Complaint Review: Miller Zell Retail Services

Items stolen by Miller Zell associates: LG Car Charger, LG Wall Charger, LG compatible charger Kit, Ipod Wall Charger, Ipod Car charger, Lord of the Rings Cartoon DVD (hard to find), The Hobbit Cartoon DVD (hard to find), two more unopened cd's from target that I only saw once that I don't remember the names of, numerous Craftsman, Husky, and Kobalt box Cutters, 4'-12' Paint Rolling Pole from Home Depot, 2 Purdy 3" Paintbrushes, Numerous 5-in-ones, 22" Adjustable paint roller frame, Werner 4' Rolling Scaffold from Lowe's, and Two husky dead-blow hammers.


Company Punished me for demanding loaned tools to be returned from Robert Swint- an employee who should have purchased his own tools like the rest of us. The tools were returned. Punishment involved being removed from the work schedule for nearly six weeks as if part of my employment description involved providing tools for other MZRetail employees. You can't punish me because you hired an unprepared associate. Not legally. But thats what they did.. They would send behavioral instructions through older associates in attempt to completely control me and I was warned that Howard Marx would take me off the schedule If I asked for my tools back by several associates.. all by word of mouth mostly through Timothy Baker, a long time MillerZell Associate... Who will fail a polygraph test if administered regarding this matter..


Company worked me on numerous occasions for two shifts during the same day, while only paying me for one shift. Which equals out to less than minimum wage. My contract specifically set a pay rate for work days. The company did everything in its power to cheat me out of my rightful pay rate... for example... wake up 6:00am go to job site, leave that job site around 4:00pm.. eat dinner and go directly to another job site by around 6:00pm and work until around 4:00am.. return to the hotel, sleep for three hours and return to work at 8:00 or 9:00am for another twelve hour shift before returning to the hotel to sleep eight hours and wake up for another double shift.. There were many cases where we were forced to travel a full 12-14 hours before working double shifts with no sleep which is extremely dangerous. I personally witnessed MANY accidents on the job and was never involved with any of them.. for instance, near South Beach in Miami, FL, we had travelled twelve hours and were forced to work afterward.. resulting in a heavy steel beam from the gondolas falling and striking the head of the Project Manager Himself... Other instances include sleep deprived workers injuring themselves and others due to insufficient safety precautions and training... I saw a man who is always safe get a hole knocked in the top of his head by a drug induced idiot who had no business on a job site to begin with... Company refuses to hear complaints.. Company refuses to hear concerns... This company ripped me off nearly a half of my earned wages...


Directly after the job where the PM took a gondola beam to the head, I was dispatched to work with Scott Rice and Roderick McGinnis. Mr. Papantonis, a project manager for MZretail, offered each of us a 500.00 cash bonus for completing several contracts nearing expiration. We barely slept, worked 24 hr. periods, and completed this assignment as the most efficient installation crew in the industry.. we literally made multiple miracles for this man... I can prove it in my bank summary... Mr. Papantonis awarded me only 350.00 of the proposed Bonus.. Both Scott and Roderick at the time of our deposits a week later, reported that their bonuses were not what they were supposed to be as proposed by Mr. Papantonis... This took place after the return of my tools..


After that, the company began to consider concerns and complaints to be problems which should be taken out on the employees. It was at that time when the company picked the people who would be slaves without question to offer benefits and health insurance to, henceforth denying all concerns and labeling complaintants to be Quote "Problem Makers instead of Problem Solvers" -Howard Marx(company meeting) However, the problems stemmed from Improper Leadership... No one was complaining when we saved the company a million or two by being their miracle workers..


