Fidelity Reader Service, FRSNaples.com Tried to cancel and then waited to get magazines but magazines didn't show up Naples Florida

I worked for FRS Inc. They are a scamming bunch. Scum rises to the top, so let me start there. Steve Travis, V.P. of FRS and GM of MTX Sales INC. likes to have sex with young crew girls while on the road, and then fire them when he gets tired of them. Of course, he does have a wife and 3 kids at home. Way to go Steve. And then there is Belo Kellam, scamming America since the 1950's. Scumbag a** old man fires kids for NOT lying to get sales, and dumps them with no money, no bus ticket, and usually an a** beating from 3 or more agents for their troubles. This company is a real peice of s**t and should be shut down by the federal government, soon.

I am an ex mag agent of fidelity reader service. I worked for them for 4 months and then i left. I took the job because i thought it sounded awesome and i needed to get out of my apartment at the time. My friend that told me about it had done it before and told me that i get 500 dollars as a sign on bounus. So i got there and i figured out that the 500 was for my first two weeks that i was there. It went toward my hotel room every nite, gas in the company vans, and all i got was 20 dollars a day for food, cigs, and personal things like deorderant.

After my first two weeks that money was gone so i had to start selling mags if i wanted money every night. I was in the negitive before my first two weeks was even over. Some nights i only got 10 or 15 dollars for whatever i needed. The money u get every night is for dinner if u have time to eat and breakfast the next day. There was times when i didnt eat because eating out at restaurants all the time was exspensive. I remeber when i was in cali it was so hot and i started passing out on territory. The first house i went to i asked them if i could use there phone because i was scared that i needed to go to the hospital.

So i called my boss and he said that he didnt want to pay for me to go to the hospital so i said what if i come back to the hotel and just rest for a while. He told me that if i didnt go to work he was going to send me home. Then i called my mom and told her what was happening. She freaked out and i was freaking out. She said i should go to the police and tell them what was happening but i was afraid that i would get in trouble by the company so i called my car handler and told her to take me back to the hotel. She ending up taking me to a fast food place and left me there to rest and eat. I then went back to knocking doors after because i had no where to go if i went home.

Also alot of times to motivate everyone they would say if u have your business you were aloud to drink, do drugs, and stay in the room with your boyfriend or girlfriend. If you didnt have your business you were not aloud to do any of that. Thats how they motivated alot of people. There was also another time when i had bronchites and needed to get medicine and they made such a fuss because i wanted to go to the doctor. They told me if i think positive it would just go away. Finally after 4 days they took me to a doctor. The doctor said if i would have waited any longer i would have got alot worse and would have needed to be hospitalized.

When i was in kanas city i was arrested for solicateing because i was knockin where i shouldnt have been but i didnt know that the company dont tell u if u cant knock somewhere they will put u there anyway. Up till that point i had a clean record. The next day i was back selling mags again when i got stopped by the police again for the same thing. That time i didnt get arrested but i was very scared cause they told me if i didnt stop knockin i could get arrested for a longer time. So i finally said i quit.

It was early like around 11am and my boss told my car handler to just drop me off in a plaza for the rest of the day untill they were done working cause the hotel was like 2 hrs from where we were working. So for about 7 hrs i was stranded at this plaza with no money. Then i went back to pack and they put me on a bus and that was it.

I have read in newspapers and watched T.V. as people who were falsely accused be vindicated and always was embarrassed by the notion that because I had read or heard about it earlier before all the facts were in believed where there is smoke there is fire. How wrong I have been many times but never thought to much about it because it never affected me always someone else. I am very saddened by the false accusation of sleeping with my employees when all I have ever done day in and day out is try and treat our girls that worked for our company with the upmost respect even when their own actions would dissapoint me. I knew if I continued to be a positive influence, role model, and listener to their past low self esteem issues I could help them become the lady they deserved to be. I can only wonder why someone would say such awful things when my track record for so many years with all my employees would show just the opposite of what is being said. Our ladies that work for us or has worked for us will tell you I make sure our men treat our female employees with the upmost respect. I will always believe in freedom of speech but will never understand I guess why anyone would lie for what they must think is payback for being mistreated. The person did not put their name so I absolutely have no clue who or why they would do this so I will close with this. I am so sorry I did not succeed in building character with this person. Every meeting I have talks about integrity and how important our word is. I failed this person in trying to realize the importance of his/her integrity and can only hope one day I will receive an apology for these false and very hurtful accusations. I will forgive for that is how I was taught and I have seen with my own eyes how forgiveness heals. Thank You

