Complaint Review: Gary Oberoi

It took me a long time to write this but after reading a few others reports on Gary Oberoi, I felt strongly that my story needed to be told also.  

My story takes place in 2006 when I was hired as a "Listing Agent" at Starnest Realty by Gary Oberoi.  I was promised 5 percent commission split on every listing that I bought in that was rented by one of our real estate agents. Also...I was promised full benefits after 6 weeks. This company only technically employs 2 full-time employees and the rest are free agents meaning they are real estate agents who are not on the books at the company. They make their own money when they rent an apartment. So I realized from the very beginning that I was going to have to be the spokesperson for speaking up on what Irene (the receptionist) and I were entitled to, meaning sick days, holiday pay, benefits and my commission checks.

I started to realize from the very start that Gary was nickel and diming me with holiday pay trying to cut my check for Christmas and never paying me for sick days and to top it off, it had been 12 weeks since i started and still had not received benefits and also I had not received one commission check even though 8 apartments I listed had been rented since I started. I was promised that on the 1st of each month I would receive a commission check but of course, I never saw any. When I finally spoke up, a week later, I wrote to Gary, explaining how i was still awaiting 2 checks for commissions and how it had been double the time since i was told I would receive benefits. I never received a response to that e-mail. Rather, Gary decided to fire me that same day. That's a lot easier than having to deal with giving me everything he had promised me when I took this piece-of-s**t job to start with.

Gary is the owner of this then brand new company and obviously had no idea how to run a business or he wouldn't have been giving me the run-around from the start. He just blatantly lied to me about what I would be getting. Did I mention the Human Resources girl quit not 2 weeks after I started? Leaving Gary to throw everything she was doing into my lap? Yeah...when I first approached him about my benefits, he told me to look into packages for him and find out which the best ones would be for him that he wouldn't have to pay into too much. A job the human resource department normally looks into.

I did this, begrudgingly, and presented him with packages from 4 different health coverages and 2 weeks later he brought it back to me claiming it was "too complicated" for him to understand and to do more research into it and come back to him with what I get. Finally I got applications and a detailed break-down of how much he and I would have to pay into HIP Prime Health Coverage and gave it to him and still didn't hear anything from him. I also found out that no health coverages would provide us with benefits as long as we were 1099'd employees, meaning Gary had us working off the books and no health coverage will provide you with benefits without a proof of income. Gary claimed he would sign us up to ADP which is a company that taxes your checks for you. This process would slow down me receiving benefits by at least a month.  I told Gary this and he promised he would look into it.

In the e-mail I sent, I let him know that it had been well over a month since I was to receive my first commission check and I asked if I would be receiving 2 checks on February 1st. No reply. Of course, it seems a lot easier to just can me rather than fulfilling his obligations to me. So that day, after not feeling well and taking the day off the day before, I walked in to the office and was told by Gary that my services were no longer required and that he would be holding my paycheck (which had been waiting for me since Monday) to assure that there would be a smooth transition. Meaning that he wanted to make sure I gave them all the right passwords to my e-mail/computer. I offered to do that on the spot but the weasel Gary, would not give me my check.

I even told him I was broke right now and he assured me it would be mailed to me. I asked him about my two months worth of commissions and he claimed that would be mailed to me as well. I left and called my dad and told him what happened and he called Gary and told him to give me my check and that sniveling little coward just kept saying "not going to happen" over and over again. Meanwhile the receptionist called me repeatedly asking me for passwords and then to tell me that i would be receiving my check as soon as all the passwords were switched over. Luckily they didn't change the password on my e-mail yet because I was able to log in and print out a saved e-mail stating that they would pay me 5 percent commission on all of my listings proving that Gary did not fulfil his end of our agreement.

I provided Gary's business, Starnest Realty, with over 800 apartment listings with landlords I had close relationships. I now realize from the very start that Gary just wanted to build up his database (which had 50 listings when I first started) and then he could just get rid of me without ever having to give me anything he promised. I mean, seriously, how demotivating is it to work and work and watch your apartments being rented and watch the company you work for thrive on the business you bought to it and never ever ever reap the benefits of it? It's no wonder I would dread getting out of bed every single day and I used up all my sick days so quick.  I'm just pissed that I wasted so much of my time on something I thought had so much potential.

Anyone that lives in NY, do not work with Starnest Realty, Obe Property Group, or any other company he now works with in Real Estate.  He's also the new owner of a spa called Red & White Spa in Manhattan which I've read many complaints on him there as well.  

In conclusion, A good friend of mine ended up calling Gary and basically verbally strong-armed him into paying me my last check, by stating every NY Labor Law that he was in violation of by withholding my check from me.  I was then allowed to pick up my check immediately and also received a phone call from Irene apologizing.  I to this day, never received the over $3000 in commissions that Gary owes me and the better business bureau and department of Labor was unable to force him to pay me those commissions being that they do not work with commission payments.  So he got away with all that money he owed me and however much more he made off of my listings after I left.