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Report: #467566

Complaint Review: Progressive LTD. A National Comcast Contractor - Wheeling,lake Zurich Illinois

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  • Reported By: bartlett Illinois
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  • Progressive LTD. A National Comcast Contractor Wheeling,lake Zurich, Illinois U.S.A.

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Recently, i was working as an independant contractor for a company called Progressive LTD. Progressive does sales for Comcast in California, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois. I was hired on about four weeks ago and told that we would get paid for training. A guy by the name of Dale Critzer who is supposed to be their National sales manager, told myself and other new recruits that we would get the training money or any compensation from the deals/contracts that we wrote. He also told us that we would get paid in three weeks but could take advances since this is a commission only job.
After my first week the story began to change. Now all of a sudden some new people were being brought on board and being told different things. One of them was that they would be paid money (100.00) per day for training. Dale never told them about the 100.00 actually being a draw. I knew it was and told the new recruits this.

Eventually they quit because of the incongruencies in stories. I guess i hung in there because i didn't think comcast would let somebody sell their products and give them a bad reputation in the market. The truth is we were taught to lie to customers and tell them that comcast was doing work in the area and that we were just there to tell them that. Bullshit, we were there to sell them period. I was uncomfortable with this approach and after i got through my third week i told my manager that i could not do this anymore. He told me to take some time off and clear my head and that he would call me with my paycheck the next monday. The call never came and when i called Dale he never returned my calls. That was until today (7-8-09). He emailed me to tell me that per my contract i was not entitled to my money. That i would have to have written 15 deals per week. Nobody was able to write 15 deals per week and even my manager could not produce that. Dale who was supposed to be the national manager was out writing deals to and he never got 15 per week. Now they are telling me i won't get my money. That might be true but i'm hoping that somebody reads this and will not fall for the trap that i fell for. They are a "chop shop" using new recruits to make money for the higher ups and then not paying them for the work that they do.

I hope you read this before you go and work for them.

Expecttheunexpected
bartlett, Illinois
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 07/08/2009 04:07 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/progressive-ltd-a-national-comcast-contractor/wheelinglake-zurich-illinois/progressive-a-national-comcast-contractor-national-comcast-contractor-ripping-off-new-r-467566. 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:
1Author
6Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#7 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Dale Critzer

AUTHOR: xfinity.mike - (United States of America)

POSTED: Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Looks like he is at it again. Biggest scam on earth. He rips off everyone. He is down here in California Ripping off more people. Then he will probably move to another state and start ripping off more people there and change his company name once again. Someone needs to stop this guy!

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#6 UPDATE Employee

Re Update

AUTHOR: sparky - (United States of America)

POSTED: Friday, February 05, 2010

Hi, 


I am still working for the Company, and the longer it stays light, the better it gets.
Actually I have the best week, since I am working there and expect a paycheck for the 2nd February week of more than $1100 . ( just for one week if everything gets installed )

I've had some Problems with Comcast Installers, which were doing a sloppy job, but me and my Supervisor could compensate the customers for any inconvenience.

Job is as described in the interview, and if you are the right person for it you can make tons of money.If you are not..... see if you can find something else

Frank
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#5 General Comment

Update on Progressive/Comcast?

AUTHOR: shrewd - (United States of America)

POSTED: Friday, February 05, 2010

Frank,

     About six weeks since your last post. How's it going?

Shrewd

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#4 UPDATE Employee

Progressive LTD. A National Comcast Contractor in Michigan

AUTHOR: sparky - (United States of America)

POSTED: Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Hi Erl,


after day 4 I am still happy, and the reason why I look it up on ripoff report is, that i told a friend of mine , which is unemployed herself about my job and she told me she will look it up .
so I googled progressive and the first site coming up on google is ripoff report.
progressive is indeed affiliated to comcast, because we are selling more out there as the inhouse salesmen.
this is at least true for my corps here in michigan.
As I mentioned earlier I am sorry that you've had this Dale as your recruiter and if he told you all that crap you are complaining about in your original report, it is more than right that this guy is not in business anymore.

Frank
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#3 Author of original report

"green in pasture stories" have hidden meaning..

AUTHOR: Expecttheunexpected - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, December 21, 2009

Frank,


I have to wonder if you are so happy why you would even be looking in rip off report for negative remarks about the company.  I can only speculate that you are not really Frank but one of the companies personnel trying to counter my negative experience by submitting "the grass is so green on my side" story.  Its a form of marketing...


The truth is yes we could all learn to read contracts better and not sign anything until we take it to our lawyers.  But unsuspecting people like myself want to believe that the company will do what they say they will do.  The question is: why would a company put in place a policy like that anyway?  Answer: they know that if they tell people they are affiliated with Comcast that most people will not think Comcast would allow them to do this.  By the way, i talked to someone who was the right hand Man for Progressive's National Director and they said that Comcast Let him go do to all the problems they had with him and progressive. 


For anyone who doesn't believe this let them read this and contact Comcast directly and ask if Dale and Progressive still have a contract in Illinois with Comcast. 


