It's Time to Play...Scam...or No Scam?

I know this should probably be a scam.com thread, but I though I'd throw it up here instead. I looked through today's mail and I get this letter from a Vector company [imgb244695d4e]http/" alt=""/img346.imageshack.us/img="346/5340/vector25rp.th.jpg[" alt=""/imgb244695d4e][=http//img="346.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vector25rp.jpg][imgb244695d4e]http/" alt=""/img346.imageshack.us/img="346/5340/vector25rp.th.jpg[" alt=""/imgb244695d4e] . Intrigued I opened it especially with it highlighting the possiblity of a summer job.

Since, as you can see, the letter is incredibly vague as to what the job is or what even Vector is, I decided to use our dear friend Google. Since Vector is really broad search topic and this company didn't show up within the first pages of results.

Finally I came across this blog[=http//mxn.f2o.org/archives/2005/06/11/vector_cutco.html]this blog (oddly similar, no?) and then was able to find their main page[=http//www.vectormarketing.com/]main page. Sure their homepage looks professional but my scamsenses are tingling about this one.

It's not like I'm even considering this, but I wanted to know for reference.

Not sure how or why that would be a scam. Looks like a pretty standard recruitment form letter. Or am I missing something?

nope not a scam its just a pain in the ass... i had a couple of friends that sold cutco knifes but that job didnt last long they made some money from it but they said it was a waste of time. on a positive note those cutco knifes are amazing.

I'm just concerned why they would leave their company in such shadow of doubt of who they are. Sure it says invite to apply, not you're hired, but why would I apply to a job that I don't even know who I'm working for? On the other hand it could just be a really badly written recruitment letter.

its a marketing firm that basically sets up a pyramid system everyone they recruit they make a cut from it nothing more then that really. people dont like pyramid schemes so thats why its probably kinda hidden

nah i get emails like this all the time

if you are in college theres a 30% you are desperate for money, any kind of money.

Being vauge and appearing professional draws that entire 30% in to ask more about the job. I'm sure they'd rather sell it to you over the phone or in person too

NO DEAL!

You are going to end up topless I'm sure of it...

I worked for them for a summer. If you're any good at it, you'll make pretty good money--but that's sort of a big if. Here's how it works...

1. You pay $165 (I think) for a sales kit, which includes the complete Cutco set (which sells for $805).

2. You set up appointments with family and friends to practice your "presentation." The appointment-setting pitch goes kinda like this...

"Hi Mrs. Smith, this is Keith A.........; I'm friends with your son Ryan. As you probably know, I'm in my third year at BC. I've been thinking about law school, and I have an internship this summer that will help me build presentation skills.

All I need from you is to listen to my presentation...no pressure to buy...etc...."

The presentations last 45 minutes to an hour. For each of these, you are paid $16.

3. At the end of your presentation, you say, "Now I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask you Do you want a set of these Cutco knives?" On my first 8 visits, everyone said yes...

4. If you sell a set of knives, you make a commission. (If the commission is greater than $16, you do not receive the $16.) Your commission increases with your cumulative sales. You start at 10%. Once you've sold $500 (or thereabouts), it increases to 15%. Once you've sold $2,000, it increases to 20%. Once you've sold $3,000, it increases to 30%. (Don't quote me the hurdles for the commission increases--I can't remember all the details.) By the end of the summer, I was making [bc2b333008c]40%[/bc2b333008c] on every sale. The max you can reach is 50%.

5. At the end of each appointment you ask for the names of friends or neighbors that might be willing to listen to your presentation. Then, from about 7pm to 9pm, you call those names to set up more appointments.

I liked it because it was a relatively simple sell. Honestly, I was amazed at how many people were willing to fork over $800 for a set of knives. Every other sales job I've held was about handling objections; this one was about asking for an order and then taking it.

The company is actually a sort of pyramid organization. After I hit $5,000 in sales, they tried to recruit me to open my own office. That's a $3k upfront investment, then you make a cut of whatever your sales force sells.

Do searches on Cutco or Vector Marketing Corp. Many people have had bad experiences with them, but mine was pretty good.


