Yes, I too fell victim to the scam perpetuated by RJ Williams and Associates, Gary Smith Ford, and Sam Baker.
I guess I wanted the job too badly and let the promises made by Sam Baker and advertised by Gary Smith Ford cloud my judgement.
My opinion is that the services claimed by R.J. Williams and Associates as being provided were incomplete and based on Fraud and Misrepresentation. I also believe that Gary Smith Ford was a willing participant in the scam.
The Williams Organizations runs, in my observation, a business scam built on the deception of honest people desperate for a good job in an area where good jobs are hard to find.
In this case they start with a large advertisement from Gary Smith Ford, (a Fort Walton Beach, FL, Ford dealership) in the jobs section of the local newspaper with the promise of salary, incentives and bonuses while training. The reality is that you have to pay for incomplete training and you don't get a job, salary, incentives or bonus.
Many times during the training the Williams instructor, Sam Baker, told the attendees that everyone selected for the training will get a job at Gary Smith Ford. He later said that everyone would get a job at Gary Smith Ford, or one of 2 other dealerships owned by the Smith family. But that statement should have been: you might get a job, somewhere, sometime.
The training was incomplete.
During the training we were handed photocopies of pages from a Williams text booklet. The pages had blank lines and we were to fill out the blanks with quotes from the instructor. Many times during the training the Sam Baker said that he is not accustomed to having such a large class so he said he would have to skip some of the material and not do the drills that he normally would do.
The last day of training, Sam Baker handed out booklets that were the full course material to all but 5 students. He did not have enough booklets for all the attendees. When I got a booklet I was surprised to see that we had covered about 25 pages of a 60 page booklet.
And the job availability was not true.
I spent the better part of 2 total days of my time and had 3 different interviews. The entire room of attendees were told buy the Williams representative that we all had jobs at Gary Smith Ford. When I had my last interview I was told that I would get a call that Friday night. Well no call. I called the Sam Baker and he said that he would find out more. I also sent an e-mail to the Williams placement office.
My return mail was advice to keep looking in the newspaper for jobs. Their instruction was that if I found a job in the paper then to I was to pass the placement service the information and they would call for me to request an interview.
I had been taken.
I also looked up the organization on the Better Business Bureau web site and found many complaints. Shame on me for not doing that sooner. I was really trying to find a job and let my desire for a job influence my judgment.
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