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[whistleblower]

I�ll write this 3rd person and distort the name of the school slightly so as to protect the author from Thailand�s defamation laws (see note at end). After you read, you�ll understand why, and I�m sure you�ll realise the identity.

I�d like to relate an experience at E****** F**** (EF) Chiang Mai, but first some background:

On January 19th 2005 The DoS (AKA Academic Director) of EF Chiang Mai discovered very irregular practices with the franchisee�s (EF�s representative) management of the franchise. On January 21st 2005 the DoS left the employ of EF�s representative, at the time he felt the departure was amicable.

On October 11th 2005 EF�s representative, after a long criminal investigation, was charged with criminal fraud at Mae Ping Police Station Chiang Mai. The charge book is open to the general public to confirm this information.

Subsequent to the DoS leaving EF:

1. EF�s representative didn't pay his DoS his last month's salary. The salary (minus annual leave) was later recovered through Chiang Mai Labour Court on 29th March 2005. Bank of Ayudhya Cheque No. 0025318, Account name xxx xxxxxxxx Co., Ltd. Account number 3190003002.

2. Soon after departure from EF a photocopy of the passport details of the DoS and a cover page with EF�s letterhead was faxed to many schools in the area he worked stating the DoS was no longer an employee of EF Chiang Mai. It was unsigned and didn't give the reason why the teacher had left. This may have been an attempt to discredit the DoS and prevent him from finding future work in Chiang Mai.

3. To protect his reputation the DoS sent an Email to his former teachers explaining the circumstance of his sudden departure. EF�s representative used his brother's translation of the Email to attempt to have criminal defamation charges brought against the DoS (max penalty is PRISON) at Phu Ping Police Station Chiang Mai about late Feb. A recorded delivery summons to attend this police station as a suspect was received by the DoS. Subsequently the investigating office cancelled this meeting and no further contact has been attempted by the investigating officer.

4. In addition, EF�s representative sued the DoS for 5 million baht damages, as an alleged result of this Email, at Chiang Mai Civil Court using as evidence his brother's translation. The summons was served to the DoS by an officer of the court the day the DoS walked out of the labour court with his cheque.

5. A translation, prepared by a recognised (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) translation company, for the DoS differs from the franchisee�s at key points in the translation.

6. During the criminal fraud investigation of EF�s representative, the investigating police officer sent a recorded delivery request to the office of the country manager of EF requesting certain information related to this investigation. Up to now EF have not responded.

7. The DoS sent Emails to the country manager and academic operations manager (AOM) of EF requesting an investigation in to the behaviour of its representative in Chiang Mai. The initial response was a short statement from the AOM telling the DoS to direct all further correspondence to the country manager.

8. Friday April 28th - BK South civil court to hear the testimony of 4 BK based witnesses for the plaintiff (EF representative):

The Chiang Mai EF representative included them on the witness list he had presented to Chiang Mai civil court and which was accepted by the presiding judge. The EF representative is responsible for bringing them to court to give testimony on his behalf. 3 witnesses are EF management and 1 is a former EF country manager. None of the 4 witnesses attended court. The court has set another date for their attendance.

All witnesses need to have been interviewed by the conclusion date of this case - November 2007. Until then I will update the board on all actions of EF's representative in Chiang Mai.



NOTE
The Thai Penal and Civil codes place the onus on the defendant in defamation cases to prove their innocence. In a defamation case the defendant must not only prove they wrote the truth but they must also show they had reason to publicly speak the truth. Recently in Thailand there have been high�profile defamation cases brought by the Prime Minister against his critics. He used the defamation laws to attempt to silence these critics. The actions of EF's representative in Chiang Mai do not necessarily reflect EF company policy.

[whistleblower]

A brief summary of the case so far:

CM court moved the investigation of the case to Bangkok because a large number of the plaintiff�s witnesses (EF�s representative) are from BK. This is a strategy used in Thailand that can influence the case by moving it to a court where the plaintiff has influence. EF�s representative in Chiang Mai has an uncle who is an attorney and another uncle who is a prosecutor, both in BK. There have been 4 court dates in BK since March. On none of these dates did any of his witnesses attend court. His reason � they were all out of the country!!! His witnesses included his family and management of EF. The court had no option but to remove the investigation back to CM. He still requested a 2 million baht settlement from the DoS.

