Shaw Academy - Reviews and experiences

Unfortunately with their aggressive marketing strategy they lure many students to take their 4 week free trial.

During the free trial they use many sly ways to get money off vulnerable students and use all sort of legalities of why they cannot refund the money.

Because advert sound legit and it seems straightforward to cancel before 4 weeks, many students enroll without reading reviews. But during the 4 weeks they are conned enough via various strategies so they end up paying unwillingly for 1 thing or another.

I was getting calls at least3 x a day everyday from them. Each time you turn a page on their website while logged in, a big pop up of selling products come up with a small almost invisible button.

I spoken to one as she said she was calling to see how I am getting on with my studies. The accent was difficult to understand and amidst that she was slyly selling products. Like’ let’s upgrade your package and you will benefit etc... No wonder many non native English speakers fall for this as they may not understand and shockingly find unexpected monies taken out of their account.

In the Uk we have regulated bodies so I hope something can be done. Unfortunately, this is not the case in other countries where people are more vulnerable. I hope this company shuts down soon.

Hi set up a 4 week free online course, from a link sent from a friend. You had to put your PayPal details in and I clicked on an instant purchase internet tool kit that helps with the course, but I didn’t want it anyway as I decided that I had most of the qualifications the course offered. I sent an email ASAP asking for a refund as I purchased in error anyway. They said no. I sent another email they said no even though id cancelled my subscription. I had to open a dispute with PayPal to make sure it wasn’t taken out of my account. 0 stars

Courses are typically free for four weeks, then £49.99 a month. But to sign up, I have to enter my payment details and the company makes it very difficult to cancel the free trial – plus although I cancelled before the deadline, money was still taken out of my account.

this academy is a scam. I signed up and first the deducted the 45.99 from my account. then next they said that was to pay for the module tool kit. When i looked at their website they said that the first tool kit is free. I asked them to repay me and they said instead of refunding me they will open 3 of the other module toolkits for free for this course and give me a free e-certificate and a free certificate at the end. So I paid to continue the course for a membership for three months and I am at the second segment of the course and they still haven't unlocked the module 2 for me and they are asking me to pay for the module 2 kit when I have in writing that they will open the remainder of the toolkits for me. here is proof that they will open the toolkits for me which they never did.
Hi Joy,

Thank you for contacting us.

I see that you have purchased the Toolkit shown in your members area, course page, pop-up banner and email by clicking on the “Buy Now” option.

Your Toolkit includes Webinar Slides for every lesson, Summary Notes for every lesson and Bonus videos. You can download these materials and save them on your device for future reference even after your access period expires.

You can access the toolkit resources under the "Resources" tab on your course page through your student login area using a web browser.

Once the Toolkit is activated in your account, it is made available to you immediately for download hence it cannot be disabled or the access cannot be revoked. Hence, we will not be able to process the refund as per our terms and conditions. Click Here to review the same in particular section 5.8.

However, we at Shaw Academy do want to ensure you benefit thoroughly from our services. I would like to offer you credit to the value of $199 which can be used for your Certificate of Completion and also 3 remaining module toolkit and 1 hard copy diploma which will be activated within a few hours. This is far in excess of what you paid and you can download and access these for life. The Certificate of Completion will be excellent to achieve your goals for employment or self-improvement.

I have enabled this for you in your account and it will be activated within a few hours, so you have 3 additional toolkit, one E-certificate and a hard copy for free now.

Make sure to keep attending your classes and stick with you plan and you will see the results. You will now also get your Certificate of Completion at the end of the module for free.

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Shaw Academy Team

Kind Regards,
Pearson

THEY ARE TOTALLY SCAMMERS !!
THEY WILL STEAL YOU MONEY EVEN WHEN YOU ARE ON FREE TRIAL
STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY !!

They’re a fraudulent company. I did the free course and disrupted before the end of the free course and been charge 3 times after that when they advised I did not stop it but I would get 6 month free course, which are bullshit!they also sent me a confirmation email saying it was all set correctly and I would not pay anymore and of course still tracking money out!don’t trust them guys!!hope I had looked at reviews before!!!

