BPI Brand Disrespectful, unprofessional dealings as a merchandiser for this company. Neptune New Jersey

I found this company on Craigslist.org looking for people to set up displays for their vendors who hire them for roadshows and the like. I should have known it seemed kind of shady. But nonetheless, as a twenty year old home for the summer for a month from college, I decided it was worth the risk.

What I had to do was drive to a city thirty minutes away and set up shelving (on the first visit) and later restock on the following visits. On the last visit I was instructed to do the "tear down" of the display unit. On the email with further instructions for the tear down it said that if it was not completed properly (or on time) then I would not be paid for the time I put in for the past two-three weeks. The time that they alotted for the work was not enough to finish the job, luckily I had an associate assist me.

I finished the job on the 2nd of this month, and I began wondering about payment. After I confirmed the tear down with my job handler, I did not recieve any more correspondence from this company. After a little bit of internet research I realized that they had a long history of ripping off the people that they hired to do work from vendors.

I admit, I should have remembered from the paperwork that I had signed that I was supposed to wait 30 days after the work was completed to inquire about payment. But overlooking that, I emailed the company from the email address on their website in order to ask nicely about when to expect payment for the work that I did. This was about a week after I finished the work. I did not recieve an email back. I called during normal business hours using the phone number on their website. No answer. I called again the next day and left a voice mail. No response. At this point I was beginning to get worried that I was going to be yet another victim complaining about not recieving payment from this company, so I contacted the Department of Labor. I called once more, no answer. So I emailed (note, that I used the SAME email address that I had used before)

I told the company that I had filed a wage claim with the Department of Labor. Finally I someone contacted me back. They basically implied that I was silly to do so because of the paperwork that I signed. In retrospect, I admit, I should have gone over the paperwork before filing claims. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that they ignored me for several weeks when I contacted them.

Anyways, I received my check a little bit after they received the claim from the Department of Labor. But the reason why I’m writing this complaint is not about that (ignoring the hassle, the unprofessionalism of the work, etc). It is about their reply to my wage labor claim. They lied twice in reply to the claim to the Department of Labor. The main thing that upsets me is that they claimed that they had replied to my first email, and my phone call. I call bull s**t on that. I did not receive any correspondence from them UNTIL I told them about the wage claim. Why would I harass them about payment if they had simply emailed me a reminder to wait until 30 days after?

 Okay, basically what I’m trying to say is you deserve payment for your work. It is demeaning to have to bother companies for your payment. Based on my experience with this companyà

 Do your work precisely to the instructions emailed and told to you. Read all the details, including whom to contact about payment and by when.

 Contact the accounts payable email address, not any others, after you have completed your work. Tell them of your intention to contact the department of labor, ff you still haven’t received payment by 30 days. If no response, then contact your state’s department of labor. They have no right to keep payment for the work that you did. You have up to 90 days after the work is completed to file a wage claim.