Educational Credential Evaluators, Inc.

Review: It is unfortunate that I need to pursue this case here but this one requires a closer assessment.

The Catalog Match report that converted my foreign grades into US Grade system is not based on equivalency.

According to the evaluator, they follow a methodology of grade interpretation by aligning the highest and lowest passing grade to that of the foreign grade’s highest and lowest scale (I refer to email from W. Bellin dated July 10, 2015). This could have worked if the highest and lowest passing grades are equivalent in percentage achievement and definition from both educational system, but in this case, they are not.

The US Grades of A, B, C, D (Conditional Pass) and F (Fail) do not perfectly align with my foreign grades of 1, 2, 3 and 5(Fail). Please note, this specific foreign grade system do not allow a Conditional Pass, therefore there is no equivalent grade to that of the US grade of D.

Specific reference points:

The Philippine Educational System do not allow Conditional Grades, as mandated by both the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) which my College faithfully upholds and practice. A minimum grade of 75% (a Grade of 3) gives the student full credit to the course and allows him/her to advance to higher courses (in contrast, the US Grade of D, specifically in Tri-C is equivalent to 60-69% and do not allow a student to advance to higher courses).

Phil. College Transcript Key. The criteria for achieving the Phil. Grades 1, 2, 3 and 5 was specifically expressed in percentage (because this mathematical concept retains its full meaning and weight even in different languages and cultures) to help align the similar academic achievement to any other Grading System. Unfortunately this grade achievement measure was ignored by the evaluator. To illustrate this grade mismatch further:

* A grade achievement of 76% in a US college (specifically Tri-C) gets a Grade of C. But ECE disregarded a foreign student’s effort for a similar grade achievement, so following ECE’s methodology, this foreign student gets a grade of D instead of its fair and just equivalent of C in their report.

** A grade of 69% earns a US grade of D but a Filipino student will get an F (Fail) automatically because there is no Conditional Grade allowed in the system.

While ECE accepted the premise that this foreign student will get a grade of F for anything below a 74% measured achievement, they refuse to acknowledge that the Grade of 76% should also earn it’s fair equivalent of C.

There is no Phil. grade equivalent to D, either by percentage criterion nor by definition.

For ECE's internal reference: [redacted]Desired Settlement: I had mentioned before that I was initially hopeful that this report would bridge the gap between this two education system. Therefore I have carefully followed all their requirements to help in their evaluation. However, since this report fail to establish a uniform and fair academic achievement equivalence, I only wish for them to close my account, refund the $315 paid directly to them and send back the original transcript and provide me a tracking number.

Business

Response:

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the client's concerns.The evaluator who prepared the report has already explained to the client why we consider the grade of 3 in the [redacted] to be the equivalent of a D in the United States. The grade of 3 is passing when a student completes a supplementary examination, but does not need to repeat the entire class. It is a conditional pass the same way a US D grade is a conditional pass. We consider it the equivalent of a D in the United States. We disagree strongly with the client's assertion that there is no D grade in the [redacted]. We cannot think of any other credential evaluation service or one other university in the United States that whose grade conversion does not include a D grade in their Philippine to US conversion scales.[redacted] does not accept D grades for transfer purposes. That is their decision. ECE has no say in their transfer decisions.The client asked us to provide her with an evaluation report. The evaluation report reflects our judgment, based on research and experience. When the client requested our service, she indicated that she understood that the report was a reflection of our judgment and that she might not agree with our judgment. We have done what we were asked and paid to do. We understand that the client does not agree with our decision and we understand that the school that she was hoping to attend is not granting her all of the transfer credit she hoped to receive. Despite her disappointment, we have provided the service that was requested of us. Since we fulfilled the service we promised to provide, we have no basis for providing a refund of the fees that were paid.The client has asked us to return to her the educational credentials. We received transcripts directly from the issuing institution in the [redacted]. We do not normally pass on to the client documents that were sent directly to us. We state this clearly in our application form, which the client indicated she understood and agreed to. We have made an exception in the client's case. We are forwarding the documents to the client, at our expense. The documents are being sent today. We are sending the client tracking information. I hope this information clarifies our position.Sincerely,Margit A. S[redacted]

