This company advertises for employment opportunities in the Pennysaver for Independent Contractors. Looking to earn some extra money for the holidays I responded to the ad. I called and spoke with Jan who told me to come down and fill out an application and bring my ID. Little did I know what I was getting myself into. This company hires independent contractors to hand address envelopes and stuff them with flyers. I was told to do the following:
Hand Address and stuff 1050 Envelopes
The Inserts required the following assembly:
Take each brochure add an insert and place a post it note with the following hand written message on the front of each brochure:
Call for free consultation! -Jon
Jan gave me 2 days to complete the job and gave me a slip to turn in with the job. The slip had how many envelopes I was given, a job number, and $180 "the amount I was suppose to be paid for the work". The next couple days were torture. I worked on these envelopes 2 days straight with 2 hours sleep. I even had a friend help me out with the last bit so I could get this job finished in time. The morning the job was due I was totally exhausted, my fingers were bruised and covered in ink. I never worked so hard for a lousy $180 in my life. I returned the following Monday to Think Ink for a meeting. They bought all the employees Pizza.
Looking around the room many of the employees could not speak English. The place reminded me of a sweat shop. This company illegally hires illegal immigrants to do mass mailing and pays them pennies why they are making a fortune off their hard work. Then to make matters worse I was getting the run around on my pay and given every excuse in the book. I finally got Jan on the phone and she told me Holly "the girl who does the checks" will be in tomorrow. Due to the fact I work another full time job and it would be impossible to get down to Think Ink on my lunch hour and back I asked her to mail my check. Jan told me no problem my check would be in the mail tomorrow. I never received my check. The following Monday I called again from my Full time job in another city 15 miles away and asked Jan where my check was. Jan told me "oh I have it right here do you want me to mail it?" I told her my friend "friend who helped me finish the envelopes" will be right down to pick up the check. "I was going to split some of the money with my friend for helping me finish the envelopes." My friend called me a few minutes later and told me the Check was for $80.
I'm furious. I was totally scammed by this company. Jan totally denies everything. She even came up with a phony slip. I'm planning on reporting this company to the Department of Labor.
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