I recently had a bad experience when taking a job with ECA (www.52eca.org) and after scurging Daves ESL Cafe I'm still finding it hard to locate a reputable agent. Do you know any? I want to avoid the following experience with ECA. Thanks

1) VietCon style accommodation – His schools will try to palm you off with the cheapest style living conditions if accommodation is provided. He will promise you good accommodation but you really need to go and check it out first. Conveniently Kevie will never have photos of the accommodation and say “I think it is ok” but really it is never ok.

2) Illegal contracts – There are many clauses that state your fine if you do not comply with the rules. However there is one problem, contracts are void unless they come with a working visa (which ECA as an agent cannot provide) so you can simply ignore the contract. However this works both ways so be on your guard (See State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairsguide www.safea.gov.cn/english)

3) Double standard – If Kevie wants something like for you to do a demo, he will do his utmost to hurry you to do it, usually this is done via the “come and just have a chat with the parents no demo interview”. This is always a ploy to get you pressured into an interview situation, however it is simple as Chinese are likely to lose face, either don’t go along in the first place or just out rightly refuse.

4) Forgetful – On many occasions Kevie is likely to forget to pay you or just simply forget to meet you about contract negotiations or interviews altogether. On three occasions for a hard to please client Kevie forgot to meet with me after I’d travelled from ShenZhen to GuangZhou.. Kevie’s response was to wait a day(at my own expense) or come back another time. There is no regard for your time or cost,he will even forget after the contract deadline and suddenly wonder why you are shouting at him.

5) False promises – Don’t believe him he if guarantees you a visa. He legally cannot, it’s a company NOT a registered school with the right to hire foreign employees. He will also promise another array of such things typical to agents. Be particularly aware of cleaver adjective use such as “good accommodation”, “nice people”, “top class students” as Good for you and good for him are totally different standards.

6) Lower than average pay – Kevie will try to palm you off by charging roughly 400rmb an hour to his clients and pay you just 150 per hour. Although understandable as he has to make a profit, the average rate in GuangZhou is 200 rmb an hour – bottom rate. So simply don’t accept it.

7) Pay – Kevie also decided on pay day to just disappear. When calling his office his assistant couldn’t confirm his arrival day and he for several days ignored all emails, calls and text messages – not even one reply. After about leaving 40 missed calls an hour for several days I got hold of him and told him what I thought of him and got my money. Be wary this guy at any time may suddenly disappear with your salary.