Landmark Refund
Date: October 15, 2003 09:50PM
as recruitment goes, so says a psychologist who is also a volunteer for LE. Many people had dropped out of the Seminar Series after the first sessions, too. It seems the Seminar Series is the training camp for prospective Forum leaders.
After sending a letter to voice my dissatisfaction with the Forum and subsequent Seminar Series, I waited and waited for a response. In the meantime, the volunteers who call constantly to keep the interest going did their job 1-2 x week, but were unable to help at all with my complaint. One said that I had to call the Forum leader, since my complaint was specifically with him, but they couldn't give me his phone number.
When I called the office a few weeks after sending the letter, the reason given that no one called back was the recipient of the letter, Ann, no longer worked there, so they didn't even open it (imagine that happening in a business). (Ann was the one who called me every few days for more than a month leading up to my Forum, guaranteeing me a breakthrough in the issues in my life.) They promised another rep would call me. That didn't happen. After a few more phone calls, I did contact a supervisor, who made an appointment for a phone schedule. I sat at my phone and waited - nothing - called LE and told them she blew me off. The supervisor was "on the road" and was expected to call in, so they told me to wait. Nothing. Later that evening - like 11:30 p.m. - she called, but didn't have time to talk (but had time to wake me up). The next day we arranged another appointment and this time I called. She was off that day. I got another manager and told her about the lack of integrity. The supervisor called me within 15 minutes and just snapped - "so is it a refund you want?" I really wanted to let them know my concerns, but saw that would be futile. Within a week, I had a FULL refund, including the nonrefundable part.
One-on-one, it seems, the employees and volunteers do not take confrontation well. It is easier to pay and be done with it. I'm sure since the recruitment rate was low for my Forum that they didn't want anyone else bringing them bad publicity.