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Dont EVER sign up through Sams club for direct tv. They are only authorized retailers and will scam you. They are in Sams Club, Best Buy, Circuit City, Walmart, Etc etc. If you search smart circle scam you will see that its one big mlm pyramid scheme. Scamming their employees and customers. I know because I worked for BFcircle under Don Bankhead and Angela Xavier in Stuart Florida. This is a branch off of smart circle. Each owner gets to name their own little piece of the company.(LIE) Its a cult! They lie about everything from the income to sales pitches.They have you chanting JUICE(-join us in creating excitement) The training you receive is not accurate. You are brought into an office where you will have pep rallys every morning. They will teach you the rules of compliance, and then tell you how to break these rules and mislead the customer. For example: not mentioning the 24 month contract, the fact that you cannot do the 100 per referral if you sign up with them, sugar coating everything, the lie that the 19.95 is for shipping of brand new equipment and that if you go through the website the equipment is "refurbished" is also a lie and the website s&h is free. This whole company is a SCAM. BEWARE anyone planning to work for or buy through smart circle. SHAME SHAME SHAME on Best buy, SAMS CLUB, CIRCUIT CITY, WALMART, and anyone else who willingly lets their customers get scammed!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I agree I cant believe these companies will let these people in thier stores, push thier customers into buying direct tv while only giving half truths and having thier loyal customers get mad at them for these people. I never fell for the trap myself because i can read and carefully review every decision before i make it, but still a lot of people get it and about half are usually complaining about it.
Everyone Will Have A Bad Experience Every Where No Matter What I Agree There. How Ever Your Information Is Not 100% Correct. Having Been In The Company For Over 7 Months And Graduating Through The Program Worked My Way Up Through Each Phase Up To Owner Ship. You Are Right My Friend Smart Circle IS A MULTI LEVEL MARKETING COMPANY.
The Reason That It Is Not A Multi Level Marketing (pyramid or Scheme As You Suppose It Is) Because We Have A Product Or Service That We Are Providing. Direct TV Is That Product. JUICE Means Join Us In Creating Entrepreneurs.
Every Company Or Corporation That Exists In The World Today Are Multi Level Marketing Companies? The Guy/Girl Who Starts At Entry Level Starts At The Bottom And Works Their Way Up! All The Retailers Use A Pyramid Type Structure. In Example 1 The Store Manager Has 2-3 Assistant Managers Who Have Department Heads/Leads Who Have Employees Under Them So on And So Forth If You Look At The Structure Of The Staffing Of Every Major Retailer You Find Out That Best Buy, Walmart, Sam's, Lowes, Home Depot Every Where Someone Has A Job They ALL Have A pyramid Structure. Then we have district managers, regional managers, ceos or board of directors and so on and so forth.
ALL Retailers Are Concerned For Their Customers If We Don't Perform And Give Each Customer A Excellent Experience Employee Or Sales Rep Customers Wont Return To The Stores. IF Customers Are Unhappy And They Choose To Shop Some Where Else How Will That Specific Retailer Make Profit If People Are Unhappy With Them? They Wont.!
The Truth Is JTB1977 When We Look At The Nature Of Your Complaint Its Not Very Reliable. You Were Either Blown Out Of The Program Because You Were Not Fit For The Opportunity Or You Just Quit Because You Felt That You Knew It All And Wouldn't Listen Or Take Or Accept The Training Or You Were To Proud And You Refuse To Humble Your Self And Use The Training To Make Your Self Some Money. Smart Circle Has About 2000 Reps In The Field Making anywhere From 1000+ Per Week Week In Week Out. We Teach A Simple System 5 Steps Then We Teach 4 Steps And Then We Teach 8 Steps + Product Knowledge.
The Mistakes Such As Telling People About A 24 mo Agreement Those Were Rebuttals You Could Never Figure Out How To Overcome
About The Refurbished Equipment Direct TV Used To Offer TIVO DVRS. The New HD-DVR And HD Equipment Is Brand New Being Since They Stopped Selling It Up Front And Started Leasing It.. The Truth Is 7 Bucks a Month Doesn't Sound Near As Bad If My DVr Breaks in comparison to paying 200 bucks for a new box. Go Back a Few Years We Have 2 equipment Types Standard and HD. There Was A Time Before HD equipment Came Out. Direct Tv Like Smart Circle Because Smart Circle Sells More Directv Then Directv Sells themselves go figure.
