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Source Marketing Direct

Source Marketing Direct review: Scam door to door selling, only commission 35

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4:08 pm EDT
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I applied for an entry level position in marketing through what i thought was a reliable website reed. I sent my cv late at night and the next day at 10am an admin called courtney sagar was calling me already. How lucky i was after the number of applications that job had. . A bit suspicious.

Told me there were a few aspects in my application they wanted to discuss with me in further detail. . What details if i have no experience at all, that's why i was applying for an entry level position. . Tried to ask her but she quickly told me they had many candidates and if i was interested in an interview.

The rest of the process went as all the internet forums say. They tell you in 3min how amazing they are and how much money they earn, they ask you 3 questions if you are lucky like what you're looking for, where do you see yourself in the future. . And kick you out of the room before you have time to ask any questions about them. Got called for the 2nd interview and i was paired with a guy to go knocking on doors under the rain. .

I asked him why they lie on the ads as they don´t say it's jsut commission. Saying is based on performance doesn´t specify you're gonna be self - employed getting nothing if you make no sales after spending 70h of your time a week doing door to door or practising to go out, including saturdays.

They don´t tell you either that if you dont register as self - employed you risk a fine from hm revenue and customs, as they dont really care who is and who's not as long as you make sales on the street for them.

All these guys seem to be brainwashed to me. How can they work there when they all look exhausted and they could be getting more money somewhere else working 40h / week. Only about 1% of people that start will make it to management. . And even if you get there, you will still work the same hours to cover most of the time, just the expenses of having an admin and paying the bills of the office.

The same for the admin team. They might be brainless or just stay there because they sleep with their managers as the forums also say, in particular about this admin courtney i talked to. They are lying on the phone to graduates who are desperate looking for a job. They encourage them to go waste their time, putting their families and friends aside just to make these owners think they are becoming rich. It´s just disgusting how nasty people can be.

All these companies in the uk doing the same sales are a scam, warning there are few in this address in london bridge: ea wordlwide acquisitions, live, galaxy marketing, carolina consulting, london marketing services and jtg consulting. Door to door, b2b and events (Shopping centres)

Stay away

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dlawrence1
Lon, GB
Sep 29, 2010 9:11 am EDT

Thank you for posting this. I went for my initial interview yesterday after receiving a surprisingly prompt response to my application via the Reed website. The person that called me was this same Courtney Sagar.

Arriving for my 2 o'clock interview I discovered that the company name was not noted on the entry buzzer on the front door (probably because as you have already said there are several companies operating out of the same premises). In reception I discovered six or seven people who also had a 2 o'clock appointment. Strangely there didn't seem to be any other employees in the office apart from the receptionist and the people who were carrying out the interviews...

After filling in the generic application form and attaching the copy of my CV that I had been asked to bring with me (quite why they were incapable of printing off the CV that was attached to my original application is beyond me) I sat and waited for 20-30 minutes before being taken into the office by one of the managers.

As above, the "interview" lasted approximately five minutes, during which the manager spoke more than I did (I don't think I said much more than "yes", "I see", "I undertand" etc. apart from the one open question I was asked, which he didn't need to ask if he had bothered to read my application properly. There was no opportunity to ask any questions apart from when the miraculous promotion progression scheme was explained to me. Any notes that were made to explain things to me were done on the back of my CV which the manager then kept for himself as he led me out the door back to reception.

I was invited back to spend a day with one of their "top representatives" who I was to observe in action. This was supposed to be today. Thankfully I decided to do some further research on the company when I got home as I felt like I knew less about Source Marketing than I did before the interview. Seeing this post, as well as numerous other forums talking about the same company and people, helped me make up my mind. I sent an email telling them I wouldn't be going in today and am glad I did not.

