Bar None Review Bar Exam Prep Course Fails To Deliver Seal Beach California

Lisa Duncanson, JD, shame on you. If you had been as creative resolving the mess you made of my account as your "rebuttal" was, there would never have been a rip off report. What has your busy mind created?  Let's take your "three main problems" on.

Multiple Names?

Eduardo? Joel? Joelle?  Ms. Duncanson, you know you dealt with only "Joel". The "Eduardo" you are got was from your Caller ID when I would call from my parents' home so as to prevent someone from telling me you weren't in.  I never gave you my name as "Eduardo".  As far as "Joelle", I don't even know where you came up with that. Was it a message your staff gave you that "Joe- el" had called you again? The name "Joel" can be pronounced "Joe- el", and it's very possible your staff wrote it as she heard it.  But again, I never gave my name as "Joelle".  "One day it would be..." Joel, and it always was "Joel", Ms. Duncanson.

No Working Phone?

With the exception of the wind incident I made mention of prior to contracting with you, the phone numbers I gave you always worked. I called you from them many, many times. I guess the phone numbers you decided to call were "Joelle"- type creations of your staff.  Also, the March 18, 2008 email written from my father's office computer (eduardo) was made prior to contracting for your course ("and please report cost that I should have available.") remember? Get your information in order, Ma'am.  Smoke and mirrors.  I contracted your baby bar course about two weeks later and that's when your course, your promises and guarantees fell apart.  The phone numbers you had on file were always available for you to call me regarding my concerns, but you chose to ignore me many, many times. You also had a fax number available and an email address; all in order. 

No Reliable Address?

Your story here is so untrue, Ms. Duncanson. You simply failed to timely ship, period. Never was there a "shipping center" involved.  My basic, normal, address is where I requested the course be delivered to and I eventually received it because you basically, normally, finally shipped it out to the exact same address I originally gave you.  Further, I never "yelled" at you. Your staff who took my calls (Andrea and Sandra) were always presented with cordial and patient calls from me.  Ms. Duncanson, you are like an out-of-control child down a snowy hill on a board: only a crash will stop you now.

Not Able To Follow Instructions?

The ride downhill is getting really ripped.  When I claim I submitted seven essays, I d**n well did and your staff acknowledged receipt when I called your office. Your staff also acknowledged that you had in fact received my many calls desperately wanting the essays graded and I wanted to talk to you. They were even embarrassed that I was calling so often and you never returning my calls.  The fact is that NO student, including me, has ever had any trouble understanding your program's good and simple instructions, Ms. Duncanson. The fact is that I was one of at least two students as of June 2008 who you did not take care of and chose not to respond to (or the BBB for that matter, according to their 2008 report on you and your company).

There Are Many Other Examples? 

"There are many other examples..." That you could create? Come on Ms. Duncanson. My report in June 2008 is true and factual. I stand by it firmly.  Look, my report starts off that the matter with your program was personal (specific) to me. I happened to me. You failed me. I reached out to you and your staff many times and my hand was left hanging in the air. 

May 17, 2009

You responded to my report almost a year later. Your information is untrue and really distorted. I believe you mixed in some other problems you gave others with mine.  So much of your story has "creativeness" in it (shipping center? joelle? unanswered calls? phone numbers? and on and on.).

May 2009 BBB "A" report 

Ms. Duncanson, my grievance with you and your program was in June of 2008, not May 2009. The BBB in your area reported you and your company with a grade of "F". I did not created the BBB site (although if I left it up to you, you'd probably allege I did create it, wouldn't you?).  This is easy for anyone to confirm.  Don't try to distort yourself anymore than you have. I don't give a darn about what your BBB report is in May 2009. It was a well deserved "F" back when you let me down.

CBE?

My issues with you involved the Baby Bar as you educated us in your response of May 2009. The testimonials you list deal with the CALIFORNIA BAR EXAM. I am happy for your success there. Really.  I mentioned in my original report that "this report is not meant to be a reflection on (your) other programs." Heck, I even state that other baby bar home study students may have received all that you promised. I stated I did not get what I was promised regarding the BABY BAR. Your testimonials regarding CBE are outstanding but I did not complain (nor could I have because I didn't purchase CBE courses) about that program.

La Kerie

Wow. What a piece. One of your confederates, Ms. Duncanson? Don't mean to be trite, but it's like a love letter.  Obviously this JD "from an ABA accredited school" doesn't read the facts well. The opening paragraph to my report is very clear that I was not complaining about any other program Ms. Duncanson operates which of course includes the Cal Bar Exam courses she may offer. Interesting how La Kerie seems to know that "ALL STUDENTS, home study or otherwise, passed the July 2008 bar exam."  How in the world does La Kerie know the number of "ALL STUDENTS, home study or otherwise" enrolled in Duncanson's courses, and their names (in order to confirm that they passed)? Hmmm.

No, La Kerie, my "BAD experience was not due to the professionalism or work of LISA or any of the BAR NONE REVIEW STAFF" concerning "studying for the CA bar exam", it was due to the unprofessionalism or work of LISA concering my need for good support services regarding studying for the CA FYLSX which she did not provide for ME. Read the opening paragragh of my complaint again. Read. What is the issue? Look for a rule of good service and support. Analyze what really happened (you will need to be objective La Kerie and your love letter denies such). Conclude (objectively).

Ms. Duncanson, Thanx again for NONEThing.

At the time of this writing, Bar None Review has an A rating with the Better Business Bureau. The complaint above states that Bar None Review has a rating of "F". Today's date is Monday, May 25, 2009. Our current rating with the Better Business Bureau is an A.

I am responding to a complaint lodged by "Joel M" regarding our First Year Law Student Exam Prep Course. This is also known as preparation for the "Baby Bar". This is a test that students who attend non-ABA accredited law schools must take at the end of their first year of law study to be allowed to continue their studies for the California bar exam. This exam is administered by the California Bar Examiners. It is a one day exam, that covers three first year topics: Criminal Law, Torts and Contracts. I felt it was necessary to include this background for those of you who may never have heard of the "Baby Bar".

First I would like to address this person's complaints. The complaints alleged by this person are completely untrue. While it is true that we could not reach this person by phone, this is because he NEVER provided us with a working phone number (please read below, where I have outlined just some of the many problems we had in attempting to serve this person) I have tried to be brief, and have limited it to three main problems. But, first some initial background.

BACKGROUND:

This student gave us multiple names during our interactions. One day it would be that he would go by "Eduardo", the next it was "Joel" and then the latest first name he used was "Joelle". The last name was always the same, Molano. So, I will refer to him here as Mr. Molano. While the multiple first name use, did strike me as a bit odd, we used the name under which he contracted with us for our services (despite the fact that phone messages left indicated otherwise and that emails would come to us using the different first names).

This was just one of the many problems we had in dealing with Mr. Molano, 1) not being able to have a consistent email address for him made it confusing, 2) this was further complicated by the fact that Mr. Molano's phone has never worked, not ever, and, 3) the mailing address which he provided to us was not reliable (details of how we attempted to work around his issues are provided below).

THERE WERE THREE MAIN PROBLEMS THAT OCCURRED WITH MR. MOLANO:

PROBLEM NUMBER ONE: NO WORKING PHONE:
To date, the phone number that was provided to us by Mr. Molano was never a working number. We received many explanations as to why this was the case, but never a solution. When I would call, or my staff would call the phone number that he provided to us we received either a dead line - where the phone would ring two or three times and then just go dead, or a busy signal.

