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Report: #697023

Complaint Review: Steel Town Promotions - Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

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  • Reported By: Laura — Pittsburgh Pennsylvania USA
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  • Steel Town Promotions 50 S. 7th Street Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania United States of America

Steel Town Promotions marketing job scam Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

*UPDATE Employee ..inside information: Ridiculous to refer to as a scam

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I encountered Steel Town Promotions at a university career fair. They present themselves as a "sports marketing" firm with clients like the Pirates, Wheeling Nailers, and more. I figured it was more of a sales job but opted to leave a resume anyway. I received a phone call a few days later and set up an interview. I sat for about 30 mins waiting for my interview, in which time I saw about 10 other people also waiting to be interview. I would guess they probably spoke to 50 people just that day. I met with a guy and he hype up the entrepreneurial spirit of the job while not going into specifics about just what you'll be doing. I was invited to come back for another interview, where I was basically going to follow around one of the salesmen and see how his job is done. 

I arrive for the follow-up dressed in a suit and tie as I was instructed to dress professionally. Three mins in the car, and I realized what we were actually doing: 

***We were going door-to-door of businesses and asking the employees if they wanted to purchase Entertainment Books.*** 

You know, those big coupon books. And we went to every business: hair salons, doctors offices, Target, Denny's, big and small. You know when you see a sign at the front of a business that says "No Solicitations?" That's there for people like us. Also, those signs didn't stop them. 

So we were out from 9am until a little after 5pm with a minimal break for lunch. 8 hours. Pay is solely based on commission. The guy I was with sold around 14 books, and at $5/book, he made $70. $70 in 8 hours. I don't know about you, but I didn't get a university degree to make less than $9 an hour. Imagine if it rains. Or if you get sick for a while. Or if you get assigned a bad area (or even a dangerous one). You make absolutely nothing. Also, any mileage or tolls you spend aren't reimbursed. They talk about how you can write it off on your income taxes, but I'd rather be reimbursed. 

The managers are going to talk your ear off about how they're really looking for managers and executives but use the sales position as a weeding out process. Considering the amount of lying I saw in the field (oh I didn't see the "no solicitation" sign, everyone in town has been buying these books today, I only have 2 books left, etc) I would not be surprised if this was not entirely true. The managers make $1 from each item you sell in the field, so their incentive is to just get as many people out there selling as they can, canvassing as much ground as possible. It sounds like a big pyramid scheme in almost a way. In fact, it is very similar to multilevel marketing, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing. They're also going to tell you how they're only selecting a limited number of people for the job, but I saw way more than that during the follow-up day. 

To their credit, you do some sports work. Their big selling time is apparently in the spring when they going around trying to sell ticket packages for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Again, door-to-door though. 

I would also be dubious of the company with which they share office space and administrative support, Infinite Concepts. 

I also received an email from my university's career services. Career Services said that Steel Town told the University that they did not go door-to-door selling coupons. Another deception.Also, here are the names of some individuals associated with this enterprise. 
Steve Graziani - Manager
Justin Lotz - Salesman
Brittany Brown - Receptionist / Steve's girlfriend
Rhett O'Hara - "Owner"

Just a few things to aid in anyone trying to Google and find this info: 
Steel Town Promotions (Steeltown Promotions) 
http://www.steeltownpromotions.com 
1-412-431-0423 
scam, review, rating, marketing, public relations, marketing, advertising, promotions, promotional, sales, scheme, jobs, careers, opportunities

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 02/18/2011 09:33 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/steel-town-promotions/pittsburgh-pennsylvania-/steel-town-promotions-marketing-job-scam-pittsburgh-pennsylvania-697023. 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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#1 UPDATE Employee ..inside information

Ridiculous to refer to as a scam

AUTHOR: andrewerickson412 - ()

POSTED: Wednesday, May 08, 2013

I'm not sure why someone would go out of their way to discredit this company, but I have worked here for 3 weeks now and what is being said simply is innacurate. For starters, there is an extremely low turnover rate, so to suggest there is 50 or more people interviewing a day is preposterous. Secondly, we do NO residential sales, and people are very receptive towards the money saving opportunities we provide to the community. I have never worked for a company in which there was such rapid advancement, and you learn invaluable business and sales strategies. We work with very reputable companies, and very rarely does anyone make less than 100 dollars daily. We are in the field for 7-8 hours, the rest of which is training. With this carreer, you get out what you put in. So if you are shy or not willing to socialize, network and have a drive to earn $ the job isn't for you. But to call it a scam is inaccurate at best. Also the managers earn far more than a dollar per sale. They care about their employees and work very hard to maintain a smooth running business. I'm sorry for anyone that missed out on a tremendous opportunity because someone chose to not falsely portray what this business is actually all about. Also I would like to know how he had all this information on the business after one day. Be truthful please and thank you.

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