Ask Me Help Desk - Wrongfully terminated?

I was hired by a nationally recognized company to do customer service work from my home for one of their clients. As part of this process, I was to attend approximately 3-4 weeks of training which includes getting our home computers set up, connecting and learning how to report for work via their website and making sure their VPN was working correctly on my end. I completed all the necessary and requested steps prior to this training to include, getting a new land line ran to my house, purchasing a $101.00 telephone system that they recommended as well as a $45.00 background check. All total, there was about $200.00 of expenses I went through before I could proceed with training.

I started training on Tuesday, November 26 and attended 3 days of training around the Thanksgiving holiday. On Monday, December 2nd I was 2 hours into my training class when our instructor pulled me and another trainee aside and informed us that we would not be able to continue training as someone on their end failed to submit log-in paperwork for the two of us to get log-ins to use their proprietary software packages. So basically because someone on their end dropped the ball and failed to submit this paperwork, we were out of a job. They claim that their contract with the company they are representing states that it takes 10 full days to get log in information and that by the time we got our log in information, it would be too late because hands on training was starting soon and we would be unable to follow along. So... they dropped me from the program. They set me up to interview with another program they were offering and assured me not to worry about it, that I would get in due to the situation they just screwed up. I interviewed and they didn't hire me... left me hanging.

I'm still in the process of trying to get things resolved, however, I have limited access to the people I need to talk to.. somebody that can actually do something about it and I feel they are just trying to sweep it under the rug.

Obviously this is a paraphrased description of the situation, but does anyone think that I have an actionable position to do something about this?

Thanks

Maybe a certified letter explaining what happened, addressed to a higher up, with a low key hint that you don't want to waste their or your time with legal action. The legal action would probably at best be small claims court and it might still cost you more than it is worth.
Is there any possibility of being able to salvage the situation by seeking similar work with another company and being able to say you are already set up to do the job? Make lemonade out of the lemons you have been handed?
Do you have an wriitten instruction from them to document that you were advised to make those expenditures?

Quote:

Originally Posted by smearcase

Maybe a certified letter explaining what happened, addressed to a higher up, with a low key hint that you don't want to waste their or your time with legal action. The legal action would probably at best be small claims court and it might still cost you more than it is worth.
Is there any possibility of being able to salvage the situation by seeking similar work with another company and being able to say you are already set up to do the job? Make lemonade out of the lemons you have been handed?
Do you have an wriitten instruction from them to document that you were advised to make those expenditures?

Yes, I have all the emails they sent to me explaining what I needed to do to be prepared for training. I'm currently talking with the VP of their recruiting department, so hopefully this will get resolved.

On another note, what if I have made some financial decisions based on the fact that I was hired by them, i.e. I negotiated with my bank to re-finance my car loan based on the fact that I had found work and now I won't be able to make my first payment on the new loan because of what happened?

I'm guessing that doesn't hold water with anyone really.

Not very likely that the company can be held accountable for personal decisions of the type that we all make based on our expectations and our own predictions.
Is there any chance that they invented the "foul up" to weed out some people? As in, they overbook the training classes and try to evaluate folks in the first few days, then make some cuts with the "foul up" excuse? Most contractors will do whatever their client wants to expedite things- assuming it is technically feasible which I have no idea whether it is or isn't in this case.
Was the training paid or unpaid?
There are many nationally recognized companies who have a tendency to treat their employees unfairly. Hopefully, you will look back on this experience and think- I am fortunate that fell through.

It was paid training and no I don't think it was a planned attrition. I say that because our instructor was shocked and told her bosses repeatedly that the two of us were two of her top people in the class. We didn't have any computer issues, we didn't have any technical problems that slowed down the training while there were several people in the class who did and actually slowed us down to the point that we were about a 1/2 day behind after only being in class for just over 2 days. People in the class that clearly were not familiar with computers at all. They have admitted all the way up to the VP I talked to today that it was their fault this all happened. Yet they just don't seem to be concerned enough to really do anything about it.

My good friend, a few days ago traveled a long distance for an important consultation with a medical specialist he had waited two months to see. He was informed when he checked in that they had not received the documents and test results from the physician who sent him to the specialist. This, even though my friend had checked twice over the past months and was assured that the records had been forwarded. Why hadn't the specialist's staff also checked to see that they had received the info their boss needed, instead of wasting his valuable time too? This episode will probably have serious impact on how long my friend lives but there is unlikely to be any accountability on either end of the transaction. I am sorry that these screwups had to happen to him and you.
I am back to offering the same advice as my first response and that is to write a letter (not an email) to a higher officer in the company and hope to find someone who will realize the injustice of this situation, and possibly come up with a decent position for you. Compose a good, brief summary of the facts and impress them with your professionalism and tenacity.
Best of luck to you.

Hello MD:

You got screwed, that's for sure... But, absent a contract, you got screwed LEGALLY, and there's NOTHING you can do.

excon