For all of our students (whether home study, in person tutoring or our live classes) it is imperative that we are able to reach them by phone. This is particularly true with our home study students.

Here is just one of Mr. Molano's many explanations as to why his phone did not work, please see email below where he explains why his phone did not work on a given day, when we had a scheduled phone appointment (you can see the email that I sent to him below as well. I have deleted his phone number from his email - not that it would work anyway, but I have done so for his privacy):

"On Mar 18, 2008, at 7:09 PM, eduardo molano wrote:

Hello Ms. Duncanson!

The Rio Grande Valley area here has been experiencing horrible wind gusts of over 50mph and has damaged various types of lines. They seem to working alright as of this writing (2100 Hrs CST). I will receive your call at 1000 Hrs your time (1200 CST). Please forward email to confirm if this time is good for you; and please report cost that I should have available.

Joel MoLano

Bar None Review wrote:

Dear Mr. MoLano,

I have tried reaching you by phone, but keep getting a busy signal. I am wondering if I have the correct number for you. The number I have for you is: (956) XXX-XXXX. Please let me know if I have the correct number. I will be in my office all day today. Also, feel free to give me a call anytime. I do have a few phone appointments today, so if you do not reach me directly, just leave a message and I will get right back to you. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Sincerely,

Lisa Duncanson
Founder/Program Director
Bar None Review
(562) 799-5581
http://www.barnonereview.com
blog: http://www.barexamguru.wordpress.com


PROBLEM NUMBER 2: NO RELIABLE ADDRESS: The shipping address that Mr. Molano provided to us was not a an address where he could receive any packages without being physically present at the time of delivery. Unfortunately, Mr. Molano never apprised us of this situation, simply just told us to ship it, which we did.

We shipped the materials to Mr. Molano, our tracking information confirmed that the materials were in fact delivered. But, Mr. Molano did not not ever retrieve our shipment from the shipping center (we later found out it was a shipping center) where we were told to deliver the course materials. When we received his shipment returned, we of course called him to let him know - but we did not have a working phone number for him - so this method did not work. We also contacted Mr. Molano by email.

Mr. Molano called us, very agitated and yelled at us for not getting the materials to him in a timely fashion. When I told him that we did ship on time and that the materials were delivered, but then returned due to his failure to pick it up, it was only then that it occurred to him to mention to us that this was not his home address and that he had to be physically present at the time of delivery. He further explained (for the first time) that he could not get mail delivery at his home because he lived in a very remote area where such services are not provided.

After making arrangements with Mr. Molano to have the materials delivered a second time, he still felt that it was somehow Bar None Review's failure (despite the fact that we shipped and delivered to the address he asked us to ship to). As a result, I decided to reship the materials again, at NO CHARGE. In addition, to accommodate his need to be "physically present" at the time of delivery, I paid for overnight shipping with a 4 hour time frame (the shortest time frame that I could get from FED EX). None of this cost was passed onto Mr. Molano even though it was his failure in informing us of his unique situation, that caused the shipment to be returned.

PROBLEM NUMBER 3 - MR. MOLANO WAS NOT ABLE TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS (and this was further complicated by the fact that since Mr. Molano never provided us with a working phone number, I could not simply just call him back and try to find out why he was having a problem or further explain how to do something)

At Bar None Review, one of the many features of our online home study program that students love is that they can upload their exams online (through a private student account) 24 hours a day. Once we receive the exam online, we are notified and are able to grade it quickly and upload it to the site where the student can then immediately view our extensive feedback in color. Students can either view it online or download the essay and print it out. Your exams are stored for you, so that you (and Bar None Review) can continually review your progress through the course. It is a wonderful feature. And, to date - until Mr. Molano - we have never had a student who was unable to utilize this feature, or any other feature of our site.

We never received a single essay uploaded by Mr. Molano to our website. (Yet he claims he submitted seven essays).

I could provide many examples of these kinds of problems, but I think limiting it to the three most significant problems will appropriately shed light on the situation that we were trying to deal with in working with Mr. Molano. We have never experienced this with any other student prior. The main problem here, as I see it, was this: Mr. Molano had many misunderstandings that none of our other students have ever had AND since we did not have a working phone number for Mr. Molano, we were never able to call him to remedy these misunderstandings.

For example, we provide written instructions for how to log into your student account (where our students are able to upload their essays for grading, access additional study materials, tips, post questions to our message board, etc.). For some reason, these instructions that none of our students before or since Mr. Molano had any trouble understanding, were not clear to Mr. Molano. We were ultimately able to resolve this issue when he called us and we were able to walk him through it. But, because we never had a working phone number for him, we could never call him or leave him a voice mail. Everything was limited to email contact. Unfortunately, the written instructions (I believe) were what Mr. Molano was having difficulty with, at least that is what the pattern suggested.

There are many other examples, but I do not feel it is necessary to include every reference. We are sorry that Mr. Molano's experience was not what he wanted or expected. But, his experience was due to his own failures in not having the correct set up to function online, by phone or by mail. Our hands were constantly tied.

To date, I have not ever been able to reach Mr. Molano by phone. One of the requirements of working with our students (which is stated in the contract each student signs) is that they must have daily access to an email account. We have now added that students must have a working phone number. Until Mr. Molano, it never occurred to us that someone would provide a non-working contact number to us.

If you are interested, I have also provided some additional background on my company and our expertise. Please feel free to contact me via email at: pass@barnonereview.com or by phone at: (562) 799-5581.

Lisa Duncanson
Founder/Program Director
Bar None Review
(562) 799-5581
blog: http://www.barexamguru.wordpress.com
website: http://www.barnonereview.com

ADDITIONAL COMPANY BACKGROUND:

Bar None Review is a full service bar review company providing review courses and tutoring for the California Bar Exam. We are the bar review choice for both students and law firms. Our bar review materials are required text at Western State University College of Law. Our books are sold at the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore. Visit Bar None Review on the web at: http://www.barnonereview.com

Lisa Duncanson is the founder and Program Director of Bar None Review. Duncanson is the author and co-author of 18 books. Her titles include: The Bar Exam Writing Template Book (ISBN 0-975-34725-X), The Performance Test Maximizer: A Guide to Mastering the Performance Test, The Essay Writer Series (A fourteen book series, The Essay Writer Series provides a comprehensive collection of essay exams and answers for each major area tested in law school and on the bar exam) and The California Bar Essay Workbook ( ISBN 0-975-34724-1, Two volume workbook containing over 100 past bar exam questions and answers).

Several of the above titles, including The Essay Writer Series are available for purchase through the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore, The Law Bookstore and will soon be available through Follett Campus Bookstores).

In addition to teaching and preparing students for the the bar exam, Duncanson a full service bar review company providing review courses and tutoring for the California Bar Exam. Visit Bar None Review on the web at:barnonereview.com

Duncanson is the author and co-author of 18 books. Her titles include: The Bar Exam Writing Template Book (ISBN 0-975-34725-X), The Performance Test Maximizer: A Guide to Mastering the Performance Test, The Essay Writer Series (A fourteen book series, The Essay Writer Series provides a comprehensive collection of essay exams and answers for each major area tested in law school and on the bar exam) and The California Bar Essay Workbook (ISBN 0-975-34724-1, Two volume workbook containing over 100 past bar exam questions and answers).

Several of the above titles, including The Essay Writer Series are available for purchase through the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore, The Law Bookstore and will soon be available through Follett Campus Bookstores).

In addition to teaching and preparing students for the the bar exam, Duncanson is an adjunct professor at three law schools in Southern California.

