I recently responded to a craigslist post for a Collections job in Corona Ca. I sent my resume to the link in the post and within two hours I got a call from a guy named John Cook. He got my email and wanted me to come in for an interview the following day. When I arrived at Rincon Management Services I opened the door and walked into a small room crammed with desks and people. Connected to that room was another small office full of desks and then a larger room with even more desks manned with people. It was a standard call center, the cheap kind… John Cook wasn't even there! He was called on his cell phone by his little brother who worked there and told him to have me sit with a gal and listen in to her calls. I sat there for an hour as she navigated a data base of people owing credit debt.
When she actually was able to reach the point of contact she informed them that she needed to confirm he/she would be available to accept legal documents from a process server. She went on to explain a civil action was being brought against him/her and a that a notice to appear in court would be delivered by process service that day! If she was able to confirm the point of contact and address was good she gave him/her “the phone number to the legal office handling the civil action against you and the case number associated with the civil action. She told the person they would have to contact that number for more information. The phone number that was given rang within the same room!!! Not a legal office at all! The people who took those calls were called “closers” and they were the ones who demanded payment to settle the matter out of court.
After an hour of waiting for John Cook I left. He called me an hour later and offered me a job, wanting me to start that day even! I told him I would start Monday but that I wanted to meet with him prior to that to ask some questions (since he wasn't at the interview). I went in the following day and my first question was in regards to my “Employment Status”. He told me everyone there was an “Independent Contractor/1099” and pay was commission only. They didn't withhold any employment tax including half of Social Security Tax and they didn't pay into Unemployment Insurance or Worker's Comp.insurance. Clearly the people working there were not “Independent Contractors” considering not one of the IRS's rules regarding Independent Contractor Status was being met. My comment to John Cook was “Well that's not exactly legal, is it? ” He played dumb for a moment, telling me he was “confused”.
I continued on, beginning to explain the basics of 1099 status as determined by the IRS (not him) and he basically through me out of his office! “Let's cut to the chase here, this just isn't gonna work out! You can go now” and with that he stormed out of his office clearly agitated. He wouldn't even look me in the face after that and ignored my efforts to thank him for his time and shake his hand good bye. I simply smiled and casually walked out the door…all eyes on me as I did. Not only is this company scamming people out of money, their exploiting their employees to do it and participating in California's “Underground Economy”. This place needs to be shut down for good! Oh an by the way, they are NOT overseas they are in Corona Ca. Off the 15 frwy! I have listed the physical address of the call center for anyone who wants to confront these crooks! Have fun…John Cooks phone number is 909-771-9752. He wrote the script that is used to scam people out of their money, he is listed as the Operations Manager…
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