World Education Services Reviews

I have sent multiple copies of my degree certificates and my transcripts but they keep getting rejected. So I pick up the phone and decide to talk to them and ask them straightforward what is it they want. The customer service is another story. It takes 15 minutes to connect to them - anytime, any day! I try to call in the morning thinking it will be less busy, no use. I call around noon thinking now maybe they will pick up my call. But it somehow ALWAYS takes them 15 minutes to answer.

Once you do get connected, they are rude and arrogant and not at all helpful. All they do is repeat the same things either from the website or from the email that they have just sent you. They don't get the fact that I have already read it and need further insight, hence the call. I try asking for clarifications, I try twisting my questions. But the answers always remain stern and the same. My bad luck was that the colleges I am applying to won't accept anything except WES. So I am stuck here. But if you have a choice, please go for another service. This is too costly. Too time consuming. Too frustrating. I am already missed the priority deadline because of the disappointing process. Zero stars all the way! Since that is not allowed, I am giving it one.

Because of this, she agreed to send a confirmation request by email to Jagiellonian University that could be responded to by email, and could potentially resolve the problem in a matter of days. However, she explicitly told me she could send that email to my program's registrar, if I provided the email address and name. I sent the email address to her on Nov. 13th with the woman's name, email and phone number. I also alerted the registrar to expect the email, and then on Nov. 14th, sent an email to Mabinty to tell her that the registrar is waiting for the confirmation request. On the same day, I received an automatic email that said that the request was sent out, but it did not say to who or by what means. Having heard nothing, today (Nov. 19th) I called WES and talked to Mabinty again. She told me that in fact they are not allowed to send a confirmation request to a contact provided by a client, and that the contact I provided was just an alternative contact. She said they faxed the request to a fax number she would not give me and perhaps sent to a different email, which she would also not give me.

I requested to talk to her manager, and after being on hold 5-6 times, she hung up on me. I called back and talked to another woman who told me they had not sent the confirmation by fax (it was rejected supposedly), and that they sent it by snail mail and email, but could not tell me where. I asked both women several times to talk to their managers and were told they were not available, and finally, that I could leave a message, which I did, twice (not expecting an answer). Now I am 11 days from my graduate school deadline and am certain that this will not be resolved on time. This means losing $291 to WES, an entire year of my career and delay of plans just because of their incompetence.

After being on hold for hours for two days, I finally had a chance to talk to a representative at WES who stated that I must send them the originals. I explained to him that my diploma was issued in 1991 in Russia, and it would be almost impossible to replace it if it gets lost. He insisted to mail it to them with the promise that they will ship it back to me. I have overnighted the package, paid for insurance, and waited patiently for the evaluation, which did not happen. After a few days, I contacted WES again to find out why my account is still not updated. The response was that WES does not accept any original documents other than documents issued by Ministries of Education. I pointed out that the naturalization is from the Hungarian Ministry of Education, but they refused to accept it.

Once I learned that, I asked WES to cancel my order, return the originals and notarized copies to me with two-day shipping I paid for and refund the rest of my money because other companies do accept notarized copies. I was told that there is no refund and the documents are WES property. I explained to the representative that I fulfilled all their requests for providing the documents, and I have recorded every email and conversation through Screencast to prove it, and according to their website they do return the originals. Then, the rep changed her mind and told me that they will charge a $50 cancellation fee, which I have to agree to. I have recorded both my voice and email response that I agree to the cancellation fee only if they mail back my diploma in two days and refund the remaining balance immediately.

As of today, 11/8/2013, I have not received my refund nor my documents. According to their website, everything was returned to me last week, but the email I received from them today states that all academic records on file have been discarded. So far, I am out of more than $500 (including shipping and insurance fees), I don't have any of my original documents, and my correspondence with WES has been limited through emails on its website because the emails they send back are through "autosender," which customers cannot reply to. When I log in to the website, my status is changing according to their responses without any results.

Since this experience, I have searched WES, and I found 117 of the same complaints with the Better Business Bureau. I have filed a complaint with WES' licensing organization, NACES and the Better Business Bureau.

I went to their Downtown Toronto office personally. They did not open the door. There was a sign outside their office that they do not have any walk-in service. What a load of crap in this day and age. What kind of a service is this? I paid the fee but did not get the degree evaluation I needed. And no one at WES cares or wants to talk. Why is this company allowed to fleece students and professionals, and highly skilled newcomers to Canada like me?

I received an email today from CIC saying that "YOUR APPLICATION HAS BEEN REFUSED BECAUSE YOU DO NOT MEET OUR CRITERIA FOR CREDENTIAL EQUIVALENCY." So this error has cost me amount of time I put in, 1100$ and my broken confidence. Can anyone suggest me what should I be doing?? Thanks.

