Shaw Academy

Payment deduction from account without permission

Hello,
This is with reference to course I have opted from shaw academy for which I have paid Rs. 3000/-
But I still get money deducted from my account ( which is linked to app) sometimes when I open the app without any information. I had enrolled myself for this online courses because I heard alot about your accdamy and about the reputation of your company and ofcourse about the course but now I am really not happy with this extra charges being deducted without my permission again and again. Today I logged in the app three time just because I got a mail about class and also I want to check my assignment status. I'd already paid for this course last time still a sum of Rs. 4500/- deducted from my account which is irrelevant. I really want you to suggest how can I get refund of my money and get this inconvience resolved

Scam. Won't let you take anything promised and won't let you cancel the membership. They steal your money & tell you the acct doesn't exist.
This is an absolute scam and they delete comments calling them out for being a scam too. Signed up for a free trial, they took my card info to "charge after the trial". You can't even access the course whatsoever during the "trial", they want you to buy a toolkit but claim you can still watch the lessons, which is false. Then when you go to cancel it takes you through seven pages of "are you sure", only to tell you to call a number. I call the number and it tells me my student number doesn't exist even though I'm looking right at it.

SCAM: The website is a fraud. They won't refund my money
I registered for the free trial at Shaw's academy website. They have two buttons at course page. One for ecertificate and other for tool kit. The problem with these buttons are that they don't ask for confirmation like all the other payment related websites do. If you click it one, they charge you. This happened twice to me. I haven't and won't be using any of the things I purchased for. So I emailed them asking for refund. They just said refund is not possible. I need my money back.

"Free" class offered a toolkit, but after I clicked for more info., I was instantly charged $44.28. I never downloaded it. They won't return the fee.
I began a free Project Management class with Shaw Academy on or about the 8th of July. It required a credit card, but I went ahead and signed up. In the process, I noticed that there was a toolkit for the class available, so I clicked on the button to find out more about it not realizing that the "One Click Purchase" meant that my card would be instantly charged $44.28.
I did not download the file since I had only wanted to see what was available with a "Toolkit." Realizing the charge was being put on my card, I contacted their customer support to explain the situation and request a refund (July 8, Unique ID number #XXXXXXX).
I received an auto reply stating they'd get back within about 48 hours.
Then the charge showed up on my card.
On July 10, I replied back requesting a response since I hadn't heard back from them.
On July 11, "Luke" responded with an email stating that "we will not be able to process the refund as per our terms and conditions." but offering a free certificate, more toolkit stuff and a hard copy of a diploma all which are not useful to me.
Reviewing their terms and conditions I found that: (https://www.shawacademy.com/terms/) 5.8: "Single purchases. If a student purchases an E-cert or toolkit from the members area, by checkout page or single click purchase, refunds cannot be provided without just cause, as defined by incorrect content or pricing...."

I requested an exception and followup on July 11, but have not heard a reply as of July 18 and the charge is still on my card.

While that first session of the class was interesting, I have cancelled my "free" trial class out of concern for other unexpected charges simply by exploring through their website. I'm still stuck with paying the $44.28 bill and Shaw Academy hasn't communicated since the 11th.

I share this to warn others of Shaw Academy's, not deceptive, but unclear charging practices that can trap people into apparently irreversible charges that are greater than the cost of the actual class they are taking even if you never download, use, or even wanted the item that you clicked on in the first place.

Attempting to cancel membership, cannot get ahold of anyone. Phone number, email and student ID do not work.
The class I signed up to take as a free trial did not work. The screen played an intro and then the class immediately 'ended'. No other resources were available unless paid for. I attempted to then cancel my membership, going through many screens to finally come to a phone number that said I would also need to input my student ID. My student ID does not work according to the phone and there's no customer service to contact. I'm demanding my subscription be canceled as I'm no longer interested in this and I have been scammed.

Cancelled my subscription during free trial (start date: 5/18). Was advised that I would not be charged and on 7/3 was charged 69.99. Refund not given
On 5/18, I started my free 4 week trial. Three weeks into the course, I cancelled through the app and the app advised me to call. Please note that the business hours listed for the phone number provided XXX-XXX-XXXX were incorrect. I was how ever able to get through on X-XX-XX at 9:57am. Thee rep attempted to sale me and I politely shut her down and she advised that she had extend my free trials no charge just In case I have a change of heart. She assured me that I would not be charged. Over a month later on 7/3, Shaw academy charged my card 69.99 and the refused to refund it stating that I was outside of my trial. This is 100% false as my phone record shows the 7 min cancellation call I made on 6/15 which was exactly 28 days after my start date on May 18. I am simply requesting that they refund my money.

