Arizona College and Retirement Planners

Review: Arizona College Planners (ACP) presented their service offering at an event they had organized in Chandler (at an office near Germann and McQueen). They described their services as Consultants and affiliated with The College Planning Network (CPN) for providing College Planning Services and Associated Financial Planning to assist with the Admissions Process as well as able to receive maximum scholarships from Colleges where my child will be seeking admission.

I made two payments one for $2,752.00 for the Admissions Process Program in College Planning Network for both our children and an additional $673.75 towards financial planning advising to ensure maximum scholarship through proper financial planning. I signed up for their service in Sept 2013.

My Complaints:

1. We were led to believe the College Planning Advice will happen locally but instead was on-line and over the Phone. There were two or three phone consultations with an Advisor from CPN. Both online and phone consultation provided us with very basic information that anyone can obtain through other sources. However, we kept the membership hoping that CPN will assist through the Application process such as selecting colleges to apply for, college selection assistance based on career interest, likelihood of acceptance, likelihood of obtaining scholarship etc. Again there was little to no assistance in this regard. The on-line sessions (which was common to all members) continued to provide very basic information.

2. There were two or three meetings with [redacted] including the one for signing-up for the service. [redacted] provided practically no financial planning guidance what so-ever. When asked questions through voice mail and emails, he kept pointing me to College Planning Network

3. By the time we decided on the College my child would attend, I had gotten frustrated with my experience and sent a couple of emails to [redacted]l expressing my unhappiness about the service I was receiving. As I got no response from him, I took my complaint to College Planning Network

4. CPN then let me know that Mr. [redacted] collects the fees directly from his customers and contracts from CPN for college planning services by paying them a fee. This fact was never revealed to me by Mr. [redacted]. The CPN folks also told me that they received only $1044 towards my first child's membership and none for my second child.

5. CPN also recognized that I was not getting value from their services and agreed to refund $604.00 of the $1044.00 that they had received for my first child

6. As CPN had not received the fee for my second child, they could not refund the amount and hence they asked me to work with Mr. [redacted] for the refund. The college admission process for my second child has not yet begun – as she is a High School Freshman now

7. I have contacted Mr. [redacted] and his assistant ([redacted]) through emails and voice mails multiple times to resolve this matter, but have not received any response what so ever.Desired Settlement: 1. As I have made payment for both my children, and the College advising has not even begun for my second child, I want a refund of half of the Membership Payment made (Half of $2752.00 = $1376). Further I want full refund of the $673.75 that was charged for Financial Planning as I barely got any financial advise.

Review: An assessment was given indicating that my situation made me a perfect candidate. The service was pitched as very in-depth and personal in terms of their dealings with my daughter. It was not clearly explained that most of the service was remote and impersonal (canned write-ups); the local representative never even met with my student. It was not disclosed that the provider was an insurance agent and the main goal was to sell me high commission whole-life and annuity products. Most descriptions on these products were high level and anecdotal (bury your assets in a can in the back yard, etc.). Requests for details were unmet. Essay reviews, etc. were "outsourced" and superficial (mostly comma placement). The service was misrepresented and oversold. I was given the impression that a partial refund was possible (pre-paid 3-4 years of monthly charges), but it appears that this was never being considered. Calls to discuss were never answered. Access to the services web site was cut off, even thought long-term service was pre-paid and a refund was not given. At one point I believe the web site referenced a satisfaction guarantee; this has since been removed. I am reviewing print-outs that I made at the time to of subscription to confirm. I know that others have had major issues with this service and the provider.Desired Settlement: I had been looking for a fair settlement that refunded the portion that was prepaid, but not used (either 3/4 or 2/3 of the total). My frustration level is now to the point that I would like a full refund. I am completely dissatisfied with the service received.

Business

Response:

While we never like to hear that a family we offer

enrollment to is dissatisfied in any way and understand Mr. [redacted]’s frustration

due to a family emergency causing us to all but close our office for a few

weeks at the end of the school year we do not have a set refund policy. Once our tools are made available to a family

and they choose to use those tools as well as the time of our support team a

refund seems to be a lot to ask for.

Combined with that the fact that the family has also filed a complaint with

the Revdex.com associated with our support team in Ohio.

We feel that we did everything for this family that our service

agreement details. I was made aware upon

my return to Arizona

that the family did prepay their monthly membership fee in advance in order to

get a discount and those monies will be returned immediately.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

I reject the Business Response to complaint ID# [redacted] as I do not see any attempt to offer remedy. I was misled to believe that I was a “perfect candidate” for the benefits of the service, which was grossly oversold on the personal nature of the service my daughter was to receive. The service provider was not up-front in his role as an insurance agent/salesman and responsivenes deteriorated as it became clear that I was not interested in purchasing high-commission annuity products or whole life insurance policies. Requests for concrete details were never answered.

