Complaint Review: Bernard Haldane Associates - Portland Oregon

Expert sales staff tell you anything to get your money. Very careful and crafty, will not promise you a job, but everthing short of that. I,like many job seekers was in a desperate and vulnerable state. You need to get a job, and they paint a beautiful picture.

I was certain many times to state that I was not a career professional up to this point even though I had been working for twenty years. I had been in graduate school, and basically had only worked retail. They still assured me that I was a perfect candidate for a professional-level career placement.

They are sure to show you all the hirings their customers have achieved, and the high-dollar salaries they were able to receive.

Basically, you could do the same thing as Haldane claims they will do simply by buying a few books and having the internet. You take some likes/dislikes tests which are readily available for free anywhere, find out about your personality (free or in many books) and figure out what really fits you. Well, all this was time consuming and then the "adviser" still just tried to get me to apply to several general business or sales positions, which all of my tests said were totally wrong for my personality and likes.

And speaking of my adviser, this guy was a real winner. They put me with a newer person who I couldn't quite tell if he was totally disinterested in his job, or just didn't know what he was doing (or both). This "person" was like a zombie, just trodding through the motions of getting me to jump through the hoops. His mind was definitely not on his job. This guy even nodded off a couple of times during meetings with him!! He blamed it on allergy medicine.

As I said above, even after doing all the background work and resume tweaking (which you can also do for free or use books), you find all of these possible careers which are unrealistic anyway because they ask you what you REALLY like to do and then target it - Well, I couldn't find any positions where you get to sleep in until noon, then watch TV, call a few friends or relatives, travel a lot with your family, go scuba diving, etc. you get the point. So all he would do then was have me apply for general business positions in middle-management, which I had no interest in whatsoever.

Well, they must have either caught on to this guy, or he realized he was going to a place of eternal damnation for what he and the rest were doing, because after about 10 or 11 months of this torture, the guy left Haldane.

Now I was basically starting over after having wasted about a year. The new adviser was no better. He had the personality of a lump of clay. Now that is personal, but he also was not helping me to get my dream job as they had promised.

These situations are unfortunately the hardest to explain and prove that there is wrongdoing. It's basically your word against theirs, but hopefully if there are enough of us, people will start to listen and quit going to Haldane.

Anyway, my biggest complaints are these: I made sure they could work with me as I was not a typical 6-figure manager that was their bread and butter client. They assured me I was perfect for Haldane, and they could do a lot. They couldn't, and didn't.

I didn't fit into their neat little pegs, as I wasn't an engineer, or a computer specialist or whatever - I had had several types of jobs, but wasn't a career anything. So they couldn't just say go look for engineer jobs, or whatever, they didn't know what to do with me and had me doing all kinds of research for jobs I didn't even know about or care about.

Basically, once I had paid, they were on to sell to the next client and didn't care about me. I eventually gave up on their cute little stories about the guy they got a job for 200,000 a year (better luck winning the lottery) and after forking over all that money was back to searching in the paper and on the internet for the same old stale job postings.

This is also a problem. Their computer system that they rave about is no different than searching on your own on the internet. They also claim to have unique openings and secret connections - I didn't get any from them.

People can take this next gripe for what it's worth. You will either think I'm bonkers, stupid, a whiner, or all of the above, but nevertheless it is true for me. This again is the hard part about a rip-off like this. You can't prove anything, and they just go on with their lives (with your money) and you with yours. As I mentioned, I like many I assume, was desperately not only seeking a job to live, but also a the prospect of a new job, one I might actually enjoy. As time goes by in your job search, I like many get rather down at times too. Haldane was quite a leap.

I had been job searching for quite some time and was really needing to get going with a career. I also had accumulated a good deal of debt while out of work and job searching. The last thing I needed to do was shell out another 4,000.00 and add to my debt. This is where I think Bernard Haldane is simply evil and immoral. They take this desperation and vulnerability in people and squeeze it for everything they can by selling you hope when you need it most.

I was pretty depressed at the time and really agonized over the idea of going further into debt. The salesman did his job, and promised I would be a piece of cake to get a job and that the money seemed like a lot now, but it would be quickly made up with my new job. Well, the rest is obvious.

So anyway, as I mentioned it didn't go well, and then I had to start all over basically when my first adviser left because he really didn't do anything for me or document anything. The Portland branch even admitted there were reasons he was leaving and his mind hadn't been on his job as he had other interests.

Well, all this association with Haldane did was make me even more depressed, and desperate. My self-confidence which was low enough because I hadn't been working was now even worse, knowing I was going to have to start over, and still hadn't been even finding any jobs I was interested in.

Okay, need to wrap this up, sorry. It's hard to put into words what the damages are, but I definitely feel Haldane ripped me off for my money and didn't help me at all. As with others I am both angry and emabarrassed to admit I fell for this scam. After seeing their materials, I can definitely say that anyone who can use the internet could easily find the material they need or even purchase a few books, and still save thousands of dollars. But it's not even that really, it's that they sell you the world, anything you want to hear to get your money, and then you just do an independent job search like you would have anyway.

By the way, after I was assigned to the new adviser, he never even called me once. I worked on my own for a while, and then just gave up. No one from Haldane ever called to check up, even over a year later...shows how much they care about you after they have the sale.

I'm sure I will never hear from Haldane again, I hold no high hopes. I just hope this helps someone who is trying to decide to go with them.

I hope Bernard Haldane is ashamed of what has become of his name in the quest for money. I found it really hard to accept my first adviser who fell asleep during our meetings. I may never forgive him, but I know he has to live with the fact of all the other people he steered wrong and disappointed.

As for the salesman, I also don't know whether to hate him or admire him for his skills. I hate him for being a part of this scam, and only wish he knew how many lives he may be affecting. Sales skills need to be put to use on the side of good, not the dark side (sorry about the good vs. evil cliche) but as far as I'm concerned, this man already has a very special place reserved for him in the really hot place with horns and red decor.

You know, I really would like to have my money back, so if this gets back to Haldane, I've at least asked. But it's so much more than that, that I feel I was deceived, and taken advantage of in a vulnerable state, which is something that one human being (or chain of offices) should not do to other human beings. Should I ever get my money back, I will graciously forgive and forget, in the meantime, may you make peace with your maker, and not slaughter any more innocent victims. Thanks for reading.

Greg

Vancouver, Washington
U.S.A.

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CLICK HERE, You must read this!! ..Financial Post Article LINK - Haldane not up to the job ..exposing this company for what it really is - a huge scam