This is an ultimate scam company that works on a fine line of legality they have very carefully orchestrated in order to take advantage of contractors and keep resulting profits for themselves.
They lure individuals from other countries and sites like Elance and promise big money for little work. The contract, however, is vague, with PO Box addresses, and of course what appears to be a base salary plus a nice bonus structure.
However what they really do is use this person to help them procure thousands of dollars in new client projects, then find some lame reason that the freelancer is "not doing their job" or, simply swear at them or berate them enough that they wish not to stay any longer. Then, all the profits of the new projects are left for them.
Every month or so the Director fires programmers and graphic designers, many of which have weeks of pay they have yet to receive. He always finds some lame excuse about the employee not taking care of customers or doing some other terrible thing (like being sick and unable to work) then fires them and tells them he doesn't have to pay them because they haven't done the work "as expected" in the contract.
For most people, attempting to sue or follow up to get money deserved is too costly, so the company pockets the profit. For proof one simply has to review their Elance profile. As of this date, they have 73 projects they have hired for, which includes programmers, designers and project planners. Despite the promise for many of these workers of 3-10% bonus commissions, this company has spent just over $150,000. That means that each employee they have hired has received just over $2,000, period! That barely covers a $10 per hour base salary, which means this company has likely NEVER paid anyone they have hired any commissions and many likely have not even received their basic salary.
Elance is just as culpable in this case, however, as they know about these contracts, and they know this company has had several complaints, yet they allow them to continue to do find new freelancers through their site that can be ripped off and scammed. Adding to these facts are the fact that this company uses 2-3 addresses in various states, uses a 3rd party phone number and hides behind email addresses and online virtual software so they cannot be traced. Aside from a miserable working environment, these people are purely and simply, con artists! |