I am responding to a complaint lodged by "Joel M" regarding our First Year Law Student Exam Prep Course. This is also known as preparation for the "Baby Bar". This is a test that students who attend non-ABA accredited law schools must take at the end of their first year of law study to be allowed to continue their studies for the California bar exam. This exam is administered by the California Bar Examiners. It is a one day exam, that covers three first year topics: Criminal Law, Torts and Contracts. I felt it was necessary to include this background for those of you who may never have heard of the "Baby Bar".

First I would like to address this person's complaints. The complaints alleged by this person are completely untrue. While it is true that we could not reach this person by phone, this is because he NEVER provided us with a working phone number (please read below, where I have outlined just some of the many problems we had in attempting to serve this person) I have tried to be brief, and have limited it to three main problems. But, first some initial background.

BACKGROUND:

This student gave us multiple names during our interactions. One day it would be that he would go by "Eduardo", the next it was "Joel" and then the latest first name he used was "Joelle". The last name was always the same, Molano. So, I will refer to him here as Mr. Molano. While the multiple first name use, did strike me as a bit odd, we used the name under which he contracted with us for our services (despite the fact that phone messages left indicated otherwise and that emails would come to us using the different first names).

This was just one of the many problems we had in dealing with Mr. Molano, 1) not being able to have a consistent email address for him made it confusing, 2) this was further complicated by the fact that Mr. Molano's phone has never worked, not ever, and, 3) the mailing address which he provided to us was not reliable (details of how we attempted to work around his issues are provided below).

THERE WERE THREE MAIN PROBLEMS THAT OCCURRED WITH MR. MOLANO:

PROBLEM NUMBER ONE: NO WORKING PHONE:
To date, the phone number that was provided to us by Mr. Molano was never a working number. We received many explanations as to why this was the case, but never a solution. When I would call, or my staff would call the phone number that he provided to us we received either a dead line - where the phone would ring two or three times and then just go dead, or a busy signal.

For all of our students (whether home study, in person tutoring or our live classes) it is imperative that we are able to reach them by phone. This is particularly true with our home study students.

Here is just one of Mr. Molano's many explanations as to why his phone did not work, please see email below where he explains why his phone did not work on a given day, when we had a scheduled phone appointment (you can see the email that I sent to him below as well. I have deleted his phone number from his email - not that it would work anyway, but I have done so for his privacy):

"On Mar 18, 2008, at 7:09 PM, eduardo molano wrote:

Hello Ms. Duncanson!

The Rio Grande Valley area here has been experiencing horrible wind gusts of over 50mph and has damaged various types of lines. They seem to working alright as of this writing (2100 Hrs CST). I will receive your call at 1000 Hrs your time (1200 CST). Please forward email to confirm if this time is good for you; and please report cost that I should have available.

Joel MoLano

Bar None Review wrote:

Dear Mr. MoLano,

I have tried reaching you by phone, but keep getting a busy signal. I am wondering if I have the correct number for you. The number I have for you is: (956) XXX-XXXX. Please let me know if I have the correct number. I will be in my office all day today. Also, feel free to give me a call anytime. I do have a few phone appointments today, so if you do not reach me directly, just leave a message and I will get right back to you. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Sincerely,

Lisa Duncanson
Founder/Program Director
Bar None Review
(562) 799-5581
http://www.barnonereview.com
blog: http://www.barexamguru.wordpress.com


PROBLEM NUMBER 2: NO RELIABLE ADDRESS: The shipping address that Mr. Molano provided to us was not a an address where he could receive any packages without being physically present at the time of delivery. Unfortunately, Mr. Molano never apprised us of this situation, simply just told us to ship it, which we did.

We shipped the materials to Mr. Molano, our tracking information confirmed that the materials were in fact delivered. But, Mr. Molano did not not ever retrieve our shipment from the shipping center (we later found out it was a shipping center) where we were told to deliver the course materials. When we received his shipment returned, we of course called him to let him know - but we did not have a working phone number for him - so this method did not work. We also contacted Mr. Molano by email.

Mr. Molano called us, very agitated and yelled at us for not getting the materials to him in a timely fashion. When I told him that we did ship on time and that the materials were delivered, but then returned due to his failure to pick it up, it was only then that it occurred to him to mention to us that this was not his home address and that he had to be physically present at the time of delivery. He further explained (for the first time) that he could not get mail delivery at his home because he lived in a very remote area where such services are not provided.

After making arrangements with Mr. Molano to have the materials delivered a second time, he still felt that it was somehow Bar None Review's failure (despite the fact that we shipped and delivered to the address he asked us to ship to). As a result, I decided to reship the materials again, at NO CHARGE. In addition, to accommodate his need to be "physically present" at the time of delivery, I paid for overnight shipping with a 4 hour time frame (the shortest time frame that I could get from FED EX). None of this cost was passed onto Mr. Molano even though it was his failure in informing us of his unique situation, that caused the shipment to be returned.

PROBLEM NUMBER 3 - MR. MOLANO WAS NOT ABLE TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS (and this was further complicated by the fact that since Mr. Molano never provided us with a working phone number, I could not simply just call him back and try to find out why he was having a problem or further explain how to do something)

At Bar None Review, one of the many features of our online home study program that students love is that they can upload their exams online (through a private student account) 24 hours a day. Once we receive the exam online, we are notified and are able to grade it quickly and upload it to the site where the student can then immediately view our extensive feedback in color. Students can either view it online or download the essay and print it out. Your exams are stored for you, so that you (and Bar None Review) can continually review your progress through the course. It is a wonderful feature. And, to date - until Mr. Molano - we have never had a student who was unable to utilize this feature, or any other feature of our site.

We never received a single essay uploaded by Mr. Molano to our website. (Yet he claims he submitted seven essays).

I could provide many examples of these kinds of problems, but I think limiting it to the three most significant problems will appropriately shed light on the situation that we were trying to deal with in working with Mr. Molano. We have never experienced this with any other student prior. The main problem here, as I see it, was this: Mr. Molano had many misunderstandings that none of our other students have ever had AND since we did not have a working phone number for Mr. Molano, we were never able to call him to remedy these misunderstandings.

For example, we provide written instructions for how to log into your student account (where our students are able to upload their essays for grading, access additional study materials, tips, post questions to our message board, etc.). For some reason, these instructions that none of our students before or since Mr. Molano had any trouble understanding, were not clear to Mr. Molano. We were ultimately able to resolve this issue when he called us and we were able to walk him through it. But, because we never had a working phone number for him, we could never call him or leave him a voice mail. Everything was limited to email contact. Unfortunately, the written instructions (I believe) were what Mr. Molano was having difficulty with, at least that is what the pattern suggested.

There are many other examples, but I do not feel it is necessary to include every reference. We are sorry that Mr. Molano's experience was not what he wanted or expected. But, his experience was due to his own failures in not having the correct set up to function online, by phone or by mail. Our hands were constantly tied.

To date, I have not ever been able to reach Mr. Molano by phone. One of the requirements of working with our students (which is stated in the contract each student signs) is that they must have daily access to an email account. We have now added that students must have a working phone number. Until Mr. Molano, it never occurred to us that someone would provide a non-working contact number to us.

If you are interested, I have also provided some additional background on my company and our expertise. Please feel free to contact me via email at: pass@barnonereview.com or by phone at: (562) 799-5581.

