Ripoff Report Needs Your Help!
X  |  CLOSE
Report: #1282919

Complaint Review: CDM Media - Chicago Illinois

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: anonymous — California USA
  • Author Confirmed What's this?
  • Why?
  • CDM Media 20 W Kinzie Street Suite 1400 Chicago, Illinois USA

Show customers why they should trust your business over your competitors...

Is this
Report about YOU
listed on other sites?
Those sites steal
Ripoff Report's
content.
We can get those
removed for you!
Find out more here.
How to fix
Ripoff Report
If your business is
willing to make a
commitment to
customer satisfaction
Click here now..

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH CDM MEDIA.

I feel it necisarry that I write this report.  I have worked with CDM two times, the first was in person with my previous company and now a second time with a new company.  This second time I wasnt part of the team onsite but heard all about it.  They are not only a horrible company that useds intense sale practices to push their product, but they will say what ever they need to make the sale.  

The first time we attended they sold us by showing us a list of execs....that was a joke.  Maybe 10% of the execs on that list actually attended and the others were just ghost names they probalby copy and pasted or they would say the CIO was attended and the actuall attendee was like a Director and straight from college with zero authority or anything even close to being able to help you out.  They also told us that 50-60 CIO's would be there and it was more like 30.  

I will say that the staff onsite was really nice, but excluding the CEO (Glenn Willis) and some other snotty guy names Mark Southem.  I actually had to check the website after the event to verify that these are the two top execs for the company, and it showed why this company is a joke.  These guys are straight crooks.  I have never met two sales guys (I am in sales for 20+ yrs myslef) who spew more nonsense in my life....was like getting a martgage 10 yrs ago.  They will spin everything and talk and talk and make promises that will never happen.  

When we were there a number of people we were suppsoed to meet with didnt show up and they told us they would connect us with them after the event...that never happened.  Whlie at the event i was talking with the other compnaies that were there and i didnt hear one positive comment from any of them.  In fact, a few of them said they had been to multi events and said they are all like this, and pretty much a waste of time but that their companies had signed up for a bunch so they were just using up the credits till they ran out.  

I talked to a number the so called "CIO's" that were there and we found out that CDM pretty much pays for them to attend.  Several of them told us that the only reason they came was to take a break from work and stay at a nice hotel with all expenses paid.....what a joke.

 

My second expereince with them is with my current company and I tried to talk them out fo doing the event but they wanted to test it out and when we breafed upon their return the results were identical.  The reason I am writting this is becuase the preactices they use are unethical and just straight lies.  And even after all fo this and us telling them to please stop calling us I am still getting their sales calls conacting me and everytime its starts with the same rediculous urgency story blah blah blah.  I go to many confences/tradeshows, and when ever CDM's names is brought up its always a good laugh that we have and we compare the differt story they told us to sell on the phone and that joker Mark Southem and his little sales tactics

 

Hope this helps for anyone thinking about wasting their money on them

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 01/28/2016 10:12 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/cdm-media/chicago-illinois-60654/cdm-media-cdm-is-a-scam-their-events-are-horrible-and-they-will-scam-you-out-of-your-mon-1282919. 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

Search for additional reports

If you would like to see more Rip-off Reports on this company/individual, search here:

Report & Rebuttal
Respond to this report!
What's this?
Also a victim?
What's this?
Repair Your Reputation!
What's this?

Updates & Rebuttals

REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
3Consumer
2Employee/Owner

#5 Consumer Comment

DO NOT WORK WITH CDM

AUTHOR: Jim - (United States)

POSTED: Monday, December 03, 2018

So my company recentyl worked with CDM at an event and I can tell you that it was horrible.  I had seen the reviews here previously but thought maybe it was just someone upset with the company.  I can tell you that they are 100% truthful and these guys are horrible.  We had previously signed up for a different even but that was i guuess deleayed or there was some story they told us.  I am guessing we just fell for one of their fake events which was mentioned in teh previos post.  But we ended up being told to attend another event adn they showed us a list of exec's that were attending and it looked great.  When we got onsite, none of those people were actually in attendance.  The entire event was a comlete waste of time and money.  I spoke with one of the execs named Mark Southam who is a reall a*s.  The guy is super pompass and just talks in circles. 

And on a side note, in their post on this site they list many of there "happy cleints"  After the event we actually spoek to someone of them and they are all no longer clients if that says anything  

 

I would stay far and clear away from this company and anythign with their name attached to it.

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#4 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Response to Complaints

AUTHOR: Martin - (United States)

POSTED: Friday, September 07, 2018

I was an employee at CDM back in 2013-2014. I can't speak for how things are now because I clearly don't know as I do not work there. However, I can speak on my experiences while in CDM's employ. When at CDM I was always given an opportunity for learning and growth. Yes, the job was incredibly demanding and from time to time tempers would flair, however, we always closed the day with congratulations, handshakes, high-fives, and some drinks to wash down the stress. At the time I worked on the LATAM Division and was given a lot of flexibility with how to approach these C-level executives. There was quite a bit of trust placed in me to deliver as i was only 1 of 4 individuals in the office that could actually communicate in Spanish with these executives. My director at the time provided overwhelming support and training and always gave credit where it was due. 

The majority of us were all very competitive and we were a great team and we were great at our job. I suppose from the outside looking in it would seem like a toxic place in the same way that someone would consider family arguing in their front yard as dysfunctional.  However, the relationships between coworkers resembled that of kinship. Co-workers would often host parties, or get-togethers at their homes as a way to relax and destress and this in part made us a much more cohesive unit. It's unfortunate that recent employees may not have had the same experiences as I did, but again I'm only speaking to my experience. When I decided to go back and finish my college degree, Glenn Willis, allowed me to leave a bit earlier to get to class on time, Nelson and my team would coordinate and cover for me if there was work left over just so I would be held up in traffic. 

