TechSkills / MyComputerCareer.edu review: Breach of Contract 32

I am having the exact same problem with the exact same people. It may not be all techskills, but it certainly seems as if this is how at least this branch is operating.

I am working on filing complaints with appropriate parties. If you feel you could contribute (and possibly end up with some sort of refund) please send me an e-mail!

Hello, I am a Colorado resident who is also having a terrible time dealing with the shenanigans of Techskills. Please if anyone is filing a lawsuit or considering complaints or class action lawsuit reguarding their buisness practice and enrollment practices e-mail me at techskills_lawsuit@hotmail.com I would be happy to join in the fight for our legal rights to the money they scam off of people who just want to improve their lives.
This was posted on Jan 2 2008

I am paying over $7000 for their Medical Coding Program. I have had approximately 2 hours interaction with my "instructor." I am currently struggling with the fact that I do not have the necessary materials to pass their exams let alone the certification exam. My instructor is hostile and can't even answer simple questions about the course material, I received a very hostile response to an email I sent that was simply a request for help. I have had about 30 very negative interactions in this school and I am really struggling to finish the last two courses. The promises they made never materialized and I also am resigned to the loss of $7,000. I would like very much to fight for my legal rights.

I think what most of you are failing to realize is when you sign up for a membership with TechSkills... it is up to YOU to complete the courses within the year timeframe. If you follow the courseguide and finish each courses within the time given (most courses are 4 weeks long), then you would've gotten all of your certifications. If you were to sign up at a gym for a year membership and at the end of that membership, you're still fat, you can't hardly go back and ask for a refund. Bottom Line: You are what you put into programs like the ones offered at TechSkills.

I am having a similar experience at TechSkills, and am feeling very ripped-off, considering what is being provided vs. the amount of money I am paying them. In response to Anonymous above, you are missing the point people are trying to make, I believe, which is TechSkills is not fulfilling its end of the bargain. They are charging a LOT of money, and not providing much in return, and I think that feeling set in very early for me. So, to compare to your analogy, it would be like the gym showing you a brochure, introducing you to a personal trainer, charging you lots of money for his intruction and advice, and after you pay for your membership, you show up to the gym, the equipment is 10 years old, the personal trainer is really Jim Bob who worked out there for 1 month, and you realize you could of saved yourself 10 grand and bought a home gym, and saved yourself 9500.

I am paying about $11k for an all-you-can-eat program, and after 4 months have never recieved ANY expert guidance, or had ANY of my questions answered. Basically, you are handed a book, given a syllabus, which follows the book, and that's it. I'm basically, no matter how I try to rationalize it, paying $11k for the same thing I can get in the $70 book they use, which is the MS Press certification training book. To top it all off, I was charged $450 for books and materials in my contract, and the book has a sticker inside when I pick it up, that says it's Techskills property, and needs to be returned upon completion, or I'll be charged $70 for the book! Talk about adding insult to injury here lol

The "instructors" they introduce you to, while selling you the program, are not much more than lab assistants, and do not provide any expert advice, at least for the program I'm in, which is MCTS. If they would of told me, before I signed the loan papers, that my instructor didn't know jack about .Net, I never would of started TechSkills. After complaining, they told me they would find me a .net instructor at another campus - that was 4 weeks ago, and still nothing.

I would advise anyone looking for a certification program to avoid TechSkills, and just buy yourself the self-study books you can get at any bookstore. It's about the same thing you will be provided at TechSkills, seriously. I feel completely taken in this experience, and really wish I would of researched it before I started. A very expensive lesson in life for me - don't just go by what a salesman tells you, or what's on the vendors website. Do your homework, and look for things like this before starting a program like TechSkills.

This school is a S-C-A-M.

These types of schools are predators dressed as educators. You should ask (1) What educational training and/or educational background do your instructors have? (2) What type of teaching experience, education does the front and back office staff have? (3) How many instructional technologists are there? (4) Where are they ? (5) What is the completion and placement rate for your particular facility... not company wided ?(6) Who on the staff has teaching degrees? (7) What percentage of funding comes from Title IV? These are only of a few questions a good educational facility should be most willing to address.

Best advice: Attend a community college.

Anonymous, Master of Education in Educational Leadership

Amen. Based on my research, TechSkills is mainly a pyramid scheme. They promise you anything to get you to sign a student loan agreement, and then they deliver nothing. They're selling a dream and providing half-rate instructional software at outrageous prices. I dealt with Chris Bryant (the manager at the Las Vegas TechSkills nearby) who promised me a job after I graduated. He swore I'd move right into a great paying job, but I needed to sign a loan document to make that happen. I was very apprehensive, but I thought the training would be worth the cost. What training? There are no instructors; only part-time monitors they call "mentors." The mentors may or may not be trained to assist you with using the instructional software. Yes, you learn from software. No instructor, and no value for the money. I confused my mentors all the time with my questions because they were not trained on the technology I was trying to learn. It was a joke.

