Career Step, LLC

Today the following message was sent to the student to clarify the issue with her reports and their scoring There was certainly miscommunication or misunderstanding regarding the reports and why they had been deleted and no scores were available We apologize for the misunderstanding Here is the correspondence for confirmationI was asked to reach out to you regarding your practicum reports and proper completion of themIt appears there may have been a misunderstandingI took a look at your gradebook as well as a special report that shows if you’ve ever submitted a transcription report and you have completed your Clinic Notes Transcription reports; however, it looks like you did not save the score for themWe will not require you to go back and redo those clinic notes reportsPlease do not worry about themA note has been made in your record that will allow you to take the final after you complete the remainder of the practicum and make sure your unit tests and module exams are 85% or above.In the future, however, once you submit a report there are final steps in order to record the score in the gradebook and we encourage you to complete them for ease of gradebook reading:Enter a point deduction total in the Points to Deduct box (e.g5) Click Save ScoreYou’ll know that your score has been saved when that button goes away and the percentage score appears for the report in its place We do not require 85% or above on these reportsAny score above 0% is acceptableAfter you complete the next reports and score them, please let me know and I can double check your gradebook to make sure they are recording properly

Thank you for your patience with a reply to your complaint All of our sales calls are recorded so our process in situations like these is to pull the call recording to be sure that we speak to exactly what transpired in your sales call During the minute call between the student and the salesperson, accreditation of our program was discussed in the following ways First, the student did mention that she had a friend that became an RN with a non-accredited program and how expensive it was considering that it was not accredited This statement and the salesperson's response was directed specifically toward the student's friend and her RN program Second, the salesperson used this situation as a segway to clarify that there are also coding and billing programs that are non-accredited and that you do have to be careful because they may not be up to snuff because of not having to be accredited She did not indicate in this statement that Career Step's program was accredited She only agreed with the student that not being accredited does mean that the is a greater potential to find ineffective programs Third, the salesperson specifically stated in the call that Career Step's program "is not a college credit hour program." This statement essentially means that we are not accredited Lastly, the salesperson did state that Career Step's program is approved by national certifying bodies but did not state that it was accredited The language that we use in our industry is "approved." Meaning that there are industry bodies that "approve" our courses and that they do so as an industry leader or professional association or certifying body in that industry In this case specifically, AHIMA approves our medical coding course and they are one of the certifying bodies for medical coders We apologize that because of these true and accurate statements, as they are recorded and were reviewed by management, support Career Step's decision to not award the student a refund for their purchaseWe certainly hope that the student will pursue their course Despite the student's statement that "completion of the course will mean nothing" our medical coding and billing course directly prepares students for both the CCA and CPC certification exams and our course content is approved by AHIMA who administers one of these exams We provide students with academic support through our student advocate program and our course instructors who are all certified coders who have worked as medical coders We also provide graduate services that includes a voucher to waive the fees for the student to take the certification exams mentioned previously Career Step also provides every medical coding student with a free AHIMA Student Membership and one set of all of the coding books that are required to sit for the certification exams We assure this student that completion of this course will mean that you are fully prepared to sit for these rigorous certification exams which are a requirement for employment as a medical coder

Career Step's online career training is available for careers in healthcare, administration, and technology Over the years since its founding, more than 85,students have chosen Career Step as their online career school for its flexibility and the opportunity to be career-ready in a year or less Our products are web-based and therefore accessible wherever our students may choose to learn by simply using a computer and internet access Our learners have year of access to their course We spoke with the learner on a few occasions to work with her about an exception program that we have to help accommodate learners who have had extenuating circumstances arise in their lives after their purchase of our products Our exception program allows learners to receive a complimentary extension due to the unforeseen events that arise in their lives Complimentary extensions (retail value of between $and $499) are provided to our students through a fee waiver process The fee waiver process requires documentation that supports the circumstances that the learner experienced A fee waiver was offered to this learner and her choice was to not submit a fee waiver with it's documentation She stated that she only wanted a refund and would not except a complimentary extension so that she could get the time back in her course for the personal circumstances that prevented her for being able to focus on her education Unfortunately, at the time that she contacted us regarding the request for a refund, our 14-day refund period had long since lapsed as she enrolled on 8/30/and contacted us regarding refund on 3/7/ Career Step makes effort to support our students' success in our courses We have an Operations Department, Student Support Department and Technical Support Department all ready to assist learners and help them succeed However, our courses are accompanied by an electronic enrollment agreement that clearly outlines the refund policy and for those reasons we make very few exceptions to the refund policy Student success is a priority for our company and we want this learner to be successful We can assist with a fee waiver when the learner is ready to invest the time that will be necessary for them to be successful in their course

