TechSkills / MyComputerCareer.edu
Reviews and Complaints

My husband was scammed by this school. He is a veteran and was told by the "enrollment counselor" (a.k.a. salesperson) that he could use his GI Bill to pay for his tuition. My husband had no reason to doubt this because we had always been told by the Army and the VA that GI Bill will pay for just about every kind of education imaginable. What we didn't know is that the school itself has to take steps in order to be able to accept the GI Bill. TechSkills had not done taken those steps and refused to do so at our request. The enrollment director even admitted to my husband that the salesperson "should not have told him that." However, since he didn't get it in writing they refused to do anything about it. Now we are stuck paying $200+ a month (which really hurts as we have a child in daycare), when my husband is supposed to be getting paid to go to school! My husband and I helped defend this country and this is the thanks we get.

The girls work there are useless.they don't know anything . What they do all day is eating and chat on msn.!

I've signed up for a CWNA class at the www.techskills.com campus in San Jose, California. The tution was quoted with the textbook provided by the school. When I started the class, an outdated paper text was LOANED to me and the instructor gave me an even older pdf version that he downloaded from the Internet. You can imagine that with a $2500 price tag, they would manage to provide you a current text version. They said if I want to have my own book, I have to buy it.
AVOID THESE PEOPLE AT ALL COST! THEY ARE UNETHICAL AND ONLY CARE ABOUT THE BOTTOM LINE!

This isn't even a complaint at all.

For all of you that went to techskills...Techskills itself is NOT a scam completely.It depends on which one you went to.I know that sounds pretty bad but I was a student there and i became A+ certified(IT Technican) and am nearly N+ certified.

How could i become A+ certified if the schools are a "scam"?How could i have fixed a plethora of computer problems(even ones that the Geek Squad out of Best Buy couldn't even fix)?

Honestly, the campus in Brookfield, Wisconsin is the best campus to go to(and is the one i went to myself).Most of the other ones are definitly terrible.

I never had any problems with instructors or really any problems at all.It depends on how each campus is run and just because one campus is bad doesn't mean the other 31 are as well.

You have to check out each campus individually rather than looking it as a whole.

I wish I had read the complaints on this site or any site about this school. It's a waste of money and time. I wish I was warned. I have to pay a loan and no education, because everything is online or coursework no instructors or hands on training. The admissions was like a used-car saleslady. I certainly got a lemon. She promised me so much, but during my studies it was untrue, and she didn't even remember half the stuff she promised me. I feel used for my loan money, then pushed aside. I wish someone had warned me. There's got to be something we can do.

I am writing to inform others about Techskills' deceptive enrollment practices that ended up costing me a $4000.00 refund. In 03/2008, on the day of my initial visit and tour of TechSkills, I was offered two months of free enrollment as an incentive for enrolling that day. On 08/23/2008 I wrote to the Admissions Specialist and requested to change from MCSD to MCAD certification program. In early September of 2008, I was told by the Admissions Specialist I would be given a $4, 000 refund.

After several emails to the Admissions Specialist over a period of three months, I was finally called into a meeting with the School Director in December regarding this matter. During the meeting the School Director explained that I was passed the 50% point and was not eligible for a refund. According to him, the cut off date was 8/22/2008. He then pulled out my Continuing Education Enrollment Agreement that has the enrollment dates from 3/25/2008 to 1/19/2009. The Continuing Education Enrollment Agreement states “After fifty percent (50%) of the period of financial obligation is completed, the institution may retain the full tuition”. The exact date is not put on the Agreement.

I was one day late requesting a change from MCSD to MCAD because of how my enrollment into TechSkills was handled by the Admissions Specialist. In order to reflect the two months of free enrollment she used different dates on different forms and in the computer. On the Continuing Education Enrollment Agreement the enrollment dates are from 3/25/2008 to 1/19/2009 (300 days). The 50% point was 8/22/2009. On the Sallie Mae Application the enrollment dates are from 3/25/2008 to 3/20/2009 (360 days). On the "My Progress" screen on the TechSkills web site, my enrollment period shows 3/25/2008 to 3/20/2009 (360 days). The 50% point of the 360 day enrollment was 9/20/2008.

