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CB Scam and Fake Checks Review of Vanguard Innovations
Vanguard Innovations

Vanguard Innovations review: Scam 47

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10:26 pm EDT
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The charges
For wasting people's time, for getting their hopes up, for being a white collar multi-level marketing cult, and most of all, for acts of deception –Vanguard Innovations & Cydcor is on my list.

The Proof
I went to an interview in Westlake, and they said it was an interview for a job in management. They then asked me to spend a half of my day being a door to door salesman without pay -- canvasing -- which is not something I go to interviews to do. I wish they would have said that in their job posting so I could have avoided the whole experience. I found the whole thing cloaked in deception and I wanted to warn others. When I looked, I found that others had similar or other greivences with Cydcor and Cydcor's parent company.

Please Google the following;
• Cydcor Hiring Numbers -- Summer 2008
• Cydcor Employee waited 5 weeks for first pay check
• Letter from a Cydcor "leader"
• Letter from Cydcor employee
• Cydcor & Ds-max demystified
• Same deceptive interviews
• Letter that I received
• Top Flight Cydcor
• Cydcor Deception in San Diego, CA
• 2005 Letter with Cydcor Information

The interview was at 2:30pm and there were 4 people waiting for their interview when I arrived. Then the interviewer took us two at a time -- which is strange. Have you ever been to an interview with another applicant in the same room? The guy (BIG JERK) who interviewed us spun a tale about how Vanguard was a big growing company and how they needed to train managers and how they wanted us to become those managers. He also told us were moving up in the company and how they wanted us to move up too. At the end of the quick lecture, he told us she's interviewing 24 people that day and that she will call 2 of us back for a round II interview. The whole interview took 14 minutes. I received his call that evening, and he said, "you're in luck...show up for round II at 12:30..." The person I had interviewed with was called back too. In fact, I suspect everyone was called back -- not just 2 out of 24. On my round II I was the door to door "trainee" and I could the rep mention Cydcor when calling in the sale.

So I did some searches on the internet and found some interesting pieces of information about Cydcor: A report from a disillusioned Cydcor Employee he had a strangely similar interview experience. I'm always the last to know, but I also found information about how Cydcor, a division of DSMax, is already an infamous multi-level marketing cult. I also found an example of a zealous and typically innocent (naive, blind) Cydcor employee drone the day she starts, Aug. 18th, (check out the blog archive for August 14th, She deleted the blog entries of September 22, 2002 and October 26, 2002 because of the the comments others had posted to her saying Cydcor sucks, or that it is otherwise a rotten, evil, scam or a fraudulent, misleading rip off. But here's where she says she quit Cydcor on Nov. 19th 2002.

Needless to say, I'm should have never even gone in for their round II interview, otherwise known as Cydcor "death of a salesman" march. But because of my curiosity I researched more.

Because lately, many other people have reported that they have encountered cydcor subsidaries doing business under the following names: Aurora Marketing Group, The Advertisment Group, DSMax, Crescent International, SC Marketing Group in Louisville, KY; JSTARR Advertising, Platinum Marketing ("they are in the process of changing there name to Madison Marketing"), Emprise, Arsene-Lee Advertising Group, International Marketing Strategies, MJ Promotional Group/Trinity Advertising, both part of grantonmarketing.com -- granton marketing/dsmax has three other divisions in massachusetts: JSJ & Associates, the Kaizen Group, and MPMD, Inc -- Gemini Communications in Austin, Texas, Playermakerpromo.com, Lear Marketing Group and Black Diamond Solutions are parts of cydcor.com in Columbus, OH., "R3 Enterprises" winter park, FL, niko-laos in tampa, fl., Niko-Laos in Tampa, FL., Northside Marketing, Quantum Marketing Group, Strictly Advertising, Inc. (Miami, FL), Wentworth Marketing in Denver, "Compass Global Network" in Dallas TX, "Greco Marketing" in San Francisco, CA., The Yasny Group in Irvine CA, Westward Innovations of Phoeniz, AZ., MJ Promotional Group of Cincinnati, OH, Jenlyn Consulting in Houston TX. Marketing Sessions (chicago area), SASMarketing Group (also chicago area), DeFrancesco Aquisitions, Inc. located in Pittsburgh, PA., The Advertising Group, Inc in SF CA, Gen X Promotions Cincinnati, Ohio "(the writer thinks there's also subsidary called Bravo Promotions, but they may be out of Indianapolis)", D.B. Consulting, J.S. & Associates, Darr Innovations, Top Flight Enterprises located in Pittsburgh, PA., Top Flight Enterprises located in Pittsburgh, PA., Aspirations, Inc. in Virginia Beach, VA., Hilltop Solutions, Inc., located in San Diego., The Everest Group, or Cambridge Communications (also Premier Marketing Concepts from Melville NY). Atlantic Consulting located in East Rutherford, NJ. Wincor, Inc., Seattle, WA (actually there office is in Renton), Woodlynn Advertising, Inc. in Houston TX, The Everest Group, Inc. DUNN HILL ENTERPRISES, Yenkro Enterprises, Inc. Greco Marketing, DeFrancesco Acquisitions, Direct Link Marketing, COR Concepts, JM Concepts, and Triple Crown Marketing ect., 5 Point Marketing, Elite promotional Group

