The Sarlow Group Sarlow Group/Nate Lowen Non-Payment of Inspections Columbia City Indiana

I worked for The Sarlow Group for about a year and a half, I actually stopped working for them for several months, then went back to work for them.  They were great to work for for quite a while.  Although you have to get used to only getting one paycheck a month, and the first check you get is 90 days from your start date.  That was really hard.

My problem started when they asked me to do other areas for them because they were in a bind, and the person who was doing that area was not able to do it.  I did not mind this, I went all over southern Indiana for them, but on several occasions, I drove 85 miles one way to do a couple of inspections.  They had always been fair to me, paying me extra on a few occasions when I went out of the way, but then that all stopped.  I complained to Kay Cowdin, my contact, who tried to help out, but could not.  I tried to get in touch with Nate Lowen, the owner, but could not.  His phone message box is always full and you can't leave a message.  I told them I would not do any other areas until I knew what the pay was.

So one day they called me to do the Lexington area, they had lost both of the other people who did that area.  I said OK, what is the pay rate?  Jody, Nate's long suffering mom, said "Oh, Nate just told me he would give you $20/each for this group of about 55 to 60 inspections.  Great!  I said OK no problem. So I did these inspections...and waited.  Paycheck comes, no payment for that group.  I called and complained about it, but of course you can't get ahold of him, so I spoke to Jody, found out that both Rachel Cosentino and Kay Cowdin were no longer working for them. Hmm... Kept complaining, but next paycheck - still no payment for that group, except the $6/inspection pay rate which is the usual pay rate.  I did a spreadsheet showing the shortfall for those payments, sent it to Nate and Jody, still no answer from Nate.  Jody is a very sweet person who tried to help, tried to get Nate to work it out with me, but of course he did not want to.  He actually called me at one point, said to resend the spreadsheet and he would look at it and we could work it out, but that never happened!  I finally quit after many phone calls, many talks with Jody, who I knew sympathized with me and knew he had told me $20/inspection, but he would not work it out with me.  I really enjoyed the work and working with Jody was great.  I felt sorry for her, she had to listen to all the crap and try to deal with the office by herself.  I really liked Nate at first, he seemed sincere, but that was all bull.  When I left he still owed me about $852.00 for those inspections.  He did send me my regular paycheck, but said that 17 of them were late, and did not pay me for those!!!  A lot of times the inspections I did were late when I got them, but they usually paid me for them, but not now, of course I can't get in touch with him about anything.

Save yourself a lot of wear and tear on you, your car, and your faith in other people.  He will be nice in the beginning, but he will discard you in a minute once you confront him about your pay.  He recruits on Craigslist, so beware of this company.  You will end up here writing a report yourself, it's only a matter of time!