Wow. Nice speech Steve. Just like the old "meetings" you spoke of. I particularily enjoyed all of your preaching in that jumbled little paragraph. How about this one? PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH. You see Steve, how silly would it look on my part to throw out accusations without any solid, concrete evidence to back it up? Pretty damn silly. Good thing for me that when you allowed Mr. Belo Kellam to leave me stranded, beaten, and without a way home, I still had possession of my personal belongings. Included in this bag was a camcorder, 2 digital cameras, and some other tech equipment(mics, taps, etc.)

I have been sitting on this stuff for quite a while now, and you might not want to hear this, but, I have PLENTY of evidence that completly overrides your above statement. Now I know that adultery isn't against the law, but it damn sure can ruin a marriage. Does Heiferhorn sound familiar?

Make it right Steve. Tell the truth, on this site. Failure to do so will force me to expose my evidence to "concerned parties." Trust me, we both know you don't want that.

Good luck on the links!

I think that any one who choose to write all these nasty things abot steve travis should be arrested. I worked for the company and even though im not there any more i had the best experience a young lady can ever have, steve and bello are 2 of the funniest guys i ever met and the things that people are writting is not true steve is like a father you have always wantd very respectful and he listens to you when you need help. The people above are sick and twiste dfor talking like this about a good man who does no harm to people.

Wow. You seem overly eager to defend Steve and Belo. As I can tell by your poor grammar and lack of punctuation, you would be quick to jump to their aid. You are their favorite kind of person. Young, easy to manipulate, and posessing a third grade education.
I should be arrested for saying what I said? The last time I checked, my first ammendment right under the Constitution of the United States of America guaranteed me the right to free speech. But since more than likely the last book you opened was one in the Curious George series, you probably didn't know that.
You see, everything I previously stated about Mr. Travis is indeed true. I will be sending proof of said infractions to his family just in time for the holidays. Look for the video on Youtube by the new year. All he had to do was to come onto this site and not only admit what he did to poor, gullible young women, but also admit that the magazine "business" is a total scam.
I, like many before and after me, are still waiting on wages owed by magcrew owners and managers. The lies they have the agents tell are just ridiculous. I had a kid come to my door a month ago telling me a wild tale. He said that he was already accepted at Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo, and that he was just selling magazines so he could win a "really cool trip" to go on before he went to college. He went on to tell me that he sold my neighbor a subscription to Today's Christian Woman. Not only is my neighbor Jewish, but she is also blind, and was out of town with family. I would know. I was watching her dog for her. I told the kid to piss off, and he proceeded to spit on my door when I closed it.

After the police showed up, I was informed that the "kid" was 24, was in posession of a controlled substance, and had an outstanding felony warrant for his arrest.
I get literally dozens of mag agents at my door annually, and they all have one thing in common. They are all liars. Which brings me back to Steve and Belo.
I never said that THEY tell agents to lie. They are scum in different ways. Steve cheats on his wife with 19 year olds, then fires them when he is bored with them.
Belo tells you that you have a guaranteed trip home. Not once did I ever see him pay for a return trip home. He also pays other agents in cash and/or drugs, to gang beat agents who quit or blank. Not everyone is cut out to be a salesperson, but that sure as hell doesn't warrant a beating.
Every kid who has an internet connection and has knocked a few doors thinks they are an expert. Everyone in the magazine "business" thinks they are so damn smart. Want to know how stupid Steve and Belo are. I had them believe that I was a brand new kid. I came to their crew straight from another crew. I had 6 years in the business by then. My old company up and folded, so I called FRS. WOW! Lots of new kids have 12 on their first day out. I poured water over my head to make it look like I was out running around all day. HA! I slept the first 2 drops. Worked third and fourth, and smoked a blunt on fifth.
Listen, I was out in social situations with those two scumbags. I know what they are like. Belo got drunk one night in Vegas and came on to me. So add half a homo to his list of less than desireable traits. Take it from somebody who was there, not sitting in a hotel room, or a WAB meeting, where you more than likely spent most of your time.

