Vector Marketing Scam
You surf the net in search for a job, any job that will help you pay off your student loans and accommodate your busy student routine. You come across a job ad that offers $15 to $16 an hour to act as a sales representative to sell Cutco cutlery. Sounds pretty easy, right? You worked at a retail store once and know how to deal with customers. Eager, you continue to read the job ad, looking for the perks. And perks, there are. You can be own your boss! Make your own schedules, budgets, and meeting times. You call and send in your resume, thinking you may not get the job, because it sounds too good to be true. But, despite your doubts, you receive a call praising your resume, and a job offer.
Delighted, you follow up the offer. You get hired as an independent contractor, and are given a list of strict rules to whom you can sell to and how to demonstrate their product. To receive your demonstration kit you need to purchase it or least pay $145 dollars. You must also pay to attend training sessions to polish your sale techniques. A small price to pay, for a job that will help you pay off you're loans, right? No!
In reality, after paying for your kit and training you barely make more than $3 a day… It's nothing but a scam!
The infamous company behind this scam that targets students nationwide is the U.S.based company Vector Marketing. This company takes advantage of the fact, that it encourages contractors to sell to their relatives. Relatives who'll feel obliged to buy the cutlery, mostly their infamous knives.
How's this a scam? The scam lies in the fact, they ask you to pay before you can start earning. Ever wonder, what kind of company charges for training and demonstration kits?
Vector Marketing List of Offenses
In past, the company admitted to fraud in settlements with the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (1999), Wisconsin Consumer Protection Dept (1994), and Arizona Attorney General (1992). In 1992, 940 Wisconsin Vector Marketing recruits were surveyed and the survey found nearly half of the recruits earned no pay or lost money while working for Vector.
Recently the co-founder of SAVE (Students Against Vector Exploitation) a group formed by students to fight the Vector Marketing scam, won a case with the New York Department of Labor, proving that Vector violated the independent contractor- client relationship, making her an employee. This breach of contract required Vector to compensate for her training.
To join the fight against the Vector Marketing Scam you can click here.
Amendment: We have received some letters from salespeople from Vector Marketing who have said they have made great money working with this company and that the above surveys and complaints are fraudulent. One letter even stated that upon returning the start-up kit, he received a full refund and another woman claimed she earned over $2000 working with Vector Marketing.
We can only report to you the facts as we uncover them. You now have two sides to the story. It is up to you, our readers, to decide for yourself.
To read some of the email responses we have received about this article, many from people claiming to be Vector Marketing employees, click here.
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