I cannot believe that a reputable company such as Reed continues to allow such organisations to advertise on their site. Thank you for warning me away from this p

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tandytandy
GB
Nov 18, 2010 6:27 pm EST

tank you so muchhhhhhhhhhhhh for writing this
they call me for an appionment tommorow

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aaaaaaaaaanomiyous
bumblefuck, US
Apr 05, 2011 2:12 pm EDT

so, what exactly is the scam? I, like many others, interviewed and spent the day shadowing a sales rep. Here's what makes me suspicious, but i'm not sure which part is illegal:
1. They only go to businesses, and they can only mail their product to the business address - even though they can sell to an individual, it has to be an individual that works there. When I asked why they couldn't mail to home address, they rep said they had problems with things being stolen...
2. Even though they work out of one office - the reps all work for different companies. There are no higher-ups because the managers all go into business for themselves. The money comes in from client brokers that represent companies like T-Mobile, Quill, Comcast, AT&T, etc.
3. The rep never left information if there wasn't a possible sale - and he didn't have a business card (maybe he was just a poor salesman, idk)
4. The commissions seemed really high. 100% of the sale was matched, and several of the products he received for free, but could charge whatever he felt like he could get from the customer.
5. If the customer said s/he would rather go the the store and ask to pay the same price, the salesmen said only he could offer the discount and since he was mobile the customer didn't have to pay sales tax.

it seems shady, and it's blatant soliciting, but none of it seemed illegal. It just seemed like an army of salesmen - i imagine if you're a really good salesmen you could move up the company and train your own army of salesmen to do the same.

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John de Sousa (London)
GB
Aug 14, 2011 7:03 pm EDT

I am currently working for a company in London and can undestang your sceptcism, but it is most definately not a scam- marketing is a ruthless and cutthroat industry that is very fast paced so you really need to be hardworking and diciplined to make it- you read about guys throwing in the towel after about three days and then going on to complain and winge about how hard marketing is, that's pathetic- these companies make it difficult so to sift through these lazy and shameless individuals who are just going to waste time- there is great oppertunity for those who show dicipline and hard work if they do stick around...

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lolfunny
London, GB
Nov 04, 2011 1:36 pm EDT

Who are u john de sousa.. of course its a scam. And its not about the sales i know marketing companies which offer basic salary and bonus upon the deals u make, but really working there for nothing? and not even in an office but door 2 door? what are u? go do leaflets... ull get more money by doing leaflets than knocking doors selling some random product. I also applied for that job now that i am currently unemployeed and that was done only cause ive send out loads of cv's everywhere...
Think how good this is, same person Courtney Sagar emailed me and asked me to call them back to discuss further about myself... They propably left out of credit in their phone lol... And i aint even a graduate... i was working for 2 years in pwc then i worked for dell for another 1 year but cause i had to take a break generally (had a pille of money) decided to go and live in new york for 6 months. Now i am back I am sending applications and i get interviews but i really rofled when they asked me to call them back. And when i read that u spend a day free of charge i am like shame to the people felt for that. Btw de sousa or however ur name is called cause u are propably working for them or it happens to be the owner that opened in USA and moved here i can create u a better website myfriend, that will defenately help people fell for ur companny much easier.

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gettingitoffmychest
Stevenage, GB
Dec 14, 2011 3:49 pm EST
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

It is a Scam I wasted my time and money £120.00 Getting to the interview and worked for 1 week and hated it. They blatantly lie on their ad. Not once did it state working from 11am (sometimes earlier - 9pm sometimes later) Walking around in London in the dark until someone signs up for your charity. I didn't even know what was going on they just whisked me to Southwark Station and expected me to pay for my journey to the field we was supposed to cover. I had a 15min break and just about squeezed in a sandwich before we was off again knocking on peoples doors. NO WAY was I expecting to be doing such a job especially on 100% commission!
I remember receiving a call from my concerned boyfriend asking me about the job whilst I was one break. I got off the phone and my trainer asked if I was to have a boyfriend my job has to come first and if he isn't happy I will have to make a sacrifice... HUH! Then alarm bells rang, the complete BRAINWASH was about to begin! I didn't have a clue why everyone was acting like brainwashed idiots. Before you left you was not to talk about your day good or bad and you are to speak only to your allocated trainer about how you felt. At one point I found someone that had the same views as me and we both left. DON'T BOTHER GOING TO THE INTERVIEW THEY ARE A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME AND ENERGY Probably like 2% of their employees make it to management because one by one day by day everyone leaves!

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saynomore
London, GB
Jan 26, 2012 2:06 pm EST

getting it off my chest who is this i think we worked together was you in lydmils office?

