Emails Received About Vector Scam Article

*All Names and email addresses from respondants have been omitted.

Message 1

Message: I am writing this message to inform you of what I have just read about the "Vector Marketing Scam" on your web site. Just to let you know, it is not exactly a scam. I actually work with Vector right now, and to tell you the truth, it is not a place that I would recommend to anyone who is looking for a job! Despite the fact that the job is actually not a scam, it is however, a high-pressure place to work. They do require many stereotypical rules to follow, in which case many do not agree with. Stereotyping when it comes to marketing/selling, is not right! Anyone can buy anything! But when you work for Vector Marketing, you as the sales represenative will only get paid for seeing "qualified customers." The qualified customers include: married, have children, and live in a house, and NOT an apartment. Whoever said that a person who is single, lives in an apartment, and doesn't have children does not appreciate a set of good quality knives? To me, stereotyping cus! tomers whether they are your target market or not is worng! As for the trainning that Vector Marketing provides, it is FREE. You do NOT have to pay for it, nor do you have to pay for your start-up kit. The start-up kit is FREE too! However, each sales representative does in fact lose money! You must pay for your own gas while providing your own vehicle to drive to your appointments which is money out of your own pocket! Although it is money out of your own pocket, you can write your gas mileage off on your taxes. I am currently working with Vector Marketing selling Cutco products in Wisconsin, and we are the top office in the Central Wisconsin region, and we rank #3 as the top office in the entire U.S. nation. I don't know if this would exactly be considered a scam, but to some extent, I would definitly consider it a "rip-off" in terms of money that you have to spend to do your appointments which comes out of your own pocket. I don't know about you, but to me, this is not an ideal job for anyone! I hope that my knowledge of Vector Marketing may come as a help to you and your web site. I am not writing this letter to degrade Vector Marketing. I just want to give you some insight on facts about Vector Marketing, and what it is really all about. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me through email. Thank you.

Message 2

Message: Vector Marketing is no scam. First about the sample kit: It has a retail value of over $500. By making it a deposit system at a pretty reasonable 70% discount, you can get everything you need, and as long as you didn't either sell the knives off directly to the customer, or deliberately break them, you will be absolutely fine. The other thing about that is, since this is a job where you set your own schedule and a lot of people are not self motivated at all, they just end up not doing their job. My training class has had about an 80% attrition rate over 2 weeks. The thing is that most of these people wouldn't bother to return the kit if their wasn't a FULLY REFUNDABLE deposit that they put down. The fact is that if you try, and put it on your credit card, you have 30 days to get it paid off. At base pay in my division, that means 10 demonstrations where you didn't sell anything. Oh, and by the way, if you cant sell CUTCO, you are trying to not sell CUTCO. Second, the product is the best. My family has had CUTCO knives for 30 years, and they have been great. I did a demonstration for a client whose parents had had CUTCO for 53 years. My own grandparents have had CUTCO for 56 years. CUTCO is the best, and it is less expensive than those other sets. Oh, and just a side note, if you are making $3 a day, you are a lazy failure. That means that you are doing (factoring in gas expenses) less than 3 demos a week. Meaning that you are working for less than 5 hours for the week. Yeah, that's some real work. If you aren't getting paid commission, you aren't doing your job because the knives sell themselves. I made over $300 my first weekend. Just saying, there is money in it, but it isn't some job where if you slack off you still get paid. you get paid for how good you are and how hard you work. Seriously, why are you targeting Vector Marketing as not only a scam, but its own category of scam?

Message 3

Message: Hey, I just wanted to respond to your article on Vector Marketing. I'm 20 years old, and I've been working as a Vector/Cutco rep for just over a year. I've made thousands of dollars working part-time, and I've loved it. My managers are my best friends, and I am now able to help my parents support all 4 of my younger sisters as well as finance my education. I respect the fact that people have the right to post ignorant articles upon a topic that they clearly know nothing about, but parts of your article are blatantly false. Not once have I EVER been charged for additional training. All training is FREE. If I want to go to an OPTIONAL conference, then I can pay a nominal fee to cover my hotel stay and food. Also, I was never told that I had to buy the kit. I put a security deposit on it. Sure, I could keep the kit if I wanted to, but until the end of my life, I can walk up to my manager, tell him I wanted to return my kit, and receive EVERY PENNY BACK. Several of my friends who only worked for a summer have done this with no problem. As for the court cases, if you can name a single company in the world of any significant size that does not have the occasional bad or unethical manager, then I'll swallow my sample kit. This company has changed my life. It has helped me to grow and gain life skills that I never thought that I could develop. I am excited for the rest of my life because of the skills that I have learned through Vector. I am thoroughly disgusted that the writers of this article are so low-down, dishonest, and dirty as to write something this blatantly false. I take it to be a very negative reflection upon the entire website, and from this point forward, I do not take the information that this site provides to be valid. I'll seek the advice of people who actually know what they're talking about if I ever have a scam question.

