2/4/2010 12:34 PM (PST)

From what you have described, this "fragrance sales opportunity" doesn't smell so good. My guess is that during the second round they will ask you to front some money for training or initial inventory something. This is a red flag for a scam. At a minimum the people and situation sounds very unprofessional andI would not go any further with them.

Did you fill out an application that asked for stuff like social security number, etc?

2/26/2010 3:49 PM (PST)

Ok first of all let me introduce myself. My name is mike brown and that business you are talking about was my business. That gentleman u were referring to was myself. What we do in this company is I teach you how to run a business from the ground up. Now anyone with a business mind knows learning how to run any kind of business you have to learn the marketing aspect of the business. Now once you complete my training program I put you into business for FREE. Not only do I put you into business for no money at all, but I then become an adviser for you so I can help and make sure your business gets up and going and you start making money for yourself.

Second of all. BBB expert is an idiot for even saying anything about my company. The BBB has called me three times now offering to represent my company and I have said no three time because I don't want my company on the Internet. Why? So I don't have idiot like this guy scamming other people out of a great opportunity. Let me tell everyone something; I am 21 years old, no college education, I have a record and in 9 1/2 months I made 113k in this company and I am on track to make even more this year. A job is a scam and any successful person will tell you the same thing. A job is just over broke. When you apply for a job, you are renting your self out, you are applying to be someone's bitch. I give ppl an opportunity to go into business for them selves regardless of their history.

\the only scam I see here is you BBB expert because you just scammed this woman out of a great opportunity to make some real money for her self. All she would of had to do was work hard for a little bit with a great attitude.

by the way; the reason I did your guys interview in the receptionist room was because my other partner was doing interviews and the people in the training program were about to come back and I needed to get you guys out of there. We made an executive decision. My advice for anyone who reads this is stay away from the Internet and asking them for advice about company. Grow a pair and find out for yourself. Most of the time its not the company that doesn't work, its you who didn't work.

4/1/2010 11:42 AM (PST)

Needless to say, this sounds like a scam. But yet again, I too went through the process of the first interview with a scheduled second interview for the following week, Manda (the person who is asking the question) was very accurate while describing her experience. Im actually supposed to attend the second interview today in 40 minutes but after getting some information from MIKE BROWN, I have decided NOT to attend. I must point out that the interviewer, his name is Gabriel, was very professional and I believe I was to blame for not asking for specification about duties and responsibilities that came with the job. As for the job posting in craigslist, it is very unprofessional to put up an ad for employment and describe it as a 9-5, entry level management job when that will really not be the case. I strongly believe that this is falsely advertised because it may be the only way to have people attend their meetings. MIKE BROWN was honest enough to say that he has a record and it was hard for him to find employment opportunities, that is appreciated MIKE. I apologize ahead of time for judging but Gabriel himself had a thuggish appearance himself. But as I mentioned before, Gabriel was very professional during the interview. About having a record, it is understandable. Although I have not been in that situation, i currently find myself in a situation in which it is hard for me to find a job. I recently graduated from college and my dream is to practice architecture but the economy has taken a toll on the industry and my dream is being put on hold and that is why i was looking into other things to keep myself occupied while things pick up. In conclusion, this is probably not the job that these people are trying to make it look like but it might be a legitimate opportunity who knows, I wont know because i chose not to go any further (no regrets). But i do have a bit of advise for the people behind the company, on your ads, be straight forward about the employment specifications. Im sure there are many people interested in the services you guys provide. Good luck with all of those who choose to go further with the company, im sure it has its positives.

4/20/2010 9:52 PM (PST)

I myself worked at this company for quite some time, and i can honestly say that it was the biggest waste of time. You don't make any money, if anything you will make about $20 a week, and that's if you are lucky. The money that you do end up making is spent on other peoples gas, because what the job entails is that you go from shopping center, to gas stations, to some very unsafe neighborhoods in order to sell your cologne and perfume.You are basically just selling perfume on the street for about 8 hours a day, and you aren't getting paid at all for it.The only way that you will see any money is if you sell your bottles for a high price, so that you get commission for your sale . You will soon be taught "how to make money on the field" and basically what this means is that you are practically begging people for money or as they would call it "asking for tips." This job is embarrassing, and degrading if you're a female you are basically just being harassed all day by random people, and later on your "boss" will tell you to use your looks to your advantage. I had friends that were about 2 weeks away from opening their offices, and at the last minute they would get fired for no reason. The money part sounds great when you hear it, but what they don't tell you is how long you are actually going to have to stay in their "training program". When they introduce you to the program, they tell you that it will take you about 6-8 weeks to be done with it. This is completely false, most people are in that training program for about 6-8 months. Just ask MIKE how long it took him to get out of it. Can you imagine not making any money for 6-8 months? and you are working literally 7 days a week, and more than 8 hours a day. Even on the weekends you still need to work, and you don't get any days off. Basically this job will leave you even more broke than you already were.

