There are so many things wrong with this ""company"" that I don't even know where to begin. This place should be shut down. It is the closest thing to a cult (an illegal one at that) I have ever come into contact with.
To start with, please be aware that this place functions under SEVERAL different names. UGK Advertising is the one I got roped into, but they also answer as BTC Marketing Group, and Lone Star Something (I heard the receptionist answer the phone using at least three different names.) I had applied to both BTC and UGK, unaware of the connection, and thankfully realized that BTC was a total scam thanks to this website. So you can imagine how I felt when I went to my interview with UGK and saw ""BTC Marketing"" and ""Texas Marketing Consultants"" written on the door. I almost walked away, but I had already driven an hour to get to my initial interview, so I figured I would give it a shot.
The entire process, to anyone with any experience in the professional world whatsoever, should seem a little off. You get a call from a cell phone with a non-Texas area code (Connecticut, I think), followed by instant and automated text messages and emails. This seemed odd. I checked out the website countless times and still had no clue whatsoever what exactly the company did. They use lots of vague language and claim to be a ""marketing firm"" that serves Fortune 500 companies and does all these wonderful things. However, you'll notice that every aspect of the website seems to be addressing potential applicants, not the so-called Fortune 500 companies they claim to serve. Another red flag.
I waited in an office with about four other people while I filled out a ""First Interview Form."" All the while, the secretary is making phone calls about every five minutes saying the same thing: ""This is Madison from BTC/UGK/Lone Star Marketing. We received your resume and I just had a few questions and wanted to set up an interview."" Another red flag. I even made a comment to her about it and she said, ""Don't tell anyone I told you this, but they pretty much hire everybody."" At this point I blame my own stupidity for continuing this ridiculous process. My interview was an hour later than its scheduled time, I was interviewed for about ten minutes which consisted mostly of the manager (Sergio) drawing a chart of how quickly you can advance. He never asked where I went to school, what I studied, etc. When I asked direct questions about pay, salary, training, and what EXACTLY my job responsibilities would be, he gave either extremely vague and completely dishonest descriptions or told me I would have all my questions answered during my second interview the next day.
Again, at this point I can only blame myself for continuing because I knew how suspicious this was. However I couldn't find any kind of scam reports about UGK and only one for BTC so in the back of my mind in my desperate job search, I thought I might be being too skeptical. I was wrong. I drove back the next day for my second ""interview"" which wasn't actually an interview at all. Instead, I saw some familiar faces that had also returned. We waited about 45 minutes while the entire office blasted hip hop music and shouted and chanted weird things in the conference room, then were teamed up with our ""trainers"", crammed ourselves into a car, and went to Sonic to eat. I thought it was odd that I had to pay for my own meal. My trainer talked about doing drugs the majority of the time, and then I find out that HE is the one leading a ""business trip"" the following week and how he was going to get ""turned up"" with all the weed and alcohol he wouold be bringing. While at Sonic, he even approached some kid that looked like he was sixteen trying to convince him to apply for the job.
After lunch, we arrive at a gated apartment complex with a huge sign that says ""NO SOLICITING."" I asked him about it and he said, ""Yeah, sometimes the cops come. You just have to lie and say that you're informing customers of construction work that AT&T is doing in the area."" Yes, a TOTAL LIE. It is amazing what brainwashing can do to these people that seemed to have no problem lying and manipulating me, customers, and the police. We manage to get in after a while because another car pulled up, he drops a scared girl off, says ""good luck"", and we leave and proceed to go to a neighborhood where we park, and do nothing but go door to door (making three rounds at least), trying to convince people to get AT&T U-Verse. He even presented himself as the ""Account Manager at AT&T."" I was shocked. We spent about six hours there, got ONE sale from an elderly woman who seemed too confused to know what was going on, then left , picked up the girl from the apartments, who was left COMPLETELY ALONE with no way out and no vehicle that entire time, and returned for my ""third interview."" Not only was what they did ILLEGAL (Does ""No Soliciting"" mean nothing to them?) but it is DANGEROUS. What if someone had hurt that girl? What if she had an emergency and needed to get out? Completely unacceptable.
