Thinkful
Reviews and Complaints

I withdrew from their online class because I falling behind. Their refund policy states that if a student withdraws from a course, they will be charged for the work completed. In the email i received they state I completed 2 lessons, and I owe One Thousand Three Hundred dollars. Reading further through the email they state that the first lesson was Orientation. So my complaint is being charged Six Hundred Fifty dollars for orientation. I do not think I should have to pay to learn their processes and procedures. I could have opted out of this, if i had been given the option, because I had taken a Thinkful Prep Course, sometime before this.

I was ghosted by my ASM and multiple Mentors which provided me with no support during my enrollment period. I was enrolled into the wrong program of Data Analytics after advising the Admissions Rep that I was applying to be a Data Scientist with the DHS. The one and only mentor that I was able to speak to identified this and advised that I was in-fact in the wrong program. Thinkful told me to un-enroll and file an appeal to have the loan amount forgiven so that I could re-enroll into the correct program. Even with providing supporting evidence to the appeals team they denied the appeal. They had prematurely sold the loan to a third-party bank.

Thinkful Learning, owned by Chegg, participates in false advertising, stating "get paid while you learn," and promises stipends to students who are instead approved for loan amounts over and above cost of the program starting at $13,000, ending up to be $40000. Disbursements are not stipends, but loan installments that students must pay back. Programs are also not accredited. Students are subjected to unfair treatment and failed for assignments so that the company does not have to disburse installments, but is still able to capitalize and recoup $40000 from students, even without matriculation. Graders and assessors are allowed to be paid for fraudulent grading practices and students are not allowed to dispute those decisions despite written evidence that the grader made mistakes, overlooked submitted material by students, and outright lied about events that have transpired. There is a lack of respect in employee to student relationships. Staff are rewarded for being rude to students, failing to respond to correspondence, failing to resolve student issues, and providing clear instruction. Graders and assessors are not experienced enough, nor qualified to grade assignments, and often use students as guinea pigs and test subjects to vet and train employees, subjecting competent students to failing grades and requiring them to perform unnecessary, "loads" of work. Students are punished for disputing grades and processes at all costs. The company does not follow its own policies and procedures. Students are silenced from submitting complaints or defending themselves, leaving unfair situations unchallenged. Chegg's Thinkful takes advantage of unemployed students by denying loan disbursements and threatening students with expulsion regardless of whether the student adhered to program policies, advisement from assessors, TA's and mentors. The owner of the company does not respond to correspondence or complaints from students and Thinkful's grievance processes are a farce.