EDitor’s UPDATE: A Positive Rating and Recognition has been given to WheresMyTutor.com for its commitment to excellence in customer service.
Ripoff Report’s lengthy discussions with Justin C. Ketcham at WheresMyTutor.com shows us a commitment by the company to total student satisfaction. This means that customers of WheresMyTutor (Tutors, Parents, and Students) can expect that the company will always work towards finding a mutually satisfactory resolution to any worries or concerns brought to its attention. WheresMyTutor.com listens carefully to any and all customer concerns and recognizes them as an opportunity to learn from past mistakes and become more efficient as a company in the services offered and the support for those services.
WheresMyTutor’s company director, Mr. Ketcham, has informed us that since the company’s inception in 2009, its philosophy has always been one of simplicity. "The simple reality is this: without keeping the tutors, parents, and students satisfied, WheresMyTutor.com is little more than one of many millions of websites on the Internet. That being said, WheresMyTutor aspires to placing all of its tutors with parents/students in a relatively short period of time – and best of all, WheresMyTutor never takes a “cut” of it’s tutors’ earnings – why should they? The TUTORS are the one’s doing all of the work! If a tutor charges $25/hour for his or her tutoring services, they keep ALL of the $25/hour. Fair enough?”
By always putting its customers first, WheresMyTutor looks to maintain its current top-level ranking as one of the premier online marketplaces for connecting parents and students with live (in-person) one-on-one academic tutors anywhere in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii.
consumer, assures them of complete satisfaction and confidence when doing business with a member business..
The information provided in this report below is based on comments made by Justin C. Ketcham during an on-site inspection held by a third party verification company with no biases toward WheresMyTutor.com.
WheresMyTutor.com is a company providing an online meeting place for tutors to connect with students ages K-12 and their parents, regarding all school subjects. The initial connection is made on the website, and then the tutoring takes place in person. WheresMyTutor.com acquires leads primarily by contacting high schools, junior highs, and elementary schools. At that point, the school then notifies its students and makes them aware of WheresMyTutor.com, and the company is put on the school’s list for parents and students to find tutors.
WheresMyTutor.com’s sales process allows potential tutors to sign up and use the website to connect with students and parents in need of tutoring services. In this instance, the customer is the tutor, and they are offered a yearly subscription service to access the website. In exchange for this yearly fee, the tutor (customer) is then listed in the tutoring directory and is sent an unlimited amount of parent and student leads by WheresMyTutor.com.
WHERESMYTUTOR.COM CUSTOMER COMPLAINT RESOLUTION
Occasionally, customers (tutors) do have complaints. “Out of 9,000 tutors, it is bound to happen,” states Justin C. Ketcham, a representative of WheresMyTutor.com. In the instance that a complaint does arise, the customer is typically offered three choices for resolution of the issues. First, “[We] offer a full review of [customer’s] profile page that parents/students see, for tips and review to maximize potential of attracting parents/students,” states Mr. Ketcham. “That usually works… If it is still not resolved, [the customer] is offered two choices: a refund and delete profile page, or an upgrade free of charge,” states Mr. Ketcham. The team at WheresMyTutor.com strives to personally respond to complaints by reaching out to the customers directly via e-mail, or, if the customer is on a third party website, then WheresMyTutor.com will contact the customer via that website’s private message forum, to ensure that the complaint is being resolved and the customer is satisfied. Typically, customers are pleased with being offered three choices, and the situation is considered resolved. Once a complaint is resolved, the issue remains closed, and if the customer was offered a refund, then the account is closed, as well.
Every so often, WheresMyTutor will receive emails from tutors claiming that they are not receiving enough “Tutoring Requests” from parents and/or students. Some tutors will claim that the company is thus a “scam” and that WheresMyTutor has just taken their $19.99 (or $29.99) yearly investment and given them nothing in return – while this is obviously not true, WheresMyTutor.com has taken recent measures to ensure its tutors (both current tutors and future, prospective tutors) DO receive more than enough “Tutoring Requests” from parents/students and most tutors earn back their small yearly investment (only $1.67/month) in a matter of days rather than weeks. After adding new team members, increasing its web-presence and search engine rankings, WheresMyTutor re-submitted itself to the Better Business Bureau and the Business Consumer Alliance for inspection on company fair business practices and efficacy as a leading online Tutoring Directory. WheresMyTutor was recently rigorously analyzed by the Business Consumer Alliance (BCA), and their current status is an A rating.
With nearly 9000 tutors throughout the United States (including Hawaii and Alaska), occasionally some tutors will claim that they were “never warned” by Where’s My Tutor about their upcoming yearly (not monthly) subscription renewal fee of $19.99 (or $29.99 depending on type of membership). This is not possible – WheresMyTutor uses a third-party credit card processor to protect it’s tutors (“customers”). They use the third-party credit card processor FastSpring.com, and by law all tutors are required to be sent an email reminder of this upcoming charge 10 days in advance. Tutors who “don’t receive” the subscription reminder email are simply tutors who no longer monitor the email address(es) that WheresMyTutor has on file for them. To rectify the issue, WheresMyTutor now requires tutors to periodically update their email address(es) in the system to ensure that these complaints will no longer surface.