4/20/2010 9:56 PM (PST)

Hi I would like to state that I worked at this so called business for several months and learned that SBS management is total bull****!!! If your one of the so called "lucky ones" who get hired on you will realize that all the workers there including the owners will soon call you an FNP, wat is an FNP you may ask, it stands for a F****** NEW PERSON if you do not believe me work there for a week and go to the Monday meeting and the opening sentence will be "Congrats!!! You are no longer f****** new people you are now considered OLD DOGS" said from the mouth of mike brown himself. in this business you will have to sell fragrances to people in the street. When in the interview mike would mention that there is no set paycheck meaning that they do not pay you. The way you earn your money in this job is either selling your bottles of fragrances for high than $20 or asking for tips which is basically begging random people that you talk to for a dollar or two. further more, while I was working there the owners would talk about receiving a Christmas bonus. Mike said he was gonna buy a new Chevy camero by the time it was January 2010, he said it was goanna be black on black but when I drive by there every morning all I see is his bucket ass black Honda civic. Hey mike you said u made 113k last year then wtf happened to your camero [expletitive removed]!

6/15/2010 2:09 PM (PST)

I found this website while sitting in the waiting room. I usually always google company's before I interview with them but I couldn't understand what the name of the company was when speaking on the phone. I had my first interview with Gabriel. it was 4 of us girls in the waiting room, he came out about 20 minutes after set interview time and said "due to time constraints, we're gonna do 2 at a time" so he takes me and another girl, D, in his office. he sits there and tells us how long time ago, Larry Hahn made this company (find more info here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scentura) and through the years, he started only strictly selling fragrances/perfumes. how after 60-90 days of training, you will have a base pay of 30k a year (575 or so a week), but until then there is no base pay but you can make money through "bonuses" and such. the ad they posted on craigslist said they were looking for receptionist and entry level management. I told Gabriel I was interested in the receptionist position only, he told me it was about 8/8.50 an hour. he asked where I saw myself in 5 years, describe myself in 1 or 2 words, rate my people skills and rate my self confidence. he then told us that the next interview on thursday was 2-3 hours long, more formal etc. bottom line: this is a joke, there is no base pay for 2-3 months at least while you train with them, and when you do finally get the chance to make money you are out in walmart parking lots trying to get people to come over and look at your trunk perfume collection. they will give you 10 bottles, say "we want 20 bucks a bottle" so if you sell the bottles for 30 bucks each, you give them 200 and you keep 100. mind you, these are knock off perfumes. it's a disgrace that they advertise this as something more stable rather than a hustling scam. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scentura read this, this is their company under another name

6/23/2010 4:38 PM (PST)

SBS Management opened me in about 8 weeks. Why? I worked hard and got through training quickly. The biggest reason I got through it in 8 weeks was because I SHOWED UP EVERYDAY. Training took some of the malcontents 6-8months because they didn't show up. They always had something else to do. It actually was more like, they didn't feel like waking up early and working all day. They rather drink and do drugs with their friends talking about nothing. I have an idea of who these people are. They were fired because they couldn't handle dealing with inventory(they kept winding up with missing merchandise. We found out they were stealing it. They stole about $3000 worth of merchandise in a 2 month period.) and still after 6months couldn't show up everyday. Who in the world will give you a branch if you can't even show up everyday. Honestly, if you expect an office after only showing up 3 days a week you're crazy. Unfortunately I can't confirm who these people are because they cowardly hid behind internet. So until they show their true identity, I won't either. HERE IS THE SCOOP FOR THOSE WHO REALLY WANT AN HONEST ANSWER TO THE ABOVE QUESTION: It is not a scam. Mainly because a scam requires you to take money from a customer and not follow through with what you said you were going to do. First off, Mike, Gabe, nor Katrina, never asked me for money. Not one cent. Second, I opened up an office in 8 weeks. Mike clearly explains that you have to learn to do sales. Now some people go out and do what's called person to person. I find that to be a little odd for me. So I chose to work business to business. Just like the copy machine guy who comes to my office with his suit and tie every week. But that's only part of training. You also have to learn how to deal with people that you work with. You have to learn how to run meetings, so basically public speaking. You have to learn how handle money and budget your office. You need to learn how to deal with inventory. It's not just working the field. The field is only PART of the business. Lastly, Lindsay L. posted a link from wikipedia. Does everyone realize wikipedia is basically a forum as well. In other words, random people from the internet can just write whatever they like and post a broken link as proof and it gets approved. Look for yourself. The links on the bottom that serve as proof are almost all broken or lead to ripoffreport.com. ripoffreport.com is an extortion scheme. Check this out: www.ezripofflawsuit.com and reportsripoff.com Scentura isn't the only one they tried to extort. Wikipedia has been called false too on USA TODAY. Much more reputable than any local newspaper who will do anything for a story since most of them are going out of business. http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-11-29-wikipedia-edit_x.htm There is no regulation for this type of stuff yet. It's a shame. So that's why you should take advice from the first response.

