“THE WORST. Their whole process was terrible from start to finish. I was excited about the free trial but apparently the way it is set up so you can only schedule a maximum of 2 classes per week. Which you can then keep rescheduling to enable it to watch it within the same week but you have to keep rescheduling it this way. They do this so you can run out your free trial and have to pay for the membership because you cannot realistically get through any courses within 4 weeks with only two lessons per week (they're only 30 minutes or so). Also they say you NEED to purchase the course materials. I thought that was fair since it was a free trial but then I come to find that the "course" materials, only included materials for module 1 rather than the WHOLE course. They were also completely useless materials and you have to purchase diplomas, shouldn't this be included in taking the course? lol
Then when you go to cancel it leads you to a page that gives you like 3 different offers which you can continue clicking "confirm my cancellation" or "continue my cancellation" and the final page just says to call a specific number to cancel. What?!? A completely online company that offers "accessible learning" doesn't even let you cancel online?! Their hours are ridiculous and you cannot even leave a voicemail. You then send an email inquiry for cancellation and refund and they won't respond to these. Well actually, they responded to ONE cancellation email saying I had to call in during normal business hours to cancel. They replied to my email outside of normal business hours! Ha. I still have not been able to cancel and it has been a few days. After reading these reviews, I am not hopeful I will get it successfully cancelled. I might just have to either block the charge with my credit card company and cancel my credit card or keep bothering them with emails, chats, and calls until they FINALLY provide an acceptable level of customer service.”
“I would have given them a review of less than 1 star if it was possible. They are just scammers. I opted for subscription but cancelled it immediately, despite that they kept charging my account for about 6 months until i found out in Jan 2021. Despite asking them for refund several times they say that i did not cancel it properly.
Bunch of fraudsters, simple as that.”
“As everyone else below is saying, this “company” is an absolute scam. After signing up for the “free” trial they took money out of my account without my consent for a course toolkit I did not purchase. When I contacted customer service for a refund, they refused to refund me. I have started a PayPal dispute and filed a complaint with the BBB and I’m waiting to hear back. Don’t sign up for the free trial, IT IS NOT FREE and definitely not worth it.”
“SCAMMERS!!!
They stole 50€ from my card for just clicking one link with toolkits (!Attention!) near which was nothing said about my money being taken from me!! They did not ask for my permission for taking those money!!!
THIEVES!!!!
They send absolutely identical e-mails all the time, saying that they want to call you to solve the issue.
DO NOT PICK UP!
I am attaching the screens of their pointless emails below.”
“Does anyone know how I can contact Shaw Academy???? i originally signed up to the 4 week free trial in the summer and cancelled it almost immediately (within a day or two) yet I've still been having £49.99 debited from my account each month! Onto my bank at the moment but want that money refunded by these scammers!”
“Please everyone read this comment before you enrol to any online course on this website Shaw Academy. From the start I will let you know it is a big waste of time and effort and money. It is a huge scam. I had no idea this is actually possible. They advertise themselves so much that you actually start to believe they are an academic platform. Avoid at all cost!!?”
“I joined for a class, thought the information was subpar and the class moved so slowly. You could only sign up for two classes a week and they were no more than 20 minutes each. The longer the class is, the longer they can charge you for. I called to cancel on 1/6/21 and was given confirmation that the subscription was canceled. On 2/7/21, 69.99 was removed from my PayPal account by Shaw Academy. I immediately contacted the support desk to request a refund. They got back to me several days later saying it was impossible to issue a refund but I could have 6 months of free access. I insisted I wanted my money back, they increased the access to 12 months. I am still insisting on a refund because I want nothing to do with this scam of a business. I have put in a dispute through PayPal and am waiting on a result from that.
It's unbelievable and so shady the way this business operates. I was already disappointed in the quality of instruction, but now I am livid regarding their business practices.
Absolutely avoid Shaw Academy at all costs.”
“SCAM DO NOT sign up! They will take money out of account over and over even after you cancel! They will NOT get back to you and they will not let you talk to a supervisor! They are shady AF!”
“What an absolute joke of a company…
What an absolute joke of a company avoid at all cost!!!! First of all the free trial isn't free at all you still get charged for it, so I signed up for the web development course shortly before been made redundant due to covid 19 so due to having no job I needed to focus on finding a new one so I was contacted by a so called learning advisor and explained my issues and concerns he agreed my account should be put on hold so I thought fair enough I also asked would I still be charged after my trial period ends (at this point I was going to resume after I got myself a new job) anyway cut to 30/01/2021 49.99 come out of my account and was shaw academy I thought it would have been a mistake so I got in contact first I phoned but no response from them then I emailed again no response so I opened a complaint I got a response straight away I asked for a refund and also my details to be deleted and account closed (some reason you can only cancel via phone call) long and short is that they refused to refund me as it was not in there policy and offered me 6months "free" membership so I obviously argued my case as I wasn't made aware of any such policy and the "free" membership was not free at all because shortly after they tryed to change my account £120 so I contacted them again and I'm still waiting for a reply and again they tryed to change my account a further 100 even tho I asked for my account to be deleted it isn't its got to the point where iv had to cancel my debit card and put a claim in to the bank If you do a search ull quickly see that this is a regular thing with Shaw academy stay well clear and don't let them fob you off with fake free membership and they also write fake positive reviews so they don't look as bad doesn't deserve one star. Shaw academy I'm still waiting for my money back!!!!!!”
