Job Discussion Forums

[NathanRahl]

This is the agency that lured me to china with promises of candy coated stockings and big bags of gold. Seriously though, they are one of the worst bait and switch companies out there, and I talked to many. First off, they will represent themselves as a school, Tongua school no. 6 I believe, with a contact by the name of Alice. Alice is really the person who runs it I found out later, and figured out as well, a woman by the name of Mis Liu, an Alias of course, I don't know what her real name is. She uses the Alias of Alice online to deflect blame for promises made onto Alice, saying always "you need to talk to Alice". No one has ever met Alice of course. Anyhow, Miss Liu runs the company with her brother. Yes, the company, they are really an agency, not a school. Anyhow, they will make many promises, 20 hour work week, no office hours, blah blah blah. I was promised an apartment with hot water, uh huh, washer, dryer, eh hem, dvd, computer, refrigerator, working shower, AC/Heat. Well, first thing that happened, I got to the airport, in Changchun, she works out of a city near Dongfeng, called Meihiku or something like that, my chinese is poor.Anyhow, when I got there, no one was there. So, I had to pay for a taxi drive into Changchun, and a pricy hotel room. I contacted her later, and she basically threatened not to hire me because I wanted reimbursement for the taxi and hotel! Imagine that, you did not pick me up as you promised, I had to incur extra expense, and I want reimbursement, shocking. Anyhow, we finally reached agreement, she never did pay me for the 125 rmb taxi ride though, and I agreed to let her come and pick me up at the hotel. Ok, after they did not pick me at the airport I should have looked elsewhere, but hell, I was new to china, and at 300 yuan a night, even american money goes fast. Also, I did not know of cheaper hotels, later found one for 30 yuan, go figure.
To continue my story, her "brother" came to pick me up, red light went off in my head at that, since why would a school headmaster have her brother picking me up? I just brushed it off though, and at this point I felt committed, and like I had no choice. After a long drive of sucking up cigarette smoke from the two who drove me, we arrived at my apartment. Oh, and the excuse for not picking me up at the airport was that there had been a car crash, turned out later to be a lie of course, this Miss Liu seems to have a real problem with the truth. Anyhow, the apartment was ok, except for one thing, not one of the amenities I was promised was there. Even the shower did not work. Then I find out it is not a school at all, but an agency. Well, I was not happy, but what are you gonna do? I played along, and payed out of my own pocket to go to see this woman almost everyday, to eat lunch or dinner with her in the neighboring city, and basically do nothing but listen to her make toasts over so so food. She seemed to really enjoying having many foreigners around her to court her favor, and called herself "Madame Liu". Might have had soemthing to do with the 20 very attractive asistant's she had around her at all times, basically doing slave labor for her, uch s cuting vegetables and cleaning the floors, I was not impressed by this. These were also the assistants who would work with us foreign teachers teaching, they were all very poor, both in english and manners. Her office is in some place called the Pillars of Venice or Gardens of Venice, some ritzy place like that. The woman herself is a kind of manical control freak, and if you do not atend one of her dinners, she threaten to can you, even though they have nothing to do with teaching. It is a very weird outfit overall.
I found out from talking to someone who returned from the last term that, not only was my apartmnt likely never to get any of what I was promised, but that the cracker jack box I was in would have a roomate, when I was promised my own place, roomate free. Then I found out that 20 hours would really be 28 or more, with no overtime pay. Well, talk about a bait and switch. At that point I said "I'm outta here." A guy can only take so much dishonesty after all.
If you hear from a woman named Alice, beware. nNo teacher ever returns to work for her, so she is constantly looking for new suckers. She is a liar and a scammer, and if you hear from her and her raw, likely the 30th name it has had, english agency, school, whatever, avoid it like the plague. She makes wild promises, but is not even honest upfron about who and what she is. Tongua school #6 they are not, and if you hear from them, run, run, run.
As for me I should have known better. There were warning signs, but I ignored them, and came anyhow. I was not aware that I had options. She operates out of Jilan province, and has a lot of clout up there. If you end up in Jilan, at a Pillars or Gardens of Venice, meeting with a miss Liu nd her smll Harum of very attractive but not so bright assistants, turn, walk out, and do what I did, go to an internet bar, since you won't have the computer you were promised, and find another job. It will take you about 2 days. As for me, I am glad the horror story is over, or is it. I post this knowing full well that Miss Liu might take measures to get some type of retribution. before I left this woman had her assistant relay a message. basically it said simply "If you bad mouth me or my company in regards to your experience, I'll make it imposible for you to find work, for I have a lot of contacts in high places, understand?" That was the message which was relayed, nice huh. However I feel it is worth the risk, cause Lord only knows how many teachers will be lured into wokring for this person, and I think I have a responsibility to warn them, even if it doe's cost me in some way. Hope I have helped someone avoid the Miss Liu aka. Alice raw english pitfall. Take care.

[cj750]

Good post and good luck..did you ever find a new job?

[NathanRahl]

Yes I did, and it did not take long. If any of you out there get screwed as I did, just walk around where you are and eventually you'll find an internet cafe. For 1.5 yuan for an hour you can find another job, and a better one, cause once your in china it's a lot easier. If your having to leave sooner for this or that, find a cheap hotel, usually there are internet cafes set up near them to cater to travelers, or just walk around for a while, they are not really hard to find. Warning signs of scam are easy to spot, go with your gut instinct, as I should have, and don't be in a rush.

[KES]

I have met several teachers who have met this fate.

There is absolutely no use posting the names of the scammers as they change them every six months. The woman and man some times called pappa and mamma whatever are supposed to be really hooked up quanxie wise and you are basically stuck like chuck if you sign with them.

Ther main hunting ground is Changchun.

If you get an offer from Changchun, and it is a [perhaps well disgised] recruiter, well, you know what to do.