[KIM_SAYS:]

I realize that there's a job thread in the General Discussion, but I'm really looking for answers and don't want my post to get overlooked.

I got a phone call today from Vector Marketing about getting a position there. Apparently, a friend of mine recommended me to work there or something. Now, I have an interview scheduled for Monday.

I've really been looking for a job all summer, but have failed miserably, so I was kinda excited when this company called me. But now looking back at it, I thought it was weird that this lady (she sounded really young, actually) didn't even consider asking me if I wanted to work there. She didn't even really tell me what the heck Vector Marking was. All she said was "You don't need experience/we offer training/a lot of our reps are college students/you're not paid based on how much you sell/we offer scholarships/OKAY! Lets see where the closest office is to you and we'll schedule you for an interview!"

So I googled Vector Marketing and found out they are a sales firm for Cutco Cutlery...Wikipedia (although I know it's not the most reliable source) says that this company has been accused "of a variety of perceived unfair and deceptive practices."

So my question is, is working for Vector Marketing a scam?

[Booger Face]

Yeah, I want to know too. I received mail from Vector Marketing but didn't really trust it although it was kind of tempting.

[PDURRR]

i got a buncha mail from that thing
and it was in the school news paper

i know someone that works there so i guess it isn't
i woulda done it but the closest office is the the city next to mine and i have no form of transportation heh
anyways i really think you sell knives cause i read it in my friends comments haha.

[sushii]

my sister told me not to work for vector. because you basically become a door to door sales man selling knives

[thatonegirl]

I worked for Vector Marketing, it's not a scam necessarily, just that they hire high school grads & college students who are desperate for money to guilt their family and friends in to buying overpriced knives, which i wont deny are really good knives. The thing with Vector is that they force you to go to training and team meetings quite often while they're advertising that the job is flexible. Don't get me wrong, it is pretty fleixble in the sense that you set your appointments based on times when you're available, however, you have to CONSTANTLY check in with your manager (atleast call in once a day) and if you don't have appointments set up, they recommend you do phone time and call them back as soon as you have appointments set up. All the training and team meetings are unpaid, and they're a huge waste of time. It's possible to make a lot of money working for Vector, but at the same time you have to beg your customers for recommendations, so you pretty much have your customers do the telemarketing for you. I felt really guilty when my parents bought a set of knives from me out of pity. So then I quit =)

[Booger Face]

How much were the knives and how long did you stay?

[PDURRR]

oh wow thank goodness i didn't try to get the job then lol
i'm not exactly the most convincing person lol

[thatonegirl]

How much were the knives and how long did you stay?

the cheapest knife is probably ONE table knife which goes for $27. some of the knives cost over $100. i don't remember the exact numbers because i had to return my price list when i quit. but for the most part, they sell knives in kits which range from $400-$2,000+ each.

[KIM_SAYS:]

I worked for Vector Marketing, it's not a scam necessarily, just that they hire high school grads & college students who are desperate for money to guilt their family and friends in to buying overpriced knives, which i wont deny are really good knives. The thing with Vector is that they force you to go to training and team meetings quite often while they're advertising that the job is flexible. Don't get me wrong, it is pretty fleixble in the sense that you set your appointments based on times when you're available, however, you have to CONSTANTLY check in with your manager (atleast call in once a day) and if you don't have appointments set up, they recommend you do phone time and call them back as soon as you have appointments set up. All the training and team meetings are unpaid, and they're a huge waste of time. It's possible to make a lot of money working for Vector, but at the same time you have to beg your customers for recommendations, so you pretty much have your customers do the telemarketing for you. I felt really guilty when my parents bought a set of knives from me out of pity. So then I quit =)

Thanks a lot for the input. How exactly do you get paid though? The lady who called me said they don't pay on commission, but the starting wage is like $13 or something. I don't understand how your job is selling a product, yet you don't get paid on commision.

Eh, either way I'm probably going to cancel my interview. I don't really want to sell expensive knives. People can just buy knives at Bed, Bath, and Beyond or Macy's.

*Edit* If I cancel my interview, they're not going to keep bugging me, are they? They have my phone number and email.

[polaress]

I was going to schedule for an interview too, but now I am having second thoughts.

[XtremeNuisance]

I dunno... When I called them, I figured that it wasn't worth it if they weren't going to tell me what the crap it was. Anyways, my friend's brother sold them when he was in high school. I think it helped that he was good looking, but whatever. He somehow convinced my dad to buy knives (which he still constantly tries to use--"Let me use my $100 knife!"), but I'm not quite sure how it works beyond that. =D

[umademesmyle]

a got a letter from them too.. it just sounded a bit too weird for me.. i knew there had to be SOME sort of catch

[novemberbaby]

My best friend worked for Vector and I was really tempted into applying as well -- until I learned that employees get paid only when they have appointments with their customers. Plus, my best friend's supervisor was super clingy. She'd call around 3 times a day. And my best friend was always on the run to their appointments.

