'We were brainwashed into working for a sales cult'

A smartly dressed man with slicked-back hair enters a room full of eager-looking young sales reps. The sparsely furnished office quickly hushes as he begins his speech.

It starts on a positive note as he tells the reps his experience in the office has "overall been really, really good". Then he suddenly announces he will be "cutting the bottom 10%". He orders the group of 25 or so workers to turn around and shut their eyes. If they get a tap on their shoulder, he says, it means they are being dismissed.

After a minute or so of tense silence, he orders the workers to turn back around. He reveals no-one was tapped, but the point of the exercise was to make some of the reps realise their "laziness" and their lack of "respect" for their opportunity. "Fix your s*** or next time we will really tap you," he warns, as the initially calm and measured speech transforms into a 15-minute meltdown in which he shouts, swears, compares the reps' attitude to cancer, and rants that they make him feel sick.

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The sales guru in the video is Justin Cobb, one of the most senior figures associated with Credico, a direct sales firm that made £318million in global revenue in 2022. Footage of Cobb's motivational speech is part of the disturbing material that has been used for training in the network of sales offices linked to Credico. Although the video was filmed in a US office, Cobb has also been involved in training the UK network, which reportedly has around 100 sales offices. Pictures of Cobb adorned the walls of UK offices, including in Cardiff, and former sales reps told us he was seen as a "Jesus figure".

We can reveal how training material that has been used in the network teaches how to manipulate people into accepting commission-only sales jobs with no minimum wage; how to use pay-offs and non-disclosure agreements to protect against bad publicity; and how pressure tactics can be used to get donations for charity clients. WalesOnline has interviewed dozens of people who worked in the network — including 16 former reps at a Cardiff office called BMGroup — and who have made allegations of cult-like practices, ranging from humiliating forfeits after losing sales challenges to working up to 15 hours a day, six or even seven days a week.

Credico's charity clients get huge sums in donations through reps going door-to-door or stopping people on the street. When we presented our evidence to some of those charities, they condemned the "abhorrent" training methods. Two charities suspended their relationship with Credico, one said it had no plans to work with the firm again, and two said they would be "reviewing" their relationship. Shadow Welsh secretary Jo Stevens described the Cardiff reps' working conditions as "Dickensian" and has written to HMRC over her concerns at their pay.

Credico says the videos of Cobb are outdated, not reflective of current practices and not endorsed by Credico, although the firm has refused to confirm whether it will keep working with him. "Job satisfaction and the health and wellbeing of independent contractors in the Credico network is extremely important to us," said its spokeswoman. "We are proud of the significant number of sales representatives who have used their time with us to build their own individual businesses. Many of these continue to trade with Credico over the years because of the opportunities created and the environment they operate in."

How the network is structured

Our investigations into the direct sales industry began last year when we went undercover at a Cardiff company which was part of a network of offices across the UK. Our hidden camera revealed appalling treatment both of door-to-door reps and the people they attempted to sign up for charity payments. The office closed immediately after our exposé. But more recently we have been investigating a separate, much larger network — a network linked to Credico.

Credico launched in 1991 in Canada. Since then the firm has expanded into 16 countries and its latest accounts show £24.7million in UK revenue. In its UK network alone, there are reportedly around 100 "independent sales offices". One of those offices was BMGroup in Cardiff, where we recently exposed how the owner, 35-year-old Luke Walker, manipulated young and vulnerable reps using tales of potential riches, as well as a "bogus" self-employment loophole to deny them a minimum wage.

Initially, Credico defended BMGroup's practices and Walker insisted he had a track record of developing young people into "skilled sales agents" who "enjoyed" their work. But after we gathered more evidence of the scenes that had unfolded, the office closed down and Credico distanced itself from Walker's behaviour, saying it no longer contracted with his company and had "no intention to do so".

