ABCO Technology Abco Technology scam Los Angeles California
I signed up for IT classes at ABCO technology 12-16-07 and paid $6000. My classes were set to begin on 01-14-08. I went to the school on the following day to pick up my class schedule and found students waiting (1 hour) for someone to come and open the classes for them and teach them. I too had to wait almost 1.5 hours before someone showed up to tell me that the class schedule is not ready. Over the 1.5 hour wait I was talking to students and found out that the school is always canceling classes and making promises that they cannot fulfill. For these suspicious reasons, I went back again to the school to pick up my schedule for a second time and even then it was not ready (reason stated - our network system is down) I then decided to cancel my classes on 12-18-07, I did this in the presence of Fathima Sethi (Faculty at ABCO technology). I was provided with a cancellation notice which i signed and dated. The cancellation contract promised to refund the money within 30 days, till today I have not received anything. Over the last 30 days, I contacted the school numerous times via e-mail and telephone but was always told that Lmar Kojani (who recruited me to the school) is out sick, on vacation e.t.c , and that Fathima Sethi (who was present while I canceled) is out of the office or in meetings. I pleaded that someone call me back and give me refund status update. I have never heard from them. Today is 45 days since I canceled and I have not received any money or progress regarding my refund. I finally spoke to Lmar who denies that he was ever out of the office. He also claims that he has not receive any calls or emails from me, though I have proof of my calls and emails to the school attempting to contact him. There are 3 people working in this office Lmar Kojani, Fathima Sethi and a lady who goes by the first name of Ambreen. My understanding is that they have their whole game down on how to scam people off their money, especially when it comes to refunding. They talk about an "Accounting Department" which they have to contact, then they tell me that they have passed on the information and have not heard back from them, also to leave messages for each of them when they sit in the same room and deny that the other is there. I am afraid of going down to the school, as I have read of similar cases, when the student showed up to demand his or her refund, they would call the cops. These guys are professional con artists. I made the mistake of not doing enough research about them.
I have no option but to take legal action against them. Reading reports about them, they have been taken to court before, I am not sure why they are still open.
To who ever is reading this.......DO NOT SIGN up with these people, you will regret it.
Jawwad
West Hollywood, California
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
pji
La Puente,California,
United States of America
You know what they say...
#4Consumer Comment
Wed, December 22, 2010
You hear it once, you ignore it. You hear it twice, you think about it. You hear it 3x from different source? Well, I have to say, I am one of those people who suppose to get a refund and never got it since August 2010. I called and George Castenada (sp) answered my phone call and said that I have to call back again in December because the State of California hasn't given them any money. I called last week (Dec. 16) and the receptionist answered my phone call. I asked for George and she didn't know him? I doubled check my notes and I am pretty sure it was George who I spoke to last time. She connected me to Ambreen instead. I talked to her and she said, that I should get my refund and it is $625 (after the $75 non-refundable charge). She told me that she will double check why I didn't get my refund and said that she will call me that Monday Dec. 20). Comes that Monday, I never received a phone call from her. So, I called ABCO the next day, Tuesday. Guess who answered the phone? Yes, George Castaneda (BTW, I do always ask who I am speaking with.). I asked for Ambreen and I overheared him saying "Ambreen, someone on the phone is looking for you and I can't transfer the call from this front phone." She asked who I was and when I said my name, dead silence for a moment and he said, "Ambreen is already out-of-the-office." Excuses after excuses. I don't know why this company is still funded by this State to operate when they can't even return a simple phone call. Basic customer service 101. Have the courtesy to return the phone calls of your customers. This shows how bad this company is.
Abco Tech
Los Angeles,California,
U.S.A.
Misunderstanding and Corrective Action
#4REBUTTAL Owner of company
Fri, April 18, 2008
First of all I would like to state to all the people reading these complaints against ABCO Technology should know that ABCO is not only a state accredited school, but we also have a good BBB rating. We are training over 400 students every year and this is our statistics. We as a company have grown an average of 30% every year. We all know that sometimes things go wrong and sometimes we fail too and don't please every one. Overall, we have lots of student evaluations from classes that we are going to start posting on our website soon so that people can go see our good and our bad.
Now regarding Jawaad's complaint, the only thing I can say is that there was a misunderstanding that happened due to which he faced the problems he states here. I would say that everything that's written up there is not true, but yet at the same time there was als a mistake done by some school employees which led to this.
Now instead of writing a rebuttal here saying what happened or what did not happen, here's what I would like people to know:
1) A corrective action has been taken and some of the employees that were responsible for this have been terminated.
2) There are many students that have completed their education from ABCO and are now certified and we have thier evaluations of how much they liked the class.
3) If you are reading this complaint and you are serious about your education, please come down to ABCO and see our evaluations of classes and talk to some existing students and give ABCO a fair chance.
As for Jawaad, we investigated the matter and as I stated above that our investigation revealed that some employees messed up and there was miscommunications as well. So we personally called him ourselves and refunded his entire money.
Thanks
Director
Jawwad
West Hollywood,California,
U.S.A.
Refunded
#4Author of original report
Wed, April 09, 2008
As of 5th April 2008 Abco technology has refunded me the full amount.