Shaw Academy

Shaw academy's customer service is terrible.
This complaint is about Shaw Academy pushing for upgrades constantly a.k.a 'freemium' (even when im already a premium member), the fact that we cannot choose how many classes we get to do in a week (i.e. two classes per subject per week) and their lack of customer service response.

1. I have been emailing (and calling) their support since Sunday atleast. I have been trying to cancel my account before my free trial was up. I thought it worked and went through but it has not and they charged my account $79, which, during this Pandemic, means a little more to me as I have not received my stimulus yet. I decided 'Ok', and that I will try to progress as much as possible so that I can get my diploma sooner than later and save some money, only to find out that the classes are limited on how many you can attend in a week (even though it seriously seems like the 'Live' classes are pre-recorded).

2. They harass me with pop-ups of buying a Module toolkit for my two classes i'm taking (social media marketing, sports nutrition) with emails, withIN the lessons and just on the website in general, they REALLY want us to buy the toolkit, even though the toolkit is not necessary for learning or obtaining my certificate. While i'm sure there are several (or millions as their website says) of people who have actually finished their modules and received their diplomas I cant help but feel like I have been duped by a bunch of capitalistic already rich 'Board of Directors' who drag out these courses to get more money out of us. I have never been to college, but is that what they do there too?

3. They make it so you can only take two classes in a subject per week. Instead of it being self-paced which I feel would be better because us students would be able to get the most out of our time and money while also learning at our own pace. So, if you can only take two classes per week, and there are 8 classes in a Module, with there being 4 Modules- that means it will take me about 3-4 months to finish my course. This isn't a long time in terms of schooling, but the fact that I cannot CHOOSE how much I can do in a week is frustrating and is a blatant show of them just trying to get as much money as they can out of me, as well with those infernal Module Toolkits which (save your money) are useless because you dont NEED them to understand the concepts in the lessons as the lessons and quizzes already help with that.

All in all, i'm still waiting on a reply to my emails about just talking to a live person, even if its in chat form.

Advertised free courses; immediately wanted money for "incidentals." Enrollment is all online; cancellation is suspicious and unnecessarily difficult.
Signed up for 30 days of free graphic design classes this evening (X-XX-XX). Company immediately wanted $39.95 for materials and an additional $39.95 for a certificate. I decided to cancel on the spot, but while the entire enrollment can be done online, cancellation requires a telephone call during their business hours (11am-8pm eastern, Monday through Friday). Have taken a number of online classes - this is the sketchiest setup I've run across. Have no faith they will disenroll me without trying to get some money out of me.

advertises free access to online courses for 4 weeks. Once registered they want $35 for course materials.To cancel you have to call . Left on hold.
I registered for their free 4 week access on may 29th and after discovering they charge for course materials I wanted to cancel. I gave them my credit card number for the monthly fee they charge after the free period. Very difficult or impossible to cancel.I called the number a few times and the result was always the same. They answer then put you on hold indefinitely.

I was wrongly charged an amount on my credit card by Shaw Academy after I cancelled my free 4 week membership before the deadline.
I signed up for a free trial with Shaw Academy on April 28th, 2020 and subsequently cancelled the subscription within the trial period on May 25th, 2020 after deciding that the service did not suit my needs. I did not log on to the website after that date. My credit card was charged $99.00 CAD on May 28th, 2020. When I logged onto my account to investigate the charge I found that my account was listed as having a premium membership which I had not signed up for. I re-cancelled the membership and contacted the support email to request a refund. I tried to remove my payment methods on the site but my credit card information could not be removed. I did not reactivate my account, on the date they gave or any other, and no one else had access to my account. I also did not receive a confirmation email or any other communication from the company to inform me that major changes had been made to my account for which I would be billed. I do not believe I should have been charged in the first place as I followed their terms and conditions and I do not want an ongoing subscription with a company who believes it is acceptable to reactivate accounts and charge customers without permission.

Shaw Academy has deducted money on my bank account without my knowledge.
Shaw Academy has deducted money on my bank account without my knowledge not once but twice no email has been sent on my e-mail address. When I tried to cancel my membership their user interface makes it hard to do so. I suggest changing the User Interface to make it more easier for student and inform the student if you want to deduct payment on a FREE TRIAL plan. What makes it hard is there customer service I am calling them with the number they provided to cancel my membership but no one answered. I dont want a refund I just want to cancel my membership because deducting money from your bank account without my knowledge is sign of a scam company.

Charged 3 charges of $34.95, was only refunded 2 charges.
Charged $69.99 for membership even though I canceled prior to trial end. Refused to refund.
I'm having ongoing issues with Shaw Academy.