It gets interesting here. I was asked to fill out a ""Third Interview"" Questionnaire which includes a question about when you can start. I was 95% sure that this was a total scam and waste of time, but not wanting to completely eliminate it for fear that that 5% was me being too skeptical, I said I could start the following week. Any real and respectable company would have no problem with this. However, my trainer pulls me to the side (ALL the trainers did this to the applicants by the way - it's all planned to manipulate peole into starting immediately and convincing them their position is that important) and tells me that if I can't start tomorrow that might be a make-or-break thing and that the managers weren't even going to consier giving me a third interview since they had already interviewed and hired seven other people that day. I was so pressured that I just said, ""Sure, tomorrow is fine."" I was then promptly given a third interview, similar to the first. The only real answer I got was that it is 100% commission, followed by some spiel about how in no time I'll be an owner making $10,000 a week, etc. I was offered the job, but obviously didn't take it. To be honest, I was just curious what the hell these guys would have to say for themselves.
I am glad I went through the entire process, though, for the sake of anyone that is thinking about applying. Please do not even THINK about going to the first interview, or applying at all for that matter. From the second you walk in the door, they will start their cult-like brainwashing on you. Hell, they almost got ME, and I'd like to think I'm a pretty smart guy. They have loud parties where they chant and play games and blast music before and after they do their door-to-door ""field work"", go bowling or do karaoke or something like that every Thursday for ""Team Night"", and truly have everyone convinced that they are working for a fantastic company. They don't realize that this upward mobility will come to an abrupt end, the firm will be discovered for what it is, relocate, and change their names. They JUST moved from Connecticut to Houston, for example, and took some of the staff (including my trainer) with them. These brainwashed people are uprooting their lives for a company that in my opinion, is basically a pyramid scheme. But EVERY PERSON there has these Stepford Wife smiles and overly energetic attitudes about the company because they truly believe it is legitimate. It is terrible.
To anyone considering applying: PLEASE take this warning. If you have been a victim of this company, SPEAK UP and let people know what this place is all about. You won't get ANY marketing or advertising experience. You will knock on doors, work twelve hour days, and then move up where your job is to lure in people like myself and try to brainwash them too. DON'T let them get away with it.
UGK Advertising Reviews
There are so many things wrong with this ""company"" that I don't even know where to begin. This place should be shut down. It is the closest thing to a cult (an illegal one at that) I have ever come into contact with.
To start with, please be aware that this place functions under SEVERAL different names. UGK Advertising is the one I got roped into, but they also answer as BTC Marketing Group, and Lone Star Something (I heard the receptionist answer the phone using at least three different names.) I had applied to both BTC and UGK, unaware of the connection, and thankfully realized that BTC was a total scam thanks to this website. So you can imagine how I felt when I went to my interview with UGK and saw ""BTC Marketing"" and ""Texas Marketing Consultants"" written on the door. I almost walked away, but I had already driven an hour to get to my initial interview, so I figured I would give it a shot.
The entire process, to anyone with any experience in the professional world whatsoever, should seem a little off. You get a call from a cell phone with a non-Texas area code (Connecticut, I think), followed by instant and automated text messages and emails. This seemed odd. I checked out the website countless times and still had no clue whatsoever what exactly the company did. They use lots of vague language and claim to be a ""marketing firm"" that serves Fortune 500 companies and does all these wonderful things. However, you'll notice that every aspect of the website seems to be addressing potential applicants, not the so-called Fortune 500 companies they claim to serve. Another red flag.
I waited in an office with about four other people while I filled out a ""First Interview Form."" All the while, the secretary is making phone calls about every five minutes saying the same thing: ""This is Madison from BTC/UGK/Lone Star Marketing. We received your resume and I just had a few questions and wanted to set up an interview."" Another red flag. I even made a comment to her about it and she said, ""Don't tell anyone I told you this, but they pretty much hire everybody."" At this point I blame my own stupidity for continuing this ridiculous process. My interview was an hour later than its scheduled time, I was interviewed for about ten minutes which consisted mostly of the manager (Sergio) drawing a chart of how quickly you can advance. He never asked where I went to school, what I studied, etc. When I asked direct questions about pay, salary, training, and what EXACTLY my job responsibilities would be, he gave either extremely vague and completely dishonest descriptions or told me I would have all my questions answered during my second interview the next day.
