Canada-Complaints.com » Shops, Products, Services » Complaint / review: Bernard Haldane Associates - Ripoff liars victimized me | #14915

Bernard Haldane Associates
Ripoff liars victimized me

I am a foreign worker who got laid off from a high tech company last June 2001.

I was sending my resume to different job ads because I am very eager to find another job immediately.

I was contacted by Haldane last August 2002 and set up a meeting to speak with Minto Roy.

Minto Roy spoke about good things about their company and how can they be able to help me find a job.

He said that their company has access to 85% of the hidden jobs and job ads are just 15% of the job market. And those people who ask for their service get the job in two months compared to those who did not.

He said that people who did not have their service ends up going back to job in 6-8 months. He even told me that their company could help me find the job, salary, location and benefits that I want.

He also told me that they make their clients ahead of other job seekers because they are contacting the managers, VP and CEO instead of HR people.

He gave me a form asking me to write down 5 things on why I should need their service. The thing that I insisted is that I told him that I am still waiting for my permanent residency papers and I need a company to sponsor me in order to work here.

This did not bother him so I just thought that he could really help me find a job at once.

He set up another meeting and this time together with my husband and my son (who was just 11 months old at that time).

He started selling their company again and he had said so much nice words that we fall into it. Since we were really desperate to have a job immediately because I have a family here, I tried to grab the services.

Because I am thinking that they can really help me get a job considering my status here in Canada.

He then charged me $5681.70 for the services that I want. We think for a moment because we do not have enough money to pay for that amount. He gave us an option to pay for it on 3 payments for 90 days but this time it is worth more or less $6300.

Another option is that I make a deposit of $2731 and pay the rest of $5681.70 in 1 month. And he just told us that its worth to pay that much since I can have the job immediately. I asked him of the percentage of their client who gets the job. He told me that 98% of their clients get the job in 2 months.

And said that they will not contact me if they feel that they will just be spending 6 months or more for helping me find a job. So this sounds very good to me so I started working with them hoping that they have all the contacts for the companies that I want. And I paid everything within 1 month because I can save $600 for paying at once.

During my meetings with them, they gave me handbook titled Comprehensive Career Management Guide. My first advisor gave me a sample resume in which I can base my resume on that sample.

After I have made my resume, she made a slight modification on that. These modifications are correcting the verb tense agreement. She also gave me a list of companies to contact with. I was asked to contact these companies and after contacting them, they dont really have immediate openings.

And these companies are not really related to my field and that they cannot help me. And most of the contact persons there are HR people, recruiters and agents, which are very different from what Minto has told me. Since I wanted to be polite with my advisor, I said to myself that I would still see what would be their next step to help me.

As the meeting goes on, it became clearer to me that I will do all the hard work. This means researching for the companies that I want to work with, talking and interviewing the CEO and managers of engineering, asking them if they have opportunities for someone like me.

During this first three months, I was so disappointed with what is happening and I wanted to quit by then because they are not really helping me a lot.

I am just going to their office and meet my advisor for 30 minutes and just inform her of what I did for this week and so on. She resigned from the office and told me that they will assign a new advisor for me.

I thought that this is not the right time to quit because it will be very awkward for the next advisor and I wanted to give the new advisor a benefit to help me.

I met my new advisor and I started telling him again about my background and why I need a service from their company. This means starting again but not really from scratch since I already have my resume.

So still the same, I was just ask to continue my job search and everything. And met with him to update but this time I got to have a chance to talk to him for 45-60 minutes per meeting because he is really a nice guy to talk to adn talkingmore about my status here in Canada. But as our meeting goes on and on, it became clearer to me that their company cannot really help me find the job that I want, the salary that I want or even get me any job because of my status here in Canada.

As I did my research, I cannot really work in Canada unless a company sponsors me. And sponsorship is not really an easy thing to do because the company should prove to HRDC that they couldnt get a Canadian for that job. Since there are lots of unemployed Canadians, it is really difficult for me to get a job.

I decided to quit after I have received a phone call from immigration that it is very unlikely for me to extend my status here in Canada. I sent a letter to Minto Roy last February 2003 about this and ask him that I want to get my refund since their company did not really give me a job. And I am not really satisfied with their service since I was the one who is doing the hard work.

And I feel that I was misled and deceived by his marketing speeches. And the things that Minto Roy was telling me was not really the actual thing that is happening.

I feel that I have been cheated and robbed. And I believe that Haldane will not make a difference in my career search since I still dont have a job yet. And in addition to that I believe that I was just wasting my time and money going to their office for nothing.

While waiting for Minto Roy's reply, I have researched that HRDC is giving the same services as what has BHA has been giving. And its all for free. In HRDC, you will also get a counsellor and job search training and other services and is very very helpful to job seekers.

And also during that time I have read some negative feedback from their company on Ottawa newsgroup and finally got a link to usaconsumercomplaints.com. And I have read a lot of articles against their company worldwide.

And many people are complaining about their deceitful and fraudulent practices. These articles have given me much courage to file a complaint against their company.

