Thank you all for your help and info! I will keep you posted as to what is going on.
I really hope you do. I for one would like to learn this process, so I can recommend it myself the next time this kind of garbage floats to the surface.
I just realized that there is a very relevant page on the website that I am involved with about Filing a Complaint About Your Employer. It outlines the processes and lists the contact details for relevant authorities. I think that it would be well worth checking it out.
It is exactly this kind of “there’s nothing I can do about it” or “it doesn’t matter now that I’m gone” attitude that the Taiwanese themselves take that prevents anything from improving when it comes to the law and one’s rights. Whether you’ve already gotten out or not, this school should be punished for any illegal/unethical behavior to 1) start making examples out of these kind of buxiban laoban’s so the entire system will hopefully get a wake-up call and clean up it’s act, and 2) for the benefit of any other foreign teachers that may fall into this school’s trap. I think foreigners (teachers, editors, or whatever) need to stick together and follow through with these kinds of things and do our part for the “community.” If you need help with Chinese translation or whatever, feel free to PM me. I work with the Ministry of Education, so perhaps I might be able to help in other regards as well.
The best way to “do” a school is to contact the tax department.
It’ll take mutual cooperation like this to bring about desired results. You have folks on the outside and folks on the inside who are willing to do the 1-2 routine and word may get out fast. Then, who knows what kind of hornets nest you’ll be stirring up.
I think that efforts by brian and buxiban.com are an excellent place to start and word needs to get out about these kinds of resources. Then having people with inside guanxi like you to help get to the right ears is doubly helpful. In between, if there’s anything my office can do to grease the wheels, I’d be interested to know how.
I think it takes self-education and preparedness, but at the same time, being this is Taiwan, that is not enough to protect oneself against the lunancy that can be Taiwan. It’ll take a concerted effort to “self-protect” if you will.
Bump
well?
What happened?
Sorry Forumosans… I can’t say too much at the moment because I have good reason to believe that the school has started to monitor this website. Not that it much matters, though. It would be great if they decided to reply to the posts in this thread. However, I don’t want to give away too much info at the moment, as it could have an impact at my situation.
All I can say at the moment is that I have been to see a lawyer in Taoyuan. 
He has advised me to keep my cards close to my chest for the time being.
[quote=“grootkrokodil”]Sorry Forumosans… I can’t say too much at the moment because I have good reason to believe that the school has started to monitor this website. Not that it much matters, though. It would be great if they decided to reply to the posts in this thread. However, I don’t want to give away too much info at the moment, as it could have an impact at my situation.
All I can say at the moment is that I have been to see a lawyer in Taoyuan. He has advised me to keep my cards close to my chest for the time being.[/quote]
I would offer the school an invitation to come on down and post a reply and answer some of the allegations that have been made against it.
Hi~~ Warning~~
I’m your partner in Well during last semester~
Now I’ve LEAVED! I’m so happy~~ 
Your messages made them crazy, that’s everyone want to see.
They really want to check who you three are! But who cares?
We aren’t controled by them!!! 
:bravo: Good for you, Leaving! You will find that now your life will be easier, happier and a lot less stressful.
I just wanted to give all of you a final update of my long, drawn out saga.
It has been a very rough 3 monts since I left Well American School. During this time, I’ve had to deal with Well calling people at my new school and claiming that I have absconded. I’ve had letters form the CLA, demanding clarification of my actions or facing deportation. I’ve had to spend time with investigators from the CLA, explaining my situation and had send them reams of paperwork and copies of correspondence between Well and myself. I spent many a lunch hour at the offices of my lawyer to prepare my case. Finally, I also had to go for a “mediation” meeting at the Taoyuan Labor Bureau, for which Well didn’t even turn up.
All of this, because a “school” can lie on the forms that they send to the CLA and claim that you have absconded, even though you have not done so.
I’m happy to say that I received a letter from the CLA this morning, clearing me of any wrong doing.
I just want to thank all the forumosans who helped me with advice through this ordeal. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! You all know who you are. Thanks for the PMs of encouragement and even the job offers!
I hope this case shows that we don’t have to lie down and take abuse and threats from our employers.
I am going to get SO drunk tonight… :yay:
Good for you. Don’t go to work hungover!