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: with all do respect, there was still a lot of dishonestly through this school regarding the program, had I known the whole truth and had the proper information which was not even included in the information provided to me I never would have chosen the schoolI would have gladly gone somewhere elseI asked very specific questions about the program when I spoke with the advisor and she mentioned nothing about particular details regarding the programI told her exactly what I needed and was looking for and I got the oppositeAlso you give people a time frame into which they can opt out if necessary however I didn't even receive my materials for school until after that date had passed which is how I got stuckBecause by the time I had the info of what I was getting into it was too late.I don't see what is so difficult to work with your students in this situationEspecially since the portion of the program I completed and passed was the portion I thought I was getting into, NOT the second portion which had nothing to do with the job I am going for neither is it in the scope of interestI'm not asking for you to refund the money I am just asking for understanding and for me to receive credit for the hard work I have already doneFor you to say on good will terms you will change the verbiage of my certificate if I meet requirements that I already explained was the issue is insulting and disrespectfulBasically your stating I do the program I didn't want or need then you will lower the details of my certification so that way the verbiage will cover what I want when I do the full work of the higher certificationAgain, taking advantage of the students
Sincerely,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me
Sincerely,
*** ***

*** *** has been a student with
Career Step since 10/10/She is enrolled in the Medical Office Manager program
and has completed her course studies*** Enrolled through one of our
Academic partners and has been a great studentRecently, and unfortunately, she
experienced some
technical problems with our learning management systemShe
was unable to access her final exam as we were experiencing some technical
issues on our sideWe communicated with *** and tried to repair the problem
on several occasionsWe had assumed that we had remedied the issue, but that
was not the caseWe were working with *** during the time of this complaint
and were able to grant her not only the week that she requested, but we also gave
her an additional week just in case she encountered any additional problems
*** had lost a considerable amount of time due to these issues, so we also
issued a complimentary extension to make sure that she was compensated for the
time that she lost, as this was deemed as an internal technical error*** has since completed her final
exam and we are considering this matter closedKerry H***Operations Manager
Career Step

The Career Step independent competency-based Medical Transcription Training Program has been successfully training medical transcriptionists for over sixteen years. We are one of seventeen training schools whose curriculum is approved by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity
(AHDI) *** *** enrolled in Career Step’s Medical Transcription and Editor Program (MTE) on 09/23/ Upon enrollment Ms*** E-signed the EEA and the refund policy is as outlined below: Section of the Electronic Enrollment Agreement, under the ‘TERMINATION RIGHTS AND REFUND POLICY ‘section states: (a) 3-Day Right to Rescind: You have a right to rescind this Agreement and receive a full refund of any amounts paid to Career Step, which you must exercise (if you so choose) in writing within three (3) business days from the day you submit the online application or sign the written applicationYou must deliver a written rescission of this Agreement to Career Step within such 3-day period, or if the rescission is mailed, it must be postmarked on or before the last day of the 3-day period. Prior to receiving the refund, you must first return all program materials and supplies sent to you, as set forth in subsection (d) below. (b) 14-DAY MONEY BACK POLICY: In addition to the rescission rights set forth in subsection (a) above, you may also withdraw from the program for any reason within days after the date you first receive access to online program materials, which is the date of the email sent to you containing your password and login for the online program In this case, this Agreement shall be rescinded and Career Step will refund your money IN FULL, less a $application fee and any initial shipping and handling fees, provided that you first return all program materials and supplies as set forth in subsection (d) below (c) No Refund After Days: If, for any reason, you withdraw after the initial 14-day review period, you are not released from your obligation to pay the program fees in full and you are not entitled to any refund from Career Step It is very clear that Ms*** knew the refund policy because she called in and requested that we cancel her program on 9/24/Her request was honored and we submitted her refund requestShe then contacted us on 9/30/to inform us that she received her welcome packet and course materialsIt was at this time that she decided to stay in the program and not to returnWe then re-processed her enrollment for admission into the programMs*** claims that she then requested a cancellation on 10/3/We do not show any communication from Ms*** on this date, or any dates close to itShe could not supply any proof of this correspondenceAs stated above our policy is to not refund students outside of the 14-day periodThis second request for a refund was past the 14-day return period and therefore Ms***’s request for a refund was deniedAll students are responsible to pay the total balance of the program fees, unless they are within the 14-day return period of the program, at which time, they are eligible for a full refund upon the receipt of their materials, minus the application fee and the shipping and handling fee I have considered this matter and have spoken to Ms*** about the situationAs a sign of goodwill, we have refunded her program, minus the fees associated with the cancellationThis is an exception to our policy, and due to all of the personal circumstances surrounding Ms***’s decision to withdraw it was put before a committee here at Career Step and has been granted Kerry H*** Operations Manager Career Step

