In April I got a call from a company called Level Five Marketing, or L5 as the person who called me referred to the company as. We will call this person “Fil”. Anyways Fil got my resume off of Yahoo! Jobs or something like that and he felt that I was perfect for a sales and marketing campaign up here in Tacoma Washington for a well known communications company who needed to expand their market base. He pretty much sold me on the job, and he hired me as a sales manager.
My job was to build a door to door sales team and make sure they were trained in the product that we selling. So for a week in April I went through product training which included going door to door and doing selling. During this time I found out that I was 1 of 3 sales managers who were hired for Level Five Marketing. Anyways, three days into the training 1 of the other sales managers decided that she wanted out in a bad way and pretty much sabotaged the whole campaign. I found out two days later that the client decided to cancel the contract with Level Five. Here is where the fun begins.
So after I found out from Fil that we were no longer doing work for the client, I asked if I still had a job with Level Five and if I was getting paid for the training that I went through. His answer to me was 'yes' on both counts. Great I thought to my self... I still have a job and getting paid in a couple of weeks. The following Monday I began emailing and calling Fil to find out what the plan was for me... and I did not hear from him for almost a week. When he finally did get back to me, he said that he lined up another client and we were ready to go. I would be doing the same thing as I was with the last client. So I was stoked. I still had a job and was still getting paid hourly plus commission. Good deal. The following week was when I should have received my paycheck... nope. So I called and emailed Fil with no success, for a week, again. When he finally gets back to me he says that the checks were mailed, but they were mailed to first clients office. Since they were not expecting anything for Level Five employees they sent it back to payroll. So I called Fil (communications with Fil has become tenuous at this point) to find out when I could expect the money. A couple of days later he emails me and says that I would not be getting paid until the first client pays Level Five first. At no time during the hiring process did Level Five inform me that I would not be getting paid by Level Five Marketing (!??!?!). If my employer is Level Five Marketing, would it not be logical to assume that my wages would be paid by Level Five Marketing?
So I am a patient fellow. I gave Level Five Marketing the benefit of the doubt and I trusted that I would be paid by them. I mean my boss Fil was telling me (on many occasions), “ I am on your side “, and I want you to make money. He went as far as to say that was working to pay me directly from Level Five. Nope. That did not happen, we are a month into this already.
Now Fil is saying that Level Five is ready to launch with the new client. So he sends me some training material and I spent about 10 hours studying the material. It has been a bout a month and half at this point and still no paycheck. So to segue into that subject I tell Fil that I have 10 hours logged and I needed him to know so that I can get paid for that. Fil then tells me that I will not be getting paid an hourly and that all the studying I had been doing was part of the job. What?!?!?! He drops this on me after saying that this contract was the same as it was with the first client. So this whole time I am thinking I am getting paid an hourly for all of the Level Five Marketing work I was doing. That same day Fil says I want you to build a sales team, the sooner you have a sales team in place the sooner you can be making money. For two weeks leading up to the training with the new client I am asking Fil to send me resumes that he has harvested so I can start building my team. The Friday before training he sends me 5 resumes. All of which bomb. That week end I email Fil and tell him that none of the resumes he sent me panned out... and he says that he has a team lined up for me to start training the following Tuesday. I thought awesome! Now we can get moving and I can starting making a wage. My family will be taken care of now. So what happens.... when I get to the training?!?!? There is no one else there. I have no promised team. Nothing. So I call Fil and he says that he has some people lined up and that I should have a team soon. In the mean time I am supposed to launch the market by myself. Which is okay I guess. I asked him again about my pay check and he says that he signed off on it and that it is in the mail on Friday (the following Friday I quit). So Fil has been making promises on top of promises that my check is in the mail for almost two months. So I figure he must be telling me the truth this time. It is not in the mail. To date I have not seen a penny. In fact every time that I contacted him regarding my paycheck it seems like he avoided me.
Finally, today (June 21 2008) I get an email from Level Five Marketing HR saying that this issue has been forwarded to them and that they are now my point of contact for this matter. Except that the email was sent from Fil's email address and the body of the email was typed in Fil speak. After two months of emailing back and forth you sort of learn how people compose their emails... that is what happened with Fil's. Okay so back to the email from Level Five HR, this is what they had to say:
Reggie,
This matter has be handed to me and I will now be your point of contact. A advance was submitted by Fil on your behalf twice. One was denied other check is on hold. . He has also requested a 2k loan which was denied by my office. At this point L5 will not advance any money to a non-employee until **** pays the incentive that you are requesting us to advance. **** states that their needs where not meet and they are removing the payment of a wage or draw per their contract with L5. Once this matter is resolved L5 will all money due to you for your time on the project. There is no money due on the **** side because no sales team was hired no sales where made. Below is explanation of the sales draw and
Special incentives on your signed comp plan. I will be out of the office till thur next week with limited access to email but will respond during that time.
I just want to say at this point that at no time did I ever ask for a loan, advance or draw from Level Five Marketing. I did not sign a comp plan as the HR email states. I only want Level Five Marketing to pay my wages as I worked for them, as an employee of Level Five Marketing not **** company. I was promised many times over the last two months that My check was in the mail. I was told no less than two times that Fil had signed off on the checks and that they were mailed. I went outside of my means to attend a training that is t hours away with promises of a team that never materialized. So here we are 2 months later to the day that this whole Level Five Marketing ordeal started. Level Five Marketing has caused no end of stress to my family. It has caused loss of sleep, it has caused tension and it has caused grief. So far I have typed at least three pages of the story... and I just touched on some of the details. Do I feel any better now that I have gotten all of this off my chest? Maybe a little bit. What have I learned? That I am too trusting? That I give too many chances where none is deserved? That the benefit of the doubt is a trait that best suits me? I don't know. Maybe this whole ordeal will changed me. Maybe I will be more cynical. Maybe I will trust others less. We will see. What I do know is this. My Child support agent is now involved, if Level Five does not comply with their order to release my child support payment to them... then the State of Washington will pursue the matter. I know that on Monday the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries is getting involved. I know that a complaint will be made to the State Attorney Generals of Washington and California and to Labor and Industries for the State of California. I don't know if that will get me my wages paid or not, but it will ruffle some feathers.
Reggie
