5th Dimension Promotionz or 5th Dimension Productions scamming my friend into free labor.
Today, my homie Frank (Zel if you play world of warcraft) hit me up that he got a job. Frank has been working hard in school and trying to pay bills. His parents were encouraging him to get a job so he does what he does best, go out and look for jobs.
He ends up posting his resume on Career Builders, to find a potential employer to fund his college expenses. Later on Frank gets a message from 5th Dimension Productionz about a job interview for their company in San Jose. He responds and sets up the first interview. Frank shows up Thursday, July 5th 2007 at 4pm. After speaking with Lindsey the owner for less than 10-15 minutes, she mentioned he should come back for a second interview.
The second interview consisted of going to Big Lots off of Story Road with a trainer named Rosemary. Rosemary seemed very motivated, intelligent, and professional. Before going to Big Lots, he had to sign a paper stating he was an observer. While there he was instructed to watch and understand how the entry level position works.
Frank noticed that they had setup a simple fingerprinting ink pad (like the ones used at police stations), with some piece of paper, to help get kids fingerprinted. The theme seemed to be about helping missng children. They also had various products like T-Shirts, Wrist Bands, Child Protection ID kits, that were sold at the table. He was also given a 5 steps on how to sell their products (Introduction, short story, assume purchase, etc, etc). Being at the table, he would hear Rosemary saying the pitch many times. After doing that, he was instructed to greet people coming out of Big Lots. If the person was interested, he would direct them to the table, where Rosemary would close the sale. The products being sold seemed to be at outragous prices. Wristband for $5, T-Shirt for $10, Calligraphy Kit for $10, Electronic ID for $30 which was the big sale. Frank had noticed that a lot of the older people tend to have time to listen to them, and after hearing the story, they were compelled to help. In order to “save the children” they had to purchase the products which donated a certain percentage to the CPEA. What was the percentage? Upon Frank trying to recall what they said, it was around 20% that actually went to the organization. The other 80%, who knows?
Finishing the day up, Frank had to fill out a survey, then go back for his last interview with the other Lindsey. He was then hired on the spot and asked to show up on Tuesday, July 10th.
Later that night, I meet up with Frank, and he says he got a new job. After explaining what they do and the company he works for, it seemed kinda sketch. I start to google around and we turn up with another blog who had a similar experience. Ho John Lee ended up meeting someone from 5th Dimension Productionz while walking out of a store, and after asking some basic questions, he walked away and didn’t donate. You could read his story via this link. While reading thru his site, the comments section included a person by the blog name of Molly B posted a comment on his site about her experience with the interview process and experiences. Here is an excerpt of what Molly mentioned:
They are doing something to promote the charity, but still selling something to earn a commission for themselves. The most aggravating thing to me isn’t that they are using legitimate charities to make money for themselves, it is that so many of the other candidates they sucker in spending a full day “interviewing” end up being free labor.
While looking further down in the comments, there were other people who had interviewed with them and had that gut feeling that something was up. Peter posted the percentage of what is actually given back:
20% goes back to the charity, 35% goes to the seller, and 45% goes to Lindsey (Lindsey needs to pay for fees pertaining to her business, maybe, I don’t know if her silent partner might pay for fees etc.) When I learned that only 20% was given back to charity, I knew that this job at this company was not for me. I mean come on! These are non profits that need 100 percent of proceeds! Its very disgusting how this company works. Also, this ‘business’ has not motivation or team meetings or any kind of meetings to boost up their performance. How do I know? The person I shadowed told me so.
After looking at the people who responded, it definetly seemed that they were not making money in the right way. It seemed as if their business was standing behind the front of helping people, and using people’s willingness to help to turn into a profit for themselves. What does that do for our communities? What does it do to the people working for that company? The underlying thing here is, if they are using peoples good will of donating and helping out to force the purchase of products, then don’t initially reveal that only 20% of the purchase is going towards the charity like CPEA, how efficient and helpful is that to the community?
I get really passionate about issues and scams like these, that profit off of peoples willingness to help each other out. Definatly don’t support company’s like this. There are resources out there to clairify whether a Charity is out there for the greater good, or if they are there to make a buck off of you. Here is a popular link:
http://www.charitynavigator.org/
If you also ever have an interview for a Multi Level Marketing company, research them on google and find out what they area really about. In finishing up with what Peter said in his post:
All in all, it seemed like working for this company would only give bad karma by lying to consumers and suck them out of their money and give less to the charity that needs more. As I learned, many of the workers there are not college graduates…if they were college graduates they would have known all operations of BUSINESS ETHICS!
