In February I responded to an ad for "Experienced Sales Rep." which appeared in the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch. I called the phone number listed and spoke with a man, who gave me a description of the job and asked several questions about my sales experience. I had and interview with the owner a few days later, he offered me the job and I accepted. This company provides free Book Covers & Folders for schools which is paid for by selling advertising to local businesses. Shortly after I was hired I found out some negative things about this company which were red flags about what I could expect from them in the future. I should have resigned right away, but I am like most people, I have a family to support and bills to pay.
In May I received a commission check for a project I had completed, however, several days after I deposited the check my bank informed me that P.G. Shocks put a Stop Payment Order on the check. I contacted the owner, Greg Shocklee, to resolve this and I asked him to send be the balance of the commissions he owes me. He has never denied that he owes me the commissions, but he refuses to send it to me.
I have been in sales for over 30 years and I am sorry to say that it is a profession in transition, and not for the better. Today there are many companies that do not hire employees, they act like they are hiring employees during the interview but once they offer you the position then they sign you up as an Independent Sales Contractors, P.G. Shocks did this to me. There are several reasons why companies do this but the most important reasons are that it saves them from paying their portion of your Social Security (7%) and no unemployment benefits, etc - the Sales Contractor in-cures much high expenses and liabilities, and it is much easier for the companies to cheat the reps out of commissions, because state and federal laws do not protect Independent Contractors - you have to file a civil law suit, and these companies make sure that the amount they owe is well below $10,000 because they know that an attorney is not going to take the case on a contingancy bases, especially if the company is located in a state different than the plaintiff 's home state. Most contracts state that any legal action must take place in the company's home state.
Please be smart and investigate any company before you sign up as an independent sales contractor...
0 comments