Career Step, LLC

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Sincerely,
[redacted]

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. [redacted] enrolled in our course December
31, 2014. Since her enrollment Ms. [redacted] has made great progress through our
course. When she enrolled she opted for a payment plan that is facilitated
through a 3rd party finance company. She initially made a down
payment of $300 directly to Career Step. This initial payment was not
calculated into the total amount financed. Ms. [redacted] did agree to make
payments with Career Step and, for a time, did so diligently. Unfortunately,
there were some circumstances that occurred and made it more difficult for Ms.
[redacted] to make those payments. She did communicate this with us and we
explained to her that if she would continue to make smaller payments her
account would stay active. Career Step tries to make every effort that we can
to work with our students through difficult times.
  Ms. [redacted] signed an agreement stating that
she would make monthly payments until the full amount of her course was paid
off. In the Retail Installment Contract it states:
  I agree to review the Final Disclosure upon
receiving it and to contact the School if I have any questions. Should default be
made on any payment when due, the whole sum of principal and interest shall
immediately become due and payable at the option of the holder of this
Agreement.
  Ms.
[redacted] signed this agreement on December 31st 2014. As of January
19th 2016 the last payment that we received from Ms. [redacted] was on
November 10th. Per the agreement that was signed if default occurred
the whole sum will become due. Communication to Ms. [redacted] began after she
fell 1 month behind. At that point a concession was made and we informed her
that she could regain access to her program if she would pay half of her
balance and we would negotiate with her the other portion of her balance.
  As
per Ms. [redacted] claim of not being able to work through IT issues or having
communication problems. Career Step has a policy to notate every communication
with our students. We have many communications with Ms. [redacted]. We show
several communications from her but only 1 instance of her correcting a
misspelling, in which we replied immediately thanking her for the correction.
  The
book that Ms. [redacted] received was the most current version of the manual at
the time. In the professional medical billing and coding world all of our books
are time sensitive and we receive new versions every year. We make sure that
students receive the most up to date material. If a mistake is made we do
everything we can to make sure that our student’s needs are met.
  Here
at Career Step we value all of our students and understand that things happen in
life that our out of our control. We have made an attempt on several occasions
to help Ms. [redacted] through her situation, and will continue to try to assist
her. As we stated to her previously over the phone and via email, we will
reinstate her access to her course if she will become current on her payments.
We ask that she pay half of her balance owed, which is exactly $[redacted], at which
time we will grant her access again to her program.

Career Step's online career training is available for careers in healthcare, administration, and technology.  Over the 20 years since its founding, more than 85,000 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 1 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 $299 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 8/30/2016 and contacted us regarding refund on 3/7/2017.  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.

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. [redacted] enrolled in our
Professional Medical Billing and Coding course in July 2015. She has diligently
worked in the course making good progress. On March 24th, Ms.
[redacted] contact Career Step to inquire about returning her program. She was
informed at that time that per the contract that she signed returns were not
authorized after 14 days. After some investigation it was discovered the Ms.
[redacted]s complaint was due to her online curriculum not matching the Coding books
that she has in her possession. She has the 2015 Coding books and had updated
her course material to the 2016 material. She was then misinformed by a Student
Support representative that she would need to purchase the new books to be able
to finish her course.
On March 25th Career
Step was able to contact Ms. [redacted] and explain to her that she did not have
to purchase new books. Her program could be “re-versioned” back to match the
2015 Coding books, this would allow her to complete her course and prepare for
the certification exam.
Ms. [redacted] decided at that time to
“re-version” her course and to continue on and complete her course. Career Step
considers this matter closed and feels that the student was helped to better
understand her situation.
Kerry H[redacted]
Operations Manager
Career Step

