Smart Tuition

I apologize for any frustration you are experiencing with delayed payments Online bill payments are not sent electronically to Smart Tuition Payments from your bank are sent by regular mail The USPS suggests 7-days for delivery We do plan of receiving online bill payments electronically in the future however there is no ETA We understand that many parents use online bill pay to make payments to Smart and this issue is important to us as well We offer many other ways to make payments in the meantime that are simply quicker than relying on transit times in the mail We offer automatic debits, one-time payment options, and cash payments If you have further questions about this please let me know.We have waived both late fees for you and apologize for any confusion with online bill pay We understand this is an important issue and we are making strides towards receiving online bill payments electronically If you continue to send payments by online bill pay you may wish to consider sending your payment a few days earlier If you do not, we offer other options to make payments Sincerely, [redacted] Director of Parent Experience Smart Tuition

I apologize for any confusion I absorbed the failed bank fee for $ I will call you directly to clear out any old bank info from our system and enter it in correctly There may be multiple bank accounts on file and one of the bank account numbers may be incorrect That would explain why some of the transactions go through and the other transactions did not Just FYI, we already waived the other failed fees Best regards, [redacted] Director of Parent Experience Smart Tuition

Dear Mr [redacted] I would like to first apologize for any frustration you have experienced, thus farI would like to assure you that all follow up fees have been waived on your accountGoing forward payments received in the mail will be considered paid the day they are received We certainly want to make paying as easy and worry free as possible, so please don't hesitate to use any of our other convenient payment methods (online, mobile app, and phone) Please don't hesitate to contact me directly with any further questions or concerns Best regards,

I apologize for any frustration you are having with Smart Tuition The school has already waived the late fee We can turn on emailed invoices to speed up invoicing for you This will reduce transit time for the mailed invoice You can also pay free of charge with your checking or savings account by doing a one-time payment with your routing number and bank account number You also have the option of setting up automatic debits to your account This is not a processing issue Payments sent to Smart Tuition by all banks online bill payment system comes to us by regular mail We cannot control delivery times and banks cannot guarantee delivery of mail delivery They give you estimated times of delivery We are in the process of setting up electronic online bill pay by the 2nd Quarter of next yearUntil that time comes, I recommend making payments on our website or by our telephone serviceIf you want to continue to use your banks method of payment, please send us the payment a few days soonerIf you have any further questions about this, please let me know Sincerely, [redacted] Director of Parent Experience Smart Tuition

For incidental billing items (not tuition) Smart Tuition charges a flat fee of $40, which could be from 25% to 300% of the amount dueThis flat fee for late payment on incidentals (such as a $gym shirt) is exceedingly excessiveI know of no other industry that allows this type of late fee structureSmart Tuition needs to change their late payment fees to match a percentage of the amount due, say 5%Charging 25-300% late fees is an unacceptable business practice

Like others have said, since our school decided to use this Company my relationship with the school has not been the same anymoreIf you work for a school - RUN FROM THIS COMPANY! If we didn't like the teachers so much I would take my children somewhere else next year, that's how bad they are.They always find a way to charge a late fee, their billing is very hard to understand, and their timing (both for billing email and due dates) is carefully planned to make you miss a payment date (e.gyour only bill is a Friday night email)While the billing person at the school generally deals with Smart Tuition on our behalf, it is still a hassle to have to research what happened, email the school lady and wait for resolution (who herself chose Smart Tuition after reading all these bad reviews, so I don't feel bad about bothering her)In HALF a year that our school is using them I've been assessed THREE late fees - and we pay tuition 2x year! Incredible isn't it? First time they said the ACH didn't clear because I typed the wrong account number (maybe I did, but I do ACH payments all the time and this had never happened before - how did I type the same wrong number twice and it passed validation is beyond me), then there was an "activity fee" twice in a month and I got confused with the way they bill and thought I had already paid it - and boom - the second one was somehow a new fee, and now, the 'twice a year' tuition was due on Jan 1st, right in the middle of Christmas vacationSo missed itWe pay bills all the time, and before Smart Tuition I had paid a late fee twice in my years of lifeBut with Smart Tuition, they are smarter than youYou will have more late fees in months than in your whole life

I apologize for any frustration you are experiencing with Smart Tuition The late fee was already waived when you called us on 1/4/ The payment was being processed that day and was in your account on 1/5/ I have responded to many of these types of complaints regarding online bill pay The payment from your bank is sent by regular mail and cannot be tracked The bank estimates when we should receive the payment There are many other factors with this type of payment method that are out of our control We understand that many families use this payment method and that we need to accept online bill payments electronically instead of by check We do not have an ETA on when this will happen however I want to assure you that I have been pushing for this process to happen ASAP Until that time comes, we have other options to make payments I recommend making time payments online or by phone I understand you may not want to do this but these payment methods are much faster ways to make payments We are a PCI compliant company and your bank information is blocked out so that no one can see that information going forward [redacted] Director of Parent Experience Smart Tuition

