01612421780

Was shocked to actually get an interview, which was arranged by email. Then this number called, checked it out... Did sound too good to be true!

Complete and utter scam. I was quite wary of G force marketing as the job description was for a grad scheme yet there was no classification requirement. When I called to enquire about the role, Millie advised me that once I sent my CV and cover letter the marketing manager would be in touch if I met their requirements. I got an interview but was shocked to see the scruffy office which shared a reception between 6 other companies including Primus, SRM, G force and others.

I was so shocked at the state of the office, it was grubby and tatty and I wanted to leave. I only stayed because I had already wasted time bothering to come so I thought I would stay and see what they had to say.

I asked other candidates what company and what position they were applying for...I got some colourful answers. In the interview she skipped through my answers, then changed them for me to which I corrected the supposed owner of G Force. She advised that she had a degree in marketing yet failed to answer my simple questions about her job descriptions, she did not know what on earth she was talking about. I was outraged I had wasted an hour of my life which I let her know.

The job description was very colourful, it was full of lies. I advised her how a marketing assistant for a grad scheme was justified considering that no experience would be gained until after 10months. How embarassing I stayed....as I left a candidate asked to use the toilet.....they didnt even have one. Fancy that, the head office that 6 apparently different companies hsare have the same receptionists and no toilet.

PLEASE DO NOT GO UNLESS YOU ARE HAPPY TO WORK A DAY FOR FREE DOING FIELD SALES! I discovered this is the selection process...however it is a mere excuse to get a good 10 hours free labour from naive candidates. AND ITS 100% COMMISSION BASED.

If you decide to go to an interview then DONT! but if you do, ask them if the next stage involves the above process, they wont even deny it.

You guys have no idea what you're talking about...the training involved in their first stage has now helped me to
make more money in one day than I did in a week on capped salary. Until you are involved in the business you really don't know how it operates. So please, don't ruin people's chances of earning a living. It's really not fair on them.

It isn't fair to waste the time and money of the many hundreds of people who travel from across the region, expecting an interview for a real graduate position, when in fact they have been entirely mis-lead.

I applied for several positions with SRM sales and marketing and also Primus UK. I went through a reputable employment agency, and was under the impression i was applying for placements on graduate training schemes. I got a phonecall from srm on the day that i applied and was told to come in for an interview. Thankfully i tried to research the company before attending said interview. There is no information about them online, and they have an extremely vague and basic website for such a high-quality marketing firm. Final nail in the coffin was when i typed into google 'SRM Marketing scam', which returned hundreds of entries. do not waste your time people!!

Must say alarm bells started to ring when i was contacted back by both SRM marketing and Primus within 24hours of application. Decided i had to research them more when i noticed both companies were apparently at the same address....
thank god for you lot! saved me travelling into town, wasting time and money on these scammers!

i guess its simple, things that seem to be too good to be true really are!

i really want to know why reed.co.uk allow these companies to advertise? shocking

oh gosh I think I was the one of the first people to actually be invited to the interview and attend. It was more than a month ago. It did feel dodgy coz when you google the company there is another company called Primus UK Ltd. Unless you are from mars you can't have two same company named with Ltd! So did some more research and seemed like the website was made a minute ago and was still in construction. I thought hell let's just go to the interview for interview skills and brush up on my presentation. Guess what? I had a 10 minute fight with the interviewer! LoL. It was in some crummy place in manchester and the offices weren't even furnished. I've asked him about exactly what the role was and more info about the company. He couldn't answer a thing. I said I worked in a top 20 company in the UK and wanted to know what the predicted turnover for the coming year was and he knew [***] and started harrassing me as if I was someone who knew this was a big scam. I saw on the wall the targets, 100 interviews a day, 25 recruits every week. The recruits were paid comission on some door to door selling and no pay and no benefits. He explained how the training works and it was such a pyramid scheme I was laughing while he was explaining. The poor guy who sat next to me(we were interviewed as a pair) was so suckered into it and couldn't see that this was just pure scam. Well he worked in McDonalds before so I guess this was his big shot. I kept arguing for 10 minutes and left fuming because I was stupid enough to goto this interview. Bloody drove to manchester and you know how petrol prices are these days(only good thing was that I had a good drive on my Bmw.) Do not waste your time going to this interview or even replying to the emails. They will hire more and more people on comission based penny jobs and all the money will goto the person at the top who will disappear in 6 months time with the money and you will have worked for free for someone. Some laws needed to change because this is perfectly legal(because people get suckered into it without seeing the clear facts) and will keep happening! Best thing right now is avoid and tell people around you!

