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Report: #828065

Complaint Review: Blue Seven Marketing - lexington Kentucky

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  • Reported By: d — lexington Kentucky United States of America
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  • Blue Seven Marketing regency circle lexington, Kentucky United States of America

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I responded to an advertisement on CareerBuilder for entry level sales with Blue Seven Marketing.  I got a phone call within an hour which seemed odd. After a few minutes, I was asked to come for an interview which I arranged. I then did my due diligence and researched the company.

The first problem I noted was their website listed no real information for customers to contact them or understand the services offered. I then found no information about this company other than job listings. Even the domain is a blind listing.  After further research I found many other sites with the exact same wording. Some of these other sites can be tied directly to Cydcor or DSMax. 

I will leave it up to others to determine if they wish to be affiliated with this company. I do not know that they are connected but I will not be taking chances.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 01/24/2012 07:37 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/blue-seven-marketing/lexington-kentucky-40503/blue-seven-marketing-may-be-a-part-of-cydcor-lexington-kentucky-828065. 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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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
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13Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#13 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Not a scam... Just crap job

AUTHOR: Some Guy - (United States of America)

POSTED: Thursday, March 14, 2013

I've heard a lot of stories about this company that were very similar to my experience. First of all smart circle is not a scam, it is simply not a very good job let alone a career. I just quit today after working there for two months because I just needed a few paychecks to get me through the rest of the winter. I will explain how this job works as simple as I can.

First of all, READ the contracts you are signing before you start working there. I did and I knew exactly what I was getting into and I definitely knew I was only planning on working there for a couple months. It is %100 commission due to the claw back policy. I'm sure they bank on young ignorant people not reading these documents because they do not explain the process to you unless you ask many many questions. I got a paycheck every week that was based on my performance in the past weeks so they are not scamming anyone.

The job I had was selling DirectTV in Menards. You walk around trying to solicit people into switching their TV service to directTV and you sound like a complete *** while you are doing this. While DirectTV is a good service and it is a good deal we were pitching, the same deal can be found online at directtv.com. We were told to use some misleading wording that didn't actually disclose the full truth about some things but I never did that. I sold plenty of packages by telling people the complete truth about how much they would save them and what kind of service they would be getting. I did witness my boss a couple of times sell HD equipment and HD dvrs to
elderly people who didn't even have an HD TV and probably didn't even know how to work a cell phone... Shady.

As for the pay... You will work six days a week, including Saturday and Sunday, on your feet all day. The hourly is $9 an hour or commission (I was hired in at $12 but new hires got $9). You will meet at their office every morning where they will try to brainwash you into thinking this is an opportunity of a lifetime and that there is a lot of money to be made. This is not entirely untrue but this only happens in certain markets and there are always going to be people above you that will ensure they get paid the big bucks before you do. They speak of how
once you are an "owner" you will be making about $100,000 a year easily.

Haha! the sad part is they have been so brainwashed they actually believe it themselves. The "owner" that hired me drove a piece of ***  car that broke down every other week. It seemed to me that he made just enough money to pay for gas and his two cheap suits he wore every other day. I actually kind of feel bad for him. There was also this 18 year old kid in there, fresh out of high school, who is actually thinking  about dropping out of college and doing this for a living for the "big  bucks". I will be sure to contact him soon to make sure he doesn't make that mistake. I was smart enough to let all the cultish morning brainwash tactics go in one ear and out the other.

In conclusion, this company is shady but not a scam. If you need a few paychecks to fill a gap in your life it may work for you. It is definitely not a career. You will work long hours for about $400 a week. I did well selling the product because it is really not that hard, but there are a lot of instances that the service doesn't get
installed and you won't be paid for it, which makes sense because the sale didn't go through. I'm a small business owner who had a slow winter and needed to get through Feb and March. One thing I did learn is a few tips on how not to run a business and how naive some people can be... Don't buy into the hype please.

And for those of you who think you have been scammed, you obviously didn't read the contracts that you blindly signed.  It is in black and white right in front of your face... Grow up and get an education.

