Xtreme Marketing Inc Innovage dirty, dishonest, pyramid scheme, you work 50+ hour weeks making $50 while fat cat boss makes $5,000 doing nothing Tampa, Florida

Every negative comment said about this company is true. I agree that this company has potential to be successful, if run correctly. The Tampa office was NOT managed well. First of all, I have worked for previous "scam" companies in the past. I was one of those knife selling schmucks. HOWEVER, that company turned out to be pretty legit. After making $5,000 in 2 months, my skepticism about marketing jobs was no longer on high alert. I was a fool for letting my guard down. 

So, shortly after my job hunt had started, I received a phone call about a marketing position. A very vague phone call that didn't have a lot of details. HECK not even the website has job details! The entire process is very vague, which is probably why so many get lured in. Curiosity killed the cat. Let's skip past the details here.

Let's get to the office. It's in a nice professional building. Eventually, you make your way to this sketchy, no named door to the office. You walk in, and there's a small waiting room to the left, with a refridgerator that's not plugged in, a TV that doesn't work, and about 10 other people with whom you think you're competing against. Sorry, I'm getting off-track. There's nobody at the front desk and eventually a girl walks out to take your name and information. Cool, time to go wait (3 HOURS) in the waiting room.

After waiting so long, that you feel any moment you should leave, you are introduced to a manager with a baggy jacket and saggy pants. Mind you, the suit is professional; however, unprofessional in size. He still looks pretty sharp, so you disregard his lack of appropriately fitted attire. You are then informed that you will be taken in his dirty, crappy vehicle for an "observation" of what the job is like. You will sit in the back, crumple your legs almost up to your chest, and go watch these guys bomb in action. Seriously, it was a catastrophe. I was nervous at first. But with all the cute boys around, who's to say no! Not to mention I desperately needed a job and a guaranteed $300 a week seemed good to me.

Fast forward past the first day, second day, month. After about 2 weeks, or whenever you sell enough sets, you no longer get the guaranteed $300. You are left in the pool to drown. They blame your terrible sales on everything but the company itself. Your attitude was bad. You didn't hit enough doors. The list goes on. OH and all the talk about driving your own car? They reign you in if you have a car because none of the bums who have hung around have cars anymore. THEY CAN'T AFFORD TO PAY FOR THEM. So many coworkers lost their cars to this company. You end up driving your OWN car EVERY DAY to haul these bums around. They are usually so broke, they offer to buy your FIVE DOLLAR meal in exchange for gas money. Some of the good gents would reimburse you; however, once you become a "leader," you're hung out to dry in the gas money department.

After being driven down to only having $200 to my name, I wasn't sure this was the place for me. However, I had made a lot of friends and was finding that they made the job worthwhile. I can do this! Unfortunately, the excitement only lasted so long, and the time came when I needed a real, steady-paying job. At which point I quit. What happened next? I was BANNED from talking to, hanging out with, or basically even being friends with any of the people I had been close with at the company. Not a single bad word about this ripoff company had ever left my mouth. EVER. It didn't matter though. The bone-headed, arrogant, broken-English speaking Asian wouldn't let me hang out with them anymore. I was forced to see my friends in secrecy, what kind of BS is that!? 

All that talk about "you leaving the company, it didn't leave you," is just a crock of bull. This company will invite you in, make you feel like a superstar, and then steal all your money, along with any friends you had on the job. Essentially leaving you to go decompose in a sewer for all they care. These guys that make soooo much money, they live in hotels. They break their leases. Their cars get repossessed. They have to TAPE their shoes together, not to mention eat Ramen every day. Unless they can swindle a pretty face to buy meals for them or let them stay over. This glamourous job alienates you, while at the same time, single-handedly creating a bunch of broke and homeless bums. I feel sorry for the d-bags that are still brainwashed by this little Asian man and his no good, dirty deeds to make the most money out of the most innocent of people. God forbid you're a female and steal his little minions away from him and all his glory. If you're a cute one, he will immediately hate you. Oh and if you have anything going for you in life, he will hate you for that too. He only chooses who he gives his attention to, and who to help so that he can get his grubby little, nail curling paws on his cut of their sales.

So with that, I come to the end of my rant. All I have to say is be weary about any kind of marketing job, especially one that pays cash or makes you file a 1099. Most people don't realize how much in taxes they end up owing to the government with a 1099. If the job starts to seem fishy, or you see all your friends losing everything they have, it is probably time to give it up and leave for something better. Even if it makes you even more broke due to a new job hunt.

Yes, the guy that wrote this (I assume it's a guy because that is all that Ray Chia and his boyfriend Justin McCullough hire is men) is blatantly accurate and endlessly humorous!!! Innovage is a legit enough direct marketing company and its subsidiaries could be too unless they are run by lowlife swindlers like Ray Chia and the other guy this report mentioned, Stu Cooper. I love the original author's description of them, cracked me up!!! All owners/mgrs get their start in the field hustling too. I think Ray and Stu's accents helped them sell, honestly, but that's beside the point. Once you become an owner off of your own "sweat equity" that's when things can start going down hill.