People have said the following groups are also Cydcor, The Advertising Group or DSMax groups. (added December 2005): MC MARKETING SOLUTIONS out of Pittsburgh, PA, Advertising Endeavors out of Baltimore, Maxson Marketing out of Vancouver; 1 Reality Enterprises and Revolution Marketing in Onterio; Blue Link Marketing and Victory Promotions in Chicago; Arbordahl & Associates in the Chicago area; Infinite Marketing Solutions, Kodo Marketing Initiatives, and Sea to Sky Marketing Group located in the Vancouver area of Bristh Columbia, Canada; Niko-Laos, now called RDK and Associates out of Miami, FL; Image Imports from Nashua New Hampshire; Malloy International and The Marketing Firm in Chicago; Cydcor Puerto Rico http://www.cydcor-puertorico.com ; Johnson Marketing Insights" (http://jminsights.com/home.htm); DeFrancesco Aquisitions, Inc., listed as in Pittsburgh, PA, is now located in Pennsauken, NJ and run by Dave DeFrancesco; Dynamic Marketing Concepts in Atlanta; Protege Marketing Group and Marketing Concepts from Houston TX; Kaleb-Lee and Associates out of Jacksonville FL; Aurora Marketing Group; Innovage; Macon Marketing Group and Bam Solutions out of Portland, Oregon; Wiz Pro Marketing to Esquire Marketing Concepts Winter Park, FL; Westward Innovations; Power Point Marketing; Pereira Marketing Group from white plains NY; Thornwell Inc. in Charlotte, NC; Arsene-Lee Advertising group SF, CA; Verdigris Marketing Group, Inc. and Rocky Mountain Marketing in Kansas City, Missouri; 360 Solutions (Columbus, OH) Kinetic Solutions (Columbus, OH) Pier Innovations (Milwaukee, WI) Langdon Promotional Group (Milwaukee, WI) Elite Business Concepts (Milwaukee, WI) Victory Promotions (Chicago, IL) Arbordahl & Associates (Niles, IL); Kings Ridge Inc. in Richmond Va; Wentworth marketing Atlanta, GA; Momentum Marketing; The Ad Group (TAG) http://www.tagcal.com/

Cydcor subsidaries are likely to have offices all over America with different names. Let me know if you find one that is not on this list by putting the name of the company followed by the location on it's own line in your email, I'll see that it will eventually get on this page.

Not convinced? Read this comprehensive explanation of what's going on with Cydcor, Ds-max and their 1000's of affiliate companies Still not convinced? Please check out [redacted]. This business needs to be shut down.

Resolved

The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

47 comments
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GH14
, US
Sep 21, 2015 3:08 pm EDT

I worked here almost 10 years ago and find this hilarious... that is because Jason was supposed to have 20 offices under him by now with all of the promoting going on. It's a scam you go business to business in an assigned territory selling AT&T or office supplies and use about $200 a week in gas at least. I quit when they wanted me to drive from home in Akron to Middleburg Hts to Ravenna back to Middleburg Hts then home to Akron. I asked if I could work the territory from home and was told if NO. Plus they put me in a territory a week before that where another rep had been just three weeks earlier and I was yelled at by 80% of the people I talked to. Steer clear of this place for real it gets you no where. If you are going to do this you are better off seeking a telemarketing job to save gas $$.

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amberashkettle
Mooresville, US
May 21, 2014 9:21 am EDT

Is this company by chance called Lakeshore Marketing?

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WearyofScams
, US
Aug 13, 2013 2:23 pm EDT

I saw several "entry-level" positions posted on CareerBoard for Venator Inc. Just my general knowledge of marketing company scams, I was weary of the company leading me to Google quite a bit. My search yielded no results, other than their company website which had vague information and pictures of photogenic people that have a lot of fun. Since they weren't on LinkedIn (not quite a redflag, that's not as utilized as it should be, ) I Facebooked them. Two things stuck out to me: First, they just joined last week, which doesn't make the company seem well-established or reputable and secondly, I recognized a girl from my highschool and asked around who she is. With several mutual friends, I was able to find out that she is listed as working for JJB Consulting. I Googled that company and found this review as well as several others: /link removed/ /link removed/ and /link removed/ I messaged the girl from my high school to find out more about the company and continued to look on Facebook and Google for other employees using only their first names because--RED FLAG--that was all that was provided to me. I e-mailed EMILY who is the person I contacted about the job posting and contacted me after reviewing my resume to set up the [pending] interview; I'm awaiting her response about the accusations of this in fact being a door-to-door position, contrary to what venatorinc.net states and the multiple business names.