Lisa Duncanson
Founder/Program Director
Bar None Review
(562) 799-5581
blog: http://www.barexamguru.wordpress.com
website: http://www.barnonereview.com

ADDITIONAL COMPANY BACKGROUND:

Bar None Review is a full service bar review company providing review courses and tutoring for the California Bar Exam. We are the bar review choice for both students and law firms. Our bar review materials are required text at Western State University College of Law. Our books are sold at the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore. Visit Bar None Review on the web at: http://www.barnonereview.com

Lisa Duncanson is the founder and Program Director of Bar None Review. Duncanson is the author and co-author of 18 books. Her titles include: The Bar Exam Writing Template Book (ISBN 0-975-34725-X), The Performance Test Maximizer: A Guide to Mastering the Performance Test, The Essay Writer Series (A fourteen book series, The Essay Writer Series provides a comprehensive collection of essay exams and answers for each major area tested in law school and on the bar exam) and The California Bar Essay Workbook ( ISBN 0-975-34724-1, Two volume workbook containing over 100 past bar exam questions and answers).

Several of the above titles, including The Essay Writer Series are available for purchase through the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore, The Law Bookstore and will soon be available through Follett Campus Bookstores).

In addition to teaching and preparing students for the the bar exam, Duncanson a full service bar review company providing review courses and tutoring for the California Bar Exam. Visit Bar None Review on the web at:barnonereview.com

Duncanson is the author and co-author of 18 books. Her titles include: The Bar Exam Writing Template Book (ISBN 0-975-34725-X), The Performance Test Maximizer: A Guide to Mastering the Performance Test, The Essay Writer Series (A fourteen book series, The Essay Writer Series provides a comprehensive collection of essay exams and answers for each major area tested in law school and on the bar exam) and The California Bar Essay Workbook (ISBN 0-975-34724-1, Two volume workbook containing over 100 past bar exam questions and answers).

Several of the above titles, including The Essay Writer Series are available for purchase through the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore, The Law Bookstore and will soon be available through Follett Campus Bookstores).

In addition to teaching and preparing students for the the bar exam, Duncanson is an adjunct professor at three law schools in Southern California.

I am responding to a complaint lodged by "Joel M" regarding our First Year Law Student Exam Prep Course. This is also known as preparation for the "Baby Bar". This is a test that students who attend non-ABA accredited law schools must take at the end of their first year of law study to be allowed to continue their studies for the California bar exam. This exam is administered by the California Bar Examiners. It is a one day exam, that covers three first year topics: Criminal Law, Torts and Contracts. I felt it was necessary to include this background for those of you who may never have heard of the "Baby Bar".

First I would like to address this person's complaints. The complaints alleged by this person are completely untrue. While it is true that we could not reach this person by phone, this is because he NEVER provided us with a working phone number (please read below, where I have outlined just some of the many problems we had in attempting to serve this person) I have tried to be brief, and have limited it to three main problems. But, first some initial background.

BACKGROUND:

This student gave us multiple names during our interactions. One day it would be that he would go by "Eduardo", the next it was "Joel" and then the latest first name he used was "Joelle". The last name was always the same, Molano. So, I will refer to him here as Mr. Molano. While the multiple first name use, did strike me as a bit odd, we used the name under which he contracted with us for our services (despite the fact that phone messages left indicated otherwise and that emails would come to us using the different first names).

This was just one of the many problems we had in dealing with Mr. Molano, 1) not being able to have a consistent email address for him made it confusing, 2) this was further complicated by the fact that Mr. Molano's phone has never worked, not ever, and, 3) the mailing address which he provided to us was not reliable (details of how we attempted to work around his issues are provided below).

THERE WERE THREE MAIN PROBLEMS THAT OCCURRED WITH MR. MOLANO:

PROBLEM NUMBER ONE: NO WORKING PHONE:
To date, the phone number that was provided to us by Mr. Molano was never a working number. We received many explanations as to why this was the case, but never a solution. When I would call, or my staff would call the phone number that he provided to us we received either a dead line - where the phone would ring two or three times and then just go dead, or a busy signal.

For all of our students (whether home study, in person tutoring or our live classes) it is imperative that we are able to reach them by phone. This is particularly true with our home study students.

Here is just one of Mr. Molano's many explanations as to why his phone did not work, please see email below where he explains why his phone did not work on a given day, when we had a scheduled phone appointment (you can see the email that I sent to him below as well. I have deleted his phone number from his email - not that it would work anyway, but I have done so for his privacy):

"On Mar 18, 2008, at 7:09 PM, eduardo molano wrote:

Hello Ms. Duncanson!

The Rio Grande Valley area here has been experiencing horrible wind gusts of over 50mph and has damaged various types of lines. They seem to working alright as of this writing (2100 Hrs CST). I will receive your call at 1000 Hrs your time (1200 CST). Please forward email to confirm if this time is good for you; and please report cost that I should have available.

Joel MoLano

Bar None Review wrote:

Dear Mr. MoLano,

I have tried reaching you by phone, but keep getting a busy signal. I am wondering if I have the correct number for you. The number I have for you is: (956) XXX-XXXX. Please let me know if I have the correct number. I will be in my office all day today. Also, feel free to give me a call anytime. I do have a few phone appointments today, so if you do not reach me directly, just leave a message and I will get right back to you. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Sincerely,

Lisa Duncanson
Founder/Program Director
Bar None Review
(562) 799-5581
http://www.barnonereview.com
blog: http://www.barexamguru.wordpress.com


PROBLEM NUMBER 2: NO RELIABLE ADDRESS: The shipping address that Mr. Molano provided to us was not a an address where he could receive any packages without being physically present at the time of delivery. Unfortunately, Mr. Molano never apprised us of this situation, simply just told us to ship it, which we did.

We shipped the materials to Mr. Molano, our tracking information confirmed that the materials were in fact delivered. But, Mr. Molano did not not ever retrieve our shipment from the shipping center (we later found out it was a shipping center) where we were told to deliver the course materials. When we received his shipment returned, we of course called him to let him know - but we did not have a working phone number for him - so this method did not work. We also contacted Mr. Molano by email.

Mr. Molano called us, very agitated and yelled at us for not getting the materials to him in a timely fashion. When I told him that we did ship on time and that the materials were delivered, but then returned due to his failure to pick it up, it was only then that it occurred to him to mention to us that this was not his home address and that he had to be physically present at the time of delivery. He further explained (for the first time) that he could not get mail delivery at his home because he lived in a very remote area where such services are not provided.

After making arrangements with Mr. Molano to have the materials delivered a second time, he still felt that it was somehow Bar None Review's failure (despite the fact that we shipped and delivered to the address he asked us to ship to). As a result, I decided to reship the materials again, at NO CHARGE. In addition, to accommodate his need to be "physically present" at the time of delivery, I paid for overnight shipping with a 4 hour time frame (the shortest time frame that I could get from FED EX). None of this cost was passed onto Mr. Molano even though it was his failure in informing us of his unique situation, that caused the shipment to be returned.

PROBLEM NUMBER 3 - MR. MOLANO WAS NOT ABLE TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS (and this was further complicated by the fact that since Mr. Molano never provided us with a working phone number, I could not simply just call him back and try to find out why he was having a problem or further explain how to do something)

At Bar None Review, one of the many features of our online home study program that students love is that they can upload their exams online (through a private student account) 24 hours a day. Once we receive the exam online, we are notified and are able to grade it quickly and upload it to the site where the student can then immediately view our extensive feedback in color. Students can either view it online or download the essay and print it out. Your exams are stored for you, so that you (and Bar None Review) can continually review your progress through the course. It is a wonderful feature. And, to date - until Mr. Molano - we have never had a student who was unable to utilize this feature, or any other feature of our site.