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gabby7
London, GB
Feb 06, 2012 3:11 pm EST
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

thanks for this it really saved me time..iv been to two similar interviews like this and it was so depressing..the best advice i was given was to always goole the companies name followed by scam, to see if they really are marketing jobs..or just simply door to door sales.

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declansmyth
GB
Jun 08, 2012 2:56 am EDT

Google 'Sphinx Solutions Chemlsford ' it is the same thing! Oh. They will never tell you the parent company either which should make alarm bells go in anyone's head. Also on reed.co.uk there are many different positions available for basically the same door-to-door sales job. Whether it is legal or not. You would have to be pretty scummy enjoying this kind of work.

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logicman8666
london, GB
Aug 24, 2012 2:58 pm EDT

Thank you guys...i went there as well! same thing happened to me! they told me how amazing company is, how much money they take and how successful i can be if i join...i thought that i will get a job of my life in the marketing. the next day they took me to shopping centre and they asked me to watch how they deal with the clients. there were two girls, they were behaving like idiots and they were telling me every 10 mins how amazing this job is and how happy they are there were only 3 guys who came and made some donations, and the only reason they did that was, because they wanted the phone numbers of that chicks, one of the girls was all the time telling me that she have a lot of experience and that she worked for top marketing company in USA, then i asked her what she is doing here then if she have all that experience. she felt very offended, during that day i been asked to answer about 12 questions about my self, education, experience and i been even asked to write a business plan
no one mentioned that it was self employed position, the didn't mention that i had to work on Saturdays, the job was 10 hours a day
TO ALL GRADUATES PLEASE DO NOT GO THERE IT IS A SCAM! WAIST OF TIME AND ENERGY PEOPLE WHO WORKS THERE ARE BRAINWASHED AND NOT REALLY SMART...JUST MACHINES TO SELL

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BMGCC
GB
Aug 28, 2012 2:53 pm EDT

Thank you very much! I found it a bit suspicious since I read the advert but as I urgently needed a job, I answered Courtney's e-mail agreeing with an interview . The interview was supposed to be tomorrow but I got a feeling they were a bit suspicious and just googled them tonight ( thank God! ) NOT GOING THERE ANYMORE AND I'M GOING TO WRITE AN E-MAIL TELLING THEM WHY .

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Agela
London, GB
Sep 10, 2012 4:12 pm EDT

I just got invated for interview for tmrw ..but to see this comments, i changed my mind! Thanks guys to save my time!

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TamB
london, GB
Sep 27, 2012 4:03 pm EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I recently applied for this job too for customer service, and like everyone else a lady called Courtney sent me an email to call her. When I did she said the management were very impressed with my CV and arranged an interview the next day, Shockingly since I've been applying for many jobs and this process was really quick. When I had my interview, all the candidates were in one room with Courtney the only person with a desk at reception. I had my interview with a director who seemed more enthusiastic than me for the role and was already talking about moving me up to management. At this stage I admit being naive on my part as I felt confident about having a brilliant interview but i'm so glad I researched the company before the second interview (Which I didn't go to at the end) Every single person kept saying it is a scam, and it is. It was advertised on total-jobs a reputable job site but the advert is completely misleading. They don't mention it is 100% commission based, its door to door sales job, there's no proper office site and you would have to register as self-employed or risk getting a fine from H&M customs, what's the point in applying for a job then if you're looking to be self-employed

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Lol arose
London, GB
Nov 16, 2012 6:45 am EST
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Thank you so much you just saved me from Courtney and my interview today. RED FIVE is also the same had the same experience with them

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Ritu567
London, GB
Nov 29, 2012 7:59 am EST
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

My name is Ritu. I even had applied for a job at Source Marketing Direct near Southwark at 21 Rishborough Street SE1 0HG. Recepionist called Jahanvi called me saying that the manager wants to see for an interview. She told me it was 9-5 job. On the first day of the interview I was told to fill out an application form and give my CV. After that the manager called Courtney Sagar interviewed me. It lasted about 10 minutes. He asked me about team work and my past experience and told me that they have a huge number of clients like Net Flix, Love Flim etc... He told me that if I was successful I would get a call the same day by 6:00 and would be invited back for second and final interview the next day. I got the call and I was very happy.