Message 4

Message: Hey, I just wanted to respond to your article on Vector Marketing. I'm 20 years old, and I've been working as a Vector/Cutco rep for just over a year. I've made thousands of dollars working part-time, and I've loved it. My managers are my best friends, and I am now able to help my parents support all 4 of my younger sisters as well as finance my education. I respect the fact that people have the right to post ignorant articles upon a topic that they clearly know nothing about, but parts of your article are blatantly false. Not once have I EVER been charged for additional training. All training is FREE. If I want to go to an OPTIONAL conference, then I can pay a nominal fee to cover my hotel stay and food. Also, I was never told that I had to buy the kit. I put a security deposit on it. Sure, I could keep the kit if I wanted to, but until the end of my life, I can walk up to my manager, tell him I wanted to return my kit, and receive EVERY PENNY BACK. Several of my friends who only worked for a summer have done this with no problem. As for the court cases, if you can name a single company in the world of any significant size that does not have the occasional bad or unethical manager, then I'll swallow my sample kit. This company has changed my life. It has helped me to grow and gain life skills that I never thought that I could develop. I am excited for the rest of my life because of the skills that I have learned through Vector. I am thoroughly disgusted that the writers of this article are so low-down, dishonest, and dirty as to write something this blatantly false. I take it to be a very negative reflection upon the entire website, and from this point forward, I do not take the information that this site provides to be valid. I'll seek the advice of people who actually know what they're talking about if I ever have a scam question.

Message 5

Message: Re: Vector Marketing Scam I want to thank you for posting this information on the Internet! My son received a letter from "Vector", not Vector Marketing just "Vector", telling him about immediate openings, no experience needed, and great pay. Interesting how they only used "Vector" not "Vector Marketing" so when you Google them your not positive if it's them. I called to make sure. I was just laid off and my son is desperate for a job. He called and set up an interview. I advised him to Google them before he wastes our money on gas and a hair cut. There it was, your article! My son is replying to their confirmation email with the link to this website.  For that company to target kids is inexcusable!! Where did they get his information? I am very thankful that we now have the Internet and people like you who save us from great disappointment and failure.

Message 6

Message: I recently just got a job with Vector Marketing, in it's division here in Canada. I found this after a "concerned friend" heard that I had gotten the job, because he felt that from what he heard about this company, it was a scam. I read your statements in here, and found many of them to be false. For starters, we did not pay for our training at Vector, it was provided free of charge. Secondly, the start up kit is a rental, meaning you get back your initial payment of $111 (not 145, as you stated) no questions asked. On my first two days on the job (I have done 7 appointments in total, since the previous night), I have already earned back all the money I have had to spend on the start up kit and gas for my car (which the company reimburses me for, as it is a busines expense). While you say that you are showing both sides of the story, by having a grand total of 3 sentences pretaining to the bonuses that Vector offers, I feel that you really are not. Before you speak of this scam with such whole-heartedness it would be good if you tested this information out yourself, or at the very least spoke witha current Vector Office manager in your own town. Personally, I've made close to $225 in one weekend worth of work, actually working maybe about 10 hours in total.

Message 7

I work for a company called Vector Marketing and find your article to be offensive and offbase. In reading it, there may not be any inaccuracies but it leaves out the other side of the story. (The people that do well). Lance Armstrong worked his way through college selling Cutco Cutlery. Norman Brinker (founder of Burger King, Jack in the Box, Conzumels, Bennigans, Chili's) wrote about the experience in his book "on the brink". Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (former president of Cal Berkley) worked here as well, just to mention a few. Many college students can make a serious income while still attending school, and the company provides money to students and universities. Why would a company have such a great working relationship with universities if they saw it as a scam. Would you agree that in any company there are people that fail? The people in Vector that don't make money are the people that do not follow the program set up for them. Your article takes away the opportunity for many students to get a job that gives them good experience for their resume and a good income (if they follow the program). I'm not a big company executive, just a sales rep that did average and got promoted along the way, but I would appreciate a change to your article to mention the people that have done well with the organization.

