Reviews

Review Details

• Review fromNicole C

  Date: 04/18/2025

  1 star
  They start by smooth talking you into how great the program will be, waiting to disclose the cost until the very end (over $300) and never mentioning the cancellation policy unless you ask. I asked about the cancellation policy twice on the call. First was told that I would need to cancel within 10 days. At the end of the call, I asked again to clarify 10 days from what date. She said from the start of the session. I ended up needing to cancel our registration. First, it takes awhile for anyone to call you back re: cancellation. Make notes of every attempt. When I finally got a hold of someone, she said that I needed to cancel within 10 days of signing up. I told her that was not what I was told; she said shed review the recording to see what I was told about the cancellation. Two days later she called to say that I was told to cancel within 10 days (only mentioning the first time I was told about it on the call). I mentioned that she was misrepresenting the call recording and skipping over the end of the call when she said I could cancel 10 days from the start of the class. She said shed NEVER misguide a parent (she 100% was). I asked to listen to the full 20 minute recording with her. She said she couldnt do that. She could only listen to the first 10 minutes with me. I asked for her supervisors name, got that and said that Id be contacting my credit card company to process a refund, and report the company to BBB while I waited for the supervisor to call me back. She said shed follow up with her supervisor. Two minutes later I got a call back saying theyd refund because they were being kind - not because they were misrepresenting the call recording. Take away: dont waste your time or energy with this company. They misguide families and are money hungry with an unclear cancellation policy. Unethical practices.

• Review fromKelly B

  Date: 04/10/2025

  1 star
  I have a review from a potential employee perspective. I applied to work at one of their summer programs; I am a 13 year classroom, certified teacher. About, 3-4 days after applying, I was contacted via email to take the next steps in the process. The next steps was a video "interview" that consisted of 3 questions. The questions pertained to ME as a reader, and the third question simply asked how their mission statement designated with me. About 2 weeks after I submitted the videos, I followed up with an email in response to the email I had received. No response. I sent another follow up email about a week later; no response. I understand if they didn't want to hire me; I understand if they found others that were more qualified. But it is bad business to simply not respond to an email. My email was professional and polite; I simply asked them to let me know if I was not a good candidate so that I could continue my search for summer work. Common decency was all I was seeking. Just bad business.

• Review fromAlisha H

  Date: 07/02/2024

  1 star
  I wished I had read these beforehand. Hopefully my plight as well as the many others will discourage others in the future from signing up with this program. They definitely pull in the heartstrings of the parent and talk about how awesome this program is and get you hooked. I was a little skeptical because they did tell me that I could not be in the classroom with my child and had to wait outside, but was able to get "permission" after speaking to a different agent to attend a couple of classes to feel comfortable but then told I could not be in there after that. They said it would be too distracting to the kids. I'm sorry, but my child is young and in this day and age you CANNOT be too careful. Sadly, I signed up anyway bc I am desperate to get my child help with reading and they made lots of promises (mistakes in my part). Well, I had a family situation come up and my child could not attend his first class. I called that day and even let the instructor know by email but bc it was a weekend I had to wait for a supervisor to call me that Monday which never happened. I called again that week and got a call back, finally, from a supervisor who was rude and refused my refund. I told them I could send the books back as they were unused and then she said what seems to other's experiences here that you can't get a refund beyond 10 days after signing up and told it it said so in my confirmation email. Well, I went back to the email and did not see any of that directly in the email. You had to click on some small, fine print link at the bottom of the email and go scrolling through a ton of legal jargo towards the bottom of their terms to even see that. I was offered a credit for a later class but I just want my money back. Not to mention the lady was rude and asked me what my family situation was and so was not comfortable sharing that. I will make sure my child's school does not hand out their flyers and tell everyone I know to stay away.

• Review fromSheena V

  Date: 07/01/2024

  1 star
  So I had applied for my six-year-old son to be entered in this reading program. It cost me $350. The program was supposed to start June 14 through July 15 and I had an extreme immediate death in the family, my sons grandfather my father, and it was all the way in *********** where we had to go and I called the company and I spoke to MANAGEMENT . Ive read to just because the family was going through a financial hardship and an immediate death in the family and they denied my refund. They told me it was after 30 days for this company to be family oriented and things like that they never took into consideration, how would My Son be able to focus when he was very close to his grandfather?

• Review fromIesha t

  Date: 06/24/2024

  1 star
  Run!!!!!! When first signed up never got a confirmation for enrollment. Spent the last month just trying to get them to send info to my email about the class. Still nothing and then they dont want to refund. I understand everything aint perfect but when you drop the ball take ownership. Horrible customer service!!! Almost $400 gone and my son hasnt attended the program!!!!

