I have read roughly 20 postings on this site about BHA, and my spouse and I are certainly thankful that we did some homework. Most of the postings are carbon copies of what we experienced, although BHA did not get a dime of our money.
I was contacted by a person on the telephone indicating that they had come across my resume that was posted on a job site. The person indicated that they would like to set up an interview with me and a local Senior Vice President of BHA. I agreed, and two days later was in the offices of BHA. Prior to meeting the SVP I also had to fill out their questionaire. I also was skeptical from the beginning due to the questions regarding the value of home, my monthly mortgage payment, the liquid assets I had available, and the types of cars I drove. Why do they need to know this information? They see what you have? What you can afford? Is this how they set their fee's?
I met with the SVP for about 1 hour and got the complete sales presentation that I have read about in all the other postings on this site. He told me I was worth $20,000 more in salary than the job I just left. That they had a 98% success rate in placing clients. That he was more than certain he would get me that high paying dream job in a short period of time, and a sign on bonus as well with my new employer. Then, you guessed it, he wanted to set up the next meeting, and requested that I bring my spouse.
The next meeting which my spouse attended, was much of the same pitch and even more. At the end of the meeting he then told us that there was a fee for the service and that the fee was $12,500. I almost started laughing. He left the room and told my wife and I to discuss it. We discussed it, not a chance was our conclusion.
When the SVP came back in the room I told him I was not prepared to give him $12,500. To that he replied, what a lot of his clients do, is put the fee on a credit card, and upon getting the new job, pay off the credit card with a portion of big signing bonus they receive. I told him I still had to give this some thought. To that he recommended that I give him an authorization on my credit card and I could still think about it, and if I decided to not go through with it, he would not charge the credit card. He was attmepting to close this sale in any way possible. I then asked him if his company had a 98% success rate, and he was so certain that he could get me the dream job, with a sign on bonus why could I not pay the fee after getting the dream job. His answer was "you don't pay for your college education after you graduate". What kind of analogy is that? He then turned his computer monitor on his desk towards me and showed me that there were currently over 100 high paying jobs in my very limited field, right then as we spoke, and all of them where right in my geographic area. I found that hard to believe, and asked him to show me one of them. To that he replied, he could not because it was private information. It goes without saying that my spouse and I left and I did not give him a credit card.
I spoke to the Sr. VP the next day. He then told me that he talked with his corporate office in New York about me. They were going to make an exception to the rule in my case, and I could give them $6,700 up front and the remaining balance after they placed me in my dream job, only if my signing bonus for the new job was greater than $12,500. Why did the fee structure change over night? This was another red flag to me. After doing some homework on BHA and finding this site, as well as some other information on them, it reinforced my suspisions, and concerns. The service industry is such that you pay for your service upon completion of the service. If you pay for a service in advance and the service is not performed or not performed to your satisfaction, who is in the drivers seat? The person holding the money.
Robert
Schaumburg, Illinois
U.S.A.
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