Sylvan Learning Reviews

After several weeks of instruction, Kadee took a practice ACT test. On this test, she received a score of 16. Needless to say, we were very concerned at this point. We made a call to Sylvan and were assured that Kadee was learning a lot of new things and that this was normal. Tamara asked for a copy of the scores that Kadee had received on her last test taken before she started the Sylvan course. We reminded her that we had left her a copy when we registered. This was a little upsetting since Tamara had assured us that she would keep a close watch on Kadee's progress. After a few more weeks, we received notice that Tamara was taking over the direction of Kadee's study. We felt that she was doing this because we had expressed concern over her progress. This proved to be untrue.

At the completion of the course, Kadee took a final ACT practice test and scored only a 19. My husband made a call to Tamara again; this time he was upset. Tamara was confused as to why he was upset because she said she came up 3 points. Once again, she had forgotten that she had the real ACT scores showing that Kadee received an 18 before she took the Sylvan course. The only thing that Tamara could say when this was brought to her attention for the second time was that they don't guarantee anything.

Needless to say, we feel that we not only wasted $1,200 that we could have applied to my daughter's college tuition but 30 hours of my daughter's time and the expense that was incurred by Kadee traveling 30 miles one way to attend these classes, because we were given false hope that Sylvan could increase my daughter's ACT scores and therefore, increase her chances of receiving more scholarships. Tamara gave us lots of promises while taking our money but when we required some explanations, she was very uncooperative. All she could offer in response to our dissatisfaction with the service that we received was more classes so that Kadee could take the ACT again in July. We would like to have our money refunded so that we may apply it towards college tuition for our daughter.

Ben has always found a network of friends to help him, but I put him back in private high school so the financial strain is there and I still owe Sallie Mae $12,000. When I recently wrote Sylvan, they said it wasn't their place to see if a child has a learning disability. How can that be when they base their charges on how far back the child tested? Anyway, they know that a child with learning disabilities does not test well. There are special rules. I am now looking for grants to help me. I received so many feedbacks from people and those who quit working there since they took advantage of families in pain. Is there any way a class action can be started or can I file a claim on my own? Please help me. My credit is ruined. I fell at work and am now out on worker's comp. Please help.

I called the attorney office that was given on this letter to find out they are filing Chapter 7. I emailed the Sylvan corp office, and got nowhere because all the offices are independently owned. So Sylvan does not stand behind the contract you sign with their name all over it. I was told after month of fighting and writing letters and reviews that the Jefferson City or Washington office MAY work out something to take on the prepaid people. After weeks, I was told that the Jefferson office will take my son with No other charges ONLY for 44 hours, equaling out to $1584 that they showed was left on my son's account. This did not include the 12 free hours, or the 12 hours for the snow days that THEY were closed, or the 2 sick days or the 1 test day. As of TODAY, I drive 2 1/2 hours, one way to go to Jefferson City for 3 hours of tutoring, for 44 hours. I am still out 36 hours.

As we requested the director to add another 12 hours to her program, she said no. Sylvan tested her skills and her reading skills did improve to one grade per Sylvan standards. The testing is base on a national assessment test, which no one told us, that the State of California does not recognize though this type of testing is recognized in over 40 other states. Nowhere did we read or hear that the State of California education system does recognize Sylvan test assessments; or better yet, Sylvan Learning Center does not recognize the State of California testing for grade children.

We should be refunded the entire full amount of the tuition of $5,585.00. We feel we been misled, defrauded upon and influenced by false advertising. We also feel that we should submit this complaint to the State of California State Attorney and investigate other claims besides ours and maybe there is pattern of defrauding consumers by Sylvan Learning Center in Fremont, California.

Needless to say, the sessions were a waste of time just like the entire 9 months. I took out a loan through Sallie Mae for $7,000, which I am still paying $55.00 monthly. I feel cheated. My son is currently in 3rd grade and was just assessed with a learning disability. Sylvan took advantage of the opportunity to make money instead of helping a child who was in need. I have read the other complaints on this site and I pray we are able to start a class action lawsuit against these crooks!

