S. Schwartz Sales
Commissaries/exchanges & Sales Rep DAN GUERRA Refusing to pay independent contractor DEMO person for demo's completed in June/ July

S. Schwartz Sales Inc. (Military Commissaries & Exchanges)
1104 Madison Plaza, Suite 201
Chesapeake, VA 23320
Tel: (757) 436-5604
Fax: (757) 436-5817

Dan Guerra
103 Hidden Valley Drive
Clarks Summit, PA 18411
Tel: (570) 586-7761
Fax: (570) 586-7131
S. Schwartz Sales Inc. Company Military Sales Rep DAN GUERRA from Pennsylvania, hired me as a demo person to cook/demo foods for his company S. Schwartz Sales at the USAM/West Point Commissary.
I did demo's for items such as: Johnsonville brats/sausages, Otis Spunkmeyer muffins, Reeser's, Tony's, Haddon House, Kings Hawaiian, Land O' Frost, Maple Leaf, just to name a few)
I did demo's for this rep since 09 and until recently I didn't have a problem receiving payment for work completed. The demo's I wasn't paid for were done in June and July just prior to my resigning as a demo contractor and relocating from NY to CA.
Both Dan and his company were aware I was moving and it appears they waited until I had moved to inform me that I wouldn't be getting paid for the last demo's I was claiming to receive my payment.
The demo's were always arranged by the sales rep, Dan Guerra, who requested the most recent demo's be done as TWO DAY demos per each demo sheet.
The orders to bring in the products to conduct the demos were written by DAN and passed on to the ordering dept of the commissary for ordering (orders were not determined by or ordered by the demo person) As a demo person, my job was to arrive, display, cook and demo the products.
The contract does not stipulate how many hours the demo should last. Dan told me to demo approximately four hours per demo and trying to find an excuse not to pay me, Maryann says the demo's should be 6-8 hours.
I should mention that Dan is typically a nice guy and until now we never had a problem. He is 70 years old and admittedly forgets things he says or does and he forgets quite often. There were times he'd give me demo's (with instructions handwritten by him) and he'd later call me in a panic saying he forgot to give me demo's for the upcoming week. I'd remind him that he did give them to me and we spoke for a bit about the demo's. He'd laugh and say he was getting senile and too old to keep working as a rep. (I am stating this to show that he does and says things he later forgets he has said or done and he promised he would make sure I got paid for all demo's I did and later claimed he never said that.)
Dan was given all demo sheets to process for payments immediately after the demo's were completed. The orders were reviewed by him in person after I handed them to him and he never questioned me about them and his company didn't contact either Dan or myself to question the payment claim forms. Dan told me he forwarded the demo claims for payment and I would be paid within 30 days as per the contract. (I asked Dan and he told me they didn't question the demo's and he was surprised I wasn't paid on time)
Dan was aware that I would be moving and not in the state any longer and had already contracted a new demo person.
After moving and still not receiving my check, I called Dan to question why I hadn't been paid for the demo's as I thought maybe due to moving, the check hadn't reached me.
He said he didn't know and he would check on it. He called me back to say there may be a problem paying me for all of the demo's because his company was upset that the order wasn't large enough to warrant them paying two demo days. I stated that he, not I, placed the orders and he should have known how much to order beforehand. Bottom line, I did two demo days per sheet and should be paid accordingly. (as always-the company blames him and he blames them)
I also stated that the demo sheets didn't stipulate that the order had to be doubled and Dan told me not to worry, he'd talk to his company and make sure I was paid for the work I did. (again, HE wrote the orders up and HE stipulated the demo's, not the orders, should be for two days.)
Dan called back to say that the company only wanted to pay for one demo, not two. I told him it was too late, two demo's were already completed per demo sheet and I reminded him that he wrote the orders up and on the demo sheets he indicated I was to do TWO day demo's per sheet and since the demo's were already completed, he can't change the rules after the fact. He again assured me I would get paid, but he'd need to talk to the company again. More time passed and I finally received a check for HALF of what I was owed to me in OCTOBER.