Message 8

Message: I'm writing to respond to your article on the Vector Marketing Scam (and the response e-mails) It is not true that you have to pay for training, BUT each training session is 5 hours long and consist mostly of stories by the manager...there is no real \"training\" involved. I realized it was a scam the minute I walked into the \"office\" and found that 20 people were also scheduled for interviews at 9 AM.... I also want to respond to a few people that say that not everyone is accepted...This is not entirely true, if you tell them that you have a reliable means of transportation you are immediately accepted. I know this because as soon as I realized it was a scam I decided to have a little fun and try to trick the \"managers\" I tried to behave as unprofessional and negative as possible and still managed to get \"accepted\" That being said, this job may be good for certain people. If you know thousands of people that are willing to buy CUTCO and have a fuel-efficient car you could end up making a decent amount of money. I however, drive a gas-guzzling truck, and only know a few dozen people that are willing to spend money on some better than average knives. BTW: Something still puzzles me... The \"manager\" mentioned that CUTCO does not sell in stores because it would drive up prices and hurt the customer....but most corporations don\'t really give a hoot about their customers. Why don\'t they just sell their products in stores? They\'ll make much more money. My theory is that they would have too much competition and that they would have to drive their prices down to compete.

Message 9

Message: I first want to thank you for your attempt to bring forward the frauds that are so very prevalent in America. However, as far as the Vector Marketing program I believe you are miss informed. I\'ve worked with them for five months now and feel like that is enough experience to at least tell if they are a scam or not. I will not bore you with details of my position and paychecks I have received. But I wanted to simply tell you that I have earned enough money to pay rent, tuition, and all other bills, plus a bit extra while exerting less effort than when I roofed. Also, the money put down for the sample sets is a 100% refundable security deposit, meaning they can receive the money back at anytime as long as they give the set back; this way no one steals the sets. I might add that I too was skeptical before I began, but as far as I know Vector Marketing is not a scam. Again, I thank your for your efforts. I hope this information is useful.

Message 10

Message: I myself am I representative with Vector. I\'ve been with the company for 3 years now and I\'ve been accused many times of working for a dishonest company. I can\'t tell you how disheartening that is. Vector has pushed me and changed the way I view myself and my interactions with other people. I\'m getting ready to graduate debt free because of Vector. This is a link to the wall street journal article that was recently published. http://webreprints.djreprints.com/2003710649789.html You can also youtube the Modern Marvels episode featuring Cutco and the Discovery Channel\'s Made in America, which featured Cutco. Also, Norman Brinker (owner of arbys, chilis, etc.) in his book \"On the Brink\" spends an entire chapter praising his experience with vector. Zig Zigler sold Cutco, along with NEil Armstrong. Tenacious people do well with the job, its simple. Its very true that many people don\'t do well with the company--- no one is going to pay you minimum wage to sit around all day at Vector--but its also very true that many people do extremely well with the company. I think the term \"scam\" is harsh and unfair. Vector is very up-front about the fact that there is a security deposit for the knives, they mention it in the interview, and it is a deposit, so its completely refundable. Other than that, I don\'t see at all how it was a scam. There is a base pay, so people get paid for each appointment they complete, and they get paid more than double minimum wage in most offices. Overall, I would tell you to sit through an interview, hear the facts, and then perhaps revise some of the statements on your website. The product itself is fantastic and the job is a great opportunity for people who choose to work hard.

Message 11

Message: Hi I\'m here to talk about vector. One thing I would say is that I used to work for vector, and most of what you said are true except for the paying for training part.. i\'ve sat through 16 grueling hours of \"training\" where it\'s not even training it\'s mostly stories told by managers and representatives and like 15min. of role playing. AND YES YOU DO HAVE TO PAY FOR YOUR DEMO KIT BECAUSE I DID!!! SO YOU CANT SAY THAT THE GUY THAT POSTED THE INFO OR MYSELF ARE LYING!!! the job may be good for people that work hard but the reality is it isnt a job that you should consider staying in. Even for a hard working person.. a hardworking person could get a better job than working with vector.. in conlusion i would definitely say that vector is a huge rip off. The knives are really good and i give them that but as far as jobs go... they arent really any good. i dont care if a representative disagrees with what i\'m saying because i know most of them will say the exact same thing that is irrelevent and will end up saying \"we have such a great opportunity\" and what not.