We never received a single essay uploaded by Mr. Molano to our website. (Yet he claims he submitted seven essays).

I could provide many examples of these kinds of problems, but I think limiting it to the three most significant problems will appropriately shed light on the situation that we were trying to deal with in working with Mr. Molano. We have never experienced this with any other student prior. The main problem here, as I see it, was this: Mr. Molano had many misunderstandings that none of our other students have ever had AND since we did not have a working phone number for Mr. Molano, we were never able to call him to remedy these misunderstandings.

For example, we provide written instructions for how to log into your student account (where our students are able to upload their essays for grading, access additional study materials, tips, post questions to our message board, etc.). For some reason, these instructions that none of our students before or since Mr. Molano had any trouble understanding, were not clear to Mr. Molano. We were ultimately able to resolve this issue when he called us and we were able to walk him through it. But, because we never had a working phone number for him, we could never call him or leave him a voice mail. Everything was limited to email contact. Unfortunately, the written instructions (I believe) were what Mr. Molano was having difficulty with, at least that is what the pattern suggested.

There are many other examples, but I do not feel it is necessary to include every reference. We are sorry that Mr. Molano's experience was not what he wanted or expected. But, his experience was due to his own failures in not having the correct set up to function online, by phone or by mail. Our hands were constantly tied.

To date, I have not ever been able to reach Mr. Molano by phone. One of the requirements of working with our students (which is stated in the contract each student signs) is that they must have daily access to an email account. We have now added that students must have a working phone number. Until Mr. Molano, it never occurred to us that someone would provide a non-working contact number to us.

If you are interested, I have also provided some additional background on my company and our expertise. Please feel free to contact me via email at: pass@barnonereview.com or by phone at: (562) 799-5581.

Lisa Duncanson
Founder/Program Director
Bar None Review
(562) 799-5581
blog: http://www.barexamguru.wordpress.com
website: http://www.barnonereview.com

ADDITIONAL COMPANY BACKGROUND:

Bar None Review is a full service bar review company providing review courses and tutoring for the California Bar Exam. We are the bar review choice for both students and law firms. Our bar review materials are required text at Western State University College of Law. Our books are sold at the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore. Visit Bar None Review on the web at: http://www.barnonereview.com

Lisa Duncanson is the founder and Program Director of Bar None Review. Duncanson is the author and co-author of 18 books. Her titles include: The Bar Exam Writing Template Book (ISBN 0-975-34725-X), The Performance Test Maximizer: A Guide to Mastering the Performance Test, The Essay Writer Series (A fourteen book series, The Essay Writer Series provides a comprehensive collection of essay exams and answers for each major area tested in law school and on the bar exam) and The California Bar Essay Workbook ( ISBN 0-975-34724-1, Two volume workbook containing over 100 past bar exam questions and answers).

Several of the above titles, including The Essay Writer Series are available for purchase through the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore, The Law Bookstore and will soon be available through Follett Campus Bookstores).

In addition to teaching and preparing students for the the bar exam, Duncanson a full service bar review company providing review courses and tutoring for the California Bar Exam. Visit Bar None Review on the web at:barnonereview.com

Duncanson is the author and co-author of 18 books. Her titles include: The Bar Exam Writing Template Book (ISBN 0-975-34725-X), The Performance Test Maximizer: A Guide to Mastering the Performance Test, The Essay Writer Series (A fourteen book series, The Essay Writer Series provides a comprehensive collection of essay exams and answers for each major area tested in law school and on the bar exam) and The California Bar Essay Workbook (ISBN 0-975-34724-1, Two volume workbook containing over 100 past bar exam questions and answers).

Several of the above titles, including The Essay Writer Series are available for purchase through the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore, The Law Bookstore and will soon be available through Follett Campus Bookstores).

In addition to teaching and preparing students for the the bar exam, Duncanson is an adjunct professor at three law schools in Southern California.

I am responding to a complaint lodged by "Joel M" regarding our First Year Law Student Exam Prep Course. This is also known as preparation for the "Baby Bar". This is a test that students who attend non-ABA accredited law schools must take at the end of their first year of law study to be allowed to continue their studies for the California bar exam. This exam is administered by the California Bar Examiners. It is a one day exam, that covers three first year topics: Criminal Law, Torts and Contracts. I felt it was necessary to include this background for those of you who may never have heard of the "Baby Bar".

First I would like to address this person's complaints. The complaints alleged by this person are completely untrue. While it is true that we could not reach this person by phone, this is because he NEVER provided us with a working phone number (please read below, where I have outlined just some of the many problems we had in attempting to serve this person) I have tried to be brief, and have limited it to three main problems. But, first some initial background.

BACKGROUND:

This student gave us multiple names during our interactions. One day it would be that he would go by "Eduardo", the next it was "Joel" and then the latest first name he used was "Joelle". The last name was always the same, Molano. So, I will refer to him here as Mr. Molano. While the multiple first name use, did strike me as a bit odd, we used the name under which he contracted with us for our services (despite the fact that phone messages left indicated otherwise and that emails would come to us using the different first names).

This was just one of the many problems we had in dealing with Mr. Molano, 1) not being able to have a consistent email address for him made it confusing, 2) this was further complicated by the fact that Mr. Molano's phone has never worked, not ever, and, 3) the mailing address which he provided to us was not reliable (details of how we attempted to work around his issues are provided below).

THERE WERE THREE MAIN PROBLEMS THAT OCCURRED WITH MR. MOLANO:

PROBLEM NUMBER ONE: NO WORKING PHONE:
To date, the phone number that was provided to us by Mr. Molano was never a working number. We received many explanations as to why this was the case, but never a solution. When I would call, or my staff would call the phone number that he provided to us we received either a dead line - where the phone would ring two or three times and then just go dead, or a busy signal.

For all of our students (whether home study, in person tutoring or our live classes) it is imperative that we are able to reach them by phone. This is particularly true with our home study students.

Here is just one of Mr. Molano's many explanations as to why his phone did not work, please see email below where he explains why his phone did not work on a given day, when we had a scheduled phone appointment (you can see the email that I sent to him below as well. I have deleted his phone number from his email - not that it would work anyway, but I have done so for his privacy):

"On Mar 18, 2008, at 7:09 PM, eduardo molano wrote:

Hello Ms. Duncanson!

The Rio Grande Valley area here has been experiencing horrible wind gusts of over 50mph and has damaged various types of lines. They seem to working alright as of this writing (2100 Hrs CST). I will receive your call at 1000 Hrs your time (1200 CST). Please forward email to confirm if this time is good for you; and please report cost that I should have available.

Joel MoLano

Bar None Review wrote:

Dear Mr. MoLano,

I have tried reaching you by phone, but keep getting a busy signal. I am wondering if I have the correct number for you. The number I have for you is: (956) XXX-XXXX. Please let me know if I have the correct number. I will be in my office all day today. Also, feel free to give me a call anytime. I do have a few phone appointments today, so if you do not reach me directly, just leave a message and I will get right back to you. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Sincerely,

Lisa Duncanson
Founder/Program Director
Bar None Review
(562) 799-5581
http://www.barnonereview.com
blog: http://www.barexamguru.wordpress.com


PROBLEM NUMBER 2: NO RELIABLE ADDRESS: The shipping address that Mr. Molano provided to us was not a an address where he could receive any packages without being physically present at the time of delivery. Unfortunately, Mr. Molano never apprised us of this situation, simply just told us to ship it, which we did.