This is a fraud. I signed up for a 30 day free trial on Jun 13. I had until 2nd week of July to cancel at no cost. What do you know?? I cancel on Jun 25 but had already been billed on Jun 23. I have asked for a refund multiple times. 1st I was offer 6 month access free worth $399, I declined so they offer it again, I declined and now they are offering 12 month access worth $699 + a toolkit worth $199 again i decline and now they are ignoring my emails as there is no tel number to call re: refunds. They are willing to offer $800+ worth of access but refuse to refund $79.99

AVOID!
you have to sign up with payment details for the free trial which is almost impossible to cancel (via phone.) There are one-click purchases all over the site (up to £70.) Now they have your bank details and will charge you whenever you like!

Keep well away from these scammers. Easy to sign up, near impossible to cancel. Took £50 for nothing from me should have been a free trail.
Do waste your life at shawacademy. There are some decent alternative online schools.

It’s a scam. Do not get involved. It’s not free as advertised. It’s difficult to cancel and it takes a long time doing so. After cancellation they still phoned me at 6am. When I complained they sent annoying messages to deliberately get me even more aggregated. I had to block them completely.

This Academy is nothing but a scam. I signed up for a free trial and rang days later to cancel it prior to being liable for any payments and yet I was wrongfully charged £49.99 last week and it’s been impossible to contact them. (I would give 0 stars if I could).

I joined Shaw Academy for a 4-week free trial period and got charged 50€ during that period without any announcement, any explanation.

I WAS CHARGED 50€ UNAUTHORIZED DURING MY FREE TRIAL PERIOD FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

I didn't purchase anything, I didn't click on any button that suggested any kind of fee or payment, I didn't even watch a single video.

I just got the info that I was charged - no explanation, no any notion in advance. In communication with them through emails it is like talking to the wall, talking to automatic responses.

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE!!!

UNSUBSCRIBE ME FROM YOUR COURSES I AM NOT PAYING AND NOT PHONING TO CANCEL. IF YOU DO NOT CANCEL AND MY ACCOUNT IS DEBITED I WILL TAKE LEGAL ACTION. I WILL NOT BE SCAMMED. I HAVE FOLLOWED THE RIGHT CHANNELS AND MY ATTORNEY IS WAITING FOR YOU TO DEBIT MY ACCOUNT!

This is a scam. I signed up for the 4 week free trial I cancelled the subscription prior to the cancellation date and I was still charged. When I called to cancel the rep offered me 6 months free worth of courses to which I declined. She also mentioned that I had been billed 2 days earlier and I would be refunded. They came back now twice saying they cannot refund. Not sure what they call FREE TRIAL

I signed up for the free trial but the courses I signed up for didn’t work. In addition, I was charged for an add on o did not want and they told me that they simply could not refund me. I didnt give them permission to take the money from my account, I couldn’t afford the charge and I didn’t want/need the add on. All I wanted was a refund but instead they gave me more stuff I didn’t want and would have to pay more in subscription fees to be able to utilise it. Awful service and awful website. To take money from your account without consent is not acceptable

DO NOT GIVE THIS COMPANY YOUR PAYMENT DETAILS!

They scam people who are trying to better themselves, who maybe can't afford regular courses or e-learning. Their courses, apart from being very drawn out, are a complete scam.
They have:
1. Taken my money out earlier and earlier each month so I am unable to cancel
2. Refused to refund me
3. Taken an additional payment AFTER telling me in an email that they've cancelled.

Disgusting, abhorrent behaviour. Laughable "customer service" as I have just received the same copy & pasted email over again. I have had to go through PayPal to try and get my money back.

I just joined the academy not even one recording played it just keeps on loading I tried on many different browsers. There is no way to talk to any customer support directly. When I was trying to play the recordings I must have accidently clicked on certificate which didnt show any price and instead of confirming if i want the certificate £39.95 was deducted from my account.
This seems like a scam I havent watched any classes so how can you even provide me with any certificate. When I emailed you saying I don't want it and requested a refund I got a reply saying it cant be done this is ridiculous.