But the next day when I went I was shocked. I was told to wait for about 30 mins to 1 hour as they were running late.Then a team leader came and took me outside. His name was Mathew. He told me that we would be going to Willesden Green. I still didn't know what was happening as no one told me. When I reached there I was shocked. The job was actually to knock on people's door asking them if they have upgraded for loft installation for which they would get govt grant. It was done by Nationwide energy on behalf of energy companies. Whole day I was made to go from door to door doing this job. It started from 10:00am and finished at 7:30. That day I actually found out what this job was about. Mathew told me that everyone starts out here. They have to do this job for 2-4 weeks and then after they get promoted to leader where they train other people for this job and hold interviews. They do this for 2-4 weeks and after that if they are successful they get promoted to management level job. Management Job gets paid about £60, 000 a week! This whole company is a scam. When I had applied for a job they never told me it was a Salesman job. They never told me it was based on commission. They don't give you any break and you have to work everyday including weekends from 10:00 to 8:00 in the night without any break. After hearing that I walked out and never came back.This company is an outright scam. Please don't fall for the scam.

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JENNY44444
London, GB
Jan 14, 2013 3:43 pm EST

Thank you soooo much people as i have an interview tomorrow- which i now will definitely NOT be going to...I also so this technique used by live innovations 14-20 shane street, tower bridge, se1 2es managing director TOM HARRIS...PLS WATCH OUT...

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alecs
london, GB
Feb 12, 2013 9:15 pm EST

Thank you so much for this. I applied on reed as well, which seems to be the scam jobs site.. and I have received after 2 days or so two email. from Red Five and Source Direct Marketing. Marketing trainee and event representative .. i went to both interviews.. different locations ofc. When I got there .. at Red Five.. I waited 50 min which it seems totally unprofessional to me. Than an 30 year old guy called me presented as being the manager and start talking very fast about 10 minutes as he was trying to sell me the job and not an interview. and that was all.. when i got home after 1 hour I got a call that i was accepted and I should go for an open day. which will be tomorrow.
At Source Direct Marketing.. got an email saying that i have been selected and to call for an interview.. which was like WTF !.. i thought they are supposed to call... anyway i called i went today at the interview. again.. small office just 2 3 employees.. waited again about 1 hour... anyway i got called and I got an interview with Hector, the manager.. Honestly.. seemed quite ok.. we talked about 30 minutes explained really nice i asked couple of questions etc.. I was really impressed and I had a very good felling about. I was quite excited and even wanted the job badly. ( which proves he sold it quite well) so I got home and after 3 hours from the interview I got a call that i have been accepted and I can go for an open day. tomorrow even though I told at the interview I already have plans...strange. Anyway they set it for Thursday and made me feel like I am quite important to them since they reschedule for me ( idiot me.. I believed)..

So... now 1 am.. started to search the name of RedFive GM.. and after couple of google pages it popped out.. SCAM.. i opened it and a lot of peoples were complaining about this as being a scam with no fix income and hours of work in rain.. etc.. searched again.. more complaints.. I searched about Source DM and same.. than I found this article which convinced me that is not worth wasting my time.. From Junior Marketing to knocking at the doors... WTF I didn t spent 17 years in school to do something that a highschool graduate can do. More than this I earned triple the amount people said they were making in restaurant without staying in rain and selling people crap. I am glad I found this.. with two days I was to lose I can apply to at least 100 jobs without spending 9h/day in the rain. I can't believe i even wear my new suit and shoes for this ###. and throw away 12 quid on tube. Good bless the people that write reviews.

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alecs
london, GB
Feb 12, 2013 9:28 pm EST

John de Sousa (London) do you know what Marketing is? I have 6 years experience in the field I could teach you if you want so you won't say that crap in the future. D2D is a sale strategy not a marketing one first of all. Second .. it has nothing to do with people being lazy.. have you even read the topic ? we were talking about the company and it's way of treating employees .. I would agree to go d2d as long as I would have a legal contract and a base salary.. I am not selling 80 000 quid cars so I can make a living from commission.. 200/week is s***, barely cover my rent so a minimum base wage is common sense. working hard doesn't mean you don;t have to eat for 10 hours that you spend on the field. These companies doesn't make it difficult for selection..that should be the job of HR department.. they make it like this so can make a fortune out of desperate unemployed graduates

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jonjo122
London, GB
Jun 12, 2013 10:08 pm EDT

