world education service reviews and complaints

I have applied FSWP Canada on 16 June 2013 and my documents reached Canada office on 25 June 2013. Since then my application status is "documents received - review in progress" until today. 8 July 2013. (14 days)

According to WES policy, once our documents is received, WES will review our documents within 48 hours and at least will updates us what is the status of the documents. the sad thing is WES never updates me and never response to my call!. I called to Canada and have cost me lot of money since I from Malaysia but no one have pick up my call. I am waiting for more than one hour but no response at all. I emailed more than 10 times but the standard answer was given is " In progress" without any detail!

I need this sort out ASAP as today is already 2 weeks since my document reached WES office.
my reference number is 2442323.
Really disapointed with WES service.

They took my money, told me what documents to get from my English Universities. I was informed by my universities that they did not have the types of documents WES was requesting. I emailed WES asking what to do next - got no reply.

Called a week later and was told to wait for a reply. Still nothing. Emailed a followup another week later. No reply. Called "Customer Services" was told that I'd signed a document promising to submit the required documents, and if I couldn't submit them as requested I couldn't have an evaluation. So I asked for a refund in writing. I got no response, not even an acknowledgement of my request.

I got another contact number for WES from my Uni admissions office, and emailed and left messages - got no response.

I called customer services (10 days after the refund request). They told me that the refund had to be "considered" and they didn't know when that would be finished. I said that since they were unable to provide me with the translation service they couldn't also keep my money. The woman was very rude and just kept repeating to me that I had to wait for them. I asked how I could believe they would contact me, since they have never contacted me about anything ever before. So she just hung up on me. 1hr later, they emailed me a refusal to refund my $170. It was obviously a vindictive response to my (really polite!) phone call, and still I have no way to get an evaluation.

I called the San Francisco office, and she told me that they won't refund if I "fail to provide the required" documents I told her that I assumed that if they asked for xyz documents from English universities, it was because these documents exist.

How was I to know that such documents did not exist in the 80's and 90's? WES already had the dates of my degrees when they told me what documents to get. With their supposedly "35yrs" of experience, they must have known that my institutions did not have these documents for students who graduated before a certain date.

So this has to be a scam - they knowingly take money, demand documents that don't exist, then blame you for failing to do your part in the evaluation and refuse the refund. Its unbelievable.

Then I looked them up at the New York BBB - 130 people have filed complaints in just 3 months (so that must be the tip of the iceburg) check it out:

http://www.bbb.org/new-york-city/business-reviews/educational-consultants/world-education-services-inc-in-new-york-ny-9023

If anyone else is having problems you might get a resolution by complaining to the Better Business Bureau who seem to have resolved some of the complaints:

http://charityreports.bbb.org/public/complaint/complaint.aspx

If I can't get anywhere with the BBB I will also complain to New York Attorney General Charities Division;

http://www.charitiesnys.com/complaints_new.html

You can also post a review of them as a charity on the GuideStar database which is an important nonprofit reference, taken seriously by funders and nonprofit researchers - people should be told what a scam this place is:

http://www2.guidestar.org/ReportNonProfit.aspx?ein=23-7396384&Mode=NonGx&lid=494030&dl=True

They had all the information (transcripts from two Canadian universities) October 28. I phoned and they said it would be sent out within 3 days. A week later, I checked online and saw that due to a misunderstanding/incorrect assumption on their part about some info on one of the transcripts, my record was awaiting yet another transcript from an institution which I never attended. I phoned and explained, and they said it would be sent out right away. A week later, same thing. I also emailed a couple of times explaining the situation. Each call represented an average of 20 minutes on hold. Last week I spoke to a "supervisor" named Narda. She promised me she would call me back the next day and take care of it. I have left her several messages since then, but the status of my evaluation still shows that they are waiting for that non-existent transcript. Each time I call, I explain that this time lost is costing me money. I can't enroll for classes without knowing what credits I already have earned, and as I am near graduation, this delay means I cannot apply for a job and tell them I have a degree until my ed. institution can review WES' evaluation and assess my credits, so I know how soon I will have earned my diploma. I am frustrated and angry. The "customer service" reps there STONEWALL and obfuscate. All I am trying to do is get the service I paid for. I've been hung up on, and the only one who even apologized was Narda, for whatever good that is worth. USE A DIFFERENT EVALUATION SERVICE FOR YOUR FOREIGN EDUCATIONAL CREDITS. I WISH I HAD.