I finally removed my daughter from the Sylvan program when I received my daughter's report card and her grades went down in every area that Sylvan tried to help her in. She made it through third grade, but by the skin of her teeth. Rather than subject my daughter to Sylvan for the entire summer, I said enough is enough and pulled her and demanded a refund. I was informed that the Sylvan Advantage is that if the student does not improve a whole grade then there would be additional classes at no additional cost. I did not want my daughter's grades to suffer further so I demanded a refund of the unused portion of the loan so that I could be through with Sylvan. That was in early summer. In September, I followed up with an e-mail demanding my refund. I was told by Rachelle ** on Sept. 29 that my loan would be reimbursed the unused funds in 6 to 8 weeks processing time. After 10 weeks and still no refund, during which time I continued to pay my monthly amounts to Sallie Mae. I contacted Dave at Sylvan, the second in charge at the center. He did not initially return calls because he was ill.

I finally caught him in late December. His explanation was that due to the hard financial times, the owner, John, was behind in processing refund requests. He promised me that the loan would be refunded by Jan. 15. Today is Jan. 22. My loan still has not been refunded. Sallie Mae is a third party in this. They funded the loan and now demand payment. I am stuck paying them. No one at Sallie Mae will return correspondence asking for help. And Sylvan continues on with what amounts to free money from my loan which they so far have not refunded. I would not recommend Sylvan to anyone. A better bet would be to check with a local college. They offer tutoring by students at a price less than half of what Sylvan charges and with no contracts.

Now I'm being sued by Sallie Mae for over $7,000. Something that I don't have, even though I started out paying the loan fine. Until my son didn't benefit from it, I stop paying because I was getting behind on everything else trying to pay for something that didn't even help my son. It just put me in more debt. I wish that there was a way Sylvan Learning Center can pay that money back to Sallie Mae. It was just a ripoff taking money from people that want to help their child succeed.

Due to transportation problems, I called and let them know my son would no longer be attending the program until I could get another vehicle. Sylvan refused to reimburse any of my money and also kicked my son out of the program. I made three appointments with Sylvan's director (to explain my situation about transportation). The director never showed up on either appointments. Sylvan's director was never available for conference. I was completely misled by Sylvan and I wouldn't recommend anyone sending their children there.

We were promised that they would get with his teachers at school. (I had to push and push for them to do it and when they finally did meet with his Learning Strategies teacher, they started and finished the meeting without me even though I said I wanted to be there and took off work). They said he would be put with kids his age (he was put with kids much younger than him). Conferences were at their convenience. (They sent a letter stating "15 minutes has been set aside for you on this date" which at their whim would be changed last minute.) Meetings started late and once or twice, I had to leave before meeting started because of the lateness and me having to get back to work. Finally, because of disappointment after disappointment with our son's progress, we had a meeting with Sylvan on June 12th and we were going to dis-enroll him and get a private tutor.

At the meeting again, we were promised he would be further along come August when school started and a private tutor would not be as effective as they are. And here it is January and still not further along. As a matter of fact, he has gone backward not forward as of their last testing. I have been working with his teachers and getting him passed not Sylvan. I have so much more to say that I don't think this e-mail space is enough. I have e-mail after e-mail of my complaints to Sylvan and their reasons things aren't going as promised. Unfortunately, we don't have the money to just throw away on empty promises. I feel we have been taken advantage of because of our desperation to help our son succeed. After the last meeting in December, I was so fed up that I dis-enrolled him. I was then told he had until January 9th and when I dropped him off on January 5th, I was told sorry he is already dis-enrolled. I need help! Oh, the $9,309 we paid for enrollment does not include the $275 we paid to have him evaluated by Sylvan.

