Ripoff Report Verified™ REVIEW
EDitor's UPDATE: Positive rating and recognition has been given to
Online Trading Academy for its full commitment to quality customer service.
Ripoff Report's discussions with Online Trading Academy have uncovered an ongoing dedication by the company to total client satisfaction. This means that clients can expect that the company will work towards finding a mutually satisfactory resolution to any concerns. Online Trading Academy listens carefully to client concerns and sees them as an opportunity to learn from past mistakes and become more efficient as a company in the services offered and the support for those services.
Positive rating and recognition has been given to Online Trading Academy for its commitment to excellence in customer service.
Ripoff Report Verified™ .. part of Ripoff Report Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation & Customer Satisfaction Program.A program that benefits the consumer, assures them of complete satisfaction and confidence when doing business with a member business..
The information provided in this report below is based on comments made by Eyal Shahar & Jeremy Nosek during an onsite inspection held by a third-party verification company with no biases towards Online Trading Academy.
Online Trading Academy teaches financial education, long-term investments, trading, in addition to several other financially based courses. Mr. Eyal Shahar stated the following about his company, "we’ve developed a really unique educational model that provides lifelong education. So, from our perspective, we see really great results for our students. Of course, we cannot have a specific schedule that ends because we want to support them for however long it takes for them to be successful. And that’s kind of the environment that we created. So we’ve got the physical courses in the physical centers with virtual help literally every day in kind of virtual rooms, that’s there to help them with no time expiration. It’s a lifelong relationship - that’s kind of what we do."
Leads for Online Trading Academy primary come through online advertising. Online Trading Academy ensures that all interested students are able to fully explore the courses available to them, "so usually we schedule with them several meetings and 3 days of orientation that allows them to kind of map out where they are and where they want to go. And through the process, it is also explained the types of courses that are available. And if you choose to join the academy - they select the path together with an educational counselor of which specific courses to take to achieve their financial goals. The initial courses are always physical, and every single course has a virtual environment that is a continuation of the physical course, which allows them the ability to go retake the classes physically or virtually in any combination they want for the rest of their lives. So there’s no time limitation or support limitation in any way."
CUSTOMER CARE & COMPLAINT RESOLUTION – ONLINE TRADING ACADEMY
During the on-site interview, Mr. Shahar was asked to describe a situation where a client was not satisfied with the level of service they received. Mr. Shahar expressed that they rarely will receive complaints from actual students in their program. However, "if you look at Ripoff Report most of the people that have written any comments are people that went to a half day free class, and decided not to buy." He additionally stated, "we have 97% satisfaction from all of our students. You can actually look at our website. I believe in transparency and all of our classroom surveys are automatically uploaded to our website and accessible from the home page from any center in the World, real time."
When asked to comment on complaints posted on Ripoff Report's website Mr. Jeremy Nosek stated the following, "I think the surprising thing that we’ve seen is that there are no comments on there that are actually from students. What we’ve seen is that people will come in and they had an expectation of a workshop that was different than what was delivered to them. That’s primarily been the postings that we’ve seen on Ripoff Report. They are really coming from folks that have decided to come into the free half-day class and explore Online Trading Academy and then deciding that maybe we are not a good fit for them." While there are no accreditations for their field Online Trading Academy recently obtained BCorp Certification which shows to the public that they can adhere to strict and professional criteria in order to provide students with the highest quality of educational materials.
When asked what type of changes they have made to honor their commitment to making things right with the consumer per the request of Ripoff Report, Mr. Nosek stated, "I think one of the things that we’ve really focused in on is the difference in training and investing education, between knowledge seeking and skill building. We really believe that investing and trading is a skill that you acquire more than it is a subject to be studied...so we at the academy really believe that for folks that decide that this is really something they want to do, not that this is a hobby for them to dabble in - but something they want to commit to that can give them a better lifestyle or better prepare for retirement; we like to go in and make sure that we set really clear expectations that this is not an overnight success - this is a process that they really need to commit themselves to. It takes a lot of time and energy to learn to master these skills. I think one of the things we’ve done over the past couple years is that we shifted our model of how students evaluate the education to it used to be that they would come in and take a free half-day class then make a decision on whether or not they wanted to move forward with the academy. And what we found was that for a lot of people, that was a lot of information really fast. They were in a situation where they were finding themselves making a pretty big decision on changing a part of their lifetime, money and commitment. And what we’ve done in the last couple of years is we’ve really slowed that process down for students."