Any positive reviews you are seeing are fake! The learning material is pretty limited and here’s the best part - to sign up for the free trial they take your card details. They then charge you £49.99 after the four week trial period with no prior warning advising that free trial is running out. I have been trying to get a refund from them for best part of a week with back and forth communication on the basis that I haven’t used the site after the first week and they don’t pre warn of charging like most reputable companies would - they are refusing. Absolutely disgusting company who bank on people forgetting to cancel their subscription and take your money without your consent. Shameful at a time when many are struggling to feed themselves. Please do yourself a favour and don’t sign up to these scam artists. I will be reporting them

What I wish I'd read before falling for their scam. AVOID SHAW ACADEMY AT ALL COSTS.

This is a negative 5-star review but unfortunately, there is no option for that. Shaw Academy is a fraudulent, scamming, lying, cheating, disgusting company who will take your money without your consent and lie to you about it.

I signed up to a free 4-week trial as advertised on Instagram. I did some brief research into the company and after seeing a few friends had used them I thought ok this trial must be legit. NOT. After I signed up to the trial, I saw that in order to actually continue with the course you had to purchase all kinds of crap, which I obviously did not want to do, so opted to cancel it STRAIGHT AWAY. After going through tons of pages to try and cancel it I was eventually given a number to call to cancel.

I spoke to Lannice on the phone, who offered me all kinds of bs offers worth hundreds of £££ to try and get me to stay, but I managed to get her to confirm she was cancelling it eventually. I received a confirmation email of the cancellation immediately afterwards but ALSO noticed a charge had been taken from my account. I contacted them immediately about this, and they said: "it is clearly stated in the terms and conditions that if you do not cancel within the 4 weeks free trial period you will be charged, and we cannot refund this." AHEM, I cancelled on the SAME day as signing up. When I corrected them on this, they changed their story to "oh, you purchased a certificate which has already been activated on your account so we cannot refund it. But we have activated free extra months of the course for you and a free toolkit! ENJOY."

EXCUSE ME, I had already asked them to cancel my account, which they had confirmed. Not only did they abuse my request for this, but they went ahead to re-activate a bunch of stuff I had never heard of before, having never actually use the account. They stole from me and had the audacity to lie about it repeatedly. A number of emails later and all I had achieved were a circle of lies and non-answers, so I resorted to filing a formal complaint with BBB against them, but I won't hold my breath.

STAY AWAY & LETS STOP THEM FROM BEING ABLE TO SCAM PEOPLE EVER AGAIN.

It's horrifying that in such turbulent times companies are still acting this way.

Avoid at all costs.
I have signed up for many free trials and free information; I have never felt so harassed.
After signing up I was prompted to pick my days & times for study, which I did. However, on the first day I missed my slot completely, and the link was unusable. After a lot of fiddling I managed to reschedule the first module for the next day, but not until the following day, when I was unable to access either this one or the second one.
These actions were all accompanied by multiple emails, contradicting themselves by saying I had missed my course, click here to reschedule, even after I had done so.
They rang me on a bank holiday to remind me that my course started the following day - and this was after I had blocked the first telephone number they used!
Disgusted with the level of harassment when I hadn't even managed to access any of the course, I went to cancel my free trial. To do this you are directed to a phone number. No chance I was giving them any more opportunities to waste my time and money, so I found an email address and asked them to cancel. I had to write two further emails to this address before they would do it. First they replied with 'please don't go' and then with 'go to the website to cancel'.
They finally cancelled my free trial four days ago but I am *still* receiving course reminders, even though I have blocked the email addresses. (This is another point; there is no way to unsubscribe via Outlook, as Shaw Academy have not provided enough information to make this possible!)
Today I went on the website to remove my details and there is no option to do so. So I have emailed them to say that if they do not remove my details, I will be reporting them for a breach of GDPR.
I will be checking to make sure they don't take any money though.
Do NOT have anything to do with Shaw, it just isn't worth the hassle.
There is no option for 0 stars, so 1 it is.