I called Prep Scholar and purchased a $2997 full package program and spoke with an 'Allysa'. I specifically asked her about the 160-point guarantee. "We require that your student take an official SAT before beginning our program, and then COMPLETE our online course prior to qualifying for the guarantee. Most of our students COMPLETE the program in 50 hours. The tutoring your child will receive is one-on-one, and is done along side the online work. If your child COMPLETES the program, all 49 skills, and uses all tutoring hours, but does improve by 160 points, we will refund $397 for the online portion, and you will receive an additional 20 hours of free tutoring." This is her pitch. But it fails to mention the definition of 'complete the course.' To be clear, the 'terms and conditions' that one MAY read before purchase do define it, but the program is implemented to disallow qualifying for the guarantee. Here's how.
I called Allysa again today and asked her to explain what constituted 'complete' the course. She said, "your child must achieve mastery level in all 49 skill areas." When I wondered if a student could do that, she said, "Oh don't worry MOST of our students achieve mastery of all skills in only 50 hours of online instruction." This statement is 100% untrue. I asked how many hours a struggling student might take to achieve mastery in ALL 49, worst case. She said "100" hours.
Our daughter spent 4 months, 110 hours online and 18.5 hours of tutoring to get a 90-point improvement, with 'mastery' in only 3 of 49 skills. Her tutor purposefully did 18.5 of the 20 hours with her so she could not 'qualify' for the guarantee, even if she had mastered all the skills.
The 'terms' also indicate that a skill may no longer be assigned if you have taken it too many times. In 110 hours, no skill was ever 'no longer assigned' to our daughter. So that statement is UNTRUE.
The terms are RIGGED so that your child will never qualify for the 'guarantee.'
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] I am disagree with PrepScholar that there is still a dispute open with card company.Credit card dispute was closed days ago on Sept and it was notified to PrepScholar on Sept 13.I have confirmation from card company which shows dispute was closed on Sept 13, 2016.Dispute with the card company was created on Sept 5, after waiting days since August 22, when PrepScholar said refund is due for processing as mentioned in PrepScholar’s previous response, but didn’t see any refund.PrepScholar asked to close the dispute to process refund on Sept and next day on Sept dispute was closed with card company and same day it was informed to PrepScholar so that they can refund my money One week after closing dispute on Sept 20, I received following messages from PrepScholar, Which confirms that PrepScholar was aware that dispute has been closed with card company.First Message On Sept 20:“Thanks so much for writing in to PrepScholar, and for canceling that disputeWe put your refund in for processing yesterday, so if you didn't re-open the dispute, you'll see the funds returned to your card by FridayIf you have any other questions, please do let me know.” Another Message From PrepScholar on Sept 20:“Thanks so much for your reply, and apologies for the delay in responseThe head of our payments team has been out of the office, and I just reached out to him to get confirmation that your refund has been put in for processing.” I called few times and sent messages (Sept 26, Sept 28, Oct 3, Oct 6) to PrepScholarBut didn’t get any response from PrepScholarFortunately on Oct , I was able to spoke with PrepScholar representative over the phone and she said refund would be processed in next few days and check back again on Wednesday (12th Oct) .I called PrepScholar on Thursday (Oct 13) and Friday (Oct14)Both days following message was coming over the phone: "I am sorry, the number you dialed cannot be reached from calling area."I had already spent a lot of time (more than days since I cancelled subscription) to get my money back and still waiting.Today after days of dispute being closed with card companyI am still waiting for my money ($399) to be refunded.It is really painful to go through all this and waiting so long for your money.Regards, [redacted]
] Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does satisfy my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] I understand that by choosing to accept the business response that my complaint will be closed as resolvedThough I did not appreciate having to jump through so many hoops to have the right result happen, I will say that both employees from customer service were always polite I just don't understand that when I provided the proof the cancellation email was sent prior to the deadline, that it got dragged out and I even had to go this route Thank you for reviewing and taking care of this matter Regards, [redacted] ***