Since receiving complaints via Ripoff Report, WheresMyTutor.com has hired more programmers to put them on the first page of a Google search, allowing their customers (tutors) to have better exposure and acquire more leads. Additionally, “The Better Business Bureau has reviewed our business practices and we currently hold an “A” rating,” states Mr. Ketcham.
WheresMyTutor.com recognizes the value of working with Ripoff Report and the Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation and Customer Satisfaction Program, and the platform it provides for businesses and customers to interact and resolve issues. “Online consumers respect Ripoff Report; we are proud to be involved with their program,” states Mr. Ketcham.
WHERESMYTUTOR.COM CUSTOMER REVIEWS
During the course of its extensive investigation into the business practices of the team at WheresMyTutor.com, Ripoff Report visited the company’s headquarters (jokingly referred to as the “main campus”) and witnessed first-hand some positive reviews from both tutors and students alike. Here are a few:
"As a part-time tutor, I have met many students and parents via the WheresMyTutor website. It’s very easy really – I never have to login or anything like that. I just get an email sent to my phone and the email has all of the prospective tutee’s information: subject to be tutored, questions, comments, and a return email address (obviously). Just like that I’ve received a potential tutoring job – it is well worth the sign up fee of $19.99 in my opinion!” ~ KYLE (Murfreesboro, TN)
"I’m a single parent with 2 kids in high school. I found WheresMyTutor through word-of-mouth from a neighbor friend of mine and I LOVE LOVE that I just have to email / text our tutors, and they respond so quickly too! My kids grades have improved, and it’s also a big bonus that I can pay them directly in cash. No huge monthly bills from a tutoring agency like some of my other friends have. Thanks WMT” ~ Merrill (Newark, NJ)
"Where's My Tutor is a must-use service if you're interested in tutoring students! A+++ !!! My name is Brittney and I came across WMT's ad for tutoring positions on my college's career services job site. I am currently a math/comp. sci. major in my sophomore year, and I was interested in earning some part-time money as a tutor. I'd been tutoring mathematics, through college algebra for quite some time, and with this experience and a 3.2 GPA I figured I'd give it a shot. Since signing up only a few weeks ago, I now tutor a few people 3x a week -- sometimes on campus, which is nice since I live on campus, and also off-campus in students' homes or at Starbucks. I thought there'd be some "down time" after signing up, but not at all. WMT has allowed me to go shopping more often and to not worry about running out of money. So, a special thanks to you guys from a "not-so-starving student." Thanks again! You guys are an "A+++" company!" -- Brittney S. - Columbus, OH.
WHERESMYTUTOR.COM / Statements from the Company.
"Wheres My Tutor” is one of the nation's fastest growing and most popular academic tutoring directories. All of our tutors conduct their 1-on-1 tutoring sessions in the comfort of the students' homes, or at a neutral location such as a local library, coffee shop, or even on campus. Our tutors come to you! If you are a student who is struggling with your studies, or the parent of a student who is having difficulties with his or her coursework, then you've come to the right place. We offer tutoring for all ages in all subjects. Hiring a friendly, experienced, and approachable tutor is an excellent way to provide the support and confidence that the student needs to reach his or her full potential in school. “Where's My Tutor” believes that a highly individualized, 1-on-1 tutoring relationship is the best method for rapidly improving a student's academic performance.
WheresMyTutor.com takes customer satisfaction seriously as well. Ripoff Report was pleased to learn that WheresMyTutor’s past and current approach to 100% tutors / parents / students satisfaction is always at the forefront of the company’s goals as a leading online “Tutoring Directory.”
ANY BUSINESS THAT CAN ADMIT THEY’VE MADE A FEW MISTAKES IN THE PAST AND IS 100% WILLING TO CORRECT ITS MISTAKES, IS A BUSINESS YOU CAN TRUST.
WheresMyTutor.com is committed to 100% customer satisfaction and has made every possible effort to ensure that all of its tutors, parents, and students have a positive experience while using the site and connecting with each other for many hours of productive instruction at any age-level and in any subject area.
After speaking with the management at WheresMyTutor.com and emailing anyone who has filed a complaint with us in the past, Ripoff Report is proud to give WheresMyTutor.com a positive A-Rating. WheresMyTutor.com has made efforts to ensure that all customers were satisfied, and WheresMyTutor.com has assured Rip-off Report that its business has a much improved business model that features customer satisfaction as its top priority.
