Oh, where to begin? If you are considering working here, or getting therapy here, you'd better think twice. This report will include many, but not all, of the atrocities, which are led by Marcus J Thirstrup, CEO, and his special friend, Matt Twombly.
Let's roll:
EMPLOYEES:
At PMRC, you get your benefits after 90 days of work-and you don't pay a dime for them. But, apparently, neither does the company. One employee, who had been employed for 8 months, had her insurance cancelled without notice. What happened you ask? Well, the company had not paid for her, or any other employee's, insurance for months. I'm glad she was proactive and called ahead of time to make sure. Oh how they care.
Speaking of insurance, another worker gets supplemental insurance through the company. She has to have this to insure her kids and husband. She gives PMRC a certain amount of money every month to pay for this. Well, as you might have guessed, the company took her money every month, but did NOT pay the insurance company.in street terms, this is a jack move. Where did the money go? Perhaps Marcus has a nice stack of Playgirl magazines in his office-who knows?
Another employee turned in his notice to leave the company. Days later, Mr. Thirstrup pulled him in an office and accused him of theft, threatened him with action from fictitious authorities, and accused him of many other things. Apparently, though, Marcus will not put anything in writing, I wonder why. The next day, that employee showed up with the police to talk to Marcus, but he was not there-surprise. What does Marcus tell employees about what happened? He lies. What a blowhard.
One employee with a Master's degree was hired under the impression he would be a counselor. He was with the PT aides for the clinical portion of his training. As for his counseling training-he was locked in an office doing insurance verifications. Yep. He was so excited to finally get a job in which he could use his degree-as promised by Mr. Twombly. Well, unless his degree incorporated staring blankly at a computer screen all day and not seeing a single patient, the verbal agreement was not fulfilled-a common practice by the bosses. How nice of them.
(MIS) MANAGEMENT:
What if the employees want to call a meeting because things are falling apart? Tough. The management would rather pretend like everything is OK. One time, an employee asked for a meeting because things were getting stressful for everyone. Mr. Twombly actually told that employee to wait three months for the meeting. No, he was not kidding. Everybody is left in the dark about things. Usually a little miscommunication between management and the subordinates is expected. However, at PMRC, nobody communicates with anyone else. It is a nightmare.
Does management follow the rules? Let's look.
Training is a joke. This varies from a few hours left in an office to read, to being thrown into the lion's den. Now, you must note that this is not flipping burgers, it is physical therapy. The aides do things that the Texas board of PT examiners would not like too much, such as teaching the exercises to the patients (initially), that's for the PT, not the tech. It seems the PT is too busy and important to do his/her job.
Some employees are paid as independent contractors but are actually employees. This is a common practice by crooked bosses nation wide. Read up on this if you are unfamiliar with this law. Basically, if you are told what time to come to work, and are given an office or tools to use, you are an employee. This tricky practice saves the company payroll taxes that are passed on to the employee instead.
What about the chronic pain program? There is supposed to be a physician director of the program. This was not the case for months, and may still be the case. Anytime an employee asks, he/she is told to mind his/her own business.in a phone conversation overheard by an employee, Marcus supposedly called himself Dr. Marcus. Is he pretending to be a doctor? Who knows? Although, I know you cannot be a doctor, much less a good CEO, with only a high school diploma.
Anyways, back to the chronic pain program. The nutrition classes are taught by; hold your breath, a PT, not a nutritionist. How qualified is he/she? Who the hell knows, but it's probably not qualified enough. It is funny to note that mile down the road there is a huge chronic pain management center. It has doctors, nutritionists, and the whole enchilada. It seems that many people who are looking for that clinic mistakenly come to PMRC. I hope to dear God that the turn around and go to the good place.
And then there's the 10 % option. If you pay for all of your therapy upfront, you get a 10% discount on the total bill. If you do not attend all of your sessions, you are entitled to your money back for those sessions, right. Well, just ask some of the people involved in legal disputes with Mr. Thirstrup. Apparently, it takes countless lawyers and complaints to get your money back. It also takes up to or more than a year. That's the clever hook of the 10% option. You pay all of it upfront in order to save some money, and if you decide to cancel, hopefully you forget that you still have a balance in your favor. If you do remember, good luck trying to get it back.
Conversely, if you owe Mr. Thirstrup money, be careful. He has been known verbally settle for half of what you owe. Sounds good, right? However, when it comes to put that amount in writing, it will magically turn back into the full amount. WARNING: WHEN SPEAKING TO MR THIRSTRUP, USE A TAPE RECORDER! This can save you peace of mind. Note: It is legal in Texas to record over the phone without the other party knowing. This, of course, cannot be used for criminal purposes.
NOTES:
The employees have been known to call the bank in advance of payday to make sure that their paychecks don't bounce (it's happened before).
One clinic is closed on Thursday mornings because there are not enough employees to cover both clinics on that day. Wow, what a steady job.
If you are a doctor or a doctor's next of kin, you get SPECIAL treatment. This includes one on one treatment, a freshly cleaned clinic, and a higher status among management/PTs. This completely contradicts the ideals of any medical profession.
Did co-owner Matt Twombly get into trouble in Georgia? I'm not sure, but according to the Georgia Sate Board Physical Therapy he was hesitant to answer a question:
[sic] Ms. Willis motioned, Mr.
Friedman seconded, and the Board voted to request Mr. Twombly to respond to the
question: Were you providing patient care outside of the fellowship program? And if not, no further action required.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you found it helpful in some regard. Please, think twice about whom you do business with in the future. If you are uncertain about a company or individual, research them through the Internet. It can be the difference between happiness and hopelessness.
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