PPI

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/02/05) */
Customer requested digital version of two books published by PPI that he purchased on Amazon.comHe communicated the need was due to a visual impairmentPPI communicated that our Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual for the PE
Exam, is available to the public as an E-Book (ePub) on our e-commerce site, however the Practice Problems for the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam book is only available in a print formatOut of consideration, PPI provided customer with no-charge access to the (1) digital book and also provided 90-day access to another online product which includes Mechanical PE practice problems
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/02/06) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Good morning Sonja,
I appreciate the efforts you have made in an effort to help me but these remain below my expectations
The MERM chapters are somewhat adequate however the tables are illegiblePractically all the Support Material part is illegible; even on a 55" screen with Adobe Digital set on the ULTRA-LARGE font setting
I tried the Exam Cafe and found it to be significantly substandard in relative difficulty compared to that of the Practice Problem book I purchasedMy intention was to execute quantitative problems and this media fails to provide that
I understand that your company is concerned with Copyright infringement however it is clear that your firm possesses electronic versions of all your texts in one digital file format or anotherMoving forward I will need copies of the two books I purchased in a format which can be converted to either a PDF file or a Kerzweil fileI regret that your firm's response has forced me to file a complaint with the Revdex.com - I am hoping I will not have to formulate a complaint with the Federal Government's American Disabilities' Act (ADA) comitee
Please provide me with books in a media form I can use
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/02/18) */
Dear ***,
We provided the electronic book of the Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual to you and access to the online database for the Mechanical PE examPer the Editor in Chief and President of PPI, we are not authorized to provide you with an electronic version of any practice problem or practice exam books published by PPII might recommend that you contact the NCEES, the organization that administers the exam and ask for their support in your studies
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2015/02/21) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
There is 20% of electronic MERM book you provided which is illegible - fonts are diminutive even on the ULTRA-LARGE settingFurthermore I cannot put this format in a disability software that reads to me
The exam-cafe contains problems which are overly easy-these have nothing to do with your book that I purchased to get a real preparation
NCEES has nothing to do with this problemI spent nearly 400$ buying books you publish and the American Disability act of compels you to provide these exact books to me in a format which can be handled by special software that allows me to overcome my visual disabilityI am truly disapointed that you would allow me to come short in my PE exam preparation given that your reason for existence is exclusively geared towards PE exam success
Everyone knows you possess the electronic files I need to succeed however you choose to protect your copyright at the expense of my success - in my opinion that is unethicalI am not going to fade away here

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/03/13) */
Customer placed order on 2/using PPI ecommerce storeHe contacted PPI via email on 2/saying there had been an error during checkout and his confirmation showed the wrong productsThe Customer's order was already packed and
on-route by the time he emailed on 2/PPI replied to Customers email on 2/confirming what he ordered and recommending he initiate a Return Authorization Request to return the item he ordered but did not wantOn 2/PPI sent a Return Authorization to the CustomerThe Customer insisted that PPI pay for the return shipping cost stating there had been a product page errorPPI could not confirm there had been any error and per PPI's return policy, the Customer was emailed on 2/letting him know that he was responsible for return shipping costOn 3/Customer sent another email saying he had received the original order and was still waiting for the PPI prepaid shipping labelThe Customers special request was brought to Sales Support Manager's attention and a prepaid return label was approvedPPI emailed the prepaid shipping return label to customer on 3/at 4:28pm PTAs of 3/13/Customer has not used the prepaid label provided or returned the original order
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/03/17) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
PPI has not accepted responsibility for their error and their website still produced the same errorI have contacted an attorney and was advised not to use the label provided and to maintain possession of the materials until a settlement can be reached with PPI

