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Report: #443053

Complaint Review: Nobeck Marketing - Smart Circle - East Berlin Connecticut

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  • Reported By: East Berlin Connecticut
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  • Nobeck Marketing - Smart Circle 1224 Mill Street East Berlin, Connecticut U.S.A.
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  • Category: Cult

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As you glance through the job opportunities on careerbuilder you'll likely see some enty level marketing and sales rep positions. Being a junior in college with no relevant work experience in the field I wish to persue (marketing) I thought this 'opportunity' could benefit me. I went in for a first interview that was more of a quick formality that lasted approximately 15 minutes.

I was scheduled for a second interview quickly after where I had to to 'shadow' the assistant manager in a day of field work which I was led to believe was not the majority of what my job entailed. Sure I knew door to door sales was sleazy but I was promised all sorts of financial 'opportunity' so I figured I could do it if the money's right.

I feel so stupid for just accepting a job that didn't offer any concrete figures or direct answers. I took the job and left the place I had been working at for over 4 years making $16 per hour plus some benefits. I was in training for two weeks making $40 per day working 11 hr days and in the short two weeks I noticed an alarming trend that screamed GET OUT. Everyone there in the office (all the sales leaders and even the people in charge) was broke.

They all drove around crappy cars that weren't maintained well, ate at crappy restaurants and were HUNGRY for cash. Pretty much everyone there was pressured into working 60 hr weeks only to bring home $700 at the very most. This works out to a little over $11 per hour before taxes with no benefits, paid time off, health insurance, gas reimbursement, NOTHING. No wonder three of the "lead people" were living out of one apartment broke and desparate for money. They were all working themselves to the bone day after day while they're being fed this pipe dream of "owning their own business" so that they keep making smart circle rich.

I was duped into thinking this was some great opportunity when in reality it was just a scam that takes advantage of suckers who fall for deceptive sales tactics like "90% discount" and some "free rounds of golf" when in reality the discounts are miniscule and nothing is free. Also, sales reps are taught to solicit businesses illegally by walking into office buildings with NO SOLICITING displayed clearly at the entrance. I was even instructed to hide my "merchandise" when entering these buildings in case of security guards.

People look at you like you're trash and it's by far the most demeaning job I've ever done (and I've washed dishes and worked on a farm). I'll be the first to say that I refuse to do anything illegal for a living especially for crappy, less than minimum wage pay. Coaching people to engage in illegal activity and requiring commissioned sales reps to work from 7:15 am to around 7 pm has to be illegal itself.

The atmosphere was extremely sketchy and cult-like and I got out as quick as I possibly could. I'm not saying that this job isn't for some people because maybe you could succeed at it but..... I'm not here to make judgment calls on anyone's character there but I was subject to a lot of deception and indirect answers when I had questions.

Honestly, I wish everyone at this office the best and I hope they get out before they lose all their friends and family from the ridiculous hours and end up pennyless because of the ridiculous pay. Mainly, the purpose of this article is to inform any perspective employees of what they are really getting into at this "dream job" and to get them to do some research on smart circle and its satellite companies before "drinking the kool-aid" like I did.

Randy ****
East Berlin, Connecticut
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 04/12/2009 04:54 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/nobeck-marketing-smart-circle/east-berlin-connecticut/nobeck-marketing-smart-circle-mlm-scam-illegal-door-to-door-solicitation-pyramid-scheme-443053. 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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#4 Author of original report

I love the "damage control"

