SMS.com review: sms, roi-na, ipa, abs, gps are all a scam 106

DarthProphet has been in business 17 years and never aquired the common skills
of spelling and grammar?

Everything written here is all true from the business owners side, and the ones who have experieced being a SAM. I too was drawn in by the promise of high earnings, offering a needed professional and respected service. What I learned was once involved with them was eye opening.

I saw an ad on line, and applied as I was desperate to have a job, I did do a preliminary check, but did not find anything (perhaps I really did not want to find anything negative). Did the telephone interviews, which did not seem to be very detailed for the position being offered, maybe they were just that good at asking just a few questions. Got "hired" and got to tell my wife that I had a job, finally! She was of course happy till I explained that I had to pay for the plane ticket up front, but all I had to do was make a sale and it would be re embursed, how difficult can that be with 2 or 3 "confirmed" appointments a day?

So I went to their school, and the week was very good sales training, what I did observe was everyone was like I was, desperate for a job, young and old, spending money they most likely did not have. On return to my area I started going on calls, mostly no one was there, others were upset that I was there, as they said they were not expecting me, or they said all they agreed to was to allow me to "drop off some infomation" and threw me out. Finally got into an office to talk to the owner, he said the same thing, he only agreed to allow me to drop some literature as he was too busy to visit, but he had a couple of minutes so we visited, and I attempted to get him to agree to the business analyist to come to his business, he kept saying no as he had operated it for well over 20 years and was just not interested. So as per instructions I called into the company to get a senior manager on the phone with him, that conversation went on almost 30 minutes, till the business owner got disgusted and hung up on SM. The SM called right back and was on for another 10 minutes, at the time and I still feel bad for wasting so much of the business owners time that day. When I called the SM to review he told me all I did wrong and wanted me to go back into the business again! I then had an opportunity to listen in on several home office outbound sales calls to set appointments-if the BC got a business owner on the phone and he said yes to anything it was considered an appointment, after part of the way the BC gets paid is appointments.

Then I did lots of research and what I found here and other sites as well as what I experienced I quit the next day, no sales and out for lots of gas and a plane ticket.

A summary of what I learned: High pressure direct sales job, scams most of their own sales staff, and most of their customers. May work for some, and I am sure some business may bennifit. Run do now walk for these guys, don't talk to them, if you own a business don't let them in the door or call from your phone!

Dear "needed a job",
What you really need is an English lesson. If your résumé looks anything like your post, it's obvious why you don't have a job. Learn how to write before you comment. No one can take your post seriously with all those gramatical errors...

Over the years we have received numerous phone calls from every affiliation; IPA, SMS, GPA, CBS, ABS, etc., as well as walk-ins leaving business cards. The latest was Bob Haass (Major Account Executive & very doubtful that is how you spell his name) from GPS USA Division, 1260 Barclay Blvd., Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 – PH [protected]. Just a few minutes ago I received a follow up call (didn’t catch his name) saying this is so and so from Bob Haass’ office wanting to set up an appointment next Tuesday. Of course I stopped him right there and said we are not interested and he said why. I replied that your company reputation is awful, just go online to review. He said “what do you have to lose?” with a cocky attitude. I simply said money. Then he said with a condescending attitude that their company did $200 million last year WHAT DID YOURS DO? Then rudely placed me on hold as I tried to tell him to f-off. Then I called back and talked to Client Services (Elaina) and she was extremely apologetic. Just reading all of the complaints and all of the experiences over the years just proves this is all a SCAM. IF you decide to do business with these people after seeing all of these complaints, then you’re a dumb ###.

I believe the latest company name for the "Buffalo Grove" bunch is International Services, Inc. I had responded to a job post for a Sr. Business Consultant and interviewed with Gerri DeRubeis this week. Will give her some bad news tomorrow.

