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Report: #61496

Complaint Review: Winners Advertising, GQ Imports - Woburn Massachusetts

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  • Reported By: Acton Massachusetts
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  • Winners Advertising, GQ Imports 25 Olympia Ave. Suite M Woburn, Massachusetts U.S.A.

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This is Long, But WELL Worth The Time!

College Students Beware! Looking for a summer job? Same here. I've spent every day for the last 2 months looking in the papers for the perfect summer job, and last week, I thought I had found it...until I found out what was really going on. I answered an ad in the Boston Globe promising "$350 - $500 Weekly!" It seemed to be everything I was looking for: Students over 18 welcome, PR Help Needed (My Major), and great pay. I called at 10am and was told that there had been a cancellation at 1pm for an interview and that the earlier I interviewed, the greater my chances for getting the job. So I signed up to fill the 1pm slot. I was told to dress professionally and bring a copy of my resume.

At 1pm I entered the office, where the sign outside said Winners Advertising. I thought this was strange because when I had called earlier, the girl on the phone had said "CQ Imports," but in my excitement I quickly pushed this thought out of my head. I walked into the reception area, where Justin Timberlake was being played loudly on the stereo system. The girl behind the desk was college age, so I thought nothing about the music. I was told to fill out an application, and attach my resume. I did so and about 20 minutes later, a guy who seemed maybe a year or two older than me came out of the office and called me in.

I sat down in his office and he proceded to ask me some questions about myself: what my extracurricular activities were, what kind of music I like, if I had a girlfriend - yet nothing about my prior job experices or education. Also, he continually called me "bro", which definitely took the professional edge off. He then told me that they were interviewing 60 people that day, and calling back maybe 10 of them for a 9am-5:30pm second interview, but that I seemed really cool, so how about I just come in the next day for the second interview?

Feeling excited that I had made it through the first round, I immediately went out and bought a new shirt and tie, so that I could be dressed to impress for my second interview. I arrived the next morning to basically the same scene, only instead of Justin Timberlake, this morning it was techno. I was asked to fill out a form stating that I understood that I was observing the company for the day, that I was not obligated to participate in any of the days activities, and that I was not to consider myself an employee of the company, nor to expect any compensation for my time. Although unorthodox, the contract seemed pretty harmless, so I signed it.

I sat down in the waiting area with the 5 other people who were there that day. After about 15 minutes, the receptionist went over to the stereo and turned the volume up extremely high. I couldn't understand why, but I began to hear some shouting and almost chanting/singing from inside the office. I wasn't sure what it was, but I was sure that the music was meant to drown it out.

It was about an hour later, at 10:00, that the guy I had interviewed with the previous day came out and called us, one by one into his office. When I got in there, I was introduced to another guy who I'll call "Sam." I was told that Sam was an assistant manager with the company, and that I was going to be shadowing him for the day. Sam, I was told, was who I needed to impress if I wanted the job.

Sam took me out the front door, and around to back, where several other people were waiting. I found it strange that they had been coming out the rear door, only steps from the office where I had just been, but I was taken out the front and around, so I was unable to see any of the office. Yet again, I pushed the red lights in my head down, and was still anxious to find what this job was all about. Oh yeah, I don't think I mentioned that...I was never given a job description. I was told that I would be doing "Customer Service" and that Winners Advertising worked ONLY with Fortune 500 companies. That's it. So, my curiosity getting the better of me, I stuck around.

Sam told me that we'd be going out with 2 other people, both of whom he was training. He told me to get in the car, and we'd be off. So, I got in, not sure of where we'd be going or what we'd be doing. We soon got onto Rt. 93, heading into Boston. Sam and the two trainees were talking the whole time about the upcoming company trip to Cancun, and how this job had a lot of travel benefits. It was then that I was told that we'd be working with two companies that day, Macy's and Brookstone's. Ok, my thinking goes, we're going TO Macy's and Brookstone's, and doing some work there with them. This could be cool. But we stay on 93 too long to be going to either Macy's or Brookstone's.

We soon ended up in our destination: Brookline. No, there is no Macy's in Brookline. Nor is there a Brookstone's. Now I'm getting worried. We pull into a pharmacy parking lot and get out. Im told to leave my suit jacket in the car, because it'll probably be hot out. Ok, sure. So we get out, and Sam opens the trunk to his car. Inside are boxes and boxes of telephones, picture frames, umbrellas and calculators. Sam and each of the trainees pull out duffel bags and begin filling them with all this merchandise. I'm asked if I would mind holding a few umbrellas. Sure, no problem. Still, NO clue of what's going on.

