ComplaintsforCollege Athlete Advantage

• Initial Complaint

  02/21/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We started with College Athlete Advantage LLC about two years ago as our advisor **** ****** sought us out and explained to us they help find “Athletic Scholarships” for good players like our son (who **** had seen play for many years). We are middle class working family and can not afford a good academic college on our own so we decided to listen to the sales pitch. **** told us he would have a scholarship by the end of Junior year and guaranteed us it would be FOUR times the $3,000 fee we paid to CAA to help match us with a college for a SCHOLARSHIP. Over the past two years our advisor did not contact schools on his own, follow up with coaches after our visits or even direct us on selecting a school. We had to constantly hound him, follow up, and ask for updates. After he got our money he basically checked out and left us on our own. The only thing he did was make a low quality video and send sent spam emails. After repeated attempts to get **** to do anything to help us I reached out to the owner **** ******* whom had zero contact or interest in us in the past. I asked for a full refund since I was now over half way through my son’s SENIOR year and the promises made to us never came through nor did our advisor even secure ONE possible offer. The owner refused to refund us due to spam emails sent to colleges and the low quality video that was not even viewed by majority of the schools. This company is full of con-artists and is a complete bait and switch. I am not even the first family they have done this to and the owner does not care that he is stealing money that kids could be using towards college since the false promises they made never came through. The owner does not truly care about helping kids at all as stated in the sales pitch. I want a full refund for services not received.

  

  Business response

  02/22/2023

  We take the quality of our program to highest of standards and have helped more than 500 student athletes achieve their goal of playing in college. Our platform is communication based and tracks all communication between coaches and our athletes. We have tried to help the ***** ********, but he has not been very attentive on communicating with his advisor or the coaches communicating with him. If the athlete / family do not use the systems and tools, we offer after we have tried several attempts to get it on track we can only do so much. We have documented every conversation between ***** and his father with **** ****** his advisor and **** *******. We also can provide emails from college coaches interested in ***** which were never answered by the family. As soon as Mr. ******** brought his concern to our attention we tried to work with the family get resolution to the issue
  
  We are willing to share ANY items needed from platform / communication to validate the claims are false.
  
  Agreement Terms that show what Brad is saying is in accurate:
  
  CAA agrees to provide all the professional services, including, for example, mentorship, providing a College Recruitment Platform, Creating a Player Profile / APP, Player Evaluations, College Coach Communication, and Recruiting Advice
  
  Athlete and Guardian agree to add information, photos, videos, and academic documents into the CAA recruiting platform in a timely manner to help your Advisor set up Athlete’s personal recruiting experience.
  
  Athlete and Guardian acknowledge that CAA does not guarantee any offer / award amount by either verbal or written communication.
  
  The CAA recruiting platform is a service. Athlete and Guardian agree that refunds are not available after agreement is executed.
  
  We are still willing to work with ***** in our system as part as our commitment.

  Customer response

  02/28/2023

  I can provide email prof the **** refused to work with me after I filed this complaint. He is now refusing any further services in writing due to me filing this complaint. He has also SHOWN no prof of anyway of helping my son. He is now telling me they can’t provide written prof of what they done for my son of in the past or even going forward. The lies and manipulation that **** and **** have told my family are completely unethical especially dealing with minors. This business is preying on innocent children and should be shut down. I want a refund and to not have to waste anymore time or energy on this scam.

   

  

  Business response

  03/01/2023

  This customer is trying a last ditch attempt to try to get money for services already provided.  Our attorney has ALL communication and confirms that everything this customer has provided is not valid.  At this point how do we as the business escalate / fight this complaint.  We will not be bullied or harassed to give a refund that is not justified.  This complainant is trying other ways trying to cause issues as well and is not finding any success.  This has become harassment and he is slandering our business and we are done.  We appreciate what the BBB does for consumers but how do they protect the businesses.  For the last time College Athlete Advantage will continue to work with the complainant son for no additional cost.  If he choses not to continue to work with College Athlete Advantage there will be absolutely NO REFUND.  We have every email, every text every college coach communication also all the analytics from the last 2 years of service.  Our attorney is Brint Hiatt, his contact information is brint@hiattlawaz.com / (602) 687-5851.  The complainant can contact Mr Hiatt to continue to pursue his lies.     

  Customer response

  03/08/2023

  Latest update: 
  
  
  Since I opened this case CAA ***** the owner & **** my advisor) refused to work with me as a punishment for filing this complaint. 
  
  They said they would provide a written plan going forward and the plan was exactly the same as what **** my advisor said they did in the fall. In the fall of 2022 I asked for an update and he told me they were going to send more emails. Now he saying he is going to email this ES same schools so that never happened in the fall as promised.
  
  This is crazy how the lies and manipulation keep happening and nothing is done. This is exactly why I need everything in writing as it lies on top of lies. 
  
  The owner has still has provided no prof he did anything other than send spam emails that never got opened from most colleges with the low quality video they made. 
  
  I provided the owner with a written plan for him and **** to call the colleges instead of emailing since the owners own DATA shows most schools never opened the emails or watched the video. This way they can speak directly to the coaches and land the scholarship I was promised. 
  
  Why would I pay almost $3000 for them to do absolutely nothing but lie, stall and create confusion to MY CHILD. A minor. This is crazy that the owner thinks this is ok not take money and provide zero services. 
  
  Please HELP us and my child. 
  

  after proving this to the owner he is refusing to work with me. Please issue a refund or provide the services I paid for. 

  
  

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