We shipped the materials to Mr. Molano, our tracking information confirmed that the materials were in fact delivered. But, Mr. Molano did not not ever retrieve our shipment from the shipping center (we later found out it was a shipping center) where we were told to deliver the course materials. When we received his shipment returned, we of course called him to let him know - but we did not have a working phone number for him - so this method did not work. We also contacted Mr. Molano by email.

Mr. Molano called us, very agitated and yelled at us for not getting the materials to him in a timely fashion. When I told him that we did ship on time and that the materials were delivered, but then returned due to his failure to pick it up, it was only then that it occurred to him to mention to us that this was not his home address and that he had to be physically present at the time of delivery. He further explained (for the first time) that he could not get mail delivery at his home because he lived in a very remote area where such services are not provided.

After making arrangements with Mr. Molano to have the materials delivered a second time, he still felt that it was somehow Bar None Review's failure (despite the fact that we shipped and delivered to the address he asked us to ship to). As a result, I decided to reship the materials again, at NO CHARGE. In addition, to accommodate his need to be "physically present" at the time of delivery, I paid for overnight shipping with a 4 hour time frame (the shortest time frame that I could get from FED EX). None of this cost was passed onto Mr. Molano even though it was his failure in informing us of his unique situation, that caused the shipment to be returned.

PROBLEM NUMBER 3 - MR. MOLANO WAS NOT ABLE TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS (and this was further complicated by the fact that since Mr. Molano never provided us with a working phone number, I could not simply just call him back and try to find out why he was having a problem or further explain how to do something)

At Bar None Review, one of the many features of our online home study program that students love is that they can upload their exams online (through a private student account) 24 hours a day. Once we receive the exam online, we are notified and are able to grade it quickly and upload it to the site where the student can then immediately view our extensive feedback in color. Students can either view it online or download the essay and print it out. Your exams are stored for you, so that you (and Bar None Review) can continually review your progress through the course. It is a wonderful feature. And, to date - until Mr. Molano - we have never had a student who was unable to utilize this feature, or any other feature of our site.

We never received a single essay uploaded by Mr. Molano to our website. (Yet he claims he submitted seven essays).

I could provide many examples of these kinds of problems, but I think limiting it to the three most significant problems will appropriately shed light on the situation that we were trying to deal with in working with Mr. Molano. We have never experienced this with any other student prior. The main problem here, as I see it, was this: Mr. Molano had many misunderstandings that none of our other students have ever had AND since we did not have a working phone number for Mr. Molano, we were never able to call him to remedy these misunderstandings.

For example, we provide written instructions for how to log into your student account (where our students are able to upload their essays for grading, access additional study materials, tips, post questions to our message board, etc.). For some reason, these instructions that none of our students before or since Mr. Molano had any trouble understanding, were not clear to Mr. Molano. We were ultimately able to resolve this issue when he called us and we were able to walk him through it. But, because we never had a working phone number for him, we could never call him or leave him a voice mail. Everything was limited to email contact. Unfortunately, the written instructions (I believe) were what Mr. Molano was having difficulty with, at least that is what the pattern suggested.

There are many other examples, but I do not feel it is necessary to include every reference. We are sorry that Mr. Molano's experience was not what he wanted or expected. But, his experience was due to his own failures in not having the correct set up to function online, by phone or by mail. Our hands were constantly tied.

To date, I have not ever been able to reach Mr. Molano by phone. One of the requirements of working with our students (which is stated in the contract each student signs) is that they must have daily access to an email account. We have now added that students must have a working phone number. Until Mr. Molano, it never occurred to us that someone would provide a non-working contact number to us.

If you are interested, I have also provided some additional background on my company and our expertise. Please feel free to contact me via email at: pass@barnonereview.com or by phone at: (562) 799-5581.

Lisa Duncanson
Founder/Program Director
Bar None Review
(562) 799-5581
blog: http://www.barexamguru.wordpress.com
website: http://www.barnonereview.com

ADDITIONAL COMPANY BACKGROUND:

Bar None Review is a full service bar review company providing review courses and tutoring for the California Bar Exam. We are the bar review choice for both students and law firms. Our bar review materials are required text at Western State University College of Law. Our books are sold at the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore. Visit Bar None Review on the web at: http://www.barnonereview.com

Lisa Duncanson is the founder and Program Director of Bar None Review. Duncanson is the author and co-author of 18 books. Her titles include: The Bar Exam Writing Template Book (ISBN 0-975-34725-X), The Performance Test Maximizer: A Guide to Mastering the Performance Test, The Essay Writer Series (A fourteen book series, The Essay Writer Series provides a comprehensive collection of essay exams and answers for each major area tested in law school and on the bar exam) and The California Bar Essay Workbook ( ISBN 0-975-34724-1, Two volume workbook containing over 100 past bar exam questions and answers).

Several of the above titles, including The Essay Writer Series are available for purchase through the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore, The Law Bookstore and will soon be available through Follett Campus Bookstores).

In addition to teaching and preparing students for the the bar exam, Duncanson a full service bar review company providing review courses and tutoring for the California Bar Exam. Visit Bar None Review on the web at:barnonereview.com

Duncanson is the author and co-author of 18 books. Her titles include: The Bar Exam Writing Template Book (ISBN 0-975-34725-X), The Performance Test Maximizer: A Guide to Mastering the Performance Test, The Essay Writer Series (A fourteen book series, The Essay Writer Series provides a comprehensive collection of essay exams and answers for each major area tested in law school and on the bar exam) and The California Bar Essay Workbook (ISBN 0-975-34724-1, Two volume workbook containing over 100 past bar exam questions and answers).

Several of the above titles, including The Essay Writer Series are available for purchase through the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore, The Law Bookstore and will soon be available through Follett Campus Bookstores).

In addition to teaching and preparing students for the the bar exam, Duncanson is an adjunct professor at three law schools in Southern California.

I am responding to a complaint lodged by "Joel M" regarding our First Year Law Student Exam Prep Course. This is also known as preparation for the "Baby Bar". This is a test that students who attend non-ABA accredited law schools must take at the end of their first year of law study to be allowed to continue their studies for the California bar exam. This exam is administered by the California Bar Examiners. It is a one day exam, that covers three first year topics: Criminal Law, Torts and Contracts. I felt it was necessary to include this background for those of you who may never have heard of the "Baby Bar".

First I would like to address this person's complaints. The complaints alleged by this person are completely untrue. While it is true that we could not reach this person by phone, this is because he NEVER provided us with a working phone number (please read below, where I have outlined just some of the many problems we had in attempting to serve this person) I have tried to be brief, and have limited it to three main problems. But, first some initial background.

BACKGROUND:

This student gave us multiple names during our interactions. One day it would be that he would go by "Eduardo", the next it was "Joel" and then the latest first name he used was "Joelle". The last name was always the same, Molano. So, I will refer to him here as Mr. Molano. While the multiple first name use, did strike me as a bit odd, we used the name under which he contracted with us for our services (despite the fact that phone messages left indicated otherwise and that emails would come to us using the different first names).

This was just one of the many problems we had in dealing with Mr. Molano, 1) not being able to have a consistent email address for him made it confusing, 2) this was further complicated by the fact that Mr. Molano's phone has never worked, not ever, and, 3) the mailing address which he provided to us was not reliable (details of how we attempted to work around his issues are provided below).

