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Thank you everyone for this page! I had an interview for a Marketing role at Aspire, in about an hour's time. I decided not to go, after reading this. Don't want to be wasting my afternoon for Door to Door sales job interview!

pls could you explain properly what happened while you worked there for two month and were you paid?
cos i think you are the most experienced person in terms of the length of period you were with this company so people can be more convinced.

It's actually sad to know that they are still inviting people for interviews(too bad)

Thanks

i came across a marketing vacancy by aspire last week. as a graduate without a job desperate for a job i thought why not apply? i got a call to interview me ONE day later, which i thought was incredible. today is my interview. THEY have called me to confirm the interview although i didn't answer the phone. i thought i was supposed to ring THEM to confirm the interview is still happening. they sound really desperate and no other job i've applied for has been that keen to recruit me. i want to go to the interview but if it is a scam like you say, then i really don't want to waste twenty quid getting to and from the interview.
what do you suggest?

i'm so glad i came across ur and eveyone else's post about aspire. it sounds like we all have been through the same thing. i'm desperate for a job as i've not had any luck so when aspire called me i was so happy. now i've realised they are quite dodgy- i mean who calls an interviewee to make sure they are still coming to the interview?!
thank you so much for the warning otherwise i would have wasted my time.

I worked for them.  Carefully, carefully check the credientials and qualifications of your Financial "Consultant" - check the details of your "fact sheet on the underlying fund that your consulatant will research & come to you with only the BEST choice".  Check who is really carrying the risk of the paper into which you are buying a share of.  Business is placed by your Consultant into a limited selection of funds where the highest commission is earned from the that Financial Institution.  Why not ask for 15 choices of Financial Institutions in the fund category your consultant will recommend to you - you won't get them as they are not available.  Be very very clear on your 'frozen pension' transfer to a QROPS - I can assure you the devil is in the detail of the fine print.  You will NOT see the growth - look at the performance of the underlying fund (and size of the fund - very scary where your money is going to be managed to the *-10% growth predicted annually, oh and compound growth haa haa!)  QROPS will see approx 7 - 11% of charges on the initial value you transfer accross.  Hey - how about asking for the call centre number of the "global client centre" based in Zurich or London .... try reaching 5 different people.  Ask that agent about your investment, they cannot give you any information on your investement as no "centralised system" exists to hold yours or any of the clients who use devere as a Broker.  The money is to be made when a new client is won onto the books by that consultant - no ongoing revenue to ensure your investment is looked after into the next 2 - 5 years to achieve the projected long-term or medium-term growth promised.   I say, educate yourself - be very careful no matter who you choose.

Hey!
Just had a call today from JMS Marketing in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Now, I actually attended an interview last week for Castle Road Marketing -
who, turns out, will only pay you on commission.
(Which stinks of rip-off and scam.)

Thought the pitch from JMS Marketing sounded a bit familiar and who would've thought that when I checked my call history instead of having two calls from Castle Road Marketing from last week, I now have three - the latest from today.

Also, I thought it was a little weird when I checked my e-mail for confirmation and they were both at the same address.

Now, really, what the hell's going on with that?
You'd think they'd have a little more sense than trying to fill me full of [***] the first time round and then calling me in for another interview, under a different name not even a week later.

I worked for aspire marketing for 12 weeks, and let me tell you it was a nightmare.  Nothing is what it seems from the job advert right down to the actual job role and concept. During my 12 weeks i only earned four hundred pounds. I did not get promoted to leadership. I was taken the piss out of, i had my belongings stolen, i wasnt paid for almost 2 months, i got into more debt than i was in when i first started. I was under the impression that this was a job, but i was told that it was a training programme. I didnt see anyone get promoted to assitant manager or owner ( and they made out like it was a monthly, or even weekly occurence). I was no good at selling, they brainwash you to make you beleive that applying 'the system' works anywhere in the world for 'anyone'. They teach you to be fake and heartless, (those are the only types of people that make it in this business).I took the job because i was deperate, and to be honest i didnt quite realise what i was getting into until i started. I didnt even realise it was 100% commission based. Im now an unemployed graduate ( a statistic), but this just goes to show how bad it really is, i left not even having another job to go back to. On the other hand however there is a real chance for career progression, but you need to think carefully , and make alot of sacrifices to acheive success. Its like marmite you either love it or hate it.

Please don't do it - they are a company that shouldn't be trusted.

I also believe that A1 online advertising is one of these scam companies as they are based at 1 Bath Street London. They have similar number: 0207251 7272 and general manager name olu fakeye.

I haven't seen much on internet about A1 so I want to start letting people know to see if they agree. I'm not even going to bother going to my interview because I want a proper career!

I started working for harlequin marketing 6 months ago,i had high hopes from the start since the job advert emphasised that there would be high pay of upto 50k p/a and management oppurtunities within 6 to 10 months.