Minto Roy replied after 3 weeks telling me that they dont issue refund and he still wants me to continue working with them with this options:

1. We will continue to work with you unconditionally until you in your next position.
2. We will put your file on hold. Suspending the time remaining on the three-year service contract. Should you have to relocate and require the services of another Bernard Haldane office we will re-activate the serviced in any global office.

But even though he gave me these options, I am firm that I will not continue getting their services anymore coz I know that they are not really a big help for me and that they dont really have a job for me. And I dont have any idea how long will they be able to give me job.

I dont have money anymore to pay for the fee in my credit card. And it is accumulating interest for 6 months now so I wanted to stop it and get my refund. This could help me from getting bankrupt and help me stop thinking how can I pay this debt. This has really affected me so much because I dont know where to get the money to pay for this useless fee.

So I tried contacting him to try to tell him that I dont want his options. But I ended up talking to the voicemail. And then I finally, left a message on the voicemail that if he does not want to talk to me I will start asking the help of third party people regarding this matter.

And then started sendingmy complaint to BBB Ottawa. Then finally he emailed me that before I ask other people's help, he will meet me on the next week of that because he has a business trip on that week.

I came to face Minto Roy in his office last March 11, 2003 to settle my refund. He showed me the letter from BBB. First he mentioned that they are a member of BBB and proud to be a member because they are considered as reputable company and blah blah blah.

And then said that they have encountered similar situations
on me in finding a job that's why they are very confident that they can help me but it just takes time.

Then I still insisted that I dont want their services anymore coz I believe that they cannot really help me and also added that their company is not credible enough to help people because there has been a lot of complaints against them.

Then he started saying statistics that the complaints posted on the internet are just 1% of their clients (300 people only) and 99% of their clients are 100% satisfied on their services. He mentioned that there are about thousands of people who are very satisfied with them all over the world... I forgot the exact number that he said... I think it was something like 800, 000 people.

Then I showed him the articles that I have printed. He told me that the articles printed on the internet were 2 years older already and that these are just 1% of their unhappy clients.

And I told him that I dont care about the percentage but there are still some people complaining about your company. He then told me of course there is no company that is 100% succesful in dealing with their clients.

Then I started telling him to give me the list of names of those satisfied clients so that I can interview them if they are really 100% satisfied. Then he said that he cannot give me a list because he has the right to protect his clients.

Then I said give me a proof... then he pointed the 2-inch binder placed on the top of his cabinet and said that those are the testimonials of their satisfied clients.

Then I told him, is that the 99% of your satisfied clients? (I am trying to tell him if that is your proof why is is so thin and I dont believe
that those binders consists of hundreds of thousand of testimonials). Then he just said that those are the latest testimonials of his clients for the past 6 months. He has all the answers in the world.

Of course I am pissed off already and told him that I will ask the help of people here in Canada to help me on this matter. He then said that he will sue people who will try to damage his name and the company's reputation. (Maybe he is trying to threaten us if we make some actions). Then I said to him that I am not scared to tell the people my experiences with his company and he cannot sue me for libel coz I am telling the truth.

Because were both pissed off with each other, so to end the argument, he just said that he will give me 50% of my money back. And I can get that on the next day because he needs to do some paper work for that. I know that the paper work includes an agreement that I can get my 50% refund and then shut up my mouth as I have read on most articles. Of course I said no, I told him I need 100%. Then I asked him "Do you think its worth paying $2750 for nothing? " (Reversing the situation to him). Then he said yes of course because he said that I got something from their company.

He showed me my files... consists of compilation of letters. These compilation of letters includes the minutes of my meetings to my advisors. And most of them are my updates to my advisor what companies i've been searching for the past days. Then he got one copy and mentioned the names of the company that was listed on there. Then I said to him "I was the one who searched for that company not my advisor... I was just updating him."

Then he is started saying that he knows somebody from this company. Then I told him so why they did not give me the contact person for that company and why do I have to spend my time searching for contact persons. He did not give me a clear answer on this question.

And now he is holding my files and I dont have access on it, he is now claiming that the all the informations on that files are evidences that they have helped me. Wherein the truth is, the ones written in there are my updates to my advisor on what I have done for my job search. And real truth is that they dont have any contacts for my job interest.

I did not accept the 50% refund and said to him that I wont stop until I got my 100% refund. And then he ended up saying that "We dont have anything to talk about now. You can file in court if you want to."

Then I received an email from him on March 12, 2003 giving me the following option:

1. A 50% good will adjustment on the total fee paid by you. This good will adjustment will require both parties to sign off on a standard release form.

2. Our offer of a 50% good will adjustment is good for seven days, at which time we will rescind the offer and put your file on hold.

I am now continuing my battle to this company because I truly believe that they are not really helping people that much. If there is something you can do to help me regarding this issue, I will appreciate it. I am hoping that you can give me suggestions for this matter. I am doing this not only for my benefit and also for the benefit of other people in order to protect themselves from getting involved on this kind of company.

Rosario
Kanata, Ontario
Canada

Date:

Company: Bernard Haldane Associates

Country: Canada   Province: Ontario   City: Ottawa
Address: 55 Metcalfe Street, Suite 1460
Phone: 6132342530

Category: Shops, Products, Services

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