Institute for Integrative Nutrition

I contacted IIN to enroll in their program on 3/**/2020. I signed up and gave the admissions rep, Susana, my account information, etc... I decided on 3/**/2020 that due to the pandemic, pursuing school would not be a good financial decision at this time. I contacted Susana on 3/** via email requesting information about the withdrawal policy. She advised me to contact the student support team. I contacted them and the agent I spoke with stated that she could not assist me and someone would contact me the next business day to further advise. I went ahead and reviewed my enrollment agreement which specifies the following: “ Refund Policy IIN’s Health Coach Training program is 100% online, and is therefore follows the cancellation and refund policy outlined in NY Personal Property Law, section 412-a. If you cancel this contract, IIN may keep only five percent of the cash price, but not to exceed fifty dollars, and a portion of the contract price based upon the lessons or services you have used. You may notify the seller of your intent to cancel by mail, addressed to Institute for Integrative Nutrition at *** ***** ******* *** ****** *** ***** *** **** *****. 1. No person, including any business entity, may contract to receive, or demand, in the event of cancellation of a contract for future services, more than the total of: a. five percent of the cash price, but not to exceed fifty dollars, and b. a pro rata portion of the total price, representing the proportion of services used or completed. In addition, the seller may receive or demand the cost of any ancillary goods which the buyer has consumed or wishes to retain after cancellation of the contract. In no instance shall the seller collect more than the full contract price from the buyer. 2. Within ten days after a contract for future consumer services has been cancelled, the seller shall tender to the buyer any payments made in excess of the amounts permitted to be retained pursuant to subdivision two of this section. 3. Cancellation shall occur: a. when the buyer mails to the seller notice of his intent to cancel, or b. where the seller has actual notice of the buyer's intention to cancel, or c. where the buyer fails to attend consecutive scheduled classes or lessons constituting at least twenty-five percent of the total lessons or time contracted for, without informing the seller in writing that he intends to remain enrolled.” I emailed a letter on 3/**/2020 to ensure I covered my bases as I waited to speak to a rep. at the school. I called around 10 times in 2 weeks and never once had a person pick up the phone. I proceeded to leave a voicemail on one account as well as sent a follow up email to the financial services department requesting an update on the receipt of my letter and/or further direction on withdrawal. I received an email from Raquel stating someone would reach out to me, no one reached out until I sent a follow up email 2 days later informing her no one had. Susana called me, I did miss her due to my work schedule, I attempted to call her back and again, no one answered. I sent her a follow up email and she seemed completely uninformed and asked me why I am withdrawing. I have sent Susana all records of my attempts to contact the school. My concern is now we are beyond the “10 day time period” specified in the enrollment agreement and I have no way of knowing they received my letter and I was not able to get ahold of any staff member to find another alternative (if needed).

Customer Response

04/13/2020

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 and the matter has been resolved.

Sincerely,

******** *********

Complaint Type: Problems with Product/Service

Status: Answered

01/16/2020

I am extremely unhappy with the way the program results are recorded. I met all of my graduation requirements to find out when I checked the status on the app that my coaching calls were not recorded. In the agreement it says participation in 4 of 6 calls are required, however it does not specify how you have to “participate.” I was only able to talk on the first call, not the other 3 because IIN schedules them for set days and times and I have no choice in the matter. Being the primary caregiver to my 4 year old daughter who was in therapies at the time of the other calls or driving I could only call in to listen. I called IIN on 1/**/20 and spoke with Anne and was informed that my only option is to enroll in another “cohort” and do everything again. She also said everything I paid would be transferred to it. However what she failed to tell me on the phone is that there is a $395.00 fee to re-enroll which I was informed in an email after the phone call. I asked her on the phone if I enrolled in another class how would I know that their records would be properly updated after the coaching calls and she did not have an answer for it. If IIN will not honor the requirements I met due to a technical problem on their part and failure to clarify the term “participate” in the agreement than I request that I do not get billed another penny for the program and be refunded the $1,094.50 that I have paid to date and not be billed anything further for the program. I also suggest IIN clarify this in their agreement for future students.

Response

01/31/2020

Dear *** *******,

Please accept this as Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s (“IIN”) response to the Complaint filed by ******* ****** (BBB No. ********).