Business

Response:

Thank you for expressing your concern about the grade conversion that we used. The client agreed to the terms and conditions of our service, including accepting that she might not agree with our conclusion. However, she brings up some good points about grading in the [redacted] that we would like to review. Education is dynamic and we are open to examining new information or changes in educational practices that might warrant changes in our policies.Our senior evaluators set our policies. The senior evaluators are scheduled to meet next Tuesday. We have added an examination of the Philippine grading to the meeting agenda. I cannot guarantee that the group will make a change to the grade conversion that we use, but we will consider the points made by the client, as well as other information.Given that there is a chance of making a change, I will offer the following options:-- We can provide a full refund now. In that case we would expect that the client would return to us all copies of the report that had been prepared, or-- She can wait for the results of the meeting and if a change is made in the grade conversion, we would prepare a revised report. If we do not make a change in the grade conversion, we will still consider the possibility of a refund.I hope that one of these options is acceptable to the client.Sincerely,Margit A. S[redacted]

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I appreciate the options offered and would still highly prefer that a full refund be effected promptly. As requested, I have immediately arranged for the return of the full five-paged Catalog Match report to their office, with USPS tracking number of [redacted]. Moreover, I have immediately informed Tri-C about the need to return their copy, so ECE may also expect to get back this report soon. Regards, [redacted]

Review: I sent my spanish credentials to be evaluated and make the equivalence to US, it's a 3 year degree in [redacted] (2000-2003) plus 1 of specialization in English as a second language (2008-2009), so it's a 4 year degree, a Bachelor Degree (I have a friend with the same credentials that got it right). Instead all I got was a "completion of three years of undergraduate work in Primary Education" which is completely wrong in so many ways. I called and got to speak with the evaluator and told him that it was a 3 year + 1, that it was written in the translation, his answer shocked me. "Oh, I didn't even see that"! When I asked him to consider re-evaluation,he said no. I feel they just took my money,didn't even read the sword translation I sent along, and he didn't care much of it. I want it to be re evaluated asap because I need it to go as a VOLUNTEER to american samoa and need my Bach degreeDesired Settlement: Re-evaluation by different evaluator. Of course,I do hope I don't need to pay extra money,since they already have 260$ from me.

Business

Response:

The client has contacted our office outside of the Revdex.com system to provide us with additional information. We will be contacting her to determine if the additional information impacts the conclusion of the evaluation report that we prepared. We look forward to working with the client to find a satisfactory solution to her concerns. [redacted]

I do not think this review service is accurate, I have used to other services in the past that coincided in the equivalence of my foreign degree and this service which I am forced to use now categorized it differently. When I inquired about it they said thatthe number of years of study do not coincide. That does not make sense. It should not the number of years but the equivalence in the content of the study that matters!! That is how the other services measured it,

Review: I submitted an application for a rush service for accreditation with this entity. My reference number for the application is ECE Reference Number [redacted].

I have two issues the way this entity operates:

1) Service: Each time I tried to contact them I ended up waiting for no less than 45 minutes on the phone. They are not equipped to handle the customer relationship. I always lookup businesses on the Revdex.com site and I am sorry to say that I do not understand how this organization is rated "A".

2) I was charged $235 for a service that I did not get. Their explanation for this is that their "terms and conditions" clearly indicate that they will not provide refunds.

I am sorry but this is a lame execuse, clearly it is intended to protect themselves in cases where they cannot provide accreditation to somebody due to forged documents, or lack of equivalent credits etc...

In my case I tried to work with them to expedite my evaluation as they did not like the fact that I had a handwritten note on one my my transcripts - although the document had an official seal on it. Once I understood that I am facing an organization where communication is impossible my recourse was to take my business else where as I was pressed for time.

I promptly canceled the service, they were kind enough to charge me for expediting my application although they did not nothing but look at the documents.

I think this is plainly put unacceptable business conduct, create a terms&conditions that iron clad, make it impossible to contact them, treat customers as criminals, and name your own price on when you don't do anything.

Great business model and great job in getting a A rating as a business from Revdex.com.

Just a quick note I did work a IL based company, I got my accreditation at no time and had a a great experience.Desired Settlement: Pelease reduce the rating of this company so that it is reflective of their business.

