Myself and a business friend were both employed by Take One, Inc. Dba John Robert Powers in SLC, UT. Take One, Inc. Is made of by partners of Woodbury Corporation and Ron Kronig and Stephen Feder who also works for Prudential Prestige Real Estate in the Salt Lake community.
In march there were 7 people who did not receive their paychecks on time. When we did receive them we immediately as a group went to Zions Bank (1401 S Foothill Dr.) to cash our checks. While we were there a branch representative called over to JRP to verify that they had written these hand signed checks. At that time a representative of the company Elizabeth Bailey-Durst told the branch and put a freeze on all the funds in the account.
We then had a heated discussion with the baking manager and she advised us to call the company. We then called over to JRP where Ron Kronig told us that we were not going to get paid today because he needed to move some funds to the payroll account. So we all decided to deposit these checks into our personal accounts and within a couple of days all checks had cleared but two.
Mine and my business friend, both of our banks took too long and then returned our checks as "Account Closed - Refer to maker". By this time I was starting to have checks bounce and getting hit with $22 fees for every check. I called back to JRP to inquire why and Ron stated that he would reimburse us for the checks but not for the bank fees. I then tried to get a new check issued from Elizabeth, however she said that Ron had told her not to pay us for anything.
In the meantime we tried contacting Stephen and he said that he would talk to Ron about this situation. When we got back a hold of Ron he said that he "would not" pay us and that we would have to go through the Woodbury's or the legal system.
We then contacted the Better Business Bureau which we found to be of NO help. Our next step was "The State of Utah Labor Commission" where we talked with Betty Barrett a Wage Claims Specialists and she said we had to file our paperwork and wait for the process, so we did.
After the Labor Commission sent out it 1st registered mail to the employer there was NO response and then 45 days later a second notice and still NO response. This put JRP in default. But then a few days later they sent a response asking for continuation and were granted 2 weeks. They then failed to respond again in a timely manner and were in default again.
Betty told us that this was good for us and that things looked good, however, we had to go to court. So the state appointed an attorney to this case, he sent us a letter a few weeks later stating that there was nothing he could do. So we contacted him and provided him with more beneficial information and he said that things were looking good, again. When we got a letter back from the attorney it said that Ron had fled the country and there was nothing further he could help us on.
However, the business is still in business with the same TV & Radio ads and the same Phone #. All this trouble and they only owe me approx 1600.00 and my partner 1500.00. Woodbury Corp alone is worth over $400 MILLION, so I ask what is $3000 to these people. We still haven't given up we contacted a private attorney that said he might be able to help, it has been a couple of months again and no good news yet. So our next best bet is to publish the wrong-doing of this company on the web at what I have found to be the best site for corrupt businesses. Usacomplaints.com and hopefully someone out there can give us some help or at least some good pointers as what to do.
I just hope that all who read this DO NOT do business with this franchise or the people listed above who work for this company.
In no way am I saying that the corporate offices of JRP or their many other reputable franchises are corrupt just the local privately owned franchise in Salt Lake City.
Frustrated and Burned in SLC
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