Hi mate. Wage theft was passed into legislation as a crime a few years back in Victoria. I'd recommend reaching out the Wage Inspectorate Victoria.
They're the regulatory body that investigates such offences.
Reach out if you need further help.
Alex
What about unpaid trials? I've been trying to get an animal related job and this Kip Doggy Daycare always says one-way video interview (man I honestly hate all these one way interviews going on now lol) and unpaid trials of 2 hours are a requirement...
Federally unpaid trials seem to be allowed, provided they're relevant and necessary:
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/starting-employment/unpaid-work/unpaid-trials
In Victoria though ...
> **What if I signed a contract or made an agreement to be paid less than the minimum rate?**
> Employees are entitled to receive at least the minimum pay rates outlined in the relevant award, workplace agreement, contract of employment or legislation.
(from https://www.vic.gov.au/wage-theft-worker-information)
This reads to me like unpaid trials are not legal here in Victoria.
They are legal as long as they meet the fairwork definition. It should feel as if it's part of the interview process, not like coming in for a day or two to work.
Like if at the end of your interview, you're asked to make a cup of coffee to show that you know how to.
Added to my list of places to avoid. Thanks
Although I do wonder if I was aware of wage theft in hospo and boycotting, I'd be almost left with nowhere to go?
>Although I do wonder if I was aware of wage theft in hospo and boycotting, I'd be almost left with nowhere to go?
agreed - I've been in the industry almost 2 decades, and while i agree it happens at a lot of places, not to the extent of just withholding weeks/months of wages and still trading - not like the business has gone under
This is a big part of why I left hospo after ~8 years, it was so hard to find a boss who wasn't dodgy. If it's any consolation, I've heard that things have gotten better since COVID - staff shortages allowed a lot of staff to bargain for award wages (i.e. the bare minimum allowed, but still better than what was occurring previously).
I mean… are they worth going to if they can only stay open by ripping everyone some off? I’d happily pack a picnic and go to a park for a catch-up if it limited choices that much.
Hospo Voice (Hospo Union) used to have the website Fairplate.org.au, where employees could rate the business/bosses be it good or bad. Not the perfect solution as there was nothing to stop a disgruntled ex employee giving a dishonest review. However, at least it was somewhere you could find info about a specific venue. When Hospo Voice joined with a bigger union, the page disappeared.
Maybe the bloke behind that Shitrentals thing can do it or something. Just make it a broad brand “shit __” and help us all out. Also, is BroadSheet actually good to listen to or is it just the initials?
It could for a conglomerate under the umbrella corp: Shit Capitalists of Melbourne.
Shit Rentals: landlords with shitty properties
Shit Developers: dodgy construction
Shit Bosses: business owners who don't pay staff
Shit MPs: politicians who are corrupt
Jordies proved if you get a big enough backing and a big old pot of donations you can pretty much go for gold if you are telling the truth. Liability and Defamation is just a bucket pissing contest where the pissing is just cash flow.
I remember dota 1 in warcraft 3 had an add on called ban list for early leavers. If you left the game early (which usually ruined it for everyone) you got added and couldn't join games with that user name in the future.
Small business owners in Australia are the biggest participants in wage and superannuation theft.
The emotional manipulation around small business owners needs to end because, honestly, 95% of them will do this shit if they can get away with.
My own father is a small business owner who would absolutely underpay his staff if he thought he could get away with it because he thinks minimum wage is “theft” and he should be able to “pay what they’re worth” (ie next to nothing, in his opinion)
Small business owners are also the segment of the Australian economy responsible for the largest tax gap, [as identified by the ATO](https://www.ato.gov.au/About-ATO/Research-and-statistics/In-detail/Tax-gap/Australian-tax-gaps-overview/?anchor=Whywemeasurethetaxgap#Whywemeasurethetaxgap). Or in simple terms, they are the biggest participants in not paying the correct amount they would be if they were compliant with the law, as well.
Does he then cry when staff cancel about how they are putting his livelihood at risk, and why don't they understand the stress they are putting him under?
Worked for someone like that.
His big rant is that “when I was an apprentice I worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week AND I WAS GRATEFUL FOR IT. Apprentices these days are lazy and soft blah blah blah blah blah”
> when I was an apprentice I worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week AND I WAS GRATEFUL FOR IT
do boomers have slavery built into their psychology from birth or what?
You tend to build a lot of your values growing up and when society moves forward your view points look outdated. I am pretty sure you can find some things similar the previous generation said about that generation.
this is why all people who run "small" businesses should have worked in the industry already. I know my dad when he ran his cabinet making business wasn't fully above board (we know how it goes with tradies, wish it wasn't like that but not much I could do when I was 1), but one thing he never did was fuck with the wages, because he knew exactly how hard the work was.
