Playfair & Co. Marketing Review

This place is terrible. They don't provide a base wage because they claim that their employees are sub-contractors. This company is a sham. Their owner/boss doesn't care about the welfare of his employers and neither do some of the managers, DO NOT WORK HERE!

EDIT: I'll give some credit to the company owner by creating a very clever business scheme. You avoid any illegal activity by posing your employees as independent contractors to justify not paying a base wage. Because of this lack of base wage, employees have to relentlessly push customers to buy what they're selling in order to gain an income.

If you're ok with not questioning the morality of pressuring people into purchasing things they don't need, then go ahead and work at this company. If you have a set of morals, then don't work here.

Great company, great coaching, great people. I've spent the last 3 years here and it has been the best experience in my proffessional career. The company has taught me so many invaluable skills that I'll have for the rest of my life. Highly recommend

Great people with a wealth of knowledge and experience that help you every step of the way. They provide fantastic coaching and training to not only help you earn a great income, but become a better person.

45 minutes late to the first interview, having several of us receive parking tickets for general incompetence. Two interviews rounds (three hour ramblings x2) on about 'sales and marketing' they deceptively tell you that it's commission based door knocking selling gas with no base salary/hourly rate. They circumvent the illegality of not paying wages by calling workers 'contractors' and not 'employees' and you find this out in an 'oh, by the way...' method at the tail-end of the second interview.

Beyond that, I would recommend sussing out this company if you are a backpacker who is looking for relaxed work whilst looking for opportunity to boost their skills with no long-term commitment, evident by the 95% populace of contractors who emigrated.

The partners and people in the company also seem great. The office was outstanding with views of the entire city located in South Melbourne. But the interview process was borderline disgusting with deceptive interviewing practices.

Summary: Deceptive interviewing practices prying on the job desperate and unaware.
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This is the interview process (I wish I knew beforehand).

1. If you are invited to the first round interview/appointment, I recommend taking public transport as there is 2P ticketed ($7.40) parking out the front and 1P parking around the block ... but the interviewer turned up 45 minutes late and several of us received very expensive parking tickets. You'll fill out details on paper, repeating your resume in handwritten form and then wait.

Then one by one you will go around the table telling your story; your past job experience, who you are, what you like to do etc. essentially conversing one on one with the interviewer with an audience of 16 listening going one by one until everyone has been called up and had their turn. You will be told you will receive a call later that day if you will advance to the second round interview/appointment, and to not feel hard done by if you do not receive that call.

2. If you attend the second round interview/appointment, you will have coffee with a contracted team leader who will run through a booklet with you. This is not one on one, you will be with a handful of other candidates. The team leader(s) will tell you a little about their story and advance to a booklet. You will chronologically run through a booklet with the team leader, explaining the values of the company, the requirements that the company expects from their contractors (i.e. training at the office for an hour before each shift, employee drinks etc) and then you must adhere to the bragging of the companies flexibility, being able to call in as a contractor and say 'nah, I'm doing so and so on Saturday I won't be working.' This is uniform amongst contractors, but this appears to be an odd selling point. Then a run down of the role. You will be door knocking in selected neighbourhoods, or walking from business 2 business or lastly attending special events with the requirement of selling gas.

You will then, for the first time be told that you start at the bottom of the 'contractors' ladder as a contractor, earning a commission rate of $70 per sale of gas with a minimum requirement of ten sales per week. If you sell 10-14, that rate will go up per sale (and so on so on incrementally as you sell more) and the $70 will be forgone for a slightly larger amount. This is when you will understand why you are called a contractor and not an employee, discovering after six/seven hours that you will not receive a base rate.

3. You will then fill out a questionnaire before having a meeting with two people, asking you questions to determine their capabilities in training you for the role. This is not a test of your competencies, but your answers will determine whether a team leader can exert the effort into making you a sales person.

Got all my sales and marketing training here for 12 months and now run offices across New Zealand!

Fantastic learning experience with my time at Playfair & Co.
My sales skills improved second to none with the training these guys offered, along with the in-depth business development meetings we were able to be a part of on a monthly basis has helped me on my own adventures to open up a business.

