- Jun 23, 2001
- 27,730
- 8
- 0
Okay, here's the back story for this rant. The degree I am pursuing requires me to take several MS, Cisco, and Linux courses. The Cisco and Linux courses are excellent, with curriculum's defined and managed online by Cisco and Red Hat. All the course material is online, its easy to use, well laid out, and easy to submit feedback. Their sites are clean, efficient, and fast.
The MS classes are the most problematic. At the moment, I am taking the simple XP Pro course, required for all future MS courses. My MS Windows 2003 Server course will start in Oct. On the official syllabi for these courses, no mention is made of any text books being required. The advisors and associates at the college informed me that the course work was entirely online, as the Cisco and Linux courses. Although, their credibility took a major dive after the registrations people F'ed up my AF TA paperwork (I gave them an approved TA form, they gave me a receipt, then dropped me from all courses this semester for nonpayment), but thats another rant in itself. I could fill another few pages with the stupidity of the registrations people at this college. Thank God, the instructors know what they are talking about and their IT equipment is very good.
Come the first day of school, after straightening out the registration issue, I was informed by the instructor that I needed a specific text book. No biggie, I got the ISBN number and looked the book up on Amazon. While there, I also bought the book for the Win2k3 server course. I loath to use the college bookstore because they almost never have used books, and I prefer to keep text books from useful courses, thus, I like them in good condition. The adverts on Amazon said the books included CDs, which I thought was the electronic lab disk that came bundled with the text books at the college bookstore. I should have done some more digging because they were not the same. The electronic lab disk is an even bigger scam than the college textbook racket. Essentially, the disk is a coaster. The only thing needed from the disk is a passcode on the inside of the sleeve that allows access to online (VMWare) labs for the courses. For this, Cengage Learning charges 72 dollars. The college book store bundles the text book with the disk for 180. The book alone at Amazon was 60, so I'm still financially ahead buying them separately.
Now, here is where things went horribly wrong. On 31 Aug, I placed the order for the lab disks for both the XP Pro and Win2k3 courses, with 2nd day shipping. This would ensure I would have the materials before the 3rd day of class, or so I thought. 2 business days later, I received a sealed, empty box from Cengage containing only a single printed invoice from a company in Florida. Obviously, not me nor the materials I required. After verifying my order invoice number and internet reference number had the correct information on them for my materials, I wrote a polite and detailed letter to the email address specified in the original confirmation email. I received no response, and sent them a second email about 24 hours after sending the first. Again, no response. After that, I called the 800 number listed on the invoice. After attempting to navigate through their crappy automated system, I finally found the option for individuals, which connected me to a voice mail message system. I left a detailed message. No response within 24 hours. I then called the number again, and further explored the automated system, eventually realizing that the options for colleges, elementary schools, high schools, vocational schools, government, businesses, retailers, etailers, and individuals all led back to what appeared to be the same voice mail system. Again, I left another message, this time politely expressing my dissatisfaction for their lack of any service at all.
Since I work in a shielded environment, my cell phone often doesn't ring and phone calls go straight to my voice mail. After getting home from work the day after leaving the second message, I had a voice mail on my cell from them. This message made no mention of my emails or messages, instead informing me that they had received a call from the company in FL, saying that they had received my order by mistake and wanted to confirm whether or not I received my materials. They left a different 800 number and an extension number. I called that number and the extension, however, they also led back to the same voice mail system, where I again left a message, further expressing my dissatisfaction with their service.
The next day, I received another voice mail from them, again with no mention of any of my previous contact attempts, asking to confirm if I'd received my materials, with a different 800 number and extension. Again, they led back to the same voice mail system. I left no message this time.
That next morning, I went to their site and checked their Contact Us section, which listed still more 800 numbers. Their customer service numbers all led back to that same voice mail. I then tried their technical support number, and got through to a real person after some digging through the automated options. That person connected me to the customer service department directly, and I was finally able to speak to someone that could help me. I informed them of the entire situation. Then informed me that they were going to resend the materials, with no charge for shipping. In hindsight, I should have insisted on free overnight delivery, but this was at 0500 in the morning and it slipped my mind. The rep then told me that in order to do resend the material, they would have to refund the original payment, then charge my account again. I informed them that the account only has a minimal balance, as its used primarily for bill paying and online transactions to limit my potential losses in the effect of a theft. To date, this system has worked fairly well. The rep stated that they would refund the original payment first, then charge for the resend a day later. I informed them this this would be satisfactory.
I login to my online banking 5 minutes ago, and what do I see? A 150 dollar charge, over drawing my account by 140 dollars. :| Since they are in EST and I am in MST, they are currently closed and I won't be able to call them again until 0500 MST, tomorrow morning.
Needless to say, I will be extremely irate if my bank charges my the overdraft fees because this company made blunder after blunder after blunder after blunder.
Don't ever deal with them. If a course you want to take using course materials provided by them, tread very carefully. They seem to thrive on stupidity.
And after all this crap, I'm currently very far behind on my course lab work. When I finally receive the materials, I'll have to devote an entire saturday to knock out all the labs in one sitting.
After I'm finished with my needed MS courses, Cengage Learning is going on my black list of companies, along with the power company SRP and Qwest Communications. I've haven't experienced customer service this poor since I had service with Qwest. At least I could actually reach a person with them. They wouldn't do a damn thing, but at least you could cuss out a real person.
