Donaldson Educational Services

I enrolled in the online Principles of Home Inspection: Systems & Standards v3.0 course with Donaldson on 11/27/22. When I began the course, I was able to understand the material and completed a good bit of my course. On 2/22/23 I reached out to Donaldson for assistance because I really needed help and was stuck at a certain part. Long story short. I still haven’t had help up to this day. I even asked to purchase a book for the class and was told there weren’t any. I have email proof that I repeatedly reached out to staff and received an email from Chris Donaldson himself on, 3/17/2023. Nothing has been done about my concern and need and at this point I am not comfortable with completing this course. I asked for a refund and was told by the front office that they haven’t received a response yet. I personally went to the Metairie location to speak with Chris Donaldson and was told he wasn’t available; they would have him call me. No call yet! Also, I wasn’t assigned an instructor.
I was very interested and excited to take this course and I am very disappointed in the way I have been ignored after reaching out several times and paying my money for this course.
Donaldson says,
“This is where DONALDSON and our legendary Customer Service Representatives will make the process quick and easy, take care of the details, and make sure you get a license efficiently and comfortably. “
“No matter how long it has been since you have been in the classroom, you can be assured DONALDSON Courses will be lively, fun, informative – and most important of all – right on target to make sure you achieve your goal – A Home Inspector License!”
“Thank you for choosing Donaldson Educational Services. We're here to help you every step of the way!”

NONE OF THIS WAS TRUE IN MY CASE! ONE OF THE WORST EXPERIENCES I’VE HAD

Alij R. Tapp IV

Hi! I went over there January 22, 2018 around 2:30 p.m. I spoke directly to owner. He was trying to coerce me to stop my complaint with you all, and remove my google review; and he would only pay me half. He was a slick fast talker telling me I caused him a headache over "measly $45". Its $85...

actually and it is the principal of it all......this could be happening to others so I just this resolved. Thank you 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

I enrolled in the Notary Prep course which began in the fall of 2015 to take the exam in December 2015.

Donaldson's website claims to have a "staff of notaries" qualified to teach the course, and the instructor for this class was NOT a notary, and arrived week after week less prepared for the class than the students.

SIX weeks into the course, the class was cancelled--VIA email notification--and tuition was refunded. This left students NO OPPORTUNITY to get into another class to finish prepping prior to the December exam.

While I appreciate the funds being returned because the contractual performance was not being met by the institution, I asked to have the other expenses I incurred to be covered by Donaldson and have thus far been met with total silence.

The owner of the school will not even face the query in person.

I rightly point out that the school website still has the fraudulent claims about "licensed notaries" teaching these courses when in fact this is untrue.

I incurred the expenses of application fees, pre-assessment fees, study materials and the exam fees--all of which are non-refundable--based on the promise of adequate and available instruction from Donaldson.

Donaldson not only failed to deliver, the owner knew at the outset that his organization was in breach of contract--by making the false claim that a licensed notary would be instructing the class--prior to the beginning of the first session--and did nothing about it.

Review: I enrolled in their Life, Health and Accident Insurance class to prepare me to take the state test to receive my license. I was concerned after enrolling and reviewing the information that it was outdated. I called them and asked many questions. Their course didn't include any of the Affordable Care Act information, better known as Obama Care. They assured me from their information I would have all I need to pass. They didn't know how often the state updated the test.I called the state and they didn't have the information, I was told to call the people who administer the test. I called Donaldson back and ask about the updates again. I was assured again that the information in the course would be all I needed to pass. The website says all you need to pass and that they have a. 90% success rate. There is a 4 step procedure listed to get licensed... Nothing says you have to pay $75 to the State Police to get fingerprinted or a $78 fee to Sircon who processes your application. The website said it was an easy 4 step...not my experience. So when I took the exam there were so many questions that was no where in the course material, especially nothing about Affordable Card Act. I was shocked at the amount of questions I had no previous knowledge about. I failed by 8 points. I know if the information in the course was updated I would have passed. I also found incorrect information that I shared with them so they could update.I later found out even more information I wasn't given at the beginning. I understood that they wereDesired Settlement: I was misled and wasted money on outdated info and assured their info was correct. Their information needs to reflect the new laws and clarity of cost and procedures to get licensed. Their website is misleading and that needs to be corrected.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates that the business has not responded to you directly. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

At this time, I have not been contacted by Donaldson Educational Services regarding complaint ID 10175598.

Regards,

Karen Twohig