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[jmbenne3]

RIP-OFF WARNING for FREE FLY EDUCATION LLC, Cary, NC USA

You wouldn�t know from visiting their website that this pre-school English education program is trying to get a foothold in China. We are a married couple that worked for Free Fly in North Carolina for ten Sundays during Summer 2004 and had a comparatively great experience. We didn�t think twice about trusting the owner, when she proposed that we go to China to pioneer the program as a supplementary option for children at a public school in Tianjin.

After we arrived, it didn�t take us long to realize that we were working double and getting compensated half of what we were originally promised. When we began asking �What�s going on?!� they played the �open-mind� card very hard: �This is the way things are in China� as if to say, �Don�t be so judgmental, you can�t expect things to work the same as in your country.�

Despite our protests and unhappiness, we might have resigned ourselves to staying if we had not been asked to work a 7 days per week. Our agreement was for a 5-day workweek and 30hrs/wk max. The boss said, �It�s still a 5-day workweek because we�re giving you off on Thursday and Friday afternoons and borrowing that time for you to come in on Saturday and Sunday mornings.� Even after we used our fingers to count the number of days from Sunday through Saturday, Free Fly Education shamelessly claimed that it was still a 5-day workweek. Besides leaving us exhausted, this schedule prevented us from doing any traveling on the weekends. We didn�t come to China to work a 7-day week and 55 hrs/wk. We would have stayed home to do that. Our good will exhausted and energy spent, we resigned after just one month

If you�re considering a position with Free Fly Education, please heed our warning to completely avoid this company! As much as we would like others to experience such lovely children as the ones we teach, find a company other than Free Fly to come to China with or try things on your own once you get here. Also, do your homework and check these companies out online. Dave�s ESL Caf� is the best site out there�you�re in the right place. We could have avoided so many problems had we just looked here at the many scam stories and wised up a bit.

[tofuman]

JM,

Congratulations for having the good sense to walk away from an organization that tried to exploit and victimize you. If more people would do it, it wouldn't happen as often.

Sounds like you had an expensive, (in more than one way) trip to China for five weeks.