I decided to switch certification programs because the Techskills - Charlotte is a JOKE. If you have a problem with the course material, the staff encourages the student to focus on taking the Prep Exams because they can not help you with the course material. I now owe Sallie Mae $11, 150 and I did not get Microsoft certified in either MCAD or MCSD.

Add my name to the list of unhappy consumers who was dumb enought to try TechSkills. I went to school exactly one day and had to withdraw due to a death in the family. I was repeatedly assured that the refunds were being made to Sallie Mae and the disbursements were cancelled. LIARS! They never did any of that and I now have to get involved to stop the flow of cash from Sallie Mae to TechSkills before I am in over my head. I am willing to pay the deposit and be responsible for what I truly owe, but these ### are doing their best to keep the money coming from SLM and to get me on the hook for far more than a deposit. They outright lied and I have the e-mails to prove it. As some others have said, go to a local community college and earn your certs. I am going to do just that in the spring. Run from this palce and tell everyone you know to run as well.

I took on the course and was sold a $8000. package this was a career change opportunity i took on. i was sold the oracle 9i program and was not told that the 10g is due for release I was misdirected and spent not just $8000.00 but for the exams as well. i put in as much time as i could but had similar issues as far at the teachers were concerned because they were too busy getting them selves certified and had very little time for students. phone of the teachers had very poor people skills and unless you were a female would talk to you in a very demeaning manner and was a very big hindrance.

so not only did I get put onto a course that was being replaced by 10g, upon asking i was never offered the current course, I was expected to put more and more time, to complete the full 9i course which was redundant.

I had bills to pay and out of a job putting into the course all I can. I was given same misleading information as far as the job pay grade.

I put time into the program. I had a family situation for which I had to leave town, I gave notice and let the teacher know, I was given the cold shoulder on many occasions even by the director as far as my progress and my career and training to excel to the next level as my membership was not extended and I left with certifications for an out dated 9i application. he never returned my call.

in the end I took on a job that can pay the bills but i am very upset because I paid for a product and was taken advantage of and steered in the wrong direction

Now that I have got myself sorted out I would like to get back to this unfinished business and take back what is rightfully mine.

i would appreciate some assistance in regards to this matter my email is houston.[protected]@yahoo.com.

1 what are my options how should i persue this matter
2 where do i stand from a legal stand point of view.
3 have others been succesful in retreiving money from this school.

I received a CMT certification after completing the medical transcription course through Techskills and passing the CMT exam administered by The National Healthcareer Association. I later discovered through failed employment attempts that the CMT credential I THOUGHT I earned is FALSE.

The only way a person can earn a legitimate CMT certification is taking through The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity, the only industry recognized association. You must also have two years of acute care training/work under your belt to even be eligible to sit for the exam.

Techskills was well aware of this but continued with false and disceptive advertising. They knew the CMT that they were pushing was completly useless. And I have proof. If anyone else out there has a piece of paper that resembles a CMT cert from Techskills/TheNHA, please email me ASAP. [protected]@sbcglobal.net

I was given a one-time opportunity by the Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance (TBWA) to re-train for an in-demand career after being laid off from my job of over 6 years. I selected database administration as the course of study, and TechSkills as the institution to learn based on their persuasive on-line information

The promotional information doesn't describe the actual learning environment. They advertise classes, of which there are none. They offer one-on-one instruction from certified pros which I took to mean a lot of personal one-on-one interaction during the learning process and available to me at all times (which I knew I would need), but which turns out to happen only when a student has a question and is fortunate enough to find an instructor who knows the answer and who isn't busy with another student with a million questions. As this is a very technical, involved course, I also had many questions.

Since there was only one instructor who specializes in the program I was studying, Oracle9i, and he is only there on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 5pm to 8pm and every other Saturday, he was in great demand and I felt very bad about bothering him, as I know he also has administrative duties he must attend to. They have since added another person who knows a bit about the Oracle 9i database, which is a good thing, but it was too late for me.

