Amerithai Education International Thailand

[Gracie Berg]

I implore anyone thinking about working for the owner of this school to think again.

My husband and I lasted two months and considering we survived a year working for a real dragon lady in Korea we are pretty thick skinned. This man goes through an average of one teacher every couple of months so we should have seen this comming. He holds back your first two weeks salary so you'll be sure to honor your two weeks notice (one month after probation), he never gets you a work permit or proper docs even started to process, he gave me classes of 50-60 children 6 years old with no esl back ground and no assistant. When I had had it and gave him my two weeks he fired me and my husband and payed us 17 000 of the 57 000 Baht he owed us. When we went to the police we didn't have a leg to stand on because he had not processed any of our paper work like he said he did!!! THEN he called our landlord and tried to get us EVICTED!!!

He is also a compulsive liar but thats whole other kettle of fish. Please beware and do some research before you take any job but don't take this one!! I'm sure I'm not the only person to blacklist him from what I've observed about his business practices!

[Hypiereon]

Could you possibly provide more information such as the name of the guy, any contact information, and any websites he might be advertising on? (How did you find out about him?)

The more we know the easier it is to stay away. Sometimes, in some cases, it is not a school (though I doubt it from your description of the classes) but a certain person who actually happens to be a recruiter - not an agent of the school.

Like I said, your post seems to indicate you were working with an agent of the school, but the more information you provide about the school and the person you dealt with, the easier it will be for others to compare information and notes about other places, names, and circumstances.

Even though I do not intend to go to that country, I always appreciate anyone else willing to help others out in rooting out the bad. Seems there should be a posting section so we can also sing the praises of some of the good ones out there.

In my experience, people say there are good recruiters out there, but I've never had one recommend one to me, and I'd be willing to guesstimate that 85% or more of the horror stories I've heard have come from people unknowingly dealing with recruiters.

[Sammy]

I agree with the above post. We need more accurate facts to back up such allegations. Sometimes it is too easy to make generalisations and point the finger.

A school shouldn't get a bad name if it was just the 1 guy at that school that acted like a complete moron.

[Gracie Berg]

Beware of Amerithai!

Surat Thani is a wonderful place to live and work as it is close to the islands in the gulf of Thailand and the Adaman coast BUT steer clear of Amerithai Education International. My husband and accepted jobs here in Surat Thani while we were still job hunting in Bangkok. We did an over the phone interview and he told us he was a 28 year old American from Ohio who had started a successful school employing teachers for in-house classes and within the public schools around town. We came down to check it out and meet and decide from there. Well, upon meeting Terry Burton we were a little hesitant to sign a contract because his manner was somewhat high strung, slightly abraisive and outrightly verbally abusive towards his girlfriend. It was also quite obvious he liked to tell tales of the tallest sort (about members of staff, too!). However, we really liked the area and we are here to teach and explore not to become best friends with our boss, so we decided to go against our first impression and accept. We started december 1st, 2005.

For the first two weeks things were on the up and up for the most part although I was REALLY struggling with my classes (5 hours a day at a public school with classes of 55-60 6year olds and no Thai assistant - I had no voice left at the end of the first week). I had requested some help or a few classes of older kids just to make the day a little less stressfull and I was promised both.

When we were not paid with the rest of the teachers on the 15th of December we came to Terry Burton and he said he always held back the first two weeks pay until contract completion or after notice was given and the month was served. We had to wait until after Xmas to receive HALF of the months pay. Big deal? It gets worse.

By the end of six weeks I had still received no help with my class situation as none of the other teachers, including Terry Burton wanted to trade older better behaved kids for my guys and I'd had just about enough of Terry's tall tales and prejudice comments about Thais and whatever else. Maybe another teacher would not have minded these classes but I left good money in Korea to TEACH in a country I like better and 60 kids is entertaining not teaching. Each to his own. My husband was quite happy at
the school he'd been placed at (30 kids to a class ages 8-13) so we dercided that I would respectfully tender my two weeks in keeping with the terms of the contract and then I would look for something else.
I gave notice on the 18th of January.

My husband and I celebrated our one year anniversary on the 22nd of January of this year and everyone at Amerithai knew we were heading to Koh Phangan to celebrate it at a romantic spot in Ban Tai. Well oddly enough the owner scheduled a mandatory staff meeting on Sunday January 22nd. All those "not in attendance would be terminated". We were 2 of 5 teachers not present and yet we were the only teachers terminated. Under our contract both employee and employer were obligated to give 2 weeks if the other party was not in breech of contract, and there was nothing in the contract about mandatory staff meetings on Sundays, but we were told never to come back.

