Complaint Review: The Executive Professionals

It is about time these frauds get busted. I took them to small claims and did not win but I am not surprised. The contract would not allow me to go to small claims but the owner waived that right. At least I dragged the owners butt up to North Orange County.

I am Scott who wrote the first complaint above. All that slander they said about me is a lie as they are out of business and are filing to not have to give refunds or further services to clients by filing bankruptcy.

Beware of scammers. I lost out but you don't have to.

God Bless,
Scott

Don't be fooled by their new name. They are the same guys that tried to con me last year. Same office, address, everything. I drove down to Irvine from Los Angeles just to find that the same tired scam that suckered me last year has been repackaged under a new name. Don't waste your time! $5,000.00 is a lot for counseling! No Jobs!!

My name is Barrie Wellman, and I am the Senior Vice President for Client Service with The Executive Professionals in Irvine. My responsibilities with TEP include both selecting new clients we work with as well as working with our existing clients to insure that the services contracted for are delivered in a thorough, timely, professional manner. I joined the company in 2004 and have literally helped thousands of career professionals in Southern California pursue new careers or find new career positions much more effectively. I take great pride in having a career that helps people. I also enjoy working with a talented team of professionals who share my passion for work that is both purposeful and rewarding. I have received countless letters and emails from both clients and even people I sometimes meet only once, who credit both my team and my insight for shortening the time of their career search which saves them money.

At TEP, we work with individuals in career transition to reposition and repackage themselves so that they can gain a competitive advantage as they search for a new position in today's crowded marketplace of employment. Even more importantly, we provide each client with a custom tailored package of tools from Insala which includes access to a variety of corporate databases like Zoominfo. This database alone contains the emails, phone numbers of over 40 million corporate managers in the U.S. as well as nearly 5 million companies and their websites. Insala (www.insala.com) is recognized as a world leader in content and custom web portals for both Human Capital Marketing firms (like TEP) as well as corporate HR departments who seek to provide their staff's with the ability to grow both their skills and careers.

The individuals who seek our services typically fit into three categories. Some desire to change either their place of employment or their career work. Some have goals that include advancing their career's into positions of more responsibility and or more income. Some become unemployed and struggle to find good positions because they look mostly on the internet for an advertised job. This is ironic, as statistically, close to 80% of jobs are never advertised. The result is always the same: great difficulty generating interviews and job offers.

Our client, Scott, who filed this report, falls into this later category. Scott is a talented young man who was trying to find new work in a marketplace that is highly competitive. His marketing materials (resumes and cover letters) were very weak and standard, and his daily activity consisted of researching only advertised jobs on a variety of job boards and then sending resumes. His results were typical: virtually no follow up telephone calls to resumes submitted for interviews and no job offers after about 3 months of searching.

I personally interviewed Scott in my office after he responded to our marketing which identifies our services and solicits contact. Our advertised message is clearly stated: we work with career professionals in transition with incomes ranging from $60,000 to $250,000 to help them find and move into rewarding career positions in a shorter period of time.

Upon meeting Scott, I learned of his struggle to obtain interviews, did some role playing with him to determine his proficiency in interviewing and negotiating and determined that we would be able to help him. I offered to create a detailed plan to help him generate interviews very quickly and win job offers. To create a custom designed plan specifically for his needs, I emailed him 4 written homework assignments including a brief test of the world famous Myers-Briggs Talent Inventory which I offered to return to him for free as a courtesy. Several days later, he submitted his homework and I drafted a comprehensive plan and met with him again on 11/30/06 to go over it point by point. Scott liked our proposal and further assured me he now understood that our program was intensive and required a full commitment in terms of time and energy. He even acknowledged this in his Ripoff Report filing. As a condition of moving forward with him as a client, he then reviewed and executed our contract which clearly states (actual language follows, email us for a copy):

-TEP is not an employment agency or placement agency.

-Client understands that TEP provides a full program of career consulting, career development, and career planning, which the Client implements.

-Further, Client acknowledges and agrees that TEP has not, nor has any representative of TEP, induced Client to enter into this engagement by implying, representing or guaranteeing to Client: (a) an interview with a specific company or individual; (b) a minimum salary; (c) that Client will obtain a new position or employment within a certain time frame.

-Client also understands that the major emphasis will be on developing his or her network since the majority of positions are found through this method.

-Contact with the Advisor must be initiated by the Client every two (2) weeks during Phases I and II so the Advisor may obtain the information necessary to direct the campaign properly

-The fee is not refundable once the three-day cancellation right has expired.

After his assurance that he understood the work would be hard and that commitment and partnership was the key to success, I selected him to work with Bob Cunningham, a long time employee of TEP and a 15 year career professional in career marketing. After his first meeting, he completed an evaluation form which stated his first meeting went well and he was satisfied with our work to date. He called me the next day to clarify a few issues. I immediately sensed a doubt on his part that he had made the right decision to move into our program. I answered some questions and Scott then re-assured me of his decision to work our program with intensity. The next day, on 12/9/07, he emailed me that he had found numerous negative reports about a similar company on the internet and believed we were the same firm (we are not associated with this firm). His email demanded a refund.

I immediately called Scott and spoke with him. I assured him we were not associated with this firm he found on the internet. I was now concerned about continuing to work with him as a client, but after speaking with me, he still wanted to move forward. On 1/10/07, following another consultation with his advisor, he filled out a report which re-stated his approval of our work to date. Along with 7 other clients, he then attended our 6 hour Career Transition Seminar in our conference room the following week. Scott then scheduled an appointment with this advisor for 1/31/07 to finalize his interviewing and salary negotiating training which was to include one-one-one role playing and videotaping. On 1/31/07 he failed to show up for his appointment or call to cancel the meeting. Despite our efforts to reach him, he did not respond to our overtures.

