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I contracted with College Pro Wisconsin in July 2009 to paint and scrape my house. I had checked with the WI Better Business Bureau and they said they had no unresolved problems. Now I'm finding out that Northern Illinois College Pro is lumped together with Wisconsin so the Milwaukee area really doesn't have a BBB record.

I was told we would be the next house to be completed and it would be done the first week in August 2009, so I decided to take the second lowest bid I had received. I should have checked with College Pro corporate directly myself. There is no one to talk to at College Pro corporate so had I known that I would have not given them $500 and signed with them.

I knew weather and illness, etc. could set them back a few days.

I wanted assurance that painting would be done in a timely manner so I placed a penalty clause of 5% a day for every day the job was not completed after Aug. 20th.

I asked the manager Aug 1st what was going on and I just received the run around that half his people quit because of low pay, and he booked too many jobs.

Several of the people he hired to paint are good students from Marquette and UWM. There are also a couple of slugs and high school laborers that have no business working in the painting trade. Since they are paid minimum wage and have no incentive to complete the job, I understand this to be a corporate level management problem.

I called corporate 1-80*-327-**** and talked to two uncaring anti-customer telephone people (Shawn and Danielle) at College Pro. They said they would contact Dan Gramann, District Manager and Jason Campana, VPres.

to call me back. I gave them my cell # and of course they are too important to call back a lowly customer that contracted a five thousand dollar job with their company.

CUSTOMER BEWARE...The upper management of College Pro does not care how their name is being used to make all the promises to customers of COLLEGE PRO management on the CPro website a total joke.

I will update this blog in the future if I receive ANY positive response from upper management at corporate. I give them another call today be sure they understand my concerns.

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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Guest

1A 2B, P.O.BOX 31732 KAMPALA

TEL: 031-30****, +256 782 *** *50

Email: ssekamatemusa@***.com

Email: mssekamate@***.co.ug

Dear Sir or madam

RE: APPLICATION FOR A JOB

I am a Ugandan who is presently working in the body shop as a supervisor.

I humbly apply for job in your company especially related to car paint sprayer since I was a sprayer. I started working for UN as a fabricator, then I joined Lonrho motors where I worked as a sprayer thereafter I joined Toyota Uganda where I have so far worked for four years.

I have the following certificates:

Automotive body repair certificate from miome technical service.

Tem 21 Toyota Tsusho.

Color mixing and color matching from kapci paint.

Toyota custom relation ship from Toyota Tsusho.

Auto motive Division polishing and surface conditioning from 3M produced.

I will be great full if my application is put into consideration.

Yours

SEKAMATE MUSA.

.

CURRICULUM VITAE

PERSONAL DATA

SURNAME : SSEKAMATE

OTHER NAMES : MUSA

DATE OF BIRTH : 10th / 9 / 1974

AGE : 35yrs

SKIN COMPLEXION : LIGHT SKINNED

HEIGHT : 5รขโ‚ฌโ„ข7 Inches

SEX : MALE

NATIONALITY : UGANDAN

HOME DISTRICT : KAMPALA

MARITAL STATUS : MARRIED

ADDRESS : P.O.BOX, 31732, KAMPALA, UG

TEL: +256 782 *** *50

Fax: +256 41 4****49

Email: ssekamatemusa@***.com

PERSONAL PROFILE

I am a hard working ambitious creative, eager to learn and keen to take near challenges. I look forward to work with a team of skilled and unskilled man power and my future target looks at studying more and acquiring more technical or professional skills. I have good communication and interpersonal skills and I am also able to handle a tremendous amount of work and cope with added responsibilities.

EDUCATION BACKGROUND

YEAR INSTITUTION AWARD

1977 รขโ‚ฌโ€œ 1984 KAWEMPE MBOGO P.S P.L.E

1985 รขโ‚ฌโ€œ 1988 NGOGWE BASECILLERY U.C.E

1990 - **** MIOME TECH SERVICE A.B.R CERTIFICATE

.

FUNCTIONAL LITERACY

Computer Skills in Microsoft word, Internet, Automotive skill in mechanism & fabrication, panel biting, welding, spraying and body preparatory.

WORKING EXPERIENCE:

1992 รขโ‚ฌโ€œ 1994 Fabricator Spear motors

Tasks carried out,

-building of turbo system

-TIG Welding

- Doing any other duties assigned to me by the manager

1995 รขโ‚ฌโ€œ 1998 February - November fabricator United Nations

Tasks carried out,

- building of turbo system

- TIG welding

1998 รขโ‚ฌโ€œ 2005 December รขโ‚ฌโ€œ November, sprayer Lonrho Motors

2005 รขโ‚ฌโ€œ December to date Body Supervisor Toyota Uganda

- Tasks carried out,

- supervision in spraying

- Doing any other duties assigned to me by the manager

OTHER RESPOSIBILITIES AND SERVICES OF PUBLIC

1985 รขโ‚ฌโ€œ 1987 Sports prefects Ngogwe Basecillery

1990 รขโ‚ฌโ€œ 1992 Sports Canceller Miome TECH Institution

LANGUAGES PROFICIENCY

Language Speaking Reading Writing

English Fluent Excellent Excellent

Luganda Very Good Good Good

Swahili Good Good Good

HOBBIES

- Adventuring

- Media News

- Touring

- Reading

- Surfing

- Watching sports

- Interact

WORKSHOP, SEMINARS AND COURSES ATTENDED

-Automobile body repair, Workshop organized by Toyota Uganda Limited found in Kampala (14th รขโ‚ฌโ€œ 21st 2006)