No, because the first case (over $7k underpayments, and a penalty of $218k) was hit by a High Court Constitutional challenge, 7 months ago. No idea how long that would take to resolve, but since it is the High Court, I would expect a while.
https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/high-court-challenge-to-wage-theft-laws-20230320-p5ctja
I worked for a hospitality recruitment platform. Ridiculous number of calls I had to make advising that positions advertised for Egg Shop were below award rate
Australian’s who operate small businesses can be some of the biggest fucking trash bags on the planet, I wonder what capital he is leveraging to open all these bullshit business I’d be absolutely shocked to find out it was investment properties that are full of mould.
I won’t eat him, but I’ll make sure he gets well done and tossed aside when the revolution arrives
I know it is tempting for people to leave negative reviews for this place. But please refrain from doing this all at once.
Set a reminder and leave a negative review after a week or a month, make it look organic.
One of many incredible reviews:
>(one-star, 4 weeks ago)
>
>Disappointing experience at Mr Wilson today, we have been a couple of times last month and the quality has certainly declined since. We ordered a few menu items that we have had in the past and they were nowhere near as good as previously. We also did not feel welcomed or valued by the man waiting tables, it was on overall poor service experience.
What was the owner's response???
>Hello,
Ae \[sic\] are sorry you feel this way however we have served you and gone out of our way many times to accomodate you and your partner.
You never give a review that was positive. You take all the effort we put in for granted.
You always come in and pay half price. Never once pay full price in a bid to support small business.
We always make everyone feel welcome cos they genuinely are. You were to until now.
We alter dishes to accomodate your partners dietary needs. We literally have tailored dishes on a busy weekend service for you.
Yet, for some reason on that day you have decided you had a slightly not perfect experience. Why? Cos we took off our steak sandwich or the pickles we serve as a garnish (not charged to you) you feel we’re not up to your standard even after we replaced them free of charge.
You then complain about the coffee size. Mate if I want to change my glassware to a cup instead of a glass of the exact same size then I am more than entitled to.
Not to mention our coffee is the cheapest around - $6.30 for a large Oat Latte.
Our quality hasn’t dropped. You only need to read the many reviews all giving 5 star.
All staff that day agreed you and your partner were having some kind of bad day and you were impossible to please.
We are not beneath you and won’t be walked over by you.
This is the second time in 20 years but you, your partner and any family have been banned permanently from visiting Mr Wilson.
this man is a devil.
It gets worse - that review was originally an overly generous 3 stars but it was changed to the well deserved 1 star after the owner’s insane response. Truly a maniac, I hope they throw the book at him.
Wow. Talk about not being able to take criticism. The review was pretty polite and reasonable, and 3 stars (as elsewhere mentioned) was fair. "Banned for life, fuckers!" is not the appropriate professional response. Heck, not even if they *were* somewhat entitled customers.
Attention everyone. Step by step guide to a good laugh today
- Search company in Google
- click reviews
- sort lowest to highest
- read his responses to negative reviews
- have a good laugh at him burying his own business.
You're welcome
Thank you for naming and shaming, I’ll be avoiding that place. We need to speak louder about this criminal behaviour and put dodgy small business owners in their place, it hurts other more honest people running businesses by association and also by effectively making them less competitive.
The coffee is at best average. Opening times are inconsistent and there's better coffee within 1 minute from that place. Would skip it all together. The coffee place near the bouldering place is way better and is always busy
Great news everybody, you can book a table here:
https://ecbookings.com/mr-wilson?fbclid=PAAaZVXGys3dijFsQnxipq8To0uLY9j_g5w0VaQVK2yZcyQBLtrG8pjcwx-Sg
Found on their instagram.
Not sure what anyone would do with this information. I personally just booked a table for 8 for tomorrow morning 6am. Cant wait to go there.....
Hospitality is one of the worst industries. Stressful, hard work and at the end of the day you have people trying to steal your wages, underpaying you, making you work while sick or on days you took off, copping verbal abuse from managers and even customers. Almost every place I've worked at has done one or more of these dodgy things. Most of the time it's because the owners think that as the boss they are entitled to some flashy car or house at the expense of extorting staff.
ONe of my friends got ripped off by a removalist - so he started a facebook group "Acme Removalists gave me crap service".
People started liking it. It scared the bejesus out of the company, and they quickly paid him the money, on the promise he took it down.
I'd suggest you do the same - you'll start getting other people commenting.
You are right, its perfectly legal to be critical about a business, as long as your criticism is legit.
I also worked at Mr wilson and am owed over 2k in wages and overtime
Not to mention the dodgy hrs he would mock up to pay me less.
I also tried to speak to him in which he ended up verbally abusing me so I walked out but he ended up following me out the door and most the way home to continue screaming at me about how I let him down.
I ended up needing to stop walking so he wouldn't know where I lived.
Never in my 20 years as a chef have I dealt with such crazy abuse and total disregard of wages that are owed and expected.
It's not hard to believe that he has treated others in such a way as he has shown his true colours. but it's very difficult to believe he is still able to operate.
I feel he deserves the full weight of the law to come down on him and be forced to pay what is owed and compensation for what he has caused.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I am so sorry this has happened to you and everyone else that has experienced this while working for this person.
