Complaint Review: LHR - Hamburg New York

I choose to come to this company after layoffs and downsizing forced me to rethink my position and place of employment at the time. I had originally had LHR on my list of possible employers before 2005 when I stared at my old company so naturally I decided to give them a call when things went south. They were eager to get me in for an interview and I was initially excited about the opportunities and the benefits, especially being only 10 mins away instead of 45.

I had to wait out a non compete clause but eventually started training at LHR. I liked the training program and the way that it was set up. 2 of my trainers were phenomenal, however R.B. was arrogant and cocky, always talking about how he was the best of the best and about how much money he made. Left a bad taste in my mouth.

From training the company was nice enough to move me directly to the main collection floor instead of to their transition team like most newbies. I certainly appreciated the gesture and was motivated to prove that they had made a good choice in doing that.

Then it changes dramatically. I meet my manager (alias) Mr. Jamison, "forget everything they taught you in training." Is the greeting that I receive from him. I spend the first few days "training" on the floor. Listening to other collectors on the phone and going over the scripts that are given to me by my manager.

According to Mr. Jamison, collecting money is the easiest job in the world.

1. Get em on the phone

2. Threaten them with legal

3. Make em pay

It's that easy! So i spent the 3 months that I actually showed up at work listening to my fellow "top" collectors slam "deadbeats" calling them dirty names, threatening to take their homes, their businesses, and that we would sue them even if the account was out of SOL. I had just come from a company that would immediately fire an employee for breaking FDCPA to a company that seemed to condone it and use it as a tactic.

We were constantly warned to 'be smart' when taking incoming calls because the debtor may be recording and we didn't want to get sued.

The pressure to perform was like any other collection agency, especially in this economy it's a tough industry to work in. But the pressure to perform for LHR seemed more compounded by the fact that if we didn't walk the gray line or break the law completely then we would not hit goal. Note that every meeting Mr. Jamison had with us we were told that our "personal goals did not matter and that we needed bring in as much money as possible so that I get a bonus check this month." Motivation gone.

I found ample reasons to not show up to work due to my total disgust for the manager that I worked for and the individuals that claimed to be 'in charge' that did nothing to corral this scumbag for fear that they would loose a dollar. During my time off I looked for better, professional companies to work for and went on several job interviews, so when it cam time for the company to try and fire me I was ready with a lengthy letter of resignation and a promise that I was taking my experience there VERY personally.

I recently saw Mr. Jamison at our local Best Buy around Christmas time and attempted a cordial, yet hurried greeting. Mr. Jamison curtly and smugly replied that "the letter that I had written was nice." At first I was confused and thought that I had accidentally sent him a Christmas card when he again stated that "the letter you wrote, very nice (laughing). It didn't do anything though so nice try! (smiling and so proud of himself)." He was referring to the fact that the company did nothing to him for causing an employee to quit.

Here is the letter with obvious personal info omitted. This letter or this posting is in no way meant to be slanderous or libel, it is completely factual data from my experience with certain members of this company. I will have it be known that I met several very nice people, including some managers that are there for the right reasons. I apologize if this angers some, but people need to beware of tactics and procedures of some in this company. Re-againg does occur, taking $5.00 payments on an out of SOL account to bring it current does happen, sexual harassment does happen, drugs and alcohol do happen and are bragged about, swearing at debtors does happen.....the list goes on and on...see for yourself:

(Omitted)

Director of Operations

LHR, Inc

56 Main Street

Hamburg, NY 14075

Dear Mr. :

I would like to preface this letter by saying thank you for the opportunity to work for one of the areas highest rated companies. I appreciate the initial recognition that you had given me when deciding to fast-track my training time.

In my studies in Business Management and my real life experience as a Supervisor/Manager for the collections industry, I have learned several very important lessons. In fact, the military probably taught me long before I had any actual experience with managing people. The number one lesson as a front line manager is that you are nothing without your employees. The ability to keep morale high and the skill to empower them is everything in business. A lack of proper supervision will lead to what is causing me to take the time to write this letter today: Job dissatisfaction.

Those familiar with Frederick Hertzberg are aware of his motivation-hygiene theory, which provides proof that there are certain needs and motivators that can lead to or directly cause an employee to be either satisfied or dissatisfied. An article that appears on netmba.com provides this:

The following table presents the top six factors causing dissatisfaction and the top six factors causing satisfaction, listed in the order of higher to lower importance.

Factors Affecting Job Attitudes

Leading to Dissatisfaction

Leading to Satisfaction

Company policy

Supervision

Relationship w/Boss

Work conditions

Leading to Satisfaction

Salary

Relationship w/Peers

Achievement

Recognition

Work itself

Responsibility

Advancement

Growth

LHR, Inc does a fantastic job of advertising its desire to be a professional, business casual environment. LHR was my second choice in 2004 when I decided to go to (omitted) and my first choice when I decided to leave (Omitted) a few months ago. I was very excited at the opportunity to work for one of Western New York's top companies. To be fair, and in hopes that it will make a difference, let me now explain why this is a was statement.

