For what it's worth, I recently tried an empowerment class and I definitely did "fall through the cracks". In the staff's defense, though, I chose a sphere belonging to an active imm (Neltouda) then tried to get "custom empowered" by a "generic force" other than Neltouda herself.

Nobody else wanted to pick me up because they viewed me as being Neltouda's responsibility by virtue of my sphere choice. Neltouda probably didn't want to pick me up because I wasn't praying to her directly. Eventually she got with me and said, "Hey, it's me or nothing," at which point I deleted. Not because I don't like Neltouda (I do), but because her religion very much conflicted with my role.

In the past, though, I've had mostly good experiences w/ empowerment.