More on the job scam
It seems that job scam is a lot more common than I first thought. I don't know whether they are the same company or different ones.
Just a few of their other names and addresses I've found!:
Fusion Marketing Solutions, TML Promotions, Arkville Sales & Marketing, Power Play Marketing Ltd
West Orchard House, 28 Corporation Street, Coventry, CV1 1GF
VI Marketing, Power House Direct Ltd, R&S Solutions, Red Square Direct Ltd, R.S. Marketing Ltd
30 Western Road, Brighton, BN3 1AF
Marketing Solutions
Belgrave House, 47 Bank Street, Sheffield S1 2DR
0114 276 7329
http://www.rsmsonline.co.uk
AMM Direct Ltd, Marchant Marketing, T.H. Worldwide
4th Floor, Premier House, Darlington Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 4ND
01902 716233 OR 01902 427353
SRM Marketing Limited (company no 06736679), Supreme Corporation UK Ltd, Orick Marketing Solutions Ltd, Forsters Marketing Solutions Ltd
Added 11th August: Pure Solutions Direct Limited (company no 06868527), CSK Marketing - thanks Neil!
Griffin House, Aurillac Way, Retford, Nottinghamshire, DN22 7SS
http://www.supremecorp.co.uk
http://www.orrickmarketing.com/
RS Advertising Yorkshire Bank Chambers
Market Square, Retford, Nottinghamshire DN22 6DQ.
Supreme Corp Kent.
86a Bank Street, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1SD
01622 670478
Awka Limited
94 North Street, Leeds LS2 7PN
0113 2445330
http://www.akwa-limited.co.uk/
Other business names:
P & D Marketing
The Cobra Group
R3 Marketing
Clover Advertising
Endeva Advertising
Magnum Marketing Ltd
Mosco Marketing
Jess has also said they have a big prescence in Norwich. I guess student towns are easiest.
Blimey.
Moral of this story: ALWAYS DO YOUR PRE-INTERVIEW RESEARCH.
(Found me through Google? Check out my other two blogs on this subject - Job scam doing the rounds and London Marketing Services (another job scam).)
posted by Lecari @ 7/07/2009 12:39:00 PM
41 Comments:
I recently had an interview with AMM, very sketchy appears to be a pyramid scheme set up and you are not really employed. Instead self employed so they can get around working time regs and pay only on commission. The job adverts themselves are completely mis-advertised with one generic advert for all jobs, which does not relate to any jobs on offer; regardless of seniority you will be a door to door salesman. Do not apply or attend the 8 hour interview!
Thanks for your comment. It seems to be sadly so comment. As you said, I got invited to interview based on one of their very vague, generic advert - glad I managed to Google it and found out in time!
eep - so common*
I've just had the first interview with Marketing Solutions, based in Sheffield, 2 hours ago. And half an hour ago, I was so delighted after they called and offer me 2nd round interview tomorrow. I hardly found any trace about this company except from this blog and to be honest, after the 1st round interview, all I know is I will be working very hard (God knows on what) to earn money. In the call half an hour ago, they asked me to dress well, "because you'll be see potential customers" ... and now I kno i'll be harassing people ...
I will off my fone tomorrow, can't even be bothered to call and cancel ...
Petpig - glad to have warned you, at least you've found out now eh? I think it's horrible how they are getting people's hopes up, considering how many unemployed there are - they are really taking advantage.
I feel completely disappointed now. But I think we need to report these guys to big recruitment websites. I got this job ads thru reed.co.uk which I personally think a reliable website for graduates. I've seen it on targetjobs as well, all of them are well-known !
Yeah I found them on totaljobs.com (another legit jobs website). I think it's made me far more aware/nervous, if the job sounds vague or too good to be true, I don't apply anymore.
Not sure they really care, though (after all Reed/totaljobs etc are still getting paid) but it's worth a try!
