Schools with bad customer service.....

Im sure there is a thread somewhere about this but I thought Id start another to hopefully update the bad...

What colleges have you dealt with that just has horrible customer service?

I was planning to enroll in Wilmington University for their Administration of Justice with concentration in Criminal Behavior program, however after 4 voice mails left (without a callback) and repeatedly calling and not being able to speak to the person I was told could handle my issue (in the department I was going to get degree from) I have decided that if I can't get someone now the chances of me being able to reach them later are slim to none. So because of this I started looking elsewhere.

What are your school list with bad customer service that made you look elsewhere?

 

I'm not sure its the norm, but I have still not been called back after 3-4 messages with AMU. Its been 5 or 6 days.

 

(I think) we get some consistent complaints regarding NCU in this regard but it's not always easy to know how to think about this problem. If a college has a problem (and it might be just one person) with customer service, can you condemn the whole school? Maybe, if it's persistent enough. But, on the other hand, you made four calls . . . in one hour? In one day? In one month? It makes a difference.

Historically UNISA is probably the worst. I can't count the number of times we've heard "I emailed them and they NEVER responded." And they never will. If you're going to let that stop you then that's fine with them because they have thousands of people making inquiries per week. It's clear that they don't feel the need to accomodate us in that regard. You do it their way or not at all. The first (and perhaps the most important) admissions test is your ability to extract information from the school. Imagine standing in line to register for courses and someone hands you a rubix cube. Solve the puzzle or you don't get to register. Figure it out or go somewhere else. That's the feeling you get with UNISA. If you are patient and work through the process it works well. If you insist on doing it your way or something other than the UNISA way then you'll get stuck and maybe sit there for a year before anyone even takes notice. And that seems to be OK with them.

 

Sorry I totally forgot to say when my calls took place. I actually called 2x one week and 2x the next and left voice mails both those weeks. This week I just took to calling to see if I could catch them without leaving a voice mail since it seems to do no good. Along with leaving voice mails, I also called back every couple of days to see if I could just reach the person. Then I called back a couple times and spoke with another department (person really) only to be told that this one department had to be the one to okay what I was asking, which was to be admitted before my degree was conferred from my other college with a letter from my undergrad program registrar stating that I completed all requirements etc.

Personally I understand that schools are busy and they have many applicants to deal with but I feel that a 3 week period and 4 voice mails to the same person should be sufficient enough to warrant a call back. If you can't make the time then I can't trust that this department as this school will be available in a timely manner should I need something while enrolled in their program.

 

Call back

 

I am back on LU...they pick up when I call.....lol

 

I'll have to say Troy. It took my advisor 10 weeks to evaluate my transcripts. I called Troy and verified that all of my transcripts were received. Then I e-mailed my advisor for a timeline. She told me she had them and will be done in 6 weeks.

Troy pissed me off so bad I switched my G.I. Bill to Liberty and enrolled.

 

For the record, I have had great customer service from UNISA. The key is to use an outfit like IACI to help you navigate the maze through to a particular program. Once you are actually in that program, it's a whole different world.

 

In my opinion the California CCs and CSUs have customer quality ranging from poor to good (except Coastline's which is excellent - everything is done on-line) - I blame the bureaucracy involved in most cases.

 

My customer service at FHSU has not been horrible but NOTHING like Liberty. I got spoiled...

 

Well, what I think that most people do not realize is that APUS has a very small presence at the adminstrative office. There are not that many employees that actually work there. That is why they prefer email so they can ship your inquiry to the right person. If you are talking about the last 5-6 days, you do realize that there was a holiday where the admin. for the school was closed on Friday and Monday?

 

Thomas Edison State College has to be the WORST. The only way I was able to get a returned call from TESC was to post on there public Facebook page how unhappy I was. I received 3 calls and 2 e-mails the next morning. Even though they called me back, they were very rude and made me feel like I was an inconvenience to them. So I was done with them.

On a positive note, I enrolled at Liberty University and I have had the complete opposite CS there. Liberty has been excellent. They answer my phone calls every time and are more then happy to take the time to answer my questions.

They even have a chat option on there website. I have used this a few times as well--with the same happy results.

 

I wouldn't call it horrible customer service, but it certainly wasn't the best.

In looking for a bachelor's level, distance-learning, degree in Mathematics, I had narrowed my search to two choices. The two choices were Chadron State College and University of Illinois, Springfield. I decided to apply to both, and make a final decision after seeing how many of my previous credits would transfer.

Chadron has an admissions advisor evaluate your credits, and then they send a report by snail mail showing what they have accepted, and what requirements you will need to complete your degree. UIS does the same thing, but they also have an online degree audit system where you can check on your credits and remaining requirements.

Email inquiries to Chadron got a slow response, if they got any at all. Some questions were answered in a week to ten days. A few were never answered at all.

Email inquiries to UIS got a reply within 24 hours. One young lady in the admissions department ever replied to an email on a Sunday afternoon and followed up on Monday with more detailed information.

It turns out that the number of courses I would need to complete a degree at Chadron is slightly higher than the number I need at UIS, but by the time I was able to make that determination I had already pretty much made up my mind. Chadron is less expensive, and the total cost would be lower even with a couple of additional courses. But UIS is so much easier to deal with that it's worth the extra cost, in my opinion.

 

For me Troy University was not bad at Southern Methodist University. It took my Academic Advisor 3 months to get back to me after 2 emails and 3 messages. And I contacted him regarding to one academic issue.

Capella University so far is right there for me. Even though I don't need anything from my academic advisor, she just called me to ensure I need what I need for the class.

 

It’s hard to get a good answer from Clovis unless you know who to talk to. Most of the people who will email you or speak to you on the phone are students. If you need to talk to someone talk to Tom in admissions. He has been there a long time and knows everything about the school. I can't wait till this summer when I can get done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I agree completely. I never had trouble, always had good service from IACI and left everything in their hands. I simply did what was asked to re-register each year and Dr Esselen took care of the rest.

 

I was considering APU. I spoke to a lady and decided to enroll. Once I enrolled it seemed to take forever to get responses. I decided at that point to look elsewhere. I was surprised as others have had good experiences, but for me it was not. I thought that their undergraduate program looked pretty good, and loved the included textbooks.

 

So many say NCU's customer service is terrible. I don't recall this in the 5.5 years I was with them up until I graduated. Almost every time I called during daytime business hours, a real person answered the phone and made an earnest attempt to address my concerns. If I did get an answering service, they actually called back within a reasonable time.