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I initially made an inquiry with an Encore booking agent regarding a payment error. One question led to a very hostile interaction with the agent which led me to take my matter up with the CEO, Lawrence E. Hess. A few back-and-forth with Mr. Hess highlighted why the agents' attitude is the way it is...let's just say customer service (or the lack thereof) trickles down from the top. Mr. Hess was unhelpful and condescending.
The last resort was that he deactivated my account. After several attempts to inquire as to why I can no longer book jobs through Encore. Mr. Hess has suddenly become unresponsive. Encore Nationwide is RETALIATING against me because I made an inquiry about a payment.
There has to be some form of legal action that I can take against them. They're not even abiding by the terms of their own contract which states that they must provide 30 days notice when severing ties with any contractor.
Someone has to stand up for the rights of contractors. These companies are taking advantage of us without any reprecautions. It's an unfair and illegal practice that has been allowed to go on for too long now without regulations.
Wow Larry, again you prove yourself condescending. And that you call great costumer service...you've been in the business as long as you have because you take advantage of college students, beginners, and anyone else that you think you can evade behind your ambiguous self-saving contracts, when you don't even abide by the terms of them yourself.
The bottom line is that I too have worked for your company and yes, Kristy, everything is fine and the pay is good, until the staffer encounters a problem. Then to Mr. Hess and his minions behind their phone lines, we become replaceable. Let's ask you some questions Larry...
1). why would you drop someone from your database for no cause?
2). why would you pretend like you don't get the same inquiries posted on this message board from the BA's in the field? these are the same BA's that you're pretending you'd like to hear from now (publicly) but privately they're ignored or belittled with your smarmy disregard.
3). both the first post and the second post said that you were contacted about the issues they've outlined. If you're so in-tune with your staffers, why don't you have any recollection of them? Possibly it's because you didn't sincerely care then, and you don't sincerely care now. You're only responding because it's a public forum and you're trying to save face (very poorly might I point out to you, in fact you're strongly proving their case with ever post you make)
Address that Larry...
The bottom line is you know as much about customer satisfaction and ETHICS as a 5 month old. And the surmounting arrogance that you continually display, and the lack of regard that you have for the BA's who support your company in the trenches will catch up to you...if not today, then tomorrow. So I hope that the year's to come will be enjoyable...
Enjoy the ride down, sir.
To all who despise ENCORE NATIONWIDE: Did you see the movement that fans made to Nestle on Facebook. Look into that. Remember, we have the power. Without staffers or at least with INFORMED staffers, ENCORE will not be able to continue to operate the way that they do. The internet was created so that there could be open communication about things like this...so that others can learn from the mistakes of their peers. I am on the move to incite a change in the way that ENCORE treats their staffers. Won't you continue with me in the fight?
PEACE (but not if my silence allows injustice to persist)
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Rag...
Thanks for the link. I am currently working with the LA BBB to furnish them with the real background information.
And yep, I know full well what the acronym stands for...very professional.
For someone who is so insulted by my comments and never wants anything to do with me or my company, you seem to want to spend some time responding to me on these boards. Why? For what? Do you think you will change me? And you are so insulted by my words...yet you call me names and curse? Oh, wait you used an acronym...and didn't actually curse. Clever.
Good night Rags! Get some sleep.
Larry Hess
lhess@encorenationwide.com
[protected] and I have worked 4 events since Jan 29 2011 and I havent seen a pay check yet from Encore. You guys payroll department is terrible and so is RedPegs...
I have worked with Encore on and off for about six years. I, too, have had small issues that I have tried to deal with the staff on, but to really to avail. As far as the pay situation is concerned, I am with about 50 agencies and Encore is by far one of the lowest paying agencies I am with--though they used to pay more a few years ago. As far as how long it generally takes to get paid, Encore takes a little longer than others, but it is pretty much industry standard. The companies like to sit on the payment from the client, for at least a month, to accrue interest before they pay out. Abut that industry. I personally have not dealt with the CEO, and I'm a little surprised at his attempted damage control on this forum, but he has the right to do that.
