Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/06/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We had a really bad experience with Prep Expert. Here are few points Reliability Unethical or rather fraud. The website for Prep Expert calls ***** ***** "their admissions counselor who has more than 25 years of demonstrated experience." Upon checking the admissions counselor's ******** profile, it reveals a completely different background that is not related to education. It is less relevant and not as reliable. Experience :There are agencies that have a team of Ex-admission officers who have a deep understanding of what's happening behind the curtain. Prep Expert has zero experience in this space. Unprofessional Prep Expert is a new player and a limited staffrather just one (***** *****). They will tell you we have a team and you will find out soon. Nothing is organized. You might have to follow up multiple times when you need them.They are learning, and your kid is their test data. You can almost guarantee that they will give canned responses to all questions. They will show you ****** responses to some questions you ask. Reviews No contribution to Prep Expert reviews is made by students or parents. The content is being published by their marketing team. It's a marketing campaign rather than honest review Bottom Line It is crucial to ask questions before signing up with any Agency. In what way will they assist your children, and do they have the necessary qualifications for the task? A "C" team will be harmful to your children instead of being *************'s similar to seeing an expert. If your claim is not properly addressed, it will have long-lasting negative effects and hinder your ability to heal. That is why the person you choose and the reasons for choosing them are very important!Attaching Akbars LinkedIn Profile

  Business Response

  Date: 01/15/2025

  Thank you for your detailed feedback. While we regret that you feel your experience with Prep Expert did not meet expectations, we would like to address the specific points youve raised to provide clarity and context:
  

  Reliability and Qualifications:
  The claim regarding Akbar Rahels qualifications misrepresents the expertise he brings to our team. ***** ***** has over ********************************************************* navigating the college admissions process. His skills and track record have been instrumental in guiding students to achieve their goals. His background, while perhaps not traditional in certain aspects, provides a wealth of knowledge and insight that benefits our students. We stand by his credentials and the value he adds to our organization.
  

  Experience and Staffing:
  Prep Expert has a growing team of professionals who are dedicated to supporting students in their educational journeys. While we may not have the scale of some larger agencies, we pride ourselves on providing personalized attention to each family we serve. Every team member is highly trained and equipped to provide tailored advice and guidance. Claims of canned responses or reliance on ****** answers are not reflective of the customized, thoughtful service we strive to deliver.
  

  Organization and Professionalism:
  We take great care to ensure our processes are efficient and client-focused. If you experienced any delays or perceived disorganization, we sincerely apologize. However, these instances are not representative of the standard of service we uphold. We continuously refine our operations to ensure that communication is timely and professional, and our team is always available to address any concerns directly.
  Authenticity of Reviews:
  We value the voices of our students and their families, and their genuine feedback is the cornerstone of our success. Any marketing content is clearly designated as such, and we actively encourage reviews from our clients to reflect their honest experiences.
  

  Overall Credibility:
  Our mission is to empower students with the tools and knowledge they need to succeed, and we take our role seriously. The assertion that Prep Expert is a "C team" or "test data" is not consistent with the feedback from countless families who have benefitted from our services. We work hard to build trust and deliver meaningful results for each student.
  

  Additionally, Mr. ******* child was caught providing our Admissions Team false and misleading information, which is a direct violation of our Terms of Service. This was confirmed by Mr. ***** during a lengthy phone conversation. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/15/2025

   
  Complaint: 22774260
  
  Please review the attached document and explain why someone would lie on their LinkedIn profile. PrepExpert might struggle to address this question, or they could be complicit. I want to bring this to the public's attention.

  A dishonest business cannot sustain itself for long.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** *****

  Business Response

  Date: 01/16/2025

  I can't speak to Mr. ******* social media. I can say that my social media profiles are neglected and out of date. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/16/2025

   
  Complaint: 22774260
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  Reattaching, just in case you missed it. Why would someone list a different job on their LinkedIn profile? People usually highlight their achievements, and it's uncommon to see someone misrepresent their professional experience. This shows that your business practices are dishonest.

  your company has weak backbone. if you guys need to survive, honesty is your only friend. Good Luck and Good bye

