Scentura Creations Desperate teens in Desperate times, looking for a job....GETTING SCAMMED!!! Fremont California

Scentura Creations, especially Phoenix Management in Middlesex, New Jersey, is nothing more then a pyramid scheme. I saw one office open, Moxie Management, in Saddle Brook, NJ who shortly aftrr went out of business. Donny was abusive and threw things such as chairs at us if we didn't sell enough " merch". Holly threatened and screamed at us if we couldn't do a "Fun Car". I was called horrible names, given nick names I did not like and was made fun of for my religion ( I'm Catholic).

While selling this stuff, I was stopped by the police, almost kidnapped, and developed pneumonia from being out in all types of weather.

I say, stay away! Beware of Phoenix Management. They are heartless a*holes whole will hurt anyone.

As a person who spent over 2 years of my life working with Rob and Ricki Zuckert, and witnessing him kick holes in the sheetrock walls of his office, because he was upset that his people didn't sell enough perfume, I am certainly qualified to answer the question, "Why can't Scentura Creations just be upfront with people about how their business works."

Every week, we interviewed around 50 people in a first interview process. Virtually everyone of them were called back, unless they were deemed to be a bad apple that might ask too many questions. Almost without fail, 25 to 30 would show back up for the large group second interview. Rob would be careful to use the word "selected" in place of "hired," because in reality he wasn't hiring anyone. In fact, they would all be working as independent contractors, filing their own 1099 tax forms at the end of the year. Most of them however, would never pay tax on the little money they made, because they couldn't afford to, as they were living hand to mouth during training, but I digress.

The reason that they are so misleading in the initial interview process, is because they have a goal for FFAAR. (Friends, Family, Acquaintances, Associates, and Relatives)

If they manage to attain their goal, which is to get each new manager in training to sell at least 10 bottles of perfume, then they will sell between 250 and 300 bottles that very first night. This is critical, because by the end of the week, over 2/3rds of the group will have wised up and left. However, by then, they will have made enough money off of those 250-300 bottles to pay all their overhead for the office and in addition make enough profit to pay their own bills at home!

There will also be a core group of managers in training during this time, that will be working out of that office, but the new people will have very little contact with those senior people, because by Wednesday or Thursday of that week, they will be leaving to go on what is referred to as a "satellite," to go sell perfume out of town. This is done almost always, in a town where they have no business license to sell their product, and most of the newer people doing the selling have no idea that they can land in jail for selling this merchandise without a license. I actually witnessed people go to jail one night, when a local police department finally got enough, and decided to quit giving warnings for the offense, but again, I digress.

They will use you to sell perfume for 2 days, 2 weeks, or in my case 2 years. The more determined you are not to give up, the more money you will make them, before you finally go broke and are forced to quit the business.

If you have plenty of money, or family who will support you while you go through the training program, you may have the means to make it far enough to get your own office, where you will find it necessary to lie to people, the same way you were lied to, in order to sell 250-300 bottles of perfume a week. If you cannot get your people to sell at least 200 bottles per week out of your office, then you had better have someone in your family who is willing to pay your rent and utilities for that office, because your name will be on a 2 to 5 year lease, and if you don't make that rent, your credit will be ruined.

It's an all or nothing proposition. You either lie to people, the same way you were lied to, or you will fail and all the perfume you sold and time you invested leading up to getting your office, will be wasted. You can bet that all the rebuttals that you have read on rip off report, by so called "successful owners,", were written by people who can justify lying and scamming people every week, week after week, in the exact same fashion that they were lied to and misled.

After working with Rob Zuckert for over 2 years, I finally got out. I had to work 2 jobs and go to school 2 nights per week, but after 7 years I finally finished college and now make almost $50,000 per year. I have BCBS medical, dental, and a 401K, with 3 1/2 weeks of paid time off. I work 4 ten hour shifts, and have every Fri, Sat, and Sun off. This is something you will rarely get from a company without a college education, and you can be certain, it is not something that Rob Zuckert has ever provided for any of his independent contractors. 

He has been successful at this business, because he has the skill to convince a few people to believe in him, long enough to sell enough perfume to make the system work. Most people have a hard time getting up in front of a group of 30 people every week, and bald face lying to them.

