TEFL Scams

In the absence of any further developments or any new businesses for sale, we thought for this month we'd continue on the important theme of internet buying, particularly with reference to Island TEFL and Philip Dunne. 

Now, it is well known that three or four people have lost large amounts of money investing in Island TEFL.  Although our sources are reliable, we, of course, do not know all the details behind the incidents.  However, generally people do not pay large amounts of $20,000 or $30,000 and then behave badly.  It may happen as a one-off freak incident, but when it repeats itself, questions need to be asked.  To us this implies that something may not be quite right with the set up at Island TEFL.

One always has to consider the possibility that any online company is a scam. If you have no physical address for the seller and no way of making him or her accountable in the event of a breakdown, you are taking a huge risk.  This is why we'd like to refer you back to our ground advice.  It is essential that somewhere there is proper registered headquarters for the company.

It may be that a business offer is not a full scam, and that there is some kind of genuine business taking place.   For example, if you do a fantastic job, maybe the seller will decide that he or she wants to continue to work with you and the rewards will be good.  On the other hand, if things go wrong or you come up short in any way, that's when you might suddenly find you lose everything.  It's very easy for someone you were working with online to simply disappear from your life, together with your money.

So please do be very careful with large online transactions and make sure the "company" you are dealing with is fully accountable.

Good luck,
Jill Franklyn

Island TEFL

Looking again at the Island TEFL business currently for sale http://www.businessesforsale.com/thai/Bangkok-Established-English-Teaching-TEFL-Business-For-Sale.aspx we feel it's important to confirm to potential buyers that Island TEFL is not an "established" business.  It is not a registered company in Thailand and nor does it have any permanent premises.  In fact, according to our sources, the current course is being held in a restaurant bar off Soi 8 in Sukhumwit Road. This is typical of the makeshift nature of Island TEFL courses.  So please be aware of this hit and miss, ad hoc set up.

In our opinion, the Island TEFL franchise is worth nothing.  In fact, rather the converse.  Philip Dunne should be paying someone to run his company.  What he really needs is a manager permanently resident in Thailand.  The reason he can't employ a manager is because he needs to register the company first, and that would be your role as the franchisee.  But in view of the importance of what you would be doing, i.e. establishing his company for real, in our view, you would deserve more than mere franchisee status. You would need to be a proper fully fledged partner, with owner's rights, rather than merely being a franchisee who can be terminated almost at whim.

This, of course, is merely our opinion (see Disclaimer), but because of the large sum of money at stake, we do advise extreme caution.  Others before have lost five figure sums to Philip Dunne.  Again, please also read our ground advice.

Be cautious,
Mark Gilchrist