My answer soon comes. We go into EVERY business on the street, on side streets, down alleys, and try to sell these frames and umbrellas and phones to the employees of these businesses. Not to be sold in the stores, just for the employees to buy. We go into restaurants, travel agencies, wait in line in cafes until we get to the counter, when we then ask the person taking orders just how many new picture frames they wanted. We even went into a bank, where Sam told the trainee to sell to the tellers, but to be extra loud to that the people in the back could hear, just in case they wanted anything. It was, by far, the most embarrassing time in my life. I was selling cheap merchandise out of the trunk of a car.

Perhaps worst of all was the deception that these people used. Sam told people that the girl at Dunkin Donuts had just bought 5 picture frames AND a telephone, when in actuality, we had just been kicked out of Dunkin Donuts for soliciting! Businesses were told that these items were going to be going on sale in Macy's and Brookstone's in two weeks for a MUCH higher price, and that they were just testing the market. I saw this stuff, and I can say very confidently that Macy's and Brookstone's wouldn't use this stuff to piss in. It was a cheap, dirty scam. And yes, people bought some stuff. But 75% of the people who did barely spoke any english. Let's just say that I found out that Sam also spoke some Spanish...enough to tell people that the picture frame was "Once pesos."

So we began selling at about 10:30, and were scheduled to leave at 5:30. The heart of rush hour. Which would have gotten us back to the Woburn office (and my car) at about 6:30 or 7:00. THEN I was supposed to sit down with the manager, and he'd go over any questions I had. I should expect to leave for home at about 9pm. In my walking with Sam, I asked about pay; Was there any? Yeah, there was pay, but not unless you sold anything. There was no base pay, just commission, which was about 20%. So, if I sold one cheap umbrella for $6, I would make $1.20. For a 12 hour work day. Six days a week. I needed to get out of there, and fast. Unfortunately, my suit jacket was in Sams car, and my car was in Woburn.

Two o'clock rolls around and I'm dying from the heat, starving because we haven't stopped, and I have to piss like a racehorse. We're making a quick stop at Sam's car to get some more umbrellas (for me to hold), and I sieze the opportunity. I notice a bank across the street, on a corner, and I grab my suit coat and tell Sam I'm just gonna run to the bank for a minute. Let me tell you, I hit that corner and I took off. Straight to the subway. Took the Commuter Rail to Woburn, where I walked 3 miles to pick up my car, and was home by 5:30...just when I would have been getting ready to leave Boston. Was leaving the most professional thing to do? Of course not. But it saved me from 3 more hours of embarrassment, and it makes for one hell of a story.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, for your own good, STAY AWAY!!

Winner's Advertising/GQ Imports, whatever they are, if a SHAM and should not be trusted, ever, at all.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I sincerely hope you enjoyed!

Jeremy
Acton, Massachusetts
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 06/22/2003 08:16 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/winners-advertising-gq-imports/woburn-massachusetts-01801/winners-advertising-gq-imports-bewaredeceptive-promotional-company-wants-to-waste-your-61496. 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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#6 UPDATE EX-employee responds

alright then...

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

POSTED: Friday, January 07, 2005

Paulie boy don't think your the only one who's had that idea slick...and you can't sling merch like that forever...someone will catch on. and if you just take off with the money without going back to the office then that's stealing cuz they make you sign forms before they'll co sign anything to you. they'll have all your information on hand. plus some of these people aren't lucky enough to merch at a juicy area like a subway station. would if they get sent to a sleepy town or something? prolly can't get rid of one duffel bag full of stuff in a town like that. so the best advice i would say would be to just walk away and leave your "day of O". but if you want, once you get assigned some merch to sell, just sell them for more then you're supposed to and pocket the money. do this only once or twice ONLY otherwise it would be risky. usually the guy with you is a leader and he comes along with you on your rounds till he thinks your ready to be on your own. don't know paulie boy...wish i was at the business cult you were at cuz it was a lil harder for me to rip off the company cuz they watched they're stuff and employees a lot more than i think your cult did.

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#5 Consumer Suggestion

Learn to read the signs. That way, you won't end up in the river when the bridge is out!

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

POSTED: Sunday, January 02, 2005

Dudes, what does it mean when they ask you if you like sports and have a girlfriend at a job interview? It's not a problem if they also ask you about your prior work experience. But, when that's the only questions they ask you, it can only mean one thing.

They'll hire anybody!

Won't tell you what the job is all about? That can only mean one thing too. If they actually told you, you'd laugh and walk out right then and there.

