Sylvan Learning Center

Robichaux Ford has a policy that a fee will be charged for the time spent by the mechanic and service staff to diagnose a vehicle's problem and to prepare an estimate of the cost to remedy that problem. This fee is quite standard in the auto repair industry. The policy is stated on a sign posted on the wall behind the service write up desk. It is also stated at the bottom of the write up sheet directly above the line for the customer's signature when the vehicle is first brought in. I am including a picture of the sign on the wall as well as the write up sheet that was signed by Mr. Jeffress. Thank You Raleigh Robichaux

The customer had purchased 3 sessions on February 21, 2017, prior to my employment.  After taking my position at Sylvan, the student scheduled and canceled two sessions, which were excused and she was charged for an unexcused absence, resulting in the three sessions being charged to her...

account.  Per our policy, the two excused sessions expire after 30 days and were no longer available on her account. It was the practice of the previous director to not let expired excused absences to be charged, however as a new director, I was not aware of this practice.  When the customer asked to have her sessions refunded, I did not realize that they had expired.  She had mentioned that her daughter may be interested in ACT sessions in the summer, so I was asking if she wanted to apply those sessions to ACT classes instead of doing a refund.   On 5/9/17 I was out of the office and the director filling in for me called to see why she didn't want to come to Sylvan and wanted a refund.  This is when he saw she had no sessions in her account, due to the expired make up sessions that were not used.  It is our practice that the business email is checked by the director on duty to ensure that all customers questions are handled as soon as possible. When I returned, it was shared to me that the customer was going to make a complaint to the Revdex.com.  I spoke to my owner and she advised me to provide the customer with a copy of her account ledger and her daughter's attendance record.  I offered to credit the funds back to her account for future use, but the customer sent an email explaining that she had made a complaint to the Revdex.com and sent a copy of the complaint. I have attached the student attendance and account ledger.  I will be happy to answer any further questions.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 10, 2016/01/20) */
On the owner's end, this has been settled through "Your Tuition Solutions", which is a company we use for loans/financing. Any refunds go through this company.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:Ms. [redacted];On March 30th Ms. [redacted] wrote She was not charging the 2 sessions.On May 8th Ms. [redacted] wrote that she was willing to refund the 3 sessions. Now you have to abide to your written word and honor it.I stand in my position and I want a $156 refund.I don't know how much you pay for propaganda every month (which I still receive in my email). But this bad propaganda is only going to cost you $156. It is going to be published in internet with Ms [redacted] emails and I will let it know at [redacted].Show some decency and comply with your written word.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Dear Mrs. [redacted],I am sorry that you are not satisfied with the response that was made to your complaint.  As I have investigated the matter, I note that you have been a long time customer and that your daughter was very attached to the previous director who left in March when [redacted] came on board.  You made mention that your daughter did not want to attend any longer when she found out that our director was leaving in March.  [redacted] never met your daughter, so she was not given an opportunity to see if she would like her or not.Regarding your statement of staff "making up a new policy", I have been the owner of this center since 2004 and other centers in the St Louis area since 1993, and in all of these years, our attendance policy has never changed.  This policy states that we ask customers to contact us at least 4 hours prior to a scheduled session in order to be "excused" , in which case we offer a make-up which must take place within 30 days of the absence.  In all of 2017, we have record of your paying for the 3 sessions  in question only.As stated in the previous response, there was an "unexcused" absence which you dispute and we did agree to allow this "unexcused" absence to be used.I would like to suggest that maybe she use her 3 sessions at one of our other centers to see if she could make a good connection with another teacher or staff.As for the request for a refund, our position will stand and we will make an exception where they will never expire as our policy states they do after 30 days of the excused absence and that you can use them at any of our centers.Sincerely,[redacted]Center Owner

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
I have not received a refund for services.  I request they provide proof of the reimbursement.
Sincerely,[redacted]

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 and the matter has been resolved.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
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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.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

To whom it may concern:Per your request, please find the following response regarding the complaint brought to you by [redacted]:On approximately July 20th 2016 [redacted] was contacted regarding her complaint.  An internal review of her account revealed a billing error in her initial...

request for a refund.  The refund was processed and mailed the same day, along with a formal apology.  We hope that the Kampeter family is satisfied with this resolution and pending any additional issues we consider the matter closed.Sincerely, [redacted]Regional Center Director