Sorry For Any Up Sets You May of Had In The Past But At least Be An Adult About Your Complaint.
hbgguy11 We Do Not Push People We Are Not High Pressured Sales There Is No Need For Us To Be Pushy.
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The main problem with Smart Circle offices is the inconsistency between them. The "owners" are responsible for the culture of their salespeople. I know a woman, Marlene, that runs an office and her people are (as far as I know), ethical, honest, and respond well to "no thanks". On the other hand, there are people out there in the organization that do under-handed, sneaky crap. I gave it a shot before I got into HVAC, and on one the days I was there, the head honcho held a conference call in which he ranted about sales people committing credit card fraud to push up their numbers.
The original complaint is accurate. The entire Value proposition is based upon misrepresentation all the way from Smart Circle to the individual local LLC's.
For the record, NO ONE in my office pulls down $1, 000 per week selling pies and cosmetics in Sam's Club & some have been around as managers for several years. so you've completely misrepresented yourself. Truth is I made and sold more then your owner will as long ago as 1989. The training isn't training it's indoctrination. If I wanted to join a cult there are several well known ones. Couple rules of thumb for the college grads considering joining Smart Circle.
1. If they don't offer a Salary, it's not a long term career, it's a parking lot until you get a "real" job.
2.Why work 70 hours a week for $40K when you can work 50 hours for $50K?
3. Why work for a company that doesn't pick up a portion of your health insurance?
4. Why work weekends?
5. Why work for a company that if you decide to leave only gives you marketable skills for more low pay retail sales.
6. Why pick a company that has at best a questionable reputation versus a Merchant Services or Copier Company? If you can successfully sell those products or services you are very very marketable as companies selling more complex products and services actively seek out top performers in those industries.Remember the more complex and longer the selling cycle the more $$$$ for you. Think about it for a minute. Which is more complex? Selling a $9 pie or a 2 million dollar 60 month services contract? My comp was 8% of revenue year one of the above or put another way, 4, 440 pies a month, 20 pies an hour every hour.
BTW I have no college degree. Given the above, still wanna work for them?
You have no idea what your talking about, yes maybe you did work for a office from smart circle and yes maybe none of your people brought home a $1000 a wk. That is your fault as the Manager - Owner. I worked with smart circle years ago when they sold certificates business to business for large corporations like Disney world, Universal Studios, major league baseball teams, NHL, NBA, even your local spas and restaurants in your area. Please tell me why these huge billion dollar companies trusting them with their name and reputation. There has to be a method behind that. Like I said I did work for Smart Circle and then the economy struck and I had to leave but my years working for them I started out as a business-to-business sales rep and work my way up through the program on top of that I was able to promote out other people to ownership and change their lives for the better. My first month as an owner I made profit $73, 000 not to mention what my other people made. I have had multiple rep in one week exceed $1, 000 and $2, 000 a week in multiple weeks in a row.
Now that I actually have gone and work for a big company after Smart Circle which would be Enterprise Holdings Incorporated which everybody knows who Enterprise Alamo and National are they have the same structure as any other company you start out as a manager in training and then you become a manager assistant to assistant manager to branch manager to area manager to regional manager and so on. This is the exact same thing that Smart Circle offers just in a shorter timeframe depending on your worth ethic attitude mentality and ability to talk to people.
Just for everybody out there who wants to know what MLM is is a multi-level marketing that means if I train somebody I would make money from them and whether we sold the product they would make less because I train them that is not the case with Smart Circle weather I train somebody or somebody else train somebody and they sell the same product everybody in the field make the same amount all the owners make the same amount the only difference is when you help promote out other offices in you do have a team you start making residual income from Smart Circle not from the employees. So instead of an MLM and you make a portion of a sale and then the person you train makes less Smart Circle basically pays you because they're selling more products or services.
This is called residual income. Smart Circle gives you money for helping them open up another office which makes Smart Circle more money and you get a kick back from them you never make the money off the people directly so it would not be is if I sold the product and I make $15 and then I train somebody and they make $5 and they trained so many they make $8 it never works like that. If I make $15 on a product or service that I sold and I trained 10 people to sell that same product they make the same amount. Now as an owner when you promote another person to ownership do you make money from Smart Circle because there's more product being sold and as an owner you do make money off the entire office this is what you use to pay your overhead just like in any other business so yes you do get commission and yes there is a salary for all positions within Smart Circle or any other subsidiary companies.
