Bernard Haldane Princeton, NJ. False Service Representation In Their Verbal Marketing Presentations - Discriminatory Pricing different fees to Clients for Equally Bad Services - Marketing Rip-off SCAM

Bernard Haldane's Princeton N.J. office does not provide the services they respresent in their verbal marketing presentations and charges different fees to different "clients" based upon the potential "client's" volunteering of his or her historical compensation during the information gathering and sales presentation sessions conducted by their marketing officers.

Bernard Haldane charged me $15,000 in up front fees while they charged another client, who had previously held a more senior role than me, $10,000 in up front fees, for the same service. The services provided did not reflect those that were verbally described and/or strongly implied in the context of the sales presentations made by Haldane's marketing officer.

Bernard Haldane does not disribute the client's profiles or resumes to selected search firms or potential employers.

Bernard Haldane markets their proprietary web site as a means through which the client's professional details will be provided to 4,000 to 6,000 executive recruiters. When a list of those executive recruiters who subscribe to the web-site of their "affiliate" Sterling Hightower was requested, I was told that the list is confidential. Furthermore I was informed that the executive recruiter subscriber list was the property of Sterling Hightower not Bernard Haldane and that Sterling Hightower's contractual relationship was with Next West Inc. of Tucson, Arizona, the developer and maintainer of the Sterling Hightower website, not with Bernard Haldane. Next West Inc. owns and manages the web site that Haldane represents as their own in the context of their verbal marketing presentations.

Their is no indication that the Sterling Hightower website is anything more than a set of links to other web sites that are readily and publicly available to anyone willing to perform research on the internet. Sterling Hightower's website does nothing more that search other publicly available websites for job postings as there are no means to determine if any job postings are independently posted to the Sterling Hightower website. There is no evidence, in the form of messages from any recruiters or search executives, that any executive search firms independently visit the Sterling Hightower website to access data related to potential Bernard Haldane candidates.

When I complained about the website and requested documentation I was told by Bernard Haldane that the website was operated by Next West Inc. and that the site was still under development. I was further informed by my counselor that Bernard Haldane employees have no detailed knowledge of how the Sterling Hightower web site operates or what it actually does. When I questioned the fact that part of my fee for services was clearly related to client access to what Haldane had said "Is a powerful proprietary tool" I was told that it was only considered supplementary to their "program".

Bernard Haldane states in their verbal marketing presentations that they will place at the clients' disposal powerful research capabilities that will assist the client in discovering unadvertised employment openings and identify the people within hiring organizations who have the power to create new positions. Bernard Haldane's research capabilities are non-existent. In fact, if pressed for information, the quality and quantity of the information provided by Bernard Haldane is of questionable quantity and quality and would be far more reliable if the client performed all research independently. The limited contact detail provided by Bernard Haldane with respect to executive recruiters and venture capitalists was dated and inaccurate. Where are the 200 to 400 select local recruiters that Bernard Haldane points to in their marketing presentations ? Where are the contact details for the "company and industry insiders" that Bernard Haldane represents will be developed based upon the individual client's profile and his or her future employment focus ? They do not exist. Bernard Haldane provides no leads or introductions whatsoever ! The limited information that Bernard Haldane does provide with respect to recruiters and/or employers is already publicly available on the internet or in any university business library and is not reviewed by Bernard Haldane staff for accuracy or subjected to further review of any kind. For instance, clients are instructed to generate letters addressed to search firms whose industry focus and functional focus bear no relationship to the client's profile or to the focus of his or her employment search. When questioned about the quality and relevance of the data provided, Haldane's counselor responded that the data was only as good as the source, indeed indicative of the fact that Bernard Haldane had performed no additional research and or quality control and possessed no additional insight. Bernard Haldane takes no time, allocates no resources, and makes no effort whatsoever to review or research the data they provide.

Bernard Haldane's "career advisors" have too many clients at one time for them to actually provide any quality feedback or advice. In many instances the "career advisor" was not prepared for my client meetings and was often unsure if he received my e-mail messages and was sometimes unsure what the subject of our meetings was. When I finally asked my counselor if he had read the details assembled thus far in my client file his response was a categorical "no".

Bernard Haldane's program provides for No Differentiation In Services Levels or Services Provided BUT Different Fee Levels. There is no justification for the higher fee levels. Bernard Haldane charges more of the those people it is less equipped to assist and less to the people it is poorly equipped to assist. Bernard Haldane blatantly misrepresents the content and quality of its services and bases its fees on what they feel the market will bear. This is why each potential client is presented individually with a letter in which the fee for him or her is set forward AND this is always presented to the client during the second sales presenation after the potential client has revealed his or her financial situation and historical earnings to the Bernard Haldane sales officer during the first sales presentation meeting.