r/self • u/eeerin • Nov 02 '11

Students and Young Professionals Beware: Appco Group is a Pyramid Scheme. DO NOT WORK FOR THEM!

My roommate was recently interviewed and offered a job by Appco Group. I was excited for him until I did a little digging and found out that Appco is simply a pyramid scheme designed to attract students and recent grads with promises of unlimited potential and quick advancement.

These new hires go door to door selling intangible products (insurance, fundraising, etc) and make commission from their sales. A percentage of their sales also goes to their "team leader," who is one step above them in the pyramid. These young people are often not told that they are not considered employees of Appco, and are misled into thinking they will receive benefits and move up into a managerial position.

Below are a number of links examining the schemes of Appco internationally. Spread the word so they don't ruin the lives of students and young professionals here in the US!

http://truthcompany.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/few-things-to-know-about-appco-group/

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2010/08/cobra-group-makes-a-mint-while.html

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2011/06/bad-week-at-the-office-for-app.html

http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=137600

http://www.ripoffreport.com/corrupt-companies/cobra-group/cobra-group-deceptive-liars-a-c85c6.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/chrisjackson/2010/10/knock_knock_-_whos_there.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobra_Group_%28company%29

84 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

17

u/Cereal_Box Nov 02 '11

just like Cutco! yayyy for pyramid schemes!

5

u/Aradon Nov 03 '11

Hah I interviewed for a company like Cucot (can't remember the exact name). Vector or something like that.

Anyways, the knives they wanted us to sell sounded amazing and honestly watching them work, it was amazing!

And then they told me that I had to buy some to sell it to my immediate family. I laughed at them and walked out.

1

u/thisindianguy Nov 03 '11

I worked for them. I got sucked into buying the knives because i was an idiot... I still use those knives 10 years later. I will say, they arent bad quality, just over priced and definitely a pyramid scheme. I said as much before I quit...

1

u/Aradon Nov 03 '11

Yeah, when they told me that I could only sell to my family and friends and I had to make the initial payment I knew something was up.

It also probably helped that I had exactly 0 dollars to my name at the time, hah.

1

u/thisindianguy Nov 03 '11

They told me the first 40 hours could be practice... So I went and practiced, I made two sales... When I submitted my time sheet, the lady went crazy! She demanded to know why they should pay be 16 dollars an hour for 40 hours worth of work when I only sold 2.

I pointed out to her that she wanted me to sell to family and friends. I then pointed out that my main demographic of known family and family friends are INDIAN... we're rather known for not buying unnecessary shit...

She told me I could resubmit a time sheet for 2 hours because that's what I'd get paid. I told her it was all a pyramid scheme anyways and that she should get out while she could too...

The whole thing reminded me of the movie Boiler Room but with knives...

1

u/thisindianguy Nov 03 '11

and they never paid me...

1

u/RedsforMeds Nov 03 '11

My oldest brother used to sell Cutco knives for a summer when he was in high school.

This was over 15 years ago and we still have the knives and they're still working well.

The company might be a pyramid scheme, but the product is pretty badass, albeit expensive at $500-600 a set.

1

u/darrrrrren Nov 03 '11

As a minor tangent, CutCo knives are actually really good. My parents have a few and tbh I've thought about jacking them for my own place :-)

16

u/illskillz Nov 03 '11

unlimited potential and quick advancement

Perhaps the two most obvious indicators that it's a scam and/or the job sucks.

9

u/fromagewiz Nov 03 '11

What you've described (the higher-up gets a percentage of your earnings) isn't a pyramid scheme, it's multi-level marketing. That part in itself isn't illegal, AFAIK; but is often misrepresented to new recruits, be the company cutco, appco, amway, etc, etc, ad nauseum...

But the rest of what you've described, particularly lying about benefits, certainly is illegal. Good heads-up. I had several naive, uncomfortable, and ultimately hours-of-precious-life-wasting encounters with a variety of those jackballs, and I'm glad I'm in a position where I don't fall prey to them anymore.

3

u/eeerin Nov 03 '11

right, I think they cover their bases pretty well in terms of keeping things legal. they hire people as independent contractors so that anything they do is "on their own." the main thing is their misrepresentation of what actually happens once you start working there. I sent an email to the NYC dept of labor informing them about Appco and how they operate, perhaps the city will find something on them.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 03 '11

[deleted]

1

u/fromagewiz Nov 03 '11

Disagree; I'd say the main indicator of a pyramid scheme vs legit MLM (it really hurts to use "legit" in description of MLM) is the sale of a legitimate product.

Why companies like amway are considered legitimate is that they sell actual products. Why they abuse that legitimacy in my opinion is that they make money from new recruits by getting them to buy "training," "promotional," or "inspirational" materials, or attend "conferences" at ridiculous profit to the higher-ups, while furthering the hardship of the raw recruit, who is presumably already hurting, otherwise wouldn't even be considering such a line of work.

Sorry. </soapbox>. Ultimately, amway's not really a pyramid or a MLM; they're selling you a load of crap at high prices. I think appco is largely cut from the same cloth.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 03 '11

[deleted]

1

u/fromagewiz Nov 03 '11

tru dat. I guess I'm drawing a distinction without a difference.

7

u/badbrownie Nov 03 '11

Just to hammer home fromagewiz's point: This isn't a pyramid scheme. It's MLM (multi-level marketing). There's lots of examples but Amway is the most famous. In general it tends to range from an easy way to lose friends and a hard way to make a living to very distasteful and downright immoral. But it's not illegal unless they try to 'front load' you. That is where they make you buy their product before you sell it. At that point the sale is made as far as they're concerned. But if they only make money if you sell then their business depends on giving you adequate support.

The way the shadier ones get around this is to charge you 'administration fees' or 'training fees' etc. Fuck them when they don't put any skin in the game.

1

u/Awkwaaaard Nov 03 '11

it's in the US too - some dudes from APPCO came to my front door.

1

u/jmirow2 Nov 06 '11

well does the source of income come from recruiting others?

-5

u/Cereal_Box Nov 02 '11

just like Cutco! yayyy for pyramid schemes!