My experience with the management at LHR, specifically Mr. , has been incredibly disappointing. So much so that I no longer wake up in the morning looking forward to coming to work, so much so that I have been sick more times in the past three months than I was in the past three years. The most unfortunate thing about my situation is that I am under the impression that Mr. is untouchable and that there is no one that I could go to about these issues without facing potential repercussions.

The collection industry is an extremely stressful environment. I understand that the clients are demanding numbers be hit and that all trickles down to the collectors, however this is not a union workshop nor are we in an age where Do it because I said so! is an effective or cost efficient method of management. These are the days of Human Resources and litigation.

There is a saying in the HR and business worlds now that employees do not quit their jobs they quit their managers. This statement could not be any truer for me now as it was when I had my first two employees quit because of the way I managed in my first year in a supervisory role. I took it to heart that I had had a direct influence on someone's decision to leave our company, but I never let that be okay.' I took every training course available, both on and off site. I did so in an effort to correct the bad habits that I had as a manager and to make myself a better asset to my organization. I wanted to be someone that my collectors and peers respected and looked to for answers. Unfortunately, due to the company downsizing, my position was eradicated and those learned lessons were put on hold for the time being. LHR provided a new stepping-stone of opportunity, but my path was quickly blocked by immaturity and incompetence.

I can honestly say that I have never worked for a company that allows for so much foul language and complete disregard for professionalism on a day-to-day basis. Mr. is the main offender on my team, and in my opinion, he is the only reason that anyone else on the team would see fit to act as we do. I have slipped a few times also, as it seems to fit the culture I now belong to. Very simply, red flags should go up immediately when collectors are told to dress nice, clean your desks and watch your mouths tomorrow because we have potential clients coming in. Why is it that we are given a heads up' when they know that the clients are monitoring us?

How did it get to this point? I believe that it was the first or second team meeting where Mr. very honestly told us "HE needed to hit goal. I don't care if you hit goal or not, just get me as much cash as you can. If this had been only a one time occurrence then I might understand and be able to chalk it up as stress caused by the pressure coming from upper management, but this was every meeting. I quickly learned that Mr. managed by K.I.T.A. or Kick In The A**. This method will usually work on new, young employees for a short period of time, but a 30 year old finishing his bachelor's degree in business management with management experience in collections?

I approached employment with LHR as an opportunity to start over again, to learn new methods of collecting and hopefully, one day, find me back in a role as manager. Instead, I am faced with the realization that I am not a collector in the way that LHR wants me to be. I spent six months as a collector with (Omitted) before I was promoted to management; I then spent the remainder of my time there directly responsible for the daily production, training and development of people.

Included in this letter you will find documentation dating back to 10/27/2008 until present. I began documenting exactly how unproductive and de-motivating Mr. is, mainly because it annoyed me that he gets away with it. For the organization, he is a liability due to his complete disregard for his language and the conversations that he chooses to have on the collection floor. As you will see from just the short period that I kept track, he is also wasting valuable man-hours. According to Mr. in his last two team meetings with us, I am doing all I can for this team, you need to figure out what is wrong and fix it. I am sure that Mr. is the problem.

All that I am looking for is a clean break. I have a couple of very good opportunities that have come my way and I am eager to move on with my career. I believe that I was more than honest and open with recruiting and training when I came on board. I was very specific about the type of company that I was looking to work for. It is impossible for me to continue to show up to work and hold onto the company values when my direct leader does not. Please accept my apology in not coming to anyone sooner, I am hoping that if the need arises for me to file for unemployment with NYS that there will be no issues. I am just looking to fulfill the best interests of my family and myself.

***The following is the documentation that I provided to back up my claims that Mr. Jamison was a liability to the company***

27-Oct-08

?? Team meeting where we are told that it is our responsibility to fix what's wrong with the team. He has done everything that he can do.

3:30pm Asked for a new pool queue, he informed the team that we would get one right after lunch. Reminded him 2x's after lunch, finally put team in new queue at 6:10pm. Spent most of this time chatting with other managers or sitting at desk not working.

7:40pm Wandering the floor while playing a bowling game on his iphone.

8:06pm Took a personal call where he was clearly overheard discussing the sex that he had, or was attempting to have with a female that was not his girlfriend. "I want to diversify my portfolio all over her face."

8:32pm Has been away from his desk for over 20 mins, collectors looking for him but no idea where he is.

8:34pm Back at desk, personal call

8:37pm Bowling on iphone at desk

8:55pm Walking around floor asking who is drinking tonight

28-Oct-08

2:45pm I clocked in, sat down and immediately made a call which paid me $50.00. Said hello to Jamison, his response was "nice of you to join us." (director) was kind enough to help my family out by temporarily adjusting my schedule to accommodate not having a sitter one day a weekextremely kind of him.

3:40pm Personal calls from desk to bank and mother, from cell phone I believe.

