Diary│I Was Scammed by Shaw Academy

 

Last year I have seen Shaw Academy's ads for quite sometime, free courses on digital marketing, nutrition, design, etc. I finally decided to sign up for a 28-day free trial on December 1, 2020 and here is where the nightmare starts... (中文)

On December 4, 2020 I received a call from one of their agents. Basically he told me he's gonna be my contact and he's gonna track my progress. He told me to save his number so that I can call him whenever I have a question. He also mentioned a few courses related to the course I signed up for. I thought that was really nice. They really care about their students and customer experience. The conversation ended.

 

3 minutes later, I received a notification from my online banking saying that I was charged CAD139.95. I was like...I didn't agree to pay anything and he didn't mentioned any numbers, price, nor payments in the call. I immediately called the number back and it was of course not answered. I then went on my account and I found out I was charged a 3-month premium membership. I was only on the 4th day of the free trial and everything just didn't make any sense to me. Why would a company charge their customer a 3-month membership on the 4th day of the free trial? If they try to sell me their courses on the last 4 days of my free trial then I'd understand, but not on the 4th day. You don't do that to your customers.

Next thing I did was trying to find a contact number; I thought there might have been a mistake and could be quickly fixed over the phone. There is NO phone number on their website. I had to find the e-mail address to contact them which it's hidden within pages. I was not difficult to find, but still I had to put in some effort. I sent an e-mail to them, telling them the situation and that I didn't agree to pay any fees before my free trial ends. Please give me the refund.

Then I called my bank asking them to stop the transaction. The lady on the phone asked my what happened; I told her the situation and she said I have the absolutely right to ask my money back before my free trial ends, but they couldn't stop the transaction. What they could do is to file a dispute afterwards. However, since I've already contacted Shaw Academy, she told me to wait for a few days and see how Show Academy takes care of this. Meanwhile I was told to screenshot my account status, the start date and the end date as proof if I needed to file a dispute. What she said makes sense so I was just waiting.

A few hours later I received an e-mail from one of their guys saying that the next level of their team is reviewing my case. They "kindly" requested me to answer their call and they're going to call me within 48 hours. He gave me their business hours, so basically I had to work with their time...there are 8 hours of time difference between Ireland and Vancouver. 

It was the weekend so I didn't expect to receive any calls. On Sunday night I replied the e-mail to inform them when I'll be available and I told them "please call me." On Monday I didn't receive anything. I then sent another e-mail telling them if my time is difficult for them to work with, I can push the time one hour earlier. I was trying to be nice and to work with their time.

It then comes Tuesday and I still received NOTHING! I got upset and I wrote another e-mail to the customer service and told them that I don't want to talk to them anymore. Here's my written consent...Please give my money back.

After sending them the e-mail, I tried to log in to my account to see if there's anything I can take screenshots of... I couldn't log in. My e-mail address did not exist in the database. I freaked out and I went on googling their reviews. It was eye-opening. Shaw Academy is notorious for taking customers' money away without letting them know!

 

Damn! I freaked out even more! I then started research how to get my money back since there's no phone number, agent wouldn't answer my call nor call me call me back and no e-mail response. What should I do?

There are 3 basic steps that have to be done:

1. Leave bad reviews on at least all the big platforms.

2. Send them a lot of e-mails frequently. How frequently? Every 24 hours.

3. Leave comments on their social media platforms. This I found not very effective. On their Facebook they tend to hide all the unpleasant comments, so it's basically useless. I actually started with their Instagram; I was playing with their posts. Their account manager did such a good job deleting my comments almost simultaneously. I was enjoying it at some point, but then I got bored after about 8 to 12 hours playing on their IG on and off.

I then went on and left bad reviews on all the big platforms and small platforms. I basically left reviews on all the google search results. I did all I could. I found that TrustPilot, Better Business Bureau (BBB) and google work the best. BBB in my case worked particularly out of the 3. But no matter what they responded on BBB I always choose "No, I don't accept". My strategy is to not accept anything unless I see my money back to my bank account.

Lastly, I sent them e-mails to all the e-mail addresses I could find online. I got nothing back the next day.

As I was doing more research, I found this girl who got her money back faster than other people. From my research, normally it takes 3 weeks to 2 months to get the money back. I couldn't accept this unfairness. When you take my money it takes no time, but when I want my money back I have to wait for 2 months? No way! 

So I followed what this girl did. She sent e-mail to all the e-mail addresses every 3 hours mainly targeting the person on the highest position. I even went a little further, I was sending them e-mailsssssssssssssssss every 3 to 5 hours, and I made sure the person on the highest position always got a copy. I knew they're gonna ignore me at their best so I had to make sure that I got their full attention. 

I didn't receive any response, I didn't know any progress until late night on December 12, 2020. I received an e-mail saying that my refund was issued and I should receive my money in 3 to 4 business days. Great!

A couple of hours later, I received a second e-mail from another guy who's obviously the admin of all student accounts. He explained to me that they didn't delete my account, instead there was a typo in my e-mail address when I signed up and that is why the system couldn't find my e-mail address. He also attached a screenshot of the background coding showing me where the typo was.

I felt so bad and I was about to apologize. But something's weird here, if there was a typo then how was it possible that I was able to take screenshots of my account status after I was charged? I used 3 e-mail address to send the e-mail bombs, so I did receive a couple respond asking the e-mail address I used to sign up so they can "look up" my issues. How come NO ONE have found out that there was a typo?

I did ask Shaw Academy to delete my account completely, but what this guy did was reactivated my account and granted me a new 28-day free trial. I freaked out again. Why is it so difficult to understand my request? I replied and told him that I needed my account completely deleted in within the next 12 hours, otherwise I'd go for law enforcement.

12 hours later, on December 13, my account was still active and I was able to log in. I sent them the last e-mail bomb stating my request and I went silent. Because I have done my research on how to report a scam and was ready to go ahead. 

In the afternoon I received an e-mail from this guy saying that they couldn't delete my account in one go due to some regulation in Europe, but my account will be completely gone within 30 days. He also requested to not send them so many e-mails requesting for one thing. Jeeeees, dude, simple communication! You wouldn't have to receive so many e-mail if you'd reply me a bit earlier.

In the evening I got the confirmation that my account was deleted completely. I also received money in 2 business days.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are a few thing I'd like to say after this horrible experience:

1. PLEASE do your own research before signing up for any services. Extra 10 minutes on google would save you so much time and money. And for Shaw Academy, go on their LinkedIn page and you'll need less that 5 minutes to make a decision.

 2. Facebook is their partner in crime. I am certain that I am not the first one and I won't be the last one who had to go through this. I know that many people, includes me, have written e-amils to Facebook, but Facebook is still allowing Shaw Academy on their platforms, putting you and me in danger of the scam. If you decide to go for law enforcement, please make sure to included other suggestions.

3. Sometimes when you see their ads you'll see a picture of a diploma or a certificate. You''ll probably be thinking how amazing, free courses and a diploma! You'll wondering..."is this too good to be through?" The answer is Yes, it is too good to be true. Shaw Academy's accreditation was withdrawn in 2019.

Lastly, previously I mentioned I sent them e-mailssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss, I wasn't joking. I sent 700+emails .

Never give up if you are also in it. I am always supporting you!

Follow me on Instagram: stefanii.lnn