I am currently working for Hampson English and it is the biggest mistake I have ever made. I have been teaching English for many years and I have taught in 6 different countries and worked at many different schools but I have to say Hampson takes the proverbial cake. The first problem that I had with them was that they made me pay for my own work visa.

That was your first mistake. People, any school that asks you to pay for your own visa should be avoided. It's their job to get your visa for you if you are not in country already. If you are in country and your current work visa has expired, or you never had one to begin with but can get one, you will need to make a trip to HK. Even then they should either pay you to do this, or they will reimburse you once you have gotten the visa. Requiring you to pay without reimbursing you is BS, and should never be tolerated.

I was aware of the fact that I shouldn't have to pay for my own work visa when I signed the contract but I wanted the job because I enjoy one-to-one teaching and I thought that I could easily recover the cost of the visa by teaching in their system.

If this means you were already there, then you were backed into a corner and committed to the job. By then you had little choice, except to absorb any losses you might have incurred from making the trip there, and go on your merry way. If you were elsewhere in China, you should have found a better job, same if you were out of country. As for believing you could make up the cost, so what? You're still spending "your" money, it's still a loss.

The problem is that working at Hampson full-time involves many demos which I do not get paid for and then I may or may not get the student.

Ah yes, the old demo gag. I have also taught demos, but never for free, and usually to class rooms full of potential students. I would never agree to give free demos under any circumstances. Did you not read the contract? If you agree to do free demos, they won't load up a class with 20 students just to save money, they will make you give demos to every Tom, Dick and Harry that walks in the door, at that moment. Chinese don't care about over working you, only about taking advantage of you if you were foolish enough to let them do so by agreeing to do "unpaid" demos.

So far I have had success with most of my demos, unfortunately this leads me to the second problem. If the student decides to study at Hampson the school decides which teacher that he/she will study with. More often than not they give the student to a part-time teacher so I get nothing for the demo then I do not even get to keep the student.

This is likely because they pay the part time teacher less, or they want to save whatever hours you have agreed to in your contract to make "them" more money. I would guess it is the second, either way they will always make money, just more off of you.

I spend many hours every day giving demos for nothing and then watch the part-time teachers show up for a couple of classes and earn more money than I do spending all day at the school doing demos.

Ah so there it is, number 2, as I thought. They want you to be there, they want you available to teach classes, and to do so for chump change. They also may not want to pay your any overtime, as you would certainly qualify for it if you taught all these people. That is of course if you are entitled to over time, this also might not have been included in your contract, it often isn't.

I have more to write about Hampson but I must go do another demo so I will have to continue this tomorrow. In the meantime, I would like to know if there are any other teachers out there having these problems with Hampson.

There are many other teachers having these kinds of problems everywhere, It happens when you sign a contract without doing your due diligence and fully understanding what you are and are not agreeing to in your contract.

If you are then take the time to reply to this post and lets get the word out about Hampson. My life is a nightmare because I decided to work at Hampson. I hope by posting this it will let people know what this company is all about and save them the aggravation that I am going through.

I would personally like to see a copy of your contract, or at least know the highlights in regards to what you did and did not agree to. Did you agree to do free demos in your contract? Does the contract spell out exactly how many hours a week you are supposed to be in the office, and how many actual hours you are required to teach; or did they use the word "minimum" to define your amount of work hours? Is there anything in your contract about overtime pay? These are all important questions, and ones you should have answered first off by sharing the contract details with us.

Anyhow, it sounds like a crap deal, and I have heard some bad things about this school before. Without more I can not say whether you should simply get out or not, as you can be fairly certain you will never see a dime of your end of years bonus. I'd also be surprised if you got your last months salary if you stay there that long, schools love to find ways to double screw you in the end here. It's also not hard to do as you have limited time left on your visa to do anything if they do screw you. This is quite intentional.

Please post contract details and I can help you further, and no doubt others will have some insight to offer as well.