the the exmaggot mgr who purports to apologize for not being able to "reach" some of these disenfranchised agents is truly one of the magcrew industries biggest worms...he and kellam BOTH use younger, more agile 'employees' to dole out physical retribution to agents because neither of these punks could fight thru a sheet of tissue paper left to their own devices...they have been stealing, beating, raping and running unchecked for many, many years...sad. to young folks considering a life on crew...DO NOT GO...you will be left with a whopping tax liability from 1099 status...when you are 'employed' as a 1099 contractor...NO ONE under the laws we have...can tell you where...when...or even how to work your business...but these worms do just that...let them show just ONE example of payment to a former agent of commisions due to them after they have left...can't be done. in a sad twist of irony...robert spruiell...former owner and "lord" of integritysales...tried to maintain the iron grip control these mgrs are notorious for in miami, florida...and was stabbed to death entering a hotel room he had NO business in...with one of his mag 'henchmen'...who is now facing murder charges HIMSELF...just a reminder that these escalade rollin dirtbags are neither indestructable...and that karma is ALIVE...breathing...and WELL...this industry has been honed to its present-day dichotemy by the likes of russell wood, robert pennington, and joe edge to name but a few...borne out of a second world war economic necessity for injured/poor vets with no other means of income...they have taken an industry and made servitude a legal and very prosperous artform...all in the name of an easy buck...sad. until legislative reform is enacted...and the 'books' of these mgrs are scrutinized...nothing will change...awareness is the only tool available...to those of you in this horrific industry...or lucky enough to get OUT...google the name choan lane...scroll down the page until you see the venerable magad words, "guys and gals"...and voila! a place to reconnect and find friends from crew...getabunch.

well i worked for belo kellam directly i dont know if he is on the road any more but im still paying for my "free trip" around the united states that company told the irs that i made 78,000 dollars working for them well in the contest i was supposed sell the most mags i was not real good at it but i did not complain i went out in all conditions to do this no matter what still not complaining i was young and ignorant and having a good time when i went to do this i ahd a freind with me he was i smarter than me and wanted to go home they took him to the bus station and dropped him off with no ticket he was stranded i caught word of this but by then it was too late i was in the north east and had no one to send me a ticket so i rode this out for about nine months until i got to florida and ask if i could go home for christmas they paid for me a ticket home and said that it was comming out of my books well like i said i was nieve and he was slick enough to take me for what ever i had i never returned but a year later i recieved a letter from the irs stating that i owed them a large sum of money i went to the guy that did my taxes he looked into it and told me that the company told the irs that i made 78,000 dollars well if i ever made that much money i sure as hell nnever saw it that man gave me 20 dollars a day every day i worked for him i worked with the company about a year so 365x20+365x10 for hotel only comes up to 10,950 now i would be glad to pay this nothing is free i dont make much now but i would pay this but i havent received a tax return in 8 years because of this i feel there is nothing i can do but for anyone wanting to go in this line of work please keep all receipts and tell who ever is in charge to give you a statement letting you know how much you made other wise these companys are untouchable

