Is this a legitimate company? I filled in one of their online applications, and they have contacted me aggressively for an interview. I did some research, and it seems I have to sell cutlery for them, and receive commission. Anyone have any experience with this company?
Vector Marketing?
- Thread starter stinkynuts
- Start date
my friend worked for them for 2 weeks ........then the paycheck didnt go through yes they are a scam ! Also hope the stranger you visit isnt pissed at you knocking at the door when your showing him the set of knives ..yikes they say you will make a lot of money its all bullshit !
If it is door to door sales consider these:
- do you have the thick skin to prospect new clients beyond the "warm" clients ie. friends, neighbours, colleagues? If not, forget it.
- don't work on a draw, it'll put you in the hole
- don't pay for any training seminars, demo kits, products unless you want to own it all later
- ask to speak to other salespeople to get a realistic income expectation
good luck
- do you have the thick skin to prospect new clients beyond the "warm" clients ie. friends, neighbours, colleagues? If not, forget it.
- don't work on a draw, it'll put you in the hole
- don't pay for any training seminars, demo kits, products unless you want to own it all later
- ask to speak to other salespeople to get a realistic income expectation
good luck
Avoid Vector, they are scumbags who target students 
. Do a google search under: "students against vector exploitation"
Student Group Wants to Slice Up Vector
http://consumeraffairs.com/news03/save.html
Students unite against Vector
http://www.theseahawk.org/media/sto...e200607131050&sourcedomain=www.theseahawk.org
Vector Marketing - scamming college students since 1982
http://umsl.edu/~nki4z3/articles/vector.html
Firm misled sales recruits to sell knives, students say
http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=85450
... and the list goes on and on and on
. Do a google search under: "students against vector exploitation"Student Group Wants to Slice Up Vector
http://consumeraffairs.com/news03/save.html
Students unite against Vector
http://www.theseahawk.org/media/sto...e200607131050&sourcedomain=www.theseahawk.org
Vector Marketing - scamming college students since 1982
http://umsl.edu/~nki4z3/articles/vector.html
Firm misled sales recruits to sell knives, students say
http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=85450
... and the list goes on and on and on
Found this on the net:
To: Vector Marketing and Cutco Cutlery
To whomever it may concern,
This petition is created in an attempt to stop the dishonest company, VECTOR MARKETING/CUTCO CUTLERY, and prevent the company from scamming any more innocent college students (victims).
I was actually one of the thousands and thousands of victims that have almost been apart of this ridiculous excuse of a company.
If you have been a victim (or know anyone who has been a victim) of this very dishonest company and their ridiculous ways of marketing, please sign this petition and get the word out to as many people as possible. Those people will also tell all that they can (much like Vector's very own pyramid scheme or Multi-Level Marketing tactic). The more people that know about this company, the less that will be apart of this "brainwashing cult"
Even if you haven't been employed at this company, and wouldn't like your friends/relatives to be part of such a company, please sign this petition.
Even the vector managers (if they were smart) wouldn't sign this!! if there are comments that defend Vector on this petition, you will know the people are Vector/Cutco "spies" as this is a petition 'Against' Vector. So Please keep a look out.
(Some of the following information has been transcribed from http://vectormarketing.cjb.net , a very informative website about the scamming ways of Vector/Cutco Cutlery that I strongly advice that everyone should check out before reading any further)! This website is admittedly, mostly one-sided. Use the following text at your own discretion:
To take a quote from 'The Complaint Station' from a person who works at a student employment office at a college in the US,
"Vector managers and former employees, including those who post at this site (The Complaint Station - http://www.thecomplaintstation.com/cgi-bin/frames.cgi?0192 ) are masters of 'spin.' If you talk with these folks, or read their posts, you'll see that any objections raised are answered with the same pat responses. But as is frequently the case, the truth has many pieces to it, and Vector's employees have mastered the art of 'choosing the truth, carefully.'
Well, enough from me. Look at these websites for complete information and make a wise decision. Don't be fooled by the trolls who defend Cutco here at The Complaint Station. Even if they are telling some version of the truth, they are the VERY small minority who do well with this.
FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS WORK FOR VECTOR!"
Now, My opinion (along with many others) is that Vector Marketing is a SCAM. They might send you letters in the mail, put ads in the newspaper, on your campus bulletin, and in other creative places all boasting work usually for $15+ an hour. Vector targets people just out of high school and maybe a couple years older in college because young students generally are trainable, ignorant of corporate practices, non-threatening to potential customers, and don't have many other work options. When you call up they probably won't tell you exactly what type of work you will be doing, but they will most likely say that it is not telemarketing or door-to-door soliciting. Telemarketing AND door-to-door soliciting is, however, what this COMPANY is all about, they just have had a miraculous way of disguising it.