WES stinks big time. They will find a way to make you suffer. I don't understand why are they recommended by universities and I will certainly put all efforts change that. I can imagine how many talented students who wanted to chase their dreams studying in one of the universities of the US missed their deadlines because of this scumbags.

As I write on July 31 (more than 2 months after!), WES has not sent its evaluation to any of the universities that my cousin requested and none of those universities will admit my cousin without an evaluated transcript. Worse still, WES is neither answering the phone which they list on their website nor have they responded to numerous emails inquiring about the transcripts. I am completely alarmed by this behavior.

Unfortunately, now from my own experience, I can completely understand our students and two faculty members' frustrating experience. I paid for a course by course evaluation of my qualifications which amounted to four degrees including my PhD. However my first degree was carried out in the 1980s at a then polytechnic now turned university. That university informed WES that no transcripts were available for thirty years ago and they would supply a diploma supplement and other information in lieu of the transcript. My other degrees had transcripts as required and a doctoral conferral letter. All of these had to be paid for by myself so please be aware that you may incur extra costs.

WES refused to give me a course by course evaluation because of the letter sent by that polytechnic-university and has said that they will only do a document by document evaluation which is not applicable for new faculty members or incoming students.

I informed them on the telephone and via email every day for the last 10 days to simply ignore that one undergraduate degree as I had another undergraduate degree with a transcript. It was essentially less work for them; they only had to evaluate my three degrees now not four. They simply refused even though I told them I was the one that had supplied them with the information about my degrees and that I had paid for a course to course evaluation.

The customer service was awful. The lady simply repeated over and over again, "We cannot do a course to course evaluation." When I asked how I could remedy the situation. I was told to re-pay again and re-start the process. I remained very polite on the telephone as I had read other reviews about the treatment given but I noted that I spoke to the same woman every day for 10 days. I am not sure how many staff members are working there but I thought it certainly beats the odds of coincidence to receive the same telephone operator. I believe she is the research associate. I am still waiting for some documentation from them to come through - anything.

Interestingly, I noticed that every time I called, the information online would change from received documentation to waiting for documentation. It would change every two days. I was also told 7 out of the last 10 times that I called that a supervisor would call me back to give me more details and/or update me and no one ever did.

I suggest that frustrated clients should write to the Directors and Research Associates. If you access LinkedIn, you can find all the relevant personnel listed there. You can find their names listed on their website listed under World Education news and reviews. The Director also has a blog called Dr. Education. Simply do a little research and take the various forms of recourse.

All of us who work with international students understand that you feel you are in a vulnerable position in such situations. However, please continue to write your legitimate complaints online and to those concerned in order to help future students.

As regards faculty members with international qualifications, at all costs, avoid this service if possible. I understand that some universities and colleges insist on going through WES. It may be better to ask them to request your qualifications through the service rather than attempt to do it yourself as you may end up in the same situation as many students here. These services are unregulated which is unfortunate.

During those days, I tried to contact them via phone and most of the time I called, the phone never got through. In those 5 days, I tried to call them every day and was only able to contact once. When finally I got hold of customer service, they told me that they will call me back before 5 pm ET or the next morning. But I never received any call nor had I seen any update on my status on Wes.org. Again, I called the next day. The phone lines were dead all day. It seems very annoying that they just do not bother and try to collect money. When I discussed with my friend, I came to know that she never received an evaluation in a year when she did the evaluation with WES. In short, just avoid doing an evaluation with them. They do not deserve the job they are doing.

Comparing like course for like, the course I undertook appears to have very similar components to the 52 credits course, but WES insists that it is the same as the basic 1 year course and they will only give me 24 credits for it. I contacted the BBB and WES have so far simply written back saying that a 120 UK credit course is worth 30 US credits instead of the 7 US credits per 20 UK credits they awarded me for my BA degree, now they have changed the goal posts to suit their purposes and now say that 20 UK credits are only worth 5 US credits. But not only that, they then state that because they say a Master's degree is worth 30 credits in the US (but you will recall my local university require 52 for a Masters in Education) that they cannot give me 30 credits and somehow have come up with a figure of 24? Basically, not only is WES not acknowledging the credits awarded me on my actual university transcript, they have conjured a figure totally out of thin air a figure that doesn't relate to anything.