WheresMyTutor.com has gone on the record as stating: “We carefully consider all customer complaints as constructive criticism and use these complaints as tools to monitor the utility and success of our existing business model and our devotion to getting all of our tutors connected with parents and students in a matter of days as opposed to weeks. Our goal is to place all tutors that sign up with a potentially unlimited number of “Tutoring Requests” in a relatively short period of time. This goal ensures that the small sign-up fee of $19.99 can easily be recouped by our customers in no time at all; and it’s important to note that this fee is yearly ($1.67/month), NOT monthly!!”
"We hired a guy on freelancer.com to make it so when a new tutor signs up in a new city, our sitemap will automatically build a SEO-friendly page that will eventually show up in google’s organic search results. For example, if our database of tutors does not have a tutor in this new tutor’s city, a new page on our site would be built for that tutor – so if a parent/student types into google: “[subject] tutors [city]”, a page from our site would show up in the organic search results. We buy google PPC traffic, but “tutoring” is very competitive, which is why we hired a freelance programmer. We now let our new tutors know that they must whitelist our domain name (wheresmytutor.com) and the domain name of our credit card processor (fastspring.com). I now work full-time on wheresmytutor.com, so I always reply to emails and phone calls within 24-36 hours."
WheresMyTutor.com recognizes that complaints posted on Ripoff Report (whether true or not) are issues that need to be addressed, not ignored. If handled correctly, complaints can be valuable learning opportunities. With the feedback generated by Ripoff Report’s Investigation, WheresMyTutor has made organizational changes allowing its tutors and parents a more streamlined approach to problem resolution and a commitment to a great customer experience.
In summary, after our investigation, which included discussions with the company and many of its past and current affiliations, Ripoff Report is comfortable that WheresMyTutor.com is committed to quality delivery of its tutoring services resulting in total tutor, parent, and student satisfaction.
Read more about why consumers should feel confident when doing business with a member of Ripoff Report's Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation & Customer Satisfaction Program. Yes, it’s a long name for a program that does a lot for both consumers and businesses alike.
Read about Ripoff Report Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation & Customer Satisfaction Program, a program that benefits the consumer, assures them of complete satisfaction and confidence when doing business with a member business. this program works.
As a matter of policy, when a business becomes a member of the Corporate Advocacy Program they agree to allow Ripoff Report to contact every client who filed a complaint so they can make things right with them. In order to confirm that the complaints were resolved, Ripoff Report is copied on all responses so we can insure that the member business did right by their customer.
NOW TO THE ORIGINAL REPORT THAT WAS FILED
-------------------------------
Wheresmytutor.com Justin C. Ketcham Justin Ketcham is scamming tutors, $20 at a time. Internet
I saw an ad on Craigslist that said:
"TUTORS NEEDED for 2013 Right Away = $20 - $60+"
And, being a teacher looking to earn some extra money, I responded.
The link in the ad led me to this web site:
http://wheresmytutor.com/
They charge $20 to create a tutor profile, and the system is supposed to help parents and students in need of a tutor search their database and find tutors. Assuming it works, and assuming it's not a scam, it seems like a worthwhile chance to take for $20.
So, I signed up. Had a hard time with the interface. My credit card wouldn't go through, and I had to email the president of the company, Justin C. Ketcham, for help. He responded within a few hours, and then responded further to three more emails before I had finally made the payment system work for me. Those prompt responses sure do inspire folks to think the business is legitimate.
So, then I created my tutor profile. There were some features and functions I had a problem with, but I figured I could make do.
I waited.
I received no contacts from potential tutoring customers. I began to worry that it was a scam.
Then, the site went down for four days. I emailed Justin Ketchum. Called him. No response. I emailed four times, and called four times. Nothing.
Then, the site came back up. I checked it out, and it was malfunctioning in the search function. I once again emailed Justin, and called him. No response.
I continued to attempt to contact him, with no response of any kind, for the next month.
For a MONTH.
I emailed and called, demanding a refund. No response. No surprise.
I began searching their tutor database to see if the other tutors were real people, and if they could be located and contacted outside of the system, I did so. I found and contacted more than ten, and they ALL told me stories exactly like mine: they'd had NO WORK from wheresmytutor.com, and NO RESPONSE to any emails they'd sent or voice mails they'd left for Justin Ketchum.
No one I spoke to had ever heard back from Justin Ketchum or anyone else at wheresmytutor.com (if there IS anyone else at wheresmytutor.com), AFTER they'd paid their subscription fee.
Frustrated, I despaired of ever getting a refund, or ever hearing back from Justin C. Ketcham.
In the middle of the night, awake because the dog had been barking, I suddenly had it: He can't do his e-commerce for himself. He has to hire that out. Most companies do. Justin C. Ketchum would likely be no different.
I remembered that when I'd had trouble paying when I signed up, I got a very nice email from a woman named Luanne Albright with a company called FastSpring. She had helped me, and it dawned on me that if they were the company who handled all of the online transactions for wheresmytutor.com, THEY were the ones to talk to.
