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I applied to a job for a junior admin I.T position on gum tree. The advert contained no company reference no address or phone number. I received a call on the Friday from a guy named Vincent asking me to an interview on Monday I agreed. Was told to wait for the email with the directions to the interview and should have it in a few min I waited and nothing happened after 20 min so I called the number back and it was a dead number. Weird... No big deal so I looked the phone number up wasn’t really pulling any information so I looked up the phone numbers registered information it did give a persons name but it was connected to some other company but it did have an address approx. location (83 Gloucester road) weird. Within a few min after that I got the email with directions 85 Gloucester road London for 1pm as well as the interviewers name Kristina and an alternate phone number (which did work for inbound calls) but the other number was an outbound only number) I had already worked that out.

So I began researching chequepoint and my, my... big red flags looking back. Do I believe all the comments? With a grain of salt fir sure even after my experience but overall all I feel most if not all comments about that company are pretty accurate. I especially loved the one of the past hr. person using a pseudo name to defend the company then a few weeks later she showed back up to post a company trashing 10 rules of chequepoint post. A must read btw ;)

Keeping that in mind I made a decision to keep an open mind be smart document my experience and see where the truth falls. And if the place chequed out (ha-ha get it) I was going to write my experience of the hiring process here regardless of the outcome and give updates. #forscience and to set at least an honest recent personal account straight.

On Monday I went to the interview I was on time they were not (10 min late). I am a pretty prompt person but no big deal interviews are generally never on time. A guy came out (must have been interviewed before me) and a blonde lady named Kristina took me to a back room on the ground floor. The place was outdated dark and a smell of mold dust and damp was very present.

During the interview Kristina told me vague things about the job only asked me 2 things about my past employment history. I told her and she was quickly lost when I briefly mentioned some of the I.T Work I have been involved with. (You could tell she was not an i.t person and knew very little just enough to do her job but that was it) she didn’t even know what VoIP was... During the interview no mention of payment method/frequency and wages. So I asked at the end she said that’s discussed during 2nd interview. I said np thank you she asked if I had any more interviews I truthfully told her yes I had one the following day she said she would let me know by Tuesday.

Tuesday I got a phone call from Kristina she asked me my expected wages I told her its dependent on how many hours if I’m expected to be on call and how much responsibility I would have but I low balled it and told her AT MINNIMUM 8.25 per hour. She said ok np can I call you back in 30. I said fine 30 min later she called me she sounded excited and she gave me a verbal offer on the phone carrot trick told me my offer letter would be sent out by end of day tuesday. I stayed calm on the phone Kristina was more excited than I let on deep down I was hoping it was real and I was a bit excited too. Just before we completed the call Kristina slyly told me that for all new hires we have to go on self-employment for first month and she said everyone does it she did it blah blah. Red flag. She asked if I was ok with it I hesitantly said sure. I later called back and asked more details about self-employment and why not payroll she told me it’s the way it is there. No offer letter Tuesday.

Wednesday... no offer letter.. So around 5pm I sent an email requesting my expected start date and time (I’m quite organized and put everything into my calendar)

Thursday I got a call from Kristina apologizing they got so busy yada yada offer letter would be sent by end of Thursday yada yada and she asked me to come in Friday to sign employment contract and she would show me around tell me about the job and she has an even better job planned for me carrot trick #2 I questioned her about the self employment again she assured me its just temporary yada yada (she spoke very, very fast which I guess is a confuse tactic? Anyways I agreed I would show up next day to see what it was all about. Still no offer letter by end of Thursday.

Friday. Was pretty hesitant on even going but #forscience I went to see what it was about. I arrived on time; prompt as usual this time they were on time however instead of Kristina it was a younger girl maybe a student for summer work? Anyways I had asked to use the washroom I was showed upstairs and it was kind of weird, carpets like a house not an office really. Crappy furniture but hey its a recession jk a room on second floor with boxes and stuffed birds it was weird finally on 3rd floor an office area that looked crowded and had what looked like few to many people crammed in there. I saw Kristina but she was busy. Went into the washroom did my business and well I’m not superstitious but the toilet kind of woke me up to the idea of paying attention for signs. The toilet was so mangled and crappy (no pun intended) it needed 5 flushes just to clear the very little I had even put in there and in-between each flush the water refilling time was like a min between flushes yea that was a sign. I couldn’t help thinking before they hire more staff they should hire a plumber and get that crapper fixed (pun intended)

Anyways went downstairs the young girl showed me to the poorly lit interview room I had already been acquainted with and gave me a bunch of papers to review (my contract) asked me to review and sign. Pretty sure on the wall there is a radio microphone and the odd tapestry on the one wall was covering something like a window to a hidden room or dunno it was weird. Well first page was that offer letter. But it was not for a junior it admin position but "deputy custodian" of Berkley safety deposit boxes I was like wtf. Oh and pay rate? 8.20 instead of 8.25 which was not even the already self low balled MINIMUM I had requested not knowing hardly anything about what it was I would be doing and that was before she mentioned anything about self employment. On the phone on Tuesday.

