Last week, job seekers denounced Global Multi Services, an employment agency located in Jackson Heights, Queens, for sending them to non-existent addresses and refusing to refund them the fees charged by the agency.
The agency, located at 37-61 78th Street, asks for $150 in advance and guarantees a job. But according to clients, when they arrived at the addresses they were given, their hopes evaporated.
"When I arrived there were five people with the same receipt and there wasn't any work," said Luis Zayas, a 59-year-old Puerto Rican taxi driver, who found the agency the same way everybody else did: by way of the man on the corner handing out cards advertising the agency's services.
Zayas, Miguel Cervantes, Carlos Gavilanes and Wilson Jara said they arrived at 38-60 Review Avenue and asked for George, the person whose contact information they were given, but they were told that George did not exist and that there were no job vacancies.
The clients assert that the addresses the agency gave them are either non-existent – empty lots, construction sites – or restaurants and hotels that are not hiring and haven't heard of Global Multi Services.
The victims pay what they can up front and on the back of the receipt is an address, the name of a contact person and a cell phone number.
Carlos Gavilanes, a 21-year-old Ecuadorian, paid $126 and was sent to a restaurant and a construction company that weren't hiring. When he returned to the agency to ask for his money back, he wasn't the only one. [pic]
Rosa Ponta came back asking for her $120 after going to three different addresses with the promise of work as a maid that would pay $500 a week. But when she asked to be refunded, a staff member at the agency threatened to call the police.
The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs confirmed that Global Multiservices is not registered as an employment agency, and yesterday, the department fined the agency $100 a day for operating without a license.
The owner of the agency, Mauricio Pérez, is scheduled to appear at the department's offices on July 23rd. The department confirmed with EDLP that the agency, which opened its doors this month, does not guarantee work and that the money it charges clients is for supposedly processing documents and providing guidance.
"We create a resume for them, we make a background check to see if they have a criminal record, and if necessary, we give them a drug test," Pérez said after denying that he sent his clients to fake addresses.
He assured that his agency refunds money 45 days after a client asks for it. Until now, none of the clients that have been cheated has received a refund.
To file a complaint, call 311.