• Review fromReeba S

  Date: 06/13/2024

  1 star

  Reeba S

  Date: 06/13/2024

  If I could give this sketchy company Zero Stars I would. Aside from all of the other valid complaints, their requests during class is incredibly inappropriate. They basically ask parents to leave the room so that we don't " distract" our children. Then they casually mention that all of the videos taken of our child during class are recorded and stored with the company. They then refuse to answer to what they use these videos for or why they even need to save them. When I voiced my concerns and refused to let them record my child, I received an aggressive email from the teacher saying that he needed to be recorded. I objected and refused and then received an email from her supervisor. I went into even more detail as to why that's incredibly inappropriate and she only responded to me saying I was getting a full refund and not welcome to come back to class. It is incredibly unsettling that in today's world we would be asked to allow strangers to record our children on the internet while they are alone in a room with internet access. This is just incredibly unsettling.
  

  Institute Of Reading Development

  Date: 06/21/2024

  We include our full Recording Policy which can be found here: ********************************************************** in every email that we send to parents for their child to join an online class. We adhere strictly to this policy and protect recordings from any other use, by any other party. We retain recordings for a short period of time and use them only for supervision purposes. Recording online classes allows us to protect everyone involved. It provides accountability for teachers, plus reassurance for parents that everything that happens in class is available for our management to review. While rare, we understand that occasionally a parent might not agree with our perspective, so we explicitly invite them to contact us with their concerns. If they strenuously object to attending recorded classes, then our online program is not likely to be a good fit.

• Review fromCatherine S

  Date: 04/11/2024

  5 stars

  Catherine S

  Date: 04/11/2024

  My kids (13yo boy and 10yo girl) do this program every summer via zoom and have gotten so much out of it. I have had excellent customer service every time I've registered them. So personable and knowledgeable and helpful.. I am honestly quite confused by bad reviews for this organization. They did an excellent job engaging my kids. My son enjoyed learning to speed read and still refers to Where the ************** as his favorite book. If he's had to miss a class they reschedule him seamlessly. Considering their schools do not have summer reading requirements, I am a huge fan of using this program as a replacement. Love it!
  

  Institute Of Reading Development

  Date: 04/16/2024

  Dear *********,Thank you for your positive feedback about our summer program. We are delighted to hear about your excellent experiences with our customer service and how much your children enjoy the program.Our team is committed to providing an engaging and seamless educational experience, and it's wonderful to know we are meeting your expectations. We look forward to another great summer with your family!Best regards,***************************, **************** Manager

• Review fromCristina A

  Date: 07/13/2023

  1 star
  I wish I had seen these reviews before registering my child for their reading programs. They have horrendous customer service, the program is solely to make money. I wish I never crossed paths with them. I had EXACTLY the same experience as the individual below. I have lost $300+ dollars with nothing to show for it. DO NOT ENROLL in this company. ***************** should revoke their contract with them -- I signed ** because of my faith in the quality of ** and have been sorely mistaken.

• Review fromJudy A

  Date: 06/06/2023

  1 star
  This business that runs this program should be criminally charged for scamming people out of their money. I am an elderly woman raising my 7 year old grandson and thought this reading program would help him, as he is struggling with reading in school. I paid $300.00 to get him enrolled in the program and the website I was given to log into and access the learning material was down. I was not able to log into it and my grandson has not got anything beneficial learning wise out of this program. I only would receive late emails regarding Zoom sessions that were supposedly being hosted, but how was my grandson supposed to adequately participate in those sessions without the appropriate learning materials I could never access. When I called the customer service number, the only thing that I was told by the lady on the phone was that she could not refund my money because "the system was down". Either this is a scam, or the this business is totally incompetent. I hope this review finds its way to the right people and ****** anyone from using this reading program in the future.

• Review fromRuby H

  Date: 10/22/2022

  1 star
  Negative review for Reading Developments (Multiple complaints on BBB in the past years of similar experiences)Be aware: Manipulating and disrespectful customer services. Poor quality classes. Kids dislike classes. ******** service supervisor (*************) was rude and humiliating. After **************** reported poor quality so I called for a refund. The customer service supervisor refused to refund nor to answer whether or not shes authorized. She kept saying Im not prepared to do it. Then she stopped responding to the phone for 15+ minutes. When she overheard I was calling credit card company she came back to phone telling me she could do partial refund. I told her I do not want partial refund; I want full refund. She hung up on me. A few hours later partial refund was credited to my account without my agreement regardless I told her I did not want partial but I want full refund. Not acceptable how manipulating their customer service was. Will work with my credit card company for full refund.