Real Estate Trainers Inc

In response to Mr. [redacted]'s complaint of Real Estate Trainers:Real Estate Trainers conducts a weekend exam review course in preparation for the student's state exam. The exam review course schedule is 8:30am - 5:00pm both Saturday and Sunday. Our guarantee policy requires the student to attend the...

full course the weekend prior to the state exam, not arriving late nor leaving early. If the student is unable to attend the full course, the student is in violation of the guarantee and is not allowed to repeat the exam review course.Because the exam review course is so content rich, from time to time the Instructor needs to make adjustments to the start or end times. The weekend in question the Instructor adjusted the Sunday start time from 8:30am to 8:00am; notifying the students during the Saturday session numerous times. Out of 78 in-class students, and 17 online students Mr. [redacted] was the only one who had an issue with this adjustment. While Mr' [redacted] attended the full session, he failed to take his state exam the following week thus voiding his guarantee.Mr. [redacted] was in contact with Real Estate Trainers staff several times the week he was to take his state exam complaining of the early start time, and how he was distraught. I made the decision to go around company policy and allow Mr. [redacted] to attend the very next weekend with a word of caution that the class could start early that Sunday.The following week Mr. [redacted] logged in to the online webinar at 12:08pm Saturday afternoon, a full three and a half hours late. Mr. [redacted] is in violation of our policy, and will not be allowed back. [redacted]President Real Estate Trainers

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Good afternoon, I was told to email you regarding my complaint.  The following is my rebuttal to the last message from the named business. Real Estate Trainers is arbitrarily trying to enforce a policy that was not disclosed to me at the time of purchase.  I have attached the original email referencing the correspondence from Mr. [redacted].  As you can see, there is absolutely no reference of Mr. [redacted] claim that enrollment forms, course materials (correspondence and online), maps and instructions all say "one year enrollment".   In addition, Mr. [redacted] did not state this policy to me in any fashion.  This is a valid complaint as there was never a "one year enrollment" policy communicated to me.  For this reason,  I am requesting access to the online course to complete my renewal or a refund for the amount paid.  Real Estate Trainers collected a fee from me and did not deliver the course for which I paid. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Real Estate Trainers has been a staple in California real estate education for 43 years. We strive to provide excellent customer service to those who comply with the requirements laid down by the licensing authority (in this case, The CalBRE). The California Bureau of Real Estate mandates all...

courses have a one year enrollment. All of our Counselors are instructed to inform students at the time of enrollment to be sure to complete the courses within the year. Our enrollment forms, course materials (correspondence and online), maps and instructions all say "one year enrollment". [redacted] always stated to students in just this type of situation to complete the courses within the first year, print out their certificates of completion and submit those certificates within 90 days of license renewal. I understand the complaint, but this student did not abide by the enrollment agreement.   [redacted]PresidentReal Estate Trainers

Review: To begin with, this "crash course" offered is completely worthless. It is not a class. My wife spent 2 days taking pictures of a slideshow. No questions were allowed. As part of RET's guarantee, my wife can continue to take the class if she does not pass her licensing test. She did not pass her test and the school claims we voided the guarantee because "my wife did not sign in or out either day of the course". This is an out and out lie. She signed in and out, both days, a total of 4 times. This policy was made clear to us at purchase and my wife was careful to do so to keep our guarantee. On top of this voiding of their guarantee, the woman we spoke with was insulting and rude. She smirked and laughed at my wife and refused to speak with me about the issue, even though I was the one who purchased the class. She refused to provide a copy of the sign in sheet she claims is missing my wife's signature.

It is clear this is a "take the money and run" business model. They are flat our lying that my wife did not sign in/out in order to escape any further responsibility of instruction.Desired Settlement: I expect a full refund for the "class". The service offered was completely inadequate and this company's employees and behavior stink of a scam.

Review: I signed up for an MLO (Mortgage Loan Originator) crash course to prepare for an Exam. Real Estate Trainers advertised this course as a crash course with "Techniques" and a guarantee pass rate on how to prepare for the National and State exam. They charged $169 for an 8 hour class along with an MLO refresher book. I signed up and attended July 1st 2015. The class consisted of about 20 students and 1 instructor. After sitting through the class for about 2 hours, the instructor gloss through the actual material in the book and went straight to the questions in the book. He (instructor) would read the question and the class would blur out the answers. I could have done this from home with the material I already had. This class was a huge disappointment and I couldn't sit through more so I left. I tried contacting them 3 times with no return calls, emailed them 2 times and finally received a call back. I explained my experience with the class they offered and advertised along with a request for a refund. The representative on the phone tells me that there's a registration fee of $100 plus a $25 service fee and charging me $5 per hours I sat through the class, so my refund would be $17 out the $169 I originally paid. WOW!!! What a refund policy (Joke). Stay away from this Real Estate & MLO school. It's a real S C A M. You can get the same information online and have your 5 year old read you the questions while you shout out the answers in the comfort of your own home. BUYER BEWAREDesired Settlement: A full refund.

Review: I purchased an online continuing education course from Real Estate Trainers on December 30, 2011 from [redacted]. Prior to the purchase, I explained to [redacted] that my real estate broker license was not up for renewal until 2015 and if the online continuing education course he is selling me would be good until 2015. He assured me it would be and I proceeded with the purchase. [redacted] emailed me the online instructions to take the course and I filed it away until 2015. Last month, I tried to access the online continuing education course that Real Estate Trainers sold to me but could not. I contacted their office and spoke with the office manager [redacted]. [redacted] informed me that the course was expired and I would have to repurchase the course even though I explained to her that it [redacted] told me otherwise. I reviewed the email and their is no expiration policy noted on the email. I asked to speak to [redacted] and she informed me that he no longer works for the company. [redacted] was very rude in her tone with me and did absolutely nothing to help remedy the issue. I asked to speak to the vice president [redacted], I was told that he informed [redacted] to take all calls because he is too busy to call a customer back. I only wanted to get what I paid for. The course was paid for and never used. I feel like this company has taken my money and did not deliver the course I paid for. This has to be the worst customer experience I have been through.Desired Settlement: I would like to complete the online continuing education course that I paid for.