I apologize, computer issues. ... The companies like to sit on the payment from the client, for at least a month, to accrue interest before they pay out. A little sleazy? Yes, but that's the industry. I personally have not dealt with the CEO, so I cannot attest to his integrity. I am a little surprised at his attempted damage control on this forum, but he has the right to do that. I would NOT be surprised if Encore did deactivate the one user's account as some type of retaliation, I obviousy cannot state this as a fact. I would also not be surprised if most of what users in this forum are saying is true. My overall experiences with Encore have been sub-par. They CAN treat you as if you're disposable. Take everything on these forums with a grain of salt, including and especially the CEO who's company is under fire and scrutiny. I can tell you that if there are two events that I have to choose from on the same date from Encore and another company, chances are Encore will be my second choice.
Hello Trofsky…..
Thanks for your feedback. I come under some considerable fire on these boards for my responses. However, what you should look at in my responses are me asking for facts. Give me the details. I need names, dates and promotional event, so that I can look up the details. Do you ever see anyone on this board give the details? Nope. Seem odd to you? If I were looking for payment and I had the ear of the CEO, I would supply every last detail. I would do it privately first and then if I received no results, I would post on-line. No one ever sends me the details.
I am not saying we are right 100% of the time. I would never claim that. We make mistakes all the time. We are human, just like you. If we make mistakes, I am the first one that wants to know about it. That way I can make adjustments and maybe those mistakes will not happen again.
Truthfully, that is the goal of any message board. Sadly though, that is not what these have become. They are just an avenue for someone with an axe to grind to come on the web and see their words. Typically when we can find out the details on someone that has posted, it turns out that they no showed to an event, their address changed and they didn't notify us or they did a really bad job out in the field. So we deactivate them and they get upset and post lies on here. It is sad really. As one of the owners of Encore, I take lies as a slap in the face and I will come on here and post my view. You by all means do not have to take my word for it. But it allows people to see both sides and they can choose for themselves who to believe.
As for your theory on how we like to take payments from clients and put them in an interest bearing account for a few weeks. That is a straight forward bold face lie. However, you are not the only one who believes this story. As a matter of fact this theory has been around for years. I will tell you what I tell everyone who thinks that is our angle. Put your money where your mouth is and come to our LA office and I will be glad to show you our books. I will show you when we get paid and when we pay out to staff. Often times it is the same week.
Just like you all, we often have to wait forever on payment from our clients. We try and cover as much as we can on cases that push really late on payment to Encore. However, on bigger orders sometimes it is mandatory that we wait until we receive payment. For 13 years we averaged about 3-4 weeks for payments. That being said, from November 2010 to about March 2011 we ran into a perfect storm. We launched a new software for payments and when we launched it did not work correctly. We also have several large programs come through and some of our clients decided to pay us VERY late. So payments to staff pushed out to 8 weeks. Our IC agreement, that everyone signs, says you can expect payment in 6 to 8 weeks. For 13 years we average 3 to 4 weeks and for a 4 month period we had no choice but to push out to 8 weeks. I think that is a pretty good track record. We are currently back on track with all payments within the 3 to 4 week zone.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me any time.
Larry Hess
CEO/Owner
lhess@encorenationwide.com
Larry,
As stated before there are no other reputable agencies with a list of complaints online as long as encores. I've been on three different discussion boards with the same pattern of complaints from former BAs. You're rebuttal is that these dissatisfied workers are expressing opinions rather than facts so their original complaint has no validity to it. There may not be specifics in these complaints, however, I believe it is a pretty good indicator Encorenationwide is unprofessional compared to the hundreds of promotional agencies out there. I have worked with several agencies that are A. more consistent B.Pay more C. paid out every two weeks D. Address questions and concerns in a timely matter. I have worked for Encorenationwide and probably will work for them again. They are just the worst agency I have ever dealt with. Larry you need a little brushing up on your people skills.
Good Morning Madface,
Thank you for your feedback. If you have any specific issues please send them to me directly. Or feel free to post them here on-line. You are just posting your opinion. Send me supporting facts. Things like your name, dates worked, location worked and what promotion. Also let me know what the issue is you are experiencing. If you do, I will be more than happy to look into it for you. If you do not send me anything to support your claims, then there is nothing I can do for you.
I agree, we seem to have a long thread here. However, let's put this into perspective. We have been around for 13 years. That is more than any other event staffing agency in the country. We have hundreds of people work through us every day. Do the math here, literally hundreds of people per day for 13 years! You are just seeing a very small fraction of complaints in comparision.
If you are so unhappy, why work through us again?
