I used to do work for Zip operations, on the InstallItToday website. Not anymore. When I first signed up, I was looking to expand how much work I did, with the economy slowing down. I found that while there were a few (extremely rare) jobs that involved computer repair, most of what they had were TV installation jobs, home theatre, and so on, and the only client they seemed to have is Zip Operations. That didn't worry me, as long as they were keeping me busy, even if the jobs were very low-paying, as long as I was not on unemployment and working at least close to my field. The first problem I had was when what was supposed to be a net-30 pay schedule turned into an average of net-60 (or worse yet, net-90). Whenever I would call and complain, I would get something like "well, we have to pay in order of job completion, and Target is having a special, and..." blah, blah, blah. Personally, I don't see why Target not paying Zip for TV installs would cause Zip not to pay me for computer virus jobs. I have had 1 TV install that went bad (TV fell off wall), which I made right by purchasing the exact same TV, and replacing the broken one. I had to travel back on 5 different occassions, because the customer wanted different things in order to make it right — patch the wall (I did that), paint the wall (customer refused to give me the color code so I could get an exact match on the paint), went to mount the replacement TV, customer closed shop while I was getting one tool I forgot at my office from a local hardware store. The last visit, I had previously advised the customer that work was needed to properly mount the TV on the wall. The customer wanted me to come back next week, when he might be able to get it fixed up correctly. I advised the customer I could give him up to 2 hours to fix it right then (the fix would have taken about 30 minutes max), or I could mount the TV on the wall as it was, or I could leave the TV and mount where they were. He told me to leave, so I left. Having been onsite multiple times, I expected at least a trip fee. Zip told me they were not going to pay for this job. When I asked for contact information for their legal counsel, Zip reported to InstallItToday that I had "threatened" them. I guess asking to allow my lawyer to settle a problem that they refuse to talk about with me is a threat? While my problem isn't so much with InstallItToday, it is definitely with Zip Operations. If you ever get a work order from them, send it back. One time I spent 6 hours on a TV installation because the customer told Zip they the TV was being mounted on a brick wall, but it was actually being mounted on heat resistant/hardened ceramic tiles. Burned up 3 drill bits and one drill. All for a $40 fee. When I called Zip about it, they said if I failed to do the job, I would get nothing for my time. I would have been better off, as it cost me $38 for the bits.
In the end, Zip is looking for slave labor and people who have no idea how much their skills are worth.
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