I hope they will come around and refund my $235 for doing nothing for me.

Consumer

Response:

I am not sure how I can edit the complaint that I filed. Sure I would like you to forward this to the business and I am happy to remove the comment about the Revdex.com rating for this entity as my complaint will be publicly displayed.

Business

Response:

Thank you for the opportunity to response to this complaint. I checked the history of this file and can report the following: We requested the transcript of the client to be issued in a university-sealed envelope which is a standard Turkey documentation requirement. The client stated that: "The documents I mailed are originals that have wet signatures and stamps on them. I cannot get a new one in a sealed envelope without flying back to Turkey and incur an unreasonable cost. Please cancel the service and Fedex my original documents at my cost". In our experience, the document we requested is readily available without the extraordinary efforts described by the client. Nonetheless, per his request we cancelled the file. Although our application form includes the information that we do not provide any refunds and the client confirmed that he understood and agreed to those terms when he signed the application, we provided a refund for the cost of the evaluation report, which we were unable to prepare because the client did not provide the documents needed for the report. We did not refund the cost of the services that were provided, including processing, rush handling and priority return of documents. We explained the following: "We are able to provide you with a partial refund in the amount of $95. We have retained our $50 processing fee, our $80 rush fee and the $10 delivery fee to return your documents by priority mail."We hope that this information helps the client understand that we are not able to return fees for services that were already incurred.Sincerely,[redacted]

Review: I was educated in Germany 30 years ago and did an evaluation with ECE 11 years ago I was awarded a HS diploma plus 43 credits. Due to the fact that the evaluations are only valid for 10 years I had to do it again. This made me lost 2 mos in time and the end result was a HS diploma with 32,75 credits. This time I was able to provide a transcript from a translator college which cost me 100 Euros and it was regarded as additional HS work which is not possible and true. This is not professional work.. Anyone who knows about the German school system knows how demanding it is. I was told that changes had been made to the German Abitur... and that was the reason. The only change that has been made is that students have to learn what I learned in 13 years in 12 years now. The material is the same. This is very important to me, because I am pursuing a US degree in GErman so that I am allowed to teach at US schools. I have been teaching for 16 years at colleges and online.Desired Settlement: I wish to receive the same amount of credit I received 11 years ago. i.e. a High school diploma plus 42 credidts.

Business

Response:

The client is correct in stating that ECE has changed its policies concerning the credential that she obtained. The change in policy has resulted in a different equivalency than the one that she received from ECE 11 years ago. Changing the result of the evaluation report is not possible as it would require us to violate our own professional judgment. We contacted the client on June 1 and indicated that if she wished, we would provide her with a full refund on the condition that she returned all copies of the evaluation report. We will go ahead and process the refund and hope she will return all copies of the evaluation report once the refund is processed.Sincerely,Margit A. S[redacted]

Business

Response:

We are sorry that the client is not open to accepting a full refund. Please note that the client signed an application that clearly stated that our equivalencies are based on the most current information available and that our equivalencies are subject to change. Changes in current German secondary education caused us to review all of our policies and resulted in a different conclusion than one at which we arrived 11 years ago. We are obliged to adhere to our professional standards and cannot make a change in policy for one student. Since it is clear that our current policy will not satisfy the client, we feel the most reasonable solution is to provide a full refund and allow the student to seek an evaluation from another agency. We will go forward with the refund. It is up to the client to determine if she wishes to use our report or not. If the client can suggest a solution that does not involve ECE violating its professional standards, we are willing to review her suggestion.Sincerely,Margit A. S[redacted]

Consumer

Response:

Extremely negative experience with ECE. They are basically a scam - collect your moeny, then do not take calls, do not do any work even if you provide them with sealed transcripts from foreign schools

Review: Dear sirs,

I ordered diploma evaluation at 05/29/2015 Reference Number: [redacted].

Money was taken from my Wells Fargo account at 06/01/15 $320.00

Since 05/29/2015 order is "Under review" (phase 1) and they do not confirm payment.

