Barrister Global Services

[Rick Savoia]

Some techs have reported receiving an e-mail from Barrister Global Services regarding a new "SpeedPay" program to pay techs instead of mailing a check. The terms of this new option include a "fee" or, what some consider a penalty of 20% of the invoice for using this service. It also requires techs to provide bank account information to Barrister in order for them to transfer the payment directly into the bank account.

The terms of this program raises numerous red flags and seems ethically questionable on so many levels but I am currently investigating this to confirm the validity of the e-mail before blogging it. Given Barrister's reputation among service providers and customers alike this sounds shady even for them. For this reason I want to check it out first.

However, there are some things techs who want to do business with Barrister will want to know about the company. If anyone wants to give them sensitive information such as bank account numbers and other data it is only fair to have some information on the company as well.

According to Barrister's web site, the corporate headquarters is located at 42548 Happywoods Drive
Hammond, LA 70401. There is a nice photo of an office building and apparently it is a stock photo because according to the google map embedded on the page the corporate headquarters is actually located in a residential area consisting of single story ranch style homes. If you were expecting a nice corporate building the street view will not impress you.

Barrister claims to be the largest and oldest woman owned IT service company in the United States, however according to this President Employment Agreement the last time I checked John S. Bowers III is President and CEO. According to a report on companypay.com Mr. Bowers became President of Barrister in 2002 and is (or was at the time of the listing) 25 years old. If you are a tech who has done some work for Barrister and has not been paid, you may want to know his annual salary. It is listed on the chart.

If it is a woman-owned company there seems to be no evidence of it in this Stock Purchase Agreement dated November 24, 2003 in which Mr. Bowers purchased 50.5% of Barrister stock for controlling interest in the company. Apparently this was, according to a press release, to settle an outstanding debt. Soon after the company moved from its headquarters in New York to its new home in Louisiana, where Mr. Bowers lived. There is no indication any women moved down there with him.  

I do not know what Barrister's quarterly earnings are currently as I have been unable to locate any SEC filing for the last couple of years. I understand they reorganized after hurricane Katrina in 2005 and perhaps the company went private. However, if you are doing any work with Barrister and are wondering if and when you will be paid, from look of the neighborhood I wouldn't count on it anytime soon.

Update: Whois lists the registrar address as 905 Sams Ave Harahan, LA 70123. This is an industrial warehouse complex.

[Todd Hughes]

"THIS AGREEMENT, executed as of the 15th day of July, 2002, by and between John S. Bowers, III (hereinafter called "Employee") residing at 3414 7th Street, Metairie, Louisiana 70002, and Barrister Global Services Network, Inc., a Delaware corporation, having its office and principal place of business at 290 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, New York 14203, (hereinafter "Barrister") (the "Parties")."

 

[Rick Savoia]

"THIS AGREEMENT, executed as of the 15th day of July, 2002, by and between John S. Bowers, III (hereinafter called "Employee") residing at 3414 7th Street, Metairie, Louisiana 70002, and Barrister Global Services Network, Inc., a Delaware corporation, having its office and principal place of business at 290 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, New York 14203, (hereinafter "Barrister") (the "Parties")."

 

At least it is a real office building. I am sure it was in better condition in 2002.

[jjwinter]

Perhaps Mr. Bowers was a tech, and Barristers owed him for a $45.00 WO. So he settled for 50.5% of their stock instead, and took a loss.

 

[Dave Hendrickson]

Todays Business Week

IT SERVICES
December 30, 2009 1:41 PM ET
Barrister Global Services Network, Inc.
SnapshotPeople
COMPANY OVERVIEW

Barrister Global Services Network, Inc., a computer service company, provides multi-vendor IT services to customers in the commercial, government, and consumer markets in North America. It services equipment, such as desktop, notebook, and multi-media personal computers and peripherals; desktop, network-enabled, and high volume printers; servers and peripherals, data storage systems, network appliances, hubs, switches and routers, Windows NT and NetWare operating systems, and legacy systems; retail systems, including point-of-sale (POS) terminals, flatscreens/monitors, scanners, signature capture and verification devices, receipt printers, in-store processors, kiosks, and plasma monitors; industry-specific systems, such as digital photo capture and storage, retail banking document printing and validation, and financial services automated voice recording systems; and in-home systems. The company also provides contract services, such as maintenance services for in and out-of-warranty equipment, POS maintenance services for retailers, depot repair service, on-site and ad hoc services, technical staff, and preventive maintenance services; per incident services, including on-site hardware repair, next business day service, advantage InstallSM and POSSM pre-packaged services, advantage KioskSM services, technology deployment projects, moves, and adds and changes; and managed help desk services. Barrister Global Services Network was formerly known as Barrister Information Systems Corporation and changed its name to Barrister Global Services Network, Inc. in 2000. The company was founded in 1972 and is based in Hammond, Louisiana.


42548 Happywoods Drive
Hammond, NY 70401
United States
Founded in 1972
97 Employees
Phone:
985-365-0400
Fax:
985-365-0802
www.barrister.com

KEY EXECUTIVES

Mr. John S. Bowers
Chief Executive Officer
Ms. Debra D. Bowers
President and Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Byron M. Cain
Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President
Mr. Russell J. Matuszak
Secretary
Ms. Kathleen M. Ryan
Vice President of Marketing

Here is a good site for more on Barristers

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/barrister-global-services-network-c130986.html?sort=datea&page=1

Unknown if this is true but it was posted there

There is a very long story connected with Barrister Global. It once was located in Buffalo NY and was a very well run corporation. When it was acquired by Debra Bowers, and her son John, it was moved to and merged with their existing operation, Advantage Innovation, which was based in New Orleans LA. Due to their location, they have experienced many storm related issues and that has negatively affected everyone that does business with them. I do not believe there are out and out crooks, but there is no doubt it a very poorly run corporation and they do take advantage of the 'independent contractors' who work for the corp. They have consistently over stepped the boundary between an IC and an employee, which makes them liable for payroll taxes and other costs.