  Sincerely,
  
  ***** *****

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/26/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I paid $699.30 on 05/28/2023 to the merchant, Prep Expert Test Prep, to enroll my child in SAT 6-Week Flagship Courses under 200-point score improvement guarantee. My child scored 1150 prior to attending the course and then scored merely 1330 after attending the course. Based on the difference of score of 180 before and after attending the course, my child is qualified to get refund of the course fees. Refer attached advertisement of Prep Expert which clearly states its just simply notify merchant and get the refund, which I did in timely fashion.My child spent whole summer break just to improve the score, still merchants program couldnt help in meeting the guaranteed score. We paid our earned money to merchant for the improvement of the childs score and not to play with their future. Refer attached fine print of merchants score improvement guarantee due to which my child is qualified to get full refund. Merchant intentionally and deliberately created the situations throughout the program so that they can easily repudiate the refund requests through unethical business practices. Merchant is behaving unethically and blaming my child with multiple false allegations to evade the refund. This is our hard-earned money and we have to put this money for further education of my child. I would request to get the full refund of $699.30 from the merchant at the earliest.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/26/2024

  **************** enrolled her student in a 6-week Flagship SAT Prep Course on May 28, 2023. This course comes with a 200-point score improvement guarantee. As long as the student completes the requirements of the prep course and does not achieve a 200-point score improvement from an official exam taken prior to their course start, then they will receive their money back. As shown in the attached email, ******************** student did not complete the requirements of the course. The requirements are as follows (***********************************************************************************************):

  1. You have an official SAT or **** score (starting score) before the start of an 8-week Capstone SAT Prep Course or 6-Week Flagship SAT Prep Course. An official SAT or **** score is one received after taking an official SAT or **** exam administered by the ************** Because the **** and SAT are scored on different scales, official **** scores will be converted to SAT scores to determine the starting score. If You have taken multiple official SATs or ****s prior to the course start date, then we will accept the score from the test taken immediately prior to the course start date.
  

  2. You have a starting score of 1250 or less. If Your starting score is 1260 and above, You qualify for an improvement guarantee up to a score of 1450. We do not offer a guarantee to students with starting scores of 1450 or above.
  

  3. You take another official SAT exam administered by the ************* within sixty (60) days after the last official class of Your course, or the next available SAT exam administered by the ************* after the last official class of Your course. Prep Expert will only accept the first official SAT exam taken after the last official class of Your course.
  

  4. You Complete our 8-Week Capstone, 7-Week Founder, or 6-Week Flagship SAT Prep Course. The following are the requirements to Complete our 8-Week Capstone, 7-Week Founder, or 6-Week Flagship SAT Prep Course:
  

  - Attendance Completion. Attend 80% of the classes for at least 80% (or a minimum of 2 hours 24 minutes) of each class. To verify attendance, You must use the same Zoom account for each class and not alter your email or name for the duration of the course. You must also answer at least 80% of the poll questions posed by instructors during the entire course to ensure active learning engagement.
  

  - Homework Completion. Turn in 90% of homework assignments, on time and in full. Each homework assignment must be submitted by You on the student dashboard before the submission deadline. Homework assignments submitted late will be considered incomplete. Because homework represents a vital component of successful test prep, Prep Expert cannot ***** exceptions or extensions to homework assignment requirements. Homework assignments must also represent a good-faith effort on the part of You.
  

  - Practice Test Completion. Complete 100% of practice tests, on time and in full. Each practice test must be submitted by You on the student dashboard before the submission deadline. Practice tests submitted late will be considered incomplete. Because practice tests represent a vital component of successful test prep, Prep Expert cannot ***** exceptions or extensions to practice test requirements. Practice tests must also represent a good-faith effort on the part of You. Because practice tests must be very strictly timed to serve as effective test preparation, each practice test must be completed and submitted within a window of time totaling no more than six (6) hours. If more than six (6) hours elapse between the submission of the first section of a practice test and any other section of that practice test, it will be considered incomplete.
  

  ******************** student achieved the following requirements of the 200-point score improvement guarantee:

  1. Took a official SAT or **** prior to the course start date.

  2. Based on the score reports provide by ****************, her student's starting score was a 1250 or below.
  

  3. Based on the score reports provide by ****************, her student took a follow up SAT within 60 days of the final lesson.
  

  4. ******************** student attended at least 80% of the classes for at least 80% of the time.
  

