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:04/22/2025

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore 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 started with a free online consultation with ****** ******* (the owner) to explore his college counseling services and discussed how to maximize my childs chances of admission to his preferred colleges. His over-the-top promises led us to sign up on October 14, 2024, and paid $3750. ****** met with my child for an initial consultation and after that, he never scheduled further meetings. We then reached out to him in January 2025 regarding summer programs. He provided us with a list of popular programs and neglected to follow up with my child about them. His contact with my child was limited to sporadic, general email blasts contradictory to his initial promise of regular face-to-face meetings to discuss opportunities to build a solid resume. We learned in April from other parents using external counseling that their children had made substantial progress, highlighting our childs stagnation. They reported their counselors held regular check-ins, engaged in brainstorming for passion projects, aided in summer program applications, and helped find relevant extracurricular and volunteer experience to strengthen their resumes. ****** promised us these but did none of them. I contacted ****** about check-ins, but he said their work will only begin in summer, and check-ins will be scheduled then. His face-to-face interaction with my child totaled just 1.5 hours across the 7 months. Our child refused to continue working with ****** for squandering his precious time and jeopardizing his future. Typically, college counseling services only bill for face-to-face meetings, not for email blasts. On 4/17/2025, we asked for a refund minus his 1.5-hour counseling at his hourly rate, but he refused, demanding we either continue his program or lose the entire payment. We did not sign a contract obligating us to his continued services. His incompetence as a counselor is matched by his unethical business practices. I sincerely hope you will assist us in obtaining our refund.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/22/2025

  Hi, 

  Attached is the email from ****** and information regarding his services which were not delivered to us. We selected the comprehensive package and paid the first half of the payment of $3750. 

  Thanks,

  Thana

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/22/2025

  Including the prospectus that was shared with us in his initial email explaining each process in-depth.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/09/2025

  To Whom It May Concern:
  

  I am grateful for your assistance to resolve this issue with College Transitions. I was fortunate enough to receive a refund via my credit card issuer. 

  I therefore request closure of this complaint. I truly appreciate your help in this matter.

  Thank you,

  Thana

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/09/2025

  To Whom It May Concern:
  

  I am grateful for your assistance to resolve this issue with College Transitions. I was fortunate enough to receive a refund via my credit card issuer. 

  I therefore request closure of this complaint. I truly appreciate your help in this matter.

  Thank you,

  Thana

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/16/2025

  To whom it may concern:
  
  Sincere apologies for previously requesting to close this case after receiving a partial refund from my credit card issuer. Because the merchant contested the refund, this issue is still open. I truly hope you will assist me with obtaining my refund. Im requesting a full refund due to this merchants actions which have caused me stress, heartache, and wasted my childs time. I don't think any consumer should experience something like this. 

  Thank you,

  Thana

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/19/2025

  To whom it may concern:

  Typically,any service business will only bill clients for face-to-face meetings. They do not bill clients for email blasts, account setup or email correspondence. As per the service sheet that the merchant provided (attached), we did not have any discussion regarding the college list on 10/16/24. He bypassed us and built his own college list. His initial consultation with my child on October 15th,2024, lasted only 30 minutes - not the promised hour - meaning he has only spent a total of 1 hour with my child in the past 7 months. To avoid endless emails, we requested the meeting between him and my child on January 18th,2025.  The meeting on 2/11/25 was only with me upon my request because I wanted to find out his action plan and he assured me that he will be having regular calls moving forward with my child which again did not happen.Additionally, the one-hour face-to-face meeting with my child yielded no results, as he failed to follow-up on securing a summer program or extracurricular activities. After continuously giving us false promises and squandering my childs precious time, we explicitly informed him that we no longer wish to work with him. Despite his unsatisfactory work, I was reasonable to still pay him for the 1.5 hour of meeting/ email correspondence and requested a refund of $3000 but he refused. The merchant continues to bother us to stay in his program expecting us to forfeit the full payment. Given his unethical business practices, the immense stress and heartache hes inflicted on my child and me, I am requesting a full refund of $3750 if he persists to demand full payment. Thank you.