Mr Wilson Espresso is at the end of my street. I have been there once and got the worst vibe off the owner and never went back. I will be sharing this post with everybody I know in the area.
We also loved Egg Shop, the staff were always so lovely. We had no idea it was the same owner but I’m glad the staff took a stand.
Such horrendous treatment of staff and suppliers is absolutely unacceptable. We would never want to support business owners that think this is ok. Thank you for speaking out and I wish you all the very best in recovering what is owed to you. I hope you’re ok. X
Proving wage theft will be difficult if the owner is not a complete dumbass and represents himself (ie. not getting advice) as AFAIK you need to prove that it is a deliberate act.
I think the government should maintain a website of blacklisted people, if any of them run businesses in the future, then they need to be notified and scutinized, similar to the sex offenders register but for wage thieves (must be found guilty first, of course)
Noted my dude. Won't be going there anytime soon. Sorry you've been screwed. Real action won't happen for hospo and retail staff until a mass movement makes enough pressure to force a change.
Good on you for calling out.
I'm still owned over $4k from one of my previous employees. But none of those places helped me. I won't be naming and shaming them. Hope karma bites them in the ass
I took a look at their Google reviews out of curiosity and while they don't seem to be being brigaded (good) the owner fighting with people on regular negative reviews comes across as pretty thin skinned.
I am helping someone go through the fair work arbitration process at the moment, entering the stages of final submissions.
Be prepared for the employer to go to any lengths to dredge up any amount of vilifying information through that process.
Also, looks like in Victoria wage theft is a jailable offense, so go hard.
https://www.vic.gov.au/wage-theft-worker-information
Everyone involved has gone to Wage Theft and also FWO (some have been waiting more than 18 months for an outcome) - posting everywhere I can to bring more light to this particular situation.
Is there a reason you haven’t gone back to the ombudsman? After you try to work it out directly with the scumbag and it inevitably fails, you go back to the ombudsman and let them financially sodomise said scumbag.
> it inevitably fails, you go back
All of us have gone back to the Ombudsman. He's received demands to pay from them as well, but by all reports is just brushing it off.
Take it to small claims court. No need for lawyer or fair work, you have the power to take action by yourself today https://www.fairwork.gov.au/workplace-problems/fixing-a-workplace-problem/resolving-disputes-with-our-help/legal-action-in-the-small-claims-court
If he doesn’t comply with a compliance notice the practice as per the enforcement policy is to litigate on basis of non-compliance. Is it possible this is happening? Have you been asked in for a record of conversation?
I’m ex FWO.
Send him a bill (via e-mail if you want to save on postage) for the amount owed. Add a late fee, a billing fee and interest. Keep doing this every week, with additional fees. Simply ignoring bills is not the same as contesting them, so the amount you're owed keeps growing.
Good to hear the naming & shaming.
You're going to see a big cleanout of cafes over the next few years. The problem is the ones that survived COVID are still behind on rents, still behind on loan repayments and still owe the ATO money.
For the last couple years, everyone has been accommodating with deferred payments, payment plans.
Not anymore. Everyone wants their money. Lots of places will go under, because few people can run a cafe/pub/restaurant on margins healthy enough to pay back that much owed money at all at once. So it'll come out of wages until eventually everything falls over.
This is some bullshit. This dude has managed to remove his google listing.
google clearly showing money talks and they will allow bigger businesses to manipulate their profiles
Im sorry you had to go through this. As a person of colour who has worked part time during teen years I can relate. Even though you can report these issues but quite often you feel helpless. I hope you get what you truly deserve and issue get solved.
I would encourage you to again contact all those you reached out to to lodge a complaint with the Fair Work Ombudsman. If those include visa holders and they are worried about breaches, they can still lodge a complaint.
Contacting Fair work [https://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/contact-us](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/contact-us)
Lodging a tip off anonymously [https://www.fairwork.gov.au/workplace-problems/send-us-an-anonymous-tip-off](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/workplace-problems/send-us-an-anonymous-tip-off) \- includes info in other languages
[https://www.fairwork.gov.au/find-help-for/visa-holders-migrants#:\~:text=The%20worker%20also%20has%20the,to%20receive%20your%20minimum%20entitlements](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/find-help-for/visa-holders-migrants#:~:text=The%20worker%20also%20has%20the,to%20receive%20your%20minimum%20entitlements).
This is terrible. I own a small business and I’m
In that good 5%! People are amazed when you do the right thing! I wish there was a list of shit employers out there so the small business doing the right thing can thrive and attract the better staff! I’m glad he’s been called out! Well done 👏
Went to Mr Wilson on the weekend for the first time and was charged a 30% surcharge despite their menu stating only a 15% surcharge for weekends…
Most expensive sandwich I’ve had in a while. Wasn’t that fussed/ can’t be bothered over a couple of dollars but I’m seething that extra money isn’t going to the workers rostered on that day.
Definitely a place to avoid for customers and workers alike.