[soupthis]

i took a look at it for my younger sister. it's a scam, trust me, i can weave them out quick. they don't even have a return address. please use your better sense and consider what kind of place would go seek out an inexperienced person that they don't know. they prey on student desperation and naivety, then end up making you(or rather your poor parents) pay for something.

some ppl here are saying they think 'Vector' must not be a scam since they saw a friend work there but has it hit them that their friend is an unaware victim? they only need to chain a few to deceive the rest. like one person said above, they deceptively enroll these kids, make them sell some ridiculous item; their parents just end up purchasing the knives for them.

i hope i have appealed to your better judgement but in the end, make the choice for yourself with what information you have come across.

[iluvhermione]

Hey,
I live in New Jersey, and at my high school's graduation, many of the senior students were sent an advertisement about Cutco/Vector job opportunities. Several of my friends are currently working there, at a rate of 18 dollars per presentation. In fact, one of them gave the knife presentation to my parents (involved stuff like cutting a penny), who ended up just ordering one of those super shears things. My friends also get paid promptly, and I think they also receive commission after making enough sales. The entire thing doesn't seem to be a scam, and if you are good at talking to people, it could work out really well in terms of some nice cash. However, I live in an affluent town, and I think all the parents might just feel bad about not buying anything, so everytime, they always order a few things, which always comes out to be a few hundred dollars or more.

[thatonegirl]

I think, the idea of Vector being a scam depends on how you look at it. When they called me for an interview, they told me to go to a city 20minutes away just for the interview and assured me that i would be working from my own city. What they didn't tell me was that all of the training and weekly meetings would also take place from that city, and the reason why they said I would be working from my own city is because they assumed I would target my family and friends for appointments. Vector advertises EVERYWHERE with some ridiculously large base pay (mine was close to $18), but they give you the impression that you're being paid per hour, when it's really just for each appointment, and if you don't have appointments you don't get paid. If you're successful at selling knives, you get promoted and can earn up to 30% commission on each sale. So to clarify...every week they calculate your base pay and your commission and pay you whatever is higher. Of course they tell you about their success stories and give you the impression that you can easily make money. I started working with Vector at the same time as my friend, during training they brainwash you into thinking that Cutco is the best knife, and it is really good. But at the same time, Cutco doesn't advertise their products anywhere and it's not sold in stores, so you're buying directly from the factory which means you should be getting a cheaper price, but you're not. My friend is still working for Vector and he's making a lot of money, he knows it's all a scam, and he's the one who told me it was a scam because he would research Vector and tell me about it. He also told me that once you get passed guilting your family and friends into buying overpriced knives and move on to people you don't know, it's not that bad. I actually didn't feel good about myself when my parents bought a set of knives out of guilt and I convinced them to buy the cheapest thing rather than something more expensive. Another thing that Vector does is the manager constantly calls you or makes you call them and everytime they'll update you on how everyone else is doing and how much they're selling, so that'll either make you feel like a failure or motivate you to sell more, depends on your personality I guess.

[blossomambition]

I worked for Vector and I hated it. I made more money in four days with my current summer job than I did with Vector all summer.. and that doesn't include subtracting the gas money I had to pay for driving around to everyone's houses. The knives are really expensive. Like thatonegirl said, one table knife cost about $27 without tax and the cheapest actual knive is $75. Many people I met liked the knives but didn't buy because they were too expensive. Employees get to keep 10% and then after you sold up to a certain amount, you get to keep 15% and so on. If you don't sell anything, you get $14, but somehow, the manager kept reducing that for me as I made more. It's not worth it. Training was long, boring, and without pay. Most of the people who were hired dropped out then.

I hated having to call my manager two to three times a day (once at 7a.m., once after lunch, then once at 8-9pm) to update him on how much money you made or what appointments I made. He was a major pervert. He also guilted us if we didn't sell anything or find a new contact to present knives to.. the only reason why I kept the job was because my parents really wanted me to have a job all summer and didn't want me to be a quitter.

AND THE PART I HATED THE MOST WAS HAVING TO FIND NEW CONTACTS. You have to ask your friends to call their friends in front on you to ask if you can go solicit them with a knife presentation. It was ridiculous and embarrassing for me. I already felt guilty enough for having them to sit through my stupid knife presentation. People didn't want to bother their friends.

It was terrible! Don't do it! The small amount of money is not worth the time!!

[josebiwasabi]

don't do it.

i interviewed for it and everything, but after thinking it through it was definitely bad idea

i hear there was even a mass lawsuit against them done by college students or something.

[rainysunday]

It's not a scam in the sense that you're not actually getting ripped off or anything. Two of my friends work for the company and they've made decent money. But it all depends how good of a salesperson you are and how many people you know.

[asukaxD]

My friend went to the training and everything but then she decided to quit cause it was kinda a door to door thing and its pretty ard to sell such expensive cutlery..