You will see complaints that is a Colts it's multi-level marketing and it's this it's that but basically what it is is people who couldn't cut it they are the nine to five people that we need to work those jobs. Put it this way some people have an entrepreneurial spirit others that work at gas stations retailers and all the other companies that we visit and buy our products from that work 9 to 5 or those other hours do not their contempt with a weekly paycheck at the same pay and then maybe they get a retired bonus. Sorry but I am not one of those people who want to wait to seven years old to retire so in conclusion after working for a major company like Enterprise Holdings. And making it to branch manager in that company, to retire and a company like that would take 30 40 years. So I left and came back to Smart Circle cuz I know with my work ethic attitude and mentality I could do it in 10 years. Remember Smart Circle is been established for decades
Only one problem you don't know you are working for Smart Circle until later down the road. They don't always inform you. I was not informed I found out because I complained about something to a Smart Circle rep. And she told my boss. If it weren't for that I would have NEVER known I worked for Smart Circle. I thought I was just selling DirecTV
And Chris I will tell you my manager... whose name was also Chris, did not teach me one iota of knowledge other than product knowledge. I walked out of there knowing exactly how DirecTV charges you... that is all! He kept firing people for lack of sales, yet when he would work with me he never had anything bad to say about my selling abilities. In fact he had the opposite to say.
This report is an attempt to help others not make the mistakes I made when working for a mother company called Smart Circle. As I sit here and wish that I had went to [redacted] myself before investing nearly a year of my life to the company, I hope all who read this will do better for their families and themselves.
A brief history: Smart Circle is a mother company that hires independant company distributers (ICDs) to do its labor. To become an ICD for Smart Circle many sugar coated steps must be taken. They implement a four phase management training program that is designed to remove 98% of people from being successful. The first phase they will claim is a training phase and prove yourself phase. Phase two will set up the employee to teach and train new employees (no extra money, just doing the work the owner does not want to do).
This is then followed by the mythical third phase. In the third phase you will be promised an office training scenario where you will be taught to run an office and manage others. I call this phase mythical because in the time I spent in this system I never once heard of an employee being in the third phase (this is because they set the requirements to reach it at a ridiculous level. This is because they promise more money which they do not want to pay). The fourth phase is becomming an ICD or branch manager yourself.
Now that we have the system explained in its simplist format, let me explain where my concerns come into play. This business is extremely ugly when you see the things that happen behind the scenes. I spent my time making their high-roller lists and getting to the ICD level inside of six months. I, like all others, managed to skip the third phase and go straight to the owner level. I was not trained on how to run an office (which I was fine with). I was, however, left to run an office for another owner for months before I was allowed to put it in my own company name. Thus, you will now be working 70+ hours and making less than you did as a rep in the field. In fact, I was told that I could only pay myself $200-$300/week regardless of working 70+ hours.
The fact of the matter is that even if your company makes a decent profit every week, you will pay out a lot of it to others that actually have their hand in the program. You will pay money out to nearly a dozen others that want your money. Thus, you need to continue making eight sales a week which now pays you $1, 600 before expenses. Now let's take $600 of that for business expenses. Let's now remove another $800 to pay the reps that need to be brought up to minimum wage. This will leave you$200 to provide for your family. I am sure someone will write a rebutal saying hire better reps. When in fact this is not the best idea. You will hire more reps and put them in training which you must also pay for. This can take three weeks before a rep will catch on and start making you money. In the meantime you will loose another thousand.
A promise was made to me that I could request minimum wage support and that I would not have to pay anything back. I thought this was an awesome way to help get my business going in the green. So, I jumped on board and hired a bunch of people to train. Knowing that I would not have to pay anything back I was willing to give a few people a shot. Once I was an owner for two months the lies I was told started to unfold. Minimum wage support sent me a bill for $5k. I had money saved into my business and they wanted it. After spending 70+ hours/week I was ready to explode when I was told the solution is to work more hours to pay off the debt.