Online Trading Academy is proud to be a part of Ripoff Reports Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation and Customer Satisfaction Program, "I’m really looking forward to this opportunity to partner together to make sure that people that go through Ripoff Report will have the right image for the academy. We work so hard for students to be successful in what they do and really benefiting from the education that we have. So, I’m really excited about the opportunity in partnering up with you and creating the image."
ONLINE TRADING ACADEMY – STATEMENT FROM THE COMPANY
" As a certified B Corporation, Online Trading Academy is committed to making a positive difference in the world. Certified B Corps aspire to use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems, meeting performance standards that measure a company’s impact on all of its stakeholders (e.g., workers, suppliers, community, customers and the environment). “The financial education we provide has the power to dynamically transform lives,” states Gene Longobardi, Online Trading Academy’s Chief Operating Officer. “Most people pursue our education in order to positively impact others, whether it’s a family member, another individual, a community or a worthy cause. Our entire organization is proud to be part of this global movement of using business as a force for good.”
Student satisfaction rises as students go deeper into the Online Trading Academy curriculum through education in trading and investing multiple asset classes. Unedited reviews on the Online Trading Academy website demonstrate this, with an average 4.76 rating out of 5 from over 165,000 reviewers.
One of the ways Online Trading Academy demonstrates its commitment to student success is allowing enrolled students lifetime class retakes at no additional charge. Ongoing support is also available from instructors and fellow students, because Online Trading Academy is a community of success-minded individuals dedicated to helping one another.
The U.S. stock markets were up nearly 20% in 2017, giving Online Trading Academy students the potential for exceptional gains. However, Online Trading Academy teaches investors how they can make money whether the market is up down or sideways. These skills are designed to help them secure a better future for their families. Online Trading Academy takes employee satisfaction seriously as well. Employee feedback and surveys reveal comments such as this, "From our beginnings in 1997, Online Trading Academy has sought to create success by teaching trading and investing skills. Originally, we provided training for individuals on our dedicated trading floor (then the second largest in the U.S.). Our instructors include former brokers, a Wall Street Market Maker, financial advisors and successful students. Every single person on our team is dedicated to helping students build the knowledge, skills and confidence to succeed in realizing their financial dreams. While we do our best to describe our program in the free preview class, it is not the same as taking education at Online Trading Academy. Talk to our students, or read the reviews on our website, to understand how deeply committed we are to their success. "
Ripoff Report was pleased to learn that Online Trading Academy's past and current approach to business is focused on its pledge to total commitment towards client and employee satisfaction.
STATED IMPROVEMENTS FROM ONLINE TRADING ACADEMY
Online Trading Academy recognizes that complaints posted on Ripoff Report (whether true or not) are issues that need to be addressed, not ignored. If handled correctly, complaints can be valuable learning opportunities. With the feedback generated by Ripoff Report's review, Online Trading Academy has made organizational changes allowing its clients and employees a more streamlined approach to problem resolution and a commitment to a great client experience.
In summary, after our review, which included discussions with Eyal Shahar, Ripoff Report is convinced that Online Trading Academy is committed to quality delivery of services resulting in total client satisfaction.
How does a business get Ripoff Report Verified™ The member business allows Ripoff report to email everyone from the past. Those who respond to Ripoff report with a valid complaint must be take care of. They have made a commitment that if anyone contacts Ripoff Report in the future, they will make things right within 14 days. The member business must err on the side of their customers. Otherwise the member business is off the program.
Ripoff Report has determined that Online Trading Academy meets Ripoff Report Verified™ standards which include a commitment to make a good faith effort to resolve any consumer complaints. Members of the Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation and Customer Satisfaction program do pay a fee for our on-site review, 24-hour monitoring and for support with customers to resolve any disagreements.
Ripoff Report sends a 3rd party service to do an onsite inspection of the new member business. The on-site inspection / review does not mean that the products or services offered by the business have been evaluated or endorsed by Ripoff Report, and has not made a determination as to the business' product quality or competency in performing services. We can verify, that Ripoff Report went to the business, verified their business or “work from home business”, there for, if a customer in the future does not get treated correctly, Ripoff Report can get the problem resolved. If not, and the customers is right, the member business will be taken off the Corporate Advocacy Program. Remember, Ripoff Report emailed every customer from the past that filed a complaint to make sure the member business made things right with customers from the past. Again, to err on the side of their customer, those from the past and those in the future.
