Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  21/03/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am writing to file a formal complaint against Tutor Unlimited regarding unjust invoice charges that I have received dozens of times. I initially engaged a few months ago with Tutor Unlimited's services for a tutoring session over ****, agreeing to pay for hourly sessions via e-transfer. However, after experiencing false information and inadequate teaching methods during the session, misleading and false advertisement. I promptly informed my tutor that I would no longer require their services. Additionally, I explicitly stated that I would be cancelling any and all upcoming sessions and terminating our agreement. I explained how I was going to my classes, and the answers I had been working through the tutor would not match with the correct ones, furthering my confusion, which counteracted the purpose of their services to aid my difficulties with the course material. Despite my cancellation and the fact that I did not attend the last booked session, Tutor Unlimited has continued to send me invoices for the service. They have even escalated their demands, threatening me with additional charges, including interest, at a rate of 3% per month for the past four months. Their latest email, sent as a fourth notice, threatens to forward the account to a collection agency, which they claim will harm my credit rating. Over a one hour payment for tutoring which I did not attend and canceled. I am deeply troubled by Tutor Unlimited's unethical practices and disregard for my repeated attempts to resolve this matter. It is unacceptable for them to continue pursuing payment for a service I did not receive and explicitly cancel. I kindly request your assistance in resolving this dispute and ensuring that Tutor Unlimited ceases its unjust billing practices. I would appreciate any guidance or intervention you can provide to rectify this situation swiftly. Thank you so much for your time, consideration, and attention to this matter. I look forward to your response!

  

  Business response

  25/03/2024

  Tell us why here...I would like to preface my reply by stating that this is the first time in over 34 years of operation that we have had a complaint to any outside agency, despite arranging tutors for over 2000 students per year.
  
  This client booked a tutor from us in September, 2023 for a particularly challenging university business course.  On September 30, the tutor sent her a brochure describing our payment options and our cancellation policy, which states that “You must provide your tutor with at least 4 hours notice of cancellation of any session. Failure to do so may result in a charge for your session.”  We feel that this is an extremely reasonable cancellation policy, and is one of the most lenient in the tutoring profession.
  
  The client had sessions with her tutor on September 29 and October 3.  She then arranged another session for Oct. 6, which she did not cancel, and did not show up for.  The tutor did not charge for this session.  She then arranged, and subsequently cancelled a session on Oct. 10 without providing 4 hours notice.  The tutor did not charge for this session.  She then arranged another session for Oct. 12, which she cancelled 15 minutes after the scheduled start time.  It was at this time that she informed the tutor that she would no longer be attending tutoring sessions.  Since this was the third time she had cancelled without providing adequate notice, the tutor did charge for this session. 
  
  The tutor sent the client an invoice for this missed session.  We did not receive payment, so bills were sent from our company on Nov. 22 & Dec. 27, 2023 and Feb. 11 & Mar. 10, 2024.  Interest was applied to the Feb 11 and Mar. 10 bills at a rate of 3% per month. 
  
  Other than the initial booking, these were the only communications with this client.  Her claim of “invoice charges that I have received dozens of times” is a gross exaggeration.  Her claim of “repeated attempts to resolve this matter” is false, as we have had absolutely no communication from the client on this matter.  As for “pursuing payment for a service I did not receive and explicitly cancel”, the sole reason that she did not receive the service on Oct. 12 is because she chose not to attend and did not cancel until 15 minutes after the scheduled time. 
  
  The tutor has provided me with all correspondence between herself and this client, which irrefutably demonstrates that the points I have raised regarding missed and cancelled sessions are accurate.  I would be happy to present this evidence, if needed, or if the client decides to pursue this matter further.
  
  I cannot speak directly to the content of the tutoring sessions, but I certainly do not believe there was “false information and inadequate teaching methods during the session”.  The tutor had completed the course, and the degree that this course is a part of, and was on the dean’s list each year of her program.   She also tutors numerous other students in this course, all of whom have been attending sessions regularly, which they would only do if they were finding it helpful.
  
  The course follows a “case study” approach.  The following feedback from the tutor may illustrate why the student had errors in her work:  “Per her critique that she was getting the wrong answers in class, the time restraints she had hoped for of finishing a case per hour (as can be seen in her texts) was not feasible as she had not read the cases beforehand, so we read them through on the call which took a considerable amount of time and did not leave adequate time to complete them, so I remember working through a few components and then giving her direction on how to move forward through the case. I also, as I do with all my students, tell them at the end of calls that if they have any questions as they work through material on their own, they are welcome to text me with follow-up questions and pictures of what they are struggling with and I am happy to respond (generally with a brief explanation via voice memo or illustration) in my off hours free of charge. Many of my students do this regularly, but she did not.” 
  
