I am only a week into my contract, and every step of dealing with these incompetent people in this agency HAS BEEN AN ORDEAL!!!! To begin with the assignment is in DC, instead of the idiot housing person finding a place for me in Rosslyn which is accross the bridge from where I am working they put me in extended housing in Alexandria Va, which was at least 30-45mins depending on the time of day. The first day of orientation I was late, I called the agency twice, spoke to the oncall person and then the manage Chas called me and told me she would let someone know at the hospital, when I arrived to the nursing office in the hospital and spoke to the cooridinator she stated no one had called to let them know I was lost and would be Late!, I was so pissed I could have spit nails, then when I had to extend my time at the extended stay because of the work schedule, the housing person was suppose to call the office at the extended stay and when I returned from work around 9pm, the front desk clerk stated, NO ONE from the agency had called. I then proceeded to call the on call housing person and reemed her out, I was FURIOUS. Okay, fast forward and we have three days off, after working a night shift, and check out of the extended stay, navigate our way to Silver Spring MD, the neighborhood isn't one I would take a leisurely stroll in, run or jog about, or walk my dog, it is one of those undesireable areas where your not going to get very many places to deliver food to your door. I called my recruitor and left a message, telling her how disgusted I was and how this apartment complex they put me in is in the ghetto. ADVANTAGE RN IS THE WORST. I told her that she would not have to worry, that as soon as this assignment is over I WILL NEVER EVER EVER DO ANOTHER ASSIGNMENT WITH THEM AGAIN. If anything happens to myself, my property or my pet while living here or if I am not paid what I've earned I will pull out of this contract and we can go to litigation. 12 more weeks CANNOT COME FAST ENOUGH FOR ME.
Wow,, sounds awful. Is the job going ok at least.?
For sure, dump them.. There are alot of great companies that never would have done that to you. Also, on next assignment let the company know that you had a bad housing experience + want to check out the housing on line 1st and request how far you are willing to travel or forget the contract. I did that with every contract just to make sure I could check out the safety of the area and approve of the housing.
Good luck, keep us posted.
I've had a horrible experience with Advantage also. Can't get into it right now but I was furious also. We can't get the word out fast enough.
Yep, they are incompetent. Extended my contract for several weeks, my recruiter called me as I was getting ready to go to work. Wanted to know what I was doing, why I was still in apt. I told him that I would call the hospital and tell them I couldn't come in because I had to vacate the apt. The recruiter forgot that I had extended. He thought I was squatting. Not even an apology for being abrasive and rude. Next assignment they keep calling me telling me I had to complete online testing required by hospital before they could secure housing. Abusive and rude. Every nite when I stopped for the night I attempted to go onto testing site. This was as I was traveling cross country. Finally, I had enough and cancelled contract because I didn't think I was going to have housing. Contract was in an expensive area and cheap hotel rooms were 200.00 nightly. Called hospital to apologized and explain why I wasn't going to do contract. Hospital informed me that testing had been removed online and was done at hospital on first day. So much for their employees knowing what requirements were or for simply calling the hospital to inquire for me why I wasn't available to locate required online site. Kept my last pay. Can't stand them!
There are legal ways out of a contract if you can make it happen. I drove 2700 miles to Phoenix for an assignment (thank God my Dad was with me). Arrived at the apartment complex. I was floored when I got there. Bars on the windows. Had to get the key from the property "manager" I go up to her apartment....beer cans all over the floor and she was with some guy smoking pot and probably crack. Cars with the hoods off, loud music playing. The apartment was DISGUSTING, FILTHY and completely unsafe. Called the company and told them you better get me out of here NOW. Went to an extended stay. Went to orientation the next day and the manager calls me in and says the company cancelled the contract. They told me they couldn't "afford nice housing." In the meantime, there was a rad tech working for the same company (RSI, which I don't think is in business anymore), buy anyway, this rad tech had CORPORATE HOUSING!! So, I met with the people in HR because they said they really needed me and I didn't want to drive home another 2700 miles. So they showed me a list of companies they have contracts with and I picked Team Staff RX. The pay was great, corporate housing, etc. UNTIL, I got a call at work one day and the housing coordinator said "you have to move out of your apartment by 6 pm tonight." Long story short....they extended my contract but "forgot" to extend the lease on my apartment. So, I had to leave work, go up and down four flights of stairs in the rain, pack my stuff and moved to a hotel for 2 nights. Then moved to ANOTHER apartment for four weeks. After that, I went back to Cross Country and took an 8 week contract with them. This was 9 years ago when you didn't have to do all of this BS online testing and the travel companies weren't paying JCAHO to be certified. Another issue I have a problem with. They all suck! They'll say "we're JCAHO certified." Half of these recruiters don't even know what that means and furthermore why do they need to be JCAHO certified? It's the hospitals who are getting reimbursements from insurance companies, Medicare, etc. These travel companies are making a nice profit off of the nurses hard work. There is a company called Nursespro who will tell you the bill rate and then break it down. Just offered a contract with them, but have to delay it. Sent an email to them and NO RESPONSE. So desperate for money, I figure, I'll take any travel assignment because I haven't traveled in a while and then find a REALLY GOOD travel company. Anyone ever heard of highway hypodermics? They rate the travel companies. Sorry so long, but traveling isn't like it was years ago. The whole process stresses you out with all of the credentialing, testing, etc. If you find a good company....stick with them. It's not even worth an extra dollar or two an hour to go to a "so so" company.
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