Good MorningI hope that you had a good weekend after we talked on FridayI have checked this morning on the states that we discussed on Friday that can have additional requirements to careers as a Pharmacy Technician in addition to the Career Step course that you are enrolled inThose states are
Washington and North DakotaFlorida is another exception but just slightly because their additional requirement is that there are more hours required in externship than our course products provide. To memorialize the conversation that we had on Friday, I wanted to just review the followingCareer Step apologizes for the lack to communication and follow through that you experienced at the beginning of your courseOur Student Support Advocates are a piece of the services that Career Step provides with your courseHowever, this service is not a binding obligation in our Enrollment Agreement signed by every student and is also not a line item on your purchase receiptFor those reasons, we certainly take seriously your needs as a student, but we are not able to process a refund for your courseAll of the products that you paid for have been delivered in a timely manner. Even though we are not able to process a refund, Career Step is willing to give you all of the time back in your course so far so that whatever lost time that you've had due to having to figure things out on your own without the assistance of the Student Advocate will be given back to youEssentially, since you have been in your course for 50+ hours and have completed Units that you would have received that time and progress complimentary and would have months from today to complete your program. Thank you in advance for your thoughts and your reply

*** *** enrolled in the Professional Medical Coding and Billing course on July 29th The Career Step independent competency-based Professional Medical Billing Coding and Billing program has been successfully training medical coding and billing professionals since March 2009. Our
training program curriculum has been reviewed and is approved by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). *** *** contacted Career Step on March 6th about some concerns that she had with her program and that she was notified that she would not be receiving a book with the next module that she had progressed toThe email was received and we responded but there was a breakdown in communication which was the cause of the confusionWe have since contact *** and spoke with her about the situation and why her current module does not include a bookShe was very pleasant and understanding about the situation and accepted our apology for the confusionAs a concession for this confusion, we have given *** a 2-month extension on her programShe accepted and as far as this matter is concerned we are considering it closed Kerry H***Operations Manager Career Step Kerry H*** Operations Manager Career Step

The Career Step independent competency-based Medical
Transcription Training Program has been successfully training medical
transcriptionists for over sixteen years.
We are one of seventeen training schools whose curriculum is approved by
the Association for Healthcare Documentation
Integrity.
Ms*** had shown interest in our Medical Transcription program
and that is why she was contactedOur Policies and Procedures are to only
contact persons that have shown interest in or reached out to our company
firstWe apologize for any inconvenience that Ms*** feels that we may have
causedWe have notated her requests and have placed her contact information on
our Do Not Contact listMs*** will no longer receive communications from
Career Step
With regards,
Kerry H***
Operations Manager

The Career Step independent competency-based Professional Medical Billing Coding and Billing program has been successfully training medical coding and billing professionals since March 2009. Our training program curriculum has been reviewed and is approved by the American Health Information
Management Association (AHIMA). Ms*** enrolled in our ICD-Professional Medical Coding and Billing program on December 11, She has worked diligently in the course during her enrollment periodCareer Step’s courses are 100% online coursesWe supply all of our students with the proper materials that they would need to complete their coursesDue to some confusion Ms*** completed some of her online coursework offlineWe have had an opportunity to speak with Ms*** about her situation and it has been explained to her what the issue is and what will be the best resolution for it Ms*** has agreed and is working with us on the solutionCareer Step is considering the Revdex.com complaint as being handled and closed Kerry H*** Operations Manager Career Step

The Career Step independent competency-based Professional Medical Billing Coding and Billing program has been successfully training medical coding and billing professionals since March 2009. Our training program curriculum has been reviewed and is approved by the American Health Information
Management Association (AHIMA). Ms*** enrolled in our program in February She enrolled through one of our Academic partners and received her funding through a third party sourceThe course that she enrolled in is broken into partsThe grant that Ms*** received paid for her first portion of the courseCareer Step was not involved in the grant portion, or are we familiar with the company that provided that grant Ms*** was in the process of finishing the first portion of her course and needed additional time so she purchased an extensionShortly after she purchased this extension she finished the first portion and did not have access to the second portionCareer Step confirmed with the Academic Partner that they had not received payment for the second portionCareer Step notified Ms*** of this and she then brought to our attention that she had experienced significant technical issuesIt was then that she was granted a complimentary extension to compensate her for the time that she felt she had lost We notified Ms*** that she still would not have access to the rest of her course until the payment was made, but she did not feel it was her responsibilityUnable to proceed further in her course she requested that her extension be refunded as she is unable to use itThis request has been granted Ms*** can finish her course, but unfortunately it will be up to her to secure the payment to have her course access restored. Sincerely, Kerry H***Career Step