Here's how you win in this position. You're a newbie. So go for it. Load up a duffel with as many phones as you can fit. Grab as many calculators as you can fit in a second duffel.

Tell these people you used to hustle trash like this in college. And, you're d**n good at it. Ask how long you'll be out there. The boss will tell you 5:30.

Tell him you better take a lot of stuff, because you don't want to run out. Grab a third duffel and fill it up too. Take your coat, because you won't be coming back.

Next, grab all this trash and take off in a different direction than everyone else. If a dork tries to follow you, tell him you take that street, and I'll take this street.

Next, sell the good phones for $5 to $10 each. Make a good price. Actually, make it a giveaway price. Spend an hour or two, as you're walking towards the subway, selling the crap.

By the time you get home, you should have nothing left. All the crap is gone. The duffels went for $5 each. All you have is your coat jacket in your hands.

Oh, and $250 in your pockets. You're whistling Dixie as you climb into your car.

On the way home, you stop and treat yourself to a steak for lunch. After all, it's only noon, and you're already done for the day.

Not a bad job, all things considered! With a first day like this, I'm sure a promising sales career awaits you!

You see, life is what you make of it. Opportunities are found everywhere. You simply need to learn how to spot them, and take advantage of them. That's the mark of a true hustler.

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#4 UPDATE EX-employee responds

wicked embarassed i worked here

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

POSTED: Sunday, January 02, 2005

kinda liked working at my branch cuz it was kids my own age (just finished college), your allowed and somewhat encouraged to act silly (i'm a goof ball), and i smoked mad weed with my leader and other fellow distributors and leaders (both while at work and after work). o and also wanted to see how good i would be at selling other things besides drugs. so don't censor me, i'm being honest..

but hey enough about me let's break it down for all the parties involved....

alright it's simple marxian economics...your not being paid properly for the amount of work you're putting in, and when you factor in the other costs(gas,lunch,lost benefits,car maintenance,new suites) then you're really losing out. you might get strung along with the whole "will be a branch manager in 3-6 months" crap but honestly there's only so many offices innovage/dsmax wants to open. so what? all 15-30 people in the office are going to be owners? what about the 15-30 people in all the other offices around the country? them too? obviously not...that's why it's a very competitive business...well then that means you're only going to get successful first by exploiting your workers and getting people to stay at a job that's not compensating them well and with a small chance of upward mobility, coupled with a false hope of success. and secondly by selling cheap, third rate products made in sweatshops over in china to unknowing, impulsive consumers out there for a very high profit return (90-95%) that will mostly go to the manager and the corporate people instead of to you(who did all the hard work but is told will be rewarded later,"you'll see") and sometimes you're forced to rip off people in your very own town! i mean considering all the probabilities involved YOU probably won't be promoted to a manager unless you can scam people into sticking with your crew long enough so that you can get promoted, eventhough most of your crew won't even be rewarded/compensated, in those 3-6 months if at all, for all the time and money they put into the company. "just waving a carrot in front the slow turtle." i guess owning your own company is fine and all but i mean a lot of people can make over 100k a yr if they put in the amount of overtime some of these owners and asst managers have to put in. i don't know, i think dsmax/innovage needs those poor brainwashed sales people, who are getting ripped off, a lot more than they do that small percentage of people who can actually succeed in a business like that. if they separated the offices into mgmnt training and sales then the management office would be like 2 or 3 people while the sales office would be like 40-50 people. plus they'd have to give the people in the sales office a bigger commission, otherwise no one would stick around.

it's just easier to combine the two and give the people that are only kept around for sales less money and getting away with it by justifying the rip-off with the whole "it's a management training program, you'll make the real money once you finish training and build a crew and open your own office and etc.." line of bullsh*t. I mean i don't have much morals or much of a conscience (which is prolly why i want to go into the music biz), but even i don't have that utter lack of morality and that void of conscienceness that these owners and other higher ups in this so called "business" must possess in order to succeed. in other words i may be able to be some type of lowlife in the music industry, but most definetly not the type of scumbag you would need to be as an owner. by the way the only reason i stuck around for like 2 weeks was cuz my manager kept saying the company was going to branch out into entertainment.

i didn't stick around long enough to find out what he meant by that but i bet it was either yanni tickets or toy keyboards made in china for 10 cents each but sold in america for a ridiculously low price of 9.99! o plus the stupid sales tax that no one ever wants to pay! hahaha

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#3 UPDATE EX-employee responds

wicked embarassed i worked here

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

POSTED: Sunday, January 02, 2005

kinda liked working at my branch cuz it was kids my own age (just finished college), your allowed and somewhat encouraged to act silly (i'm a goof ball), and i smoked mad weed with my leader and other fellow distributors and leaders (both while at work and after work). o and also wanted to see how good i would be at selling other things besides drugs. so don't censor me, i'm being honest..