Shortly after being taken off the schedule, I thought that I was fired from the company... I knew other people were working and needed people and that I was being punished by word of mouth.. At this time, I was completely addicted to cigarettes after being a smoker for over 15 years... I decided to quit them and start a new life.. after all, this was the best opportunity to do so since nicotine withdrawals cause chemical imbalances in the brain and awkward behavior.. so I quit smoking.. It was extremely difficult and the most emotionally, physically trying situation i've ever been through... a few weeks later i received a call from David Pearson, one of the only MillerZell associates whom I consider to be a friend... He'd talked them into putting me back to work.. It was at that time and not later when I informed Mr. Pearson that I had quit smoking and told him that it would probably be best if Millerzell and I went our seperate ways for now... Mr. Pearson assured me that they wouldn't smoke around me in the vehicle, and being a smoker, perfectly understood the mood swings and behavior dangers of nicotine withdrawals whether attempting to kick the habit or not... Only because I trust Mr. Pearson did I accept the job and travel for a week with himself and Giles Hartkorn to Columbus, Ga to preform an initial install in an Office Depot Department Store.. once I returned home from there, I didn't hear from anyone for a week... then I receive a call from Timothy Baker on a saturday afternoon while riding my dirtbike... Mr. Baker thought it best for me to quit my job due to my struggle with nicotine addiction.. I informed Mr. Baker that I was experiencing extreme behavioral abnormalties and should just stay home.. I informed Mr. Baker that I was the wrong choice and could not promise normal behavior at the moment... Mr. Baker told me that If I said that to Mr. Marx he would most likely fire me... Mr. Baker continued to manipulate the situation until I agreed to go with them for an initial install for Mohawk floorscapes.. Before we ever reached the florida line, I told Mr. Baker that I didn't need to be here that he needed to get me to a bus station and send me home... I was to volitile to deal with the stresses of the job at that time... Mr. Baker took it personally and became irritated with me.. While refusing my request he stated,"I will lose my job if you don't go because there is no way that Cliff, Ellis, and I can handle this job in the allowed amount of time"

Four hours later, We stopped for gas in central florida.. Bored witless, Jittery as the Devil, and exhausted from travel, i purchased a pack of m80s.. I proceeded to gain a little pleasure by shooting a few of them off in the edge of the parking lot no where near the gas pumps... an police officer pulled up to inform me that shooting those were illegal in the state of florida unless you are removing tree stumps... I responded with a polite apology to the officer... He didn't even write me a warning, he just told me that it was legal to buy them but not legal to ignite them, and sent us on our way... I told Mr. Baker at that time that this is the prime example why I should have stayed home... Mr. Baker disagreed and said it was no big deal.. he stated that I did not know and that it wasn't like I maliciously caused the situation intentionally, thus instructing me not to concern myself after a second request to be sent home through the bus station... Finally we arrived at our destination.. This is when things got really bad.. My roomate, was a complete prescription drug induced idiot the same idiot to put a hole in Mr. Duncan's Head as mentioned earlier... He would get drunk and Piss all over the bathroom, the toilet, the shower, the floor, and not clean it up... i had to use the public restrooms in the hotel it was so disgusting... I had to beat him to the room every day to be able to take a shower in a clean bathroom... It was absolutely horrible, especially while experiencing violent withdrawals...

While on the job, 50% of the time my Co-Workers stood around staring at a Plan-O-Gram instead of assembling the products... I performed 75% of this install... Mr. Baker had complained about a kidney stone or something wrong with him and he was in terrible pain... I went ALL OUT to get that job finished and we finished only hours after the deadline... with 2 men on a 6 man job... On the last day, Mr. Baker received Oxy-Cotton from my roomate, Ellis... I warned him that he would be crawling on the ground vomiting if he took it... He didn't listen, took the pill, smoked a cigarrette, and puked his guts out in front of clients for hours... If you ask me, doing drugs on the job site when you're the lead man or anyone for that matter endangers the lives and safety of everyone around you...


I returned home to receive a telephone call from Mr. Marx that following wednesday stating that MZRetail was terminating my contract due to instances happening in my personal life... Not eligable for rehire... I worked for this company for nearly a year... When I attempted to explain to Mr. Marx how I had informed everyone of my current medical condition before leaving and attempted to stay home to avoid causing problems, I didn't get the first word out before he said Quote,"I don't Care!" It is a fact that stopping smoking causes temporary chemical imbalances and behavioral disorders... It is a fact that Mr. Baker begged me to go with them...


This company did everything in its power to destroy every aspect of my life...

Mr. Baker Gossiped about his own nephew, Roderick McGinnis, Constantly... Talked about his mother, talked about his grandmother, just like a gossiping woman... all in peoples business all the time... It was normal for Mr. Baker to create Rumors about Mr. McGinnis... Mr. Baker used my connections with his family as an excuse to invade my personal privacy and interrogate me on MANY OCCASIONS.. always keeping me from telling anyone else the things he was saying or doing by telling me that he is my friend and How it was because of Him that I had the job and explained to me how he would cause me to lose my job if I caused him problems... The man never ceased running his mouth about people.. EVER!! Even though Mr. McGinnis and myself are no longer freinds, I never heard Mr. McGinnis ever badmouth people like Mr. Baker would.. It is my personal beleif that Mr. Baker is responsible for poisoning Mr. McGinnis Against me.. Mr. Baker would distort and share personal information regarding Mr. McGinnis on multiple occasions in order to manipulate and intimidate my decision making processes... Mr. Baker was nothing short of abusive authority regardless of whether he had talked Mr. Papantonis into hiring me or not...


It is also a fact that upon the gossip stemming from Mr. Baker, Mr. McGinnis began to stalk me and cause property damage In several instances... I personally emailed the pictures to Mr. Marx to receive the "he don't care" response again... After that I personally instructed Mr. Marx to Quote,"keep his company vehicles away from our property and away from our neighborhood.. Mr. McGinnis had no business there in the first place, He definately had no business laying Dragmarks from one end of our frontyard to the other in Miller Zell's company vehicle.. On many occasions myself and others have witnessed many instances of Mr. McGinnis throwing trash out in our frontyard our of Miller Zell Company Vehicles during all hours of the night and day. Eventually to keep myself from trouble, I moved and began to spend time with a female friend in a distant neighborhood... Mr. McGinnis moved into that neighborhood several months later... Mr. McGinnis followed us from our residence to the intersection at the Rome Braves Stadium with his bright lights on the entire time... As I exited my vehicle at the traffic stop, Mr. McGinnis opened fire with his fully-automatic paintball gun.. While enduring 5-10 shots to the face, I proceeded to shove a road barrel into the window and face of Mr. McGinnis... Unconcerned with Police, I returned to the residence of Mr. McGinnis to find him cowering behind his girlfriend... Since then I have received death threats at gunpoint from Steve McCurry, another uncle of Mr. McGinnis... There are police reports for all occurrences and I possess proof of all occurrences... I have two years to file warrants and have received less problems since It has become public information that I have been forced to possess a handgun specifically designated to resolve the next violent encounter that is presented to me by millerzell associates..


On many instances while working for millerzell Mr. McGinnis Harrassed me in my own home about how I needed to do what he says now that I work for them since HE got me the job... I was in his mind a slave until dung hit the fan... They felt the need to attempt to control my life even my love and sex life which is strictly My business..

I was reprimanded in Miami for dating a beautiful female... Mr. Marx had the nerve to accuse a virgin of being a w***e.. Just who do these people think they are? the mob? seriously... It's not my fault that the good women take no interest in men like them... It's not my fault that they all have families and go to miami to cheat on their wives... not my fault... I just wanted to live my life and work... I considered this job to be my career and only wanted to take leave until I'd recovered from my medical condition... But by no means were my personal relationships, reproductive rights, and love life subject to any means of control by millerzell authority or associates..


These people think they can treat people however they wish, someone needs to prove them otherwise... I've lived the past year and a half in misery due to bad job reference from this company... I withdrew unemployment for six months but still can't find anyone who will hire me due to bad references from the job that I wanted to keep forever... Here it is again this year, Christmastime, I can't even stand to see my own family because I have no means of even feeding myself anymore...


This company is terrible and I would not have left my 280.00 a week job to work for them if i'd known they were going to bury me... Now I have nothing

Matthew
Rome, Georgia
U.S.A.