Feel free to send me your supporting facts and details to the email address below. Or post them here. Without those details, your post will not resolve anything. If there are issues, I want to know about them. That is how we grow as an agency.
Larry Hess
CEO/Owner
Encore Nationwide
lhess@encorenationwide.com
Larry,
I have nothing to resolve. The only fact I am stating is you have more complaints than any other agency I have worked with. By the way there are quite a few agencies that have been around longer than 13 years with just as large of a data base as encores(GMR marketing) for example. So obviously there is something wrong with the way encore practices. You are being a victim and claiming that everyone on here "thinks the world owes them something" when really there are changes you could make in your company policey that may eliminate these long threads of complaints. Maybe you should be proactive and have a meeting with your employees about payments being a few days late and notifying your staff in a timely matter. I'm sure that small step would cut down a lot of the complaints. I am not saying this happened to me or that its a fact it happened to anyone else but why lie? Larry, I have the utmost respect for you. You started this business in a one bedroom apt with $4000 I don't know if I could ever do that and I think that is an amazing accomplishment! Hey, I like encore nationwide I mean its a good agency I just think it could be better. I hope you dont think I am trying to insult you. I just notice your rebuttals are very generic constantly asking people for specifics.. Well the complaints are also very generic usually outlining some sort of payment issue. So instead of insinuating that these people are lairs and victims. Be proactive and address the main issue with your employees. You dont have to address staffs concern if they dont provide the necessary information to resolve the issue, however, take steps to have it from happening again.
Good day sir
Good morning Madface,
For starters, let's clear a few things up.
• It was 5k and a two bedroom apartment to start. Then it was a 3 bedroom apartment a few months later. Three guys in a two bedroom was a bit too tight!
• GMR is an Experiential Marketing Agency, not an Event Staffing agency. Companies like GMR and others like it, are our main clients. We are an event staffing agency that supports the event marketing industry. Two VERY different companies and core competencies. I believe we have been around the longest at this point. Sure there might be a few mom and pop regional staffing companies here and there, but on a nationwide level, Encore has been around the longest. Event Pro Strategies comes in at a close second.
• You say you are not trying to insult me or Encore, but when you use words like "unprofessional" or a phrase that "we are the worst agency that you have ever dealt with" there is not too many ways to take those comments. Especially with no valid details to support your claim. When I have a complaint with a company, I cite specifics. It allows the company to look into the issue and maybe spark a change. It also, in my mind, lends credibility to the complaint. It is easy to just say Continental is the worst airline in the world, but when you cite specifics it allows the company to make change.
• I never lie. You may not like my answer. You may not agree with me or my answer. But we do not lie.
Again, in the grand scheme of things, you are seeing a very small cross section of complaints. Do the math, it is pretty simple. Let's go on the low end here, 50 people per day for 13 years. That is 237k people that has worked through Encore over 13 years. How many complaints do you see? Maybe 50-75 complaints or so spanning a few years. Of those complaints, how many are people that really have no complaint but just like to ###? While I am not happy with any complaints, that turns out to be a very small percentage of actual complaints.
Again, I would never assume that we are not the ones making mistakes. We are human, we make mistakes all the time. We try different approaches a few times a year to try and make the experience better. Some work and some fail. Sometimes it is just a matter of someone missing a name on a timesheet and we do not get a check out. It happens.
My stance has always been the same with regards to these boards. I love them. If used correctly, it gives us unbiased feedback on our work and allows us to make changes. We have intuited new policies based off of the feedback we have received on message boards. However, in reality it turns out that most of the complaints hold no merit at all. What I love the most though are the people that see these boards and either applaud our stance or better yet, they email me with their issues directly and I can rectify them. I love that the most, because it shows us our flaws and allows us to focus on making the experience better. Sadly though, for the most part it is people who have been deactivated for poor performance that usually take to the boards because they do not agree with our decision. They sling insults and lies and it is not productive for anyone.
You sound like a rationale person, I am sure you realize that at least some of these complaints are bogus. Right?
As far as our practices. Are we dialed in perfectly? No way. Will we ever have "perfect" practices that address every possible scenario? I doubt it. Not only that, but that perfect balance will always be evolving and changing. But in 13 years of supplying staff for events, we have it pretty well figured it out.
