As a former contractor with this organization I have taken the liberty to share my experiences with anyone possibly considering working for this person. I contracted with his organization for a few months earlier in 2013 representing a well respect medical device line. The scenario of how I arrived at Bluegrass Medical was shortly after Michael Bennett lost his contract with another well respected device line that married well with the one I represented for him. At the point of losing this medical device line several of his representatives had to choose to either stay with his organization representing the one line he still had or move the new distributor who acquaired the line he lost.
An acquaintance of mine mentioned this opportunity to me and asked if I would like to take it on with other products I was selling. As familiar and well respected as this line is I jumped all over it. Within a few days I was meeting with Michael to discuss moving forward and this was one of the three times I ever met with him face to face. Immediately after this meeting I began training with the former rep to take over and effective March 1st I was the new representative for this territory.
At the end of April, Michael notified me (via email) that this company I was representing with him decided to part ways. During these two months of representing the line and the month prior during training rarely did I ever have any contact with Michael other then simple text or phone calls. Never once did he ever come out in the field with me or attend any of the meetings with surgeons I was converting. At one point I needed help and found out that he was on vacation with his family and he never notified me. During my whole time working for Bluegrass Medical nothing was typical of any other medical device distributor I have worked for and overall I feel that he is a very lazy individual. Most of my communication was either texts and emails usually after unanswered phone calls.
During this short period of time that I worked for Michael the previous rep in my territory contacted me telling me that he still had not received his pay for his last months work and asked if I could help touch base with him to get him paid. After a few weeks he finally paid him what he owed him. At this time I was also forming my LLC per Michaels request for pay reasons as he does not write checks to individuals as 1099s but rather directly to an LLC with an EIN. At this point he was already a month behind on paying me. To this day that I am writing this blog I have not received one dimes worth of compensation for the cases I covered under Michael Bennett/Bluegrass Medical's clock.
Two great excuses of why Micheal has not paid me and I have corrected him on both:
1. I promoted the sale of product at an educational organization that Michael told me was approved an approved facility for this vendor. I was notified by the organization that it was not approved and that they would not pay it. I worked directly with the vendor to clear this order up so it would not be taken out of our commissions however Michael told me it was taken out of his check and that he could not pay me. I verifed this deal was cleared, he was paid and made him aware that I knew he was lying.
2. As he has done with former reps in the past as well as myself when he loses a line he claims that the vendor has not paid him and he cannot pay us. I guess that would be a good excuse in some cases however this vendor asked me to stay on board with the new distributor and I have learned since then directly from the vendor that Michael Bennet/Bluegrass Medical has been paid on 100% of all the work performed for him.
I have also given Michael fair warning to compensate me for what he owed me or I would publish this blog about his reputation in the field. His response was that he would publish a blog about me and the former vendor I represented under his watch. I hope he writes how he has made money off me for free with my time, travel, and expenses I am still out!
Since Bluegrass Medical lost the contract we have maintained a decent relationship until early September when I warned him about my intentions to create this blog. During this time Michael has tried to get me to come on board with him and potentially represent two companies he has claimed his company is picking up. However I have remained reluctant to work for him since I have not been paid for past services. Michael is always full of excuses for not paying his reps. He has claimed that the device line has not paid him, however I still represent this line with the new distributor and have verified that he has been paid 100% for all the services that I have performed for his organization.
If you are a potential vendor or representative who is considering a business relationship with Michael Bennett of Bluegrass Medical, please consider this a very fair warning. Take my experience into consideration before making a decision as well as the others whom are posting their experiences on this blog.
Keywords: Micheal Bennett, Bluegrass Medical, Louisville, KY.