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] [This business should be kicked out onlineDid not provide services as they saidIt addressed on their site for hours study their program will improve over pointMy kid, very top student, spent over hours and did not improve noneThey waste the kid's timeNow they did not refund money base on their own policyWe had to listen two other party in most caseI have been dealing with so many companies online for over decadeThis is the first time to deal such companyYou teach kid to learn thing and then you get paidHow can you explain that you teach the kids hours and hours study and no point improvedI purchased the service for use it in June 2017, but they did not provide the service until later JulyAnytime after July, the service is useless for me! ] Regards, [redacted] ***
Hi ***,Thank you for writing inOur support team has begun processing your refund as discussed in our standard support channelsWe will be processing the refund request once we receive the required reportsSorry for the confusion about the payee for the refund!Please let our support team know if there is anything else we can do!Best,PrepScholar
Hi ***, Thanks for writing to PrepScholarI’m sorry to hear that your score did not increase by the amount that you were hoping forUnfortunately, only skill of the we have available for the ACT was completed on this accountOur terms of service for the refund ( [redacted] ) state that every lesson assigned to you by PrepScholar must be completed to be eligible for the refundWe are unable to guarantee a 4-point increase when less than 2% of our course material is mastered Here is the relevant section from our terms of service: You finish our courseYou take and pass, as defined within the PrepScholar package, every lesson assigned to you by PrepScholarThis includes completing all practice tests assigned to youThis includes either achieving mastery on all lessons or taking a lesson sufficiently many times so it is no longer assigned to you We clearly state that achieving mastery or taking all of our lessons a sufficient number of times is required for refund eligibility in our terms of service Your account is still active with PrepScholar, and we will be happy to provide a refund if you do complete our course and still don’t see at least a point improvement Thanks again for writing to us and good luck with your ACT studying! Best, [redacted] Operations Manager, PrepScholar
Hi ***, Thanks for writing in to let us know you are dissatisfied with the refund processI took some time to review the timeline and sequence of events, and at this time it looks like you’ve initiated a dispute with your card issuer which blocks our ability to process a refundWe did process the original request to cancel the tutoring package you purchased for $on August 20thWe then received a second refund request to refund the remainder of your original purchase on August 22, and we emailed to let you know that it was due for processingUnfortunately, we noticed there was a dispute initiated on the charge when we attempted to process the second refund, which prevented the refund from being completedThe dispute was still active when we attempted to refund a second time, and at this point we are unable to process the refund through our standard process as the dispute is still openWe attempted to process the refund on several occasions, but due to the open dispute we were unable to complete the processWe processed the first refund within days of the request, but have been unable to complete the second portion due to the credit card dispute
Hi ***,Thanks for taking the time to write in to PrepScholarI know the recent results you received are disappointing and I am sorry to hear about this.Our point guarantee starts in once you finish the program before an administration of a test, which means mastering all the skillsWe can see that in your program that you have mastered skills, but there are a total of skills to master.I understand this is disappointing, and I’m sorry that we can’t currently grant you a refundOur guarantee requires that students follow our program and put in the time necessary to complete the program.Our program comes equipped with a progress tab that lays out all of these skills and your current performance on all of themAdditionally, at the end of every lesson you're told whether you're moving on to the more advanced material based on your test score.Unfortunately, since you've not mastered the program, we can't grant you a refund at this timeHowever, access to PrepScholar lasts for a full year, so there’s still plenty of time to master skills and continue improvingOnce the program is completed and you find out the score, if there isn’t a point improvement from the most recent test before PrepScholar, we’ll be happy to give a complete refund
