Yes, it is true....that after many long, drawn out years, this miserable company has finally closed its doors for good. To be honest, it's amazing it lasted this long. With an owner (David Rau) and CEO (Chuck Lang) who obviously don't know the first thing about running a business, this place was driven into the ground by lousy management, poor decision making, and simple greed.
As a school, it was hit or miss. You could end up at one of it's better centers where the instructor and Career Service advisors actually cared about how you ended up, or you could end up at one that was "going through some changes" a.k.a they just fired the staff and are scrambling to train the new people. The turn-over rate at this company was unbelievable. When I started, there were 25 positions equivilant to mine. After two years, only 5 of the original people in those positions were still there. Instead of re-examining the structure of the company, it's training methods, or management, their solution was instead to simply fire people and start over with someone new. And with the ridiculously inflated salaries that they offer under-qualified people, no one would turn down a job like that, especially in this economy. You're hired under the impression that the money is there to be made, so go make it! Then it's only a matter of time until they would cut your bonueses (yes, people were bonused on enrollments, job placements, students certified, etc), cut your salaries, change your hours, increase the cost of benefits, or fired you all together. The management treated people like shit. What's ironic is that their commercials talk about being "disposable" at your job, so come get new training, when in reality, the employees at this company were fully aware of how disposable they really were. Everyone knew that each day could be their last.
While I feel horrible for all of the people who actually worked in the centers that lost their jobs, I am overly joyous that David Rau finally failed. This man not only has a Napoleon complex, but he surrounds himself with people that are equally horrible. His business partner, Jerry Depetris, was let go for sexually harrassing an employee, making threats against her life and job, and sending inappropriate emails to her threatening to share intimate details with the entire company. This man is in his 40's and preys on young women (not to mention he has a record for hitting them as well). Yet, after the woman was also fired, David considered hiring Jerry back, despite all that he did. David sits in his mini-mansion in Tampa, Florida while dozens of people are out of a job now. He knew this was coming, yet he did nothing to help those who were in the field fighting to save the company that he destroyed.
When David first came back into the ComputerTraining.com picture, he would flood the inboxes with emails ranting about how he was taking the whole company on a cruise for New Years, and they could even bring a spouse or friend! He would promise "mystery trips" to those who could enroll the most students, or give away exuberant amounts of money as prizes. Ask those same employees if they've started packing for their cruise yet......
This company has been doomed from the start, because it's sole interest was in making money. At one point, when the CEO was informed that a potential student didn't have a green card (and therefore wasn't eligible for the loan program) his response was, "well, does he have green money?". Greed will get you no where gentlemen.
Again, I'm am terribly sorry for those hard-working individuals who lost their jobs the Monday after Christmas (but rest assure David's cruising around Tampa with his buddies and not a care in the world!). However, I am glad this school has closed, so it can no longer harm students or employees.
While it may not seem like it now folks, please trust that you are far better off without this company in your life. It may not be great timing, but you will find a better job, where you are valued and rewarded appropriately for your hard work. Having a big salary is nice, but being able to sleep at night knowing you're not supporting a greedy bastard is much better.
Best of luck to each of you.