The job is selling Cutco knives at peoples' homes and they probably want as many people as possible to sell them in order to sell as many knives as possible. You yourself have to fork out money for a set of knives too ($175, supposedly discounted from $650), in order to display them to potential customers, and they are incredibly expensive. Not only that, but they only give you one day to buy it at that price before they double it ($350). If they were to tell you all of this straightforward and right away, they would probably have a more difficult time recruiting. But the knives are good, but not the best, and relatively NOT worth the high price. The knives most people have in their home are perfectly fine anyway, and they would only be throwing away cash on something they don't need. Besides, if they wanted new knives, they would go to the retail store and buy some, they don't need salespeople hunting them down and bothering them about it.
I also suggest that you check the following website for information regarding the performance and more regarding Vector/Cutco:
http://www.geocities.com/cutcocomplaints/cutco_vector_alcas.html
You do NOT get paid for training and throughout the job you will probably be forced to attend workshops (that are a lot like sale pitches) and meetings you don't get paid to attend either (some of their conferences you even have to pay to attend)! Many sales reps complain of needing to constantly check in to their office, which they aren't paid for either. Some people have even reported their office closing down and not getting paid at all. Some people even lose more money than they gain.
In order to get a regular (40 hour a week) full-time paycheck you must somehow manage to get to 40 or so homes a week (8 appointments a day, this may take at least 16 hours of work per day) which is almost impossible. Altogether it would take at least 2 hours (not to mention time spent training, checking in to the office, attending meetings and conferences, and more that you don't get paid for). Vector does not pay for knives, clothes, gas, phone calls that are involved in a typical sale. There are numerous occasions where the company doesn't even pay the employees if they do not meet certain requirements. It turns out most of the time, that a minimum wage job will earn a great deal more amount of money than being a Vector representative, not to mention there is a huge amount of time, money, and stress saved. With a normal job, you are guaranteed a paycheck, with Vector, you are NOT!
How many companies have a whole message board dedicated to complaints about their company? Vector probably pays people to seek out these message boards (The Complaint Station - http://www.thecomplaintstation.com/cgi-bin/frames.cgi?0192 ) and defend their company and it is one of the most popular complaint message boards around, none of their competitors seem to have one. What can one expect from a company that hires mostly young inexperienced people to sell knives, especially to their friends/family! Vector claims that the students will feel more comfortable, but actually friends/family are more likely to buy it from you than a stranger would. Think about it, the students are going into strangers' homes with a bag full of knives, doesn't that sound just a little bit suspicious and dangerous?
Vector defends their program and calls people who quit within the first two weeks either lazy or poor sellers. Finding out the truth about a shady company and quitting does not necessarily make a person 'Lazy.'
This page only covers a minor fraction of the MANY topics about the corrupted ways of marketing of Vector/Cutco Cutlery. But you get the point. I do not want to sound like a broken record, but please remember to check http://vectormarketing.cjb.net as not all topics were fully covered here.
So sign this petition and support our cause if you do not want your child/friend/relative to fall into this scheme. The more names, The Better!
Thank you for reading
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
To: Vector Marketing and Cutco Cutlery
To whomever it may concern,
This petition is created in an attempt to stop the dishonest company, VECTOR MARKETING/CUTCO CUTLERY, and prevent the company from scamming any more innocent college students (victims).
I was actually one of the thousands and thousands of victims that have almost been apart of this ridiculous excuse of a company.
If you have been a victim (or know anyone who has been a victim) of this very dishonest company and their ridiculous ways of marketing, please sign this petition and get the word out to as many people as possible. Those people will also tell all that they can (much like Vector's very own pyramid scheme or Multi-Level Marketing tactic). The more people that know about this company, the less that will be apart of this "brainwashing cult"
Even if you haven't been employed at this company, and wouldn't like your friends/relatives to be part of such a company, please sign this petition.
Even the vector managers (if they were smart) wouldn't sign this!! if there are comments that defend Vector on this petition, you will know the people are Vector/Cutco "spies" as this is a petition 'Against' Vector. So Please keep a look out.