Thank you for taking the time to work with all of us through this process.I completely understand that the client is not satisfied with the results of the program and we have offered up alternatives for a resolution. We continue to stand by our offer to work towards set goals and welcome communication in regards to mutually settling this complaint.If there is some discussion about a partial refund we will present this idea to our district managers and discuss this as a solution.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.] It's funny how all of a sudden the Sylvan Center in Kenosha forgets all of what has transpired.  For example, he says, "I have received no constructive input from the parent he has offered up no thoughts in relation to future tests, and he has never commented on the student's perception of the program, the process nor the test score. I have, however, been barraged with condescending and threatening emails and phone calls. "Constructive input has been given to him.  I have repeatedly told him we have no desire to ever use Sylvan again for future tests.  I have indicated to them that we will use their competitors, and while they are more inconvenient location wise, they do offer money back guarantees.  I have told him that my daughter was terribly upset with Sylvan, she felt like she was simply herded from table to table and at times they didn't even know why she was there.  He also alluded to some online resources, which I have repeatedly told him that we didn't pay for online resources because her score went up using online resources, just not appreciably.I'm not even going to lower myself to comment on his allegation of condescending and threatening emails and phone calls.  Point is, I've only ever asked for my money back, and they haven't even so much have offered some level of a partial refund.  All they've offered free tutoring sessions, which is what failed us in the first place.  So unless they are willing to give a full refund or an agreeable partial refund, my complaint will never be resolved.  I do appreciate all of your help in this matter.  It breaks my heart when a business is more interested in money than providing superior customer service.
Regards,
[redacted]

This matter was discussed with the restaurant's operator, and with this customer, and was resolved to the customer's satisfaction.

Review: My daughter took the ACT and then on her own used some free Internet resources to increase her composite score modestly when she took it a second time. Thinking that Sylvan could help her, we went there before her third try. After using their test taking strategies, her composite score went DOWN 20% and one of her subject scores went DOWN 50%

We asked for a refund and all they would offer is free tutoring sessions, which to us would be a further waste of time since they didn't get it right the first time. Essentially to us, they take your money and have no accountability. My daughter's score even went down on Sylvan's own internal test and they did nothing to address that until we complained.

In fairness to them, maybe their homework help is fine or their SAT prep is fine, I don't know -- but I do know their ACT prep was not as advertised and they refuse to guarantee it and hold themselves accountable for it.Desired Settlement: We'd like a refund of $880 -- $750 for the test prep and $130 for an extra math tutoring package.

Business

Response:

For 15 years we have been part of the educational community of Kenosha. We take great pride in the relationships we have made with our past and present clients and I can assure you that our number one priority is to provide valuable instruction to all students; instruction that will help them be successful and confident in their studies- no matter what the subject or area of study.

Review: My wife went to pick my 6 year old daughter from the learning center and she found my daughter,[redacted], playing far from the center. My wife did get angry at the woman in the office, [redacted], inside and got the [redacted] phone number. My oldest daughter called the [redacted], and he informed us that they kicked [redacted] out of the program. [redacted] then lied to me and [redacted] and said that [redacted] was not outside and was standing inside. They have failed and my daughter could have been taken and/or run over by a car. We have known [redacted] for 5 years and never had a problem but since the new woman in the office came, [redacted], my daughter has not been taken care of. My wife should not have seen my 6 year old daughter playing outside of the center.Desired Settlement: I would like for the parents of the children that go to [redacted] Learning Center of Staten Island, New York to be informed by any way of this problem and for the [redacted] ans the assistant, [redacted], to be wide awake and not let students out of the center until she hands them off to there parent or guardian.

Review: in October of 2014 I signed for a loan for a 48 hours for tutoring for my daughter in their office. After review of my budget the following day I decided to reduce the number of hours of tutoring. Informed the staff immediately and asked if there were any fees I was told to submit a written letter to reduce my hours to there office. My daughter starts tutoring with no problem. the tutoring package was for about 6 weeks. I checked in every so often to see if my loan funds were returned. At the end of November I received a email stating my refund is being processed and there are NO FEES. Finally by January * my refund was being processed. I received my statement and there that all but $278 dollar that was returned. I contact the location my daughter was tutored at and got the run around from the staff and the [redacted]. On January ** 2015 I received a call from the [redacted] requesting my bill to prove that difference of $278 was not returned . It is now 2/**/15 and I received email from sylvan learning operations office stating they billed me 12% of the of the loan amount for returning the funded back to the company.Desired Settlement: a return of the remaining loan amount. I repeatedly as asked if there was any fees and have a email for a staff member stating there are not any addtional fees. I understand this is a business to make money but when working parents are trying to get help for there children these types of billing issues should not happen. Also 4 months to resolve a issue that a company was made aware on day 1 is of is very BAD BUSINESS POLICY

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.

Sincerely,

[redacted] 15 mins. after sending this email the company send me another email stating they are going to credited me back the remaining 278 dollars

Review: [redacted] is withholding my refund of $1,200 in August. She is not claiming it will be $732. Not yet sent three months later.

My cousin was enrolled in [redacted], her last date of attendance was the end of June. I have yet to receive the refund and the amount has now changed. Her grades have not improved as promised.Desired Settlement: I would like Sylvain to credit me the original amount of $1,200 that [redacted], the site supervisor promised.

Review: My child was unable to attend several tutoring sessions - I gave them written notice to cancel their services and they were to refund money to me. I spoke to [redacted] and I wrote several letters to her, as of today, I have not received the refund for services they did not provide. I followed their guidelines in canceling the services, but they have not responded to me at all.Desired Settlement: I definitely want a refund of my money. Thank you.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.

Sincerely,