You cannot believe the pain and disappointment that we felt when he didn't even pass that year in school. What a waste of time and money! When I called Sylvan about it, they just wanted to give us more lessons. We refused more lessons because the first lessons didn't work. We paid on the loan for as long as we could, and then stopped. They have turned us over to a collection agency and it is ruining our perfect credit. With the interest added on the $9,000.00 is more like $12,000.00. I wouldn't recommend Sylvan to anyone. It's not worth it.

After the initial testing, I agreed to take Joey for two hours a day, three days a week. Tessa, the director, said that if I prepay, I would be charged less per hour and that if I used Sallie Mae for a loan, it would be tax deductible. Another perk would be that the balance of the payment for the remaining hours, if I did not keep Joey enrolled during the school year, could be sent directly to Sallie Mae at the end of the summer. It would save me some interest charges.

I signed paperwork for a loan of 3195.00 payable to the Morris Sylvan center. When school resumed in August, I spoke with my son's teacher and asked her to let me know the results of his placement testing as soon as she could. They tested the first week of school and after finding out that Joey had actually LOST knowledge during the summer and that the school has programs to help him, I decided it was not in my or Joey's best interest to continue to go to Sylvan. Joey loved his teacher and enjoyed his time at the center, but he was okay with it.

I talked to Tessa, who told me that the credit might take a couple of weeks to show up at Sallie Mae and to call if for some reason it wasn't there in two weeks. This made me question whether the reimbursement would really be processed and I made a mental note to check back. The payment was never sent. As you can imagine, we have lots of bills coming in and I want to pay this loan off and be done with it. (There is no monthly statement and I didn't want to forget and be charged more.)

I have called repeatedly and been told, I'm sorry that it wasn't taken care of when we said. It will be taken care of immediately. I have also been told that it was just done last Friday; sorry it's been taking so long to get it done. This is four months I have been waiting and been lied to. The last time I talked to Tessa, I asked her what balance was going to be sent - he still had over twenty hours left and we had agreed to the loan to get the reduced fee of $39 per hour. I expected the amount to be over $1000.

I was told the amount would be in the 800s. The difference is more than the interest we have accrued while waiting for the reimbursement! When I asked why the amount was so low, Tessa told me that it was because we had not used all of the hours. The rate had been adjusted to $43/hour. Tessa apologized that I must not have heard that part of our conversation.

I am still being put off and today was told by the owner's secretary that the owner (who is 'out' on days I call the centers) is a good man. She went on to say that it was probably Sallie Mae being slow. Some times Sallie Mae takes almost two months. My payments show up almost immediately. I do not believe that. I called Sallie Mae and checked the account on the website. They have received nothing from Sylvan against our account.

I will never go back to neither this location, nor to Sylvan!

There were many times that the center was supposed to open at 8:30 a.m. and no one arrived until 9:00 or 9:15 a.m. Class was supposed to end at 12:30 p.m. We would arrive around 12:15 and our daughter was already out of class. Come to find out, there was also a 15-20 minute break in between classes. So I'm paying for 4 hours and only receiving 3. At $52.00 per hour. I'm losing over $100.00 per week. The director set up meetings to discuss progress and missed most of them. Not once, did she ever call to reschedule. She just let us drive across town for nothing. No one in the center could ever offer us an explanation. I called the corporate office on several occasions and was always told that someone would get back to me. I didn't know that it would take 3 months.

When the director's supervisor finally did get around to calling me back, all she could do was defend her colleague. At one missed meeting, the director stated that she missed it because her father passed away. Of course, I empathized. But, when she missed the next meeting without a phone call, I was irate. I called the supervisor and even she couldn't track down the director. Later that day, the supervisor returned my call only to tell me that the reason the director missed our meeting was because her father fell ill. I'm sorry, but didn't her father just die last month? I have a heart, but I will not be lied to when there is over $14,000 on the line.