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dontwastemytimepls
Avondale, US
Feb 19, 2013 8:30 pm EST

I don't know if it's a branch of the same company, but I've just relocated to Virginia Beach, VA, and I have already had 3 calls for 'fake interviews' for positions exactly like this one described. I was unaware first time and went for the interview, but quickly realized it was not a genuine company or position when their business address was in a 'rent by the day' office complex, and they told me their company name was different to the one I had applied to. When I asked why, they couldn't give me an answer. When I asked what their trade operating name is and what date the company was set up, they couldn't answer. Needless to say, I left, annoyed that I had wasted a morning.

Since then, like I said, I've had 3 similar calls. They all start by saying they 'found my resume' online and then 'tell' me a time to come in. They do not ask anything about my skills etc. When I ask about the role, they reiterate that there is NO DOOR TO DOOR SALES' even though that was not what I asked. They are unwilling to give any more details and do not ask me any screening questions. Just in case I am passing up a genuine opportunity, I always write down the company name and address and telephone number. With all 3, a little digging on Google brings up other addresses, other company names, scams etc. or even just small discrepancies between their profiles and their websites etc.

I hope reading this may help other job hunters to avoid wasting their time on these interviews. Having spoken to other job hunters in this area, it is clear there are many pyramid schemes operating under various names and advertising for generic positions such as 'Entry Level Marketing' and 'Brand Associate Trainee' etc.

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justsaying21
Cleveland, US
Feb 19, 2013 9:21 am EST

AprilShowers19 that guy sounds like an a**hole I'm sorry you had to spend all day with him, being a female that used to work there i would have the same experience but vice versa where the guy i was interviewing was very inappropriate, it sucks spending the whole day with someone like that. He grossly broke the no harassment policy the company has.

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justsaying21
Cleveland, US
Feb 19, 2013 9:04 am EST

Does anyone realize all of those business you said were conducting business as cydor, were all people who grew and expanded into new markets just as was stated in the initial interview? Just saying. Yes, its D2D and B2B sales and based on commission. So what? How is that a scam? Because its hard? Yup it is, I didn't make it but not because its all a scam. Yes there are some owners who suck at their job and will eventually run their market into the ground for doing people wrong, but not every owner lacks honesty and integrity. The business model is much like subway, you learn everything from the ground up and eventually you can open your own 'franchise'. Because one subway owner spits in your food does that mean every subway does? Same goes for the reps. It just makes me laugh that anything associated with commission and actually working for your money is always considered a ripoff of some sort. I wish everything was commission based so people would actually do their jobs. Just my 2 cents.

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redrider
Parma, US
Dec 08, 2012 10:09 pm EST

It is now called lakeshore marketing. the "managers" are all bf and gf's with the "team leaders" a28 yr old dude and a 19 yr old girl who cant sell shhhhhh. Lets see what else . you get paid fifty bucks your first week lol and your areas are basically at the edge of the ststae. so three hours of driving and you supposed to make money?place is a joke oh and the "ceo" alex lets some felon some mike dude who is in jail currently use his id and codes to sell which is illegal.

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AprilShowers19
Cleveland, US
Aug 30, 2012 1:03 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

So I think the place in Solon, Ohio is one of these pyramid scheme companies too. Ire Magna. Once you meet your sales goals and recruit a bunch of ppl you are promoted to store manager (1.5 yrs about) you get your own store and RENAME it, one of your choosing. How smart of them. It is door to door 100% commission salary. Its selling paper/office supplies. The employees are so ridiculous. The guy I did my second interview with (aka drive around and watch him try and sell) was such a pig. Now I am not a sensitive person, I have four brothers and bartended for years, but this tool would NOT stop making sexual comments. The attire was professional so I was in black pants and long sleeve button down, nothing suggestive (still), it wasnt just a couple comments either. It was CONSTANT. I even tried to be polite and redirect the conversation to the job, nope, he said "Why do you keep changing the subject" or "Its up to me if you are hired or not" apparently I was supposed to be part of his "pyramid". I checked my phone on the way back and it was just on and on "Who are you txting? All your boyfriends? Black Boyfriends?" Idk where that came from lol! Also he kept mentioning that everyone goes out after work to drink...like mandatory, I was so close to claiming i was in AA or something. His comments were also "What do you wear when you are not at work? Is it slutty do you dress like a [censored]?" I think he has issues with women. Go to a conseler. When I called the next day and left a message I stated why I wasnt coming back, him and no one cared. He avtually kept calling me to go out that weekend. Complete Losers.