In fact there is a at least one class action suit being prepared, it will be filed in the first quarter of 2010, and hint of a government investigation into their operation. Additionally I know of one 'contractor' that is preparing to file a Federal lawsuit that will ask for punitive damages in the six (6) figures, and they will be adding Barrister's customers as codefendants. I bet that gets settled fast as it could have some serious consequences on Barrister's customer base.

You should consider filing a consumer fraud complaint with your state attorney general, as well as the attorney general of Louisiana. You can get all of the Attorney Generals web addresses and telephone numbers at the following website: http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/stateattorneygenerallist.php

Also, contact your local Better Business Bureau and file a complaint with them. They can not help you to collect what is due you, but your report will help to warn others that Barrister is not treating contractors unfairly.

Oh and here is what the "speed pay" email said.

We recently conducted a survey of our technician base and many technicians requested an option to be paid faster on work completed.

As a result, Barrister is proud to announce our SpeedPay program.
This program will give all technicians, at the time of dispatch, the ability to choose their payment terms – either standard 21 days or 7 days via ACH (excluding Bank Holidays).

***The days between completion and payment start counting once all steps required to close a work order have been completed. These include, but are not limited to:

· Call into Barrister Call center to close call from site.
· Fax/scan and email signed RFS to Barrister for processing.
· Provide return tracking numbers for all cores .
· Return all parts within Barrister stated guidelines.
· Complete any other customer specific instructions as directed by your dispatcher or the RFS.

Please note that ACH payment is only available via the Speedpay program at this time. Barrister anticipates that ACH will be available for standard payment terms in the 3rd quarter of 2010, but that is only an estimate at this time. Without Speedpay, payments will only be sent via US Mail.

In exchange for the 7 day payment, Barrister will withhold 20% of the payment typically made to you.

For example, you accept a $45.00 work order and choose speed pay. Once all work is complete as described above, Barrister will issue an ACH payment to your account 7 days later, excluding bank holidays. This payment will be for $36.00.

If you accepted the same call and chose standard payment terms, your check for $45.00 will be mailed to you 21 days following call completion as described above. This will be sent via US mail only.

These accelerated payment terms are offered as requested by Technicians and to assist with cash flow. These terms can be selected per dispatch, so it can be changed as needed. However, once a work order is dispatched the options cannot be changed.

In order to be eligible for this program, we will need you to log in to your TechWA account and provide us with your bank routing and account number. If you do not have a login for TechWA, please email techwas.signup@barrister.com.

[Dave Hendrickson]

Oh and Barristers is a privately held company.

Back in 2003 it was a publicly traded company and when he got his majority share it was taken private sometime later.

[Dave Hendrickson]

I did find the last SEC filings which was in Dec 2003.

At that time Debra was having John and other stock holders "donate" their shares of stock to her for 50.7% of the total.

So that is where the "Woman Owned" comes from.

BGNK was their stock ticker...no longer exists.

It was a penny stock <$1/share

[Todd Hughes]

"In exchange for the 7 day payment, Barrister will withhold 20% of the payment typically made to you."

So, in 7 days you will receive $0.00 minus 20%?     

[Rick Savoia]

Perhaps Mr. Bowers was a tech, and Barristers owed him for a $45.00 WO. So he settled for 50.5% of their stock instead, and took a loss.

 

LOL! That is just too funny.  

[Rick Savoia]

"In exchange for the 7 day payment, Barrister will withhold 20% of the payment typically made to you."

So, in 7 days you will receive $0.00 minus 20%?     

They could make it even easier and just charge you $10 to run the service call.

[Parrish]

For as long as Barristers has been so horrible- how is it possible they can still conduct business at all?  It's got to be extremely hard for them to find techs to actually do the work which, in turn, means they've got to be losing contracts all the time for failure to perform. 

[Dave Hendrickson]

From what I have read online it is the techs that continue to take the work.
Some were into Barristers for $15K.
Others would continue to do work for them until they finally decided that a few grand was deep enough.

Sorry I cant see letting myself get that deep into a biz that doesnt have AAA rating.

If the class action happens here  in the next 3 months I think we will see some major changes.

[Rick Savoia]

The Barrister blog is now posted. Your comments and feedback are welcome. Barrister to techs: if you want to get paid sooner, you will pay

[Rick Savoia]

I read another blog today about Barrister. Someone posted what is claimed to be an e-mail to techs from Barrister asking them to contribute money to their annual employee holiday party.

I have not idea whether it is legit or not. Here is a link to the web site with the comment.

http://dtcphotography.smugmug.com/Business/Barrister-Global-Services/5650768_2mNEk#347612391_thSLn

Has anyone else received such an e-mail from Barrister?

[Renee]

I read another blog today about Barrister. Someone posted what is claimed to be an e-mail to techs from Barrister asking them to contribute money to their annual employee holiday party.

I have not idea whether it is legit or not. Here is a link to the web site with the comment.

http://dtcphotography.smugmug.com/Business/Barrister-Global-Services/5650768_2mNEk#347612391_thSLn

Has anyone else received such an e-mail from Barrister?

I remember reading a thread about that on OF.  I looked for it but I couldn't find it.