I worked for over two months at Source Marketing Direct and agree that the way they market the job is a complete farce. It wasn't until the second stage of the interview that you actually realise what the job entails; being a chugger in a suit. It was ridiculously hard work for ridiculously low pay: 60 hour weeks arriving at the office at 8am and leaving at 7pm and having to spend stupid amounts of money on travel to get to and from the various 'fields' (For me it was always approaching customers in shopping centres etc. rather than going door to door). However, all this said, I did learn a great deal at the job and don't regret doing it for a second. Although the work was hard and very testing, the manager Hector and many of the people who were working there at a higher level were incredibly inspirational, I just wish that they didn't make out that the job was something that it wasn't and in turn brainwash many of their employees. It is definitely possible to earn a great deal of money there, but it is by no means guaranteed nor easy as they make out in the advertisement of the job, at the interviews and whilst you work there. Then again, they are a marketing company, they know what they're doing.

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808papilo
City of London, GB
Jul 02, 2013 6:49 pm EDT

Guys, thanks a lot for all this reviews, you have all in one way or the other saved me from falling into this fatal trap of Sourcedirectmarketing. I applied on total jobs just like every other person would have applied on any of the job seeking websites. I did this late at night and the following morning when i woke up i got an email at about 9:18am from the same friend of everyone lol (Courtney Sagar ) saying they were keen to speak to me after going through my cv and seeing that it interest them and bla bla bla. She also said in the email that she had cleared most of her day for her to be available for her, so i should give her a call when i pick the email or reply the email stating when i want her to call me. At that point i was thinking wao! what a nice day i woke up to today and i must be really important to this company based on what has been read on my cv because am being treated like a vip. So i replied the email and gave the time when i wanted her to call, to my surprise in less than 30 - 45 mins, my phone rang and i was like omg, my prayers have been answered as i knew it was the company that was calling. I picked the call and she introduced herself (Courtney Sagar) and said the company have gone through my cv and were happy with what the read and would like to ask me to come down to their office for an interview and i gladly accepted it and was given two options of time when i can come down and i chose the earliest which is 12:25pm. Immediately we finished speaking over the phone, an email came through confirming my appointment with the them for an interview the next day which is today 03/07/2013. I replied and said i was going to be there. So i went about my daily activities and came back later to do some research and prepare my dress for the next day. I decide to look for some information about the company in case am asked what i know about the company and to my surprise, i stomped upon this great review about the company and it made my day and i just can't thank you all for your help and please don't let us stop here, lets help flush out this bad eggs amongs the good ones in the marketing world, we need to keep telling people anywhere we can about this company till they change their attitude and be more plain about the kind of contract that will be given to employees. I will type an email now and save it in my draft as its 00:42 now and will have it sent in the morning to let them know i won't be coming for the interview. If not for you guys, i would have wasted my time and money and who knows, i might fall for the brain wash and would get stucked working for them in pain. I wish everyone of you the very best as you search for your lucky job.

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matt74
GB
Jul 25, 2014 4:01 am EDT

Just search and found this forum for source marketing, I too have just been to the first interview but for a company called live innovations in Leicester. Same experience you all describe, sexy receptionist in a room with a desk with no employees . Manager comes out and is overly energetic towards me and my application . Writes a full sales pitch on the back of my cv and talks about promotions and management and all that ###. Interview lasted 15 mins of which he talked for most of the time about how good the company was. When I asked about the self employed role and only ote earning is blanked over it with another sales pitch. feel like I've wasted my time and didn't even get to practise my interview techniques. Stay clear

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Shaz79
London, GB
Aug 13, 2014 10:57 am EDT

Source Marketing Direct is also known as Live Innovations when I got a reply back from them to arrange a suitable date for an interview, after reading some reviews I will not waste my time attending.

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Angelos
GB
Nov 14, 2014 8:08 am EST

If I come across one of this scammers... fill in the blank Courtney Sugar!

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Velantino
GB
Jan 21, 2015 5:31 pm EST

Omg thank you everyone! You saved me from going for an interview tomorrow. I sent my CV online and this morning around 9.15am I received an email from Kaya if that is her real name! She asked me to call her, because she wanted to ask few questions about my CV. I called her (no answer) left her a message. She called back within the next 20mins I thought to myself wow this company must really like the sound of my CV. Kaya asked me to come for an interview and I said Ok, but after reading the reviews you guys saved me and my time. Thank you all.. I'm not going for interview.