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Usedtoworkatjjb
North canton, US
Jun 03, 2012 1:07 pm EDT

I worked at JJB for about 2 months. They no longer sell gas. They have switched and now sell T-Mobile phones buisness to business. A lot of what people have said is true...some of it is exaggerated. Can you make money...maybe. You need to be a good salesmen. Can you advance...that's why I left. You need to get promoted to trainer. That's easy to do...just sell 5 lines in a week...I did it my second week there. Then you have to start showing up for the 715am leadership meetings. Then you have to interview and try and build your team. You must get 4 people promoted which means they must do what you just did...and have 10 people on your overall team. That means if you interview and get 5 people on their team and they all have 1 person on their team...you are eligible to become manager. Once you are manager you get a decent salary and you can become an executive and open up your own branch anywhere in the US that TMobile wants. You could also choose any of the other clients that they have as well such as Direct Energy or Quill. Executives that promote other executives get a bonus from TMobile...plus you get a small share of that companys income. They dont get any share of any sub promoted offices...or atleast thats what i heard. So the overall goal is to get new executives into more markets reaching new clients. So in some sense it is a pyramid scheme. While beings trainer you can still make money if the ppl under you don't sell a thing. But you won't get promoted because they will quit.

Heres why I quit: You have to pay for your own gas and often your territory is out a ways from Cleveland. You also have to interview and build your team. I am an honest person. So when my potential hire asked me how much she could make...it was hard to tell her that the week before I made $200. The week before that I made $800. But that was my best week. What bothered me most was that many people acquired people on their team that I knew couldn't sell anything. I had to train a couple of these people and I wondered why they were even hired. I know now...they were hired because the trainers will take whatever they can get and hope that they can get 4 promoted and make it to manager before anyone quits. I also didn't like the sales tactics that we were trained on. We tried as hard as we could to get our customers to sign up that day. It's called fear of loss. Most people I had to come back to wouldn't sign up...so I understand why they use this tactic. But they would tell us to say "you can only get this deal today". That's a lie...the deals were always the same. This is sales 101 but I don't like it. As for TMobile...I think they are a decent company. The phones we sold were legit. I did have cancellations and if people cancel in 14 days...you don't get paid.

I lost money at this job. I hate to write this because the people are friendly...and I liked the atmosphere. However, I feel bad for the people who got rooed into this job and didnt make a dime. The people that work there mean well and most of them are honest. But usually the honest people didn't make much money. I was pretty good at it and still couldn't pay the bills. So use your own discretion.

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908dontbefooled
Bowling Green, US
May 29, 2012 12:37 pm EDT

Just an FYI: I think this company may be going by the name Lakeshore Marketing now. Thanks for the comments I had a feeling it might be a scam!

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GottaRealCareer!
Cleveland, US
Mar 05, 2012 9:39 pm EST

BTW: Obviously BOTH HappyHappyJoyJoys are employed there :-) Kind of immature postings though...

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GottaRealCareer!
Cleveland, US
Mar 05, 2012 9:37 pm EST

Cleartheconfusion is 100% correct about everything they said. Not one thing in the post is false or exaggerated. I would know first hand...I figured that all out in the first week I was there, but still stayed for a couple months..What a waste of time and my money.

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whylie1
Middleburg Heights, US
Mar 05, 2012 9:30 pm EST

I completely agree! Everything cleartheconfusion said is true.

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bengaybrowns
, US
Dec 01, 2011 6:11 pm EST

Pretty sad that JJB consulting employees have to go on a message board or public opinion forum and troll people. "123 Unemployed Drive, East Cleveland?" WOW racist much? You West side suburb racists wouldn't last 20 minutes in East Cleveland. Why dont you drive to East Cleveland and you will get a reality of what the world really is like. Not some Pyramid Scheme/OFFICE TV show, fake environment, where people are delusional and scamming money out of their lower level employees. There is a thing called Karma and you all will feel the WRATH of it one day. I have never worked for JJB consulting and i am glad to say I never will. I also have seen the pictures on Facebook of the 2 clowns throwing a pie at each other's face, VERY CREEPY.