but hey enough about me let's break it down for all the parties involved....

alright it's simple marxian economics...your not being paid properly for the amount of work you're putting in, and when you factor in the other costs(gas,lunch,lost benefits,car maintenance,new suites) then you're really losing out. you might get strung along with the whole "will be a branch manager in 3-6 months" crap but honestly there's only so many offices innovage/dsmax wants to open. so what? all 15-30 people in the office are going to be owners? what about the 15-30 people in all the other offices around the country? them too? obviously not...that's why it's a very competitive business...well then that means you're only going to get successful first by exploiting your workers and getting people to stay at a job that's not compensating them well and with a small chance of upward mobility, coupled with a false hope of success. and secondly by selling cheap, third rate products made in sweatshops over in china to unknowing, impulsive consumers out there for a very high profit return (90-95%) that will mostly go to the manager and the corporate people instead of to you(who did all the hard work but is told will be rewarded later,"you'll see") and sometimes you're forced to rip off people in your very own town! i mean considering all the probabilities involved YOU probably won't be promoted to a manager unless you can scam people into sticking with your crew long enough so that you can get promoted, eventhough most of your crew won't even be rewarded/compensated, in those 3-6 months if at all, for all the time and money they put into the company. "just waving a carrot in front the slow turtle." i guess owning your own company is fine and all but i mean a lot of people can make over 100k a yr if they put in the amount of overtime some of these owners and asst managers have to put in. i don't know, i think dsmax/innovage needs those poor brainwashed sales people, who are getting ripped off, a lot more than they do that small percentage of people who can actually succeed in a business like that. if they separated the offices into mgmnt training and sales then the management office would be like 2 or 3 people while the sales office would be like 40-50 people. plus they'd have to give the people in the sales office a bigger commission, otherwise no one would stick around.

it's just easier to combine the two and give the people that are only kept around for sales less money and getting away with it by justifying the rip-off with the whole "it's a management training program, you'll make the real money once you finish training and build a crew and open your own office and etc.." line of bullsh*t. I mean i don't have much morals or much of a conscience (which is prolly why i want to go into the music biz), but even i don't have that utter lack of morality and that void of conscienceness that these owners and other higher ups in this so called "business" must possess in order to succeed. in other words i may be able to be some type of lowlife in the music industry, but most definetly not the type of scumbag you would need to be as an owner. by the way the only reason i stuck around for like 2 weeks was cuz my manager kept saying the company was going to branch out into entertainment.

i didn't stick around long enough to find out what he meant by that but i bet it was either yanni tickets or toy keyboards made in china for 10 cents each but sold in america for a ridiculously low price of 9.99! o plus the stupid sales tax that no one ever wants to pay! hahaha

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#2 UPDATE EX-employee responds

wicked embarassed i worked here

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

POSTED: Sunday, January 02, 2005

kinda liked working at my branch cuz it was kids my own age (just finished college), your allowed and somewhat encouraged to act silly (i'm a goof ball), and i smoked mad weed with my leader and other fellow distributors and leaders (both while at work and after work). o and also wanted to see how good i would be at selling other things besides drugs. so don't censor me, i'm being honest..

but hey enough about me let's break it down for all the parties involved....

alright it's simple marxian economics...your not being paid properly for the amount of work you're putting in, and when you factor in the other costs(gas,lunch,lost benefits,car maintenance,new suites) then you're really losing out. you might get strung along with the whole "will be a branch manager in 3-6 months" crap but honestly there's only so many offices innovage/dsmax wants to open. so what? all 15-30 people in the office are going to be owners? what about the 15-30 people in all the other offices around the country? them too? obviously not...that's why it's a very competitive business...well then that means you're only going to get successful first by exploiting your workers and getting people to stay at a job that's not compensating them well and with a small chance of upward mobility, coupled with a false hope of success. and secondly by selling cheap, third rate products made in sweatshops over in china to unknowing, impulsive consumers out there for a very high profit return (90-95%) that will mostly go to the manager and the corporate people instead of to you(who did all the hard work but is told will be rewarded later,"you'll see") and sometimes you're forced to rip off people in your very own town! i mean considering all the probabilities involved YOU probably won't be promoted to a manager unless you can scam people into sticking with your crew long enough so that you can get promoted, eventhough most of your crew won't even be rewarded/compensated, in those 3-6 months if at all, for all the time and money they put into the company. "just waving a carrot in front the slow turtle." i guess owning your own company is fine and all but i mean a lot of people can make over 100k a yr if they put in the amount of overtime some of these owners and asst managers have to put in. i don't know, i think dsmax/innovage needs those poor brainwashed sales people, who are getting ripped off, a lot more than they do that small percentage of people who can actually succeed in a business like that. if they separated the offices into mgmnt training and sales then the management office would be like 2 or 3 people while the sales office would be like 40-50 people. plus they'd have to give the people in the sales office a bigger commission, otherwise no one would stick around.