When I explained that I could not raise a family for $300/week I was shut down by Mark Kasik. This is after I was talked out of my education (college), my house (bankcruptcy), my car, my retirement money from my engineering job previously worked, and even a portion of my pride. The truth is, they had now taken me for all I was worth and I had nothing left to give. The dream was over and the sugar coated opportunity had finally shown that it was nothing but a dog doughnut with powdered sugar, sprinkles, and a cherry on top.
I could rant on this business all day long, but in the end it is simple. Do Not eat the dognut.
I left a job to work for Smart Circle because of the promise of financial freedom and success. After spending a good portion of my adult life being a single mother with 3 children and working labor jobs for minimum age, this sounded like an amazing opportunity.
There are some things you are not told when interviewed or hired. Thdy fail to tell you that you will receive a three day suspension from work for failing to sign up their set quota. They do not tell you that after spending part of your week on suspension, you are still expected to make your weekly quota or face another suspension which also means you are not making any money. Eventually you either get tired of being in that position or they let you go.
People who are easily manipulated seemed to make up the better part of our group. A lot of them were very nice people but they had encountered a lot of hardship and this "dream career" sounded amazing to them.
These people expect above average sells during December because of all the shoppers and again, if you fall short trying to sell dtv to Christmas shoppers, you are suspended or let go. Now you have no shopping money, bill money, etc.
You receive very rude treatment by many of the customers who feel like they are being harrassed while shopping. You stand strong because you're just doing your job and you will be owner some day. WRONG!
If you reach a certain number of sales in a 2 week time frame, you become trainer. Whether or not you are knowledgeable, you still become trainer. Your job after that is to hire two more people who make trainer then hire their two people each or at least one of them does then you move up again. It is a pyramid with a lot of promises and very few successes. Despite the morning pep rallys and shaming for low sales, you can't always get your yes people like they require.
Do not work for these people. They own your entire life because of your entire life because of their schedule and as soon as you don't make them the money they want, you are no longer their shining star.
If you were put in that type of situation and didn't have training as an assistant manager and then just skipped over to the ownership level and then we're paying out your rep's and was only taking home two to three hundred dollars you should have made a phone call to another office you're promoting owner and had other reps come in that they pay for to train rep. You also could have reached out to a regional or national consultant for help. It sounds like to me that you tried to put all your money into a business that was already failing you need to start the business up with income and with the right people. You should have figured it out that you needed help before you started going into the red and you should have made a call to get help. As far as you taking over for another owner and then not making the money from that owner that sounds like the person that was the owner went on a retrain and you took over for him but never got the money. That would have been my first questions within my first month about where that money was going to. As far as your 5K bill that's called payroll. You are definitely not educated to run a business nor lead people
a man was found dead in a pile of cherries... police said he must have topped himself!
look guys i was a previous owner, i worked with the comany for almost three years. Im telling you right now. YOU WILL NOT MAKE MONEY.
If your on the page you have eiether figured that out or your thinking about how much of a scam this could be.
If your here your have way out of the brainwash your under right now.
If your a owner and your here. You must have some doubts. I found myself here a few times as a owner. Chances are your brainwashed and its not changing.
Well if anybody here has any questions on anyting regarding smart circle feel free to ask.
You want to know why your not making money. Ill explain on how this is how it is designed.
Or how most of your expenses are paid to smart circle affiliates, book keepers, accountants, insurance, payroll. Your just giving them more money
If you have any questions on how things really go. Or how a customer can fix things
Just ask. I speak the truth and i speak from experience.
I have all of my bank statements and reports to prove the numbers.
You said you previous owner for 3 years under Smart Circle right? Where did you work out of? What type of products did you sell? Why didn't you make any money in three years? Why didn't you go on a retrain? As far as accountants and stuff like that you can have your own you can choose to have your own accountant you don't have to take theirs that's an option. What division of Smart Circle were you in? Also in the three years you are an owner did you ever promote out another owner and did you ever go to any of the owners R&R weekends? Another question did you ever receive any awards for being an owner like rookie owner of the Year manager of the Year owner of the year?
9-9-12
Complaint!
Subject: DirectTV = Horrible Service!
Your installer came out today. Drove over my lawn and parked 5 feet from my house. He didn't ask permission. Then he installs the dish without asking about placement. I ask him to move it 10 feet over to the backside of the roof due to vandalism etc. in the neighborhood. He says he doesn't have a ladder. This must be the ladder he carried through my living room when he cut through the house upon leaving.