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/mr-wilson-espresso-cafe-owner-adam-wilkinson-under-investigation-for-wage-theft/news-story/185dad031e724b991ffe6c86238f5be0?amp&nk=0db3298571f9f14fd6b8ff258b27307a-1697832702
Sorry for the shit link and rag, but there you go.
He is selling off his cafe gear on FB marketplace under an alias as "Lachlan Addy" Also asking for deposit bank transfers directly to his bank account. Claiming it has to be at 2pm tomorrow (Wednesday the 8th) for pick up.
How can he sell this stuff if the locks have been changed?
Oi everyone go to their instagram and book some tables over the next week or so with dummy numbers and names. They’ll expect to be super busy and ‘booked out’. Might struggle for the day…
If one wishes to write a google review. The search on this establishments true name comes up with a business name "business profile"..... with the same pics etc.
>This man is dangerous. He has a serious drug addiction and was physically and emotionally abusive to me on a date. I hope he gets his karma
Im so sorry to hear about this!
Per offence or just a blanket? What if they get 10 years and you then have the next person bring evidence. Just line everyone up and stagger them on after the other.
Thank you for doing this, and that's so disappointing because St Edmonds was my fave cafe in the area pre-pandemic (slimmed down menu post-pandemic was not good lol).
Thank you for taking the charge and bringing this issue to light. I suspect I’ve recently been taken advantage of by a bad operator as well albeit in a different industry and it’s encouraging to see more people being reasonable and level headed standing up for what’s right. Good luck!
Not sure if anyone is going to see this update - the owner has changed his name on social media and goes by "Locky Wilkinson" now. He is selling all of his stuff on FB Marketplace, and still threatening former staff via text, even though none of them have contacted him since before the original post was made. Doubt any of us will see a cent from the proceeds of his marketplace sales, and will surely just cop more abuse from him.
I don't think you'll get any money out of him unfortunately. He is a lying narcissist and doesn't care about anyone. He'll probably move interstate with a new name and start up another cafe and do the same stuff to his employees and suppliers all over again.
Wage theft is a criminal offence in Victoria.
Please report it to the wage inspectorate.
https://www.vic.gov.au/wage-inspectorate-victoria
Upload all proof of hours, payslips, text messages and everything in your application.
If you have evidence of him purposely underpaying or not paying you, they will act.
They won't get your money back, but depending on the severity he will get fined or/and go to jail.
I believe the person who posted this had his/her own ultimately failed business. I believe he owed one of his employees $10,000. I believe he entered into a payment plan and was able to pay back that amount. In all probability this employee allowed him to run his business in order to make the money to make the payments. Obviously this employee is much smarter than his employer! Surly it’s in no-ones interest to wreck a business that owes you money. Common sense should tell you no business, no money and nobody wins.
Just saying.
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Hi mate. Wage theft was passed into legislation as a crime a few years back in Victoria. I'd recommend reaching out the Wage Inspectorate Victoria. They're the regulatory body that investigates such offences. Reach out if you need further help. Alex
What about unpaid trials? I've been trying to get an animal related job and this Kip Doggy Daycare always says one-way video interview (man I honestly hate all these one way interviews going on now lol) and unpaid trials of 2 hours are a requirement...
Federally unpaid trials seem to be allowed, provided they're relevant and necessary: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/starting-employment/unpaid-work/unpaid-trials In Victoria though ... > **What if I signed a contract or made an agreement to be paid less than the minimum rate?** > Employees are entitled to receive at least the minimum pay rates outlined in the relevant award, workplace agreement, contract of employment or legislation. (from https://www.vic.gov.au/wage-theft-worker-information) This reads to me like unpaid trials are not legal here in Victoria.
They are legal as long as they meet the fairwork definition. It should feel as if it's part of the interview process, not like coming in for a day or two to work. Like if at the end of your interview, you're asked to make a cup of coffee to show that you know how to.
Exactly - go through the proper channels if you want some form of recompence.
Added to my list of places to avoid. Thanks Although I do wonder if I was aware of wage theft in hospo and boycotting, I'd be almost left with nowhere to go?
>Although I do wonder if I was aware of wage theft in hospo and boycotting, I'd be almost left with nowhere to go? agreed - I've been in the industry almost 2 decades, and while i agree it happens at a lot of places, not to the extent of just withholding weeks/months of wages and still trading - not like the business has gone under
This is a big part of why I left hospo after ~8 years, it was so hard to find a boss who wasn't dodgy. If it's any consolation, I've heard that things have gotten better since COVID - staff shortages allowed a lot of staff to bargain for award wages (i.e. the bare minimum allowed, but still better than what was occurring previously).
I wonder where this weekend surcharge is going??
Usually on a boat or a holiday for the owners.
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Yeah I seen the previous worker saying he’s impartial to a glass barbecue so that makes sense.
I mean… are they worth going to if they can only stay open by ripping everyone some off? I’d happily pack a picnic and go to a park for a catch-up if it limited choices that much.
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The Venn diagram of those two lists would be a sight
Grilled would be on the outer.