I requested information from customer service at 10:41 AM, Tue, 2 Jun, 2015

---

Dear sirs, Money was taken from my account. However, my order is still under review. What should I do? What should be my next steps? Best regards, [redacted]

----

Service agreements says "It is our intention to answer all questions within 1 to 2 business days" I do not get answer in this time-frame.

I completely unsatisfied with this service as they claim that they do "rush" services and do evaluation within 5 business days after receiving documents. And I paid for this service as well. I do have a change to send a documents within short time-frame as they do not move order to the "Confirm payments, collect document" phase. I can' trust this organization. Moreover, this organization claims that they do not refund services as it's submitted.

Best regards,

[redacted]Desired Settlement: I would like to get full refund as they do not work properly and do not provide me any services except taking money from my account.

Business

Response:

The client requested an evaluation report but did not submit the documents on which we base our report. We provided a description of the documentation that we need and described what the client needed to do to arrange for us to receive the documentation. From the Revdex.com complaint, it appears that the client is not interested in making arrangements to provide us with the documents. As the client has requested, we will provide a full refund.Sincerely,Margit A. S[redacted] ECE

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Review: Dear Revdex.com.

I sent required documentation to Educational Credential Evaluators, Inc. to evaluate my Ukrainian diploma and have it sent to the college I requested. After long conversation I finely received an explanation why it can't be done, after which an authorized charge to my bank account has been made. They charged me $60 for reactivation of my previous evaluation report what I never asked them to do. They ignored a couple of my emails including last Email I sent to them. I truly believe that in the great country like America it is impossible to just take my money which I made hardly working and paying taxes and get away with it.

Thank you, [redacted].Desired Settlement: Refund in amount of $60.

Business

Response:

To whom it may concern-

Educational Credential Evaluators, Inc. hereby submits this response

in the Revdex.com complaint with ID number [redacted] to address the dissatisfaction reported by [redacted].

In order to best address Mr. [redacted]'s

concerns, I would like to briefly describe the nature of some our

evaluation report products. This explanation is designed to clarify

why we took the actions we did in Mr. [redacted]'s case.

Our Evaluation Report product (of which

we offer different types) is designed to provide our recommendation

of how international educational credentials equate to the US

educational system. While our three most frequently ordered reports

(the General Evaluation Report, General with Grade Average Evaluation

Report, and Course by Course Evaluation Report) can be prepared for

individuals whose highest level of education is the equivalent of

high school level study, our more detailed reports (the Subject

Analysis Evaluation Report and the Catalog Match Evaluation Report)

can only be prepared if an individual has completed the equivalent of

university level study.

In addition to our evaluation report

products, we also offer an Evaluation Report Review service. This

service is available to customers who wish to ask questions or

dispute any of the contents of a completed Evaluation Report.

Mr. [redacted] submitted his first

application for an Evaluation Report in March, 2013. The conclusion

represented in that first report was that Mr. [redacted] had the US

educational equivalent of a high school diploma plus completion of

additional high school level work.

In April of 2013, Mr. [redacted] submitted

a second Evaluation Report application form to us. According to his

application materials and educational documentation submitted at that

time, there was no new educational documentation to evaluate. We

revisited our equivalency position from the first report with the

customer and explained that, in our judgment, he had completed the

equivalent of high school level study only; the new report would not

lead to a new equivalency statement.

At the customer's request, we canceled

that second evaluation report order. We retained a $50.00 processing

fee and refunded to him the remaining amount paid. The totally

amount refunded to the customer for the second report order was

$195.00.

We received a third evaluation report

order from Mr. [redacted] in June of 2014. The customer had ordered a

Catalog Match Report from us at that time. As noted above, ECE is

not able to prepare a Catalog Match Evaluation Report of high school

level equivalent study.

We had a series of communication with

Mr. [redacted] about this third evaluation report application. I have

summarized these exchanges below:

On 26 June 2014, we informed Mr.

[redacted] that we are not able to prepare a Catalog Match report for

him. We offered to instead send a copy of the completed report (the

first report prepared for him in 2013) to Jefferson State Community

College

On 27 June 2014, we received a

response from Mr. [redacted] indicating that he felt that his report,

completed in 201, contained an inaccurate equivalency judgment.

