The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have printed nearly identical stories by Justin Norrie that sum up Nova's problems and the delays in paying salaries. Sadly, the press in Japan has failed to take notice. The Japanese media was quick report when Nova staff didn't get paid, but when it comes to the teachers, there's nothing.
With employee salaries unpaid, where is the Nova union in all this? They have fought for the longest time to get teachers enrolled in shakai hoken, but when the teachers need union representation the most, the union is strangely silent. What's going on?
Nova's worst nightmare is now a reality. As of 3pm yesterday, it appears that Nova was unable to pay all of its instructors. A stated:
Regrettably, it has not been possible to complete all the necessary operations to deposit instructors salaries on September 14, 2007. Salaries will be deposited by September 19, 2007. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this causes.
A 17-year old Kanagawa high school girl has filed a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court against Osaka-based Nova demanding the return of 420 thousand yen in lesson fees after after she canceled her contract. Nova gave contradictory explanations and failed to refund the girl's unused lessons fees claiming that they had expired.
According to the lawyer representing the girl, "Many similar lawsuits seeking damages have been filed by ex-students but no judicial ruling has been handed down."
This is a quick and dirty translation of an article in the September issue of FACTA that pretty much writes off Nova. The article pulls no punches taking swipes at Nova's sleazy business practices and the political interference to save Nova.
The bad people who protect Nova
The truth behind the six thousand complaints swept under the carpet
This week's edition of the Toyo Keizai, a business mag along the lines of Forbes or Business Week, has an article that savages Nova portraying it as being run by a man constantly pulling tricks out of his hat to keep the company limping along. It doesn't get any worse than this. Here's a translation of the article.
The end of the road for Nova's business practices as cash flow crunch intensifies
With METI sanction and repeated missed payments, Nova stands at a precipice
According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, Nova is still using its old refund method and ripping off its customers even after the Tokyo metropolitan government warned it to clean up its act.
Under Nova's old refund scheme, unused, expired points were not refundable. When students purchased additional tickets, the expiry date for the tickets was extended, but when a contract was canceled, the new date applied to the newly purchased tickets only and not the tickets that were carried over.