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jimmylongone
London, GB
Feb 13, 2015 5:59 am EST

Another scam job posted by source marketing direct:
http://www.jobsite.co.uk/job/retail-sales-promotions-assistant-waterloo-london-952749452

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canary-wharf
Lydd, GB
Mar 12, 2015 5:43 am EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Hi, everybody!
The reason I googled this was that I quit with them (almost before we started) :). And was in the doubt weather I had been paranoid to be so suspicious or was right not to go through. After reading these opinions, I must say I feel better :)). So here's my short experience with them:

The company that invited me went by the name Omnilotus, which was not on the door at 56 Stamford Street. The name on the door is Source Marketin Direct but there are all sorts of names they might use.
I too was surprised by the quickness of the answer to my application, given I am a migrant with no experience in this country. I applied Sunday in the evening and on Monday at something like 8 AM I had an invitation in my mail. I said I'll take my time for a bath and breakfast before responding, but at 10 or so they already called my by phone, so later the day I was already having the interview.
In the 3 days I've been there, there were were 1-3 people waiting for an interview at any given moment, usually graduates.

They were very polite and I have to say I was truly impressed by the guy that did the interview and who was to become a sort of mentor. He was an excellent speaker, with a flow of words like a sports commentator. It was clear he was repeating a text rehearsed many times. Nevertheless, not being a native speaker, I felt fascinated by his eloquence and I liked him.

I felt I was lucky that he did most of the talking and that he didn't question me too much. He than told me he will call me if I qualify for the second round of the test, which consisted of a full day at work. I apparently did, and was asked to be there at 8:30. I had not been told anything about salary, working hours and did not have time to ask.

In the second day I found out it was all commission based and you will be acting as self-employed. The purpose of the job was to sell telecom contracts to small shops, by going there door to door in a given region. I asked if they provide anything, such as business cards, phone, cover for transport expenses. They offered none, but said a self-employed "company" can deduce these.

The commissions were tempting, like 50P a deal, but it was unlikely to get many in a week / month. They were to pay them two weeks after. I realized it was extremely hard, but not impossible so I decided I will take this challenge and see what results I can have. This part I don't consider a scam, just a bad deal, in which the "employee" takes all the risks and investments, but after all, they pay you what you make. (Again, I didn't reach that phase, I don't know if they pay or not, I give them the benefit of a doubt. So assume they do.)

The working hours were horrifying and so was the volume of work assumed. You were to show up at 7:45 and leave at 18:30, which makes for a total of almost 11 hours a day! Since the businesses visited are not always open in the week-end, I assumed you weren't either. Only in the third day I found out accidentally that you were suppose to come on Saturday for training.
In any given day, the morning was allocated to a training group session, than you left for the field, supposed to meet 60 businesses! I took it as an exaggerated expectation just to stimulate us, because it's technically impossible to do that much - if you are left with 6-8 hours for the field, you would have to talk to a business owner every 6-8 minutes. The guy claimed the best sales reps do over 70 visits a day.

Again, I had no problem doing door to door visits to present the offer, hoping for a success a day. (Other campaigns carried by them were in charity, I wouldn't have liked that sort of begging at all.)

The training sessions in the morning were the cherry on the cake. They had all the characteristics of brainwashing sessions. I had been invited to join MLM (multi-level marketing) schemes in the past, so I was familiar with their style (and amused in the same time). But I had never seen something that went this far. It was like an insane cult or something.

Imagine a hall with 30 people around a speaker, and 20 others around another. Every 20 seconds they go hysterical and chant something, yell hurrays or something and applaud. I was less than 2 meters away from the speaker and most of the time could only see his lips moving because of the yelling. When a name of a colleague was mentioned, they all went crazy saying yeeees, my man, well done, and they patted him on the back as if his wife has given birth or something :)). In one to one discussions they were as enthusiastic about anything you said as if you told them they've been accepted to Harvard. They were all convinced they are marching toward success and becoming successful businessmen. Even though obviously false, they all were extremely friendly.

