Complaint Review: Winners Advertising - Winners Promotional Group - TRYUS Promotional Conepts - GQ Imports - Woburn Massachusetts

I hope this report makes it to all over the country. I feel obliged to tell of the horror that you face when you enter this "business" Its so low that they even have guys from other areas of the country that "fly in to motivate you" The owner, Mike and his goons - Paul, Chad, etc, try to keep you locked in by telling you how much you can make in "just 3-6 months" Of course, in that amount of time you can accomplish nothing but much higher mileage on your car, having to go out and buy new suits, and spending what little money you can earn trying to eat.... and you dont eat well! you eat pasta and the cheapest food you can imagine just so you can become a 'leader' and show up earlier, stay later and make the same money, if not less, because your motivation has gone down as you start to see this company for what it is. I know there is an office in Woburn, Ma; Harrisburg, Pa; Lakeland, Fl; Baltimore, Md; Chicago, Il amongst other places.... Be ware of this scam company... they will take your resume and figure out what it is you like and pair you up with someone just like you to lure you in and keep you selling their cheap imports from china that you have to go telling people are "new products from macy's or sharper image" I put up with it for five months, hopefully this response will keep you from putting up with it for five minutes!

I'm gratefull to this website for the information given. If not for this website I'd be wasting my time and gas to go to this place to walk out. My red flags went up when i was speaking to the company secetary on the phone after they viewed my resume online and contacted me. As i was speaking to the secetary, she was making usual comments and statments that reputable employers just don't say. At the end of the conversation she tried to set an appointment with me for the same day. Mind you it was 1pm in the afternoon. she tried to place the interview for 3pm, the same day, just 2 hours away. I found that very unusual, considering many companies try to give their interviewees some time to prepare. After the conversation, I was feeling very odd about the oppurtunity, I immediatly jumped on this site and researched it. I am very very glad i did, as not to waste my time. So here it is, Thank rip off reports and the folks posting, I can tell you i grately appreciate it.

kinda liked working at my branch cuz it was kids my own age (just finished college), your allowed and somewhat encouraged to act silly (i'm a goof ball), and i smoked mad weed with my leader and other fellow distributors and leaders (both while at work and after work). o and also wanted to see how good i would be at selling other things besides drugs. so don't censor me, i'm being honest.. but hey enough about me let's break it down for all the parties involved.... alright it's simple marxian economics...your not being paid properly for the amount of work you're putting in, and when you factor in the other costs(gas,lunch,lost benefits,car maintenance,new suites) then you're really losing out. you might get strung along with the whole "will be a branch manager in 3-6 months" crap but honestly there's only so many offices innovage/dsmax wants to open. so what? all 15-30 people in the office are going to be owners? what about the 15-30 people in all the other offices around the country? them too? obviously not...that's why it's a very competitive business...well then that means you're only going to get successful first by exploiting your workers and getting people to stay at a job that's not compensating them well and with a small chance of upward mobility, coupled with a false hope of success. and secondly by selling cheap, third rate products made in sweatshops over in china to unknowing, impulsive consumers out there for a very high profit return (90-95%) that will mostly go to the manager and the corporate people instead of to you(who did all the hard work but is told will be rewarded later,"you'll see") and sometimes you're forced to rip off people in your very own town! i mean considering all the probabilities involved YOU probably won't be promoted to a manager unless you can scam people into sticking with your crew long enough so that you can get promoted, eventhough most of your crew won't even be rewarded/compensated, in those 3-6 months if at all, for all the time and money they put into the company. "just waving a carrot in front the slow turtle." i guess owning your own company is fine and all but i mean a lot of people can make over 100k a yr if they put in the amount of overtime some of these owners and asst managers have to put in. i don't know, i think dsmax/innovage needs those poor brainwashed sales people, who are getting ripped off, a lot more than they do that small percentage of people who can actually succeed in a business like that. if they separated the offices into mgmnt training and sales then the management office would be like 2 or 3 people while the sales office would be like 40-50 people. plus they'd have to give the people in the sales office a bigger commission, otherwise no one would stick around. it's just easier to combine the two and give the people that are only kept around for sales less money and getting away with it by justifying the rip-off with the whole "it's a management training program, you'll make the real money once you finish training and build a crew and open your own office and etc.." line of bullsh*t. I mean i don't have much morals or much of a conscience (which is prolly why i want to go into the music biz), but even i don't have that utter lack of morality and that void of conscienceness that these owners and other higher ups in this so called "business" must possess in order to succeed. in other words i may be able to be some type of lowlife in the music industry, but most definetly not the type of scumbag you would need to be as an owner. by the way the only reason i stuck around for like 2 weeks was cuz my manager kept saying the company was going to branch out into entertainment. i didn't stick around long enough to find out what he meant by that but i bet it was either yanni tickets or toy keyboards made in china for 10 cents each but sold in america for a ridiculously low price of 9.99! o plus the stupid sales tax that no one ever wants to pay! hahaha

I have worked with GQ Imports for the past eight months. I answered an ad, just like everyone else. I went into the interview process with an open mind, figuring that if I didn't take the job, it would still be a learning experience. I decided to give it a shot, and give the company a chance. I worked as a distributor for three months, and I can honestly say I did not give 110% like some of the other people. The reason I'm writing today is because since I've been with this company, I've been witness to three people opening their own business, and becoming their own boss. No one said this company would do the work for you, or that it would be easy. They are only offering you an opportunity, and a favorable set of circumstances. It's up to you what you do with that opportunity. My question is, how much work are you willing to do for your own future, and how much do you expect someone else to do for you?