I apologize for any confusion in setting up your payments with Smart Tuition When parents sign up for auto debits we send out a Welcome Letter advising parents if they use a debit or credit card that a credit card convenience fee is charged We emailed you this Welcome Letter on 8/1/ The first payment for your account was made on our website with a credit card on 7/15/and at that time you were advised of the credit card fee before you submitted the payment I’m sorry that you did not notice the convenience fee charge on the website The second payment made on our website using your checking account on 8/10/and no convenience fee was charged because you used your checking account You can set up an auto debit to your checking or savings account with a routing number and bank account number to avoid the fee We also take one time payments on our website from checking or savings accounts These are the best options to make payments as we cannot control the transit times for mail delivery We have reimbursed you the $convenience fee one time Going forward, if you chose to use a debit or credit card there will be a convenience fee We have also switched your account over to mail in so there will be no more automatic debits to your debit or credit card If you want to change this in the future, you can update this information by calling our call center or by using our parent website If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me Sincerely, Jim L [redacted] Director of Parent Experience Smart Tuition

I reached out to Mrs [redacted] to review her account There seemed to be some confusion about the auto debit that was set up on her account The original credit card we had on file was switched around November of last year When the new credit card was set up, the parent did not realize that the November payment would not be pulled with the December payment She was unaware that she had to make a payment manually for November to make up for the missing November payment I waived the late fees and took a payment from Mrs [redacted] to resolve the past due balance I apologized to Mrs [redacted] about the confusion and I'm happy that the issue with the auto debit has been resolved.Sincerely, [redacted] Director of Parent Experience Smart Tuition

Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me Regards, [redacted]

I apologize for any frustration you had with Smart Tuition We called the school and they confirmed that you left the school We have closed out the account so you will not get any more phone calls The school never informed us you were not returning, so our automated system called you once per week The account has been closed and there is a zero balance I apologize for the delay in getting an answer to your inquiry Sincerely, [redacted] Director of Parent Experience Smart Tuition

Avoid doing business with Smart Tuition (“them”) at all costI strongly recommend to all the parents reading this to strongly recommend to your kids’ schools to stop doing business with themThis company is the most crooked company I have ever dealt with since banks started providing online bill pay to its customers in the early If you’re like me and you prefer to handle all your bills online through your bank versus providing your bank account information to every company or vendor you deal with through some kind of automated debit on your checking account, then this company will try to steal your money by charging you $late fees every month regardless of when your bank send your paymentsI started setting up my bank’s online bill pay to send them tuition payments days before due date, then adjusted it to days prior, then to days! Smart Tuition always tried to steal $of late fees from me every timeThey wasted hours and hours of my time since I had to call them and complain about their unscrupulous practiceThey had to waive each and every fee and gave me back my money but not after all the aggravation they have caused with their criminal tacticsI can only imagine how much stolen money they get away with this malicious business practice on others that either don’t have time to waste arguing with them or worse, do not notice this systematic, completely bogus charging of late fees on customers who do not want to be in their automated payment systemI am still actively trying to convince my school to stop using these crooks’ services and have now setup my bank’s online bill pay to send checks days in advance but I’m warning all of you parents and especially schools to avoid this Smart Tuition Company like a plague if you can

Dear Mrs [redacted] , I would like to clarify the steps/timeline of how and when Smart Tuition processes payments received in the mailEvery Monday-Friday (excluding Federal Holiday's) we collect payments from our lock box five times per dayPayments are processed the day they are received and post to the account the next business dayI can confirm your July payment was received on July 16th and posted July 17thThe question of time between July 7th and the 15th is one that should be addressed with U.S.P.STypically, there is a backlog of mail to process following a holiday, so this could simply be a US mail delivery delay I would like to point out that your August payment was received on 8/10/and your September payment was received on 9/9/Unfortunately, US mail is not as reliable as it was in years pastWith cutbacks and facility closures/consolidations there are simply too many variables that can delay mail from being received in a timely fashion Again, the late fee on your account has been waivedIf ever in a pinch you can always make an immediate payment online or by phone 24/without the fear of delivery delaysI hope my follow up response is to your satisfactionPlease don't hesitate to contact me directly at [redacted] ext [redacted] with any further questions or concerns Best regards, [redacted] Parent Advocate Smart Tuition