Read more about why consumers should feel confident when doing business with a member of Ripoff Report's Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation & Customer Satisfaction Program. Yes, it’s a long name for a program that does a lot for both consumers and businesses alike.
Read about Ripoff Report Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation & Customer Satisfaction Program, a program that benefits the consumer, assures them of complete satisfaction and confidence when doing business with a member business. This program works.
As a matter of policy, when a business becomes a member of the Corporate Advocacy Program they agree to allow Ripoff Report to contact every client who filed a complaint, so they can make things right with them. In order to confirm that the complaints were resolved, Ripoff Report is copied on all responses, so we can insure that the member business did right by their customer.
NOW TO THE ORIGINAL REPORT THAT WAS FILED
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Online Trading Academy My Experience with Online Trading Academy at the Woodland Hills, CA location Woodland Hills, CA Nationwide
I am going to provide you with a real honest review of Online Trading Academy (OTA). This is based on my experience of attending the introduction of OTA on Dec 3, 2016.
Before I get into my review, I want to tell you the reason why I decided to attend the introduction course offered by OTA.
I am involved with internet marketing. When I received OTA’s offer on my Facebook wall, it caught my attention. Being that I am always looking for other streams of income, I took a look into this and signed up for the course about 10 days before the day of the event.
I received 2 reminder calls from their office in Irvine. The calls were their way of making sure that I was going to attend the event. They also asked me if I knew anyone else that was interested in learning how to trade. I did not so I attended the seminar / sales pitch alone in Woodland Hills, CA.
Oh….during the phone calls from the representative at their Irvine office, I was told that I would receive a tablet for attending….more on that later……
So I show up on a Saturday morning for the event. The first thing I noticed is the location was in a very nice building. Once I got inside, I signed in at the front desk and was told to have a seat in the lobby until the class began.
Since it was early in the morning, it was pretty nice that they had hot food out. It was early and I had not eaten breakfast, so that was perfect timing. I remember that they had eggs, bacon, and potatoes. I have to say, the food was not bad at all. …… Or maybe I was hungry as hell because my stomach was empty.
After a quick bite to eat and waiting in the lobby for about 15 mins, a gentleman came out and introduced himself as the instructor to about 8 of us waiting in the lobby.
The first red flag for me was when the instructor started a conversation with one of the people that would be attending the class. I overheard the instructor asking a very young girl questions. Questions such as:
• Why do you want to learn about day trading?
• What do you do for a living?
• How much money do you have to invest?
Noticed that I wrote “the first red flag for me….” in the last paragraph. I wrote that because the girl that he asked these questions to was 16 years old, and she was there with her mother. It almost felt like he just needed warm bodies in the class
More importantly, being that I had a past career in pharmaceutical sales for many years, I knew these types of questions were qualifying questions. This automatically told me two things about what I signed up for.
1. There was going to be a sales pitch with the class (which was expected)
2. The total cost of entry was not going to be cheap. (later on how much they want out of you to learn this stuff…geez)
The instructor then came to me as I was sitting in the lobby and asked me similar questions as well.
Shortly after, we were moved into the classroom. The classroom felt like I was back in college in a computer lab.
I counted the people that attended this class, and with the people that showed up about 5 mins late, there was a total of 17 people in the session.
The instructor began the session with asking questions similar to the ones that he asked us when we were in the lobby. He also went into telling us that he was going to share information with us that we had never heard before.
Being that 90% of us were new to this online trading thing, everything we were about to hear was going to be new to us.
Basically, we were given a 101 on day trading. The information that was provided was information that someone could find online or from reading a book on the subject matter. What was interesting is he told us OTA has a patent on their online strategy for day trading.
The whole session was about 3 hours and 30 mins long. Again, the information we got there was nothing that anyone of us could not have found doing a Google search.
I would say that out of 3 plus hours of the “learning session”, about 1 hour was actually teaching, and the rest was just a big sales pitch.
Being that I am into online marketing, I quickly noticed that the class was put into a sales funnel.
The sales funnel began when the students in the class seen OTA’s ad to attend the class. For me, I received their Ad on Facebook. The sales funnel looks something like this.
