We received a copy of complaint [redacted] on May 3, 2016 and are responding to the customer's advertising issues complaint.
Per the customer's statement of the problem: "Common [A]pp's advertised, online assistance is false, there are no representatives available to chat to to get errors...
fixed with their application process. I have checked multiple times; however, no one is available during the hours of operation they advertise on their help site. They claim an online representative will be available to help during the hours of 3 p.m.-9 p.m. EST in their online chat option." This problem, according to the complaint, occurred on March 15, 2016 and per the complaint, the customer contacted our organization on April 20, 2016. The customer seeks a refund of their application fee ($80).At The Common Application we strive for excellent customer service for all of our constituents - our Members, Recommenders, and Applicants. It is disappointing that the customer did not feel they had a good experience. In reviewing our records pertaining to this particular customer, I would like to share the following information with you:
Customer sent us a ticket through our on-line system at 8:02 p.m. on April 25, 2016 with this message:
your chat feature said that representatives would be available at 3 p.m. EST and there is no one there, my college extended my deadline until the end of today yet I can get no help from your website or an employee whatsoever. Your common app process will be responsible for a gap/delay in my education."
One of our Service and Support specialists responded to the customer at 8:06 p.m. on April 25, 2016 with this message:
Thank you for your message. We are sorry for the inconvenience that you've encountered. Are you referring to North Carolina State University? If so, please understand that NCSU has configured their Common Application instance with application deadline dates for Transfer applicants that have already passed their cut offs. If you are presently unable to submit your application or other materials because the identified deadline date has passed, you will need to directly contact the college's admissions office to inquire if they will allow you to submit after the deadline date. If the admissions office approves you to submit, they will need to update your record with a new submission date. This action should be done on their end, within their Common Application instance. Once this new date has been set, you should be able to submit. Please keep in mind that, since the deadline has passed, the decision to do this is entirely up to the discretion of the admissions office. The Common App Support Team is not able to grant extensions of any kind or submit an application for any student. If the admissions office requires help completing the procedure on their end, they should directly contact their Member Support Representative at the Common Application organization to request assistance with the process.
The customer also provided the screen shot below and sent an additional email to the [redacted] email address (with the same text from above) showing the chat icon as available. However, that icon would not have been available on April 25, 2016 since this is our application cycle's "off-season." During the off-season, Applicant Chat is only available around deadline days. The most recent Applicant Chat availability for the customer would have been on April 15, 2016. It looks like the customer cut and pasted an old screen or was looking at a cached version of the Applicant Chat interface screen.
Furthermore, within our Applicant Portal we share information to our various constituents. During the off-season, the front page of the portal looks like this:
As you can see from the documentation in this letter, when the customer contacted us with their question/concern on April 25, 2016, we responded within 4 minutes and provided specific guidance and help to the Customer. We did not receive any further Correspondence from the customer regarding their application or their issue. In addition, we do not advertise chat assistance during the off-season as our Applicant Portal and “Need to Know” sections clearly communicate. It seems that the customer may have been using an old screen shot or at least a cached one.
It is regrettable that the customer did not continue the conversation with our Service and Support Team for additional help and closure to their issue or to ask for a refund. Since The Common Application does not refund college or university application fees, we would have helped the customer navigate the refund process with their college or university. If the customer would like further assistance in this matter, we would certainly be happy to assist them.
Should you need any more information, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned.
Please note there is no chat icon (only email f submit a ticket available) and one of the “Need to Know' articles explicitly states: "App Chat Suspended after March 4th". The text of that FAQ reads as:
As you can see from the documentation in this letter, when the customer contacted us with their question/concern on April 25, 2016, we responded within 4 minutes and provided specific guidance and help to the Customer. We did not receive any further Correspondence from the customer regarding their application or their issue. In addition, we do not advertise chat assistance during the off-season as our Applicant Portal and “Need to Know” sections clearly communicate. It seems that the customer may have been using an old screen shot or at least a cached one.
It is regrettable that the customer did not continue the conversation with our Service and Support Team for additional help and closure to their issue or to ask for a refund. Since The Common Application does not refund college or university application fees, we would have helped the customer navigate the refund process with their college or university. If the customer would like further assistance in this matter, we would certainly be happy to assist them.
Should you need any more information, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned.
[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:
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 would also like to add that the company did get my situation resolved.