I had a lot of fun and boy did I learn A TON while there. I met some fantastic people with whom I still stay in touch with. The skills I developed while there have helped me become successful in future roles and I just wish everyone would try to look past the stress and demands of the job and find the positives. 

Again, just speaking from my experiences. 

Toodles. 

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#3 REBUTTAL Owner of company

CDM Media - worst company ever

AUTHOR: anonymous - (USA)

POSTED: Friday, May 26, 2017

I am a current employee of CDM Media, and I can confirm everything written above about how horrible and corrupt this company is.  To add I want to make a few things clear if you are planning to work here

If you are a woman prepare to be sexually harassed.  The senior execs…ALL OF THEM…have zero respect for woman and harass us with sexist comments and actions.  There is even a current lawsuit based on the fact that a female employee who worked here was harassed by a senior manager and when she went to HR, they told her she miss heard and he wouldn’t say those things so she tape recorded him top prove it.  It wasn’t till they heard the tapes that they tried to silence her, and that exec is still working here.  The Head in NY, Mark Southam, has a reputation of trying to sleep with every woman and was even openly dating a woman that worked here while still married!!!!!  The CEO, Glenn Willis, is a creep and sleazes on us all when he gets drunk.  They think because they are British they can get away with it, well not anymore.  At the summits they try and get us drunk and pawn us off to the clients who are there

 

So if you want to be sexually harassed CDM is a great place to come!!!

 

Also since I work in the back room and see what goes on, they pretty much screw over all the sales guys who work there.  They are constantly changing commission structures and figuring out ways to not pay employees what’s owed.  

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#2 UPDATE Employee

TRUTH - The Real CDM

AUTHOR: anonymous - (USA)

POSTED: Thursday, May 25, 2017

I was an employee of the company and recently left in last few months which is why I am now writing this.  This company is horrible and everything in the initial complaint is 100 % true.  I am not a disgruntled employee or mad, but its tile the truth was told. 

ALL the events are pretty much scams.  The culture within CDM is to lie, deceive, do what ever you have to do to close a deal.  Their entire training is all about just getting the client to sign up, doesn't matter if that means to literally make things up.  This is how the process works:

Sales process:

-a sales person is given a topic and you go online and pull every company that is related in anyway to that topic.

-Then you cold call all these company’s trying to get a decision maker on the phone and then user this horrible pitch to try and sell them on how the event is exclusive, and they were hand picked because the attending Exec's (buyers) have told us that they are spending in that area and want to meet solution providers in that solution.  Realty is that you were just the next lead in the pile.

-At which point, a manager like Mark Southam (a huge con man and complete jack a*s) will either coach you through the call or will get on the line and pretty much lie and make all these promises to get you to sign up.  These promises will never happen

-They make us use these crazy URGENCY STORES in the sales pitch that someone just dropped out, or we had a last second need, etc....they are all bullshit.  They can barely fill the events, plenty of space.

NOW WHAT REALY HAPPENS:

-the company lists over 100 summits on their site....95% WILL NEVER HAPPEN!!!!

-Pretty much they create all these events so that they can always find some type of an event that a company can fall into.  Then once you sign up, they take your money and your stuck.  Pretty much if you look in the contract they have the right to move events, so pretty much they just keep either pushing an event or push you to another event that you never signed up for.  The whole thing is a BAIT AND SWITCH. ITS A SCAM!!!!!!!  

-They claim they are bringing 50-60 C Level exec's....BULLSHIT.....its more like 20-30 maybe, and of those maybe 3-4 are actual decision makers and the rest are directors or assistants or other position that have ZERO BUYING authority but come from a big company.  So they say the CIO of Wall-Mart is coming…..but when the event comes along the exec is like a director of some division, but not a DM.

CDM doesn’t care if you have a good time or sign up again, they just move on to another company. They want that initial money and they move on.  It’s is why when you work there there you will never get a commission if a company rebooks…it rarely ever happens.  Once on site, we make promises that we will get you meetings after the event with those the “couldn’t make it” but those will never happen.  They know once you leave the event you will forget and move on. 

The CEO of this Company, Glenn Willis, is a complete scum bag.  The guy uses a fake name, and will call clients to make sales and lies all over the place.  I would know as he has closed deals for me and after I would ask if we can do that, and his response is, "we will worry about that later"  

I am not writing this to get back at the...I could care less, but you should at least know what you are sign up for and can pretty much guarantee that you will get zero value 

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#1 REBUTTAL Individual responds

To the competitor who wrote this

AUTHOR: Mark Southam - (USA)

POSTED: Wednesday, December 07, 2016

I am Mark Southam and have worked at CDM Media for 9 and half years now.  During which time I have had an amazing time seeing the business grow from running a single event to now running 200+ events across the Americas and Western Europe.  I will always encourage clients to reach out direct if ever unpleased by CDM Media's level of service or approach. 

I am not sure if this is a legitimate post or not.  I base that simply upon the fact that most executives with 20+ years experience in sales tend to be able to communicate with far better spelling and grammar.  For true experiences working with CDM please feel free to reach out to some of our clients directly.  These include the likes of IBM, SAP, Workday, Netsuite, Rimini Street, Fortinet, HPE, Centurylink and many more.  I'd also be very happy to respond directly at stated above and can be reached at mark.southam@cdmmedia.com

Respond to this report!
What's this?
Featured Reports

Advertisers above have met our
strict standards for business conduct.

X
What do hackers,
questionable attorneys and
fake court orders have in common?
...Dishonest Reputation Management Investigates Reputation Repair
Free speech rights compromised

WATCH News
Segment Now