I approached Chris with my contract and asked for a refund since the training just wasn't working for me. He insisted that I had to keep attending class. He said I was bound by the contract and I couldn't drop out, which I should have guessed. I sat in the waiting room one day to talk to him, and there were two other angry people waiting for refunds, too. We all got told to wait until Chris was available, but he stayed in his office on the phone, laughing and making jokes for an hour. He then told us all that we were crazy to ask for a refund, and that it would take longer to get than would be worth the wait, so we might as well just hunker down and get back to studying. Unbelieveable... Another student I saw fought for weeks to get a certification exam scheduled, and was told there were no vouchers available because the company was having financial problems. Run, folks. Run!

I learned my lesson, but I'm still paying thousands of dollars for the opportunity to get jabbed by TechSkills. Save your money, go to an actual community college and study with an approved certification school. You'll do much better than I ever could have done at TechSkills.

I need a lawyer in Florida
I resigned from TECH Skills and sat in the office 3 hours to do so
I have 2 separate bils of 6000 on my credit report
which are false
Please help

I agree with all of the complaints against Techskills. I thought it was only the medical transcription course that was bogus, I have uncovered that it is the entire Techskills organization in every state that they are located in. I completed the medical transcription course and also paid to take a Certified Medical Transcription exam so I could obtain a CMT Credential and begin working from home as I was promised and assured would happen. When I began to send out resumes the potential employers are asking me "if you are a new grad, how did you get a CMT Credential?" After having about 35 employers ask this I contacted Techskills about this and was assured that the CMT was a legitimate credential and that their curriculum was of the highest standards in the healthcare industry. The CMT exam was taken at the Techskills facility but the exam itself was administered through The National Healthcareer Association. Well it turns out that Techskills training is laughable to say the least to a hugh number of employers and Techskills itself and The National Healthcareer Association along with their so called CMT Credentials are not at all recognized in the healthcare industry. The credential that they charge students for is false. The only way to obtain a CMT Credential is to sit for the exam through The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity after you have 2 years of acute care transcription under your belt. A student can sit for the RMT exam which is the first exam, not the CMT and you would have had to had your medical transcription training from a school whose curriculum is approved by The AHDI. Techskills knowingly and deceptively lured me in with false promises. They have violated just about every Regulatory code listed on the State of Wisconsin Education Approval Board site. Are there any other students, or I should say victims who have taken the CMT exam I mentioned above? please post and let me know.

Hello,
I'm responding to your complaints about Techskills. Has anybody had any luck in resolving your complaints with this school? I've tried every avenue except filing a civil lawsuit to recover some of my refund of which was promised by the schools regional manager. I have an attorney working on this now, but if someone knows of one that has already dealt with this school and are familiar with the way they operate it would be greatly appreciated. I trusted this school and in turn they ripped me off.
I honestly feel that people need to stay away from this school. A couple of reasons for this are the high cost and weak content of their courses. You will do much better in both accounts at a community college. Example, my Web Design course at Techskills cost $6, 000 and you didn't get certified, at the local community college it costs $3, 500 and you get certified and the course content is relevant.
Please stay away from this school; you will do much better at an accredited school.

I just got ripped off from TechSkills here in FT Worth. I started the course, read two chapters out of the book and have not taken the first test. The course was to train for the MCTS .NET Certification. I tried to quit twice because the pace was too fast. In the beggining I was told it was self paced and I could take my time. What I found out later is that I had to hurry up and finish everything within a month with one extra month for 'flash cards' and boneing up for the MCTS. I got sick for nearly three weeks and I had problems installing SQL Server 2005 on my laptop. So four weeks behind schedule. They offered to let me audit the class - whatever the hell that means, it really means just pay them all thier money then mabe I'll have access to thier web site. I told them that I want to quit and they kept giving me the run around. I agreed to go on, but decided after a couple of days that this was insane to pay $2500 for a course that was essentially reading the $70 Microsoft Certification book and working through the sample quizes in the book. The on-line stuff didn't even offer as much as what was in the book. I paid $510 for the first installment, now they want an aditional $265 and have Provided ME ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AT ALL. I don't even feel comfortable going to thier site and logging on to thier computers. The only contact I had with the instructor was for him to call me to tell me to hurry up. Any lawers out there?

