| Forefront Advertising |
| Soliciting Scam |
| 8th of Dec, 2011 by DBSHMATAMAH |
Forefront Advertising in Southington, CT. THIS IS A SCAM! Ignore them, let these Jersey Shore scums screw someone else over, not you!
They picked up my email, don't know where, don't know who, and gave the "we received your application" bit. I had applied to 7 jobs the night before, and although I didn't remember this one, I thought it was possible I had applied, obviously I found out later I hadn't.
This is the email I received:
FOREFRONT ADVERTISING, INC.
Southington, CT 06489
Hey Jessica!
FYI: This is an automatic e-mail; your resume was only pre-screened - You and I must touch base if you’re interested in an interview!
Thank you for applying at Forefront Advertising, located in Southington, CT. (Please verify Southington would be a reasonable commute. If you’re unsure GoogleMap our Zip Code, 06489, compared to yours).
It would be best to call me at your earliest convenience. If the hiring Director is sitting down with applicants, there’s a limit as to how many people I can fit in his schedule.
My direct line: (860) 426-9655. If I am away from my desk and unable to answer your call, please leave me a voicemail and I will contact you back as soon as possible!
I apologize but I cannot guarantee an interview.
Phone interviews are not an option. All potential employees must be at least eighteen (18) years old and graduated from High School.
A little about our company ~ Here at Forefront we provide customer service, sales, and/or marketing for a number of clients and consumers. Your responsibilities could range from assisting with campaigns and promotions, brand awareness, event planning, continue to generate business for our existing clients, or strictly build further clientele.
Don’t enjoy this line of work? Reply stating so, I’ll remove you from the system.
This is not telemarketing or a call center. Your position will consist of customer service, sales and marketing one way or another; if you’re more interested in customer service as opposed to sales, you can let the Director know. Experience in any of these fields is of course beneficial, but not required.
We're only offering full-time positions. We're looking for specific applicants who have a positive attitude, professional appearance, and confident in their customer service, sales, and/or marketing skills. Or open to learn.
Our Assistant Management & Management Position(s) are our main focus right now. If you feel capable taking on this type of role and meet the above requirements, I’ll do my best to set you up an interview.
I hope to hear from you soon!!
Amy
Human Resource Manager
Forefront Advertising, Inc.
(860)426-9655
http://www.forefrontadvertisinginc.com/
http://www.facebook.com/forefrontadvertising
I should have picked up on the fact that if they felt the needed to say it's not telemarketing, it probably is.
I called, I tried to get "Amy" to tell me the name of the position. She lied and said it was a desk position. I went to the interview. It is in a shoddy building, with no sign out front. They say "Please excuse our appearance while we renovate". Believe me, they are NOT renovating. The offices are suspiciously barren, and the furniture they DO have is clearly third-hand junk shop. When I walked in the "owner" was sitting in the lobby flirting with the secretary/hr manager, and texting. 3 seconds of FB searching shows that the owner and the secretary are dating, which solves the mystery as to why anyone in their right mind would hire such a ditz. She will talk your ear off to distract you, while playing a loud stereo to put you on edge. If you get this far, be VERY careful! They make you sign consent forms, and use these tactics to make sure you don't read it word for word. I've read reports that their East Berlin "office" actually charged people 65$ per interview, so be very VERY careful! I interviewed with "Matt Hoppe", the supposed owner. He will try to dazzle you with talking about big numbers and company growth, without giving you any straight answer as to what you would be doing, and stuttering on even giving a title to the position. I came back the next day for another interview, it was supposed to be "Corporate Shadowing". Last time I checked, you can't calling standing in the rain handing out flyers door to door "corporate". I told the guy I was supposed to be shadowing that this is supposed to be an Assistant Management/Management position, as declared in the email, and that the secretary said it was a desk job. He said that management positions only occur after "proving yourself" by soliciting for 6-10 months, rain or shine. I told him this is not what I interviewed for. Watching him shift around uncomfortable as he realized the joke was over was the only good part about this experience. I went home and looked up the name of the company in regards to scams, and found the East Berlin report. I immediately called Forefront and demanded they send me a copy of what they had made me sign, in case they were going to go after me to pay for MY interview. So far they haven't, but if they do I'll take it to the press. They'd love a story like this.
Morale of the story here is, this is a COMMISSION job, you will be handing out flyers door to door. I am on the National Do Not Call List for a reason, and as an honorable person I could never invade another persons privacy or home by forcing flyers down their throat. They will lie to you, they are from Jersey, and do not give a crap. This is a pyramid scheme. If you do end up proving yourself, then you train other people to 'prove themselves'. It makes things like Mary Kay look dignified. Save yourself the trouble and heartache of this one. You deserve better. |
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| I worked their for 30 days, 12 hours a day, only missing 1 day due to car trouble. every friday I would ask the "Owner" where my paycheck was, and he would always respond with, "next friday". I finally got fed up with the whole charade and basically quit. I STILL HAVEN'T RECEIVED MY CHECK, from what they said on my "contract" I made 6 sales, i should have roughly $1200. I also haven't gotten my shoes back from the owner's car I left them in. STAY AWAY FROM THESE P.O.S. people. they'll screw you like a $2 whore leaving you diseased and violated. they have ALL MY PERSONAL INFO. I am afraid they will steal my identity on top of this. they need to be shut down. |
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I'm sorry to hear about the wasted 30 days that you will never get back, Jessica it sounds like you only wasted a few hours and for that I have to thank the both of you... I too got the strange email asking me to come in and interview for this great job but I must hurry as slots are filling up and in this economy you wouldn't want to miss a GREAT opportunity. Thankfully I am gainfully employed and hardly on the market at this time but figured it would be worth a call... I spent maybe ten minutes on the phone with Amy, it was clear this girl (not women) had zero business savvy or knowledge of the so called industry she was recruiting for... When asked if I could arrange to speak with Matt at a later date prior to coming in she struggled to spit out an answer for the reason this could not be arranged.