I wasn't able to keep up on my own, which I virtually was, not having the resources promised. I felt like I went through the one-hour orientation, was handed the books, and pretty much set free to sink or swim. I was told I could ask questions whenever I wanted, but as mentioned above, finding someone who knew the answer was another story. They also said I could e-mail the particular instructor with a question, but I found an answer would not be forthcoming in a timely manner. This is an intense, condensed, accelerated course, and when a question needs to be answered before moving on, the question needs to be answered. It can't wait until the instructor gets to the school to open his e-mail, especially when he is only there 3 hours in the evening twice a week, and every other Saturday.

When I asked about the intense small group sessions, I was told they used to try to hold them, but not a lot of people showed up so they stopped. I would have shown up if they'd been made available to me, which they should have been.

The Oracle textbooks issued to me were supposed to come with a CD containing computer-based practice files which could be installed on my home computer, but there were no CDs.

One of the labs for Oracle9i was supposed to cover the use of the Oracle Universal Installer to install Oracle9i. This requires 3 CDs to complete, but disk No. 2 is missing from the school. I went as far as I could, through disk No. 1, and had to stop there. I guess the school considered my attempt at this lab complete, but I didn't.

When I went to the school to see what we could do about canceling the rest of my contract with them (the contract is for a total of 360 days) and getting a refund for the rest so I could cut my losses and try to salvage some of the money to attend a school that actually teaches what it says it teaches, I was told the Cancellation and Refund Policy issued to me doesn't apply, as TechSkills contract is with the Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance and not me, and that none of the money is refundable.

The Alliance gave TechSkills $3, 000 to teach me Oracle9i in the manner they advertised they would teach me. If I had been aware a different set of Cancellation and Refund policy rules was actually in effect, not the one I was issued, I would have cancelled sooner as I gradually came to realize they weren't going to provide what they said they were going to provide. I certainly wouldn't have jeopardized TBWA's money so cavalierly, nor my own one-time offer of the much appreciated and much needed scholarship money.

This is not a sore loser letter. If I had gone into this association aware of what was actually going to be (or not going to be) provided, and failed.then, too bad for me. I've failed before, and will surely fail again before my life is over. I honestly felt I was lucky to find this institution that would provide the intense, comprehensive, accelerated, course of study I desired and required to prepare myself for the new career I've been forced to seek. I just wish they'd held up their end of the bargain and given me the actual Cancellation and Refund Policy to which I would be bound.

When I asked the director of the Tampa campus, Mike Smith, if all of TechSkills campuses were managed in the same manner as the Tampa campus, he said they were. I wonder if Mr. Jeff Miller, a Regional Manager for TechSkills, and any of his superiors, will collaborate that answer.

I don't think any of these things were done (or not done) with malice; it may simply be a matter of management becoming complacent and gradually letting their standards slip until they lost sight of how these oversights and omissions were affecting their students, but the consequence for me is still the same. I didn't get the education I contracted for, and now I, and the TBWA, are out a very precious $3, 000 of educational money now safely in TechSkills coffers and no longer available to me.

I certainly would like to hear from The Commission for Independent Education and from Mr. Jeff Miller and any of the officers of TechSkills. I understand for any business, the bottom line is making money, but making money at the expense of trusting students not given the facts up front is at best reprehensible, at worst, criminal.

If anyone thinks I'm alone in my dissatisfaction and disillusionment with the method of TechSkills bait-and-switch operation, simply type in TechSkills complaints in your Google address bar and take your pick from the many sad stories of trusting, then bilked, consumers

DO not, I repeat, DO NOT go to Techskills. This is a mickey mouse training center that does not support its students. It is supposed to be medical training (highly inadequate - very little hands-on, no internships or externships, instructors who resent their students for taking up their time), AND it is also supposed to be an IT school, but interestingly, there are CONSTANT IT problems. Since students are supposed to be able to "study" at home using on-line computer programs, it makes things very difficult when the on-line programs don't work. Need help? Well, just call the 800 number and get a recorded message saying someone cannot help you. If you are young, skip this, go to a community college and get an associate degree in Health Information Management. If you are older with some experience, don't let Techskills sales people convince you that you will get a better job after Techskills - you won't. Also please note that half the time, they don't have the books you need - "they are 'on order' or the equipment you need (fresh out, sorry). Please, please, please read the fine print, talk to people that go there who know the truth -- find a REAL school. I spent six grand for nothing.

