1. Being lured into the job
For personal reasons, I wanted a well-paid job and wasn’t limited to whether the field matched my background. For someone over 40, it’s not advantageous, so I applied on several job sites (Zhaopin, etc.). Soon many companies replied, which excited me, and I added so-called HR WeChat for chats. The other party’s profile was full of recruitment videos and information, claiming that by purchasing tickets you could secure a spot and have travel, lodging, and meals reimbursed; salaries were 30 yuan/hour, 12 hours a day. Onboarding came with a 5,000 yuan new-employee bonus, and at year-end when the factory closed for holidays there would be a 5,000 yuan retention bonus. They provided meals and housing, meals paid after consumption with a daily 30 yuan advanced, which sounded highly tempting.
I filtered through many options and finally chose what was described as Chery. During this period I wavered because I already had a job, with low pay but easy. At the HR contact’s repeated urging, I took two months off and set off without hesitation. Upon arrival, the other party said it was too late and that I should first stay at a hotel (the location showed as Chery employee reception). I arrived at WuHu Station at 23:30 and booked a hotel myself.
The next day at 8:00 we reached the designated gathering point; there were about fifty to sixty people there (probably job seekers). Then someone came over to collect ID cards for registration (I resisted this). The contact HR had said: this is just registration, you can leave anytime and we will return your documents; they told us to say we could do the job and not ask too many questions, or we wouldn’t be invited for interviews. Thinking about this, I compromised, waited about an hour, and then two buses arrived, taking us to a parking lot where a person in charge would conduct a preliminary interview. I asked the HR liaison, “Why not go directly to the factory to see the workshop interview?” The other side said they needed to screen in advance to avoid failing at the factory interview; repeatedly insisting, “Whatever you’re asked to do, just say you can do it; don’t ask questions.”
Then the charging phase began. Registration information 60 yuan, photo and ID copy 30 yuan, plus other fees totaling 280 yuan, with the claim that these costs would be refunded after 30 days of work punch-in.
2. Resold to another intermediaryThe other party said I was now dispatched by Chery to another company and would be returned to Chery after the contract period ends; meanwhile there was a dispatch fee of 2,000 yuan. (Thinking about it now, if this wasn’t a scam, you’d calculate: onboarding 5,000 + year-end retention 5,000 + dispatch 2,000 = 12,000, for 12 hours of work a day. 30 yuan/hour, 11 hours per day equals 330/day; 26 days a month × 330 = 8,580 yuan. Who could resist such temptation?)
3. The so-called onboardingWe took a bus to a 500-strong enterprise—Midea. At the factory gate, a local “go-between” employed on-site staff explained a few things; then we rode another bus to the hall of another labor service company for a medical examination, which was quite rough. It was already 17:00; we hadn’t eaten all day, no one cared. After the medical exam, we sat in the hall and signed the labor service contract (in hindsight, this unscrupulous broker was inhumane—food quality was terrible!). The contract terms differed greatly from what the HR rep had said earlier—18 yuan/hour, far from the promised 30 yuan/hour. When confronted, the signing party said the recruitment manager would make up the difference. The contract was just formal; we signed after confirming with the recruitment manager. Finally we were taken to the factory dormitories, and during dorm registration we paid a lodging deposit of 100 yuan and a key deposit of 20 yuan to be refunded on leaving, which I did not get back when I left.
4. The whole-station assembly line — 40 days of hope and disappointmentWorking on the factory all-station assembly line for a day felt like a nightmare for someone who had never done this before, but I clung to the stated 330 yuan, stubbornly persisting with that opportunistic belief. With that stubborn mindset, I persisted...
Since joining the factory on November 15, by late December everyone expected their salary (paid for the previous month). But the factory gave no indication, so we pressured the HR manager via WeChat and phone calls, threatening to report to the labor bureau. After a lot of back-and-forth, the salary finally came to 1,700 yuan. Seeing the payslip with various deductions left me dumbfounded. Bus fare 150 yuan, utilities 90 yuan, lodging 5 yuan per day. This completely contradicted what the HR rep had promised (free lodging; utilities shared; meals paid after consumption with a daily 30 yuan advance; a 5,000 yuan onboarding bonus; reimbursements for travel, lodging, and bedding 280 yuan; 60 yuan for information fees...). None of this was fulfilled.
If you do the math, the 40 days of work amounted to about 18 yuan/hour; the remaining 12 yuan difference? The HR rep kept giving excuses like “we’re compiling the roster, then you will punch in after it’s finalized.” But until I left this so-called “Midea factory of the Fortune Global 500,” none of this was realized.
Now about the final settlement: the broker promised “people leave with clear accounts,” but that wasn’t true. Because the pay wasn’t as expected, many of us applied to resign; however, during final settlement they claimed we hadn’t completed three months (the contract term is three months), and would pay only 100 yuan per day with penalties, lodging and utilities deducted, etc.
I worked 45 days at this so-called “Fortune Global 500 Midea factory,” and I finally took home less than 4,000 yuan, which only covered my daily expenses (mainly meals). It was basically free labor for the broker.
5. My vain strugglesWhen I realized the wages were less than 4,000 yuan and the broker (at first I thought it was the company HR, now I understand this guy is just an intermediary who profits from recruitment) promised much more than delivered, the gap was enormous. So I contacted the broker via WeChat, SMS, and calls, threatening to report to the labor bureau to enforce the promise and settle wages. The broker dodged with all sorts of excuses: “the lookup list isn’t ready yet,” “bro, go home for the New Year; I’ll pay you when I can,” “the factory hasn’t approved it, once approved I’ll pay you first,” etc. When that failed, I called the labor bureau, but it turned into a bureaucratic runaround from provincial to city to local town authorities. Finally they said, “I’ve noted your case; go home for the New Year and come back after the holiday.” (Comment: you gambled my time and promised I’d come back after the New Year; you used a “delay” tactic!)
6. My reflectionsReflective point 1: Unreliable promises, lack of contracts, and upfront fees are all black-market intermediary scams - (1) Those who proactively add on WeChat and promise good待遇 are usually black intermediaries
Online platforms (like Zhaopin, 51job) with so-called recruitment managers (especially those who proactively add on WeChat) are brokers who lure people to resell to other intermediaries, ultimately routing through labor service arrangements. The wages of laborers (gig workers) are all absorbed by these intermediaries.
(2) Those who don’t go straight to the factory and charge fees for various reasons are all black intermediariesAny case where you don’t directly enter the factory to view the workshop, and are charged deposits and other fees for various reasons, the high-wage promises are all from unscrupulous intermediaries and scammers.
(3) No contract, or contract not provided to the employee (or not allowing photo storage) means fake contracts (the so-called official seal is a “carrot seal”), all black intermediariesWhether electronic or paper, read carefully before signing; without the company’s official seal, it’s fake. You should pre-research the local economy and wage standards; high wages and promises are usually scams. If you want to enter a factory, it’s best to go through direct hires or reputable internal referrals; the contract should be with the factory so the factory pays salary.
Reflective point 2: Workers have always been divided; it’s hard to unite into a truly powerful forceFactory management always tries to keep the number of people leaving on the same day low; we were dispersed resignations. At most there were about three people. Initially we could wait in the dorms, thinking “more people, more power”; but reality is that many left because they couldn’t bear the delays, or were offered some small benefits, or some untrustworthy promises, and they went home one by one.
Reflective point 3: Government aware but allows it to run rampant; there are many vested interestsThe government’s trick is usually the word “delay.” How can ordinary workers bear such delays? This predatory, gutsless network is evil; the working class has been robbed of too many rights, which is heartbreaking!
