AKE Fire Safety Equipment ,Hope Enterprises Hiring scam Homewood Illinois

I answered an ad for employment as an Office Manager Trainee. I was called in for an interview that afternoon. When I arrived, there were several people scheduled for an interview at the same time.

We were given a group presentation of AKE and their products and advised that if a job was offered we had to give them an answer at that time. We had been told over the phone when scheduling the interview to bring in $50 for a criminal background check. We were then told at the interview that we had to pay $500 for the training kit and it would be refunded when we became an office manager.

I asked why so many people going through the same training program and was told that Mr. Allen Kronebusch (the president of AKE) had a dream to open 100 offices and was working now in the Chicagoland area.

The next day, although skeptical, I returned with the group and gave my $500. I was given some information and told that in order to complete the training we had to perform a certain number of "presentations" of this product. A few order forms were included in the kit, so I asked about this and was told "great if I was able to sell something" as I would be paid an extra 10% commission along with $19.00 for the presentation.

The product appeared to be good although you really cannot check as the fire safety products are not UL rated.

Within a few days we were told that in order to achieve the required "pins" to reach our goal as office manager we had to sell!!!!! And sell alot. I quit after 3 weeks after selling $3800 and was still not told what the total amount of sales necessary were.

The product is outrageously expense with a shipping charge of 25% which is completely inaccurate.

I was given false information as to the properties of this product, and sold to customers based on this false information. This left me responsible for selling an overpriced product that was not what I had been it was in the first place. I also was incorrectly told about the commission amounts that I had earned.

My customers are not allowed to return the product.

I think Mr. Kronebusch ethics are all apparent in the first chapter of "his book" which tell about as a young boy in school we would purchase packs of chewing gum (which was not allowed in school) and sell it to the other kids at school for 10 cents a piece. In other words, he is, and always has been, willining to break the rules and to make money off of anyone he could.

Maria
Munster, Indiana
U.S.A.