THERE WERE THREE MAIN PROBLEMS THAT OCCURRED WITH MR. MOLANO:

PROBLEM NUMBER ONE: NO WORKING PHONE:
To date, the phone number that was provided to us by Mr. Molano was never a working number. We received many explanations as to why this was the case, but never a solution. When I would call, or my staff would call the phone number that he provided to us we received either a dead line - where the phone would ring two or three times and then just go dead, or a busy signal.

For all of our students (whether home study, in person tutoring or our live classes) it is imperative that we are able to reach them by phone. This is particularly true with our home study students.

Here is just one of Mr. Molano's many explanations as to why his phone did not work, please see email below where he explains why his phone did not work on a given day, when we had a scheduled phone appointment (you can see the email that I sent to him below as well. I have deleted his phone number from his email - not that it would work anyway, but I have done so for his privacy):

"On Mar 18, 2008, at 7:09 PM, eduardo molano wrote:

Hello Ms. Duncanson!

The Rio Grande Valley area here has been experiencing horrible wind gusts of over 50mph and has damaged various types of lines. They seem to working alright as of this writing (2100 Hrs CST). I will receive your call at 1000 Hrs your time (1200 CST). Please forward email to confirm if this time is good for you; and please report cost that I should have available.

Joel MoLano

Bar None Review wrote:

Dear Mr. MoLano,

I have tried reaching you by phone, but keep getting a busy signal. I am wondering if I have the correct number for you. The number I have for you is: (956) XXX-XXXX. Please let me know if I have the correct number. I will be in my office all day today. Also, feel free to give me a call anytime. I do have a few phone appointments today, so if you do not reach me directly, just leave a message and I will get right back to you. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Sincerely,

Lisa Duncanson
Founder/Program Director
Bar None Review
(562) 799-5581
http://www.barnonereview.com
blog: http://www.barexamguru.wordpress.com


PROBLEM NUMBER 2: NO RELIABLE ADDRESS: The shipping address that Mr. Molano provided to us was not a an address where he could receive any packages without being physically present at the time of delivery. Unfortunately, Mr. Molano never apprised us of this situation, simply just told us to ship it, which we did.

We shipped the materials to Mr. Molano, our tracking information confirmed that the materials were in fact delivered. But, Mr. Molano did not not ever retrieve our shipment from the shipping center (we later found out it was a shipping center) where we were told to deliver the course materials. When we received his shipment returned, we of course called him to let him know - but we did not have a working phone number for him - so this method did not work. We also contacted Mr. Molano by email.

Mr. Molano called us, very agitated and yelled at us for not getting the materials to him in a timely fashion. When I told him that we did ship on time and that the materials were delivered, but then returned due to his failure to pick it up, it was only then that it occurred to him to mention to us that this was not his home address and that he had to be physically present at the time of delivery. He further explained (for the first time) that he could not get mail delivery at his home because he lived in a very remote area where such services are not provided.

After making arrangements with Mr. Molano to have the materials delivered a second time, he still felt that it was somehow Bar None Review's failure (despite the fact that we shipped and delivered to the address he asked us to ship to). As a result, I decided to reship the materials again, at NO CHARGE. In addition, to accommodate his need to be "physically present" at the time of delivery, I paid for overnight shipping with a 4 hour time frame (the shortest time frame that I could get from FED EX). None of this cost was passed onto Mr. Molano even though it was his failure in informing us of his unique situation, that caused the shipment to be returned.

PROBLEM NUMBER 3 - MR. MOLANO WAS NOT ABLE TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS (and this was further complicated by the fact that since Mr. Molano never provided us with a working phone number, I could not simply just call him back and try to find out why he was having a problem or further explain how to do something)

At Bar None Review, one of the many features of our online home study program that students love is that they can upload their exams online (through a private student account) 24 hours a day. Once we receive the exam online, we are notified and are able to grade it quickly and upload it to the site where the student can then immediately view our extensive feedback in color. Students can either view it online or download the essay and print it out. Your exams are stored for you, so that you (and Bar None Review) can continually review your progress through the course. It is a wonderful feature. And, to date - until Mr. Molano - we have never had a student who was unable to utilize this feature, or any other feature of our site.

We never received a single essay uploaded by Mr. Molano to our website. (Yet he claims he submitted seven essays).

I could provide many examples of these kinds of problems, but I think limiting it to the three most significant problems will appropriately shed light on the situation that we were trying to deal with in working with Mr. Molano. We have never experienced this with any other student prior. The main problem here, as I see it, was this: Mr. Molano had many misunderstandings that none of our other students have ever had AND since we did not have a working phone number for Mr. Molano, we were never able to call him to remedy these misunderstandings.

For example, we provide written instructions for how to log into your student account (where our students are able to upload their essays for grading, access additional study materials, tips, post questions to our message board, etc.). For some reason, these instructions that none of our students before or since Mr. Molano had any trouble understanding, were not clear to Mr. Molano. We were ultimately able to resolve this issue when he called us and we were able to walk him through it. But, because we never had a working phone number for him, we could never call him or leave him a voice mail. Everything was limited to email contact. Unfortunately, the written instructions (I believe) were what Mr. Molano was having difficulty with, at least that is what the pattern suggested.

There are many other examples, but I do not feel it is necessary to include every reference. We are sorry that Mr. Molano's experience was not what he wanted or expected. But, his experience was due to his own failures in not having the correct set up to function online, by phone or by mail. Our hands were constantly tied.

To date, I have not ever been able to reach Mr. Molano by phone. One of the requirements of working with our students (which is stated in the contract each student signs) is that they must have daily access to an email account. We have now added that students must have a working phone number. Until Mr. Molano, it never occurred to us that someone would provide a non-working contact number to us.

If you are interested, I have also provided some additional background on my company and our expertise. Please feel free to contact me via email at: pass@barnonereview.com or by phone at: (562) 799-5581.

Lisa Duncanson
Founder/Program Director
Bar None Review
(562) 799-5581
blog: http://www.barexamguru.wordpress.com
website: http://www.barnonereview.com

ADDITIONAL COMPANY BACKGROUND:

Bar None Review is a full service bar review company providing review courses and tutoring for the California Bar Exam. We are the bar review choice for both students and law firms. Our bar review materials are required text at Western State University College of Law. Our books are sold at the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore. Visit Bar None Review on the web at: http://www.barnonereview.com

Lisa Duncanson is the founder and Program Director of Bar None Review. Duncanson is the author and co-author of 18 books. Her titles include: The Bar Exam Writing Template Book (ISBN 0-975-34725-X), The Performance Test Maximizer: A Guide to Mastering the Performance Test, The Essay Writer Series (A fourteen book series, The Essay Writer Series provides a comprehensive collection of essay exams and answers for each major area tested in law school and on the bar exam) and The California Bar Essay Workbook ( ISBN 0-975-34724-1, Two volume workbook containing over 100 past bar exam questions and answers).

Several of the above titles, including The Essay Writer Series are available for purchase through the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore, The Law Bookstore and will soon be available through Follett Campus Bookstores).

In addition to teaching and preparing students for the the bar exam, Duncanson a full service bar review company providing review courses and tutoring for the California Bar Exam. Visit Bar None Review on the web at:barnonereview.com

Duncanson is the author and co-author of 18 books. Her titles include: The Bar Exam Writing Template Book (ISBN 0-975-34725-X), The Performance Test Maximizer: A Guide to Mastering the Performance Test, The Essay Writer Series (A fourteen book series, The Essay Writer Series provides a comprehensive collection of essay exams and answers for each major area tested in law school and on the bar exam) and The California Bar Essay Workbook (ISBN 0-975-34724-1, Two volume workbook containing over 100 past bar exam questions and answers).