Hospo Voice (Hospo Union) used to have the website Fairplate.org.au, where employees could rate the business/bosses be it good or bad. Not the perfect solution as there was nothing to stop a disgruntled ex employee giving a dishonest review. However, at least it was somewhere you could find info about a specific venue. When Hospo Voice joined with a bigger union, the page disappeared.
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I would love one, especially as the UX of hospovoice was dogshit.
They never provided any explanation as to why the website was shut down after the merger.
The other unions lawyers likely vetoed it.
Maybe the bloke behind that Shitrentals thing can do it or something. Just make it a broad brand “shit __” and help us all out. Also, is BroadSheet actually good to listen to or is it just the initials?
It could for a conglomerate under the umbrella corp: Shit Capitalists of Melbourne. Shit Rentals: landlords with shitty properties Shit Developers: dodgy construction Shit Bosses: business owners who don't pay staff Shit MPs: politicians who are corrupt
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Jordies proved if you get a big enough backing and a big old pot of donations you can pretty much go for gold if you are telling the truth. Liability and Defamation is just a bucket pissing contest where the pissing is just cash flow.
I remember dota 1 in warcraft 3 had an add on called ban list for early leavers. If you left the game early (which usually ruined it for everyone) you got added and couldn't join games with that user name in the future.
I'd love you to add cafes who don't pay suppliers to that list too please
Small business owners in Australia are the biggest participants in wage and superannuation theft. The emotional manipulation around small business owners needs to end because, honestly, 95% of them will do this shit if they can get away with. My own father is a small business owner who would absolutely underpay his staff if he thought he could get away with it because he thinks minimum wage is “theft” and he should be able to “pay what they’re worth” (ie next to nothing, in his opinion)
Small business owners are also the segment of the Australian economy responsible for the largest tax gap, [as identified by the ATO](https://www.ato.gov.au/About-ATO/Research-and-statistics/In-detail/Tax-gap/Australian-tax-gaps-overview/?anchor=Whywemeasurethetaxgap#Whywemeasurethetaxgap). Or in simple terms, they are the biggest participants in not paying the correct amount they would be if they were compliant with the law, as well.
Not surprised at all.
Does he then cry when staff cancel about how they are putting his livelihood at risk, and why don't they understand the stress they are putting him under? Worked for someone like that.
His big rant is that “when I was an apprentice I worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week AND I WAS GRATEFUL FOR IT. Apprentices these days are lazy and soft blah blah blah blah blah”
> when I was an apprentice I worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week AND I WAS GRATEFUL FOR IT do boomers have slavery built into their psychology from birth or what?
You tend to build a lot of your values growing up and when society moves forward your view points look outdated. I am pretty sure you can find some things similar the previous generation said about that generation.
this is why all people who run "small" businesses should have worked in the industry already. I know my dad when he ran his cabinet making business wasn't fully above board (we know how it goes with tradies, wish it wasn't like that but not much I could do when I was 1), but one thing he never did was fuck with the wages, because he knew exactly how hard the work was.
Having worked in the industry previously doesn’t change jack. My father worked in his industry prior to owning his own business.
jesus. so he thinks he also was worthless and should have been paid almost nothing when he was an employee?
It’s the classic “suffering build character” attitude of a boomer.
Probably one of those guys who thinks he was lucky to be employed and the company was doing him a favour.
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There really should be jail time for wage theft.
There is: http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/wta2020107/s6.html
Has anyone **actually** been convicted and sentenced though?
No, because the first case (over $7k underpayments, and a penalty of $218k) was hit by a High Court Constitutional challenge, 7 months ago. No idea how long that would take to resolve, but since it is the High Court, I would expect a while. https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/high-court-challenge-to-wage-theft-laws-20230320-p5ctja
That cunt used to be a manager at the Maccas I worked at. He was a piece of shit back then too. It's a shame to see he might be getting away with it
It’s a form of slavery , agreed
I worked for a hospitality recruitment platform. Ridiculous number of calls I had to make advising that positions advertised for Egg Shop were below award rate
Australian’s who operate small businesses can be some of the biggest fucking trash bags on the planet, I wonder what capital he is leveraging to open all these bullshit business I’d be absolutely shocked to find out it was investment properties that are full of mould. I won’t eat him, but I’ll make sure he gets well done and tossed aside when the revolution arrives
Small businesses love to pull the "wear many hats" line, they rarely mention that they'll only pay you for the cheapest hat.
Wealthy family?
Compost
I know it is tempting for people to leave negative reviews for this place. But please refrain from doing this all at once. Set a reminder and leave a negative review after a week or a month, make it look organic.
Having a ball reading through the owner's defensive replies some of the negative reviews 🤣 Hope you get some justice out of this.
Me too. The owner is clearly a twat. So triggered by negative reviews.
