Job Discussion Forums

[a-train]

Howdie,

I short, I worked for sunny's english club in Sichuan province this last spring. My teaching ended with them not paying me the last months salary. The way I see it, they didn't provide the few basic services that they advertised and overall, run a rather shady two faced business. I am relaying this story not out of spite, I'm over it. I am posting this as a warning to other prospective english teachers who are new to china and the business and may be considering Sunny's.

here's the story if you're interested:
I am a newly certified TEFL teacher. I came to China last February after having communicated with "Sunny's English Club" based out of Chengdu, Sichuan province. They are a company which supplies schools with foreign teachers and takes a large cut of the teachers pay. The advantage of using them in the beginning, is that they provide services (like visa help) and a level of comfort for new comers to china who are wholly unfamiliar with the language and culture.

Following their advice, I came on a tourist visa which would reportedly be converted soon after I arrived to a work visa. After 2 months of working and my continual nagging, I finally got to Hong Kong to buy the Z visa all on my own expense. No complaints there. The problem was, once I got back to China, the Sichuan government denied me a foreign expert certificate, which essentially meant that my Z visa which should be good for a year, would last only 30 days. I am 23 years old, have a BA degree and a TEFL certificate, and I still don't know why it was denied. I learned about this with less than two weeks left on my now 30 day Z visa. At this point I informed my company that I had no choice but to leave the country, as I couldn't work in Sichuan legally. After ignoring my calls for a few days, they hatched a plan. They said that I could get a foreign expert certificate up north in Xian (different province). I informed them, after researching on my own, that the residence permit is only valid in the province in which you are living or working. This is typical of how the company operates. It was always them pulling quick ones and me researching on my own so that I could sift through their b.s. I refused and they said they would pay for me to go to that province and interview at a university so I could work next fall and that they would pay for a tourist visa back in sichuan so that I wouldn't get in trouble in the meantime. I spent the week in and out of various police stations trying to work it all out. In the end, Sunny, the boss of the company was mad that I wouldn't go back to work illegaly for the last month of classes on the newly acquired tourist visa and decided not to pay me the final months salary.

Ok, sorry that took so long, but I like to be accurate and it is a rather strange and convaluted story. Although exactly what happened to me probably won't happen again, I offer this story as an example of the sort of business Sunny's English club runs. Essentially, they have no problem with lying straight to your face and going back on their word, which they will guilt trip you into taking in the first place. you make more money if you work directly with a school. I signed a six month contract with Sunny's so that I could get my feet on the ground in China. The only thing that I asked of the company and which they professed to offer was visa help. They failed miserably and screwed me over in the end without so much as a goodbye. Damn, maybe I am still a bit bitter.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

Sorry to hear the bad news but chalk up a lesson learned here.

I remember the name of this place (Sunny's) coming up on this forum earlier this year but you only have 1 post. Did you post a requiest for info on this place under another name? Maybe it was someone else. Will have to take a look to see what was posted on that place previously and compare to your experience.

Anyway, your story is one of the reasons I never want to work at these private language schools. They just make up too much stuff on the fly and I don't want to deal with the consequences of someone else's bad decision making or BS.

There are better places to work legally in China. Hope you find one you like. Good luck.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

This might be the one I was thinking of:

Sunny's English

[Hansen]

a-train. Interesting that you could get a Z visa but not an RP. I guess that the school is not approved, so the local PSB refused to issue the permit. Does anyone else know a better or different reason?

The lying thing is pretty standard. Chinese people are under no moral or ethical obligation to be honest. They feel obliged to do whatever necessary to make money or cheat foreigners. They feel no obligation to be honest.

[evaforsure]

[nickpellatt]

There has been chatter on here recently about needing two years experience to get an RP ... I would guess that is why its been refused...that is only a guess though.

[Hansen]

a-train,

Did you have a foreign expert certificate when you applied for the RP? Did you apply for a foreign expert certificate at any time?

When applying for the RP, these are the necessary documents that I know about:

School invitation letter
Foreign expert certificate
Medical exam certification
Passport containing "Z" visa or current RP.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]