I am also a (former) teacher at BL. I served the full year of my contract, even though that was a serious mistake.

If you are an actual FT at BL (and not just a member of HR, which is obsessive about BL image on boards like these--the only reason that the crap organization does not have the exact same reputation as King's or DDragon or any of the other children's English school money mills that it could be exchanged for), then you are only telling half the story.

Sure, they might have given you a Z visa...they gave me one, too (I actually sort of regretted that, it tied me to BL, and all). But, only a few of the FTs who were qualified to get a Z were ever granted one. I knew several in my center who had petitioned HR for a Z, had all the credentials for a Z, and just got strung along for months on end. Meanwhile, they had to pay all the expenses required for maintaining an F--because BL wasn't going to shell out the money for getting them the Z visa promised to them in their contract.

And when the police raided the center, BL did nothing to protect the FTs that they had left strung out on F visas. I heard that there were sacrificial lamb deportations at other centers; there was one at mine...and still, Larry pretty much refused to allow more than 2-3 FTs at each center to have a Z. The icing on the cake was the 'don't worry, be happy' e-mail we all got from HR the day after the Beijing police were screaming in our faces and demanding to see our passports...probably because BL was as cheap with bribe payments as it is with giving promised visas.

He said he was at a franchise. Best Learning corporate won't pull THAT level of bullshit, but it doesn't sound that out-of-the-question based on what I've heard from others who worked at the franchise schools.

Yes i am a new teacher that just got to china to be with my gf and marry her. I figured i could teach english here. I got hired in qingdao since they are franchised out and this school i think has differant owners. They hired me with 7 days no pay they say thats common in china promised me 2 month probation period which is ok and then let me go after 9 days. No reason or explination. I guess they couldn't pull a scam on me since i will have a green card and don't need a loan. I play it pretty safe. The english teachers there were very helpful to me and the staff is nice we were just starting to get along. But It's true the owner doesn't know how to run a business and they are probably loseing money because they don't have many kids and a big staff. of course they don't pay the staff as much as the english teachers. Also didn't pay me for the day of work i deserve. I was sick one day because they hired me right off the plane pretty much and i got sick from over exposer to china. So i missed one day of work out of 9. But the manager Monica didn't have the balls to talk to me face to face she got a ct to fire me. They do make there teachers mad here. I also am very mad. Nothing against the company or staff just the owners here.