• Facebook ad or another ad on a website (Low Barrier of entry or no cost)
• Class / information session to get your interest and emotions going to make in an impulse buy.
• Asking us for a low payment at the end of the session (gets someone comfortable with purchasing something usually at a low coast with more offers to come at a higher cost)
I noticed this sale funnel after the first offer, and decided that based on some of the flags I was noticing (More red flags that I noticed coming in a few) and what was being explained in the session, that OTA was not for me.
If you do not know what a sales funnel is, you can get more information from the youtube video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYEr6zxSZAI
Moving right along………
After the class was completed, the sales pressure became more intense. Another gentleman came into the room and told us that if we wanted to attend their 3-day course, we had to sign up today. There were no options as far as days to attend except what they provided.
What is funny is that during the whole learning session, the instructor told us they had a three-day course, and the cost was $500. He must have said this about 2-3 times during the 3 hours and 30 mins he had us in his class.
Then comes the classic decrease in price. He goes on to tell us that we will not have to pay $500 for the 3-day course, but the price is now magically $179 or it might have been $150. I forget the exact price, but it was one hundred and something.
The reason for the decrease in price according to the instructor was due to a relationship they had with one of the companies that they use for their online charts to watch the stocks.
At this point, everything about this session was becoming a comedy show to me.
Some other RED FLAGS:
At the start of the meeting, a student that had some experience with day trading asked the instructor what type of credentials he had in order to be able to teach this course.
The instructor quickly avoided the question and gave a quick answer that he would get to that question later. When he did get to it later, which was at the end of the class. He told us that he was a student at OTA just like us, but he also worked for OTA and the information that he provided to us was information that he learned while being a student.
Earlier I mentioned that another gentleman came in the room to tell us about the 3-day class for $179. Well, I decided to play with this guy just a bit. I said to him “ you have us in a marketing funnel.” His response was “ let’s talk about this outside.”
Because the class was just about over, that is exactly what we did, we talked about this outside the class. When I had him alone, I brought up the marketing funnel and I told him I needed to know exactly how much everything was going to cost.
My question was answered with the question of “ How much do you want it to cost?” He then said let me get my manager, and I said I just need the totally cost. During this whole conversation, he was completely defensive and started getting pissed that I was asking these types of questions.
I then said to him; “ The days you have the 3-day course going on, I will be out of town on a business trip. Is there another 3-day blocks that you have available?” His answer was “ If this 3-day class is important to you, you will have to get here.”
At this point, I quickly knew that the instructor was a paid employee of the company and that he and the class instructor are both just sales people trying to get as many people in the class as possible.
Now, do I think someone can go to this class and do well with online trading? I would say yes. But the majority of people that pay big money for this class are not going to do well. I also think that this company does not teach anything that could not be found from another company or professional trader. And of course, I know for any teaching there is going to be a cost.
I found it through research that the totally cost of everything is about $25K. Come on Man! That is a lot of money for many people. That is why it is important to know what you are getting into and to ask questions. Because once you get caught in the marketing funnel and start paying money at different stages of the funnel, it is going to be hard to get out. I can promise you that this company is not going to refund you your money back for payments at a stage that has been completed.
Remember me talking about the offer of the tablet for attending the class. Well, I did get a tablet, but I had to ask for it and it was a very cheaply made tablet. I would not even give my three-year-old this tablet for fear of being a cheap skate.
BTW, I don’t have a three-year-old.
If you are reading this, you probably received an email or saw an ad from OTA. It is my guess that you also probably starting doing a Google search to see if this company (OTA) is legit or not. Lastly, you are probably looking to earn extra money or even replace your income. Well, there are many different ways of doing this without spending $25K.
One is through marketing online. Below is a solid reference where you can learn how to earn money to replace or supplement your current income. And it is free to low start up:
http://bit.ly/2gWYmgB
In conclusion, I am not saying that OTA is bad. Honestly, I could not tell you because I really don’t know. With me not having gone through the entire course, I could not tell you what you get after paying your $25K.
What I can tell you is that I got more than one bad vibe from attending the OTA free course. Also, when someone gets upset when I ask legit questions about a program and they give me the runaround…I am out.
Lastly, do an OTA Review Google search where people talk about the program. See what they have to say about their experience of OTA. Oh and don’t go to OTA website testimonials ….you know their reference are all going to be good and positive there.
I hope this helps someone before they decided to break the bank using Online Trading Academy.