I am a college grad that has been struggling with finding a job. One day I was on a job search sight and sent my resume to a company called SMS. They said that the position was an Appointment Setting position and you would work Monday-Friday. I got a call back from them 2 days later asking me to come in for an interview the day after Christmas. When I got there, Joe, the man who I talked to, was not available, so I ended up talking to Ron. He looked over my resume and saw that I had previous sales experience and said he was not sure what Joe wanted to hire me for. He asked that I call Joe back the next morning to see what he wanted to do. There were a lot of placards on the wall with several initials. When I asked about it Ron stated that they were the names of other companies. Long story short, after having to call Joe 3 times for him to say absolutely nothing of value to me, I was told that I would start training that following Monday. Showed up for training Monday and Joe told me that I would start Tuesday instead. This is when I became suspicious, but I needed a job. Went in for the 4 day training class on Tuesday. I immediately realized that my resume or background in sales meant nothing because it was clear that this company hired everyone. When the question was asked what does SMS stand for, the trainer, Grant, said these exact words: "Absolutely nothing!" So that guy earlier who said that it stands for whatever crazy name he said, I know full well who you are and why you are on here! After finishing the training I was put in a zone. I was responsible for calling the west coast. Everyday I was given a new area to call. I see a lot of people complaining about harassing phone calls. The person who is calling you most likely does not know that you were just called the day before. In fact, the person calling you might be a new employee since they hire new employees every week for this appointment setting (Business Coordinator) position. The do not call list is a sham as I have put a person on the DNC list only to have them show up on my screen the next day, and in some cases the next hour or two. After a while I realized that a lot of the customers were not really interested on hearing the pitch that I was given in training, or in the "West Coast Pitch" that I was given by my zone assistant manager. The real eye opener was when a man that I called Googled the company while I as on the phone with him. He saw some very negative reviews and decided to not go forth with meeting the SAM (Senior Area Manager). He then advised me to do some research on my employer. After about 2 more weeks of negative reactions, I decided to look up SMS. I found nothing. Then I decided to use one of the initials that pops up when we log into the system, IPA. That is when I decided that it was time to leave this company. It is definitely what you have read on here. They have helped some businesses, but it is mostly a scam, and some of you business owners will never see it coming. Some of these BC's are very good and will dupe you into allowing these SAM's into your place of business well they will spend way more than the promised "5 or 10 minutes of your time!" With some of the better BC's, you will never even hear the name of the company SMS. There are a few key words to look out for when you guys get one of these phone calls:

First, their information is usually pretty good since your business has already been called a few times and some good info has already been gathered from whoever answers the phones there. So they will ask for you by first name as if you are friends. If you have a good secretary (we called them gatekeepers), she/he will ask who they are. They are trained to give the GK as little information as possible, so they will probably give just a name which is probably not even their real name. If the GK asks to purpose of the call, they will say something along the lines of setting up an appointment for their boss. A lot of them never use SMS as I said before. The will use the name of their SAM. So you will hear something like, "I am calling from John Smith's office." Once they get past your GK, you will hear some of the most convincing things to make you agree to meeting with the SAM. The good BC's will also know a lot about your industry, probably more than the SAM coming in to see you.

When you hear the buzz words: So and so's office, 5-10 minutes of your time, drop off information, so and so will be "in your area", business development, and questions about how much did you make last year, this is definitely SMS!

These guys have have pestered me for a couple of months now. I have received nearly 10 calls from them, and each time I have asked them to take me off their list. I want to do my part and file a complaint, but there are several SMS companies on the Better Business Bureau. How do you know which SMS is the fraudulent one? Does anybody know?

I just got an Interview at SMS. Job posting on craigslist said I'd get paid $1, 000 a week for full time. Guy at interview didn't even bother to explain the pay but told me he was going to set me up for a higher position and was quick to set up a phone interview and training for me. He gave me a booklet and told me to read through it and memorize their little slogan. While reading through it I saw how the pay works it is 8.25 an hour (same I'd get paid working at McDondals ). You get commission if you are on of top 25 Buisness Coordinators and if I make under 1 mil in sales I get $0 commission.. So, basically this is a compition of scaming people and I'd only get a nice paycheck if I scammed lots of people. At this point I felt the guy was taking advantage of me because I am an honest person and I am young and am just starting out so I would probably be his new lab rat... I was feeling very sceptial if I should go hrough with this because I am in need for a job but felt this was not worth it. Especially after reading all of your posts on this company. I am glad I found this page.

Look at Former BC. He's right. Look at his post. I was treated the same way.

