Serious issues with employer

[Kernowman]

Hi all.

Right now I will apologise for the length of this post, but I will try and break it up into segments, because it is rather long and the whole picture tells the full story.

 

I have been working for an energy supplier as a field sales person for some 7 months. Right from the word go I disagreed with the doorstep script I was being taught because I felt it wasn't being 100% honest towards prospects. Big deal you might say, but it does have a bearing because at the interview I specifically asked to sell a product purely on it's own merits ethically and honestly. At the interview too I was asked if I had a full driving licence and no more was said further about any driving involved. I had to pay £60 for my uniform, deducted at £10 per week from my pay. They have repeatedly deducted from my wages for other reasons too, like clawbacks when an agreement has been cancelled by the prospect with a 2 week time limit (but has often been longer) or when the outgoing supplier has raised an objection to the transfer. Arguably, the former situation MAY be the salesperson's fault, but the latter the salesperson has no control over at all, nor could be avoided in advance.

 

At the end of the induction course of one week I was in no way prepared for the real world of doorstep selling. My first few days were spent being "mentored" which is a euphemism for somebody behind you watching your mistakes. The mentor got fed up with this and decided to bully a couple of old ladies to up his weekly figures. After that I was basically left to get on with the job however well or badly I did. At this point I was told I must supply my own transport and pay for it myself. On average I was spending £60-£70+ a week on fuel while my basic pay was £157.00 net, rising to £187.04 during the latter months.

 

Unsurprisingly, my sales results were none too spectacular, but there were a good few weeks where target was met and exceeded. Compared though with other sales people who did not use the company script, "cherry picked" the districts they wanted to call on (usually bungalows with a high percentage of retired folk) and didn't bother with complexities like doing price comparisons or leaving a published tariff sheet behind. The untruths were amazing to hear.

 

If you didn't hit your weekly target all you got paid was that basic wage of £157 plus you had to drive to the local office for "retraining" which was another euphemism for "punishment" really. "Retraining" consisted of reciting the official company script and once or twice the branch manager showed me some "tips" that I considered most unethical. No time was ever allowed for this nor any expenses ever re-imbursed at ANY time, no matter where you happened to be working in the field. Every week too you were under "assessment" which meant someone standing behind you with a clipboard for an hour ticking boxes on a form.

 

The hours you were expected to work was from 9.00am to 8.00pm and I was ordered out on Saturdays too, even though the actual paid hours amounted to 37 per week with no overtime payments. It was not unusual to work 55+ hours per week during the summer.

 

That was pretty much it for 5 months with no further realistic training apart from "retraining" in the office and "assessments" out on the road.

I was the eldest person in a young team and I hadn't reached the age of 55 without understanding the clear difference between "laddish mickey-taking", outright abuse and humiliation. There is more to this story but of no relevance at the moment.

 

During the month of August there was tremendous upheavals in the energy industry with prices changing around rapidly. Naturally, it did seriously affect the company's competitive edge so what were at one time expensive competitor's tariffs suddenly were not and this was reflected in all the sales team's performances - even the so-called "big hitters".

At the end of 5 months in early October I was called into the office for a review. I specifically asked at the review to be paired with an experienced and ETHICAL salesperson for a day to help me do my job better if they were concerned about my performance. My request was voice recorded and minuted. It was admitted that my treatment by the team I was with was "less than satisfactory", so I was transferred to another team and given 3 months to improve performance.

 

At least the personal abuse had now ceased from an equally young team, but pretty much as before there wasn't any training, I was left to my own devices yet again and the "retrainings" and "assessments" continued as before. The weekly figures for this team were also highly variable and it could not be said that I was the one and only one not hitting target each week. TWO MONTHS after my request to be paired with a salesman I got about 3 hours following him calling on just 3 homes he had missed during the previous week and quite frankly it wasn't a challenge for even a novice to sign them.

 

The final review concluded that I had ample training to fulfill my weekly target, but I challenged their assertions by asking in what form the "training" took and as anticipated they had already made their minds up so the company was terminating my employment although I have the right to appeal. No alternative employment was offered, yet there were at least 10 vacancies pinned up on the wall in the office.

 

Sorry to ramble on but I couldn't think of a way to express the problem in full without doing so.

 

Some sage comments what course of action to take would be appreciated.

[Gilbert_O'Sullivan]

Is this Scottish & Southern?

[upto the eyeballs]

Hi,

 

Unless you have one years continual service with this employer you do not have any statutory employment rights such as claiming for unfair dismissal.

You do have the right to receive the reasons you were dismissed in writing.

For further information i suggest you look at Website of the UK government : Directgov

they supply lots of useful information on employment law.

[Kernowman]

Is this Scottish & Southern?

 

A very good guess I must say, or is there a hallmark that you recognise?

[elche]

You do have the right to receive the reasons you were dismissed in writing.

 

This right also depends on 1 years service. With 7 months service you have no statutory right to reasons for dismissal unless you are pregnant or on mat leave etc at the effective date of termination ERA 1996, s.92(3).

 

Good practice would of course be for them to let you know written reasons, but if you submitted a request for such, they would be under no legal obligation to comply.

 

Kind regards

 

Che

[geraldthemonkey]

The final review concluded that I had ample training to fulfill my weekly target, but I challenged their assertions by asking in what form the "training" took and as anticipated they had already made their minds up so the company was terminating my employment although I have the right to appeal. No alternative employment was offered, yet there were at least 10 vacancies pinned up on the wall in the office.