Not Rob though. He simply has no ethics or conscience. He likes to compare himself and the business to professional sports, and has no problem misleading people who have children to feed.

To Rob, all is fair in love, war, and selling cheap knock-off perfumes.

I'm a man who fell for the exact same swindle back in early 2005. You can look up my original story dated 2/21/2005. Not much of a difference from everyone else's story except I didn't get screwed out of house and home like so many other unfortunate people. Now that I've moved on to a real job doing what I want to do (helping people find steady paying jobs and improve their skills), I'm looking to become an advocate against this company. I'm still in my early phases of planning but rest assured it's in the works.
The first phase involves this site in with which I've been giving my upmost effort to squeeze a little bit of truth out of these crooks. I started by posting a consumer suggestion and I received a response from Rob Zuckert the head scam artist in the Chicago area. Below is our back and forth. I'm confident enough to say I clearly won this debate.
Before you read this let me know if you want to get involved hit me up at noah2314@yahoo.com
MY POST - Any Honesty Out There?
Scentura insiders will always tell you how great of an opportunity it is and how much money you can make. If you're willing to make a career out of selling cologne without a sales permit in questionable neighborhoods for little to no money that's your choice, but that's not the point. The point is that the ads this company places are full of lies and inaccuracies. They're also very reluctant to give you an accurate job description so it catches a lot of people by surprise which would account for so many people reporting to this site.

I honestly don't understand why Scentura can't take a different approach. Perhaps if they would just advertise the job for what it really is they wouldn't get such a bad reputation. Maybe just be straight up with people and tell them it's a commission based sales position with potentially fast advancement opportunities, something a little less deceptive. Also, why not encourage questions rather than demeaning intelligent people with legitimate concerns?

Some of those you call blow outs" are upset because they quit a career with a steady paycheck only to find out they'll have to go weeks with insufficient income. For someone living check to check that can literally ruin their life especially if they're not cut out for sales.

So do any of you successful rebutters or Scentura insiders have the balls to give me an honest answer?