We have now seen training materials showing that exploitative techniques have been linked to Credico on a wider scale than just one office. But before moving onto that, let's look at how the network actually works. A client, often a telecoms provider or charity, will outsource a door-to-door or street marketing campaign to Credico, which in turn outsources the campaign to smaller companies — the offices in its network. Each of these smaller companies is owned by someone who started off as a sales rep in the network. Credico pays commission to the smaller companies for each sign-up made by their reps, and those companies then pay the reps a share of the commission. The reps working for these smaller companies are classed as self-employed, which means they are not entitled to rights like the minimum wage or sick pay.

One key thing holds the network together — it's known as override commission. When an owner nurtures, or "promotes", a rep to open their own company, the first owner receives commission for the sales of the new owner's office. When the new owner then nurtures someone else to start a company, the first owner gets "second generation" commission. As the process continues they can get "third generation" commission and so on, building up a large network of offices providing them income. We have seen court records showing one man was linked to as many as 19 UK companies in this way — and he wasn't even one of the highest-ranking figures in the network.

Two years ago Credico was involved in a UK court case that revealed a lot about its workings. The judge noted that each company in the network had its own branding and had a website that gave the "somewhat misleading" impression it was looking for clients. "In fact, this is not the case, because each marketing company is tied to Credico," said the judge, who believed the real aim of the websites was to impress potential recruits. The websites tended to downplay the door-to-door nature of the job roles, and they made no reference at all to Credico. This suited Credico, which, as the judge put it, was able to "disavow responsibility for any dubious practices" in the offices.

Disturbing training methods

BMGroup's office was above a betting shop opposite Cardiff Castle. As you climbed the dimly-lit stairwell to the office, you would see photos of senior figures from the network, smiling as they held awards. One of those was Justin Cobb, a 44-year-old American who has been in the industry for two decades. He started as a sales rep in the US before opening an office in London around 2007 and later moving to the north of England. His website says he has "coached business owners to open 100 affiliate offices in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy, Portugal, and Spain". Now he lives in Puerto Rico and boasts on Youtube about sharing an exclusive neighbourhood with stars like Bad Bunny and Logan Paul.

Although Cobb hasn't been based in the UK since 2014, he continued to play a role in the training of offices there, appearing at Credico conferences and awards galas where he was described as a "national consultant", and in a training app that has been used in the last two years. According to a manual used in training, an owner reaches national consultant level — the highest ranking possible — when their network of offices brings in £140,000 a week for eight straight weeks.

In training material for senior figures in the network, Cobb talks about how to mislead people with the titles of job adverts. He explains: "I might put 'marketing assistant', which really doesn't have a lot to do with what we do, but it gets a lot of hits." In another video he says he wants job applicants to be "confused" about how they will be paid, and wants them to be "on the back foot" in the job interview as he uses reverse psychology to persuade them to take a commission-only role. He also says the candidate should be told that if they get the job, then one in ten people they pitch to will be a sign-up "no matter what".

What happens if an interviewee becomes "angry" in the face of Cobb's techniques? Bad publicity on websites like Reddit and Glassdoor can, after all, be a big problem for companies in the network. "Give her 200 bucks or something," says Cobb in the training footage. "That's worth it, that's cheaper than rebranding my company because there's something so bad on Glassdoor I've got to change my name." He adds that such payments are a "cost of doing business", and estimates he paid 40,000 dollars to "angry" people in the previous 13 years — always making them sign a form that prevents "slander" of the company. Every rep's first-day paperwork, he says, should waive their rights to a class action lawsuit. Some judges in "very liberal places", he warns, would deem reps entitled to a minimum wage. (We have seen a recent UK rep's contract which forbids "disparaging statements").

In a video where Cobb visits a US office on a Saturday and threatens to "tap" a room full of reps, he bounces with nervous energy as he rants about how it is "a f***ing problem" that some reps would like to be paid a salary. "I hear you guys talking to the managers, going: 'Yeah, but.' Take your f***ing 'yeah buts' and shove 'em. Get the f*** out of here, man... I love all these managers in here but I don't really give a f*** what their opinion is because I make 25 times more money than most of them... When your owner wants an opinion, they'll ask for an opinion." He goes on to accuse reps of "ruining people's lives" when they "complain and bitch". Reps who work 70 hours a week but have a poor attitude are "wasting time", he says.

