Today 9/30/08 my son went to Virginia Personnel Services, Inc. Because he said they had tons of warehouse, and office jobs that start at $18/hr. I thought that this was an actual company looking to hire people (I didn't see the ad, or I would have told him not to go). When I dropped him off little did I know that he would be $50 lighter in the pocket, and still jobless.
Once he got home I asked him how it went and he told me that he paid $50 down, and would need to make additional payments totaling $315 (altogether $365);for them to help him find employment. He told them that he has bills to pay, and they guaranteed (they must not have read their own contract) that he would have a job prior to the first installment. Immediately my red flag went up and I asked him if he signed a contract for services. He told me that he did, so I asked if he read it completely. He said that he did, but I felt very uneasy, so I asked if he had a copy of the contract so that I could read it.
When I read the contract my heart dropped. The first line basically says that they won't do anything until payment is made in full, that the contract is non-cancelable, and non-refundable. As I read through the contract my jaw dropped because it said that they would acrue interest, late fees, and would accelerate account balances for the full amount, if not paid! All of this without a guarantee (per their contract) to actually find someone a job? Unbelievable.
My son and I contacted Va. Personnel Serv., and tried to find out if maybe they would be decent, but I didn't hold out much hope after seeing how many complaints they had on the BBB website as well as this one. The person I spoke with was named Lynn and she said that she was a manager. She was extremely rude and said that she wouldn't discuss anything with me, but then told me that my son had given them the $50 so he obviously knew what he was doing. She also said that because he was on a payment plan and tried to cancel the contract that now all the monies would be payable in full. I then asked who her manager was and she wouldn't tell me until my son asked at which time she said her managers name was, get this... Ms. Lynn. This company is a joke! She then hung up on me.
We immediately contacted our bank to cancel the debit card he used to pay at which time we found out that they had already tried to get the $315 balance on the contract! This is utterly ridiculous, and I for one plan to do everything in my power to make sure they don't do this to another unsuspecting teenager, whether they are legally considered an adult or not. It's just wrong. They are worse than one of those predatory check cashing places.
Please do NOT go to this company looking for employment. There are plenty of creditable employment agencies, which charge nothing, as well as the VA Employment Commission.
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