The installer gave me all kinds of grief about moving the dish like the line would rot on the roof. I countered stating he could run it tucked under the eaves to the corner but he kept pushing it and would not listen. When he came inside and we asked about rain washout issues with satellite dishes. He said he would be servicing us. I knew that was the "Kiss Of Death".
I told him to cancel the install and he wanted me to talk to his supervisor. I was on the phone though. He leaves and I receive a voicemail from a supervisor wanting to know the cancellation reason.
I call DirectTV and explained what happened with the installer and dish placement and said I had cancelled. They cancel my online account and then forward my call to the vendor, Smart Circle who says they will refund my $20 or so in 7-10 business days. Although they charged my card in one day, it take up to two weeks to get refunded. I ask them why and they say ask the bank.
Two hours later, I realize I have no cable TV because your installer apparently had cut the cable line but not fixed it when he left. The cable worked fine when he came. He disconnected and reconnected his cable from the dish and then leaves stating he had reconnected it but there is no cable TV signal on any of four TV's.
I call the installer's cell phone. He says he is in Ocala now. I tell him I need him to fix the damage he created. I ask him his name and supervisor's direct number and he hangs up.
I call him back, he doesn't answer and it foes to his full voicemail box so no message can be left.
I call DirectTV again. Your agent says they have no way to get in contact with the 3rd party vendor and to call Comcast to repair their mess. Funny, that when I called them on the weekend, they were only so willing to do whatever it took for service and now they can do nothing. They had explained if the dish didn't get a certain percentage signal, they would not even complete the installation. Do they leave the disconnected/cut wires then too?
I call the vendor, Smart Circle. The agent says there is nothing they can do. Call Comcast and wait for them without service that DirectTV cut off. I ask for her supervisor stating one had called me wondering why I cancelled earlier. Her supervisor named Michael employee number 464 heard my concern about the cable being cut off from the installer and kept repeating and I quote, "Our technicians are not qualified to reconnect your cable, Call Comcast".
I say "What? You are telling me that your installer cuts my cable line and because I cancel when he won't move the dish that means you won't restore my cable to the existing condition before he touched it?" Michael, the supervisor, regurgitates the same ill advised policy over and over again like a good soldier.
I try to go online to my DirectTV account to message my concerns but that account is closed.
To recap, DirectTV states I can cancel and they won't even install the dish without meeting their signal requirement (like 98%). Because they have a rude, beligerrant installer who runs roughshod on my property and places the dish without consultation first and then won't relocate it 10 feet with a better directional view, I am penalized and left without cable in my house and a flattened lawn from him driving on it.
DirectTv then disavows any knowledge or any connection with their installer, refuses to fix the damages they made and has the gall to state they can't even contact the installer although they had transferred me earlier to cancel with them.
It is quite evident that DirectTV and their minions are the "golddiggers' of satellite. They will say anything until you are locked in then do nothing when they create damage and contrive excuse after excuse to justify their destruction.
Shame on you, DirectTV. I will relay this story far and wide so people know that your number one service rating is as contrived as the excuses you make to your customers!
Ill be honest with all of you that don't agree or think this is a scam! I have seen this program work, for example i have been selling for smart circle and my checks have not been messed up or short. They have paid for plane tickets and hotel stays for me to go and help open new offices and stores. WE DO NOT TAKE MONEY IN STORES! We set up sales and then call in and they do a credit check and then take the 19.95 off the customers card. I stay in contact with my customers and make sure they are happy with whats going on with the service and i have yet to find someone that has been ripped off. So get your facts together and then come back and talk about it.
Yes after my sevice agrement wasent even over they started to over charge me lots of money. And they will not work anything out they will be haply to cancel your service and charge you 200$ canclaion fee. Don't ever sighn with direct tv at sams club.