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

POSTED: Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Ok so let me get this straight, you mean to tell me that an employee's mother, an ex intern and a current employee were all cruising this particular website on April 14th at approximately the same time? All the responses sounded eerily similar and were posted at 4:56, 5:01, and 5:03 pm on April 14th. Although, I suspect all these responses are from the same person with their interests to protect, I'll address each respondent as if they were all separate real people.
"Mom" - I'm so glad you feel so strongly about your daughter's employer that you look on ripoffreport.com to make sure no one's badmouthing it. As for your daughter, it's a good thing she still lives home with you because she'd probably have a hard time paying the bills on her own working there. I'm glad she comes home excited and maybe this is a good opportunity for her and whoever she is I wish her the best.
"Intern" if you paid attention in school real marketing is about developing a product and promoting it to a targeted market segment so as to avoid wasting time and money on marketing to the wrong people but that's where the door to door sales people come in. Marketing is not about blindly soliciting coupon books to anyone and everyone, that's called soliciting and when it's conducted in places where it is prohibited it's also ILLEGAL. Oh and please don't question my character because making the assumption that everybody else celebrates YOUR Christian holiday says a lot about YOUR character.
"Chad" This response was my favorite by far. What was I supposed to do, not work? In this job market you can't just bail without having something else lined up. I wasn't looking for a money tree but a sapling would've been nice. I just wrote the report to inform people on what the position really entails because there's a real disparity between what it really is and what it's initially made out to be. I know it must be tempting to defame my character by calling me a failure and a coward but I really just bailed and took a real job so I didn't end up broke.
You did a good job at dodging the real issues but maybe space out the responses next time so it's a little more believable and also the more responses you post, the more results will be available pertaining to this being part of the smart circle scam for future searches. Just a thought lmao

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#3 UPDATE Employee

I am an employee of this company and wanted to give my opinion to "Randy"

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

POSTED: Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Okay, so what seems wrong with this picture - You are bad mouthing this company that you worked at for a couple months???? If you really made no money there, I really don't think you would have stuck around for a week let alone a couple months!! If you really hated a job that bad, would you have stuck around for a couple months? Did anybody hold a gun to your head and say you must show up for work everyday at 7 and you have to stay until 6 every night, or for that matter that you must show up and stick around this job for a couple months! I think you just failed at your job miserably and instead of looking at yourself and saying why did I not succeed?, you decided to write a boring, long winded report on YOUR poor, pathetic experience. What were you waiting on a money tree to all of a sudden grow right in front of you before you realized this was a great job?

Personally, I think that you weren't cut out for the job and just realized that this wasn't for you, but instead of swallowing your pride and finding another job that better suits you, you decide to go off on a company that gave you a lot of training, support, and education that you most likely did not have before. There was a reason that you accepted their offer and worked there for a couple months, you saw a lot of potential opportunity. I thought you were a pretty decent guy, I'm sure you probably could have gotten any job making $30k but you probably thought that you were worth more than $11/hour, you are in school to get your college degree after all. I definitely realized after two weeks that management in this company was going to be a lot of hard work and dedication, but I saw everything that I could learn in this company and accepted the challenge. I could not have asked for a better job right out of college that paid me along the way while training me in marketing, sales and management techniques that I can take with me no matter where I end up.

Also you mentioned this was a "pyramid scheme" do me a favor and look up the definition of a "pyramid scheme" ... you have to PAY to enter into a pyramid scheme, and recieve the products you would be selling. I know Nobeck didn't charge ME or any other of the people employed with them to work there.

I just had to write in because I was surprised that you had the nerve to write a report after you spent a couple months with a company and could have walked away at any time. It's a pretty cowardly move to blame a company for your failures when that company gave you nothing but support, friendship and the tools that one needs to succeed. Good luck with whatever you end up doing, hopefully the next company you try to work for doesn't Google your name, and sees the kinds of false things you write about former employers. However, I guess since you didn't use your real name being that there was never a "Randy" employed with us, future employers (if there ever are any) won't be able to read this little article you have written. That actually says even more about you, if you had such strong feelings toward our company why would you voice your opinion online with a fake identity, I would think anyone with such strong opinions could at least voice them in person. Guess I'm wrong, fake name or not, there have been 2 people within the last month to leave the company, 1 terminated, and 1 just never showed up 1 day. I'm guessing by the irresponsibility of this report that was written, you'd be the one that just didn't show up. Good Luck to you "Randy".

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#2 UPDATE EX-employee responds

A Great Internship that provided me with a wealth of knowledge and skills I couldn't learn in a class room.

