I am currently unemployed for two years (result of bank merger in 2000 and subsequent layoffs in January) and after exhausting all of the "conventional" means of trying to re-employ via friends, networking, answering ads, internet sites like Monster.com and flipdog.com, etc, I saw an ad for BERNARD HALDANE on the front page of the Sunday New York Times Classified section and decided to e-Mail my resume to them.
I received a phonecall the next day from a Rebecca McLaughlin who asked me a few questions concerning my current situation and set up an interview with me with one of the firm's "Vice Presidents", a Mr. Anthony Myerberg for the following Wednesday the 26th. Upon arriving at their impressive 16th floor, wood-panelled Park Avenue office, I spent fifteen minutes filling-out a lobby questionnaire that asked questions regarding my liquid finances, the value of my home, my spouse's name, as well as the other usual last job-related information.
When done, Ms. McLaughlin called Mr. Myerberg, who came out, introduced himself to me and asked that I wait a few minutes while he retired to his office to go over my questionnaire.in the twenty minutes that I was in the lobby, I saw two other gentlemen who were supposed clients/job seekers that were either filling-out the questionnaire or there to see a "counselor". The place was not exactly "standing room only" with potential job seekers - this in a city where unemployment is rampant, especially in the financial industry where layoffs complicated by the September 11th attack have placed thousands like myself out in the street seeking work.
A short while later, Mr. Myerberg came back out and brought me into his office where we spent an hour discussing my situation. During that time, he told me that the resume that I had paid over $ 200 for by a professional service was nothing more than a "history lesson" - that it "said nothing about me" and was a useful tool "ten, fifteen years ago" but not relevant today. He mentioned that only 15% of the open positions were privy to 85% of the job seekers, and that HALDANE would make their private database of job opportunities available to me once I had been given a thirty day preparatory course in how to "control" interviews and so on.
Mr. Myerberg then asked me a series of scale-based questions to determine if I was a "worthy" or qualified prospective client, and based on my "appearance" and the score that I achieved from my answers, was told that I was someone HALDANE would be interested in assisting in a job search. He did not mention a specific dollar figure, but after relaying a story to me about a former company CEO who he had recently helped find re-employment (and who gladly paid a $ 2,500 fee up front,) he did state that the fee would be "reasonable" in my case. He also stated that "just short of putting it in writing, " he could guarantee that I would "get a job within the next three to four months."
Mr. Myerberg then requested that I bring my wife Barbara with me to a two-hour session on the following Monday, March 3rd (TODAY) as "who knew me better than her" as he put it. This seemed a bit odd to me, but then again I assumed it was part of their thorough and unique approach to getting me back on track to a new job. While visiting our tax advisor yesterday, my wife and I mentioned that we were going to HALDANE today for this meeting; my accountant expressed some doubts and said we should get everything down in writing prior to making a monetary commitment.
Late this morning, Barbara suggested that I look up HALDANE on the internet to see if there were any ratings or customer comments about the company, and sure enough, the BBB of New York gave it an "unsatisfactory" rating, along with comments about fraudulent practices, etc. I got a sickening feeling in my stomach that this meeting was a bad idea and decided to call and cancel.
I left a voicemail on Ms. McLaughlin's answering machine (she was unavailable) explaining that I had discovered some disturbing information and had decided to cancel my appointment. Ten minutes later, Mr. Myerberg called and said he could answer the question he thought I had - the tone of his voice wasn't exactly friendly, as if he knew full-well why I was cancelling.
In summation, my wife and I came within TWO HOURS of possibly making a financial commitment that we can ill afford to make at this time. THANK YOU to "Usa Consumer Complaints.com" and the three hundred and forty-eight complaints from others who had been abused by these people for convincing me that I made the right decision!
Richard
Staten Island, New York
U.S.A.
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