State National Training Service falsified services, "consultant" was a liar, poor customer service, mean employees Voorhees New Jersey

I met Micheal Bell in 2003 afterwhich I signed up for both of the courses they were offering at the time.  I went through the first four sections of the Law Enforcement program and four of the Civil Service program without ANY problems.  I landed a job with the post office and had further testing with another local Federal organization. 
Unfortunately for me, I ended up homeless for sometime and never finished the course.  I now have an apartment...since July of 2010 and as I was unpacking, I came across the programs...very much to my surprise!! 
I have decided to look over the information again and hopefully finish it this time, but I have to wonder....after reading this "ripoff report" will it be a waste of my time?  I did try to call the number that was in my packet, it is out of service.  Has it been changed?  Will I get a new assignment if I send in the fourth one? 
I hope someone (Micheal Bell) will reply with useful information for me as I was/am really interested in finishing this course.
I am sorry for those of you who have had a bad experience with it.  I, however,  feel that if I had stuck with it back in 2003 maybe I wouldn't have ended up homeless and on the street.

So I get a flyer in the mail about what at first sounds like a job fair for federal jobs with it's big "APPLICATIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED" at the top the page.

It also has a website I can go to for more information. Of course I'm interested but I'm also weary of scams so I get to investigating and here is my findings.

The website provided: http://www.publicservicepositions.com/

I want to know who is running the website so I pull up the whois information: http://whois.domaintools.com/publicservicepositions.com

I find that it's registered to SNTS (which thanks to Michael Bell I can see is how they abbreviate their company but I'm getting ahead of myself)

I get also get the address 510 Burnt Mill Road, Voorhees, New Jersey 08043

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=510+Burnt+Mill+Road+Voorhees,+New+Jersey+08043

Google Maps believes the address is actually in Echelon which right next to Voorhees however that's not a major concern. As you can see there are 3 companies at this address all similar in nature.

Law Enforcement Career Development AND State National Training Services also use the same contact information, they're clearly both operating under the same individuals.

I can not determine if Career Development Inc is being run by the same people unfortunately.


I thank the people who reported this as a scam and spared me the wasted time and money.

I have also experienced shady practices used by the State National Training Service. I attended the seminar and believed that my chances of getting a higher grade on the test for a Federal or State job would be better if I signed up for the course. My wife and I, after leaving the seminar, believed, that the Federal and State government both use testing for hiring. They also told us about the Federal resume and how it is not like a regular one. After taking the course for about 6 months I began to search online the Federal job sites, USJOBS for one, and read that I didn't need a test to apply for jobs and the Federal resume could be filled out online with out the aide of the State National Course. I realized then that I had been mislead and wrote to both the State National Training office, Mr Michael Bell. Mr Bell refused three requests to speak with him about being mislead at the seminar. The people who run the seminar do not disclose the whole truth and mislead you into believing that the course they provide will increase your chances of passing and getting higher pay because of, the tests, They fail to inform you that the testing is only done for very few positions now, and that the Federal resume can be done online at the Federal job website. I have since stopped paying my tuition because Mr Bell will not provide proper customer service by addressing my concerns with me personally. I have been contacted by the financing company for the payments I owe and now by a collection agency. All this time Mr Bell refuses to speak to me. He evidently has much to hide or doesn't feel he should take the time to handle customer issues personally. His stance is that I signed the contract and I have to pay for the service. His "buyer beware " approach should be warning enough for anyone else who would think about doing "business" with this man and his company. Searching the web will provide you with enough complaints by others over the years who have fell victim to the State National training Services bad practices. I plan on attending every State National Training seminar in my area, visiting every message board and writing about my experience with this company for everyone who will listen. If Mr Bell doesn';t have the time or desire to speak to me about his courses, then I will speak to everyone I can to prevent them from attending his seminars.

Mr Bell: I would like to congratulate you on your superior efforts to scam innocent people into falling for this program, especially with the current state of our economy (and at the time I signed up for this nonsense - JULY). This is the first scam I have ever fallen for and I feel like such a fool! I am in college and was hoping that maybe I could get a government job that paid well so I could pay for my REAL schooling.The only thing this program helped me with is...oh wait, NOTHING.

You replied to an above consumer "...initial concern of the amount of time that elapsed before receiving your first lesson, our representatives inform all prospective students they will receive their lessons in about 10 business days. This amount of time is relative to the date of enrollment, and since weekends do not factor into
this time line, could result in a few additional days."