The buyer [redacted] ** has received and used the product purchased without completing the requirements needed to qualify for our guaranteeThis buyer is therefore ineligible for a refund The PrepScholar Terms of Service ("https://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/terms") detail cases in which buyers may be eligible or ineligible for a refundAs explained therein, buyers are only eligible for full refunds if: 1) They are within days of purchase, or 2) They have used a single hour of tutoring and fewer than hours of the PrepScholar software A buyer is also eligible for a partial refund and free tutoring if they master all skills in the PrepScholar software, meet with their tutor for all hours initially purchased, and do not achieve a 160+ point increase in their SAT scores, as described in our Terms As the attached documents and explanation below show, the buyer [redacted] ** does not fit these requirements for eligibility On July 16, 2017, the buyer purchased the product "Full Tutor-Led Complete Prep," which comprises hours of expert tutoring and full access to PrepScholar's Complete Online PrepThe registered user for the account is [redacted] ***Due to a delay connecting the buyer with a tutor who had a compatible schedule, the buyer was also credited free hours of tutoring, as shown in the "Changes" section of the attached Record of Tutoring Services Delivered (" [redacted] *** ( [redacted] **) Record of Tutoring Services Delivered.pdf") To date, the buyer has scheduled and received of the hours of tutoring purchased initially purchasedThe attached Record of Tutoring Services Delivered (" [redacted] *** ( [redacted] **) Record of Tutoring Services Delivered.pdf") shows a record of each tutoring session as confirmed when scheduled with the buyerThis document also shows the current status of every scheduled and delivered hourCancellations were handled as described in our termsCertain sessions were followed by solicitations for feedback: Sessions with "Rating" of indicate the buyer reported the highest level of satisfaction with services provided The attached Software Usage Log (" [redacted] *** ( [redacted] **) Product Usage Log.pdf") shows that the buyer, [redacted] **, through the registered user [redacted] ***, received and used the PrepScholar Complete Online Prep software as purchasedThe buyer has used the product for more than days and over hours As the buyer has not completed all tutoring hours initially purchased and has not mastered all skills in the PrepScholar software (as shown in the Product Usage Log, the user has mastered of the skills), they are not eligible for any refund or free tutoring under our guarantee The buyer has been informed of and acknowledged our policies and is aware that they are not eligible for any refunds, as shown in the attached Acknowledgment of Services Received and Refund Policy (" [redacted] ** Acknowledgment of Services Received and Refund Policy.pdf")The buyer was also informed several times by their tutor, [redacted] , of the need to complete the software program, as shown in the attached Repeat Reminder of Correct Program Usage (" [redacted] ** Repeat Reminder of Correct Program Usage.pdf") Because the buyer, [redacted] **, has received and extensively used the product purchased without meeting the requirements for our Point Increase Guarantee, they are not qualified for a refund or credit of the amount disputedPrepScholar has fully delivered all products and services purchasedIn addition, the buyer has an open chargeback dispute that we are in the process of resolving with our financial institutionsWe therefore request that the complaint be dismissed
Hi,My name is [redacted] and I am the Operations Manager for PrepScholarWe received a complaint on February 1st, stating we did not send a refund in accordance with our terms of serviceAccording to the terms and service publically available on our website ( [redacted] ), we state that all refunds will be processed within days of the requestThe relevant section from our terms of service:“The submission must contain the email address of the account as well as a Payee name and a Payee addressIf you purchased a Complete package, the full sum you paid will be refunded to youThe credit Refund method will be via credit card or check at PrepScholar’s discretion within days PrepScholar receiving the request.”We received the initial materials related to the refund on January 15th, and mailed a refund check on February 4th, after verifying the supplied documentation.I would like to have this complaint removed as we did issue a refund in accordance with our terms of serviceAttached are screenshots of the email we received on January 15th and our follconfirming the refund on February 4th 2016.Please let me know if you require any further information to resolve this case.Best, [redacted]
I called Allysa again today and asked her to explain what constituted 'complete' the course. She said, "your child must achieve mastery level in all 49 skill areas." When I wondered if a student could do that, she said, "Oh don't worry MOST of our students achieve mastery of all skills in only 50 hours of online instruction." This statement is 100% untrue. I asked how many hours a struggling student might take to achieve mastery in ALL 49, worst case. She said "100" hours.
Our daughter spent 4 months, 110 hours online and 18.5 hours of tutoring to get a 90-point improvement, with 'mastery' in only 3 of 49 skills. Her tutor purposefully did 18.5 of the 20 hours with her so she could not 'qualify' for the guarantee, even if she had mastered all the skills.
The 'terms' also indicate that a skill may no longer be assigned if you have taken it too many times. In 110 hours, no skill was ever 'no longer assigned' to our daughter. So that statement is UNTRUE.
The terms are RIGGED so that your child will never qualify for the 'guarantee.'
