I was contacted by Doug Stanley Ford and the caller identified herself as a representative of Doug Stanley Ford. I was asked to come in for an interview and I accepted the invitation. Upon arrival I was asked to fill out an application by the Doug Stanley Ford receptionist. Mr. Paul Gibson came from an office in the back and introduced himself as simply Paul Gibson. He did not say that he was anyone other than an employee of Doug Stanley Ford. I was led to believe that he was employed by Doug Stanley Ford simply because I had no reason to believe otherwise, after all, I was called by Doug Stanly Ford and I was in their place of business. I never recruited or asked to be contacted by Williams & Associates. The response made by Williams & Associates states that Mr. Gibson informed me that he was a trainer for Williams & Associates and that a fee was involved. This is simply not true. I was never told of any fees until the end of the first day of training.
After a solid day of selling by Mr. Gibson, I was eager and encouraged by his well rehearsed technique of convincing potential sales people to pay $698. I did agree but I feel I was, in essence, taken advantage of at best and brainwashed at most. I belong to a group of people that is growing by day, I am unemployed. I was in a very vulnerable position and agreed to this training as I was told that this was the only way I could be hired. After nearly one year of being without work, and against my better judgment, I agreed. I informed Mr. Gibson that I could not pay until the following Monday and that if this was not an option, I would, right then, opt out.
This was on Thursday. Mr. Gibson assured me that I could pay on Monday and that since he was leaving town I could give me my debit card information and he promised me that he would under no circumstances run my card until Monday. Under no circumstances would I have agreed to continue had Mr. Gibson told me he would run my card on Friday. That was our agreement. I had no reason to doubt his word as he led me to believe for 2 days that he was an upstanding man, a man of his word and most of all, a Christian man. Since he verbally agreed, and I have included emails which back this up, I had no reason not to believe him.
As far as the testimonial letter, this was a required part of the class to graduate. We were told that we must submit a testimonial letter. At the time I wrote it, I did not know that our agreement had been breached. When I got home that Friday, I checked my bank account to find that Mr. Gibson had lied to me and run my card. This cost me the $698 and an additional $315 in bank fees. I called Mr. Gibson and he would not return my calls. I took this as my cue to not accept the position with Doug Stanley. If they endorse this behavior, I want no part of them. I e-mailed him and finally received a response. It is attached. He said that he would look into it if I sent him copies of my bank statement, which I did. I have had no response.
Mr. Gibson also told all of the class of hires not to talk to any of the current salesmen as they had not received the same deal as this class. This is unscrupulous behavior and takes advantage of the unemployed in this country today.
At a time when the country is fighting a war overseas and fighting another battle of unemployment and loss of retirement funds, housing and all of life's niceties here at home, people like Williams & Associates, Doug Stanley Ford and Mr. Paul Gibson are ripping off people who are barely scraping out grocery money. This needs to be stopped before more people lose what is to me, a lot of money.
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