I began a 4-week free trial with Shaw Academy on April 27, 2020 where they required my credit card information and indicated that I would be charged if I did not cancel prior to the trial period ending, but would not otherwise be charged.

While taking the online courses, my computer froze and I was clicking around on the site, not knowing that they had one-click payments where there was no confirmation that anything was being charged to my credit card. After several pleading emails back and forth where they originally declined to provide any refunds despite the fact I had not opened whatever it was I purchased, the representative Marcas notified me that all 3 charges of 34.95$ would be refunded. Unfortunately, and not surprisingly, only 2 were refunded. So this sparked another email thread, for which I received the response that they would not be refunding it.

Three business days prior to my trial ending (May 21, 2020), I canceled my subscription. I did so both online through my online account on the Shaw Academy webpage, and then was given a phone number (X-XXX-XXX-XXXX) and a reference number (XXXXX) to call in order to actually cancel. It was a gruesome automated voice that tried approximately 12 different ways to avoid my cancelation, but in the end I of course canceled. Yet again not surprisingly, a membership fee of 69.99$ was taken from my credit card on May 25, 2020. Now, after many strings of emails, they are refusing to refund me the 69.99$, stating that I did not cancel. I do have proof of the phone calls I made to cancel. Each time, they offer me more items such as money towards courses, months of free access, access for friends or family, etc. All I want is my 34.95$ and 69.99$ returned to me, and I may then cancel my credit card and get a new one as I don't trust this company.

I am so displeased with Shaw Academy and I never want to deal with them again. I have done several free trials of apps where my credit card information was required, but never has anything like this happened before. The course itself was actually quite well done, but the company is absolutely horrific! I wish I had read all the terrible reviews online before starting a "free" trial.

The learning program is not that bad but my PROBLEMS with Shaw Academy started when I purchased only one toolkit which cost 29.95â?¬ and the day after I check in my bank account that I was charged two times or the same product. Immediately I contacted via e-mail and afterward, I get a response from a representative named "Paul" which wrote to me to apply for my refund click this unique number. After I tried to log in my account as I was told from "Paul" I could not log in and I wrote a second time which led to the same ending, no solution. And today I see an unauthorized additional 29.95â?¬ purchased which I DID NOT DO.
Now I need to talk personally to my bank and find a solution because this is a total SCAM!

Canceled before free trail was up and was still charged
I sign up for the 4 week free trail, knowing the if I cancel before 5/28/20 I would not charged. There was no cancellation button on my account when I decide to cancel and my membership status said inactive. I email the support team on 5/14/20, two weeks before the free trail Ended telling them I would like to cancel my account. I Receive a response the next day saying they could find my account and that there was no billing information attach so I would not be charged. I have the emails I sent and what was sent to me as evidence along with a screenshot of the charge to my account and the inactive status that is in the Shaw academy profile on my account. Yesterday 5/28/20 I seen a charge for $69.99 and I would like a refund. I should not have been charge because I cancel during the free trail phase.

I was charged for a subscription before my trial ended with Shaw academy. I tried to cancel but I was not allowed to and I had no help along the way.
I came here because I am infuriated with Shaw academy. Terrible terrible company. I decided to learn something new while being quarantined, so I signed up for their free trial. After a while, I did not like the course layout so I wanted to cancel my subscription and get a refund. Most companies allow you to make the cancellation fee as smooth as possible but Shaw academy makes you go through multiple steps and asks you to call a number that does not even work. I tried to cancel my subscription before the ending trial but there was no way possible. In the process of trying to cancel your membership, they try to sell you other discounted deals, DO NOT FALL FOR IT and do not click any one-click purchases. And now I want my money back because this was not supposed to happen. I will be making a complaint on this company for action fraud and report it to the bank so that way this business can be shut down. They are taking advantage of people during this hard time and it isn't fair! If I do not get my refund IMMEDIATELY, I will be taking legal action. THIS COMPANY HAS TO BE STOPPED. I was charged $69.99 before my subscription even ended! My ending trial was set for May 28, 2020 and I tried cancelling the day of but I was not allowed to. The process was extremely difficult and I had no help whatsoever. Its basically impossible to unsubscribe.

