Company sales rep DAN GUERRA from Pennsylvania, hired me as a demo person to cook/demo foods for his company S. Schwartz Sales at the West Point Commissary.
(Johnsonville brats/sausages, Otis Spunkmeyer muffins, Reeser's potato salad, as well as Tony's and Haddon House to name a few)
I did demo's for this rep for many months without a problem.
Demo's were arranged by the sales rep, Dan Guerra, who requested each demo to be a TWO DAY demo per product. The orders were written by DAN and passed on for ordering (orders were not determined by or ordered by the demo person)
As a demo person, my only job was to arrive, display, cook and demo the products. (Dan told me to demo four hours per product, the company now says it should be 6-8 hours but nothing is written in the contract stipulating how long the demo should be)
Dan is 70 years old who admittedly often forgets things he says or does.
There were times he'd give me demo's (with instructions handwritten by him) and he'd later call me in a panic saying he forgot to give me demo's for the upcoming week. I'd remind him that he did give them to me and we spoke for a bit about the demo's. He'd laugh and say he was getting senile and too old to keep working as a rep. I say this to show that he does do/say things he forgets he's done.
Dan was given all demo sheets to process for payments after the demo's were completed. The orders were never questioned by Dan or his company when the demo payment sheets were turned in to process payment for the demo's. (again, the demo person has no control over orders)
Dan was aware that I would be moving and not in the state any longer and didn't let me know until after I'd moved when I called to question why I hadn't been paid for the demo's. He said he would check on it and called back to say there may be a problem paying me for the demo's because the orders that were placed for the demo's were only single orders. I told him that it didn't say the order had to be doubled on the demo sheet (a legal contract) and he told me not to worry, he'd check into it and make sure I was paid for the work I did. (again, HE wrote the orders up and HE stipulated the demo's (not the orders) should be for two days.)
Dan called back to say that the company was upset that the orders were single demo day orders and not double. I reminded him that he wrote the orders up and said they were to be TWO day orders and since the demo's were already completed, he can't change the rules after the fact.
He again assured me I'd get paid, but he'd need to talk to the company again.
More time passed and I received a check for HALF of what I was owed. I called Dan and he said they were paying for ONE demo day, not TWO even though I did two demo days per product per his request. He said the company wanted the orders doubled (his fault for not doing this) and that he would talk to them about it. He said to call him again if I didn't receive the second half of the money I was owed. More time passed and no check arrived. I left Dan a few messages that he never returned. I finally called his company and spoke to Debra White who was very nice and took the information and told me she would pass this along to Maryann, the supervisor and let me know the status. Debra went on to say that the company typically pays their demo people and she would try to find out what was going on with this. A few weeks have passed without a return call and I called again. Again I was told that Maryann was handling this and would get back to me. Dan finally called and left a nasty message on my phone when I wasn't home. He forbid me to call his company again and said I would not be getting paid for the demo's I did since the orders weren't doubled (I have the original sheets he gave me and nothing is noted about the ordered having to be doubled in order to be paid for two demo's)
Not wanting to get into an argument with Dan and no longer trusting him at this point, I called the company again and Debra again told me that Maryann would get back to me as she went home sick. I let Debra know that Dan had left nasty messages for me and she advised me not to speak to him again and instead to let the company handle it. She said the rep didn't have a say in whether or not I got paid for my work.
Again, I left my name/number and waited another week and a half and called again. This time Maryann got on the phone and told me that I'd only be paid for one demo, not two as the orders were not large enough for two demo's (this was Dan's problem, not mine as I'd already done my work) I explained that as a demo person, I didn't take or place the orders, I simply show up, cook, pass out food and encourage customers to buy it. I had no control over the amounts requested or the orders placed. Maryann then said that she would 'review' how much product was sold as the result of my demo's to see whether or not it warranted paying me for both days as opposed to one.
I told her that I have no control over whether or not the customer purchases the items, they like to taste what I've cooked but I can't force them to buy it.
She said it will take several weeks to research this and get back to me with an answer. The amount I am owed is $415.00. This isn't an astronomical amount to a large company, but it is a significant amount to have performed worked for and then be denied payment for my services. It isn't my fault the sales didn't meet their expectations. The demo sheets are a legal contract and do not state that a minimum order needs to be placed or a minimum sales quota is required in order to be paid as a demo person.
The company needs to do the right thing by their hired demo workers and pay the amount owed to me for my services.
In addition, Dan was aware that the demo's I turned in would be my last ones as I was moving out of state. It is suspicious that he waited until I moved across country to let me know that I wouldn't be paid for my services. He already had a new demo person hired and this may have been a way for him and his company to save a little money by not paying me. Maybe they think it's not a large enough amount that I will fly back to take it to court or something, I don't know, but all of this certainly makes Dan and S. Schwartz sales look bad!
If they decide to pay me what I am rightfully owed, I will post an update on it. Until then I am boycotting all their products and encourage all of you who read this to do the same.
Just my family not purchasing any of their products will cost them more than what they owe me in lost sales! I will continue to tell everyone the way they treat people and conduct business and hopefully they will notice a decrease in sales!
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