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Vector Marketing/Cutco

Vector Marketing/Cutco review: The Truth 6

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Vector advertises $16 base pay and training and no experience required, etc, etc.
Sounds like a great job, right?!

Wrong.

I went in, falling for this, and was hired within 3 days.
They give nearly word for word scripted speeches and tell you how great they are and just how much money you'd make. All that to lure you in.
There is, trust me, catches, and major ones at that.

Their base pay is based on appointments you make, and they have to be with married couples over 25 years of age to receive this pay. Any single, unemployed, or 25- will NOT get you base pay.
You are responsible for you own appointments, and getting to and from them. YOUR gas, YOUR MONEY.
Not to mention the "Free merchandise" they give when you sell YOU buy, for them.
After a while, you're going to run out of references and then when you ask for more from the company they simply say to keep looking.
Not to mention you aren't an employee but an "independent contractor."
This gives them the benefit of giving you NO benefits.

Their training:
It's unpaid. This is the only company I know who does this, even other scams give paid training,
and this should be your first if not second warning flag.
They spend the training giving you a manual to read, and fill blanks in.
For hours you listen to them preach about their products and practice reading out of the book.
At the end of every session you are given an assignment, much like homework .
You do several hours, for three to four days.
Unpaid.

At the end of the training, that is when they bring the Kit up.
You'd think they'd train you and give you the kit.
NO.
They give you a contract to fill out and sign and PAY for the kit.
It includes most knives mentioned, rope, leather and two other items not really needed.
You will pay up to $150 for this kit.
When you want (or if you want) to return it, they will take it from you, just to "take out the rope and leather"
ask anyone who receives their kit back, two knives go missing.
Not only do they do this, but they say 75% will give you a full refund .
THIS IS NOT MENTIONED IN THE CONTRACT,
and is completely FALSE.

Vector Marketing is a scam in more ways and from all positions,
they target needy college students, to take more than they will ever give.

DON'T WORK FOR VECTOR.

S.A.V.E
Students against Vector Exploitation
Personal people who have been scammed by Vector are working to put an end to it,
if you'd like to help, this petition has 15k+ signatures as I post it.
I am not asking you to,
but if you feel it's right, do so.
I did.

http://www.petitiononline.com/vector/petition.html

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The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

6 comments
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arianaxrose
Olympia, US
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Oct 05, 2010 1:48 am EDT

I worked for Vector for about a month. I agree that the "training" was pretty bs. Only because it was 3 days for 6 hours of unpaid "training." Which the I learned nothing from. But, I did not have to pay for my kit, I had to write them a check, which they said they'd keep until/if I didn't return the kit or something happened to it. They showed us two huge folders full of checks from people that worked for the company (uncashed) So, I wrote the check, got my kit and started working. I ran out of HM3's very shortly (which should be expected from someone who's only 19) and when I asked them for more they gave me more numbers to call and set up appointments. I didn't sell anything but I got a really good check. I've heard from a lot of people online not to trust them. But I think the one I worked for was much different. I no longer work there now becuase I thought it was really stupid to have a meeting for 5 hours almost every day that I wasn't getting paid for. But other than not getting paid for the meetings, training and setting the apts up, I don't think it was all that bad.

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jetchicken
US
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Nov 30, 2010 3:27 pm EST
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

It's not a scam. It's a sales gig. For anyone that thinks it's a scam "based on experience", I advise you stay away from sales jobs your entire life. Their program is designed to weed out the week minded and undisciplined.

Anyone complaining about base pay is ###ed. Vector is a commission job. I worked for Vector for 2 summers in high scholl/college. It was a tough but rewarding experience.

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apps44cal
Baltimore, US
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Dec 09, 2010 2:24 am EST
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I agree with this post. Why do you think their are no adults doing this and why do you think nobody stays there? Vector may not be a scam but it is evil to prey on college kids and their families. I almost sent my sister there not knowing what it was until they started with the harassing phone calls and emails for her to come in for an interview. I knew then that it was bad news and I looked it up online and before I even finished typing the word 'vector' ...the word SCAM popped up. Please don't be fooled. You may make a tiny bit of money there if your family buys something from you but after that you're done.

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dragonluver123
st peters, US
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Dec 18, 2010 3:27 pm EST
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Im with ya. vector screwed me over 2. i actually lost money when worked for them. not ta mention that i had to pay for so much gas

Anti Cutco Movement
Anti Cutco Movement
., US
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Mar 03, 2011 11:34 am EST

Vector Marketing has been around (or so they claim) since 1981. They have more disgruntled former employees than any other company that I know of. How do they stay in business? Simple, they feed off of the sales of their victim's (hired sales reps) friends and families and rip off both them and the sales rep (they still owe me at least $100). They also post ads on EVERY job sight and social network in existence! And they hand out flyers at schools.

Why I claim it's a damn spam fraud scam: When I went in for the interview the conman giving the presentation
said, in short; "Our customers order from an online catalog and you have to demonstrate the products."
He did not even hint that I would have too find my own customers, or that I'd be doing the actual selling!
These are two MAJOR details I did not even find out about this until the 2nd training day! And by then I felt committed and would be scorned for quitting so soon. I should have just walked out and fled at the next break in the training.

You see back then, I only thought people got conned by insurance and credit card companies. Any personal investigation into a job was done on the BBB. And for reasons that I still do not know, almost every Vector office has a B to A+ rating on the BBB site.