These methods, we understand, were shared for the training of some owners in the network. But we've also seen materials which were used in the training of reps — including those in Cardiff — and which were circulated by Credico's fundraising arm, Gather Campaigns. These included five videos — all used within the last two years — demonstrating how to sign someone up for donations. Each video is a pitch for a different charity, but all use the same pressure tactics. Every few seconds a rep repeats a variation of: "I'm guessing like everybody else we can definitely count on your support" or "Your neighbours were more than happy to help".

In one video for a National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) campaign, a manically enthusiastic rep stresses the importance of "assuming the yes". We've also seen a video in which BMGroup owner Luke Walker explains that reps use the line: "I'm sure we can count on your support" because it is then "hard to say no". This is despite the code of fundraising practice barring reps from acting "manipulatively" or placing "undue pressure on members of the public to donate". The charities featured in the training videos — SOS Children's Villages, Blue Cross, Action Medical Research, Kidney Research and NDCS — have told us they did not know about these pitches. Credico denied the pitches are manipulative and described them as "standard in the industry".

Horror stories from reps in Cardiff

Since we recently interviewed five former reps from BMGroup in Cardiff, 11 more have come forward to tell their stories. In hindsight, they believe they were "completely brainwashed" and "groomed into a cult".

When they saw BMGroup's job adverts online, they claim they were unsure of what they were applying for because of titles like "sports-minded sales assistant" and "business development associate". Ads on LinkedIn showed a "base salary" of up to £26,000 a year when in reality there was no salary at all. Only towards the bottom of a long text section did the ads mention the role was "totally uncapped performance-based commission only". We also found ads from other companies in Credico's network that falsely stated a "salary".

Each day at the BMGroup office would begin with loud dance music and Luke Walker making motivational speeches about the lifestyle that reps could have if they worked hard enough to be "promoted" and open their own office. Walker often warned about the danger of "negs", meaning people who bring negativity and who risk "negging you out" over how little money you are making. To make sure all discussions stayed positive, there was a rule preventing the most junior reps from being alone together — a rule we also saw in training material used in the network. New starters were treated like "toddlers on a harness" and would even be followed by a manager to the door of the office toilets, claim the former reps we spoke with.

Walker described "crew night", a weekly office night out, as "mandatory" and would berate reps if they missed one. There were echoes of this in training material used in the network, stressing the importance of socialising with recent recruits "to build a relationship". One of the manuals urged leaders to meet new starters' "family, friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, spouse" in order to "help educate those close to them".

Crew nights involved some strange rules. "You weren't allowed to have more than two drinks, even though you were paying for them," said Taryn Weston-Wesgate, who was 20 when she started working at BMGroup in 2021. "At the end of the night Luke would walk with people to make sure they got in their car. If Luke was leaving, everyone was leaving."

During "Super Challenge Fridays", which took place across the network, reps who lost sales challenges would face forfeits such as being pelted with eggs, slapped by a fish, or doused with cream. Cardiff reps recalled going on a "road trip" to a London office where challenge losers had to down a pint of beer through a sock which another rep had just worn through a 12-hour shift.

On the way back from road trips, Walker allegedly enforced a "no sleep in the car" rule. "Once we were coming back from a regional Credico conference and Luke kept suddenly braking the car to wake people up," said Sean (not his real name), who was 22 when he started working for BMGroup in 2021 and stayed until it collapsed in September 2023. "We had to keep our eyes open just for the sake of not sleeping."

Romantic relationships between reps were heavily frowned upon by Walker, who warned they increased the chances of people quitting. When Walker found out Sean was dating fellow rep Rhianwen Watkins, he allegedly "went nuts" at Rhianwen and told her: "You're not serious about this, you're not going to get far."