And thank you to all you Smart Circle zombies who's posts have been entertaining me the past few hours.  The system has worked on you!! you have been brainwashed into thinking you will be making enough money to retire early when in fact it is only the people on top of the pyramid that will make real income.  And you all seem to be the most uneducated moronic idiots on these forums.   Your grammar and spelling is comparable to a fifth grader.  I'm sure you fit right in with the Smart Circle business plan.

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#12 UPDATE EX-employee responds

I don't know what happened to my first response

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

POSTED: Wednesday, January 23, 2013

I responded a few weeks ago and I'm not sure what happened to my post, but Julie I will respond to you again to make you happy... To start my little guy post wasn't aimed at you, the only part of that post that was to you was the last sentence about the Jack and Julie screenname, you obviously didnt' pick up on that.

1. I'm criticizing a kid saying he's making great money, I am totally highballing it by saying $700 a week is what he makes, I'm sure it's more around $400, which translates to about $6 to $7 an hour and even it was $700 that's about $11 an hour, not good money at all.

2.Many companies don't offer healthcare, I'm sure Blue Seven doesn't either but they may give the impression that they do which many Smart Circle offices do even though they know it's an outright lie. I did say many offices during my healthcare offices by the way.

3. Did you really just compare me to Hitler? Seriously? What I'm saying is people are forced to act happy not because they want to. That seems a little more Hitlerish than me just pointing it out.  You may not have been there long enough to learn about the maintain a positive attitude in atmosphere thing. If you spent the whole day in your store and didn't make a sale, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being pissed off about it, however if you act pissed or say the day sucked in atmosphere you are reprimanded... why? They want to hide to new guys the reality that you won't make a sale everyday and want to give an impression that everyday is gonna be great, which is just not the reality of life.

4. I was never disappointed by what their version of an opportunity was, I actually didn't do too bad there. What bothers me and causes me to make comments is their classic misrepresentation of success rates within that opportunity.  Why can't they just be honest? Tell people when they walk in that 1 out of 100 people that start there will make it to management, that is the truth.  When selling in the field you have an opportunity to make 1K a week but more than likely will make 300-400 a week.  That is what the business truly is, I don't see why it can't be represented that way.

So what you misinterpret as anger, is really just me trying to give young job seekers an honest representation of what they are walking into

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#11 UPDATE EX-employee responds

In Re: Hey "little guy"

AUTHOR: Jack - (United States of America)

POSTED: Sunday, January 06, 2013

At this point, it's fairly obvious who the real "little guy" here is. Whoever you are, you are angry over something that's not worth it, and you have made a mockery of this Rip Off dispute with your name-calling and other immature retorts.

1. Why are you so angry? Yes, it's a tough economy, but that means that now more than ever is when you really need to pull yourself together. I sympathize with you for being disgruntled over a job, but let's look at what you're criticizing here: A kid who makes $700 a week? Seriously? 

2. I went to college, and I don't have healthcare. I currently work for Lexington Container Company - a company that has absolutely nothing to do with Cydor, Blue Seven or Smart Circle. But instead of pointing the finger at other people, I take accountability for the decisions I've made. Healthcare would be cool, but I'm just glad to have a job so I can pay off these loans and get on with my life.

3. Who is really brainwashed here? Whoever you are - you like to hide and talk big - you presume that everyone around you is susceptible to being brainwashed, yet these people you are accusing are happy and not negative. You, however, sound like Hitler! There are entirely too many angry white men out there. Fine, you don't have healthcare and you didn't like your job - well, join the club! At least you had one.

4. Let's once again evaluate your accusations. You are straight up pissed because people who work for a company, that works for another company, promised "opportunities" that disappointed you? You are mad because some people don't have a problem with that? Grow up and join the real world. It's not what your employers can offer you, it's what you can offer the workforce. Be an asset, not a Negative Nancy. And please, whatever you do, do not purchase anymore firearms. 

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#10 General Comment

I have a vagina

AUTHOR: Jack - (United States of America)

POSTED: Saturday, January 05, 2013

You seem to be confusing more than one rebuttal as coming from one person. I went under the pen name "Jack Offenstein" because I thought it was funny. I wasn't the one who told you you were "served." Please read the arguments you are refuting first before you go off on embarrassingly inaccurate rants.  