  Unfortunately, ******************** student DID NOT achieve the following requirements of the 200-point score improvement guarantee (shown in the attached email):
  

  1. ******************** student completed 10 out of 20 (or 50%) homework assignments on time. This is below the requirement of 90% of homework assignments must be submitted on the student dashboard on time and in full.  
  

  2. ******************** student completed 5 out of 6 (or 83%) practice test on time. This is below the requirement of 100% of practice tests must be submitted on the student dashboard on time and in full.
  

  Since ******************** student did not complete all of the requirements of the 200-point score improvement guarantee, she was denied a refund.
  

  All requirements of the 200-point score improvement guarantee are clearly explained on our Terms of Service. To complete a purchase, all customers are required to agree to the Terms of Service on the checkout page of our site. Additionally, a link to the Terms of Service is provided on the checkout page. This means **************** was fully aware of the requirements of the 200-point score improvement guarantee. 
  

  In her complaint, **************** showed a screenshot of a page on our site explaining the ease of requesting a refund. It clearly shows that students must complete the course in order to qualify. As show above, her student did not complete the course hence making her ineligible her money back.

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/26/2024

   
  Complaint: 21338010
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

   

  These are ridiculous and baseless response for repudiating my claim. This is all online course and there is always possibility of internet connection issue. They deliberately assign the assignment late and in such away so that student can never claim this refund.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Business Response

  Date: 02/26/2024

  The homework assignment and practice test schedule are available on the student dashboard from the moment of purchase. Based on our records, **************** enrolled her student on May 28, 2023 and the course started on June 19, 2023. This gave her and her student approximately 3 weeks to review the homework assignment, practice test, and class schedules and make adjustments to their own schedule to accommodate. When **************** says "They deliberately assign the assignment late...", she might be referring to the final slide of each ****** that reminds the student of the assignment(s) due before the following class.

  Our records also show that many of the homework assignments were submitted on the student dashboard days (in most cases not hours or minutes) late. If these assignments were submitted minutes or hours late, then I would understand a disruption in internet could be the cause. However, this was not the case with ******************** student as show below (approximate time late in bold):

  Homework Assignments - 10 out of 20
  Homework Test #1 Section 1 Reading - due 03:00 pm 06/19/2023, submitted at 07:39 am 06/23/2023 Pacific Late 4 days late
  Homework Test #1 Section 2 Writing - due 03:00 pm 06/21/2023, submitted at 09:18 pm 06/21/2023 Pacific Late 6 hours late
  Homework Test #1 Section 3 Math - due 03:00 pm 06/21/2023, submitted at 08:35 pm 06/21/2023 Pacific Late 5.5 hours late
  Homework Test #2 Section 1 Reading - due 03:00 pm 06/26/2023, submitted at 08:55 pm 07/15/2023 Pacific Late 19 days late
  Homework Test #2 Section 4 Math - due 11:00 pm 07/02/2023 PST, submitted at 08:57 am 07/10/2023 Pacific Late 8 days late
  Homework Test #3 Section 1 Reading - due 03:00 pm 07/03/2023, submitted at 09:02 pm 07/16/2023 Pacific Late 13 days late
  Homework Test #3 Section 2 Writing - due 03:00 pm 07/05/2023, submitted at 02:52 pm 07/10/2023 Pacific Late 5 days late
  Homework Test #3 Section 3 Math - due 03:00 pm 07/05/2023, submitted at 11:37 am 07/10/2023 Pacific Late 5 days late
  Homework Test #4 Section 1 Reading - due 03:00 pm 07/12/2023, submitted at 09:08 am 07/17/2023 Pacific Late 5 days late
  Homework Test #5 Section 4 Math - due 03:00 pm 07/24/2023, submitted at 01:10 pm 07/25/2023 Pacific Late 1 day late

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/26/2024

   
  Complaint: 21338010
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  This is all rubbish and completely ridiculous excuses to repudiate our claim. We paid hard earned money for my child to improve her score from live classes and not Prep Expert's confusing online material. Are you saying that your online material was sufficient for her to start preparing? Then you proved that your live course is not worth a *****, because we already have access to free online SAT prep elsewhere.

  How can you expect my child to start preparing for your paid course before finishing her school year and final term school examinations? This proves that your course structure and schedule is meant to deliberately confuse the child and repudiate the refund claim. My child is very hard working and all your allegations are baseless. You must refund me $699.30 to close this matter. If you don't refund then I will have no other option but to report your unethical business practice to FTC.
  

