Smart Tuition |
| United States |
|
|
Consumer reviews about Smart Tuition |
|
youknowwho123
|
Jan 13, 2012
|
Unethical Billing Practices
It's even worse when your school mandates that you have Smart Tuition automatically deduct monthly tuition from your credit card account on a set due date, then they LIE and tell you that you're they were blocked from charging your card on the due date, and apply a late fee. I have great credit and no problems using my card in ANY other situation, and no issues making purchases at other businesses on those due dates with that same card. Furthermore, my credit card company has no record on file of any attempts by Smart Tuition to charge my card on the due dates, not even rejected attempts. I guess "Smart" Tuition doesn't know that credit card companies record all attempts, even ones that are rejected (they monitor this info for fraud, etc). So, clearly Smart Tuition lies in order to SCAM late fees, hoping customers will not notice or not bother to complain. It says a lot about any private school or daycare that chooses to use this corrupt company to bill and rip-off the the parents of small children in their community. It's credit card fraud, and it is a crime -- no matter how much or how little the unwarranted charges may be.
|
|
Ann A.
|
Feb 3, 2012
|
Unethical Billing Practices
Smart Tuition charged me a late fee. I confirmed that my check was cashed before the due date. I called them to explain their mistake, but to my surprise, they would not acknowledge that they made a mistake. They said that the payment must be Posted to their account by the due date, not just received by the due date, and that this might take up to two days. With today's technology, amounts are posted immediately. I wonder how many families rely on their stated due dates, not knowing that Smart Tuition may charge them a late fee, even if its received on time. It appears to be a highly deception practice used to generate late fees.
I found it amusing that a Smart Tuition representative posted a comment on one of the complaint sites stating that she'd be happy to help their customers and clear up any confusion. I spoke with a Smart Tuition rep at length. While they waived the late fee as a one time "courtesy", they absolutely stood by their position that the check must be received and posted to their account (which could take up to two days) to be considered timely.
|
|
mdicksonspeaks
|
Oct 8, 2012
|
Unethical Billing Practices
For the first three months of dealing with this company they have charged me a late fee. Impossible. I have my payments sent directly from my bank as follows: 7/9, 8/7, and 9/4. They recorded them 7/16, 8/16, and 9/17. Really?? Since they scoop up $40.00 each time a payment is late I guess they make quite a killing. I called and spoke to Keith (no last name) who said he could only confirm what his records show, and was otherwise useless. This is either an intentional scam or the most incompetent company around. I would urge any school thinking of using this company to think again. I am seriously considering putting my son into public school for the first time just to avoid dealing with this low life company. I have a perfect credit record and in ten years of paying tuition to a private school I have NEVER made a late payment until my school started using Smart Tuition.
|
|
chetmo
|
Oct 19, 2012
|
late fees
late fees for payments that are not late
what a joke
loan sharking the education of our children
very disappointed
|
|
SmartTuition
|
Mar 4, 2013
|
Smart Tuition
Smart Tuition implements a follow up program to help get parents back on track. We deeply regret any situation that you may feel unfairly associated a fee and our weekly phone calls and emails with your account. Smart provides families a courtesy waiver to every family – and unlimited waivers if the lateness was due to a mail delay, online banking transfer (which converts to a paper check and is mailed to us – not transferred to us immediately as some may expect), medical emergency, or an error on our part. I can immediately authorize any fees waived immediately if you contact us today, to let us know.
We process checks and money orders delivered by mail Monday-Friday (excluding federal holidays). Mail is collected at our lock box five times a day to ensure payments are processed the day we receive them and are then posted to your Smart Tuition account the next business day. With over 10,000 payments processed each day, I can assure you there is a streamlined process in place. Smart Tuition would never sit on payments to cause someone to be late. In fact, the opposite is true, which is why we offer three immediate payment options (web, phone & Auto-debit). We recently launched a pay-in-person feature that instantly updates your account when you pay at 7-11 or Ace Cash locations (more than 15,000 across the country). Unfortunately, payments sent through U.S.P.S. are subject to possible delivery delays, whether it’s due to weather conditions, federal holidays, or their own internal process.
Smart Tuition waives a significant percentage of its follow-up fees – but charges them in conjunction with your schools set late fee to make sure that your school's delinquencies are kept to a minimum. As you may know, many non-public schools have been closed in the last few years – and non-payment of tuition is one of the largest contributing factors. Our intentions are good, and clearly if you had every intention of paying on time – we will always refund you that fee.
Melissa Severino
Parent Advocate
(866) 873-9772 ext 1
Email: [email protected]
|
|
UnbiasedObserver
|
Jun 20, 2013
|
complete lack of privacy
Quoting from the privacy policy that Smart Tuition has put on its website, with their obfuscations removed, they say, "We do not disclose...information...except as permitted by law."*
This means that they can distribute any information that they legally can in any way that they want. I guess they would like us to think that this means the laws of the United States. It could also be the laws of Cuba or Mars. They can choose any set of laws they want.
They also make no mention of a sunset. They can hand out anything forever without violating the letter of this so called privacy policy.
