Complaint Review: Bernard Haldane Associates - King of Prussia Pennsylvania

Like many others, I was enticed by the Haldane spiel. The interview with the VP (Robert Wolk) led me to believe that he too spent many years in the IT world and that his company (and he personally) had many contacts that could give me interviews and even positions making far more than my previous salary. He was very good at sympathizing my position and showed me numerous letters of success stories. I countered that my company had retained an outplacement agency for its displaced workers and asked how his service differed. He claimed that Haldane was superior to the outplacement agency because they were one of the oldest agencies out there and had developed a large client base of willing employers who knew and trusted the Haldane name. He then told me of the 3000+ jobs on their web site and how this web site was exclusive. His talk also touched on the value of networking and how Haldane would act as my network. He explained that Haldane would set up a dual search system; one local to my area and another ranging farther out. He also said that he expected me to have a job within a quarter. His last statement was that the fees were reasonable and that I would recover most of it through tax deductions and sign-on bonuses. The second interview was almost a repeat of the first for the benefeit of my wife. She was concerned about the expense - which turned out to be $6500 for me - but allowed me to go for it thinking it would speed up the employment process. Now let's talk about the VP's pitch. I now believe the letters of "success" are canned. I have doubts that they originated with "clients" of this specific office. It's funny how the interviewer isn't allowed to read the letters; all you see is the hilighted areas. The web page is a farce; the only reason there are over 3000 jobs listed is that they never remove a position. It is also NOT exclusive. Many of the positions are listed by recruiting companies - MRI seems to be a big one - that also have their own web pages. The dual search area was also bogus. To comply with this, my advisor ran a Dunn and Bradstreet report listing companies with my defined search radius. It would be up to me to contact the companies. After talking with another Haldane client, I have come to believe that the fees are roughly 10% of your previous salary, so the more you made, the more you pay. I started the Haldane process in December 2001. The process takes a couple of weeks and is IDENTICAL to what my previous employer's outplacement firm provided, including writing a resume. So I didn't see anything superior there. Once we were through that process, my advisor claims to have mailed a number of introduction letters to company presidents. I have copies of the letters, but no proof that they were really mailed out. Since these were just generic letters sent out blindly, they have had zero result. Robert Wolk also made a few phone calls and emails on my behalf to a couple of his contacts (It appears that he uses three or four people and that's it.) but also to no avail. I have on occasion asked one of them to contact a company on my behalf; I get all sorts of affirmation when I'm in the office, but once I'm out the door, their "concern" vanishes and nothing happens. Phone calls are not returned, it usually takes me three or four attempts to get anyone. I've decided that it's time to give up on Haldane and work through whatever means necessary (State Attorney General, BBB, lawyer, 20/20...whatever) to get most of my money back. Since it appears that thay are afraid of litigation, let's see what happens. Bob Allentown, Pennsylvania