Now, Frank has to go back on Tuesday, July 10th. What should he do? Frank is really mad that he got talked into free labor and scamming people for their money. Should he show up to work and inform his co workers of whats really going on? Should he call them up and say Fuck You I quit? What do you think? Have you had a similar experience? I am going to contact CBS 5 and their 30 minutes Bay Area section and have them do a full blown investigation on these type of marketing companies and especially the ones that fall in the guise of helping people. This is not right at all!
July 10th, 2007 at 8:14 am
Hello.
Thanks for quoting me. I forgot to say one more thing. They are not allowed to take donations under $10. Now if they were representing any charity, especially charities that large, they would have accepted any penny given to them. But as it turns out they need to hand the donator something—but its only so that they can get commission since their shirts are 10. Do the math and you will see that charity will only get 2 dollars out of the 10 dollar minimum of donation.
Sad, but true. I hope Frank does not take that job. I suggest hey try getting a job with google, I hear that they are looking for new employees especially with their new purchase of Postini.
July 13th, 2007 at 7:30 am
[...] 5th Dimensions Promotionz (scam?) By djrayz I get really passionate about issues and scams like these, that profit off of peoples willingness to help each other out. Definatly don’t support company’s like this. There are resources out there to clairify whether a Charity is out … RaYz Blizzog - http://www.djrayz.com [...]
July 15th, 2007 at 12:56 am
Yeah that frank is an idiot. Lol j/k thats me if no one knows. Yeah i fell for it but thanks to Dj rayz i wont have to go to jail for blowing up their building. For everyone else i recommend staying educated and dont be afraid to ask questions if things dont seem right. Its also nice to have friends who help you see things that you might not. =D
August 10th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
I had the same experience and I did feel like an idiot. I feel even worse now that I read these responses. I felt that 5th Dimension was sketchy from the beginning but at the time, I was so desperate for a job right out of college that I was just excited for anything. After the day of free labor, I decided that I didn’t wanna do it because no matter how much they sold the position to me, they still couldn’t disguise that this job sucks and you basically don’t get paid unless you sell. By the way, they say you’re interviewing with the manager “Lindsey” but there’s two ppl there who are “managers” and who both conduct interviews and both are named “Lindsey.” It’s probably just their generic name.
September 27th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
DJ Rayz you rock homie!!! The people who perform due diligence before going to one of those interviews will worship you (including me, I was about to get suckered in but I decided to google it and found your blog- Thank GOD)!
March 4th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Hey, thank you so much for posting your site. It saved me from going to this bogus first “interview”. I had the same thing happen to me, but sketchy things started happening before I even made the interview.
I sent my resume in on Saturday and got a response at 8:23pm on Monday night telling me to call for my preliminary. Who the hell is at work at 8:23 at night, less looking over interviewees resumes?? That was the first sketch thing I noticed.
Then around 11:45am Tuesday morning, I recieved a call from “Karen” wanting to schedule my interview. What company, who is not desperate for employees, calls YOU to make an interview? NONE, thats who. They want you to fight for that position- they’re not just going to hand it to you. So Karen tells me that the “superiors” have reviewed my resume and are astounded at all my work experience…blahdy blahdy blah. Makes my interview for 4pm Wednesday afternoon with Lindsay, says she’ll “be nice” and stay late, until 4:15 that way I dont have to leave so early from my full time job to make the interview.
At this point, I’m jazzed that I booked this so quick and tell my bff who is immediately skeptical. She gets on the net and pulls up all these damn sites about what a scam this all is, and yours sealed the deal. Everything your friend Frank said was exactly what they told me. VERBATUM. This place is a fucking scam, sorry for cursing on your page, and I hope that anyone who books an interview is smart enough to research the CO before arriving.