Guess how long it took me to receive my first package? 2 MONTHS! Not 2 weeks. I called a few times, no help was given. Finally, I was told that there was an attempt to deliver. "Could you resend it, Ma'am?" Attitude was certainly given my way after I said that. When I finally received it, I opened it up and discovered a very professional package - Complete with an ordinary folder with pockets (Reminded me of good ol' High School...or maybe even Middle School), useless information on ordinary paper, and I think that about sums it up actually.

And yes, just like all the other people on here I tried to cancel within the 3 day period, but no one answered the phone. What a coincidence. I called on the 4th day and a lady answered. She told me that I had chosen to call after the 3 day period and that nothing could be resolved. Here it is almost 6 months later and I have yet to receive the 2nd package. That's right, Mr. Bell. What do you have to say to that? What is this amount of time relative to? Could it be all of the holidays? That must be it. Oh, and the weekends of course.

Rather than me rambling on, let me just say this - If you are reading this because you are curious about the the State National Training program and what it has to offer - WHAT YOU ARE OFFERED IS A SCHEME AND A HALF. PLEASE DO NOT FALL FOR IT. IT IS A TOTAL SCAM THAT WILL ONLY MAKE YOU WASTE HARD EARNED MONEY. Thank you for your time everyone.

In regards to your initial concern of the amount of time that elapsed before
receiving your first lesson, our representatives inform all prospective students
they will receive their lessons in about 10 business days. This amount of time
is relative to the date of enrollment, and since weekends do not factor into
this time line, could result in a few additional days.

As for the material, you were informed that the material is "common knowledge"
and its sole purpose is to refresh and reinforce material that may have become
obsolete, due to the fact you have not had to utililize it. In addition, you
must keep in mind the full scope of people enrolling in our course who have the
same goals and aspirations of receiving federal employment as you do, whom you
condescendingly remarked about in your tirade. Although these people may not be
college educated, we at SNTS feel that they should be equally equipped for their
arduous journey, since the government is an equal opportunity employer.

During your course, you were receiving exams at the end of each section in preparation for the
Civil Service Exam, which is the culmination of this program. Each lesson is
building a foundation for the next and unfortunately you did not complete the
course in its entirety or you would have realized the brunt of the job placement
takes place at the end, once all of your skills have been fine tuned.

We do apologize for any misinterpretations you may have had and encourage you to
fulfill your commitment to this course and wish you luck on your journey to job
eligibility

I would like to assure you that SNTS is not a scam and has been approved by
the NJ Department of Ed since 1991. While you may have seen some negative
feedback, we can provide an overwhelming amount of testimonials that favor
our services from people who benefited from our program. Keep in mind that
as a national company, we enroll thousands of students nation wide and
therefore inevitably will have those few complaints from people who cannot
make the necessary commitment. As a company with an excellent record with
the BBB, our record will show that we strive to resolve these issues as
swiftly and efficiently as possible

As a homestudy course, the responsibility is placed solely on the student
because as with any school, your results are directlt correlated to the
amount of effort you put into it. The representative who described this
process to you should have made it perfectly clear that this is a commitment
to yourself as much as it is to the program, in hopes of avoiding this
issue.

In relation to the problem with our phone lines, I can assure you this was
not premeditated and as is the case with any company, we are at the mercy of
technology. Although we are living in a time where information and
communication seem to be taken for granted, there are those few times where
problems arise to show us what a necessity it truly is. We apologize that
this coincided with your attempt to cancel.

As an educational institution, we strive to provide a basis for our students
to succeed, but only if they desire to do so. In no way, shape, or form are
we attempting to provide these services to those who do not want them.
However, like any other school, once you have begun our course we do expect
you to finish it.

It is bad enough that the circulars used by this company are extremely misleading, but somehow they managed to secure a classroom at our local community college in Santa Monica, CA, to hold one of their events. This is a new angle I have not seen before.

It is also misleading that the circular's language says the event is "administered by" and it says "Law Enforcement Career Development" but omits the "Inc." which is part of their legal business name, to make it seem as if it is being run by a college career development program.

I've seen these ads before, but this is the first time I've seen them scam a credible institution into lending their name, however unintentionally, to this con.

This is extremely poor judgment on the part of the community college for allowing this, and I will be making a complaint to the college tomorrow. It is a terrible disservice to the community and to their own students. As it is being held on a real college campus, there is a real possibility of attendees mistaking this program for a legitimate college course.

There was a card in with the local circulars for this presentation. This company also goes by the name "Law Enforcement Career Development." I hope that those of you in the Orlando area will avoid this as it appears to be a scam. This is just an FYI.