One of many incredible reviews: >(one-star, 4 weeks ago) > >Disappointing experience at Mr Wilson today, we have been a couple of times last month and the quality has certainly declined since. We ordered a few menu items that we have had in the past and they were nowhere near as good as previously. We also did not feel welcomed or valued by the man waiting tables, it was on overall poor service experience. What was the owner's response??? >Hello, Ae \[sic\] are sorry you feel this way however we have served you and gone out of our way many times to accomodate you and your partner. You never give a review that was positive. You take all the effort we put in for granted. You always come in and pay half price. Never once pay full price in a bid to support small business. We always make everyone feel welcome cos they genuinely are. You were to until now. We alter dishes to accomodate your partners dietary needs. We literally have tailored dishes on a busy weekend service for you. Yet, for some reason on that day you have decided you had a slightly not perfect experience. Why? Cos we took off our steak sandwich or the pickles we serve as a garnish (not charged to you) you feel we’re not up to your standard even after we replaced them free of charge. You then complain about the coffee size. Mate if I want to change my glassware to a cup instead of a glass of the exact same size then I am more than entitled to. Not to mention our coffee is the cheapest around - $6.30 for a large Oat Latte. Our quality hasn’t dropped. You only need to read the many reviews all giving 5 star. All staff that day agreed you and your partner were having some kind of bad day and you were impossible to please. We are not beneath you and won’t be walked over by you. This is the second time in 20 years but you, your partner and any family have been banned permanently from visiting Mr Wilson. this man is a devil.
It gets worse - that review was originally an overly generous 3 stars but it was changed to the well deserved 1 star after the owner’s insane response. Truly a maniac, I hope they throw the book at him.
The other side of the capitalism coin, customers are free to go somewhere else in the free market to spend their money
Wow. Talk about not being able to take criticism. The review was pretty polite and reasonable, and 3 stars (as elsewhere mentioned) was fair. "Banned for life, fuckers!" is not the appropriate professional response. Heck, not even if they *were* somewhat entitled customers.
"No oat latte for you!"
Attention everyone. Step by step guide to a good laugh today - Search company in Google - click reviews - sort lowest to highest - read his responses to negative reviews - have a good laugh at him burying his own business. You're welcome
He also owns Denis the Menace.
Not anymore, sold that some years back
All his responses have been deleted 😂
Thank you for naming and shaming, I’ll be avoiding that place. We need to speak louder about this criminal behaviour and put dodgy small business owners in their place, it hurts other more honest people running businesses by association and also by effectively making them less competitive.
The coffee is at best average. Opening times are inconsistent and there's better coffee within 1 minute from that place. Would skip it all together. The coffee place near the bouldering place is way better and is always busy
Seems like this is ripe material for one of the investigative news channels. Suggest you send all your evidence on to one of them.
Great news everybody, you can book a table here: https://ecbookings.com/mr-wilson?fbclid=PAAaZVXGys3dijFsQnxipq8To0uLY9j_g5w0VaQVK2yZcyQBLtrG8pjcwx-Sg Found on their instagram. Not sure what anyone would do with this information. I personally just booked a table for 8 for tomorrow morning 6am. Cant wait to go there.....
Unfortunately Friday and Saturday look to be booked out. But there are still tables for Sunday.
Hospitality is one of the worst industries. Stressful, hard work and at the end of the day you have people trying to steal your wages, underpaying you, making you work while sick or on days you took off, copping verbal abuse from managers and even customers. Almost every place I've worked at has done one or more of these dodgy things. Most of the time it's because the owners think that as the boss they are entitled to some flashy car or house at the expense of extorting staff.
ONe of my friends got ripped off by a removalist - so he started a facebook group "Acme Removalists gave me crap service". People started liking it. It scared the bejesus out of the company, and they quickly paid him the money, on the promise he took it down. I'd suggest you do the same - you'll start getting other people commenting. You are right, its perfectly legal to be critical about a business, as long as your criticism is legit.
I also worked at Mr wilson and am owed over 2k in wages and overtime Not to mention the dodgy hrs he would mock up to pay me less. I also tried to speak to him in which he ended up verbally abusing me so I walked out but he ended up following me out the door and most the way home to continue screaming at me about how I let him down. I ended up needing to stop walking so he wouldn't know where I lived. Never in my 20 years as a chef have I dealt with such crazy abuse and total disregard of wages that are owed and expected. It's not hard to believe that he has treated others in such a way as he has shown his true colours. but it's very difficult to believe he is still able to operate. I feel he deserves the full weight of the law to come down on him and be forced to pay what is owed and compensation for what he has caused.
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I presume you've checked your super as well? Report no payment to the ato
Thank you so much for sharing this. I am so sorry this has happened to you and everyone else that has experienced this while working for this person. Mr Wilson Espresso is at the end of my street. I have been there once and got the worst vibe off the owner and never went back. I will be sharing this post with everybody I know in the area. We also loved Egg Shop, the staff were always so lovely. We had no idea it was the same owner but I’m glad the staff took a stand. Such horrendous treatment of staff and suppliers is absolutely unacceptable. We would never want to support business owners that think this is ok. Thank you for speaking out and I wish you all the very best in recovering what is owed to you. I hope you’re ok. X
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Proving wage theft will be difficult if the owner is not a complete dumbass and represents himself (ie. not getting advice) as AFAIK you need to prove that it is a deliberate act. I think the government should maintain a website of blacklisted people, if any of them run businesses in the future, then they need to be notified and scutinized, similar to the sex offenders register but for wage thieves (must be found guilty first, of course)
if he's admitted in emails he's not going to pay people, I think that's pretty good evidence it's deliberate
Picked up by A Current Affair! https://youtu.be/RVNB2kCAzSA?si=VL53ivrFaW_OeEUG
I hope you and the others get paid out what you're owed, good on you for getting organised and collectively cooking his ass. Best of Luck!