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Workallweekworkallday= $0.00
Willowick, US
Nov 15, 2011 1:28 am EST

I worked for BBC or the other company that shared the office with BBC. They are the same company except the BBC promoted their assistant manager to manager, which is the owner of the company. Now they make lots of money, at the expense of its work force. It is precisely why they have 14 positing’s as of 11/14/2011 on career builder and other job boards. However not one of them is direct and to the point, there all vague. Things like, Entry-level Management, Sales & Human Resource Training, Retail Sales, Bartending, Serving Experience wanted ….and In addition my favorite, Account Manager Training – Entry level.
The way it works is they call you in for an interview, than they do a brief interview to check your interest, (looking for ppl who have not done their research, or ppl who really want to do the job), and they tell you after their 15 interviews in the day they will let you know. Bottom line is, if you show that you are interested they will call you back. After the second interview, you go to training, which is basically going with two or more ppl in a car to some location, and you walk around all day DOOR TO DOOR selling their clients product. During the training there is no talk of actual work knowledge or factual information, just basically hanging out with your trainer and the other person.
The ppl I did my training and working with wore cool and nice ppl, but as their objective is to make money mine is to learn, grow, and make money. Now if this were a job where the factors affecting your income are controllable, the job would not be so bad. If you don’t mind walking all day in heat, cold, rain, and every other weather condition Ohio throws at you, all year round. However, the factors that affect your income, progress, and everything else, is the number of sales, clients in existence with Cydcor, exceptional performance in sales, market conditions, recruitment and retention of employees (through training after they accepted the job), leader development (7 first generation, 15 second generation something like that0, and sales, sales, sales .
I didn’t hit those high sales numbers basically because I am not comfortable doing impulse selling (convincing the client that they need/want the product or creating the desire to buy). In addition, working over 60 hours per week did not help with my smile in front of clients. However, there are ppl there who make good money, I think. For example, my trainer had good sales, in range of a thousand per week, with over fifty percent cancelation rate. Which is still a mystery to me on how it is calculated, supposedly, it is taken from the first week, first day to the middle day of the month, I don’t know some BS that the management team told us. But his case was extreme, I believe the average cancelation rate was about twenty percent for those who hit seven hundred to a thousand. Bottom line is ppl there can make money, but not everyone who goes there makes money, and the sixty plus hours per week are not worth the full $1000 a week to me, especially when it’s not guaranteed, and not including the food, gas, and wear and tear on your car.
My advice to recent college grads that they target, is Do-Not-Do this, it is not a good experience to put on your resume, in fact I have been told to take it off/ not put it on by four different job recruiters. My advices to you is get a job that pays weekly/ biweekly, and stay away from those unlimited potential income jobs. Weather it’s a stupid laborer job or a part time position.

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U kidding
Medina, US
Oct 17, 2011 6:16 pm EDT

You have got to be kidding me! Another JJB employee is suppose.

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U kidding
Medina, US
Oct 17, 2011 6:14 pm EDT

Seriously! ?

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jobhunter613
, US
Oct 08, 2011 4:45 am EDT

Oh my, I just got a phone call today from Vantage Point Consulting wanting an interview. The lady asked what I was looking for and I said NO SALES, I would like a call center environment with inbound customer service calls... Needless to say she lied and said there was no sales just a chance to expand my customer service career... No thanks, they will not be seeing me Monday. These people are a little to desperate.

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get real..what a joke
Lakewood, US
Sep 12, 2011 6:14 am EDT

JJB Consulting interview sounds like a JOKE I was called for an interview almost immediately after I had applied. I would like to THANK everyone who has taken the time to post their opinions of the scams this company is trying to pull! I scheduled an interview, but when I was wrapping up the conversation with Jason he said to dress professionally..REALLY! that was my 1st CLUE (isn't that a given) When I went to look up the company's website it seemed so generic and did not clearly describe what the business does, just sounded like a "word salad" . I then searched the internet and did not find anything but complaints about scams about JJB Consulting a.k.a. Keystone International a.k.a. who the f knows what else this company has gone by! It seems this company changes its name constantly to avoid the bad rap that succeeds it! My advice is steer clear.

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IsEmployedbutnotpaidbetterthanUnemployed
, US
Sep 07, 2011 7:20 pm EDT

I also worked for JJB Consulting very briefly and it is a pyramid scheme. That's not to say that people don't advance because they do, but only if you're comfortable with the kind of job it is. It's a door to door job and sometimes you really can help people lower their gas bill, but most people don't care and they are going to be rude. I think it takes a certain kind of personality and attitude to do that job and not everybody has it and not everybody is going to succeed. For me the amount of money I spent on gas wasn't equal to the amount of money I was making and the eleven hour days I had to put in made it difficult to look for another job so I quit. There is no point to working for nothing, being employed means nothing if you don't get paid. I was also told that when I started I would make a base pay salary plus commission, which wasn't true. It was a base pay only if you closed 10 sales a week and if you didn't it was full commission. Which means that your first three days of training, when you can't close your own sales, you don't get paid anything. They pretty much push you into full commission, which means you can go a week or two making barely enough money to cover your gas. I don't have a problem with hard work and I don't have a problem with sales, but I do like to be paid for my time.

