Complaint Review: D' Ambrosio Chrysler-Jeep - Salt Lake City Utah

In April my boyfriend was hired by D'Ambrosio as a salesman. The first three months of employment he was offered a base salary that diminished month by month until the third month when he went to an all commission salary. Since then, he has worked 280+ hours per month (REQUIRED SCEDULE) and has not made minimum wage for those hours, let alone overtime pay, save the first salaried month when he made $2000 commission, and one other month when he did ok. I believe this is highly illegal, but I am not an attorney.

When he first started there, he was made aware of a "demo" program that allowed him to drive one of the new vehicles D'Ambrosio had on the lot for a monthly fee of $200. This included insurance and gas. After a few months they decided that they would need to raise the amount charged for the vehicle to $300. Unhappy with this change but happy to drive the vehicle my boyfriend agreed. Then a month or so later they decided that they would not cover gas anymore. In my opinion it is a great privilege to drive a brand new vehicle, however this vehicle is decorated with their logo and is a moving advertisement. Again, my boyfriend agreed to this. It seemed to be worth it to him even though while paying for this privilege, it was constanly held over his head as if it was a gift.

On the 20th of Oct he received his check for $109 for a 140+ hour Pay period. To be fair, his gross was about $650 but after all of the deductions for his "Demo" and his health insurance, not to mention a deduction that he did not recognize his check was $109. When he asked the accounting staff what this $200 deduction was for he was informed that it was to cover high payoff.

When a vehicle is traded in, the salesman is responsible to call and get a payoff amount. The dealer has 15 days to pay off the vehicle before interest is added. My boyfriend did as he was required and turned in all necessary paperwork. The company did not pay it off in time. But when he received his check it was short the FULL amount of the overpayment. Understand that he has NO control over when the company pays it off; all he can control is taking care of his part and getting the paperwork in. I could understand if the employer shorted him on his commission (25% of gross profit) because they made less than what was expected, but they took it all out of his check. I believe this is extremely illegal, but again not being an attorney, I am not able to say for sure.

When this occurred he decided that it was time to quit. Being tired of being lied to and STOLEN from several times in just a few months. Continuing to go to work while searching for another job, his bosses (of whom he has several and which change almost monthly) started to get the vibe that he might be leaving. He was asked several times if he would be quitting, was asked not to, and denied that he was thinking about it.

On the following Friday (three days after the $109 check) he showed up to the weekly meeting. All of the people who attended the meeting were offered a "spiff" which is a bonus based on requirements set forth by the employer. These "spiffs" often included a whole team of people who all need to individually meet the requirements for all those involved to make the pay. So, effectively his employer stopped him from quitting for another week by offering the whole team a "spiff" that all would lose if he didn't participate.

The weekend went by and all those who were involved met the requirements. On the following Tuesday he was told that the employer wished to pay in two weekly installments, instead of all pay coming the following Friday as was the agreement. Although my boyfriend was upset by this he decided that he would at least stay until the end of the month and see how it went and collect his "spiff".

On Thursday, after being told all week that they had met the requirements, the involved people were told that they did not make the "spiff" and would not be paid. They were not told why. This is consistent with how they have been treated in the past. This employer tries to do everything in their power not to pay the people making them money. On several occasions my boyfriend was told that he would need to do A, B, and C to meet his bonuses and then when those had been met there was always a hidden D, E, and sometimes F that he didn't meet. They changed rules mid pay period all of the time without telling the employees. So needless to say Friday morning he quit. I have no doubt in my mind that they will find a way to absorb his whole last paycheck.

Basically, my intent with this report is to warn those that might consider becoming employed by this company. I have also heard that attorneys watch these reports and often times have advice to give. I would appreciate any ideas presented to me, as we cannot afford an attorney. I am getting really tired of him getting taken advantage of. Thank you for reading my report and I hope that it will serve as warning to someone including customers who wish to deal with this unethical company.

MY MAN IS NOT YOUR DOORMAT

West Jordan, Utah
U.S.A.