Marcy Isn

Ripped off by a diploma mill

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Updated by user Oct 09, 2023

It is impossible to make contact with Online Academy.

Original review Oct 09, 2023
These so called diplomas are not diplomas that are reputable & recognised by anyone in authority. Just worthless certificates of completion that are awarded, recognised & accredited by Online Academy.

Basically scam certificates that are only recognised by Online Academy for the monetary value they can swindle out of trusting people hoping to better their knowledge base & educational standing.
Avoid these fraudsters like the plague.
Courses are very basic & littered with spelling & grammatical errors throughout. It is impossible to not spot the very poor cut-and-paste quality, telling its own story of how the Online Academy courses were incompetently thrown together without a care in the world for the finished product. And as for getting hold of Customer Services with the myriad of problems preventing the ability to get through the courses offered smoothly, that's impossible.

I have tried phone, wasted over 10 hours on hold before giving up, email, & live chat. All communication channels are frustratingly ignored.
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Pros:
  • No pros at all
Cons:
  • Everything about online academy is a con

Preferred solution: Full refund

User's recommendation: Avoid like the plague.

Anonymous
map-marker St Peter Port, Guernsey

Online Academies is a scam. Now changed its name to Online Academy to distance itself from the neg feedback.

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The whole of Online Academies offerings are just an unrecognised sham looking to take advantage of people who are ripe for the taking.
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User's recommendation: Avoid!

Anonymous
map-marker Redditch, England

Rubbish

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Website slow, always difficult to logon; takes up to an hour to answer 14 multiple choice questions that only needs about 3 mins to complete- would NOT recommend or use again
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Dusten Xuc
map-marker London, England

To find my certificate

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Phone number not recognised when called
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Loss:
$200
Reason of review:
Poor customer service

Preferred solution: Deliver product or service ordered

1 comment
Guest

Outragous

Lisa A Jnn

No support whatsoever

I purchased a course from them. I completed a unit and they marked one of my answers wrong. So I emailed them copying their mark and then highlighting the text showing that I had given the right answer. I have emailed the tutor four times over the last six weeks, I have left a voicemail on the phone number published on the website for the tutor, I have put a message on your Facebook page, sent two messages through Facebook messenger (which have even read) and posted a message on Twitter about the incorrect mark. I have been trying to get in touch with someone for 6 weeks and havenโ€™t even had an acknowledgement, let alone a response.
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Reason of review:
Poor customer service

Preferred solution: Reply to my messages.

Anonymous
map-marker Hampstead, England

DO NOT USE ONLINE ACADEMIES

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Course is not proof read! Terrible spelling and grammar. On completion of my course, my certificate was in-complete! Despite contacting them AND Groupon (who promote this company) I still haven't got my certificate. Groupon have been great and tried to help but to no avail and I have got my money back.
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1 comment
Rockelle Sof

Didn't get a response from huddle House at all

Yuko I

Need to inform the police

first of all, after i purchased the Graphic Design & Adobe Creative Suite Course course via wowcher, this particular course is not available from the online academy webpage drop down list. So i just chose another course (dipolma in graphic design) 2 weeks ago and your website told me the course would start 1 week Monday.

When i all prep and tried on the course last monday, your website showed the course starts tonight (this monday). So i again tried tonight and this time your website showed the course will start NEXT monday !!! it is a total *** !!! cunning dishonest business !!

and there is no immediate support !!! They thought it is only ยฃ5 per person they tricked via wowcher and people would not bother about it.

They are very wrong this time. Also, Wowcher should not work with company like this unless wowcher plays a part of this dishonest business.

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Loss:
$5
Reason of review:
Not as described/ advertised

Preferred solution: Full refund

Anonymous

Fake company

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Completed a personal training programme and got my certificate saying I was on the completed register since 1970, the certificate didnโ€™t even have the course on that I did. Tried multiple times to email and contact them, received nothing back. Complete waste of time and money - never again.
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Alice B Qpq

Completely out of date

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I'm doing the Conservation Diploma which does't have any research post 1995...this is obviously not good enough with something that is ever changing with new data and discoveries constantly. The layout is also just black and white text and really old graphs. It's such a rip off. VERY POOR.
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Pros:
  • Idea of the course
Cons:
  • Quality of the course as it is completely out of date
Reason of review:
Bad quality

Preferred solution: Full refund

1 comment
Guest

It is terrible and the โ€˜testโ€™ at the end of each module are on line quizzes - it is badly put together and a waste of time

Jaidah Vhc

No background

My concern is that I can find no details of who runs the organisation , qualifications of tutors , and they say CPD accreditation- but canโ€™t find relevant info on the accreditation body either!
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Anon G

Con - no assistance

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The phone number is a James Caan/Khan voicemail that is never picked up. The tutors email never replies. The certificate is worthless. The certificate was incorrect referring to level 3 in the cover letter even though it was a level 4 completed. The certificate said nothing of the level completed either. I think it's a con.
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Cons:
  • Customer service
  • Whole site is fraudulent
  • Unresponsive
Reason of review:
Rubbish all round

Preferred solution: Update the phone number online to one that works and reply to your emails!!!

1 comment
Guest

I started my level 2 teaching assistant course in August 2018. Over Christmas and New Year I was ill and had family problems so hadn't done any of the course for a while.

I now cannot get back onto the course.

