Does this job sound like a scam (GB Marketing Enterprise Ltd)?

Former employee of GB Marketing here! I used to work in the recruitment side of things so I was the person luring you in for interviews with this company for £5.50 an hour. Basically, when I was given the job I was told to go through CV's on TotalJobs and careerbuilder and call ANYONE who was under 30 and not over qualified to tell them they had been shortlisted for an events/ marketing role. We had to invite them in for an interview the next day, and implied that the role would be working on 'events' whereas the reality is that these 'events' are pop up sales stands in shopping centres. The reason we were told to get them in for the next day was because apparently the urgency is an 'impulse factor', but the reality is probably so they wouldn't have enough time to research the company and find out that it was all a scam. We had to book in 20-30 people in for interviews a DAY for a role no one actually wants.
The ONLY job in this company is commission only sales selling internet packages; recruitment jobs are very rare. The day is normally 7.30am- 6pm and you would be expected to cover travel expenses to the location you were working at. You would earn £30 per sale and that's it. So no sale, no pay. In the companies defence, some people do make alright money from this, however, I would say most people earn less than minimum wage. Every morning starts with a 'morning meeting' which is loud music being played in a room to make the job seem 'fun'.
The interview process itself is very strange. You will be called up and asked to interview the next day. You will more than likely be sat in a room with several other people at this stage and called in one by one for a 2-5 minute chat with the manager. This will likely be him selling you the job more than anything, with emphasis put on the fact that you can own your own business in a year (would be a franchise of Credico- not really your own business). If you are successful (so not weird and don't ask too many questions about pay) you get a call back that evening to come for an 'open day' the following day. This is you spending an entire day at a sales stand, not fun. Then you would get asked to work and start asap.
The company actually aren't in different locations with different names. GB Marketing is in Cardiff; however, Credico (the company it is franchised under) have loads of different similar businesses around the country doing door to door sales or street sales. The manager is mid 20s and not a very nice man, I frequently heard him shout at the people working for him over stupid reasons. This company is definitely very strange, and most people would not want to work for them but if working for commission only is something appealing then go for it Happy to answer any other questions.

So, what do you think? Is this likely that this company is trying to trick/mislead me into one of those outdoor sales jobs that are commission based? Does anyone have experience with that company?

These reviews from former employees indicate it's a commission-only job with no base salary. That means you would get no guaranteed salary and the only money you would earn would be the commissions you get from successfully closing a sale.

I don't think it's a sign of a legitimate company that they do not pay someone a base salary; if sales are reasonably within someone's grasp such that they would earn at least the equivalent of a base salary, there would be no reason for them not to guarantee a base.

At the very least, be wary and cautious.

Yeah, I fell into a similar trap with a company named Marketing Endeavours during my Freshers year

How long ago was that and how much work did you do for them? You might still be able to make a legal claim for failure to pay the minimum wage and holiday pay (it may only be a few hundred pounds, but that would be a nice little bonus)



Deffo. These companies are often extremely cynical and quite revolting in exploiting students because university students are often, (1) unaware of their rights and not worldly or sophisticated when it comes to such matters, (2) hardworking and eager so they sell well, (3) they sound trustworthy over the phone (something about a younger voice seeming more benign).

I can't stand companies that engage in this sort of knowing exploitation, I do wonder what kind of person would be involved in them in the recruitment / HR side of things; they earn their base salary (a base salary the company doesn't allow to their salespeople) by essentially lying to students.

Almost 5 years ago

For a breach of contract there is a six year limitation period, but as you say below there are other reasons not to bring a lawsuit.



If the company no longer exists then, as you allude to, there's nothing/nobody to sue. Someone is only able to sue the company or individual who was their legal employer; if the company no longer exists, then their debts (for one way to look at it is that their owing you this money makes you one of their creditors... but as the company has been dissolved, unfortunately you will not be able to secure those debts they have to you as the legal liability dies with the company)



Companies often assert in the contract that you are self-employed, but the courts will tend to ignore the 'label' the company assigns (such as 'self-employed', or 'contractor' and instead dig underneath the label to look at the reality of the employment relationship. If they treated you as employees (as you say, you were required to answer to management) then the court is likely to find you truly were an employee, no matter what the express wording of the contract says.

And if you were actually an employee (or at least a worker), then you were entitled to minimum wage and holiday pay.

I'll give you an example; in my capacity as employment law adviser at a law centre, I deal with quite a few cases of this sort. I recently had a case where a dude working in a kind-of construction / trade role was called self-employed 'contractor' in his contract, but the reality is that he had set hours he needed to be at work, he had to turn up to work himself (unlike a true contractor, he could not send someone in his place if he didn't feel like going), his employer made him wear a particular uniform and smile at the customers (hence controlled his conduct and he was under a disciplinary procedure).

He earned much less than minimum wage and was never paid his holiday pay. We took the company to court, the company's defence was that he was self-employed but the tribunal judge determined that the label in the contract was irrelevant because the reality of the relationship was one of employer and employee. Therefore, as an employee he was entitled to minimum wage and holiday pay; as the employer had never paid those things, quite a significant amount was racked up (it was in the thousands).

