Excelsior off for the Summer?

Man, down to 3 credits and I can't get Excelsior to respond to my emails. They were really good during the "typical' school year, but now that summers here, I can't get anything from them.
Anybody else having this problem?

 

Excelsior

I never tried to send them anything during the yr so I dont know how long they normaly take to respond.

 

Tel us, Tisdail...?

Sure, educational institutions of all stripes slow down in the summer.

So--Tisdail, please tell us you got a response?

--Orson

 

In addition nearly most of the staff is geared up for summer commencement. In fact I just got back from the alumni dinner. Commencement was a great event today. Excelsior awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws to Dr. Barry Cob, the head of DANTES.

Hang in there. If these are your last credits it may be taking a bit longer to double check to insure that all degree requirements are met.

John

 

I found Excelsior to be really slow through email response all year round. Average response rate I had was around 2 or 3 days I guess. I would imagine it would depend on which department you are emailing as well. Try calling them, it might be quicker (I can't imagine being put on hold for 3 days ).

BR,

Bill

 

I think expecting a response to every email with 2-3 days is unreasonable.

I receive approximately 100 emails a day that require some response from me. Some, maybe 50%, can be answered immediately - emails that are asking a direct question about policy or my opionion. About 25% require either some action or research on my part before I can answer them. This work is scheduled into my day along with all my other responsiblities. It is not unusual for the response to these emails to take a week or so. Finally, about 25% require the action or opinions of others in order to answer. So, I contact that person or persons and can not respond until I hear back from them. This takes as long as it takes.

I'm not sure why there is this expectation that email with be answered immediately. Do we expect someone to write a response to our (snail mail) letter on the day it arrives?

Hworth

 

I agree with 2-3 days, but.....

....what about three weeks? Is that unreasonable?

BTW: in the past, they have responded within 2-3 days.

 

I'm enrolled in a business program at Excelsior and the answers to my e-mails come back the next day, as a rule. Sometimes it takes a bit longer, two days maybe. Last time I was in contact with them was about a week ago and it seemed to be all right.

Dennis Siemens

 

The expectation to see immediate responses from Excelsior comes from the 800 or so dollars one coughs up to pay enrollement. I paid money for them evaluate my assessed credits and apply them towards a degree. They are a business and I am a customer. Good customer service is good for repeat customers.

With this said, I don't expect them to respond before a couple days (I'm sure they have a systematic way of answer emails just like a company would on the phone). They probably get HUNDREDS of emails in a week (I guess I have no clue really). It wil take a while to get to yours.

BR,

Bill

 

customer service

If you are not getting the reply fast enough please read Dr John Bears book on complaining.

 

Here is a simple test at an old Dean from USC told me. Before you enroll in any school, pick up the telephone and call the Registrar of the school, not the office, but the "Offical Registar", just say, I"I would like to speak to the Registrar"

Your results will be a snap shot of the schools core beliefs on customer service.

While attending Excelsior, I could never get contected I always hit a gatekeeper or voicemail. At TESC I completed my AS and spoke a few time to the Registrar on some minor items.

When I look at a graduate program, I used this test, I was looking at UOP and the University of Redlands MBA programs, I went with Redlands..... Their customer service was a 10


This story is dedicated to Dean Jones (in her 90's) from the University of Southen California.

 

If they are a distance education institution that prides itself on service, then expecting a 2 to 3 day response time is not entirely unreasonable. At the very least, if they are experiencing an extraordinary volume of email, they should not only state this in an automated reply but have a notice about this problem posted on their website.

Darren.

 

Absolutely, I don't think Excelsior is in the same position as most traditional universities are. I don't think students will be willing to stick with an assessment school like Excelsior if their service is bad. I see students would be willing to stick w/ a traditional school even if they didn't get the great service there (enrollement, transfer problems, etc.) because:

1: They (or their parents) may have wanted to go to this particular university. So, feel obligated to stick with it despite the trouble he/she has their with administration.

2: The school may have an excellent program in their interest field and the student doesn't feel he/she would benifit by going to another school.

3: The student (young ones straight out of high school) just may feel that he has no right to go to another school "I was accepted here and I must stay here because my parents tell me to".

Excelsior is probably mostly adult students who have had prior college. They don't want the "you want to pursue an education you have to jump when we say jump" story. If Excelsior is slacking in the administrative field and there are better education programs at another non-traditional school, I think that adult student would go looking. Excelsior doesn't want to lose any customers so they probably make it an effort to answer questions of the students as best as they can.

BR,
Bill

 

Follow-up post.....

....well I’m still down to my final 3 credits. Emails sent on June 24 and July 12 requesting help have yet to responded to. I've sent another one off today.
And yes, I could make a call, but at this point I'm kind of interested to find out just how long it will take to get a reply.

BTW: of my three most recent classes, two taken near the end of May and the other one the 1st of July, only one of them has been included in my latest transcript summary, although all three as shown as beginning completed under the list of "exams taken".

It continues….