As soon as i applied i got an interview and then like everyone else got the job.

after being there 6 months i saw no one get promoted and i became the 2nd oldest worker there apart from the managers.
After having a high cancelation rate, they cut down my commission earnng  by 10% by now i started to get in debt despite being 1 of the best in sales!!!
My main cost consumers were mobile phone bill(went from £20 to £50 per week, due to making a confirmation call at every sale) and travel costs(petrol, train, bus) which was all paid by myself and not reinburshed.

As well in the job advert, it said i'd be working 12-8 mon-fri which i did at first, but this was quickly changed to 10-11 mon-sat, and plus the occaisional sunday for meetings, most weeks i worked 70 hours on commission and i felt exhausted, some months i had no more than 3 days off. i had no life but work, once they even tried to make me come into work while moving house.

i advice anyone who is thinking of getting a direct sales job a big no no and go for anything else!!!

Some of you people here really need to stop whining. I worked for a similar company to these (Cobra Group) for 3 years and had a great time. Yes it is comission only but you are self employed! This means that you are in effect your OWN company.Think about it, if a taxi driver doesn't pick anyone up how much does he make? If I OWN a shop and nobody buys anything how much do I make? If I OWN a hairdressers and dont cut anyones hair how much do I make?

The correct answer to all of these answers is NOTHING!

So what makes you people think that if you do not generate any revenue for a company that support you that they should pay you anyway? Should a company loose money if you are no good or lazy? Do you not agrre that your income should directly correlate with how hard you work?

The only people that should have a problem with this is people who are either lazy, or who doubt theor ability to sell. If you are confident that you can sell and motivate yourself then where is the problem?

Yes I dont work for Cobra any more but had a blast while I was there and took home £300-400 a week from 18-21 years old which wasn't bad. More importantly it taught me both how to sell and how to motivate myself to a very high level. I have now progessd into a salaried role + comission and make 6 figures at 26!

Some people who claim to NEED a job should think about getting off their lazy backsides and not expect to have people give them handouts just for showing up! You people all have very poor mentalities and will probably still be scratching around for 15K jobs for the rest of your lives.

Look you guy's i work there for 8 months i tell you it was fu***  [***] work i dont know where to start put it this way you wouldn't wanna work from 9 to 12 at night in my case that i did, the company is real and there are around the country in every large city. they not a scam but you could say they sometime mislead you with the information when you are on interview. you can complain to who ever you want they are legally right by law, unlucky to me i couldn' t get to management i was one of the most consictent in sales i got close but i lost my crew i dont know if any of you know that the company is build with teams which is called team leaders.

but one thing i will say is in the other hand i dont know how to thank them because they toughed me everything i want it to be succesful in life, its the most amazing experince you can have in life yes you can spend money and not make money at times but, if you want to get a good job in future  like i did now its cool. i work now for a great company earn bacis of 30K + comm... and im only 22years old. now this is a good thing about this company.

its funny!

you chooce the way you wanna work really in life and what type of career you want for me i always said by the age of 30 want to own a house, but the question is how do you do that. well the answer is simple. you need to work hard in life to achive good career and good things.

now think of anyone who is rich or fairly successful or someone you know? how hard did they work and what sacrafices they made in life to be where they are now. let be real guy's you are just lazy + living with parents which means you are still being looked after. life is hard and

now anyone that worked for this companies i can promies you that they are happy in some way they did this job because they learnt things that they wouldnt have else where + now they have good jobs with good pay or better than their friends have.

Guys, these companies are not scams. People work on a full commision salary becuase they actually do work harder. I have been working on full commision for the past 2 years and its a great way to motivate yourself to earn money.

Do you guys know if FELIX MARKETING is also a scam???  As i ve been offered to go interview with them and dont know if I should! London Marketing Services have also contacted me! Thank God I did not go!
Please let me know ASAP!

I worked for Aspire for 5 months, all the promises of me owning my own company within 6 to 10 months and earning a 6 figure salary sounded too good to be true. However this information was delivered to me in a way that i had become oblivious to what i was getting myself into.

I got the same calls about the interviews as everyone has described. I only wish i had visited this site before taking the job. It was a miracle, I had only been job searching for 2 days since i lost my job, when I found myself passing the first round interview. I came back for the second, full day, interview with the girl who became my 'team leader' she had a really successful day getting 5 sign ups and making it look easy so i couldn't complain. We returned from the 'field' where we had been in north london, arriving at the office after 10pm which i found strange. However I needed a job and at that stage did not know it was on a FULL commision basis.

I turned up the next week for my first day and the following week found myself up north on what they call a 'sattelite office'. On this 'sattelite office' i did really well and I was then promoted to a 'Leader' myself. This 'promotion' gains you nothing extra but longer hours and more stress. Somehow the promotion seemed to lock me into the so called 'Business'. At the time i had a healthy bank account so i didnt really notice my lack of income and assumed i would gain skills and get better. From this stage on i was averaging about 7 sales a week which translates to about 100 quid. But somehow everyone i signed up seemed to cancel and my manager kept telling me, without providing evidence of these 'cancellations', that this was why he could not pay me for them which is a load of s***!

