Another Shaw Academy Scam

[kevo-]

Hi guys,

So last month I signed up for a 1 month "free trial" of a Digital Marketing course with Shaw Academy. I trialled it for 2 weeks before deciding to cancel my account and withdraw from the trial. Here are the main reasons or red flags that lead me to that decision:
 

• Due to unforeseen complications caused by covid-19, and the reprioritisation of my budget for medicine and essentials for my family, I decided that this wasn't the best time to study.
• Within 2 weeks of starting the trial, they began pestering me to pay a hidden fee ($35AUD) for an eCertificate which would allow me to proceed to the full course. This wasn't included in the original advertised "full price" ($69.99AUD) ad.
• They had a "one-click purchase" button for the eCertificate in their website that was likely designed to be accidentally clicked on (I didn't click on it).
   

Also, they made it very, very difficult to cancel my account. It was page after page of "are you sure?" confirmations, and back and forth email exchanges with the customer service, plus an overseas call with the tutor of the Digital Marketing course. I eventually got my account cancellation confirmed (after a long delay) and I even had to follow it up because they forgot to send the cancellation email.

Despite all this, a few days after the 2 confirmed account cancellations, they decided to charge me the full price of the course which was $69.99AUD. I asked them for an explanation and an immediate refund due to the fact that I needed the money for medicine later that day. They responded in a very roundabout way which didn't even address nor acknowledge my issue. I then sent another desperate plea for a refund and they decided to ignore me completely (they usually responded with an automatic email within seconds of my enquiry). So it was at this moment that I realised, I got scammed. I checked some online forums and quickly found other people experiencing the same issue.

I feel like a complete idiot for trusting them and wasting my time and energy. It's been really stressful recently so I just want my stolen money back because my funds are tight enough already.

I've just finished lodging a dispute in the Resolution Centre but not sure how long this will take, and whether or not it'll even work.

If anyone has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Kind regards,

Kevo

[kernowlass]

@kevo- 

You won't win a dispute for ''unauthorised'' if you did not cancel it here...........

Click on the profile tab (icon next to log out) > Click on payments third option along on the thick blue band top of page > "manage pre-approved payments''.

[kevo-]

Hi kernowlass,

Thanks for the quick reply.

Are you referring to "Manage Automatic Payments"? Because I can't seem to find anything about "pre-approved payments" anywhere.

[temp20200602]

Kevo, i got scammed by Shaw Academy a few days ago.  PayPal are not helping me at all.  Did you find a satisfactory solution?

[kevo-]

Hi @temp20200602,

I'm so sorry to hear that, mate.

Yes! I did manage to get a satisfactory result, but it took me over a month to get everything sorted. So be patient and don't give up, you have a chance!

I'm not sure what your exact situation is, but for me, I started off by lodging a dispute with PayPal. I then cancelled the automatic payments to Shaw Academy, which was important. Then finally, I escalated the dispute when it seemed like nothing was happening. It took around 3 to 4 weeks after I escalated it (they actually tell you their own deadline) for PayPal to finish reviewing the situation, and after that, they granted me a full refund.

Just make sure you follow the steps when escalating, and that you've explained your situation well enough to prove that you've been scammed, because there is little to no direct contact with actual PayPal customer service during this process.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. I think it's important that we all stand up to Shaw Academy so PayPal can save themselves some trouble and just kick them off the platform or something, it's also good to warn others. Anyway, I wish you well, mate.

Kind regards,

kevo.

[temp20200602]

Appreciate it, Kevo.

I managed to block the payment before Shaw Academy took it, 
But now it's just sitting there and PayPal won't cancel it.
I'll just watch and see what happens.

Tried letting PayPal know about Shaw Academy via DM on PayPal and via Twitter, but the support is so poor.
They said it's an automated process that when a magic number of PayPal users complain, then the company is auto-limited.
And Shaw Academy just need to reconfirm they're a business and away they go again.

Interestly Facebook UK were taken to court about users not being able to report scams, and Facebook lost.
They're supoosed to have a Scam/Fraud team just for UK customers.
Hopefully PayPal are taken to court too and lose so they setup a scam/fraud team to stop scam companies like Shaw Academy defrauding us.

Go well,

Dan

[elsaarndl]

how did you do it? because PP told me right away that they determined that there was no unauthorized use. I said the 40$ was unauthorized but because i agreed to that free trial they must think it was authorized. how were you able to get them to understand that the money they took was unauthorized?

i know i didnt agree to anything. when i clicked on anything it never said i was gonna be charged.  I didnt even get an email about being charged. Only through PP.    The only thing i did was sign into the Shaw website and the class didnt even work or maybe i didnt even try. but i told them i wanted to cancel within a day of that first class. and they told me that they wanted to give me more free stuff and that they couldnt give back the refund. they didnt seem helpful at all.

how do you cancel the payments? Does PayPal do it? because Paypal said they took me off the automatic payments to Shaw. Is that enough?? or do you have to cancel through Shaw?

[bry0405]

Hi! Im having this exact issue. Paid for a one off class of €9.99. They have since charged me €50 for premium services! Did you resolve this? They are refusing to refund me the money and PayPal have said they don't see unauthorized use.

[elsaarndl]

Hi, I left a review at Trust Pilot. I left a review for the official Shaw Academy. You can tell which one it is because they have so many bad reviews but they also have many good reviews too. Shaw sent me a message through that site to contact them. That’s how I got a refund. You should also take Shaw Academy off your automatic payments on Paypal so you wont be charged again.

[bry0405]

Great thanks so much for the reply. I have left a review so will see what happens.