On 29 August my husband went to work as a contractor for a DISH Satellite company named Audio Video Concepts here in Texarkana, Arkansas. This small family-oriented attempt of a business is being ran by the team of John C Pettigrew and his business partner/wife, Michelle.
My husband has been working in the satellite industry for a few years now, both for DirecTV and Dish. He's a perfectionist and an organzized and fastidous worker. One issue that arose very shortly after going to work for Audio Video Concepts aka "AVC" was that the Pettigrews are not morning people. My husband would drive 20 miles to get to the office to pick up his equipment to perform his jobs for the day. He loves to get up and get on the road early. The earlier the better, since it gives a service technician some leeway as far as incidentals; ie flat tires, difficulty in locating property, more in-depth servicing needed on jobs, etc. There was rarely anyone at the office until 10:00 or 10:30 am. Very bad way to run a business when jobs consist of techs driving to towns and other states which could be hours away. No morning crew at this company and no organization. They seem to be very laid-back which is fine for them, but not very fair to their "contractors" and the workers that depend on having access to equipment in order to perform their jobs to the best of their abilities.
My husband has received 3 checks from AVC. $248.86 - $172.21 - $508.26. He is owed at least another $750.00 for 2 weeks' worth of work. His last day to work was Tuesday, Oct 3rd. On that day, he decided to let Cody and Michelle Pettigrew know that he would no longer be working with them. He offered to finish out the pay period and all was ok, but the next day when my husband was not routed any work for the day, he called Cody. Cody basically told my husband that in their experience, employees did not do quality work when they knew they were leaving the company. My husband is a perfectionist and would never bother taking his precious time to do a inadequate or incompetent job. My husband made his decision to leave after he came to realize that there would be no way for him to be guaranteed his fair share of commissions and pay from this egregiously inept, disaster of a company. Their recordkeeping, if there is any at all, is atrocious. The entire set-up is extremely chaotic and wouldn't make any customer and shouldn't make any contractor confident in the abilities of these owners to run a successful business. There is simply no viable, back-up documentation provided to the technicians that would enable them to reconile their paychecks. There's very little accountability for equipment that is checked out. The records are a joke! Michelle mentioned once to my husband to simply pull of the barcode from a receiver and stick it on the television they have in their office. The television with 15 other barcodes stuck on it?
My husband questioned how would she know that it was his? She has a system? I encourage people to stop by and see the unkempt, disarrayed mess that is their business. Just stop by and take a gander at the wonderful world of AVC administration. AVC seems to be working off of the honor system, only they have no honor when it comes to treating their contractors with fairness and respect. So my husband comes in the next day, Wednesday, and turns in all of his equipment to AVC. On the following Monday, which is payroll day, he calls and is told by Michelle Pettigrew that it'll be between 3:00 and 5:00 pm. My husband drives his 20 miles to the office and sits for 3 1/2 hours while he watches Michelle talk on the phone and talk to her kids and pretty much anything and everything except work on getting my husband his check. At 6:40pm she informs my husband that she is not going to be able to get to it today; that she has to help her kids with homework. Needless to say, my husband was extremely irate. He called on Tuesday and Wednesday and went to the shop. Noone would return his calls. Nobody seemed to be in the office. We are very frustrated and have no money and bills are falling behind as we live check-to-check, as sad as that is.
Today, Thursday October 12th, Cody Pettigrew called my husband finally and said he would try to get him a check this week. It's thursday. Said he had to go over some supplies and inventory and go "QC" (Quality Control) a few of his jobs. This is work done from 3 weeks ago that my husband hasn't been paid for and we are in dire straits. Of course, to AVC it's the least of their concerns. Michelle gave the helpful advice of "Maybe you can hold off on some of your bills for a few days". Uh, gee, why didn't I think of that?! When my husband asked Michelle on Monday where his check was, because it was payroll day, she informed him, "It is payroll day, for people who still work here". This couple has a huge chip on their shoulders and they are a poor-excuse for a company doing busines in the SERVICE sector. What a complete joke! Don't buy anything from them unless after reading the truths I've just written, you still believe you'd get good customer care. A company that is out to cheat its own employees doesn't fill me with much faith.
Time to get in touch with the Better Business Bureau, the US Labor Board (both state & fed) - If nothing else, I'll feel better about it.
Earned Wages Withheld - AVC is years past-due for a good ol' audit - if some brave soul can only bring themselves to pick through the random scattered piles of work orders, mounds of half-opened boxes of satellite receivers with parts all over the place, and copious amounts of unorganized piles of customer orders.
I Hope your name isn't on any of that paperwork strewn across the floors, cabinets, and desks.
Beware be afraid be very afraid
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