It was a case of plain fraud and trauma for the customers of Sylvan learning center. Sylvan a tutoring company that provided center based as well as homebased online tutoring has suddenly closed its tutoring centers leaving parents and students in awe shock. Parents have lost their money that they have invested in Sylvan for providing tutorials to their kids. In my opinion students were hardest hit, Sylvan closed its tutoring unit in the middle of the academic year, leaving students in between of their preparation for the exams and now students just don’t know what to do, it was more like playing with their careers. Sylvan just closed its tutoring centers without stating any reason. Many parents were left fuming and cheated with this action of sylvan, parents have lost thousands and thousands of dollars.
Sylvan offers personalized instructional services to students in kindergarten through grade 12. Tutoring is done in-center or live, online.
Clients generally pay for Sylvan’s services in advance or monthly, as Boyle did. Some take out loans to cover the service.
Because programs are customized specifically to each child, based on an assessment given by the facility, pricing can vary. Sylvan were charging about $40 per session and average about two or more in-center sessions a week.
More than 900 Sylvan Learning Centers, like the one in Casa Grande, are owned by independent franchisees nationwide. The company owns about 250 units. The Casa Grande Sylvan Learning Center was opened in July 2005 by Jodi and Michael Berke. In November 2005, the couple were awarded the Business Excellence Award by Sylvan Learning Center. The award recognized their marketing and business efforts. It’s unclear why the business closed so abruptly.
In a written statement, Jennifer Gaegler, manager of public relations for Sylvan said that the company is saddened by the closing. She said that students may transfer their program to the Gilbert Sylvan Learning Center or the Ahwatukee Sylvan Learning Center.
But the question arises that what about all those who were hit hard by this action? Sylvan can’t escape simply by saying “We are saddened by the closing”. What Sylvan has done is completely unethical and in literal terms they toyed with student’s careers.
Its customers should direct request for a refund to the former owner of the Casa Grande Sylvan Center, M & J Educational Services, Ltd.
My point is not to criticise center tutoring in anyway but to create awareness about such companies who are unethical in their business practices.
There are many good online tutoring companies nowadays who are providing online tuitions. Online tutoring is the new way of receiving tuitions and as many have said it is the easiest and feasible solution for the kids to receive education.
One such company is 24hourstutor.com that is providing 24×7 online tutoring to its students. Students can get unlimited one-on-one tutoring sessions at just $9.99 per hour. I say it is the best deal that anyone can get; neither parents need not to drive their kids to tuition centers (so no surprises as found by Sylvan subscribers) nor they have to allow a home tutor to enter their premises. I think 24hourstutor.com is doing a phenomenal job in providing quality education to kids from almost all grades. 24hourstutor.com teaching staff is their USP and all the tutors are extremely qualified and experienced.
