I recently completed a 12 month contract with Cheery and I’m gonna add my two cents. This is a bit of an essay but the main point is this: the other posters are not lying; Cheery is horrible.

I wanna begin by assuring you that this isn’t written out of pure spite or bitterness – there’s a bit of that, and for good reason – but I want this to be a genuine warning to people who may not know much about working in Shanghai.

Cheery’s attitude seems to be that foreigners are ungrateful primadonnas who have naively wandered into this country expecting the whole place to fall at their feet. But Cheery has power over you through the visa process and they are gonna make you realise that you have none and you do what they say or else... You might think using words like “oppressed” and “exploited” sounds a bit dramatic but they’re the first words that come to mind when thinking about that year. As for other employers? I’ve been in Shanghai for about 36 months; I’ve worked for and known others who work for many other companies and let me tell you now: Cheery is horrible. I’ll mention companies I’ve had positive experiences with (almost all the others I’ve worked for) below.

I want to also point out that I’d been teaching for a few years before I started there and I take/took the job seriously. I never took a day of, I wasn’t late for a single class, I never complained about things I didn’t like (I’ll explain why in a sec), I never received any complaints about my work and knowing that I’d need a Letter of Recommendation when my contract ended (for visa purposes), I endeavoured to make sure that my relationship with the company was good. I honestly couldn’t think of any reason for them to treat me so badly or to have had any complaints about me (I even asked Sally this when I was trying to get my Release Letter; she smiled, said “hm...” and then silence). But let me complain about them.

Firstly, I’ll lay out the positives: well, actually, the positives are really just that they do fulfil their least obligations. They mostly pay on time, they provide you with a book to teach the class and a rudimentary schedule which is often littered with mistakes. When you read reviews on other similar establishments to Cheery, you’ll find all kinds of complaints but most are fairly petty; these are the sorts of things that you’ll have to deal with at most of these places and I won’t waste time going over every single little thing – there are plenty, but on the whole, the actual work environments weren’t bad.

I am, however, speaking from my own experience; some of the less-favoured teachers during my time did indeed confront some serious difficulties regarding schedules and payments. Several were effectively forced out by being sent to worse and worse schools, distances, etc, some were fired (possibly one or two of the above posters) but most simply had enough and left. At least 9 full-time teachers left during my year (of about 15 when I arrived) and each one of them (and apparently a few who left prior) left on bad terms. Several had to call for legal help in order to obtain payments and Release Forms, etc. I’m not lying; as I said, this is meant to be a warning: Cheery is horrible.

But my main complaints revolve around my visa. Cheery isn’t authorised to provide working visas (or at least, not more than a few) and this seemed to cause problems for me and many others. But let me say first that, to those of you who don’t know, when you finish a job/contract (teaching, at least) in China, you need a Release Form and you often need a Recommendation Letter in order for your next company to be able to get you a visa. I knew this all the while and although I wanted to leave after no more than a few weeks, I’d seen the trouble others had and was simply intimidated into deciding to lay back, take it, finish my contract and hope they’d treat me with some respect. They didn’t. The next few paragraphs may be a little boring but visas are important here and this is how they handled mine.

When I signed, they got to work on my visa application. The summer holidays came (during which there is no work and hence you don’t get any money) and since there was no work, called them every few weeks to remind them about my application. I eventually found that the woman in charge had quit and the new girl had let the application lapse. I was furious but to her credit, she managed to get it re-instated. However after this, I had to go back to Hong Kong again to complete it. They said they’d pay for the air ticket at the end of my contract but they didn’t. I’d been working there for 5 months by this stage (the contract says visa within 60 days – one of many contract breaches). I don’t think this is normal and I believe it’s something to do with the fact that they do the visas through an agent.

When the visa was done, I noticed that it was only for three months. This meant that the visa expired in Jan but I was contracted ‘till July. “What’s with this?” I asked. They said when it expired they’d get me a new one.