ROB'S POST - We keep goin' round in circles!
Dear Noah,

Yes, it is true that people that OWN their own business that sells Scentura products will tell you that it is a very lucrative business to be in. Because it is! But, let's not forget the tremendous effort, long hours, sometimes discouraging moments they had to persist through. Also, the development of the good personal habits it takes to be at your best for your people on a daily basis. And, thats not even scratching the surface because there is also good money handling and empathetic people skills to develop. All very difficult for most people, let alone for someone in their 20's. Yes, it is true that our people have the opportunity to market the products wherever they would like. And perhaps,even some people would choose to go to less than savory areas that others like myself would never go to for the purpose of marketing the products. But, that is a wonderful thing in that some people that LOVE our product work in these areas and appreciate the fact that some of our people feel very comfortable in those areas. Don't insult others just because they don't have your 'affluence'. Also, areas can seem to be very 'seedy' but, are otherwise, regular areas of business and trade during daylight hours. I by no means liked to work low income areas when I was learning to sell the product. If I'm looking to do lots of business, then working those types of areas would be very self defeating. There is business to be done in those types of areas, but I felt like my product and myself, for that matter, could appeal to a more professional business environment. There are people that I work with that do feel more confident and comfortable dealing with people more similar to their heritage or background. That is true of people of all industries. That is why there are other business owners who open business' in what we refer to as very diverse areas.
We advertise in a way so as to appeal to a very diverse group of people. That is what most successful business' do. We do advertise for management and assistant management opportunities, which is what the job ultimately is. What a person has to go through to train for the position is disclosed though the interview process. If you have been on the interview trail, you should know that we are way more forthcoming with the description and details than any other business that offers advancement opportunities. Perhaps you are trying to correlate with and then confused by the business' that hire for a particular position that requires little to no training. A cashier or sales clerk or front desk attendant or restaurant server, for example. But, these positions offer little to know upward mobility. The people who have advanced from a job similar to above to a more responsible position must have certainly exceeded their beginning job requirements. That is typically why a company considers a person for advancement. The beauty of owning one of these business' is that there is no ceiling and the financial investment out of pocket is nil. Therefore, we take down all the roadblocks or pitfalls to someone owning and operating their own business i.e. lack of capital, lack of education, lack of expertise at continuing to grow and operate their own company, or just the need to have professional or personal advice from someone who has gone through similar experiences. I'm not sure where someone would have interviewed where questions were not allowed. Maybe, we just weren't going to pick that person, so their questions would have been of no consequence anyways. AS FAR AS QUITTING A CAREER? My wife and I quit what others perceived as GREAT(ugh) JOBS, if there is such a thing when you work for other people. I was at mine for 6 years and was making 28k back in 1989-90. She was at hers for 3 and was making 17k. Together, 45k!!! We not only quit our careers but we invested thousands of dollars to relocate to a new city to begin training! I know of no one who quit their chosen 'profession' to just give this business a try. I do know people who quit deadend jobs to join our business and just give it a try. Why not try getting committed before you start. If the people you allude to weren't ready to move on from their current position, then why were they looking in the first place? We have people that tell us in the interview process that they may not be a good candidate because they don't want to leave what they currently do. Remember, the reason people can't go multiple weeks without their same level of income as previous is because of lack of proper money management or the previous job paid them just enough to get by. Some life!!! What if that person were to get sick and be out of work for 10 days? Or, heaven forbid, an auto accident? And the list goes on! WAKE UP, A 2 DAY RELATIONSHIP OR A WEEK RELATIONSHIP WITH US IS NOT THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM!!!! The people who do the best in our business are not necessarily good salespeople, but, are actually the most committed and have the most conviction for what they are doing. Therefore, the general public receives them very well because of this committment. Don't insult other people's intelligence with the hubbub that the only people who thrive in our business are the ones who become expert salespeople. If a person is a good candidate to run a business, they are a good candidate to run a business. But, results do speak volumes about a persons committment level, work ethic, trainability, and enthusiasm. Don't tell me some people aren't cut out for sales. People aren't cut out to do a lot of things. It's called development!!! And in this case, it doesn't take long to teach and show someone how to peddle a $20-$30 product that smells good and lasts for months. Please! Its not a car, real estate, insurance, a knife that costs $100, a vaccuum that costs $2000 or any other sales opportunity that takes months, and in some cases, years to develop. And, not to be forgotten, learning the peddling of the product leads to long term SECURITY! So, I don't know if I have 'balls' and that is why I responded to your suggestion. Moreso, I call it experience! I was once the person who you described above, but, I GOT SICK AND TIRED OF BEING THAT PERSON! I did something about before I was too old and had too many debts and responsibilities and, therefore, become enslaved to my crummy 'career'. Rob

MY POST - I said an honest answer, I'm not an applicant Rob
YOU have obviously done well at YOUR branch (I'll be fair and forego asking how many people you had to ream in order to get there.) However, there are a number of branches out there that place completely phony ads, give no job description, promise money without delivering and threaten people with termination for asking questions. As large of a company as Scentura is there doesn't appear to be any sort of company oversight as to how owners run their offices. It reminds me of modern Wall Street, regulations were removed and the big wigs ran things however they saw fit.

It may not apply to you or myself but there are people who quit both good paying and dead end jobs with steady pay checks because the idea of a management position is attractive to almost anyone. While this may offer a chance to make better money it isn't guaranteed. Nowhere in my experience did they ever make it clear that your pay is 100% sales based. They didn't even tell me what the job duties would be until I had already got into a car on the way to sell. They promised me a reward of $750 for selling the most, which I did (12 bottles in 1 night) and got nothing, not a f**king penny.

Not sure if you're familiar with the concept of benefits but in the normal working world companies offer a wide array of benefits including health insurance, dental coverage, disability and life insurance so that's what happens if someone gets sick, or in an accident.

I admit this was a few years ago and I'm now in a steady career making good money and I don't have to sell a f**king thing. I'll also admit that I'm not cut out for sales and if they told me it was all sales I wouldn't have bothered

