Complaint Review: Quaker Oats (now Owned By Pepsico)

I'm an Australian bloke who has recently migrated to the United Kingdom and am a mechanical engineer by trade. I applied for an engineering job at Quaker Oats as a maintenance engineer on their food production line.

The job was advertised through an employment agency and the agency was very helpful. I attended an interview in early October 2003 and the shift manager was very impressed with my experience and knowledge. The job agency called me one week later to say I had been selected for a second interview with Quaker Oats.

The interview consisted of a written IQ test which I passed with flying colors. One week later I was contacted by the job agency to say I was being offered the job and to expect a phone call from the company to confirm this. A representative from the company called me to say I had the job and I was to start work the following Monday with a medical check on Tuesday.

I turned up for work early on Monday only to be questioned by security. It explained that I was to start work so he called the manager and put me on the phone. The manager knew nothing about this and had no idea who called me. She then told me to go home but come back in the next day for the medical check.

I called the company the day after the medical (which I passed) to confirm my actual start date. She said she was posting a formal offer of employment for me to sign and were waiting for two good work references. Two weeks passed and I still never heard back from the company.

Over the remainder of November, I made numerous calls to the job agency and Quaker Oats to find out what was happening but they said they were having trouble contacting my first employer back in Australia. Funny, no one else ever had that problem. I suggested that the night shift manager contact my former employer by phone but Quaker Oats said that only the HR manager can make reference calls and only during UK business hours.

My former employer was obviously too busy to send a fax and despite a good reference from my second job in Australia, they insisted on getting two references.

My complaint? I wasted 33 pounds (AUS$81) and sixteen hours travelling to and from Quaker Oats four times for nothing. They promised me a job and even put it in writing but I never had the chance to start. 33 pounds is a lot of money for an unemployed person to spend travelling to a job that does not exist.

They were also extremely incompetent by inviting me to start work but then telling me it was an office mistake and appologising to me for the mix-up. Ironically they were unsure who called me. why offer someone a job if you have no intention of letting them work?

I then found out a few days later that they had a habit of doing this to potential new employees in the past and I was just one of many they messed around.

John
london UB2 4AG
United Kingdom