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Beware! Deadbeat African Operators

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AerroMatt

Elmer Pudpuller
Joined
Apr 19, 2005
Posts
744
FYI... I agreed to go to work for a Mineral Prospecting Company in Mozambique a few months ago on a 60 day contract. They paid me 50% of my first months pay up front with the promise of the rest when I invoiced them.

I invoiced them in mid-november and received nothing. Eventually I had to go on strike to get paid what they owed me for November, and that kept me working for them for the rest of December.

Well, I went home for Christmas and my December Invoice is still unpaid. Also, they are mum about whether they want me to come back, so I guess they don't want to pay me at all.

Everyone here... BE ADVISED!!! Look out when someone promises you the sun, moon, and stars in Africa. Tell them you need 100% up front or forget about it. I sure wish I would have.

In the end, do not hook up with TAK Services, TAK Mining, or International SkyChase. I am afraid they only pay what they think they need to pay to keep pilots in country.
 
FYI... I agreed to go to work for a Mineral Prospecting Company in Mozambique a few months ago on a 60 day contract. They paid me 50% of my first months pay up front with the promise of the rest when I invoiced them.

I invoiced them in mid-november and received nothing. Eventually I had to go on strike to get paid what they owed me for November, and that kept me working for them for the rest of December.

Well, I went home for Christmas and my December Invoice is still unpaid. Also, they are mum about whether they want me to come back, so I guess they don't want to pay me at all.

Everyone here... BE ADVISED!!! Look out when someone promises you the sun, moon, and stars in Africa. Tell them you need 100% up front or forget about it. I sure wish I would have.

In the end, do not hook up with TAK Services, TAK Mining, or International SkyChase. I am afraid they only pay what they think they need to pay to keep pilots in country.
This is a good report and good advice. The world is now festooned with bad operators who are luring people in on contracts and then not paying them, or mistreating them in myriad ways.

We need an international list of bad biscuits that contract pilots can refer to when contemplating a contract.
 
I agreed to go to work for a Mineral Prospecting Company in Mozambique...

I don't know why, but that just sounds like the beginning of a joke.
 
It may just be me, but doesn't the prospect of working for "a Mineral Prospecting Company in Mozambique [Africa] a few months ago on a 60 day contract" just scream -buyer beware- all on it's own.....????
 
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It may just be me, but doesn't the prospect of working for "a Mineral Prospecting Company in Mozambique [Africa] a few months ago on a 60 day contract" just scream -buyer beware- all on it's own.....????

"Caveat Emptor" is the Latin phrase you are searching for. You are correct JohnDoe. I went into this knowing there was a chance I would not get paid everything promised me, which is why I insisted on 50% up front and round trip airfare before I departed for Africa. I also did a search on all the forums I could find for any reference to the companies in question. Since I found nothing positive or negative, I decided to take a chance.

If only one person had posted something about not being paid by this operator, I wouldn't have gone. I am posting this to warn everyone else away. Times are very lean now and there are plenty of pilots desperate enough to take a chance on some shady operator. The whole point of this thread is to save someone else from financial grief.
 
"Caveat Emptor" is the Latin phrase you are searching for. You are correct JohnDoe. I went into this knowing there was a chance I would not get paid everything promised me, which is why I insisted on 50% up front and round trip airfare before I departed for Africa. I also did a search on all the forums I could find for any reference to the companies in question. Since I found nothing positive or negative, I decided to take a chance.

If only one person had posted something about not being paid by this operator, I wouldn't have gone. I am posting this to warn everyone else away. Times are very lean now and there are plenty of pilots desperate enough to take a chance on some shady operator. The whole point of this thread is to save someone else from financial grief.
This level of skepticism and wariness is now warranted on the part of all contract pilots. I would add only one thing, based upon a recent bad experience with one of the growing number of bandits out there: Get your round trip airfare paid in CASH directly to you and then YOU buy the roundtrip ticket.

Why?

Because if the contract operator buys the ticket and provides it to you, they still "own" the ticket, and can cancel the return segment and obtain a refund. This is according to a very surly NWA "Customer Service Agent" I recently encountered.

Caveat Emptor, indeed.
 

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