MAXIM ENTERPRISES/STEVE MAXIM ERNIE HUMMER THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO WORK FOR THIS COMPANY NORTH CANTON , Ohio

In the fall of 2008 we began work with Maxim Enterprises and like many other sub-contractors we signed a contract anticipating to be compensated fairly for the work performed. Of course under most property preservation contracts there are penalties for a sub-contractor if work is not performed properly and/or not perfromed at all,however we are an experienced company and were familiar with how to perform all assignments in the field.when we received our first set of orders we were already in the hole because we were cleaning up there previous contractors mess within the territory that we had taken over.To make matters worse we were not properly trained to submit the work orders once completed in there system. each big preservation company has a software system that they prefer there contractors to use to upload there work and photos if this procedure is not performed by the subcontractor then the work order may become late .During our intial conference with Ernie Hummer  which at that time and probably still is was one third of a management staff second only to the owner Steve Maxim informed us that we would began receiving payments within the first 30 days after turning in all necessary docs and photos for our work orders after those thirty days we would receive payments on a weekly basis.Like many other sub's we expected to be paid in full.once we received our first check within the first30 days the check was on a couple of hundred dollars out of some 2-3 thousand dollars worth of work.when we inquired about the matter it was brushed off as if we did not hand in our paperwork in time and therefore there maybe a delay in processing the first two payments. But each week would pass by for the next three months and each time pay day for contractors went by we would only receive a less the operable payment .We would sometime only see 50 -200 dollars deposited to our account  when we averaged 10 work orders per day for the 5 months were performing services for maxim covering several counties within Ohio.  When we began to investigate a little further we discovered that the total amount that was owed to us before we were drained of our savings paying our employess,suppliers,and transportation cost the total owed to us from maxim was 42,000 as shown in the fieldcom website that was used by Maxim at the time.Also we discovered that we were not the only contractors that were in this same situation.companies like Maxim Enterprises use the sub-contractor to perfrom field services work for the banks to increase there revenue and help assist them in moving to new territories while withholding payments as long as they can untill the sub-contractor is either broke or discovers there pattern and decides not to work for them any longer. to collect you money from these type of croooked people you need a litigation attorney,collection agencies just dont work because they have learned the art of stalling.our company has survived but we still have not been able to collect from Maxim  the balance of the money owed to us and are in the process of doing so. Once they start paying some of the funds they will stop once they think they have paid you enough and find ways by contract and/or plain ignoring what they owe you. my advice do not get involved with this companyif you do have a attorney retained to go over the contract with you and keep them for collecting the money rightfully due to you.