I have an account but it says I have no courses. I have emailed numerous times but no answer and have been ringing the famous James Caan/Khan who does not answer or return calls.

Daria I Ytd

Site not working

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After 2 weeks of use the site won't let me log in. Reset password email never came. 2 months trying to contact with administrators (calling, emailing, voicemailing) with no effect.
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Loss:
$20
Pros:
  • Price
Cons:
  • Fact that i am not able to use the produck i bought
Reason of review:
Damaged or defective

Preferred solution: Deliver product or service ordered

1 comment
Guest

I have had exactly the same. Waste of money!

Anonymous

Misleading is illegal

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I saw an ad for advanced mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy, at a bargain price of 19.99 with groupon. I followed the links, but the the actual training is just cbt. Which I dont want and *** need. I tried to contact using the number but it's just a voicemail. Being a serial screenshotter I have all the evidence! Really disappointed... this is illegal sudely?
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Deborah M Jyn

Really Bad Attitude on phone

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Online Academies - Really Bad Attitude on phone
Online Academies - Really Bad Attitude on phone - Image 2
Online Academies - Really Bad Attitude on phone - Image 3
Online Academies - Really Bad Attitude on phone - Image 4

After lots of attempts to get answers via email and telephone neither of which were answered or replied to I finally found a sales line number for online academies via the online city training website. Of course the phone was answered almost straight away on the sales line as they would not want to miss an opportunity to take money from yet another gullible sap.

The guy i spoke to was completely unhelpful and could not answer my burning questions re finding an insurance company who would recognise diploma for the purposes of getting professional indemnity insurance for the holistic beauty therapy diploma. My other burning question concerned the issue of paying another ยฃ25 to gain an extra qualification once i had been awarded my diploma. There was no explanation as to why I would need to get the extra qualification and he could not answer me when I asked if this was the extra qualification that would make me eligible for insurance. I asked for a full refund to which he replied that as I had completed the course I could not get my money back even though the qualification was actually not worth the paper it is printed on.

I was so frustrated by his refusal to clarify my questions that I actually ended up in tears.

He said someone more qualified to answer my questions would call me back in half ah hour and three days later I have still not been called back! I would love to know where the college register is as I can't find it and what is the point of stating on diploma that I am entitled to use letters after my name when actually they mean nothing ~ please see uploaded images

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Loss:
$19
Cons:
  • Unresponsive
  • Whole site is fraudulent
  • Customer service
Reason of review:
Not as described/ advertised

Preferred solution: Full refund

3 comments
Guest

I note the comment on my post has been posted anonymously whereas the rest of us seem happy to post openly. Maybe the reply is from the academy that we are all unhappy about.

Guest

The insurance companies are the only ones who can answer your questions about insurance for business. You can't expect a school of any sort to maintain any knowledge bank about each individual company and their policies / business model.

Insurance law is its own subject with specialists who feed off the feeders. You must research and locate companies who provide what you are seeking and be sure you clearly understand what they offer.

You can't blame the school however crummy for inability to correctly answer your unrelated questions. It would stink of collusion were a school to recommend a specific business or company to students.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1533137

There are plenty of other academies who able to tell potential students if their qualifications are accredited and do help to point students in the right direction to find insurance companies that will insure said qualifications. This academy advertised the course I took as fully accredited when in actual fact it was not accredited

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Dawn C Yzp
map-marker Bristol, England

Ignoring my emails!

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I recently completed a criminology course (ยฃ50) and enjoyed it so much that I decided to do the extension written test (a further ยฃ25) I completed both parts and waited for the written test to be marked. My reply when it came was to tell me I had a high pass and a certificate twas on its way to me and that was it! No feedback, nothing to explain what marks Iโ€™d received for each question - absolutely nothing! I emailed them 3 times to ask about this and 3 times they totally ignored my email! They state that tutors were available to assist but Iโ€™m not so sure they are or maybe they are not interested once they have had your money! I know that the courses are not an official qualification and are more just for learning a little about a subject but after spending ยฃ75 on a course I did expect some kind of feedback. Very disappointing and I wonโ€™t be using Online Academies again!
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2 comments
Guest

You stated that "you enjoyed it". Isn't that a good deal for so little money ?

How long did it take to complete ?

If you paid 75 and it took 25 hours, isn't 3 per hour pretty reasonable fun ? You had fun, did well, passed high, why worry ?

Dawn C Yzp
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1608447

It was not the course itself that was the issue. It was the fact that they didnโ€™t bother to reply to 3 emails.

The emails were not rude, aggressive or demanding, they were merely pointing out an observation and asking a question.

Surely somebody could have had the common curtesy to reply! Obviously not!

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Anonymous
map-marker Leicester, England

Terrible

They never respond to emails or calls. I have not received any log in details having paid for my course. Would definitely not recommend them
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About

Summary

Online Academies is a learning platform. It provides distant learning courses to people of different age. It is possible to start a course any time of the year. The online courses are structured by themes including Animal Care, Beauty and Complementary Health. Online Academies offers Animal Psychology Advanced course, Dog Grooming Professional course, Beauty Salon Management Professional course, Caring for People with Learning Disabilities course, and Yoga in Health course. Available payment options are as follows: Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, and American Express. When finishing a course, a user receives an Online Academies Diploma. Online Academies courses can be learnt using laptop, tablet or mobile.

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