BILL HEARD ENTERPRISES Wronful Termination, Devious Business Practices, Heartless Employee Relations Kennesaw Georgia

A letter that was forwarded to me today from a close friend, thought Bill Heard Dissenters would enjoy!:


Dear Mr. Mansten,

After several attempts to get someone to call me back concerning an article I'm preparing for submission to The Sentinel, which is the KSU newspaper, I am writing to you to give you a heads up on several concerns the community has, that your department and that of your friend and boss, Mike Raines, should be aware of. The name of the article is "Has Bill Heard Chevrolet gone the way of Wal-Mart?" It would be prudent for you to pay close attention to what I am saying, because it would reflect badly on the company to ignore such an issue in the climate of America today, and that being said, companies that decline comment usually seal their own fate in public opinion, but those who engage in the discussion and present a logical argument or explanation usually fair better in that court of public opinion. Surely you are aware that this is true!

In the course of my research for this article, I have come across several recent employees who describe an atmosphere of a "Good Old Boy" system at Bill Heard Chevrolet, and that since you have become the manager there, they claim that you have systematically fired loyal employees and consistently brought in your old workers from Tom Jumper Chevrolet! It is also rumored that you use your position at work as a soapbox for your ultra-conservative right-wing Christian views, and anyone who does not agree with you, or fit your definition of a Christian, gets the boot. I am asking for your side of the story on these accusations, so that I might present a balanced view on this hot issue in America today.

A comment on the Bill Heard Website states "We don't just sell great cars and trucks, we also take great pride in our staff, our business and our community" One of my most recent interviews is with a man who has a family that consists of two small children under four whose wife is a current student at KSU, as well as productive and active participant in the community. He states among other things, that he was told by other employees that he was essentially to much of a family man, and that he was fired for leaving early one day to pick up his sick child from day care, although this was not the reason given by you on his Separation notice when he was fired the next day. But the employee that told him this was one you brought in from Tom, and said that he had heard this straight from you.

In the Twenty First century, this is a business model that is quickly dying away because it has been consistently and statistically been proven to lower the esteem and the production of its employees, lead to higher turnover rates, higher absentee rates and basic job dissatisfaction, just to name a few. Another former employee I interviewed told me a horrific story of how two of your Tom newbies harassed him and played cruel jokes on him until he finally quit, after approaching you to handle the situation, and you effectively did nothing to punish the reprehensible behavior of those two new hires. And all of this soon after the man's son had took his own life!

All in all, I have many former employees who have been fired or quit because of policies implemented by you, including Brad R*, Jed T*, Jeff R*, Chris K*, Kevin K*, Alex S*, Chris R*, Milford M*, John S*, and Mark B*, the entire Executive Detail team, and many others, who have offered to tell me or have already told me their stories for this article. All of these employees were loyal and hardworking, some with young families, some who had been with Bill Heard for over a decade, and all of their reasons for termination were in dispute, and their names and reputations were slandered by false statement made by you as to the reasons for their terminations. Is this really the message that Bill Heard wants to send to it's employees and it's community?

I am offering you, and Mike Raines, one last chance to tell your side of the story.. I am also including an article for you to read that ran in yesterdays New York Times. KSU has a special tie to the New York Times in that the Times is widely distributed for free on the KSU campus, and writing majors who are published in the Sentinel have a better chance of being published in other papers like and including the Times and the AJC. I hope that this will indicate to you the seriousness of this matter and the implications it now holds. I look forward to an interview, as I would like to present both sides equally. Here is the article I mentioned (NY Times, Oct 3, A Chair out from Under Them), which bears great resemblance to the accusations of former employees of Bill Heard. Also, a link to www.ripoffreport.com, which has 159 stories concerning Bill Heard so far and which I will be mentioning in my article as a place for dissatisfied consumers to voice their concerns.
ripoffreport.com/results.asp?q1=ALL&q2=&q3=&q4=&q5=BILL+HEARD&q6=&q7=&searchtype=0&submit2=Search%21

CC:

Mike Raines

Chevrolet Motor Corporation, Customer Relations DivisionCustomer Assistance Center
General Motors Corp.
P.O. Box 7047
Pontiac, MI 48343-6004

Michael L. Thurmond, GA Dept. of Labor Commissioner


Shannon
Kennesaw, Georgia
U.S.A.

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