Complaint Review: Essential Retail Services

I was hired by Essential Retail Services to perform work at various retail locations. On their first call to me I spoke with Shawn, the dispatcher, about ERS's billing policy. He assured me that I would be paid in 30-60 days. After submitting my invoices without a confirmation that they were received I emailed to find out. It took a while to get an answer. The company is very unresponsive and disorganized in every aspect aside from procuring repairs. When they need the work done they'll call you 5 times a day. Once you complete the job and submit and invoice you're invisible.

They don't even follow their own internal guidelines. I was doing work but was not listed as a vendor. No one asked me to fill out a profile, submit insurance info... nothing. I thought this was strange since I've worked for other retail service companies. I figured if I'm not an official vendor than A/P probably doesn't have me in the system and I won't get paid. So I started calling and emailing to find out when I'm getting paid. I got a vendor profile form from someone and noticed that they wanted a signature at the bottom confirming that I had read the "Agreement". There was no agreement attached so I requested a copy. I requested and requested and requested for 2-3 weeks with every contact I had at ERS. No one replied and I have never seen this "Agreement". Needless to say I did not sign the document.

The last time I called I was told that the Accounts Payable person misses a lot of work and is behind. The receptionist could not provide any answers of course. She said the best I could do is leave a message for Accounts Receivable and I may get a reply. That was weeks ago. No reply.

BOTTOM-LINE: If you're a contractor, even if you're hungry for work, stay away from this company. They also go by the name Pacific Air Conditioning and Heating. I wish I would have seen these reports before I started working.