When you are running your own location, you gotta make sure there is always new blood so your trainers can build teams to open up their very own office and in essence become an owner/mgr of their own location. Some dirty dealers like Ray Chia like to put up false ads on Craigslist because their ads, on more reputable sites like monster or careerbuilder, get flagged too quickly (plus when you're a penny pinching piece of crap, you don't want to pay for your lies.. ..I mean ads)

They put up these false advertisements with empty promises of pay and what not to take advantage of "hungry" candidates. It's really sad because they prey on vulnerable people who really need work. Ray is too cheap to even hire an admin so he calls his boyfriend Justin, an Earthworm Jim lookin dude, his assistant manager and has him set up interviews with any would be men that respond to the very attractive job ad.

And Justin has been placing these hoaky ads for a while now so he's gotten pretty good at attracting dudes to interviews. They really make sure the ads appeal to men and are very unappealing for women. Sometimes he makes the job seem like warehousing or seasonal work and the pay is at least $300 - $500 / week. Bollocks!! As Stu would say. They wanna take construction guys and other laborers and dress them up in business clothes so they can oggle them and high five with them because somehow it fulfills their homoerotic fantasies. But I'm getting off topic here.

During the initial first round phone interview, Justin will completely dance around any questions about the job itself and keep things very general. He just wants to make sure you have a car so you can drive around selling makeup. But if he has to, he will LIE to you outright and make false claims just to get you in the door. Then in the second personal interview with Ray, he too will dance around any questions about sales and quotas and what have you. And if he has to, he too will LIE to you outright to get you to come back for the observation where you follow a rep/trainer in the field ie: door to door soliciting businesses often when they have a "no soliciting" sign on their door.

Ray is a master con artist which is how he was able to sell enough product and sell enough people on the dream to have his own office. Don't doubt that one on one he could sell you the dream too. He will make it seem like his office will sell all different types of product when he knows well that they will only ever sell makeup. He uses men's naturally competitive nature against them. His mind games will have you thinking there must be something wrong with you because the system works. He will spout off quotes from all sorts of established and respected business people who would vomit at the context which he is applying them to.

Ray has been all over the Midwest with offices in Kansas City, Indianapolis and St Louis. Now he's gone from Tampa/Clearwater up to Atlanta. He's like a locust. He goes and sucks a city and a two hour radius of territories dry for about a year, year and a half before packing up shop and moving on to his next unsuspecting city. But fear not, he will NOT have longevity with his current practices. He, his boyfriend Justin and their band of misguided nitwits will get shutdown by corporate eventually. The more ripoff reports his victims right in each city he tramples through will eventually get the notice of their innovage "god" Scott Williams.

So in short, not all of Innovage's subsidiary companies are criminally negligent or plain old crooked. I do use the term subsidiary very loosely here. I can't speak for any other manager's disgusting and laughable methods except for Ray Chia. He and his boyfriend Justin are despicable human beings. Anyone that has the displeasure of working with them will get sucked dry. If they keep you around even if you're not selling much, it's because they find you attractive and they want you to eventually live with them essentially rent free so they can watch you walk around their apartment half naked. Please be ware of this sick and twisted duo. They will brain wash you!

 I have been with this company for over 3 years...the owner actually trained me in the field. He was no joke....worked his butt off for his opportunity in the company....to be an "owner". He started in the field business to business sale rep. Rain or shine, come snow or sleet...he was out there!!! That's why he owns and operates his own location now. Of course, the owner of the company is always the "fat cat" and makes the most money...so whoever this complainer is, he would also probably work in Walmart and complain why the owner of Walmart (Sam Walton family) makes so much money and do not have to show up to work everyday at the store....duh, most big corporations out there like McDonald, Walmart, BestBuy,....the owner of these companies make the big bucks....it's always the disgruntled employees that were let go or fired are the ones make the least amount of money...and barely last 2-4 weeks. I see people come and go in this company....so as in other companies...so as in relationships, just the nature of life. My advice when you leave a company, don't b***h about it...the company didn't leave you, you did! Kinda like if you leave you bf/gf, don't b***h about the relationship...because your the one that left, not her/him. The one that leaves is the one that quits on the commitment.....the owners in this company didn't quit, that's why they make it! If you ever go to an interview for a marketing company, you should get nervous!!! It's a tough industry, but if survive it, you'll make the big bucks eventually. If you do your research on what jobs are most secured....it is marketing!!! Just be careful on a company that wants you to put money up front!!! Not bad for a guy that barely speaks perfect english...so what's this guy's excuse NOW??? He should be doing a lot better than the asian and british guys...I watched a guy that ran in the Olympics...has both prostetic legs, so who give a sh8t whether you speak great english or not....have legs or not.....everyone is qualified for success!!!

Yes...we are a marketing company and we get paid by our sale. Yes, I am actually lose money when my company train new trainees...company makes $6 a kit...and the rep makes $7. So when a new rep sells 30 kits a week...he/she makes 30 x $7...equals to $210...me as the owner, I have to fork out another $90 out of my company so this new guy gets a min $300 take home a week....so the company is willing to take a loss so our new recruits can survive and finally get on their feet. We don't train people that can't perform...after all marketing is like any other professional sport...if you don't perfrom, YOU DON'T GET DRAFT IN NFL, NBA, etc. SO THE PEOPLE THAT COMPLAIN A LOT ABOUT US, USUALLY SUCKS ON HIS/HER MOMMA'S t**s...GROW SOME BALLS AND BE THE PLAYER THAN THE CRYING BABIES!!!!!