I’m glad things went your way. Please tell me that the CLA will do something to punish the school for its practices.
Original Title: New and confused in Taiwan… help!
Hi guys, Im new in Taiwan… (all of 3weeks). I have been offered a job with Well American School in Taoyuan. I have seen one very negative posting on this website about the school (but it was from 2005ish). There is no other information anywhere else!
Has anyone heard anything (good or bad) about this school. Anything would help, I just dont want to start working for them and realise after I have signed that I’ve ruined my life
???
1 Like
It might be a good idea to go and visit the school before you sign on. Talk to the other teachers. If anything feels wrong, politely excuse yourself.
I went for an interview there last year… They have no staff room and you are not allowed to sit down at all during class. What put me off was when she would not let me take the contract home to look at overnight (dodgy). My advice would be to hold out, something better will come along!
[quote=“crazykid”]
Has anyone heard anything (good or bad) about this school. Anything would help, I just dont want to start working for them and realise after I have signed that I’ve ruined my life
???[/quote]
Most assuredly a thumbs down. One can smell their noxious odious effluvium in less than two minutes into the interview.
I just spent a month in Taiwan (back home now) and while I was there I got a job with Well American School in Taoyuan teaching English. I haven’t signed anything yet, as that happens after the training, and because I was there on a 30-day no-visa… visa… and had already paid for my round trip ticket home, they just asked me to come back after a couple weeks, which is when the training/contract/getting started on the work visa will happen.
I just looked them up so I could find photos of the place to show my family what it looks like, and came across a thread here (viewtopic.php?f=35&t=35535) which warns everyone to stay away. The main complaints are from 2005, but a few recent posts at the end from this year say they’re to be avoided too.
I’ve been to Taiwan twice (I have a girlfriend there) but have no teaching experience so I probably don’t really know what I’m getting into here.
Some of the more recent comments say the interview should tip you off that they’re fishy, but as I’m still probably pretty ignorant to how all this works, and the fact that my girlfriend conducted about 75% of the interview for me in Chinese, I probably missed any obvious details. I wasn’t given an opportunity to speak with other foreign teachers, but I also didn’t ask, so that one is my fault. Since they were speaking Chinese for most of the interview I was a bit shut out of things. My girlfriend asks a lot more questions than I do, so I figured it wasn’t too bad. I did see two foreign teachers walk past but they didn’t sneak me any notes saying to run away or motion toward the door with their eyes with concerned expressions on their faces or anything.
The previous thread mentions a NT$20,000 deposit, (which is in the contract) but they claimed they no longer do this and the only penalty is NT$10,000 if you break the contract early. This is a fine, not a deposit up front.
They still have the $3000 evaluation bonus, which was complained about, as well as a $2000 perfect attendance bonus.
They’ve been a little flaky with details, but our contact is another teacher, who has to go ask the HR guy each time we ask something. I’m not sure why we can’t talk to the HR guy directly, but they seem to be a lot more comfortable speaking Chinese, so my girlfriend usually does all the talking with them, plus since I don’t have my own phone number there yet, they’re calling her, not me, so I don’t always get to ask the questions here… First we were told tax was 6%, now it’s 20% for the first six months. Anyone know a normal tax rate? Someone in the other thread complains about them taking out 6% tax each month… are they not supposed to? You do have to pay tax, don’t you?
Anyway, I need to buy tickets and apply for a visa to go back and start the job in a little over a week, so if this place is really that bad, I’d sure like to hear about it from someone with firsthand experience.
I have my girlfriend and her family there to help me with things if something goes really wrong, but I’d definitely like to avoid getting into that kind of situation in the first place.
Nobody I talked to while I was there had anything bad to say about Well, and I met someone that said he sent his kids there and thought it was a pretty good school. These are all Chinese people though, not foreign teachers so that probably doesn’t tell me anything about how they treat their foreign employees.
Also, I saw a mention of changing a 30-day visa (as in showing up with just your passport) and turning it into a 60-day visitor’s visa in Taiwan for NT$2000, which is a whole lot cheaper than the visa fees are going to be here.
Anyone know where I can find out more about this? I thought you couldn’t get extensions or change anything if you just show up with a passport. Well told me to get a visitor’s visa ahead of time.
