Pearson Education

Review: This company routinely publishes new editions to textbooks. For the sole purpose if charging more money while providing no additional material. In this case the company published the 8th edition to "starting out with C++". The company has charged much more than the 7th edition, but has not made the accompanying material available to be a complete text. The book makes many references to material available on the companion website, but the company has informed me after several months of complaints that they do not know when they will release this material. There is no difference between the 7th and 8th edition, but the company charges more for the 8th, and provides less material. Students are forced to acquire the new edition and are not provided with the necessary material for the course.Desired Settlement: Please refund the price of the 8th edition, and make the accompanying material (which you already have from the 7th edition ) available to students.

Business

Response:

We have processed a refund to this customer. Thank you

Review: I am taking a course online through my local college and after the completion of my course, would complete my requirements needed for graduation. I was able to access my course with Pearson (MathXL) for three days, then was locked out somehow the next time I logged in. After a week straight of listening to customer service tell me to "clear my internet history" or "clear my cookies" and telling the same story over and over, I was finally told that it was an issue on their end and they were "actively" working to fix the issue. It is now just days short of one month passing and I haven't been able to access my course. I have missed my graduation date AND a huge career opportunity because I missed my graduation date.

Their lack of concern and the length of time that has passed is completely unacceptable. I paid my college for the course, I haven't been able to access it, and have spent many HOURS trying to resolve this issue by either being on the phone with Customer Service or sending e-mails that get a general "we're working on it" response.

I am disappointed in Pearson for not having this fixed and would recommend to ANY college student that they not take an online course with Pearson.

I don't know any business that leaves issues with customers unfixed for a month. Poor business practices and this needs to be addressed within the organization.Desired Settlement: I want to be able to access my course. I want tech support to actually fix my issue in a timely manner.

Business

Response:

Pearson's Solutions team is working on this issue. They state that this issue was caused by school doing a Blackboard "update" (they use the old "Chalk" system for these courses) which broke the connection to XL - their folks are working with Blackboard and XL is seeing if there is anyway to "fix" on our side but although a patch is being planned - not confirmed this will fix the issue. This issue is really with the school and Blackboard but we will reach out to the Rep for that school and see if there is anything they can do.

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:it should not matter where the issue is. I need a solution as I have already paid the money for my course and haven't been able to access. If you cannot get the patch to work which I've heard from no one if it has or hasn't worked, then would starting the course over help? Blackboard updates all the time and I've never had this issue with your site in the past or other education sites. I need a solution.

Regards,

Business

Response:

On January 16, 2015, our customer service reached out to this student to inform her that the issue was fixed. She responded that she had access to the course but all the work she had done has been erased. We responded asking her to check with her instructor to see if he had her previous grades in their Blackboard system. She did not reply. On 1/28/15, customer service replied to this customer with the grades we found and sent her an attachment with that information. We have not received any reply and closed the incident.

Review: I have the book, Prelude to Programming, [redacted]. It comes with access to a companion website. At that site it has Powerpoints by chapter. If you click on chapter 4, it gives you chapter 11. If you try, through the site, to contact them, it is a hopeless morass of selecting programs none of which match what I have and colleges that do not match my college so I am completely unable to contact them about the issue.Desired Settlement: First, their contact form should be simple. It should accept the account id and order id for access. I assume those are unique and would do away with the multiple. useless screens needed to contact them about an issue. Second, they need to go through the Powerpoints for Prelude to Programming ([redacted]) and make sure they match the correct chapters. If they can't do that, I want my purchase price back in full.

Business

Response:

Our editorial team will be reviewing this issue and fix any issues. Thank you for raising this issue

Consumer

Response:

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

Will they also be making it easier to contact them without utilizing the Revdex.com?

Regards,

Review: The Pearson system claims to provide 24/7 online support. After two hours of waiting on two separate occasion I believe this claim to be false advertising. The service I paid for is not accessible.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund for my book and any fees incurred from not being able to complete my course work.

Business

Response:

Pearson's customer service dept has advised that Ms. [redacted] purchased the incorrect product from Amazon. As a courtesy for Ms. [redacted]'s difficulty in contacting the 24/7 online support, we have provided her with the correct access code for her course.

We are also investigating the issue of long wait times for customer service.