My sister inlaw sells Direct TV, she has no benifits, no hourly wage and if she doesnt sell for a whole week they give her a few dollars till she gets her next check. Guess what they do then? they take the money they gave her the week before and then they take out more for it being fronted to her. saying it was a loan. she works 10-12 hours a day 6 days aweek. and if she misses a day they give her 2 days off for punishment. she cant quit the job cause she wont beable to pay the bills and doesnt have time to look for a differant job because they make her work so much. she has 2 kids and just got out of a bad merriage. This company should be banned for what they are doing to people. No hourly wage? no bennifits? no insurance? no paid time off? no retirement? when did this become ok? f*** Direct TV and the next time one of them ask me for a few mins of my time im going to ask him for a few mins of my time im going to tell him f*** your pyramid scam. Somthing needs to be done about this.
my ex fiance works for moore media marketing in dec illinois and its the same thing 10 to 12 hours a day 6 days a week for less than 300 a week when she dont sell they give her a loan that she has to pay back we have split because of this and the weekly challenges i find very disturbing like a pie in the face of pushups while saying your my big daddy or i want you texts...i truly belive this job is ### oh ya we also signed up and the one time 19.95 fee is ### they charged our card 160 for equipment and installation fees i have the recipt from oour credit card showing these charges direct tv is a scam if your in best buys sams menards or walmart dont sign up its a total rip off and a joke for a job
This job is a complete line of BS. I worked with Midwest Aquisitions(a sub-company from Smart Circle) for about a month until i realized my sales weren't landing on weeks consecutively. If i make a sale, i should have been paid for it, not given base pay OR commission, which ever was highest that week. And, reguardless if my sales went thru or NOT, my BOSS SEES MY MONEY IN HIS BANK ACCOUNT ! making money off my hard work "pitching" to people at Sams Club. Also, i was then instructed to help people pick out TVs and sell warranties and then NOT get paid extra, working for min wage at 7.25 an hour? Not OKAY... This is a HUGE pyramid scheme and should NOT be legal... Why should MY BOSS get MY money for MY sales if they didnt reach higher than base pay? Thats ridiculous. They were also so rude to other people, talking behind other peoples backs... Like this one girl that knew my boss was in despirate need of a job, she asked my boss, "Are you guys hiring?" He replied "No, sorry we are full staffed right now" Which was a TOTAL lie.. He then said as she walked away, "She looks pretty useless and is weird..."... The next day, i didnt come back. I wasnt going to waste my time to talk to 200 people, bring 15 people back and sign up 1 MAYBE 2 people if i was lucky and as long as no one in the tv aisle was looking for a tv... most days i wouldnt even pitch people bcz i lost complete motivation... DONT WORK FOR THESE PEOPLE YOU WILL BE SCAMMED.
If anyone has read through this entire thread and has made it to this posting, please consider the following. The individuals commenting above claim that the entire company is a scam, and they are trying to keep anyone else from making the same mistakes they did. Ask yourself this; would Walmart, a company that doesn't even sell unedited cd's, work with a company that is going around scamming not only there customers, but also there employees. Of course there are going to be some people who have a bad experience. Every company has a few complaints. But this readis clearly riddled with former employees who washed out of the program. Clearly they aren't going to beer happy. There remarks demonstrate the exact reason they didn't succeed. They have a week mentality, and rather than admit that they should done have done a few things differently they are going to wine and throw out accusations that if true could have been pressured in court. Instead they come on here and try to sound credible by dropping names.
The simple truth is they could not hack it. Plain and simple.
Aparently u ppl dont understandthe consept of a draw i have done this for 8 monthsand have made all comision since week 2 i bring home a minimum of 500 a week and havemade 1700 in1 week just like any salesjob if u dont produce u get an advance on commission witch is minimum wage. Im not the smartestguy in the world i dont chant juice and dont lie to customers i sold my self the service and everythingi tell ppl is true about it
By Doc...
Was at Sam's Club when asked to check out Directv. Told the selling agent I wasn't interested since I had the service in my chiropractic office and couldn't watch Philadelphia Phillies games when there were day games. Sales agent told me that the only reason I didn't get those games was because I had a basic package at my office. All I had to do was buy their "sports package" for around $13 per month and I would get ALL the same sports channels I was getting with my Comcast cable... and a whole lot more. At that point I decided to go with Directv since it was cheaper and I would be getting all the movie channels... probably around 20 movie channels included.