We received a copy of complaint [redacted] on May 3, 2016 and are responding to the customer's advertising issues complaint.
Per the customer's statement of the problem: "Common [A]pp's advertised, online assistance is false, there are no representatives available to chat to to get errors...
fixed with their application process. I have checked multiple times; however, no one is available during the hours of operation they advertise on their help site. They claim an online representative will be available to help during the hours of 3 p.m.-9 p.m. EST in their online chat option." This problem, according to the complaint, occurred on March 15, 2016 and per the complaint, the customer contacted our organization on April 20, 2016. The customer seeks a refund of their application fee ($80).At The Common Application we strive for excellent customer service for all of our constituents - our Members, Recommenders, and Applicants. It is disappointing that the customer did not feel they had a good experience. In reviewing our records pertaining to this particular customer, I would like to share the following information with you:
Customer sent us a ticket through our on-line system at 8:02 p.m. on April 25, 2016 with this message:
your chat feature said that representatives would be available at 3 p.m. EST and there is no one there, my college extended my deadline until the end of today yet I can get no help from your website or an employee whatsoever. Your common app process will be responsible for a gap/delay in my education."
One of our Service and Support specialists responded to the customer at 8:06 p.m. on April 25, 2016 with this message:
Thank you for your message. We are sorry for the inconvenience that you've encountered. Are you referring to North Carolina State University? If so, please understand that NCSU has configured their Common Application instance with application deadline dates for Transfer applicants that have already passed their cut offs. If you are presently unable to submit your application or other materials because the identified deadline date has passed, you will need to directly contact the college's admissions office to inquire if they will allow you to submit after the deadline date. If the admissions office approves you to submit, they will need to update your record with a new submission date. This action should be done on their end, within their Common Application instance. Once this new date has been set, you should be able to submit. Please keep in mind that, since the deadline has passed, the decision to do this is entirely up to the discretion of the admissions office. The Common App Support Team is not able to grant extensions of any kind or submit an application for any student. If the admissions office requires help completing the procedure on their end, they should directly contact their Member Support Representative at the Common Application organization to request assistance with the process.
The customer also provided the screen shot below and sent an additional email to the [redacted] email address (with the same text from above) showing the chat icon as available. However, that icon would not have been available on April 25, 2016 since this is our application cycle's "off-season." During the off-season, Applicant Chat is only available around deadline days. The most recent Applicant Chat availability for the customer would have been on April 15, 2016. It looks like the customer cut and pasted an old screen or was looking at a cached version of the Applicant Chat interface screen.
Furthermore, within our Applicant Portal we share information to our various constituents. During the off-season, the front page of the portal looks like this:
As you can see from the documentation in this letter, when the customer contacted us with their question/concern on April 25, 2016, we responded within 4 minutes and provided specific guidance and help to the Customer. We did not receive any further Correspondence from the customer regarding their application or their issue. In addition, we do not advertise chat assistance during the off-season as our Applicant Portal and “Need to Know” sections clearly communicate. It seems that the customer may have been using an old screen shot or at least a cached one.
It is regrettable that the customer did not continue the conversation with our Service and Support Team for additional help and closure to their issue or to ask for a refund. Since The Common Application does not refund college or university application fees, we would have helped the customer navigate the refund process with their college or university. If the customer would like further assistance in this matter, we would certainly be happy to assist them.
Should you need any more information, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned.
Please note there is no chat icon (only email f submit a ticket available) and one of the “Need to Know' articles explicitly states: "App Chat Suspended after March 4th". The text of that FAQ reads as:
As you can see from the documentation in this letter, when the customer contacted us with their question/concern on April 25, 2016, we responded within 4 minutes and provided specific guidance and help to the Customer. We did not receive any further Correspondence from the customer regarding their application or their issue. In addition, we do not advertise chat assistance during the off-season as our Applicant Portal and “Need to Know” sections clearly communicate. It seems that the customer may have been using an old screen shot or at least a cached one.
It is regrettable that the customer did not continue the conversation with our Service and Support Team for additional help and closure to their issue or to ask for a refund. Since The Common Application does not refund college or university application fees, we would have helped the customer navigate the refund process with their college or university. If the customer would like further assistance in this matter, we would certainly be happy to assist them.
Should you need any more information, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned.
[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:
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 would also like to add that the company did get my situation resolved.