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Report: #154688

Complaint Review: Empire Marketing Concepts - Cydcor - White Plains New York

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  • Reported By: Mamaroenck New York
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  • Empire Marketing Concepts - Cydcor 106 Corporate Park Dr. White Plains, New York U.S.A.

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Empire Marketing Concepts is a, "door to door salesman job designed to maximize profits for people at the highest levels of the business." Ironically those higher-ups are not even people directly associated with Empire Marketing, but with Cydcor, the parent company. Empire Marketing exists where Quest Com Marketing used to be in White Plains and actually still had that name outside the suite door last time I checked. From what I read, I can tell you, its the same s**t from those days under a new dummy management.

When you walk in you see there is a waiting room complete with secretary at a computer. If you make it into the other room you see a room with about the bare minimum of things, including few if any chairs for the people already in the business. You are made to learn to stand and do chants and ridiculous "rituals" as well as taught to never bring up anything negative. Your day is almost completely taken away from you as you work an abundant amount of hours on 100% commission, no health plan, no benifits short of the life long "business partnerships" you find in the office.

I actually recently quit Empire Marketing Concepts about a week ago now and I can't tell you how great I now feel. It not only has to do with the increased hours I get for personal time, but with what you actually have to do in order to keep the job. By the end of my month and a half stint with the company I was feeling like I an a*****e because I realized how unethical I would have to be everyday in order to make a profit.

To Ren of Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, I would say that I got good news, in that Empire Marketing has since left only to move to my neighborhood. Just reading so much of what you wrote, I was able to totally relate. Jason Prince still works there and he is currently a manager who does not have his own campaign which is supposed to change in the next "6-8" weeks. The same term I was told weeks ago.

I remember working from 9-5:30 in the field because I wanted to "work a full day." No matter how much I worked I couldn't help but notice that I wasn't getting on the bell, and I know the managers also were noticing this. While I was out of the office they would complain that I was probably slacking off coming up with nicknames for myself. Liz was incredibly fake in that she never said anything negative to me, but wouldn't hesitate to badmouth me while I was out of the office. Eventually I realized that what I was lacking or actually maintained was a sense of business ethics.

If I wanted to be on the bell I needed to learn to mislead people on costs, or purposely leave information out under the guise of keeping it short and simple (KISS.) If that means you don't tell people about the Non-Recurring Charge of hundreds of dollars on their phone bill, whatever, thats your deal. In my short tenure I learned from the high-rollers, "Our only concern is getting people back to Verizon," and "It's either our money or their's." The latter specifically referring to when you realize you aren't helping the small store owner at all.

Now to address how things are currently at Empire Marketing; "The turnover rate for Empire Marketing is staggering; less than five people in the office have been employed more than 3 months in an office of over forty individuals. It is my belief that the frantic pace of training new hires is to cover-up for the lack of veteran individuals in the firm." This was what was said when they were in Pennsylvania, and I can tell you it is the same now. In my short tenure, about 12-14 people left in a month and a half, talk about ridiculous turnover.

I can tell you in my experience out of the people that left and some of those that remain, there is a general dislike of Liz because of how she behaves, specifically involving her fakeness and nasty attitude. The fact that people out and within the company still to this day complain about lacking the full amount of their promised payment, is only testament to how the system has not changed. That a manager of multiple years lives with another manager, an assitant manager, and two leaders all in a Two-bedroom apartment in Yonkers, says something about the money situation or "opportunity" that is preached.

That they make sure not to mention Cydcor until much later in the business; that they make sure to bring in interviewees by 5pm; that they make sure to cut you off from the rest of the world and give you theories to learn to supress outside influences; that they work you all day completely on your own expenses (gas, food, car, road "business" trips) all hint at some shady aspects to the business.

I remember the week before I quit, when I was on a "business trip" where they had me sleep on the floor all week I brought up how I felt like the system made me feel like I had five, yes five bosses (ie. office space) that I had to answer to when I messed up. I was told that I was mistaken and looking at the situation wrong. They were trying to help me, like when I was told to get through my head that I was not a salesman. This was the same guy who referred to me as, "a good boy" in a tone used exclusively when training dogs, when I closed enough applications to make the bell that day.

I believe the icing on the cake was when my trainer took it upon himself to ruin my surprise and tell the bosses that I was quitting that day before I returned from the office. After being told to wait to receive my check, I was shunned from the office and ignored as if I no longer existed. They literally had a conversation about their weekend plans 2 feet from me without so much as looking in my direction. This from the very same people who high-fived me every morning as part of the morning meeting. I guess our "business partnership" had been ended.

I am writing all this so that people who luckily stumble upon this site looking for information before really committing themselves to Empire Marketing. I must now admit that it is a multi-level marketing scam that only trains you how to mislead innocent business owners into signing contracts under the preface of updating their plans. So if you have a soul, a good heart, and ethics, see through the BS of preserving the customers and realize this is not the job for you.