I am having issues with the Nashville branch. When I enrolled of course the girl in the office sold me the moon, telling me that they would work around my schedule (I work 3rd shift), I would get top notch training, and hands on experience. First of all, I broke my hand and had to have surgery so I had to take a month off, leave of absence as they called it. I returned to school and a month or so later I started having to work overtime and could not make my hours on campus, I asked to complete the work online. I was threatened with a 60 day suspension. Keep in mind that I paid 4000 dollars up front and they threatened me with suspension?! Thats just the start. My "instructor" is completely incompetant. I had a question about Route Summarization (I was in the CCNA program) and when I asked him to explain exactly how he got his answer, I was told, "thats just how it works." Half of the computers in the class did not work, and the ones that did were slow and often did not have the required software or tools needed to complete my coursework. People would sit in the "quiet" lab and talk, extremely loudly, on their cell phones and the instructor did nothing to stop them. This was supposed to be a professional environment and the "director" of the campus often brought his dog into the "school" with him. When I finally confroted them about all of this and told the director I demanded a refund all he could talk about was about how he wouldnt bring his dog in anymore. That was not the point. This school is a total scam and ripoff. I hope someone out there will read this and think twice before giving them a penny of your money. And judging by what I have read above, it apparently happens across the country.

Wow... I had no idea and now am thinking that I screwed myself, seeing that I'd like to discontinue my certification training. So now I'll be left to pay the balance on a loan that I won't even fulfill the full service of? Just Crazy...

This School has not fulfilled its obligation to me in regards to the contract that I signed where I would receive my books and needed help in a good timely fashion. I am currently waiting for books that I should have had 4 weeks ago. I have not received a response to any of the last 4 emails that I have sent to 3 ladies that are at the school.

TechSkills also was unable to fulfill their obligation to a vocational Externship that I was to complete. I signed a contract for the vocational portion in October. I started going to school 12 hours a week and once I completed my medical terminology course I was to complete an externship where I was to work in a medical facility for 120 hours. In order to complete this I was to take time off from my then employer Wachovia Bank. It turned out that I was out on Short term disability from having surgery. I instructed the vocational director around December 2nd to let her know when I would be able to complete this externship. My former instructor let me know that she did not make any phone calls until Dec 23rd when I came in for my 2 certifications. I waited for several weeks and I finally had to let the vocational director know that I was going to be returning to work Jan 26th and would not be able to take any more time off from work. I had to take an incomplete for this course since TechSkills could not line up an externship during the timeframe of Dec. 19th thru Jan 26th

Also this past October the management staff made a decision where they felt that they did not need the instructors to be full time. TechSkills placed all but one instructor on part time status and took away their benefits. Most of the instructors that were there when I first started are no longer there which includes my former Instructor who had to leave, since she needed to work full time and needed health benefits. My former instructor really cared about her students but after she left us, the medical students were left with no one that we could really call on for any help or guidance. They finally gave us contact information from someone at the Charlotte campus but they were not at school on the nights that I attended that often.

I would not recommend TechSkills so long as things stay as they are. When you pay or go into debt thousands and commit months of your life to something, you expect to get more than a stack of books and written worksheets and tests.

I have to say that if anyone is going to take a coding course do it in a "real" class setting. Not one where worksheets and over priced books are your teachers. This was definitely something I could of done online and a lot cheaper.

I have been shafted by this school as well. Long story short, I am trying to find any contact information at the schools headquarters that may be helpful. Does anyone have anything?

I've got a question...I see that many of the posts here are
About suing and getting money back, but what I'd like
To know are the reasons for dropping out. I know its online
Stuff and there's suppose to be an instructor to help but
How is it REALLY? I'm looking to go there just for the A+
Certification. Oh and will be attending the madison, wi
Campus for transfer to brookfield wi campus cuz I'm
Moving during that time. Please respond !

I honestly do not believe that suing will get anywhere. The issues I experienced involved a lack of interest in my success and a "car dealer" mentality when it came to helping me withdraw. I was misled in regards to the withdraw policy, I was told I could withdraw at any time with my tuition being prorated. I was sure to ask this question because at the time, I was possibly moving to a new town that did not have the school. Turns out, the withdraw policy was only 90 days. And dont ask for this in writing, they can only tell you about it. My honest opinion is that there are countless online resources for the A+ tests or even technical schools that offer the course at a MUCH lower rate. I kick myself daily for the lack of consideration I gave to each of these sources. I am in the process of trying to get in contact with ANYONE at the HQ of techskills to no avail. If you choose to proceed with Techskills, get EVERYTHING in writing. know that you are responsible for the course work. In my situation, I was very limited in my ability to get assistance with questions, and finally, don't let them push you into something you don't want. If you just want A+, then just take the A+ course. They will TRY AND SELL YOU!
Good luck.