So, I emailed Luanne, and told her my story: VERY prompt responses to emails and calls (i.e., within 4 hours) BEFORE I paid the susbscription fee, and NO responses afterwards. NO WORK, NO RESPONSE, NO REFUND. I told her about how I'd emailed Justin C. Ketcham more than 15 times, and left as many voice mails for him, and how over the course of a month, I'd never heard back. I also told her that I'd spoken to at least ten other tutors who were listed in the wheresmytutor.com database, and they all told the same story, essentially, as mine: NO WORK, NO RESPONSE, NO REFUND. I told her that I had not yet been able to find a single wheresmytutor.com tutor who had EVER gotten ANY work of any kind through their association with that website and Justin C. Ketchum.
I told her that I wanted my subscription fee refunded and my "automatic subscription renewal" for the next year canceled.
I also said that if I were the type of man to speculate, I'd most likely speculate that Justin C. Ketchum was a criminal, running a scam, and that there was, in fact, NO "BUSINESS" actually taking place except taking people's money. I further speculated that Justin C. Ketcham's philosophy seemed to be (speculatively speaking, of course) that since his victims were only out $20 or $30, most didn't care enough to pursue it, or would eventually forget or become discouraged by the lack of response and just say "live and learn."
I concluded by saying that, in my speculation, Justin C. Ketchum was engaged in illegal and unethical "business" practices, and that I was sure that a reputable company like FastSpring did not want to be associated with criminals or unethical activity.
Of course, all this was just speculation.
I got an email back from her very quickly, to the effect that she was alarmed to hear my story, would forward my email to someone higher up in FastSpring, and that she'd get back to me.
Four hours later, I got two very terse emails from "[email protected]" informing me that my subscription fee was being refunded and that my automatic subscription renewal had been canceled. No apologies, no signature. The name Justin C. Ketchum did not appear anywhere, although I believe he is the only "employee" at his "business." The reason given for the refund was "Product Not As Expected."
Hah! That's like getting rat poison instead of ketchup and saying you wanted a refund because it wasn't what you expected.
I then received a another very concerned-sounding email from Luanne at FastSpring, telling me that if I ever had a problem with a business that they handle e-commerce for, to contact them immediately.
So, I've decided to spread the word about how to get your refund from wheresmytutor.com and Justin C. Ketchum. I went back and contacted all the tutors in my area who'd been ripped off as well, and told them to contact Leanne Albright at this email:
and tell her their story. Several have gotten refunds very quickly this way, after months of unanswered emails and phone calls to Mr. Ketcham and his "business."
Ultimately, Mr. Ketchum is very good at trolling and responding under fake identities to rebut claims like this one. You can find my blog about this whole experience here:
http://wheresmytutorexperience.blogspot.com/
And you can email me. I'm a real person, and I actually respond, and I can show you correspondence from several people who've had the same experience I did.
The thing is, he waits until he HAS to refund your money to do so. And then he says things publicly like, "This person just didn't wait long enough" or "This person's profile wasn't fancy enough," never discussing the fact that he NEVER responds to emails or calls unless you're trying to give him your money, and that there is NO traffic on his site. I have never met a person in real life who has ever made even $1 from tutoring for wheresmytutor.com, but I have met several (read: more than 10) who have been scammed out of their $20 by Justin Ketcham and never gotten a response to their emails and calls.
Ultimately, you can decide. Look up the metrics for his site. If you go to SEMrush.com and plug in the address for wheresmytutor.com, you'll see that good ol' Justin gets about 247 hits per month, but that's not necessarily unique hits, and many of those hits are certainly prospective tutors like I was.
Now, on this page of his website, Justin says that they have more than 2300 tutors in their database:
http://www.wheresmytutor.com/parent_faqs.htm
So, if we think about this, we can do some math. If (charitably) half of the hits are parents looking for tutors, and maybe 1/3 of them ever decide to hire a tutor (and it is not likely that the numbers are anywhere near that high), then there aren't nearly enough potential customers to provide tutoring work for even 1/5 of the registered tutors, even once a year.
So there you have it. And I won't be recanting this complaint any time soon. Justin's got the corrupt Business Consumer Alliance (they used to be the BBB of Southern California but were expelled for pay-to-play practices: http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/03/12/socal-bbb-chapter-kicked-out-for-pay-to-play-scheme/) buffaloed, in part because they're corrupt and mostly because he gives refunds when his back is against the wall. He refunded my $20 (after two months of trying to call him and email him) and so my case was "resolved satisfactorily." Ha!
So, caveat emptor when dealing with Justin C. Ketchum.
In case you're interested, here's his record from ratemyprofessors.com. He used to be a chemistry teacher at a community college, until he got fired. A read through all of the comments is very interesting: http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=287343&all=true.
And be aware - he seems to vary spelling his last name, to avoid "complications," I'm sure. Sometimes, he's "Ketcham," and sometimes he's "Ketchum." Interesting.