-Color mixing and Color matching Workshop organized by Kapci found in Egypt (14th รขโ‚ฌโ€œ 20th 2008)

-Custom relationship & Team21 workshop organized by Toyota tsusho found in Uganda

- Automotive division polishing and surface conditioning, Workshop organized by 3m (14th august to 2nd September 2008.)

-Fabrication & Assembling, Workshop organized by Toyota tsusho Africa in South Africa, 5th รขโ‚ฌโ€œ 23rd May 2003.

REFEREE

1. EZRA NKOGE

Quality Controller

Toyota Uganda Ltd.

P.O.BOX, 31732

Tel: +256 772 *** *90

2. JOHN

Senior Technician

Carat Hammered Vehicleรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs

Tel: 000324********

3. MOMA SRDIC

PPG Training instructor

PPG Ltd

Tel: 00201********

4. KATSUMI NAKAJIMA

National service manager

Toyota tsusho

P.O.BOX, 3225

Tel: +81 2** *** ***

Guest

We agreed to be a "training" house for a discount and were assured that our home would be completed to our satisfaction. They completed the job on time, BUT, the clean up is seriously lacking. The over spray from them spraying is on everything, including the neighbors cars, which the workers cleaned, I assume to the neighbors satisfaction. The used the wrong type of paint at first, then got what we ordered. You can see every place the sprayer changed directions/overlapped. They ruined the cover on our egress window with paint drips and over spray. Over spray on the foundation looks horrible. They trampled some plants. Filling hole and cracks were minimal to non-existent.

I have called the person who booked us, left messages and sent an email and have yet to have a returned call.

Had my wife and I read the comments here, we would have gone with another company, but now all I can say is don't pay thousands of dollars just to have to repaint it correctly.

Guest

Written by McGill franchise article, on 08-09-2009 19:50

College Pro accused of exploiting students

Student-run painting company faces allegations of poor management, low pay, and unsafe working conditions

By Tristan Lapointe

News Writer

Summer jobs are tough to come by, but students asked to sign a contract with College Pro รขโ‚ฌโ€œ a company some former employees have called a pyramid scheme รขโ‚ฌโ€œ may want to keep searching.

College Pro, an international student-run painting company, depends on students as a steady source of summer labour รขโ‚ฌโ€œ but some workers say College Pro exploits desperate and gullible students, pays low wages, and foregoes safety in the name of completing contracts.

The company is built on independent student-owned franchises controlled by student-run regional offices. Once franchises are sold to students, they are responsible to recruit and manage other students to work for them as painters.

Tyler Sloan, a U2 Neuroscience student at McGill, spent two months last summer working for one of College Proรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs Montreal franchises and described his time there as underpaid and poorly managed.

รขโ‚ฌล“Because the franchise owners are eager to make money, they routinely underestimate jobs, leaving their painters to make up the difference with long hours and low wages,รขโ‚ฌย he said.

A job may be estimated to take 20 hours รขโ‚ฌโ€œ for which the painters are paid in full. But employees are not paid for overtime, meaning that they are sometimes paid as little as $4 per hour.

U4 Management student Stephanie Brunet, a former College Pro painter, also complained of low wages.

รขโ‚ฌล“Regardless of what [College Pro] say about pay, a good two weeks for me was $300, for at least 30 hours a week,รขโ‚ฌย she said.

Kate Muddiman, U4 Management, is College Proรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs director for all of Eastern Canada and ran a franchise for two years. She claimed that there is already a complaint process in place รขโ‚ฌโ€œ and that the allegations had never been brought to the companyรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs attention.

รขโ‚ฌล“College students ought to be able to advocate for themselves,รขโ‚ฌย she said. รขโ‚ฌล“If they feel theyรขโ‚ฌโ„ขre being mistreated or underpaid, they have mechanisms to complain. Weรขโ‚ฌโ„ขre all at least 18 years old and should be able to handle talking to an employer.รขโ‚ฌย

Muddiman said that during one of the summers she owned a franchise, she pocketed $19,000 รขโ‚ฌโ€œ but would not disclose her current salary.

Muddiman also said that franchise owners must make weekly reports on the status of their franchises and are subject to review for anything from worker complaints to poor sales figures.

Brunet and Sloan cited the structure of the company as the biggest source of conflict, saying thereรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs no incentive to treat employees well. They pointed to a contest the company runs, in which the franchise owner with the most contracts wins a trip to Cancun.