(Some of the following information has been transcribed from http://vectormarketing.cjb.net , a very informative website about the scamming ways of Vector/Cutco Cutlery that I strongly advice that everyone should check out before reading any further)! This website is admittedly, mostly one-sided. Use the following text at your own discretion:
To take a quote from 'The Complaint Station' from a person who works at a student employment office at a college in the US,
"Vector managers and former employees, including those who post at this site (The Complaint Station - http://www.thecomplaintstation.com/cgi-bin/frames.cgi?0192 ) are masters of 'spin.' If you talk with these folks, or read their posts, you'll see that any objections raised are answered with the same pat responses. But as is frequently the case, the truth has many pieces to it, and Vector's employees have mastered the art of 'choosing the truth, carefully.'
Well, enough from me. Look at these websites for complete information and make a wise decision. Don't be fooled by the trolls who defend Cutco here at The Complaint Station. Even if they are telling some version of the truth, they are the VERY small minority who do well with this.
FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS WORK FOR VECTOR!"
Now, My opinion (along with many others) is that Vector Marketing is a SCAM. They might send you letters in the mail, put ads in the newspaper, on your campus bulletin, and in other creative places all boasting work usually for $15+ an hour. Vector targets people just out of high school and maybe a couple years older in college because young students generally are trainable, ignorant of corporate practices, non-threatening to potential customers, and don't have many other work options. When you call up they probably won't tell you exactly what type of work you will be doing, but they will most likely say that it is not telemarketing or door-to-door soliciting. Telemarketing AND door-to-door soliciting is, however, what this COMPANY is all about, they just have had a miraculous way of disguising it.
The job is selling Cutco knives at peoples' homes and they probably want as many people as possible to sell them in order to sell as many knives as possible. You yourself have to fork out money for a set of knives too ($175, supposedly discounted from $650), in order to display them to potential customers, and they are incredibly expensive. Not only that, but they only give you one day to buy it at that price before they double it ($350). If they were to tell you all of this straightforward and right away, they would probably have a more difficult time recruiting. But the knives are good, but not the best, and relatively NOT worth the high price. The knives most people have in their home are perfectly fine anyway, and they would only be throwing away cash on something they don't need. Besides, if they wanted new knives, they would go to the retail store and buy some, they don't need salespeople hunting them down and bothering them about it.
I also suggest that you check the following website for information regarding the performance and more regarding Vector/Cutco:
http://www.geocities.com/cutcocomplaints/cutco_vector_alcas.html
You do NOT get paid for training and throughout the job you will probably be forced to attend workshops (that are a lot like sale pitches) and meetings you don't get paid to attend either (some of their conferences you even have to pay to attend)! Many sales reps complain of needing to constantly check in to their office, which they aren't paid for either. Some people have even reported their office closing down and not getting paid at all. Some people even lose more money than they gain.
In order to get a regular (40 hour a week) full-time paycheck you must somehow manage to get to 40 or so homes a week (8 appointments a day, this may take at least 16 hours of work per day) which is almost impossible. Altogether it would take at least 2 hours (not to mention time spent training, checking in to the office, attending meetings and conferences, and more that you don't get paid for). Vector does not pay for knives, clothes, gas, phone calls that are involved in a typical sale. There are numerous occasions where the company doesn't even pay the employees if they do not meet certain requirements. It turns out most of the time, that a minimum wage job will earn a great deal more amount of money than being a Vector representative, not to mention there is a huge amount of time, money, and stress saved. With a normal job, you are guaranteed a paycheck, with Vector, you are NOT!
How many companies have a whole message board dedicated to complaints about their company? Vector probably pays people to seek out these message boards (The Complaint Station - http://www.thecomplaintstation.com/cgi-bin/frames.cgi?0192 ) and defend their company and it is one of the most popular complaint message boards around, none of their competitors seem to have one. What can one expect from a company that hires mostly young inexperienced people to sell knives, especially to their friends/family! Vector claims that the students will feel more comfortable, but actually friends/family are more likely to buy it from you than a stranger would. Think about it, the students are going into strangers' homes with a bag full of knives, doesn't that sound just a little bit suspicious and dangerous?
Vector defends their program and calls people who quit within the first two weeks either lazy or poor sellers. Finding out the truth about a shady company and quitting does not necessarily make a person 'Lazy.'
This page only covers a minor fraction of the MANY topics about the corrupted ways of marketing of Vector/Cutco Cutlery. But you get the point. I do not want to sound like a broken record, but please remember to check http://vectormarketing.cjb.net as not all topics were fully covered here.
So sign this petition and support our cause if you do not want your child/friend/relative to fall into this scheme. The more names, The Better!
Thank you for reading
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Vector Marketing is a scam.
They make their money off of YOU first buy selling you overpriced knives.
That's not to say you won't sell any, but it will never be enough to make any money.