Where's My Tutor Reviews
EDitor’s UPDATE: A Positive Rating and Recognition has been given to WheresMyTutor.com for its commitment to excellence in customer service.
Ripoff Report’s lengthy discussions with Justin C. Ketcham at WheresMyTutor.com shows us a commitment by the company to total student satisfaction. This means that customers of WheresMyTutor (Tutors, Parents, and Students) can expect that the company will always work towards finding a mutually satisfactory resolution to any worries or concerns brought to its attention. WheresMyTutor.com listens carefully to any and all customer concerns and recognizes them as an opportunity to learn from past mistakes and become more efficient as a company in the services offered and the support for those services.
WheresMyTutor’s company director, Mr. Ketcham, has informed us that since the company’s inception in 2009, its philosophy has always been one of simplicity. "The simple reality is this: without keeping the tutors, parents, and students satisfied, WheresMyTutor.com is little more than one of many millions of websites on the Internet. That being said, WheresMyTutor aspires to placing all of its tutors with parents/students in a relatively short period of time – and best of all, WheresMyTutor never takes a “cut” of it’s tutors’ earnings – why should they? The TUTORS are the one’s doing all of the work! If a tutor charges $25/hour for his or her tutoring services, they keep ALL of the $25/hour. Fair enough?”
By always putting its customers first, WheresMyTutor looks to maintain its current top-level ranking as one of the premier online marketplaces for connecting parents and students with live (in-person) one-on-one academic tutors anywhere in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii.
consumer, assures them of complete satisfaction and confidence when doing business with a member business..
The information provided in this report below is based on comments made by Justin C. Ketcham during an on-site inspection held by a third party verification company with no biases toward WheresMyTutor.com.
WheresMyTutor.com is a company providing an online meeting place for tutors to connect with students ages K-12 and their parents, regarding all school subjects. The initial connection is made on the website, and then the tutoring takes place in person. WheresMyTutor.com acquires leads primarily by contacting high schools, junior highs, and elementary schools. At that point, the school then notifies its students and makes them aware of WheresMyTutor.com, and the company is put on the school’s list for parents and students to find tutors.
WheresMyTutor.com’s sales process allows potential tutors to sign up and use the website to connect with students and parents in need of tutoring services. In this instance, the customer is the tutor, and they are offered a yearly subscription service to access the website. In exchange for this yearly fee, the tutor (customer) is then listed in the tutoring directory and is sent an unlimited amount of parent and student leads by WheresMyTutor.com.
WHERESMYTUTOR.COM CUSTOMER COMPLAINT RESOLUTION
Occasionally, customers (tutors) do have complaints. “Out of 9,000 tutors, it is bound to happen,” states Justin C. Ketcham, a representative of WheresMyTutor.com. In the instance that a complaint does arise, the customer is typically offered three choices for resolution of the issues. First, “[We] offer a full review of [customer’s] profile page that parents/students see, for tips and review to maximize potential of attracting parents/students,” states Mr. Ketcham. “That usually works… If it is still not resolved, [the customer] is offered two choices: a refund and delete profile page, or an upgrade free of charge,” states Mr. Ketcham. The team at WheresMyTutor.com strives to personally respond to complaints by reaching out to the customers directly via e-mail, or, if the customer is on a third party website, then WheresMyTutor.com will contact the customer via that website’s private message forum, to ensure that the complaint is being resolved and the customer is satisfied. Typically, customers are pleased with being offered three choices, and the situation is considered resolved. Once a complaint is resolved, the issue remains closed, and if the customer was offered a refund, then the account is closed, as well.
Every so often, WheresMyTutor will receive emails from tutors claiming that they are not receiving enough “Tutoring Requests” from parents and/or students. Some tutors will claim that the company is thus a “scam” and that WheresMyTutor has just taken their $19.99 (or $29.99) yearly investment and given them nothing in return – while this is obviously not true, WheresMyTutor.com has taken recent measures to ensure its tutors (both current tutors and future, prospective tutors) DO receive more than enough “Tutoring Requests” from parents/students and most tutors earn back their small yearly investment (only $1.67/month) in a matter of days rather than weeks. After adding new team members, increasing its web-presence and search engine rankings, WheresMyTutor re-submitted itself to the Better Business Bureau and the Business Consumer Alliance for inspection on company fair business practices and efficacy as a leading online Tutoring Directory. WheresMyTutor was recently rigorously analyzed by the Business Consumer Alliance (BCA), and their current status is an A rating.
With nearly 9000 tutors throughout the United States (including Hawaii and Alaska), occasionally some tutors will claim that they were “never warned” by Where’s My Tutor about their upcoming yearly (not monthly) subscription renewal fee of $19.99 (or $29.99 depending on type of membership). This is not possible – WheresMyTutor uses a third-party credit card processor to protect it’s tutors (“customers”). They use the third-party credit card processor FastSpring.com, and by law all tutors are required to be sent an email reminder of this upcoming charge 10 days in advance. Tutors who “don’t receive” the subscription reminder email are simply tutors who no longer monitor the email address(es) that WheresMyTutor has on file for them. To rectify the issue, WheresMyTutor now requires tutors to periodically update their email address(es) in the system to ensure that these complaints will no longer surface.