According to WES' evaluation, I do not even have a basic teaching qualification. My local education department will not accept 24 credits and therefore either my career as a teacher is over (I have over 6 years teaching experience behind me in some top schools in the UK) or I will have to take more classes, which I should not have to for a mistake WES have made and refuse to correct. WES continued to state in their response to me through the BBB that I paid them for their option and their opinion is that I should receive 24 credits instead of 42 US credits (or 52 if you include the NQT credits) and that universities can take it or leave it. The fact is the universities take WES' evaluation very seriously and I don't appreciate having to argue my case each time with them stating WES' evaluation is wrong. The fact is I did not pay WES to give me an opinion. I paid WES good money to translate my actual transcript/course and they have not done that.

Currently, they have not responded to my refusal of their response to the BBB. According to BBB's own website, if cases are not resolved, they are closed and I would presume nothing will be done against WES to either ensure they change their mistake and award me the full credits I'm due or refund me. They refuse to refund. I would appreciate any information from anyone who has successfully taken WES to court.

Obviously, some lady told me that they will not accept such form of shipment (indirect), that the University must send this document directly. Okay, but one week earlier, one lady told me that even I could send them a sealed envelope; the condition was to have an official transcript in a sealed envelope. I was so fed up with their service that I gave up and asked them for money back. Probably in my one week experience, I made 12 calls to them. Every time, to talk with the representative, you have to wait 20 minutes. Each lady changed the version of the procedures to follow. There was always some problem. I only hope they will give me my money back. I do not recommend WES. Their "great service" is based on you work, because you have to provide them everything ready on a silver platter.

I mailed the original documents to WES for the respective evaluation. I paid the fee required for the evaluation and for the extra copy to be mailed to NYC DCAS. I received my Evaluation copy. I passed the Exam but I was not selected from the list. In 1999, I got accepted for Lab Microbiologist position at NYC DEP and in 2007, I applied for the Industrial Hygienist Exam. I passed the test because I met the requirement and I was selected for this position at New York City Department of Environmental Protection as Industrial Hygienist.

In 2012, I applied for another test for Assistant Chemist at NYC DCAS, but I was not qualified because I did not meet the Education requirements which were 16 credits of chemistry. I appealed the Exam test results because my original transcript has 16 credits Chemist. My Union legal representative advises me to contact WES again to discuss my transcript evaluation. I contacted WES with my Evaluation Reference number, but they refuse to retrieve my old Evaluation and they request a new transcript from my college and new application, which I submitted the application online and pay the fee required again for the evaluation and for the copy to be sent to NYC DCAS.

Due to the unstable condition in Egypt, it took a long time for Cairo University to mail WES the new transcript, and an official letter stated that Cairo University Faculty of Agriculture is follow the semester system. In February 2013, I received the new evaluation and WES evaluated my transcript different than the first evaluation. They did not evaluate my Chemist credits the same as on my college transcript. For Chemistry, my transcript has 16 credits on the 1998 evaluation. WES evaluated it as 12 credits and on the 2013 evaluation, WES evaluated it as 14 credits.

In March 2013, I appealed the evaluation and explained to WES that my Chemist credits on my college transcript has the lab credits included, but in Egypt they don’t separate the Lab on the transcript and since my college follow the semester system, I should get the same credit evaluation as on my transcript especially for all science classes. On March 14, 2013, I received a letter from the Director of Evaluations at WES that stated my report was reviewed and no change will be made to the evaluation report. New information about foreign programs becomes available, and WES changes their methods of grade and credit conversions. What are the new methods and the new program need it to evaluate same college transcript?

As far as I know, my credits did not change on both transcripts. Many people trusted WES to evaluate their documents; even New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services considers them as professional office and includes them on the approval evaluation list. How many people lost the opportunity to get hired in professional jobs in NYC or in the USA because WES was not accurate on their evaluation? WES is killing the human rights in the United States. All these years, WES is in business destroying people’s future because they are not professional and they don’t have the accurate tool to evaluate other college credits.

How many people got misled by WES? I am wondering why they have a PO Box and not an actual address for people to visit their office; even on their website, there are no staff names. They don’t want to be suing because they are aware that the services they provide are not accurate. The next step, I will be contacting the NYC TV news to get involved in this case to stop WES from destroying more people’s future.

All the while they maintain that we can check the status on the website, when the website is so vague; and then we eventually call to find out more, there is always an inevitable 15 minutes wait period. I finally got through customer service and a lady there said the transcripts were not sealed by the university. Now, how would one know it wasn't sealed by the university? Did they call the university and verify? The customer service girl just said they were not sealed by the university.