I haven’t had a lot of luck finding solid information on visas. Seems like every site I find says something a bit different. My best guess so far is to just pay an agency to go get it for me right now, but if I can just get it when I get there it sounds easier and cheaper. I’m not going to just go there with nothing and find out I can’t actually do that though.
[quote=“TaiwanVisitor12321”]I just spent a month in Taiwan (back home now) and while I was there I got a job with Well American School in Taoyuan teaching English. I haven’t signed anything yet, as that happens after the training, and because I was there on a 30-day no-visa… visa… and had already paid for my round trip ticket home, they just asked me to come back after a couple weeks, which is when the training/contract/getting started on the work visa will happen.
I just looked them up so I could find photos of the place to show my family what it looks like, and came across a thread here (forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … 35&t=35535) which warns everyone to stay away. The main complaints are from 2005, but a few recent posts at the end from this year say they’re to be avoided too.
I’ve been to Taiwan twice (I have a girlfriend there) but have no teaching experience so I probably don’t really know what I’m getting into here.
Some of the more recent comments say the interview should tip you off that they’re fishy, but as I’m still probably pretty ignorant to how all this works, and the fact that my girlfriend conducted about 75% of the interview for me in Chinese, I probably missed any obvious details. I wasn’t given an opportunity to speak with other foreign teachers, but I also didn’t ask, so that one is my fault. Since they were speaking Chinese for most of the interview I was a bit shut out of things. My girlfriend asks a lot more questions than I do, so I figured it wasn’t too bad. I did see two foreign teachers walk past but they didn’t sneak me any notes saying to run away or motion toward the door with their eyes with concerned expressions on their faces or anything.
The previous thread mentions a NT$20,000 deposit, (which is in the contract) but they claimed they no longer do this and the only penalty is NT$10,000 if you break the contract early. This is a fine, not a deposit up front.
They still have the $3000 evaluation bonus, which was complained about, as well as a $2000 perfect attendance bonus.
They’ve been a little flaky with details, but our contact is another teacher, who has to go ask the HR guy each time we ask something. I’m not sure why we can’t talk to the HR guy directly, but they seem to be a lot more comfortable speaking Chinese, so my girlfriend usually does all the talking with them, plus since I don’t have my own phone number there yet, they’re calling her, not me, so I don’t always get to ask the questions here… First we were told tax was 6%, now it’s 20% for the first six months. Anyone know a normal tax rate? Someone in the other thread complains about them taking out 6% tax each month… are they not supposed to? You do have to pay tax, don’t you?
Anyway, I need to buy tickets and apply for a visa to go back and start the job in a little over a week, so if this place is really that bad, I’d sure like to hear about it from someone with firsthand experience.
I have my girlfriend and her family there to help me with things if something goes really wrong, but I’d definitely like to avoid getting into that kind of situation in the first place.
Nobody I talked to while I was there had anything bad to say about Well, and I met someone that said he sent his kids there and thought it was a pretty good school. These are all Chinese people though, not foreign teachers so that probably doesn’t tell me anything about how they treat their foreign employees.
Also, I saw a mention of changing a 30-day visa (as in showing up with just your passport) and turning it into a 60-day visitor’s visa in Taiwan for NT$2000, which is a whole lot cheaper than the visa fees are going to be here.
Anyone know where I can find out more about this? I thought you couldn’t get extensions or change anything if you just show up with a passport. Well told me to get a visitor’s visa ahead of time.
I haven’t had a lot of luck finding solid information on visas. Seems like every site I find says something a bit different. My best guess so far is to just pay an agency to go get it for me right now, but if I can just get it when I get there it sounds easier and cheaper. I’m not going to just go there with nothing and find out I can’t actually do that though.[/quote]
Aaaack! What you have just said is a confirmation that if any changes have been made since 2005, they’re probably not for the better. If need be, sign on with a chain for a year; even Hess sounds like a paradise on earth compared to this place.
Seriously, there are a LOT of schools looking for teachers; sometimes you just need to go door-to door. A lot of crap goes on at a lot of cram schools, but this place appears to take the cake. (a school that is dodgy about details is hiding a lot, and likely lying about other things.)