Job Discussion Forums

Sonnibarger · Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 320 Location: Wuhan

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=417705&type=Metro

wuhan branch closed its doors a few days ago.. teachers all look to be out final pay/flight... shame... i know they have a bad name is some cities but linguaphone wuhan is about the best mill in town

Sonnibarger · Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 320 Location: Wuhan

oh to add.. its china wide not just Wuhan... tho i heard NDI is buying a few ling schools in GZ/SH

Moon Over Parma · Joined: 20 May 2007 Posts: 819

Memories of NOVA Japan immediately come to mind. Someone wasn't minding the books. I wonder how many FTs nationwide are now jobless because of this.

Jiordano · Joined: 22 Oct 2009 Posts: 6

It's a shame. They were a good outfit.

The Ever-changing Cleric · Joined: 19 Feb 2009 Posts: 1523

Boxcar Johnny · Joined: 09 Jul 2008 Posts: 26

Sonnibarger · Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 320 Location: Wuhan

the wuhan branch was doing well... they were looking for new ft/pt teachers even a few weeks ago.. had more students than they could handle... i heard the SH/GZ branches were hurting tho.. and all the profit from wuhan was getting dumped into the corporate blackhole...

sharpe88 · Joined: 21 Oct 2008 Posts: 226

This happened a few weeks ago to Real Life English, a local franchise

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/metro/2009-10/26/content_8846672.htm

Moon Over Parma · Joined: 20 May 2007 Posts: 819

Hansen · Joined: 13 Oct 2008 Posts: 737 Location: central China

I had a brief stint with "Crazy English" a few years ago. The registration room was full of mobster types who could not speak a word of English. The school director spoke English at a level which required a translator to be understood.

Nearly all the people who could speak English were local university students hired for the summer. I was recruited in a park by a guy with decent English skills. I never saw him around the school, however.

It is difficult to determine whether any franchise is actually a franchise. Any criminal can put up a sign, copy some material, hire some university students, rent classroom space, pay the right people, and go into business. They could do this with a view to simply disappear when their income goal is reached.

Even legitimate "government" schools from time to time, must have their legitimacy demonstrated. In the past, individuals opened schools, called them government schools, and operated without difficulty. They were more or less "grandfathered" into the bureaucracy. Some are not really connected to the government.

Depending on who you are dealing with, collecting legitimate debts, from people who have the money to repay the debt, can be difficult. It may require expensive dinners, prostitutes, liquor, whatever, to get the money rightfully owed.

FTs should avoid any startup training center, any place which can not provide a "Z" visa or RP, or any place which does not pay promptly within 30 days of service initiated. After 30 days, walk away. Take your loss, move on. You may get paid, you may not. Why gamble with someone who has the business ethics of a rattlesnake?