As that day approached, I called them many times to ask if there was anything I needed to do and how it was going. With a day or two left, they informed me that due to this and that they couldn’t get my new visa yet. I had to go to PuDong and get my own tourist extension, completely independent of them then they’d continue applying for my work visa. This was a hassle though because they had several forms I needed and weren’t going to put themselves out to get them to me. But I got the tourist visa, gave it and my forms back to them so they could get the work visa before it expired. They didn’t. The tourist visa expired a few days before they got the work visa application in and I had to go to the police for an official warning letter. If I over-stay a visa again, I’ll be in serious trouble and it was entirely their fault.

You might think it sounds like I mustn’t have been an employee that they were very keen to keep. But as I said, I doubt that was true and they certainly never gave me any other indication. But here’s the thing: they did finally successfully apply and the new work visa I received was valid until 7 months after my contract finished. When my contract did finish, they insisted that I re-sign because my work visa was with them and I couldn’t work for anyone else (bull...., of course) and that I’d have a very hard time finding a new job on account of this visa, blah blah blah.

So yeah, after all that, they had the gall to try to blackmail me into re-signing with them. I hence have to wonder if the 8-month delay on the visa was deliberate. I don’t know, but I didn’t re-sign and that was enough to piss them off and make my exit from the company maybe the least pleasant part of all. Moving to a new company is very simple but not with Cheery. I finished my contract, but getting the forms I needed from them was the most difficult and unpleasant part; yes they sure made it hard. In the end, about 6 months after I left, someone from my new company had to go there and threaten to call the immigration board and as I said, I know I’m not the first person who had these troubles. In fact, I think everybody who has left has had them. Cheery is horrible.

As I begin to wrap up, I’ll try to detail what I learned about the two women who you’ll have to deal with most if you work for them. I dunno what the rules are on this site, but just in case I won’t use their names.

The more senior one will smile and say “yes, aha, yes sure...” but her attitude seems to be as I described at the beginning. When you see how badly the company runs, you’ll think she must have trouble tying her shoes, but get talking to her – raise something with her if you dare – and you’ll find that this isn’t true. She doesn’t hesitate or stumble with her answers: You ask a question and bang, she’s answered it. She’s sharp and this makes her even worse. The treatment you’ll receive isn’t due to ineptness or incompetence; I honestly believe it’s all a deliberate, cunning, vindictive ploy to keep you under her heel. She doesn’t seem to like foreigners (anybody?) and having to deal with her will most often result in a loss to you. I’m not trying to dramatise; she’s horrible.

The other one is simply a revolting person, imo. Her attitude seems to be that all under her supervision are her enemies. I was as pleasant as I could stand to be to her but her true colours came out after my contract ended and I was trying to get my Release Form. Although I can’t recall having done anything to upset her, she insisted on treating me as some piece of filth who has outrageous demands which she has decided to just ignore. I’d call her and she’d just mumble “no... I don’t know... no we won’t do that...I have to ask Sally” and hang up. She simply refused to be reasonable and all I can conclude is this: She. Is. Horrible.

So there you go. This is an essay that’s been a year in the making and I must reiterate that this is not baseless hate-speech; this is a genuine warning about a company which, in my experience in Shanghai, is on another level of unpleasantness from any other. If I’ve dissuaded you from taking a job with them, I’ve done you a service. They deserve to go broke and I’m not afraid to say I won’t be upset if they do.

But speaking of others, I said I’d mention some good ones: Longman, K&H, CTV english and New Wave are training centres which I’ve worked either full or part time for and my complaints about each are minimal to non-existent. Each handles visas well, pays on time, etc. I know people who have/do work for PaciCan, Corneil and one more I can’t remember the name of (Pan America or Pan Pacific? I can’t remember). They are often complained about but I think most of the complaints are pretty petty and normal. I’ll try to check this thread regularly and I’ll reply to any questions or comments.