I began work with Pixaware in November on a Cingular/Lucent project. During the period of the project, we had several times where people were not paid on time, shorted on pay, bounced checks, and problems with labor laws violated. I took a position of being a lead to help resolve these problems with Afroz Lateef's approval and agreement. Things got better for a while. The company made payroll on time and not too many problems were encountered. Still we were never told the truth about anything. Afroz told us we would receive a $2 an hour bonus for the hours we worked on the project once the project was finished. Never happened and he denied saying it. He never would put anything in writing when asked. All this was let go because the money was decent and no one wanted ill will towards this company or Afroz. After the Cingluar/Lucent project slowed down and many of us were not needed, Afroz asked us to go to another Cingular project in various markets. He asked me to coordinate things since he decided to go to India while the project details were being decided. I did my best at getting people and arrangements made. I asked for compensation for my time since I was out of work. This request was ignored but Afroz continued to expect me and my team members to continue to help him. When training was given, he stated that he would pay everyone for training. That statement was denied later and stated as he would make it a bonus at the end of the project if everything went well. I went to San Francisco with one of my team mates with the understanding that Pixaware would pick up the expenses on the corporate account. They had no corporate account or credit card on file with either the hotel or car rental office. My teammate and I had advances for paying the expenses for a week. This money went fast and things went terribly wrong with the project. We had no drivers for our area and we were trying to recruit drivers because Pixaware had made no arrangements. We constantly got yelled at if we had delays in our work or problems. Afroz constantly stated that he had underbid the job and he was losing money constantly. We asked for money to continue paying our expenses and Afroz denied it saying if we didn't work constantly he made no money and he wasn't going to pay us if he didn't get paid. Yet he had money to fly people out of other areas to help with the job. The money for working this job was low and we had problems with the expenses such as motels, cars, gas, and food. Finally, the 5th day we were there I got a call from Pixaware (Afroz) asking me if we were working full shifts. I informed him only I had a driver and he was quitting due to the low pay and long hours. Afroz asked me if I would drive like I had the previous days but that he might have to pay us only driver pay for those hours. This upset me and I informed him no way. He stated he would find drivers and hung up. After talking later with other team members in the same market and other markets that I had placed there, I was informed that Pixaware was having problems with payroll and it would maybe 2 weeks before any money could be deposited. At that point, my teammate decided nothing else was being spent on his credit card and I emailed Afroz and the project managers that we were leaving the project. We returned the equipment and anything that belonged to the company. Later, the main company that had subcontracted Pixaware, called us and wanted to hire us to stay on but then was threatened by Afroz that he would pull all his teams off the project. Needless to say, my friend and I flew home and put Pixaware and the project behind us. One day later we both got emails wanting detailed expense reports and the money back because supposedly Pixaware had paid everything on the corporate credit card. We had already accounted for the money advances and submitted our losses of our own money. Upon investigation, Afroz had told the Project manager that he had paid everything with his company credit card and that the problems were because of us with the drivers and monies. We have since submitted evidence showing who paid the expenses and the emails from people who quit. Still Pixaware blames us and wants all the money returned yet not pay us for the work we have done including the training session he promised to pay us for. Do Not Do Business with this Company or Afroz. He will not put anything in writing and changes his story constantly. He will lie to anyone and abuse anyone in his employment.
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