Cobra Group - DSP Group - Biramint Cobra DSP and BIRAMINT uses manipulative techniques to create unrealistic ambitions ripoff Sydney Australia Internet

After unearthing this site following my frustration over the few weeks I worked for Cobra Group in one of their Sydney based offices I feel the need to bring up issues and ethics in reference to this large marketing company. After viewing all these complaints I realise how Cobra uses its manipulative techniques on vulnerable young people who are seeking opportunities in the work force.

For fear of retribution I will keep my identity concealed. My association with Cobra initiated after I responded to an advertisement on a popular job search website, after having sent my resume' I received a phone call almost immediately telling me how my resume' was chosen ahead of many applicants and how they considered it quite attractive. Not thinking about the sort of work I would be doing and considering my circumstances I jumped at an opportunity to make some quick money.

I arrived at the office in casual clothes without expecting very much. I was immediately in awe of the people wearing suits and marching confidently around the office saying they had to rush to a conference with a large corporate client. During my interview I was asked questions about my previous occupations and experience before I was invited back for a second interview, at this point in time I was still not sure what was yet to come for me.

My second interview (Observation day) was on a Tuesday morning. I arrived at the office dressed in business attire like I was instructed to and was bought out to the field and showed five sales that were at a rate of forty-five dollars a piece. Being somewhat disappointed at the work we were doing but nevertheless attracted to the prospect of making money which I needed urgently at the time I was very excited to be welcomed as a new recruit for this large company.

After the training day I began to work on the field immediately. I was instantly taught the five steps, merching up and how to deal with negative customers etc During my first two days I inquired about the salary, they responded by telling me it was a commission based wage and was also told I was going be looked after' until I started to become consistent in sales. I was told I needed to sign an agreement that would legalise my employment with this particular branch of the Cobra group which I signed two weeks after having been employed and having reminding them on numerous occasions.

The first few weeks were great in the sense that I was working in a positive' environment and started becoming more consistent in making sales. I even blindly overlooked the purpose of morning meetings that I just viewed as a positive ritual for creating an objective and motivating these people knocking on doors. These morning meetings were run by either an owner or vice president of the company and where always preceded by a couple of hours of pitch practice.'

After my third week in the company I still blindly overlooked issues like my modest pay, inconvenient working hours, being told to f*** off by every second door and these mysterious rejects I was getting due to, I quote from leader, my inability to explain an installation process correctly and not making quality sales. (I will say more about this later.) I started to average about eight to ten sales a week meaning I should have earned something like four hundred and fifty dollars which is an appalling rate to be payed for twelve hours a day, six days a week and providing your own money to buy food and petrol to get to your work site (I never got payed more than three hundred and sixty dollars).

After a decent week of making three sales or in cobra terminology ringing the bell' three days in that week and making thirteen sales I was beginning to be quite excited about the prospect of getting at least six hundred dollars for the week and progressing closer to the financial goal I set for myself. Once Friday arrived I ran to the bank to find three hundred and sixty dollars and was quite disenchanted.

The following morning I approached my owner and asked him where my money had gone and his reply was quite ambiguous; I had a few installation rejects. At this point half of my money had been lost to rejects. The following week I vowed to make less rejects by drastically improving my quality of sales which was probably the best in the office already, things like paperwork were double checked before I left the house, before I left the field, in the car and when arriving back to the office I usually had two other people check the paperwork. My approach to rehashing' became flawless, I was literally writing down the procedure for them, giving them my personal cell phone numbers and building a relationship with them before I left the door.

During that week my leader was banned from selling on behalf of our client (a large telecommunications company) and spent the next few days driving around the turf. He asked me to keep this confidential because any bad publicity would damage morale. It was at about this time I was selected to go on a road trip to another state, I was pulled aside by the owner of Biramint and told I was part of an elite group to be sent down to Melbourne to initiate a new campaign, he then told me I was on his radar and starting to acquire his belief that I could be an important asset to his company, he wanted me to start up a new company and build my team. Even though I keep my real goals personal I will never compromise being anything less than what I perceive of myself, that is being the best.

I took my modest savings which could only have been acquired through the help of my mother who aided me with my expenses and went to spend half of my savings on a brand new shirt and fragrance and spent three hundred and fifty dollars to improve my image because I was now feeling like a part of something bigger than just knocking on doors. A certain vice president told me that everything was going to be paid for and we were going to stay in hotel for five of the six days. This hotel was basically a youth hostel in a luxury suburb, the airfare was paid for and so was our accommodation, however, all our food was purchased out of our own expense along with the petrol money we had to pay.

This is where my experience with cobra transformed. I had been quite concerned about the amount of money I was earning or as a matter of fact wasn't earning before I left for this field trip. I bought one hundred and fifty dollars with me and basically ran out of money on Wednesday. Buying food, money for the petrol and in general just looking after myself was a burden. I soon realized that other people who were high rolling' had the same problem, I was under the illusion they were making plenty money when basically they were barely surviving.

I was amazed to see how they never complained about knocking on doors and were actually making it sound like door knocking was a noble job. One morning I actually walked in without having a clean shave, having had very little sleep and no money to buy razorblades I was told publicly to go and shave with another razor that had been already used and without hot water. I had a bad irritation on my skin but obviously the owner didn't care.

People were soon realising something wasn't right with me because I was constantly frowning and not making any sales. People at cobra might call that negging out' but I call it waking up. After they sent me rock climbing somewhere in Victoria and were disappointed because I didn't make any sales I found that my time with cobra was going to be finishing very soon. They continued celebrating their sales with loud music and bell ringing sessions that essentially made everyone out to be on a thousand dollar week. I knew this wasn't real because I could see the struggle these bell ringers were going through each day trying to find money to buy food. Owners often talked about wanting to buy very expensive cars, always dressed in sharp suits and generally talked big, when it was time to actually deliver the reality always prevailed. You can fool some people but not everyone.

I was stressed out by the constant bullsh** surrounding our job. I was indirectly addressed about my attitude and sales by a certain vice president who by my information didn't even make a sale when he decided to hop onto the field to kick-start the new campaign. I could no longer stand the hypocrisy, deception and manipulation of these dishonest rodents. I decided I was no longer going to commit to working hard for nothing and vowed to resign as soon as I got to Sydney. Friday came and I received had only received one hundred dollars out of the eight sales I made the week before. I spent most of my day sleeping once I had been dropped off in a designated turf, I no longer felt the need of applying myself to be complimented by assholes who were stealing my money.

At this point I silently told another colleague that I had befriended on this trip that I was quitting as soon as we got back to Sydney, this girl was brainwashed so she wasn't supportive of my intention. As soon as I got back from Melbourne I said bye to my ex colleagues without telling them I was leaving. I kept my phone switched off for a week which didn't stop my brainwashed ignorant leader trying to convince me about the prospects of this business, I politely refused.

After speaking to some ex colleagues I found out that my leader had actually told them I was terminated because of my incompetence and bad attitude (im not the one who got ejected from a campaign for misleading customers). That week a few owners quit and a couple from our office got put on re train. All the smart people left that week leaving all the poor and ignorant zombies dreaming about the cars and money they will earn once they become an owner, dream on.

Ricky australia
Australia