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Business Response

  Date: 02/27/2024

  Yes, student have access to the homework assignment, practice test, and class schedules from the moment of purchase. Also, you have access to all practice tests, homework assignments, and eBooks from the moment of purchase. From there, the student will attend the live classes, which provides context. 

  I'm not sure how you can hold Prep Expert responsible for the course schedule. You selected the course you wanted your student to take. We provide an outline of the course, which includes class times/duration, on our website. Prep Expert did not select the course for you. You selected it yourself. 

  Because your student did not complete the course, we will not be refunding you. You also placed a dispute with you bank, which is still pending. For context, your bank will decide if you should receive your money back. Prep Expert has no say in the matter. 

  If your bank decides in favor of Prep Expert (i.e. you are not awarded a refund from your bank), then I am happy to give you a free 6-week Flagship SAT Prep Course. Please note: since your student has already taken our course, this free course will not come with a score improvement guarantee. If your bank decides in your favor (i.e. you are awarded a refund), then we will consider this matter closed. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/05/2024

   
  Complaint: 21338010
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  See attached screenshot, bank already closed the investigation around a month ago and settled in favor of Prep Expert. **** also asked me to reach out to Prep Expert to resolve this matter.

  
  I would still want the full refund. However, since you insists me in opt for the complimentary 6 weeks SAT flagship course in lieu of the refund, then I am ready to accept this offer on the below condition -

  My child will be allowed to opt for the course as per my child's choice of tutor and course timelines during her summer break.

  If you accept this condition then share the rebate code with me to allow my child to opt the course as per above conditions otherwise, you can issue me full refund or I can go back to bank to issue me full refund.
  

  Let me know how do you want to proceed.
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Business Response

  Date: 03/20/2024

  Hello ****************,

  I am glad you have decided to accept my offer of a free 6-week Flagship SAT Prep Course. As with all of our students, they have the ability to select the course that works best for them based on their schedule. 

  There are a few things I would like to make clear:

  1. You may choose one (1) 6-week Flagship SAT Prep Course.

  2. This course will not come with the 200-Point Score Improvement Guarantee (of course we hope your student improves greatly though!)

  3. This course and the results from this course will not impact the decision to not refund your previous course (Order #******). 

  To move forward with enrolling your student in a new 6-week Flagship SAT Prep Course, I will have a Customer Experience Representative reach out to you.

  Regards,

  ****

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/20/2024

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/01/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  PrepExpert guaranteed refund class cost if my son's SAT does not increase by 200 point. My son enrolled in the following class, attended all classes and submitted homework on time. They are not returning the cost of this class to **.6-Week Flagship SAT Course January 23rd ? March 5th Mon/Wed 3:00PM - 6:00PM Pacific Time.Cost: $499.50 *** what's advertised on their site ***200-Point SAT Score Improvement Guarantee Prep Expert is so confident in our SAT prep methodology, we backup our 6-Week Flagship SAT Prep Course with a simply remarkable guarantee: 200 points.************************My son went to all the classes, submitted all homework on time. Requested refund from PrepExpert. They said my son did not submit homework on time. I have records of when the homework is actually submitted in the browser logs. And I found out their records are always one hour ahead of the actual submittal time (not sure if it's intentional or mistake). I brought this up to the customer service about the incorrect time on their server logs. They said their IT department is actively looking into it. After a week, we contacted them about their status, refund timeline and our plan to contact the state licensing authority and other channels if this cannot be resolved. NO RESPONSE from PrepExpert since then. I have not heard anything from them.Attached are files showing the Money back guarantee advertisement on their website, PrepExpert customer service email about the homework claiming being late and a log of my browser history showing the actual home submittal time of each of the homework.After checking past complaints on Trustpilot, a customer experienced similar issues with homework submission time raising questions about their practice. ************************************************************ I believe this business is not being truthful about their practice.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/12/2023

  Hello,

  The customer contacted us about this matter and we told them we were looking into it. The matter was more complex than originally thought so it tool longer than expected. We reviewed their order again and found they did qualify for the refund and have processed it as of 5/12/2023.

  If possible, please remove this review.

  Thanks!

  ****

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/15/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************