ComplaintsforPDX Code Guild

• Initial Complaint

  01/20/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was a student of PDX Code Guild. I am now an alumni. I started in November, 2019 and graduated April 3, 2020. A big part of my choosing to enroll at PDX Code Guild was because they offer their students alumni support after graduation. To this day, it is still advertised on their website. I also have a screenshot to prove that. Upon graduating, I went through some major life changes that inhibited my ability to have time for the use of my certificate and I was mostly inactive, until recently. I have recently made some life changes that have enabled me to make more time for coding and was excited to take part in the community engagement opportunities I was promised throughout my time at PDX Code Guild. Upon further investigation, I have found that none of the promised post graduation services are available to me anymore and have been texted directly by the owner that "It seems that the old policy of telling people that they can get career services anytime is encouraging people to procrastinate. The leadership team is focusing resources to people who graduated recently." So I am now reaching out for help because I paid this company thousands of dollars with the expectation that I would have a community to be a part of after graduation and now that has been taken from me and they are still using that same method to take money from other prospective students as it is still being falsely advertised on their website. If the policies have changed, shouldn't I be grandfathered in? And what if anything is there to lose from having an interested computer programmer in your community? Especially when you are promising them that they can be after graduation.

  Business response

  02/20/2023

  We disagree with Mr. ****** accusation of breach of contract. Context: We are a trade school. The expectation is that a student will use the skills they learn to quickly find a job utilizing the skills they learned. The support we offer after graduation is designed to support grads who a. Have programing skills equal to or above the level of a recent graduate of our bootcamp. b. Are actively searching for a tech job. The tech job search requires both the actual search and continuing to build a portfolio. Building a portfolio is important because it assures hiring managers that the graduate is a good candidate because they are passionate about programming and eager to learn. Thye do not hire people who got a certificate and did no other programming. ************* graduated 3+ years ago and chose not to engage with the community, look for a job in tech, or maintain his skills. Furthermore, he told us that he has last almost off of the skills he gained during the course because he has not practiced them.
  Why we disagree with ***************

  1. My ***** has not been barred from the community.

  a. Even though he graduated 3 years ago, and has neither maintained his skills or utilized any of the alumni resources, ************* still has an account of the school's Slack channel that he made at the time of enrollment. 

  b. ************* does not seem to be taking advantage of the schools ************* although that is and has been available. 

  c. In spite of the fact that ************** has not been active in the community, and has lost all of the skills he learned by not using them, he was given advice on how to re-learn the skills and access to his class materials so he could review on his own. He was also offered references to training materials and an invite to a free informal study group by the director outside of the umbrella of the school, because she was unable to offer the free retraining at the school that ************** seemed to be requesting. 

  2. The website at the time of his application, enrollment, bootcamp and graduation said that we offer the following to alumni:
  a. Coding meetups that are open to the public. As far as we can tell, ************** has never taken advantage of the meetups, as we do not see him as a member of the Meetup site for convenient notification, nor do we have any recollection that he has attended any meetups. 
  b. Support for technical challenges. Technical challenges are something only graduates who have enough coding skills to get a technical interview could utilize. ************* has not utilized this, because he does not have the skills to get a technical interview. 
  c. Suport for (portfolio) projects. This is support for someone who has skills at the level of someone who graduated from the bootcamp and maintained their skills. It does not include re-training. It is not reasonable for ************** to expect to receive free one-one training in study hall that is the equivalent of 420 hours intensive training, and we have never promised this to anyone. 
  d. Career Guidance. Again, career guidance assumes that the person receiving the guidance has maintained their skills. 
  
  
  

  Customer response

  03/02/2023

   
  Complaint: 18856238
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  
  

  In my complaint, I do not mention a contract. I simply address what is advertised on the website. So as far as a breach of contract goes, that is not what I'm addressing here. It is very clear that there are promises made to alumni on the website and in my experience these promises were reinforced verbally on many occasions throughout my time in person at the school, which ended early due to COVID restrictions. Nowhere on the website is there stipulation about seeking employment in the field or a time stipulation in regards to maintaining alumni status for services provided to alumni. It's also important to mention that the career services representative for the school during my time of attendance was let go because of her inability to provide those services and aid students in gainful employment after the program. Most of my peers I graduated with were unsuccessful in finding employment in the field, after the program. 

  
  

  All I was asking for from the school at the time, is what was promised in regards to attending study halls and being a part of the community general slack channels, which the school blatantly denied me access to. See PDX Code Guilds response at section 2. c. Yes I have a slack account still but I do not have access to the study halls or the general slack page that is currently being used by the school. PDX Code Guild has offered me to be a part of the ************ which is something that is available for anyone and is a public community education meetup and not a alumni specific community.

  
  

  In the response from PDX Code Guild, they claim under 1. c., that I have lost all of my skills, which is a baseless claim, as they can not prove that I have lost all of my skills and furthermore, again, there is no stipulation on the website about loss of skills and being barred from the community study halls that were promised. These policies are also still being advertised. See image 1 for proof of what I was sent and what PDX Code Guild is referring to in point 1. c. of their response. This is an image of a text message between the owner and I, who I unfortunately had a personal falling out with, preceding my attempts to take advantage of the alumni services promised. It may be important to know that I was hired by her to do some work at their private residence and spent many days working one on one with her, spanning the length of 3 years. While I appreciate the resources she sent in the text message, it's still not what was/is promised to alumni. And although she mentions that they're changing the policies, I am still entitled to the policies that were in place and advertised at the time of my enrollment. 

  
  

  As far as PDX Code Guilds response at section 2. b., it's the same thing here. This is not what's advertised or spoken about and I assume is part of the new policies the owner is working to create. And again, they have no way of knowing my skill level at this point.

  
  

  To address PDX Code Guilds response at section 2. c. and 2. d.: This seems to be an extension of the schools assumption of my skill level and a leap from what I was actually requesting at the time, which was merely to have access to the study hall group that, again, I was promised and the school continues to promise others.

  
  

  In conclusion, because of the struggle I have been put through with all of this, my loss of respect for the owner and the integrity of PDX Code Guild and as a paying customer to this school, that is falsely advertising to it's customers, I no longer feel comfortable seeking to be a part of the owner's community at PDX Code Guild. Had I known that this was going to happen at the time of my enrollment, I would have chosen a different program and I would like to take the opportunity to do that now. I am requesting a full refund and for the school to do the right thing and correct their false advertising.

  
  

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

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