At the start of my interview process Razer seemed like a great place to work in a fast moving and exciting industry. They were on my short list of employers and I was turning down offers and other candidacies in hopes of joining them.
The initial process began quickly with multiple international phone interviews within the first 2 weeks but then faltered as the contact left abruptly; the hiring manager and team members had no clue why communication had stopped. After nearly 2 weeks of not being able to reach anyone from HR or the hiring division I was able to find a contact through their customer-facing e-commerce site. Soon after, I was able to speak to the hiring manager and scheduled an in-person interview to discuss a position that they were creating exclusively for me.
The face-to-face follow-up interview went exceedingly well and I was offered the position on the spot. I made it clear then and in writing after that I intended to join the team once the written offer was sent and agreed upon. Being fully aware of the negative reviews online, I asked the hiring manager if he was aware of the them and what his response was to the bad PR. He reassured me that most were baseless and residual effects of a transition in the Irvine office; ultimately, he trivialized the issue and said that from his perspective he was unaware of the same sentiment in the SF office.
Nearly 1.5 weeks later after constant follow-up, the written offer was received. In the face-to-face interview we had discussed salary and the desire for market value, or near market value. Unfortunately, as other reviews attest to, compensation at Razer is well below market rate and in this case the offer was 40+% below what could be found as a median salary here on Glassdoor.
I agreed to the start date but wanted to negotiate on salary in good faith. Again, I made it clear that I was accepting the offer in principle but wanted to propose a salary negotiation. Because of my strong desire to work at Razer and having turned down other offers during the process and after both verbal and written offers were extended I proposed the following:
a. 10% increase up front (still 30+% below market rate)
b. 2% increase up front with a 6-month performance review with potential to make up to ~18% (still 20+% below market rate)
Both the hiring manager and HR contact responded positively and assured me that my negotiation was reasonable and just needed the CEO to sign off on the counter. After another 1.5 weeks, I finally received a call from the hiring manager.
With no real explanation or reasoning, he RESCINDED THE WRITTEN OFFER claiming that the CEO now wanted the position based overseas. Not based on my counteroffer or any other valid reason, but simply that the CEO had changed his mind.
Obviously disappointed and frustrated with the lack of ethics and morality, I emailed the hiring manager and HR contact asking for a written explanation of the rescinded offer as well as possible restitution, as they were well aware that I was turning down other positions to join them.
Not that I was surprised based on dealing with them for the past 2.5 months, but 2 weeks later the HR contact responded and blatantly lied about the situation claiming that I turned down the offer to work for them. Absolutely ludicrous but by that point I was done with dealing with this unscrupulous company.
While I may have dodged a bullet by not joining Razer, I could not be more disgusted with their practices and management techniques. While looking at legal repercussions I chose to write this review in hopes that potential employees and partners are aware of the dire situation at Razer and their complete lack of ethics. I would hate for someone else to be put in a similar position as I am in so heed my words and the other reviews here!