Who would be a fieldtester
It's the middle of February and sat in the house bored so I thought I would just put few words down for a bit for the blog.
Having been with 3 company's where I was a fieldtester I feel it's just not worth the hassle. The first company was active baits solutions not really a tester just getting the bait at a good price so I would help out on forums and and Facebook and of course on the blog with comments and photos of fish I had while using the bait although they never said I think I did a good a job for them.
Just over a year ago now i was not really on the look out for a new company but the lake I was joining does see its fair share of abs. So was looking for something different I asked sticky baits if I could buy there bait wholesale on Facebook within a few minutes my phone was ringing and it was a mate who does a lot with sticky baits he told me he would make the call and sort it for me .
True to his word the phone rang and it was someone from the company I told them what I was after and he told me that because I was recommend by my mate I would be sent a field tester price list by email. " Don't you want to see what I can do for the company with my blog,videos and the like" I said "No your mate says this and that that's good enough for us" came the reply. That was it I was now a fieldtester for sticky baits I thought this was it the real deal.
I had to tell Paul at ABS which I thought was only fair he wished me luck and all the best I thanked him for all he had done for me. I brought 50kilo of vortex along with pop ups and glugs and started to use it on the lakes I was fishing at the time it was catching fish from the off and I was pleased on how it was going writing and making some videos for my blog and doing my bit on Facebook and twitter. I run out of pop ups and phoned up to buy some more I put my order in with the guy that made the call to me that let me on the team. Not one word was asked on how I was getting on with the bait or what I thought about it nothing. I put the phone down and just thought that was strange they don't seem interested in how I am doing what's that all about ???
A couple of weeks went by when I received an email from sticky saying that if I wanted to keep being a feildtester then I was to send in my cv as they was revamping the company and was looking to hand pick a few people to move the company forward which was fine but i felt that I had been let down they took me on without a cv when I offered them one then because it didn't suit they dumped me I was not happy i had 40killo of bait in the freezer that they was happy to sell to me which by the way was not that cheap To say I was gutted and let down was the only way I can describe how I felt. When I sat and thought about it they was only interested in selling bait it was not about feed back or me doing my best for the company it was about profit and selling bait.
What could I do I carried on using the bait when I got talking to a guy that had just started up his own company and was willing to give me a chance as a key consultant now that was exciting. I still had a load of sticky in the fridge so I had to get rid of that to get the new bait. After a few weeks and losing a lot money on the sticky I put the order in for the new bait again it was not cheap but I thought that it would come good. I was thinking that once the company had a foot hold in the door and was doing well that's when I would be rewarded for the effort I was willing to put in.
I joined the new water and started to again use the new bait it did really well almost catching from the off I was getting better and had software to edit the videos so I could put the company logo on there and blog was going nice getting loads of hits and i had 3 x 30lb fish to 39-10 in as many sessions had the photos in carptalk the lead shed seemed happy that I was pushing the leads and tackle that he does things was all good I thought I was doing a dam good job.
All that in a matter of only a few months till after a text message conversation with the company he asked how was I getting on with the wafters I said I didn't have any that was the last message. After another text message conversation I found out that the bait I had brought from the company was let's say it was not rolled right it was very crumbly i did find that i had to mount the bait on the hair by using a splicng needle other wise it just fell apart. The company that did the rolling for him had made an error. O dear I had 50kilo of it sat in the freezer but it was catching fish again nothing was offered or said i mean in the way of replacing the bait even though he had sent e batch back and got it replaced. I just kept thinking that it was a new company and it would pay off in the end and come all good. All my fishing while on the bait had been on bottom baits I had not used the pop ups what so ever. I put one on a size 5 stiff rigger choddy and dropped it in the margins it sank the pop up could not hold it up. I was not happy i had bait that just did not come up to standard that I wanted in a bait I had been reeling in bait that had been sat there over night and the bait had gone because it was too soft to stay on the hair and now I had pop ups that would not pop up and I had paid again good money for. Ok maybe the text I sent was a little bit angry but it was how I was feeling at the time. As a key consultant for this company ( his words not mine ) I felt it was time to just say enough is enough I was not offered anything back I was put a bit back about the wafters would it have broke the bank to send me a pot to try for free I think not and there was other things that was just a joke I was glad to be out of it to be honest I now no that these company's just sell you bait at x price and sit back and let you tell who will listen how great the bait is. I worked hard for both company's and got nothing in return. Not even a phone call saying I was doing a good job or not even a phone call to say I was doing a shit job ether ha ha
What I am saying is think long and hard if you are offered a testers job think about what you get back for your hardwork it's you that's sat on the bank in all weathers spending your time there then putting yourself out to get in the papers or what ever its not all about because you have been offered bait at £6.50kilo which by the way is better profit selling bait to than to a shop
It will be spring soon and the carp will start to wake up think it will be a better year for me on the cambs pit i have got the first year out the way and things will come together and the carp will come to the net.
Anyway that's me done till next time stay lucky
Russ
