Quote Originally Posted by scobienz:
If you ask me, you've had a lucky escape. What sort of experience would you have had feeling hard done by - taking a lower salary etc.

No offence, but you company sounds like a bunch of shysters. To admit to you that they can't afford market rates is to virtually say - we're a useless company.

As for the tying you into a contract for two years - totally illegal. Bonded labour was abolished a century or more ago.
Where I'm from, job contracts can include a limited no-compete clauses so you can't take a job in the industry if you sign that.