A Tale of Two Cydcors New Business Concepts (The New England Team) and LVI Dishonest Company, Liars, Scam, Don't fall for their lies Natick Massachusetts

After reading a lot of reports on here about Cydcor, I decided I should write one about the time I interviewed with two different Cydcor companies within the same week.

It was December of 2013, I had graduated from college that previous May with a degree in history. After a summer internship at a national park, and then working a seasonal tour guide job in Salem Massachusetts, I soon found that jobs for people with History degrees were mostly seasonal and or hard to get, so I started to look for work elsewhere. I figured that since I had worked with people a lot I should look for customer service type jobs.

I had applied for several jobs and went on a few interviews that didn't go so well. Then one Monday, the week before Christmas, I applied for more jobs including two companies, one called LVI Boston, and the other called New Business Concepts (I'm pretty sure they changed their name to "The New England Team" now for reasons that will soon be obvious. They both advertised themselves as entry level sales and marketing with no experience required. I figured that if they offered on the job training I might as well apply.

Within maybe an hour or so I got a call from both of them. That should have been red flag number one, companies never reply back that fast. LVI called first and wanted to set up an interview with me for the following afternoon. A little later New Business Concepts called and also wanted to set up an interview for the next day. I told them that I was busy since I already had an interview setup for that day and asked to push it to the following day. They told me that they were only doing interviews that one day and said they could schedule it for the morning since my interview with LVI was for the afternoon. I checked out the websites of both places to prepare for the interviews, but found that they really didn't give any information about what they do.

The next day I went to the interview with New Business Concepts first, when I went in there were a bunch of other people around my age (early 20s and or recent college grads) in the waiting room. I had to fill out some questionnaire that I probably gave BS answers, and then I was called in for the interview. The person I met with wasn't the "head of the company" as most people who interview with Cydcor meet with. I guess it was the HR director or maybe some administrative assistant. I can't imagine they had an actual HR director. Anyways the interview lasted 10 minutes tops and all I learned was that they work with fortune 500 companies and currently do outsourcing with Verizon Fios. I was told that I would learn all about what they do if I was chosen to come back for a second interview, and they that they'd call me and let me know later that night.  

After that, I went to my interview with LVI Boston. The interview was similar but somehow I didn’t catch on that they had anything to do with each other. Once again I didn’t learn a whole lot about the company just that they are also involved in outsource marketing. This time I did meet with the head of the company and since I told him that I currently was not working he said “well that means you can come back for an all-day interview tomorrow and observe what we do.” Well ok that’s a little bit presumptuous, but of course I agreed and left after what was once again 10 minutes tops. On the way home I got a call from New Business Concepts saying they wanted to have me back for a second interview. This time I was able to push it to the day after tomorrow so it wouldn’t interfere with my all day interview at LVI. In retrospect the first interview seems like it was just to make sure I had a pulse, could dress myself, and speak Basic English. I think anyone who meets that criteria gets invited back.

I went back to LVI the next morning, and at this point I still have no idea what exactly the company does. I’m also assuming that we’ll be staying in the office the whole time, I noticed it was a rather small space, but figured maybe there were more rooms in the back or they had space in other parts of the building. Just like my first interview at New Business Concepts, there were a lot of people my age in the waiting room all there for second round interviews. We all got paired up with what they call a team leader who then led us out once we were paired up. I followed my leader to his car, who actually seemed like a nice guy. We got along well and had similar tastes in music and movies. We then went off to what’s known as his territory. I had no idea we’d be driving somewhere and thought it was weird I hadn’t been told so ahead of time.

It was on the drive where I learned what exactly the job is. My leader told me that they go to businesses and sell office supplies for Quill.com, which is a subsidiary of Staples. The first place we went to was a liquor store, and based on the interaction between my leader and the store owner it was clear that he was following up, so I assumed they had previously arranged to meet. The store owner even bought a few supplies and wanted to buy more, but didn’t have enough money in his budget. However, that was the only sale my leader would make all day.

The next few business also seemed to be follow ups so things seemed legit, but after that, the business owners either had no interest in dealing with us at all or after hearing my leader out didn’t want to make any changes to their office supplies. A few places said they currently get their supplies from Staples, I asked my leader why we would try to sell to them if Staples and Quill are the same company. I forget exactly the answer he gave me, but said something along the lines of it didn’t matter, unless they had Quill we would sell to them.

The way he did business struck me as odd too, he didn’t have any business cards and always told people that this was his last day in the area. That seemed like a bad business strategy since he wouldn’t really build relations with potential clients. Also saying it was his last day in the area was a lie. It was not his last day in the area at all, this was a tactic that Cydcor teaches known as fear of loss, making the customers think if they don’t buy now they’ll never have another chance. This is the same tactic they use to recruit new workers. Remember when I was told they were only doing interviews that one day? That was a lie. They’re literally always interviewing because people are always leaving for reasons that will be obvious soon. I’m getting ahead of myself though.