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TheMostInterestingMan
Cleveland, US
Aug 09, 2011 5:49 pm EDT

MAJ29,

You're still a turd...

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MAJ29
Lakewood, US
Aug 08, 2011 11:41 pm EDT

WOW! I get called a turd because I am choosing to not be part of a company that has a horrible reputation? Or is it because you know I am right and there is NOTHING you can do to stop the influx of public opinion postings? I think anyone that reads this will obviously know the answer and it is clear to define that you work for JJB Consulting. So, continue to lie to people in an effort to get them to come to your shoty company and interview, I just hope half of them have a brain and do research prior to coming in.

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TheMostInterestingMan
Cleveland, US
Aug 08, 2011 9:15 pm EDT

MAJ29,

You're a turd!

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MAJ29
Lakewood, US
Aug 08, 2011 4:19 am EDT

I have an interview with JJB and after reading all of this garbage, I will not be attending the interview. There is way too much arguing going on here. It is clear to see that some of the responses are obviously from JJB employees; anyone could figure that out. If a company has to go to such lengths to respond so hastily to each comment, they have issue's. Not a company I want to work for...

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TheMostInterestingMan
Cleveland, US
Aug 04, 2011 7:55 pm EDT

Eric_83.

You're a queer! I bet your address is something like: 123 Unemployment Pkwy, East Cleveland, OH.
But, you're real address is located at: 123 Unemployment Rd, Sunnyvale, CA. That way, in case you needed to ditch Cleveland and run from the collection agencies, people wouldn't be able to track you down!

Happyhappyjoyjoy 1 and 2 speak the truth! And if I could "like" the posting by Anonymous just like you, I would!

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mksmith54
Akron, US
Aug 04, 2011 3:16 pm EDT

i agree w happy joy's

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mksmith54
Akron, US
Aug 04, 2011 2:53 pm EDT

ohhhhh boy. I agree with the happy joy's comments.

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Eric_83
Lakewood, US
Aug 04, 2011 5:33 am EDT

I was just offered a job interview by JJB Consulting, and I am so glad I've come across the information here so I know to avoid this company.

Although I have not actually visited them, there are a couple of things about this company that just seem fishy to me. First of all, their official website is www.jjbconsultinginc.com. I did a WHOIS domain lookup to see the info behind who registered this domain, which you can find here: http://www.networksolutions.com/whois-search/jjbconsultinginc.com

The site is registered to a Jason Braughler, I'm assuming thats the Jason that answers the phone. JJB Consulting claims they are based out of Middleburg Heights, OH, however the address registered to this domain name is Sunnyvale, CA. Whats more, its a PO BOX! That has fly-by-night scam written all over it. That way, if they need to ditch Middleburg Heights and run from the law, that domain name info won't help the authorities track them because it isn't an actual location of a home or office.

Secondly, whenever you call JJB Consulting, Jason answers the phone, who is also the owner. I mean seriously, at what kind of company does the owner work as a receptionist? Unless its a brand new startup with no employees. However, those of you who have a facebook account can visit this company's facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/JJB-Consulting-Inc/129486290425251#!/pages/JJB-Consulting-Inc/129486290425251?sk=wall and you will notice all sorts of posts about new people being welcomed into the company and promoted. Of course, they could just be lying about it.

Its obvious that the last few replies from posters like "anonymous just like all you", "happyhappyjoyjoy1" and "happyhappyjoyjoy2", are all JJB cronies. I wouldn't be surprised if one or more of them is Jason or Jocelyn themselves.

Again, cleartheconfusion and other posters before them, thank you so much for shedding light on this and helping me avoid wasting my time at a sham interview.

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TheMostInterestingMan
Cleveland, US
Aug 03, 2011 6:26 pm EDT

You're all a bunch of queers!

Get a job people, and stop collecting unemployment when ya'll don't deserve it! Job offers are out there, please don't decline them so you can be lazy and collect money you don't deserve!

I've got to go though people, I'm too busy setting up interviews and cancelling them or skipping them, like ya'll, to talk anymore!

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happyhappyjoyjoy2
, US
Aug 02, 2011 10:53 pm EDT

I agree completely with happyhappyjoyjoy1. this picture says it all.