Again, at this point I can only blame myself for continuing because I knew how suspicious this was. However I couldn't find any kind of scam reports about UGK and only one for BTC so in the back of my mind in my desperate job search, I thought I might be being too skeptical. I was wrong. I drove back the next day for my second ""interview"" which wasn't actually an interview at all. Instead, I saw some familiar faces that had also returned. We waited about 45 minutes while the entire office blasted hip hop music and shouted and chanted weird things in the conference room, then were teamed up with our ""trainers"", crammed ourselves into a car, and went to Sonic to eat. I thought it was odd that I had to pay for my own meal. My trainer talked about doing drugs the majority of the time, and then I find out that HE is the one leading a ""business trip"" the following week and how he was going to get ""turned up"" with all the weed and alcohol he wouold be bringing. While at Sonic, he even approached some kid that looked like he was sixteen trying to convince him to apply for the job.
After lunch, we arrive at a gated apartment complex with a huge sign that says ""NO SOLICITING."" I asked him about it and he said, ""Yeah, sometimes the cops come. You just have to lie and say that you're informing customers of construction work that AT&T is doing in the area."" Yes, a TOTAL LIE. It is amazing what brainwashing can do to these people that seemed to have no problem lying and manipulating me, customers, and the police. We manage to get in after a while because another car pulled up, he drops a scared girl off, says ""good luck"", and we leave and proceed to go to a neighborhood where we park, and do nothing but go door to door (making three rounds at least), trying to convince people to get AT&T U-Verse. He even presented himself as the ""Account Manager at AT&T."" I was shocked. We spent about six hours there, got ONE sale from an elderly woman who seemed too confused to know what was going on, then left , picked up the girl from the apartments, who was left COMPLETELY ALONE with no way out and no vehicle that entire time, and returned for my ""third interview."" Not only was what they did ILLEGAL (Does ""No Soliciting"" mean nothing to them?) but it is DANGEROUS. What if someone had hurt that girl? What if she had an emergency and needed to get out? Completely unacceptable.
It gets interesting here. I was asked to fill out a ""Third Interview"" Questionnaire which includes a question about when you can start. I was 95% sure that this was a total scam and waste of time, but not wanting to completely eliminate it for fear that that 5% was me being too skeptical, I said I could start the following week. Any real and respectable company would have no problem with this. However, my trainer pulls me to the side (ALL the trainers did this to the applicants by the way - it's all planned to manipulate peole into starting immediately and convincing them their position is that important) and tells me that if I can't start tomorrow that might be a make-or-break thing and that the managers weren't even going to consier giving me a third interview since they had already interviewed and hired seven other people that day. I was so pressured that I just said, ""Sure, tomorrow is fine."" I was then promptly given a third interview, similar to the first. The only real answer I got was that it is 100% commission, followed by some spiel about how in no time I'll be an owner making $10,000 a week, etc. I was offered the job, but obviously didn't take it. To be honest, I was just curious what the hell these guys would have to say for themselves.
I am glad I went through the entire process, though, for the sake of anyone that is thinking about applying. Please do not even THINK about going to the first interview, or applying at all for that matter. From the second you walk in the door, they will start their cult-like brainwashing on you. Hell, they almost got ME, and I'd like to think I'm a pretty smart guy. They have loud parties where they chant and play games and blast music before and after they do their door-to-door ""field work"", go bowling or do karaoke or something like that every Thursday for ""Team Night"", and truly have everyone convinced that they are working for a fantastic company. They don't realize that this upward mobility will come to an abrupt end, the firm will be discovered for what it is, relocate, and change their names. They JUST moved from Connecticut to Houston, for example, and took some of the staff (including my trainer) with them. These brainwashed people are uprooting their lives for a company that in my opinion, is basically a pyramid scheme. But EVERY PERSON there has these Stepford Wife smiles and overly energetic attitudes about the company because they truly believe it is legitimate. It is terrible.
To anyone considering applying: PLEASE take this warning. If you have been a victim of this company, SPEAK UP and let people know what this place is all about. You won't get ANY marketing or advertising experience. You will knock on doors, work twelve hour days, and then move up where your job is to lure in people like myself and try to brainwash them too. DON'T let them get away with it.