Long story short anyone who is contact by this group or any other that MUST get you in for an interview in the next 24 hours I highly suggest spending a few minutes on the phone with them and checking them out on google. |
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Hey guys - I'm a television news reporter. Could you please send me an at [email protected] ?
Would like to talk about your experience with this company. |
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| Very happy I came across this before my interview at 9:00 am tomorrow morning. They now go by the name of Edge Incorporated, still based on N. Main St. Southington. I had been on career builder.com and had been appling to jobs all day. They sent out almost an identical email very soon after and asked me to call. When I looked on their homemade website I had my reservation and decided to check them out more. That afternoon I got a phone call from (ditzy) Amy and she set up an interview. She was very unclear on what the company did and suggested it was expanding and that they needed a new manager to take over. That is when I looked for more information on Matt Hoppe. I actually contacted a neighbor who had recently told us about a job interview he had which sounded similar---it was the same place! Such a scam! Sounds like the two of them look for inexperience kids right out of college to take advantage of. Glad it wasn't me! |
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Yes, they have since changed their name to Edge Incorporated and still based on 26 N. Main St. Southington CT. I couldn't find anything on them at first (probably because they changed the name so recently) but after the "second interview" I acquired a business card from Matthew Hoppe the so called President. After doing about 2 minutes of research I stumbled across this page, and after reading the email Jessica posted and the other responses, this place is a certified scam. The same thing happened starting with the exact same email from Amy. Not to mention they make you feel special by saying you are 1 of 100 chosen that interviewed. I had a suspicion that this place was shady from the get go, just didn't have the proof until now. It was funny though, they talked big numbers and how their friends are calling them for jobs and how much they are making. They are crooks, so please stay away and don't waste your time! I wasted two trips down there, but thankfully I was able to get Matt's business card before my "third interview" to confirm my suspicions. Here is a look at their new website.
www.edgeincorporated.com
Phone: 860-938-7232 |
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I worked there for 2 months and it was the worst decision I've ever made. You basically get scammed into soliciting door-to-door for Power Home Remodeling Group. The day would start at 9:00 AM practicing your pitch that you would be jamming down people's throats for the rest of the day. This all took place in a medium-sized room with no furniture and whiteboards on the walls. Every Friday, we would listen to this guy on a conference call who supposedly climbed the corporate ladder in only two months and now makes millions of dollars. He always talks about how rich he is and how he's enjoying sitting down somewhere relaxing. One time, he even went so far as to say he was playing video games all day while his house was getting renovated by the same company we were getting leads for. Absolutely ridiculous. I was so into it that I didn't even realize the facade at the time.
So finally at noon we get split up into several groups and either get driven by someone all day, or get forced to drive everyone all day. We go to lunch somewhere, which either consists of Subway, Price Chopper, or Taco Bell. Then, depending on where we were soliciting that day, we drive. By the time we get out there, it's around 2:30. If you drive, nobody reimburses you. There's an agreement that you'll pay the driver for gas, but it rarely covers how much gas you actually use up. And some people don't pay you of course. We get dropped off in the middle of a neighborhood with nothing but some flyers and a notepad to record the leads we get. For the rest of the day... from 2:30 to 8 p.m. you do nothing but walk around your area twice and solicit door-to-door. Need to go to the bathroom? Use the woods. Ask a random person to use their bathroom. They would tell me a story where a guy needed to (for lack of a better expression) take a crap and ended up crapping his pants and they left him there and made him find a ride. This is not a lie.
By law, companies who solicit sometimes need to receive permits from cities and towns. Not this company. When we went into towns that required permits which the company didn't have, they called them "sneak attacks." (this is 100% complete truth). They trained us that if a cop came up to us we would just say, "oh my boss dropped me off here, I'm new, I was just leaving." This happened to me once. I almost got fined.
So finally we all get picked up and by the time we make it back to the office it is 9 pm. We then have to summarize our days and have this weird wrap up where we stand in a circle, clap to techno/dubstep music while disco lights are turned on. If you get 4 leads you get to ring a cowbell that is hanging from the wall because it was torn out by someone who rang it too hard. They like to use the word "juicy" to mean, yay awesome you got leads, or some equivalent of that. There was also a Friday where the bosses forced us to bet on each other to see who would get more leads. Some unexpected newbies lost their ties to more experienced guys and some others got shaving cream pies to the face. Pretty much hazing.
After all this is over, it is 10 ish. So for 11-12 hours a day, 6 days a week, this is what you do. The only day off you get is Sunday. And they encourage you to go out Sunday on your own!!!
One day soliciting, I was dehydrated and suffering from heat exhaustion. I call up the guy that is driving me and tell him my concerns and he says "well get 3 leads and we'll leave early." That was the last day I worked for Edge/Forefront Marketing.
There's so much more. There was a guy who was struggling with closing a lead, and he needed some motivation. These people's idea of motivation was calling him a "neg, " which means a negative person. They kept telling him to "stop negging out." Behind his back they would tell me he's "weak" and he's the perfect example of how not to be.
Also, the entire time I worked there, this "Amy" was on "vacation" because she supposedly got new puppies. I never understood that one. Now looking back on it, it is so clear that the top guys in the office (and again, there was only 10 people working there at the time), were in on this scam all along. They used me to make themselves money and brainwashed me to think that I could climb some imaginary ladder to the top.
NEVER WORK HERE. |
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