Sheffield ME
Belgrave House
47 Bank Street
S1 2DR
Sheffield
T: 0114 276 7329
Congratulations on being selected to attend our preliminary round of interview on Wednesday the 5rd of August
Upon arrival at our location, you will be presented a brief application form, which you will be required to complete. One of the managers will then conduct an informal preliminary interview where you will be asked to provide an insight into your previous roles and responsibilities as well as how those experiences could benefit our company. You will also be given an outline of the history of our company, the services we provide for our clients and where you could fit into our goals for the future. As with any interview, it is always a good idea to bring a copy of a CV along with you.
We look forward to meeting you in person. If you have any issues crop up that could prevent you from attending, please do not hesitate to call and we will endeavour to provide an alternate date.
FOR DIRECTIONS - our office is in Belgrave House located on 47 Bank Street.
The following link will give you directions from the Sheffield Train Station: http://www.multimap.com/s/JwmLPM8c
This link will give you a map of our general area:
http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=47+Bank+Street,+S1+2DR&countryCode=GB#map=53.38427,-1.46788|16|4&bd=useful_information&loc=GB:53.38427:-1.46788:16|47 Bank Street, S1 2DR|S1 2DR
· If the doors are locked, locate the call box to the right of the doors , You can then push the green call button and we will buzz you in.
· We are the very first office on your right after you have entered the building.
HR Department
Sheffield M.E.
Belgrave House
Bank Street
Sheffield
S12DR
Oh fantastic, they do now have invitation letter as well ... I guess they probably "preliminary interviews" and "assessment day" everyday in the week :)) ...
That's the standard email they send to everyone; I received one identical to that as well.
I had the same a few months back. Really felt pressured into taking the job, but called bck when i was offered another. they pray on people in bad situations, ie graduates who need work, and i felt so angry about it for dys after.
Hi guys I have just recieved a call from markeying solutions about an interview tomorrow but after reading some of these comments im unsure about weather to go now? Is it definatly a scam? Do they just pay you on comission?
I fully understand your dilemma feeling now ... You'll defo feel lost and not taking a chance if you stay home, but i'm sure you'll b even more disappointed if you go.
Better spend your petrol and precious time for something more legit !
Or else if you have nothing to do tmr and wanna meet their so-called "top manager" who appeared to be quite sexy, then just give it a trip and tell us what you think later..
Watever you decide, good luck !
PS: yes, they defo ask you to do self-employed and no basics.
Ah ok well thanks for the advice! I think I shall stay home and wait for something better to come along! I have luckily just had another interview elsewhere so fingers crossed ill get that instead! Thanks again x
I think you've done the right thing, there's no guarantee that these guys would even pay you for all your time and hard work - good luck with the other interview :)
Further to the companies listed, my girlfriend got offered an interview where she was told they would condense first, second and third interviews all into one day, and she could then start work tomorrow. This is another company to the ones you have above:
Pure Solutions Direct Ltd. (06868527)and has the same Griffin House address as another you have listed. Also found CSK Marketing operating from the same address.
My girlfriend was wary it was a scam before she even went - has asked them why they don't have a website etc. etc. and they are completely avoiding and side stepping every question.
Thanks for the info Neil - I'll add it to the post! I really appreciate it.
I'm glad your girlfriend figured them out quickly, and yes, not having a website these days does ring alarm bells! And having a first, second and third interview all in one day is quite strange, too.
hi.
i was called for an interview with 'marketing solutions 47 bank street'. i had applied for a 'human resource' post as 'recruitment assistant' but when i went there, the woman who interviewd me went on and on about the glorious world of marketing and sales and how well they were doing. and also about how far a person could go if they chose such a path. when i asked her if i had come for the right interview, she pretended as if she didnt hear, and continued her speech about marketing (street chugging).
so basically, the post they had advertised was a fake!!!. they'd do just about anything to get people to go street chugging. UNbelievable? well. i am now a believer.
people, be warned, if there's a job by marketing solutions, eventhough they'd say it is 'human resources' (or accounting or IT or whatever) dont boter going. they're just looking for street chuggers.
- sorry.. typo
dont ''bother'' going.
Thank you so much for saving my time & money! I had an interview scheduled with the elusive -
MARCHANT MARKETING
Premier House, Floor 4
Darlington Street
Wolverhampton
WV1 4ND
Tel: 01902 427 353
I'm so glad I found this article before I attended, having looked into the company further it is part of a group. I believe there is one in London and also Brighton more details can be found here -
http://thewhinger.tgtmedia.co.uk/2008/11/24/hello-world/
If you do receive an interview here (which you DEFINITELY will) if you applied save yourself time and money this company among others is a scam preying on jobless graduates who are desperate for any type of employment.
Yasmantha: Thanks for posting your experience! It's appreciated.
Clive - Thanks for the info. I actually linked to that website on my previous blog post to this one ("Job scam doing the rounds") as well as a few other other sites with info. It's always good to hear other people's experiences, though! I'm glad this site helped you.
2 companies in Norwich which sound like they could be part of this:
Marketing Solutions and SRM Marketing
Now my only decision is whether to bother telling them I'm not going to turn up for the 9 hour "shadowing" days...
Well done on me for doing my research before the interveiw :) I googled "Red square direct" and google gave "Red Square Direcct Scam" as a search suggestion! Thought it was all too vaugue; most companies give you a info pack on your job role but these dudes gave no real info on the job role AT ALL. Thanx to all you who spread the truth on these scam artists. btw lookout for "EA Worldwide Acquisitions" they blow too. peace.
Endeva Advertising, interview by chris rudge, bigs himself, says his business turns over x amount and his businss has spread to northampton and derby, which is lie, they are independant business;
's that have nothing to do with him. In the interview he talks so fast, saying we do business to business, residential and events such as sports events shopping centres! sice they opened in 2004 or 5 they have never done a days events or b2b! its all door 2 door!! completely misleads people, and the funniest thing is the meeting when they say how much moeny they make, load of bs, STAY AWAY FROM ENDEVA
Endeva Advertising, interview by chris rudge, bigs himself, says his business turns over x amount and his businss has spread to northampton and derby, which is lie, they are independant business;
's that have nothing to do with him. In the interview he talks so fast, saying we do business to business, residential and events such as sports events shopping centres! sice they opened in 2004 or 5 they have never done a days events or b2b! its all door 2 door!! completely misleads people, and the funniest thing is the meeting when they say how much moeny they make, load of bs, STAY AWAY FROM ENDEVA
Hi guys,
its just so unbelievable, why do they do it??? I had and interview with EA Worldwide last week, it went fine and was invited for the second round. And than in the evening by an accident I found out its scam..so dissapointed. Still will go tomorrow for the second round, although its supposed to be somewhere outside, just want to see it for myself...and than just walk away. you know, how can they lie to people like that...
Just had an interview with clover advertising and have the second round tomorrow - I just calculated that at £300pw (minimum - commission based) and doing 10 hour days Monday to Friday and 4 hours on a Saturday id be earning £5.50 -less than the minimum wage, so thought id do a little more research into the company and found this!!! could someone please explain more to me and give me a few more details - still going to go to my interview but with my eyes open and with the intention of confronting them!
so clover advertising with gareth! on average the guys doing door to door with npower are not making 300 a week, more like £200-250, and if he said 4 hours on a saturday I hope he had his fingers crossed, they all do at least 6 - 8 hours on a saturday! i know a few guys who do it, and some of them make good money, but alot make hardly anything!
I just had a similar experience with the following company:
JK Marketing Services Ltd
86A Bank Street, Maidstone,
Kent,
ME14 1SD
Tel: 01622 691 730
The company has countless job adverts on www.reed.co.uk all with quite similar vague job postings.
I was suspicious of the company from the very start. They said there website was down but you can tell from visiting the web address that it just has never existed.