Sorry about this semi-rant, but this really got to me.

I have been applying for jobs like nothing else these last few months since graduating from university in June with my degree.

In these tough times response has been low, however one Sales & Marketing company I applied to, Primus UK, sent me an e-mail response to my application showing interest in me, and asked me for an interview in Manchester. That is within a good distance from me so I made the trip cheaply.

I went to this initial interview, which seemed fairly professional, and typical interview style. I passed this, and was invited back to a more "formal" interview the next day, with the promise that I would be on my feet a lot, which was the only indication of the next days' activities I got.

On entering the waiting room getting there earlier today, I spoke with other candidates where we speculated about the days' activities, such as whether "on our feet" a lot would mean doing some initial market research activity or something, starting near the bottom of the ladder exersize to get into the theme of things.

But ohhhh, no.

We were all shown to a personal mentor for the day, who looked at forms we had to complete while waiting vased on what aspects of the working for the company we prioritised.

Then, we were given a very brief briefing of what the day would entail. This would include my mentor asking questions about the business structure in some non-formal and rather random manner while we walked around a residential neighbourhood selling deals to customers for the client companies Primus UK sells for. This was dubbed, therefore, an "observation day".

First, this involved walking through Manchester to the nearest bus stop at break neck speed, before being made to buy my own day pass around the city on this public, crowded bus all the way into Bolton. Except that my mentor, who was quite cocky, arrogant and only 25, had no clue how to read the map. We left at about 13:30 went all the way through Bolton once, still on the bus at 14:25 he had no idea where we were, and he and another new employee he was mentoring just laughed about it.

This went on another 20 minutes, until we got off the bus station and had to get another bus back to the correct part of Bolton.

Then, the day consisted of this "mentor" taking me around one residential area, with him and his other new employee going into houses making sales. I was told to wait outside, and just answer some basic questions on a note pad, such as "list forms of non-direct and direct advertising", and "list attributes of a good manager". This went on for five and a half hours, barely anything to eat or drink, while those two went in houses going through the sales process with me having to stand outside, looking rather suspicious.

I did not get to observe a thing. I asked questions, but got the response "we want you to think for yourself, not us to tell you things". I get that, but I was not allowed to observe anything, and I made this clear twice, but got no answer.

I was asked questions about the way the company makes the sales I was supposed to be observing but wasn't, so I basically had to guess. Then, having been told there "aren't any right or wrong answers" to some questions, was told there was a specific answer they were looking for, infact, and implied that because I didn't "get-it" I have no "business accumen" and not the right "personality".

They criticised me of getting slightly frustrated, which I did in the end, because I was made to stand outside for 5.5 hours, not observing ANYTHING before receiving guessing game questions about the process in a very arrogant manner.

Primus UK, from this first impression, might be onto a "winner" with their earning by commision basis on selling better deals to customers for client companies with a predictable unit cost etc... but the way I was treated, in my opinion, by these people, was utter CRAP.

I finally got back home at eleven o'clock at night, everyone wondering where the hell I had got to, as I was given NO indication this was going to go on for so long. I personally found the whole hypocrisy of the situation, the fact I wasn't able to OBSERVE anything, etc ,etc to be an insult.

Don't bother with these people. Their manner is not professional at all. Is this the way the world is going these days? Just a money making rackett with no ethical backbone what so ever? This what I call the "rise of the little man". People like this who actually know very little and make money through the work of other companies.

