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mount real
Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 17
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 Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 6:54 am Post subject: Heilongjiang Modern Higher Education Training Centre |
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A few months ago, my friend and I wrote about this agency and two of it's employees, Sebastian and Jenny. I said they lied to me, but now I know it's not true. I would like to apologize to them and the agency for what I said. The Centre is a legal agency and I think it's a great place to work.
Mount Real |
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senorfay
Joined: 08 Mar 2007
Posts: 214
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| Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 7:03 am Post subject: |
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After a few months of visa problems here, I have also been coerced into writing an apology to the Center and its former employees: Sebastian and Jenny.
The Heilongjiang Modern Education Training Center is a wonderful place to work. I didn't realize it then when I wrote the post in March, but I do know now. I thought I had been lied to about various aspects of my contract, but now I know I was wrong and that they were doing business legally.
I have learned a lot from my mistake and I now know that I was wrong and they were right.
I'm sorry.
senorfay |
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tw
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
Posts: 3898
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| Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:19 am Post subject: |
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Your tone sure has changed a lot since your post at http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=49537
Why do I have the feeling that you are forced into writing this public apology in order to get what is/was owed to you, and for you to be able to move on to greener pastures? |
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malu
Joined: 22 Apr 2007
Posts: 1344
Location: Sunny Java
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| Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:01 am Post subject: |
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| Well, I think we all know the truth about the Heilongjiang Modern Education Training Center now, and I'm sure everyone can see EXACTLY how wonderful an employer it is. |
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fitzgud
Joined: 24 Jan 2006
Posts: 148
Location: Henan province
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| Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:16 am Post subject: |
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| I am quite sure many of us would be pleased to see photos of your respective tongues, in colour please. However, sepia may also be fitting. |
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MGreen
Joined: 22 May 2007
Posts: 81
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| Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:32 am Post subject: |
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It took a lot of cahones to recant. You've definitely done more for this outfit than you can image. I think we can add them to the list of reputable recruiters in China now, can't we.
Good Luck |
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Teatime of Soul
Joined: 12 Apr 2007
Posts: 905
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| Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:17 am Post subject: |
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Senorfey March 2007
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Hello,
My name is Tom and I'm writing concerning a bad company in Harbin. The name of the company is the Heilongjiang Center for Modern Education and Higher Learning or something along those lines. Their contacts are a woman named 'Jenny' (chinese) and a man named 'Sebastian' (canadian).
I came to this company in October. I'll admit that I didn't do my homework concerning bad companies, but now I know.
This company works with the local public school system.
I knew I was in for a rocky ride the first day I came when my 'school furnished apartment' was a dorm room in a boys' dormitory that is pad-locked at night after 9pm. Fortunately, I had never signed a contract. No one asked me to. They actually told me that by accepting the job the contract was signed, although I never once signed a contract with a representative from the company. From there things got worse.
The books did not arrive for my classes until two weeks after the term began. My students were all college-aged men and women who failed the high school exit exam. Needless to say, my students were unmotivated, but I was prepared for underdogs and I made myself into the king of the underdogs. My students enjoyed their classes and some even learned something.
But this is not about the students. This is about the company. After a lackluster semester where I learned that many of the students had been tricked into taking the english classes (they wrote on their application that they wanted to be in the radio journalism program or the surveying program or the police training program, but then they were put in the business english program. When students complained they were put in the wrong program, the owner of our company told them it was too late for them to switch programs. I lost a lot of students that way... they stopped coming to class. Often times I heard students on the phone complaining to their parents that they had been tricked into taking classes they did not want.)
Winter break came. A two and a half month winter break that was unpaid. My company told me I could not work for any other companies during this holiday. I asked for other classes and they told me they'd see about it, but I never heard back. During this break, I left Harbin to travel. I hadn't picked up my December pay because my flight left before it was ready. I told my contact at the company, 'Jenny' that I would collect my pay when I came back.
When I came back, I called the 'Center'. I arranged to meet them a few days later to pick up my money. When I met with the woman to receive my paycheck, it was sufficiently short. I asked why there was money missing. She told me she couldn't get all the money but that she would pay me in full at the end of the break. I was upset by this news. I told her I was upset and said there could be problems if I did not see all my money when we met again in a month.
A month went by and in the meantime a friend of mine who also worked for this company found a job with a different company that he claimed was much better. I decided I would give the 'Center' a chance to pay me in full before I left them.
The fateful day came when I was to collect the money that was owed me. Again she was 2000RMB short. I told the contact that this was the last straw and that problems were to ensue. My friend became the hiring manager to this new company. He offered me a job at a primary school that I took. I worked a day at this primary school and it was a breath of fresh air. There were teacher assistants (the other company did not have them). The students were motivated and happy to learn (at the other school this was not the case). I felt like things were structured well (not at all the case at the other school).
That afternoon I went to my old company to formally quit in person. When I did so, I was met with threats that the police could be involved, that I was under contract, and that what I was doing was illegal. I told them that I had never signed a contract and that if I had they were still breaking it by not paying me on time. At that point they flipped out and went through all their files to find a contract that doesn't exist. I stayed for an hour to see if they could find anything and they did not. I left. That is when my problems really began.
Four days later I was notified by a contact with my new company that my old company had followed me to my new school. The follower told the new school that I was working there illegally and that they could lose their license because of that. The 'Center' sent letters to my landlord, the police, and the education ministry as well as my embassy slandering me. Meanwhile my new company went through their own channels to secure a new work and residence permit as well as a foreign expert license.
My friend who also quit on the same day as I did went through similar problems. I warned him that he might be followed. The next day he spotted the person following him and confronted the follower. The police became involved and they spoke to our new boss with the owner of our old company as well as 'Jenny'.
It turned out that our old company were made to look like fools. Repeatedly the police said they could do nothing about the issue and they tried to leave. I was not there for this confrontation, but my friend can elaborate for me.
As it stands now, I am being taken to court in a month or two. Unfortunately my old company does not have a solid case, but they do have forged contracts. I am not worried because by the time that happens I will have new documents making me legal to work for my new company.
This is a warning to all those who think things will be gravy when they come to work here. Now things are gravy. I work for a decent company at a decent school, but before it was crap. A bad company will use coersion and lies to keep you with them. They will withhold pay. They will treat their students like garbage. I could go on and on about the classrooms filled with bugs, the exploding waterpipes in dormitories, etc... just to save a few RMB here and there.
Be careful... my friend who I worked with and who also left, claims he did his homework, but I did not do mine.
That's about it... my friend can fill in the details. |
Regarding your original posting:
1. Is it true or not true about being paid late?
2. Is it true or not true about being slandered and harassed by this employer
3. is is true or not true you were threatened with legal action by this employer?
I can understand someone saying, "My school isn't licensed to hire foreigners" and being wrong. After all, FTs are hardly in a position to verify who really has a license, or what license the school may be using.
But it is odd when a teacher says, for example, "At the end of the second month, my pay was still 2,000 RMB short, my heating was broken for three months, and I had five unpaid classes" and later say, "Oops, my bad. My mistake, all is good - it was just a misunderstanding."
Do you see the difference? One sounds like a plausible mistake and the other sounds like a recantation made at the barrel of a gun.
And the funny thing is, if the latter is the case, the silly face giving measure it was intended to be backfired with the whole ugly thing being reposted and rediscussed and more suspicions being raised.
Tip: Should you choose/be compelled to reply, use an acrostic. |
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AussieGuyInChina
Joined: 23 Nov 2006
Posts: 403
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| Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I have also been coerced into writing an apology |
If the word has been used correctly, more or less says it all! |
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