Scarlett James, who was 18 when she worked for BMGroup last year, claims that Walker made similar comments about the "distraction" posed by her long-term boyfriend, allegedly prompting her to leave him "after much pressure". In her three weeks at the firm, Scarlett missed university exams and deadlines due to the gruelling hours she was working, but was allegedly never paid for any of the three sign-ups she made.

Women in the office were allegedly affected worst by Walker's controlling behaviour, and would be lambasted for turning up to work without makeup or with their hair up. Rhianwen — who was 18 when she joined BMGroup for a year — claims he would make jibes about her weight. And Tyler Brown, who was 20, claims he criticised her natural curly hair as "unprofessional".

The reps worked up to 15 hours a day, six or seven days a week, enjoying little of the flexibility that should come with self-employment. Dan (not his real name), who was 28 when he joined the firm for 11 months in 2022, said: "We didn't have agency. We had no control over the location, timings or duration that we worked, or anything at all." Even on Saturdays, reps would huddle in the cold outside the office as early as 6.45am, waiting for Walker to arrive.

Across the network, hitting target was known as "ringing the bell" (each office had an actual bell or gong). In training footage Cobb said ringing the bell "is a f***ing choice", and Walker often expressed the same view. Regardless of whether it was snowing or the reps were doing street sales in an area with almost no footfall, Walker would insist that "territory doesn't matter". If a rep missed target, Walker would be verbally abusive. He branded one rep "selfish" for not working the day after being hospitalised with a heart condition, as we reported in January.

When Walker interviewed job candidates, he would take them through a presentation that indicated they would be paid £49.50 per sign-up. We've seen a video he used as a template for job interviews, in which he repeatedly contradicts himself on how much a rep can expect to earn. He ends up saying the average rep gets three sign-ups a day, and that this equates to £46,800 a year.

In reality, some charity campaigns saw reps earn less than £10 per sign-up, particularly if the donor was younger than 40 ("youngs" were deemed more likely to cancel their direct debit, and were therefore a less valuable sign-up). Despite working such long hours, reps were often making less than £250 a week. They allege that sometimes they never received any payment at all for sign-ups, and that their messages querying this would sometimes be blanked by Walker.

Their earnings did not cover their outgoings, much of which went on "road trips" where they visited other offices in the network. These trips took up around one week of each month and saw reps pay for their own travel and accommodation as they crowded into tiny Airbnbs around the UK. Often they would have to share a bed with another rep, or even with two. Rhianwen said: "Luke would say, 'Suck it up, it's not as bad as what I went through, I would sleep on the floor.'"

Working relentlessly and barely able to afford meals, Taryn lost two stone and Dan lost two and a half, they allege. The gruelling schedule also took its toll on Rhianwen, who said: "Luke would praise me if I lost weight. The reason I lost weight was because I didn't have money to get food. I would have one meal a day, which was when I'd go home and my brother-in-law would cook."

Dan added: "At my worst I got very, very sick. I fractured my ankle one evening and I told Luke I couldn't walk. He said, 'You can rest at home and let the team down, or you can come in and make a story, and when you have succeeded you can look back on it and motivate your guys.' And you know what I did? For six months I tried to walk off a fractured ankle. I did that because I didn't want the shame of being told I was weak. I still suffer with my leg because of that."

Tyler claims Walker pressured her into working after she had suffered a serious cornea scratch in a freak accident. "I couldn't see anything out of that eye but I wasn't allowed to leave the field. I spent hours at A&E that night and I still had to go into work the next morning. My eye was closed so I had to wear sunglasses."

Beth Fry, who was 21 when she worked for BMGroup for two months in 2020, was shocked by the "ridiculous culture" which saw her "bombarded with calls" from a manager even on a Sunday night. If she did not work for a minimum of 12 hours a day, six days a week, Walker would brand her "lazy". She said: "I wanted June 5 off, as this is the anniversary of my mother’s death, a day that even after 10 years is still daunting. I was made to feel like an awful human being for wanting one day with my family on this anniversary."

