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Post by romily on Apr 8, 2024 4:47:46 GMT -5
Ok, long story short, or at least I will try. It’s about finding a Spanish tutor online.
Got recommendation for tutor from a friend. Set up trial lesson 2 weeks ago and we really got on well. So paid for 8 lessons. Then when looking into the platform further it’s a subscription model, so you pay for 1/2/3 lessons a week but have to take them in 4 weeks (there are some exceptions for carrying them over). Didn’t like the inflexibility but liked the tutor so went ahead with it.
First hiccup – 2 scheduling options, weekly or single. I scheduled mine single, and then change to weekly after cancelling the single lessons, even though one slot is not ideal.
Was supposed to have my second lesson Saturday, had a look at my CC account and realised they charged me twice for 8 lessons, once in the beginning and once on the day I rescheduled. Got in touch via chat – very slow, every response took 10-120 minutes not only initial one. They said they refunded me the second payment but by doing so the system cancelled all my booked lessons and showed a balance of 0 lessons. So I lost out on my lesson on Saturday – messaged my tutor but she didn’t reply until Sunday (!). I then complained that my initial lessons where gone and they reinstated them – just for me to realise I now have a 3rd charge on my CC! This was 2 hours after initial conversation started, and I lost my shit and told them if they can’t come up with a solution I’m done and logged off.
Got a message later that day, saying I can get the 3rd charge refunded but then all my lessons will be cancelled again as “that’s how the system works” – what shit is that? Or accept the 3rd charge and postpone my renewal which means I have 15 lessons to take in 7 weeks.
In the meantime I looked at another platform where you just buy credits and use them for lessons and they don’t expire. Have a trial session with a teacher there this afternoon.
I am very inclined to go with them if the teacher is nice as well. Only downside is that I really felt I clicked with the original teacher from the shitty platform, but then was also disappointed by her non replies. And if I cancel and get refund for the 3rd charge, the 1st original charge over £79 will still stand – that was for 8 lessons, I only took one, so am out of pocket by £70.
But after seriously losing my shit with them on Saturday I am very inclined to accept the loss. I was so close to calling my credit card and getting all charges reversed (even though they already started a refund). If I could have punched somebody I would have!
Thoughts?
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Post by Queen on Apr 8, 2024 5:25:27 GMT -5
Cancel, get everything refunded from the useless shits running the first platform.
And since you paid by credit card get the card issuer onto it.
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Post by romily on Apr 8, 2024 6:04:58 GMT -5
I just checked - they issued a credit but it's less than what they have charged - I paid £79.63 and they credited £75.84. Could be exchange rate issue?
They won't refund the first payment as I already took one of the 8 lessons I paid for.
Would you really get the CC people involved? I mean, I am sure Amex would be very helpful from what I heard of them. Am I being too nice?
Actually it can't be about exchange rates as the credit for 2nd incorrect payment was made on the same day they issued 3rd incorrect payment, and third payment is for £79.63 not the lower amount credited.
Very tempted now to get Amex involved. Can I really dispute the 1st payment though as I took one of the 8 lessons?
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Post by Queen on Apr 8, 2024 7:03:23 GMT -5
Yes, they've charged you three times for lessons you're not getting.
And they're being dicks about refunding you.
You can frame it as "is this normal" if you're too English (ha!) to complain.
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Post by romily on Apr 8, 2024 8:06:58 GMT -5
Right, they really pissed me off now. I send a last brief query in the chat which was unanswered after 50 minutes. Just called Amex and raised a dispute, and also put a block on my credit card for further charges. Passed on all information to Amex that I have, they were super helpful, plus just supplied additional written information (excerpt of chat).
Hopefully I will now get also the difference refunded, plus my third payment, plus as per Amex I am also entitled to a refund of the first payment as I only was able to take one out of 8 lessons. We'll see how it goes.
But I have to say - Amex customer service is superb.
And I feel rather bad ass right now.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Apr 8, 2024 8:22:12 GMT -5
Amex could be one of the reasons the refund was less than the original charge. Here in Australia, Amex has a higher surcharge than Mastercard or Visa, and sometimes has a surcharge when the others don’t.
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Post by romily on Apr 8, 2024 8:37:36 GMT -5
I had refunds on my Amex card in the past ad they were always spot on. They might charge the merchant - but it doesn't stop the merchant to take full wack when it comes to payment.
Let's see - I wasted literally hours on this shit on Saturday when I should have fun earning Spanish, besides the time not to mention the emotional freak out it caused me when nothing made sense, I got no replies, or just got told to "just book the lessons" when I just send them a screenshot that showed lesson balance zero.
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Post by Queen on Apr 8, 2024 9:07:34 GMT -5
You are awesome!!!
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Post by romily on Apr 8, 2024 9:55:22 GMT -5
It's kind of funny, their customer service chat is now constantly trying to get a reply from me after I told them the conversation is over and I handed it over as a dispute to Amex and have been advised to not further comment.
I just have the chat open in the background to record it.
Now need to head off to get ready for my spanish lesson with other teacher on other platform
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Post by shilgia on Apr 8, 2024 10:40:21 GMT -5
Are you able to contact the original teacher and go off-platform with them?
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Post by sprite on Apr 8, 2024 14:42:54 GMT -5
Speaking as a platform teacher, that's possible, but most of us would only do it for a student we knew well--the penalties for us are pretty harsh.
Well done standing up to them. There's no excuse for that sort of run around.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Apr 8, 2024 16:23:02 GMT -5
yay, glad Amex are dealing with it. I hope the new teacher is someone you click with as well.
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Post by romily on Apr 9, 2024 2:17:18 GMT -5
Thanks all - Amex has refunded my money and are now following the dispute with the platform, if they "win" I might still face some charge s- we will see. I'm out of there and try not to worry anymore.