Business

Response:

Real Estate Trainers has been a staple in California real estate education for 43 years. We strive to provide excellent customer service to those who comply with the requirements laid down by the licensing authority (in this case, The CalBRE). The California Bureau of Real Estate mandates all courses have a one year enrollment.

Review: On February 21st of 2014 I purchased the real estate sales person live classes package for a total of $399.00 + $12.00 ground shipping. I bought this as a gift for my husband but unfortunately his mother fell ill and had to leave out of state to care for her. The classes I purchased was for their West Los Angeles location but because of a job promotion I moved to Burbank, CA. I called Real Estate Trainers several times to try to get a refund just a week after purchasing but they refused to give me a refund for the classes and did not give me any kind of option to redeem the value which I had paid for. I could not transfer the classes to Burbank, CA, I could not get a refund (not even pro-rated refund), and I could not transfer the classes to anyones name. I basically paid over $400 for classes which no one can redeem if my husband does not take the classes. I have taken classes with them in the past and hold a valid CA real estate license and I was extremely disappointed to find out that I could not get a refund only 1 week after having purchased the classes. I have given a large amount of money to Real Estate Trainers which they practically stole because now they are claiming the amount of money I paid has no value! I have called several times to get a refund and they say that they do not accept refunds. Their receipt in which they emailed me does not state their refund policy. In addition their website does not state their refund policy. It is completely unfair that they refuse to give me a full refund for my money. If this were a product that I couldnt return I would have been left with a product, but in this case I paid for services in which I cannot receive. It is completely unethical.Desired Settlement: I want a full refund of $399.00. Although I originally paid $411.00, I am willing to pay the cost of shipping to show good faith to this company. All I want is for a full refund for services that were not provided which is a total of $399.00.

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted],

Thank you for bringing this complaint to my attention. My team here at Real Estate Trainers has researched the student’s file from the order number, and we feel the complaint is without merit due to several points:

Any time a student calls in for a refund, complaint or any other reason after the purchase, the team member who spoke with the student will type in notes on the students file so as to notify the team if there’s any future contact with said student. While Mrs. [redacted] states she contacted Real Estate Trainers several times we have no notes in her husbands file.

Mrs. [redacted] states she requested a refund within 1 week of the date of purchase. If this is true we would have gladly refunded the money as we have with other students in our 42 years in business. No refund was requested since no notes were made of the request in Mr. [redacted]’s file.

Real Estate Trainers has a very liberal attendance policy, and we encourage our students to attend as many different locations as possible. We have many students going to both the West Los Angeles location and the Burbank location since the two locations were intentionally set up to operate on opposite days (WLA is on Tuesday & Thursday; Burbank is on Monday & Wednesday).

Mrs. [redacted] states she’s used our school in the past and she holds a CA real estate license yet I was unable to find any record of her in our system nor the CalBRE system. http://www2.dre.ca.gov/PublicASP/pplinfo.asp?start=1.

Mrs. [redacted] states nowhere on our website does it state the refund policy yet if you click this link http://www.retrainersca.com/SalesLive3CoursePackage.html you will clearly see that just isn’t true. Further the refund policy is sent with every student package.

I’m sorry her husband’s mother took ill, and I hope for a speedy recovery. While other course providers have a 6 month enrollment period, ours is a full year just in case something like this happens. I hope Mr. [redacted] will be able to join us in Burbank before his enrollment expires.

Let me know if I can be of additional help,

Vice President

Real Estate Trainers

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

My receipt which I received via email does not state the return policy. A receipt is proof of purchase and it is a contract. I give you x amount of dollars for x services. It should be stated in my receipt what the refund policy and I could not find the refund policy on your website when I originally purchased the classes. As I mentioned, I am married and I have a real estate license under my last name Andrade. I did take classes with you in the past and have been very happy with your services in the past. However, my husband is 100% unable to take the classes with you so I cant use the money I paid you for anything. The fact that a sales representative failed to make a note on my account does not justify the fact that I am unable to get a refund. I did in fact call several times and how can you possibly prove that the representative did or didnt take notes on my account. Should I present phone records? I have PROOF of what I paid and PROOF of my receipt which was emailed to me that does not state your policy. I ask that Real Estate Trainers please come to an agreement with me. I request a refund of at least 50%. I feel that this is the very least of what I am willing to agree to. I don't feel that I should have to loose almost $500 and not get anything out of it. Please come to an agreement with me so we can move forward with our daily life.

Regards,

Review: The company adjusted there crash course times did not hold up to what was paid for. Had to reschedule my test and crash exam. They said I voided my guarantee when it was them first that made changes to the session times over the weekend. They were not clear and did not give proper notice.

Company is a joke just takes your money doesn't hold up to there structure program, or guarantee. But they hold their customers to a higher standard.

They will not work with you.

Very rude [redacted] ext [redacted]Desired Settlement: Refund of entire amount. I held up to my end of the barging and received my hours etc. but they need to do the same

Business

Response:

In response to Mr. [redacted]'s complaint of Real Estate Trainers: