Anyone ever hear of M.A.R.S.?

[ragingfish]

M.A.R.S. - Miracle Appearance Reconditioning SpecialistsAnyone have experiences with this company?A brief intro:I didn't really want to publicize it, but I might as well. I walked out on my job on Monday. Won't go into details why, but let's just say that the company and I had irreconciable differences which made working there impossible. So as of Monday, I'm unemployed.I'm working avidly to try and find a job that pays decently - but more importantly - I WILL BE HAPPY AT!I realize now that being happy where I work truly is more important than the money. I have already been offered several restaurant management positions since Monday, but I was so unhappy there before, that even though the salary offers are tempting, I think back to how unhappy I was before and I grow nauseous.So I've posted my resume on the Big 3 (as I call them): Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, and HotJobs.com. CB is the only one really turning in any hits (perhaps because I paid the $100 premium for "increased visibility." )I was emailed tonight by a rep from this M.A.R.S. company saying she felt I was qualified and there are positions available in my area. It's difficult to understand exactly what I'd be doing, but from the looks of it, I would be doing hands-on restoration work with cars. Seems perfect for me! I love working on MY car, why not get paid to do it, right?But it seems kinda TGTBT (to good to be true). So I want to see if any of y'all have heard of - or worked with - one of their franchises or operators. Please provide any feedback you can, and I ask that non-relevant commentary and discussion be left out of this thread.Oh, and please don't ask for any additional details on my departure from my last job. I will not discuss them.Thanks all!

[tnpartsguy]

Mike, do a Better Business Bureau search on them, and if that doesn't give any bad info, don't hesitate to ask them for as much info as they ask from you, up to and including finacial statements.

[AKLGT]

i looked into it and it's a lot of money for what they want you to do. not worth it to me and i passed it up. i make well over what they were "claiming" you COULD make. again, not worth it. however, you could consider service writing or a service advisor as Mav does. and yes, it pays much more than just $9-10/hr. you should PM Mav and talk to him. might be up your alley and you'd probably be very good at it.

[Kari]

I think you'd be great at a dealership as well, as much as you enjoy cars. I don't know anything about MARS but if it's something where you work independently "for" them, my instinct just says to pass that one up...it may be too good to be true.I'm glad you're seeking something you'll be happy at...you deserve it my friend.

[ToolGuy]

Never heard of them and I am in the auto industry. Sounds just like a body shop or detail shop to me and those are a dime a dozen. Sure MARS does other recondition serv but still. I charge my customers $100 to detail their cars inside and out, it is just cash on the side for me though. Check it out thoroughly and do not fall victim to a recruiter/headhunter that is only looking out for themselves! What are their benefits like too? You need to find a job with good bene's and a matching 401K plan.I would do like Rob mentioned and if you want to work with cars, try a dealership first.

[AKLGT]

they contacted me from monster.com. i looked up some basic info but it is really not something i wanted to do. you have to invest a lot of your money for something that "may" work. you basicly become a "mobile" detail shop. start looking at the dealerships. many of them look for potential candidates that make good service advisors. I trully believe you'd do very well and make a very good living.

[ragingfish]

Don't you need to know something about cars to be a service advisor though??

[Kari]

Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »Don't you need to know something about cars to be a service advisor though??I'm willing to bet that the lady who always treated me so badly at the dealership at home doesn't know squat about cars. And you'd be so much better at her job because you *do* know about cars!

[CAN-AWD-VIBE]

Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »Don't you need to know something about cars to be a service advisor though??sure it helps... but not required.i have trained at least 5 people that only knew tires were black and round and cars were expensive to buy.you know more then that so you will do fine.2 downsides off the top that you need to know.1- you will have to sell... repairs and maintenance... it will be pricey stuff sometimes, but repairs are required and people do understand. Most of the time...2- you will get yelled at once in a while... people with broken cars are nuts.learn to sell (easy) and learn to leave work at work.Great job if you can handle it... and I'm sure you can. quick story from today (literally today)... turbo PT cruiser gets towed in from roadside. 58000kms. Running rough and blowing smoke. Check oil= sludge(did not run off dipstick and it was THICK) NEEDS turbo and god knows what else.Contact customer to request any Maintenance history (We sold it, but have not seen him since PDI) He can not provide any.I inform that there will be no warranty.He freaks and tells me that it is MY job to warranty this and there is no way he will pay for it.Yelling continues for 3-5min. Bottom line is he WILL pay or supply maint records or he gets nothing. this crap is going on all the time and as long as you leave it at work, dont take it personal then you will find the job to be unbelievably interesting and kinda fun. You will learn a TON and make a bunch of money doing it, and be able to use the shop sometimes (best perk)good luck and if you need more excuses to get into the auto industry drop me a line anytime.

[ragingfish]

Sadly, I just did an extensive search for jobs in parts or service techs, there are few out there, and those I found all demanded minimum 3 years experience.Any other thoughts?

[ColonelPanic]

eh, maybe experience can be negotiable. I recall how much the job search sucked when I first got out of school, all these asshats in corporate america were demanding phd's and decades of experience while wanting to pay you eight bucks an hour to be a fricken reboot monkey or somethin'. It seemed like it was going to be impossible to find a job since I had no experience but eventually someone gave me a chance.I don't see why you couldn't do the service advisor gig, you don't have to be a mechanic. You just have to take care of the customers. And I think you've handled that sort of work before. The only bad part would be running into someone like me with a car like my Vibe. I'd feel sorry for you then. I don't think parts would be that far out of reach either... Hell, you should see the lady at the Hyundai dealer here who doesn't know how to look up parts correctly, then if she orders something she can't find it once it arrives.. It me took 3 tries to get a spare ignition key, but the 3rd time I had to help her by going online to Hyundai's parts catalog and tracking down the proper part number for her since she couldn't do it herself. Of course after she got the key in, she ruined it when cutting it, so I still ended up going to my competent dealer and getting one from there. For some reason, I think you'd do fine in parts... Whatever you do man, just find something you like. Life is too short to be miserable with what you're doin'! (I should listen to that advice myself.)

[AKLGT]

Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »Sadly, I just did an extensive search for jobs in parts or service techs, there are few out there, and those I found all demanded minimum 3 years experience.Any other thoughts? seriously, most of those job listings are what they WANT. but if you can "wow" them with your great personality and automotive knowledge, most dealerships and service managers will overlook the lack of experience. Plus, you come from a very high stress/customer service background. even if it isn't necessarily in the automotive business, you could easily move over to it. it's always worth going in with your resume. The lady the dealership was going to hire before Phil walked in had no previous experience either. Phil happened to have 2 yrs experience and even on the same system they used. so naturally, they preferred him over the previous, and were probably happy when she didn't call them back. Just like food service and any type of sales, service advisor positions take a special person. The worst that could happen is they don't call you back.

[tnpartsguy]

Like Hope said, your resturant background will definately help in the automotive business. How about the dealership that your family buys from, have you talked to them? Talk to the owner if possible, if he doesn 't have an opening, one of his freinds might. If I had an opening, I'd hire ya!I'm a parts manager now, and have been for 16 yrs, but I started out as an enthisest, bugging the local Toyota dealer all the time. They gave my a set of microfische that had been updated, and I taught myself how to use them. With the Electronic Parts Catalog, it's even easier. There are some specific websites for dealership help, let me find a few links and get back to you.