Has anyone else had such irritating experiences? After all this job hunting and nothing, having this waste of a day is a kick in the balls. I made the effort to go, with good faith, I got to observe, NOTHING. Rise of the little man.

Similar experience as many others on here. After being invited to a first interview by two different people over the phone within a day of sending my CV. I eventually went along to their offices that they had only moved into 5days before, they apologised about for the lack of furniture in the block, luckily we all had a seat to sit on and they still had time to install a fish tank in the waiting room. There was no company logo on anything, not even on the application forms which was a little strange for an advertising/marketing company. After an extrmemely short interview which lasted 10mins long with another candidate we left being told to expect a phone call before 6pm that evening as to whether we would be asked for the 2nd round. 5:55 came around and the phone rang...i was invited to day 2 (observation day 12:30-8). Turning up on the 2nd day we were paired up with a team leader (a 21year old who had been with the company for 6months tops!) I was taken out not sure what I was getting myself into, we went to altrincham, and up until the last minute he refused to tell me it was door2door sales we were doing. As soon as he told me I thought we could be doing this for 2hrs tops, but we were out doing this from 1:30-8:30 with 30mins break! Ive never felt like such a sheep following him around like that house 2 house in my life. We were actually asking people to sign up for direct debts at £8.50 a month for the british cross. All this for a pathetic £200-£300pw! WOT.A.JOKE. We eventually got back to the offices at 9:45 when I was asked to step inside to go to fill in  a questionnaire before having a third interview, this is when i fessed up and told them this isnt the position for me.
I will definatley be avoiding jobs involving sales and to good to be true job offerings in future.
Dont waste your time, I have learnt an extremely exhausting lesson!

I cannot believe I managed to receive two calls from scam companies in a single day: SRM Marketing (nottingham) and JMS (Sheffield). Two interviews set in 3 days.. Woow.. Thanks everybody for letting me know your experience.. You spared me two long journeys and a good lot of money.

HI GUYS
Be very careful with EA WORLDWIDE ACQUISITIONS
Is a huge Scam
Is in
SHAND HOUSE
14-20SHAND STREET
London

EA WORLDWIDE ACQUISITIONS
LONDON MARKETING SERVICE (LMS)

AND 3 OTHER COMPANIES ARE BASED IN

SHAND HOUSE
14-20 SHAND STREET
SE1 2ES LONDON

IS A HUGE SCAM, WILL MAKE YOU WORK FROM 10AM-23PM

ON COMMISSION AND PROMISES OF BECOMING MANAGER AND OWN
YOU OWN COMPANY.

THEY ARE ADVERTISING IN GUMTREE, TOTAL JOBS

also beware:

source marketing direct in Luton
SRM marketing in Norwich

I went to both of the interviews as described above - didn't much like the idea of it, but had persuaded myself to go in order to get some sales experience - called up the company today to ask about a contract and got the reply that I would be 'working for myself' and therfore wouldn't have one-  what a load of bull.

Alarm bells had gone off before but this time I looked up SRM marketing scam instead of SRM marketing con and bingo, a whole load of matches on google

pretty lucky really I was on the point of moving to Norwich!

to be fair the people who are in the scheme seem to be really into it - they certainly have the whole 'cult' thing going!

STAY AWAY fomr SOURCE MARKETING too.
Guy MIGUEL interviewed me...all this airy fairy cripe about opening so many offices internationally..erm, but where's a website. He's an associate of EA Worldwide which if you google, there's enough information warning you off this company. NOT something for graduates..infact door-to-door selling with only comission pay is just something for nobody but the arrogant business gits that want the money.

Definite NO NO.

It cost's me £7 to get to town from where I live and you can imagine how annoyed I am when I realise they are scam's, I now have a list on my pc thanks to people on these site's of which places to avoid.
Unfortunaitly before I discovered these site's these are the places I have gone to.

G-Force Marketing Ltd:The had "the hexaganol fish tank" Black scruffy bucket chairs and red clip-boards. I had the spin that they were looking for enthusiastic people with no experience, I had applyed online for an admin position and he said it was mainly outdoor work aka door to door, I was not in a good mood that day anyway so had it out that I had come all this way for an admin job that was obviously a lye and told him where to go...not my usual attitude but this was after about 5 other scam interviews!

