Stay Away From Advantage RN!!!!!

[chiatello]

Never ever sign up for a travel nursing assignment with Advantage RN. Let me go through MY issues, then make your own decision.

1. My (first) recruiter, Matt, told us that we would be fully reimbursed for all travel expenses from Pittsburgh to Phoenix including gas, we would receive a $250 completion bonus and when asked about housing, he told me to look on Rent.com. Nice.

2. After Matt suddenly disappeared, we signed a contract with David for a 13 week assignment in Phoenix. Now this contract (and ALL Advantage RN contracts) stated that I had 36 guaranteed hours per week. GUARANTEED. I looked on their website and found this quote, "Guaranteed hours means GUARANTEED weekly pay!" his is a lie :-). More to follow on this. There also ended up being NO completion bonus and NO travel reimbursement.

3. As I was driving from Pittsburgh to Phoenix, I received a phone call from Advantage RN's director/manager of so and so, Brandon, who informed me that I no longer had an apartment in Phoenix because of some miscommunication with the housing department and that they would "work hard" to find me another one. They did, and I must admit, it was nice, but this forced me to stay in an Advantage RN provided "hotel" for a week.

4. The Motel 6 at the corner of Indian School Road and Black Canyon Freeway in downtown Phoenix is not exactly the Hilton. Apparently the almighty dollar was the victor over customer satisfaction during their hotel search. When I wasn't fending off roaches, I was busy watching my neighbors, who apparently LIVED at the Motel 6, get arrested every night. GHETTO. But don't worry, Advantage RN feels "terrible" about this "nightmare assignment" and they would send "gift baskets" to both me and my girlfriend who I was traveling with.

5. One single $50 gift card to the Hard Rock Cafe. Thats $25 each for me and my girlfriend. THAT was their apology. Seeing as how they kept both of our $2,500 bonuses that the hospital provided, it's not like they couldn't afford to spend a little more. And this assignment hasn't even started yet.

6. So guaranteed hours means guaranteed weekly pay. 36 hours was MY guarantee! So when I had a shift canceled for the first time by the hospital, I spoke to another nurse with Advantage RN who had also been canceled but was paid for it, JUST LIKE THEY PROMISED :wink_smile: So I called my recruiter, left a message and sure enough, I GOT PAID! Maybe this won't be so bad after all!

7. When I was canceled the second time, their story had changed. They danced around what was stated on their contract, tried to say that the Advantage RN policy is to only reimburse the first canceled shift, then they would look for a new contract at another hospital if you get canceled again (BS). Nonetheless, I wasn't paid for it. Same for the third cancellation. I attempted to argue what the contract said, they pretended that it didn't say it.

8. Let me just mention that I didn't hear from my actual recruiter until 2 months into my assignment. When I mentioned this to him in an e-mail, his response was "I didn't know I had to keep in constant contact, I'll call you every other day if it will make you feel better."

9. After my contract had FINALLY been completed and I had already signed on with much friendlier, much more stable American Mobile, my girlfriend received an e-mail from our recruiter which stated that I was "very rude" to our short term housing director about some issue regarding "vacuum sealing" my clothes and that I should stop "treating people like they are beneath me." I contacted the housing director only to find out that she was talking about somebody completely different, and she stated that I was "a doll."

10. As of this post I have threatened legal action to obtain my money for 2 missed shifts and Advantage RN has 4 days to pay me before a court subpoena is filed. My cousin is a lawyer so I won't have to worry about legal fees, which is nice since I wasn't getting paid anyway. Heather and Rachael at American Mobile have been outstanding and they have an excellent support network. They are very quick in responding and I have yet to find an issue with them.

11. In the last e-mail from my former recruiter, he stated that it was unfortunate that there were so many "issues." Yes, he quoted it. As if the above doesn't prove that these were valid issues.

12. Deleted

13. Lastly, we met 5 other nurses in Phoenix who were with Advantage RN and by the end of our assignment, they too had all switched to other companies. STAY AWAY FROM ADVANTAGE RN!!!

Hope this helps..

[icunurse1]

I couldn't disagree more with this post! I have been a traveler for several years now and have worked with several companies. Normally I choose my assignments based on location and pay alone; so I too was excited about Advantage RN's guaranteed hours. Which was the deciding factor in choosing the company to work for. I have had a great experience with the company and for this reason I have decided to continue as a traveler. I have never experienced anything close to the description above with any of the multiple recruiters I have worked with.