Our initial communication has been rejected by Ms.
[redacted]. We would like to focus on the issue and original complaint. She has
lost access to her course and would like that to be re-instated. We would like
to reiterate the following:
Ms. [redacted] enrolled
in our course December 31, 2014. Since her enrollment Ms. [redacted] has made
great progress through our course. When she enrolled she opted for a payment
plan that is facilitated through a 3rd party finance company. She
initially made a down payment of $300 directly to Career Step. This initial
payment was not calculated into the total amount financed. Ms. [redacted] did
agree to make payments with Career Step and, for a time, did so diligently.
Unfortunately, there
were some circumstances that occurred and made it more difficult for Ms.
[redacted] to make those payments. She did communicate this with us and we
explained to her that if she would continue to make smaller payments her
account would stay active. Career Step tries to make every effort that we
can to work with our students through difficult times.
Ms. [redacted] signed an
agreement stating that she would make monthly payments until the full amount of
her course was paid off. In the Retail Installment Contract it states:
I agree to review the
Final Disclosure upon receiving it and to contact the School if I have any
questions. Should default be made on any payment when due, the whole sum of
principal and interest shall immediately become due and payable at the option
of the holder of this Agreement.
Ms. [redacted] signed this agreement on December 31st
2014. As of January 19th 2016 the last payment that we received from
Ms. [redacted] was on November 10th. Per the agreement that was signed
if default occurred the whole sum will become due. Communication to Ms. [redacted]
began after she fell 1 month behind. At that point a concession was made and we
informed her that she could regain access to her program if she would pay half
of her balance and we would negotiate with her the other portion of her
balance.
We have already made a concession with Ms. [redacted] to
re-instate her course. As per the contract the total amount is due. We have
allowed her an option of paying half of the owed balance and to make nominal payments
until the balance has been paid off. We are trying to work with the student and
would like her to graduate and finish her program.
As a sign of good faith we would like to extend Ms.
[redacted] an opportunity to get her course reactivated and her payments taken
care of. Rather than paying have of the remaining balance to reactivate, we are
prepared to set her up on an installment payment plan. This would require her
to make 4 equal monthly payments. This would allow Career Step to give her
access to her program and for her to complete her studies.

The Career Step Health Information Technology program
prepares students to work as a part of an internal health IT team and provide
technical support to employees throughout a healthcare facility. It also allows
them to become a Certified Medical Administrative Assistant and Certified
Electronic...

Health Records Specialist. [redacted] enrolled in this program on
October 2, 2014. She has diligently completed all of her coursework during her
enrollment. All that she has left to complete is her final exam.
Ms. [redacted] contacted us on September 15, 2015, with a concern
that the course she enrolled in was misrepresented, and that she would like to
receive a certificate for the first portion of the course without completing
the entire course. This course does grant two certifications, but the student
must complete the entire course, which she has done except for the final exam,
to receive those certifications. No exceptions to this policy will be made.
When Ms. [redacted] contacted us and was doing research into the
course of study she would like to take she had several communications with our
Enrollment Advisors and made a determination based on the information that she
was provided from those advisors. She then had a consult with her funding
partner, MyCAA, who also discussed the program with her before awarding the
grant for her to attend our program.
The MyCAA funding thoroughly vets
education vendors before allowing them eligibility to offer programs to
military spouses. Career Step is proud to say we have met MyCAA standards for
our programs since inception.
Career Step helps thousands of
students to better their career prospects by helping them to attain
certifications and training that allow them to secure better employment. Many
students  need additional help throughout their coursework. We do
everything that we can to encourage our students to succeed by utilizing the
help that we offer with Student Support, and the student forums. Many students
take advantage of these resources and go on to graduate successfully. I am
confident that Ms. [redacted] can do the same and use the rest of her enrollment
period to successfully complete the course.
As a gesture of goodwill to Ms.
[redacted], I would like to offer her an option for alternative verbiage on her
graduation certificate to emphasize the medical administrative content. Ms.
[redacted] indicated this is what is most valuable to her as she transitions into the
workplace.  If she will take the rest of her time during her enrollment to
complete the final exam and pass it, I will make sure she receives the
certificate wording she desires. If she has any concerns during this time she
can always contact me or Student Support with any questions or concerns.
Thank you for your time.
Kerry H[redacted]
Operations Manager

