Vector Marketing Corp. has allegedly targeted and taken advantage of college-age students to sell kitchen knives since 1981.
"It really sickens me knowing many thousands of students each year go through the same deception I went through," said Chad Hasselius, spokesman for Students Against Vector Exploitation and a senior at Minnesota State University. "I and other SAVE members would just be happy if they'd stop misrepresenting themselves and their products."
SAVE is an organization that began in June and is comprised of 72 members from across the United States who feel exploited by Vector's business practices. SAVE has not been shy about labeling the company a scam.
The group alleges that Vector places vague and misleading classified ads to lure people in for "interviews" which are actually mass sales pitches.
Workers are hired as independent contractors and must buy a display knife set that costs between $140 and $175 for their sales demonstrations. Workers aren't paid for training or mandatory meetings and are also required to pay to attend optional conferences.
"There's more flexibility as an independent contractor," said Sarah Baker Andrus, Vector Marketing spokeswoman. "Contractors can set their own hours and deduct business expenses such as mileage and training sessions."
Baker said that the true cost of the knife set is $135 plus local tax and is fully refundable. She drew a parallel to the deposit that Blockbuster charges to rent an XBox.
"It's been the best working experience that I could've hoped for right out of college," said Hal Tarazi, an Ohio State senior in marketing.
Tarazi praised Vector for teaching him time-management skills and for providing the stimulation to become more outgoing.
Vector has 280 offices including locations in Canada, Australia, Korea, Puerto Rico and Costa Rico. Complaints about the company have not been limited to U.S. offices.
In 1990 Arizona placed an administrative order against Vector to desist misleading job recruits. In 1999 the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission brought a violation of Vector's advertising standards to the company's attention. The violation was committed by a Vector manager and he was immediately fired. There have been no problems since, Andrus said.
2008 Woodie Awards