"the truth will set you free"


ERL

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#2 UPDATE Employee

Progressive LTD. A National Comcast Contractor Michigan

AUTHOR: sparky - (United States of America)

POSTED: Sunday, December 20, 2009

Hi,

First of all, I am very sorry for you, that you obviously have had an a*****e who hired you and/or that you completely misunderstood what you've been told or what you signed.

Exactly one of these salespersons knocked recently on my door, and he made me an offer which is hard to reject... price and service of the offer are incredibly good, and as a result I switched from a competitor to Comcast.
My Installation was issued to the appointment and I received every single service I signed for. Also there was nothing wrong with my first bill.

As a matter of fact, I am a victim of the current economy being unemployed for a couple of months, and this salesman offered me a job at progressive to do, what he does himself.

I called back the guy, and he invited me to an Interview. They gave me a few days to think it over and call them back if I was still interested in working for them.
So i called back and was invited to a training which was about 2 hours.

NO ONE EVER told me I was getting paid for this training!
During this training they explain who they are and what they do as well as the special offers they can sell.
The Trainees receive a script, what you are supposed to say after knocking on people's doors, and yes.... it is the courtesy call to let the people know about the work, Comcast will be doing in a few weeks, and that they may have to have access to their properties, to work on the mainlines.
And as a matter of fact, a Comcast-Technician indeed knocked a couple of weeks later on my door and told me, that he has to work on the pole in my backyard and that this will cause a disruption of my service for a few minutes.

But back to the training...
We signed a contract as an INDEPENDENT SALESPERSON for Progressive Ltd, and if you would've read, what you signed, you knew that you are not getting any benefits paid by Progressive. In other words: You will get paid for what you sell.
No Health Insurance, no Unemployment Insurance, no regular minimum income.

We also received a list, which tells you what deal pays you how much.
On this list are two different rates: 6 deals and less a week pay less than 7 or more.
And to pick up your number 15.....
Progressive LTD will pay a bonus of $ 150 to your Health insurance, if you call in 15 orders a Month. They even increase that bonus to $ 300 for 25 installed Customers.

I've been working now for two days and due to the fact, that I started on a Friday, I wasn't able to write 7 orders. But nevertheless I made 450 Dollars in these two days with the lower rate, and I've seen my Team Leader handing out paychecks to other members of the team.
I also never heard any complaints of anybody, not get paid correctly.

To finish this here, I would give you the advice,to report that specific sales manager to the cops, instead of giving people an entire wrong picture of the company.

greets
Frank
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#1 UPDATE Employee

Progressive LTD. A National Comcast Contractor in Michigan

AUTHOR: sparky - (United States of America)

POSTED: Sunday, December 20, 2009

Hi,


First of all, I am very sorry for you, that you obviously have had an a*****e who hired you and/or that you completely misunderstood what you've been told or what you signed.

Exactly one of these salespersons knocked recently on my door, and he made me an offer which is hard to reject... price and service of the offer is incredibly good, and as a result I personally switched from a competitor to Comcast.
My Installation were issued to the appointment and i received every single service I've been signed for . Also there was nothing wrong with my first bill.

As a matter of fact, I am a victim of the current economy being unemployed for a couple of months, and this salesman offered me a job at progressive to do what he does himself.

I called the guy back, and he invited me to an interview. They gave me a few days to think it over and call them back if I was still interested in working for them.
So I called back and was Invited to a training which is about 2 hours.

NO ONE EVER told me I was going to be paid for this training!
During this training they explain who they are and what they do as well as the special offers they can sell. the trainees receive a script, what they are supposed to say , after knocking on people's doors, and yes .... it is the courtesy call to let people know about the work, comcast will be doing in a few weeks, and that they may have to have access to their properties, to work on the mainlines.
And as a matter of fact, a comcast technician indeed knocked a couple of weeks later on my door and told me that he has to do some work at the pole in my backyard and that will cause an interruption of my service for a few minutes. 

But back to the training....
We signed a Contract as a INDEPENDEND SALES PERSON for Progressive LTD and if you would've read what you've signed , you knew , that you are not getting any benefits paid by Progressive. In other words you will get paid for what you sell. No Health Insurance, no Unemployment Insurance, no Benefits.

We also received a list, which tells you which deals pays how much.
On this list are two different rates... 6 deals or less a week pay less than 7 deals or more.
And to pick up your number 15.....
Progressive LTD will pay a bonus of $ 150 to your Health Insurance, if you call in 15 orders a Month. They even increase that bonus to $300 at 25 Installed Customers a Month.

I've been working now for 2 days and due to the fact, that I started on a Friday, I wasn't able to get 7 orders. But nevertheless i made 450 Dollars in these two days with the lower rate, and I've seen my Team Leader handing out Paychecks to other members of the team.
I also never heard any complaints of anybody, not get paid correctly.

To finish this here, i would give you the advice to report that specific sales manager to the cops instead of giving people an entire wrong picture of the company.

greets

Frank
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