*** ****** enrolled in IIN’s Health Coach Training Program (“HCTP”) on May *, 2019. Her course has since completed on January **, 2020. At the time of enrollment, *** ****** accepted IIN’s agreements, including an Enrollment Agreement. The Enrollment Agreement, which sets forth IIN’s refund and withdrawal policy, is approved by the New York State Education Department. On January **, 2020, *** ****** contacted IIN about her graduation requirements, at which point she was told she failed to meet them and must re-enroll in the program. Despite what *** ****** outlines, she did not attend any Coaching Circles as required to graduate from the program. It appears *** ****** has confused other, optional, webinars provided to students with these required Coaching Circle calls. IIN is committed to amicably resolving this dispute with *** ******. To that end, IIN has made repeated overtures to *** ******, but *** ****** has since failed to respond to IIN’s phone calls and emails.

Complaint Type: Billing/Collection Issues

Status: Resolved

07/03/2019

I signed up for IIN last May of 2018. There was a promotion for Memorial Day weekend, where IIN advertised that you would get $1,000 off for signing up during the "Memorial Day special". I called and spoke with an agent named John. He said that I could also save an additional $700 if I didn't want the ipad- a total of $4,200 for tuition. I told him, I have too many Apple products, that I would rather save money on tuition. He said okay, and to reserve my spot (because spots are "filling up soon"), I would need to put $199 down. I told him that I will, but I need to think about how I'm going to pay off the tuition. I told asked him that if I get back to him about the payment plans, will I still receive the $1,700 off- he said yes, and if I chose a $299 a month payment plan, it would only be $700 in interest. Fast Forward to almost a year later, I have to update my payment information because my card will expire soon, and I notice that the tuition was bumped up to $5,995 last July!! I emailed the support team, and they said that that $1,700 promotion was valid if I payed the tuition in full... but that was never disclosed to me by the agent. When I was talking to the agent about payment plans, he never bothered to tell me that I would lose the $1,700 in savings by making payments. Also, I was sent the ipad, and I never wanted the ipad. I am sending it back, in perfect unopened condition, because I never agreed to getting the ipad. I asked for the phone recordings of the conversation, and Amanda, the Customer Service representative, refused to give them to me. I know what was discussed in those phone calls, and they are not willing to send them to me because my points were clear, and I was lied to, to keep the sale.

Customer Response

07/13/2019

Complaint Type: Billing/Collection Issues

Status: Answered

05/31/2019

I was recently notified by Credit Karma that I owe $5199 to IIN. I saw some fishy transactions on my credit card two years ago and I immediately called my credit card company to let them know of the situation, I then proceeded to call IIN to also let them know of this fishy activity because they were using my moms maiden name and not my actual married name to let them know that it was not me who made the purchased as I was not aware of anything. The email address they used was an old email address that I don't check at all. The lady whom I spoke to (Nicole) ensured me that she was going to look into it and flag the account, I never heard back from her and I myself left it alone thinking that she was going to either flag the account or cancel it since I had already notified my credit card company as well. Now, two years later I find out that they are charging me and not only that but its sent to collections for a service I didn't use. You guys really need to have a better way of checking peoples background before you signed someone up and make them commit to such a high amount of money and later send it to collections because you didn't get paid. I don't even know the credentials to log in to your site. Kindly remove this from my credit report as I did not use your service and nor do I want to after reading the reviews.

Response

06/13/2019

Dear *** ******,

Please accept this as Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s (“IIN”) response to the Complaint filed by ***** ******* (BBB No. ********).

*** ******* claims that someone using her maiden name (*** ****), her credit card, and her email address enrolled in IIN’s Health Coach Training Program (“HCTP”) on November **, 2017. *** ******* further claims that she informed her credit card company and IIN that she was not responsible for this transaction. Upon receiving this BBB complaint, IIN promptly investigated the matter and had several communications with *** *******. Based on those efforts, IIN has reached the following conclusions.

First, IIN has no record of *** ******* notifying IIN that the enrollment transaction was fraudulent.

