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mikethemule1998
Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 5
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 Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 3:23 pm Post subject: Shenzhen Linguaphone |
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| I have recently heard that Shenzhen Linguaphone closed and the boss ran away with everyone's money. Is there any truth to this rumor? I've heard that teachers were owed 2 months salary and students are all out their tuition money. Same happened to Com-Com not long ago. How do these guys get away with this? |
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Plan B
Joined: 11 Jan 2005
Posts: 266
Location: Shenzhen
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| Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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I heard the same thing. It made the Shenzhen TV News last night apparently.
I seem to remember there were a few teachers or ex-teachers from Linguaphone on this forum. Anyone directly affected by this? |
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Plan B
Joined: 11 Jan 2005
Posts: 266
Location: Shenzhen
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| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 12:17 pm Post subject: |
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There is some news about the closure in today's SZ Daily:
http://paper.sznews.com/szdaily/20090804/ca2917456.htm
Some highlights:
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A total of 41 employees of Linguaphone Shenzhen � including four foreign teachers � claimed the company owed them a total of 400,000 yuan (US$58,800) in salaries for the past two months, while most students wanted their money back because they had just paid for summer memberships before the closure. The center had enrolled more than 400 students for summer classes, involving a total payment of 4 million yuan.
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[the lawyer] confirmed that Linguaphone Shenzhen, which opened in June in 2007, had been operating illegally because it was registered under the name of Tuguan Information Consultancy Shenzhen Co. Ltd. and was not authorized to provide language training.
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A senior officer from Linguaphone China, surnamed Zhang, said his company was not obliged to pay the debt that Linguaphone Shenzhen had incurred as a franchise.
But he promised he could help organize lessons at other centers for students who wanted to continue their studies.
Some students had reported the matter to Futian police, accusing the training center of a swindle, but the accusation was rejected for lack of evidence.
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englishgibson
Joined: 09 Mar 2005
Posts: 4345
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| Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 5:12 am Post subject: |
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wow 
i have never worked for linguaphone, but if my salary is late just a couple days, i am worried. why have the fts tolerated a couple months 
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| ...operating illegally because it was registered under the name of Tuguan Information Consultancy Shenzhen Co. Ltd. and was not authorized to provide language training. |
this is scarry as there's a tendancy in china to have companies with "branches" under varieties of names with varieties of products. i myself have worked for such a company and as i've moved on i am back to another such a company...a center with not only one name 
i have raised this issue of multiple company names on another thread, actually a couple of threads on the job related forum. and, that company had also issues with licensing and that with both the government as well as the franching head office as the company subscribed to an academic program. although, and to my knowledge, they had no pro with money.
to me, the question is whether linguaphone uses a uniformed academic program. if so, how could this SZ company have gone on UNLICENSED/UNSUBSCRIBED for such a long time without being noticed by the linguaphone head office and this mr. ZHANG.
by the way, i am aware of a linguaphone center in nanning guanxi that has been having numerous issues. one of them is the "licensing" and the other one is the lease agreement. ownership and management is according to two former workers there, a disasster. the center was one of my choices to stay on in nanning, although i passed on it due to its reputation.
cheers and beers to all fts that act (not in classrooms) as soon as their salary is delayed by a couple of days |
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Sonnibarger
Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 320
Location: Wuhan
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:52 am Post subject: |
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| englishgibson wrote: |
cheers and beers to all fts that act (not in classrooms) as soon as their salary is delayed by a couple of days |
careful with that kind of protest..