The Better Business Bureau doesn’t even list them as a business. They are an “affiliate”, whatever the hell that means, and they are not listed as marketing- they’re listed as “Securtiy”. This is bogus, and now I’m upset because they have all my info from my resume. Your friend should do exactly what Im going to do- not show up, and tell them to F-off. These people should be shot for scamming people who actually want to do some good in the world. All I have to say is KARMA’S A BITCH.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Thank you for all the info. I just set up an interview for Mon with Lindsey that I will now be cancelling.
June 13th, 2008 at 6:49 am
Thanks guys, I got the same E-mail, and I live in Las Vegas! -so I was going to fly down for the interview, but I’m glad I showed due diligence and checked it out first.
The bottom has fell out the job market in Las Vegas, and I hadn’t had a full time job in 8 months.
But just because we are unemployed, or underemployed doesn’t mean we are stupid!
Watch out for predators in all things.
Good luck to All
Tonyd
June 15th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Thank god I found your website. I went to an interview last Friday and “Lindsey” called me back an hr later congradualating me because they wanted me back for 2nd interview. Thank god I didn’t go…. I would just feel really bad for these charities and free labor just sucks ass. I hope their “business” goes down. I HATE these scams… i’m def going to follow up with their stupid company. Thanks again!
June 16th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I too had scheduled a bogus interview that I now will not be attending, thanks for the info.
Ms. Lindsay must make a living from operating this scam of recent college grads that
are gung ho and willing to partake in the sketchy operations to possibly land their first
break. People like those at 5th Dimension marketing and promotions should be taken
out to a remote locale, blindfolded and ———————–(fill in the blank, I was thinkin
shot, but I encourage you to be more creative!) Thanks a million for the heads up, It
saved me the time,money and frustration of playing into the scam. Peace to all, Late…..
July 18th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
oh my god, i have an interview this Monday. they actually told me to come down today but i was not free. so what does this mean? this company is a fake?? and that i shouldn’t go??
July 18th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
thank you djrayz. i won’t be going for that horrible interview. i think people need to be wary about all companies that function using the PYRAMID SCHEME. this is different from the pyramid SYSTEM. The pyramid system is how most companies function as a hierachy, boss on top etc. however, pyramid scheme is when you basically get money for enrolling other people into the scheme. and this is not advisable.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
I had almost the same experience… I went to my first interview and did the whole “free labor” thing- which i was told i was getting paid for (and didnt). At the end of the day I had to answer 2 quetsions- 1.Why did I want to work there and 2.What makes me a good candidate for a job. Well after thinking of only 2 out of 5 reasons on why I wanted a job there- my interviewer went back into the office and came out a few minutes later saying that they were sure I was a good candidate- ha ha i am the most outgoing and friendly person I know so I didnt really get it- so I BSed a few reasons and before I knew it I got the job! I started a couple days later- 7:45 am to 6:30 pm… The morning starts off with some “team building” exercise and then a meeting- then you are whisked away to your location where you are forced to talk to everyone that walks by- I was in the cosmetics and Operation Smile part of the business… So it was fun playin with the make-up- but after about 2 weeks of saying the same f-ing thing over and over to people and getting rejected and knowing that I had to make X amount a day made me not want to come back… So I made up some lie and told them that I could no longer come in… They refused to send me my paycheck so i had to drive the 45 min to go pick it up! and then they even forgot to give me one of my checks so i had to go back a few days later and get it… everyone there was nice and fun- but standing for 8 hours a day outside of Supercuts in South San Jose wasnt for me- this company definately gives out false addvertising when it says that it is a “promotion” company… Work for it if you like standing around repeating yourself 1000 times a day!
September 4th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Okay. you people are idiots. the company is NOT a scam. there are over a hundred offices all over the country running the same kind of business model for years. if it was a scam..it really would take thousands of people all over the country to fool ONE person. you guys are smart. and just because a company works a little differently than what you’re USED to. it does not mean its skeptical. open your eyes a little bit maybe thats why you’re unemployed to begin with. cause the corporate world laid you off! Another thing to point out; 5% goes directly back to charity. reason why 100% does not go back is because we are not the DIRECT charity. we just fund raise for them. without our help they wouldn’t be a nationwide campaign today. i met hillary sessions herself [founder of CPEA] and she is grateful for the amount of $ we give them. So be a little bit appreciative that some people out there ARE working hard and doing something good at the same time, and not just scamming people. because it says on the back on the receipt that 5% goes directly back to people. You people are so close minded.