Cancellation Issues
I am trying to cancel my free trial, but when I call the number provided on the cancellation page it continuously tells me that my student number is incorrect. I am using the student number shown on the cancellation page. I have tried the number several times. I can find no other contact information. I would like to cancel and be free of charge, considering that it has only been a few days since I signed up. I have decided to take classes elsewhere.

Thank you for your time.

I unintentionally purchased a certificate as I was trying to cancel a free trial. I was assured it would be refunded. Now, I'm told it won't be.
I signed up for a free trial and enjoyed initial participation in several courses. I was going to stay enrolled, but I had too many technology issues. In one attempt to simply clear a banner out of the viewing window, I apparently touched the banner instead and was charged $39.99 for an eCertificate. There was no confirmation window. It just charged me. I decided to cancel, since the technology issues remained unresolved, and it was becoming obvious the only way to succeed in the classes was to ultimately spend hundreds of dollars on course materials and certificates. You have to call to cancel, and I spoke on the phone with a rep who assured me (1) the eCertificate would be refunded, and (2) if I wanted to stay enrolled, she would ensure I had access to all of those materials and certificates at no charge for the duration of the courses. She also assured me she would help make sure the technology issues were fixed and, in the meantime, I could just watch the recordings. I finally agreed. After 24 hours, I still couldn't access the classes or most course materials. The code they "provide" for 30 free days of Adobe didn't work, because I was charged after 7 days. So, within a few days of still no success and no refund, I reached out by Email to the person I had spoken to on the phone. She claimed that would go directly to her. It didn't. It basically goes to a help desk, and I would receive these canned messages in response. Finally, a real person reached back out, basically stating he would make sure I could access course materials, despite my saying I wanted out. I responded again asking to please cancel my free trial and refund the certificate, as promised, and I received another response. I'd have to call again, and I'm not getting my money back. It's obvious this is a giant scam, and their customer service skills and practices are a joke. It's a shame. As a higher educator of more than 15 years, this is NOT how you treat students.

I tried to cancel my subscription thru calls and emails to no avail. I am afraid my account will be debited after the one month free trial period.
I started my free trial subscription last July 16. Due to personal reasons and unprecedented workload, I have decided to end my subscription. I followed the online cancellation steps which led me to make a call to a number they provided along with the student number given as reference. However, they said my student number was incorrect which was impossible as I just wrote what was given to me. Then I sent emails to their support team but had no resolution until now. I have read various complaints online which started similar to mine and I am afraid my account will be debited after the free trial month since they have not resolved my cancellation.

I am reporting Shaw Academy to ACTION FRAUD and my bank is already investigating Shaw Academy. Do not apply for any certification to Shaw Academy. I haven't even received any email confirming my subscription from Shaw Academy but I was charged for it! My money was taken without my permission. I was trying to call the academy but the automatic voice message was referring to my student ID that I HAVE NEVER received, meaning I wasn't able to make an actual phone call. I was trying multiple times to contact the customer service but no results!

COVID EXCUSE IS A LIE.

Company scams customers by fraudulently claiming various amounts of free trials (1 month, 4 weeks, 30 days). Customers face an impossibly difficult cancellation process that involves clicking through multiple pages, phoning numbers that are either out of service or are internationally charged, or emailing an address that isn't regularly monitored. Even if customers manage to reach someone, they're hit with lengthy sales pitches and endless offers for increased free trials rather than simply having their account closed as requested. If a customer manages to have their account closed, many are regularly charged anyway, sometimes weeks or months later, some multiple times.

Additionally, the website itself is incredibly deceptive, with banners telling you to "click here to find out more" about diplomas and tool kits that actually automatically charge your for the item without allowing you to verify or consent to the purchase first.

All of these problems pre-date Covid-19. The same issues can be found on Trustpilot dating back as far as July 2019, shortly after Shaw exited financial restructuring and examinership in Ireland.

Additionally, there are multiple Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit support groups for former scam victims, all of which pre-date the current Covid-19 crisis. This was also exposed by both the Guardian and the BBC.

TL/DR: Shaw lies, scams, and conspires to defraud as many customers as they possibly can on a global level. Avoid at all costs.