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| So their protest created a hindrance for those who had nothing to do with the problem... and in practicality could do nothing about it except resent the protestors for including the non-responsible in their effort to further their agenda�well done you say.. I say wasted effort.. why not protest the official or the office that had the responsibility ..... that little Chinese official now has a reason to discount their message... |
wont someone think of the poor students 555 |
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englishgibson
Joined: 09 Mar 2005
Posts: 4345
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 9:00 am Post subject: |
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| Sonnibarger wrote: |
| englishgibson wrote: |
cheers and beers to all fts that act (not in classrooms) as soon as their salary is delayed by a couple of days |
careful with that kind of protest.. |
not that i feel the urge to confront but the urge to protect..our contracts have/should have the date when we get paid..acting may not necessarily mean "protesting".
cheers and beers to all the careful fts out there..although you can never be careful enough, can you
_____________________________________________________________
once, a certain macschool did not pay me according to my contract, so after i got paid, shortchanged, i took a midday run  leaving my students behind  |
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alter ego
Joined: 24 Mar 2009
Posts: 209
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| Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:27 am Post subject: |
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| I heard Linguaphone Hong Kong, one of the longest running language schools there, closed about 6 months ago. Competition, corrupt owners, and school closures often lead to bad experiences for foreign teachers. Live and learn. The good news is that education in China is and will continue to be a growing industry, and there are plenty of good jobs and regular paychecks to be had in big cities like Shenzhen. |
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englishgibson
Joined: 09 Mar 2005
Posts: 4345
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| Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:39 am Post subject: |
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yes, the good news is that education is and will be growing in china and with some regular paychecks too, although with plenty of bad jobs. competition (the chinese way) and corrupt owners have created grounds for really risky job offers.
we may not really know exactly what has happened in the linguaphone SZ case, although the fair questions may be such as why has the company been allowed to operate as a language center for a couple years and why it has been allowed to hire fts or use the linguaphone name/material. my guess is that fts have worked on their F visas there which does not really allow them to complain about their salaries too much. further more, it does seem as if "some" have got paid to allow this center to operate.
chinese franchises operating from some other company named offices are clearly a risk and an attempt to possibly pass on the resposibilities to others (other company). franchisors, especially the foreign ones in china should think twice before they subscribe one into their program. often, they only try to expand and collect for initial opening and royalty fees.
now, back on topic, my questions are;
1) what visas have the fts worked on there?
2) has the unfortunate SZ linguaphone operated under a franchisor's licence, or is it clear that it has not?
3) what academic material has the unfortunate SZ linguaphone used?
by the way, and as i've heard there are quite a few other cases similar to the one above in china. in chongqing for example there're a few cases as my coworkers have said. fts against the chinese employer in court of chinese law
i can't imagine the grief if my employer closes down and either tells me on the day, or not at all. i've got a family to feed. circumstances suggest it may happen and my clueless manager is on a really good way to it. i somewhat feel that sooner's better than later as my end of the year bonus would be to consider. imagine a couple months before you are to receive some "reward" for the work well done .... that hasn't really paid off.
cheers and beers to some quick new gigs of the former SZ linguaphone fts |
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dragon777
Joined: 05 Oct 2005
Posts: 163
Location: Christmas Island
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:50 am Post subject: |
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| Correct me if I am wrong but if 'Shenzhen Linguaphone' was not a properly licenced language school. How could it legally hire foreign teachers on a Z visa. Surely they would of all been working illegally, since the school opened in July, 2007. |
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inchinanow
Joined: 03 Feb 2008
Posts: 102
Location: China
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:59 am Post subject: Take home message |
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The take home message:
As soon as they start messing with your money, find another job quickly. Do not tolerate late payments of salary. |
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englishgibson
Joined: 09 Mar 2005
Posts: 4345
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| Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 6:20 am Post subject: |
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absolutely!
maybe it's a long shot, but it does look like fts there were on F and so could not complain too much.
dragon, the licencing comes with a couple different permits; one's to operate a language training center and the other one to operate a franchised language training center. of course there's a separate permit to hire foreign teachers. according to the story we know the center has not had a licence to operate a language training center, but i don't think we know for sure the center has or has not had a permit to operate a linguaphone center with its academic product. or, was it a "clone"
cheers and beers to fts with appropriate work permits as they might be protected better when it comes to delays on salary payments |
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