Bernard Haldane Associates Rip-off Emotionally abused Atlanta Georgia

Alex I fully understand where you are coming from and you were lucky, you cost was only emotional abuse, not financial.

I have two suggestions both of which will save fellow consumers from both emotional and financial abuse and one should help you in your job search.

The ONE thing that Haldane did do for me is to make me create a professional resume (though it was not worth $4,000 ) .

Do go to a professional resume company and get one done, it only cost between $200 to $450. My wife just had one done and I put what Haldane did for me too shame!

The other suggestion is to not stop warning other consumers of your experience with this company. Besides just "word of month", go to the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint so at least there is an additional public record of Haldanes MO.

http://complaints.bbb.org/Welcome.asp

If Haldane really did solicited you from a web site (that is how they got me) that is a potential violation of the FTC and you can report them via their web site below under the Consumer Protection link

http://www.ftc.gov/

and also report them to the National Fraud Information Center / Internet Fraud Watch at

http://www.fraud.org/

Lastly you can report your experience to the State of Georgia, Governors office of Consumer Affairs

http://www2.state.ga.us/GaOCA/ocaforms.htm

.again, individually they probably will not do much for you, but just like all the entries in the Rip Off Report numbers talk.

Below is an article that came out from the Seattle times just a couple of months ago: Note to The Rip Off readers, it mention this web site in the article. and as you can see, these reported business practices are not a result of one or two bad apples in Georgia, Washington, New York or Kansas but clearly a result of a nationally directed, business practice that all Haldane offices seem to participate in.

=================
The Seattle Times

Job Seekers Should Watch Out for Pricey Career Advice

September 22, 2002 6:41pm


Sep. 22--Paula Simon figures her revamped rsum cost her $1,275. It could have been worse.


The former storeowner from Bothell was on the hook for $4,275, the fee she agreed to pay in advance to a career-management firm last November to help her tap the vast "hidden job market."

Ten months and several frustrated phone calls to the firm later, the blunt-talking Simon is still jobless. But she got most of her money back, she says, and she's regained her senses.

"I'm 63 years old. I know that you don't pay up front for a job."

Simon's not the only smart person to be seduced by career services that promise an inside track on unadvertised jobs, which account for more than 70 percent of all openings. State attorneys general offices and consumer Web sites are burning with complaints from dissatisfied clients who say these firms took their money and offered little in return.

The firm Simon dealt with says it has taken steps to prevent a repeat of what she went through.

But as the recession lingers, job seekers may be tempted to plunk down thousands of dollars in advance on career experts in hopes of getting an edge on the competition. A word of caution: You don't always get what you pay for.

Unlike corporate recruiters or outplacement firms, whose fees are paid by employers, these "retail" firms charge the person looking for work.

They're often called career managers, marketers or, more broadly, career counselors, and they offer advice on career direction, interviewing, rsum polishing and networking.

Most career counselors are legitimate, charging $40 to $120 an hour for long-range career planning along with some practical job-hunting advice. They make it clear that they don't find their clients jobs.

The firms drawing complaints, however, are those that require huge up-front payments, ranging from $2,000 to as high as $15,000. Although these, too, say they're not placement agencies, their salespeople often imply they've got the connections to help job hunters reach the right people.

Consumer complaints

Simon had posted her rsum on Monster.com, an Internet job site, when she got a call from Bernard Haldane Associates, one of the country's oldest and largest career-management firms, with offices in the Puget Sound area.

She had sold her Kirkland clothing store, Sassy Elegance, in 2000, but she wanted to get back into the apparel business as a buyer. With the apparel business slumping, however, work was hard to find.

"They did a real good sales job," she said. "They had people to contact. They could help me find the job that was hidden and create a better rsum than I already had."

After signing a contract for $4,275 she met with a career adviser in the Bellevue office. She said he had her list her achievements, examine her skills, print out job ads from the newspaper and Internet. He told her to enlist a friend to write about her strengths and weaknesses. He polished her rsum. He coached her on interviewing style.

What he didn't do, she said, was hook her up with the people actually hiring, the one thing that Simon felt would justify the four-figure fee.

"When I really got the idea that they weren't working for me was when they told me I should contact anybody I knew in the apparel business. I said I could do that on my own!"

By August of this year Simon wasn't any closer to finding a job as an apparel rep, but she did get from the firm a CD-ROM listing contact information for employment agencies.

"Whoop-de-do. I could have done that on the Internet."

After haggling with the company, she settled for a partial refund of $3,000.

"I will say I do have a decent rsum now."

The Seattle-area offices of Bernard Haldane Associates are now under new ownership.

Kirk Leipzig bought the licenses for Bellevue and Tacoma (now Federal Way) offices in July.

Leipzig, who also runs offices in Iowa and Arkansas, wouldn't comment on the complaints against the former management. But he did say he's made some staff changes and that he plans to improve service.

"You go above and beyond what anybody expects and you'll be very successful. Don't focus on the bottom line, focus on the client," he said.

Bernard Haldane Associates has more than 90 licensed offices in North America and the United Kingdom. It isn't the only career-services firm to draw consumer complaints, but it is one of the most high-profile.

Ripoffreport.com, a grass-roots consumer Web site that allows people to anonymously vent about everything from deadbeat parents to bad boyfriends, has more than 200 postings on the firm, mostly from people who claim to be angry former customers.

