Robele Career Solutions sought me out by finding my resume on a career website. Then they contacted me and said I'd be an ideal candidate to get to the 'next level' and that they can help me do that with their 'services.'
I met with the Senior Vice President of Robele in Morristown, NJ, Lonnie Lauer. Nice office, although they rented the office space and office equipment and shared it with others. Apparently, that was the first red flag and you should always be leary when you see that they don't have their own office, location, signs, etc.
He gave me an incredible amount of statistics, charts, graphs, info on the unemployment market and info on increasing my marketability through their 'training', and 'conference meetings with all their execs', and 'high level contacts'. It was very convincing. They asked for a 'fee' up front. Outrageous amounts however, they said the money would be more than made up as they placed people on average, after 3 1/2 months. The average person is unemployed 7 months, so the fee would more than be covered if employment is obtained within those 3 1/2 months.
I said I had very little money available. Lonnie encouraged me to borrow the money from a credit card, like borrowing from myself, because it was in my best interests.
After researching the company and discussing it with some people, I decided to get the 'lifetime committment' plan, which was $6300, up front. They wanted as much as $7800 on a payment plan. When I came into pay, I negotiated it down to $6000, of which he agreed. Yet another red flag.
I was desperate for direction and guidance, and thought a career marketer would give me that training, guidance, and 'step-ahead' that I needed. I was easy prey.
Soon after that, I was assigned to a rep, Nat Caputi, who was probably as naive and innocent as I was in all this. We met about 6 times, my resume was re-done twice, a few mailings went out, and he gave me some helpful tips.in total, maybe $500 in services.
After 6 weeks, I had not gotten one phone call, lead, interview, connection, NOTHING from Robele. Needless to say I was suspicious and decided to confront Lonnie and Nat on the possibility of getting my money back.
They both encouraged me to hang in there... That it was Thanksgiving which is a tough time. Then through the first two weeks in December, I was growing increasingly frustrated and again decided to confront Nat and Lonnie. Again, they said, it's the holidays, Christmas, etc.
I had a long conversation with Lonnie around Dec. 20th and he encouraged me to give it 30 more days. He said if I wanted out, then I'd have to contact the main office in PA and that it would then become a legal matter.
So I marked my calendar, Jan. 20th, and immediately started writing the letter to their main office explaining that they have not delivered on any of the services promised and that I was looking for my money back.
Today, January 11th, I get an email from Nat stating:
Effective Monday 4:30 (1/10/05), I was informed from Robele HQ that Robele
Career Solutions Inc. Is no longer conducting business as usual and
proceeding with a Chapter 11 scenario. I am now in the position, like you,
to have to look for another opportunity. Believe me that this came as a
complete surprise to me. I wish you the best under these circumstances and
have enjoyed working with you.
Nat Caputi
Now that the reality has set in and I am getting over 'being had', I begin the process to try and expose these people and this company for the evils that done to people like me. At the same time, I am trying to recover the money that was stolen from me and hope that as many of you as possible can learn from this.
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