If that company still existed, you might have been in a position to bring a similar claim (that the employer's claim you were self-employed was a sham and the real relationship was one of employer/employee... and therefore, all the money you would have got if you'd been receiving minimum wage and paid holiday, but didn't receive... is now owed)... but as you say the company is now dissolved and so, unfortunately, as one of their creditors (for they were your debtor; they owed you money), the asset of that money they owed to you has now also died with the company

x

Hi everyone,

I recently had a call from this company (I believe this time of year may be a 'recruitment period' for them), and was instantly suspicious because they sounded a lot like another company in Cardiff that I had an interview with a few weeks ago. Both companies also happen to be based in the EXACT SAME BUILDING.

I was wondering if anyone has heard of Alpha Innova, or A. Innova?

The interview process with Alpha Innova is very similar. I got a call from them, even though I never applied to their company, and spoke to a girl who asked me about myself and then went on to tell me about how the people at the office like to do loads of things together, how they're always going for dinner and to karaoke (because that, I'm sure, is really relevant to the professional job interview I would be attending). The manager I had the interview with was very vague and promised a lot of upward mobility in the position, going on to be a manager myself within a very short time period. No mention of work expectations or salary. I was called back for a second interview, and I Googled them so I would know what to expect, and it was along the same lines as GB Marketing Enterprise. I would be expected to pay for my travel to Cardiff, then pay for my travel to one of their 'sites' at a shopping centre, and watch people try to get shoppers and passers-by to sign up for monthly charity donations or something similar. I didn't go the second interview, because that was not only not what I was expecting, but was also not what I was lead to believe I would be doing, or what the job entailed.

Just wondering if anyone else had heard of or been approached by this company, and if it was the same sort of rubbish.

Thanks.

Thanks all, saved me from wasting my time and getting my hopes up about having a potential job.

I have been offered "a job" with both GB Marketing Enterprise and Alpha Innova.

Guess what? They are both at the same location and in the same building in Cathedral Road, Cardiff.

I too got a sudden email and phone call from both companies and it seemed quite unusual how fast they invited for an interview. I also noticed in the email that they labelled me a "self-employed contractor" and that is where my suspicion was raised. So, I did some Googling and found that these two companies (they are probably under same ownership) are total scams.

I think we need to expose them. The question is, what ways can we do this?

Hello, a former employee of a branch similar to that of GB Marketing, when they were stationed in Cardiff I mean (it was mentioned here, A.Innova). Now they have moved back to Liverpool as helped create another company which is now in Cardiff instead of them.

Now I find it a little unfair for people to instantly accuse these companies of being 'scams' and such words, I can only assume those who say this have either neither worked for them, or only lasted a few days/weeks with no real benefit to them.

Now the only thing I will somewhat agree with is the way in which they have employeed people in the past. Could they have explained that they are representing different markets (TalkTalk? Charities?) and such, and said that it would be pitching people on the streets? Of course, but like with the argument of people here saying, 'Well they should just say to people from the applications that it is commission based pay.'

Honestly answer me this, if you saw right off the bat that this time of work was pure commission based, would you apply for it? 9 times out of ten, no, you wouldn't. They need to hide that point so they can get people on board. But in all fairness, they still point that out to you during the business breakdown, and they dont force you to stay with them if you aren't interested.

From a personal standpoint though, when some people call this time of work 'scam', I call it a 'saving grace'. I was in an incredibly dark place before I had this job, constantly being rejected from every single job I applied for, whether it was cause I was a student or because of 'disabilities' that other base salary jobs were scared to hire people like me for. I am in my mid 20s and I have only ever had 1 properly paid job, and that lasted 3 months cause it was a temporary role. And that was 4 years ago. Since then, hundreds of applications, only to be rejected on interviews, or not even get them.

This job helped me gain skills that I can take to not just to other jobs, but help me with a better mentality to tackle everyday life. They gave me the chance to gin the skills needed to become a better person where as every single place I have applied for wasn't will to do. And oddly enough, as a result, I have had more job interviews since leaving them.

Did I see their 'tricks' to lure you into the job? Of course I did, I wasn't stupid. But I went with them anyway because I wanted something to change, and thankfully, they gave me something back that I didn't think I had, a future.

Is this job for everyone? Only if you have thick skin (which it definitely helped me with that) and are willing to work commission full-time and have the money to back yourself up on to start with, they don't really encourage part-timers as much which is unfortunate. But to say this line of work is a scam is flat-out incorrect. Maybe for students still in University or College, perhaps.

Hopefully people will see that I genuinely enjoyed my time there and once they give it a try for themselves, can see if it is for them or not.

How can you justify them stating a good salary in their advertisements aimed specifically and directly for graduates? A deceiving job advertisement and the definition of scam goes hand-in-hand here.

You COULD get that, it's not for certain though. It never says you will 100% be guaranteed 16-22k a year. If they did, they would have said a definite amount, instead of an estimate.

And in honesty, if it really would in question, then surely someone would have taken them to court by now and something would have happened. But sure enough, nothing has. Because it's not.

I've applied for many other regular base salary jobs where they have said the same thing, saying it was only a guideline. Does that mean all of those jobs are also scams as well? Somehow I doubt it.

Also, its never specifically for graduates, it's for anyone. Sure more graduates and Uni/College students apply because they are more desperate for the money. But it's open to anyone and everyone.

But again, you won't agree with me and that's your opinion.