5:12pm Bowling on iphone at desk

5:52pm Left building No communication with team

6:03pm Back

7:30pm Personal call

29-Oct-08

9:00am Jamison came in at 9am said that he could not sleep last night because his "floor was creaking."

3:45pm Asked Jamison to please work the accounts in his follow up desk. Immediate response was "I will get to them when I get to them."

What is his job description?

30-Oct-08

9:37am (collector) asks Jamison a question but is ignored. Jamison was monitoring (another collector) at this point. No issue, but could have acknowledged (collector).

9:40am Follow up desk still not cleared.

10:40am Smoke break. FUP still not done.

11am Personal call

11:12am Collectors starting to ask why it's close out and no FUP's have been done. Jamison is annoyed by this.

1pm Personal call about paying a bill.

31-Oct-08

8:45am 1st time at desk, personal call.

8:57am Break

9:02am Back to desk

9:38am Smoke break.

9:47am Back at desk

3:30pm Ignoring a collectors request for something, is on cell phone at desk. Sorry this one is vague

3-Nov-08

3pm Team meeting where we are again told that he is "doing everything that he can" We are instructed by him to use the word "attorney" with all 3rd parties (neighbors, family, etc). We are also instructed to dummy doc accounts, "always doc that you left a message even if you did not." Huge FDCPA violation, as well as instituting an unfair workplace environment by instructing collectors to dummy doc.

?? Whispering to (collector) at Jamison's desk about "big changes coming Jan 1st." This happens the day after Jamison called us all into a quick floor meeting to advise us that anyone spreading rumors at LHR, specifically about 'changes' would be severely reprimanded.

4-Nov-08

6:28pm Personal call Notice that most of this occurs on our night shift and after (director) has left.

6:32pm Tells me to "stop skip tracing so much." So how do I find that new number again?

7:35pm I return from my shortened lunch break due to my schedule adjustment and Jamison asks where I have been. There was a large blue sticky note on my dark monitor that said "Jamison, I'm at lunch."

8:30pm (collectors) and Jamison, at Jamison's desk, searching the internet for half naked women and pulling up pictures of them. several minutes

5-Nov-08

1:22pm Personal call

6-Nov-08 Called in today

7-Nov-08

I worked through noon lunch so that I could "take calls at {Jamison's} desk" per Jamison. I left for lunch at 1pm at which time I had received a call from day care to pick up my son due to him having a high fever. My wife was in meetings and all other relatives were working so I had no choice but to pick him up. Jamison gave me a hard time about it saying that "I don't know how long I can accommodate your schedule for." I promised him a couple extra hours the following week knowing full well that would not happen, but I felt bad.

10-Nov-08

1:45pm Meeting? No communication with team

2:10pm Back

3:43pm Smoke break.

5pm Leaves office. No communication with team

6:30pm Back. (another manager) came over to Jamison's desk a little after 6pm and began working accounts out of his FUP chain. Assuming this is to make it look like he was actually there.

6:50pm Playing video games on iphone at desk. Also having a conversation about "p***y" and "beer pong."

7pm Conversation about the "hot new collector with a tight body and big t**s."

7pm Smoke break. Normal, except just came back from being gone for 1.5 hours.

7:17pm Bowling on iphone at desk

7:20pm Personal call

7:23pm Personal call Paying his bills

7:27pm Received a personal call

7:30pm Watching surfing videos online with (collector)

7:37pm Personal call on cell phone at desk

7:41pm Smoke break. I want his job

8:02pm Playing another video game at desk, audio is so loud I have to ask him to turn it down, he laughs and says he's sorry.

8:39pm I am leaving a message on a machine and Jamison starts playing "Whoomp there it is" behind me on his iphone.

8:44pm Very loudly asks us if we have seen "d**k in a box." SNL skit

8:45pm Gave phone to (collector) to play with at collectors desk.

8:47pm Starts playing "d**k in a box" video on iphone, volume is turned up and he is standing next to our new female collector and laughing.

11-Nov-08

4:30ish Various Personal calls and conversations about "Call of Duty 5"

5:46pm Leaves office. No communication with team

6:52pm Back in office

7:42pm Smoke break.

8:05pm Turned (collector) away because he was doing something non work related with (another manager) and (collector). She was not pleased at all. As she walked away someone made a comment "Jamison can you collect my goal for me." From what I've witnessed, the thought of Mr. Jamison helping any collector hit goal is an absolute joke.

8:16pm Video games at desk

8:25pm Smoke break.

8:32pm Back

8:42pm Personal call

8:46pm Online shopping, trying to find a limo and looking at ticket prices for this Monday nights football game. Tells (another manager) that there is no way that he is missing the game.

8:52pm personal call about Bills game

8:54pm personal call about Bills game

9:00pm calls us all over to his desk to see if we are okay with working a morning shift next Monday. A couple collectors express some concern but Jamison brushes them off and says that he is not going to miss the game.

Disgusted

get outta town, New York

U.S.A.