My personal particulars and other sensitive information are with the Starzest agency. One would think twice before revealing one’s name in a forum for everyone to read.


If you doubt my story, you are more than welcome to PM me for the contact number of the police officer that I made a report with. Impersonating a police officer is a serious crime in Singapore.

Lastly, unless you have personally dealt with Starzest tuition agency, please refrain from putting down my comments just like that. It is a free forum, isnt it? What is wrong with educating other tutors on Starzest unethical practices?

Hi all tutors, engage Star zest Tuition Agency at your own risk!!


This post is also to raise the awareness of parents to the practices of this company. Something for you to think twice before engaging an agent: is the agency more concern about assigning you a right tutor or more about closing your assignment to earn the highest profit in shortest time?

I am currently a full-time A level Biology tutor who has recently suffered a loss from engaging the services of Starzest tuition agency. After my fourth lesson, the parent apologised to me that she decided not to continue as she found my services too expensive. I called up Starzest and requested that half of the tuition fees be transferred to my bank account and the agent agreed. Five days later, I received no news of my payment so I sms them. This was done in the next few days in succession as no replies were given.
I tried calling them up, but it was very hard to get through to their number. When I finally got through, they explained that it will take 7 days to process the payment and hurriedly cut the phone WITHOUT TAKING DOWN MY DETAILS. I was infuriated as this was really unprofessional unlike the rest of agencies I have dealt with but I waited. What happened a week later on was just a ‘hide & seek’ game, with them refusing to pick up my call or making up excuses that their accountant is on leave. THE PAYMENT NEVER CAME AFTER 3 WEEKS & counting.

I want to highlight several questionable practices of the agency. It prides itself on The Straits Times Article ‘I run an honest business’ by Mr Law Han Wei, yet the following tactics have been employed by the agency.

1. Unjustified premium
As quoted from the agency’s SMS, ‘Starzest collects a premium of $40 from the student as we provide more value added services-free exam papers & better quality control-getting feedbacks from tutors & parents every month.’ The SO CALLED FREE EXAM PAPERS ARE from 2007 and we have ONLY ENGLISH PAPER FOR SEC 4!! These free exam papers can easily be found on other agencies websites and I find it ridiculous to charge a premium for VALUE ADDED services. FEEDBACKS WERE NON-EXISTENCE as they did not bother to explain why the parent did not continue with my services

2. Possible difficulty of obtaining tutor’s fee
As quoted from the agency’s SMS, ‘Starzest collects the fee upfront from the student & pays the tutor after the end of every 4 lessons’. Wow what a wonderful idea to obtain money from unfortunate tutors like me who got cancelled after the 4th lesson and got $0 OUT OF IT. Simply put it, YOU WILL UNDERTAKE THE RISK OF BEING PAID $0 BY TEACHING FOR STARZEST.

3. Unsubstantiated marketing
As quoted from the agency’s SMS, ‘Voted best home tuition teachers’. Another quote from a google search of Star Zest, ‘Rank No 1 home tuition Singapore’. When you visit the website, there are ABSOLUTELY NO ARTICLES/EVIDENCE on how they obtain these votes leading to such ranking!!

I have already given up hope on claiming back my money, but I will not let such underhand methods affect the livelihood of tutors.

For those of you who doubt my story or suffered similar fate like me, you can make a police report and ask the officer whether a similar complaint has been made against the company in this month. I just did it at the Kovan NPC, PM me for the officer’s name and contact if you wish to make a report with him. 