[newbie2626]

haha if the above post isn't an advantage rn recruiter/staff member i dont know what is. i have been traveling for a couple of years and started with advantage rn. it was miserable. i know many who have traveled with them. i know none who had a good experience. the original post is unfortunate but sounds eerily similar to my situation and to other stories i've heard about this company. i can assure u folks, the above poster who had a positive experience (if it is a real post) is the anomaly. this is not a good company.

[MTRanch]

Well I am not an Advantage RN recruiter and I am glad that there are 2 sides to every story.
I have worked for advantage RN about 3 years now and they are about the only travel company that I will travel with anymore- I have tried many others. In fact Brandon is my recruiter. I have never experienced any of these problems with them. I actually stay with Advantage RN because they are so personable. I don't just feel like another nurse on there call list. I hear from Brandon at least 1-2 times a week if not more.

As for the post above someone sounds a little needy!!!!!!

I don't think anyone made you stay in the motel 6. If you didn't like it you should have left not complained about it. I don't think anyone would have put you in a hotel like that if they truly knew what it was like. It's not like Advantage RN or any other travel company stays in these hotels and puts people there intentionally.

In my opinion Advantage RN is one of the best companies to work for. I get good pay, they are easy to work with and my recruiter has always been there when needed. If I have a problem it gets fixed. I usually do 48 hours a week on assignments and I have not had a problem yet- in 3 years.

So I am glad that both of you can meet a nurse who has had a good experience with them.

I think this is something that we face as travel nurses- the recruiter you have makes your assignment or breaks it. That is why it is hard for me to believe the things that are posted about Advantage RN and Brandon. I would refer anyone to this company!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chiatello]

Just an update: advantage rn has been working with me to resolve pay issues including paying me $250 for my holiday bonus even though I had a shift cancelled over the holidays. I see that some of you had good experiences with advantage rn and I'm glad you did. I guess maybe the stars weren't aligned for me. Its just one person's experience.

[truth]

Your recruiter makes or breaks you, but your recruiter will always be backed up by her superiors.
so next time you don't get paid, don't get what you contracted for, FILE A Complaint with that state LABOR COMMISSION. I got my money, by friend got his money, you will too.

[disholicious]

I'm glad your problem is resolving. I have had pretty good luck with advantagern. My 2 complaints were #1 I finished a contract mid-December and finally just received my completion bonus last friday. That's 10 weeks later. I know the company has to wait until they get paid from the facility but I asked every week about it and got several different answers from several different people. #2 I take the tax free money for living expenses or whatever they call it which makes my base pay about $15/hr and then the rest is tax free. My gripe is the overtime is not time and a half of my entire hourly pay, although it's more than $22 which they probably could get away with. I put in overtime every week and would like the time and a half.

[truth]

you guys who take the advantage bla bla bla,
are being screwed with the time and
1/2. No less then $35 an hour with time and a half after 8 in California
Airfare paid, rental car paid, furnished apartment with housewares, phone local calls paid is what I am used to. Recruiters say they pay everyone the same but they don't, when I was making $40 an hr, my friend was making $36.

[gypsynurse]

Hey, I won't go into all my reasons why I don't think Advantage RN is the best company out there. Only to say I don't think they respect their Nurses and they will place you in hades if it will make them a quick and fast buck. Not interested in your career, happiness, needs. If you want a recruiter that will place you where you want, provide the housing you desire, look somewhere else.

[lizette]

Indeed, stay away from Advantage RN.
They are incompetant (misrepresented what the potential assignment was)nasty, the "Compliance Officer" a nitwit named Megan B. told me that I couldn't have a copy of my own application and references (WRONG) and when I challenged her and asked who her boss was , this paragon of professionalism said "God" and hung up on me. I then had the unique pleasure of speaking to the CFO - Jeff K. who said that he didn't know if little Ms Megan's remarks were approptiate or not and suggested that this little twit would know better than an experienced nurse what the compliance rules typically were. This officious and sarcstic mini executive, for this tiny company, said that he would get back to me. He of course, did not.
What a gaggle of losers and unprofessional slobs. If the CFO can't show any respect for the nurses that put his salary in his pocket - whom he lives off of - we can only expect that his underlings would be incompetant frauds as well.
The recruiter named Carol S. didn't even know the exact nature of the job she was offering (which she called me for)and was in all kinds of a hurry but then did no follow up.
What a losing operation..
We can expect that some big company will gobble up this low end bunch of parasites, and there will then be one less nuisance and many fewer liars and incompetant boobs for nurses to be bothered with.