I should begin with this disclaimer, I made the decision to sign the contracts under my own discretion and free will. Now I will make the most important statement regarding this post, I made a very substantial financial mistake attending Techskills LLC.
The reason for my decision to attend Techskills was very simple, I wanted to pursue my education and increase my marketability Im nothing special you see. I was excited to hear that Justin, the Recruiter slash Salesman slash Misanthropic Pseudo Confidant wanted me to succeed and make money, I made a mistake by trusting a stranger who claimed to want whats best for me.
The money they charged for their Tesptprep software was totally outrageous, considering that the test material that came free with my book was just as substantial in preparing me for the CompTIA exam I took. Coincidentally however, a couple of the questions in their Testprep software were worded verbatim per a couple that were on the actual CompTIA exam, this is a factual accusation that I would testify to in a court of street law where I would receive justice. I paid $5000.00 for a Network + Certification, that got me a $10.00 an hour job in the computer industry. Anyone who wants to get certifications for the computer industry should take advice from me, do what I do now. Download the book that concerns your certification off of a torrent site, read it after work and buy the equipment involved, you'll get your certification for the price of the book, equipment and your spare time.

Or just go to a community college, you'll have more human and material resources and you won't have to buy the equipment.
To Carmen Robl the Director of and Justin XXX the Recuiter of Techskills Denver, Colorado I want to tell you something. You afforded me a great lesson in human nature, never gain will I trust that someone has my best interests at hand concerning my educational and financial wellfare. My only hope in regards to your welfare is that you may suffer the lesson I have learned once; one thousand times over, in a thousand different emotional and physical realms, and may you never learn your lesson. Catch a cold sore and die alone.

In my first initial meeting with the one of the schools "sales" people, he told me that medical coding was the "hot thing". That if I took their course I would be working and making lots of "money" before long. I was showed paper clippings, him trying to convince me that I would be in high demand when this was seen on my resume. That Techskills was a school held in high regard when it came to coding courses. That they had a job counselor on staff that would help me find a job.

Well I bit, hook line and sinker. $7000 later, 6 months out of school and I can't even get an interview. No one is impressed. Matter of fact, I have been advised that a CCA certification is nothing. If I want to work in the coding field I need at least 2 more certifications. I tried to get help with the so called "Career Forge" they offer and got a big fat nothing. I e-mailed, called and ask for her to send me job postings which she said she would do and I NEVER heard a word from her, well only for her to ask for my resume every time I contacted her. After 3x of that bologny I said to heck with it. I don't know if my resume was being trashed or what was going on but I never, not one time received help from this school after I finished.

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 alot cheaper.

So here I am still unemployed with no chance of working to retrieve the $7000 I blew on this school, well not in the field I had hoped to be in at this point. I understand the mall is hiring, nothing like a couple of minimum paying jobs to pay off the ole' student loan.

My advice to you, when searching for a school that really cares about you and your future. Don't listen to high pressure sales tactics so that guy can get his bonus for signing you up. Really know what you want to do when interring these schools and last but certainly not least, make sure when they tell you they have people that will work for you to help you find a job, make them back it up with proof, I should have, this has been a very expensive and not very funny joke.

I needed computer help and they just blew me off. TechSkills is really an IT school that is trying to cash in on the medical market. They offer the IT students great computer support, but the medical students get next to nothing. If you have a question you will be given a four-word answer, or you will be told that they don't know; you'll have to figure it out yourself. Really? Oh, thanks. I would strongly advise people to think twice before going to this school for medical training. You are ON YOUR OWN! Instructors help very minimally and if you have a problem, you are stuck.

Techskils is a cram course that is not setup well at all. They use many different computer based training tools and text books to teach you your subject of interest. The problem is the way it all jumps around between the text books, CBT and if you are lucky you can get the attention of one of the instructors at the campus and he/she will tell you to hurry through the subject matter fast and don't worry about trying to pick up everything.

One thing to make sure of before you even start after going through one of the sales people (they call them counselors) is you understand that this company is in the business of selling you your dream of learning your subject of interest as they will tell you what you what to hear.

