June 1 in a telephone conversation Larry Keim, Executive Vice President of Customer Service at Bernard Haldane Associates told me "more than half of the people writing complaints on the complaint aren't even real clients... Never have been. "Well I am here to tell you that I am a real live person, my name is Patti Thoemke and I recently fell victim to the most convincing sales pitch of Peter Iverson, VP of Marketing with the Minneapolis, Minnesota office of Bernard Haldane. Mine is not a new story - my husband and I were told of that "hidden" job market and the network of solid contacts which Bernard Haldane Associates possessed because of their wonderful reputation. Peter told us that Bernard Haldane maintained a database of 38,000 jobs with salary ranges of $45 to $400k. I was told that appropriate level contacts would be established for me and that I would be put before major decision makers. Wow... How could anybody resist this kind of program; after all we heard about 82 offices worldwide, Bernard Haldane's still active involvement with the company AND a personal coach to aid my every step! My mentoring coach was Don Bernstein and after 3 weeks of meeting 2x's per week all that had been accomplished was MY writing my own resume. Being thoroughly disappointed at the forward progression I contacted Peter Iverson to express my concern and frustration. Peter said he understood, describing Don as "a bit of a task master who's rough around the edges." Peter assured us that he's speak with Don and call me back the following morning. I never received the callback from Peter Iverson so I went to the next level leaving a message for Barry Trimble, Office Administrator. Apparently Mr. Trimble was too busy to be bothered with the insignificance of me because he had Peter Iverson call me back. I then contact Haldane's very own Client Care Department at the toll-free number on their website. I left a message and was promised a return call by close of the next business day... As you might guess that call never came. It was at this point I told Peter Iverson that I wanted a refund of my $4,600 fee as many of the points promised in their sales contract had yet to be accomplished. I was referred to Larry Keim and currently my request is under consideration. My biggest regret is that I did not have knowledge of this kind BEFORE I signed on with Bernard Haldane. Larry Keim summed up the problem quite eloquently "sometimes I suppose the program might be oversold and sometimes perhaps it could be underdelivered" - in my case IT HAS BEEN BOTH! PattiSt. Paul, Minnesota
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