I worked for this company for over a year, and I saw several unethical/illegal actions committed by the broker, Phillip Silberman of Houston, TX. I was told I would start out on a commission based pay of 50% (50-50 split with the company, ei: Phil) and promised that after 3-4 months (or whenever I became less dependent on others for assistance to do my job) my commission split would increase. I was also told that any clients that I brought in that were my friends or family, I would receive a higher commission split. These were all lies, as I came to find out. After working at ApartmentWiz a year and a half and being able to work leads without any help from about the 3rd or 4th month, I was still held at a 50-50 split. I was told this was because I did not work as much in office as his brother-in-law (who was made manager and given free reign of office behavior and control over assigning leads to agents, while he himself was in competition for the best leads). This was just a pathetic excuse, of course, because I was not promised anything based on other agents, but on my production. However, I was working as an independent contractor, per my written contract. As an independent contractor, you cannot legally be forced to work a certain schedule or maintain certain hours (other than unreasonable hours like 12am-2am. Phill would hold agents paychecks until they were forced to confront and to argue with him for my payment (well over the legal 2 days upon receipt). Other agents were also forced to confront him and argue with him about their commission splits (Ie: Phil lying to the agents, promising a raised rate, but not giving it). Other agents came and went during the time I worked there, and they all had to take legal action against Phil to get the money they earned. Phil would also lie to clients, inticing them with a $100 rebate to list ApartmentWiz on the lease application. He would pocket this money (that came from the agent's pay check) and in most cases refused to pay it to the clients. Any sneaky thing he can do to gain more money, Phil will do. He would even take his wife to dinner and claim this as a deduction on his taxes (even his wife's cell phone!), although at the time, she did no business with Apartmentwiz. He advised others to do the same. He even listed some of his agents earned income (on their 1099's) as presents he had given them for special occassions. You cannot believe a word Phil (or any of his agents for that matter) say because in the end, if it can make "ApartmentWiz" (Phil) more money, he will screw you over.
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