So I took the pen they gave me and made the corrections that would need to be changed before I signed anything. Major screaming red flags in my head at this point. I further read on loads of purposefully confusingly worded "legal" jargon I went line for line and penned anything I had an issue with i.e. breaches of legality, discrimination, and just messed up stuff. All throughout I was referenced as " he" or "she" or "her" or, he/ her it was pretty hilarious at this point at how unprofessional this company was. One quote from the legal bits that I found to be a breach of discrimination towards anyone really was: " you warrant you have no serious physical or mental illness" Its a grey area for open discrimination you cant legally say that in a contract and this opens a wide door for possible abuse, and unlawful termination of employment.

Another part, which is a bit to type, said this in short

"By signing this contractual agreement you agree that payments may be deducted from your paycheck without your approval in the event suspect of theft or anything else regardless of if you committed the crime or not. We don’t need a court order as you agreeing to this by signing contract allows us to do this."

Huge red flag. I have a clean record and good credit I will not sign a contract agreeing to that that’s just stupid unlawful even under uk employment standards. Should anything happen Go through correct legal avenues police report EVIDENCE than take that person to court to get we it is they may/not have taken. That sub clause basically is chequepoint trying to circumvent the legal system. RED FLAG

The last sub clause i willl mention is the cute point about not having any free speech. In detail: Not being able to talk about chequepoint or subsidiaries on online forums to others about their contracts and rules/policy’s not to talk about staff ect. You are not to talk to press about company inner going ons etc. etc.

Bit of red flag there.

P.s I have photographic proof of every single document I will share it here tomorrow if any of you who are familiar with legal documents would like to take a look and give your opinions.

Anyways I didn’t sign anything I made my notes made Kristina aware will only sign if I’m on payroll day 1 of employment not self employment and I told her its tax evasion and avoidance of paying BASIC and rightfully owed employee benefits.

She explained my actual job would be the safety deposit box department manager and I would be in charge if the remodel and chasing up contractors and suppliers I would have 2 people under me that I would need to hire I would deal with customer contracts and agreements manage the security and it.

LMAO WUTT??? That’s not a junior it admin nor a deputy custodian that’s like a safety deposit box officer or manager wtf seriously... [***] alert right??

She took my revised contract upstairs came back 20 min later with loads of excuses for why the contract is written that way and cant be changed I told her I want to be on pay roll if you want me so bad as you say do the legally right thing and employ me properly with those edits. She said she would let me know on Tuesday what she can do (I wasn’t holding my breath)

I checked gumtree just out of curiosity yesterday and sure enough Vincent posted a junior admin job on gumtree under admin jobs on Friday. Seems they made their decision to pry on another poor unsuspecting person. And pass me off, as I’m too much of a legal headache.

So here’s how the employment scam goes.

They need someone temporary so they offer them a job but have them on self-employment (they dodge paying taxes and benefits and pocket them. They use that person for a short period stringing them with that carrot trick they will get on payroll at end of first month. They fire them without cause short of that end of month and make a bogus claim they stole something or w.e and deduct the value of w.e that imaginary stolen w.e is and take it from their "paycheque" or simply don’t pay them. Grovit will fight you in court with the billions at his disposal and because you agreed to that line in your contract you screwed yourself before you even get to court.

100% scam.

Edited roughly for grammar and spelling. My apologies the original version was worked on at 3am ish with little sleep and the fact i had been under general anaesthetic for some surgery on saturday probably didnt help. Also if i may, i don't have an english doctorate in grammar and spelling i am human not a professional writer so if you fe the unecessary urger to critique my spelling and grammar as you have nothing else productive in your life to do so be it, but i dont really care. I wanted to just get my experiance out there for educational purposes and to help those for prevantative measures and wake people aware of how this particular employment scam works.

Only morons work for you - how many left in the office ?

The only moron in this world is you. stop being bitter and get on with your life. My word of advice !! don't [***] on your CV

Who are you to give advice? Zero, waste of space! Except eating and [***] what else you have achieved or done to this world ? Living on other Fareeds' money who become wealthy by ripping off people, avoiding paying taxes?

Stop being a hypocrite, when you are the individual ripping potential employers with your dud skills and experiences on your CV.

I want in lol

It's the grovits doing, they gathering info and trying to find out who are posting on this site. An excuse to sue

Thanks toyourvmessages I did not join this company. Anyone knows if they are ligimate? I tried to find info on companies house but nothing

And you don't even have any skills - I Rinder who will employ you if you have not been born just to eat and sh iit

Do you still work for the company Felix Grovit today 20 October 2016

To Felix Jr  Ive was a ex-employee from June 1999 to 2003. I've worked in admin via Earl Court, Head office and Queensway.  I've got made redundant.  Michelle the office manager she hired me in June 1999, I've enjoyed working with her and I've enjoyed working at Head office, I've met Stefan Grovit which I got involved in helping out in Transcheque as a admin. Stefan Grovit does he still works there today?

Your petty Jealousy is all the fun you have.

Petty jealousy? Yes,  keep saying that to yourself, it might put your at the same level with other educated and rich people

Hey to two other Fareeds aka Felix-  I wonder why HMRC isn't on your tail? Interesting ...

Because we operate accordance to the HMRC criteria, this will be too complicated for people like yourself who lied in your CV to obtain a job

Happy new year

Interesting and we all know what's going on in there

We are still operating! word of advice stop fabricating your CV to employers and stop being delusional on your capabilities. Your are a cashier for a local newsagent at best.

Fareed stop telling the tales