What a place. Amazing opportunity,
Will meet some off the best and most driven people working here. Flexible schedule & motivating place to work in,
Office in ideal location on the outskirts off Melbourne city
Couldn t recommend it higher
Amazing bunch

Worked for playfair for 6 months to try and cash up over winter so I could travel Australia. Great experience really enjoyed my time here. I had no previous experience in the industry. Great for anyone looking for entry level sales.

Absolutely brilliant company to work for!!!

The Admin team are always happy and cheerful when you walk into the office and very welcoming.

The team always push you to do your best and to achieve your potential.

Over my 7+ months there so far I have learnt a lot and hope to learn a lot more for many years into the future

Great experience with an awesome company, great platform to develop people skills and business experience. Having started as a backpacker I loved this experience. All the guys working there were great. Great mentors and coaches, especially and including Ben the MD

During my time at Playfair have I met so many amazing people and learnt some extremely valuable life skills along the way. A combination of a professional but fun place to work, work hard play hard sort of style, big team culture and willingness to help others!

Door knocking MLM 'marketing company'. Fine line between this business practice and a pyramid scheme. I'd wager the majority of 'contractors' make less than minimum wage, if anything as it's %100 commission based.

Not a 'Marketing' company, just a pyramid scheme.

Response: I overlooked your contract with my partner. As a business owner who works with seek, nab, anz and multi international firms I can see a pyramid scheme from a mile away.

Dont defer a persons "reception" job to your scheme networks and waste job seekers time and money.

Have worked with Ben for over 6 years initially starting in Melbourne before moving to Sydney to set up my business. Excellent business coach and has provided many with great people opportunities across Australia.

Such a great group of people, develop some amazing skills and gain a great understanding of marketing

From the outset i would like to express my concern that like previous poor reviews, the owner will likely dismiss the concerns that have been raised whilst also questioning the authenticity of the review as "YOU ARE NOT IN OUR FILES."

As that is out of the way i will reiterate that this is certainly a pyramid scheme. The interview process is thorough, and from a distance the company looks highly professional with a strong corporate culture.

Taking a closer look however, turnover in the company is extremely high, not because the majority of employees are travellers and have gained skills to work elsewhere; but because of both unkept assurances in conjunction with poor pay. Upon having been given the job, one is told of the bountiful industry to which they have just walked into, but ultimately, without a base salary at all, and representing companies who lack competitiveness in their respective field, the only way to make an average earning is blatantly lying at the expense of the traditional consumer, something that the very senior and high up "contractors" have no problem doing.

additionally, most of the sites to which you will be selling are located at a minimum of 40 minutes by car, which of course, if one chooses to drive, you are not reimbursed for the expenses attributed to the costs of fuel. Moreover, for trips that tend to be longer than 2-3 hours, the company tends to put a group of contractors up in a shared house, which by no surprise, also comes out of your pay.

I have no quarrel with a company whom have self interest prioritised, as for the most part, that is what tends to happen in a highly competitive environment. I do however have a problem when i am not paid my owed amount and have communication terminated solely because i ask for what is rightfully mine. As part of a sales company it is only natural that contractors have a 'bond' which refers to a sum of money taken away from your paycheck in the case of future cancellations from already processed sales. After three months however, a sale is rendered official, and thus, the 33% of the sale negated from your invoice should become absolute. A few colleagues including myself totalled a bond value of significant earnings yet was unable to claim this back due to terminated communication from all employees at the business.

Despite having the power to seek proper renumeration i write this review simply to deter future 'contractors' from considering this role as it will only impact you negatively going forward, an experience i absolutely regret.

In all the positive reviews mentioned on this page i recognised many names of current contractors and executives currently at the office, contributing to this facade of excellence as displayed.

Finally i want to reiterate that this comment will likely be dismissed, covered by an abundance of new comments to avoid negative publicity, or blatantly disregarded for the reason that they have no recollection of my working at the company.

Tim.