Victim Location 10469
Total money lost $225
Type of a scam Employment
I did a application on Indeed , I Got a call from Stanford Services , to come in for a interview , 4/23/16 , which was a Saturday at 4pm. Went in they told me they were employment agencies , they told me I had to pay $225 for training , and uniform for housekeeping , ( which I apply for on Indeed.com ) , which I didn’t get no training , no uniform or anything. I called today May 2nd about my " job placement " and they blocked my number! I’m just so upset. Please help me , thank you and have a bless day !
Victim Location 10455
Total money lost $400
Type of a scam Employment
On 3/18/2016 I received a call from a woman by the name of Mahowa. She said she was from a company called Stanford Services and she was calling regarding a Housekeeping position that I applied for on indeed.com. I was a little puzzled because I did apply for a housekeeping position, but it was not from Stanford Services. So she proceeded to ask if i was still interested in the position and if so, i will need to come to their OSHA 10 hour training class that is held on saturdays and sundays and bring $125 to pay for the class. Not thinking negatively, I went in that saturday 3/19/16 to see what this company was all about.
When i arrived, I was greeted by Mahowa and she had me fill out a questionnaire and told me to sit tight and wait for an interview. As i was waiting patiently to be called, a Man by the name of Sean called me to the back room to conduct an interview with me. The interview seemed pretty normal just like any other company would interview a potential employee, but what he explained to me after the interview was over had me raising eyebrows. He congratulated me and told me that i was selected for the position however, If i wanted to make around $14- $19 per hour i would have to pay $400 for the OSHA 10 Hour training course and if i wanted to make $9.00- $12.00 then i’d have to pay around $200. I thought this was kind of strange because i never heard of someone practically paying for a job but being totally oblivious to how the OSHA training works, I decided to proceed with the position that will make the most money so i asked Sean if the company accepts credit/debit cards and he told me that the system was down (another red flag to me) so i gave sean the $400 CASH anyway in high hopes of a great outcome from this experience and tried hard not to be a pessimist. He had me sign a contract and gave me a paid receipt but not a company receipt. It was a receipt that came from a receipt book and looked like it was purchased from a big box store (another red flag). After the payment, Sean told me to meet back at the location on 3/26/16 at 10am to start the OSHA training.
On saturday 3/26/16, Myself and a few other people showed up for this OSHA 10 hour training class. The trainer was about an hour late and to top it off, the training only lasted for about 2 hours and that was it! No returning the next day to finish the class and no CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION. I didn’t know any better at the time but when i got home, I decided to do some investigation about OSHA training and how long you have to wait to receive your card. According to OSHA.org, You are supposed to receive your student card within 90 days however, you are supposed to receive a certificate of completion right after you complete the training class and i have received absolutely nothing! Upon completing the OSHA training course, Sean told all the students including myself to meet up at the same location that upcoming Monday 3/28/16 for Job placement.
When Monday arrived, I went back to the location for Job placement and about 25 other students (Rough Estimate) were there as well for the same cause. Sean called at least 3 people at a time to see this woman named "Merissa" who is supposed to be an independent contractor. When i was called to see Merissa, I sat down in the room with her and two other applicants and she was very unprofessional and using profanity while conducting an interview with us. I found that to be very strange for this "Business woman" to talk and act the way that she did during the interview (another red flag). So she basically tells us that she "Text" a friend of hers letting her know that she has 3 girls for her (Me and the other 2 applicants). I was completely perplexed at that statement and wanted to know more of what she was trying to tell us. When i wanted details about how this job placement works, she started to get angry at the fact that i was asking questions. (Doesn’t an employer want you to ask questions?) She then told me and the two other girls that we should be getting a call from her in a few days to send us to 3 different locations and fill out an application. She said "When you go to the location and fill out an application, Call sean and tell him so that he can call me and tell me that you filled out the application so that i can plug you in. (She wanted to remain discreet and didn’t want to give out her phone number to us. Another red flag). "Don’t worry i’ll take care of everything this job is gonna start out at $17.50 per hour and you’ll be on a 90 day probation after being hired." That did not ease my worries at all.
As me and the two other applicants were leaving the interview, one of them stopped me and question the legitimacy of this company and she expressed the same feelings i’ve been having about the way this company operates and how suspicious it all seemed. So we exchanged numbers to keep each other updated on what happens next with this "Independant contractor" merissa.
A few days later, I get a series of missed calls from an unknown number and a few voicemails left from Merissa telling me to pick up my phone and if i miss the call again, call sean and tell him to call her so that she can call me back. Instead of just leaving her phone number on my voicemail for me to call her back she tells me to call sean so that he can call her. After a few attempts, she finally gets in contact with me and gives me the location to a place that provides building services and tells me to go in on wednesday 4/6/16 at 10am to fill out an application. After hearing that from her, I contacted the applicant that i exchanged numbers with to keep her updated on whats happening with the job placement. The applicant told me that merissa called her as well and told her to go to a different location on the same date and same time which happens to be about 2 blocks away from where i was being sent to.
Wednesday 4/6/16, I go to the location where i was sent to by Merissa. I filled out the application and mentioned her name to one of the employees there. He had no knowledge of a woman named Merissa or anything about sean and the company "Stanford Services LLC" and told me that the job only pays $10.00 per hour and you need prior experience for the housekeeping positons to work for that company. So disappointed i called the other applicant that i kept in touch with to see how it was going at the Location that she was sent to. She tells me that it is a job placement program and Nobody at that location had any knowledge of Merissa and sean or Stanford Services LLC.
I wanted to know more about this company so i went to google the company and turns out that "Stanford Services LLC" is a company based in Las Vegas, Nevada and deals with payroll and bookkeeping. That company has nothing to do with Job placement and Osha training classes. Basically, these people that i’ve encountered are using another company’s name and not providing the services that are promised.