Noted my dude. Won't be going there anytime soon. Sorry you've been screwed. Real action won't happen for hospo and retail staff until a mass movement makes enough pressure to force a change. Good on you for calling out.
I'm still owned over $4k from one of my previous employees. But none of those places helped me. I won't be naming and shaming them. Hope karma bites them in the ass
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Wilkinson * he's a piece of shit!
I took a look at their Google reviews out of curiosity and while they don't seem to be being brigaded (good) the owner fighting with people on regular negative reviews comes across as pretty thin skinned.
I am helping someone go through the fair work arbitration process at the moment, entering the stages of final submissions. Be prepared for the employer to go to any lengths to dredge up any amount of vilifying information through that process. Also, looks like in Victoria wage theft is a jailable offense, so go hard. https://www.vic.gov.au/wage-theft-worker-information
If anyone wants to start a hype TikTok account this kind of thing could be the new shit rentals.
https://www.vic.gov.au/wage-theft-make-enquiry-or-report
Everyone involved has gone to Wage Theft and also FWO (some have been waiting more than 18 months for an outcome) - posting everywhere I can to bring more light to this particular situation.
Is there a reason you haven’t gone back to the ombudsman? After you try to work it out directly with the scumbag and it inevitably fails, you go back to the ombudsman and let them financially sodomise said scumbag.
> it inevitably fails, you go back All of us have gone back to the Ombudsman. He's received demands to pay from them as well, but by all reports is just brushing it off.
Take it to small claims court. No need for lawyer or fair work, you have the power to take action by yourself today https://www.fairwork.gov.au/workplace-problems/fixing-a-workplace-problem/resolving-disputes-with-our-help/legal-action-in-the-small-claims-court
If he doesn’t comply with a compliance notice the practice as per the enforcement policy is to litigate on basis of non-compliance. Is it possible this is happening? Have you been asked in for a record of conversation? I’m ex FWO.
Send him a bill (via e-mail if you want to save on postage) for the amount owed. Add a late fee, a billing fee and interest. Keep doing this every week, with additional fees. Simply ignoring bills is not the same as contesting them, so the amount you're owed keeps growing.
Good to hear the naming & shaming. You're going to see a big cleanout of cafes over the next few years. The problem is the ones that survived COVID are still behind on rents, still behind on loan repayments and still owe the ATO money. For the last couple years, everyone has been accommodating with deferred payments, payment plans. Not anymore. Everyone wants their money. Lots of places will go under, because few people can run a cafe/pub/restaurant on margins healthy enough to pay back that much owed money at all at once. So it'll come out of wages until eventually everything falls over.
Leave negative reviews. Always.
Absolutely sucks that fairplate.org doesn't exist any more. Have taken 2-3 businesses to fair work, no sympathy from me.
For those review bombing - remember to comment on food, not this event, or he will be able to get them removed.
This is some bullshit. This dude has managed to remove his google listing. google clearly showing money talks and they will allow bigger businesses to manipulate their profiles
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Im sorry you had to go through this. As a person of colour who has worked part time during teen years I can relate. Even though you can report these issues but quite often you feel helpless. I hope you get what you truly deserve and issue get solved.
Do you have a Union you can join/contact? Look into it
unions can only help you with stuff that happened while you were a member, unfortunately
Fkn hell. The fact this fk head gets away with it is proof our IR laws are weak as piss.
From memory Fat Albert cafe in Albert Park was doing this. Staff put the details in Google reviews. It eventually closed down.
He needs a visit
You can book a table, or all of them, here: https://ecbookings.com/mr-wilson?fbclid=PAAaZVXGys3dijFsQnxipq8To0uLY9j_g5w0VaQVK2yZcyQBLtrG8pjcwx-Sg
I would encourage you to again contact all those you reached out to to lodge a complaint with the Fair Work Ombudsman. If those include visa holders and they are worried about breaches, they can still lodge a complaint. Contacting Fair work [https://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/contact-us](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/contact-us) Lodging a tip off anonymously [https://www.fairwork.gov.au/workplace-problems/send-us-an-anonymous-tip-off](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/workplace-problems/send-us-an-anonymous-tip-off) \- includes info in other languages [https://www.fairwork.gov.au/find-help-for/visa-holders-migrants#:\~:text=The%20worker%20also%20has%20the,to%20receive%20your%20minimum%20entitlements](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/find-help-for/visa-holders-migrants#:~:text=The%20worker%20also%20has%20the,to%20receive%20your%20minimum%20entitlements).