It actually expanded to several locations; 2 of which were located in Quincy - First Down Marketing and DC Advertising. I transferred from Winners to First Down and as far as I know, DC is still in the 1212 Hancock St office, I am unsure as to what happened to First Down but I know the owner quit. I think I was mislead from the start but being my 2nd job out of college I think it was somewhat understandable. Like many who worked there before, I went through 2 interviews, one was in person with an owner and I was called back the next day to do a day of observation. The observation was told, would involve me with a team making a presenation to potential clients. Sounded interesting - like an actual AD sales job that it was purported to be. On the Day of O, we presented alright - total cold walk ins on small businesses pushing what used to be AT &T for small business. I saw a lot of rejections and a lot of sales - all the while being told that I could make Management in less than a month and that Id be guaranteed a weekly salary, nothing less than $450 / wk. I bought this hook line and sinker. I remained there for 4 months, moved with them from Woburn to Quincy and had checks that were sometimes as little as 80 bucks a week. I went broke, ate Ramen, still getting there on time or ahead of time every day and staying as late as 10PM. Finally I couln't hack it anymore and quit, never looking back. Was it cultish? Hell yes. The chanting the clapping etc - I never got into it and was summarily looked down upon for it, being told Id never be an owner because I didnt have the JUICE. Long story short - call your alma maters' Career Employment Services and warn them not to send graduating seniors to their interviews. If you survived as I have (and yes it was a traumatic experience) you have an obligation to teach to others what you have learned.

Thank you so much for your information about GQ Imports, J&M Marketing, Winners Marketing, Tryus Promotional Concepts or what ever name they go by. I was trying to research before going into an interview and your info saved me a lot of wasted time. I'm so glad I looked into this company!!! They also go by Donovan Group and Associates which I found out in an article published in Boston that they filed for Chp. 11 not that long ago. They must change their name so often to keep their troublesome past from following them.

Hi K! Bravo on doing your research before staying on bored. Winners in Woburn has been around since at least 1994 when I worked there for the summer before college. I was the receptionist. I posted about it on one of the recent ds-max threads. It used to be called Winners Wholesale & at the time, these "juiced up" guys would sell radios & other crap out of their cars. Anyway, check out my post - it's all there. I am assuming from your description that it is the exact same place/scam. I am sure that they've changed their name a little to ensure applicant volume as the word about Winners Wholesale probably spread like warm butter around the greater Boston area. It could be a Chapter 11 avoidance/build up move as well. Who knows. They used to have an office in Quincy too. I would be interested to know if it is still there. You saved yourself a lot of wasted time!

Hi K! Bravo on doing your research before staying on bored. Winners in Woburn has been around since at least 1994 when I worked there for the summer before college. I was the receptionist. I posted about it on one of the recent ds-max threads. It used to be called Winners Wholesale & at the time, these "juiced up" guys would sell radios & other crap out of their cars. Anyway, check out my post - it's all there. I am assuming from your description that it is the exact same place/scam. I am sure that they've changed their name a little to ensure applicant volume as the word about Winners Wholesale probably spread like warm butter around the greater Boston area. It could be a Chapter 11 avoidance/build up move as well. Who knows. They used to have an office in Quincy too. I would be interested to know if it is still there. You saved yourself a lot of wasted time!

Hi K! Bravo on doing your research before staying on bored. Winners in Woburn has been around since at least 1994 when I worked there for the summer before college. I was the receptionist. I posted about it on one of the recent ds-max threads. It used to be called Winners Wholesale & at the time, these "juiced up" guys would sell radios & other crap out of their cars. Anyway, check out my post - it's all there. I am assuming from your description that it is the exact same place/scam. I am sure that they've changed their name a little to ensure applicant volume as the word about Winners Wholesale probably spread like warm butter around the greater Boston area. It could be a Chapter 11 avoidance/build up move as well. Who knows. They used to have an office in Quincy too. I would be interested to know if it is still there. You saved yourself a lot of wasted time!

Hi K! Bravo on doing your research before staying on bored. Winners in Woburn has been around since at least 1994 when I worked there for the summer before college. I was the receptionist. I posted about it on one of the recent ds-max threads. It used to be called Winners Wholesale & at the time, these "juiced up" guys would sell radios & other crap out of their cars. Anyway, check out my post - it's all there. I am assuming from your description that it is the exact same place/scam. I am sure that they've changed their name a little to ensure applicant volume as the word about Winners Wholesale probably spread like warm butter around the greater Boston area. It could be a Chapter 11 avoidance/build up move as well. Who knows. They used to have an office in Quincy too. I would be interested to know if it is still there. You saved yourself a lot of wasted time!