I need a refund for a subscription that I cancelled - I do not want any other service that you offer
During the Pandemic this company was only Facebook feeds so much that I thought taking a class during this time would be beneficial.
However, I attended the class one time and realized this is not what I am looking for. You cannot understand the operator and the screen is blurry - so I emailed and called Shaw Academy to cancell this service. Since I home schooling my 6yr old I did not follow up however, when I sent another email they have not responded again. Now that I was charged the 69.99 and I responded to this charge, they responded and this is their response " Hence, we will not be able to process the refund as per our membership terms and revenue recognition policies which we cannot alter."
Regardless of how I feel about their service, they do not want to refund my money - their practices are not fair and should not be able to do business in the USA or anywhere, how do you make me use your services, NO this is not fair

Shaw Academy ignore my emails and refuse to refund me money they stole from my bank account.
Shaw Academy advertised a free excel course on facebook. Once I realised you had to purchase the course (which was advertised for free) I declined to go ahead with course. Three weeks later I find they have charged me anyway, taken (stolen) money from my bank account for the course even though I declined to take part in the course and asked them to stop their continuous emails. They lied to Paypal, Paypal refuse to help and they ignore my emails, and so far have declined to refund the money they have stolen.
Case details

Case ID: ***XXXXXXXX
Transaction amount: $34.99 AUD
Dispute amount: $34.99 AUD
Your transaction ID: ***XXXXXXXXXXXXX*
Transaction date: 24 May 2020

Shaw Academy wrongfully took $69.99 out of my account after I canceld.
On May 28,2020, Shaw Academy took $69.99 out of my bank account WITHOUT authorization after their "free trial." I made SURE to cancel all aspects of them so there wouldn't be money lost. But, they went ahead and took money anyway. During this COVID-19 pandemic, I can NOT afford to lose THAT kind of money to some watered down service like shaw academy. they refuse to refund me my "purchase" back to my bank card. I made sure to cancel before they got a chance to charge my card. instead, they offered me some stupid membership I did not want, as I did not even enjoy my "free trial." please, I am begging you to help me in this situation. as I said, during the pandemic I can NOT afford to lose THAT kind of money and I need it to feed my family!!! shaw academy is a SCAM!!!

I recently had a free trial with SA. I cancelled my membership before the trial ended, and the money had been taken out
I cancelled the trial before it was over, however I got an email stating that money was being taken out, which I did not authorise. I emailed shaw academy, they stated they couldn't offer me a refund but offered my 12 months free instead, however I stated that I wished to not continue with the study but this seemed the only choice I was given. i've seen here that they've granted refunds to customers when I was told there was no way at all for a refund to be processed. the only way to be granted the free trial was to put my card details

Website is predatory. Signed up for 4 week free trial. Says that webkit needed for online class. No price listed. Instantly charges $40 upon click.
$39.99 for a webkit piece to a class on digital marketing. Found price scouring my account info and checking pending transactions. No receipt or confirmation email sent. Refused refund from Shaw.

My card expired before the end of my free trial, and I chose not to update the info. Shaw obtained my updated card and charged me without my consent.
I signed up for a free trial with Shaw Academy in early 2020, and quickly realized it was not something I was interested in continuing with. When I attempted to cancel, they made the process very difficult and time consuming. I was busy at the time and took an offer of an extended free trial until I could cancel at a later date.

Before the end of my free trial, I received an e-mail stating that my card on file was expiring, and I needed to update the information or risk losing my account. Since I was ultimately interested in cancelling, I neglected to update my information, thinking this would solve my problem and end my account. I never updated or approved new payment information.

On May 27, Shaw charged me a subscription fee. I immediately cancelled my account and requested a refund based on the situation described above. They denied my request, claiming that I had agreed to the terms and services in my free trial. They did not, however, acknowledge the potentially deceitful nature of obtaining a customer's updated card information post expiration. On these grounds, I maintain a refund request with Shaw Academy in the amount of $60 USD.