On 30 June 2014, we responded to

Mr. [redacted] and indicated that because he (a) had questions about a

completed evaluation report and (b) was not eligible to receive the

new Catalog Match report that he had ordered that we would initiate

the Evaluation Report Review process so that we could formally

respond to his concern that his original report was not accurate.

We wish to emphasize that within his

communication to us about his third report order, Mr. [redacted] did

express to us a desire to have the contents of the first evaluation

report reviewed. Thus, we felt the best way to move forward

according to his need was to review the existing evaluation report

according to our standardized Evaluation Report Review service and

process.

Upon review of the entire history of

Mr. [redacted]'s orders with ECE, we have concluded that while the

Evaluation Report Review service was appropriate for his current

need, we did not provide sufficient notification of the step and the

associated charge. Thus, we will refund to Mr. [redacted] the $60 amount

that we retained.

This refund will be completed with the

next three to five business days.

Thank you

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Thank you very much.

Review: To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to file a complaint against Educational Credential Evaluators ( ECE ) located at 101 W. Pleasant St. Suite 200, Milwaukee WI 53212.

1.Not fully disclose the cost to applicants .

In June 2012, I submitted my evaluation application to ECE to evaluate my 5 education credentials from China. On its website: www.ece.org, its pop up window did show: “ECE reserves the right…. the verification report must be sent directly to ECE by the China Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Development Center ( CDGDC ).

HOWEVER, it did NOT mention or warn customers there was a fee related with that. I was charged [redacted] Yuan(=US $273) for evaluation 5 of my education credentials ( 2 transcripts for under/graduate, Master’s degree, Graduation Certificates from college and Graduate School ) the service from CDGDC- one of its partners.

ECE did NOT fulfill their due diligence to remind customers about the fees its partners would charge for their service before customers submit their applications. Actually ECE is so heavily dependent on its partners so it is impossible for the applicants to avoid paying extra money to ECE’s partners. If I knew there was potential extra cost for their service, definitely I would not choose ECE.

If ECE states “extra cost” explicitly on its website, the potential clients would be scared away. So ECE chose “DO NOT TELL”.

2. Not Professional

In August 2012, ECE emailed me saying they could not process my application because “we are unaware of any “zhuanke” (three-year associate degree) programs giving access to a Master's degree program in China”, which has been in existence from 1980. The actual fact is in China three-year associate education plus two-year work experience makes people eligible to sit for National Graduate School Entrance Exam. If people can pass the first round written exam and the second round oral exam, they can be admitted into Graduate School.

Then they told me “verification through CDGDC is not optional”, which means it was MANDATORY. Either I had to pay to CDGDC, ECE’s partner in China, to verify my Associate/Master degree, either I withdrew my application. If I withdrew my application, I was told the $150 application fee was not refundable, even though it was because ECE had no ability to do evaluation.

Actually at this stage I had no choice but to pay whatever they asked for to ECE’s partner. Otherwise, if I decided to terminate their service, the $150 fee I already paid to them was not refundable. It is unfair to me, an innocent customer.

At the beginning, I was attracted by their advertisement for reasonable application fee, then after I submitted my application, extra charge showed up which was almost twice of its application fee. I, as a customer, was not well-informed at the beginning. ECE did not fulfill its due diligence to warn or remind the clients about the potential charge from its partners.

I request:

1. ECE to refund my payment $273 to its partner-CDGDC, plus my $150 application fee,

And

2. disclose the potential extra cost which its partner would charge on its website.

Later I had even worse experience with ECE. Four of my five education credentials are fine.

But my under-graduate college issued an inaccurate transcript to me in Nov. 2002, after I graduated in 1997. I did not realized the mistake until I got the letter from ECE, which ECE cc’d U.S Department of Homeland Security/ FBI/ NASBA ( National Association of State Boards of Accountancy) saying “the documentation submitted is not authentic”. I contacted my previous school right away and they admitted there was mistake and issued the corrected transcript to ECE.

But ECE insisted I took responsibility for my previous school’s mistake, which I was not aware of when I submitted application to ECE at the beginning. And when I realized the mistake, I took action immediately to urge my previous school to fix it. ECE said I should remember all of my 40 courses and their grades after I graduated so many years.

I am not arguing about remedying my reputation here, just tell the whole story of my horrible experience with ECE.

