Complaint Review: DS-Max - Vancouver British Columbia

Let it be said that some people can succeed in this business, and not all of them are ex-cons, nymphos, high school drop-outs, or unemployed desperate people. However, the majority that came through the door were exactly that, give or take the odd business person who already owned their own business and was looking for something else to add to their bows.

My time with this company began with a so-called interview, where I was falsely told that we would be promoting the NBA, NHL, etc. No mention was made of direct sales on the street, or marketing as they like to call it. Being a self-employed publishing consultant, I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and check them out. So, I received a call to get my second interview (their term and hardly the truth) and to wear comfortable shoes. No mention was made of walking miles, carrying items for sale, or the grubby conditions that my clothes would have to face in my manager's grubby car.

I arrived on time (punctuality is my forte) and found that we driving out to White Rock. That was fine, and I soon discovered that this was a day of observation for both the manager (age 22)and myself (age 36) (day of 'o'). I was intrigued by the guy's approach to people and his indifferent pitch, but his language with customers (crude at best), took a lot to be desired, and I quickly pointed this out to him. His line of approach with a new screwdriver was: "... there's a light on it for all those who like to screw in the dark..." This was not said innocently and did offend quite a few business people.

Despite the manager's crude behavior, I decided that maybe I had something to offer this business in the form of over 20 years business experience (most self-employed and highly successful), teaching experience, managerial experience, sales/customer service experience, etc. I took the job and started the next day.

The next day came as a huge shock. The back room of the office was a dump... paper and garbage strewn everywhere, loud music (unbearable volume), furniture that looked as if it had been dumped in a garbage can (falling apart), people joking around practicing pitching and a lot of cheering and yelling. However, I put that behind me and put it down to youthful bravado - everyone except myself was below age 26, most being between age 18 and 23.

The owner came out, hair greased back (rather long and in need of a cut), dressed in some cheap suit that he had pulled from some secondhand shop, carrying a clip-board. He yelled, "Hey, guys?" The crowd circled round him and yelled, "Hey, what?" He said, "Do you guys want a meeting?" Them, "Yes!!" Him, "Do you really want a meeting??" Them, "Yes!!!" Him, "Then call for one!!" They yelled, "We want a meeting! We want a meeting! We all want a meeting, so get fired up JUICE!!" (Juice is an acronym they use - join us in creating excitement) Note: this was at the volume of some out of control crowd of hockey fans, not that all hockey fans are this crass.

People were called up to get their absolute dollars for ringing the bell ($250 in business sold), gong ($350 in business sold) and super gong ($400 in business sold). This money had the historical face replaced with the owners face. Did anyone tell them that it was illegal to deface dollar bills? I guess not. Anyway, we stood for fifteen minutes listening to people recount how they reached these levels and ran home about attitude selling the goods and not salesmanship. Initially it seemed rather positive and I went along with the concept.

I spent a couple of days with my manager, travelling all over the areas and beyond. We had fun and I quickly learned the business. Both the manager and the owner were frequently telling me how much I was the perfect person to succeed in the business because of my experience and maturity and that everyone would look up to me. It was positive reinforcement that added to my joy of working in such a happy business.

For those who don't know, the initial entry level into the business is called distributor. I was that for three weeks. However, as the days went by, my manager away for a week on a road trip, I realized that a lot of the so-called training that they professed to use was nothing more than repetitious brainwashing. The idea was that money inspires everyone to achieve and I did not want to burst their childish bubbles that for already established business people that success is not graded by money alone, but by actual reputable achievement. I was not inspired by the fact that an assistant manager would get a salary of $50,000 per year. I had already exceeded that years ago. The nine to five attitude that they spoke of had some justification in that people do hate Mondays and love Fridays. The attitude of a true business person leans away from that, so credit to them on that score.

A vice president came down from Calgary and I have to say that he was truly and inspiration. He did not use the psychological mumbo jumbo, childish chants, or bible-beating teaching methods employed by our high school drop-out owner and managers. He was a realist and I felt he had made it because of his mature approach and not the childish inclinations of the daycare that I was suffering with these youngsters.

I made it into leadership, after ringing three bells. I was not inspired by the money, nor the opportunity, but the challenge of helping others to learn and competing with myself. The vice president was delighted, but baffled that I enjoyed going out on foot instead of being in a car. I related to his passion with hockey and explained that adrenaline came from the exercise I was getting (I walked 9 miles per day, carrying up to 150 lb. plus in bags and a napsack full of products). He fully understood.

