Complaint Review: Terrie Annechino

I write this only as a warning to those she promises to hire. I was doing work as a VA for her, and she ghosted me after making excuses multiple weeks as to why I didn’t have work. The inconsistency was a major problem, and one of the reasons I didn’t fight to retain her as a client. To be honest, it was a relief. She seemed to say that she was "so considerate” and "such a good communicator” and "such a great mentor”.

I think her reality and her perspective are just wildly out of line. I often found her to be a micro manager, poorly organized, and lacking a sense of my time. We would spend hours on the phone with her restating things, asking the same questions. Most of my time was spent analyzing and filling out an out of date and inefficient google doc that was extremely unorganized and difficult to navigate. I wasn’t paid for any time spent doing this redundant task, and it was followed by twice weekly 2 hour calls to explain what was plainly written.

I think this issue was compounded by the outdated technology systems and inability to operate "new age” systems and equipment. She also promised to pay $15/hr, but then would budget 15 mins for a 2 hour task, and wouldn’t actually pay for the time dedicated. Most of the time I was trying to explain that "this can’t be done with XYZ”, or "this can’t be done because you haven’t budgeted adequate time”. Also, she promised "coaching services”, as a form of payment, which is ludacris and never happened.

She also would tell me that the work I did was pointless so there was no reason to be compensated for it. Excuse me, I took 8 hours away from my husband and child this week for YOU and you want to tell me I’m only worth $30? Every other client I have pays $25-30 and uses a minimum for 10 hours a month. It was a huge waste of time. Ultimately, I didn’t fight to retain her as a client because she was unrealistic and disorganized, and this made it impossible to do efficient and effective work.

I had to fight for the last few hours to get paid, while she was still trying to assign tasks to me. Um, no. Pay me, or I’m not completing anymore work. I wouldn’t recommend working for her. I’m sure she’s a nice person with good intentions, but her managerial skills and organizational skills are lacking to the point of chaos.