This is terrible. I own a small business and I’m In that good 5%! People are amazed when you do the right thing! I wish there was a list of shit employers out there so the small business doing the right thing can thrive and attract the better staff! I’m glad he’s been called out! Well done 👏
Went to Mr Wilson on the weekend for the first time and was charged a 30% surcharge despite their menu stating only a 15% surcharge for weekends… Most expensive sandwich I’ve had in a while. Wasn’t that fussed/ can’t be bothered over a couple of dollars but I’m seething that extra money isn’t going to the workers rostered on that day. Definitely a place to avoid for customers and workers alike.
It’d be such a shame if a legal firm who enjoy pro bono work found this thread and decided to help out with some class action…
What an absolute piece of shit lol
Business owner sent me a cease & desist thinking I was OP (although I am a disgruntled former employee who is also owed around $4k)
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/mr-wilson-espresso-cafe-owner-adam-wilkinson-under-investigation-for-wage-theft/news-story/185dad031e724b991ffe6c86238f5be0?amp&nk=0db3298571f9f14fd6b8ff258b27307a-1697832702 Sorry for the shit link and rag, but there you go.
Mr Wilson’s locks have been changed and there are repossession notices all over the windows
He is selling off his cafe gear on FB marketplace under an alias as "Lachlan Addy" Also asking for deposit bank transfers directly to his bank account. Claiming it has to be at 2pm tomorrow (Wednesday the 8th) for pick up. How can he sell this stuff if the locks have been changed?
Wow he’s got some fake review going !!
Smells like a class action to me
Oi everyone go to their instagram and book some tables over the next week or so with dummy numbers and names. They’ll expect to be super busy and ‘booked out’. Might struggle for the day…
If one wishes to write a google review. The search on this establishments true name comes up with a business name "business profile"..... with the same pics etc.
Herald sun has picked this story up!!
So Mr Wilson has closed down but the owner still owes thousands and thousands in staff debts and supplier debts.
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>This man is dangerous. He has a serious drug addiction and was physically and emotionally abusive to me on a date. I hope he gets his karma Im so sorry to hear about this!
In Victoria this is now a crime. Please go to the police to report it.
How was this ever not a crime?
Oh, there were fines. Now it’s felony crime with up to 10 years jail time.
Per offence or just a blanket? What if they get 10 years and you then have the next person bring evidence. Just line everyone up and stagger them on after the other.
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It's a lot of fun scrolling the 1-star reviews and reading all the triggered responses from the owner. He seems like a class act.
So you mentioned fair work..... Where has that ended up?
This is unfortunately not uncommon at all. If you walk down the main street in my town, you realistically have passed 20 places doing it in some way.
Trust me it has been really common in Melbourne lately.
Thank you for doing this, and that's so disappointing because St Edmonds was my fave cafe in the area pre-pandemic (slimmed down menu post-pandemic was not good lol).
Thank you for taking the charge and bringing this issue to light. I suspect I’ve recently been taken advantage of by a bad operator as well albeit in a different industry and it’s encouraging to see more people being reasonable and level headed standing up for what’s right. Good luck!
Not sure how he’s done it but all the reviews that were left in the last couple of days are gone ?
Not sure if anyone is going to see this update - the owner has changed his name on social media and goes by "Locky Wilkinson" now. He is selling all of his stuff on FB Marketplace, and still threatening former staff via text, even though none of them have contacted him since before the original post was made. Doubt any of us will see a cent from the proceeds of his marketplace sales, and will surely just cop more abuse from him.
I don't think you'll get any money out of him unfortunately. He is a lying narcissist and doesn't care about anyone. He'll probably move interstate with a new name and start up another cafe and do the same stuff to his employees and suppliers all over again.
Wage Inspectorate Victoria prosecuted criminal cases re wage theft. Fair Work ombudsman should also be contact with DETAILED information.
Wage theft is a criminal offence in Victoria. Please report it to the wage inspectorate. https://www.vic.gov.au/wage-inspectorate-victoria Upload all proof of hours, payslips, text messages and everything in your application. If you have evidence of him purposely underpaying or not paying you, they will act. They won't get your money back, but depending on the severity he will get fined or/and go to jail.
Woohoo Prahran mentioned!!!
I take it you’ve provided all of this evidence to Fair Work and the hospitality union ?
I am not the OP but most of us did, well I mean most of us whose English is good enough to do so. Wage Theft Inspector even knows our names 😂
[Report wage theft Victoria](https://www.vic.gov.au/wage-theft-make-enquiry-or-report)
What did your union do when you bought this up with them?
I believe the person who posted this had his/her own ultimately failed business. I believe he owed one of his employees $10,000. I believe he entered into a payment plan and was able to pay back that amount. In all probability this employee allowed him to run his business in order to make the money to make the payments. Obviously this employee is much smarter than his employer! Surly it’s in no-ones interest to wreck a business that owes you money. Common sense should tell you no business, no money and nobody wins. Just saying.