After spending some time with Metro English School / Meten English School (also having the dubious honour of working with Frank Zhao - manager of both Foshan and DongGuan Meten Englsih Centre - previously Metro English Centre - to whom I am sure Andrew is referring about his failed sacking attempts) I feel I should put some more information out there for those considering. Especially about this guy Mr Zhao - he is hated by all staff because he is a petulant child concerned only about his salary and his ego. Nothing else. Unable to think logically he carries many grudges.

If you are considering my best advice would be don't. DON'T. ABSOLUTELY NOT. If you still aren't sure - ask them to provide you the contact details of a couple of the Foreign Teachers still stuck working there. They will tell you very clearly. The illegal visa I talk about below is a vicious circle and they will use this against you.

These guys do look good from the outside and the contract and salary appears good. But you must fight all the way to get even close to what the contract offers. They consistently ignore the contract and they tell you there is little a foreign teacher can do about it as all of their visas are illegal. Leave entitlements, sick days, overtime the school is constantly trying to take things away from you and they change the rules to suit themselves whenever they feel like it.

Last year the two most senior foreign staff members working in the Shenzhen headquarters did "midnight runners" on these guys because they were so concerned for their safety. One of them, a university professor from the USA, was ARRESTED previous to this because the school had provided them with visas but not for work where they were - Illegal Working Visas from ChongQing. This is common throughout all of METEN / previously METRO schools. Managers and recruiters will blindly lie to you about anything and everything to get you, but once they do... BEWARE. I was told a story by another teaching working with me in DongGuan at the time that they offered him a job with contract and salary in a different city (Chengdu I think) and when he arrived there from Australia they told him that they were sorry but this job did not exist and there was no contract - but they offered him a job in another city for lower salary.

Working conditions there also include unspecified "company rules" that involve large fines for infringements such as forgetting to punch in or out (time clock) or leaving computers or powered devices on overnight. At managers discretion ofcourse - and no recourse for the teacher. They just take it out of your pay. Foreigners working there have absolutely no say whatsoever in what goes on in the company and are never listened to apart from the usual "we are improving" or "we are trying to do something about it" which I experienced for some time but nothing ever changed or happened.

While I was there the students (rightfully) complained constantly that they had been lied to and the school did not provide what they said they would. There were also stories about the school in the local newspaper with students complaining about the same. Many of the students were, again rightfully, very angry.

It really is a sorry place to work and the management team a bunch of crooked thieves trying to suck up every RMB they can. Nothing for anyone else.

Also beware of their head recruiter Ms Helen Zhou and her assistant another Helen. I have heard many stories from teachers at Meten of the about of lies and deceit that was peddled to them during their recruitment and initial employment - these two are nasty.

Follow my link below for further stories form others in the past. Check it out!