empire medical training/bill horninger misrepresentation, Internet

I am writing an account of my experience with empire medical training. I will also be interested to read the rebuttal by the company, as I am sure they monitor this site very closely (Those who are guilty are ALWAYS looking over their shoulder).

I will only state facts and not conjecture.

I attended a seminar in Philadelphia on November 5th 2010. The course was taught by a person named bill horninger (who has since been removed from the website as being part of the faculty and appears no where else on the site).

This fellow is NOT a Physician but told everyone that he was an Anesthesiologist. He first introduced himself to the class as "Steve". I assumed he was steve constantino, as this was the name that appears in signature at the bottom of my confirmation letters for the course. We were mostly ALL Doctors in attendance, so it would not be unusual to address ourselves by first name only.

Suspicion arose about this person when #1 He had difficulty pronouncing common Medical terminology and #2 when he introduced the Pharmacist to speak to us about products and medications, the Pharmacist went to the front of the class and said (to our host for relinquishing the floor) "Thank you BILL".

This prompted a search on the internet as to who this person might be. I never found out exactly who he IS but I do know that he is NOT a Physician. When confronted during a break from the class with this information, he stated that he "misspoke" and that he was sorry and he was in fact NOT a Physician.

My problem with the company is this:

I was being taught Medical procedures; Injection technique (although this person DID NOT inject anyone himself, he DID however draw up the medication into the syringe) . Treatment of acne with respect to recommendations of medications and their use and WHEN to use them during the course of a treatment plan (to ME, this constitutes having clinical experience as a Physician of which he has NONE). Chemical Peel and dermabrasion techniques.

...by someone who is NOT a Physician. Now, I agree that you don't have to be a Doctor to teach the above procedures but you DO have to be a licensed health professional.

bill is NOT a licensed health professional and he taught the class under the deception that he WAS in fact a Doctor.

When I found this to be true, I immediately discontinued the class for myself. bill addressed the class and apologized and offered TWO OPTIONS; 1) Continuation of the course with a Doctor OR 2) A REFUND for the course.

I chose the latter (a refund) and signed my name to a list made just for this reason.About a half dozen other attendees signed their name as well. As of today, I have NOT received a refund. I have tried contacting the company only to be put off by one of the girls LAUREN, who said that there was no one in the office at the time but someone would get back to me by the end of the business day. That was Dec. 7th and I am STILL waiting for that call.

They have disputed my claim with my credit card company, but I am still trying.

I WILL gather enough evidence to have the rejection of my dispute overturned. There is a Police report filed with the Philadelphia Police in documentation of the incident.

That is MY experience with the company.