Working at Getfugu — Reviews by Employees

4 years....no problems.

Just finished 4 weeks of contract work...excellent time there. Paid on time, challenging work!!

I can't say this loud enough: The company is a scam run by a swede who rips investors off by taking there money, and rips his employee's off by bouncing paychecks until they quit. Management is rotten to the core; and the president of the company is a thief.

This company is a mess. The employee turnover is beyond belief and almost none of them deserved to be fired - they worked their butts off for that a-hole. Getfugu's leader set insane deadlines, but gave no direction and wouldn't even respond to questions about the project. However, if he didn't like what you did, the verbal abuse and firings start. Expect to work from early in the morning to very late at night 5-7 days a week. Expect almost everything you and anyone else creates to be thrown out with no reason or direction on how to fix it or what they want. Expect no phones except your own mobile phone to use for business calls (many long distance). Expect to be packed into little rooms or overcrowded desks (or many had no desk at all and had to use their own computers on the floor - really).

Don't expect to work there for more that a few weeks (maybe a couple months if you're lucky). Many didn't make it past a day or two. Only a couple have survived for longer.

The insane ruler of this scam of a company can be heard from everywhere in the office most of the day. He's either yelling like you've never heard before (really scary) or laughing as loud as anyone could, usually at the expense of others. The guy is apparently good at raising money, but has zero idea how to run a company. He won't sign off on anything, he won't respond to most questions about what he wants/needs done. He won't fill out a creative brief or work order. He expects people to read his mind and somehow create what he likes (which is nothing - no one could ever please him consistently if at all).

I won't even get into the app they created. It's enough to say that it barely worked (really it didn't work at all most of the time. We used to try it all the time and almost never got the results we'd expect). And many of the features they were touting didn't even exist.

We used to warn every new hire to save their money because longevity did not exist for most. No one expected the company to last as long as it has, but look at its stock... lol.

Also, so many people were hired to do a job, but ended up doing something they had zero experience or knowledge of. Then they would get fired because mister big wouldn't like the results. Imagine what I'm saying in the worst possible way, and you get the idea.

The post that said spoke about them yelling at people, and things like phones were thrown in anger were correct. They also made a habit of coming to employee's right before the end of the day with some huge project that had to be done by the morning. Even if you did stay, which you had no choice, it's was always an impossible job that couldn't be done in that amount of time.

I always felt really bad for the vendors and outside contractors, as they often did not get paid, but had the same ridiculous deadlines.

I know this sounds like sour grapes. But, I can't emphasize enough how bad this company is. It's not just a company with a loud unfair boss. It's a total fraud/scam and no one in charge is trying to run a productive company. They are just burning through employees like crazy to get mostly fake work done to promote a mostly fake product so they can get rich on investors that are sure to loose everything they put in.

I know the leader of this company has been investigated and probably still is being, but how law enforcement has not shut them down and thrown them in jail yet is beyond me. They must be walking a very, very narrow line and somehow getting away with whatever goes over it.

No matter how much money they offer you to work for them, it's not worth it, you may not get paid, and it won't last long.

If you don't think these posts are real or its only one or two upset people, do some searches on the internet for Getfugu and then do some searches for its leader who's initials are CF. Be prepared to be shocked this company is still in business and the leaders aren't in jail.

Getfugu does try to get the negative posts/articles removed on many websites (with some success) and will post fake positive comments (a lot), but you'll soon learn the hell we've been through and what crooks these guys are. The positive reviews on the Getfugu app at the iTunes store we're all fake as well. Only the negatives were real. If you don't believe me, try the app.

This fraudulent and totally shady company does not pay all of its employees.

I was not paid for my last 2 weeks of work here, and they refuse to pay, claiming "they don't have funds."

DO NOT WORK HERE.

Paychecks bounce. Workload unbearable. Carl Freer is insane.

This just in on yahoo finance:

Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.

Bernard Stolar has resigned as our chief executive officer, Derek Norton has resigned as our chief operating officer, Ivan Kozhuharov has resigned as our chief software architect, and Donald Kurz has resigned from the board.

The company disclaims any obligation to update any information or forward looking statements except as required by law.

If this isn't proof that every human being needs to stay away from this company and its founders, then I don't know what is.

I worked for getfugu when they were still known as Media Power Inc. Under their Magitech division. Our only saving grace was the fact that we were in Atlanta and the execs were in NY. We were given tans with impossible deadlines and screamed at on a daily basis. We had 2 senior designers who wouldn't take their crap and fought back, although that usually resulted in a ridiculous screaming match that got us nowhere. Our office did all the 3D work, but the execs knew nothing about what was involved and how we did it. They would just act like they did, and get pissed off when something wasn't done in an hour. We were never paid on time, and the wachovua down the street knew to cash our checks to make sure there was actually money behind them so they wouldn't bounce.
Our health benefits lapsed because they never paid beyond the first month and left some people with debt to their doctors. They also just stopped paying us, but demanded we work overtime saying we'd get paid extra and get stocks, none of which ever happened. Then when we finally all quit and went to the Georgia department of labor to collect unemployment, we found there was no record of us ever working there because while they were taking our taxes out, they were not paying or reporting them to the IRS. My battle with the department of labor lasted 6 months.
We were originally hired to create Augmented Reality games, but by the time we all left, we were making demos and presentations for products that didn't exist, and had no intention of making after they received the investors money.
I know they are doing the same out in LA.

Stay FAR away! It's much more like being a slave than an employee!

GetFugu is an incorporated investment scam that is a replay of what the founders have done in London, New York, Atlanta, and now LA. Google Carl Freer and Rich Jenkins and you will see that these two Swedish scam artists have done this before under different company names. I am one of many contractors who never got their final check (in fact, no contractor has ever got their final check). It was actually a spoken policy from Rich Jenkins to someone in accounting NOT to pay contractors up to date. Now, (03/16/2010), the company is in a miserable state and employees are over 1 month behind in Pay. Carl Freer has siphoned the investments funds into his international accounts and is living rich while all his employees suffer (many who are from India on h1B and student visas, with no where else to turn). Funny that the IRS and FBI have not nailed them for scamming so many people, companies, and even government agencies. BTW their next scam will be in China. So many lawsuits against them that this is their last US venture.

Usually when things look to good to be true... they are. This place looks great at first glance, but after a little digging you will soon find out you're working with criminals? Then, you'll find out you may or may not get paid on time... if at all. It's nerve racking and makes it hard to focus on actually doing the work. Never once did one of the owners or CEOs of this small company ever introduce themselves. The only interaction I had with them was a stern, unprofessional order barked at me. Then when I asked my boss to get me a copy of the contract I signed moments before, she was never able to produce it. It was in the other room, next to the copier... yet I was never given one. Hmmm? Working for Getfugu was a good life lesson. I hope you're able to learn from mine and trust your gut. If you think something might be a red flag, it probably is.

Recommendation: Run, don't walk AWAY from this place!