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Report: #574385

Complaint Review: Merl Group - J9 Executives, Stephen Kordella - indianapolis Indiana

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  • Reported By: Adam — Indiana USA
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  • Merl Group - J9 Executives, Stephen Kordella 8425 Woodfield Crossing Suite 100 indianapolis, Indiana United States of America

Merl Group - J9 Executives, Stephen Kordella TMG Solutions, The Merl Group Changing their name LOL! indianapolis, Indiana

*UPDATE EX-employee responds: Don't Believe the Rebuttal

*UPDATE Employee: Unfortunate Defamation

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So it looks like Steve is back at it.  He even shortened the name from The Merl Group to TMG... clever!  The bottom line is that he will continue to treat his people and his girlfriend (Theresa) like garbage.  It's obvious by his pay structure and abrasive comments that he is a selfish person. 

My experience with The Merl Group was dreadful.  It was obvious that everyone there didn't want to work there, not only because it was door to door sales but because Steve is a big douscher.  There was almost a fear of quitting... it was really odd.  He made everyone feel like they were a loser if they chose not to work for The Merl Group (TMG).

After I quit, I was owed almost $300 in commissions but didn't see a dime.  I called to talk to Steve but he was ALWAYS on a conference call or in a meeting... weird.  So I thought I would just walk in... Sure enough, they were no longer in the same office HA!  Now it's worth more to me to see him go down.  He can keep his $300 for anger management and counseling.

His poor girlfriend even looked scared out of her mind sitting at the front desk.  Almost like he's going to rage on her next! LOL!  Hopefully she gets smart before he tries to force her to marry him. 

TMG Solutions - Crappy Pay - Psycho Boss - No Thanks!

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 02/24/2010 02:26 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/merl-group-j9-executives-stephen-kordella/indianapolis-indiana-46240/merl-group-j9-executives-stephen-kordella-tmg-solutions-the-merl-group-changing-their-574385. 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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Updates & Rebuttals

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

#2 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Don't Believe the Rebuttal

AUTHOR: Previous Employee - (United States of America)

POSTED: Wednesday, November 02, 2011

I worked for a week and a half. I also looked at some of their pictures they put up 5 months after I left. There was exactly 2 people still employed there that were there when I was. They have to be churning employees in and out. Their attrition rate without exaggeration is probably close to 98%. It's ridiculous that I didn't do my homework before starting here. Everyday for that week and a half, they were interviewing more and more people. This is hire as many people as those that were quitting.

The rebuttal says you don't do door-to-door sales and that you work with only big companies. That is a laughable lie. You are an outsourced sales team. You go DOOR TO DOOR at strip malls and up and down the street trying to sell AT&T cell phone and plans (if they still do AT&T, they may do T-Mobile or some Staples-related company now). When you walk in a business, someone from TMG has already been there so the owner knows what is going to happen. You the owner to see their bill to "make sure you are receiving the business discounts." In reality, you have no business looking at their bill and personal information. What they are having you do is calculate if you can beat their price. Many times, you find someone who already has AT&T. What you are supposed to do is sell them an air card or add a line to give them a business discount. However, the reps don't emphasize that the new line or air card now has a 24 month agreement from the sale. They con the owners into signing up for something they don't want. Countless times I walked in to a business without saying a single word and the owner says "Someone from AT&T was already here, get out." You are supposed to use your own gas and put tons of miles on your car to see 60 businesses in one day. You do NOT get reimbursed for this.

Next, you have two "payment options." 100% commission or base + commission. Base is $250/month + 35% commission. You only bring in about $500-$600 in commission a week. Meaning the base + commission would be $460/week. That's $24000 annually! That's also a good week by their standards. As you see the base option is a ploy Stephen is using to make more money while falsely giving employees a safety valve of having a guaranteed paycheck.

In my week and a half, 4 people including myself left the company. Yet Stephen acted like no one left and everything was fine. You are expected to work Monday-Friday 7:30 am - 5:30 pm. That's 50 hours and no breaks. You are also expected to not take very long at lunches. Aka get fast food and keep walking.

The reason they sell AT&T cell plans is because they got in trouble for selling AT&T landlines. What they did when sold landlines was add phone lines the business owner doesn't need. They would con owners into signing up for this. Instead of lowering the bill like they would say, the bill would be raised with additional lines.

Lastly, TMG SOLUTIONS IS A SUBSIDIARY OF CYDCOR AKA A MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING SCHEME. HE IS GOING TO SAY IT IS NOT, BUT LOOK AT HIS LINKEDIN PROFILE. HE HAS A RECOMMENDATION FROM SOMEONE:

I had the pleasure of working with Stephen. In spite of the fact that we worked in a fast paced and challenging environment, Stephen remained focused, driven and determined to succeed. He took an interest in both the careers and personal goals of his team mates, pushing and inspiring them throughout the ups and downs of the business. I recommend Stephen as both a mentor, and resources for learning the business. August 11, 2009

3rd Anysha S., Account executive, Cydcor reported to Stephen at Cydcor

This place is cancer. Do not work here. Even the "high performers" left the company. Why would the leave if they were making $100K like Stephen leads you to believe. There's a reason why everyone hates working here and leaves. Don't put yourself through it. Especially if you are fresh out of college.

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#1 UPDATE Employee

Unfortunate Defamation

AUTHOR: INDYSMARTS - (United States of America)

POSTED: Thursday, October 13, 2011

Our Firm is flattered that this person would take the time to write about our company. It is unfortunate that this person has not once given any evidence that the Firm is not growing and expanding. 

The person that wrote this was an employee of a competitor that shared office space with our Firm before we expanded. This person attacks the Manager personally and very unprofessionally even bringing up the Managers personal life. This person never worked for the Firm.

This firm does not do Door to Door sales, it is an outsourced sales and marketing company that only handles commercial accounts. There is no residential accounts or residential sales involved.

The person mentions that we did not pay them, since they did not work for us this is obviously not true. To prove that point, our address and information at our newer and nicer location is public information and they could have come by our office which is only a few miles from the old office location. I am sure if someone was owed $300 they would drive a few miles down the road to pick up the check. All of our employees are W2 employees and we use direct deposit through ADP.

Online defamation/libel is illegal and now that we know who this person is we will take legal action against them. We encourage others to not participate in online defamation since it has consequences that this person will pay.

Management

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