Since receiving complaints via Ripoff Report, WheresMyTutor.com has hired more programmers to put them on the first page of a Google search, allowing their customers (tutors) to have better exposure and acquire more leads. Additionally, “The Better Business Bureau has reviewed our business practices and we currently hold an “A” rating,” states Mr. Ketcham.
WheresMyTutor.com recognizes the value of working with Ripoff Report and the Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation and Customer Satisfaction Program, and the platform it provides for businesses and customers to interact and resolve issues. “Online consumers respect Ripoff Report; we are proud to be involved with their program,” states Mr. Ketcham.
WHERESMYTUTOR.COM CUSTOMER REVIEWS
During the course of its extensive investigation into the business practices of the team at WheresMyTutor.com, Ripoff Report visited the company’s headquarters (jokingly referred to as the “main campus”) and witnessed first-hand some positive reviews from both tutors and students alike. Here are a few:
"As a part-time tutor, I have met many students and parents via the WheresMyTutor website. It’s very easy really – I never have to login or anything like that. I just get an email sent to my phone and the email has all of the prospective tutee’s information: subject to be tutored, questions, comments, and a return email address (obviously). Just like that I’ve received a potential tutoring job – it is well worth the sign up fee of $19.99 in my opinion!” ~ KYLE (Murfreesboro, TN)
"I’m a single parent with 2 kids in high school. I found WheresMyTutor through word-of-mouth from a neighbor friend of mine and I LOVE LOVE that I just have to email / text our tutors, and they respond so quickly too! My kids grades have improved, and it’s also a big bonus that I can pay them directly in cash. No huge monthly bills from a tutoring agency like some of my other friends have. Thanks WMT” ~ Merrill (Newark, NJ)
"Where's My Tutor is a must-use service if you're interested in tutoring students! A+++ !!! My name is Brittney and I came across WMT's ad for tutoring positions on my college's career services job site. I am currently a math/comp. sci. major in my sophomore year, and I was interested in earning some part-time money as a tutor. I'd been tutoring mathematics, through college algebra for quite some time, and with this experience and a 3.2 GPA I figured I'd give it a shot. Since signing up only a few weeks ago, I now tutor a few people 3x a week -- sometimes on campus, which is nice since I live on campus, and also off-campus in students' homes or at Starbucks. I thought there'd be some "down time" after signing up, but not at all. WMT has allowed me to go shopping more often and to not worry about running out of money. So, a special thanks to you guys from a "not-so-starving student." Thanks again! You guys are an "A+++" company!" -- Brittney S. - Columbus, OH.
WHERESMYTUTOR.COM / Statements from the Company.
"Wheres My Tutor” is one of the nation's fastest growing and most popular academic tutoring directories. All of our tutors conduct their 1-on-1 tutoring sessions in the comfort of the students' homes, or at a neutral location such as a local library, coffee shop, or even on campus. Our tutors come to you! If you are a student who is struggling with your studies, or the parent of a student who is having difficulties with his or her coursework, then you've come to the right place. We offer tutoring for all ages in all subjects. Hiring a friendly, experienced, and approachable tutor is an excellent way to provide the support and confidence that the student needs to reach his or her full potential in school. “Where's My Tutor” believes that a highly individualized, 1-on-1 tutoring relationship is the best method for rapidly improving a student's academic performance.
WheresMyTutor.com takes customer satisfaction seriously as well. Ripoff Report was pleased to learn that WheresMyTutor’s past and current approach to 100% tutors / parents / students satisfaction is always at the forefront of the company’s goals as a leading online “Tutoring Directory.”
ANY BUSINESS THAT CAN ADMIT THEY’VE MADE A FEW MISTAKES IN THE PAST AND IS 100% WILLING TO CORRECT ITS MISTAKES, IS A BUSINESS YOU CAN TRUST.
WheresMyTutor.com is committed to 100% customer satisfaction and has made every possible effort to ensure that all of its tutors, parents, and students have a positive experience while using the site and connecting with each other for many hours of productive instruction at any age-level and in any subject area.
After speaking with the management at WheresMyTutor.com and emailing anyone who has filed a complaint with us in the past, Ripoff Report is proud to give WheresMyTutor.com a positive A-Rating. WheresMyTutor.com has made efforts to ensure that all customers were satisfied, and WheresMyTutor.com has assured Rip-off Report that its business has a much improved business model that features customer satisfaction as its top priority.