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] I am disagree with PrepScholar that there is still a dispute open with card company.Credit card dispute was closed days ago on Sept and it was notified to PrepScholar on Sept 13.I have confirmation from card company which shows dispute was closed on Sept 13, 2016.Dispute with the card company was created on Sept 5, after waiting days since August 22, when PrepScholar said refund is due for processing as mentioned in PrepScholar’s previous response, but didn’t see any refund.PrepScholar asked to close the dispute to process refund on Sept and next day on Sept dispute was closed with card company and same day it was informed to PrepScholar so that they can refund my money One week after closing dispute on Sept 20, I received following messages from PrepScholar, Which confirms that PrepScholar was aware that dispute has been closed with card company.First Message On Sept 20:“Thanks so much for writing in to PrepScholar, and for canceling that disputeWe put your refund in for processing yesterday, so if you didn't re-open the dispute, you'll see the funds returned to your card by FridayIf you have any other questions, please do let me know.” Another Message From PrepScholar on Sept 20:“Thanks so much for your reply, and apologies for the delay in responseThe head of our payments team has been out of the office, and I just reached out to him to get confirmation that your refund has been put in for processing.” I called few times and sent messages (Sept 26, Sept 28, Oct 3, Oct 6) to PrepScholarBut didn’t get any response from PrepScholarFortunately on Oct , I was able to spoke with PrepScholar representative over the phone and she said refund would be processed in next few days and check back again on Wednesday (12th Oct) .I called PrepScholar on Thursday (Oct 13) and Friday (Oct14)Both days following message was coming over the phone: "I am sorry, the number you dialed cannot be reached from calling area."I had already spent a lot of time (more than days since I cancelled subscription) to get my money back and still waiting.Today after days of dispute being closed with card companyI am still waiting for my money ($399) to be refunded.It is really painful to go through all this and waiting so long for your money.Regards, [redacted]
] Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does satisfy my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] I understand that by choosing to accept the business response that my complaint will be closed as resolvedThough I did not appreciate having to jump through so many hoops to have the right result happen, I will say that both employees from customer service were always polite I just don't understand that when I provided the proof the cancellation email was sent prior to the deadline, that it got dragged out and I even had to go this route Thank you for reviewing and taking care of this matter Regards, [redacted] ***
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] [This business should be kicked out onlineDid not provide services as they saidIt addressed on their site for hours study their program will improve over pointMy kid, very top student, spent over hours and did not improve noneThey waste the kid's timeNow they did not refund money base on their own policyWe had to listen two other party in most caseI have been dealing with so many companies online for over decadeThis is the first time to deal such companyYou teach kid to learn thing and then you get paidHow can you explain that you teach the kids hours and hours study and no point improvedI purchased the service for use it in June 2017, but they did not provide the service until later JulyAnytime after July, the service is useless for me! ] Regards, [redacted] ***
Hi ***,Thank you for writing inOur support team has begun processing your refund as discussed in our standard support channelsWe will be processing the refund request once we receive the required reportsSorry for the confusion about the payee for the refund!Please let our support team know if there is anything else we can do!Best,PrepScholar
Hi ***, Thanks for writing to PrepScholarI’m sorry to hear that your score did not increase by the amount that you were hoping forUnfortunately, only skill of the we have available for the ACT was completed on this accountOur terms of service for the refund ( [redacted] ) state that every lesson assigned to you by PrepScholar must be completed to be eligible for the refundWe are unable to guarantee a 4-point increase when less than 2% of our course material is mastered Here is the relevant section from our terms of service: You finish our courseYou take and pass, as defined within the PrepScholar package, every lesson assigned to you by PrepScholarThis includes completing all practice tests assigned to youThis includes either achieving mastery on all lessons or taking a lesson sufficiently many times so it is no longer assigned to you We clearly state that achieving mastery or taking all of our lessons a sufficient number of times is required for refund eligibility in our terms of service Your account is still active with PrepScholar, and we will be happy to provide a refund if you do complete our course and still don’t see at least a point improvement Thanks again for writing to us and good luck with your ACT studying! Best, [redacted] Operations Manager, PrepScholar
Hi ***, Thanks for writing in to let us know you are dissatisfied with the refund processI took some time to review the timeline and sequence of events, and at this time it looks like you’ve initiated a dispute with your card issuer which blocks our ability to process a refundWe did process the original request to cancel the tutoring package you purchased for $on August 20thWe then received a second refund request to refund the remainder of your original purchase on August 22, and we emailed to let you know that it was due for processingUnfortunately, we noticed there was a dispute initiated on the charge when we attempted to process the second refund, which prevented the refund from being completedThe dispute was still active when we attempted to refund a second time, and at this point we are unable to process the refund through our standard process as the dispute is still openWe attempted to process the refund on several occasions, but due to the open dispute we were unable to complete the processWe processed the first refund within days of the request, but have been unable to complete the second portion due to the credit card dispute