In short, I request ECE to refund my payment to its partner-CDGDC $273 plus the $150 application fee.

Thank you for your time!

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

The applicant submitted to ECE falsified documents. We received confirmation from a [redacted] government agency that the documents were not authentic. ECE clearly states on the application form that the applicant signed stating she understood, that if falsified documents are submitted to us, we will not prepare the evaluation report, we will not refund fees and we will inform government authorities. We carried out the consequences that we indicated would take place if falsified documents were submitted.

The applicant objects to the fees paid to a [redacted] government service that provided proof that her documents were falsified. We are frankly amazed that we are now being asked to reimburse the applicant for the services that confirmed submission of falsified documents.

It is true that the applicant went back to the school to obtain a copy of authentic documents. This action does not change the fact that she submitted to us a document that contained not one or two altered grades, but multiple altered grades. Her claim that her school made the mistake and that she could not be held responsible for remembering her grades is an incredible claim, given the number of altered grades.

We cannot in good conscience refund money for fees confirming falsification of documents. To do so would be to reward the submission of falsified documents.

Consumer

Response:

I just got my education from India evaluated from them. My entire experience was positive. Their website is simple and well designed, so the application process was smooth. Once my documents reached there, I could easily track the progress of evaluation through my account log-in. Whenever I called, my questions and concerns were resolved immediately. I received the evaluation back in the time frame they provided. They also returned all my original transcripts in the same condition I sent them. They kept their word in all the aspects of their evaluation process. When they realized that the report I ordered was not the one required by the institution I applied, they refunded the difference amount proactively- I didn't have to ask for it. I appreciate their professionalism and would recommend them to my family and friends.

Review: I have a degree from a [redacted]. This degree is recognized in Germany, Europe and the United States as a 4-year program (US Bachelor) with 155 semester credit hours. Although the study plans calls for six semesters of academic course work, the degree program requires a project semester, which concludes with a project paper as part of the curriculum. The final component is the preparation and submission of a thesis, which takes between two to three month. The colloquium (defense of thesis) completes the degree program. The time required to complete the program is eight semesters (Four years).

I requested a course-by-course evaluation through ECE. The evaluators at ECE concluded that my studies are the equivalent of “Completion of three years of undergraduate work”.

I discovered that ECE converted the 155 semester credit hours using a 0.625 factor and reduced the credit hours to a number below the 120 semester credit hours usually required for a Bachelors degree at a university in the United States.

I requested details as to why ECE feels this conversion is necessary and questioned why they feel an academic credit of equal length need to be converted, e.g. is a 60-minute lecture in the United States valued higher than a 60-minute lecture in Germany?

ECE provided the following explanation:

“One year of full-time academic work at a university in the United States represents a total of 30 semester hours of credit (sometimes slightly more in certain fields, with generally a maximum of 36 semester hours of credit for one year). Therefore, one year of full-time academic work at a university in Germany represents the equivalent of 30 semester hours of credit in the United States. You are correct; the total amount of hours of study for your program was 155 hours. This is well beyond the maximum a student in the US would receive for the same amount of coursework, therefore a conversion of .625 was used to convert the German hours to US equivalent credits. You had received credits beyond the approximately 97 US credits because of the two additional courses you completed.”

Because the credit hours are “beyond the maximum a student in the US would receive for the same amount of coursework” means it needs to be adjusted with an arbitrary factor? Where is the logic in that?

It appears that ECE is only focused on the number of years and not the actual time (semester credit hours) needed to earn a degree.

ECE also refused to give any credit for the thesis. The grades for the thesis and colloquium (defense of thesis) are on my transcripts. A US Bachelor degree program does not have a thesis requirement.

Any documentation I provided was disregarded as not suitable for the purpose of the evaluation. However, several email requests for details, especially documentation and relevant text passages explaining the conversion process and the need for it were either denied or ignored. ECE’s president referred me to a book and an article in it that the president of ECE is the author of. I don’t think I should be forced to buy a book to read up on credit conversion methodologies. It is the methodology ECE applied and ECE should provide what I requested.

Interesting point is that the UK considers my degree as “British Bachelor (Honours) degree standard” and a US Bachelors degree only as “British Bachelor degree standard”.

