Buyer beware: Silkin business policy does not con...

Buyer beware: Silkin business policy does not conform to the normal refundable retainer of most professional services, consultants or legal advisors. The majority of bar associations and professional service organizations require the right to end representation whenever a client wants during the contract if they are unhappy with or loose confidence in the consultant or attorney. The client is then able to claim the balance of the retainer fee after paying the amount equivalent to the number of billable hours utilized. Silkin believes in a "non-refundable" clause on their retainer fees even if you loose confidence in their advice. So be very certain before signing the contract.

We signed up for Silkin consulting hoping it would help us mostly with staffing issues (hiring good attitudes and keeping them motivated and directed). AJ convinced us that the standard resume review and interview process were not giving us good odds of finding great attitudes and it is way to costly to keep hiring the wrong ones and then starting over. On our first call with Scott our assigned consultant we explained that we are understaffed and asked if we could get started right away with the information on how to do group interviews, personality and aptitude testing etc to better our "great hire" odds. Scott told us we should use the "Fast Flow" method and just take our best guess and hire someone then fire them within three days if it didn't look like they were working out. This seemed like a complete 180 from the original advice and greatly eroded our confidence. We talked to Fred King the CEO and explained that we are paying for advice similar to having an attorney on retainer and if you don't have confidence in your attorney because they give contradictory advice depending on the day, it is best to find a better fit. We asked to pay whatever fee per hour they charge for our first consultation and cancel the rest of our sessions. He said as CEO he can't do that, and his legal department strongly advises him to not let anyone out of a contract once it has been signed, no matter what. Our attorney said we could fight it in court, but it would be costly and an easier win if they give contradictory advice again. So I guess we are starting with another consultant, it is just hard to have faith in the advice once you've been told two opposing things. I hope it still works out, but wanted others to know that their business policy on the retainer fee does not conform to the norm, so make sure you are committed no matter what they tell you before signing.