ProAudioStar reviews

No upward mobility; no org structure or any meaningful management structure; no HR or meaningful HR policies; what management does exist will take advantage of employees abilities and willingness to work or improve processes with no rewards via title changes, compensation increase, etc; sales records keeping raised a lot of questions.

The basic business model at this company is to advertise used products that don't actually exist so that they can get around the manufactures MAP (minimum advertised price). The basic sales tactic goes like this: The customer sees a used item they are shopping for. They call or chat to ask about the condition. Then the sales rep offers them a "new" guitar for a slightly higher price. This is called the "Bstock Hustle" and it takes up around 85% of their total sales. (Just look at the website and you can confirm this for yourself) The company itself is very small (less than 20 total employees) and you work directly for the owner. The tech/web/marketing staff are a 3rd party company that are located in India and you never work directly with them. All the warehousing and returns are done by a 3rd party company in Virginia that you also don't work with directly. There is no HR and there is no real management. 8-10 sales and customer service. 1-2 "managers" 4- buyers. 2 accountants. The jobs that are advertised here are entry level phone and chat jobs with customers. The company is always very understaffed and there is never enough people to answer the phones so the role that most people fill right away is handling up to 50%+ of the companies calls. This is typically required due to the existing employees burnout. In fact the only reason for hiring new employees typically is due to the burnout of the existing ones. Everyone in sales and customer service is required to work phones and emails at least one weekend a month. Making a 12 day work schedule without a day off likely. I worked for this company for 8 years and I saw hundreds of people come and go. Most get fired or quit. The advertised pay is misleading. Of the 20 employees at this job there are only around 4-5 making around 70k. Everyone else there is making hourly at $25. The starting pay they will offer you to answer the phone is $20 per hour with a promise of $25 after a probationary period. To get a raise or a promotion you deal directly with the owner. I almost never saw this happen and in the rare times that it did it almost wasn't worth it to have to argue your value to the guy who is writing the check. There is no growth in this company. In fact when I started it had 40 or more employees and when I left it had 18. The culture and basic operations come directly as a result of the personality of the owner. Phrases like "shoot from the hip" or "always believes the last person he spoke to" are accurate. He is an emotional boss and would prefer people to be high energy rather than thoughtful or mindful with there tasks. His emotional state is directly tied into the companies profits on a daily or weekly basis. If something happens that makes him lose money his reaction is predictably negative and he will often make it a point to micro manage aspects of the company to make himself feel more in control. He is prone to retaliation which can include sudden removal of $bonuses or sudden additional job requirements. The owners background is in acting and started the company by selling speakers on eBay. The company still has a large presence on eBay and it is an example of its total lack of growth. When people describe a dead end job I think Proaudiostar is a very accurate example. There are no middle position for employees to transfer to. (You can ask this question in the interview if you don't believe me.) So (as a means to an end) it can be a job that works for someone who lives in NYC but it will only be a temporary means to an end. I very much regretted giving this company any more than a year of my life and I came out of it much worse than I could of expected. There are almost no transferable skills that you can use to move your career forward. There are no opportunities for promotion that would look attractive on a resume. If you do end up working for Proaudiostar I would highly recommend that you continue your job search to find a company that has more to offer you in the long term.