Penn Foster College, WORST experience, Non-serious and clueless Customer Support

Hi All,

Just going to share my personal experience in applying to Penn Foster College.

I applied for bachelor of Business degree, got evaluation of sending $25 Fees and Transcript. They awarded me 84 credit towards transfer and I guess that was the point where come "For Profit School in Action".

I called almost 5 times but couldn't enroll because they told me I need a special account due to AMOUNT OF CREDIT transfer and this person, that person is not on seat to help.

Well finally after 2 weeks of struggling over phone, ( would like to mention, they never replied any my email), finally some one send me enrollment forms in my email to sign, scan and send them back with Creditcard information. I signed form, fill my Credit card information and send them back in email.

Now this actually never happened. With my almost 7-9 calls, each time I get a new rep on phone, one answered they got documents , other said , sorry, we didn't get your email, please resend. Here I would like to say after my experience, each person sitting there has no communication each other. I got one email from Student service that please fill enrollment forum (the third time) for "Bachelor Of Criminal Justice" while I applied, paid and already sent documents for Business Degree.

Well, I called again and got a Supervisor on phone, he said there was some issues and it will be fixed within 24 hours and you will be enrolled. He charged me over phone for enrollment. But today, after passing one week, I called again as I still wasn't enrolled and the guy who attended me ( Account specialist who have access to fix anything according first rep), he gave me great new " Sorry Sir, I can't help you, would you like to cancel your account" so "YES" was only thing I could say and they cancel within one minute.

Wost ever experience, paid for shipping twice my documents, paid for so many phone calls, wasted almost one month and finally got nothing. I was reading good feedback everywhere on forum so decided to apply, but I guess maybe they use to be serious college now I see they don't have intention to help anymore. Maybe they already got so many students so simply " Who cares" or just Typical For Profit College, when they see that I might finish early and they won't earn that such money, they simply refused to accept me.

Anyhow, my personal experience only, so if some one is going to apply to them, just be careful and ready , that could happen to you too.

Thanks all.

 

Avoid Penn Foster at all costs. They screwed me out of a few hundred dollars. I won't go into details. I tell everyone to avoid them like the plague.

 

That's a bad break, but it concerns me how quickly people are willing to blame common issues on a school's "For-Profit" status. It's become a witch hunt and I don't think the public even realizes how dangerous their jumping on that bandwagon really is.

 

I am currently taking CJ courses from PFC and I have nothing but good things to say about them. When I have a question or concern it's usually answered and resolved within a couple of days. Their materials are up to date and I like the "at your own pace" format.
I'm chagrined that the OP had such a bad experience. It may have been just a comedy of errors but I'm certain they want you to study with them and to have as many alumni as possible.

Also I agree with LearningAddict regarding the "For Profit" bashing. I've had a "For Profit" business for 30 years and I've had to treat the customer right to continue to stay in business. PFC has been doing it for over 100 years. They want to please their customer (student). I know a lot of people are enamored with "Non-Profits". But just because a school (business) is non-profit doesn't mean nobody profits.

 

LearningAddict, sideman; Thanks for your inputs Sir. I respect and agree what you have said. What I write above and said are my personal experience and feelings, so I am not here to judge how they are instead just wanted to share what I experience.

I had a friend who enrolled just one week ago, he actually recommended me Penn Foster. He was done with enrolling within one hour over phone, the only difference was , he was a Freshman while I am Transfer. In addition; what responses I received before my "Credit Evaluation" and after that, I ( again my personal opinion only) strongly believe that they didn't take me serious because I was just 30 Credit away to finish my degree and this is because they see they won't make good profit from this student.

Thanks again for your inputs.

 

This OP is going around posting this thread, take it for what it is worth. I also am tired of the "For Profit" bashing. Not that there may not be a problem with some of these schools, but to take the entire group and say they are all bad is ridiculous. Let's be honest, all college are for profit in some sense. State colleges and universities and community colleges all must have profit to continue. These schools are subsidized by the tax payers so it is not as obvious. I have problems with some of the things UofP did and a few others but there are good for profits.

 

I have been a Penn Foster student for a year now in the Electronics technician course. I have NOTHING but great things to say about them. I, MYSELF cost myself some money because I screwed when signing up for the course. I enrolled in the Basic electronics course because I thought you had to before you could do the ET course. Before I could transfer into the ET course I had signed the waiver so i could get all my books instead of installments. It was MY FAULT, not there's. No one wants to take responsibility for their actions anymore.
Anyway the school has been GREAT, instructor answers email within a few hours with good info/advice. I wish they would add a "chat" with your instructor feature but other than that they have been great. 9 more exams I graduate a full Electronics tech. Great course, EXTREMELY thorough. I recommend Penn Foster to anyone.

 

newincanada,

From our understanding, there was some confusion about which program you were taking because you applied for the Business Management and the Criminal Justice. Our Admissions Counselor had forwarded your account to management first thing on Monday after your concerns were mentioned late Friday. Your post here is dated for Sunday.

We are so sorry for the poor customer service you experienced and we worked hard to resolve your concerns. Currently, we show that you have spoken with Student Services and this issue has been rectified. If this is not the case, please message your Admissions Rep Mike asap so we can address your concerns.

 

Seriously?!?

The OP agreed to have FERPA-protected information on an internet discussion forum?

Weird.

 

@graymatter,

Agreed... that doesn't look good.

 

Is this really a situation that would fall under FERPA? "newincanada" is anonymous and Penn Foster's post did not reveal any personally identifying information. This is the first time I've heard of FERPA, so bear with me here: It would seem a bit unfair if Penn Foster was not allowed to respond; in that case, a student could post whatever lies they want and the school could do nothing to correct it by posting their side of the story?

(Just to be clear I am NOT suggesting that newincanada is lying in any way, it sounds like (s)he is being truthful and is just fed up with the confusion with the school.)

 

"Some information in a student's educational record is defined as directory information under FERPA. Under a strict reading of FERPA, the school may disclose this type of information without the written consent of the student. However, the student can exercise the option to restrict the release of directory information by submitting a formal request to the school to limit disclosure. Directory information may include:
Name;
Address;
Phone number and email address;
Dates of attendance;
Degree(s) awarded;
Enrollment status;
Major field of study."

The only thing released, and even then for an anonymous person, was the field of study that they applied for. Not covered under FERPA unless a written request has been submitted to make it so.

 

I love the thread topic title:

 

So how does Penn Foster know who this student is without any identifying information? Seems crazy to me.

 

The OP has posted on other sites, and they went into detail so I imagine that it would only take a little investigating to match the details. I do not know much about Penn Foster or there reputation. It is interesting that they responded. Back in the day when I was doing semi-pro photography there was a well established mail order photo equipment that had one of their employee's monitor popular photo websites and respond to complaints. He usually tried to satisfy and/or rectify the problem. Is Penn Foster doing this I wonder, or is it damage control?