The Career Step independent competency-based Medical Transcription
Training Program has been successfully training medical transcriptionists for
over sixteen years. We are one of
seventeen training
schools whose curriculum is approved by the Association for
Healthcare Documentation Integrity.
*** *** enrolled in Career Step’s Medical Transcription and
Editor Program (MTE) on January 30, As written in her statement she did
contact Career Step, but it was in December, to inquire about putting her
course on holdAt no time previous to this did she speak of her desire to put
her course on holdIn late December when she called she spoke with a two representatives
and was given the same answer
Unfortunately Career Steps policy is not to defer or put programs on
holdOur month courses are designed to be completed in months, although,
as a courtesy we give all of our students that purchase a month course an
month extensionThe purpose of this time, is because we understand that “Life”
happens, and there are many things that are out of our control We give all of our students the opportunity to
purchase course extensions if they are unable to finish the course within their
months of original access
Our Medical Transcription Training course is designed to prepare our
students to work in the professional fieldWe utilize real recordings, the
same type that students will receive working professionally in Medical Transcription
Career Step publishes the suggested time that each course should take to
completeThis is in no way a guarantee, as each student is different as are
their circumstances
In many cases there are extenuating circumstances that may cause a
student extreme hardship during their studiesCareer Step has a Fee Waiver
Program for students experiencing extenuating circumstances such as extreme
medical conditions, extreme financial hardships, or natural disastersIf a
student feels that they qualify for this they can submit an application that is
reviewed by a board of members called the Fee Waiver CommitteeThey meet once
a week and review applications of students that are experiencing hardships The student must include documentation stating
their extenuating circumstanceThis application in no way guarantees the
student extra time, but does give them the opportunity to have their situation
and circumstance considered This was
offered to Ms*** when she spoke to the Operations manager, but she
refused it
Regarding Ms***’s demands of receiving a refund on her tuition
and extension, we cannot grant this requestShe agreed to the terms and
conditions when she purchased this course and during the purchase of her
extensionEach student agrees to the Terms and Conditions set forth by Career
step when they enrollDuring our communication with Ms*** Career Step
made every effort to find a resolution within those Terms and Conditions

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me
Sincerely,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to meI will accept the terms provided by Career Step and pay the time extension fee of $84.75, since this is the agreement that I originally made when they suggested I disable my courseAs for the following statement by Career Step in offering a month extension...is this a free offer on their behalf? Or are they implying that I may file for a month extension again at the rate of $84.75, which is applicable to all students if I am not mistakenI just wanted to clarify that offer so there would not be anymore confusion in the future should I need to use that extensionThank you for you swift response to this situation and I look forward to resuming and completing my courses.
Sincerely,
*** ***

I apologize for the poor experience. This is obviously not acceptable amount of time for someone to reply to your ticket. Further, you should not have to raise a complaint on the Revdex.com to receive a response to the questions that you have. A Student Advocate will be reaching out to
the student today. I have escalated this to the team and their manager. Our apologies as this is NOT a typical amount of response time for our team

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:Contrary to Career Step's response, I have documentation proving I requested both cancellation and refund on April
Sincerely,
*** ***

This student was contacted on the same day that the complaint was filedThe students issues were handled and the complaint was verbally withdrawnThis communication is for the benefit of both parties involved and is being sent because the student informed us that there is not a procedure to
withdraw her complaintAll parties are satisfied at this time

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me
Sincerely,
*** ***

The Career Step independent competency-based Medical Transcription Training Program has been successfully training medical transcriptionists for over sixteen years. We are one of seventeen training schools whose curriculum is approved by the Association for Healthcare Documentation
Integrity. Mr*** Enrolled in the Medical Transcription Editor course on March He did notify us on April that he would like to cancel his enrollment and receive a refundMr*** signed and agreed to the terms of the enrollment contract as stated belowSection of the Electronic Enrollment Agreement, under the ‘TERMINATION RIGHTS AND REFUND POLICY ‘section states: (a) 3-Day Right to Rescind: You have a right to rescind this Agreement and receive a full refund of any amounts paid to Career Step, which you must exercise (if you so choose) in writing within three (3) business days from the day you submit the online application or sign the written applicationYou must deliver a written rescission of this Agreement to Career Step within such 3-day period, or if the rescission is mailed, it must be postmarked on or before the last day of the 3-day period. Prior to receiving the refund, you must first return all program materials and supplies sent to you, as set forth in subsection (d) below. (b) 14-DAY MONEY BACK POLICY: In addition to the rescission rights set forth in subsection (a) above, you may also withdraw from the program for any reason within days after the date you first receive access to online program materials, which is the date of the email sent to you containing your password and login for the online program In this case, this Agreement shall be rescinded and Career Step will refund your money IN FULL, less a $application fee and any initial shipping and handling fees, provided that you first return all program materials and supplies as set forth in subsection (d) below (c) No Refund after Days: If, for any reason, you withdraw after the initial 14-day review period, you are not released from your obligation to pay the program fees in full and you are not entitled to any refund from Career Step Career Step will not refund Mr***’s courseAs a concession to this matter we will offer him a month extension to make up for any lost time since his enrollment dateThank you for your timeKerry H*** Operations Manager