Second, *** *******’s email address was used and accessed repeatedly during this process. IIN has records of email communications with *** *******’s email account prior to enrollment, during enrollment, and subsequent to enrollment, including a registration email including the link and instructions for setting-up her student account and for accessing HCTP. IIN’s records confirm that her student account was set-up and she accessed HCTP numerous times post-enrollment including as recently as March 2019. In other words, *** *******’s claim depends not only on one instance of her email address having been breached, but ongoing, repeated breaches of her email address for a period of nearly two years.

Lastly, HCTP is not the type of product that offers value to someone using another person’s name or personal information. HCTP is an online course culminating in a certificate of completion bearing the name of the enrollee. If someone else enrolled using *** *******’s name, they would receive a credential and certificate in another person’s name making it valueless.

Despite the foregoing, IIN takes these matters seriously and has asked *** ******* to provide any additional, relevant information, which has not yet been provided. IIN is committed to amicably resolving this matter and looks forward to further information from *** *******.

Customer Response

06/13/2019

Better Business Bureau:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

[Your Answer Here]

I've been in contact with *** ****** from IIN its true I've been in contact with her, we had a phone call 2 days ago where I agreed to sending her information of my password being breached, I also informed her that I disabled that email address because I never used it any more and I got locked out of it since someone changed my password. Now, they are saying that someone access the account March 2019, that just couldn't be it because I never had access to that account and whom ever did is probably still accessing it is my guess? But it makes absolutely no sense that an account thats now in collections would still be open to use, can you please explain that to me because I would to see what that person is doing in there. Lastly, it was never informed to me during our call that this papers needed to be delivered ASAP to her. I have a full time job that requires a lot out of me and I certainly did not have the time of day to look for that information for her until she sent me an email today about needing to respond to BBB today. I've been very cooperative with *** ****** and have provided her with all of the information that I had because they seem to not find records of my call to them but yet have records of everything else.

In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,

***** *******

Response

06/24/2019

Dear *** ******,

Please accept this as Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s (“IIN”) second response to the Complaint filed by ***** ******* (BBB No. ********).

IIN takes complaints like *** *******’s very seriously and conducted an investigation into her allegations. As previously stated, IIN has not discovered substantial support for *** *******’s claims. IIN will not reiterate the points it raised in its original response but will attempt to clarify one point of confusion recently raised by *** *******.

Upon enrollment in HCTP, students are provided with log-in credentials, based on email address, that provide access to HCTP materials. Those materials remain accessible unless an account is locked. Accounts are locked for different reasons, including when a student is referred to collections for failure to make payments. Even after an account is locked, IIN is able to track log-in attempts. Relatedly, even if the email account itself is disabled, the email will still work as the log-in, unless the log-in credentials are changed by the account holder.

*** ******* logged more than 150 page views of HCTP materials between the time she enrolled and the time she disabled payments to her credit card. Even after disabling payments, her account remained unlocked and HCTP materials remained accessible, until she was referred to collections. And, nobody other than the credit card holder (*** *******) would have been aware that payments were disabled. In other words, if, as *** ******* claims, someone else used her information to enroll, that person would presumably have continued to access the HCTP materials even after the payments were stopped. Curiously, there were no attempts to access HCTP materials between the time *** ******* stopped payment and the time she was referred to collections. Thereafter, IIN’s records reflect a log-in attempt, using *** *******’s credentials, in March 2019, not long before *** ******* filed her complaint.

Despite the foregoing, IIN continues to invite *** ******* to submit further relevant information or materials and will remain open to pursuing an amicable resolution.

Complaint Type: Billing/Collection Issues

Status: Answered

04/22/2019

I was very excited about starting the courses at IIN. I read all the reviews on their website. Everyone stated that this course was amazing and they were able to start a career. However, most of the people are not everyday folks who work a normal 9-5 job. The reviewers are individuals with thousands of followers on social media or people who are well off. Most of the positive reviews on this program are from students earning money for referrals. When I called the employees were really nice and helpful. But they didn't inform me of all the details and how the institute works. This course is a scam at the end of the course you just get a piece of paper that will not allow you to work anywhere. I don't feel like I gained anything from this course. This school provided very basic information, not enough to be a knowledgeable health coach. Due to personal issues and not being able to afford the program anymore, I asked them to withdraw me. I found out that I still have to pay for tuition even though I am no longer a student. I have to pay $2017 because they're licensed by the " New York department of education". After talking to someone over the phone, she said she could lower my amount to $1500, but when I checked my account it says that my principal is $1620. Before this happened I was making $200 payments every month, I was able to accumulate $597. I will be charged for something useless and that I will not have any benefit out of it.

