Complaint Review: Andrew Stevens And Associates

On February 24, 2004 I made the above post about Andrew Stevens & Associates, Inc. My post, which was published on August 5, 2004 is willfully, recklessly and maliciously false, misleading and defamatory.
I said: "Similar to Bernard Haldane, this company bills itself as being a career counseling service for executives."
The truth:Andrew Stevens is in the business of marketing clients to potential employers. Andrew Stevens analyzes the assets a client brings including skills, experience and interests, and prepares targeted materials for presentation to potential employers. Andrew Stevens is not a job service, but does offer seminars and other resources for job seekers. It also provides leads and directs clients to public sources of job opportunities.
I said: "They claim to have a private database with hundreds of unpublished jobs, extensive contacts within local industry and great knowledge of what it takes to successfully find jobs in the $1000,000 [sic] to $500,000 salary range."
The truth: Andrew Stevens does utilize two private, proprietary databases. Andrew Stevens also maintains contacts within the local business community, including former clients, and through the networking efforts of its counselors. Andrew Stevens has an 18 year history of success in assisting professionals and executives land important, well compensated positions.
I said: "They claim that while there is no gaurantee [sic], they will keep working with you until they 'get you placed' and that it usually takes 90-120 days."
The truth: Andrew Stevens' counselors never guarantee placement - that is not the service the Company provides. As a general rule, 90 to 120 days is the minimmum amount of time required to begin a comprehensive marketin campaign on behalf of a client. I terminated my participation well before my campaign was ready to "go live."
I said: They also claim that they will do the salary negotiating with you, and that they can almost always negotiate a signing bonus of many time what you paid them for a fee.
The truth: Andrew Stevens will review proposals from potential employers and offer feedback on its view of appropriate compensation and perquisites if requested. the client is solely responsible for the negotiations.
I said: "I personally paid a fee of $6,531 [sic] after taking the discount for paying by check rather than credit card."
The truth: I paid $6,351.25, which was discounted, after two meetings and ample opportunity to decide whether I wanted to engage this company to help me market myself to potential employers.
I said: "They make a big stink about being the only firm actually licensed by the State of Arizona as a "Career Counseling" firm, which is just a bunch of word-play hooey."
The truth: Under Arizona law (A.R.S.23-521, et seq.), private employment agencies that charge fees to applicants are licensed and regulated by the State Labor Department. Career counseling firms and similar firms are subject to licensing. A.R.S. 23-521(A). Andrew Stevens is the only Arizona company accredited by the IACCF, and the International Board for Career Management Cetification..
I said: "They have no database that you cannot access for free over the Internet, the little information they do provide comes right off Flipdog[.com] and monster[.com], their database of local firms is similar to Hoover, but terribly out of date."
The truth: Andrew Stevens utilizes at least two private third-party databases (Careersearch and Goldmine) that Clients cannot access. These databases are generally updated at least monthly, but this does not always occur, and is beyond the control of Andrew Stevens. Andrew Stevens provides information from those databases in appropriate circumstances, and also directs its clients to a variety of public resources for job leads, market information and campaign ideas. Ultimately, the responsibility for generating job leads belongs to the client.
I said: "If you read the Bernard Haldane reports, you can simply substitute Andrew Stevens as the name, and it would read correctly."
The truth: At the time Ripoff.com's file on Bernard Haldane contains about 500 references to Haldane. My statement associating Andrew Stevens with Bernard Haldane was simply an indirect way to call Andrew Stevens and its owners and employees thieves, cheats, liars, scam artists and other false characterizations. I had no factual basis for making this comparison.
I was wrong about this Company and had no good reason to try to tarnish its reputation.
Sincerely,
Frank Freeman
Gilbert, Arizona USA