When one young rep relayed her parents' concern that they never saw her anymore, Walker told her: "They're being negs, don't listen to them." The woman believes the mental health strain of the job was the cause of her developing an eating disorder, resulting in weight loss so severe that she suffered a stroke.

Ciaran (not his real name) worked at BMGroup for 18 months up to May last year. On one occasion, after the 21-year-old had ended a shift with zero sign-ups, Walker asked him why he was in the industry. "I replied that I wanted to help my family. Luke said, 'You don't love them. If you did, you would hit your goals.' My dad had suffered a stroke a week before, and Luke knew that."

Antony Ockwell was 18 when he joined BMGroup and allegedly received just £37 after a month of working 12 hours a day, six days a week. He said: "If your friends or family had concerns, Luke would say they were trying to set you back. He didn't want you to have any free time at all. They would really demonise a bog-standard nine-to-five job. I see how silly it was now, but you don't know at that age. They take advantage of people who are vulnerable."

In Walker's job interview template, he claims only five applicants out of 150 have made it to the second stage. In reality, the turnover of workers was so rapid that there was desperation to hire almost anyone who applied. Sean — who was among the reps to take on managerial responsibilities like conducting job interviews, though his earnings did not improve — recalls interviewing one candidate who saw through the job advert and said: "I don't want to do street s*** like repping NDCS. Do you do that?" Sean answered yes and the candidate thanked him, then ended the interview. Later, Walker allegedly had a "massive go" at Sean for not getting the applicant "through the door".

The former reps believe there was a severe lack of oversight from the charities they represented, which included NDCS and Action Medical Research. Sean said: "We'd have half an hour of training every three to six months. Luke's attitude was, 'Let's get this out of the way.' Someone would come to the office talking about what the charity does, but it wasn't training on what they wanted us to do. There was a huge disconnect between the charity and what we were doing. You were made not to care at all."

Dan added: "When I caught another [rep] trying to sell to a very vulnerable person, a physically and mentally disabled person, I pulled them aside and had words. I then spoke to Luke about it. His response was, 'Dan, what they do isn't your business, you are managing your own business.' Yet, when it suited him, he'd talk a very big game about us being a family."

The "family" element of BMGroup seemed to be forgotten when it came to people quitting the office. Walker forbid reps from speaking to those who had left the industry, in what Rhianwen likened to a cult's shunning.

What kept some people from quitting sooner were the dreams of riches and overseeing their own network of offices. Walker boasted that within a year of opening his first office in his home city Southampton, he had been so successful that he had moved in next to top footballer Sadio Mane. Walker's apparently flashy lifestyle was central to the speeches he gave in the office each day. Reps recall him showing off his Rolex watch and diamond cufflinks while they were barely making enough money to live. Despite this, the BMGroup accounts showed modest profits (£9,529 last year, £15,276 the year before).

Similar speeches were given by other bosses in the network. One woman, who was 20 when she worked at BMGroup in 2021, said: "One day Luke drove us in his Porsche to another leader's house in London. There was a Rolls Royce parked outside. It was a three-storey townhouse with a wine cellar. The owner who lived there gave us an inspirational talk, saying, 'You don't want to be a loser.' I thought this was a chance to retire my parents."

Walker told reps they should aim to be "promoted" to open their own office within 12 months. This was known as "getting to ownership", and the criteria was said to be leading a team that made £2,000 in profit for two consecutive weeks. But former reps who took on managerial responsibilities claim no-one reached ownership level in BMGroup's final two years. We understand Walker had at one time been a "promoting owner" for at least three junior company owners across the south of England, but all three closed during the pandemic.