On several occasions, my daughter was left to herself at a table to learn and memorize flash cards. I can go to the dollar store and get flash cards for $.99 and do that at home with her myself. Why pay Sylvan $52.00? Hello, does this make any sense to anyone? My daughter said that she was in groups of 3 and had a question about the lesson being taught. Her tutor told her to wait until the end of the lesson for her question. Why? At the end of the lesson, she forgot the question and never learned the lesson. I told the director that I wasn't happy with Sylvan and wanted her removed. She was very persistent that we give it a little more time. I couldn't say no to my daughter, she seemed to like it there. But according to her teachers at her school, her academic performance wasn't showing any signs of progress.

It took 4 months for Sylvan to get the curriculum from our daughter's school so that they could teach at Sylvan what was being taught in her primary school. So for 4 months, they taught her what they "assumed" all 4th graders were learning. On slow days, they would just do her homework with her for her 2 hour class. Upon picking her up from Sylvan, her homework still wasn't done. How can you not finish 3 pages of homework in 2 hours? What is being done in these facilities for $52.00 per hour? My daughter's test scores were all coming back below 60%! My daughter wasn't learning anything!

When the director finally got a hold of the schools' curriculum, all my questions had been answered! Come to find out, my daughters' school was teaching "new" math and Sylvan was teaching "traditional" math! So, my daughter was being taught 2 different things, sometimes in the same day. She was totally confused. Had the director done her job in the beginning instead of just trying to fill up her seats, none of this would have happened. In conclusion, Sylvan was the biggest most expensive mistake of my life and I would give anything to go back in time and not send her there. I wouldn't recommend Sylvan to my worst enemy.

We have one discouraged student and a depleted bank account. We are grandparents living on fixed incomes and raising two grandkids. We are sending this information on to the Better Business Bureau in Little Rock.

After every session I confer with the teacher, observe his work and note his progress. If they have been studying antonyms or homonyms or prefixes or the differences between questions and statements I reinforce what he has learned during the class. When I ask him what he has learned during a full day of class he replies: 'Nothing'. When I ask him what he has learned at Sylvan that day, not only can he tell me but I am engaged in reinforcing his learning. Amy Rasch, the supervisor at this location has been commendable in her attention to my child's needs and applying the appropriate resources to them. My complaint is with the NYC Board of Ed. and its ineptitude with dealing with children with special needs.

I feel sylvan took adavantage of me and my sons, I signed a contract for 17,000. I am in arrears over this thing, and guess what else never got a tax write off please help

my credit score has plummeted, and what would have happened if I didn't have the family crisis, my boys would have gone and kept going not knowing they had a disability.

Paid $400 for loan fees, lost $38 x 23 hours = $874 and money for interest paid since June 2006

Then I finally got ahold of Zaidee at the Rego Park office who did not get back to me neither. I finally got fed up with them so I sent them a fax in which I told them that because of their lack of customer service and professionalism I was request a refund for the remaining lessons. No one responded to my fax either.

Then I called again and got a hold of Audrey who then told me that Kevin the manager was no longer with their firm. She said she would look into the matter and get back to me. I got a called from her where she apologized and said she would look into the matter futher. She said that she would take care of it and send me a check which should send me a refund and it would take another two weeks which I expected by end of October. When the check didn't arrive I called her back and then she said that she was sorry that no one took care of the matter and she would have the accounting department mail it to me by Friday, Nov. 3 and to call her if I didn't receive it.

Then I called her back on Nov. 3th to tell her I hadn't seen it and she said she would call me back. I called her on Nov. 20th and she said that she didn't owe me anything because the agreement said (which no one told me of such a policy) that if my daughter didn't finish the course the price would revert from the discounted price to the original price and thus Sylvan did not owe me anything. It took them 4 months of run around and this goose chase with Keith (who is no longer with them) and ultimately with Audrey.

I enrolled my daughter in these classes and paid up front because they convinced me that it was the cheepest way to go. After they didn't even get back to me and my they neglect and disregard I was disgusted with them. I am requesting a reimbursement for the remaining 20 hours. Their service is terrible and I don't want my daughter returning to that establishment.