Hi ***,Thanks for taking the time to write in to PrepScholarI know the recent results you received are disappointing and I am sorry to hear about this.Our point guarantee starts in once you finish the program before an administration of a test, which means mastering all the skillsWe can see that in your program that you have mastered skills, but there are a total of skills to master.I understand this is disappointing, and I’m sorry that we can’t currently grant you a refundOur guarantee requires that students follow our program and put in the time necessary to complete the program.Our program comes equipped with a progress tab that lays out all of these skills and your current performance on all of themAdditionally, at the end of every lesson you're told whether you're moving on to the more advanced material based on your test score.Unfortunately, since you've not mastered the program, we can't grant you a refund at this timeHowever, access to PrepScholar lasts for a full year, so there’s still plenty of time to master skills and continue improvingOnce the program is completed and you find out the score, if there isn’t a point improvement from the most recent test before PrepScholar, we’ll be happy to give a complete refund
The buyer [redacted] ** has received and used the product purchased without completing the requirements needed to qualify for our guaranteeThis buyer is therefore ineligible for a refund The PrepScholar Terms of Service ("https://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/terms") detail cases in which buyers may be eligible or ineligible for a refundAs explained therein, buyers are only eligible for full refunds if: 1) They are within days of purchase, or 2) They have used a single hour of tutoring and fewer than hours of the PrepScholar software A buyer is also eligible for a partial refund and free tutoring if they master all skills in the PrepScholar software, meet with their tutor for all hours initially purchased, and do not achieve a 160+ point increase in their SAT scores, as described in our Terms As the attached documents and explanation below show, the buyer [redacted] ** does not fit these requirements for eligibility On July 16, 2017, the buyer purchased the product "Full Tutor-Led Complete Prep," which comprises hours of expert tutoring and full access to PrepScholar's Complete Online PrepThe registered user for the account is [redacted] ***Due to a delay connecting the buyer with a tutor who had a compatible schedule, the buyer was also credited free hours of tutoring, as shown in the "Changes" section of the attached Record of Tutoring Services Delivered (" [redacted] *** ( [redacted] **) Record of Tutoring Services Delivered.pdf") To date, the buyer has scheduled and received of the hours of tutoring purchased initially purchasedThe attached Record of Tutoring Services Delivered (" [redacted] *** ( [redacted] **) Record of Tutoring Services Delivered.pdf") shows a record of each tutoring session as confirmed when scheduled with the buyerThis document also shows the current status of every scheduled and delivered hourCancellations were handled as described in our termsCertain sessions were followed by solicitations for feedback: Sessions with "Rating" of indicate the buyer reported the highest level of satisfaction with services provided The attached Software Usage Log (" [redacted] *** ( [redacted] **) Product Usage Log.pdf") shows that the buyer, [redacted] **, through the registered user [redacted] ***, received and used the PrepScholar Complete Online Prep software as purchasedThe buyer has used the product for more than days and over hours As the buyer has not completed all tutoring hours initially purchased and has not mastered all skills in the PrepScholar software (as shown in the Product Usage Log, the user has mastered of the skills), they are not eligible for any refund or free tutoring under our guarantee The buyer has been informed of and acknowledged our policies and is aware that they are not eligible for any refunds, as shown in the attached Acknowledgment of Services Received and Refund Policy (" [redacted] ** Acknowledgment of Services Received and Refund Policy.pdf")The buyer was also informed several times by their tutor, [redacted] , of the need to complete the software program, as shown in the attached Repeat Reminder of Correct Program Usage (" [redacted] ** Repeat Reminder of Correct Program Usage.pdf") Because the buyer, [redacted] **, has received and extensively used the product purchased without meeting the requirements for our Point Increase Guarantee, they are not qualified for a refund or credit of the amount disputedPrepScholar has fully delivered all products and services purchasedIn addition, the buyer has an open chargeback dispute that we are in the process of resolving with our financial institutionsWe therefore request that the complaint be dismissed
Hi,My name is [redacted] and I am the Operations Manager for PrepScholarWe received a complaint on February 1st, stating we did not send a refund in accordance with our terms of serviceAccording to the terms and service publically available on our website ( [redacted] ), we state that all refunds will be processed within days of the requestThe relevant section from our terms of service:“The submission must contain the email address of the account as well as a Payee name and a Payee addressIf you purchased a Complete package, the full sum you paid will be refunded to youThe credit Refund method will be via credit card or check at PrepScholar’s discretion within days PrepScholar receiving the request.”We received the initial materials related to the refund on January 15th, and mailed a refund check on February 4th, after verifying the supplied documentation.I would like to have this complaint removed as we did issue a refund in accordance with our terms of serviceAttached are screenshots of the email we received on January 15th and our follconfirming the refund on February 4th 2016.Please let me know if you require any further information to resolve this case.Best, [redacted]