Complaint Review: Talkspace - Nationwide

TALKSPACE.COM

OREN FRANK, Owner

NICOLE AMESBURY, Head of Clinical Development

CHRISTY PAUL, Director of Recrutiment and Personnel

RONI FRANK, Founder/Head of Clinical Relations

ANGELA TOWNE, primary therapist/mentor 

I entered this company in good faith and have been a therapist over 15 years who got burned out by low pay and unethical agencies who pay therapists barely 30-40 K a year and this company falsley represents themselves and I am considering filing a complaint with FTC. They advertise in Facebook and Flexjobs and that's how I found out about them. I worked for them 2 weeks which is one week of unpaid training and then another "test period" during which time I was in contact with two clients twice a day (which is my opinion too much as clients might have felt overwhelmes and not responded back) and that includes holiday weekend. 

My intention is to warn other therapists not be taken advantage of like me. I only took this job as it APPEARED to be flexible and I could work from home. 

This company has unethical and false advertising and business practices that only makes them money, meanwhile they are basically having therapists work for a bit more than minimum wage ie $12.5 a week. You are independent contractor, they really treat you as an employee and expect that you check your messages and chat rooms all day long and even to attend meetings from 9-10 pm not to mention all the trainings that are not paid.

These are the subscription rates for clients and you ONLY GET 50% of any of this. They say that one week of text messaing therapy is equal to one hour of face to face therapy. Do the math. They want you to only take monthly packages  (at least to start with) which means that you get less than $50 a month per client while you are expected to be available 5-6 days a week twice a day and attend meetings and trainings in your free time and if you don't do it they say you are not providng exceptional service.

When I started they wanted you to be available and answer to clients twice a day from 8 am to 10 pm which is 14 hours!.  The only day off being Sunday. Since therapists complained it seems, they are now changing this to 5 days a week but the ethical issues remain as to how much they are paying. Standard therapy session is in Fl $150 so basically you are getting paid $12.5 per week per client which according to them equals one hour of face-to-face therapy. 

This is directly taken from their training manual.  

Weekly Subscription Plan: $49 per week

This plan costs $49 per week and automatically renews each week. On a per week basis this is the most expensive plan Talkspace offers.

Monthly Subscription Plan: $99 per month

This plan costs $99 per month and automatically renews each month. This plan is 50% cheaper than the weekly subscription plan - equivalent to $24.75 per week.

Quarterly Subscription Plan: $228 per quarter (every 12 weeks)

This plan costs $228 per quarter and automatically renews each quarter. This plan is 60% cheaper than the weekly subscription plan - the equivalent to $19 per week.

Yearly Subscription Plan: $624 per year - as of 2/1/2016 $799

This plan costs $624 per year and automatically renews each year. This plan is 75% cheaper than the weekly subscription plan - the equivalent to $12 per week.

They also expect you to have an iphone or ipad even though that is not explicit in the contract. The copy of the contract can be provided. It may be legally in the limits, but what stuns me that somebody who is a therapist is using this company for personal gain at the dispense of therapists. I would get - if I stayed - $100 and they expect me to buy an iphone? 

Since they cannot make the meetings mandatory, they find ways to make it look you are not a good fit. 

They expect you to work almost 24/7 to pay you ONLY $50 on average for a client PER MONTH.

They told me I was going to be making between $1,500 to $5,000 a month (luckily I saved the email) which is IMPOSSIBLE based on their subscription rates and they only allow you to have up to 35 clients which is a lot - and would add up to max $1.750.00 not to mention they don't allow you sick days. They only let you start with one or two clients so it would take a month.. or even more to even come close to making $1,000. No wonder they don't dislose that in their contract. 

Conveniently they left my reimbursement fees out from a contract and I was "disqualified" because I dared to question them. Good thing I saved all the emails and communication.

My mentor who was assigned to me was basically rude and disrespectful. 

 

Here is an email from Christy Paul, and even that was misleading as in their clinical portal tell you you can only have up to 35 clients. 

 

EMAIL FROM CHRISTY PAUL 

"Therapists can make anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000 per month, depending on the number of customers they handle.

On average the therapist’s earning per customer is $50 per month.

Therapists caseload is usually 30-65 clients, however, it can be less if you wish."

Christy Paul, LMHC

Therapist and Director of Recruitment and Personnel 

www.talkspace.com

 

 

 

 If you are considering working for them I would make sure that you understand what are you really getting paid. 

 

 

Basic violation of human rights as they tell you you cannot really take SICK time, let alone vacation.

Here is the email that I received when I asked if there is any sick time

EMAIL FROM ANGELA TOWN 

(I was sick for 3 days with a migraine/sinus headache) 

"I'm sorry you aren't feeling well. No sick time, unless of course you were in the hospital or incapacitated then you would contact Christy to get your clients covered by another therapist."

 

 

Furthemore, they do not provide any explanation after wasting 2 weeks almost on the company. So do yourself a favor and don't enter the contract as you will regret it. 

 

EMAIL FROM CHRISTY PAUL 

 

Unfortunately, you have been disqualified from working on the Talkspace platform. Although this may be a disappointment, we ask that you understand that we must have exceptional standards in order to keep the quality of our service high. Thank you for the time you spent with us during the recruitment process, and best of luck in the future. 

 

You will get paid. 

Christy Paul, LMHC

Therapist and Director of Recruitment and Personnel 

www.talkspace.com