Well for those of you who have heard my last question, I wanted to know if it was legal to record a phone conversation. You guys have imformed me it's not. So I need to know what else I can do. Here's my situation. I am an independent contractor, I work for a company name but I need to get my own clients to get paid. Most of the people at my job get along but we have one co worker who is a creep. He is telling all of the clients that he is better and more qualified at the job then everyone else, and it's not true.(In fact he has less qualifications).Well me and my co workers have tried telling the boss that this co worker is trying to sabotage everyone else, but he doesn't believe any of us. I think it's because he makes the most money, but that's only because he is stealing everyone else's clients. I do not talk to this man and don't have his email. I did want to call him as a fake client and get on tape what he had to say about everyone at work but I can't do that because it is not legal. What do you guys think I can do to show the boss his true colors??

I think you can record the conv but you have to tell him it's being recorded.

The rules for recording as noted in the previous post varies from state to state, if you are calling from your home phone, in MANY states, only one party has to know it is being recorded.

Also the term "illegal" is a fuzzy word, it is illegal inyou can't use it in criminal court for evidence, but there may not be a criminal act, and there may not be a actual crime in doing it.

Now if you are not an employee, but are an indepentant contractor and they are stating lies to steal clients, you can sue them in civil court for lost income for unfair business practices.

Also if the company you work ( contractor for) allows this man to lie because he is a good producer, then they will allow other improper things to happen, and you may want to think about doing other work, or finding another company to work for.

I looked it up and it is illegal in my state to record a phone conversation without the person knowing.

I agree with Fr_Chuck. At my last company we had a guy who was a real piece of work. But they kept him on because he made money. They let him do whatever he wanted to do and most of the things he did were really questionable. They would never discipline him because they didn't want their money man to leave.

Any chance you could go some where else?

I asked in the other thread where the contact info for the customers comes from? Can't you get a customer to talk to the manager and tell him what this creep has been saying?

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Originally Posted by happylady123

Well for those of you who have heard my last question, I wanted to know if it was legal to record a phone convo. You guys have imformed me it's not. So I need to know what else I can do. Here's my situation. I am an independent contractor, I work for a company name but I need to get my own clients to get paid. Most of the people at my job get along but we have one co worker who is a creep. He is telling all of the clients that he is better and more qualified at the job then everyone else, and it's not true.(In fact he has less qualifications).Well me and my co workers have tried telling the boss that this co worker is trying to sabotage everyone else, but he doesn't believe any of us. I think it's because he makes the most money, but that's only because he is stealing everyone else's clients. I do not talk to this man and don't have his email. I did want to call him as a fake client and get on tape what he had to say about everyone at work but I can't do that because it is not legal. What do you guys think I can do to show the boss his true colors????

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We teach a sport so there isn't many places we can teach. When someone comes into our business and me or another co worker speak with them about doing lessons he will wait until we are gone or until we teach them a few times and tell them we don't know as much as him and that he can take them farther. The job is very cut throat already but everyone pretty much gets along, it's just this one guy who makes it hard.

Hello.

To be honest there isn't much you can do about him except take him to court for what he is costing you. If it is big money then there are ways to set the guy up. If its not then its not worth going to court.

Your company is looking at one thing and that's money. As long as he is making money they don't care if he is stealing your customers. The only way the company will care is if his telling people he is better is turning off customers and making them go to other companies for the service your company offers.

Dennis777

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Originally Posted by happylady123

The customers come into our business, he's not getting there contact info. We both teach a sport, so the clients come into our work and if me or another co worker speak with them about doing lessons he will wait until we walk away or go over to them after we have taught them a few times telling them he can take them farther..blah blah blah, and it's bs. but these people they believe what they want to.

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Lets keep it to this thread now.

Ok, so customers walk in and whoever is free approaches them to sell lessons. Don't they have to sign something before you start working with them? What happens when you go back to the customer after walking away? Why not have a friend come in and pose as a prospective customer then tell the manager what the creep did?

There has to be ways to get customers to tell the manager what happened. What about each contractor haing a printed resume that the company approves that states the true qualifications and each customer needs to see that resume.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Lets keep it to this thread now.

Ok, so customers walk in and whoever is free approaches them to sell lessons. Don't they have to sign something before you start working with them? What happens when you go back to the customer after walking away? Why not have a friend come in and pose as a prospective customer then tell the manager what the creep did?

There has to be ways to get customers to tell the manager what happened. What about each contractor haing a printed resume that the company approves that states the true qualifications and each customer needs to see that resume.

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That's a great idea I didn't think of having a friend do it-thanks!

The only problem with having a friend do it is they may be perceived to be biased.

The way I would handle it this way. Have a friend come in and sign up for a few lessons with one of the other instructors. Make sure they sign a commitment. When the creep comes over have the friend styring him along and get him to commit to something on paper. Then have the friend go to the manager and ask if that's how they do business, allowing another instructor to try and take clients from their colleagues.

I would also talk to the manager about changing some of the procedures to inhibit the ability of another instructor to come on to a customer that has already been approached. At the very least have the manager issue and advisory that stealing customers will not be tolerated (without singling out anyone). That may be enough to get the message across.

I'm actually kind of surprised by this. I have friends who are personal trainers and they never poach clients. Occasionally someone may switch trainers but that's usually because of a personality conflict or something. They have rules at their gyms about things like that. I'm surprised they don't have something more concrete when people sign up for lessons.

Maybe that is a good way to go about it. Like ScottGem suggested - talk to the boss about a way to protect the company and the instructors.