I started work for New Dynamic Institute (NDI) in a city in northern China in summer 2012. I worked out the full one-year contract without taking a single day sick or ever being late.

I'd presumed foolishly that at the end of the contract I'd be paid my last salary, end-of-contract bonus etc before I returned to the UK, i.e. probably on my last day at work (my residence permit expired a few days after that, so I'd have to leave China almost immediately).

A few weeks before the contract ended I went to the HR department to ask how I'd be paid. What they told me was that they wouldn't be able to pay the outstanding salary before I left, though they might be able to pay the bonus. The salary would be paid into my bank account in China after I'd returned to the UK, which I pointed out was no use to me as this bank has no branches/ATMs in the UK so I wouldn't be able to access the money. They also told me a variety of other nonsense which left me completely nonplussed.

As the HR staff there were so unhelpful I left the matter until I returned to the UK, then contacted NDI's HQ. I was told the money should have been paid to me before I left China, though there was no apology about this or explanation as to why it wasn't.

They've asked for my UK bank details and said they'd transfer the money to Britain, though I'd have to pick up the charge for the money transfer. When I disputed this - saying that as the non-payment was NDI's mistake they ought to pay - they threatened not to send the money at all.

I've now agreed to pay the transfer charge, but I haven't got much confidence I'm ever going to see the money in my UK account.

The sum involved is the equivalent of over £2,000 - my salary for the last month and a half I worked at NDI, overtime I did during this period (because most of the other foreign teachers had left, principally due to the manner of some of the Chinese staff at the school), the £600 bonus for completing the one-year contract, and the repayment of the fee I paid for the residence permit (as stipulated in the contract).

It should also include the return of the deposit on the flat NDI arranged for me, only NDI also omitted to tell me how to return the keys before I left. Not knowing what else to do I left them on the table inside the flat, hoping that the landlord had another set. Turns out she didn't and had to pay someone to break the lock.

So NDI say they'll return the deposit minus the £30 fee for breaking the lock. They'll also be another deduction of around £25 for a water bill they say I hadn't paid (though I know nothing about this, and was up-to-date with payment on all the bills on the flat as far as I was aware).

Again, when I disputed these charges NDI threatened not to send the money at all.

Don't touch these fraudsters with a bargepole.