Response

05/03/2019

Dear *** ****,

Please accept this as Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s (“IIN”) response to the Complaint filed by ******** **** ******** (BBB No. ********).

*** ******** enrolled in IIN’s Health Coach Training Program (“HCTP”) on January **, 2019. At the time of enrollment, *** ******** accepted IIN’s agreements, including an Enrollment Agreement. The Enrollment Agreement, which sets forth IIN’s refund and withdrawal policy, is approved by the New York State Education Department. On April **, 2019 *** ******** contacted IIN and requested to be withdrawn from HCTP. At the time of withdrawal, *** ******** had already progressed through and accessed nearly fifty-percent of HCTP content. IIN has correctly applied its refund and withdrawal policy demanding only that *** ******** satisfy her payment obligations based on the amount of content already accessed. While IIN is deeply disappointed with *** ********’s gross misrepresentations and refusal to honor her contractual commitments, IIN is committed to amicably resolving this dispute with *** ********.

Complaint Type: Billing/Collection Issues

Status: Resolved

04/22/2019

On Thursday March **** at 4:42 pm CT I signed up for the holistic health coach program offered by IIN. I paid the initial fee of $199 to begin a payment plan for the courses that began two weeks later (I believe the course began on April ***). On Friday March **** at 11:22 am CT I called back to cancel my enrollment for the program. I spoke with Alyssa C***** in admissions and was told that she would need to talk to her team and get back to me about my withdrawal. Alyssa then reached out and told me that I would owe IIN an additional $296 to the company for books and materials I was given access to. I did not have access to any materials or books as the course had not yet started and I had not clicked on anything in the online portal. I fully expected to pay the $50 processing fee to withdraw - but since I utilized none of the materials I expected a refund for the $149. I spoke to Alyssa multiple times and asked for an itemized bill but she never sent the information even after I followed up. I also sent an official withdrawal letter on March **** to the address listed in the contract which is required. The company has received my letter - as I made sure to have the letter tracked. The contract states the following: If you cancel this contract, IIN may keep only five percent of the cash price, but not to exceed fifty dollars, and a portion of the contract price based upon the lessons or services you have used. You may notify the seller of your intent to cancel by mail, addressed to Institute for Integrative Nutrition at *** ***** ******* *** ****** *** ***** *** **** *****. 1. No person, including any business entity, may contract to receive, or demand, in the event of cancellation of a contract for future services, more than the total of: a. five percent of the cash price, but not to exceed fifty dollars, and b. a pro rata portion of the total price, representing the proportion of services used or completed. In addition, the seller may receive or demand the cost of any ancillary goods which the buyer has consumed or wishes to retain after cancellation of the contract. In no instance shall the seller collect more than the full contract price from the buyer. 2. Within ten days after a contract for future consumer services has been cancelled, the seller shall tender to the buyer any payments made in excess of the amounts permitted to be retained pursuant to subdivision two of this section. 3. Cancellation shall occur: a. when the buyer mails to the seller notice of his intent to cancel, or b. where the seller has actual notice of the buyer's intention to cancel, or c. where the buyer fails to attend consecutive scheduled classes or lessons constituting at least twenty-five percent of the total lessons or time contracted for, without informing the seller in writing that he intends to remain enrolled I have done everything in my power to resolve this issue. I withdrew from this course less than 24 hours after enrolling. I do not believe this is just or right and I would like a resolution on this issue. Thank you.

Customer Response

04/23/2019

Better Business Bureau:

I have reviewed the response emailed to me by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.

