My passion is in education. I quit a c-level corporate at 24 to start teaching, dismayed by the greed in corporate cultures.
I had signed up with Wyzant to "get started". I quickly became one of the highest reviewed tutors in my area. I was the only one in my area with a perfect 5 star review for all of my lessons. Suddenly, without warning, one of my student's parents gets a call from their representatives. Wyzant billed her close to double what I had authorized on wyzant. I protested the charge on behalf of the parent, and they literally tried every trick in the book to close my account, and eventually found a clause to do so. I was confused as to why, as I was the top ranked tutor in their area.
After going back and forth with their representatives, I searched through their site and realized that many of the other high ranked tutors in my area had also been removed. I asked a friend through a back channel what happened:Wyzant makes little to no money off of good tutors. They make money off of new tutors.
They offer "bulk purchase discounts" ranging from 5% to 15%. With the average student saving 7% (they claim) Calculated with a 2.5% CC processing fee:
Before you reach the 20% commission mark, they take around $3.453.25
But what happens when you become a "great tutor"? Parents buy larger packages (15% discount). Wyzant takes only 2.5% (20% - 15% discount - 2.5% cc fees)
They sprinkle a few high ranked tutors in with all of the rest of the "new" tutors. (probably/hypothetically ones who do not encourage parents to purchase discount packages) Its saddening. The one reason why I left corporate was greed, and I end up right back where I started. Very sad... SSDY
TLDR: Having a high performance teachers on Wyzant is bad for business.