 

Some sage comments what course of action to take would be appreciated.

 

As per previous poster, not much you can do from a legal / procedural perspective. You could appeal, you could ask to be considered for one of the 10 vacancies. On the other hand you could (and I know this is easier said than done) just cut your losses and find something better elsewhere. It sounds as if you are well rid of this company anyway and you need to tell yourself you deserve better than that.

 

Good luck!

Gerry

[Kernowman]

On the unfair dismissal aspect I know that 1 year's continuous service is required to apply to a Tribunal for unfair dismissal. Nobody has mentioned a private pursuit in the County Court

 

However, thee are still the issues of unlawful deductions from wages, breaches of the working tine regulations and age discrimintion to consider.

Edited December 19, 2008 by Kernowman

[Gilbert_O'Sullivan]

A very good guess I must say, or is there a hallmark that you recognise?

 

Just a very similar case to a friend of mine, so more knowledge than a guess.

 

There has been an expose of this company and their selling of energy antics though I don't think it is wise to go into this on a public forum, just do a little research and you will be surprised, or not in your case.

 

My friend did take them to a tribunal as it included age discrimination and you don't need a year service for that or for the deduction in wages which also happened to him, they didn't pay notice pay.

 

A salesman who he trained with told him to sell energy but under the guise of free loft insulation, saying they had to be with SSE for energy for free insulation, clearly rubbish.

 

The working time breach had to be dropped as the solicitor said it would be too tough to nail them for that.

 

They settled out of court. Good luck.

[Kernowman]

From the 23rd of December when I sent an appeal letter against the dismissal until this current date I am no further forward at all.

 

They finally managed to arrange an appeal hearing on the 12th February 2009 chaired by a Regional Manager. The letter said my dismissal and grievances would be addressed at the meeting. I had applied to the Employment Tribunal the day before this meeting was arranged because I had heard nothing from them for the prescribed 28 days.

 

Initially, he stressed that there appeared to be little wrong with my perfomance in the initial weeks but it had tailed off subsequently. He then asked why, to which I presented the whole story of poor training and mentoring, discrimination, bullying and intimidation, coupled with listing all the dubious methods others were employing to hit their targets. He appeared to be genuinely shocked at some of the things I was telling him and said he would investigate further. He would not give a timescale for this investigation, nor did he address ANY of the points made in my grievance or indeed the dismissal. I asked for a copy of the minutes ASAP and none have been forthcoming because the photocopier was "defective".

 

One of the key witnesses to the bullying and intimidation incidences actually works in the office and was present when one instance took place. Documentary evidence to support my assertions too are present in the office where the meeting was held and it's not rocket science to quickly find that if you have the willpower to do so. Failing that, the company has a huge database that would get all the answers in seconds if needs be.

 

I finally found the time to transcribe the appalling handwriting of the first formal meeting and found the page count had miraculously reduced and large blocks of minute notes were missing as a result, very incriminating to the company in content too - quelle surprise.

 

I am very concerned now that after all this silence suddenly the company is going to produce all sorts of evidence (most of it contrived) on the very day a Tribunal hearing is going to commence. Years ago I had a similar pattern of events when the respondent did exactly that - pushed a was of documents across the desk 5 minutes before the hearing began (I was representing myself). With the benefit of hindsight I should have shouted "foul" and demanded an immediate adjournment.

 

Anyway, it is now 3 weeks since that last meeting but heard nothing since and in total it is now the 11th week since the dismissal appeal letter, nor any word about the grievance document some 12 weeks ago. Are there any timescales that should be applied in the circumstances?

[godpikachu]

To be absolutley honest this doesnt surprise me in the slightest.

Sales jobs, particularly of the doorstep and cold calling kind, are notorious for their misleading nature.

The only objective of them is to sell as much stuff by whatever means, and, with doorstep callers in particular, the customer will find it hard to prove any of the falsehoods told to them, as no record of the initial conversation will exist.

 

A utility company i used to work for had literally hundreds of complaints per week from people who had been signed up to services which they hadnt agreed to, usually because the sales rep would ask them to sign a form to "say they had called", what they were actually signing was a contract for supply of services, with the blanks being filled in by the sales rep later, basically so they would get their sales commission.

This is why i make a habit of NEVER buying anything at the door or signing anything presented to me by a doorstep caller, unless said caller was expected, because it is ALWAYS a con of some sort.

 

Although you say that the manager you spoke with seemed to be shocked, this in all honesty was just an act, he knows damn well that people are being misled and that the best sales reps will habitually bully other staff memebers beause they dont want to lose their commissions etc by having other reps go onto their "turf".

As far as the missing sections of the meeting notes are concerned, these will have been omitted on purpose, as no doubt they contained incriminating evidence against the companies sales practices, which if presented at a tribunal would bring the company into disrepute, espcially if said evidence somehow found its way into the hands of a journalist or someone from tradign standards.

 

Make note though that if you do go to tribunal, then your former employer has a legal obligation to provide you with any documents they plan to use well in advance of the hearing, so as to let you prepare your case.

If they refuse to do this then you should have this entered into the hearing notes and request an adjournment while you consult the documentation and take advice.

 

At the end of the day, doorstep selling is a high pressure sales business, and the only people who make money from it are the ones who habitually lie to customers in order to secure thir bonuses.