By late 2022, disillusioned reps in the Cardiff office were quitting too quickly for recruitment to keep up. At the time the office collapsed last September, there were only about four people left. Pleading with Sean to stay, Walker spoke of plans to "expand" to Manchester and blamed the office's failure on Cardiff not being "a conducive environment for growth". The irony was not lost on Sean, who noted Walker had "spent the past two years saying territory didn't matter". Taryn added: "He was so manipulative, portraying himself as a God. He's now everything he didn't want to be. It's hilarious."

Taryn, Rhianwen, Tyler and Ciaran were all in thousands of pounds of debt when they left BMGroup. Sean was down some £14,000. Dan, who also lost thousands in savings, said: "After going through the winter, being out of the house 18 hours a day, and with all the manipulation on top of it, I was in such a bad way. It took me months to get healthy again."

Treatment of workers 'nothing short of Dickensian'

Employment lawyer James Watkins told us the allegations by former BMGroup reps suggested they were not truly self-employed, and should have been entitled to rights such as the minimum wage and sick pay. He pointed to the use of "prescriptive" scripts and reps being told to work at certain hours and locations. "This is a working relationship based on control," he said. "From what I have seen, the true nature of the relationship is more akin to one of employment, which would bring with it certain employment rights."

Shadow Welsh secretary Jo Stevens said: “The treatment of workers at BMGroup’s Cardiff office appears to have been nothing short of Dickensian. It is astonishing that brazen exploitation like this can take place unchallenged in this day and age. I have written to the business secretary, asking her to formally name [BMGroup] as an employer that doesn’t pay minimum wage, and HMRC to see what further action can be taken for those who have been affected." She also believes the "manipulative" tactics used in the charity pitches breach the code of fundraising practice.

Ms Stevens wants reforms to prevent exploitation, including employment rights for all workers from day one of their jobs and a new enforcement body to protect workers. In her letter to the business secretary Kemi Badenoch, Ms Stevens wrote that reps had been subject to "abuse, intimidation and a bizarre culture that finds more in common with a cult than a workplace". She added: "Whilst the companies concerned contend that the roles are self-employed, this is not consistent with how they were advertised, nor the fact that those employed have no control over their working hours, where and how they work. It is clear that this is a disingenuous ruse by these companies to evade statutory employment rights such as the minimum wage."

Credico has confirmed it no longer works with Walker — whose office closed down last September — and has no plans to do so again. But despite the damning material involving Cobb — who has been a far more important figure in its operations, and who was described at a Miami gala last year as a "national consultant" — the firm has refused to tell us whether it will continue to work with him.

Two charities, SOS Children's Villages and NDCS, are both already under investigation by the Fundraising Regulator as a result of WalesOnline's undercover investigation last year. In light of our latest reporting, both charities said they would suspend their relationships with Gather Campaigns, the fundraising arm of Credico. SOS said it was "utterly appalled" by the experiences of reps at BMGroup and the firm's "disgusting working culture". Its spokeswoman added that the charity does not condone "misleading language in training" and had not previously seen the pitch training video, which is no longer in use.

WalesOnline's previous reporting led to the Fundraising Regulator opening a market inquiry into face-to-face fundraising, which then resulted in a 36-page report concluding there must be better oversight from charities and that reps should be paid a "living wage". SOS said it has added contractual obligations for all campaigns to pay reps at least the national minimum wage and that it has followed the new rules on subcontracting. The charity said it would suspend its campaign with Gather and investigate.

An NDCS spokeswoman said the charity has suspended its work with Credico. "We are working with an external auditor to investigate the concerns raised by WalesOnline... We’ll only consider working with Gather again in the future if we are satisfied by the audit findings and confident in the agency’s ability to uphold the high standards we expect from our partners.”

A spokesman for Action Medical Research said: "The film footage of Justin Cobb from Credico is alarming with bullying and coercive behaviour and tactics being used, which is completely at odds with how our charity works." He described the accounts of BMGroup reps as "shocking", and said that although the charity's relationship with Gather had been good, it would be reviewing that relationship. He also acknowledged the charity pitch "could be construed as creating a sense of pressure" and said it would not be used again. The charity vowed to "review the payment model" for its reps.