Heyes client services Ltd - This was my first interview after leaving my previouse job so I wasnt aware of scam companies, I sat and listened to the guy going on about how much I could earn with this place and all the best ways to advertise, I was really exited about maby earning up to 40k, at the end of the interview after shaking hands he asked when I could get the £1,000 to him, I obviously shocked asked what exactly they did (the interview consisted of him asking questions and not telling me much) apparently, you give them a grand and they give you a website and some business cards after 2 weeks UNPAID training.

Primus uk Ltd - I went for the interview, again they had the same fish tank, chairs and red clip-board's, I was one of the lucky 6 out of 200 to be chosen for a second interview (£14 for 2 days travel), I got there on the second day for a 8 hour interview (I thought it would be observing a pc system as it said office job) The girl said to follow her, We got on a bus...I asked what we were doing after thinking we were just going to another close by office, she blanked me for a while and asked me to write things down in a note pad, then she said after a 20 minuet bus ride we would be doing door to door work today, I was not impressed but thought I would give it a go (new experience and all) We got off the bus in cheadle and started marching (As I did not know this was not an in office job I diddent have the comfyest shoes on) I lagged behind and was ignored anyway exept for being told I couldent have a ciggerette for 8 hours, After walking for about 40 minuets at the back of a group of arrogent kn*b heads I hid down a alley was and called home for advice, I diddent have a clue where I was or how to get home, I had hardly any money and was full of the flu aswel, I walked to a estate and stood outside a house and rang 118 for a taxi, I had to pay him in 50 and 20p's (another £8 and a train from stockport was another £3 so for a interview I payed £25).

SRJ Marketing - A very convincing companie, I have appyed for a admin role and am waiting for a call back, Very convincing indeed!!!

Exactly the same experience as everyone else. I got burned at round two, which consisted of wandering around Hyde. No questions I asked were answered adequately and the whole company had a cultish feel to it. I gave up after 5 hours and went home, which I think was far too generous of myself and my time.
The company I was with was 'Heyes Client Services' (sounds a bit like 'Hays,' the well-known legitimate and respected recruitment company doesn't it?) based at Dickinson House, 20 Dickinson Street, Manchester. My 'mentor', an 18 year old lass with no business experience, knowledge or basic human tact informed me that Primus, G Force, Heyes were all the same.
SRM, Heyes, G-Force, are all to be avoided. They're all scams.
If you're ever invited to an interview at Dickinson House on Dickinson Street, or 16 Newton Street, Manchester, don't waste your time and money.

So I went on an interview with these guys. Now lets be honest, who in their right mind would advertise door to door sales? That's why they covered it up with complex lingo. Secondly, if you're looking for a job, then you either don't have one, or you aren't happy with your current one? More often than not, you don't have one. Which is what they offer right? An actual job, to earn actual money, to actually live! There are 2.4 million unemployed people and you guys would rather stick with those [***] than have cash in your pocket?!
Well anyway I was explained the business and it sounded similar to something my uncle did, but he lives in America. So igot in touch and he's actually part of the same company; apparently they expanded to England. He explained the whole 'covering up the door to door sales thing' to me etc. And then explained how it all works. So I'm now moving to the london place instead to start. So if you guys want to know about it before you go for an interview or whatever just text me on 07729982271. I don't quite know everything about it but I know enough to make me want to start (and not live on the dole forever!)

Thank god I had the sense to do a little research before going to the interview. I was perusing over the local job paper when I came across a Trainee Marketing Assistant job posted by SRM Marketing. After spending an hour tarting up my CV I applied. The next day I get a call from becca at SRM Marketing. She invited me for an interview on monday at 4pm and gave me all of the congradulations spiel... then said that she had sent a confirmation e-mail. I then (Very excidedly I must add) walked home and read my e-mails. The e-mail read:-

SRM Marketing Ltd
First Floor
11 Orford Place
Norwich
NR1 3RU

T: 01603 - 230186

Hi  Daniel,

It was a pleasure speaking to you earlier! Congratulations on being selected for a preliminary interview on 19/10/2009 at 4:30 PM . Below are directions and street map to our new office in Norwich!


