American Institute of Education

In the claimant's reply she ignores State law that governs all vocational schools regarding withdrawalSpecifically once a student passes the 60% point of their enrollment time in their program a school is under no obligation to refund tuition, especially when 45% of the program is offered online The claimant has relinquished her option for refund by not taking action within said time frame and by not contacting us even once during her enrollment period Regarding a lack of money to attend, the claimant fails to understand our initial reply Her tuition is paid for and she does have until to attend We are unsure of how else to state this other than all tuition is paid for and no money is required to take this program The FULL value of tuition is here, not a partial refund We take exception to the claimants reply that we will not work with students We ARE now trying to work with her but is seems to no avail [redacted] ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
Although the statement made was in regards to the dates being w***g, I accept responsibility for the mistake and accept thatThe letter does not state that the Director said he had sent a check in he mail and accused me of trying to "steal" money back from themThe phone conversation was unprofessional and lacked any comfort in the fact that I have until to finish my schooling, which will not be done as I do not have the funds
The school says they are willing to work with students, yet when contacted provide different directions of "help." There was no contact being made from the school on the dates provided as I was still taking the online classThere is no chance of me attending this school in the future or accepting their statements of why they cannot give partial payment back considering they stated they sent a check in the mail previously, as stated before
Regards,
*** ***

In the claimant's reply she ignores State law that governs all vocational schools regarding withdrawal. Specifically once a student passes the 60% point of their enrollment time in their program a school is under no obligation to refund tuition, especially when 45% of the program is offered online.  The claimant has relinquished her option for refund by not taking action within said time frame and by not contacting us even once during her enrollment period.   
Regarding a lack of money to attend, the claimant fails to understand our initial reply.  Her tuition is paid for and she does have until 2017 to attend.  We are unsure of how else to state this other than all tuition is paid for and no money is required to take this program. 
The FULL value of tuition is here, not a partial refund.  We take exception to the claimants reply that we will not work with students.  We ARE now trying to work with her but is seems to no avail. 
[redacted]

Further to your request for a reply to the [redacted] complaint sent today 3/26/14, I can respond as follows. 
The claimant states that...

her purchase date was 4/15/2010. This is incorrect. The date of enrollment was May 3, 2011 and a prior conversation pertaining to enrollment occurred on January 31, 2011. I have no idea what the 4/15/10 date pertains to. We did not know the claimant in 2010. On May 8, 2011 we sent the student her enrollment package by U S Post Priority Mail and this kit included her textbook, username and password giving her access to our Online Academy and her enrollment agreement. The enrollment kit allows all students to work on the theory portion of the program.  This constitutes 45% of the curriculum.
This student's enrollment period was established as one year which makes the student's end date May 3, 2012. 
The State of CA's enrollment agreement has a refund policy.  It is found on the second page and states that once a student has passed the 60% point of the enrollment period, in this case, Dec 3, 2011, no refund is due. The State established this policy as fair especially for schools that offer a large portion of their training online. In our case, 45% of the program equals 272 hours. By the way, this policy applies to all State Licensed Vocational schools, not just our school.  
We made several attempts by phone to remind the claimant while she was enrolled that she needed to make arrangements to attend for her hands-on practical training,  We were unable motivate her to attend. These calls were made in July and August of 2011.   
On May 23rd of 2012, 20 days after the end of her enrollment period, the claimant first contacted our school requesting a full refund.  We advised her to review her enrollment agreement with particular attention to the State refund policy. She said that she didn't have an enrollment agreement. This is contrary to our postal records that show that on May 8th, we sent her enrollment package by U S Post Priority Mail which included her textbook, username and password and her enrollment agreement. We were contacted shortly thereafter with a second request for a full refund.  At this time we noted that we denied a refund as per her agreement but we did offer her a credit on account for a period of 5 years (to May 23, 2017) which would give her access to the school as a prepaid student. No further school fees would therefore apply and she is still able to complete her training as originally contemplated and become a California licensed Electrologist.

Review: Upon my enrollment in the American Institute of Electrology I was informed that I would be able to attend the school on my own time schedule due to the fact that I am located away from the campus. It was known upon enrollment that I would need to pay for my own living situation and the only things that would be provided for me were the lab supplies. This was not an issue due to the fact that I was granted a scholarship through the school and was able to use the money from a college fund card that my parents had been saving toward; with these two forms of money I was able to pay nothing for enrollment. Unfortuantaely, I was not able to attend the classes and never finished the online requirement to attend the lab. When I spoke with [redacted], the Director of the school, he stated that he would be able to give a percentage of money from the college fund back, but not the entire amount. After he spoke with the representative in the financial department, he informed me that no amount would be given back, but gave no reason. I recently had a paralegal contact [redacted] and ask why we were not allowed to receive any of my money back, he then began to get frustrated saying that he sent a check for $3,365 (approx.), but would not give anymore information such as the check number or any form of proof that any amount was sent back. After he was asked by said paralegal, he became upset and started raising his voice and stated that we were trying to take more money than we were allotted. No check has ever been received, cashed, noted, or proven to exists. Attempts have been made to try and be fair, but nothing has been done. This has caused stress in my life as I could use this money that was said to be sent for managing my life, but I feel it is not fair that the A.I.E. has not complied with its honesty or helped in any way to apply its good standards like the website states.Desired Settlement: I would like the full amount of money that was sent to the school from the college fund.

Business

Response:

Further to your request for a reply to the [redacted] complaint sent today 3/26/14, I can respond as follows.

The claimant states that her purchase date was 4/15/2010. This is incorrect. The date of enrollment was May 3, 2011 and a prior conversation pertaining to enrollment occurred on January 31, 2011. I have no idea what the 4/15/10 date pertains to. We did not know the claimant in 2010. On May 8, 2011 we sent the student her enrollment package by U S Post Priority Mail and this kit included her textbook, username and password giving her access to our Online Academy and her enrollment agreement. The enrollment kit allows all students to work on the theory portion of the program. This constitutes 45% of the curriculum.