1. Why are you so angry? Look, it's a tough economy, but we've got to hold it together as a society. There are entirely too many angry white people out there. Being disgruntled over a job is only natural, but hey, don't let it get the best of you, and please don't hurt other people.

2. What's with the "little man" remark? You're not offending me - a FEMALE with a VAGINA who is a FEMINIST. 

3. I work for the Lexington Container Company. I still don't have healthcare, and I don't make $700 a week, but I don't blame the "atmosphere room" for any of my decisions. In fact, I'm cool with it. 

4. I will not give you my tax statements because any reasonably-intelligent hacker would know it's not worth the trouble. And also, it's a bit creepy you're still demanding this when I've put myself out there. Who are you? Here's my picture. Jack Off 




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#9 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Hey little guy

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

POSTED: Friday, January 04, 2013

Yes you can help me sir, please report back with your full expense report. You make great money, for a young person like yourself I assume that means approximately $700 per week. If it is more than please post a picture of your paystub (obviously blank out all personal information). Since it is such a legitimate company, please prove that your company reimburses you for gas for your trips from atmosphere to your store.

You obviously aren't too keen on brainwashing techniques but there is a reason you see them as your second family, because they make sure you spend ALL your time with them in order to keep your supposed "negative" influences away from you at home of which include your family and friends. So since your owner is such and honest and successful guy, how long has he been in the business and how many outside deals does he have, that would also help explain my point for you. 

I'm sure you don't have a degree so let's not talk about qualifications. So at the end I will just copy and paste your childish line

WOULD YOU LOOK AT IT! JUST LOOK AT IT!! Because YOU...my friend have been served!

To the second person, the fact your profile says Jack and you say your name is Julie is enough for me to know your employment status with the company

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#8 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Hi. My name is Julie, and I don't work for Blue Seven Marketing Group

AUTHOR: Jack - (United States of America)

POSTED: Thursday, January 03, 2013
Aside from giving you my social security number and tax statements, I have no idea how to convince you - whoever you are - that I am not an employee of Blue Seven Marketing Group.

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#7 UPDATE Employee

Quatro! Quatro!

AUTHOR: Quatro Quatro - (United States of America)

POSTED: Thursday, January 03, 2013

PSSSHHHHH!!

Blue 7 Marketing is not one bit a brainwashing marketing group. I dedicated a year and a half to Best Buy being one of their top employees. The owner of Blue 7 started working in my store weekends a few months before the holiday season, bringing our connection levels of the store for DirecTv from dead last to number 1 in the district.

I contacted the owner on my time to see the opportunity they offered at Blue 7. Yes at first the word "commission" scared me a little bit, coming from a past of doing lots of commission jobs and never making ends meet. I figured I'd give it a shot and try it out. Within my first 2 week I doubled my monthly income that I made at Best Buy, made leadership, and now train new hires, and they all love the opportunity given to them to be successful.

The atmosphere in the office isn't your typical work place. Oh let me also tell you about our Impact Room, which is brainwash city......NOT! My co-workers are like a second family to me, we laugh, joke arround, and do silly games all the time. I mean if brainwashing is making great money every week, free food for the whole team at a nice restaurant, and help with any problems your having, like your car breaking down on the side of the highway and a co-worker bringing you a can of gas in the middle of the night, then brainwash me some more!

Also my boss drives a very beautiful...let me rephrase that....SEXY Mustang! We work in a very positive, friendly, professional, fun, and hard-working environment. I can't say that for every office under Smart Circle, but I can say this job has definitely opened the doors for my career. I honestly believe you're a negative person who just didn't meet the qualifications the be in one of the best markets across the nation and all you have time now to do is troll.

WOULD YOU LOOK AT IT! JUST LOOK AT IT!! Because YOU...my friend have been served!

Sincerely,
The Player formally known as Mouscop!

