XEC GAPBUSTERS GAPbuster Worldwide Is it worth the layout - and still not being paid MELBOUNE, Australia

According to their published philosophy

"GAPbuster Worldwide is dedicated to providing you with a quality service. As an ISO 9001:2008 certified company, GAPbuster promises that our systems and processes are of high quality and are continually improved for our clients and staff."

This company claims to have ISO 9001:2008 certification and yet upon search the ISO 9001:2008 Certification body SAI Global no records are found. As a certified ISO Auditor I should know!

Basically, these guys offer unsuspecting people the opportunity to become "so called" auditors and participate in auditing companies like McDonald's, Athletes Foot, IGA Supermarkets. Amounts of between $10 per audit are common. Payment is minimal and slow. Now I dont mind filling out and on line form for a meal. But when an entire week is booked with audits that fail to produce then I become suspicious.

The big sting is when you get asked to "please help us" with really large audit (15+ Sites) - you receive a call from GapBusters saying they need your help urgently and would you be prepared to do audits for more than the usual? In this case, they offer $35 for an hours work.

The destinations are later found to be multiple locations on the opposite side of the city. You refuse the job, because you know full well that the scope of work will require 3-4 full days of effort, plus the running costs of your car and then extra work compiling and filling out forms on their website. They then offer $35/hour and payment of running costs of my vehicle. I ensure the amount agreed is reasonable given the type of car driven.

The travel tiime to each audit is often 1-1.5 hours, each day more than 160 klm are covered, travel time is 3-4 hours in peak hour traffic.  Large store audits often require more than the usual 1 hour, in fact, require 2 - 3 times that effort to perform the audit itself. So you find yourself completing only 4-5 audits per day.

So the job, takes 3-4 days of effort (starting at 8.30 finishing at 5.00pm).

Of course you still have to drive back to your home. Your promised hourly rate of $35.00 per hour is now diluted cents in the dollar since GapBusters have something else planned.

For the record I am a qualified/certified ISO9001: 2008 Quality Auditor and OH&S auditor and usually work in the larger industries such as Oil and Gas, Mining, so smaller jobs can be fun & rewarding - helping others. ($35/hr is less than my usual day rate of $1,000 per day)

However, it comes at a cost when you add up the total cost of doing business with GapBusters. These large auditing roles often require considerable time, effort and planning to perform an audit. You are lead to believe you will be paid by the hour, the upshot is you actually find yourself doing piece work auditing for a lot, lot less.  They offer $35 which turn out to be a "misunderstanding" that was per audit. Paying for your kilometers, turns out to be "we just don't do that for anyone".  It's at your cost, that was covered in the $35 per audit. So you end up at the end of the day out of pocket, while GapBusters pick up a fortune in fees from IGA.

So what are GapBusters Worldwide? Non Certified Auditors who make outlandish claims to perform true Gap Analysis and Performance KPI gathering on behalf of clients. Little to their clients know that they could organise an ethical company to perform the same work for a lot less and get a lot more value for their dollar ... It is a win win.

My belief and understanding is that in this case, as an auditor taking about a day doing each audit including travel and write up time, providing evidence of what is largely OHS , Health , and IGA standards compliance audits the client would be charged in excess of $1000 per audit. So I am making say $120 less runnig costs of car 150klm at $1.09c/klm - hmm the whole day has cost me > $30 to work for GapBusters.

I am sure the client is unaware that the Auditors are not covered for workers compensation, (they are considered "Independent Contractors). Accroding to legal advise, if I am injured whilst in the store, I have no recourse against GapBusters (I am not an employee), I will need to take civil action against the IGA store owner.

It's been more than 4 weeks since I completed a round of 15 or so audits on the opposite side of town over 4 days. More than 1000 klms travel distance + 3-4  hours each day traveling. Submitted on line report, then asked for scanning of every page of my audit report notes (approx 20 pages), collation and submission on multiple occassions because they were having IT problems and issues.

Have I been paid yet?  Of course not! Do I expect to get paid - No! Should I ... yes...

Will this be an ongoing story - I hope so, give Gapbusters enough rope and they and their clients like IGA, McDonalds, Athletes Foot, Vodaphone, Telstra and many other will find out these companies are taking advantage of their customers.

Will I be shopping at a store that has been audited by GapBusters. I doubt it because I know they use slave labour and cheat people.

GapBusters Worldwide - BUSTED IN MY BOOK