Tuition Agency Scams
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http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/little-recourse-for-unpaid-freelance-tutors
The errant agencies mentioned in the above article are:
- Smile Tutor
- Nanyang Academics
There is also a Facebook page that logs how the owner of Nanyang Academics scams his tutors and coordinators (google SayNOtoNanyangAcademics for the page).
According to the page, the owner of Nanyang Academics also owns these agencies:
- TutorBee
- Learniva
So do take note
It is better that parents go through word-of-mouth rather than agencies when finding a tutor. -
Say NO to Nanyang Academics
According to the folks who set up this particular Facebook Page, their main motivation is to \"log genuine cases of how the owner of tuition agency Nanyang Academics refuses to pay his tutors their share of the tuition fees, and how he threatens them like a hooligan.\" They added: \"Cases were previously reported to CASE and MOM, but they could not do anything to help. A police report was also made, but investigations can only start with more of such cases.\" In light of such circumstances, they are urging all tutors who were victims of the above-mentioned agency to come forward and share their experiences to generate greater public awareness and right the wrongs suffered. Reproduced below are actual excerpts of alleged cases extracted from the page itself. We refrain from forming any personal opinions without knowing the tuition agency's side of the story, but will still advise parents to exercise discretion if they choose to engage the services of any tuition agency. Hopefully a peaceful resolution can be reached eventually between all involved parties.
Case #1
I am an English tutor. I accepted an assignment to teach a P6 girl. After the second lesson, the parent asked me if I could also teach her daughter Science. I do not teach Science so I rejected her. When I went to her place for the 5th lesson, the parent appeared to be very shocked. I then got to know from her that she needed a Science tutor, and since I don't teach Science, the owner Ethan found another tutor who could teach both English and Science to replace me. The parent had wanted to inform me out of courtesy, but, in her words, Ethan WARNED her not to do so. He said he will contact me instead. But obviously he didn't. I tried calling him to clarify, but he did not answer my calls, and eventually blocked me. It is obvious that he did not have the intention to inform me, and did not care if I made a wasted trip. Such a way of business handling should never be condoned!
More at http://www.domainofexperts.com/2016/11/say-no-to-nanyang-academics.html -
https://www.scambook.com/company/view/180032/Trust-Tuition-Agency-in-Singapore
rust Tuition Agency in Singapore Summary
Trust Tuition Agency in Singapore received their first complaint on 06/15/2015.
Information about Trust Tuition Agency in Singapore was first submitted to Scambook on Jun 15, 2015. Since then the page has accumulated 3 consumer complaints. On average users reported $34333.33 of damages.
https://www.scambook.com/report/view/361804/TrustTuitionAgencyinSingapore-Complaint-361804-for-$100,000.00
Date Occurred: 06/01/2017
Reported Damages: $100,000.00
Location: Singapore, Bukit Batok, Wcega Tower
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Trust Tuition Agency aka Trust Tutor (http://www.trusttutor.com) is a total scam & dishonest company. They post almost daily in Singapore's Straits Times Classified ads under Part Time Jobs, looking for part and full time tuition coordinators to call or go to their scammy website ttaconsult.com. Alot of unexpecting people new to the industry get conned by them. They keep calling people to go to their seminiars. They always trick people into subscribing their dead tutor database and push people to take up unrealistic longer than needed subscriptions. Their other add on services are also not as described they never honour what they promised. Alot of people had lost their money to this scammy company. In contrary to their name, they are not to be trusted and they are a very dishonest, unethical company. I don't think conning money this way from people will make them feel good spending the cheated money. They will lose all the money soon.
https://www.scambook.com/report/view/361804/TrustTuitionAgencyinSingapore-Complaint-361804-for-$100,000.00
Lee SBID #74b71fedfc Posted 07/12/2017
I am another unfortunate victim to fall for this scam. A total of $2461.3 (not including the advertising fees I ve spent for flyers and notice boards) is being accounted for. I was being sweet talked into siging up for a 2 year contract with them without any prior knowledge of additional fees that are incurred for their thumbdrive that contains advertising templates for flyers, and a custom made id tag for $19.90.
Furthermore, I wasn`t expecting that we have to ownself seek for potential students at our own expense. I was given a false promise that there is a growing demand in this market but instead for a period of 1 month plus after putting advertisements on 4 mrt notice boards and distributing flyers for 10 blocks I only managed to get two phone calls from parents. The worst thing is that there is another $55 charge known as a termination fee to stop your account when you decided to pull out from them regardless if you break contract or not.
I was adviced by a close friend of mine that the whole thing is a big scam. First thing first they mentioned its a freelance role. But why do we still need to sign contract and pay a fee? Reason is that they themselves are acting as agents as well instead of employers therefore they probably get their comission from all the fees that they imposed on tuition coordinators. Then the termination fee part is ridiculous as well, the actual practice in the working world is that when you break a contract, you need to pay. But a compulsory termination fee is unheard of.
Bringing back, I am not sure what can be done for now. Was told by my friends and family to make a report to the MOM or Police. Will appreciate if anyone here can advice what legal action can be taken.Thank you.
Regards,
Unfortunate undergraduate student
https://www.scambook.com/report/view/361804/TrustTuitionAgencyinSingapore-Complaint-361804-for-$100,000.00
vic SBID #628911bf21 Posted 08/11/2017
Hey Lee,
I was also a victim myself. I don't think MOM or Police can do anything about it unless you can produce evidence that this whole thing is a scam.
I've already seek legal advice to go to small claims tribunal to ask for a full refund on the subscriptions. But seems like they are already very well prepared in covering up for their unethical practice through the service agreement and they even took videos of us signing the agreement willingly. But anyway, I'm going to try my luck at SCT. So I'm trying to gather more evidence to prove that this is a potential scam.
You can probably do the same or seek advice through legal aid. -
A few months ago I made the dumb decision to join this ‘tuition agency’ that required me to pay $780 for a six month contract as a freelance tuition coordinator. I was rash and anxious to earn some quick bucks, so I said okay, against my better judgement.
Buyer’s remorse soon set in, and after a huge scolding from my mother (adding to that, several months of shaming by my family afterwards ) I realised how stupid it was to have to put down payment in advance just to secure a job. I was devastated but the money was already gone. I couldn’t find students to match with tutors; in the process I completely lost confidence in myself and my sense of judgement.
I also took a pay cut during that period so I felt even worse. Words cannot describe the anguish I felt when my family members shamed me for being scammed of $780, constantly reminding me that amount could have been contributed to household expenses.
More at https://www.domainofexperts.com/2018/04/scammed-by-tuition-agency-strong.html