Edits Fixed spelling errors

We have Cutco knives.

Cutco sounds so fake. Interslice knives...

I did it a few summers ago, I hit about 15k in sales and found I didn't have many more people to sell to, luckily that was at the end of the summer. I did a few more random sales throughout the year but then just stopped selling. After I stopped selling I had a ton of Cutco knives from all the conferences you can go to so I sold them all on Ebay. Pretty fun if you have a good network of people you can sell to.

[quote75867ef5c9="Wolfeman"]Cutco sounds so fake. Interslice knives...[/quote75867ef5c9]

Interslice, eh... I'd buy a set.

I'll buy some knives. I'm not joking...

[quote0fa97a89ed="h3x"][quote0fa97a89ed="Wolfeman"]Cutco sounds so fake. Interslice knives...[/quote0fa97a89ed]

Interslice, eh... I'd buy a set.[/quote0fa97a89ed]
There is a Simpsons where Homer is trying to think of a name for his Internet company and he named CutCo, EdgeCom and InterSlice...

cutco knives are some of the best ive ever used i would almost work for them just to get the knives cheap

Well, looks like this scam was busted (I watch too much MythBusters). Thanks for the input!

I got the exact same letter. I figured it was a scam and buried it under my "low intrest rate pre approved" junk mail roll

CutCo knives are seriously awesome.

My college campus is always spattered w/ vague advertisements like these (for the same company). They even have kids going around in classrooms to write it up on the chalkboard lol

They have this same kind of deal but with painting at my alma matter...

my boyfriend got several of those letters, but we never looked into them.

a couple weeks ago., he got a call from someone working for "ohio premier".... 'a new fitness center that had just opened up', and they had 'recieved his information somehow' and 'wanted to know if he was interested in a job.' now, as my boyfriend has been applying to places nonstop since december and has had NOTHING in return, he figured they got his information from one of these places, and he agreed to an interview for what he was told was an office job.

he arrived to 15-20 other people like him. the people in charge made them all sit in a circle while they played extremely disturbing slideshows (very 'requiem for a dream'-esque, by the way) and proceeded to tell everyone that if they are 'hired' they will have to 'invest' a bit [spend hundreds on 'nutritional supplements'] and 'build a team' [it is a pyramid scheme... pay the company, refer people who pay, etc. very, very bad] to sell all this supplement crap. the worst part? this was part ONE of the 'interview'. the second part was six hours later that night, and the people in charge had to try to convince everyone to actually waste time and go come back to it. when they harrassed someone into saying they would come back, the people in charge stood up and shouted/cheered/yelled and rang a damn COWBELL and yell "we got another one!".

they came to my boyfriend, and he ended up yelling right back at them regarding how he had said about five times already that he did not know if he wanted to come back.

very tense, very pressuring. needless to say, he never went back. he called and told the guy that there was no need to call him about it anymore, and that he was wanting a REAL job that did not require him to pay to work.

not to say anything bad about the knives. i had a friend who sold cutco for a while. i am just assuming that cutco is a bit more reliable than the place my boyfriend had experience with http//www.symmetrydirect.com/

yeah that reminds me of my experience with the onlinebusiness offer that i did for a DIY site. that guy wanted me to pay a few hundred dollars to get on some herbalife system so that i can sell it and make tons of money i told him to fuck himself im not gonna pay to work.

I would say that 90% of these businesses are not worth the time, money, or effort. Cutco may not be anymore either; I did it 4 years ago. For as many people as I met with and sold to, I've often wondered how they can sustain the kind of amazing sales our office was doing. The knives are great, but how many American families will buy an $800 set of knives?

[quote2e76bbd00c="Stroid"]yeah that reminds me of my experience with the onlinebusiness offer that i did for a DIY site. that guy wanted me to pay a few hundred dollars to get on some herbalife system so that i can sell it and make tons of money i told him to fuck himself im not gonna pay to work.[/quote2e76bbd00c]
Hehe, I just did that offer for Trainn. Now some guy in Cali. is calling me from his home phone as my "trainer."

Yea its cutco knives