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happyhappyjoyjoy1
, US
Aug 02, 2011 10:52 pm EDT

Cleartheconfusion has it completely wrong and it sounds like she has some serious sand in her vagina. I used to work for JJB Consulting as well and I've seen several people make it to the executive role in the company in the 12-18 month time frame. The only reason people don't achieve their goals in the company is their own self-defeating attitude, which it appears Cleartheconfusion has bought into.

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TrulyDisappointed2
South Euclid, US
Jul 29, 2011 9:18 pm EDT
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No one deserves to be unemployed and that was simply a cruel, selfish, unfeeling thing to say. At least these are people who are principled and have depth to their character unlike the true low-life's of the Vanguard company administrators and those related to it. Their behavior will come back on them some day just like other greedy, cruel selfish people in the past (Enron, etc.).

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anonymous just like all you
Parma, US
Jul 29, 2011 6:28 pm EDT

you people deserve to be unemployed

signed anonymous just like all of you

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cleartheconfusion
Lakewood, US
Jul 19, 2011 5:46 am EDT

After reading all of these comments, I feel obligated to respond. As a former employee of JJB Consulting, I feel like I can definatley set the record straight for many of you. IT IS ALL A SCAM! JJB Consulting (run by a husband, Jason Braughler, and wife, Jocelyn Braughler, team) used to be Keystone International, Strategy Inc, Kinetic Solutions and who knows what it was before that. The company operates as an I.C.L. under the corporate umbrella of Cydcor with offices all over the country. The office in Westlake operated by Eric Boyd is under the Cydcor umbrella and operates similar to JJB Consulting. There are about 5 offices in the Cleveland area operating under Cydcor. Offices all over the country offering false hope of money and success all the while preying on young naive individuals.
This is how it works...
Upon submitting your resumeto JJB Consulting or having your resume stalked off of Career Builder (or whatever sites you can post and view resumes on) you will be called and told that your resume had been reviewed (it really has not been; only viewed to pull your phone number) and that they are interested in scheduling an initial interview (they are interested in scheduling an interview with anyone who has a heartbeat and that can utter the words yes or no). You will be asked a series of questions by JJB Consulting followed be a lengthy explanination of the company (most of which ia a lie). They pressure you into accepting an interview the next day and if you can't make it the very next day you are told to call back when you are available or if you seem somewhat intelligent you will get a call back closer to when you are available. If you accept the interview time for the next day, you will arrive to be told to fill out a sheet of ridiculous questions that are not even reviewed and forced to have meaningless conversation with Jocelyn in the lobby. After waiting for a period of time, Jason will emerge from his office and call you back in for a stone cold scripted interview where he sounds like a robot. Answering only the questions he deems necessary to answer and if you ask questions about the pay he will NOT answer it. If he dosen't like you, he will end the interview faster than it began and kick you out as fast as he can; you will leave more confused than when you arrived. If Jason does like you, he will give you some song and dance about interviewing other people and will call you at a certain time if he has decided to invite you back for a second interview. Upon being called for that second interview, he too will pressure you into coming in the very next day for the second interview. If you can't make that he will "act" like he is trying to figure out when he has a "spot" for you. Again, when you come in for the second interview you will have to wait in the lobby and have meaningless conversation. At some point during the wait, a mass amount of other hopefuls who have bought into the pyramid scheme will pile out of the very same office you interviewed in. All on their way to their "appointments" with trainees or on their own. Once the herds have disbursed, Jason appears and tells you he wants to introduce you to someone; that someone is who you will spend the day with going from business to business lying and scamming people. After his speech about "impressing" the trainer, you are dismissed like cattle and off you go! The day is spent in someone's car whom you have no idea who they are in a place you most likey have never been to. At that point, you follow this person door to door and telling people you need update their bill or they will be defaulted. At some point during the day when you take a break from all of the scamming, you will have lunch with the person you are with and they will tell you how great the company is and how much money you can make. The money is a lie and the pyramid scheme is on paper in front of you; don't believe it. Starting at Entry Level and working your way to Executive in less than a year. The actuality of it is, most people don't make it and are used and abused. Making it to the Executive Level is a pipe dream and that would only mean you are out there scamming people too now. After spending the day (if you make it throught the day without asking to go back) you go back to fill out yet another sheet and possible have a third interview. At that point, you sit down again with Jason and he asks what you think about the day. After that brief meeting, he will tell you that he needs to talk to the other Trainers who have taken out other interviews and they will make a decision based upon that and if interested, he will call you at a certain date and time.
Upon receiving your specified phone call (which the majority of all people get) Jason starts by asking what you thought of the position, based upon your answer he will then tell you that the company has decided to go in a different direction or he will offer you a position beginning the next day (this company is all about the immediate start, though not in every case but the majority).
Upon accepting the position and reporting for your first day, you will be thrown into a room with blasting music, other people screaming and playing stupid "games." You will be taught the trickery of which the other people accustomed to using everyday. In addition to the craziness of this position, you are expected to drive your own vehicle and put hundreds of miles on your car per week and spend the majority of your paycheck on gas. The minimal amount that is actually made does not compare to the high dollar amounts explained to you during your second interview. Making money at this position is VERY difficult and if you are ok lying and cheating people then take the job! During time at the company, I sat in on several conference calls and meetings run by Jason, all talking about the benefit of making loads of money and how they spend it. They make money off of the people who work below them; dubbed a consulting fee. It's simply...IT'S A PYRAMID SCHEME! The office enviornment is fake and forced; Jason walks aroung masking the fact that is wife is the one who sits in the lobby and Jocelyn tells stories about her husband never mentioning his name.
The set up is a pretty good racket and hopefull if we continue to blog about the negativity of this company and it will shut their doors! FOR GOOD! Then, they will not be allowed to prey on the misfortune of others. Again, I am a former employee and you can take this any way that you want BUT just beware before you take a job with this organization and what is has to offer. Also, in addition to what an indivual stated above, yes do call and ask a series of questions and see the response you get from Jocelyn. Just be careful what you do, especially when this company is involved.