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/26) */
8/12/Customer sent the following email to ***@***.com
Dear Ma'am/Sir,
I recently purchased this publication through Amazon.comThe review book makes numerous references about information that is in the LARE Reference
Manual that is notThe current LARE Reference Manual does not list buffer or setback requirements P 17, there are no specific requirements given P37, POn page it summarizes information from the LARE Reference Manual from It is now is this information still valid?
8/13/PPI Sales Support responded with
Hello ***,
LACR was published several years ago, and it is even acknowledged on the product page for the book (http://***.com/***) that Section C of the LARE had transitioned to Section in December A cross-reference chart comparing the old sections (A-E) to the new sections (1-4) can be viewed @ http://***.com/***It's very possible that the LARE Reference Manual (not published/distributed by PPI) has been updated since, but LACR and its information can still be considered a valuable resource
PPI website currently describes the book as follows:
LARE Review, Mastering Section C: Site Design (LACR)
Section of the LARE assesses your skills in evaluating and designing graphical site solutionsLARE Review, Mastering Section C: Site Design shows you how to approach site planning and design through three basic tasks: analyzing the site and requirements; understanding the relationships between the land and the land's uses; and creating optimal plans and design solutions
Comprehensive Review for the LARE Section
vignette practice problems with detailed solutions
A thorough review of important vehicular, pedestrian, and parking circulation topics
An easy-to-use appendix of LARE specifications
LARE Transition Information
Section C of the LARE transitioned to Section in December The problems in this book correspond to Section topicsClick here for an old exam section (A-E) to new exam section (1-4) cross-reference chart
*** purchased her material on Amazon.comBased on our research we discovered that Amazon product copy was not updated when the test changedWe have now provided the trade industry with updated product copy that matches the information we provide on our website
PPI material is authored and edited to help students prepare for the examOur review manuals, practice problems, and sample exams are all based on the exam specifications and do not include any actual exam questionsWe do not solicit exam details from candidates and we do not make claims of an association or endorsement by CLARB
PPI works hard to stay current with exams, but we are not always able to publish new editions when exams or other supporting material changeExam candidates should always educate themselves on exam specification and put together their study plan accordinglyOur landscape architecture books may no longer be comprehensive in their coverage, but that does not reduce their value as a study resource
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/08/28) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Before purchasing the book on Amazon I verified that the ISBN numbers were the same as the book advertised on PPI's website; and they matched exactlyAmazon even advertised it as the new edition
The fact still remains the references made to the LARE reference are invalid and will only confuse individuals using this information when doing other practice vignettesI know because it happened to me when I did the new vignette from the ASLA web site
Practice vignettes with correct and up-to-date information are helpful, but the information they are selling is not up-to-date

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/03/26) */
2/27/14 Customer placed original order for product. Prior to check out on [redacted] all customers must check a box indicating that they "agree to PPI's terms, conditions, and return policies" with links to the details of those...

policies. The customer selected that box and completed the transaction.
3/1/14 PPI received email from customer requesting a refund because they didn't like the course setup.
PPI informed the customer of the cancellation fee per our terms and conditions which they had acknowledged. Customer became very upset. The issue was brought to PPI Customer Service Supervisor who approved a reduction in the cancellation fee from $200 to $ 150.
3/3/14 PPI informed customer of reduction in fee and requested that the customer confirm their acceptance of the reduce fee by 3/4/14 at noon for processing.
3/3/14 Customer responded that they did want to cancel but wanted a full refund. They said they didn't read ("didn't see") the terms and condition.
3/4/14 PPI Customer Service responded with a link to the terms and conditions and stated that unless they say they want to keep the PZ, we will proceed with the cancellation less the $150 fee.
3/12/14 No response from customer. PPI cancelled enrollment and issued a refund to customer in amount paid less the $150 cancellation fee. Credit Memo XXXXXX.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/03/27) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
It looks like PPI missed some of my response.
3/3/14 I told them that I DO want to cancel and a full refund because their refund policy is ridiculous. the refund info is splitted in two places, Return Policy and terms-and-conditions. And this information is really hard to find. The website was designed to confuse people so they can't get warned before purchasing their product and service. After getting complained, they did not make any changes. As another customer said, PPI made this a trap on purpose.
My original email is attached below.
From: [redacted] mailto:[redacted]
Sent: Monday, March 03, XXXX X:XX PM
To: [redacted]
Subject: Re: request cancel passing zone
hi [redacted]
Thanks for the response. I do want to cancel. And also I think a full refund is reasonable because the service has not started yet and this is a virtual merchandise, so you are not losing anything other than my reservation.
I don't see anything regarding the $200 penalty during putting my order. As of now, I still can't find anything from your website. You didn't provide any obvious information before we made the final decision. So I don't think it's fair for me not to get a full refund. Especially this request is made before the service starts.
I saw the complaint on Revdex.com and hope we don't have to go that far. Looking forward to your response.
Thanks.
Regards
[redacted]
3/4/14 Right after I got response frm PPI, I responded that I insist a full refund. Since then, I didn't get any response from PPI until 3/6/14, a confirmation of $150 refund instead of the full amount $300. Since there is no reason to keep arguing with them, I filed complaint on 3/11/14.
PPI has got complaints earlier for their service and product. But they did not make any changes and kept selling their PassingZone product with false advertisement statement and setting up ridiculous refund fee $200 of the original price $300. So, obviously, this business did not want to make money by selling great product but by trapping incautious customers.
I still insist full refund and PPI should be warned and must make changes to their business practice.