*Cliffs*
College courses require ripoff materials
Purchased text book and lab disk from separate sources
Cengage Learning demonstrates their ineptitude
The MS classes are the most problematic. At the moment, I am taking the simple XP Pro course, required for all future MS courses. My MS Windows 2003 Server course will start in Oct. On the official syllabi for these courses, no mention is made of any text books being required. The advisors and associates at the college informed me that the course work was entirely online, as the Cisco and Linux courses. Although, their credibility took a major dive after the registrations people F'ed up my AF TA paperwork (I gave them an approved TA form, they gave me a receipt, then dropped me from all courses this semester for nonpayment), but thats another rant in itself. I could fill another few pages with the stupidity of the registrations people at this college. Thank God, the instructors know what they are talking about and their IT equipment is very good.
Come the first day of school, after straightening out the registration issue, I was informed by the instructor that I needed a specific text book. No biggie, I got the ISBN number and looked the book up on Amazon. While there, I also bought the book for the Win2k3 server course. I loath to use the college bookstore because they almost never have used books, and I prefer to keep text books from useful courses, thus, I like them in good condition. The adverts on Amazon said the books included CDs, which I thought was the electronic lab disk that came bundled with the text books at the college bookstore. I should have done some more digging because they were not the same. The electronic lab disk is an even bigger scam than the college textbook racket. Essentially, the disk is a coaster. The only thing needed from the disk is a passcode on the inside of the sleeve that allows access to online (VMWare) labs for the courses. For this, Cengage Learning charges 72 dollars. The college book store bundles the text book with the disk for 180. The book alone at Amazon was 60, so I'm still financially ahead buying them separately.
Now, here is where things went horribly wrong. On 31 Aug, I placed the order for the lab disks for both the XP Pro and Win2k3 courses, with 2nd day shipping. This would ensure I would have the materials before the 3rd day of class, or so I thought. 2 business days later, I received a sealed, empty box from Cengage containing only a single printed invoice from a company in Florida. Obviously, not me nor the materials I required. After verifying my order invoice number and internet reference number had the correct information on them for my materials, I wrote a polite and detailed letter to the email address specified in the original confirmation email. I received no response, and sent them a second email about 24 hours after sending the first. Again, no response. After that, I called the 800 number listed on the invoice. After attempting to navigate through their crappy automated system, I finally found the option for individuals, which connected me to a voice mail message system. I left a detailed message. No response within 24 hours. I then called the number again, and further explored the automated system, eventually realizing that the options for colleges, elementary schools, high schools, vocational schools, government, businesses, retailers, etailers, and individuals all led back to what appeared to be the same voice mail system. Again, I left another message, this time politely expressing my dissatisfaction for their lack of any service at all.
Since I work in a shielded environment, my cell phone often doesn't ring and phone calls go straight to my voice mail. After getting home from work the day after leaving the second message, I had a voice mail on my cell from them. This message made no mention of my emails or messages, instead informing me that they had received a call from the company in FL, saying that they had received my order by mistake and wanted to confirm whether or not I received my materials. They left a different 800 number and an extension number. I called that number and the extension, however, they also led back to the same voice mail system, where I again left a message, further expressing my dissatisfaction with their service.
The next day, I received another voice mail from them, again with no mention of any of my previous contact attempts, asking to confirm if I'd received my materials, with a different 800 number and extension. Again, they led back to the same voice mail system. I left no message this time.
That next morning, I went to their site and checked their Contact Us section, which listed still more 800 numbers. Their customer service numbers all led back to that same voice mail. I then tried their technical support number, and got through to a real person after some digging through the automated options. That person connected me to the customer service department directly, and I was finally able to speak to someone that could help me. I informed them of the entire situation. Then informed me that they were going to resend the materials, with no charge for shipping. In hindsight, I should have insisted on free overnight delivery, but this was at 0500 in the morning and it slipped my mind. The rep then told me that in order to do resend the material, they would have to refund the original payment, then charge my account again. I informed them that the account only has a minimal balance, as its used primarily for bill paying and online transactions to limit my potential losses in the effect of a theft. To date, this system has worked fairly well. The rep stated that they would refund the original payment first, then charge for the resend a day later. I informed them this this would be satisfactory.
I login to my online banking 5 minutes ago, and what do I see? A 150 dollar charge, over drawing my account by 140 dollars. :| Since they are in EST and I am in MST, they are currently closed and I won't be able to call them again until 0500 MST, tomorrow morning.
Needless to say, I will be extremely irate if my bank charges my the overdraft fees because this company made blunder after blunder after blunder after blunder.
Don't ever deal with them. If a course you want to take using course materials provided by them, tread very carefully. They seem to thrive on stupidity.
And after all this crap, I'm currently very far behind on my course lab work. When I finally receive the materials, I'll have to devote an entire saturday to knock out all the labs in one sitting.
After I'm finished with my needed MS courses, Cengage Learning is going on my black list of companies, along with the power company SRP and Qwest Communications. I've haven't experienced customer service this poor since I had service with Qwest. At least I could actually reach a person with them. They wouldn't do a damn thing, but at least you could cuss out a real person.
*Cliffs*
College courses require ripoff materials
Purchased text book and lab disk from separate sources
Cengage Learning demonstrates their ineptitude
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