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TrulyDisappointed2
South Euclid, US
Jun 27, 2011 10:03 pm EDT
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Just had an interview with Vanguard, Inc. in Westlake today and was a little concerned so decided to Google their name and found all of this useful information. I'm a little confused b/c the website says Eric Boyd is the owner, but a man named Mike interviewed me today, said he was the company owner and would soon be changing the company's name. Can anyone give me any additional information on that? (and Stephie: don't feel badly: I thought it was Vanguard the investment company!).

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StephieS
westlake, US
Jun 21, 2011 7:28 pm EDT

I interviewed with JJB, and Bestter Bussiness Consultants in Independence, it's all ###. The whole time they kept saying of we really liked your resume, and you're what we as a company are looking for. But they failed to even mention to me what qualifications I possessed that interested them so much. Also, while arriving at my interview with Better Business Consultants in Indeoendence, I was cat called to by some young punk. Really!? how unprofessional, and the guy who was interviewing me, who overheard what that guy said, tried to apologize to me for the incident while smiling with a smirk on his face. I recently applied for vanguard online, thinking it was for vanguard wine distributions. When i received my phone call today from Vanguard, I knew it was BS. I still scheduled an interview thinking it would be different this time. NOPE. I'm glad I read this posting, and did some researchon my own. I cancelled my interview.

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uguys rfools
Lakewood, US
Jun 10, 2011 12:23 pm EDT

Ok So did any of you guys actually call and speak to the JJB about this? I'm guessing not. So even though you attended an interview you left and looked up the company and this is the only thing you found and you feel it justifies everyone's rants on here? JJB & Vanguard are not the same company at all...WHOA I know how can I say this and bust all of your negative little bubbles here...oh yeah I CALLED that's how! So all of you who think JJB is the same as Vanguard did you look any further then this blog?!?! I'm guessing not because if you were to have you would have found that Vanguard is actually located in Westlake and Eric Boyd is the President of that company, how does someone find this out...by going to the companies WEBSITE. You all are seriously a bunch of fools and I'll bet the majority of you are still unemployed, I mean come on you let something like this, a blog of negativity determine your future job prospects, not to mention it is full of posts of complete random strangers - and on top of that some of you really wrote a book on here, I mean come on how much time did that take you?!?!

Look people if you have questions about any position at any company, CALL THEM! If they are vague and aren't cooperative, don't answer any of your questions, then yes absolutely feel something is not right and base your decision on that, on YOUR own, not what others who didn't even bother to ask questions write on this blog board, I mean come on people it's not like they have a blogs around leaving positive feedback on companies.

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disgruntled 1
Cleveland, US
May 25, 2011 3:47 pm EDT

thanks... just received a call.. will not be arriving for that meeting ..

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an888z
Harrison, US
Feb 03, 2011 4:14 am EST

Same thing happened to me but for a company called World Wide Marketing in Columbus. I actually applied for Vantage Point Consulting and they somehow gave my resume over to the office beside them (the share office space)

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errpissed
brookpark, US
Jan 18, 2011 10:53 pm EST

I interviewed with that company today...they called me for a 2 hour 2nd interview. Then I decided before I went on the second to investigate in the company to find out more information. I read all the complaints...needless to say I am not showing up for the second. The funnier part is that I interviewed with there company before at a different location, different name, and did not realize it until I read all these complaints.