Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/22/2022

  Type:Product 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.

  I signed up for a Botox/fillers course. I was unable to complete due to testing positive for Covid. I was refunded the course amount. I asked for a refund on the deposit and was told that it was non refundable. I was told that it could be used for a future course. I had questions about some of the course material. I have made several attempts to contact someone with AAFE. I was told the my claims were fraudulent (trouble with accessing material) and now my deposit will not be able to be used for future courses and I am no longer welcome to attend future courses.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/30/2022

  ****** ******** registered for
  our Pittsburgh Level I Botox + Dermal Filler courses taking place on Friday,
  August 19th, 2022.
  
  Registration Date: August 3rd, 2022.
  
  OnDemand Coursework
  Accessed/Downloaded On: August 8th,
  2022 and August 13th, 2022
  
  ******** Cancellation
  Received: August 15th,
  2022 due to testing positive for COVID, the “inability” to access her OnDemand
  coursework and not wanting to stay overnight for a course.
  
  AAFE’s Cancellation Policy
  (disclosed on company website + email communication):
  
  If you have registered for an
  OnDemand course and have not started the OnDemand portion of the course and
  have not selected a live patient training location within 30 days, the course
  tuition is refundable less a $995 cancellation fee. If you have registered for
  a live patient course, the course tuition is refundable less a $995
  cancellation fee 30+ days prior to the course start date as long as the
  OnDemand hasn’t been started.
  
  There are no refunds once
  OnDemand coursework has been started and/or after 30 days of any OnDemand or an
  OnDemand/Live Patient course registration.
  
  Communication with ******
  regarding this situation:
  
  8/15/22 – ****** submitted a course
  cancellation policy exemption request with the following:
  
  “On 8/13/22 my son was diagnosed
  with Covid and my mother was admitted to the hospitals I contacted Theresa
  about this issue as well as having difficulty accessing videos and content on
  the portal. Videos will no play and power point will not load.
  
  Today, I was diagnosed with COVID. I will not be out of quarantine until
  Saturday.
  
  I reached out to Theresa via email and Abigail for direction about this issue.
  I would like a refund due to availability of follow up courses. Traveling to
  Cleveland, Philadelphia, or West Chester PA would require an over night stay as
  well as finding an overnight babysitter for my son. Pittsburgh is 1 hour from
  my hour, which is feasible.
  
  I am requesting a full refund as I could not access the on demand content as well, being
  unable to attend in person training due to Covid, and no other courses
  scheduled in a closer proximity.
  
  Thank you,
  *******
  
  8/15/22 – The following response was sent to her
  request:
  
  “Good
  afternoon, ******,
  
  Thank you for submitting a course cancellation form!
  
  Upon review, we are happy to provide a course tuition
  refund, which will be issued today. Please keep in mind we do have a $995
  cancellation fee in place. The cancellation fee can be used towards future
  course tuition should you decide to re-enroll. While your refund will be issued
  today, this can sometimes take 3-5 business days to reflect on your end.
  
  I wish you and your family a swift recovery from
  COVID!”
  
  8/15/22 – ****** responded with the following:
  
  “Thank you very much. 
  I do have a question, if I
  am not able to re-enroll due to location, would I be eligible for a refund on
  at least a partial amount? I wasn’t able to really access the training
  information on the website.”
  
  8/15/22 – AAFE responded with the following:
  
  “Hi ******,
  
  You’re welcome!
  Unfortunately, we are unable to offer refunds on the cancellation fee.”
  
  8/15/22 – ****** responded with the
  following:
  
  “Even if I cannot access the
  content?”
  
  8/16/22 – AAFE responded with the
  following:
  
  “Good morning, ******,
  
  I assume you are referring
  to the online coursework, which I do see was accessed from your end on
  Saturday, August 13th. Should
  you decide to re-register for a course, we do have a dedicated team to assist
  with any questions you may have in this regard, so I do not anticipate an issue
  on that end.”
  
  8/16/22 – ****** responded with the
  following:
  
  “Yes, I was able to access. However, I could not get the content to load and I assume a video. Nothing
  would play. I have a brand new lap top. No other issues with other videos or
  downloading.”
  
  8/17/22 – ****** messaged the AAFE
  President on LinkedIn with the following message:
  
  “Dr. **********,
  
  I registered for a course on
  8/19 in Pittsburgh, PA. I am unable to attend due to testing positive for
  Covid. I have emailed Theresa and Melissa about not being able to access the
  training info. I can log in but cannot view the video or other training materials.
  I was offered to be scheduled for another course; however, none of the course
  we in close proximity and would require an overnight stay. I am not able to do
  this due to childcare issues.
  
  I was granted a refund for
  the in person course. I am asking for my deposit to be refunded. I cannot view
  leaning materials and there were no future courses in my area. I have emailed
  Melissa 2 days ago without a response. If I am not able to access the training
  materials, how could I even think about rescheduling for another course?
  
  Melissa has not responded to
  my emails. I would like to have this issues resolved and have my $995 deposit
  refunded.
  
  I am happy to speak to my
  bank about this issue as well as inform other NPs looking for Botox training to
  avoid AAFE at all costs. Everyone was so helpful and I was registering for the
  course and now that I am having an issue, no help whatsoever.
  
  Thank you for your time,
  ******”
  
  8/19/22 – ****** submitted another
  course cancellation policy exemption request with the following:
  
  “I am requesting a refund
  for the deposit that I have paid. I am not able to use that towards an
  additional course.”
  
  8/22/22 – The following response
  was sent to her:
  
  “Good
  afternoon, ******,
  
  I just wanted to touch base,
  as I saw another course cancellation form was submitted on your end. As
  mentioned, we are unable to refund the cancellation fee.
  
