ComplaintsforPlan on College

• Initial Complaint

  03/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This company was very duplicitous from the beginning. They positioned themselves during the course of a seminar as an organization that had vast relationships with many colleges in ******* and that they could leverage those relationships to the student's advantages to gain them entrance to the college of their choice by suggesting other colleges had already made offers, which in fact was not true. They also said they would coach and walk students through the challenging aspects of the admissions process. For instance, they mention how they would fill out the student's FAFSA for free. Actually, there is no cost to filling out the student FAFSA at all, so they were not doing anything for free. Fortunately, my son, through his own effort, secured entry into *****************. This organization, Plan on College, did absolutely nothing to help him "plan on college." He obtained admission entirely himself and paid over $2000 to this duplicitous group of swindlers that did absolutely nothing to help him secure admission at ******.When I contacted the company and illustrated the disparity between what they claimed they would do and what they didn't do, they suggested that our son take out student loans. We didnt need to pay this company to tell us that. When I asked for a receipt for the services, they alleged they had provided, I was told that one would be emailed that day. I waited for a week. I followed up with another representative who promised she would get a receipt out immediately, but I never received one. Now, seven months later I still havent received a receipt for services allegedly rendered. Their bombastic claims during the seminar were never provided in writing. I believe the lack of a formal written contract was a deliberate attempt to evade responsibility for any of the false claims they made. I sincerely hope that the Better Business Bureau can help me recover the money I paid to this fraudulent organization.Sincerely,********************************

  

  Business response

  05/18/2023

  Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this issue. In our 15 years of being in business, our company has never advertised or provided *******s aimed to increase a student's chances of being admitted into a college through bribery of the admissions staff. This practice would be highly unethical, and it has never been and will never be a ******* of Plan on College.
   
  You have never asked ** for a copy of our ******* agreement rather, you specifically threatened ** to provide proof of the relationships we leveraged to persuade admissions staff into unfairly admitting your student into a specific university. As stated above, our company has never engaged in or claimed to have done. As such, we are unable to provide proof of delivering a ******* we do not and have never offered. Weve pasted a direct quote from your email communication below: 
   
  If you can't prove what help you provided that resulted in ****** being accepted to ****** University, I expect a full refund. Saying that you helped ****** will not merit sufficient proof. I want the names and numbers of University contacts you spoke with that were favorably disposed to accepting *** based on your work. If you are unable to do this according to my satisfaction, I will contact the BBB.
   
  Upon requesting to schedule you for a call with the owner of the company to discuss these discrepancies between your expectations and the *******s that you actually enrolled for, we received the following email response:
   
   Presently, the only thing I would like is a invoice receipt reflecting the amount we paid your company. Talking with *** will not change the fact that your company only completed a ***** for my son, and did nothing else that they claimed they'd be doing in the seminar I attended
   
  As with all of our clients, we have provided you with the "College ****************** ******* agreement to clearly list all of the *******s you are engaging ** in, which as of April 2021 (your time of enrollment), consisted of the following:
   
  Personalized Student Timeline
  True Value College Search
  Two Essay Reviews
  Scholarship Coaching Session
  Financial Aid Analysis Meeting
  Financial Aid Award Appeals
   
  We also have over 20 video recordings of our live workshops and seminars during this timeframe documenting all claims made, in which our company clearly makes no mention of the unfair admissions scheme you claim that we offered.
   
  Each of the *******s promised in your enrollment package was delivered, in the form of at least six (often upwards of one hour long) meetings with our team, numerous phone calls, and almost a year's worth of email correspondence, all documented with timestamps in our CRM. ** fact, our team provided significant additional support to your student that was not included in our College Success Blueprint, including several meetings to discuss transfer applications, raising his GPA at his community college, locating job opportunities in his desired field, researching potential transfer schools, ***** preparation assistance, and more.
   
  Finally, we would like to make it clear that while the ***** is free to complete, many parents of college-bound students opt to hire a preparer to complete the form for them, similar to how many taxpayers hire an accountant to complete their tax forms despite it being free to do through the **** This preparation and filing ******* is what was included in your package at no additional cost. Our company has never stated that the ***** incurs a fee to complete, or that this said fee would be eliminated by our company.
   
  In all our years of business, we worked hard to provide an amazing client experience. Sometimes, things come up, and whenever they do, we always communicate and do everything possible to resolve any issues.  In this instance, unfortunately, we were not given the opportunity to address this unreasonable complaint.
   
  I will follow up with you again via phone, but in case I miss you and any additional clarification is needed, please let me know.
   
  Thanks,
   
  *** Chrobak, CFEd, CCFS 

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