Dear Friends
I want to share my experience with Satyam that happened to me last year. As you all know, most of the clients here in US have Satyam as their implementation partner for developing and maintaining their software systems. Satyam has managed to acquire a lot of clients and provides various software implementations using their full time employees. If they don't have any employee who can do the job, they contact other vendors who contract other vendors and the list is endless. Well in that way, I was contacted by Satyam for a short term assignment for a big client.
The recruitment process started with Satyam recruitment managers calling me and setting up the interview. They talked really sweet assuring me that it's gonna be a lengthy assignment and so on and after clearing the interview, I went to the client. Everything went fine at the client as I started working trying to implement/support their software systems. As usual, I got the timesheets signed by the client and I faxed them to Satyam and different vendors and to my employer, every week.
The big day arrived when I was expecting my pay check from my employer. I waited endlessly checking my bank account every hour to confirm that I got my paycheck direct deposited into our account. But it was not deposited. I called my employer and he told me that he didn't receive the payment from Satyam.
From then my daily life started rocking. I tried to call the Satyam manager who recruited me for the project. He said "everything is fine, you will get your payment, don't worry". A week went by and I called my employer to ask if he got his payment. Nope not yet. I called the Satyam manager again and he replied with the same answer. This went on for months and I didn't know what to do. Finally, the Satyam manager stopped answering my calls and stopped replying my emails.
I am glad that my assignment was short at the client and got finished in October, 2008. I still haven't received the $3000 that I am supposed to receive. I lost hopes and I would never work for Satyam again. I wonder where that money went; to buy land in Hyderabad or to bribe a politician. I have 2 friends who are working as consultants for Satyam projects but they haven't received a single penny for months. Should they stay in the projects even if they didn't get paid? Being afraid that they won't find any other project, should they keep working and keep hoping that they will get their pay? It's not only Satyam but other vendors too that take the payment and won't give it to the next person. I bet that they are many consultants like me who haven't received their pay yet from Satyam.
To all the folks who are working at clients on Satyam projects who didn't get paid yet, take a decision now. Why did we work so hard to earn our degrees, to work for companies like these who take your money and don't pay you? If you are in a situation like that, feel free to talk to the client and tell them what is happening. Contact your lawyer and try to issue them Legal Notice. Doing so will scare them and you may receive your payment sooner or later. I will be sending Satyam Legal Notice pretty soon and I am hoping for the best. Ramalinga Raju, do you remember the old saying "Parula sommu paamu vantidhi"? Now see what happened to you.
Varun
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The views expressed in the article are the author's and not of greatandhra.com.