This school is a joke. There is no way anyone trying to find work in any course they offer is qualified to do the work needed to be successful. I think it is time for a class action law suit.

I AGREE TECHSKILLS RIP ME OFF TOO THE SAME EXACT THING HAPPENED TO ME ! THEY WOULDNT GIVE ME A REFUND! AND NOW IM SCREWED! I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO AND I CANT DEFER IT DUE TO ITS NOT A FEDERAL LOAN ITS A PRIVATE LOAN AND THEY DIDNT EVEN TELL ME ITS A PRIVATE LOAN OR ELSE I WOULDVE NEVER TOOK IT! PLEASE IF ANYONE IS TRYING TO TAKE THIS ### TO COURT OR DO ANYTHING ABOUT THIS PLEASE CONTACT ME AT olgamarie.cruz@yahoo.com I WOULD LOVE TO HELP IN ANY KIND OF WAY AND MAYBE IT CAN HELP ME OUT TOO! THANK U AND GOOD LUCK!

I'm glad I stumbled across this thread. I have had similar experiences with TechSkills.

When I signed up, I sat in a room with a "mentor" and talked to him for and hour and a half about the school. I really liked the guy (seemed knowledegable and personable) and was excited about tackling the course load with this mentor by my side. As it turned out, this guy wasn't there during the time I was there (even though I had told him my schedule and that his passion for the course material was the main reason I was signing up). And before anyone make a comments, I'm a straight male so it wasn't a crush or anything. Haha. Anyways, I was always "pawned off" on another mentor that I just didn't get the same vibe from. Personally I liked her a lot, but she just never really seemed to have any answers. She had a TON of certifiations, but seemed like perhaps she was the book smart type and not able to put it into practical use. I mean...with the certs she had, there is no way TechSkills could have afforded to keep her there if she was proficient in all of the areas.

One example: I was working on my A+ cert and I asked her a question and instead of helping me through it, she printed off a few pages from Webopedia and handed it to me. My original mentor asked me about it and I told him that I was having second thought about the school. He assured me that he would talk to the other mentor and me more available to help me. Well, from that point on there was a weird awkwardness between me and the female mentor and the male mentor never really lived up to him promise to be around more. I became discouraged and hardly ever went back to the campus (half hour+ drive away) and tried to continue the cert training strictly online. I will say that training at the campus is easier because they have equipment that I just wouldn't have at home (although not all of it worked properly). I became more discouraged and fell behind in my studies.

After the end of my enrollment, I approached the campus director and sort of poured my heart out to him about me experience. He agreed to extend my membership for a month and another month for each test I passed. So I started again in May and within two months I had knocked out three tests. May was free, passing one test should have given me all of June to pass another. Passing the second test should have given me all of July to pass a third test and passing the third should have given me all of August. And that's what I planned on. Well, I guess I was too efficient in passing my first two tests because they lumped those into one month and I found out a week before the end of July that if I didn't pass another test that my extended enrollment would end. Well, I thought I had another month to study and needless to say I failed. I spoke with the director and he refused to honor his agreement to extend one month for each test pass. Even though it was a kind gesture on his part to extend my enrollment to begin with, he should have kept his word.

While these complaints are enough, my major complains has to do with a bundle of exam vouchers that I purchased when I signed up. Because of the troubles listed above, I didn't use all of the vouchers. I was assured that I would be able to use them as I studied on my own. Recently I contacted them about using my remaining vouchers and was told that I couldn't use them. They said that they assume that I would use my vouchers while I was enrolled and they just weren't available anymore. I asked for a refund on my remaining vouchers and was denied that as well. Basically I paid for 12 tests, used 5 and TechSkills pocketed the rest of the money. Not cool at all. I've filed a BBB complaint and I guess I'll see where that leads me.

I'm a student that is in training. I came here with rehab funds to transfer to a non labor intensive job. I like what I see so far. Had I come across this before signing up. I bet I would have gone somewhere else. It's possible that these issues are school specific. I didn’t see anyone complaining about my school yet. I can see how these guys are slammed for being salespeople. My sales guy was a good sales person, he would move some serious cars but he knew when to stop. I'm also the type of person that doesn’t get sold on things. Even still, I'm thinking about upping to what he recommended in the first place which was the longer training and more certs. I saw value in this place and still do.

