Penn Foster
Reviews and Complaints

I have asked for teachers to contact me to help me and they failed to do this. I finally got tired of waiting and dropped out of the class I was in. I am owed a refund that I have not received as of this complaint and I keep getting told it has been submitted. First on the 18th of October and then on the 29th of October and told wait 3-5 days. Well your 3-5 days are up. I just dont understand why people refused to pay others what is owed to them. Lie to them. Refuse to have a supervisor return calls. Yet when I ask when I am going to get my money they tell me I have to wait. Why should I have to wait 10 years to get something that is owed to me.

This school created or allowed someone to create a fraudulent account in my name and is now saying I owe them $1667.20. I had never heard of Penn Foster until someone called me saying I owe them money then Ability recovery services sent a debt collection in the mail. I obtained my high school diploma from Job Corp. I have never enrolled in Penn Foster and would like a correction in your accounting to be provided to your debt collector.

On 9/8/2023 I tried contacting Penn Forester to cancel my Medical and Billing course to no avail. I was hung up on, so I sent a communication through the contact us, Ref#[protected]. This morning 9/11/2023 I tried contacting them by phone and got the same response, hung up.

I realized I was not interested in the course so I'm requesting a refund.

Your attention to this matter is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Christine Baca

[protected]

I took the online course of small engine repair and had complete the program. Had very few payments lefts and had gotten sick and was hospitalized which cause me to lose my job. I did stay in contact made payment arrangements and paid but some how still owed more then I did and when I started to send proof of that fact no one would correspond with me. I then was sent to a collections agency where I sent them paper work paper work just to receive a letter saying we will research it more just to get a letter more then 30 days later from another collections agency and started it all over again. And once again file a dispute and get sent to another agency. I just want what’s rightfully mine what I worked hard for and suffer to pay and paid double for just to keep getting the run around.

I registered for the electronics technician program. After a couple weeks I found out that this “college’s” degree wouldn’t be accepted anywhere. I wanted to get a refund. They refused and said that I should have checked before enrolling and there as not going to be any refunds.

A degree from a real college would be accepted anywhere.

Stay away from this scam and save yourselves a headache dealing with these losers.

Never use this so called college it is a huge scam. They lie to get you to enroll they will say whatever to get you to pay. Then when everything is said and done they will say oh we never said you can receive a voucher. Complain and they say oh we shall get back with you in 2 days. Try 2 weeks after having to call them myself 3 times. Nothing was fixed absolutely nothing and they won't admit fault so best to avoid this scam find another college that actually cares about the students that enroll. Run away and never look back.

I am submitting this complaint regarding a collection account on my credit report. I initially started this program myself as a monthly program meaning I paid each month. I did not receive any type of tuition assistance for payment I paid each month from my own pocket. I stopped my classes due to personal changes in my life. I am highly upset that this company has added a collections account to my credit-damaging my report with false information that is affecting me in a negative way. I don't owe this company anything in advance will fight to have this removed from my credit report. This was a pay-as-you program only! I want this complaint taken to the highest level to be removed from my credit report.

I had to retake 4 exams back in 2021 I paid my balance off in full. When I resubmitted the exams I never knew they were sent back to me. So now I went back to finish and they told me I had to re- Enroll. They gave me six extra classes to take and now they trying to charge me for the classes I did not need to take. They told me after I was finished I can call and they’ll work something out with the pay but now I keep getting the run around and no one seem to be helping.

I am a transgender student and I haven't had the opportunity to change my name legally yet. While I understand that we would have to use our deadname before we can change it, I don't understand why there isn't an option to use a preferred name as well. The most someone can do is go to their class's profile and add a nickname that none of the teachers grading or working with you will ever look at.

Would I get points taken off of things such as essays for using my preferred name instead of my legal one? If so, change this OR have an option to check for a preferred name on your account somehow.

This isn't the first time this has happened to me, I also completed high school with Penn Foster and I'm still very unsatisfied with this school. I'm only continuing the classes because of the way the refund pollicy is set up.