  If the client had actually contacted me, I would have been happy to attempt to resolve this issue in a mutually satisfactory manner.  I am, however, deeply offended by the false information that she has shared, and I believe that I have an ethical obligation pursue this to ensure that the tutor is properly compensated for the missed session.

  Customer response

  28/03/2024

  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  -Since I did cancel before the session, I had every intention of going that morning but did not, so I did not pay for my service. That day/morning, my tutor had not sent me a link for the meeting when we were meant to meet or any confirmation of the meeting or the link confirmation. I went to class on Oct 12th, and the class took a bit longer than planned due to reviewing incorrect casework and extra questions with my professor to ensure I got the correct values down correctly in that class. I regularly spoke to my professor during office hours to clarify any confusion and correct the process and steps I was taking per *****s methods to write down and get the correct information. There are no qualitative inputs or free-response questioning ever, just simple number values that balance or don't, so it is very easy to be correct or not, with no subjectivity. I then spoke to my professor and rushed home to join the session, but ultimately, I never joined. I told her I would no longer use her services.
  
  -Before, when I did want to use her service, and we had rescheduled prior, this issue had to do with the fact that we would book a meeting set a week in advance, and she would pressure me to make use of her booking as early as I could. However, as a student, I was sometimes unable to meet and had to reschedule due to club and group project meetings, which I did not know of weeks in advance. Usually, fellow students in projects or clubs would determine that week since there are so many schedules to organize around. She had never told me that she would charge me anytime we had to change a session and insisted she give it to another student instead. 
  

  -When in meetings, I would complete them over ****, and she would audibly walk through a case with me, which students can complete in 1-2 hours. A complete compressive final exam case one would take 4 hours, which we never did. Sometimes, we would meet twice weekly to prepare for the next week's work. I would then listen to her steps and input the information into specific formulas or steps. On completing the T accounts, I would tell her each value and number I placed to check with her and ask follow-up questions for clarification. Mind you, although this is a case method class, the first term when I used **** service is all financial accounting and T accounts, which are set document templates in which you fill out financial numbers based on debits and credits into various accounts for them to all balance, Quit simply the way my cases were graded with correct numerical values which would all have to balance out in the end to get a proper answer, which in many instances the cases I would complete with her did not end up balancing. I would go to class the next day and completely change all my accounts and numerical inputs due to needing the correct answers and processes to study off of. As I was seeking tutoring for a class, I was already confused; this further reinforced my confusion instead of mitigating it. Now, I was left confused because I didn't understand the class, and The newly learned and practiced tutor's methods were wrong anyway. 
  
  -I had trusted the nature of a tutoring service not to be incorrect or cause any more confusion; I also had a layer of trust due to my tutor having taken the class a few years prior off the main campus. Her lack of proper teaching methods affected my contribution grade in the class and my contributions to the case. The case information would be wrong when I was left under the impression I was correct. With the help of my tutor, I was left embraced and out of money, and I cancelled her services. It also left me to fail my exam due to the course content's confusion and the extra nature of misinformation. Being quite experienced, my tutor sometimes needed to be more organized with meetings and seeing links via text one day and email another, and she never mentioned her office hours to me, either over text, email, or session calls. 
  
  -When I joined that meeting for that last day, as I was discussing my position in my 2257 class with my professor, I had a meeting scheduled after, and I received a negative grade. My teacher suggested I cancel my tutor ahead of finals because I was already in a confusing headspace, which is precisely what I did. I cancelled my session that day and indefinitely reiterated that it was due to the incorrect nature of the information I received from the services.

  
  -I did not use my session or attend the services, so I did not contact them when I received the invoice. I had been charged for the full hour and was unaware there was a cancellation fee prior to cancelling. Also, I was charged more because I was charged for a full session I did not attend.
  I had received a few notices, and threats of interest or collection agencies were made due to their unethical service standards and procedures. I had the right to connect with the Better Business Bureau instead, which added a student, allowing me to handle this matter through a 3rd party as I am busy and have not time to dispute invoices or threats to collection agencies through my school day and classes, and final exams coming up in less than a few weeks. 
  

  
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