On arrival in our offices, you’ll be required to fill out a brief enquiry form. Your interview will then be conducted by  one of our managers. It will be an informal preliminary interview, although please note the dress code is smart business and as with any interview it’s always a good idea to bring a copy of your C.V. with you. It will be a chance for us to get to know you a little better, learn more about your education and previous work experiences along with the knowledge and skills you’ve gained. We will also give you detailed information regarding all the opportunities we have available for you and tell you more about the services we provide for our clients and finally where you could fit in to our goals for 2009!

Please feel free to view our website on: http://www.srmmarketingltd.co.uk/ 

Directions:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
Please find detailed directions on above link. If you have any troubles finding us please feel free to call the above number for directions.

We are located at 11 Orford place, which is a pedestrian road off of Red Lion Street. Our office is on the first floor of Burlington Buildings, up the street from Carphone Warehouse, adjacent to Debenhams, directly above GW Menswear.


I look forward to meeting you then!

Kind Regards
HR Dept

Wanting to get to know the company so as to be able to kind of know what they were about when asked questions in the interview I the proceded to the website.... OH MY GOD!!!! being a sales manager and project co-ordinator for a web develoment company taught me one thing.. you can tell how good a company is by their website.. The have one of those cheap and nasty 'Use one of our shoddy designs and we will host it' packages from vista print. Thus seriously arousing my suspicions. I then do a google search for SRM Marketing scam and come across this website...

I have since cancelled my interview and saved myself from anguish with the following e-mail:-

ear Becca,

After viewing your website and doing reasearch on your company i'm afraid that I will not be attending the interview on monday morning.

I am over quailified for Door - to - Door sales and think that it is an atrocity that you are mis-advertising yourselves and your jobs. I will be reporting you to jobs 24.

Yours Sincerely

Daniel Cheeseman

P.s

For a Piramid scam like this to work you need to get a half decent website that isn't hosted by vistaprint.... VISTAPRINT!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!! Are you people really serious!!! I could sit here and rant for the next few hours about what I think people like you are doing to the un-employed/postgrad students but it would be a waste of my time.

Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:29:13 -0700
From: norwich@srmmarketinguk.co.uk
To: daniel.cheeseman@live.co.uk
Subject: Interview Confirmation

SRM Marketing Ltd
First Floor
11 Orford Place
Norwich
NR1 3RU

T: 01603 - 230186

Hi  Daniel,

It was a pleasure speaking to you earlier! Congratulations on being selected for a preliminary interview on 19/10/2009 at 4:30 PM . Below are directions and street map to our new office in Norwich!


On arrival in our offices, you’ll be required to fill out a brief enquiry form. Your interview will then be conducted by  one of our managers. It will be an informal preliminary interview, although please note the dress code is smart business and as with any interview it’s always a good idea to bring a copy of your C.V. with you. It will be a chance for us to get to know you a little better, learn more about your education and previous work experiences along with the knowledge and skills you’ve gained. We will also give you detailed information regarding all the opportunities we have available for you and tell you more about the services we provide for our clients and finally where you could fit in to our goals for 2009!

Please feel free to view our website on: http://www.srmmarketingltd.co.uk/ 

Directions:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
Please find detailed directions on above link. If you have any troubles finding us please feel free to call the above number for directions.

We are located at 11 Orford place, which is a pedestrian road off of Red Lion Street. Our office is on the first floor of Burlington Buildings, up the street from Carphone Warehouse, adjacent to Debenhams, directly above GW Menswear.


I look forward to meeting you then!

Kind Regards
HR Dept

A big thankyou to all of the people here that have alerted everyone (including myself). you have saved me from wasting a couple of days worth of interviews and door-to-door sales 'shadowing'.