Should you change your mind after enrollment and after paying in full for another course that cost less, it will be very difficult to get them to honor their policy of a 60 refund. Plus their whole attitude toward you will change and get nasty as they vilify you for changing your mind!

I had a not so good looking cigarette smoking woman who is very repulsive try and use her sexuality, barf!

So be careful when dealing with this company, lucky for me I did use Sallie Mae and they are going to help me retrieve my refund after more than 100 days! This is a step I should not have to go through if this company was honest and interested in you!

I attended TechSkills in Cincinnati, Oh. for the Pharmacy Technician Program. I should have known but, I wanted a different career. They told me when I arrived to speak with them some of the same stories they told everyone else ...I have read other complaints online as well ..they said I will get a good education and a great start on a new career...we have an edge over everyone else, we are and online based training program, flexability (work at your own pace)...BULL PUCKY.!
I spent a long time working on this course and I also check outside resources and I had 4 weeks left ...I quit I can't take it anymore the facilities Mentors are not interested in helping you they won't even answer your questions. In all my courses all I received was a stack of books and a course guide...In every course I took in the program their were misspelled words, wrong answers ...and whatever you do don't bring up these things to the Mentor you will make enemies quick . They will dance around you worse than ever, and try to make you look bad to make themselves feel better for their lack of motivation . I had to fight to get my programs turned on and everything. I realized also that if I did ask for help they would make comments to you in front of other students and try to make it seem as if you were demanding attention over other students...I also got several e-mails requesting information that they received when I enrolled at the school...and when I returned calls they treated the situation like I was the one requesting help or information, and just dismissed the reason for me calling at all by changing the subject, and pushing me off to my Mentor who blew me off anyway...but the thing that gets me is why should I have to look up on line what I was paying TechSkills to thousands to teach. I spent alot of time online because I found halfway through this course most of their books and material contradict each other, and the information from the Mentor, and their material contradicts professionals in the feild, and on the internet. I will be taking the exam for the PTCB in the next couple of months this gives me a chance to continue to look at more reliable sources and not just TechSkills learned information. I know everyones schooling experience is not the same but I would not recommend this school very unorganized, lack of Mentors intrest in teaching , poor learning material, why would you pay someone when all they do is turn on a program and let you do it all yourself..they sit and wait for you to show up for a test..I hope others don't go through the 19 months of hell I did.

On 1/07/2005, I enrolled at Techskills in Nashville, Tn. to take a medical billing/coding course, total amount was $6995. I decided 17 days later that I did not care or need the type of teaching in which they operated.

I needed a more classroom teaching and less online learning. Under the contract, according to the time frame in which I was enrolled, Techskills is to refund me 75% of the total tuition ($4050), minus $100 administrative fee. The difference amount of $6995 (which is for purchasing their software) and the tuition amount of $4050 is "ate up" immediately upon signing of the conctract and cannot ever be recovered. That amount comes to $2945, but since they already received $5100 from SLM 3 days after signing on with them, the amount they owe me is $1042.50. On 5/13/2005, Techskills sent a refund of $605.08 to SallieMae, but did not send the whole amount and still owe a refund of $437.42. I filed a complaint with the BBB last March, but the $437.42 has yet to be refunded, and it's now been 10 months. Techskills has falsely stated to the BBB that they sent a refund of $2937.50 to SallieMae ( which is not even the right amount) and SallieMae shows no record of receiving any refund of that amount. Techskills also cannot supply a date in which this refund was sent. I just wish that I had researched this school better before I enrolled and am having to pay a little over $4000 back to SLM for the loan. They also are not acredited with the Schools of Higher Education, which is important. Please check out these schools carefully before enrolling, and hopefully you will not have to go through the emotional and financial distress that I have had to endure with Techskills. DO NOT enroll in Techskills, for if you decide to withdraw from them, and you have paid to them any money, they WILL NOT send your refund to you if you're owed any at all.

Techskills is a RIPOFF! Since the BBB cannot recoup my money, I am going to have to seek legal advice and hire an attorney to get back $437.42.

