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Seriously, what the heck? Is this normal for an employer to do?

No, this is completely unacceptable. Sure, the interview didn't work out, but screwing the candidate because of that is just so, so bad.

Do I have any recourse against this employer?

As a legal question which is going to depend on your jurisdiction and that of the employer. You'd need to talk to an actual lawyer.

As others have commented, independent of the legal aspect, "naming and shaming" is an option. I would very rarely advocate that behaviour, but in this case I think it's worth making other candidates aware of the risk they take interviewing with this company. However:

1. Make at least a nominal attempt to reconcile things with the company first.


2. Stack Exchange is not the platform on which to name and shame.

The more I think about, the more I'm thinking I must have said something offensive to somebody in an interview. Is there any way to ask them what I said (so that I can avoid this mistake in the future)?

You can ask, at which point there are two possibilities:

1. This was actually a mistake and/or more sensible heads have prevailed at the company, in which case I'd hope they'd refund your expenses and the like.


2. They seriously meant to do this, in which case I doubt they'll answer.

I honestly cannot think of anything which would cause me to act in this way towards a candidate; there's plenty you could say which would cause me to terminate the interview on the spot and walk you out the door, but I'm not going to screw someone in a way which would reflect so negatively on the company for any future candidates.

Be sure to post to GlassDoor, etc, but be absolutely sure to post only the exact truth, with nothing opinion based which could get you sued.

Do that - after you have found a lawyer; most will give a free consultation if they are fairly sure of a win, for which you probably have grounds (especially give that "had to eat scraps from other customers").

If you want to know more about the legal side of things, you can look at the cross-posted question on our Law SE.

Seriously, what the heck? Is this normal for an employer to do?

No. As far as slimy tactics by employers go, this is pretty up there. If I were you I'd name & shame them on glassdoor and the like. If they're in any sort of public spotlight the PR from that will be disastrous. Nobody wants to interview much less work for a company with that track record.

Do I have any recourse against this employer?

Thats a question for a lawyer specializing in employment law. Try to find one that offers free consultations.

The more I think about, the more I'm thinking I must have said
something offensive to somebody in an interview. Is there any way to
ask them what I said (so that I can avoid this mistake in the future)?

Even if you did, I have never heard of a employer doing this, and I'm pretty sure almost nobody actually does this. If you are an employer flying people out for interviews, you CAN NOT afford the bad publicity such a stunt will give you. Imagine what happens if a company like that invites me to an interview and I read THAT on a review site? Hard pass just on precaution.

Is this normal for an employer to do?

I've swapped 'horror interview' stories with other developers and managers, but I've never heard of this happening.

I must have said something offensive

Maybe, but only blame yourself for blowing the interview.

Don't blame yourself for the return plane ticket fiasco.

This is likely a single person making a big mistake.

The ones that covered for that mistake afterwards (I assume you talked to multiple people there) also seem culpable to me at this point, but IANAL¹.

If you made offensive remarks during the interview I would want you not just out of my face, but also out of my town. I would abruptly (but politely) end the interview - it wouldn't occur to me to cancel your return flight.

If you totally lied about your experience, I might recommend to my company that we ask you to compensate us for the plane ticket and hotel. But I don't expect most companies ever would pursue it because of the bad PR that could come from it.

¹ IANAL = I Am Not A Lawyer = I believe this is true, but it isn't a legal opinion.

What the company did was in extremely poor taste, so much so, that I wonder if there might be something more happening, especially since you said you bombed the interview, both technically and personally.

In your job application, were you truthful and honest?

Did you lie or seriously exaggerate about your skills, experience or history?

Was there a phone screen before the interview trip? Why did the phone screen go well enough to merit an interview then the interview went so poorly?

Basically, if you were not the job applicant you said you are: If you lied on your resume, or had someone coach you through a phone screen, and then were discovered in the interview, I think the company would have a real right to be extremely pissed off, and possible a legal right due to fraud to claw back some of their expenditures.

If you are confident everything on your end was honest and level, and you just had a really bad interview for a job that was a poor fit, then you probably have a strong legal case and the ability to create a PR and Recruiting Nightmare for the company.

PS
If you do decide to make it a Public Relations / Recruiting Situation, you might consider making it about the individuals involved as well as the Company. Companies can be faceless, nameless, bureaucratic beasts, but if you name the HR-recruiter and Hiring Manager involved, and make them responsible for their own decisions, it might be more effective. Check with a lawyer and be careful to avoid unjust defamation.

Edit
After awhile, another possibility that occurred to me is that this might be an effective way for someone from the company to embezzle money:. They look for candidates who have bombed, then cancel the return ticket, routing the refund to their own account rather than the company. The company wouldn't know that the candidate was left stranded, and whoever re-routed the money would have pocketed the cost of a refundable ticket!

If you have only spoken to one person at the company so far, who kept repeating the same "other direction" line over and over, they may be the embezzler, hoping you will just go away. You need to speak to at least a second person at the company, and get an acknowledgement that the company really did cancel your ticket. Otherwise, this may be part of a much more serious crime.

In fact, as HR should be booking the flights, but HR would not be conducting the interview, someone has gone out of their way to cancel that flight.
It may even be that the "sponsor" has been fired and had their approval rights revoked.

After all if they could not screen you out, their own bona fides are then highly suspect.

This is actually quite hard to do and would have left a wide trail. That they used refundable tickets is significant.

You bombed at the interview, was the position misrepresented or in any way "Bait and Switch"? Sometimes the copy for the job is garbage.

Otherwise I would invoice for time and expense, and then sue for liquidated damages.

OP should consult with a lawyer first, they are very good at this kind of billing.

The only reasonable situation where this would be a valid reaction to, would be if you lied on your CV in an important point.

I am not mentioning a little exaggeration, not something like blowing all technical questions where you did not have as much experience as one would like, but misstating hard facts, like making up a PHD. Something like that would be fraud, and an employee would be obligated, should he become aware of such a situation to limit the damage to his employer.

Nonetheless, the behavior they showed is unprofessional - it should be clearly stated if that happens.

In all other cases, the behavior is completely unusual, unprofessional, and should be reason for consulting a lawyer.

Document document document. Get your facts in writing. Call the airline for ticket records. Document the additional expenses. File a complaint with the attorney general of your state and the one of the employer.

Wait for a response and then consider legal action. Write your congressperson as well. Seek out free resources first. Perhaps a well written letter from a state or federal official will get you reimbursed.

First document. Then organize. Then seek assistance in writing a letter to one of the officials noted.

This is unacceptable. Shame them at a last resort. Take the high road while you seek assistance.

Once you get restitution or reach a dead end then sue them or drag them through the mud until you are satisfied.

This is completely unacceptable. Do talk to them to see if they can make this right.

Assuming they don't, if you still want your revenge, I would suggest contacting the press - try somewhere like buzzfeed, huffington post, or the daily mail. If this story gets carried on somewhere high traffic, it will come up whenever anyone googles the company. You won't get your money back (it will not be worth the money to get legal recourse, I suspect) but you will have had your revenge.

And speaking of revenge, take the time to cool off and consider the maxim that when you go seeking revenge, first you should dig two graves.