I created a new user and assigned it to the sales/manager group using the default security settings. However anytime I try to access a customer from the customer page or access the customer list from a pull down menu in leads, opportunities, sales,etc.. I get this error message:

Access Denied

The requested operation cannot be completed due to security restrictions. Please contact your system administrator.

(Document type: Partner, Operation: read)

Another aspect is that even though this new (sales/manager)user cannot access the contacts it can see from the customer list, it cannot see any companies that are visible to the admin user.

Have I missed a check box somewhere?