Here is my alias letter to avoid any legal suits against me:
Dear Sir/Madam:
I realize that Gaba could be one of your customers for
advertising, but I
feel you should know that this company has been scamming teachers
for quite
sometime - myself being one of them. I wish for you to print this
article
so that I can warn students and teachers the dangers of being
involved with
this company.
Sincerely yours,
Bob Smith
(anonymous name)
Dear Students and Teachers:
I wish to warn you of the consequences of joining Gaba Language
school, and
highly encourage you to join a more reputable school. If you ever
read
their ad in the KeikotoManabu magazine, they promise the world to
their
students. But students should ask themselves, can they really
keep those
promises, or are they just trying to take money my money away
from me? The
latter is the truth. Why is that? After I explain my experience,
I think
you'll want to stay very far away from them. Then you will
understand that
any claim the company makes will be invalid and not to be
trusted, and any
association with them would be like contracting a virus.
My name is Bob Smith (not my real name - I believe Gaba has Mafia
connections and I wish to protect myself and the identity of
others from
them. The company has scammed lots of people, so I'm relatively
safe from
being identified). I've lived in Japan for a few years. For the
most part,
I have enjoyed my life here. Unfortunately, I have encountered
the darkest
part of my stay here in Japan. I have a special request for all
teachers
and all students from joining or advertisers to not accept
advertisements
from Gaba Language school. The purpose of the following letter is
to warn
all of you about a very unethical and immoral company called:
Gaba Language
school.
When I joined Gaba, they were not a school at all, even though
the words
"language" and "school" were and are included
in the full name of the
company. They call themselves "private lesson
specialists", for good
reason. They specialize in useing private teachers and private
students for
their own private financial gain (which I doubt they pay tax on).
Their
scheme is to charge students a yearly membership fee of \29,000.
They keep
most of this money and don't pay the teacher anything for their
efforts even
though Gaba claims that they will when the teacher has an
interview with the
student and the student pays the membership fee in which Gaba
will pay the
teacher a "Bonus" and or a "Successful First
Meeting" money. They should
call it a "Bogus" or a "Successful Money for Gaba
Only". The service they
give their customers is at best questionable. They expect the
teacher to go
in his/her free time and meet potential students while incurring
transportation fees and phone call expenses for Gaba without
reimbursement.
The teacher is also kind of obliged to have materials on hand for
teaching
which Gaba doesn't provide for the teachers (books are available
at an extra
charge, of course for the students). Gaba claims they will pay a
bonus for
the teachers efforts but that is a flat out lie (I will explain
this more).
Teachers will find out that after joining, they will get used by
the
company. In many ads, Gaba claims that the teacher will make at
least
\250,000 or a lot more (I have never made these falsely claimed
amounts).
In the full time contract, they say you'll make this money plus a
"generous
bonus" (as said in the contract), and plus \1,500 per
student that signs
(called "Successful First Meeting" money). I want to
tell you all, that I
have called for several months, and even went there in person to
get this so
called bonus money and my salary money the still owed. Upper
management
refused to speak to me. The message I get from their junior
manager is,
they "paid all the money they owe me". That is the only
explanation I get
even though I have proof they owe me a lot of money - bonus plus
salary owed
to me, and still do to this day. They'll take people's money in a
heartbeat, but it is like getting blood out of a stone to get
money from
them.
When I first worked at Gaba, they claimed to have schools, but
actually they
were just small apartments they rented or owned. The teacher was
supposed
to provide their own teaching place and was not reimbursed by the
company
for rent. A teacher has to join their ridiculous scheme of
collecting
tickets in which money was taken off for "rent". Most
offices don't charge
their office workers for rent. It's crazy! I even had to pay a
deposit for
a dirty apartment which I was never refunded after resigning!
This company
tries to stick it to people anyway they can. Can you imagine
paying \10,000
to work at a desk at your company?
They don't claim the money earned by their teachers for taxes
(they might
for full time teachers, but definitely not for part timers - even
at that,
they calculated my taxes incorrectly).
They claim to have over 3000 teachers, where's the proof? They
have 30,000
students - show us the lists!
They say their teachers are available from 7 A.M. to 10 P.M.,
everyday of
the week. That basically may be in true in part, but not all
teachers are
as available as they make it sound.
They put in big ads, trying to pretend they are as big as Nova,
but don't
let that fool you.
They have no intentions of paying bonuses to teachers. That's
just another
selling point for teachers to get sucked into.
They advertise and claim that they can provide many services to
their
students - they practically promise the world! What proof do they
have of
this? They are worse than politicians. They make everything sound
and look
good, but don't be fooled, they'll say anything to make a sale to
a student
or rip off a teacher. Talk is cheap.
The company's telephone coordinators are actually hungry
salespeople who
will be friendly to you until you pay for your membership fee
(students that
is - and to some extent, teachers too). After that, they will not
be as
friendly to you. In addition to the poor people that pay their
money, they
will not get a refund, even if the private teacher is not
available to teach
anymore. So, there is no guarantee of a teacher being available.
I have lost a lot of money in transportation, photocopies, phone
calls,
material, faxes, envelopes, stamps, supplies, and the biggest
loss for me,
is that I involuntarily, volunteered for Gaba, met, and signed up
many
students, all for Gaba's gain (and wasting my time). I personally
have lost
over \100,000 for costs, never mind the money they were suppose
to pay me
(\+80,000). I guess the money helped them pay for their
KeikotoManabu ads
(about \600,000 for Gaba and \0 for Bob Smith). I don't mind
volunteering
for ethical charity causes, but Gaba wasn't on my list.
Basically, Gaba is like a vacuum. Vacuums suck up dust and, Gaba
sucks up
money and has extra features that a vacuum doesn't have - they
leave you
like dust on the floor and treat you like dirt. Unfortunately,
they don't
care who they run over to get it.
I am presently trying to pursue sueing this company, but I am not
sure of
Japans' legal system as I can't speak Japanese. I also don't have
a great
amount of monetary sources to launch a class action suit against
them. I am
not sure if I'll win, so if you see this letter, and stay away
from Gaba,
I'll be satisfied. If you wish to help me, or if you were someone
who was
also burned by this company, feel free to join me in my fight
against them.
You can contact me by email: stopgaba@hotmail.com
I hope you all take this letter seriously. I am not the only one
with bad
experiences with this company. You may think that I'm just a
bitter person
out for revenge. I'm not. If I can prevent people from having any
association with this company, then I honestly believe that I
have saved
them from hardships (time and money) such as I and others have
encountered.
Please trust that Gaba equals bad news, and the managment are the
equivalent
of having a fatal disease. If they had any ethical and morality
in their
blood, they would have been fair, and answered to my appeals for
the money
they owe me and others too. Don't be a victim, stay away from
Gaba!
Sincerely,
Bob Smith
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