Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/09/2024

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  False advertising for UX program offered which rest of loan totaling $14,900. dollars be cancelled/forgiven. According to their educational support and coaching instructions, students have to spend at least 12 hrs a week applying to numerous UX jobs, therefore making it difficult to work and which in reality my dtr wasted a whole year doing this submitting at least 200 applications to entry level jobs, internships and zero return calls as well as rest of her cohortthis is not what is reflected on their student outcome statistics. Not only did she waste her time, we ended up with this 500./month bill I have filed a complaint with the *****. My dtr is a smart college grad and I am of retiring age and cannot afford to pay for false promises made. ***, she needs little job coachingshe found a job outside of tech in less than a month. Per their response to AG complaint, they offered to only continue working w/my dtr for job placement.not sure they meant for her to go homeless and spend years on end waiting for a phone calltotally ludicrous. They do not prepare their students as they claim. I can only speak about their UX program. Additionally, they receive federal educational funds (GI Bill) which makes all this extremely disturbing perhaps criminal.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/19/2024

  We are sorry to hear the experience for your daughter, after graduating from General Assembly (GA), was not what either of you expected. ** has provided skills training for tens of thousands of student learners. We acknowledge that the job market in tech can sometimes be challenging and frustrating. While employment assistance is available to all graduates, we do not and have never guaranteed job placement for graduates of our courses. The enrollment agreement signed by prospective students prior to matriculation into classes as well as the catalog state that neither job nor salary are guaranteed by GA. In addition, the employment assistance available to graduates is described in the catalog as an active process that requires a time commitment. Our coaches work closely with graduates that are engaged in the job search process to communicate their skills, make valuable connections, and identify ideal career opportunities. 

  The *********** Experience course offers students the opportunities to apply fundamentals of digital design using design tools, produce design documentation, conduct usability testing and implement effective methods of user research to internal and external projects to help students prepare for positions in the field. These projects must be completed satisfactorily in order to complete the course. GA does follow the refund policies required by state regulatory agencies. These policies vary by state and are published in the enrollment agreement and General Assembly catalog. As a Florida student enrolled through our Utah-approved remote course, your daughter was subject to a refund based on the proration of tuition and percentage of program completed at withdrawal, up until 40% of the program. The enrollment agreement further articulated that if a student withdraws after completing 40% of the program, no refund of tuition will be made. Your daughter completed 100% of her course, as scheduled, in June 2023 and is not eligible for a refund. In addition, we understand that your daughter used a loan to finance her education.  As indicated in our catalog, GA does not provide institutional financing but that we do provide information on a range of financing options through independent, private funding sources and that if a student receives a loan to pay for their educational program, the student will have the responsibility to repay the full amount of the loan plus interest, less the amount of any refund.  For any questions on the loan conditions and obligations, please reach out to the lender directly. 

  We take any feedback seriously and continue to review your concerns to identify any opportunities for improvement. We are committed to fostering a global community of individuals empowered to pursue the work they love. While it sounds like your daughter has found gainful employment in another field, our offer remains to provide additional career resources should she still be interested in pursuing a career in ******   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/08/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I am filing a formal complaint against General Assembly (GA) regarding my experience with their Software Engineering bootcamp, which I attended from October 2022 to January 2023. My educational journey was marred by disruptions and challenges, primarily due to the haphazard instructor selection process. One of the main instructors was a first-time hire, brought in hastily after the original instructor resigned shortly before the class began. This abrupt change left us feeling like experimental subjects, with the replacement instructor lacking experience and preparation. Additionally, there was evident discord between the replacement instructor and assistant instructors, impacting the quality of instruction.During the setup process, I encountered a critical incident where a temporary instructor inadvertently disabled essential features in my git account while attempting to assist me. This incident caused frustration and hindered my progress in the program.What compounds my dissatisfaction is the significant financial investment I made at GA's recommendation, exhausting my modest life savings to cover living expenses during the bootcamp. The demanding schedule left no room for outside employment, leading to a precarious financial situation with additional debt totaling $16,000.Furthermore, I am not alone in my dissatisfaction. Around twenty other students from my cohort share similar grievances, with some attempting a class action lawsuit against GA, though legal counsel deemed it unviable.It is evident that GA's program structure does not cater adequately to individuals with modest incomes. Despite my dedication, the program's flaws have placed undue financial strain without delivering the expected educational value or support.[NOTE: The "supporting documents" I am including below are screenshots of text messages from one of the assistant instructors which include his candid account of what happened behind the scenes.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/05/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  At this time, I have not been contacted by General Assembly regarding complaint ID ********.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/10/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I got a loan through General Assembly *************** Stride for 15k of their tuition. This is an Income Share Agreement to be paid back only when I get a job over 40k a year. I enrolled for an immersive course and fully expected it to be lots of hard work. But what I didn't expect was that the teachers would be so disorganized and expect different deliverables than the other teachers even in the same cohort. Students only get one failing grade and after the second you are removed from the course and required to pay all of the course up until their end date. I was failed on the very first project by a teacher who failed most of the students in her section even though I delivered all of the works they required. The teachers were unavailable most of the time, it was very hard to get 1 on 1 time with them. They say we should ask our classmates and research to find answers to our questions because "thats how it will be in the job space". But we are paying them a lot of money to answer our questions, its not the responsibility of our classmates to teach us. We have a very short timeline for project delivery and if we are stuck and have to wait a day for an answer on something we will lose on a project and get failed. Also this is the very first two weeks of ever doing this so it would seem like there would be more help available. One teacher was out for a week on "personal emergency" when we had our first project due. Many others in the class are very unhappy and expressed this in the exit tickets, their system of reviewing the teachers every friday. They apologized about some of the failing grades that were given by the teacher who was grading much harder than the others and changed them back. Students were still very unhappy about the amount and quality of service they were getting. I spoke to the student success counselor and the manager to ask for a refund and they did an internal investigation but of course they say they found no wrongdoing on the companies part.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/12/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On February of 2022, I enrolled to the Immersive Software Engineer bootcamp at General Assembly. Their tuition was $15950. Because I am a woman, I was granted a $1500 discount for the tuition, so I ended up financing a loan to cover the tuition through Ascent Lending. Once the course began, I found myself having to apply for an additional loan for assisted living since the course was intense. The loan providers told me to reapply for the entire tuition loan plus the assisted living loan in order to be accepted. By then, General Assembly had already received the tuition payment from my initial loan. Ascent Lending reached out to me and told me to have General Assembly refund the tuition amount back to Ascent, and Ascent would send out the tuition cost to General Assembly and I would receive the assisted living loan to my bank account. I spoke with General Assembly admissions representative and they told me over the phone that they would send the refund back to Ascent. I even sent an email as confirmation to let them know Ascent was waiting for the refund. Fast forward to October 11, 2022, General Assembly has yet to refund the tuition amount to Ascent, and now I am stuck being charged for multiple tuitions even though I only owed 1 tuition since I took one course. Every time I call and ask to be transferred to the finance department, they continue telling me I will get a call back but never do. General Assembly has refused to pay back the tuition cost to Ascent and an employee named Lo emailed me to set up payment plans to pay back the loan, which in turn will affect me because I will be getting charged interest for a loan that was supposed to be refunded in FULL by General Assembly. This entire experience with General Assembly has been a nightmare, but I continue to try and make the best of it. However, me being charged for an additional tuition while General Assembly pockets $15950 is not ok, which is why I am submitting this complaint.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/05/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  At this time, my complaint, ID ******** regarding General Assembly has been resolved.
  

  (By clicking "OK", your complaint will be closed as Resolved.)

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************