It was at this point that everything changed. I had had very little support from my manager as far as training was concerned, but I had found a way through by asking others for help and guidance. I entered my first leader's meeting to find that my so-called business was no longer mine and to be controlled by the whims of the owner's hierarchy, though there is not supposed to be one.

Let me explain the scenario in our office: the owner is intimately involved with the assistant manager and my manager, the owner's best crew manager, is having intimate relations with the owner's sister, who just happens to be the administrator. However, the golden rule that they aspire to is that personal relations should not come into the office. This came across as a bit of double standard and it soon became apparent that unless you were in this upper hierarchy cliche that you were not going to have an easy time, if succeed at all.

I entered my first leader's (manager's) meeting to find that the owner did not use positive reinforcement to speak to everyone, but was verbally abusive and quite happy to be violent (throwing things, etc.) to get his point across. His point was simply that this was his business and that everyone there had to conform to his needs or get out. Any off days (rhino days) were considered to be a sign of failure, negative attitude, problem with your pitch, weakness, and/or laziness. This included a few times when one guy was physically attacked and mugged - that was considered an excuse for laziness, even though his face was swollen and black and blue. Another incident was when one guy had sprained his ankle, but was told to stop complaining and get out there and work, against doctor's orders. Being ill with the flu or anything debilitating was considered to be a sign of weakness if one did not work and one was expected to do twice as well as a result. Even my situation with childcare became a target, even though it had been agreed that until I could afford and find other means that my parents were only able to help out on certain days and therefore I could come in one hour later to start work.

Having been a journalist/managing editor for over 15 years in various levels, I found myself kicking into that mode and observing and asking questions to uncover the real atmosphere of the office. What I found was horrifying.

Most people came to the business as ex-cons, high school drop-outs, etc. I do not count the unemployed because they may not have done anything wrong to be in that position. I don't pre-judge in that quarter.

The approach towards staff in management is abusive, with name calling, mental abuse, verbal abuse, swearing and some have been driven to drinking and drug abuse. One person left after a year in the business, went away and was hunted down and physically attacked in the street by that person's promoting owner. This is a fact and scary at that. It may not be in all offices, but this one uses bully tactics and abuse.

When an owner who was renting space from my owner, began to get upset with the abusive behavior of my owner, my owner began to refuse this other owner and his crew any entry into meetings. It was an obvious childish revenge because he could not control this other owner. The other owner and staff finally left, and they are my friends and I keep in contact with them.

I believe that my friendship with the other owner had some bearing on the abuse that I suffered in the days that followed their departure. No longer was I spoken to with respect, but controlled and talked down to like a child. I was still making the bells and teaching anyone who needed it. I know this made a few people nervous. In fact, before the vice president left, he lost his cool with my owner and the upper hierarchy, asking why I had not been promoted because it was my type that the company wanted - maturity, teaching experience and self-employment experience. He had warned these people that they were poor teachers and that if they did not get their acts in order that he may be forced to close the office down and re-train them personally. Apparently my owner and he are bitter enemies.

Now, as all those who have worked with this company will attest to, that all negative things are to be left outside the door. This job is about solution finding and not problem finding or making. These series of events told me that this particular branch of the company was not practicing what they were preaching, nor were they inspiring, but to be looked on with caution, not respect.

It came to my attention that as part of the learning curve, there were four booklets that we would receive - the red booklet about the marketing system (very concise and I recommend it to anyone, seriously), the blue booklet about the history of DS-Max, formerly WWI, AKA Cobra Group (UK and Australia) (very concise, but generally a waste of time), the dark blue booklet (leadership, management and training stuff, and I definitely recommend it, seriously), and the black booklet (day of observation training - useful business tool). I got through the first two booklets like the wind, but was never told about the other two until I heard my owner mention them in the morning meeting by the number of booklets and not the colors. During the leader's meeting I asked him directly about this, and he barked at my manager for not being a good leader and providing me with the necessary training. I felt saddened about this as I had looked to my manager for support, but obviously had not got the training that I had been promised in the newspaper ad, nor in the final acceptance interview.