The dream-like atmosphere ended when I was asked to sign the contract. The middle-manager read it to be out loud. I stopped at a long paragraph that basically said the company can decide "at its own discretion" to ask for the seller to cover functioning costs, conferences, events, equipments and many others. The second I objected to that, he was a changed man and started calling me names and insulting me.

As self employed you pay a quarter in taxes by the end of the year. I feared that if on top of that 25%, they might charge me some other percents, let's say 20-30%, I would be left with half of the little I could produce. To be clear, I have no evidence that that happened to anybody, I was not charged a dime, maybe I am just paranoid, I don't know. And I would have accepted even that clause if it wasn't for the sudden change of attitude by that guy, which made me understand that any question or opinion I would raise, would be immediately silent brutally.

I said, wait, by this clause, you might ask me to pay let's say 70 or 100 P for the training in the morning or a special conference in the week-end, or a team-building I don't ask for. Or for you buying a video projector or a laptop used in the training sessions, right?
He said it's unbelievable, that he's never been so insulted by such an innuendo. That no one in ten years raised such objections.
I said, well, you should be glad you found someone smart who can read :)). Oh, no he said, you are so hypocritical and manipulative! Why, because I want to clarify a clause in the contact? It's standard contract, he said, do you read all the terms when you go to the bank!? I said of course I do, I would be irresponsible not to!

Oh, no, you are unbelievable, it's just your negative... attitude that prevents you from advancing, we cannot work together. But why do you call it attitude? I was very polite. Than how do you want to call it? I said cautiousness :)). He said, fine, it's your negative cautiousness... :))

Than another employee was called, and he was friendly like before, but he was told no one is to interact with me until I leave. Again, I was insulted, saying you came to this country for days and put conditions, do you think we want to steel something from you, you have nothing we could take from you. And so on.

An hour or two after I left I received a long and polite message in which he apologized for losing his temper "in a non professional way", told me what good qualities I have and wishing me all good things. I was sincerely impressed and I replied in the same way, telling him no offense was taken, that I admired him and I'm sorry we didn't get the chance to work together, cause I had a lot to learn from him. Which are all true.

To conclude, for those who want to go there at interviews with Omnilotus or Sourcemarketingdirect or other... I have no elements to say this is a scam, but they should make it clear before calling you that it's all commission based as well as the load work expected. Maybe they are nice people trying to make a living in an extremely difficult environment and this might be a chance for a graduate to learn a lot in a short while. But beware that you should think of it not as a job, but as a personal investment or enterprise, you have a lot of risks and spending in hope of an earning that is not guaranteed.

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annoy x
GB
Apr 09, 2015 2:58 pm EDT

I have to agree with jonjo122 that the ad was misleading but the people were inspirational and so was Hector. I just think this job is not for everyone. I think it is good experience and you will learn skills ie: communication, sales tactics and motivational skills. If you ever wanted to be a leader some day, this is a great place to get exposure on how to get the best out of your employees. However, Like most people here, I applied through reed and found it was not for me, long term. I was looking for an event coordinator/ Marketing role and it wasn't until i got to the office that i discovered what this job was really about. I became really apprehensive about the whole thing when i first arrived. I had a pretty good interview and didn't hold back with any Questions & Like a true sales person, they gave Vague but positive responses. I appreciated their skill, which i could apply in my next role, for example asking for a pay rise. The work is very hard and it will be long hours and you will need to be positive all day long but there is a possibility to earn. But you have to work hard! I wouldn't necessarily call it a scam as they don't take money from you but understand that this is commission based only and that you are self employed, therefore declare this and don't do anything that can get you in trouble. Good luck everyone.

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the_mad_aussie
Ealing, GB
Apr 24, 2015 12:19 pm EDT

I just wrapped up a position with Source Marketing Direct, also. All of the above comments have an element of truth to them, or outright truth. I'll re-iterate the key points as a kind of summary. (I too worked in the London Waterloo office, under Hector and hired by Kaya.)

