Midwest College Planning LLC

I am rejecting this response because:The response is inaccurate and has miss information Mark and his Company take no responsibility for the "toxic" relationship - maybe he is incapable of seeing he did anything wrong

Please see responses below in italics I hope it is simpler to followI hired Midwest College Planning in September of to assist with the Financial Aid process for collegeEverything was "fine" until the CEO wanted to "sell" me on additional investment opportunities - mainly Whole Life
InsuranceI told him in a polite way I was not interested after watching his presentationI knew all about that product and already had policies with another investment firmHe continued to ask and I was more directI work with clients to find a solution to pay for college. Multiple options are discussed. His role was to educate us what we should be doing, not having to invest with himThat is the part he did not likeAfter several back and forths I canceled my plan going forwardI felt there was no value thereA part of the education you refer to is having an exit strategy, a way to have at least 75% of college paid for by the time the student graduates. The problem wasn’t that you were being sold something; it was that you didn’t want to go over an exit strategy. We work with clients on how to budget, save money and commit to paying off debt. If you had simply said, we are paying for college with (fill in the blank) it wouldn’t have gotten to this point. What really upset me is when I only wanted to use mark's firm for planning he took offense and tried to bad mouth my current advisers and "what have they done for you"In the CEO's words from his e-mail "My role is not to give a family all the answers & take it back to an individual whom did not address this in the pass." So in his own admission he withholds information if you do not invest with himLet’s simplify this statement. You did come to us for college planning. We worked with your son on finding schools and tried to work with you on finding a financial solution. As per the contract you signed, you agreed if the College Planning Solution I create makes sense to you, and you decide to implement it, you agree to implement through me, rather than with another advisor, planner, accountant, relative or friend I suggested to the CEO to give me back one half of the $2,since he admitting to not holding up his end of the dealI never heard back from himAs per the contract, the membership fee is nonrefundableYour monthly fee was cancelled. There was no point in continuing what had become a toxic conversationWe work with families we can impact in a positive way. Those are factsMy opinion of Midwest College Planning's sales process: The CEO goes to baseball showcases and "scares" people that the financial aid process is overwhelming He then says all the great things he is going to do The CEO then tries to build rapport first with your child and youThen he tries to sell you on investing with him If you tell him NO he gets upset and then will not tell you everything he is supposed toHe will try and scare you that your current financial adviser is not looking out for youI take a straightforward approach to college funding. The idea of ‘scare’ come from being asked directly how will you pay for college? The families I work with are committed to finding a school where the student succeeds and they can affordEach family’s situation is unique and I do not take offense for not investing with me. When you ask him questions about the financial aid process, but do not want him to try and sell you products he get upset and says something like - direct from his e-mail: "You may need to sit down & ask this person those questions since you have stated “I am now a sales person”These were questions about what we should do doing - not investment decisionsFirst, the Financial Aid forms were complete in January You later submitted the financial aid offer for evaluation. The offer was fantastic and well within your Expected Family Contribution. There was nothing else to do at that point Secondly, the quote from an email exchange where you had told me I was a sales person since giving you what you wanted would have been going against the agreement I directed you to sit down with your financial advisor. The CEO is unprofessional and his sale style is to scare and intimidateThis company has one other complaint from a lawyer and I am a CPAHe works a lot out of state so maybe people do not know where to turn when they are unhappyHe needs to be held accountable for his unprofessional sales method and withholding informationMy approach is straightforwardI have clients across the US and work with families in person or by phone. Midwest College Planning is my firm and I am accountable. I have attached a copy of the agreement.Regards,Marc Z

***We worked with your family to get your son to a school where he could succeedThe required financial aid forms (FAFSA and CSS) profiles were complete & submitted for schools your son applied to for 2015-school year. The only issue we have comes down to the exit strategy which is a core part of our services To be clear, the strategy didn't have to be through my firm However you needed to be able to tell me how you were going to pay for college? What you saw as pushy sales was my concern that your family had a plan to not be part of the student debt crisis Perhaps, I need to evaluate my approach to the exit strategy and remind customers of the agreement signed to avoid this issue in the future.I do wish you and your family the best of luck Marc Z

Dear *** *** I’d like to review your complaint-step by stepWe signed up with this business several years ago to help us with our older son's college, which they did and did it wellUsually I am very satisfied and pleased with businesses we deal with so giving this poor review is difficult
Thanks for the kind words, we did work with your son and found a college where he could succeedWe paid the large down payment and was paying the monthly fees for himThe fee structure is as follows: A one time membership fee was paid- not a down payment-membership covers college planning services for your family along with a smaller monthly fee payable for years/child to file FAFSA, college counseling, major/internship/planning questions, etc. As per the contract, the membership fee is nonrefundable. The monthly fee may be cancelled at anytimeWe have two younger children that MCP then started billing us for without our approval on a monthly basis and the principal Marc Ziegler told us that those charges would be credited to our older son's accountWe do contact you to get permission to sign up your other children, in fact, you asked us to cancel your daughter’s fee and begin the process with your youngest sonWe were more than willing to pay them for their services for our older son which we did, but not for our other childrenWe were way overchargedWe reached out to your family multiple times and had no response. There were times when you called in with an updated credit card. You also called in to cancel and then changed your mind and renewed. We work hard reaching out to families, especially if they were nonresponsive. When your wife emailed us in April of 2016, we immediately cancelled your youngest son’s services and you have not been charged since In May, you started asking for a refund. The office manager went over the times we reached out and attempted to contact. You received a copy of the contract stating that there was no refund on the membership fee but you could cancel the monthly fees at anytimeThe Midwest College Planning people have way over billed us collecting thousands of dollars for unused services, and now they say they won't reimburses us for the unless portionLet’s be accurate-you paid $in monthly fees for your daughter and $in monthly fees for your youngest son. The plan for your oldest son was suspended for non-paymentDon't use them unless you want to be over charged, month after monthIt is illegal to charge for service that are not used, I know this well as a chiropractor as some patient do pay ahead for services and they don't use them we have to reimburse them backBecause of this we are very unhappy and wished we would have never signed upThis borders on a scamAs you stated in the beginning we did do a good job working with your oldest son because it is a partnership. Your son was an active participant. When your daughter decided that a traditional college wouldn’t work, you asked us to help your youngest son. We work with families across the nation, we rely on email and phones. How are we to help if your family didn’t have the courtesy to return a phone call, letter or email?

The response is fine and you can close the case.  We could have avoided a lot of problems if this was the response early on.  Not every client is the same and Mark should listen to each one's specific needs. I look at Mark's business in 4 areas:    1 - FAFSA Paperwork and process       2 - Planning and reviewing to maximize Financial Aid opportunities and scholarship offers    3 - Helping determine how to pay for College - the amount "leftover" after Financial Aid and Scholarships      4 - Exit/RetirementI was very clear with Mark I only needed 1 and 2 and we had 3 and 4 handled.  In our first conversation I said I valued him to help with #2.  We did not need 3 and 4 assistance.  But Mark has a method and for whatever reason did not like my answers when he tried to sell me on #4 especially. This could have been avoided with better communication and clear expectations.    
Regards,
Tim Oswald

I am rejecting this response because:The response is inaccurate and has miss information.  Mark and his Company take no responsibility for the "toxic" relationship - maybe he is incapable of seeing he did anything wrong.