Dear [redacted] ,Smart Tuition simply provides resources and tools necessary for The [redacted] [redacted] to bill and collect tuition and ancillary fees throughout the yearAll tuition, fees and discounts, are provided to us by the schoolWe spoke to the school regarding your complaintThey confirmed the paid in full discount of $364.55, is in fact correctThis discount amount was calculated on tuition only, less the 10% tuition depositSo, the total tuition for the year is $20,The tuition deposit of 10% equals $They subtracted $from $20,253.00, which brings the remaining billable amount to $18,The 2% paid in full discount amount was calculated from the $18,227.70, which is why the paid in full discount was $I hope this helps clarify everythingWe certainly do apologize for any confusion or frustration this has caused.The school told us they sent you an email giving an explanation of your billing detailsIf you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.Sincerely, [redacted] ###-###-#### [redacted]

Good afternoon, In reviewing your account with Smart Tuition, I see that your first automatic debits failed due to the account number that was provided is not valid If those payments would have went through properly, there would not have been any late fees applied to the account There is nothing illegal about this process You can avoid credit card convenience fees by using your checking or savings account to make paymentsI have waived the late fees on the account in the amount of $ If you are having difficulty in making your payments, you should reach out to your school and see if they can work with you to catch up on your past due balance I have attempted to call you today to see if we can update your auto debit If you would like to update your auto debit please call our parent help center or you can reach me at the number provided on your voice mailAfter waiving the late fees, there is a past due balance on the account If the balance is not paid in full by the next payment, you will accrue a late fee Going forward, I will not be able to waive any additional late fees Sincerely, [redacted] Director of Parent Experience Smart Tuition

My name is Jim [redacted] and I am the Director of ParentExperience We have reviewed yourrequest with the school to waive all your late fees and failed paymentfees They have advised Smart Tuitionthat they would like the opportunity to speak to you about this on Friday2/27/before any fees are waivedAfter they make a decision we will revisit the situation.Sincerely,Jim [redacted] Director of Parent ExperienceSmart Tuition

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response If you wish, you may update it before sending it.] Revdex.com: Re: complaint ID [redacted] Wow, Smart Tuition has really gone above and beyond what I was asking forI had assumed redistributing payments would not be an option at this point so I do appreciate the recognition on their part that this is where my frustrations began While I commend their actions and quick resolution, I regret that it took a Revdex.com complaint to feel heardWith redistributed payments I can now pay directly from my checking account and not a credit card so I imagine the 'we do not honor' will not be an issue moving forward I will call Mr [redacted] directly if I run into an issue as I plan to make payments this evening and also sign up for automatic monthly withdrawals to cover future payments Regards, [redacted]

The complaint has been resolved sans-serif;">Unbeknownst to me, they refunded the charges July They did not notify me of this, did not respond to my emails asking for resolution, and I have not had a paper statement from my credit card company since, so did not knowHowever I can now see online that a refund has been issued It took months, their customer service was terrible, I hope I never have to deal with them again, but the money I wanted refunded has been credited

Mr [redacted] emailed Smart Tuition over the weekend and had questions about the Smart Admin fee He disagrees with when we notify our parents of this fee I have already advised Mr [redacted] yesterday that I was going to work with our Tech department to advise parents of our smart admin fee and when it will be applied in our upcoming roadmap I have advised our team to make this a priority We will also work with our schools to communicate our services to parents better Each school has different school settings which require development time to implement a change of this nature I wish to thank Mr [redacted] for his feedback in assistance with making our company better

Mr [redacted] ,My name is [redacted] and I am the Director of Parent Experience with Smart Tuition Iapologize for any frustration you have experienced during your years withSmart Tuition Smart Tuition generates invoices days before your duedate of the 1st of the month The school also provides a day graceperiod If payments are received before that grace period expires, nolate fee is charged I have waived the late fees in the amount of $105and turned off the follow up service for the remainder of the year Smart Tuition offers many different payment options We offer phone payments throughour hour help center (###-###-####)We offer web payments through our parent website ( [redacted] ) We offer auto debits (ACH) which automatically withdraw the funds on your due date You can also make cash payments at [redacted] , [redacted] , and [redacted] We also accept checks and money orders Paymentsmade by online bill pay are accepted however it is not the fastest way to paySmart Tuition The payment is actually mailed to Smart Tuition from your bankThe [redacted] advises customers that they should allow 7-days for regularmail deliveries If you have any additional questions, please contact me at ###-###-####Sincerely, [redacted] Director of Parent ExperienceSmart Tuition