I work for SMS as the Senior Area Manager for the Atlanta Georgia DMA. I read the complaints above and I am sure some individuals and some results of their efforts were not up to our standards, but so far as I have experienced the main issue is not SMS but the willingness of small business owners to use outside help to get them what they want from their business. I believe as a former Professor of Business (5 universities) and major ad agency executive (Y&R, JWalter Thompson, Ketchum) that the people I advised in large corps like IBM, GE, General Mills, etc were seeking to keep their job or advance up the ladder based on success from my advice. It is much different to be a small business owner and have everything at stake every day. I see pressure in the eyes of these brave people. I have had business owners, successful ones at that, break down in tears when they admit they are afraid for their future and the future of their company. This is a very emotional situation for a small busienss owner. Their ego is in the business. Their pride is in their business. SMS is very aware of this and very flexible about time and budgets. If the small business owner is honest with himself and us we can definately help. Look at the testimonials on our website. Those are real people telling what they gained from their experience with SMS. Think about it folks, who in the USA today is helping the small business owner. Not the banks. Not the IRS, Not government reglulators. Not the Congress. Certainly not the White House. After the 2008 debacle on Wall Street did small business get a TARP deal. No.
So we, SMS, stand alone in helping small businesses in the USA. Is that wrong to do. I think not.

For anyone concerned I am still owed over 4, 000.00 from this company and this is over a year ago so I am now going to the commissioner BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY WATCH YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNTS AND FACEBOOK ACCOUNTS THESE GUYS ARE SENDING OUT VIRUSES IT STARTS AS A FRIEND AND SAYS YOU GOT TO SEE THIS WHEN YOU LOOK AT IT IT KILLS YOUR COMPUTER BE VERY CAREFULL EVEN IF YOU KNOW THE PERSON CONTACT THEM FIRST TO SEE IF THEY REALLY SENT YOU SOMETHING TO LOOK AT JUST A MESSAGE AGAIN BUT WAS TOLD IT DID NOT RECONNIZE ADDRESS AND SHOWED ME WHERE EXACTLY IT WAS COMING FROM IT WAS THESE ###S!

Charles you were a professor at FIVE Universities and also a major ad agency exe? Yet you are a Senior area manager? Not a analyst why just a SAM also IBM, GM, General Mills ect, , DO NOT USE SMS who are you trying to fool just yourself you are a looser.

October 3, 2013
The latest iteration of rip-offs from this address is GPS. Their slogan, Navigating Profitability. Filipe Pimentel (Major Account Executive) and his sidekick came into my office yesterday to tell me all the wonderful things that they could do for me if I just opened my books to them for an inspection. I told them that I had had experience with GSM, IPA, IBA and more and thought they were all a bunch of scammers. Why should I think different of another company doing the same thing from the same address with the same people? He tried to answer, but kept going off on a tangent to get away from the line of questioning. I politely told them that there is no way that his company would ever be hired here, no matter what name they come in under or what tactics they use. It was amazing that he could defend the fact that it was the same BS from the same address but but insisted that the companies certainly couldn't be compared!

Their tactic is to use their sales tactic to get a business analyst into your company to inspect your cash position. Lo and behold, they manage to come up with a 'project' that costs about 25% more than the cash you have, but don't be worried, "We are the only company who will guarantee you a 300% return on your investment. If we can't see a way to guarantee that you will make back three times what we charge you, we won't even start the project!" How freaking' benevolent. I asked if I was to believe that the company would still be there in a year to back up that guarantee. He paused, then changed subjects.
They are scammers! Look locally for a good business analyst and find an honest company if you need that help. There are lots of them out there.

My first contact with this organization was with IPA years ago. As a small business owner I don't have the time to visit with everyone that wants to meet with me so I fell for the "I'll just have someone drop off some information" scam. Long story short for the first time in my life I had to throw someone out of my office. On his way out he calls me a complacent coward for not signing up for his scam. 3 weeks later they send someone else by to "drop off some information" and ask to see me...unbelivable! I Googled them and found that their MO was to sign you up and within days send a bunch of consultants in to analyze your business. By the time you question what is going on you have a huge bill which you will probably refuse to pay...but no worries...you will be contacted immediately by their collection attorneys.

I would let this all go by without saying a word except that every week for the last 6 weeks I have been contacted by SMS (different callers) whose approach now is to say as little about themselves as possible unless pushed.

I worked for SMS. Worst experience ever. They micro-manage you and expect you to call into at least 3 to 4o different supervisors on an hourly basis from 7:00 a.m. to 6 pm. Then they started Saturday morning conference calls! All this for slow paying commission. Worst company ever.