The Washington Attorney General's Office has logged nine complaints against the local offices since 1996. Other states also have received complaints about the firm. In Kansas, the Attorney General's Office spent two years investigating claims from more than 100 clients who said the firm deceived them.

On Sept. 13, the Kansas licensee who dealt with the clients agreed to refund $300,000 to them, although it didn't admit to any wrongdoing.

The Kansas attorney general said the firm had falsely claimed to have access to the hidden job market, that it advertised job openings that didn't exist, and that it called people for "job interviews," which turned out to be sales pitches.

Bernard Haldane corporate spokeswoman Liz Vogel in New York said the complaints and Internet postings have prompted the company to revise some of its policies.

"We're aware that there are complaints," she said. "And we've made some dramatic changes to address them."

The company now requires licensees to respond to complaints within 24 hours and to resolve disputes within three weeks. It has also added a "client-care hotline" that links directly to the New York headquarters, and has hired a director of quality control.

She added that Bernard Haldane serves about 20,000 clients a year, most of whom are satisfied, and that any business that deals with so many people is bound to have some unhappy customers.

Counseling, not placement

Although Bernard Haldane Associates' contracts specify it's not a job-placement service, that's not clear to some of its clients.

Derrick Johnson of Issaquah thought he was hiring essentially an employment agent when he signed up with the Bellevue office in March.

In a complaint filed with the Washington Attorney General's Office, Johnson said he learned about Bernard Haldane when he got a call from a woman in the Bellevue office who said someone had passed along Johnson's rsum and that the firm could help him reach the right people.

Johnson said he was first quoted a fee of $3,000, but when he showed up for his first appointment the price was bumped to $4,500.

"I asked him (the sales consultant) a direct question: Would they be able to get me a job in my field?" Johnson wrote. "His answer was ``Yes.' "

With that assurance he put $1,500 down and signed a contract. After meeting with a counselor eight times in 25-minute sessions -- much shorter than the hour and a half he'd been promised -- Johnson decided to ask for his money back, according to the complaint.

Although he said his phone calls to the firm went unanswered, Johnson received a full refund after filing his complaint.

Despite the complaints and its efforts to improve, Bernard Haldane Associates isn't abandoning its up-front fees or its claims of vast industry contacts.

Leipzig, the Seattle-area licensee, defends both practices.

The actual Bernard Haldane, a revered career-development pioneer who founded the company in 1947, required advance payment.

"His philosophy is if you don't pay somebody they're obviously not going to work too hard for you," Leipzig said.

Haldane, who died in Seattle in July at age 91, sold his business in 1974.

Leipzig said many counselors do have contacts in the right places, plus they have access to databases with detailed information on prospective employers.

"If you do exactly as you're instructed, you will get leads, you'll get offers and you'll get a job."

Other career counselors, however, disagree with any firm that isn't a placement agency making such claims.

"They are deceiving the job seeker if they say they can help you get a job by hooking you up with the right people," said Bill Gregory, president of the Puget Sound Career Development Association, a 100-member trade group. "They don't know any more people than you do."

Employment agencies, which are regulated in most states, do match job seekers with employers to fill specific positions.

Counselors promise only to help their clients direct their careers and to become better job seekers. They're not required to be licensed in Washington, although they may be certified through the National Career Development Association or other trade organizations.

"I've gotten to know a lot of people in the 23 years I've been doing this work," said Tom Washington, a respected local career counselor and author of five books, including "The Hunt: Complete Guide to Effective Job Finding."

"I will introduce my clients to them, but I don't advertise that as the reason they should work with me. I don't think it's an appropriate promise."

His Bellevue-based firm, Career Management Resources, charges $75 to $125 an hour for advice on interviewing, rsum-writing and networking.

"I like the concept of coaching," Washington said. "The coach is on the sidelines. We're observing them, helping them do the right things, but they're doing 99.9 percent of the work."

WHO DOES WHAT

CAREER COUNSELORS: Also called career managers or marketers. They offer career planning, assessment testing and help with interviews, rsums and job-hunting strategies. They do not find their clients jobs. Fees range from hourly ($40-$120) to up-front payments averaging $5,000, a fee industry watchdogs say is probably excessive.

EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES: They match workers with companies to fill specific jobs. The employer and person hired often split the fee, based on the position's pay.

OUTPLACEMENT FIRMS: These first became popular when downsizing took hold in the late-1980s and early-1990s. They're hired by companies to help laid-off workers find new jobs. Some also do "retail" placements for job seekers, charging a fee based on the position's salary.

SEARCH FIRMS, RECRUITERS AND HEADHUNTERS: They're paid by employers to find top talent. Although they work for employers, many will build relationships with promising candidates for jobs that may open in the future.

TEMP AGENCIES, STAFFING AGENCIES: Employees work for the agency, which may provide health benefits, and are "leased" to companies. The positions often lead to full-time jobs.

RED FLAGS

Run to the nearest exit if the career firm uses two or more of these tactics:

--Requires large up-front fees.

--Employs a sales staff, often called "consultants" or "partners."

--Promises access to the so-called hidden job market (the estimated 70 percent of job openings that aren't advertised or listed with recruiters).

--Pressures you to sign a contract on the first meeting.

--Claims it only accepts a few candidates -- and you're one of them.

-------------------

To see more of The Seattle Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.seattletimes.com

2002, The Seattle Times. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.


Copyright 2002 Knight Ridder Tribune Business News