Your general tone seems to be about payments. You are not alone. It makes sense that would be the topic most talked about. Payments will always be a topic of concern for all the parties, our clients, our database of IC's and Encore. I mentioned this in a post higher in this thread, but I will mention it again. We averaged 3-4 weeks on payments for close to 13 years. For a few months at the end of 2010 and into 2011, we ran into a perfect storm of issues. A new payment software that seized up and didn't work along with a few sluggish clients. So we pushed out payments to 8 weeks. We were as unhappy as the staff, but we maintained our agreement within the IC agreement that everyone signs, and payments were made within the 8 week time frame. There were a few instances where we pushed beyond that, and we did just what you mentioned. We proactively called everyone and talked them through the situation.
In my experience, we cannot make everyone happy. We do our best, but at the end of the day not everyone is going to agree with us and our practices. If we pay in 3 weeks, they will want it in 2 weeks. If we pay in 2 weeks, they want it in 1 week. It is never ending and a cannot win scenario for us. So in the end, we do our best to service our clients and take care of the people in our database.
It is up to individual to make up their minds to stay within our database according to our terms and it is up to them on who to believe on these boards. I come under considerable scrutiny for the way in which I answer some of these complaints. Can I be a little sarcastic? A little antagonistic? Sure. I try to mix it up and not take things so serious and try to keep things light hearted. What I hope people can see in all of this, is an owner that truly cares. Cares enough to respond to almost every post. A guy who really does want to know what is going on out there.
Thank you again for your feedback. Again, if you have any specific examples of issues you have experienced, I want to know about them. My personal email address is below. Feel free to contact me anytime.
Larry Hess
CEO/Owner
lhess@encorenationwide.com
Wow, this site works well! Put up my last post multiple times. Odd.
Larry,
Thanks for getting back to me. You sound like a good guy who cares a lot about his company. I do agree that a lot of these complaints are bogus I just wanted to share my opinion. I just really like to see myself on the internet because it makes me feel important! Just kidding. thanks for clearing up my concerns. best of luck in your future endeavors.
Madface
terrible company & shame on a CEO for acting so unprofessional & rude. No wonder Encore Nationwide has a F rating w/ the BBB. Companies seeking to staff their executions look elsewhere for your temporary staffing needs.
Wow what a reflection of Encore. Based on the immature & unprofessional behavior portrayed by the CEO of this company, we have decided to go with another staffing agency to staff our event executions for our well known world wide client. We based our decision on the "F" BBB rating and all the negative complaints from this site and many others.
Hello Dallas,
Sorry you feel that way and sorry you do not like my responses. All I try to do is lighten the mood and get the facts. Not everyone will like my humor or responses. But at least I am out here and responding and not hiding.
You shouldn't believe everything you read on-line. Again, what you do not take into account is this is just a micro "set" of people who have complaints. We have been in business for 13 years! How many complaints do you see here? Maybe 75 or so? Of those, how many are legit? Maybe a dozen, maybe less. Over a 13 year span, I am not naive enough to think I will never get complaints. But I am OK with the legit complaints because it allows us to grow and fix the issues. We are not above mistakes, we make them all the time! However, sadly most of these complaints are just bogus or an unrealistic opinion and not actual facts.
I wish you the best of luck with your program. If you would like to entertain a conversation to judge me on something other than the things you see on-line, I would be more than happy to jump on a call.
Larry Hess
lhess@encorenationwide.com
I work for encore and im not impressed at all. In the short time I have been working with them my experience has not been pleasant. My main concern is not being paid in a timely matter. According to there company they pay 6 to 8 weeks and that is far from the truth. I am waiting payment from july for some work that I did. I am amazed at how a company can pick and choose when they pay people, I have never seen anything like this before. I am in dyer need of income and thats why I got caught up with this company, they also don't have alot of work available. I have sighned up with many event companies and I will continue to work with them in the future over encore any day. I am also noticing, people are nice when they book you and when they want you to work, but the moment there is a problem or you try to inquire about your money no one is nice anymore.
Triple Point and sunflower are both great companies and they have steady work. Each of these companies pay within two weeks, unlike encore that pays people in THREE months.
Such responses from the CEO are enough to deter me from even thinking of doing business with Encore. Wow. Just disgusted.
Sorry you feel that way Rosa. I wish you well in all of your future endeavors.
Larry Hess
lhess@encorenationwide.com