รขโ‚ฌล“Itรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs a pyramid scheme,รขโ‚ฌย said Sloan. รขโ‚ฌล“These [student franchise owners] are told they can make thousands of dollars in a summer but [that] theyรขโ‚ฌโ„ขd better not failรขโ‚ฌยฆ. It all comes down to making money, and not running a good business.รขโ‚ฌย

Worker safety has also come under fire. While all College Pro painters are required to pass safety tests and training on safe ladder practices, Brunet said College Proรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs safety protocols were routinely violated on her worksites.

รขโ‚ฌล“When youรขโ‚ฌโ„ขre working above ten feet, youรขโ‚ฌโ„ขre supposed to have a safety harness. Itรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs something we learned in our training seminars before we even started working,รขโ‚ฌย she explained. รขโ‚ฌล“For our eight teams of painters, there was only one harness.รขโ‚ฌย

Sloan said one customer was so appalled at the lack of harnesses that she ordered staff to stop working until the manager arrived with proper safety equipment.

But Muddiman pointed out that a telephone number to report safety violations or other concerns is at the top of every contract. She said her office receives calls, but it takes six complaints before a franchise manager is investigated.

According to Brunet, employees were also asked to do jobs above and beyond their job descriptions and training รขโ‚ฌโ€œ leaving a trail of dissatisfied customers and only the painters to act as a buffer.

รขโ‚ฌล“On several occasions we got to a job site and found we had been hired to do something other than painting. We were asked to do caulking, vine removal, even pressure washing,รขโ‚ฌย said Brunet. รขโ‚ฌล“When customers got pissed because we didnรขโ‚ฌโ„ขt know what we were doing, we sided with them.รขโ‚ฌย

รขโ‚ฌล“Management left us out as a buffer between them[selves] and angry customers,รขโ‚ฌย she added.

When asked about a complaint mechanism within the company, Brunet and Sloan said that most people just quit. Muddiman agreed, saying College Pro had a large turnover rate.

รขโ‚ฌล“A lot of painters are fired, too,รขโ‚ฌย she said. :?

Guest

I worked for College Pro. The reason College pro stays in business has nothing to do with doing quality work.

The reason they make money is because they are a franchise operation - they take no risks. They take the first 25% of all money the Franchise Manager generates as a royalty. If the Franchise Manager turns out to be bad, it is in his best interest to continue plugging away and being bad because he will face a $2, 000 fine if he quits or is fired, in addition to any bills College Pro charges him. Not to mention what happens to a kid who is in debt 5 or 6 grand just for sucking at his job.

Oh, and the GM Dan - the guy who manages the Franchise Managers - his biggest job is damage control.

Because College Pro makes money whether the Franchisees are good or bad, their top priority is getting kids to sign the Franchise Agreement and go sell jobs. There will always be customers who don't do their research and buy into the image that College Pro projects.

College Pro is not invested in doing quality work on your home or helping you succeed in business. They are invested in a phony image and getting young, inexperienced kids to buy into it.

Guest

We are coming up on two months late and our home is painted, but the required clean up was never completed. Because I placed a penalty clause in the contract, so I have no further obligation to them financially. They rec'd half of the contract money and that is fair since I did get that much painting done.

I feel sorry for the kids that worked on the painting and didn't get paid by College Pro. The upper management is responsible for their payment since it was their mismanagement that caused the problem with our job.

The Jury is in. I DEFINITELY think

College Pro needs to clean up their

management procedures. Only hire College Pro with a firm date penalty clause to protect you if they fail to show up. :cry

Guest

I'm a College Pro manager in Canada. These manages pour their hearts into their business and lot of homeowners don't see that.

As far as workers, well most workers truth be told quit because they can't handle it then scatter seeds of hate across the internet.

I pay on a piece rate scale and the lowest I've paid a worker is minimum wage (8.75) and the most I've paid out is just over $30/hr. I haven't had any issues like this this summer and for the most part all of this is almost sickening.

Guest

Had my house painted by these clowns at College Pro Painters earlier this summer---it's already pealing? Do they have ANY idea how to scrape and prime a house?

Wish I would have seen these many complaints on this board before I shelled out a ton of dough.

Guest

Vice Pres Jason in Minnesota did contact me after 5 calls to rude corporate telephone message people took me serious.

The Jury is still out on the performance of a new college franchise manager from Menomonee Falls.

Hopefully the training of College Pro managers will improve after this bad experience is resolved.

Guest

I worked for college works this summer and got stiffed a lot of money by my manager screw college works its a scam on both sides

Guest

I have been in contact with this customer and I am currently working to find an resolution to the painting project. At College Pro we do take these matters seriously and will work hard to make sure that the job is completed in a satisfactory manner. I will personally be working with this customer through the resolution of the project and will repost once the issues are resolved.

Guest

Exactly the same experience with upper management! This place is a joke!

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