At lunch my leader took me to a Chipotle, (no I didn’t get food poisoning) and unlike some reports I’ve read, he actually paid for me. It was at this point where he went over the pay structure and the different levels within the company. He said you start off at an entry level where you make a base of 300-500 dollars a week, then after a month you move to leader, his level, and make 600-800 a week, after six months to a year you become an assistant manager and make 1000 a week, and after a few months of that you become a manager and can open your own business where you’ll make 80-100k a year. I was also told that this was the base salary and there was also commission on top of that. All a lie, the job is 100% commission and there is no compensation for gas, my leader also had to pay for my lunch out of his own pocket, and since he only sold a few things that day it’s very possible he lost money on gas and food.

After lunch we went to more businesses with no luck and were asked to leave a few of them. Around 5 we headed back to the office. While driving, my leader would be playing on his phone, which is illegal in Massachusetts. If he wants to do that on his own that’s his business, but he shouldn’t be careless while driving a stranger around. We got back to the office where I had to take some easy test about what I learned in the field. They act like it’s hard, and most people don’t do well. After that, I met with the head of the company again to go over the day. He asked if I saw my leader do anything that I couldn’t, and of course I said no. I asked how they got their potential clients in the territories, and he said that there was no method to it and you just go around to places once you have your territory. It was at this point when I realized the job was door to door sales, but I decided I’d give it a shot if hired since business definitely would need to buy supplies, and I was under the impression there was a base pay no matter what. The owner said I’d get a call around noon the next day letting me know either way, and I left.

They called me the next day earlier than noon, but I ignored it because I wanted to see how my interview with New Business Concepts went before I spoke to LVI. Remember, I still have no idea they’re both part of Cydcor. My second interview at New Business Concepts was not a traditional Cydcor “day of observation”, and this was probably because they knew that if it was, nobody would want the job. Instead, one of the leaders took me to a Dunkin Donuts for a cup of coffee to go over how the company works.

He told me that what they do is outsource sales for Verizon Fios. He said that it’s cheaper for Verizon to have a third party handle their sales and marketing which is where we come in. I actually believe him that it’s easier for Verizon to have others do their sales. He then said that Verizon would provide us with a list of people who were thinking of switching to Fios or thinking of upgrading, and it was our job to meet with them and explain the perks and that they knew we’d be coming. He then went over the pay structure which was almost exactly the same as what LVI had told me with all the same different levels. The only difference was the dollar amounts were slightly higher, but again it was a lie. This really should have alerted me that something was going on, but I was so naïve and just figured this was a popular business model.  After taking me back to the office, he made it seem like I had nailed the interview and he told me he’d talk to the boss and try to get me a third and final interview.

As soon as I got to my car I checked my messages and called LVI back. They told me they wanted to hire me and wanted me to start that Monday, which I found odd since Christmas was that Wednesday. I needed a job so I told them I would start Monday, but I was hoping I would get the job with New Business Concepts instead. The office was much closer to me, I thought the pay was a little higher, and the job seemed like it would be easier since I didn’t think it was door to door sales. Also it seemed like they had a nice management training program. I got a call that evening inviting me back to the third and final interview with the head of the company. Of course I did, everyone does. I met with the head of the company who mostly just went over the stuff I had learned in the second interview. He confirmed that the people knew we’d be coming and that the pay structure was base plus commission. He actually said that each week you could chose if you wanted to work on 100% commission or if you wanted a base and a percentage of the commission, but you’d ultimately make more on pure commission. The boss then said that they’d call me that evening letting me know either way. Well surprise, surprise, I got the job. They also wanted me to start Monday which again, I wasn’t thrilled about since it was the week of Christmas, but oh well I got the job I thought I wanted. Later that evening I called LVI when I knew no one would be around and left a message saying I had taken another job.

It wasn’t until the weekend when I told a friend of a friend about my job and he said he had heard of jobs selling Fios that were scams. This worried me a bit so I did some research online, Googling “Verizon Fios Scam” and it was here where I learned about Cydcor. I read reviews about a lot of companies with interview processes that sounded very similar to what I went through with LVI and New Business Concepts. However, I didn’t see anything mentioning them specifically. Remember how I said New Business Concepts changed their name to the New England Team? This is why. Cydcor companies change their name every so often, and pick very generic sounding names to make it harder to find bad reviews on them.