I'm afraid we're dealing with cretins here. Have they even heard of the International Safe Harbor Privacy Principals? Come to think of it, it is probably worse if they have because they are not following even one of its tenets.
I'm astounded that the catholic schools would require parents to expose their children to this kind of liability for the rest of their lives. At best, they are naive. It is also possible they have gladly traded their students privacy for some convenience in billing.
E
Is there any responsible company out there that we can steer our schools toward? Maybe one that is honest enough to admit from the get go that they intend to make whatever money they can off our children's data.
*The complete quote is, "We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about our customers or former customers to anyone, except as permitted by law."
|
|
tail between legs
|
Jun 25, 2013
|
Unethical Billing Practices
SMART TUITION ? I don't think so. They are a rip-off POS company. I scheduled the payments via bank bill pay via 10 days prior to due date. I received a late fee of $45 (YES 45 F@$% dollars) in December 2012. I wrote a letter next month and send in the next month tuition with it but not included in the late fee. THE A$% H&^% charged me another $45 since I didn't send in the previous late fee.
|
|
aston68
|
Apr 21, 2014
|
Racket
I decided to pay the entire annual tuition by a check last couple of years ONLY so I don't have to deal with this putrid incarnation of everything evil in our education system and our society as a whole. Alas, to no avail; they still managed to "recalculate" and I got billed for their famous $45 racket (hey, they provide me with great service, right?) plus whatever it was supposedly "corrected" to make it to around 90 bucks (sorry I am just stupid to understand their numbers).
I am unable to even write the title these green monsters that suck the blood out of the educational "cash cow" have given themselves. It is just adding an insult to an injury. So I will leave the check at school, which will get, let's see, ZERO annual donation from me this year as a thank you for making me deal with these mafiosos from Jersey. Fortunately, this is the last year I had this pleasure of being raped into dealing with them.
|
|
smarttuitionisascam
|
Mar 20, 2015
|
Smart Tuition is CONSUMER FRAUD
Our school has now mandated the use of smart tuition and lo and behold I was charged a late fee the very first month because I refused to pay for the undisclosed $50 "administrative fee" even though my tuition was paid on time- never late in the 8 years we have been at this school. So now I have to pay someone to take my $ that I am willing to pay directly to my school but that is not good enough. To add even more insult to the scam, I was told I could easily make my payment online, but there is a $26 "convenience" fee. This is completely out of hand and is downright consumer fraud.
|
|
alleyo
|
Jun 22, 2015
|
The IRS of Private Schools
If Smart Tuition would at least be transparent about the importance of collecting late fees to their business model, they might at least have a modicum of credibility. Instead, they justify exorbidant late fees in the name of saving private schools ("As you may know, many non-public schools have been closed in the last few years – and non-payment of tuition is one of the largest contributing factors. Our intentions are good, and clearly if you had every intention of paying on time – we will always refund you that fee."). And good to know I can go search out a 7-11 or Ace Cash and get an extra large Slurpee or cash some checks and -- brilliantly -- at the same time pay my 20K tuition for Fall term. The parent advocates must have been working overtime to add that one to their array of "solutions". Aside from the hypocrisy of this collection agency masking as parental helper and school saviour, the particular issue I have is that my son can't so much as get a book from a book fair without SmartTuition being in on the action. Shame on us, we didn't didn't realize they had the whole peice as Tony Soprano would say -- not just the tuition. We pay the tuition in full, on time. The book bill slipped through the cracks, and after paying the compounded late fees I could have bought him an Ipad. After consulting with my "parent advocate", I was offered the "solution" of requesting a waiver from the school whilst being encouraged to pay now with my credit card to avoid another month's late fee. This is how you work your way to becoming the most two-faced, hated company in all of private schooldom. But mark my words; the day of reckoning will come. It will come in the form of a class action lawsuit.
|
|
amw1997
|
Jul 17, 2016
|
unethical billing practices
I receive yet to receive notification when a bill is due. This has been going on since the school switched over to Smart Tuition (at least 2 years ago). I have called both the school and smart tuition on numerous occasions and still no notifications.. And to make matters worse, they enrolled me in automatic payment without my permission and debited my checking account for a semesters tuition, again without my permission. And I pay for this? Ludicrous !!
|
|
Smart Tuition
|
Aug 26, 2016
|
unethical billing practices
I apologize for any frustration you are having. Please contact me directly so that I can look into your situation. My email address is [email protected].
Kind regards,
Jim Lozano
Director of Parent Experience
Smart Tuition
|
|
RoseTGee
|
Mar 7, 2017
|
Unethical Billing Practices
It seems the most frequent complaint with Smart Tuition is its fraudulent practice of holding onto payments received and charging late fees. Check with BBB and Consumer Affairs. Same complaints. I, too, have been victimized by this company. Even though I mail in my payments to allow 7 business days to reach their processing center in Los Angeles, as suggested in their invoices, I was still charged late fees. I now send my payments by certified mail in the usual 7 business days and lo and behold! No late fee charge and proof of delivery shows that they receive it in 3 days. I will be bringing this issue up with the school principal and parents at our next PTO meeting. Will also complain to BBB, Consumer Affairs, Postmaster General, and any other suggestions.
|
|
Previous 1 Next |
|
|