Oh yea don't let me forget, if there is anything else I can help you out with today Sir, just feel free to ask. :]

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#6 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Nobody believes that you don't work there

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

POSTED: Thursday, January 03, 2013

It's pretty obvious that you are an employee there but just for giggles we will pretend that you really don't work there.

The Atmosphere room and Impact room are the same thing, ALL Managers will use this to brainwash their employees into the "opportunity". I do think I see where you are garnering the confusion when you some managers use this to brainwash. The problem is that some managers don't realize they are brainwashed and thus don't realize they are brainwashing beneath them as well.

Now out of integrity any company under the umbrella of Smart Circle shall be deemed a scam.  The owner or manager has no power, if they don't listen to their promoting manager or the VP of their organization they will lose their Smart Circle license and therefore be forced to close. The promoting owners make sure that the younger owners toe the Smart Circle line. They are not truly business owners, they do not have any freedom. A business owner can open and close their doors however they see fit, not in Smart Circle. Now since "you don't work there", did they reimburse you for gas while you were there? This base pay you speak of, was it a base + commission or just what I said, minimum wage until your commissions supercede that of minimum wage? Were you paid for the time you were in atmosphere? I've worked in this system and I produced, I however have a heart and a brain and get disgusted at what companies like this do to it's employees. 13 hour days 6 days a week for $350 a week.... and you defend this? Must I go on?

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#5 UPDATE EX-employee responds

I Am Not an Employee of Blue Seven Marketing

AUTHOR: Jack - (United States of America)

POSTED: Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Once again, I am not an employee of Blue Seven Marketing Group, Smart Circle or any of your alleged affiliates. I was an employee. I am no longer working for the company.

The "Atmosphere Room" is a tool that some owners may use to brainwash their employees. This is not the case with Blue Seven Marketing Group which uses the "Impact Room," and all I witnessed from these meetings were a few silly games and a demonstration with peanut butter.

There is also a base pay. True, this was not the case with other owners, namely Ajay Varma, who was the owner of Victory Marketing Group and who did essentially rip me off.

In order to maintain the integrity of Ripoff Reports, we must bear in mind that only the people who are guilty of ripping people off should be named -- and not instead, irrationally tie others into this category based on his or her association with the parent company.

This system is considered negative by people who cannot produce; however, I am glad that I was open-minded enough to see my potential under different leadership. And if I was really brainwashed, I would still be working for the company. Instead, I left under fairly good terms with the mutual understanding that I would be a better fit doing online marketing for a different company all together.  
 

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#4 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Thank you for saying you are not the owner, but you are still an employee and Smart Circle is still the same as Cydcor

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

POSTED: Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Thank you for your reply so I will go a little more in depth as I do know the Big Box model that Cydcor/Smart Circle have adopted for certain campaigns.

Recruitment is still very shady as they will promise you 35-45K in your first year at the company which in the big box model actually is only minimum wage guaranteed if your sales commissions don't surpass minimum wage, since by law you cannot put an employee in a retail setting and not compensate them for their wages. However there is about 3-4 hours of unpaid office time of which the brainwashing techniques come in, through an environment called atmosphere where everybody is hunky dory and nothing can ever go wrong. They will preach that you will be a manager in less than a year which is entirely untrue since most owners of Smart Circle offices never promote outside managers. Second they will promise as a manager that you will make 80K in your first year, also untrue... the average manager is lucky to scrap by with 35K. They will live in a house with 6 other employees just trying to make ends meet, many times the owner cannot even afford a car to get around.  Employees are not compensated for gas mileage as their store location can be varying distances. There are no health benefits offered though many offices will give you the impression they actually have it. I can keep going if need be but I think you all will get the point now. Good Luck! Hey Guys! Hey What! I'm sure you do that in your atmosphere too

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#3 UPDATE EX-employee responds

I am not the owner of Blue Seven Marketing Group

AUTHOR: Jack - (United States of America)

POSTED: Sunday, December 30, 2012

I am not sure where the author of the above rebuttal got his/her information, but once again, the statements made about Blue Seven Marketing Group are wrong.

1. I am not the owner of the company. I don't even work there anymore. And in fact, I don't even feel the need to hide behind anonymity. My name is Julie, and I was an employee of Blue Seven Marketing Group up until last week. I sold DirecTV subscriptions out of local Best Buys.