Today in the break room I came across a binder where former students have sent in letters thanking the staff and talking about how great it was. I can see how the outcome of finding a job would totally put your education experience into a certain light. I hope I get one, fingers crossed. I just wanted to throw it out there that it cant be all that bad because I'm doing just fine.

I wanted to practice installing a C.P.U. and they didnt even have thermal paste for the active heat sink. The instructor Larry Jones was shocked that I would want to practice installation. If your looking for a cheap way to get your A+ just read a book and buy the exams.

Any field you go into you need experience to make money. If you dont know that, thats on you. Do your homework...

It is unrealistic to think if you pay for schooling that intitles you to something that the rest of society has to work for. Experience and education are the recepie for a high paying job.

Should I go get my CPR certification and then go to a hospital and demand 300K. It doesnt work that way. If it did, there wouldnt be colleges or entry level positions.

If you guys think you get ripped off, then you should talk to former employees. This is a dirty company and takes advantage of students and doggs out employees.

When I signed up there was no 1 year limit and it was instituted after I started. The Instructors I met there were very nice, however the lab instructor was out for Kemothearpy and very sick most of the year leaving only one instructor to cover both the classroom and the lab. The instructor that was there tried his best, but could not cover what was needed in the lab. It wa unfortunate that there was no other teacher for these classes. As a result I didn't complete the MCSE classes as I had no instructor to help me through. Complaining to the person in charge, Mike at the San Jose, Ca. Techskill only created more difficulty in me achieving my goals as he blamed it all on me. This company should be fully investigated and have all the students in the past 10 years come forward to verify if they got the training they deserved. I would not recomend this school to a friend

I enrolled back in 09' at the Houston branch for the MCSA program. I completed my A+, Network+, MCP, and the 70-290 courses. Well after that they didn't wanna give me anymore extensions so I could finish the 70-291 course. So I've been trying to do it on my own cause i have all the labs. What would some of you recommend I do about it, cause I've tried calling the lady who was my advisor and she never returns my calls. Could I get a refund for the last course if I haven't completed it?

I totally agree. I was told that my contract was up in February however I recently found the original contract and the end date should have been May. They told me that the first 2 basic classes for A+ would be necessary for me to get my MCSA. Long story short, the classes took longer than I was told they would. I believe I would have finished if the teaching coordinator would have done his job.
There was only one teacher for the text portion of the classes and the teacher for the Lab portion was out most of the time due to Chemotherapy treatments. The school never got a replacement or substitute teacher and there was no teacher for the labs. I was told my time was up in February and never completed the last 2 courses as I had run out of time.
They still have over $520 for certifications I have already paid for and the branch here in San Jose Calif. disassociated themselves with the main company in Dallas as they wanted accreditation that the main company does not have. I was told that the Main office was the one I had to contact for restitution for the 2 Microsoft Certification that were pre paid and any complaints that I had. Good luck to you all.
If you decide on a major lawsuit towards this company count me in. This sounds like a problem that goes back to staff that is poorly trained by the corp. office as it seems to be a problem that is all over the country. I would suggest that and an outside committee have all records pulled for the last 10 years and every student be contacted for verification of completion of their classes. We are the ones who found this site and posted our complaints, probably less than .05%. Imagine the amount of people out there that had problems and didn't post them about this company.

FYI - Companies are now looking closely at schools like this as to many of them are passing students with no real understanding of the jobs they will perform. I already had 14 years of computers with some programming skills when I went to this school. Good luck to all.

Hello to you all. Tech skills had a location in Tampa, Florida that has closed. I just dial the number [protected] and no answer. I was told some of the same information about taking certain certification before going for CCNA or MSC. which is indeed and up selling tactic. My issue with the school. I'm paying on a loan in which i didn't receive the full training. if you knew or thought that the location in Tampa, fl would close then why keep enrolling students? I took the first portion of my A+ test but when i came back to finish the second part of the exam, the school closed. I spoke to a lawyer yesterday about the situation. The loan company tuition option has no answers for this problem. There business is to collect payments. A corporate office number i found on the web. [protected] Fax#[protected]

I would like to respond to Jerry regarding this bogus complaint against myself, Christopher Bryant, a past Campus Director for TechSkills LLC. I would never conduct myself in such an unprofessional manner. I care about my students success. I won't go into details as I respect my students and staffs privacy and is a FERPA violation. I will however defend myself on record, and I deny this accusation.

Any updates or Information since then? I was in there course... Unfortunately I took two :-(