ROB'S POST - Thank you for clarifying...!
Thank you for clarifying that you never contacted my business. Never interviewed at my business. Nor, never worked with me or my wife through our business location. It is a bummer that you didn't have a better experience with the business you interviewed at. Sorry for them, as perhaps you were a good candidate for ownership, but, for whatever reasons, it didn't work out for you.
I am very familiar with the concept of benefits. My wife and myself both gave up those company provided benefits when we left our employment status with our previous employers. What I found was the benefits that come with running your own business are much greater than any employer provided, which, by the way, can be taken away for a variety of reasons that do not necessarily only happen from job loss. As you may or may not know, the tax benefits on your income from running your own business are incredible. It is not typical for the common employed person to be aware of this. You sound like you have located quite the employed status with a very generous employer if you receive the benefits from them that you have mentioned. But, realistically speaking, I know of no employer that offers disability and life insurance. That would be up to the individual to acquire, which, if you own your own business, then you know you are eligible to write the premiums off against your income. My wife being from the dental profession happened to mention it is not the norm. for companies to also pay for dental coverages. Which, by the way: If you think the company you work for offers these benefits to you at their expense, you are mislead by them. The employees of companies pay for these coverages somehow, whether you know it or not. Companies do not pick up the tab just because...! And that is also wonderful for you that your job description doesn't require you to do any sales, but, of course, you know you wouldn't have that job if not for the area of that business that generates the income through the selling of a service or product!


MY POST - Still not Honesty Rob
It was in 2004 at the Aurora office and yes I did meet you at the Elmhurst office. Looks like you've been with Scentura for too long because Life Insurance and Disability are fairly common benefits these days. Dental coverage is also a standard benefit these days and is very affordable not matter what salary level you're at. I'm talking $8-20 per pay period and usually the company covers 30-60%. It's true that no company pays the entire expense but they do pay a fair share, just because THAT'S WHAT GOOD LEGITIMATE COMPANIES DO!! I'm not knocking sales people in anyway just the pyramid schemes that Scentura and other multi-level marketing companies implement.

I'm a sympathetic man and my experience with Scentura was by far the worst in my career and I'm willing do whatever it takes to stop more people from experiencing the same disappointment your company has brought and continues to bring on so many others.

Since you continue to dance around the issue of false advertising, deception and false promises, you have now clearly demonstrated how little you know about how good legitimate companies work.

First off let me introduce my self to all of you. My name is Terika Volmar and Im a 23 year old black woman from East Orange New Jersey. I now run a distribution center for Scentura. I went through training in Middlesex New Jersey at Phoenix Management and my promoting owners were Donny Zinkin & Holly Jacobitz. I went through the same second interview and orientation process as every one else. Though I was a little skeptical when I first began I still showed up to the orientation and I did a great job in the FFAAR contest while skipping my first week of training in the process. Now when I signed up they told me it would be six to eight week program and that at the end of training I would become a manager. While most quit the training program with an excuse of having one baby, I completed the training we while taking care of 4. I used my children as motivation to stay in the program instead of a hindrance and finished the training program in 6 weeks. At the end of my first week my promoting owner Donny broke down how I can make real money with the company. The name of the meeting is 100,000 dollar meeting which Donny does on Fridays. Mind you, I didn't even know I was supposed to do sales my first day. (For BLOW OUTS: if you would have stayed a full week instead of just one or two days to see what the company was really about.Then you would know why I was motivated to stay and why people are successful in the business). The meeting broke down how you can be an average person that is of any age, race, color, gender, background, etc and still have the same opportunity of making a minimum of 100,000 dollars a year. Recently been promoted to my own office, people now answer MY add just as I answered Donny & Holly's. It feels good to do interviews on this side of the desk rather that going to some one with a resume asking for an opportunity. This company is a scam only for people who cheat them selves out of the position and the money they were promised by blowing out. you have to stay loyal to your promoting owners and persevere through the rough situations at home and in the field. The is the greatest opportunity going and if you're a person who needs advice call me ( ATTENTION: THIS is NOT for BLOW OUTS!!) (908) - 956 - 4596 or (862) - 438 - 6997 . Im an owner in Maryland who makes decent money with the company and now living a different life style than I did 6-8 weeks ago. The Name of my business is Selah Management and my partner's name is Earley Gaynor. We went through training together in Middlesex New Jersey and now have fun running our own office. The best feeling is to achieve the American dream which is to own your own business and have your destiny in your own hands. To the FNPs and all the other owners in Scentura SEE YOU AT THE TOP!!!!!!!!



>>>>>>>>>YOU HOLD THE KEY TO YOUR OWN DESTINY


WE THE BEST MARYLAND!!!!


P.S. to my promoting owners Donny & Holly I LOVE YOU!!!