I was cheated by an agency and an employer. They did all possible cheating with me salary cuts, not giving me my visa, bad molded apartment, degrading my qualifications, racist comments, extra jobs unbelievable lies etc.

I'm stuck now and awaiting to run away. I can't do it now because of the Chinese new year. 

Yes,i have been cheated by that liar.He promised to give me promotion and pay rise when i handed in my resignation last March,it turns out i get nothing other than one more boring year in this company.What could i do?Just nothing! I will leave the company in this April whatever happens.

I just read on another forum that half of all foreign teachers get screwed over by their own schools.  But if that were true there would be a huge exodus of expat teachers no? I mean don't they think teachers talk with one another and put out the word about them?

My school were kept reasonably in line only by the fact that my boyfriend and I were a (very) large percentage of the foreign staff and negotiated as a pair. They knew if one of us left, we'd both leave and they'd be completely screwed - but even so, we still managed to get ripped off in two major ways.

1. The first apartment they put us in, notwithstanding the fact the contracts clearly stipulated we would both get a housing allowance and choose our own apartment, was so bad I wouldn't have put my dog in there. The apartment they insisted on was about one third the cost of the combined housing allowance we were meant to get.

2. This is the more serious one - we all came in on a z-visa and had a work permit, yes, but it was for the wrong province as they were not allowed to hire for all the provinces they had schools in. Very long story short: the school got caught and tried to screw money for the massive fine out of one of our colleagues. All the FTs bailed, including us, and I will NEVER have anything to do with a Chinese employer ever again.

There were other bits and pieces as well - bonuses not paid, expenses not paid, they 'accidentally' overtaxed us, they decided that we'd work six days a week for a month to receive our contractual holidays, they decided to change me to a six-day roster - that we had to stand our ground on.

There were a few months where my wife and I weren't paid on time. When it was happening we didn't know whether or not we would be getting paid at all, and I've heard of people being owned thousands of dollars by their employer by the time they quit--this didn't happen to us though. We didn't do anything about this because China doesn't really have a reliable civil court system yet. If they did, or if this had happened in my home country, we would have sued (and we would have won.)

I have been cheated twice, but both times sought and received remedy through official sources.

The first time, the university refused to pay the final month's salary, as the teaching had finished, and they no longer needed a teacher. I took the matter to court and won, though the amount I received only just covered the legal costs. It took almost two years.

The second time, an employer refused to honour a contract. I took the matter to SAFEA, who mediated unpaid salary in full. I also got a two month termination payment, including two months free rent while I looked for a new job, and a return flight to Australia so I could arrange a new Z visa legally with a new employer.

Even knowing of my past success against being cheated doesn't seem to stop others being driven to cheat at all costs. It is like an obsession in China. These days, I factor being cheated into my contract, cut a small loss, and walk without notice.

there is a big job forum on davesesl for chinese teachers to put in the bad experiences and schools can send in the refuting arguement but its in a general forum and you have to go through over 300 pages when i researched it in 2010 before coming to china.

i dont know what the other websites are for this now because i only work with people i know by referral. the first job in china was the only one ive used a resume for in my life. have always used networking. if the website was not vague about employers the chinese would probably block it anyway.

I heard that I should post my story here, for Pegasus. Here you go, this is how I was cheated in China:

Teacher learns a lesson: The trafficking of foreign ESL teachers in China
K.T. Cox
It was not until Christmas that I fully realized I was one of many foreign teachers being scammed in Beijing, China. A dream of going to China with the pure intentions of teaching English while exploring another culture has turned into an expensive nightmare.
Prior to coming to China I was promised 5000RMB [or US$800 (RMB is Chinese currency) each month at an ESL school, a visa, a free apartment, and airfare to get home through an agency called ChinaESL, organized by Rebecca Tang. If you Google search her agency, you will find there is nothing negative being said about this company. She has links to Dave’s ESL cafe (one of the most popular foreign teacher employment websites worldwide) and I talked to plenty of people who have done ESL teaching in China and loved it. With all the information I could find at that time, I made my decision to head to China, a dream of mine since I was young. Upon arrival in China I was forced to sign an additional contract by Rebecca Tang, who said she needed to remove 2000RMB [US$320] from the first three paychecks as a deposit. This left me to survive on 3000RMB [US$480] each month, then after I would receive my promised salary of 5000RMB. There were several other cited stipulations in the contract, such as "If Party B shows the contract to anyone, Party A has the right to cancel Party B’s visa, put her on the blacklist, and charge 20,000RMB [US$3,200]." There were many other clauses that included seemingly ridiculous fees, but she told me if I didn’t sign the contract I’d have to pay 20,000RMB as a penalty. Since I didn’t know anyone in China, had no place to live (as this meeting took place in Tang’s home), and could barely speak the language, I felt I had no choice but to sign it—though I knew something didn’t feel right.
While much of my China adventure has been a wonderful experience—learning a new language, visiting the Great Wall and ancient temples, working with brilliant students, and falling in love with a brilliant British poet from Cardiff—I tried to hide the fact that I’ve been struggling financially. Every email and blog post featured only the highlights and positive aspects of my time here to comfort the worried concerns of friends and family back home in Olympia, Washington.
I cannot share how I came about the truth as a means to respect privacy, but Tang has been doing the same thing to many other people. At Web International English where I worked, over 60% of the foreign teachers are employed through Rebecca through out all the Web Centers in Beijing. Rebecca also has connections to kindergartens and middle schools, and is screwing over everyone a little differently. In my case, the school I was working at was paying me 15,800RMB and Tang was leaving me with only 3000RMB, keeping the rest for herself. After talking to the police, the Public Services bureau, the US embassy, and Web Headquarters, I found there is absolutely nothing that can be done. I sat in an interrogation room on three separate occasions--one for 2 hours, one for 4 hours and one for almost 6 while my boss was helping me to translate what the police were saying. The school is being fined and I (was) going to be fined, even though I provided evidence that it was Rebecca’s fault for bringing me over here illegally, insisting that I needed an F visa.
They also wrote the transcripts by hand rather than filming the conversation or voice recording it, and they forced me to sign the transcripts even though they did not accurately represent what was said in the interrogation. Rebecca Tang has connections to the head of police and she has a close relationship with the head of the Entry/Exit department of the Public Services Bureau; she knew specific details about the interrogation that nobody else could have known unless someone was acting as a spy for her. I know this sounds frightening, but its absolutely true. She even knew what day I was leaving the country, and her assistant and my landlord barged in to my apartment demanding that I paid bills for the entire time I was there. Also, the morning I was preparing to leave, she had someone pose as a police officer to harass me and insist that I give my flight information. I knew better of course, and told them to f*** off. Her assistant even showed up to take pictures of my now empty room so they can lease it to someone else—I hope that person is not you.
The only chance I could stand at fighting her would be to take her to court, but I’d have to hire a lawyer, which I could not afford. No matter what, the system is set up so foreign teachers will lose even though several China Labor Laws are being broken.
Rebecca Tang has been running this scam for 8 years and will continue to do it to unsuspecting foreigners. In addition to her connections to the police and the PSB, she also has connections to the government; nobody can stop her. The only way we can prevent this from happening is to tell stories like these, and I sincerely hope you will pass this around.
 I’ve spent the past 2 weeks saying good-bye to my friends, my students, my colleagues and my boyfriend who I’m still in love with. Additionally, Rebecca kept my last paycheck that was supposed to be paid on Jan. 25; every cent. I’m completely broke.
 This has been the most emotionally draining experience I’ve had in my short life. And I can suspect people will say as they read this; "you should have taken more precautions," "done more research on the company," "not have signed the contract," or "there are people that are poor and have nothing, you shouldn’t complain." I can name more things about the better choices I "should" have made, and maybe my problem is relatively small to what others have suffered, but that does not justify the fact that this agent conned me and countless others into signing a contract that resulted in her stealing thousands while breaking Chinese labor laws. We were brought here to work illegally and we are traded like cattle. Many teachers working here cannot find decent paying jobs elsewhere, came here for a chance to teach and offer a service to people who want to improve their English. If you are a newly graduated young female in her early twenties traveling alone and trying to pay off debts from student loans and assorted bills, maybe you’d understand the full effect of this. And hopefully learn from it. See: tips on agent scams. Nobody deserves to be victimized or mistreated or taken advantage of. Period.
Now I won’t deny that the American justice system is far from perfect, and this story does not glorify any "fair" decisions the United States has made—as murderers and child molesters can get off on technicalities, and big corporate powers will pay fees that amount to a light slap on the wrist in the big scheme of their evil doings—but rather how easy it is for a foreigner to be victimized abroad. Additionally this story does not presume to characterize the general population of Chinese people. In fact, I received overwhelming support from my students, my friends, my boss and even had officials from three different schools offer to help me get the proper visa to be employed legally and offer a better wage. If I weren’t under the thumb of this wicked agent--who was controlling my bank account, my apartment, and had connections to powerful people who could potentially give me even more trouble--I would have been happy to accept. The fact is, I needed to be home with my friends and family to recover from what happened. I will return to China someday, but on my own terms and with much more awareness.
So, I approached my final days in Beijing simply knowing in my heart that I was right and that nothing could break my spirit...and then the impossible happened: I was invited to come to the police station once more to assess the fines for my offense of working here illegally under Tang’s supervision. The police apparently felt sorry for me and think this situation is unfair. They disapprove of Tang’s relationship with their boss, so they have devised a plan for me to escape: they submitted a request to reduce my fine in order to delay my paperwork process so I could leave the country without paying, as I’ve provided sufficient evidence that this offense was not my fault and due to Tang’s manipulation. They also said they would ensure my safety at the airport, and their boss would have to let my case go. I was in complete shock. Apparently this sort of thing never happens; to foreigners, to Chinese citizens, to people that are poor and powerless, to people that fought the system without proper legal defense. I have no idea why I was lucky, or why this ending turned out the way it did. It was a small victory compared to the grand scheme of ChinaESL’s evil doings, but any victory is worth celebrating.
Now, this is a rare victory. The truth is no matter where you go in the world, a stupid piece of paper can rip apart people that love each other, can disenchant your dream of making the world a better place and (in cases far worse than mine) consume everything you have—everything but one—to quote my beloved: "If you know in your heart that you are right, nothing can touch you." Best wishes to anyone who aspires the same dream. May this story be helpful and eye-opening.
Tips for avoiding overseas teaching scams and teacher trafficking: 1.) Do research at the countries embassy about decent living wages.2.) Have a lawyer review your contract to ensure it is in accordance with the country labor laws.3.) Make connections with citizens within the country before you go; ask if they’ve heard reviews on the business. You won’t always find bad reviews on companies just by internet research. Signs of bad agents:
1. They ask for money up front.
2. They use post office boxes, instead of office addresses.
3. They make promises of employment and guarantees of refunds.
4. They charge fees for giving you a job lead.
5. They pressure you and encourage you to make a decision too quickly.
6. They make you pay for your own visa and flight and don’t compensate you; a good business will offer that because you are doing them a service. Helpful cites to review if you want to teach in China: ChinaForeignTeachersUnion.org or ChinaScamBusters.com