So glad I found this site, If you are reading this do believe everything that is said on the posts above. Had an interview with SRM Marketing ltd today and for a company that is so big....acording to Amanda the women who interviwed me form the manc office, I find it strange that the office was bare and looked a state. She told me the offices above had leaked and flooded theres! Full of crap! If your office was a state like that you wouldnt be holding interviews in it!

Wow, I didnt realise how naive I was when it came to looking for employment and how many errors in judgement I had made until I saw this thread. Yes sadly I too fell for this scam, I found the ad on mymanchesterjobs and being a new media graduate, I have a passion for advertising and marketing. So when these guys rang me the next morning saying they loved the array of skills I had and wanted to interview me, well I got sucked in pretty fast. Had the initial interview with some guy called James who couldnt tell me why the website is still under construction even though the company has been running for so long. But he started throwing big client names like Tescos, Sainsburys British Gas etc, at me and I think he probably saw the stars twinkling in my eyes.

Got the 2nd interview phone call and thought 'we're in the money', stupidly naive but this was my first jobber. I was mentored by a nice chap called Usman, who I first clicked with because he also graduated from Leeds uni so I relaxed. About 5 minutes after I met him, we were queuing outside a cashpoint cos he needed to buy lunch. He jumped in front of a person and went towards the machine, the old man who he jumped in front of was understandibly upset and tried to get back in front. My mentor then proceeded to push n shove n threaten to flatten this old man unless he moved away. I was in shock but was unsure what to do so just stayed out of it, 'is this a test, do i intervene, candid camera??' He duly apologized to me saying that he is usually a 'cool guy' and that it was the old mans fault. I didnt say anything because as he kept reminding me, I could be sent home at anytime if im not right, or dont ask the right questions, respond correctly etc. So we got  on the 42 bus going to Sale. Never been there before so I didnt know the area at all, all the way there he was asking questions and putting me in hypothetical scenarios, such as 'if you had a restaurant how would you market it?' I reemed off  a list of techniques that I knew from my degree and work exp, none that he seemed to of heard of. Or in his opinion ineffective. I asked several times where we are going and he told me he was going to pitch on behalf of Scottish Power and I had to observe his method and take notes - also if my note taking skills were bad I could be sent home. Finally got to sale, there was another guy with us, who said he'd pitch elsewhere and meet us for lunch. I looked around at this area thinking I cant see an office anywhere, its only when he actually walked to th first door that I knew what his 'pitch' was. I confronted him but he denied it was door to door sales, quite vehemently too, saying 'im not selling anything, i could teach a 5yr old to sell, sales is easy, this is providing a service.' I had to wait outside the gate looking suspicious with my notepad, whilst he would shout out more questions about direct and indirect marketing at me. Apparently clients love primus because theyr cost effective unlike tv ads etc, so i asked him why their new client sainsburys bothers with them, no clear response, basically I was wrong. At about 5 he told me that his manager wants to see me back at the office but that he has to carry on pitching. He pointed me to the nearest bus stop and was on his way. I got back to the office filled out another form and was interviewed by a cool sounding australian guy. I was annoyed by my 'observation day' but this senior manager seemed really cool and ambitious, I was knackered so whatever he was saying I bought it.

I got a phone call from Usman at about 9 that evening saying I got the job but before he got into detail his phone died. I called my brother who works as a web analyst and marketing specialist,told him what happened and how iv been offered the job. He pointed out every stupid mistake I failed to see during the day, probably because they kept saying how i could be earning 100k in 2 years because i have 'business acumen'. Got called back from usman saying Im going on a business trip to hull for a week from the monday (interview was friday) and wouldnt be back till saturday. I asked for time to think, I was told if i have to think then the job isnt for me. I have until 9.30 saturday morning to decide and then go and sign a contract. No debate, no negotiation, he just said 'look im not too bothered if you want this job or not' so i said no. Learnt my lesson to wise up fast. They probably saw me coming and were stood there rubbing their hands going 'here we go lads, got another one'..long ass rant/story apologies.