He was also thoughful enough to call our landlord and try to have us evicted! The landlord, a kindly Thai gentleman thought that was really funny, thank goodness!

But what about our money?

There was the matter of the first two weeks that he held back and a matter of 19/31 days of a 24000B/month salary. He refused to pay us. We were advised to go to the tourist police so we did.

This is the part where we admit we were REALLY naive...stupid and under-researched.

Though they were very sympathetic, the police could do very little to help us as we were still in Thailand on tourist visas and really we had been working illegally. I happily told the police that "Oh, yes our paper work is in processing but we're still on our three month probation until the end of February." Huh? Mr. Burton told us that it was standard procedure to put teachers on probation for 3 months before getting the non-immigrant "B" , teacher's license, and work permit because of the expense to the employer if it didn't work out. He also said that as long as we had signed a contract and the proper papers were filled out and ready if asked to be seen that we were OK. The other teachers told us that it was the same for them so we didn't really question this. Now I see who the 3 months probation benefits! ( Terry took taxes and "Employee Savings Fund Payments" off our earnings despite the fact we were not registered!)

We were able to retrieve only a fraction of what was owed to us because he had lent us a few things for our home and the police used this as a bargining chip, thank them!

A few days later a dear friend and co-worker met the same fate as us but this time the police made a trip down to the school as it was starting to seem REALLY fishy. Especially after she told them about the "life experience degrees " from Warren Harding Online University ( the bosses dad in Ohio answering a phone and the boss printing fake degrees!) that Amerithai offers to SELL to the teacher they hire without proper qualifications. My friend received none of the money that she was owed despite the gallant efforts on the part of the tourist police who were none to impressed with Mr. Burton's smug attitude or his refusal to remove an American flag he was flying ouside the school.

I have personally spoken with 3 other teacher who came before us and add to that my husband, friend and I makes 6 people with the same complaints about the same school and it's owner. Who knows what has gone down over the last 3 years that he's been in business!

Interesting final development...A few days ago a met his now former head teacher and biggest supporter on the street. He and his wife are opening a guesthouse in town. I asked him how he will balance that with his very demanding job at Amerithai and he smiled before telling me how he had just quit. He is to date still owed money.

Apparently Mr. Terry Burton used what little money the school had left to pay their teachers and rent(business gets slow in a small town when you have a bad reputation) and used it to return to America for a trip. Now no one is sure when or even if the owner will return and everything has been left for his poor girlfriend to deal with! What a gentleman. Of the few teachers remaining, according to the former head teacher, some have been working the last 6 weeks without pay!

I am compelled to write this daunting tale because I would hate for anyone to suffer what we did. We spent all our savings waiting for the new semester to start and for steady work to become available. We love Surat Thani but we almost had to leave town , our home, and all the things we bought for it because Amerithai's rep is so bad that no one wants to touch you after you've worked for them...they're afraid Mr Burton's will cause trouble out of revenge and spite if they hire you!

Another teacher quit and went to work for Super English and Amerithai's owner called the police to report that this teacher had hit a child which was of course not true and no child came forward but the teacher said it was pretty scary being arrested and questioned. He was later let go by Super English because they couldn't deal with things like that disrupting the school even though they knew they were losing a great teacher.

A couple of weeks ago someone threw a rock through the front window of Amerithai and that must have taken some calculation because there is quite a gate in front of the property. Now that may not have had anything to do with anything but it makes you wonder.

Amerithai has an ad on Ajarn right now! "attitude more important than experience or qualifications". Hmmm....wonder why? Shame on them

[Gracie Berg]

Go to www.teflwatch.org under the thailand forum for more info

[Hypiereon]

We well appreciate the added details and the willingness to speak of your experience. Sounds like a truly horrific experience, and one that everyone can learn from. Make sure the "2 week withholding" is in your contract - if it isn't, go to the police right then and there. If your not registered, then you need not leave a two week notice. Cut your losses then and there.

Never wait around for a dishonest individual or school to "come around" - they never do. Retaliate within your rights with the full force and effect of the law, and cut all ties immediately when a school is in breech of contract and you are under no legal obligation to them because of their failure to file proper paperwork.