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 30 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 purchase. We 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.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:First of all, I did contact the school several times during our move, informing that I will be moving, then while we were staying at the hotel having a hard time accessing my program due to slow internet connection, but I did not demand for a manager or anyone above during that time. I only spoke with several customer service representatives, but I guess you have to speak with an operations manager to have any record of your call. Secondly, their claim that they offered me any resolution is outright lie. Kerry said the only way they could give me an exception is when there is DEATH or EXTREME MEDICAL CONDITION. Those are the only things he mentioned. I asked him if I could just put the extension that I purchased on hold for a few months, preferably in July, because that's when I know I have more time to put into my studies. He REFUSED my request and he said "I cannot refund you your extension." Play back the recording of our conversation and let's see who's telling the truth! My husband was listening to our conversation the whole time, and he too is enraged when they claim that they offered me any resolution.Here's how the system works as they explained it to me. If you don't graduate by the end of your program, the school will give you a 6-month window to re-enroll, but you just have to pay for reactivation fee of $50+ the cost of the extension. Now, if you let that 6-month window lapse, you would have to re-enroll and start all over. My program is ending this January 30, 2016 and my extension has not even started yet. I purchased my extension back in November when I spoke with someone and told me that I had to, because obviously I can't finish on time. When I talked to Kerry last December, I did not want any refunds or anything. I just humbly requested from him to put my extension on hold and continue in July, when I have more time. I told Kerry that I will just let my program end by January 30 and just consider that I paid in advance for my reactivation for July, but nope! He was as hard-headed as a rock that he WOULD NOT do that. Had I known what I know now, I should have just let my program end and reactivate during the 6-month window (July is the end of the reactivation window). As previously stated, July is the month that I requested from Kerry to continue my extension. Had he worked with me the first time, we wouldn't have had to resort to this. I have high regards with the school at first, but now, we realize that they're JUST a business wanting your every penny. Once they have their money, THEY COULD CARE LESS about their students. And did I fail to mention that they are UNFAIR with their TREATMENT to their students and INCONSISTENT? They will give an extension to some students for free, but is unwilling to work with a student who paid in full! How AWFUL is that? If you want proof, my friend got a FREE EXTENSION even after her 14-day refund period had already expired. Her reason was, she wouldn't have time to study due to a move, but she only moved in-state, and I moved out of state. As much as possible I don't want to drag her name, but I'm afraid they might say that I'm making my story up because they won't see her name under my referral. I referred her to Career Step but she enrolled first because I was ready to give birth at that time. Her name is [redacted]. I am now beginning to question the school's ethical standards. Did they give her a FREE EXTENSION because she has a Latino last name and I don't? And did they give her a FREE EXTENSION because she's still paying on her program and I'm paid in full and so they won't have to come after me for not paying? I never heard that she had to fight for it, it was just one call and she was done. I, on the other hand, had to escalate my call to the operations manager who is heartless and awful at customer service.  Career Step, don't make me think that this is a racial issue. If this is not the case, then give me a good reason why you considered her request and not mine?
Sincerely,
[redacted]

I'm sorry to hear that you feel that way. We desire true success for every student! However, our records indicate that you actually requested to withdraw from the course, was provided a refund and loan cancellation and then two weeks later you decided to re-enroll in the course. No other...

correspondence is recorded (all of our communications are logged) until two months after you re-enrolled. Two months is then past the withdraw for refund period for your second enrollment. Again, I'm sorry to hear that you're not finding success in the program. We certainly want to see every student succeed. However, you were granted your refund and loan cancellation as was your right to do so when it was requested. The current loan is for your second enrollment in the course. For which we do not show communication within the withdrawal period for you wanting to cancel. Switching courses is not permitted after a student has been in the course for a certain amount of time, for your benefit, as grades and time spent in the course does not transfer. You would be starting from scratch without any additional time added to your enrollment period.