I am a returning Penn Foster student who has spent a total of $1852 on programs from this establishment. I am currently working towards earning my third certificate with them. I recently am in the process of changing my first nam legally because I am transgender. When I signed up for my first certificate program with Penn Foster in 2016 I was not required to provide any type of identification nor have I ever been asked to do so. My ex partner also signed up using his chosen name and not his legal name and was also never given any issue or asked to provide any type of identification. Now that I am legally changing my name and am already in possession of court documents stating my name change has been granted I asked Penn Foster to please change my name on my account and to also reprint my prior 2 certificates with my new legal name so I can display them still, considering I earned them and paid for them. The response I received stated that I can change my name if I provide them with a copy of my court papers and a copy of my new drivers license, which will be no issue however I have not retained a new license yet as I am still waiting for my new birth certificate to come in the mail. The other part of the response stated that I can have my new name printed on my new certificate but that they cant do anything to reprint my prior certificates with my new name. I would like to point out that for a small fee I can have my certificates reprinted with my "dead name" on them, so this is not a matter of they CANT do this, but a matter of they WONT do this. I feel this policy is not inclusive of transgender individuals who have worked hard to earn certifications and can no longer use or display them because Penn Foster refuses to help in this situation. I also feel this is discriminatory because I have never been asked to provide any type of documentation verifying my identity at any time during the 6 years I have been a student with this institution up until now when I asked for inclusions for my new transgender identity.

Please do not wast your time or money with pen foster they have the worse customer service their couse material dose not match the exam.I took some of the meterial to a universal college to a professor states someone need to review material, Just take a look at the review and see what the stundent say. A big percentage of students did not understand the material . I had a family death in my family I was not able to contine my lesson for serveral months when I called and spoke with the representative explain my situation and told her my account was paid in full. The representative stated that I would have to pay $95.00 if i wanted to continue my edication . I only had 1 class to complete. . I contact penn foster on several occasions. the english did not make any since. I called spoke with kelly from the education department ask to speakwith a Supervisor and she told me it was against the law. That day I was transferred 5 time

I failed a subject (maths), and paid for a replacement subject (animal anatomy) which was different to the one I had failed, only to realize they sent me the same subject to rewrite. I did not pay to rewrite the same subject it's a replacement subject for a reason. When I send emails regarding this they are rude and offer no solutions very dissapointed.

Student No :[protected]

No matter what, I would not recommend penn foster and I would check into other legitimate online schooling programs. Penn foster is all about the paycheck and not actually schooling. When it comes time to graduate and receive your diploma, situation in which I am dealing with right now with my son, they hold out and want you to pay more money. Do not add any additional programs to the basic high school diploma, that is where they like to play games and collect more money. They refuse to remove without signing up for a whole new program. Even though he is 100% complete and all money paid in full, they refuse to submit and send his diploma. Stay away from penn foster!

My girlfriend was going here " cori martin" up until she changed her mind, and penn foster is refusing to return her money to the point that we are going to have to file a bbb compliant, we would like her money back before we are forced to do that, then sue after that if we don't get the money back. She has already tried to email you guys, yet you still refuse to give back the money you took. You also said she had to make all payments for her tuition before you would even let her take any classes.

Old account since 2017 havent even done anything on it due to personal problems these past years, yes I recently did want to try it again so my account was already in collections and somehopw they pressured me that it would be good for me and blah blah but I just got news that ill be laid off of work due to not very business where im from and they still want to charge the $900 cancellation fee where am I getting that money from? nor pay the monthly bill they want to give me. if I never even used pennfoster at all why is it fair for me to pay them $1000 I dont have. I need this resolved or I will be making a big claim!

Have recently tried to cancel with this company..you have to cancel by email. And they leave no email address..phone rep would not cancel..their attorney would not cancel and upped my cancel fee by $70.. I have been in contact with an attorney about a civil case..if you have been scammed by this company..please email rneilneil@yahoo.com..their advertising does not match what they really do..

I got kicked out of the page i was on, back to the student log in. Im really mad because i wrote a damn essay and its just gone. I clicked submit and it kicked me out to the log in screen. This has happened a few times, but this time im really mad because i wrote so much. I really thought about everything, and now ALL my work is just GONE. I pay for this [censored]. Excuse my language but im pissed. If no one can fix this then im not continuing my school here. Its freaking useless. And its not my internet connection. I pay $60 for highspeed internet and everything works just fine. Just not piss Penn Foster. Im really mad because this is money im wasting. I thought this was school. Its not just a damn application for something. This my goddamn education. 😣😒😠

I enrolled my daughter in Penn Foster to finish her last few credits of high school. I was only supposed to be billed on the remaining credits for graduation. She only had less than half a year to complete. I ordered the transcrips online, I mailed them and her high school counselor mailed them as well. I was never contacted as to when she would begin. We let it go and decided to go another route. Then I got a collection notice for the full amount of all 4 years of high school. I tried on several occasions to contact someone there and was given the run around.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS SCHOOL TO ANYONE.