The test came when I tried to watch a Philadelphia Flyers game (NHL hockey). When I tried to watch it I got a message that the channel wasn't included in my package. I went on Directv and typed in my zip code to find my "home teams" for sports... and that's when I found out they were trying to give me Washington D.C. teams... and Baltimore teams... teams that people in this area rarely follow (this if Philly territory). I was then told by phone reps for Directv that Washington and Baltimore was my home region (even though Philly is closer)... and that if I wanted to watch Philly sports, I'd have to subscribe to all the specialty sports tickets... like NFL Ticket... NHL Ticket... and the MLB and NBA channels... which would cost an additional $600 or so extra per year. Sports that I would get with Comcast included in the basic channels. Let's just say I was not happy and contacted Directv... and they basically told me Comcast is holding Philly sports ransom by charging too much for them to pick up those feeds... which is why this area is relegated to Washington and Baltimore sports channels.
If all of that wasn't irritating enough... a spokesperson for Directv's Presidents office even gave me NHL Ticket for the year... and I STILL couldn't get ONE PHILLY GAME (I tried to watch four Flyer's games... two home and two away)... all BLACKED OUT.
Directv rep has agreed to "release me" from the contract... so I don't have to pay the penalty, however, I spent almost $400 on installation and costs incurred from when I bought the package from Sam's Club... there the Smart Circle rep charged me $159.95.
The basis of my argument is had the rep not told me either a lie... or wasn't misinformed telling me that I would get Philly sports with Directv, I wouldn't have wasted $391 on switching services.
Someone should be responsible for something here.
Unfortunately there was no way I could have known before installation that I would not get the channels to watch the Philly sports I want to see... as the channels are on the lineup... they just don't allow you to access them once the service is connected.
I'm not saying I want all my money back... but I want something back, and I am going to write until the cows come home and contact as many people as I can in the Directv chain until I get some kind of satisfaction.
Dr. Skocik
I worked with this company for 5 months. I personally made money. Never mislead any either. However, they say they have a guaranteed minimum wage, but fail to make it entirely clear that the wage will be paid back by the employee out of future commissions. So many people that aren't that great at sales end up never seeing anything in their check over minimum wage as they were slow learners or poor sales people. I choose to leave as it is an ownership program and eventually I would have been expected to operate the same way, I refuse to be associated with a company that in effect charges people to work for them. Plus the hours are ridiculous, So you can work as much at 70 hours and still be expected to repay the owner. I could never do that to people.
I actually just quit this job today. I was a recent graduate of college and was looking for an opportunity to move to the Charlotte, NC area back in May, and I was a bit leery of the job because I was taught in college that you always research a job opportunity before an interview, and when I did a search for the company, I found absolutely nothing but a website that had nothing on it about the company. What the website did have, however, was the rhetoric of "start your career here!" and what not. I actually found the job on CraigsList (should have known better), and it state in all caps that "this is not a commission-only job!", which in reality, is a lie. I took the job because honestly, it was the only offer I had coming out of college for full-time work. I was told in my interview that I would either be paid base hourly, or commission, whichever was greater. I was ok with that, because hey, I needed a paycheck, right? What they failed to tell me was that there was a clawback draw. For anyone who hasn't been in this "program", that essentially means this:
I was guaranteed $10/hour, and we had a 39.5 hour work week, which means I was guaranteed $395/wk before taxes. We were paid $100/install, which means if I got 4 installs to go in for the week, I make $400, right? Say I only get 2 installs to go in that week, that means $200 of that $395 if my money, and the other $195 is "advanced", or I'm $195 in "the draw". That means, the following week, I have to get 6 installs in, because I'm guaranteed $395, which will give me $600 for the week, in order to cover that extra $195. Thus, I'll only get a check for $405. If you want to make money, you have to consistently outsell your hourly wage.
The problem with this is that I received terrible training. I went out with the guy who was pegged to be the "next owner", the assistant manager, to receive my training. All I basically learned to do, was to spit out a bunch of numbers about the opposition (cable, Dish), and a bunch about DirecTV. None of the intangibles, which is what they're always talking about, was gone over in my training. I lost sales because of "well, I wish I had known that before now" situations. I was with him for about 3 days before I went "solo". The day I did that, I had no idea what I was doing. I had no clue how to write an application, what to ask, or what to say when I called Smart Circle. After being in the field alone, and obviously making no sales, I was given a "re-training" period with another rep in the store. I could never get going, and week after week I feel further and further into the clawback draw. I was probably close to 2 grand in the draw when I quit today. Unless I somehow caught fire and started selling the shiznit out of DirecTV, I wasn't going to make myself a profit, only paying back all that I owed.