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.

Review: I purchased one of this company's textbooks through [redacted]. It was purchased brand new with the access code. I have always done this through this company with no problem. This time, however, the code that came with the book did not work. I contacted the company ([redacted]) to inquire why. Apparently the code had to have been purchased through my school. I was NEVER told this NOR has this been the case in the past. I requested a new code to be used, but I was told it was outside of their policy. They suggested I return the book . I CANNOT return the book because it is out of the shrink wrap and the code has been scratched (although unused). I find it HARD to believe this company cannot simply give me a new code. The customer service I have experienced was horrible. If I had another choice, I would not order any products through them again!Desired Settlement: I just want a new access code so I can finish my course! I already paid $100+!!! It is through [redacted]s for [redacted]. The course is called [redacted] The textbook is[redacted]: informed decisions using data 4th edition. The course number is [redacted].

Business

Response:

A replacement code was sent to the student this morning with a suggestion that he make future purchases from MyPearsonStore or his school's bookstore to avoid further issues.

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.

Regards,

Review: I purchased a textbook that came with an online access code. once logged into website and after entering access code I was informed that the access code goes to a different textbook than the one I purchased. I was told there was nothing they could do and that I would need to repurchase the item to get a new code.Desired Settlement: I had to repurchase so that I could do my homework for my college class. I want a refund of $66.00 for the access code that I had to repurchase.

Business

Response:

The student purchased her textbook package with the access code from [redacted]. She purchased the 11th edition but the instructor's course is using the 9th edition. Our policy is to refer the student back to [redacted] to return the product and advise them to purchase the correct code online or at their campus bookstore.

Review: I bought a textbook that was packaged with an online component and it's access code. I attempted to register for the online component but had to stop midway through due to restrictions on my Tablet. When I went to try and complete the registration the website said my access code was invalid. I called Pearson's customer service, which DOES NOT have a toll-free number. I spent over an hour and a half on the phone trying to explain my situation to them. They offered no help other than telling me to go to the campus bookstore where I purchased the book. I know the bookstore will tell me to contact customer service. They eventually told me they would call me back after talking with their supervisor. They called me back saying I would be transferred the supervisor, I was put on hold with an automated message saying "Please wait for the next available agent". I was on hold like that for ~20 minutes, at which point my phone battery died. I have paid for online content I cannot access and need for my final grade. I am not wiling to pay twice! which is what they want me to do. I have spent far too much time attempting to deal with this through their customer service. They must think it's acceptable to keep people on hold and bouncing around between customer service reps in order to frustrate them into pay a second time

The Incident # is [redacted]Desired Settlement: I would like to get access to the online content I have paid for and need for my course

Business

Response:

This student did contact us several times and yesterday evening we provided him with a replacement access code. We checked the new code we gave him and he was able to successfully register and enroll in his course. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused this student.

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.

Regards,

Review: I am a student at [redacted] State University in [redacted] Voc rehab paid for school plus books including MyMathlab for one of my classes. The student access code does not work. Even after getting a new one it still does not work. I have been on tech support all day and night and have been disconnected 3 times with no results. They have not given me a reason why I cannot connect. I must be able to access my homework ASAP I cannot drop this class due to technical reasons.Desired Settlement: I will seek legal counsel if this matter is not resolve in 24 hrs. I get paid by VA/Army to attend school and must be a full time student. I cannot afford to drop this class because their website does not work. Also I do not need additional stress going to school. I am contacting the school, professors and my VA counselor about this matter tomorrow. I WILL SUE if Pearson cannot fix this, and I have to drop the course.

Business

Response:

Customer Service was able to get him registered into the course with his existing Pearson account. They will be emailing him to let him knowand sent his login credentials just in case. We will forward that to our Quality Assurance team to work with the agents.

Review: Company can't resolve issue to even make a purchase through their own website. My grades, my gpa, college transcript and financial aid is in jeopardy.

I have called technical support multiple times and received multiple escalations to "tier 2" technicians. None of whom have managed to give me a way of purchasing my required etext.

There is literally no prompt to for access!

This comes after a weekend of trying to gain access to the portal itself, which took days to resolve through both a professor at my college and customer service.

