Primus UK Ltd If you are in contact with Primus UK Ltd YOU MUST READ THIS.... Leeds, United Kingdom

Primus UK Ltd. 22 East Parade, Leeds, West Yorkshire.

YOU MUST READ THIS...

If you're here, you're probably in contact with Primus UK or a similar company and you are trying to find out more about them as their job advert was very vague or their point of contact random. Here is my summary of Marketing Pyramid Schemes, which is what Primus and 100's of other "companies" do in the UK. I hope you find it usefull...

A Marketing Pyramid Scheme's recruitment process:
1. Company contacts you back within hours of your applicaion scheduling an interview, usually for the next/same day.
2. There are alot of people having interviews when you attend, you may be interviewed in a pair.
3. Interviewer will explain fast-track management system and say there are limited positions available.
4. You get a call back the same day telling saying you have progressed to the 2nd interview stage usually called an observation/shadowing day. This will involve door to door selling with a mentor for 8 hours.
6. On returning to the office at the end of the observation day you will be offered a full-time job, usually to start the next day. You will be self-employed and not employed by the company.

Primus and other pyramid companies are desendants of The Cobra Group. a company that started in America in the 80's. It divised a pyramid scheme where, with no overheads or outlay, a person could make money by having a self-employed cost-free workforce and inticing business clients by offering a free marketing service. The catch being that the workforce work on commission-only basis with no basic salary, 13hr days 6 days a week, paying travel costs and expenses with no employment contract, benefits or pension. The incentive being the chance to one day be at the top of the pyramid, which works for 1% of employees. For the rest, they are cold-calling door-to door sales people making barely minimum wage, forever.

Primus UK is always "expanding" which basically means they want as many people as humanly possible out there on the streets selling for them all the time. Anyone remotely presentable will be offerered a job and they'll make you feel really special and unique to be offered it. The "interview" process is merely a sales pitch to make you sign up to the scheme. They want you before they've even met you.

To sustain themselves, pyramid marketing companies usually have to interview 100 people a day and to meet targets get 25 people a week fully on board with the scheme (i.e lasting more than the observation day). That data is alarming, out of 600 applicants a week, with everyone bar those with face tattoos getting the job, only 25 actually stick with it for more than a day.

These companies spam job sites filtering out just about anybody to get people in for interviews. I responded to an "Events Assistant" position while others in the waiting room responded to "hospitality management training programme", "sales executive" and "trainee marketing manager". They'll get you in using any technique possible and withold the nature of the job untill the very last minute because if you walk after the 2nd interview stage (the "observation/shadowing day") it doesn't matter, they've had you out there for the day, free of charge, selling for them, too embarrassed to ditch your "mentor". And tomorrow they'll have another 100 applicants to see.

Making any serious money out of this is rare. Anyone who claims they are on 500 a week needs to deduct tax, deduct travel expences and divide their earnings by the number of hours they work in a day (13-14) to find that they are barely scraping minimum wage. To make the 250 a week as Primus advertise in their job ads you have to be generating 12 contracts per week. They have various job "promotions" that you can achieve pretty quickly but that's all part of the pitch to keep you interested and out there selling. If you are promoted it usually involves giving you a flash job title and increasing your work load (i.e. training others to door-to-door whilst doing the same job with no pay increase)

Those 1% who do make money, only do so when they are "director" of their own company, but the downside is that the business model is not sustainable. You are only making as much money as your staff genrerate for you so you are entirely dependant on them. They leave or the recruitment dries up and you are back to the bottom of the pyramid.

Although they are guilty of mis-advertising, mis-representation and witholding information, it is not a scam. It's all above the law because reps are classed as self employed and, before you commit to working for them, you should be fully aware of what the job entails following your observation day/2nd inerview stage. If you're not aware it is a door-to-door sales job then you've been blinded by the promises of earning 50k by christmas and having your own company by next year. Ask your mentor how long they've been doing it and what they have achieved.

I did this job for a similar company in Leeds for 2 days when I graduated in 2002 then I saw it wasn't for me. Currently looking for work and was invited to attend the initial interview at Primus in Leeds last week. I got suspicious it was the same scheme when I saw over 40 people come for an interview in the 30 minutes I was at the office. I was selected after the manager "carefully reviewed my cv" but it was evident he had never even looked at it when I sat with him.

Graduates can do a lot better! Remember, these sorts of companies are known within the industry and having one on your CV isn't nessesarily a good thing. 100's of these marketing branches open annually in the uk but most liquidate within a few years. They have bad reputations and aren't always used by the high flying clients they speak of, usually just low-rent gas and electricity brokers and people who want to shift a few knife sets.

So to summarise I would like to advise anyone currently in the process of considering a job with Primus UK Ltd the following:

DON'T ATTEND THE OBSERVATION DAY AND CONTRIBUTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY UNLESS YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT A CAREER AS A DOOR TO DOOR SALESPERSON. Because despite these companies telling you they use different marketing techniques (i.e. trade fairs and promo events), door to door is essentially what you'll be doing all the way to the top. Because it's the cheapest way to market, the only thing that will change is the products you sell.
IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE 1% THAT GET TO THE TOP OF THE PYRAMID, IT'S NOT WHAT THEY SELL YOU You will be the director of a non-credible non-sustainable company while someone still creams off the top of you. All you have is a job title . I can register with Companies House tomorrow and be the director of my own company, it doesn't mean anything.
GRADUATES TAKE NOTE! If you want a career in your industry this is not for you and you can make more money elsewhere. If you're looking to use the company to get experience that's fine but consider how reputable the company is.

I am writing this article because I want people to be aware of what a job/career at Primus UK will entail and how marketing pyramid schemes work before they consider dealing with the company. But moreover it is because I feel sorry for graduates and those desperate for work who are duped into atending interviews and blinded by false promises and being one of the "special chosen few".

If you google scam, cult or con after the company name you can find many blogs about peoples experiences with the company, although these are well hidden from employees as you have to be searching for a problem to find them. I am putting this on Rip Off Report as I want to expose it to as many potenial Primus employees as possible. I am not labelling Primus a scam,  as it operates within he law, but I feel it's my obligation to put out a fair represenation of how the company operates, something that Primus will not tell you untill the last minute.