They charged me for a tool kit that I did not consent to. They are also making it impossible to cancel my account.
I signed up for this website under the allusion that I was signing up for a 1 month free trial for graphic design classes. After signing and choosing paypal as my billing option, Shaw academy website showed a pop up for a tool kit "1 click purchase" I clicked the 'x' but I still got charged $39.95. No purchase confirmation either. I opened a paypal dispute to get my money back and have also emailed their customer service to get refund. While searching for their customer service email I came across reviews about this website exposing it as a scam. I immediately went to cancel my account. I had to go through 5 pages to cancel my account. Each giving me different options to convince me to stay. When I reached the end they forced me to call number to cancel my account. Once I called the number and talked to a worker named AJ he claimed to have canceled my account. I got the confirmation email but in it states that they are offering me a 2 free trial. Based on the reviews I have read I fear that this is their way of trying to sneak more money out of my pocket. I checked my
account status and they have me under premium membership still. I have already alerted my bank to report fraud and I am pushing the paypal dispute and have emailed them again that I want my account cancelled and for it to show that it is cancelled.

They advertise a free course by Shaw Academy. At no point did I see language of a free month trial. They've billed me for 3 months & refuse to refund
On March 19 I saw a course advertised for a free Diploma of Marketing from Shaw Academy. I signed up for this online & at no point in that sign up process was I aware that it was a free monthly trial. It was hidden in the terms & conditions but I believe this needs to be PLAINLY STATED. I am the kind of person that is usually really good with monthly trials, I place a reminder in my calendar to cancel inside the month. In this case there was no obvious indication to me that this was the case.
It was clear to me in a week that this course was not relevant to me & I discontinued logging in to the site under the assumption that a "free course" was no loss.
I should mention that Shaw Academy bombarded me with communication the minute I signed up. 32 emails from April 19 to April 3 as well as multiple texts. I'm unclear if I unsubscribed after Apr 3 but it seems like I did as I was sick of the barrage for a service I didn't intend to use.
Cut to Jun 26 when I find out from my partner that the card I had used had been charged for 3 charges of $59.99 for a total of $179.97.. I should mention that they asked for credit card details for other "sundries" such as a certificate. IT WAS NEVER CLEARLY STATED this was a subscription.
I sent an angry email to them & received this email:
"Hi ***,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

I have personally reviewed your account and found the following details:

The subscription has been initiated as 4-week free trial.
It was not cancelled during the trial period, so the payment was processed.
These terms are stated and accepted before account creation.T&C please see section 4 and 5.
We are unable to process subscription refunds unfortunately after the trial expiry, as per the terms and conditions.

However, we can confirm your membership is cancelled thus ensuring no further payments will be processed.

We are also providing you with 6-months access totally free of charge worth of $399, the least we can do is ensure you benefit from our professional certifications, so we can turn this unfortunate event in to a neutral, if not positive immediately. You will be able to complete the courses you initially joined and many other courses."

I responded saying that I believe their marketing to be fraudulent & that I would be reporting them. They said they would call me. They called me today (July 16) to offer me a free lifetime membership & 3 of my friends lifetime memberships as well as free certificates. They would not really listen to me on the phone & stuck to their spiel that it was a free monthly trial although they would not admit that it was not clearly stated in the advertising.

On this phone call they also asserted that a notification was sent to me on April 13 telling me I was about to be charged. When I said that I did not have an email or text confirming that they said I would've had to log in to their portal to see this notification. I believe this is not a transparent practice & any time a charge is being processed that an email is the appropriate place for that notification.

I'm not interested in a lifetime membership with a company that uses tactics to entrap consumers into subscription memberships. I have a number of other similar memberships to companies with the same model & have never seen behavior that is clearly trying to deceive the consumer.

I recommend auditing Shaw Academy closely & requiring them to make significant changes to their platform.

And I would like to be refunded the 3 charges of $59.99 for a total of $179.97.

Could not access the class and cannot access membership cancellation, even though they constantly state you can cancel any time.
Signed up for a 4 week free trial on july 15th for creative writing and slated my first class for the 16th. On the 16th I followed all the links at the correct time and the class never began, all I was able to get was a video saying they are excited to share new content with me while being bombarded with under-explained one-click purchases. I then decided to cancel, as they have a cancel any time policy, and was sent through about 7 pages of nonsense attempting to stop the any time cancellation, and then am hit with a phone number to call with limited business hours. I was not given a lesson and I was not given a way to cancel

Charged full price after 5 days of 4 week free trial. Accidental purchase of one click buy toolkit not refunded.
They offer a 4 week free trial, then charge you full price soon after starting to use the website. Contacting their support staff is helpless as they offer no refund only extension of use for their site. Also the one click purchase on their toolkits they say are non refundable, even when purchase was make by mistake. Horrible customer service and feels like a scam.