They make their money off of YOU first buy selling you overpriced knives.
That's not to say you won't sell any, but it will never be enough to make any money.
I know someone personally who has worked for Vector/Cutco marketing for over 10 years and she has done very well for herself.
it is cut throat sales but if your aggressive you can do well....I know she has!
she does the homeshow every year and last year made almost $10k during showtime
it is cut throat sales but if your aggressive you can do well....I know she has!
she does the homeshow every year and last year made almost $10k during showtime
I have worked for Vector Marketing Canada so I can give my own first hand experiences. I did it for a month almost 10 yrs ago, and do admit things could've changed since then.
THE PROS
1.The quality of the knives are excellent.
2. I myself do not consider it a scam. If you are GREAT at sales then you'll love it. Most managers are there to help you, and to give you good advice. A good team environment.
3. Don't remember the commission rate, but it increases over time as you sell more product.
THE CONS
1. It is highly sales-oriented, the manager I believe also gets a small commission of your sales. Anyone that refers you also gets a small commission (like Primerica). So there is high pressure to keep up sales. Since the product is so good you are expect to sell to 1 out of every 7 people you visit.
2. There are regional meetings/events that give you advice and help you out. It is a great way to meet new people. What's the con? Well when I went people were so enthusastic (sp?) it had a cult like feel.
3. You also have to build up your cliental list (like Primerica). So must be able to get referals. If your inner circle of family and friends are not that well off it may be difficult to get a good start.
Overall, Stinky, if you are good salesperson (and love sales) then go try it out. But if you don't like sales then pass on it.
BTW you are expected to buy a basic start-up kit of knives. This is where people may think it's a scam. It set me back $200 but you know inflation, so expect $250-$300, but you do need your own knives to demostrate to cliental. But again the knives are good quality, and you do get them at a discount so at least there that.
Post any other questions you may have, I'll do my best to help.
THE PROS
1.The quality of the knives are excellent.
2. I myself do not consider it a scam. If you are GREAT at sales then you'll love it. Most managers are there to help you, and to give you good advice. A good team environment.
3. Don't remember the commission rate, but it increases over time as you sell more product.
THE CONS
1. It is highly sales-oriented, the manager I believe also gets a small commission of your sales. Anyone that refers you also gets a small commission (like Primerica). So there is high pressure to keep up sales. Since the product is so good you are expect to sell to 1 out of every 7 people you visit.
2. There are regional meetings/events that give you advice and help you out. It is a great way to meet new people. What's the con? Well when I went people were so enthusastic (sp?) it had a cult like feel.
3. You also have to build up your cliental list (like Primerica). So must be able to get referals. If your inner circle of family and friends are not that well off it may be difficult to get a good start.
Overall, Stinky, if you are good salesperson (and love sales) then go try it out. But if you don't like sales then pass on it.
BTW you are expected to buy a basic start-up kit of knives. This is where people may think it's a scam. It set me back $200 but you know inflation, so expect $250-$300, but you do need your own knives to demostrate to cliental. But again the knives are good quality, and you do get them at a discount so at least there that.
Post any other questions you may have, I'll do my best to help.
Thanks for sharing your experience 1hand. I don't think I'd be able to survive the pressure.
Ah, primeamerica. I had an interview with them as well, about a year back. I thought it was a legitimate job, but the interviewer was WAY too enthusiastic. I knew something was wrong, even though asking standard job interview questions, he was just way too friendly. Went home, did some research and found out it was essentially a pyramid scheme. What a waste of my time.
Ah, primeamerica. I had an interview with them as well, about a year back. I thought it was a legitimate job, but the interviewer was WAY too enthusiastic. I knew something was wrong, even though asking standard job interview questions, he was just way too friendly. Went home, did some research and found out it was essentially a pyramid scheme. What a waste of my time.
Meister said:
Before I respond, I am not still employed with Vector, (nor do I wish to be), so I'll try not to make this sound like a promo or that I am a spy of theirs.
The knives are actually really good. So for me, I wouldn't want the refund. Anyone who've seen a demostration, I still have the cutting shears that can cut up pennies. I do slice my tomatoes with the knives
the knives are excellent and if my memory serves me correct they have a life time warranty.
I broke my scissors, but I do use them unconventionally and my freind replaced them for me with the newer version without hesitation
people think it's a scam because you have to earn your keep ... but are'nt all sales jobs oriented in this way?
I broke my scissors, but I do use them unconventionally and my freind replaced them for me with the newer version without hesitation
people think it's a scam because you have to earn your keep ... but are'nt all sales jobs oriented in this way?