I was charged for 3-years service (discount was for 4 years at the 3 year amount paid in advance). The total charges included a membership fee of $2,205.75 and a prepaid monthly service fee of $1,404.00 (receipt for total, $3,609.75 is attached). I was informed that the membership fee went to Arizona College Planners, while the monthly service fee was then paid to the [redacted] support group, [redacted]. I am still requesting a settlement that refunds 2/3 of the membership fee paid to Arizona College Planners. I have, in fact, filed a seperate complaint (ID# [redacted]) with the [redacted], [redacted] Revdex.com office – but this complaint ony addresses the portion of the fees that were prepaid to the [redacted] (i.e., the “support team”) for their monthly services ($39/month, prepaid for 3 years). I am currently negotiating with them as they did not calculate the refund at the rate of 2/3 of the total. In the attached Service Agreement with Arizona College Planners, you will see that the total to CPN-[redacted] was $39x36 months, or $1,404. This complaint against the Arizona Collage Planners is for a similar proportional refund (2/3) of the membership fees they charged directly. The fee charged by Arizona College Planners totaled $2,205.75 (see attached documentation and receipt). As such, I will considered this matter closed when I receive a refund of $1,470.50 from Arizona College Planners (and likewise, a refund of $936 from [redacted] in [redacted]).

Regards,

Business

Response:

We have refunded the [redacted] family the unused portion of their prepaid monthly fees. They should be if the have not already received a check in the amount of $936.00. Mr. [redacted] was absolutely correct and this was a communication error on our part. We feel that the family is not entitled to any further reimbursement as we fulfilled everything that was part of our service agreement. If the Revdex.com would like to examine financial records collected from the family along with student interview notes, essay reviews, etc. from our work with this family we will submit them but prefer not to due to our client privacy policy.

Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Once again, I am not very satisfied with this response. The confusion between what was provided by the [redacted] in Ohio and by Arizona College Planners still persists. [redacted] did provide a prorated refund of the monthly payments which were directed to them specifically. The sizable membership fee that was collected and pocketed by Arizona College Planners is still at issue and I am still requesting a similar prorated settlement. I am confused by the “we” in the statement “We have refunded . . ”. Arizona College Planners has refunded nothing to date. Likewise, the services noted - student interview, essay reviews, etc. - were provided by [redacted] (Ohio) not Arizona College Planners and were, for the most part, very superficial (essay review amounted to suggestions on comma placement, etc.). Arizona College Planners was primarily offering to sell me complicated insurance products while not having not been up front about their role as a licensed insurance agent. They oversold the entire service, its “personal” relationship mode, and everything in-between. All requests associated with anything on the college-prep and selection side were forwarded to [redacted] Ohio, which resulted in a canned pdf response.

Please note that there has never been a claim that Arizona College Planners did not collect my financial information and the offer [redacted] has made to share my financial information with the Revdex.com is very disturbing and only increases my concern over the associated tactics and business practices. If my personal information is shared and the privacy policy is violated I will need to take additional action; my finances are not part of the discussion. As noted in the business response, communication ”errors” are; errors in over committing the nature of the service and lack of communication as to the nature of ACP’s relationship with insurance companies.

Regards,

We went to a seminar that was conducted by [redacted], executive director of Arizona College Planners, which was advertised to teach you about the process of college planning, admission, and financial aid. While the seminar was somewhat informative, it was basically used as a scare tactic to convince you that you are in over your head and will need help with the process. It was a sales pitch and we were told that only a limited number of families could be taken as clients making you believe that he ([redacted]) would be closely helping your family in the process. Not the case at all! We had one meeting with [redacted] to review our finances, he referred us to a mortgage broker and when we decided to use our own broker to refinance, we never saw him again. Every time we had a need or question, we were referred to the College Planning Network website and staff. Most of the staff work out of state so you have no idea who you are really speaking with. The program basically sends out mass emails that are cookie cutter emails detailing what you should be doing or what you should have done. We received no assistance with picking a college that would be the best financial fit (with the most financial benefit), application to the colleges, and our daughter was only able to have 3 essays reviewed (when applying to multiple colleges this is not even close to enough), or really any personal service besides that first meeting with [redacted]. We felt misled as to what we were paying for and felt that the College Planning Network has some helpful information but the product/service being offered is not worth the price we paid. [redacted] was very misleading and appears to be more of a salesman than an assistant with college planning!