Multiple attempts at cancelling subscription made, still charged twice. Automated responses from all customer service avenues.
I signed up for the free trial of their online graphic design course on 23/03/2020. For a free course I was satisfied with the level of instruction, so I attended the lessons. I received at minimum two emails a day of mostly advertising. Every lesson also mentioned several times that students would have access to discount codes for 15% off purchasing Adobe software once those free trials ran out. I put up with this aggressive marketing during the free trial but decided the lessons were not worth paying for, so I selected the "Remind Me Later" feature on the cancellation page a few weeks into the course, but I received no such reminder.
On 20/04/2020 my credit card was charged $69.99 by Shaw Academy. At this point I was mostly annoyed at myself for not following up on my cancellation earlier. I contacted ***@shawacademy.com on 22/04 to voice my complaint. Their support site points students to email support for access to the promised Adobe codes, so in my email I requested information on how to access the codes. I got an automated email right away giving my query an ID number (#XXXXXXX) and which stated that support staff would address the concern within 48 hours.
On 28/04, well over 48 hours later, I finally received a response which was clearly also automated. The email opens as if I had recently purchased a Tool Kit (which I had not). It goes on to say that it would give access to the other Tool Kits in compensation and that this would be activated on my account (which is not the case).
Since this first subscription charge could be argued to be my fault for forgetting to cancel in time, I did not push too much. I did not use the service for a few weeks because it was a stressor that I wanted to avoid thinking about for the time being.
In the final week of this subscription month I went back to watch the recorded lessons. There were fewer of them in this Module (6 as opposed to 8 in the trial) and in reading the lesson plans I knew I did not want to continue. I watched the lessons I thought might be interesting which lessened my feelings that anything was amiss as they are providing the service I begrudgingly paid for.
Figuring the next withdrawal date would be 18/05, on Saturday 16/05 I went online to watch a few more videos before cancelling the subscription. My previous visits to the cancellation page involved clicking through pages where they try to sway you against cancelling and losing access to the site, and I had previously stopped on the "Remind Me Later" page. This time I had to click through a few more pages that then brought me to a page that says that I have to call +X XXX XXX XXXX to confirm my cancellation, with an account reference #XXXXX. The call center hours are 11am-8pm EST Mon-Fri so I could not cancel on the weekend. May 18 that I was to be charged was a Holiday Monday in Canada, so the lines were closed yet I was of course still charged $69.99. The next morning 19/05 I called at 11:57 am, before my scheduled 1pm course so that I could argue that I had not used the service yet. It was a 5-minute phone call with an automated voice where I "pressed 2 to cancel" about 5 times. My reference number was never asked for, but I was told I would receive an email confirming the cancellation (which I have not received). I used the phone number registered to my account, but otherwise no information was collected.
On 21/05 I received an email from "William", the "head of Education at Shaw Academy" noting that I had missed this week's lessons that I was enrolled in. This is the same generic format as all their previous communications. The emails always suggest replying to them with any questions or concerns, so I did. On 22/05 I outlined my complaints in a email to "William". This time I did not even receive an auto-reply that it had been received. I waited a few business days, still no response. I called once more today (28/05) and heard hold-music for over 30 minutes before I finally gave up.

Was charged for a membership after I went through all of the possible ways to cancel my subscription within the time frame specified.
I took a 4 week free class in photography from Shaw Academy. My last class was on May 22nd. I wanted to cancel my subscription on that day. I pushed several buttons indicating I was cancelling. I was then told I needed to call a number to fully cancel. This number was not available until Monday. I was charged 69.99 on Sunday. When I called the number on Monday it was an automated call trying to sell me more items. I have since written several emails trying to resolve the issue only to get more automated responses. I followed all of the procedures for cancelling and would like a refund.

I unsubscribed, why was I still debited
I subscribed to a free trial, after 1 class I decided I did not like the class and didn't want to continue. I received a call from an associate of Shaw academy indicating that I would receive a discounted price. I subsequently unsubscribed. My credit card was still debited and I am concerned that it continues in the coming months. I cannot get back to the unsubscribe point as I no longer have a class.

My card was used fraudulently to create an account on their site. I wish to cancel it but none of their provided resources are available to do it.
My bank had contacted me because of a fraudulent usage of my card. I investigated it and saw that it was used to create an account on Shaw Academy. I immediately got on the site and tried to cancel it. They gave me a phone number to call and a code (XXXXX) to refer to during the call. I called them today (May 28th) and got on an automated line, went through the whole process and the auto teller told me the account has been cancelled and an email would be sent to me. I have received no email, and the account is still active. The person on the phone did not even ask me for the reference code so how would it know which account to cancel. This needs to be resolved right away. Very unfortunate also that shaw academy makes it so difficult for clients to cancel their accounts, even going so far as to make the cancellation process over the phone so lengthy and unnecessarily demanding. I also tried sending emails but even that is given to some automated system. It is obvious they encounter this problem often, and wish to avoid resolving it so they can make cash grabs.

I was charged for a monthly membership subscription after cancelling my account and the company refuses to refund me.
I signed up for a 4 week free trial with Shaw Academy. It was made clear that if I cancelled prior to the end of the 4 weeks, I would not be charged. I tried to cancel online, but it said I had to phone into the company. I phoned on May 5, 2020. I have a record of the phone call. I was told that my account was cancelled and I would not be charged. Two weeks later, I was charged $69.99 CAD on May 18, 2020. I have reached out to Shaw Academy to try and amend this with them directly; however, they refuse to refund me, even though they have acknowledged that I cancelled the membership. I wish I could have solved this problem with the company directly, but, unfortunately, they are not helping me with my concern.

Thank you