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On Saturday, December 6, 2010, I received a call from a person named "Iassic Smith" from "Barrister Global Services". He said that they had multiple customers my area and that they needed a technition for that area to do electronics repairs.
I did a search on Barrister International through both Yahoo and Google. I should have known it was a scam when this website was within the top 5 links for both searches. I figured that since most of the posts were older posts, and they weren't asking for any money, it may be worth a shot.
Unfortunatly, I was wrong. Attached as proof photos are e-mail exchanges between myself and Iassic Smith; the person who initially contacted me.
As you can see in e-mail #1, he skated around the last question about how many hours would be involved. This is because Duke Energy is aparently the ONLY company they have in my area. They have a printer there that they need repaired and they are only willing to pay for 1 hour of on-site time.
In the 5th question, he also states that they pay $25 PER HOUR for repairs as well as $20/hr for training. The truth is that they refuse to pay you for more than 1 hour of on-site time per call. They also refuse to pay milage or expenses - making sure that YOU GET ONLY $25 PER CALL for HP Repairs ($45 per call for non-hp repairs). They also do NOT pay for training. This was an outright LIE - there is NO TRAINING.
After 6 days of wasting my time, I finally got an e-mail from them requesting money from me. It is labeled as "BARRISTER EMAIL #2".in it, he requests that I give them my credit card number so that they can charge me $50 to perform a "Background Check" on me. NOT ONCE did he EVER mention this charge for the background check. NOT ONCE IN MULTIPLE CALLS OVER 6 DAYS! ONLY in this e-mail did he EVER mention it. Since, I have gotten 3 more calls from him requesting that I complete it - saying that he has a deadline that this needs to be completed by and the "window" is closing. Hince, the "Sense of Urgency" that most con-artists try to give their victims.
In other wards, they want me to pay them $50 - so that they can pay me $25 to repair one of their printers. Since Duke Energy is the only customer they have in my area, I seriously doubt that I would EVER get another "service call" from them again.
Also, note that in his response to my first e-mail, he identifies himself as a recruiter.in his other e-mail to me, the bottom of it is signed as a "Core Return Specialist". Another indication of a scam is when con-artists start contradicting themselves over lengthy periods of time.
This company is a complete scam. If they ever ask you for money, get as far away as you can!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
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I assure you Barrister Global Services Network, Inc is not a scam. Barrister performs background checks on all qualified technicians.
Barrister has been in business for over 35 years, serving customers throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. We have business relationships with most of the major OEM manufacturers and companies in the United States. We are a strong, capable company with a proven history of successful operation. Thousands of technicians and hundreds of customers enjoy long-standing, successful relationships with Barrister.
You're [censored]. You screwed us twice and still keep calling after all these years. You're thieves.
Barrister solicits new technicians to join our network on a daily basis. Most of these additions are driven by new customer requirements. Those customer requirements vary, but can include a variety of steps like background checks, certification testing, and drug screening. Barrister covers the cost of some of these requirements completely, and does request that any technician wanting to join our network cover the cost of some of the requirements. This cost sharing assists us with vetting technicians that are truly serious about servicing our customers, as well as ensuring that the technicians we utilize are capable of following directions.
While we understand that the investment for a backghround check may be too much for some, we have signed up over 200 technicians for this program. We take the security of our customers very seriously, and require that our technicians share in this investment with us.
If any technician has questions about the validity of a request for new signup, they can reach us at profiles.pf@barrister.com
Good writeup Billy. The best part is that Barrister is billing their client around somewhere on the order of $1-150 + travel, not including a marked up price on the parts. The end client is paying around $3-400 for the maintenance kit job. It's truly disgusting how badly the end clients get ripped off, as well as the person doing the work.
They've realized that most printer repairs are doing maintenance kits and that ANYBODY can do it, hence the need for background checks and drug tests, as well as them being able to pay $25 and having people to do it at that rate.
They'll really be up the creek once these end clients realize all they have to do is unclip a cover, pull out a fuser, pop in a new one and change some rollers all without a screwdriver and not have to pay to have a huge rate to do it.
Barrister was in business over 35 years with the previous owner. Not Debra and John Bowers (mother and son) who purchased Barrister after the katrina disaster. Utilizing insurance money from property damage. Debra Bower's husband owns a construction business an used his resources including the hefty insurance payment to purchase Barrister from its previous owner. Barrister Global Services Network, Inc is unethical, so much so, that HP, Hewlett Packard and Walmart both have ceased to do business with Barrister. That's correct, Barrister Global Services Network, Inc managed to lose their two biggest contracts in their possession.
I have done 2 jobs for barrister and will never do one again. I was called March 2012 to replace a motherboard. Easy enough, done those. Got to the location and motherboard there and proceeded to pull out old motherboard and replace with new. got cpu ready and installed motherboard. When I turned the computer on nothing. Called their tech support and they had already left for the day yet it was only 7pm pst. which is 9 cst in which they say they have technicians till 10:30. I had no choice but to leave and come back the next day of which I was told I would not get paid. The cost I would receive was only 35 dollars plus downloading 50+ pages of their instructions and burning 3 cds. I went back the second day and went through their procedure to check the power supply which it turned out was fine. Now I have refused to go back a 3rd time without pay and they say they won't pay me at all even for the time I spent. This organization are shisters to get techs work for pennies and not nearly what they are worth. I suggested they replace the cpu and found out that is what they are doing. they pay no gas costs even though gas is over 4:00 a gallon where I live. Never do business with Barrister.
I worked off and on for Barrister for several years. I have been paid for every single call. They are great to put on a resume if you have little or no experience in the IT Field. HOWEVER, lately the only calls I get are people who are using AOL Dial Up. These are people who purchase some sort of insurance/extended warranty plan with AOL. Most of these people are elderly, have no clue how to work a computer. When you go to a service call, they want to you to train them how to do things, then are constantly looking over your shoulder... Questioning everything you do.. Then watch you like you are going to steal something. Sometimes you get lucky, if its a bad modem, you just replace the modem, and your on your way within 20 minutes.. BUT, 9 times out of 10, the issues are software related, and the coverage they buy only covers hardware, not software issues. When the problem is software related, these people don't understand, that you are unable to fix it because its a software issue, they get crabby, then give you a bad review... I am about ready to tell Barrister they can stick AOL customers. I don't want to deal with them. AOL used to be known for stupid people, now its stupid old people. And yes, AOL STILL has a huge number of dial up customers in the middle of nowhere...