Oooh. That's just plain confusing then: why does it never tell me that I need to wait?? Furthermore, if he's recruiting them, why's there a limit on how many I can buy from him? I mean, if he only has a few ready to go, then fine, but if he's going out, recruiting and training, how does he know that the maximum number he can find to recruit is 5??
I'll stop now lol. I think that most of the issues people are having seem to simply be a lack of understanding because the game seems to enjoy not telling you how ANY of its mechanics work. No manual and no indication of how things work in game makes for a frustrating experience for both the players and the devs - after all, they have to wade through hundreds of false bug reports (because they aren't bugs, just a game mechanic which wasn't ever explained) to find which bugs are actually bugs.
Still, I have high hopes for this game. I just hope they patch the bugs (surely it's a bug that mercenaries cannot level), add in explanations of game mechanics and adjust the balance a bit. If they do that, this could turn out to be better than Warband.