This was not the amount I was owed, so I called Dan and he said they were paying for ONE demo day per claim sheet, not TWO even though I did two demo days per product per his request. He said the company wanted the orders doubled (his fault for not doing this) and that he would talk to them about it. He said to call him again if I didn't receive the second half of the money I was owed within 30 days and I waited again, but the check never arrived. I left Dan a few messages that he never returned. After waiting two weeks for him to call me back, I finally called his company and spoke to Debra W. Who was very nice and took the information and told me she would pass this along to Maryann who was the supervisor and they'd let me know the status. Debra went on to say that she wanted me to know that the company usually pays their demo people and she would try to find out what was going on with this. A few weeks passed again without a return call from Maryann so I called again. This time I was told that Maryann was handling this and would get back to me.in the meantime, Dan finally called and left an angry message on my phone when I wasn't home. He was angry that I called his company and forbid me to call his company again and said I would not be getting paid for the demo's I did since the orders weren't doubled (I have the original sheets he gave me and nothing is noted about the ordered having to be doubled in order to be paid for two demo's) Not wanting to get into an argument with Dan and understandably no longer trusting him at this point, I called the company again and Debra again told me that Maryann would get back to me as she went home sick. I let Debra know that Dan had left nasty messages for me and she advised me not to speak to him again and instead told me to let the company investigate and handle it; she also advised me not to listen to what Dan was saying and stated that the rep didn't have a say in whether or not I got paid for my work. Again, I left my name/number and waited another week and a half and called again. This time Maryann got on the phone and told me that I'd only be paid for one demo, not two as the orders were not large enough for two demo's (this was Dan's problem, not mine as I'd already done my work) I explained that as a demo person, I didn't take or place the orders, I simply show up, cook, pass out food and encourage customers to buy it. Maryann then said that the sales weren't high enough on the product I demo'd to warrant paying for two demo's (already completed)
I reminded her that I had no control over the amounts requested or the orders placed OR on how much product the customers bought.
Maryann then said that she would 'review' how much product was sold as the result of my demo's to see whether or not it warranted paying me for both days as opposed to one. I again stated that I have no control over whether or not the customer purchases the items, they like to taste what I've cooked but I can't force them to buy it. She said she will look it over but being the holidays and all, it will take SEVERAL WEEKS to even look into it and get back to me with an answer. I said, well if I don't hear from you I will be calling back and she hung up on me.
The amount I am owed is $415.00. This isn't an astronomical amount to a company, but it is a significant amount to have performed worked for and then be denied payment for my services. It isn't my fault the sales rep didn't stipulated the amount of orders for two days or that sales of their product didn't meet their expectations. NONE of this is stated on the demo sheets or the contract. The demo sheets are a legal contract and do not state that a minimum order needs to be placed or a minimum sales quota is required in order to be paid as a demo person. The company needs to do the right thing by their hired demo workers and pay the amount owed to me for my services.in addition, Dan was aware that the demo's I turned in would be my last ones as I was moving out of state. It is very suspicious that he waited until I moved across country to let me know that I wouldn't be paid for my services. He already had a new demo person hired and this may have been a way for him and his company to save a little money by not paying me. Maybe they think it's not a large enough amount that I will fly back to bring the matter to court or something, I don't know, but all of this certainly makes Dan Guerra and S. Schwartz Sales Inc., especially Maryann who claims to be in charge of this, look very bad!
If S. Schwartz Sales, Inc. Decides to do the right thing and pay me what I am rightfully owed, I will post an update on this report.
Until I am paid the wages I earned by doing demo's for them, I will be boycotting their products and encourage anyone who reads this to do the same. (I listed the contact address/numbers too)
My family will no longer be purchasing their products will cost them more than what they owe me in lost sales and until they pay what they owe me, it will continue to cost them in sales. I will continually tell everyone not to buy their products and will detail how they treat people and conduct business and hopefully they will notice a decrease in sales!

Company: S. Schwartz Sales
Country: USA
State: Virginia
City: Chesapeake
Address: 1104 Madison Plaza, Suite 201
Phone: 7574365604

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