into the "feild" ( meaning business and parking lots)and work "hard" so we can get our own office soon. She mentioned that she did the same thing to get where she is today along with Evan and liz and Alberto.

We had speeches from Liz and Evan and Alberto about not giving up and not to listin to others if they say something negative about you selling parfumes.They gave countless examples of young people who had negative friends and family who tried to hold them back from the great opportunity who now have just opened their own office either in california or somewhere in the US.They really tried to get us to focus on the fact that we'll get our own office and not to listin to anyone who says negative things..and to surround ourselves with the posotive poeple there.

I'll admit the only reason I went back the next day is because I was looking forward to a paycheck on tuesday. I only worked weekends at my other job because I had limited availability,I had my baby a few months back and really needed the cash at the moment.

Early the next morning I recieved a phone call from the girl I was with the day before on training...it was 7 in the morning and I was blown away that she even called, the first thing she asked me is if I had sold any Parfumes when I went home, I said no and she sounded disappointed. Right then I thought...this better not be happening...I better not be getting calls at odd times to find out if I've sold parfumes or not. Then I had in mind to speak with Rosie and ask if this is going to be a paid by comission-because I'm not interested.

I showed up to find everyone in the office with large parfume orders and we all sat in our chairs, Alberto was going to speak with us. He gave us instructions on how to speak with different people...from thugs to bankers....and how to " use what we have" and to "give many compliments" so as to win over customers into buying from you. Then, he mentioned a woman who was very sucessful at selling parfumes - and then mentioned that she had a very large chest(using his hands to demonstrate)to aid her in her selling. After that he mentioned going into the "feild" again and how on saturday too they'll be arranging to take us to other places out of town to sell...I was shocked.

This West Coast Promotions company not only expecting to get rich off of you but are also assuming that you have all the time in the world to spend all hours of the day peddling their parfumes...even on weekends...expecting to come home around 10 at night....unacceptable! I didn't want to walk out during his speech in front of everyone because I know I probably would have been a laughing stock of. Rosie and Evan and LIz mentioned that people who quit were " WPS's -weak peices of !@#%", and constantly stressed that anyone who didn't want such a promising opportunity aren't woth anything.

Plus, I was asked if I owned a vehicle and I did, they expect you to drive everywhere to sell their parfumes and not pay you for the gas you waste...pretty bizarre. So, not only do you not get compinsated for the money you spend on gas for your own vehicle , paychecks were a problems as well. I asked in several ways to the girl I was trained with how much she had made her first week and she failed everytime to give me a straight answer.

Rosie had mentioned previously about paying your bills. She said that while we were in our own office we would earn a certain percentage of profit to pay our bills the example she gave is that if your cell phone bill was 80.00 dollars a month - how many bottles would you have to sell a month to pay it off? the answer? About 8 bottles. I had no Idea that thats what it would be like for us, she mentioned a payout every tuesday- but she failed to mention it was based on how much we sold. And I didn't stick around long enough to find out whether or not I made enough money.

After Alberto finished his talk with us I stayed behind and gave my cardboard box to Rosie and said " I'm truly sorry but this isn't the opportunity I wanted". She pulled me aside and asked me if everything was ok. I said no, and that I can't do this anymore. We went to her desk and said if the work hours were a problem she could arrange for me to work when I could.

She then asked me " Don't you want your own office?" I then replied "of course I want to own a business someday, however, I don't think I would want this kind of business, I'm not interested in teaching people how to sell parfumes" She didn't understand that I wasn't interested in taking part in this.

I wanted to open up my own business someday doing what I like to do -Makeup Art. She then turned negative on me saying " do you know how much money it takes to open up your own business!?"

I was shocked at her attitude...she had been so nice before and now she was being mean to me. I let Rosie know that I was well aware of the costs of getting a business running and at that point I thanked her and left right away - I was very respectful towards her and all I got was a terrible repsonse, on my way out I overheard her speaking with Liz about why I left and they both began using bad words anout the people who leave - how they're idiots and stupid and weak and they used my name. I'm so happy I left.

I'm sure others have left by now, during the whole thing which was just a matter of 4-5 days, I know the only reason others stayed was to see how the paycheck was going to be...this I know because they told me personally. I am very disappointed that Rosie even mentioned that it was NOt a pyramid scheme or that they failed to tell me at the beginning all the details.

I wasted precious time there, I can't believe I dressed so nicely and went out of my way to get materials that were supposedly needed for taking notes...only to end up spending one day in the so called feild to sell parfumes and to be taught to ask for money and free items...and to be taught to "use my body" to get people to buy from me.

For all those out there who experienced what I did ...I feel your pain and wish you the best...I only hope that others don't get caught up in false hopes and wreched lies about an opportunity that requires you to lower your self-respect and morals to put money in someone else's pocket. Please make sure what your getting into when answering false ads ...and if it it sounds too good to be true...it probably is.

Victim # 1005

SanJose, California
U.S.A.