Message 12

Message: I almost got roped in to Vector about a year ago. I posted my application on the web, looking desperately for a job. Almost immediately I got a call from them, and boy was the description absolutely beautiful! I scheduled my appointment, went in, acted all professional, and got accepted. Immediately they put all of us being interviewed into a room with a manager and sold us this story of their incredible product. They told us that superior products use less commercials and more word of mouth to advertise (he asked us whether you see more BMW and Ford commercials on TV, and the answer he sort of pushed us towards was Ford... I should have caught it then because I\'ve always seen a lot of BMW commercials on TV [a better example would have been something like Lamborghini vs. BMW], but I didn\'t because I was enthralled). He even cut a penny for us! He told us all about the \"fully refundable\" $145 (yes, that\'s the price he he gave us) deposit for the promo set, and told us all about training. He didn\'t mention anything about a price for training, so that information, as far as I know, is wrong. He mentioned something else at the time that didn\'t bother me until after my parents and I did the research: he asked for the names and numbers of 15 friends/family-members that they intended to call for references. Now, two or three would be normal, but 15... and without previous warning? Anyways, I excitedly told my parents about this dream job, and, immediately after I told them about the $145 deposit, they became skeptical. So we did some research, and found out some things that seriously depressed me. For every one story I saw about the deposit (which was usually between $111 and $175) being fully refunded when the person decided afterwords they didn\'t want the job, I saw four or more stories about people never getting that deposit back. I saw many stories about people pissed that not only were their given list of friends called as references, but were hounded about buying the product (one girl said she nearly lost her boyfriend because of it). While I don\'t think Vector is necessarily a scam, I do think they are a bad idea for more students then a good idea. After that \"interview\" and doing all that research, I decided I wasn\'t going to do it, and ended up working at a fast food place for almost two years. I am out of a job right now, but still wouldn\'t go back to Vector, and, in the end, unless you have tons (and I do mean tons) of friends, family, acquaintances, and so on, a small school schedule, and a vehicle that gets incredible gas mileage, this is not something you should look into. Most general work places will honor your school schedule and be flexible, and you\'ll probably get an hourly pay, something which is quite a bit more stable then pay-by-commission. And bosses are just part of the job territory. Learn to work with them, and, maybe, one day, you can become a boss yourself.

Message 13

Message: I thought that Vector Marketing Scam write up was completly unfair. I work for them and There is not one bit of truth in this article. That is at least for the Washington and ORegon division. You dont need to buy anything, and there is a level of hard work that is involved. The company pays you so much on comission over time and its a great reward for hard work. Ihave had paychecks that were $0 because i didnt work a week or whatever. This is a huge money loss reading stuff like this online. You most likely won\'t read this email, but i feel better writing it, that you might not like my job, but i dont care for yours either. Writing crap about something you dont understand a lot about. If you like you job as much as i love mine, more power to you, but to generalize 600 locations of Cutco and Vector marketing into one category is insane! We read this stuff at work and laugh our asses off about this. and people call in and say they dont want to work here because they! read something (this) online. If you have something bad written about you online then you have created a lot of success. :) i guess this isnt a angry letter or anything but please reconsider the generalization of the company. we have a scholarship program as well for god sakes! all the best universities give college credit for working at VEctor Marketing. Why would it be a scam? i probably cannot count all the responces you have received about this, saying its unfair for you to generalize the company like that, but here is just another opinion, and my thoughts on the matter. :) have a good day

Message 14

Message: I wanted to respond the your Vector Scam article. Although I found a few things wrong with it, I agree with you on most of it, that it is a scam especially. I live in IL, and had to pay 145 for my kit, which I could not afford, but did manage to borrow from a friend. I am a current employee, but have just finished writing my resignation letter. I can get my money back for my kit, but I DO believe that the knives are the best on the market, and do not wish to return them since I paid for them. Had I got the kit for free, I would have returned them, but I think I will just write off the expense with this year\'s taxes, and keep the VERY excellent product. I made two hundred and fifty dollars working for Vector, spent 140 dollars on the kit, and have traveled from IL to Chicago to sale to my family, and then down to Mississippi, spending 300 dollars total on all my appointments and to get to and from work. This would not have bothered me, since I chose to wander so far afield to sale, and was heading to those places anyway, but what angered me about the company was this. . . They claim to not be a telemarketing sells technique, although that is just what we did during a phone jam. Not the product of course. you never sell over the phone. But you do telemarketing for your Presentation appointment, and they encouraged us to look in the phone book for names and to claim that we where personally recommended to that person by someone else, \"who did not want us to mention their name\". They even had us scourge myspace and facebook for names and numbers of random people to call. I myself, was not able to bring myself to call complete strangers and lie to them about being recommended by someone else, and beg them for the ability to waste an hour of their time to listen to me try to pitch a product that was very expensive, often times WAY out of their budget, and have them agree to pay for something they could not afford just to get me to shut up and leave them in peace. They claim it is not a high pressure sales pitch, but it really is for the person getting the pitch. I did not want to make people by this product just to get me out of their house when I knew the people I was seeing could not afford it. My last straw, and what has driven me to quit, however, was this. I was supposed to get 15 dollars an hour, yet I am holding my last check of $4.80 after turning in one order for a Trimmer, and a 135 dollar base pay list for them to review. Yes, I was scammed. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

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