How Is This Company in Business?

In order to make ends meet I've working as an independent contractor doing some for-hire IT work. Most of it is simple stuff: replace this POS (point-of-sale) unit at this company, update X software on that computer, replace toner ink for that printer, etc. The work was all freelance, on a case-by-case basis, and the company I was working through made it very very clear we independent contractors and not company employees.

Recently I had a problem with this company, which I blogged about HERE. After that affair my opinion on the company's operations went from a solid 5 out of 10 to a mere 2 at best. Out of respect for the company and not to name names, I kept that company's name to myself on the last blog post, but now I'm seriously considering naming them.

Why?

Why not?

At the culmination of events which I didn't include on the previous blog post, I received an email from their Vice President, or at least his signature line claimed he was a vice president. It stated that I was persona non grata and would be removed from their technician rolls. As seen here:

Jared Bowers 
to:
 Jason ON
cc:
 Emily Jayna Welford , Tiffany Himel
date:
 Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 7:26 AM
subject:
 RE: Service ID 1235793
mailed-by:
 barrister.com
Jason, 
I will have you removed from the Barrister System as a technician.  It is obvious to me that we see things on a different level.  

Emails are great, they have a written record of the conversation and such nifty little things as time and day stamps, who was included on the emails (such as cc's) and many other useful bits of information.

Surprisingly, that Saturday morning I received a call from Barrister asking me if I could do some work for them on Monday, December 23rd. Shocked, I told the girl who called that her vice-president, Jared, essentially told me I could no longer work for Barrister and that it probably wasn't best that she called me and offered me work.

She explained how I was still in their system and if I was in their system I could be contacted for call-outs. Again, I was dumbfounded. I didn't want to perform any work for them and then have them deny me payment based on their vice-president's email and the company's failure to follow through in a reasonable time frame and I told the girl about my hesitation. She then told me, "If you've done the work, they have to pay you."

Okay. I was curious and agreed to work the work order firmly believing I would receive a call before Monday morning telling me there was a mistake. No such call came in and I left at 9:30am to make my 10:00am appointment. What was my job? To go to the "depot" (a UPS facility here in Denver) pick up a part, take the part to a customer's location and install it. The customer relationship specialist whom I spoke with Saturday morning assured me it would take less than an hour for everything.

I arrive at the UPS facility and show the clerk my tracking number and she disappears through a doorway. A few moments later she comes out and tells me she can't find  the package. She then calls the driver and has him re-check his vehicle. Twenty minutes, or so, later she tells me the driver cannot find the package, so she calls the main warehouse. Another 30 minutes or so later and she tells me the warehouse can't find it either.

So, I call Barrister and give them an update. The CRS (Customer Relationship Specialist) I speak with informs me the tracking number shows as being delivered and it must be there, just wait for them to find the package.

So I wait.

And wait.

And wait some more.

An hour later I call Barrister back and let them know UPS still cannot find the package and I've now been there nearly two hours, I had planned my day around a 1 hour job and I needed to leave the site. It was then the CRS told me, "I don't know why you're there, the tracking number shows it still en route."

Are you kidding me? One person tells me it's on site and ready for pickup and another tells me it's still en route?

The CRS then asks me if I'm available later in the week (post Christmas) to return and complete the job order. "Sure," I say. She then tells me she needs to confirm with the end-user which day is better for them, Thursday or Friday, and she would call me back.

I never heard from Barrister again. Not later that day, not the following day, not Christmas day, not until this morning. They call when I'm on the phone with someone else so I let it go to voicemail. Later, I check voicemails only to have a message from them:

So, for some reason they scheduled me to go back out to the "depot", pick up the part and install it on the customer's location. All without letting me know. No work order, no addendum to the previous work order, not even a simple email giving me a written confirmation.
The problem with Barrister is, when a tech doesn't show for a scheduled work order they fine the technician $100 -- at least. Now I'm on the hook for a $100 fine for missing a job order I didn't accept.
Does that make sense?
And, while on the phone with Barrister, another Barrister CRS calls me and leaves a nearly identical voicemail:

So, no written confirmation, no verbal confirmation (as far as I'm aware) and now I'm being called over and over about missing an appointment I didn't make. In the meantime, I also receive an email from Adrianna with the same information:

Hello Jason,

You had an ETA today 12/26/2013 10:00:00 AM  at UNITED STATIONERS SUPPLY CO. Can you please confirm or give me an update on ticket please Thank you.
 
Adriana BeltranCustomer Relationship SpecialistBarrister Global Services Network, Inc.
Las Vegas, NV 89130
Phone:
E-mail:
URL:

Barrister is a WBENC and NWBOC Certified Woman Owned Business. 
Inc 5000’s list of Fastest Growing Private Companies 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, & 2013

How am I doing? Please E-mail my manager, Megan Oliphant, at moliphant@barrister.com, with any feedback.

I'm fairly certain Barrister functions this way just to coerce technicians into work they didn't accept in order to avoid the no-show fines they impose.

When I think about coercion, I'm reminded of the first time I got a hint of this behavior: the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. One of Barrister's CRS' called me and asked if I was available for the Friday after the holiday. When I said no, he countered with a "Okay, I have you down for this time on this date." I said no, again. Then he started to read me the disclosure they need agreement to for each time a service order is accepted. I said NO much louder and much more insistent that time, but he seemed not to care.

When all was said and done, I had the impression he just needed to schedule someone to get the work order off his books and he didn't care who he scheduled, counting on the no-show fee to ensure a technician arrived and performed the work.

I also heard another technician claim he was scheduled for a job he never accepted and then fined the $100 for not showing when the work order was three time-zones and over 1,000 miles away.

What have I learned from Barrister's actions? Get everything in writing, no ifs, ands or buts about it; and always, always, demand the most money you can per work order accepted. Their measly peasly compensation they offer isn't worth the headaches and stress.

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