Around 2/25/07, out of the blue, he emailed me and demanded a full refund. What followed were a series of ever escalating emails accusing my firm of failing to deliver our services. A review of his Customer Satisfaction Reports showed that he had not expressed any dissatisfaction to his advisor up to this point. A review of his activity in our web portal since 1/1/07 showed that he was spending little if any time using the Zoominfo database or other powerful tools we provide and which he had now received extensive training to use. We decided to assign him to a new advisor in hopes of motivating him to move forward. We then received another series of emails threatening a campaign of harassment through the Better Business Bureau, his own Yahoo Groups and other web portals. We had now met with him over 6 times (12+hours), placed him in our seminar (6 hours), provided him with a variety of resumes and cover letters as well as extensive training on interviewing and negotiating. He also had gained unlimited access to our list of corporate databases the fee for which was prepaid and non-refundable to TEP. It was clear that he had decided to give up working with our team and return to using the internet for applying for jobs. True to his promises, he filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (we are members). His claim that we had failed to deliver services was denied by the BBB.

For the next 2-3 months, his new advisor attempted to reach him in order to work with him. During this time, our web portal indicated little if any usage. Around July 2007, he filed a small claims court action. The President of our company contacted him directly to try to resolve this situation. His stated he was angry, he had not been able to generate any interviews and even though we had delivered an extensive amount of services and paid for his Zoominfo database access (a value of $4,995 per year if you try to buy it directly), nothing short of a full refund would satisfy him. He advised us that he would let a judge decide what was fair. After an internal discussion, our President offered to refund approximately 15% of his original contract fee despite the amount of services delivered and the fact that our contract is clearly non-cancelable. He refused our offer. His case was heard in small claims court in September of 2007, and like the BBB, the judge ruled against him.

In his claim, Scott corroborates a lot of my rebuttal. He states I signed because I felt it was a good investment on their claims of placing 30-40 people a month. In my office, I stated we work with no more than 30-40 new clients per month. I would never use a word like place as this is the domain of recruiters, and as anyone can see from reviewing our contract terms, we are the opposite. He acknowledges reading this provision in our contract.

Scott states Barrie told me that they can't promise me a job, but did guarantee me an interview in 30 days. I did not guarantee him an interview in 30 days, but did state that most of our clients begin to conduct either informational or actual job interviews within 30 days of launching their campaigns. Remember, our contract states no one at TEP should or can guarantee either a job or an interview. How could I promise him one thing verbally, and than have him sign a contract where he acknowledges no such statements have occurred. The truth is because it didn't occur. That's the true story of our business relationship with Scott.

As is our policy on confidentiality with all of our clients, we continue to protect his confidentiality by refusing to use his last name in this rebuttal.

Here's more you should know about TEP. One of the reasons we meet with perspective new clients at least twice before selecting them to work with our team, is that we do not want an outcome as we had with Scott. This program is designed for career professionals who want to take control of their career transition by investing in themselves. We know it's not for everyone and this is why we are so selective with whom we work with. When selecting a new client, we must be confidant that this client is motivated, committed and will be persistent in pursuing their career plan. Failure is not an option for TEP when it comes to helping our clients find new or more challenging work.

Sadly, it seems that despite our best efforts, despite our Customer Care Program (which asks clients to evaluate our services after every meeting with their advisor), there is, on average, one Scott every year or two who decides to gives up working hand in hand with their advisor. They do not necessarily stop looking for a job, but they stop working one-on-one with their advisor and they stop using our database and their tools. They always end up finding a new job, but they feel we didn't help them. Even though they have failed to fulfill their end of the contract, which includes a provision that they be in contact with their advisor once every two weeks, part of the failure does lie with us. We occasionally pick the wrong candidates. If we discover this early enough in the process, after the first or second meeting, then we do cancel their contract and refund their fees before we incur databases licensing fees and the bulk of their training is delivered. This actually happens about 3-5 times per year.

So why did Scott fail? First, he did not commit to the process. As it got harder, and it gets harder, he gave up. He failed to be persistent in calling to schedule informational interviews with the decision makers we gave him access to. He failed because he did not put enough effort into his custom designed career marketing plan. Searching for a job through network building and referral can be a 40 hour per week job. He failed because he do not properly cooperate or collaborate with his advisors. Scott decided it was easier to sit at his desk and push the apply button on Monster. And he's right, it is easier.

The truth is, TEP nor any Human Capital Marketing firm, cannot go on interviews for job seekers. We cannot call strangers at companies they want to go to work for and set them up for interviews. We cannot negotiate their job offers for them. But we can teach them the most successful way to do all of that. We can motivate them to stay on track and follow their detailed marketing plan. And we will work with them hand-in-hand until they get the results they want. We never give up on a client, even when they want to.

The good news is that for every Scott, there are hundreds of individuals who use the services of TEP every year and benefit greatly from our services. Our files and folders are full of success stories from clients who found great positions, and did it in a much shorter period of time. One recent client, earning a six figure income with his entire career in sales, left the Title Insurance Industry, and within 30 days of launching his campaign, found new work as a VP of Operations in the Telephony/IT industry. He credits our team as the main reason he accomplished this task so quickly. This is just one recent story. Our task is to help people and we do it proudly and successfully everyday. I can say that with confidence and we have the evidence to back it up. We do everything in OUR power to insure our clients are successful.

Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions or concerns about Career Marketing or Career Management firms. We do not hide behind anonymous email addresses and welcome any questions you may have.

Thank you.

Barrie Wellman
bwellman@tepteam.com