My first request for a refund was denied. I repeat my request for a refund here due to the lack of requested documentation, poor customer service, wasting my time, money and energy.Desired Settlement: Full refund of service fee. Close my file.

Business

Response:

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this complaint.

I am attaching a copy of selected emails that were sent to the client in response to his emails. This is only a selection, as there were over 45 entries of correspondence on this matter, but I believe that the selections address most of the points of the complaint very clearly.

I would like to highlight a few points of the complaint to ensure that ECE's position is clearly stated:

First, although it took the client eight semesters to complete his program, the plan of studies clearly indicates that the program is six semesters. The client confirms the six semesters in his complaint. Our reports are based on the defined length of a program, not the amount of time any individual student takes to complete a program. In Germany and in the United States, it often takes a student longer than the defined length of the program to graduate. For example, many US students take 5-6 years to complete a bachelor's degree, yet the same student would not be considered to have completed a 5-6 year degree.

Second, the client asks for the logic in converting 155 credits to 90+ credits. The logic in making that conversion is the same logic that is applied when a US student moves from a quarter system to a semester system. The credits are converted by multiplying by a factor to convert one system to a new system. The logic lies in the fact that the credits are not the same. A quarter credit is not the same as a semester credit. A German credit is not a US semester credit. A conversion is applied in both cases.

Third, the client asks why he should be expected to read a book on credential evaluation methodology. The answer is that he asked to have the reference to the book that made a case for the type of credit conversion mentioned in item 2 of my response, above. It is ECE's job to apply the appropriate methodology. That is the job that we were paid to do by the client and that is the job we completed. I do not expect him to my professional work, but when asked for a reference, I gladly provided the reference so that he could satisfy his need for information on the topic. The fact that I was one of the authors of the publication cannot be helped. I am a major contributor to the field of international credential evaluation and I happen to be a co-author of the publication that explains clearly the methodology. [Please note that I did not author the section that explained credit conversion and I have not received any financial compensation for my contribution to the publication.] I would be remiss in not providing a reference if requested by a client, but I cannot be responsible for his decision to not use the reference provided.

Finally, the client indicates that he is due a refund of the fee because of a lack of documentation, poor customer service, the wasting of his time, money, and energy. ECE was paid for a service that it provided. The client is not happy with the conclusion, but that does not change the fact that we did what he asked us to do. To address his reasons for a refund:

Lack of documentation - The client was provided with a reference that documents our methodology. It is his choice to not consult the reference provided.

Poor customer service - ECE has responded to each of the client's emails, many which repeated questions that were already answered, in a prompt and polite manner with full information, or a reference to previous email that contained the information requested, or a statement that no additional information could be added to questions already answered. I believe this demonstrates good customer service.

Wasting of time - Our prompt responses demonstrate that we did not waste his time.

Wasting money - ECE's time spent on preparing this case and in follow up correspondence demonstrate that we spent far more money (in staff time) than the fee paid.

Wasting energy - I cannot comment on how much energy the client wasted on his numerous emails that often repeated questions that had already been addressed. However, I do not know that I can be held responsible for the client's energy.

I hope this response addresses all of the client's points. In summary, we have no basis for providing a refund for work that has been completed as agreed upon by the client when he applied for an evaluation report.

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the customer's concerns.

Please see my previous emails and the emails of the customer that confirm the length of the degree program. We based our equivalency on that information.

As I have indicated in numerous emails, we have provided the requested reference. I believe that it is not customary for one who provides a reference to also provide a hard copy of the publication. There is no indication in our contract that we would provide such materials as part of our services.

We have provided the service that was requested of us. We understand that the customer does not agree with our conclusion. Unfortunately, that is not a basis for a refund.

Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

Review: we took some university document to be evaluated first week of june 2013,and paid for it,they told us everything looks fine,and it will take 5 weeks tone completed,but if we pay much more money they will put rush on it,which we declined,we went back july 7, to see if its ready ,they told us in avery rude manner that our documents were incomplete and they said they have send us email june 18 about this matter which we never received, even though they had our fone number, they never did any follow up with phone call,so we gave them more documents, and they told us we have to pay another 30$,besides already paying 110$ ,and again they pushed on paying extra money for rush service, yet if any documents missing we will lose the money being paid toward rush service, we feel this organization has unfairway of doing business ,mainly because most of thei clients are foreigners and are not familiar with american way of doing business,or are aware of their recourse about filing com plaints, ps the document was for my wife [redacted]Desired Settlement: they need to have some one familiar with the work rules and check all the necessary documents rather then waiting 4 to 5 weeks to tell a person, also they need to take sensitivity classes to familiarize themselves with other cultue since majority of their clients are foreigners

Business

Response:

I reviewed the history of this case and interviewed the staff members involved. I can report the following:

We received the applicant's file on June 10. The file was processed and a request for additional payment was emailed on June 18 because the applicant requested the incorrect report for the purpose requested. On June 18 an email was also sent requesting additional documents because the applicant did not submit the documents needed to prepare a report.

We sent an email requesting additional payment and additional documents because the application form gives the option of providing an email address and indicates that communication will take place using that email address, unless requested otherwise. Applicants who do not want to use email as a means of communication normally do not fill out an email address. We are confused as to why the applicant filled out email information, knowing it would be used for communication, but then indicated displeasure when that means of communication was used.

It is true that the husband of the applicant came to our office on July 8. The person who assisted him indicated that he was upset because we communicated with the applicant using email. Contrary to his statement, the person who assisted him indicated that, despite his displeased reaction to our use of email and the subsequent delay in the processing of his wife's file, he was treated with respect and courtesy.

Reports are prepared in the order in which the complete file is received. We think that preparing files in the order in which they were received is the most fair and equitable manner to conduct business. We do not consider a file to be complete until we have all required documentation and full payment for all services requested.

We offer rush

service so that people facing a deadline can receive their reports

quickly. The extra fee for rush service is to cover the cost of the special processing that is required to put a file at the beginning of the line.

Although the applicant did not pay for rush service and there are many people who applied to ECE before she did and who are also waiting for their files, we will process this file as soon as possible. We anticipate that the file will be sent from our offices tomorrow, or at the latest, early next week.

At ECE we take the accusation of unfair treatment of foreigners very seriously. ECE serves nearly 30,000 people each year. Nearly all of them are from outside the United States. We treat all of them fairly, professionally and without bias. Our staff are trained on cross cultural matters. Our processes are designed to be clear and understandable. We do all we can to minimize complications and confusions. As requested, we will provide our staff with sensitivity training. This is an ongoing training activity in which we are already engaged.

I hope this explanation addresses the applicant's and her husband's concerns.

Review: I had sought the services of ECE to validate my educational records from my Schools in India. I have two complaints:

1> ECE is exceedingly difficult to work with. When you call them, they make you wait on the phone for 45 mins at the minimum with their call center, and then ask you to leave a voicemail with the evaluator. The evaluator never calls back, and only sends emails back after 24 hours. This is exceedingly poor service quality given the hundreds of dollars they charge

2> We have gone through hoops to obtain sealed transcripts frmm our universities in India and gotten them mailed to ECE. However, ECE is now saying they do not respect sealed transcripts from Universities

We have paid over $400 to ECE and they have not done ANYTHING with that money, apart from putting it into their revenue line. Since they have never andwers any calls with us, the total cost ECE has incurred ror our case is at bet 1 hour of labor - say $30-40. We feel constantly harassed by ECE and are frustrated with this scam they are running. We would like our money back from ECEDesired Settlement: We would like ECE to refund our money back, after deducting for an hour of labor cost that they have incurred

Business

Response:

We have no client with the name indicated in the complaint. In the interest of protecting the privacy of the person involved, I will not indicate the name in the complaint in this response. The initials in the complaint are D. B. Could the client be listed under a different name? Can the client indicate the name used in the application? Can the client refer to the ECE reference number? If we receive this information, we can better respond to the complaint.Thank you,Margit A. S[redacted]

Business

Response:

Although we do not normally provide a refund for a file that includes documents that have not been verified, we are willing to make an exception and provide a full refund. We will process the refund this week.I hope this offer is satisfactory.Sincerely,Margit A. S[redacted], ECE

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.