Kidney Research UK said it was "deeply concerned" by the evidence and would not have approved the pitch training video if aware of it. The charity has not worked with Gather since October and has "no activity planned with them". Its spokesman added: "As part of our own investigation, we will also be seeking advice from the Fundraising Regulator."

Mark Corbett, of Blue Cross, said: “Blue Cross is deeply concerned to learn of these allegations and the abhorrent treatment of employees in parts of the Credico network and also condemns the use of manipulative methods used to train fundraisers, and those that do not adhere to the code of fundraising practice. While we’ve been assured by Gather Campaigns that the employment practices revealed in this report relate to historical activities in other parts of the Credico network, we are appalled that people were treated this way. We take all allegations seriously and are conducting a full review of our work with Gather Campaigns, including the use of their training video, which will not be used again until it’s been edited."

In Jo Stevens' letter to the business secretary, she wrote: "Following WalesOnline’s reporting, some of the companies in question have ceased trading. However, others have not, and it would appear that it is relatively quick and easy to set up these shell firms, employ people and begin to exploit them." She called on Ms Badenoch to "review the evidence uncovered by WalesOnline to understand how your department can better track and enforce existing legislation where companies like this are concerned".

When we approached the UK Government, the minister for enterprise Kevin Hollinrake said: “We absolutely condemn any business who fails to pay the minimum wage and for not complying with employment legislation – this is not optional, it’s the law. We appreciate WalesOnline for sharing the results of their investigation with the Government and for bringing this case to our attention. Anyone who feels they may have been underpaid should contact HMRC, who are responsible for minimum wage enforcement, and get in touch with ACAS who can advise on a worker’s employment status.”

A Fundraising Regulator spokesperson said: “Our investigations are currently ongoing and as such we are unable to comment on them directly. Any new evidence received as part of these investigations will be subject to our usual processes.”

What Credico and Luke Walker said

Justin Cobb did not respond to our questions other than to issue a cease and desist to prevent us sharing his training footage. Credico also warned us against using the footage, citing copyright — despite also distancing itself from the videos and claiming Cobb was an "independent" business owner.

A Credico spokeswoman told us the firm "supports a network of hundreds of independent sales offices" across the world. She said: "Ensuring that we represent our customers to the highest standard, and that their future customers or supporters have a positive experience, is of paramount importance. This is why we operate an independent contact centre, where the agents do not receive a monetary incentive for sales, to speak to all charity supporters to ensure that they understand that they are making an ongoing donation to charity."

She added: "Most importantly though, we operate a whistleblowing program to ensure that if an independent contractor (or indeed anyone working with or providing services to Credico) has a concern, it can be brought to our attention and investigated. This is precisely because we want to root out and address any conduct that is not appropriate.

"Individuals are all engaged as independent contractors directly by independent sales offices, using a contract that is written using plain language to make it very clear that the individual will be self-employed. We operate using standard remuneration and contracting models that are typical of outsourced field services businesses and include commission models and more frequently, day rate models. Contractors enjoy the flexibility that self-employment brings, as they are free to work the hours and days they choose, with many working fewer hours than a standard five-day week. There is no obligation for an individual to provide services, neither are they required to give notice if they want to stop providing the services."

Before he closed the BMGroup office, Walker told us: "I have run a successful sales and marketing business for almost 10 years, training and developing young people who often have no work experience into skilled sales agents. Many have progressed into management roles either with me or other organisations... The job adverts I post are clear that these roles are self-employed and commission-only.

"My business centres around communication, and continued learning so I encourage ISAs [independent sales agents] to talk to all the people around them to gain knowledge and get advice, including family and friends. I am fortunate that I have, and continue, to work with a large number of successful ISAs who enjoy what they do.” Walker did not respond to follow-up enquiries.

If you would like to share your experience of working for a direct sales company, email us at conor.gogarty@walesonline.co.uk