Well after a very hard sell to my general requst for information, I was sold thinking that this was going to help my career. I of course was sold on the all you can take in 12 months being told that at any time if for any reason I cannot continue then I would get a refund for what I did not take. The structure of the school program is very deceptive in hindsight as on the one hand they say its all you can take in 12 months and you are on a track to get x, y, z certifications. In my case it was A+, Net+, Security+ a Cisco cert or 2, MSCA.
Well after my signing of the paperwork I got a tour it looked ok as I would be doing nearly all of this at home.
Well at orientation which was myself and one other person there for the medical program(odd you would lump them together) I was given a book to follow, A meyers all in one A+ book which you can buy at any book store and then sat in front of a pc in a room full of people and told to "Get After It". Thats it, I thought ok well not what we were talking about before signing the paperwork but whatever I'm sure they will have counseling to help guide and nurture my training. Well then I ask the guy that did the orientation that I wanted to go home and do it there as I was tired of hearing a girl on her Cell in the "Lab Room" yaking about how her soon to be x-boyfriend ruined her CD collection. Mind you I had headphones on doing the coursework and she was louder than that. But no one even bothered to get her out of the lab after multiple complaints. Well he told me that I had to spend so many hours on the campus. I said well thats not what I was told by the guy who sold me this and if that was the case I would not have joined as I work 50+ hours a week so as I told him there is no way I can do that. In the end I lost my job due to the economy and needed to drop out after needing to work to live and went from making 40k to 0 and no one was hiring. I finished my A+ had to take it twice because even though I was making straight a's in their courses I missed the A+ tests and was told by the lady up front that no one in there class passes it the first time. HELLO THEN WHY DO I NEED YOU IF I WILL FAIL USING YOUR SCHOOL.
In the end I was a few weeks away from getting my Net+ but had to leave for the mentioned above.
Oh and my great mentoring I was promised when I failed the one of two A+ tests. He said and I quote "well study some more and try again" Wow what insight! I now am in a fight to get a bigger refund because I was told it was time based, then was told no it was what you completed. Either way I'm on the hook for just under $10, 000 for an A+ cert that I could have achieved by myself at home with the $75 dollar book they shoved at me and then paid for the tests vouchers myself which would have been I think without looking it up on COMP TIA's website 120 a piece.
They have told me different stories about my refund, I went to the BBB and they responded by saying we refunded what was fair and the BBB closed it as they are NOT A MEMBER of the BBB.
By the way if I had just purchased the A+ alone through them it would be less than what I was charged. Another note is the entire course thing that they touted as all you can earn in 12 months but is somehow not time based. they charged me 90-95% of the entire thing. my advice go to a community college get an associates. I will after I pay off the 10K they hosed me for.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
There is a class action lawsuit gearing up right now against TechSkills and Sallie Mae. Call Jim Ross at; [protected] and tell him your experiences.
Seems strange. I invested in the same program and was able to complete about $30K worth of training on the Membership that was $10K. I found all of the instructors to be very helpful and accessible at all times. Maybe a few issues from time to time with certain labs, but that's IT for ya. Even now, they very involved in helping get me seek better employment as well. I have made some good friends there as well that have all had positive experiences like mine. For what it's worth.
TechSkills in Indianapolis, Indiana is a total rip off and the "school" is simply a huge SCAM taking advantage of people hoping to better themselves via an affordable education. Of course the student loans from Sallie Mae (a private for-profit corporation) makes it even easier to fall prey to this scam ! My advice from personal experience... RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN FROM TechSkills !
I was also scammed by tech skills. Entirely lied too. Told there was always two teachers available and there would not even be one IT teacher there while I was there.