MY SON WENT BY BUS TO HOUSTON TEXAS TO WORK FOR STEVE TRAVIS IN THE COMPANY OF EDITOR ANS CHIEF REVIEW INC.HE WAS TO GET A SIGN ON BONUS OF $500.00 AFTER TWO WEEKS.HE CALLED NUMEROUS TIMES TO LET ME KNOW HE WAS OF.(BEING FROM FL.)HE ALSO STATED THAT SOME HAD BEEN ARRESTED FOR SELLING MAGS IN AN UNAUTHORIZESD AREA OF HOUSTON.HE WAS ALSO IN AN AREA WHERE PEOPLE CAME TO THEIR DOORS WITH GUNS DRAWN.(GOOD LOOKING OUT FOR OUR CHILDREN,STEVE) ONE OF MY CHILDREN WAS DIAGNOSED WITH A LIFE THREATENING ILLNESS AND I NEEDED HIM BACK IN FLORIDA.HE STATED THAT THOSE PEOPLE WOULD NOT BELIEVE HIM AND THAT I WOULD HAVE TO SPEAK TO THEM MYSELF.PUT THEM ON.I NEVER DID TALK TO THEM BUT THEY DROPPED HIM OFF AT THE BUS STATION.HE THEN CALLED AT1:45 AM STATING THAT HE WAS STRANDED THAT THERE WAS NO TICKET HOME AS THEY HAD SAID.WHAT TO DO?I COULD NO WIRE HIM MONEY AS THERE WAS NO ADDRESS,SO I WENT ON LINE AND PURCHASED HIM A TICKET. PEOPLE AT THE BUS STATION SAID THEY SEE YOUNGSTERSIN THE SAME SITUATION VERY OFTEN.IT ONLY TOOK HIM A FULL DAY AND SOME TO GET BACK TO OUR COUNTY NOT TWO AND 1/2 DAYS IT TOOK HIM TO GET THERE. THE NEW DBA IS EDITOR AND REVIEW CHIEF REVIEW INC.3737 DOMESTIC AVE SUITE 3 NAPLES FL.34104 FROM WHAT MY SON SAYS HE CHANGES THE NAME OF THE COMPANY OFTEN,BUT THE NAME STEVE TRAVIS REMAINS THE SAME.PHONE NUMBER 866-335-7166 ALTHOUGH THAT IS SURELY CHANGEABLE.FROM READING OTHER COMMENTS HIS TIME WITH STEVE IS NOT OVER IF THE IRS COMES KNOCKING.IT"S A SHAME THAT OUR YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE TO LEARN SUCH A LESSON FROM PIARRANAS AS THESE .ARE THEY EXPERIENCING A FORM OF BRAINWASHING????????

MY NAME IS DEREK IM 19 I WORKED FOR THIS COMPANY EDITOR AND CHIEF REVIEW FOR 3 WEEKS I WAS PROMISED A BUS TICKET THERE AND A BUS TICKET HOME I WAS TOLD IF I WAS TERMINATED I WOULD NOT HAVE A BUS TICKET HOME(GOING AGAINST THEIR WORD).NOW I QUIT MY SISTER IS IN THE TERMINAL STAGE OF LIFE AND I HAD TO GO.
(ANY KIND HEARTED PEARSON WOULD UNDERSTAND)
THIS MAN THE VICE PRESIDENT OF ECR
CAME IN THE HOTEL ROOM I WAS IN AND "THREATED TO KICK MY FU#KING @SS AND THAT I WAS A PIECE OF $HIT THEY MADE ME PACK MY $HIT AND LEFT ME AT THE BUS STATION WITH ALL MY STUFF .THEY ARE BRAIN WASHING THEESE YOUNG PEOPLE SLEEPING WITH SOME OF THEM ABUSEING THEM ...LOOK WHOOSE TALKING A MAN CONTENT WITH LETTING UNDERAGE KIDS DRINK TILL THEY PASS OUT.THEY GAVE ME A FAKE I.D TOLD ME THEY DIDNT CARE IF I SMOKED MARIJUNIA AND THAT THEY ENCOURAGED IT
I WAS PROMISED A SIGN ON BONUS OF $500.00 AS LONG AS I STAYED THE FULL TWO WEEKS
I RECIVED 20 A NIGHT.
ONLY SAW 320.00 OF IT AND HAD TO PAY FOR MY TICKET BACK TO FL FROM HOUSTON$148.

HEY STEVE TRAVIS HEY BELLO YOU GUYS ARE SCAMMING PEOPLE AND ITS NOT RIGHT YOU CLAIM THE BE AMERICAN AND TO BE A GOOD ROLE MODEL AND A POSTIVE EXAMPLE \BUT YOUR THE PIECE OF $HIT MOTHER #UCKER! YOUR RUINING AMERICA! SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT I CAN DO TO HELP STOP THIS SCAM FROM HAPPENING TO MANY OTHER YOUNG NAIVE TEENAGERS
SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME BRING DOWN THEESE SCAM ARTIST THE MEDIA IS GOING TO KNOW ABOUT ALL THEESE ATROCITIES.
I HAVE PLENTY OF TRUE TESTOMINYS
I TRYED TO GET THE REST OF MY MONEY BUT THEY WON T GIVE IT TO ME ITS MINE IM GONNA GET IT OUT OF YOU ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.YOU HAVENT SEEN THE LAST OF ME I WONT BE SILENCED
-DEREK VELEZ
P.S I NEVER FILLED OUT TAX FORMES

