Today I got to thinking about all of the different times that New Horizons has been presented with a choice between being reasonable, professional and upstanding, or sneaky, indifferent, and unresponsive. To go back to the very beginning, they certainly had an opportunity to not exaggerate the importance of their "lab access" to obtaining an MCSE certification, but that would have cost them $1000.00 in sales. From there, they have had the following opportunities to do the right thing, choosing each time to take the low road:
When my wife first reported the problems with the instructor teaching their NT 4.0 courses, they had an opportunity to take that instructor aside, evaluate his work, and work with him as necessary to make certain that he was capable of delivering the instruction that their students had paid for.
Cost: Nothing
Expected result: Better teacher, more satisfied students, more competent graduates. No newhorizonssucks.net web site.
What was done instead: Nothing
When my wife wrote "please have my Account Executive call me" on her second evaluation form for a course taught by Dale, they couldn't even trouble themselves to honor that request by picking up the telephone and making a call.
If they had done so, they might have learned (if they had any interest in learning) that there were still problems with this instructor, and once again could have worked to fix the problem.
Cost: 2 cents for the phone call.
Expected result: Better teacher, more satisfied students, more competent graduates. No newhorizonssucks.net web site.
What was done instead: Nothing
When I, acting on behalf of my wife, requested to cancel her remaining classes and receive a refund for them (as per New Horizons policy), and reported dissatisfaction with the quality of her last two classes, New Horizons could have tried listening, refunding the cost of the canceled classes, and perhaps negotiating a partial refund for those classes which were unsatisfactory.
I realize that doing the above would require the actual attention of a thinking human being, rather than someone holding a "Miranda card" which reads "It is New Horizons policy that refunds are not granted", and reading it over the phone to whomever is requesting attention.
Cost: Lost sales for the courses not yet taken ($3433.50), plus one or two thousand dollars for the courses that were unsatisfactory and the bogus "lab access". Absolute Maximum refund, if every dollar paid for unsatisfactory courses and the "lab" was refunded along with the courses not taken: $7458.50 More likely total: $4500.00-5500.00.
Expected result: Student not so disgusted with New Horizons that informing the world about their business practices becomes a priority. A clean break, and everybody's as happy as possible under the circumstances. No newhorizonssucks.net web site.
What was done instead: Stonewall, stonewall, stonewall. Refuse to even discuss the matter.
It's too long to go into again, but from the first minute of the meeting to the last, it was all about why I was wrong (and a bad person), why they were right, and why the laws of physics wouldn't allow the problems with my wife's instructor to actually exist.
The one thing it wasn't about was discussing the problem and the solution.
Cost: Talking's free. Total cost potentially the same as above.
Expected result: Perhaps a chance to improve their instructor and their operation, and again, a clean break with as little pain as possible on both sides. No newhorizonssucks.net web site.
What was done instead: They tried very hard to jerk me around, also attempted to intimidate me, accused me of all manner of things, from "changing my story" to being rude, and turned what could have been a fruitful meeting into yet another way to say "get lost."
My wife and I met with Mr. Aguwa in a productive meeting later in the week. He offered over $8100.00 for courses not taken, lab access not used, courses that were unsatisfactory, and a couple of "goodwill gesture" refunds of a couple courses that had been taken without major problems. The amount was arrived at by Mr. Aguwa without assistance or input from my wife or I, and my wife accepted his offer.
The operative terms for Mr. Aguwa were apparently rooted firmly in the list of courses and items to be refunded, and not in the dollar amount promised. For my wife, the operative terms were the amount to be refunded, and she couldn't have cared less if they refunded two dollars for the courses and $8156.50 just because they liked her perfume, as long as the promised check showed up with the promised amount written on it.
Cost: $8158.50 or thereabouts
Expected result: A clean break, a student who's happy to be rid of New Horizons and to at least have had one good experience with their company since the MCSE training meltdown, that experience being the offer of refund and the receipt of said refund. No newhorizonssucks.net web site.
What was done instead: Last minute telephone call explaining that the figure we accepted was 25% too high for their liking, so the refund check would be reduced to $6145.00
In a final effort to resolve the matter, Mr. Aguwa was offered the opportunity to settle the matter by splitting the difference. He declined, rather forcefully, and advised against me "bothering" New Horizons personnel again.
Cost: On top of the amount now being refunded, $1000.00 or so. In comparison to our original agreement, $1000.00 or so LESS.
Expected result: The same lied-to and screwed-over feeling about New Horizons that had become so familiar from past dealings with them, but still... no newhorizonssucks.net web site.
What was done instead: "Too bad, so sad, buh-bye, and don't call us back." OK, that's not really a quote, it's more of a paraphrase.
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