Complaint Review: BERNARD HALDANE

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From The Kansas City Star
Posted on Tue, Nov. 12, 2002

Attorney general flooded with Bernard Haldane claims
By PAUL WENSKE

The Kansas attorney general's office said it had received 472 complaints from consumers seeking thousands of dollars in refunds from career counseling giant Bernard Haldane.

The unexpectedly large number of refund requests prompted Attorney General Carla Stovall to push back a resolution of the case to determine how to respond, spokesman Mark Ohlemeier said Friday.

Without admitting wrongdoing, Bernard Haldane agreed in September to refund $300,000 to clients of its offices in Overland Park and Wichita to resolve an investigation by Stovall into consumer complaints.

Former clients complained that they had been cheated out of thousands of dollars with false promises of getting an inside track on a "hidden job market" that didn't exist.

Stovall's office had set Oct. 28 as a deadline for clients to file requests for refunds. Officials said they had expected 60 to 100 requests, which would have resulted in substantial individual refunds.

"We believed at the time of the consent judgment that the majority of people who were going to file complaints had done so," Ohlemeier said. But more complaints flooded the office. Ohlemeier said the requests "far exceeded our expectations."

As a result, he said, the attorney general asked for and got a 60-day court extension to go through all the requests to determine how many fall within the guidelines of the settlement.

"We're still going through them," Ohlemeier said.

He said the office would determine a pro rata formula for deciding how much money to refund to each of the former Bernard Haldane clients.

To get refunds, former clients had to file complaints that fell within the violations that the attorney general's office documented at the Overland Park and Wichita offices.

Among other deceptions, Stovall's office found that career counselors falsely said they had exclusive access to jobs, allowing them to bypass normal business channels.

The franchise offices also solicited clients with advertisements that were disguised as job openings.

Former clients said they paid up-front fees of $4,000 or more for career counseling but spent most of the time combing newspaper ads and Internet sites for job leads and interviews.

Some former clients voiced dismay that the high number of claims might result in much smaller refunds.

"People thought they would get close to what they had paid in," said Dean Fleming of Olathe, who was one of the first to file a complaint.

Ohlemeier said consumers who don't want to participate in the state settlement can seek their own recourse against Bernard Haldane.


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To reach Paul Wenske, consumer affairs reporter, call (816) 234-4454 or send e-mail to pwenske@kcstar.com.

Lindy
Denver, Colorado

CLICK HERE, You must read this!! ..Financial Post Article LINK - Haldane not up to the job ..exposing this company for what it really is - a huge scam