Mr. Velez,

I am with the Accounts Payable Department of Editor And Chief Review, Inc. I read your report of being stranded at the bus station with no bus ticket and that YOU had to pay for a ticket back home for $148.  Well the TRUTH of the matter is and you should probably inform your mother as well since she also made a report of this sort.  I am personally looking at a GREYHOUND LINES, INC invoice #400240758 issued to our company dated February 10, 2009, where our company did in fact pay $133 for a bus ticket that was picked up by yourself on February 6, 2009, from Houston, TX to Titusville, FL.  So you WERE in fact provided a PAID bus ticket home as promised.

The statement that your mother made about the company name changing frequently is also false.  In January of 2009, our company merged with another company this is the reason of the name change.  However, our address has always been the same and Mr. Travis' phone number is also still the same.  If we were trying to hide something don't you think both of those things would have changed as well??

As far as the Fake I.D. this is also a LIE.  All agents are issued a company I.D. which is nothing more than that, a company I.D. to prove who they work for.  This is in NO way an I.D. to encourage underage drinking.

As far a tax concerns go, according to the IRS, ANY VENDOR who makes over $600 in a year MUST be issued a 1099.

Really shows that in fact, you did make several things in this story up.  So Mr. Velez looks like all of your accusations are a lie!

If you or your mother would like proof of this, please contact our office, ask for Accounts Payable and I will be happy to provide you a copy of this invoice from Greyhound Line.

Congrats, lady at accounts payable! You can find the record of ONE person that had their bus ticket paid for. I didn't have mine paid for, nor did any agent that myself or others dropped off at bus stations across the country during my tenure with FRS.

 You people are scumbags to the highest power. My friend used to work at FRS too. Now she is home raising Steve Travis' son. You know, I still have that stupid "WWSD" (what would Steve do?) bracelet. I'll tell you what Steve would do. Get a teenager pregnant on the road and then fire her because of it. He used to tell her that he only came back on the road to get away from "his bitch of a wife."  Then said how he was going to divorce her and marry my friend. I guess a baby and owning up to some degree of responsibility wasn't in his plans.

 I found an online community of several hundred disgruntled ex mag agents, just from FRS alone. We have decided to each spend our vacation time away from work this summer to follow your company in groups of our own. We are going to follow FRS agents into their territory and inform the residents via bullhorn and PA that they should not answer the doors and to call the police. That is unless you guys want to obtain solicitors permits everywhere you go. Being that most of yuor agents are felons, I doubt that will be possible. The summer of 2010 will become the summer that Belo and Steve leave the magazine business.

 Anyone else on board?

I would love to travel around and blow the lid of these con-artists.

Back in December of 1981 (several lifetimes ago), I was wanting a change in my life.  I was 21 years old and not happy with my job so I saw an ad for sales and travel and thought, why not?  It was with Belo Kellam's then current company which was registered with the Better Business Bureau and sounded up and up.  It was as close as I ever want to get to a pimp-like business.  Belo's thing then was to wait until you had your first seven sales and then take you to a nice dinner and have sex with you if you were female.  I heard different things from the guys.

Most of the crew members were much younger than me then.  A lot were runaways or in some kind of trouble already and running from something.  Because of the pressure to make sales within your day's timeframe, there was an unbelievable amount of pressure and "encouragement" to do whatever it takes to get those sales.  I was very naive about things that other people had already heard on the news.  I even had one lady chase me around a neighborhood telling me that I had been brainwashed and need help.  That was pretty comical at the time but in fact, the whole thing was very cult-like and more than a little insane.

Because of some customers trying to help me out for my supposed goal trip to Europe, they would just buy magazines to try to get me those contest points and would tell me to send them to myself or friends as they really didn't want them.  My friends that I was sending them to never got one single magazine out of any of the subscriptions. 

Some of the girls on the crew told me they were selling themselves and I can't count the propositions I had because a lot of perspective customers knew this type of thing was happening and basically expected it.

I can go on and on about so much more but I suppose this is the gist of it.  I am 50 years old now and am amazed that the laws have not been changed to ban these so-called magazine companies.  My best advice to anyone who reads this is don't get involved on any side of it and maybe finally these sleaze operations will finally just fade away.