Because my course relies on the portal and etext Pearson is supposed to provide to students - my grade for my course is in jeopardy. This means my gpa, my college transcript and my career might be affected by a company not being able to figure out it's own technical website issues.

Since my financial aid is dependent on my receiving a grade in this course but I couldn't access the portal and now can't even access the etext I will be held liable for repaying those funds.

At this point, because this company can't get it together enough to even let me make a purchase my career opportunities and entire life after this could be affected. Then there is the issue of repaying the government for the financial aid I received to attend this school this semester.

At any point my professor has the right to say "well, tough luck and try to take this course again next semester."

So even in the best situation I am looking at repeating a course, being behind an entire semester and having to pay back maybe my entire financial aid package for the semester.

This is ridiculous.Desired Settlement: Depending on whether I can catch up and the leniency of my professor I might be able to stay in the course.

However, this is unlikely and I reserve the right go to court for every cent of the financial aid package that is requested back by the Federal and New York State government.

I will also ask for damages for this affecting my life in irreparable ways such as the negative impacts on my college transcript.

Nevermind, being reimbursed for submitting the proper court paperwork and retaining representation.

At any point they could have given me some sort of temporary access while trying to fix the issue on their side but this has never been offered.

Also, if I even I get a call back for submitting this to the Revdex.com they can't give me back the week I lost in study time.

Business

Response:

The student never replied to an email from customer service and after 3 reminders via email that we were waiting for a response, it auto closes since we did not get a response from the customer.

Review: On May 5, 2015 I registered for the [redacted] Assessments for Educators Test 003 Assessment of Professional Knowledge: Adolescence to Young Adult (7-12). When I purchased the assessment it gave me an option to purchase a practice exam for $29.95 which I did. When I went to look at the assessment, it was a duplicate practice assessment for the OAE Mathematics exam instead of a practice exam for the assessment I am preparing for (I have already purchased the mathematics practice exam AND passed the assessment). I contacted Pearson immediately asking for the tests to be switched or for a refund, and they responded on May 7th that all purchases are final. I wrote back on May 7th to explain in more detail that this was an error on the Pearson website and that I had no intention or motive to purchase a practice exam for a test I'd already completed (and made clear that I don't want a refund, only to have access to the practice exam that I purchased). Pearson responded on May 11th intimating that I intended to purchase a practice exam for the Mathematics exam that I've already passed: "We are unable to honor your request. All purchases are final and cannot be exchanged or refunded. Practice tests can be submitted for scoring once, and candidates may wish to purchase additional access to a test; therefore the option to purchase a practice test more than once is available." I'm embarrassed to have to ask for resolution from the Revdex.com but it seems that Pearson will not take responsibility for their error and are putting my test preparation in jeopardy. I would really like to have preparation materials, but I won't buy them again for fear of being charged another $29.95 with no recourse if they deliver the wrong test.Desired Settlement: I would simply like access to the practice exam for the [redacted] Assessments for Educators Test 003 Assessment of Professional Knowledge: Adolescence to Young Adult (7-12) that I intended to purchase through the Pearson website. I know Pearson values educators and I simply want to properly prepare for the exam that I am taking at the end of this month. I have no use for the Mathematics practice exam and I hope that somebody at Pearson will read my third attempt to communicate and acknowledge that this is a Pearson error and rectify it. I have no use for the duplicate practice exam that they delivered to me in error, and I really would like to prepare properly for this test as I intended (albeit now two weeks later).

Business

Response:

Pearson VUE is a computer-based test delivery provider forinformation technology certification and professional licensure exams. Person VUE operates over 5,000 AuthorizedTest Centers. We value your input and have investigated the informationyou provided. Pearson VUE and Evaluation Systems recognizes that candidatecomments contribute to our pursuit of increasing overall quality. We havereviewed the registration system and have confirmed that there were no errorswith the system at the time of purchase. In a gesture of good faith, we have reached out to the candidate and haveextended a voucher to purchase the desired practice exam.Pearson VUE therefore considers this matter resolved andrespectfully requests that you close this complaint with notation of timelyresponse and proper handling of the underlying incident.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that the resolution is satisfactory to me. I disagree with the characterization of the error as my fault as this is an implausible explanation of events, but by providing the correct product Pearson met my ideal resolution.