WheresMyTutor.com has gone on the record as stating: “We carefully consider all customer complaints as constructive criticism and use these complaints as tools to monitor the utility and success of our existing business model and our devotion to getting all of our tutors connected with parents and students in a matter of days as opposed to weeks. Our goal is to place all tutors that sign up with a potentially unlimited number of “Tutoring Requests” in a relatively short period of time. This goal ensures that the small sign-up fee of $19.99 can easily be recouped by our customers in no time at all; and it’s important to note that this fee is yearly ($1.67/month), NOT monthly!!”
"We hired a guy on freelancer.com to make it so when a new tutor signs up in a new city, our sitemap will automatically build a SEO-friendly page that will eventually show up in google’s organic search results. For example, if our database of tutors does not have a tutor in this new tutor’s city, a new page on our site would be built for that tutor – so if a parent/student types into google: “[subject] tutors [city]”, a page from our site would show up in the organic search results. We buy google PPC traffic, but “tutoring” is very competitive, which is why we hired a freelance programmer. We now let our new tutors know that they must whitelist our domain name (wheresmytutor.com) and the domain name of our credit card processor (fastspring.com). I now work full-time on wheresmytutor.com, so I always reply to emails and phone calls within 24-36 hours."
WheresMyTutor.com recognizes that complaints posted on Ripoff Report (whether true or not) are issues that need to be addressed, not ignored. If handled correctly, complaints can be valuable learning opportunities. With the feedback generated by Ripoff Report’s Investigation, WheresMyTutor has made organizational changes allowing its tutors and parents a more streamlined approach to problem resolution and a commitment to a great customer experience.
In summary, after our investigation, which included discussions with the company and many of its past and current affiliations, Ripoff Report is comfortable that WheresMyTutor.com is committed to quality delivery of its tutoring services resulting in total tutor, parent, and student satisfaction.
Read more about why consumers should feel confident when doing business with a member of Ripoff Report's Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation & Customer Satisfaction Program. Yes, it’s a long name for a program that does a lot for both consumers and businesses alike.
Read about Ripoff Report Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation & Customer Satisfaction Program, a program that benefits the consumer, assures them of complete satisfaction and confidence when doing business with a member business. this program works.
As a matter of policy, when a business becomes a member of the Corporate Advocacy Program they agree to allow Ripoff Report to contact every client who filed a complaint so they can make things right with them. In order to confirm that the complaints were resolved, Ripoff Report is copied on all responses so we can insure that the member business did right by their customer.
NOW TO THE ORIGINAL REPORT THAT WAS FILED
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Wheresmytutor.com Justin C. Ketcham Justin Ketcham is scamming tutors, $20 at a time. Internet
I saw an ad on Craigslist that said:
"TUTORS NEEDED for 2013 Right Away = $20 - $60+"
And, being a teacher looking to earn some extra money, I responded.
The link in the ad led me to this web site:
http://wheresmytutor.com/
They charge $20 to create a tutor profile, and the system is supposed to help parents and students in need of a tutor search their database and find tutors. Assuming it works, and assuming it's not a scam, it seems like a worthwhile chance to take for $20.
So, I signed up. Had a hard time with the interface. My credit card wouldn't go through, and I had to email the president of the company, Justin C. Ketcham, for help. He responded within a few hours, and then responded further to three more emails before I had finally made the payment system work for me. Those prompt responses sure do inspire folks to think the business is legitimate.
So, then I created my tutor profile. There were some features and functions I had a problem with, but I figured I could make do.
I waited.
I received no contacts from potential tutoring customers. I began to worry that it was a scam.
Then, the site went down for four days. I emailed Justin Ketchum. Called him. No response. I emailed four times, and called four times. Nothing.
Then, the site came back up. I checked it out, and it was malfunctioning in the search function. I once again emailed Justin, and called him. No response.
I continued to attempt to contact him, with no response of any kind, for the next month.
For a MONTH.
I emailed and called, demanding a refund. No response. No surprise.
I began searching their tutor database to see if the other tutors were real people, and if they could be located and contacted outside of the system, I did so. I found and contacted more than ten, and they ALL told me stories exactly like mine: they'd had NO WORK from wheresmytutor.com, and NO RESPONSE to any emails they'd sent or voice mails they'd left for Justin Ketchum.
No one I spoke to had ever heard back from Justin Ketchum or anyone else at wheresmytutor.com (if there IS anyone else at wheresmytutor.com), AFTER they'd paid their subscription fee.
Frustrated, I despaired of ever getting a refund, or ever hearing back from Justin C. Ketcham.
In the middle of the night, awake because the dog had been barking, I suddenly had it: He can't do his e-commerce for himself. He has to hire that out. Most companies do. Justin C. Ketchum would likely be no different.
I remembered that when I'd had trouble paying when I signed up, I got a very nice email from a woman named Luanne Albright with a company called FastSpring. She had helped me, and it dawned on me that if they were the company who handled all of the online transactions for wheresmytutor.com, THEY were the ones to talk to.
