"Spain? You have to go to Spain for an interview?"
"Yes, that's where their head office is."
"Are they paying?"
"No"
"Mmmmm. Sounds a bit suspect to me. Do you trust them? Do they seem genuine?"
"I can't find anything negative online about them. Darragh MacAnthony, the company owner was interviewed by John Stapleton for their promotional DVD. Surely a respected consumer journalist wouldn't have put his name to something if it wasn't all above board?"
"OK, well if what's you want, you know that I'll support you"
Little did I know that this simple conversation would go on to ruin the following 6 years of my life and lead to years of distress, upset, stress, debt, depression and almost break up my long term relationship and leave us homeless. My true story of working for Darragh MacAnthony's MRI follows. Most names have been changed in order to protect their identity.
March 2006
We were renting a small 1 bed flat in South London when I saw the advert in the Evening Standard. I had been working in IT sales and although I had initially enjoyed it, I felt that the company I worked for had deteriorated. They had made staff redundant and weren't offering my clients the same level of service they used to. This meant that I was no longer confident selling their services and wanted to leave.
Paul and I had been together for 6 years. We had been living in London for almost 5 years and although we loved the buzz of London and the Arts on offer, our dream had always been to move to rural France. However, with the cost of living in London, we were no closer to this dream. And then I saw MRI's ad in the paper and it felt that maybe, just maybe, this was the chance we were looking for to make our dream a reality.
The advert was almost too good to be true. Working in sales and earning €150-€250k+? And not only that, but with the chance to live and work in France. This was an opportunity I had to explore further.
I immediately went online and researched MRI (macanthonyrealty.com at the time, before it morphed into mrioverseasproperty.com). Their "Careers at MacAnthony" page confirmed what the advert had said. It showed a picture of 4 staff members. You were invited to click on a staff member to learn their story. What could be more reliable? Who would agree to have their image posted online with a quote, if it weren't true? I became very excited about the opportunity as I read on.
A woman called Lucy was featured and was due to earn "in the region of €150,000 in 2005". David's picture was accompanied by a statement enthusing "most people don't believe me when I tell them I'm earning in excess of €10,000 a month - until I show them my payslips!". "Commissions of €150k Plus - are paid regularly and on time" was emblazoned across the adverts. I decided that I had nothing to lose and applied for the position.
A week later I was sat around a large table in a hired office near Liverpool Street with Sue Small - MRI's HR Manager - and four other candidates. The interview was an open, group interview, followed by a short 1 to 1. I immediately warmed to Sue. She was open, direct, didn't evade questions and didn't overly sell the company. She talked about working hard, long hours and Darragh MacAnthony's and MRI's high expectations of staff and loyalty - everything I was already offering my current employer. In return we were told that staff could expect to earn €100-250k with great prospects of promotion. I was sold. I'd only have to do the job for a couple of years and our dream of moving to France would become a reality, without having to even worry about a mortgage.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and looking back, at this stage alarm bells should have been ringing. If something is too good to be true, then generally it is. However, I couldn't find one single online complaint or bad word about the company. It was only after I'd been working for them for 6 months that I discovered why this was...
At the end of the interview we were told that the next stage of interviews would take place in Spain, at the company's HQ in Marbella. We would be contacted and if successful we would be required to make our own way to Spain for the interview. If we then successfully passed the interview and were offered a job, we were told that the cost of the flight to Spain would be reimbursed. We were told that this was to ensure that candidates were serious about the job.
I returned home that evening incredibly excited. I was confident that the interview had gone well and that I'd had a good rapport with Sue, who I'd immediately liked and trusted. As I got home and started to discuss the day's events with Paul, we both felt that maybe this could be the start of a new life. Paul was working in a secondary school, helping kids with behavioural problems. The work was rewarding when it went well, but it was exhausting and emotionally demanding. He also spent over 2 hours a day commuting on the Tube and train for little financial reward. His degree had been in art and we both envisaged a few years with me working for MRI and saving for our life in France, whilst Paul wouldn't have to work and would finally be able to fulfil another dream, which was to paint full time.
A couple of days later Sue called. She said that I'd done well at the interview and that she'd like to invite me for the second stage in Spain. I was delighted! I immediately started looking at flights and within an hour was booked to fly to Spain the following week. Finances were tight, so I was going to fly there and return on the same day.
The Monday morning dawned and I left the house at 5am to catch my flight. It was March and the weather was freezing cold at that time of day, so I was wearing my trusty fur coat over my suit. The flight departed on time and it wasn't long before I was taking the bus transfer from Malaga airport to the centre of Marbella. I'd done my research and knew that I'd be able to walk to the offices. What I hadn't prepared for was the weather! Although it was only the end of March it was incredibly hot and I was burdened and hot and bothered with my big fur coat.
Walking into MRI's offices was like stepping into another world. Outside the building a dozen or so flashy cars were parked and the marble tiled, bright interior was dazzling. I'd already known that it was the ex mayor's office building, but it still impressed me more than I'd imagined. But after walking around in a heavy suit and a fur coat, nothing was more welcome than the cooling effect of the air conditioning.
I was asked to wait in the reception area and a short while later Sue arrived and the interview started. Again, I felt that I got on very well with Sue and it made a welcome change to be interviewed by an HR Manager, as opposed to a (usually pushy male) Sales Manager, which had always happened in previous sales jobs.