Sincerely,

***** ******

Complaint Type: Problems with Product/Service

Status: Answered

02/04/2019

I enrolled into the course at IIN at an "no interest' promotional cost .( 1/**209) For many reasons, I made a decision early ( 2/*/2019) to unenroll - and immediately began to follow ANY and EVERY avenue to reach out to the "SUPPORT TEAM". After watching both of my emails and watching also for a phone call back, I finally reached out through the "LIVE CHAT" function that can't be missed on their website. (Their 'fishing-pole" that is always "in the water") Sure enough, a very friendly representative answered my question of 'how long I could expect to wait for an answer back from the support team. "Doris" assured me that a ticket would be created, and that the day of my inquiry would be considered my date of request for withdrawal. i respectfully thanked her, and asked if she had personal experience reflecting that estimate. She responded that "yes", she had, and that I could expect a 2-3 day wait. My gut feeling has not been positive from the first day, and now, having researched other's complaints (and their unfortunate similarity), I'm frankly anxious about my money being refunded and the possibility of being railroaded after only being enrolled for two days, even though the classes have not officially opened yet. I share the same disappointment as another unhappy consumer who noted the advertising points of the basis of instruction being grounded in medical and science -based training and the such. Going forward, I chose to familiarize myself as thoroughly as possible to make my participation seamless when the courses finally open in another week or so. (I have attended traditional classes online, and found this to be smart proactivity in the past.) it became clear to me, that the decision I needed to make for myself was to withdraw from the course, as it was not at all based on what I believed it to be when I enrolled. Thus began my experience with dead silence and a lack of clear support/direction for my situation. No contact at all. None. AS I stated, I guessed that I could get some sort of conversation or information through the live-chat feature. I enrolled a couple of days ago. I have asked many questions, compared many programs, and enrolled on good-faith that the program was being represented transparently, honestly, and accurately. "Diet-Theory" is not a science, and health-coaching is definable by some standards. my complaints, though, are chiefly about the misrepresentation of the foundations of the learning, and the ghosting of the 'support" department - especially since time is of the essence, and they could conceivably 'buy' themselves "time" in order to let me slide into time-frame that allows IIN to access "fees" against me. nobody likes to feel they've been "had" or "fooled" into a false sense of security about the fair business practices of company they partner with.

Response

02/15/2019

Dear *** *****

Please accept this as Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s (“IIN”) response to the Complaint filed by ******** ** ***** (BBB No. ********).

*** ***** enrolled in IIN’s Health Coach Training Program (“HCTP”) on January *** 2019. At the time of enrollment, *** ***** accepted IIN’s agreements, including an Enrollment Agreement. The Enrollment Agreement, which sets forth IIN’s refund and withdrawal policy, is approved by the New York State Education Department. On February *, 2019 *** ***** contacted IIN and requested to be withdrawn from HCTP. IIN has correctly applied its refund and withdrawal policy to *** *****’ circumstances, treating February *, 2019 as the date of her withdrawal from HCTP. While IIN is deeply disappointed with *** *****’ gross misrepresentations and refusal to honor her contractual commitments, IIN is committed to amicably resolving this dispute with *** *****. To that end, IIN has made repeated overtures to *** *****, but *** ***** has since failed to respond to IIN’s phone calls and emails.

Complaint Type: Billing/Collection Issues

Status: Answered

01/22/2019

I signed up for the program not understanding that I had a year to complete it giving the fact that it was an online course. As a result of my son being diagnosed with autism and my in law with ******** ****** I was never able to take the course. The integrative nutrition sent me messages that they couldn't process my payment 6 months into the program but I never received them since all was going to spam. Nobody ever made an attempt of calling to let me know they were having issues with payment and I was locked out of the account to even be able to see the initial contract signed. I was never able to start nor complete the program but the integrative for nutrition is sending me for collection for $4,103.00 although they know I was locked out of the program and never completed one single course. They are telling that I missed the re enrollment period in which I would had to pay an extra $400 to even get the opportunity to do the program so now I am responsible for the full amount on a program I was not able to take.

Response

02/05/2019

Please accept this as Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s (“IIN”) response to the Complaint filed by Wamaris Rosario (BBB No. ********).