Class with the other language teacher was nice - she spoke A LOT and I understood most of it, but felt she didn't draw me out to speak as much. I think I will take some more trial lessons on the other platform until I fully commit to one teacher (lesson learned!)
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Post by Liiisa on Apr 9, 2024 5:34:23 GMT -5
Amex is amazing. I don't have it because it isn't accepted everywhere (because of their higher fees), but they're great. Glad it's (hopefully) all going to be resolved, and good on you for not just folding because of the hassle of contesting.
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Post by romily on Apr 9, 2024 8:56:48 GMT -5
I only have Amex because I get BA airmiles - have Visa and mastercard with my normal bank (credit and debit card). But use Amex wherever I can because of the airmiles.
I am slightly amused watching the chat on the language site, where a new agent pops up every now and then and asks me if my query is resolve d- and they even send me an email telling me I can win a price if I recommend their website to my employer -yeah right!
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Post by tzarine on Apr 9, 2024 11:51:59 GMT -5
Amex is amazing. I don't have it because it isn't accepted everywhere (because of their higher fees), but they're great. Glad it's (hopefully) all going to be resolved, and good on you for not just folding because of the hassle of contesting. fond amex memories mail pickup @ rue scribe & haymarket & travellers cheques
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Post by romily on Apr 10, 2024 4:37:17 GMT -5
My second trial lesson with a new teacher tomorrow they contacted me in advance, already send me a zoom link, an agenda for the trial lesson, and two power point presentations about verb conjugation, vocabulary about food to review, and a lesson plan. Somehow every teacher I had started with talking about food, it always leaves me hungry!
So I actually have to do homework already before the trial lesson, but I love the structured way this is set up and the communication in advance, so I have a good feeling about this!
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Post by Liiisa on Apr 10, 2024 5:24:04 GMT -5
That sounds great, rom!
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Post by romily on Apr 10, 2024 8:49:28 GMT -5
Well, the teacher who send me all the info was the one I already had a trial lesson on Monday with!
I really need to start remembering people's names, and am glad I figured it out!
Let's see how things go tomorrow, at least I won't make a fool out of me saying I have done my homework referring to material from somebody else.
I am not the most switched on this week!
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Post by sprite on Apr 10, 2024 11:03:27 GMT -5
blame menopause. for everything.
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Post by romily on Apr 12, 2024 4:02:49 GMT -5
I am gently bashing my head against my desk.
Had good trial lesson with teacher yesterday - and clearly stated I want a Tuesday and Saturday lesson (I filtered by teachers who work Saturdays!).
So now I finally decided to book lessons with her turns out she only works 1 Saturday every 4 weeks.
So back to square 1, I have booked anotehr trail lesson tomorrow with teacher 3, her schedule seems to match but I added right away in the introductory email what times I would like regular lessons and at what days / times and if that works for her.
This is like online dating!
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Post by sprite on Apr 12, 2024 7:59:31 GMT -5
It is!
It's probably too late for this advice, but you can email a teacher about their availability before booking the trial. If they refuse to answer, that's a good warning sign.
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Post by tzarine on Apr 12, 2024 10:18:57 GMT -5
roms
i have done free language exchanges w foreign students from a local uni they were motivated as was i. we met weekly, half the time in each language
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Post by romily on Apr 12, 2024 12:49:49 GMT -5
sprite - I have done that this time! Live and learn. But if I commit long term to a teacher which is the plan things really need to align - personality, teaching style and availability on the times that work for me, having a full time job I am not that flexible.
tzarine - that sounds great - there is a local meetup group of people who speak spanish here.
But I am far away from being good enough - I am really on a very basic level, between A1 and A2, and need to get more vocabulary and grammar sorted before I can hold conversations! That's the whole point - I can find my way around, buy bus tickets, order food, talk about the weather, that kind of stuff, but it's a huge difference to actually having a proper conversation. I immediately run out of words, and also only operate in the present tense right now. Like - " I trael to New York 8 years ago". LOL
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Post by Liiisa on Apr 12, 2024 15:44:24 GMT -5
The good thing is that people can still understand you - I mean people who aren't native speakers of English here often say things in the wrong tense, or in a weird word order, and I can still understand them.
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Post by sprite on Apr 12, 2024 16:16:07 GMT -5
I just remembered this website, our teacher walked us through this series in our beginner's class and it was actually good fun. Ma Vida Loca
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Post by Queen on Apr 12, 2024 16:31:59 GMT -5
It always takes a while to get to conversational level... Even when I could do quite a lot of transactions in Dutch I couldn't really chat... I used to joke that I had no past in Dutch
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Post by romily on Apr 13, 2024 12:05:33 GMT -5
I'll have a look sprite!
Found my teacher today and am all set for the enxt 10 lessons. She was nice, we spoke mostly in english to start with which was helpful, and explained her teaching style, very methodical. She started right away with a thourough assessment to see where I stand, which non of the others have done. We got half way through it, and already have some topics we need to cover, and will finish it in our first lesson, and then set up a plan forward.
She is also available on the times that work for me, so I bought a pack of 10 lessons and schedued them right in.
Now I need to brush up my english grammar - the difference between "I speak" and "I am speaking" - that's also different in Spanish, hablo and hablando, I never go thaught the second form but saw it on duolingo. But I'll be damned if I remember what the difference actually is, it's both present tense? Some googling to do tomorrow unless you smart people can explain it to me here LOL
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Post by tucano on Apr 13, 2024 12:15:39 GMT -5
Present simple and present continuous I think.
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Post by romily on Apr 13, 2024 12:17:40 GMT -5
But what is the practical difference? In my head they are pretty interchangeable ( it's been 22 years since I seriously looked at grammar back when I moved to the UK and did my Cambridge Certificate in advanced English)
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