I can understand bureaucracy in the third-world country, but to expect it here in USA is baffling. I don't want to deal with this anymore. Had I seen the reviews on the consumer forum, I would have never ever sought your services. However, I called back my university and they said that that is how they are sending transcripts now. Probably a couple of years it was different but now the format has changed. They even said their contact numbers are on the envelope they sent the transcripts; if the evaluation office has any doubts, they can call them and clarify. WES, however, didn't want to do that. Instead, it was so easy to just change the status on the application and sit on my money!

This is very bad service. I will never use their services again and wouldn't recommend this unprofessional place to anyone!

Who regulates these companies anyway? Can anybody just set themselves up as 'evaluation experts', and con as many foreign students as they want? Why do US schools just keep using them, instead of warning applicants of their scams?

Then they screwed up and did not add all the course credits. Both my self and my university tried to urge them to make corrections, and they couldn't care less. Who blames them? They already had cashed in. Please note my university rates top 5 in the UK. Afterwards, they never replied to my e-mails. And the crappy evaluation not even clarifies US equivalence. I feel short-changed. WES stands for what enormous **.

The simple question I had has not been answered for months after I contacted them through their contact page 4 more times. They have not responded other than to "go to this page to request additional reports". The problem is that that page does not even give me an option to order the supplement reports that I need. I also have to go to another agency and send in my official transcripts again (which is hard for my case).

This is a company with unprofessional people. If you need simple evaluations, then go with them but do not expect them to respond when you have trouble with their system.

In 2002, I requested the World Education services to evaluate my credentials. Their requirements at that moment were to have all documents translated and certified. I emailed the original documents to the WES for the respective evaluation. At that moment, I applied to the Kean University and they received the evaluation from WES, also I receive a copy of that evaluation. A few months ago, I applied to the NCA&T University in North Carolina and I requested a copy of that evaluation, and I received it in a sealed enveloped as it should be.

Today, I tried to request another copy of my evaluation because I am trying to apply to the University of North Carolina in Greensboro; I really was disappointed because the WES disable my option to request another copy. I called the WES customer service to ask why they blocked my option to request another copy, the representative stated that I need to resend the documentation again for evaluation, but this time it needs to be emailed from the university where studied. I understand their policy has been changed because many people falsified documents but this is not my case. If their policy about how they accept the documents has been changed, they should take effect from the moment it was released and should affect the entire document from that date and not backward.

I sent my documents for evaluation in 2002 and they didn't request the document to be sent from the University as a requirement, and that was the reason I emailed them my original documents. My question is why they changed the status of my evaluation if they were already evaluated and which should already be a closed case. They don't state that the documents need to be re-evaluated in any part of the WES webpage.

I obtained a bachelor's degree from Jamaica and WES deemed it non-accredited. I found their evaluation to be invalid so I did my research and found that my credentials were in fact accredited here in the US. I forwarded the information to WES and they claimed that they were re-evaluating my credentials. They kept sending me emails that the product I had ordered was not sufficient for entry in school here and I kept saying no.

Within a week after re-evaluating, they still found my credentials to be non-accredited despite the fact that it was disproven.

All of a sudden, they were basing their decision on the contents of the University Council of Jamaica's website and totally disregarding the proven facts provided on the higher learning website here in the states.

WES is concerned about getting more money for their incompetence than getting to the facts. I called them several times and I was told repeatedly that the only way I can speak with a supervisor is through email. A representative from WES told me that If I had ordered the upgraded product, then the outcome probably would have changed.

I am totally dissatisfied with the way my situation was handled. I find them to be incompetent, unreliable and dishonest. I will not be keeping quiet about this.

I asked them to return my money and my original documents, which were sent directly to them from my undergraduate colleges in Africa. Surprisingly, WES has asked me to pay again $50 for cancelling. Instead of refunding my $261 paid directly to them and $200 paid to DHL for shipments and compensate me for the stress caused, I am asked to pay again. I don't think this can be tolerated in a free nation like the USA. For how long can people be taken for granted? The universities need to be aware that WES is not helpful to people with foreign transcripts enrolling in the universities.

This caused $461 directly spent in the process. I failed to enroll in the university for the year 2010-2011. Lastly, I experienced emotional stress and my plans were disturbed.

I had a deadline in Broward College to apply for the online nursing program to start in January. I have spent so much time and energy getting ready for the Hesi test, getting documents, adjusting working hours in order to fit into the program, and now I’m out. I couldn't deliver all my documents on time before BCC does the selection.

I went into Manhattan to the business location of WES. The security guard in the lobby said that no one can go up to the office without an appointment. I explained my reason for being there to the security guard, who I believe works for the building and not WES. He told me that he was sorry and that he hears complaints just like mine dozens of times every single day. WES stole my money and my documents. Do not use this company!