*** ******* enrolled in IIN’s Health Coach Training Program (“HCTP”) on September **, 2017. At the time of enrollment, *** ******* accepted IIN’s agreements, including an Enrollment Agreement and Student Agreement (the “Agreements”), which set forth, among other things, that HCTP was a 12-month program, HCTP’s graduation requirements, and the student’s tuition obligations. The Agreements further provide that communications with students may occur via email to the email address on record. Ultimately, it is the student’s responsibility to ensure that their spam filter does not reject emails from IIN. Nonetheless, IIN is committed to ensuring that *** ******* has an opportunity to complete HCTP and is actively working to amicably resolve its dispute with *** *******, which is currently pending a response from her.

Complaint Type: Problems with Product/Service

Status: Answered

01/09/2019

I enrolled at integrative nutrition for a nutrition program. I began going through the program and due to changes in my employment (moved from part time to full time), I had dropped behind in course work. i paid for an extension of my program, and was assured by tech support that I could continue in the program. I restarted the course work and decided at that time to drop the course. The school had my old email address (which sends an automated reply to all emails stating my current email address) that I no longer access, and apparently they told me through that email that if I didn't re-enroll and start a program by February of 2017 that I would not be permitted to re-enroll. I made consistent on time payments of $149/mo from January 2016 to present (about $5-$6k total, it's hard to tell because I cannot access that portion of their website anymore). They also had a 100% satisfaction guarantee, I certainly am not satisfied. I have paid already a considerable amount and currently do not have access to the material I've already paid for because they shut off my access to the modules. I thus have NOTHING to show for all of my tuition money, and was told in an email this week that my nearly paid in full tuition is not valid towards the program anymore and if I want to re-enroll, I would have to repay the $6k in tuition.

Response

01/23/2019

Please accept this as Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s (“IIN”) response to the Complaint filed by ****** ***** ***** (BBB No. ********).

*** ***** enrolled in IIN’s Health Coach Training Program (“HCTP”) on December *, 2015. At the time of enrollment, *** ***** accepted IIN’s agreements, including an Enrollment Agreement and Student Agreement, which set forth, among other things, HCTP’s graduation requirements and the student’s tuition obligations. By her own admission, *** ***** failed to keep up with the course work and did not successfully graduate from HCTP. Nonetheless, she remains bound by her tuition obligations. Despite that fact, IIN offered *** ***** an opportunity to re-enroll in another class, without incurring additional tuition obligations, so long as *** ***** paid a transfer fee within a specified time. *** ***** failed to avail herself of this option. IIN’s records confirm that these facts were communicated to *** ***** via email and that such email was in fact opened. In addition, IIN continued to express a willingness to amicably resolve this dispute but *** ***** has refused to respond to numerous recent emails and voice mail messages. IIN is deeply disappointed that *** ***** mischaracterizes the circumstances yet remains willing to resolve this dispute.

Complaint Type: Problems with Product/Service

Status: Resolved

12/14/2017

I contacted this business in September 2017 to obtain information about their health coach program. I was transferred to an admissions counselor. During that discussion explained to the admissions counselor most emphatically that as a writer I had deadlines due at the end of the year that would make it impossible for me to enroll in the program until the following year (2018). I was then told by counselor to that to take advantage of the discounted rate that I had to pre enroll which meant I had to set up an autopay for payments to be deducted and could then start the class in January which I naively fell for hook line and sinker. Since that time I have further strains on my time and income that involves providing care for my 92 year old mother that will necessitate me to cancel out of the program which I promptly informed IIN of. I'm now being told by a reporter there named Tessa that not only will I forfeit the payments I've made thus far but per the contract owe them extra nineties for cancelling for classes that have not yet started! The best she said that she could do was speak to the management team to request a reduction in the amount I still OWE them!

Customer Response

12/15/2017

BBB Business Profiles may not be reproduced for sales or promotional purposes.

BBB Business Profiles are provided solely to assist you in exercising your own best judgment. BBB asks third parties who publish complaints, reviews and/or responses on this website to affirm that the information provided is accurate. However, BBB does not verify the accuracy of information provided by third parties, and does not guarantee the accuracy of any information in Business Profiles.

When considering complaint information, please take into account the company's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.

BBB Business Profiles generally cover a three-year reporting period. BBB Business Profiles are subject to change at any time. If you choose to do business with this business, please let the business know that you contacted BBB for a BBB Business Profile.

As a matter of policy, BBB does not endorse any product, service or business.

Better Business Bureau^®

Complaints