I came across a company called Retro Consulting based in Nottingham, who had a lot of Job Adverts for positions in Sales on most of the main Job websites. As somebody who has been unemployed for over a year I have become desperate and decided to give them a go.
The Job advertisements are very misleading, they do not tell you that the job is commission only (therefore no minimum wage) and state the wage to be £15,000-£20,000 with no experience neccesary, it quite simply looks too good to be true and they have clearly tried to draw as many people in as possible as the advert explains nothing. After all who would apply for a job where you aren’t guaranteed to earn ANY money?
Retro Consulting operate out of a small office based at 15 Hockley, Nottingham, shared with another company called Jam Industries, which upon further research is involved in exactly the same thing (probably run by Tomlinson as well). When I attended my interview the place was full of other people filling out application forms. I had to wait for around 45 minutes for my meeting with the Managing Director, Simon Tomlinson, until he called me into his office.
Tomlinson asked me the usual interview questions, what are your strengths, where do you see yourself in five years time, blah blah blah. He told me that they offer opportunities to advance into a senior management position within six months of employment, claimed that they were an international company with offices all over Europe (although their website suggested that they are a small business) and invited me back the next day for ‘training’ and refrained from answering any questions about the job, assuring me that “it will all be explained tomorrow”. Pretty much all he told me about the job was that it involved selling Lovefilm packages. Tomlinson even suggested that I could start work within a few days!
The ‘training’ consists of observing an existing salesman within the company, I was told that I would be there until 8pm and all the Job consists of is knocking on doors attempting to sell Lovefilm! They claim to make their decision based on that, which is ridiculous as you will not be doing any work yourself! I was then offered a job and they told me that the pay would be commission only (very low commission rate), that’s hardly the minimum £15,000 suggested in the description is it? If there is no basic salary that should be clearly stated. RC have you working ridiculous hours for no minimum wage, whilst attempting to get your hopes up with promises of promotions to keep you onboard.
After doing further research it seems this is a common business practice mostly associated with the Cobra Group, I’m guessing this is why Simon Tomlinson was referring to Retro Consulting as an international company, they are probably part of the Cobra Group! Retro Consulting are using the current unemployment levels to their advantage and bringing in people desperate for work, Simon Tomlinson, you should be ashamed of yourself.
Nottingham Employment Scams Exposed - Jam Industries, KM Collective, Retro Consulting. 