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

POSTED: Tuesday, April 14, 2009

I am a senior at The University of Hartford and was reading up on certain companies on this website and came across the posting for Nobeck Marketing, and thought I'd put my facts out there. In December of 2008 I interviewed with them for an internship. I don't see the strangeness of a company doing an initial interview with you that only lasts 15 minutes first of all. Especially being an up and coming college grad I appreciated the opportunity that they took time to meet with me at all. I accepted the 2nd interview with Nobeck and received a 3rd where they hired me to do my internship with them. I learned more in those 2 months about marketing and promotions and how to use my people skills then I did in my 3 years at a major University. I also just wanted to address another issue that was written, the entire office, not that I think it really matters, was not HUNGRY for cash, nor did they all drive crappy cars. Now don't get me wrong, but it is an entry level job, and there are a good amount of fresh college graduates working there, and last time I checked not everyone drives a brand new Mercedes fresh out of college, correct me if I'm wrong though. In your report, you said others looked at you like you're trash, well I'm sure that I'm not the first one to say this to you, but you wrote a report trashing a company that apparently you weren't cut out for, what does that make you? You also said it was by far the most demeaning job you've ever done, so my question to you is, then why did you stick around for as long as you did, and if you had 3 interviews with the company, you must have saw something promising in them to leave your big $16.00/hour job. For someone who claims they are not here to make judgment calls on anyone's character it sure seems like that's what you just did. I'm guessing though, that since you had nothing better to do on Easter Sunday than to post a false report on a website about a company that gave you an opportunity; that says enough about your own character.

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#1 Consumer Comment

Mother of Daughter Employed with Nobeck Marketing

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

POSTED: Tuesday, April 14, 2009

My daughter has been working with Nobeck Marketing for the past two months and absolutely loves it. Though I had my doubts at first about the company, she has made me change my mind about these types of companies with her positive outlook on life.

My daughter graduated in December 08 and did a bunch of interviews all through January. When she came back from her interview with Nobeck Marketing, I was very hesitant. She described her day as promoting a spa in a corporate business area. Having just spent a good deal of money sending our daughter to the University of Connecticut to get her degree in marketing, the thought that she would be doing sales did not sit well with me. She said the woman she interviewed with was extremely fun and knowledgeable and thought the company was a great place to work. Obviously I was more concerned with what her salary would be as well as benefits. Not happy with where she would be starting at, I highly discouraged her from joining the firm. After a few fights, we agreed on her accepting the position and I just prayed that I would not have to tell her I told you so.

After two weeks of her working there I still had my severe doubts and she was too early in the company to really be able to answer most of my questions. I guess she had taken it upon herself to ask her boss if she would be willing to speak with me and answer my questions. I received a phone call in the afternoon from the Director Rebecca, who politely introduced herself and offered to meet to go over any questions I had for her. My husband and I decided that it would be in our daughter's best interest to learn more about what she is doing and who she is working with. After meeting with Rebecca who thoroughly answered all of our questions, I was put slightly more at ease that she was in trusting hands. She was a very polite and seemingly sincere young woman. Though I still didn't fully understand everything, I felt comfortable enough that my daughter was capable of making good decisions for herself so I let the topic rest and figured if she was happy, I would be supportive.

Day after day my daughter would come home so excited about what she had learned and different stories of the day. I had never seen my daughter change in such a short amount of time. Her 4 1/2 years at college did not even evoke such a swift change. She has been so excited of going into work each day which boggles me because she leaves at 7 in the morning and doesn't get home until almost 6 at night. She is so full of life and loves working with her peers. Though I do not believe that this company is something that I would choose to work when I graduated college, I have never seen my daughter so happy and would never take that away.

I have been reading a few of these articles about Nobeck Marketing and cannot help but think that these are all people who either did not give the company a chance like myself initially, or are just upset that you can actually be successful in a very short period of time, you just have to actually work hard and do whatever it takes to get there. I'm not here to persuade anybody one way or another whether this is a great company or not. I just wanted to write in my experience with my daughter because I have never seen her so happy. And I can only imagine that the world would be a better place if everybody was that happy each and every day to show up at a job.

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