2. Smart Circle is Blue Seven Marketing's parent company; therefore, they are not the same thing. One is a franchise, the other serves as the business model. So if Smart Circle was peddling coupons door-to-door then wouldn't that be the protocol for its subsidiaries? Since employees of Blue Seven Marketing don't peddle coupons....

3. It is not a 100 percent commission-based job. At Blue Seven Marketing group, there is an actual base pay that factor in the hours that each employee worked. Since I started under a different owner, I know that this is not always the case. But Blue Seven's owner, Kevin, is about as nice and decent as any boss I've had. 

Blue Seven Marketing Group is a small company based in Louisville, Kentucky. The staff is a diverse group of hardworking, and often hilarious group of people. Sales is the toughest job I've ever had, but working with this team made it possible - and the money was good.

Believe it or not, I have nothing negative to say about this job whatsoever. The only reason I left was because I was given another opportunity that more closely follows my background. 

So there you have it! The truth about a company from an insider's perspective.... and wouldn't you know it... it's not bad!







 

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#2 UPDATE EX-employee responds

To clarify that response, it's the same thing

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

POSTED: Thursday, December 27, 2012

I think we all appreciate the owner replying about the affiliations of his company so I will just chime in to help out. Cydcor, Smart Circle, and DS-Max are all the same thing just different products. The same business model is used in all three as well as the deceptive recruitment practices. Sure some owners are more honest than others, but they all have basically the same mentality at the end of the day.

Cydcor offices sells products and services door to door and business to business through cold-calling face to face.

Smart Circle sells coupon books to basically anybody, their reps are given a sales territory but whatever it is they are pushing can usually go to anybody.

DS Max sells actual products that you can buy anywhere like phones, pillows, etc. You can tell them cause they are walking around with big bags usually.

There is another one called Quantum I believe and they like to set up stands outside of stores and give the impression the money goes to charity when in reality they only give 5% (and that's not even guaranteed)

End of the day, all three are peddlers that work on 100% commission... Go for it if you want to get some sales experience but try to avoid the brain washing techniques that you will be a manager. Out of all the people that walk through the door to start working there maybe 1 in 400 will get that opportunity. So use this information wisely and good luck to all.

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#1 UPDATE Employee

In Response to the Claim that Blue Seven Marketing Group is Affilliated with Cydcor

AUTHOR: Jack - (United States of America)

POSTED: Thursday, December 20, 2012

It is true that Blue Seven Marketing Group - along with many
other companies these days - had enlisted the services of an outside source to
manage its online reputation; however, it should not be incorrectly assumed -
as it was in this situation - that a generic webpage is indicative of illegitimate
business practices.



In reality, Blue Seven Marketing Group is a part of a larger company called
Smart Circle. According to Smart Circle's own website, the company
"provides direct sales services through a third party sales network."




What this means is that Smart Circle, which is partnered with companies such as
DirecTV, promotes owners from within its company to operate franchised
businesses that can run DirecTV campaigns from within locally-based retailers
such as Best Buy and Sam's Club.



Although there is a specific business model by which each franchise must
comply, the culture of each marketing group is created by the individual owner.




I am not familiar with Cydor or DSMax, but if these companies stem from Smart
Circle and have yielded less than stellar employee reviews, it is possibly the
fault of each individual owner. How an owner decides to treat his or her
employees is up to their discretion - perhaps this could be a flaw within the
business model, which excludes instructions over moral behavior.



But these types of seminars, which are clouded with acronyms and lectures about
common sense behavior, are often an annoying feature typical of corporations
today. Perhaps Smart Circle assumes that its owners possess an exceptional
amount of social intelligence based on their sales skills. 



Furthermore, it's not only cynical - but irrational - to imply that there is
something worth deeming suspicious about a company that contacts its applicants
within an hour of his or her application. This practice merely suggests that
there obviously a need for employment and that the company's recruiters are exercising
their "due diligence" by carrying through with their job responsibilities
at a commendable pace.

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