I moved to Kaufman, TX. Near Dallas in September of planning to find work at one of the many Colleges/Universities in the area (I am a professor of Psychology). I was unable to find work in academia and decided to look for employment in the private sector. This proved difficult because I didn't know what skills readily transferred to the private sector. I found Bernard Haldane Associates advertising in the want ad section of the Dallas Morning News, and spoke with them about the difficulty I was having. They assured me that they would be able to help me for $4005, and even gave me a signed satisfaction guarantee. My wife and I discussed whether to use them or not, since I was unemployed and we didn't really feel that we could afford such a large fee. However, they assured me that the would provide me with the necessary tools to obtain a job that paid far better than what I had received as a professor. We felt that if they could follow through with their promises, the $4005 expenditure would be worthwhile, even if we had to borrow the money to pay them. They were engaging in some very slick salesmanship, and we were aware of this, but I had a satisfaction guarantee in hand so I didn't think I could lose. If their system didn't perform, I could always get my money back. I signed on with Haldane at the end of Jan. 2001. I ended up getting a job in the Aerospace industry (a division of Northrup Grumman, or NG) at the end of March, but this was not due to Haldane's efforts. I had applied to NG through their HR dept. 2 months before I even knew Haldane existed. (Incidently, Haldane's position is that you never accomplish a successful job search if you go through a company's HR dept.) I worked at NG for six months, and was laid off as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks when the aerospace industry in general essentially imploded. Because I was unsure of how my job with NG would work out, even while working for them I had continued to monitor the websites provided by Haldane that was supposed to provide exposure to Companies looking for qualified people. I never once got a call for an interview, or even so much as a single e-mail through their websites. After I was laid off by Northrup Grumman, I began working with Haldane again. The agreement I had signed with them was for three years, so I was theoretically still covered. I followed every suggestion made by the Haldane representative, but nothing worked.By the time I had put in a total of about 13.5 months with Haldane, it became apparent that their system was not working for me, and I needed to try something different. I told my Haldane counselor that I wanted to activate the satisfaction guarantee and get my money back and try something different from what Haldane was offering. He asked me if I had tried the "Modified letter" approach, another of Haldane's techniques for getting work. I told him that I had not, and he requested that I try that technique. About 1.5 months later, after I had given this method a reasonable try (it didn't produce anything either) so I stated as much and once again asked for a refund. I was told that they had just recently modified the modified letter approach, that they were giving new seminars on its use every other Tuesday, that I should take the seminar then try the newly altered "modified approach". At this point it became clear that I was being exposed to delaying tactics. Upon reflection of my past 15 months with Haldane, it became abundantly clear that the whole process constituting Haldane's "system" was nothing but delay. Their counseling sessions were little more than cheerleading with a healthy dose of "... Don't give up, give it time, this job search takes time... Etc...", in other words, delay tactics. Haldane screens their clients for high qualifications.in a healthy economy, within a pool of highly qualified workers given enough time most (if not all) will eventually be hired. This is true irrespective of any so-called "system" being employed. The system itself is irrelevant. Assuming the client is making some kind of genuine effort to get a job, given enough time in a good economy he will be hired. The only reason I have been unsuccessful is because we are in a bad economy and because Haldane really does nothing to help one get a job. I walked out of the office, and sent an e-mail to my Haldane Rep. Demanding a refund without any more delay. At this point, he turned my case over to Ms. Robin Upton in customer service. She informed me that the satisfaction guarantee was not a promise to refund money, but a promise to work with me until I was satisfied (or presumably until 3 yrs. Ran out, the terms of the original agreement).initially she refused to refund anything. After threatening a lawsuit, she agreed to refund 25% and Haldane would keep 75%. I refused. After consulting with a lawyer, I was told that he was reluctant to begin a suit when I was still unemployed, that the expense might equal what I had already paid to Haldane if the case didn't go our way. He said I had already been ripped off once, he didn't want me to feel that my attorney had done it to me again. My wife asked me to try once more to settle this with Haldane, because the emotional toll was, in her opinion, more than it was worth. I sent a letter to Haldane explaining what I had learned and offered to allow them to keep $1000 for their efforts, a more than reasonable sum considering the fact that for the entire 15 months that I had worked with Haldane, they had not only been unsuccessful in providing me the tools to get a job, they hadn't even been able to provide me with what I needed to get a single interview. Their system was broken at best and fraudulent at worst. They had implied a great deal and had delivered nothing. They responded by trying to bargain, saying they would return half and keep half. My response was that in my opinion they did not deserve to keep any of the fee, and that I was offering the $1000 as a one-time deal in deference to my wife. They have not been in contact with me for 5 days now, so I assume that they are not going to take me up on my settlement offer. I feel that these people are perpetrating a very slick consumer fraud. They are preying on consumers that are unemployed and somewhat vulnerable because of this. They give you a guarantee that really isn't a guarantee, and they use this to cinch up the sales deal. Fifteen months after starting with Haldane, I still don't know what skills transfer to the private sector, nor do I know where the non-academic jobs are, and Haldane has been absolutely no help, although they implied when I signed on with them that these were relatively simple problems they could work out for me. I paid $4005 for a product that was absolutely worthless in the only way that has meaning here, i.E. Obtaining a good paying job. Unfortunately, my lawyer suspects that I may have spent so much time trying to follow Haldane's bogus lead that I may have become unemployable in my field. I am not a young man (57 yrs. Old), and this doesn't make matters any easier either. I am very angry with Haldane for cheating me, but I am also angry with myself, because I should have seen through their fraudulent claims. If Haldane refuses to refund my money, I intend to make them such a high profile name in Texas that every resident will know how they operate. Also, as soon as I obtain work, I intend to sue, even if it costs me another $4000. GeorgeKaufman, Texas
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