Appleby Associates Reviews 3

My time with Marcus has given me the confidence to make changes in my career I would not have made otherwise. I highly recommend them..

I felt compelled to write a review having read the previous single review. My experience of Appleby Associates has been completely the reverse in every possible way. At all times, I found them to be very professional and supportive. Sounds odd, but I now understand more about myself. I have developed the skills and have the evidence at my finger tips to promote myself. I can't thank Appleby Associates enough.

Excerpts from witness statement from a past client who took Appleby to court:
“[The Coach] arrived to meetings unprepared without showing signs of reading the material provided. There was no structured discussion, no agenda and at no point did the [Appleby coach] take any meeting notes during the meetings. After each meeting, there was no analysis of the work done, and no summary of what was discussed and no follow ups on next steps or what was achieved. Follow-up notes and written records of our meetings are a minimum professional standard for the fees that I paid.”

Four months after the last interaction, the Coach was not able to provide any client files or details of meetings and conversations and how they led to the outcome.

This is Appleby`s response - direct quotes from testimony:
"I do not have any of his records. There are a number of reasons for this and they are explained in chronological order below.

• We had IT issues and lost his files
“…we did swop over the third party supplier of our Career Management Resource Centre […], and therefore some documentation might have been lost. This is factually true but I cannot quantify what that impact might have been, but it would have been very minor in respect to the [Client].”

• I accidentally deleted the files
“Because I had a mail box storage issue on my webmail account, I deleted a number of emails to free up space, but did not realise that by deleting directly from this source it would automatically delete any email that had not been archived on Outlook – This is factually true.”

• We are not legally required to keep client records
“We are not required legally to keep copies of client documentation after a client has finished, so there would be no reason to keep any of his information once we believe the contract has been completed – I believe that this is the case, but would not be the reason in this instance as to why I do not have copies.”

• I do know how to back up my email
“I did not know that I had not set up my Outlook auto archive correctly so was not working–This is factually true and it is unfortunate that it occurred, but it did not impact or undermine the service I provided.” A result [..] I lost all the emails that I had sent or received up to a certain date. This is why I only have any email correspondence from the Claimant from May of last year. – This is factually true and is unfortunate, but did not impact or undermine the service I provided.”

• I never said I would produce anything in writing or any independent work.
“At no point did I ever state or indicate that I would be doing any in-depth independent analysis of his work or producing written reports back to him. “
“…at no point did I promise that I would produce written documentation other than the exercises I would have given to him to complete. – This is factually true and I have made a reference to that..”

• Client took his own notes so I did not feel I needed to take notes.
“At a number of meetings the client made his own notes directly into his small black notebook plus on paper copies of the exercises he bought with him, all of which, as they were his notes he took away with him. – This is factually true and I have made a reference to that..”

• We did work on a whiteboard so I did not need to take notes.
“At a number of meetings, exercises would have been done in the meeting using the whiteboard, therefore unless the client took a photo or made notes, which would be their prerogative, there would be no copy of it - This is factually true and I have made a reference to that..”

The Case was lost more because the lack of industry standards makes it hard to prove breach of contract. The Coach claims that it is a sign that he is "fully exonerated." However, his testimony in a public court hearing should be shared wit others so this can be judged in the court of public opinion. Buyer beware, ask him if he will take notes during meetings and keep client records at the minimum..