Unfortunately, I tried one of their courses that cost $6500, and it was horrible. First off, anything and just about everything your "Enrollment Specialist," tells you is pretty much a lie to get you in the door.

They are going to tell you how special their program is because it integrates online learning, paired with mentor gurus to insure you learn the material. Whelp, the online course material is okay, but can be found much cheaper elsewhere for just the online content. You could go to O'Reiley's and come out far better. If you are told the mentors are there for you, think again, they are underpaid, working on their own career path. They might stop for a moment to help you if you come to them at the right moment, but most of the time, they will go to great lengths to impress upon you that you must be the one who learns and finds the answer through the online help section of the software. In short, pretty much no nonsense when it comes to their time.

So once I got to going, I started to lag. I noticed other students were lagging. So much so, that when it came time to take test, students were rarely ready, negating that exam guarantee you will hear about from the enrollment specialist. They will put you on the borderline of 90%, and leave it up to you to go in on your own dime the promised five times if you mess up. They will say you make the grade, but nearly 30 percent is a subjective grade given by your mentor for class participation. So you can ace all the material, and still fall below the 90% range.

So once I saw how they did it, and got tired of the crap, I decided to quit. This is a total loss, regardless of what they tell you about refunds. They will give you nothing, because they put little clauses into the contract they make you sign on admission, that pretty much says they keep the lion share of your money, irregardless of the circumstance.

My advice to anyone considering Techskills is to run.

Stay away from those greedy people, as they are not there for you as much as they will try to sell you otherwise. If you are that eager to part with your money, just go to Vegas in lose it in style.

I signed up with TechSkills for their medical coding associate course of study. I knew I was in trouble after I'd signed up and some of what my mentor was saying didn't seem to make sense with regard to the subject and the market / what I was hearing from those outside of TechSkills and finding online, vs what the mentor was suggesting.

Each time I pressed for back-up to the info, it was suggested to me that maybe I wasn't really ready to study with them and perhaps I should talk to the director. Of course if I'd cxld I wouldn't have recvd a full refund and in the end I stayed. But while the mentor fussed that I did so much independently and seemed to not require the assistance others did, more often than not, when I did have questions, they were dismissed as to be addressed at a later time or not important to passing and getting a job in the field, or I was asked to get with the mentor when they weren't busy with other students (and by my asking questions the mentor appeared to not know answers to, I seemed to make an enemy, and getting ANYthing done became much more difficult).

I spent a lot of time backing up, verifying and using outside sources in the industry to get the expert input and direction I'd actually chosen to pay TechSkills for rather than just studying on my own.

In the end, what suggestions the mentor did offer, a simple search on the web proved contradictory to what the experts in the respective fields recommended. Also, the first and only industry contact I received from the mentor, didn't seem to have a clue who this mentor was or sound like they'd ever done anything with the mentor. This even though the mentor had presented the relationship with the contact as strong and long-standing with regular cooperation between them.

I'm pretty good at doing things on my own, but what really pushed me over, in so much as any faith in any weight that having completed a TechSkills program (with an A)might carry in a new career search, was getting emails and voice mails (many of which I've saved) asking me to re-send info misplaced or not recalled anymore, or to call to remind the mentor of something, or to make an appointment in order to set something up...and then when I'd follow up, it was implied that I was the one requesting the activity or even demanding the attention over the mentor's students.

In addition to defending my actions/follow-ups as at the mentor's request, I always wanted to remind the mentor that I was also one of the mentor's "students" and am in debt thousands for that very poor decision.

Needless to say, on the occasions that calls or requests were initiated by me, the return email would simply overlook the subject matter questions, or I'd be asked to get back to the mentor when they had more time or returned from vacation time they were about to leave for etc (leading into another of the previously described senario) etc.

I did complete the program, but am choosing to back it up with other courses and will not list TechSkills on my resume or use them in my job search for positions in this field, as the many miscommunications and confused responses of the mentor, while I was there, left me with a complete lack of faith that any verification calls that might be handled by this mentor would be handled well or knowledgably or, that said, professionally.

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 (the equiv of which I've found for free on the web through different sources, free lists of nec. books for study, and the web-based lectures equiv in the form of seminars/recorded lectures on their own for the cost of just the lectures etc).