The DoS wants the investigation to proceed for these reasons:

1. EF�s representative committed perjury when he told the court his witnesses were out of the country.
2. EF�s representative presented documents to the court that can easily be proved as fake. Anyone ever heard of �Director of studied�? that was the DoS job description in one �inserted� paragraph which makes the DoS financially responsible for damage to the EF franchise of EF�s representative in Chiang Mai. Also, every page must be signed, not just the ones inserted to create evidence. In the documents submitted to the court only the last page has signatures. There�s more as well.
3. The subpoena to EF to produce certain documents has been delayed. Not sure why or how at this stage.
4. The DoS wants EF�s management to stand in court and answer questions and be accountable for their representative�s actions. This will also provide evidence of any possible conspiracy between EF and their representative.
5. The DoS wants his name cleared.

If the case is allowed to be withdrawn or stops, then EF�s representative will be saved from criminal investigation of the first 4 points. Until the investigation begins properly, the behaviour of EF�s representative and EF cannot be investigated.

When all cases related to this action are concluded, the DoS will forward all court documents along with a detailed description of EF�s behaviour to the accreditation bodies of EF in every country they operate. The DoS will also write to his UK MP and request that EF explain the moral and ethical actions of their representatives in Thailand. Remember this is a private EDUCATION company that bases much of its business in the UK.

Updates and documents related to this case have been deposited with the DoS� solicitor and consulate so that if anything �unexpected� happens, the evidence of EF�s representative�s behaviour will be forwarded to the appropriate authorities.

[englishgibson]

Unbelievable

I am not so aware of the EF management and their franchisers' practices in Thailand, but I am quite familiar with the EF English First incompetence in China.

Irregular practices in EF centers in China are "BUSINESS AS USUAL" and their EF Head Office staff in Shanghai does what it's best at...."expanding"

Then, some EF centers do what they are best at and besides their "regular sales reports" , they also "clone".

EF is an organization infatuated with LEADING THE MARKET AROUND THE WORLD at all costs. They didn't use McDonalds as a comparison in their marketing strategy for nothing ...the owner's absolutely inaccessable, though receiving pretty good care, I reckon.
In any case, they'd do anything in all countries around the world to "EXPAND ITS EMPIRE"

I hope that DOS is ok and working a fine job elsewhere now, but if not I wish that person a good luck in future.

Keep the forum posted on this one
and
cheers and beers to the hard working FTs in all EF centers as well as elsewhere around the world

[whistleblower]

Update

EF Chiang Mai Huay Kaew has been closed

There's a big padlock and chain securing the entrance, and a sign on the door that says 'closed for renovation'. No renovation going on however. The 'closed for renovation' sign is often used by business owners who have been forced to close but don't want to lose face. I know he didn't pay his rent or other bills for a while.

He has told people who have told people who have told me that he will reopen EF in another location in a few months. Hardly likely as he will lose his investment in Huay Kaew and will need to invest substantially in a new school - unnecessarily so. Plus EF will need to approve the new school. Again another lie (?) to save face and avoid creditors methinks. He's still using the EF brand in various schools around Chiang Mai.

Over to you EF if you don't want your brand used and abused.

[flapjack]

well
good. I hope his place stays closed.
Some people open up English schools because they couldn't make it in the 'Used Car' business.
Thanks for keeping us posted.

[wildfire]

EF has an internationally recognized BAD rep.

Anyone who works for them is desperate for work and
is just HOPING it wont be bad.

DO NOT WORK FOR THEM.

said for the zillionth time.

now

EF must CHANGE if it wants to survive.

[whistleblower]

UPDATE

A few weeks ago people from EF came to the building where EF is located and spoke to the building owner. The EF people said they were from Singapore (unlikely) but were probably the Indonesians who are responsible for EF operations in Thailand. The owner of the building gave them very Thai-style ambiguous information. They were looking for their franchisee!

I heard people visited some of the outside EF contracts in Chiang Mai today and explained to the schools that EF Chiang Mai is now under new management. They could have been genuine EF people or they may have been 'represenatives' of the previous franchisee because this may have been an attempt to distance himself from the school if salaries aren't paid at the end of this month.

[whistleblower]

A bilingual magazine in Chiang Mai named Compass (www.compasscm.com) recently published an advertisment for a NEW LANGUAGE SCHOOL in Chiang Mai from the 'EF' team. 'EF' is written in Thai ("อีเอฟ"), maybe so that I or EF management in Thailand (Indonesians) won't be able to read.

The 'new' school has
a contact number: 0-1530-1081 (no landline)
a website address: www.speak-more.com (under construction)
the address is not specific but gives the road name 'Sirimuangklajarn'

This is a new language school brought to you by the franchisee of EF in Chiang Mai. Unfortunately according to his contract with EF he's not allowed to open a competing business within a stated time period even after he ends his contract with EF. I feel there's possibly a chance (sarcastic remark!) he's taking the piss out of EF and their contract with him.

[englishgibson]

I smell "CLONING" right there above.
In China, some EF centers have taken advantage of the poor EF Head Office's management control. I've worked for a couple of EF centers that've opened up their own "branches" of their language centers. Surely, they've renamed those centers "Sunshine English" and "Enjoy English", but they've completely copied the layout, teaching techniques or shall I say ideology, used all the books they could as well as staff, and so on and on. Let's call it TAKING THE BRAND VALUES of western products
Since the EF organization's leadership is rather desperate to "take over the world market" with respect to ESL biz and apparently all kinds of education they may as well compromise in varieties of situations and with varieties of business people.

Joining an EF anywhere is just like providing a support for the most corrupt educational institution in the world.

Peace to the EF founder as well as the almost non-existant Swisscheese EF Head Office
and
cheers and beers to all hard working FTs in Thailand

[whistleblower]

update on the court case

EF's representative tried to withdraw the case before the investigation of evidence and witnesses begun. This was blocked. EF's representative presented to court documents he said were the contracts between EF and his (the one HE sold to a 3rd party) franchise. The document was dated June 2004; however the company named as the franchisee didn't exist until October 2004. Of course there will be a criminal complaint made but the defendant (former EF DOS) wants to use the subpoena powers of this court to obtain more documents. EF's representative is craping himself. He could still walk away from the case but then he can be sued more easily for bringing a false case against the former DOS.

Update on EF in Chiang Mai

EF�s representative signed a termination of franchise contract with EF on October 15th 2006 which took affect November 1st 2006. On October 15th EF�s representative wasn�t authorized to terminate the contract as he had already sold the owning company (DSS Educated Co. Ltd.) of the franchise to a 4th party. This leaves the door open to this 4th party to sue EF for damages.

In addition the EF brand is being used in Chaing Mai still - this is without the authority of EF. For example, Regina Coeli School, Pimandek School plus some others.

Fun fun fun!

[englishgibson]

nice updates whistleblower...thai, indonasians, or chinese involved in EF franchising biz are often well connected to authorities....in china, the foreign franchisor is surrounded by chinese who dictate the pace, if you know what i mean ... then, nobody really dares to rattle the cages of those franchisees that would not pay their royalty fees or follow standards

in your case there, it seems that the headless office there is as headless as the one in shanghai china...they just keep their faces up for the prestige of the largest educational organization in the world

keep the forum posted
and
cheers and beers to all hard working FTs in thailand

_____________________________________________________________
EF English First is in China as CHEF which really stands for Chenglish First

[whistleblower]

After 2 years a copy of a certain contract from EF in Bangkok has finally been obtained. It required a court subpoena eventually after a police letter and a personal request to EF had been refused. It is now clear to Chiang Mai Civil Court that the contract used by EF�s representative to base his case to sue the former DOS is fake/false. The next court date is May 15th and then it will be announced to the court.

An interesting aside to this is that EF Bangkok also sent to Chiang Mai Civil Court a copy of their franchise contract termination document between EF�s representative�s company and EF. It is dated October 15th, 2006. However, at this time EF�s representative had already sold his company and was not authorized to sign any termination for the EF franchise in Chiang Mai. I guess the new owners are quite entitled to sue EF; and maybe EF�s signatories, to that contract, may face criminal action as they have terminated a franchise without the owner�s consent or knowledge.

[benandjerry]

I are you referring to a man by the name of MOD EDIT? He was the DOS there some years ago. He had a Ph.D in applied linguistics. Was fired for reasons unknown to me, but I was told by staff that he was fired because of allegations that he was a paedophile. Don't believe one word of that, i knew him quite well.

[whistleblower]

[whistleblower]

The latest court date was postponed from the 15th May to 4th September. This was EF's Representative's last opportunity to interview witnesses in Bangkok before the case returns to CM. The defence cannot introduce evidence or interview its own witnesses until the plaintiff finishes, but must finish its own investigation before November 2007.

The ex-country manager (Thai female) of EF was interviewed by the plaintiff's solicitor. She contradicted the contract EF previously provided to the court by stating that there was a verbal contract between EF and EF's representative in CM that overrode the actual paper contract (signed and stamped by EF). In total she contradicted 5 contracts and documents presented to the court by the defendant (ex-EF DOS) by saying either there was a verbal contract that overrode the contract, or that she had never seen the document before. She sounded silly! It's strongly believed that the brother of the ex-country manager has a company that sells lubricants to the EF Chiang Mai representative's father's bicycle manufacturing company!

The defendant has subpoenaed the current EF management to attend court on September 17th and answer questions. I will report the results.