I worked for SMS for about 4 months. I have always worked comm base jobs so that didnt scare me away and they paid for my flight and hotel for a week in IL. It is really a lame job. They wont pay you for any comm after you leave the company but that is standard. Once i got the hang of it I did land a HUGE sale it was about 300 hrs billed at $300 per hr. I generated the sale myself so i got 5% of that plus my $1500 for the survey. I am just glad I was able to B.S them for 10 weeks on why I couldn"t go to the field everyday but stay employed with them so I got all of my comm. Meanwhile I was out there findng a new career that is paying well over six figures. So if you have the time jerk them around but if you don"t DON"T waste your time. Just glad I could take from them god only know they take from so many. I hope they go BK and loose it all because they don"t care if there so called client does.

An SMS agent just came into our place of business, the owner of the business showed him these reviews and the FOX news report and the man quickly got on his feet to leave. SMS is a true SCAM & a piece of work. They are a waist of time & money & are not welcome in small businesses! Don't be fooled by this scam.

I used a consultant after a recommendation by an Account Executive from GPS. The business consultant was exactly what I needed for my continued company growth. To me, the business consultant was like an "app" for company improvement. They see room for improvement, oh, they have an app for that!

Business consultants offer constructive criticism. Not everyone is prepared to take it, especially if they are in a bad position with their company.

Maybe I am an exception to the rule, but I had to speak up after reading all the negative commentary.

I am so bummed. I met with a guy from SMS today and thought I found a badly needed lifeboat for my struggling business. He was very nice and understanding and seemed to have a great business background. And I could really use the help that it seemed SMS could offer. No choice but to cancel the appointment with the business analyst. Can't afford to lose anymore money.

I personally have worked there a long time. Must of these people can't even
complete a sentence. Also aren't business owner they are just loser employees that
got fired because they suck!

I have listened to their pitch a couple of times - it is hard sell and to me pure BS. I have repeatedly asked for specific references, but these are "confidential" and not available. This last rep used the "you are questioning my integrity" and "you are calling me a liar" defense to try and make me feel bad.

These people are just con artists. Read the inc magazine article "Im John Burgess and I am here to help". What SMS does is come to your business and sell you fake business consulting. I say fake because the information they sell you can be had for free off many financial websites. Calculations like inventory turnover and how much your advertising expense is as a percentage of sales. They will come up with garbage like "Well increase your advertising and your sales will go up." That's the revelation they will sell you. And how do they get paid? In my town what they did was get business owners to post date checks. They tell you the checks cant be cashed because they are post dated. That's a lie. They want to see your bank accounts so they can figure out how much they can steal from you. They simply cash the post dated checks right away. There is story after story about this on the internet. They came to my business and I just played along. I am a CPA and quite familiar with financial statements and tax returns. I played dumb while the SMS (at that time International profit associates) consultant pulled out general financial analysis sheets you can get most anywhere on the internet and tried to sell them to me as "high level" financial analysis. It was just comical. He asked me questions like "Do you know what your inventory turnover is?" expecting me to say of course no. At that point I opened my desk drawer and pulled out my sheet that I do each month showing various financial ratios including my inventory turnover that I tracked. The guys face turned white. He asked for my tax returns. I refused saying that was private. He asked for my financials. I refused saying that's private. He asked for my bank statements. I said why so you can see if I am a good target? Finally exasperated (Isnt it fun when the guy ripping you off is the one that gets upset?) he said in an angry tone "How am I supposed to help you if you wont show me anything? I said that's your problem. He produced a sheet he wanted me to sign. He said it was to show SMS he was at my business and doing his job. The problem is right above my signature there was very small print that said I agreed to pay SMS a $150 dollar consulting fee for his time. I ripped it up and told him to get out. They now call me probably every couple months and I just received my quarterly call from some bozo down at SMS. Even though I tell him I am not interested and have talked to other small business people in my community who have been ripped off, he wont get off the line. Not until I tell him I am prepared to waste all day with him, then he hangs up on me. What they do is what any qualified bookkeeper (I wont even say CPA) can do for your business or you yourself if you just want to take a little time to do some research on the internet. They stay in business because they have learned how to just stay inside the technicalities of the law. They sell you a worthless financial product and you get an expensive lesson. Stay away.

This a scam, we had one [censored] the first day by the second day we had two more [censored]. The second day they just repeated what I said the fist day. High pressure, arrogant jerks. What a waste of $20K to help out with our cash flow!

Thank you guys for the true info about this SCAM. They called me being very pushy that they are in the city for 1 day and will come to visit me. I told them to email me their info first I will research and decide if I want to meet them, and they where pushy to come to my office, than I googled them and found this page and told him - you guys have bad reviews so just leave me alone.. at which they where pushy to come to me for just 4 minutes, told him to get lost..