it's just easier to combine the two and give the people that are only kept around for sales less money and getting away with it by justifying the rip-off with the whole "it's a management training program, you'll make the real money once you finish training and build a crew and open your own office and etc.." line of bullsh*t. I mean i don't have much morals or much of a conscience (which is prolly why i want to go into the music biz), but even i don't have that utter lack of morality and that void of conscienceness that these owners and other higher ups in this so called "business" must possess in order to succeed. in other words i may be able to be some type of lowlife in the music industry, but most definetly not the type of scumbag you would need to be as an owner. by the way the only reason i stuck around for like 2 weeks was cuz my manager kept saying the company was going to branch out into entertainment.

i didn't stick around long enough to find out what he meant by that but i bet it was either yanni tickets or toy keyboards made in china for 10 cents each but sold in america for a ridiculously low price of 9.99! o plus the stupid sales tax that no one ever wants to pay! hahaha

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#1 UPDATE EX-employee responds

wicked embarassed i worked here

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

POSTED: Sunday, January 02, 2005

kinda liked working at my branch cuz it was kids my own age (just finished college), your allowed and somewhat encouraged to act silly (i'm a goof ball), and i smoked mad weed with my leader and other fellow distributors and leaders (both while at work and after work). o and also wanted to see how good i would be at selling other things besides drugs. so don't censor me, i'm being honest..

but hey enough about me let's break it down for all the parties involved....

alright it's simple marxian economics...your not being paid properly for the amount of work you're putting in, and when you factor in the other costs(gas,lunch,lost benefits,car maintenance,new suites) then you're really losing out. you might get strung along with the whole "will be a branch manager in 3-6 months" crap but honestly there's only so many offices innovage/dsmax wants to open. so what? all 15-30 people in the office are going to be owners? what about the 15-30 people in all the other offices around the country? them too? obviously not...that's why it's a very competitive business...well then that means you're only going to get successful first by exploiting your workers and getting people to stay at a job that's not compensating them well and with a small chance of upward mobility, coupled with a false hope of success. and secondly by selling cheap, third rate products made in sweatshops over in china to unknowing, impulsive consumers out there for a very high profit return (90-95%) that will mostly go to the manager and the corporate people instead of to you(who did all the hard work but is told will be rewarded later,"you'll see") and sometimes you're forced to rip off people in your very own town! i mean considering all the probabilities involved YOU probably won't be promoted to a manager unless you can scam people into sticking with your crew long enough so that you can get promoted, eventhough most of your crew won't even be rewarded/compensated, in those 3-6 months if at all, for all the time and money they put into the company. "just waving a carrot in front the slow turtle." i guess owning your own company is fine and all but i mean a lot of people can make over 100k a yr if they put in the amount of overtime some of these owners and asst managers have to put in. i don't know, i think dsmax/innovage needs those poor brainwashed sales people, who are getting ripped off, a lot more than they do that small percentage of people who can actually succeed in a business like that. if they separated the offices into mgmnt training and sales then the management office would be like 2 or 3 people while the sales office would be like 40-50 people. plus they'd have to give the people in the sales office a bigger commission, otherwise no one would stick around.

it's just easier to combine the two and give the people that are only kept around for sales less money and getting away with it by justifying the rip-off with the whole "it's a management training program, you'll make the real money once you finish training and build a crew and open your own office and etc.." line of bullsh*t. I mean i don't have much morals or much of a conscience (which is prolly why i want to go into the music biz), but even i don't have that utter lack of morality and that void of conscienceness that these owners and other higher ups in this so called "business" must possess in order to succeed. in other words i may be able to be some type of lowlife in the music industry, but most definetly not the type of scumbag you would need to be as an owner. by the way the only reason i stuck around for like 2 weeks was cuz my manager kept saying the company was going to branch out into entertainment.

i didn't stick around long enough to find out what he meant by that but i bet it was either yanni tickets or toy keyboards made in china for 10 cents each but sold in america for a ridiculously low price of 9.99! o plus the stupid sales tax that no one ever wants to pay! hahaha

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