Also, there isn't a lot of talk of how to actually get better at sales. All they talked about was how great the "opportunity" was. How one day you could be running your own office, sitting on the beach with whoever, and forgetting about all the "no's" you took as a rep, and how you're making 6 figures doing nothing. Even in the thursday conference calls with Mike T., that's all he talked about. How they're going to Jamaica for the owner R&R week, and how we all needed to push for ownership so we could partake in this awesome event of all you can eat, drink, waterslide into the ocean opportunity. They always talked about new owners, and how they'd only been in the business 8 months, been an owner for 2-3 months, and had 8-10 thousand dollars saved up. That did nothing for me as a struggling rep in the field. Up until the last week or two I was there, the owner was hardly ever in the office, and the assistant manager, in private conversations, talked about how he left his $70K job with Cintas (that he hated) to do this opportunity, and that he would take 50k/year just to have the owner's lifestyle. I couldn't stand how brainwashy it was. At how the assistant manager would tell everyone that they were guaranteed to get 1 sale per every 10 breakdowns they did in-store, that if they did 20, they'd 2, because for every 10 breakdowns you did, you were assured 1 sale, but they themselves would do less than 10 a day and get 1, maybe 2 sales. They always asked the "high rollers" (those who got 2 or more sales the day before) "so what was working for you out there", which is a stupid question to ask, because really when it comes down to it, the consumer either wants it or not. The first day I rolled a 2, I did 7 breakdowns the entire day. The assistant manager told me that, for the following morning, not to mention I did only 7, that if asked, say I did 20 or more. I didn't like that at all.
Basically, if you want to try this opportunity, go for it. Don't be disappointed if you fail miserably. Don't be disappointed if you get in there, and the atmosphere feels fake and put-on. Don't be disappointed if you don't get adequate training or support from the "higher-ups". My owner hardly ever communicated with me, if he did, it was through his assistant manager. I feel sorry for people who quit their stable jobs to get into this one and find out it's not all it's cracked up to be.
I know how that feels. I have actually quit and the communication is so bad that that my boss is still contacting me about making better sales. Everything about this job is fake and is ripping off good people that fell on hard times. Trust me if you want to have steady income work at a steady job. You cannot make money with this company. It is a scam!
The problem with these companies is that they DON'T ADVERTISE that they are looking for door-to-door sales people, or that they want you to work in big box stores selling DirectTV. They have fancy names for their companies and state that they are the 'insert city here' area's leading marketing/advertising/acquisitions firm. They don't explain the draw system Where you're fronted money and have to pay it pack when/if you don't make over the fronted amount. Furthermore, every business under the Smart Circle Banner has to create themselves as an LLC or Corporation so that none of the bad experiences come back to bite them.
They don't offer mileage reimbursement, benefits, or have a BBB rating. They're a shell company made to look like a real business. They're ONLY goal is recruitment, because the more levels between them, the more money is made. One commenter posted above that a lot of retail stores have lots of levels of employees. That is true. However, Best-Buy doesn't advertise that they are hiring managers, and then when you interview for the position, tell you that you have to be a janitor. Plus Best buy has benefits, 401k, Paid Vacation, etc...
None of these ### smart circle companies can offer that, because they are not REAL companies.
I agree, this job isn't for everyone. Sales is tough I have left and then come, back
There are negatives and positives about the job. Negatives are if you are, sucking u don't make, a lot of money but positives I'd u are good u can make decent money and still have freedom during the day to do almost anything to drinking a beer or smoking a blunt. This job isn't for the guy that's wants to be an employee but for a guy that wants, to be an employer and never got the opportunity to learn how to do so.
FRAUD I TRIED TO GET DIRECTV BUT WHEN I STARTED TO GET MAIL FROM DIRECTV TV IN I thought 9 people's names or coming from DIRECTV that's what I noticed that it was a fraud using other people's name to get cable or DirecTV under someone else's name please help taking them off Facebook ... Of get the FBI TO HELP ...
I was scammed by smart circle in sams club to switch to at&t... they sent me "free" phones and tols me my bill would be $120 which rose to over $1000 the phones were not free when i went into at&t amd told them i signed up at sams they told me i was scammed when i went to sams they denied it until i showed them text from the smart circle scammer! Now it is months later and I am still dealing with this and they asked if id settle for $300 what a joke