Makes Sense Right?

Kaz
White Plains, New York
U.S.A.

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Cydor

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 08/23/2005 10:57 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/empire-marketing-concepts-cydcor/white-plains-new-york-10604/empire-marketing-concepts-cydcor-ripoff-unethical-fake-corrupt-deceitful-slave-labor-154688. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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#4 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Thanx

AUTHOR: Kaz - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Thank you for the update on the company. I have a strong feeling that Elizabeth will be at it again in no time being that from my research I saw that she used to "run" offices in California and Pennslyvania before.

But at least they are no longer local. Unfortunately I know of at least 2 others that run exactly the same way in just White Plains. What annoyed me was when I tried to get the D.A. and others to investigate they just kept passing the buck to some other department that supposedly handled that sort of situation.

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#3 Consumer Comment

Empire Marketing Has Closed White Plains, NY Office

AUTHOR: Wendy - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Marketing company pulls out of White Plains
By ALLAN DRURY
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: March 28, 2006)


WHITE PLAINS Empire Marketing Concepts Inc., a small company that ran sales campaigns for clients, has suddenly closed its White Plains office.

The company, which employed about 10 salespeople who worked strictly on commission, left 106 Corporate Park Drive last Friday, said Carolyn Coggins of Hartsdale, who worked in the office the past two months.

Coggins, who processed resumes and set up job interviews, said she suspected management was planning some sort of big move but the closing took her by surprise.

"When I walked in on Friday and they were dismantling the office, I was like 'Oh boy,' " she said. "I didn't think it was going to go down like that."

She said Elizabeth Harman, the president, told her she was going to Pennsylvania to take a job and that Nicole Smith, an assistant, was going to Boston.

Calls to the company's offices yesterday were not returned. The first-floor offices were locked.

Coggins said employee turnover was rapid. Nearly everyone the company hired was young most in their 20s and some stayed only a week or two. The job of the salespeople known as account managers was to go door to door and make pitches on behalf of clients, she said.

The company's Web site says it did work for phone giants AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., a company called Danone (possibly food maker Groupe Danone) and Innovative Merchant Solutions. Coggins said the only client she was aware Empire Marketing had during her stint was Innovative Merchant Solutions, a bank card processing company.

The site also says the company looks for "exceptional people."

Coggins said the company seemed desperate to hire just about anyone, as long as they were young, to fill the constant openings. She said she was told during her time at the company to discard the resume of any applicant who had been out of college for more than a few years.

The closing also left Artem Mischenko, a sophomore at Clarkson University in Potsdam, all dressed up with no place to go yesterday morning. He said he drove seven hours to be interviewed for an internship only to find the offices locked.

"I thought this was a good opportunity to get some experience in a real job," he said, obviously disappointed, as he left.

Coggins said she received her paycheck last Friday but was concerned about whether she will get one this Friday for the work she performed last week.

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#2 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Nice to know I helped....

AUTHOR: Ren - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, February 11, 2006

Hi Kaz,

I am very sorry to hear that this company has claimed more victims....

I filed my report almost three years ago, and right now I am making over 30k a year as a retail manager with full benefits (Vision, Health, and dental!) All while continueing my college education.

I get Holiday pay, vacation days, sick pay, and two REAL days off a week from work.

I am not expected to dedicate more than 45 hours a week to my job, and actually get in trouble for doing so. I Know that my paycheck every two weeks is going to clear $1000.00. I know I have gas money, bill money, and more than enough to put food on my table....in addition to enough extra to go out to eat whenever I want and have several hundred left in my savings.

I see my boss once every two weeks....and his boss once a month.

I may not be making 6 figures...but I have a beautiful two bedroom apartment, a new-ish car, two cats, a steady loving relationship, a social life, and my sanity. And I have No debt whatsoever.

A failure for leaving? I think not.

Look at it this way...it can only go up from here.

Best of luck to you.

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#1 Consumer Suggestion

The only way to avoid being brainwashed by these companies to avoid their scam altogether.

AUTHOR: Elizabeth - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, January 07, 2006

Their going after young adults for a reason. Most young adults are too impatient to wait a couple of years to make a six figure salary-they want it NOW!

Calm down is step 1. But considering most will ignore this, and head straight to monster.com and apply online to companies such as Empire, they need to listen better at the interviews.

Go in with an open mind that maybe, just maybe this position your going for does not exist and their trying to mislead you under false pretenses to try for another "position." These companies are just agencies that are fly by night if the going gets tough.

Step 3-do not sign any papers or show them your SS card/passport/driver's license until you have actual proff that you are an employee for them, this way you can file for unemployment if the going gets tough. Make them tell you if they provide unemployment first off.

And last but not least, do not lose yourself in all of this. They didn't hire you because of your degrees, work ethics, they hired you because they thought you could better service them under their guide lines. Who you are is not what their interested in.

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