Can verify:
- You absolutely are working 11-12 hour days, 6 days a week, minimum. If you don't agree to this, you'll be let go.
- It is 100% commission-only work, with varying commissions on the products they sell. They will tell you the average person makes $300 GBP a week, but almost no-one I knew there made that on our level.
- They do have a management program, and theoretically every distributor goes through it and can succeed. However, there is a statistic (stated by my mentor, no less) for how many people actually make it through the first entry-level position: 13%. So out of every 100 people, 13 will make it past the distributor stage. As for actually completing the course? 2%. 2 out of 100. So much for limitless potential, don't believe it.
- The attitude described above of everyone acting like they are brainwashed all the time is completely true, as helpfully described by "canary_wharf". He's right on the money, everyone you'll ever meet there is always very, very (too) happy to be there and doing what they do.
- This job is ENTIRELY solicitation. You will be working B2B if you work for Talk-Talk, or working on stands in shopping centres, train stations, or regional town squares etc if you work for Hello Fresh, Vanquis, or any of their charities. In short, you're basically harassing people to sign up to something hardly anyone would want.
- Source Marketing Direct goes through 150 interviews per week, minimum. Their entire hiring process can be best described as "Meat Grinder recruiting". You're not hired on your skill, you're hired for your judged ability to stay within the company and deal with the conditions.

In summary, avoid. I understand why you'd want to sign up, especially given how enthusiastic the entire interview process is in treating you like you're special, but don't do it.

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BigblackDog
London, GB
May 05, 2015 8:24 am EDT

Thanks to the Mad Aussie. I applied via CV Library to Source direct Marketing. I spoke to Kaya. It seemed to be to good to be true. Then I read the above and decided not to attend the interview. I have saved myself some heartache I think.

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wellydex
GB
Sep 07, 2015 9:42 am EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I have just come off the phone with "Kelly" who just happened to answer Tammy's mobile phone. For me, it was the website that gave it away but I thought I would apply for the job, mainly to see if my instincts were spot on or just hazy. Like everyone else here, I was swiftly invited to attend an interview and "oh what luck, we have an opening between 10am and 1:30pm"... Having googled this, I stumbled across this post. Too good to be true and smelt funny from the get-go. I am now going to politely email them that I will be unable to attend. Thank you guys for this post and let's keep commenting so we can stop other poor souls from falling foul of this.

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Katy Rossiter
US
Oct 01, 2015 4:51 pm EDT

:(
applied for this job yesterday and was called by a south African speaking lady called Kaya, early this morning to arrange an interview for tomorrow.
was really looking forward to starting this new and exciting career path and was feeling really confident about myself as they seemed so keen to meet me and discuss further interviews.
have spent all of my spare time today reading their website and memorizing important information, practicing job interview questions, trying on outfits to wear to the interview, i was very nervous as it would be my first job interview in the city.
luckily i googled 'source marketing' and the top suggestion was 'source marketing scam', which i have now found this and many other forums exactly the same.
i am so disappointed in what iv found and did consider going to the interview anyway as i felt i was so well prepared, but after reading everything i can find on this company i feel it would be extremely foolish of me.

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Armetage
GB
Jan 18, 2016 6:31 pm EST
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Anyone who has worked for this company please email me at armetagemuffakim@outlook.com. I am doing some research into these kinds of scams and am in desperate need of talking to people who have been involved in this sort of thing. Both good and bad experiences are completely welcome. Send emails and I will be in contact!

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Andreeath
GB
Mar 27, 2016 12:19 pm EDT

Thank you very much to everyone for all those comments. Kaya ( or Caroline) contacted on Friday 25th of March. I spoke with her for 5 minutes and then she told me if it would be possible for me to have an interview on Tuesday 28th of March 2016. Definitely after all, I am not coming. I have my job in Liverpool street and actually I am looking for new opportunities, but I am not going to quit my job for this. Please, guys, we need to keep trying in following our dreams and never stop to believe in us. Thank you very much

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Gianina
US
Apr 22, 2016 2:21 am EDT

Hi,
I was haveing n interview tomorrow, but I am not going anymore. At the phone when they called me, because I sent them an email where I told them to call me, they told me that the manager it' s very impressed, because he saw someting interesting in my cv. Thank you very very much, they really are a scam.
Good days!

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fsharp
US
Oct 09, 2016 10:40 am EDT

I was due for an interview and after reading all of these atrocious things I became weary. I called to confirm the basic salary was 18k and NOT commission/target based and all they responded with was "you can either be paid weekly or monthly" and was very quick to get me off the phone even though I said I had more questions about the role specifics! Pretty dodgy.

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