The most unprofessional experience I have had - please be warned about this company…read more
I was referred to Davidson Tutoring by Valerie at Learning Encounters as we were looking for private 1:1 tutoring for the ISEE this fall. We are currently enrolled at a wonderful private school here on the Westside, however, my daughter was hoping to make a switch. Valerie told me that Davidson was "excellent, highly recommended and know the ISEE inside and out." Naturally, I was very interested; and in hindsight am very concerned that they would be referring them to this company if they knew what was truly happening. I was told to speak to their Director, Debora H. and I reached out to her on Friday, 9/12. I knew that our window for effective tutoring was very short as we had hoped to take the ISEE in November and December so every day was crucial for us to start a program. I spoke with Deborah on 9/13 and she immediately emailed me back with a recommended plan. I was clear about our need to start soon with someone who knew the Upper Level ISEE test and was reassured we would be able to move forward as soon as our daughter could take the sample test online, which we did over the weekend. After submitting it, 2 days goes by without hearing any additional information. Every call was answered by an answering service who tried every single associate including her assistant, Lisa and no one ever answers. Even when I had scheduled to speak with her other days, I would receive very nonplussed responses like, "Oh shoot...I lost track of time!", or the more vague "I wasn't able to leave a message for some reason." When she asked that my daughter complete an additional math packet to "get more information on her placement" we sent it over. Again, no response. I follow up by email, still nothing for 3 days! Her response? "I am sorry, I missed this somehow." What?! WEEKS go by like this and we are now into OCTOBER and still I have NO profiles for tutors being sent to me, NO books or materials and more importantly we have NO start date. Mind you, I have ALREADY PAID. Finally, I issue an email on Oct. 3rd letting them know that if there is no plan, I will ask my credit card to reverse the charges for services not rendered. Of course, I get a call immediately with a promise to send over a profile of a candidate. She then overnighted 2 books to my home finally. When I ask how much experience this tutor has with the Upper Level ISEE she says, "Well, not much but she fits the personality of your daughter best." I didn't ask for a friend for my daughter - I had asked specifically with someone who KNEW the UL ISEE and could help her gain immediate traction as we had minimal time to get tutoring in. The weekend goes by with further delays as she was "trying to find other options." She found one more tutor, and gave me a start date for the following weekend, and then had to cancel it as the tutor accidentally scheduled that slot. When I asked if I could take the weekday spot that had opened, she said that tutor would not be filling that time. So, all in all, we ended up with NO tutor and Deborah refunded my money. The more insulting aspect here is that she actually asked me to go to FedEx to drop off one of the books to return to them (which I did) and then added insult to injury to ask that I go to UPS to drop the other one off. It's fair to say, that in my time in business, I have never encountered such a reprehensible and unprofessional way of working. Not only was my daughter left with even less time for necessary tutoring (6 WEEKS less), but I had to scramble to find another company which, luckily, I was able to. I am so happy to have LA Tutors instead as the tutor and director were immediately responsive, professional, and have been very communicative about my daughter's progress. I will be writing an amazing review for them. However, please save yourself the headache that I went through and avoid Davidson Tutoring altogether. And the fact that Learning Encounters recommended them so highly makes me suspicious of them as well. Clearly, they have no idea of how this business is run and what they are doing. And after reading other's reviews about Davidson, I feel like an idiot for trusting them with something so crucial. But happy that we dodged this bullet and are in good hands now. Please seek better for your child.