I eventually found myself so far in, that when my bank balance hit zero that i had convinced myself that now i had come this far i might as well go all the way. I hit the lowest point in my life to date when i had to ask my parents for money to continue only to blow it all on phone credit and travelcards for the stupid job. I lived off a loaf of bread a week, got kicked out of my house and agitated all of my friends, whose couches i crashed on, in my brainwashed state to within breaking point of our friendships during my final 3 months at aspire.

Every time i thought about leaving i was taken aside by one of the managers who tried convinced me to stay a little longer and i eventually found a way out when a very generous friend who i had met at aspire offered me a job within his workplace in another city. This friend of mine had not recieved their entitled pay when they left and the same happened to me...after 5 months of working my ass off, they couldn't give me the 240 pounds i was owed from their 6 figure salary business. To be honest i dont think the managers themselves are doing too well considering they were out door knocking themselves every second day 'motivating' people...desperation maybe? Bottom line is, dont make the same mistake i did, i never went more than 100 pounds into my overdraft but i know people who where there longer then i was and are still there, thousands of pounds in debt.

By the way, this organisation is operating on a massive scale and held a rally to which all the UK offices attended in Birmingham last november. There were people of all positions throughout the 'Business' and in total over 2000 people were in attendance. It may not be a scam as others suggest it is, but it's a very misleading setup, so my advice is to be careful and if you are trying to persue a career with any of them ask the right questions.

Thank god I read through this site. I too have been getting countless phone calls and emails from Oval Innovation Ltd to arrange an interview and I certainly won't be bothering after reading all of this. Does anyone know if Pure Solutions is connected to this?

hey guys, watch out because most of these companies are emailing people in other froums such as moneysavingexpert or complaints board to make them remove their posts. Check forums typing on google london marketing services scam, ea worldwide acquisitions scam, live marketing direct scam, carolina consulting scam etc.

The email they send says something like this:

I note with dismay the grossly libellous statements you have made about me on the ‘complaints board’ blog site.
The accusations you have made are serious allegations about my conduct and company.
I have already taken legal advice about these allegations and if you do not remove your post within the next seven days I will have no alternative but to instruct my solicitors to take legal action against you.

I sincerely hope we can resolve this matter without the need for legal action.

STAY AWAY, THEY CANNOT THREATEN PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY ARE TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT THESE COMPANIES

Seriously, this is a scam.  The whole interview process happened to me but I had a feeling it was a all wrong when I was out there with them.  The fact I had to pay for my own travel to Kent to walk around peoples houses started to ring the alarm bells for me.  I've done an MSc in marketing and the people there semeed to have no clue what marketing was. The fact they also questioned the validity of what I'd studied, I certainly started to wonder what the hell was going on.  It certainly made me think when he pointed to an advertising board and said '...that's marketing'.  Head in hands moment.    

When I filled out that form after the 2nd interview, I made a point of saying everything that didnt seem right, and they spoke to me outside as to not cause a fuss in front of the rest of the people.  I told the guy he should be ashamed and that they'd created a cult, in a more expletive tone.  Remember, they slap hands with each other and shout JUICE.  (Join us in creating Excitement - UGH)  Because I seemed toget to the bottom of the whole thing, they offered me a management position straight away.  I told him to shove it right up his [***].  In those words.

They're ripping off young kids and making them beleive they can earn hundreds of thousands within a couple of years.  This can't be legal surely.  

I was at Uni at the time and spent about £200 getting there and having to stay over as I couldn't get back the same day.  Please don't fall for this people.  It's ran by the most digusting people .

Can I just also say that they target recent graduates because of their desperation to get into the world of work.  It's a complete disgrace.  I don't know if this happened to you guys, but it seems these door to door sales jobs are being advertised under different descriptions.  Mine did not say Immediate Vacancy or anything to that effect but was advertised as a Marketing Graduate/Trainee Programme.

I guess hindsight is a great thing but I really wish I'd had taken a look here before I went.  I really do pity these poor guys that have been suckered in by these disgusting people.  Maybe the job itself isn't officially illegal, but their recruitment process surely must be.  

Luckily I saw what was going on, and as I was stuck in London anyway I thought the guy needed to be told he was a [***] house.  I'm happy I took the time to tell him that I'd refuse to be part of the cult and the way young people are being exploited is a disgrace.  

I've now got a really good job on a contract basis and shall be moving down to London soon to take up my next role which happily is salary based and secure which is sadly not the case for the people taken in by Aspire and the other companies named in this forum.    

This may also be interesting to you all though, on my way back from the interview the next day, I was sat with a lady who worked at BBC London.  She said it sounded all wrong and that if enough people got in touch they'd almost certainly investigate.  This was a while ago so I dont have the address or number to get in touch with them, but I'm sure it's easy to find.  If you feel strongly enough about it, it's worth a go.

Please don't let your friends or family get involved with this mess.  Cheers.

Gemma,

I am getting angry reading your message, yet sad at the same time because what your saying is practically mirroring my experience and it saddens me that they have done it to you. I lost my girlfriend, my money and came out the other end with not much, a few skills but it felt like id lost alot more.

Your not the only and lets hope that no-one else experiences what we did.