Things gradually went downhill from there. I became sickened by the constant brainwashing of the impact and morning meetings, the constant repetition of the same loud music everyday, and the constant psychological abuse of others and now myself. I had nightmares about coming into work, when only a month earlier I had barely survived my weekend, longing to get into work for the positive attitude. I began suffering stomach problems and stress related problems. I was burning out because this business was not about my success, but lining the pocket of my owner/tyrant. I was not alone and saw about 50 people come and go in a space of a month. I saw the numbers in the office drop so rapidly that the owner began to blame us managers for his failings. I saw decent kids destroyed by the abuse of a system that can and does work, but I saw DS-Max do nothing to oust such thugs from their mydst.

It did not take a lot for me to lose respect for the business, especially the owner and his hierarchy. Having magazines, managed as many as 200 people in one go and still running my own business on the side, respect was everything. It is like marriage - when there is no respect, the marriage crumbles - and I look at the state of this business with sadness because it is a system that is so fine-tuned that it should succeed, and if the propaganda is true, there are 16,000 offices in 104 countries, or was that 12,000 offices in 94 countries (these facts changed daily depending on who was giving the impact meetings).

The final straw came when my owner began hurling abuses at me about why I hadn't closed more than two people during that week. Well, as I explained to him, I take on people I can work with because it is my business. He said that only money impresses. I did not agree with him and stated that if he was still bent on taking on students during the summer for summer jobs and not the opportunity to run their own business, that they would love that, but that was not why we were supposed to hire people. I started a vengeance job on his part that backfired in his face. I could truly see why the vice president and he were enemies.

That evening I was about to leave for home, to releave my parents/babysitters, when my manager called me back into the office for a leader's meeting. I said that I had to go home and asked why they had called a meeting without warning at 7:00pm? He told me that I either wanted to be a part of the team or not. What team? This is my business and they knew that as a parent I had responsibilities also. I went in and was told by my owner that I had to take a couple of days off to change my attitude. I asked him what he was rabbitting about. He said that my attitude was not good around the office, I had never taught anyone anything, and that my sales performance was poor. This was a lie and I challenge him to prove this - I have business records and people whom I trained who are willing to back up that he was lying (they too have records and their eye witness accounts of the facts). I asked him if he was trying to fire me? He replied that I could come back on Monday if I changed my ways and got my babysitting sorted out.

Well, there was nothing wrong with my ways and my babysitting was not a problem, yet he was going to take on students during the summer to boost his income without any intention of teaching them the business. I knew then that my challenging his methods and uncovering the truth behind his facade was something he could not cope with. I was laughing inside because I had forced him to lose control and show his true colors.

I left and took the weekend off, having a lovely time with my family and a friend. My friend listened to my story, having spent a week in the business, despite being an independent business owner already, and I took his advice and added a final thing of my own.

I returned on the Monday to find that the owner would not even speak to me, but ignore me and asked me to leave the morning meeting and leader's meeting. I was escorted outside by my manager and told that he had spoken to the owner on my behalf to allow me to take out an order, despite me having three strokes against me. What those imaginary strokes were are beyond me. However, I know it was just an act. I was also told that I had three weeks to sort out my act or I would be let go. Yes, another twist, how can you fire someone from their own business? You cannot!

I went to the meeting anyway, despite his protests and gave him a piece of my mind. Then I headed out for the day.

So, I set to work, knowing that I would wield the final blow. I sold a few things to get some pocket money, then went back to the office just after lunch. I told the administrator, whom I have no malice against because she is a truly good person, that I had other work and would no longer be needing their services. I was polite about it.

The fact is that DS-Max is not necessarily the problem. I doubt that Murray Reinhart (founder) would have treated his people in such a deplorable manner, but sadly, DS-Max is ultimately responsible for the actions of its owners. I do not hate DS-Max, nor do I wish it any malice, but it is about time that it assesses whether or not it is in its best interests to hire thugs, high school drop-outs and those lacking maturity and experience to run its venues.

I do warn everyone that you need to take a close look at his Vancouver based branch because it is not reputable. They currently advertise in the local newspapers and online, under names like Lilo, Denise, etc. The only link with these is the phone number. No one named Lilo or Denise works there or probably ever has. So, one questions what type of business needs to lie in ads to attract people to work? What type of businessman abuses the people he is supposed to train? What type of self-employment answers to anyone other than yourself?

One final word: DS-Max's marketing system and positive attitude approach is good, but it is how it is applied that is open to serious question, not to mention the hiring process. Oh, did I tell you that this branch of DS-Max also hires illegal immigrants, people with no Canadian work visas, and has just interviewed a child under 16 as of yesterday?

Andree

Vancouver,, British Columbia
Canada

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