Charged for a certificate I didn't ask for.
Email for refund request ignored.
Received call from a salesman instead.
There's a few issues.
1. The site charged me on or about July 6th, 2020 for a certificate that I never purchased. Note that the site advertises 28 days of free learning while constantly pushing you to buy your certificates and the like.
2. Even when you sign into the course, the site or some bug/virus *** email you saying you didn't sign in and are thus are late or missed the course entirely.
I can't undo/unlock the auto-pay feature assigned to my paypal.
3. No one responded to my email, but a salesman asked me if I'd pay $30 more for access to ALL the certificates after I said I wanted a refund. Really?

I was on a 14 day free trial, I did not like the program/service so I canceled the service before the trial ended. Then I was charged the fee.
On May 26th, 2020 I signed up for a free 14 day trial for their Digital Marketing course. I went to the first class and there was not sound with the presentation. I reached out and asked about the sound issue and got a bot email response with no solution. I then went to my back office and looked for the cancellation process. On June 1, 2020 I called the number like I was told to do after numerous clicks to cancel. Then on the phone I went through numerous prompts to cancel as well. I thought my account was canceled until July 13th, 2020, I went to pay a bill and the money was gone. I checked my account and realized that Shaw Academy had withdrawn $69.99 out of my account on July 10th, 2020. I immediately contacted Shaw Academy through support email and told them of their error. They responded two days later with this:
From Solomon,
Hi ***

Thank you for reaching out to us.

I have personally reviewed your account and found the following details:

The subscription has been initiated as 4-week free trial.
The cancellation was not successful during the trial period, so the payment was processed.
These terms are stated and accepted before account creation.T&C please see section 4 and 5.
We are unable to process subscription refunds unfortunately after the trial expiry, as per the terms and conditions.

However, we can confirm your membership is cancelled thus ensuring no further payments will be processed.

We are also providing you with 6-months access totally free of charge worth of $399, the least we can do is ensure you benefit from our professional certifications, so we can turn this unfortunate event in to a neutral, if not positive immediately. You will be able to complete the courses you initially joined and many other courses.

To log into your account and update your schedule with the days and times you prefer, visit here.

Thank you very much for your time and happy studying.

Kind regards,
Solomon

Well, I don't know who *** is, but it is clearly not ***!
So I contacted them immediately again, letting them know that I am not *** and questioned if they had the right account because I canceled my account on June 1, 2020.
I also reached out to billing and let them know of their mistake as well. I have not gotten a response from any of those inquiries.
I just want my refund because frankly, I do not like their program and absolutely hate their customer service!
This has caused other financial hardships for me as well. So that is not making me very happy either!
My student number is: XXXXX
The last four digits of my credit card is: ***
Amount: $69.99
Taken out of my account on: Friday, July 10th, 2020
I just want the company to make this right. It is not my problem or fault that their system did not record my response for canceling the product within the time frame that it needed to be.

signed up Jun 13 for a free 30day trial. I had until Jul 15 to cancel w/no penalty or any charges. I was billed for a full course on Jun 23
I called to cancel free period on Jun 25 and also asked for a refund of 79.99 that had been charged on my credit card. Rep apologized offered a free course so I wldnt cancel. I declined and stated I wanted the refund at which point she apologized and said that she would open the case as I had been billed 2 days earlier. Jun 27 email states that I had not cancelled within the trial period, therefore refund would not be processed but they are willing to offer me a 6mo access for free which is worth $399. I declined same day and again asked for a refund. Jun 29 they respond saying module 1 had been unlocked and no refund will be granted and again they offer 6mo free. I again decline. Jun 30 refund declined and now they offering 12mo free worth $699 + a tool kit worth $199. I decline. Jul 3 no refund and now they are offering a lifetime membership to which I decline and ask for a refund as per their own terms and conditions. No reply back, followed up on Jul 9 and Jul 16 as now they are not answering my emails anymore

Scammer
They offered a free trial but charged me 2 days after. They scammed a lot of people. They sent me that they unlocked the e certificate. I didn't even attend any of their classes. Because I want to cancel the free trial right away. Coz I read the reviews late. Because in trustpilot, they make fake reviews That you will not be able to read all the negative reviews. Then they told me they cannot refund me but offered me a worth $499 free classes.

Unauthorized payment and refusing to give a refund.
On Sunday July 12 I signed up for free online classes for a month and was shocked when I received a charge of $39.95. Immediately after getting an notification for PayPal I reached out to the school so the problem could be rectified Immediately but they refused to issue a refund and are only willing to give me $499.00 worth of money towards their classes. Because of an unauthorized payment I cannot pay the bill that's supposed to come out any day now I am on a fixed-income and can't afford late fees for other bills due to the fact I was charged for services not authorized.