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I just wanted to volunteer some information to you regarding Cydcor and your claims as to its deceptive practices. I worked for a branch of Cydcor out in Los Angeles, called “The Ad Group,” or “TAG” (www.teamtaggroup.com) for short. I wasted a good two months of my life working for them and after realizing this was merely a complex pyramid scheme I quit. The only reason their practices are not illegal is because you never give them any money. But, as they say, time is money, so in the end you are giving them quite a bit. As for the specifics of my experience at Cydcor, here is the jist of it.

My initial interview involved them telling me that in less than a year I would be making well over $100,000 a year as a manager if I stuck with them. They said I would run my own lucrative business, and that they would guide me in this endeavor. What essentially ensued was me spending two weeks “in the field” walking around in the 90 degree heat of Los Angeles in the summer in a suit doing door-to-door sales. I did this for 8 hours a day, plus an hour before and an hour afterwards, for an average work day of around 10 hours. They called this “face-to-face business.” I had no pre-established meetings, and spent my days walking into somewhere between 50 and 75 businesses a day, feigning my importance and often resulting to lying (as was encouraged) in order to get past the “gatekeeper” and speak with the “decision-maker.” I would, on a good day, get to speak with around 5 of these “decision-makers.” At this point, 3 out of 5 would tell me to leave, scream at me, or curse at me. The remaining 2 would, if I was lucky, buy something. I represented Quill office supplies, and on a very good day I would make around two or three sales equaling around $400. This would result in a commission of around $100. So, you may think, that isn’t so bad! What’s wrong with $100 a day during your “training phase?” Well, understand that you work 10 hours a day and that you pay for your meals, your gas, and you get taxed. Your territory that you canvas could be anywhere from 10 miles away to 25 miles away. In Los Angeles you are looking at driving an hour at least just to get to your sales territory. So at the end of the day you are making somewhere around $60 or $70 on a good day. On top of the fact that you have to drive to the office everyday first before you go into the field and again when you return. Gas is expensive, and so is wear and tear on your car.

So, what happens after this training phase? Well, you get promoted! Wow! After only two weeks of hard work I got promoted to a “Leader!” I’m so proud of myself. I can’t wait to learn more and get some new responsibilities and perks/pay! Oh, wait. No, just new responsibilities. What sort of responsibilities? Well, for one, I now have to arrive at the office an hour earlier, at 7:00am every day to do “leader training.” Then, at 9:00am all of the interviewees come in, and guess who is interviewing them? Me! Yes, I am interviewing AND HIRING people who are literally two weeks behind me. These people have already been interviewed once (roughly a 15 minute interview) and this is their second interview. The trick is that all of these people who we interviewed the first time were called, even though we tell them we only call a small percentage. We call everyone. The idea is that they are hungry for the job and feel like they need to prove it. So my job is to reel them in. I hire them to “my team” and then I am expected to train them completely from start to finish. How do I do this? Well, now when I go into the field to do some good ole’ door-to-door sales I am bringing my interviewee, who most likely is miserable and does NOT want to take this job. I even had multiple people say after the first half hour that they would not take this job if their life depended on it. Oh well, too bad, you’re stuck with me for 8 hours doing door-to-door sales. I had a girl that was so miserable she cried in my car for 15 minutes after someone cursed at us for soliciting them even though they have a “No Solicitations” sign. And yes, we were encouraged to solicit those people as well. And to lie to security guards, lie to receptionists, and lie to everyone to get to the owner. You can understand that many of them were irate that you had infiltrated their businesses in such a way and wasted their time. Most just tell you to leave, but some are very angry and treat you quite poorly. This was always embarrassing when you have a poor, undeserving person with you who is literally on THEIR JOB INTERVIEW.

After a full day of terrible door-to-door sales you then tell the person you are interviewing that you want them to be on your team. You tell them they’re great and can make loads of cash. You only have to work in the field a few months until you hit Assistant Manager you tell them. If you’re lucky they’ll take the job and join your team. Then you take them in the field with you every day to train them and split your doors with them. Sometimes you have 2 people and you split it 3 ways. What does this mean? Your sales commission just dropped by either 50% or 66% because you are seeing either 50% less doors per day or 66% less doors. But that’s okay, because as a Leader you make more money, right? No. You don’t. Same amount as the guy you’re training. And what is that, you say? Zero. You work on commission only. So yeah, there are PLENTY of days when you LOSE money by making zero sales and paying for gas and food. Also, at the end of the day as a leader you are expected to stay later and socialize as well, to make the new guys feel at home. This means you show up at 7:00am to the office and train for 2 hours. Go into the field at 9:00am with your interviewee/new hire, and leave the field at 5:00pm. You arrive back at the office at around 6:00 – 6:30pm. You stay at least half an hour to an hour. You leave the office at 7:30 – 8:00pm. Your work day is at least 12 hours a day, for a nice average work week of 60 hours. Oh, and if you don’t make your sales, they expect you to work Saturdays. In fact, just before I was to be promoted as a Leader I had a day where I made zero sales. They told me I should consider working Saturday to make up for it. I did not. They in turn did not promote me. I had to work the next Saturday to prove my worth, and then they promoted me.

After you are a Leader for a while (2-3 months they say) you hopefully accumulate 5 people under you that are all promoted into the same title as Leader. At this point you become an Assistant Manager. You still make no base salary, but your commission doubles. This is because you are spending half of your time training with the Manager of the branch, thus you are only in the field about a third of the time. So you’re likely making less money. After you train a few months you then take the 5 Leaders you trained who hopefully haven’t quit, and you go open your own office with them and the guys they hired. Where? They tell you where they have an opening, which is, in the case of the 2 months I was there, either of two towns in middle-America. You have no choice. So yeah, you are moving, bringing a bunch of people who have never been their either, and hoping all goes well.

In my two months working at Cydcor I realized how many people were hired and how many of those quit. After the first week I started taking a log out of my own curiosities. Here are my statistics:

Time span: 7 weeks

Average interviews per week: 96

Average interviewers hired per week: 9

Number of interviews in 7 weeks: 673

Number of newly-hired in 7 weeks: 63

Number of newly-hired still employed after 7 weeks: 2

Note that by “interview” I mean 2nd round interview, which means each and every one of those interviewers were offered a job. So, out of 673 people we tried to sucker in, only 63 fell for it. Of that 63, only 2 were still falling for it after 7 weeks.

When I realized Cydcor was wasting my time, and that I was making zero money, I quit. I was treated extremely rudely by Jamie Hepp, the Manager of the branch, and one of the top 6 guys in the entire company. He told me I was nothing but a quitter and that I lied to them about me taking the company seriously. He berated me and talked down to me for about 15 minutes and then told me to get out of his sight.

After quitting Cydcor I joined another firm in sales and have done extremely well. In less than two years I am making a six-digit salary and working with a great company that treats me with respect. I work a normal work week and I cherish the moments I had a Cydcor for putting things in perspective. It’s one of those jobs that you’re glad you had because it makes everything else seem so much better. I wish there were a way to shut down Cydcor, because all they do is reel you in so you can make sales for them. They do not care if you succeed or if you fail, because after all.. they have zero investment in you. You are being paid nothing. You only make money if you make money for them. And you’re being trained by other people that they are not paying either. It is a brilliant scheme to dupe people into running around doing door-to-door sales for you. They don’t care if you stay a week or a month, just as long as you make some sales for them. And if you don’t make sales they don’t care about that either, because they aren’t paying for your gas, your food, or giving you a base salary. Your failure or success is a mere formality to them, and in the end does not affect them in the least. They just keep hiring and hiring and hiring. Then those people figure it out and they quit. Then another batch of people come in the door. It is an ever-revolving system of abuse that makes money for a very few people at the top of the entire scheme. It is a wonder that these guys are still able to participate in such unjust business practice.

Location: Los Angeles, California

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Guest

I completely understand you all think It's a "scam". I was the same way when I started and for about 6 months after that until I saw my roommate finally get promoted to management (16 months).

So I found that when I committed to the system it worked out well. I now average about $800 or $900 a week and trust me, lying to people will only get you removed from your campaign... I like having a job. Hah Look me up in buffalo.

I've been in the business for about 15 months and have started pushing for promotion. If you've been around long enough you'd understand how all of these misconceptions actually work. It's not that you get 26%... It's you get 100% and the client matches an agreed upon amount to what the reps make and pays it to the owner for running the office, training these people and increasing market profitability for them.

As far as failing? The company's been around since '94 and there are TONS of owners. Yes, you do go to the field your first few months as an owner, but why wouldn't you? The field is fun...

Most of the year. Like I said, I live in buffalo Lol but anyway, what benefit do I get out of telling you all the opportunity is real? Absolutely nothing so why would I waste my time telling you all of this is it wasn't true? you really just have to be a specific type of person to deal with the ups and downs of the field..

its there to build credibility, give you experience and overall teach you the skills to be an effective manager...

If you guys have any questions look me up in buffalo. Names Gene

Guest

Thank GOD that I researched TAG prior to going for an interview..After reviewing all the negative reports, I will NOT be attending the interview I was just invited too attend, they say that my resume caught their attention, I do not call "SUCKER" any where on my resume. F2F, door to door, & cold calling are exceptionally hard sales gigs, YES some people who are less than honest can make a living at this..I use to work a boiler room, hard work, some pay, but it was ll a scam, at the end of the day, I wanna feel good about what I did, not so in this line of work :eek

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-559238

So You are going to miss out on something based on others saying...I'll tell You I am almost 18 months with Cydcor I am making solid money and I'm no easy person to deceive.I can say don't thank god for being discouraged by the ones that did not have vision or did not want to work hard.If You work hard and believe in Your self nothing can stop You.Sure there are easier jobs but what is life about being satisfied with minimum or reaching for the stars.

My advise to You,go and see for Your self then make decision.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-606659

You don't know how to write. You're also part of Cydcor. Reach for the stars.

Guest

I worked for a sydcor firm in the mid-atlantic region and another "owner" came into town to visit. We went to the bar after work, he got drunk and told us all that this was a scheme.

by which he meant that there is favoritism.

The people that become "managers' and "owners" are in cahoots with the "owner". I know two other "owners" that started at this firm and they were both the best friend/ *** kissers to the "owner" of the firm.

Guest

LOL...THAT'S FREAKEN HILAROUS....CAUSE I'M NOT A SALESMAN NOR HAVE I EVER BEEN BEFORE....BUT I WAS HIRED IN TWO MIN OVER THE PHONE...THEN WAS TOLD BY OUR BOSS THAT WE NEEDED TO DO ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING TO GET A SALE. THEN WE WERE TOLD TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES INCLUDING FRAULDILENTLY, ILLEGALLY SIGNING CUSTOMER'S UP....LITTLE DO U CYDCO EMPLOYEE'S KNOW U HAVE A HUGE SURPRISE COMING TO U.....

Guest

I worked for a cydcor office in ma and i lover it. ya its hard work but the oppotunity is there if you choose to take advantage of it.

i learned more about sales in 5 months there then people learn in 4 years of college, and i was making money nnot paying. toughen up.

go get a job as a secretary or in a cubicle if thats what you want. theres a reason fortune 500 companies sign with them, they're good.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-254092

Really. You learned more about sales in 5 months than most people learn in college?

Maybe you should learn how to articulate your thoughts in our language first, and then, maybe, wake up and realize that you are a cog in a large machine where your limited talents are being sponged by a sell-out waste of life you call an "owner." Get real. Get ambition.

Guest

I have worked for a cydcor office for about 10 mths as an account executive. Many of the points being made are entirely valid, others are not. I personally enjoy b2b sales and cold calling, and I am very rarely cursed at or confronted by angry customers. If you are halfway decent at sales then you are able to make a good impression on your customer and get them to like you before you even say your pitch. Even though it was 100% commission I make very good money, and I never lie to customers. That's not to say others don't, because I am sure that they do, but it's not a necessary practice and definitely not something my manager encourages.

I currently have a large team and am very excited to continue working towards management. I have never had a job that I loved so much. I have fun at work everyday and enjoy the constant challenge to improve. This job has taught me more in 1 yr, then 4 yrs of college ever had.

I am sure that this job is not for everyone, and there are def a lot of negative aspects. YES, YOU WORK LONG HOURS. YES, SOMETIMES IT'S HOT, SOMETIMES IT'S COLD. YES, IF YOU SIT IN YOUR CAR AND COMPLAIN ABOUT WORKING ON COMMISSION YOU WON'T MAKE MONEY. BUT IF YOU DROP THE EXCUSES AND GET OFF YOUR BUTT, PUT ON A SMILE AND INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO ENOUGH PEOPLE YOU WILL CLOSE SALES AND YOU WILL MAKE $. The problem is it's up to you, and not everyone is up 4 that challenge.

P.S. - Although we don't get reimbursed for gas, I claim it on my taxes and get a $0.58 return per mile, and in my office Assistant Managers receive a $1000 weekly base. Just to clear up that misconception. Most Assistant Managers and Managers really are in the field for less than a year. Some people take longer to develop the skills. Ultimately, I would think seriously about the opportunity and whether or not you are a hardworking, self motivated person willing to make a commitment.

Guest

and the kindergaden games are called tactics, it's really games. waste of time.

5 1/2 hours of actual work. getting a third of your gross and having 15% held. if i quit and the manager is rude to me he's gonna have a 250 pound bear on his *** ready to paint his rug red. he is already unprofessional in regards to telling all of us we are not meeting standards of "not making it happen", people want the *** or they don't.

needs a reality check. i swear to god if he so much as raises his voice to me it's going to be his ***.

Guest

i work for them in ct. make "800 gross" and get a check for 300.

60 hours a week, no gas compensation. "grow up" is obviously an ***. last week i made "1000 gross"; will be quitting when i open a check for 400. and " not cut out for it"?

"hard work"? give me a break. I worked construction; try carrying a 24 foot long, 2 foot wide, 300 pound LVL uphill around a mansion by yourself.

You have no idea what hard work is."Lack of work ethic"? Kiss my ***.

Guest

to anyone who thinks this is a scam:

you are a complete fool. obviously direct-sales is not for everyone, so just because you could not produce DOES NOT mean that it is a scam. Yes, it is a hard job, and most people simply lack the work ethic required to succeed, but if you have the necessary skills, it is a very rewarding and lucrative opportunity. DO NOT listen to the people that are butt-hurt because they thought it would be easy money... IT ISN'T! IT'S HARD WORK.

grow up or go back to working some hourly job...there are plenty out there for the 95% of people that don't truly want to have responsibility or any real opportunity. if you want to make great money, are are willing to actually work for it, then woking for Cydcor is an excellent opportunity.

(i am a rep making between $800-$1000 weekly, and i do enjoy my job throughly)

GL to anyone seeking the opportunity. to everyone complaining about nonsense, sorry you just aren't cut out for a sales position...go join the other 95% in the rat race and quit your ***. thats all.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-223004

Ridiculous. Cydcor needs to grow up; managers having sexual relations with half the office, absurd morning/ evening meetings where you're forced to act like a fool ringing bells, chanting nonsense, and running around a group of people.

Not to mention BEING FORCED TO DRINK WITH YOUR COWORKERS EVERY TUESDAY AND THURSDAY AS A PART OF "TEAM BUILDING." If you choose not to attend this ****show, you can expect terrible, exhausted territory and bottom of the barrel interviews. At cydcor I experienced sexual harassment, pathetic paychecks, peer pressure to drink, and extremely unprofessional management. I witnessed a manager receive an award during a "conference" in Chicago when two days prior he was at the strip club performing sexual acts with my coworker. He also had a pregnant wife at home.

Classy, cydcor. It isn't hard work, it's a complete waste of time, there's a difference.

Guest

Come on guys, I hope you realize this is all about your personal experience and it is what you personally make of it. I worked as a MGR years ago and had some great times, and made great money.

I still have friends in that business and some are doing very well, so are some of their reps. It's a case by case basis and like I said, it's what you make of it.

Guest

Your in Atlanta kicking butt but what are the averages of people who actually dont go out of business their first year bc of their high overheads. Plus unless your really not giving yourself a paycheck everyweek as a manager.

Your business is going to fail unless you still hit the field and thats what your told you dont have to do as a manager. Its not worth it unless you have a saftey nest or extra money saved up. Otherwise expect to make $200 or less a week as a manager your first year if you dont want to go out of business.

Which amounts to under 10,000 a year So stop lying to these people. When truth comes to shove it's not worth it for about 98% of people.

Guest

excatly. Its hard hot sweety but worth it.

If you cant roll with the big boys go watch the hallmark channel with the girls. It take a strong person to make it in and through this business and yes after you become a manager doesnt mean you get to stop driving sales.

I am in atlanta and kicking butt it is not a scam it is just a tough business. :) smiles

Guest

Cydcor Story of Deception Scam Fraud and Multi-level tomfoolery all the same ***.

Cydcor has been around for years they have the same amount of offices bc they all keep going out of business once it gets up and running because they can't sustain in the economy, the owner ends up breaking even which mean he makes no money or he'll end up going out of business by that time another person gets promoted in hopes of making 100,000 k their first year and it doesnt happen its all a crock of bull. Its a MLM. Where only the people on top make the post money and get a good chuck of what your actually suppose to make. So instead of you making 100% than you get 26%.

Guest

Other Cydcor companies that job-seekers should avoid are Big Business Solutions (in Woburn, MA), which was formerly WorldWide Acquisitions, and Genuine Acquisitions (in San Jose, CA).

Guest

ALl this information helped me so much as I just graduated from college and have worked horrible telemarketing jobs before. I just can't imagine working for a company that forces themselves onto people. I turned down the second interview....thank you!!!!!!

Guest

ALl this information helped me so much as I just graduated from college and have worked horrible telemarketing jobs before. I just can't imagine working for a company that forces themselves onto people. I turned down the second interview....thank you!!!!!!

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