I went in on Monday suspicious, but hoping I wasn’t involved in one of those scams I had read about. I mostly just filled out paper work that day, one of the forms said that you had to work on pure commission after your first two weeks which contradicted what I was told before. I also saw one of the forms say that Cydcor was the parent company, well, $hit. I decided I was here so I might as well see what the field work was like before I’d decide whether or not to quit. After a two day break for Christmas Eve and Christmas, I was back on Thursday and they had me and another new hire spend a few hours of the next two days doing training in the office. The stuff they went over made the job sound more and more like door to door sales, but I still wanted to see what the actual field work was like. I talked with the other new hire in the parking lot after they let us go home, and he agreed that the job sounded like door to door sales and we both said we’d quit if that ended up being the case.

The following Monday I went back in for the fieldwork. We spent a few hours just hanging around the office just doing nothing. Honestly most of the people who worked there seemed like a bunch of frat boys. I’ve heard many people describe Cydcor as a cult and I can see why they think that. There’s so much chanting and high fiving it really does seem like a cult or a frat, which I guess is kind of like a cult. We had one of the famous Cydcor “atmosphere” meetings where the head of the company told some success story about himself that was probably made up. I really don’t know what the point of all that was.  We then went to the field and I was paired up with the guy who did my second interview.

He didn’t wear his seatbelt the entire drive and as we approached his territory he pulled out a sheet of the people we were supposed to see and looked over it while driving. Ok seriously, is being a careless driver a requirement to work for Cydcor? As we arrived he then called the local police station on his phone and told them he was going to be working in the area for the afternoon. I’m not entirely sure why he did that, I guess it was to cover his a* if he got the cops called on him, but it seemed really sketchy.

As we began making our way to the houses it became apparent that while Verizon did provide the leads, they were just people who didn’t already have Fios, and these people had no idea that we were coming, even though two different people told me they did. Hmm that’s funny, if we’re just showing up to random people’s houses unexpected trying to sell them products how is that not door to door sales? The business to business door to door sales I saw with LVI seemed somewhat legitimate since businesses do sell to each other, but I honestly didn’t even realize people still did residential door to door sales. Well now I’m stuck with this guy who’s way too into what he’s doing, but sadly he was probably brainwashed by the cult and thought what he was doing was a good way to make money. He claimed to be one of the best sales people with the company, and I actually believe that. He seemed like he had the right personality for sales.

Well anyways, its late December which means it’s probably about 20 or so degrees, and the sun sets around 4:30, but here we are going around to people’s houses who either aren’t home or aren’t interested. Surprisingly only a few people slammed the door on us without hearing us out. My leader did make one sale by the end of the day and naturally was full of himself after. He used the same strategy that the LVI guy did by claiming everyone else in the neighborhood was using Fios and that this was their only chance to sign up, even though they could definitely do it only for the same price if not cheaper.

After arriving back to the office at close to 9:00, my leader told me that everyone was probably already gone so I should just head home. He mentioned the bell ceremony that I have read about in other reports, but didn’t see firsthand. He also said that no matter what, you always say you had a good day, and never talk about any bad experiences you had with customers. I found this to be odd and said that I’ve always enjoyed talking about bad customers with my fellow employees before, which is true, it can be fun to exchange horror stories, but he just said that they don’t do that sort of thing there. So you have to always pretend to be happy? That’s pretty cult like behavior.

Well at this point I had seen enough, the next day I went in and told the head of the company that this wasn’t the job for me and that I quit. In retrospect, I’m surprised he didn’t make an effort to keep me, but I guess he figured since I was only there a few days I would easily be replaceable. I’m sure that’s the case too, they’re literally always hiring, because people are always quitting. It probably is possible to make money in this job but you have to really have the right personality for it, and be willing to sever all ties with your friends and family because your fellow employees are your friends and family now. That’s also cult like.

Cydcor has apparently been operating for at least 20-30 years running the same business style with the same interview process the entire time. I guess technically what they’re doing isn’t illegal but it’s immoral and shouldn’t be allowed to continue. A few weeks later I was still looking for a job and got a call from another place to go in for an interview, they gave me their address which sounded familiar. I looked it up and it was exact same location as New Business Concepts, did they not remember me? Naturally I never showed up. I can’t remember what they had changed their name to, but I know they’re called “The New England Team” now and are still in the same location. There are also hundreds if not thousands of other Cydcor offices throughout the country so be careful, they love to prey on young naïve recent college graduates who might not understand how the business world works.  

Look for the signs when applying for a job, if you see a job that says entry levels sales and or marketing with no experience required and sounds too good to be true, well it probably is. If you go in for an interview anyways and have a short 10 minute meeting where you learn nothing, then it’s probably Cydcor. If you still want to take your chance and go back for your all day interview that involves going to random businesses and or homes to sell stuff, don’t let the pay structure and promises of making good money fool you. If you’re currently working for one of these jobs, I’d recommend you get out ASAP. I was lucky enough to get out quickly but others haven’t been and it’s really screwed up their lives.