I explained to Sue that I wasn't the stereotypical sales person. I had a proven track record in sales, but I didn't believe in pushy and I treated people the way I would want my mum to be treated. To this day, I still believe that this is the way that sales should be carried out and I remain mystified as to why people buy from arrogant, pushy sales people - I certainly don't. I knew that telling Sue this was a risky approach. The snippets of conversation I'd overheard from the passing sales staff whilst I waited in reception certainly sounded as though the sales staff met the usual salesy stereotype. Had I ruined my chances by telling Sue that I didn't believe in pushy. Would MRI see this as a weakness? From what I'd seen of and read about Darragh MacAnthony, I wasn't sure that my unorthodox approach would wash with him. But I wasn't going to pretend otherwise. I was good at what I did - I just approached it in a different way.
All seemed to go well and I was asked if I had any questions. Paul and I had discussed a couple of areas that we both wanted clarified. If I was successful and was offered the job, it was a major decision. We would be leaving behind our lives, our secure jobs, everything we knew and owned and our families. We were in our mid to late 30's and it was a decision we had to be absolutely sure about.
The first question I asked was about our employment status. The positions being offered were self employed and this worried me. Being self employed meant that the company didn't have to adhere to any employment laws - not a good thing. Staff would be responsible for their own tax and NI in a foreign country and so would have all the red tape to deal with personally. I was at a loss to understand why a reputable company wouldn't take on staff members as fully employed personnel.
Sue was clearly prepared for this question. She reeled off a whole host of reasons why being self employed would be a benefit, the main one's being lower tax, no restrictions on the number of days holiday entitlement (wow, did that turn out to be a whopping lie) and that if staff wanted to move countries within the company, that being employed would be a hindrance.
Again, looking back, at this point I should have stepped away. Giving up everything to work abroad for a company on a self employed basis, which meant no employment contract, no employer responsibilities, no protection from employment law and no NI contributions from my employer was madness. However, I wanted this job so badly that I was completely ignoring all the warning bells that were clamouring in my head. I believe in following gut instinct. This time I didn't. I pushed my gut instinct very firmly to one side and simply nodded and agreed with Sue.
Another question for Sue was regarding what happened to outstanding commission after you left the company. We were told that commission was paid in the following way:
A property was sold. The client paid a deposit to secure the property.
The client would then be sent a contract and had 21 days in which to pay the next deposit.
Once this had been paid, the developer paid MRI.
MRI would then pay the sales person their commission the following month.
We were told that this meant that it took around 3 months from the deal to getting paid and that we would build up a "pipeline" of deals.
A property was sold. The client paid a deposit to secure the property.
The client would then be sent a contract and had 21 days in which to pay the next deposit.
Once this had been paid, the developer paid MRI.
MRI would then pay the sales person their commission the following month.
We were told that this meant that it took around 3 months from the deal to getting paid and that we would build up a "pipeline" of deals.
My concern was this - after resignation, what happens to the 3 months worth of deals that you still have outstanding. Sue assured me that this commission would continue to be paid. Indeed, throughout the whole interview process, both in London and Spain, Sue reiterated time and time again, that unlike other estate agents operating in Spain, MRI were renowned for paying their staff on time. I liked and trusted Sue, had no reason to disbelieve her and felt that surely, if staff weren't being paid, then she wouldn't be working for the company.
Sadly, as the court case proved, not only did MRI not pay their staff after they resigned, but they didn't even pay them the correct amount while they working for the company.
My final area of concern that required clarification was what help, if any, would be provided by MRI when it came to finding an accountant to handle our tax affairs, setting up NI and generally ensuring that staff were working legally within a country. Again, Sue was quick to reassure me that MRI would do everything to help and would be able to recommend people in the countries in which they operated. They too, I was assured, wanted to ensure that all was above board for us.
The reader will be able to judge for themselves, later in the story, if they feel that MRI fulfilled this promise.
After the interview, I was shown around the building and was introduced to some of the other staff members. I thought that this was a really nice touch and it allowed me to quiz some of the sales staff. Everything they said backed up what I'd read on the website. It was hard not be impressed by the whole set up and what Darragh MacAnthony had achieved in such a short space of time.
The interview finally came to a close and I left the offices optimistic. I wanted to believe in this job and company so badly that I pushed all niggles aside and decided that if I was offered the job, that accepting was the right thing to do. My flight home was booked for much later that night, as this had been the cheapest option and would also have allowed for any delays during the interview. I took the opportunity to wander around Marbella and finally found myself on the beach. I sat in the sand, fur coat and all, and allowed myself to imagine our new, wealthier, happier, more secure life in the sun.
I arrived back at our flat around midnight, completely exhausted. All I had to do now was wait.
The following day the phone rang and it was the call I'd been waiting for. I'd been offered the job! I was over the moon. I'd already discussed it with Paul and I accepted the position immediately. And then came an unexpected bombshell. "You'll be expected to start a week on Monday for the next training intake." That was only 9 days away. Surely they didn't expect people to be able to pack up their lives and leave everything behind in 9 days? Plus most people need to give a month's notice. Was the company I wanted to work for completely unreasonable?