I searched for them as a registered business on www.companieshouse.gov.uk and they had only existed for the last 3 months.
Luckily I did a bit more searching and found this site before the interview so I along I went armed full of questions to see for myself.
The guy in the interview said that they are opening offices all around the UK and the world and that they apparently open about 25 new offices every year. - I doubt a company of this size would have such issues with there website.
He said that the company had grown massively (some ridiculous number) over the last x number of years.
- Strange since according to www. companieshouse.gov.uk the company had only existed since June (4 months at this time of writing).
It is entirely commission based, hours are from 10.30 am - 8.30 pm, you can take holidays when ever you like because they don't actually employ you as such.
According to them you will spend the first 3 weeks doing field sales (basically: cold call canvasing and door to door sales) then you will quickly progress through the company to leader, teaching others how to do "field sales", then you will be an account manager and finally within about 10 months they will give you financing to start your own office. Wow!
If your fortunate enough or maybe I should say unfortunate enough to get asked for a second interview, it will be a full 8 hour day following another sales person around to see if you have what it takes.
Oh, one more thing, just to add to the professionalism, they are located above a shop called "Pillow Talk" (I need not explain the products sold within this shop) which you actually have to walk in to the lobby of to get to there office. Just brilliant! lol.
Hi guys,
has anyone ever heard of JMS?? Belgrave House located on Meetinghouse Lane in Sheffield,..
I too had an interview once at Marketing Solutions,..such a rubbish job,..so decided it wasn't what I wanted,..I'm hoping JMS won't be the same,..I'm out of work and need something,..
has anyone heard of it,..or is it same type of similar work,..eeeka! x xthanks guys
i think u lot gotta stop pre judgin things and stop listen to other people and live ur life. and if people want to do things that can get them a better life - wouldnt you ?! of course so just remember karma always comes around!!
Caz: that address is listed on this posted, so I think you can pretty much guarantee that it will be the same 'job'.
Dotcotten34: wtf?
@dotcotton34: seriously, wtf ?
Oh yeaaaaa, yet another type of job scam !
"MCP Consulting was started about 3 months ago and is growing quickly. We have exceptional growth plans in place and expect these to all be met with ease. Our staff all work on a commission only basis and work at home with the director so anyone uncomfortable with either of those points should not apply. Saying that we had 2 new starters last week and both have earned over 2k each in 1week! We should have the office sorted within 3 months though. With over 8 years recruitment experience the Director has a wealth of knowledge and would expect people to be earning over 100k in their first year. This is an exceptional chance for someone to join a company at conception and earn equity within the business worth potentially millions. Now this is not for the faint hearted and people without a willingness to work hard to earn SERIOUS money need not apply. We are only looking for the most driven individuals with a real desire to grow the business and enjoy the promotions and money once a directorship within the company has been earned. I can not stress that over 80% of people reading this should not apply... .."
http://www.reed.co.uk/job/details.aspx?jobid=18352754&from=17&emref=JobSleuth_14102009
This post has been removed by the author.
i'm starting to get annoyed at how many people come on here and post in support of these companies, lying about who they are. In my opinion, they must be
a) stupid for thinking anyone would buy it
b) even stupider for taking the job
'Miguel', isn't it a bit odd that none of us listened? Hundreds of people wasted their time on interviews where they just didn't listen?
This makes me so angry, the whole scam...and just so you know 'Miguel' it is a scam. scam scam scam scam scam.
Same as other blogger, (dragon something) Bank Street Maidstone I just had to sign up for a Google account, so I've forgotten but, I agree, I just had an interview with them today and the guy interviewing was 21 years old, in an office the size of someones living room with three pieces of mismatched furniture including one huge empty desk. The reception hall was dark as apparently a fuse had gone and the reception girl, also the recruitment resourcer on the phone, who call sot offer jobs, was sitting under a tiny lamp doing her work, and there was no toilet roll for the bathroom.
