I admit. I was a person duped into believing that PTD Entertainment could be a legit work at home opportunity. Had any of you sat through their very persuasive presentations you may have felt the same way too.
The company presented itself as a cross between MySpace and YouTube. My group was hired to be Customer Service Reps/Talent Coordinators. We were supposed to be working with up and coming artists, posting blogs about the company, etc. All work was to be from home in your home office.
When we were offered the position were given the job offer letter describing our duties and pay, the employee manual, and an "equipment agreement." This stated that we were to pay $1250 to a company called CSR Pro Technologies for "software fees" and there would a $200. Per month maintenance fee.
I questioned both fees and was informed by the CEO/Owner Robert Marshall that the $1250 was to cover software fees he had to pay for the sites we'd be using. As for the $200 per month fee... He said to consider it a "trade off" for working at home: no more gasoline charges, no need to pay parking or buy new clothes for work, etc. Okay, I thought it was kick-back he was getting from the developer CSR Pro Technologies, but didn't make a fuss because I was going to be earning $30 per hour x 40 hours per week... Nearly $5000 per month. I could afford to give him back $200.00.
The other thing about the $1250 was that if you didn't pass the credit check for financing (3% down and $30 per month till paid) you'd have to come up with the full $1250 before you could start with the company. I knew my credit was poor, so I expected not to pass the credit check. A few days later that's what Robert told me. I didn't pass the credit check, so I had to come up with the $1250. We talked around the end of March.
I was able to pull the money together by mid-April. We met at his office & I gave him money orders totaling $1250. I told him I needed to give my current employer 2 weeks notice. He said no problem because it was going to take about 2 weeks for the phone to come in that I would need to do my job from home.
At the end of April Robert stated that the "phones" weren't working out properly. So instead, we were going to use a softphone through a company called Zoiper.com. What he had me download was a FREE version of Zoiper that ANYONE can access... Very similar to Skype.
On May 1 he had us come into an office in El Segundo for "training." It was a joke. He discussed some folders we'd have to access online (once they were emailed to us) and how to clock in online. He said schedules would be sent by the end of the day on Sunday. I asked if were going to be getting our 40 hours? He said "no one works 40 hours to start. The first 2 weeks or so are around 20 hours." This was NOT disclosed in our job offer letter.
Also in talking to other employees (we were all W2 employees not independent contractors) it turned out EVERYONE was turned down for financing and EVERYONE had to give the $1250 up front before being allowed to start with the company. Some people had been playing games with Rob Marshall since the beginning of March.
Next at this meeting we were told that we WOULD NOT be doing what we were hired to do. We were going to working a "HR Reps" to help him hire MORE people. At first I didnt' think much about it. I was upset that I was only going to work 20 hours the first two weeks... But at $30 per hour. That would still be $600 per week.
Well, Sunday rolled around and NOTHING. No hours were assigned to anyone. This went on for a good week. We didn't assigned any hours until mid-May. Something like 16 hours and then due to "phone" issues we end up only working about 10 hours for the week. Pay day was supposed to be on the 25th of May. We should have received the 10 hours of pay and 4 hours of pay for training. Some people received 1 or 2 hours pay for training. Others (like me nothing at all). I was told this would be paid on the next check (June 25th). We were only paid 1x per month. While I knew this was illegal, I didn't make a fuss because I was still under the belief I'd be eventually making $1200 per week.
Towards the end of May another meeting. This time in Irvine. At this meeting we were told that Robert Marshall secured some kind of deal with Universal, Warner Bros, etc to be the sole distributor of CD's, DVD's, Clothing lines, for all the musical artists. However, this meant he had to hire even more people. At least 3000-5000 people over the next 60 days.
Well, I went home actually feeling a "renewed" sense of belief in this company. Again what he said sounded very plausible. Well, more screwing around with the scheduling and more excuses. We end up getting assigned some hours the week of June 9... I was originally scheduled to work 16 hours, but after working three 4 hour shifts something inside me just screamed: THIS IS A SCAM.
After I finished my 3rd day of working that week, I decided to do some checking into the company. The following is what I found and NONE of it was good... At least not in my opinion:
CSR Pro Technologies: Nothing was on the Internet about this company. So I checked the LA County Recorder to check if there was a DBA. One was filed on March 30.
I also checked all the company names I could think of, and the only ones on file at the LA County Recorder's office was:
Phresh Ta Def, filed in November and
Making Tha Label Showcase in April.
All the company's websites say the "owner" is New Phresh Media, LLC.
I checked with the CA Secretary of State and there's no record of this corporation in or doing business with CA.
There's listing for Contenocity, LLC filed back in Nov but none of the websites list this company.
The latest and greatest is Content City, LLC... Again NO record of this corporation.
I also drove to the LA County Recorder's office & got certified copies of the 3 DBA's that are filed:
CSR Pro Technologies
Phresh Ta Def and
Making Tha Label Showcase
are all registered as SOLE PROPRIETORSHIPS with Robert Marshall as the SOLE OWNER...
Oh but we all had to pay CSR Pro Technologies $1250 in software fees that "he was being charged" by the company.
Well, I sent out emails to all the employees to notify them of my findings and less than a week later Robert Marshall Discontinued the CSR work from home "program."
He also is illegally withholding our final pay. He's trying to get people to sign two "contracts" one states what we are owed on pay for this pay period. The other is saying he's going withhold all pay and a $200. Maintenance fee from the $1250 we gave him and refund the difference.
So, in essence we would be PAYING OURSELVES.
Well NOT ME. I have reported him to the FBI, The Los Angeles District Attorney and I'm in the process of filing a wage claim with the CA Labor Board.
I hope you all learn from my mistake... And if anyone else reads this that had dealings with Phresh Ta Def, I hope you report him to the authorities.
Theresa
Garden Grove, California
U.S.A.
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