How we, the former reps of Vector can put them out of business: Like I said before, Vector gets it's $ from the short-term profit of temporary sales reps which they hire by the hundreds. If we cut off the 'fuel' by going to sites like facebook and myspace as well as all job sights and expose them for what they are then we might just have a chance at doing something about this horrid company.

I'm thinking of composing emails to some major colleges and high schools to worn them about the practices of Vector's recruiting methods. You can help with this. by doing what I'm doing, raising awareness.

Every one who posts a complaint about Vector Marketing has a valid reason. Which is that they wore all deceived in one way or another. Despite that I found out this job was not for me, I gave it my best shot at the circumstances I had. The managers could have at least said you tried. But instead refused to understand that asking people you just met for leads is just plain wrong. I don't care if it's my fault I don't have leads to call. It's totally unrealistic to think that you're customers, my friends and family, would give me (or strangers) leads - let alone "a heads up" to them that I am after them for a demo.

My biggest complaint?: One of the managers will accuse you of "failing" if you don't read/do exactly what the
manuel says. Even if you try your own sound ideas.

Final thought: Vector managers earn money off of the short lived reps so they will spend what free time they
have to counteract the negative stories that many people have posted. They will try to lure as many kids as possible into selling for them. As such, Vector Managers will pose as successful reps and claim that the former reps wore "lazy" (that's a common one), or that "this job is not for every one, but try anyway". They will even go so far as to just persecute them and insult them (calling them idiots and ###s). Or they will say something along the lines of: "MY EARNINGS TODAY WAS $$$$$$$! THAT'S YOUR MONTHLY PAYCHECK AT FLIPP'N BURGERS! HUZZAH!".

I'm already expecting backlash from readers that are vector managers and real successful reps that are just full of them selves. You have to be an @$$hole to get rich off of this company, but at what cost? The cost of the blood, sweat and tears of former reps.

Regards, Anti Cutco Movement

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Kasers
Tacoma, US
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Nov 16, 2013 3:03 pm EST
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

My, name is Kasey and this last summer, despite what a friend, who was a former, ripped-off employee told me, I desperately jumped at this job opportunity.

I received a call from Vector Marketing the previous year before I was 18. And they called me every two months until I was 18. I thought to myself, "wow, I must have impressed someone somewhere." I wasn't suspicious at the time as to why they were so persistent. But I was looking for a summer job so this was perfect. I'd been lookng forward to making money since their first call.

What was weird though was that the secretary sounded about the same age as me and did not sound at times like she knew what she was talking about. She was very vague about what the job entailed and told me that all my questions would be answered at the interview. I thought this strange, but the next day, I went for it.

I walked into the "office" the very next day, .and what I saw were metal folding tables and chairs, and the tables were covered in dollar store, red plastic tablecloths. The place also had a slight and unpleasant pungent smell. I ignored that after I saw some other people at the tables either filling out applications or practicing knife demonstration3s. I was NOT impressed by the lack of cleanliness. It was quite disgusting.
I met the Tacoma, WA office manager and his name was Ryan Geronimo. He seemed well put together but he wasn't as polite and energetic as I was expecting. His.personality was somewhat drab and his voice monotone.

I was almost hired instantly on the spot . But the third day of 5 hour seminars were taking a toll on my ###. I didn't know how much more I could take of those metal chairs! Anyway, by then we had been forced to memorize everyone's names. I felt it was a waste of time. If I wanted to socialize, I would go back to school. I met some nice people there and we worked together on those awful scripts.

The first weekend I was there, an out of town seminar took place in Vancouver, .WA. I was surprised when the manager was handing out twenty dollar bills to my fellow employees.and I got some as well. The seminar consisted of large, .hyped up demonstrations and district awards. It was pretty boring.

I had worked for two and a half weeks, making a total of 20 appointments and making sales in up to$600. I asked my manager when I would be getting my check and he said I would get it when I put the orders in and make them final. I was shocked, .because I.had been told I make base pay based from.the amount of appointments I go to. He was caught off guard and agreed with me but then informed me.that I would not get the full amount because I took the $20 from him the day of the seminar. I was a little ticked off that he had not told me before. On top of that, .he had been shaming me all week for not selling up to $1000 worth of knives. At that point, my doubts were beginning to take form.

Another week passed and I finally got my paycheck. $176.
In three weeks working a minimum job with the hours I had put in, I would have made triple that. My doubts had been confirmed about that dump.

I.went in the following Monday and talked to the manager and told him in a polite way that I no longer wished to be an employee. He was such a Dick about it. Saying that I was not trying hard enough and that if I did, I would see results. I told him that my resources were limited and I tried the best to my abilities. He then tried making me watch this bull [censored] YouTube video about the law of attraction. I had enough.

I cashed my paycheck and never looked back. Thankfully, I wasn't duped into buying the knives, and the while I was there he had me doing the secretaries job (which she got paid hourly)! I felt like an idiot and that I gaff wasted valuable time.

They said that this was a great learning experience and good for a resume. But my future employers laughed when they had seen that I worked for these [censored].

Although it was not great, it definitely was a learning experience. You have to be able to identify scammers and not become a statistic.

If anyone has any questions regarding my experience, please email me at kaitlynenilla103@yahoo.com.

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