Okay so onto actual interview, the desk was empty of anything but my CV which he now held in his grubby little hands, he then started to describe the position to me and did this by drawing all over the back of my CV in scruffy pen and then drew this little timeline of how I could do this door knocking for 3 weeks selling become a leader and train more people to knock doors, I'm guessing this is the 8 hour interview the second day. Okay so if the dark reception room, empty office and the age of the apparent Company owner, didn't make me suspicious his bogus timeline certainly did. One little pyramid scheme after the other, he reckons he has Carphone Warehouse's main company paying for the doubling of his company via their marketing budget, what a load of shite.
People if it sounds too good to be true it usually is. I decided in my interview to act like a raving loon and laugh and giggle and make jokes and was actually a little rude to the guy too, just to see what the outcome would be, guess what I got a call back an hour ago from them saying they loved my CV!!! The one he had spent 20 minutes writing all over, and want me to come back for the 8 hour open day!!! I don't think so buddy!!
Oh yeah the guy was South African. Moved to the UK apparently jobless and some other South African woman gave him a go at the marketing and now owns the company all within 4 months and has had the company for three months. Wow now what a guy he is.
I found this blog just by typing in JK Marketing Scam.
oh my god just looked at the email I received from them, their email address is using gmail, lol. Hilarious.
jkmarketinghr @ gmail .com
HR my ass.
JK Marketing is a scam.
Read On...
I had the interview thinking how could it be I could get an entry level marketing position so easily without official credentials -well I am 32 and out of curiosity went to the interview in their 'makeshift' offices in Southampton for 'Powerhouse Direct' another alias.
These offices looked like they could vacate at any minute -and really unprofessional loud MTV music and 'Heat' Magazine given to me on arrival -classy -this is a interview not a social club.
It takes a lot to pull the wool over my eyes -I have not done an official marketing degree per se but I understand the fundamentals between marketing and sales and this dodgy door-to-door job is 'sold' to the candidate instead of allowing the candidate to sell themselves as they would in a legitimate professional sales and marketing orientated role.
The guy who interviewed me did not let me get a word in -and it was all very rushed and scripted preventing me from sufficiently understanding the nature of the 'entry level' of sales I would be expected to do.
Remember:
*Never part with money before you have been offered employment -this is not good practice
*Any personal money spent after gainful employment will always be claimed on expenses or reimbursed with any legitimate company
*These people prey on people without sufficient experience because they know they will not have the expertise to be able to question these issues. Inexperienced young people are easily manipulated and flattered these attributes are necessary to be brainwashed into their sales scripts. Proof right there.
*The sad thing is they are probably 'loosely' following basic legal guidelines so probably can get away with this -this is where their scripts come in -However be aware that just because they are getting away with it doesn't mean it is ethical or that you should trust them to be looking out for you personally or that they are a viable company (the lack of website and official offices tells me they are not too official)
*If something seems off -it probably is -trust your instincts and remember the old adage "if it walks like a duck..." or "its too good to be true" -it usually is
*Don't be desperate -you can get something better than this where you don't have to part with your own money
*Genuine companies will have a real website as a real marketing tool for reference -not claim like they did to me that it was 'under construction' -what, for 6 years plus? hmmm.....coincidence?
*Beware of interviewers who 'window dress' jobs to make the role sound appealing
Best of luck
Be wise!
I recently had a bad experience with AMM Direct too. Their 8 hour interview basically just consisted of door-to-door sales. Throughout the entire day we found no one who was interested in what we were trying to sell at all, so how anyone makes any money working for these people I have no idea. One of the people I did the door-to-door sales with had been doing the job for 2 years - so much for their fast promotion opportunities. The company has no website despite claiming to be expanding all over the world, and my interviewer failed to mention that door-to-door sales was a part of the training programme at all - they're certainly not a company I would trust. Don't apply to AMM unless you're prepared to do door-to-door sales for very little money. Everything they claim is all too good to be true and highly suspicious.
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