So, I emailed Luanne, and told her my story: VERY prompt responses to emails and calls (i.e., within 4 hours) BEFORE I paid the susbscription fee, and NO responses afterwards. NO WORK, NO RESPONSE, NO REFUND. I told her about how I'd emailed Justin C. Ketcham more than 15 times, and left as many voice mails for him, and how over the course of a month, I'd never heard back. I also told her that I'd spoken to at least ten other tutors who were listed in the wheresmytutor.com database, and they all told the same story, essentially, as mine: NO WORK, NO RESPONSE, NO REFUND. I told her that I had not yet been able to find a single wheresmytutor.com tutor who had EVER gotten ANY work of any kind through their association with that website and Justin C. Ketchum.
I told her that I wanted my subscription fee refunded and my "automatic subscription renewal" for the next year canceled.
I also said that if I were the type of man to speculate, I'd most likely speculate that Justin C. Ketchum was a criminal, running a scam, and that there was, in fact, NO "BUSINESS" actually taking place except taking people's money. I further speculated that Justin C. Ketcham's philosophy seemed to be (speculatively speaking, of course) that since his victims were only out $20 or $30, most didn't care enough to pursue it, or would eventually forget or become discouraged by the lack of response and just say "live and learn."
I concluded by saying that, in my speculation, Justin C. Ketchum was engaged in illegal and unethical "business" practices, and that I was sure that a reputable company like FastSpring did not want to be associated with criminals or unethical activity.
Of course, all this was just speculation.
I got an email back from her very quickly, to the effect that she was alarmed to hear my story, would forward my email to someone higher up in FastSpring, and that she'd get back to me.
Four hours later, I got two very terse emails from "[email protected]" informing me that my subscription fee was being refunded and that my automatic subscription renewal had been canceled. No apologies, no signature. The name Justin C. Ketchum did not appear anywhere, although I believe he is the only "employee" at his "business." The reason given for the refund was "Product Not As Expected."
Hah! That's like getting rat poison instead of ketchup and saying you wanted a refund because it wasn't what you expected.
I then received a another very concerned-sounding email from Luanne at FastSpring, telling me that if I ever had a problem with a business that they handle e-commerce for, to contact them immediately.
So, I've decided to spread the word about how to get your refund from wheresmytutor.com and Justin C. Ketchum. I went back and contacted all the tutors in my area who'd been ripped off as well, and told them to contact Leanne Albright at this email:
[email protected]
and tell her their story. Several have gotten refunds very quickly this way, after months of unanswered emails and phone calls to Mr. Ketcham and his "business."
Ultimately, Mr. Ketchum is very good at trolling and responding under fake identities to rebut claims like this one. You can find my blog about this whole experience here:
http://wheresmytutorexperience.blogspot.com/
And you can email me. I'm a real person, and I actually respond, and I can show you correspondence from several people who've had the same experience I did.
The thing is, he waits until he HAS to refund your money to do so. And then he says things publicly like, "This person just didn't wait long enough" or "This person's profile wasn't fancy enough," never discussing the fact that he NEVER responds to emails or calls unless you're trying to give him your money, and that there is NO traffic on his site. I have never met a person in real life who has ever made even $1 from tutoring for wheresmytutor.com, but I have met several (read: more than 10) who have been scammed out of their $20 by Justin Ketcham and never gotten a response to their emails and calls.
Ultimately, you can decide. Look up the metrics for his site. If you go to SEMrush.com and plug in the address for wheresmytutor.com, you'll see that good ol' Justin gets about 247 hits per month, but that's not necessarily unique hits, and many of those hits are certainly prospective tutors like I was.
http://www.semrush.com/info/www.wheresmytutor.com?db=us
Now, on this page of his website, Justin says that they have more than 2300 tutors in their database:
http://www.wheresmytutor.com/parent_faqs.htm
So, if we think about this, we can do some math. If (charitably) half of the hits are parents looking for tutors, and maybe 1/3 of them ever decide to hire a tutor (and it is not likely that the numbers are anywhere near that high), then there aren't nearly enough potential customers to provide tutoring work for even 1/5 of the registered tutors, even once a year.
So there you have it. And I won't be recanting this complaint any time soon. Justin's got the corrupt Business Consumer Alliance (they used to be the BBB of Southern California but were expelled for pay-to-play practices: http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/03/12/socal-bbb-chapter-kicked-out-for-pay-to-play-scheme/) buffaloed, in part because they're corrupt and mostly because he gives refunds when his back is against the wall. He refunded my $20 (after two months of trying to call him and email him) and so my case was "resolved satisfactorily." Ha!
So, caveat emptor when dealing with Justin C. Ketchum.
In case you're interested, here's his record from ratemyprofessors.com. He used to be a chemistry teacher at a community college, until he got fired. A read through all of the comments is very interesting: http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=287343&all=true.
And be aware - he seems to vary spelling his last name, to avoid "complications," I'm sure. Sometimes, he's "Ketcham," and sometimes he's "Ketchum." Interesting.