“I signed up for the 4 weeks of free classes which were just a recording, couldn't pause or rewind, no real person to ask any questions. I gave poor feedback and was looking to cancel before the 4 weeks. I received a call which I backed up with the fact I will cancel.
Another call came 30 minutes later saying I was one of 300 people selected to get 12 months free! I asked if any money would be deducted from my card in those 12 months, I was told NO. At no point was I asked to take up any plan otherwise I would not have gone ahead, thought I'd give it another go if it was FREE. Big Mistake - A payment came out the same day for £199.95!!
When I complained, I was told that they had listened to the recorded call and I agreed to the plan (MORE LIES) and this was non-refundable even though I said I wanted to cut all ties with the company and not do any courses. The best they could do was 50% refund or a lifetime membership with them. Thankfully, my bank said it was a recent payment so they could refund and block any future attempts from Shaw Academy!
DO NOT ACCEPT ANY FREE OFFERS OR GIVE YOUR CARD DETAILS, THEY WILL TAKE MONEY!”
“Charge for services you didnt avail. Make it impossible to cancel and spam your accounts. Scammers. There is even a guardian article about them
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jun/13/big-online-learning-provider-faces-calls-for-refunds-after-complaints”
“THIEVES! They stole $454 from me! They offered 4 weeks free trial and said they would notify me before it expired on 12 February 2021. I got withdrawn of $454 way before my 4 weeks free trial expired. If I could give no star, I would. They have no integrity. They are scammers. I am so upset because I had saved up long for that money. They have refused to refund my money or respond to me. PayPal is complacent too as they are enabling Shaw to use their landform for fraud. Even after I cancelled my membership, they have forcefully renewed my subscription without my consent. How do they get away with doing yhis???”
“This company uses unclear, shady sales tactics to trick you into buying. Communication is good at first; that's how they get you on board and earn your trust. But as soon as you have a problem, they don't respond. I ended up filing a complaint with the NH BBB, but Shaw Academy still refused to give me a refund. Do not give this company your billing info... they'll take advantage of you with one-click payments, then make you go through hell and back to cancel your membership.”
“I have subscribed to a free of charge 28 trial with Shaw Academy and have joined a Digital Marketing course. I have then proceeded to sign up for a Vlogging, Blogging course, where I have received a message from PayPal advising me of potential fraudulent activity on my account.
Upon logging onto my PayPal, I have noticed that £44.99 have been taken from my account without my consent for a course materials I did not purchases nor I was aware that there were being purchased on my behalf. I have immediately contacted PayPal and tried to contact Shaw Academy to resolve.
As I had to provide Shaw Academy with my PayPal/bank details upon signing due to the free trial (this is a standard procedure for any free trials), therefore I did not suspect anything fraudulent at this stage.
I have not consented, nor authorised or agreed to any additional payments, nor I had any intend to do so, or use those materials.
After reading further reviews online, I was deeply shocked to see amount of people being scammed by this company and have been subject to the same experience as I did.
I have contacted the company and raised the complaint/query however I am yet to hear from them. Reading the reviews and the tactics this company involves themselves, I have a little faith that they will respond or resolve the dispute accordingly, since they do engage in such fraudulent behaviour.
I have also opened the dispute with PayPal, and I am prepared to take it much further should my claims be unsuccessful.
Also to proceed with the cancelation of the membership, you will have to contact them via phone call (this is the only option).
When you do cancel your free subscription, make sure to remove pre-authorised payments for Shaw Academy on your PaylPal or bank, as there is hundreds of people who have been charged regardless of the cancellation and were unable to claim refunds.
Please stay away from this company! I am surprised they haven't been blocked by PayPal just yet or have their services suspended due to amount of people they have scammed.”
“For Shaw Academy there is should be an option to post zero star or negative review. They do not respond to their message board. They charged my credit card when I had advised them that I was not interested in their course since I found the initial two sessions (out of four free sessions) of little value. And of course they do NOT refund or cancel the charges. They try to entice you with their so called "free offers". DO NOT RECOMMEND this vendor at all. My first negative review, but Shaw Academy deserves it.”
“Very bad customer services and fraud -
I had registered for a free trial account for 4 weeks after which I decided to cancel my subscription. I was asked to call customer service to cancel it and I did as asked. Although I called in for cancellation, the subscription did not end and money was deducted from my account every month for the next 4 months. I called customer service again to suspend my account and refund my money. I have not received a satisfying response from them yet. Also, a charge of $0.50 is applied to my account even after cancellation. I'm very disappointed.”
“I canceled my subscription. They kept charging me two times. I sent them an email, they never replied at all. I was going to have to dispute the bank. After, they're getting contacted by the bank. They answered me with no refund whatsoever.
Let's report to the United Kingdom Police and Consumer Rights and Dispute Resolution.
Shaw Academy must shut down immediately!”