  Thanks!”
  
  8/22/22 – ****** responded with the
  following:
  
  “Can you please give me a
  breakdown of the cancellation fee and why it is $995 and why it is no
  refundable? I am not able to access the portal so I’m curious as to what
  exactly I’m paying for that is no refundable?
  If I chose to do another
  course, would I have to pay this fee again? If not, does the deposit expire?”
  
  8/22/22 – AAFE responded with the
  following:
  
  “Hi ******,
  
  Per your request, I have
  broken down the policies for you below. (To view our company’s policies in
  totality, please click here.)
  
  Our policy states the
  following:
  
  Ø  If you
  have registered for an OnDemand course and have not started the OnDemand
  portion of the course1 and have not selected a live patient
  training location within 30 days2, the course tuition is
  refundable less a $995 cancellation fee. If you have registered for a live
  patient course, the course tuition is refundable less a $995 cancellation fee
  30+ days prior to the course start date as long as the OnDemand hasn’t been
  started.
  Ø  There
  are no refunds once OnDemand coursework has been started and/or after 30 days
  of any OnDemand or an OnDemand Live Patient course registration.3
  Ø  At the
  AAFE’s discretion, you may be able to change to another date and location but
  there will be no refund available should you transfer into another course,
  cancel out of that course4, or fail to show up for any reason. Any
  changes, such as the aforementioned, would require notifying the AAFE prior to
  72 hours before your scheduled course.
  
  Highlighted explanations
  below:
  
  1)      From
  the backend of our system, I can see you were able to access your OnDemand
  coursework on both August 8, 2022 and August 13, 2022. The first time you
  logged in, you downloaded the Level I Botulinum Toxin course booklet, which
  would have nullified any refund; however, we made an exception to this for you.
  2)      You
  registered for our Pittsburgh, PA Level I Botox + Dermal Filler courses (scheduled
  for August 19th) on August 4th.
  3)      Please
  refer to point 1.
  4)      You
  requested to be taken out of your originally scheduled course on August 15,
  2022.
  
  Should you choose to
  register for another course, the cancellation fee would be applied as a $995
  credit towards the tuition amount due.
  
  Thanks!”
  
  8/22/22 – ****** responded with the
  following:
  
  “I cannot view the course
  booklet, do you have someone there that can assist?”
  
  8/22/22 – AAFE responded with the
  following:
  
  “Hi ******,
  
  Since your tuition refund
  has been issued, the correlating OnDemand coursework is no longer accessible,
  as you are not currently paid or registered for a course.”
  
  8/22/22 – ****** responded with the
  following:
  
  “I could not view the booklet
  prior to the cancellation.
  Also, does the deposit
  expire?”
  
  8/22/22 – AAFE responded with the
  following:
  
  “******,
  
  This will be my final
  response. As mentioned, I see you logged into your OnDemand coursework on both
  August 8, 2022 and August 13, 2022. On August 8th, the course booklet was downloaded. On August 13th, the first module to the course was 87%
  completed. This shows us that not only were you able to access the online
  material, but you also progressed past the course booklet.
  
  With our company policies in
  mind, the fact that any tuition refund was offered to you should show that we
  are doing our best to work with you. The $995 cancellation fee is just that – a
  cancellation fee that does not have the option to be refunded; however, you
  were also given the option to use this as a credit towards future course
  tuition should you decide to re-register. To be honest with you, at this point,
  comparing what you are claiming to what the system shows, this could be
  considered a fraudulent claim on your end.”
  
  8/22/22 – ****** responded with the
  following:
  
  “Can you please answer my
  question if the deposit expires?”
  
  8/22/22 – ****** proceeded to
  repeatedly call our office lines and online chat in search of a supervisor
  above who she’d been communicating with.
  
  8/22/22 – AAFE responded with the
  following:
  
  “Hi ******,
  
  I have received
  communication from the AAFE Team that you were advised of this answer and that
  you are requesting to speak with my supervisor. The latter request is not able
  to be fulfilled, as there is not a supervisor above me.
  
  That being said, we had initially
  offered for the cancellation fee to be used towards future course tuition. That
  offer is no longer on the table. Due to the fraudulence concerns and how this
  situation has been progressing, it has been advised that the tuition refund be
  reversed.  While I will not be moving forward with a reversal at this
  time, we will not be able to welcome you to any AAFE courses in the future.”
  
  8/22/22 – ****** responded with the
  following:
  
  “You emailed and said you were
  not going to respond. I had questions and reached out. Now you are going back
  on your word about the deposit being used for future courses. I merely asked to
  speak with someone about this. 
  I have questions about
  upcoming courses for Pittsburgh and wanted to seeing someone could help resolve
  the issue with not being able to view course material. 
  Fraudulent concerns? I have
  questions about not being able to view material, how is that fraudulent?
  I have it in writing that I
  could use that deposit for upcoming courses.”
  
  8/22/22 – AAFE responded with the
  following and ceased all communication following:
  
  “Yes, and you also have in
  writing that the offer has been retracted and you are no longer welcome at our
  courses. Please be aware that because of this, our team has not and will not be
  responding to the requests you have sent for future course date information.”
  
  8/23/22 – ****** filed a complaint
  with the BBB stating the following:
  
  “I
  signed up for a Botox/fillers course. I was unable to complete due to testing
  positive for Covid. I was refunded the course amount. I asked for a refund on
  the deposit and was told that it was non refundable. I was told that it could
  be used for a future course. I had questions about some of the course material.
  I have made several attempts to contact someone with AAFE. I was told the my
  claims were fraudulent (trouble with accessing material) and now my deposit
  will not be able to be used for future courses and I am no longer welcome to
  attend future courses.”