10/25/2010 4:07 PM (PST)

So, I got a call from said, Gabriel. I admit I was excited but still a little apprehensive since it is not usual to get a call back so quickly from a possible employer. Anyway, decided to do a little research on SBS. Especially, because that is what an intelligent person does before going to an interview...and I found this website! All I have to say is, I'm not wasting my time with this "company". Something told me it was a tad odd to be getting two confirming calls before an interview. Oh well, I'd rather be safe than get sucked into a situation that would not benefit me in anyway. Peace and good luck to all you job seekers out there!

2/3/2011 9:57 PM (PST)

This company will do everything they say they will do. I went through training in another office. But I have met Mike and Katrina many times and they do one of the best jobs in the company. The company has been around for 35 years, and they are currently expanding. The office may not be the best looking office in the world, but it is what is done in the location. I would highly recommend someone to get started and take the training all the way. When you get through training they WILL PROMOTE YOU!!! And there is so much room for growth.

6/18/2011 8:27 AM (PST)

Can ANYONE show me the location or a person who got to the end and opened up their own store like Mike promises will happen?

For those who think it's NOT a SCAM...I challenge you to re-educate yourself on the definition of "scam". Just because they don't want YOUR money doesn't mean they're not using you in a dishonest manner for their own profit.

Up until the 2nd interview they say there are two positions available. Entry-level management AND Clerical. There is NO clerical position. Once you get to the 2nd interview you realize there is only one path you can take. And that's through their "four phases" of training. Honesty is NOT putting an ad out that says "Office Help" and then surprising you with something completely different once you get there.

In the 2nd interview, it gets weird! You're in uncomfortable chairs which he explains is to keep you attentive (I've heard that before, OK)...BUT then half way through the 3 hours, Mike says "just give me 10 more minutes"...Half hour later "just give me a couple more minutes" but he goes on for much longer. (I was thinking, someone with poor time management skills is not someone I want to work for) At this point he goes into the legitimacy of his business. Telling everyone to research him and what they'll expect to find online, such as this site (Now I'm thinking he's rambling and/or being defensive). I believe he purposefully wants to keep you there for a very long time in a very uncomfortable setting so you'll want to get out ASAP at the end. He doesn't let you sleep on the "job offer". He asks, "You in or out. Yes or no?" "save questions for the end" and by the then you're dying to get out and your thoughts maybe jumbled from being in the uncomfortable situation. He also tries to keep your mind occupied with what he's saying and not thinking for yourself. He asks A LOT of unneccesary questions, One that stood out "how many months in a year?" while he was doing some math..things like that are ODD.


THIS IS NOT A JOB INTERVIEW. IT IS A SALES PITCH.

Poor Mike spent an hour trying to reassure us that his company is legit. The whole time I was thinking "get on with the other information, I can research you myself".

If you find yourself thinking compared to the rest of the people in there that you're overqualified and the best one of the bunch (or one of the best) then you're too smart to fall for this. They'll call anyone back for the 2nd interview because they want to interview as many people as possible. They know most people will not return. They want people who are desperate for a job. People with criminal records or haven't been able to find work for whatever reason. They also interview you (1st interview) with other canidates at the same time to control you. That way you're concerned with your competition and less likely to speak up and ask questions. Has anyone been interviewed by themself? They tell you it could be that way, but at the last second they inform you of the

6/18/2011 8:31 AM (PST)

change. I believe this is dishonest as well. They want to have 2 or more at a time, every time.

I would expect a successful company would have a nicer office as well. Maybe I'm wrong and they are successful...So then they don't know what makes a good impression on prospective employees, nor do they CARE.

If I ever see one of those people again I'm going to hurl the nearest, heaviest thing in their direction for lying to me and wasting my time. Please don't waste yours!