Several of the above titles, including The Essay Writer Series are available for purchase through the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore, The Law Bookstore and will soon be available through Follett Campus Bookstores).

In addition to teaching and preparing students for the the bar exam, Duncanson is an adjunct professor at three law schools in Southern California.

Here are just a few of our pleased clients and their written testimonials:

"I PASSED!!!!!! I couldn't believe it (that MBE had me especially nervous) Anyway, I certainly could not have done it without your fantastic program and of course all of your personal help. I was writing on the first question within 5 minutes that first day thanks to you and that really set the pace for the entire exam - earthquake and all!"
Thank you again! Nicole O'Connor

HI Lisa,

I passed! I passed! I passed! I cannot even begin to thank you - not only for the wonderful instruction, but also for all the support and encouragement! Your class is truly amazing. I would recommend it to anyone having to go through this crazy experience!
Amanda Walker, Whittier Law School Grad

Lisa,

WE DID IT! I am so so so so so happy right now. Honestly Lisa, I would not have passed this bar without you and your guidance. Right before 6 pm my wife, mom, dad, and I stood around the computer screen, and I swear I felt as if I was going to pass out. Then my wife typed in the numbers and my name popped up, but we were all very very quiet for what felt like 10 seconds, and then all of a sudden we realized what just happened, and then suddenly we all erupted in screaming and hugging ( a scene only matched by a family winning a multi-million dollar lottery). It is without a doubt the exciting moment of my life. And I have you to thank for that moment. You are a brilliant professor, and I will never in all my life forget who helped me start my career.
Very truly yours,
Dara M. Khajavi, soon to be Esq.

Hi Lisa,

I passed! I passed! I passed!

I cannot even begin to thank you - not only for the wonderful instruction, but also for all the support and encouragement! Your class is truly amazing. I would recommend it to anyone having to go through this crazy experience!

I cannot thank you enough! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sincerely,
Amanda :)
Lisa, Thank you for your message. You and our class have been in my mind the last few days too. I was scared to death to check last night. But miracles of miracles I PASSED!!!!!! I couldn't believe it (that MBE had me especially nervous) Anyway, I certainly could not have done it without your fantastic program and of course all of your personal help. I was writing on the first question within 5 minutes that first day thanks to you and that really set the pace for the entire exam -earthquake and all. I look forward to hearing about our whole class.

Thank you again!
Nicole O'Connor:)
"I truly believe that you have perfected a method that is the best out there for bar takers. The other day I pulled out the Evidence outline just to review it. I wish I had had your materials for law school because I'm sure I would have been towards the top of the class had I understood exam writing like I do now - after your class. I can't thank you enough for getting me through the California bar exam on my first attempt!"

- Jeffrey Koontz, Esq.

"I could not have passed without you. The exam feedback, individual attention and the way you structure everything really pushed me over the top to pass. Finally, thanks to you, I passed!"

- Christina Bennett, Successful Feb 07 examinee

"Dear Bar None Review: I just received passing results on the California bar exam! As you well know, this was my first attempt. I knew that because I had waited 14 years to sit for the bar exam that I needed a program that would give me personal attention. I knew that I would not survive a program that consisted of video tapes no live instruction. Thank you for getting me through the bar exam! It's been 14 ears since I graduated from law school. I know I could not have done it without you! I'm incredibly happy and my Mom wants to personally thank you too!"

- Christie Cronenweth, Successful Feb 07 examinee

"Dear Lisa and Bar None Review,
Thank you from the bottom of my heart! The one-on-one attention, exam feedback and those templates made all the difference! Thank you so much!"

- Ivan Iles, Sucessful Feb 07 examinee

"Thank you for helping me attain the skills I needed to pass the California Bar Exam. The first time I prepared for the bar I took BarBri. With BarBri I had to learn by watching video tapes every day. I feel that BarBri was overall a poor learning experience. Your class and teaching style were completely different from my BarBri experience. With Bar None Review, I learned essay approaches for every subject, you provided me with a realistic study schedule that worked! Your instruction, prompt feedback, and encouragement made all the difference. I passed the exam! Your class without a doubt provided the necessary environment for me to learn important bar exam skills. I acquired the essay and performance test approaches and study habits I needed to pass the bar. I am sincerely grateful for having the opportunity to take Bar None Review. Thank you for your encouragement and guidance.

Very truly yours, Rina M. Gonzales, Esq."

"I have tried many bar programs before yours and I can honestly say that your program is the most effective. The combination of a small classroom atmosphere, 1 on 1 help, and those wonderful essay templates are a proven formula for success. I recommend this class to everyone.

-Jeff Shih, Esq."

"Dear Professor Duncanson,

I just found out that I passed the bar and wanted my first email to be to you. Thank you so much for all of your guidance and for believing in me. I truly believe that you have an amazing program with Bar None. I could not have done it without you! Thank you so much!"

Stacey Shaloub, Esq."

"To Professor Duncanson and Bar None Review:

I passed the bar exam! I am so grateful for your program and thank you so much for everything!"

Tamara Onwegbuzia"

"Bar None Review is the best bar review on the planet! Thanks to your program, I passed!

Scott Viguie, Esq."

"Dear Ms. Duncanson and Bar None Review,

As you know I had taken the California Bar Exam unsuccessfully four times. I found myself at a complete loss as to how I was ever going to be able to pass the California Bar Exam until I found you! The time you took with me personally and the guidance and support that you provided made all the difference to me. The approaches that you taught us in class and the materials that you drilled into my head paid off. I owe my passing all to you!"

- Melissa G., McGeorge School of Law"

"Dear Ms. Duncanson and Bar None Review,

Your exam templates were excellent! I felt so confident during the exam. I really don't think that I would have passed this time without your assistance. Thank you for making my second bar exam attempt my last!"

K. B."

"Professor Duncanson,

I am writing to inform you that my name appears on the list of successful applicants for the California Bar Exam. I credit you for these results. Thank you for everything.

Sincerely,

Amy N. - McGeorge School of Law"

"Dear Ms. Duncanson,

Thank you for getting me through the bar exam. I took a "big bar review course" on my first attempt. I sat through hours of video tapes and followed everything that I was told to do, but it didn't work for me. I needed a course that wouldn't make me sit through hours of video taped lectures where I could actually ask a question and get some feedback on my essays. I feel so lucky to have found your program. Your program was great and I am recommending it to everyone I know. Thank you! C.S. USC"

"Dear Ms. Duncanson and Bar None Review,

Thanks to you the ordeal is over... thank you for all of your help. I could not have done it without you."

B.A.S.

"Dear Bar None Review,

I am writing to express my gratitude to your company and excellent staff for preparing me to pass the California bar exam. My friends were all taking Bar Bri and I was tempted to do the same. I'll admit I wasn't sure if I was making the right choice - with everyone telling me that I should take the big course because it was the best. But after I spent just a few hours in class with Bar None Review I knew that I had made the right decision for my needs. I knew that I needed to have a professor and not a video taped series. Every class day in your program made me feel more and more prepared for the bar exam and more and more confident. Meanwhile, my friends were struggling to stay awake while watching video tapes and getting more and more nervous. I was motivated and coached and prepared by all of your staff and can now say that it was your company that got me through the bar exam in ONE ATTEMPT. I also want to thank Professor Shahon for making contracts understandable, Professor Cota for making Civil Procedure (which was on our test!) easy and Prof. Shinen for making me relax and especially, a huge thanks to Professor Duncanson for the mentoring and coaching. The bar exam templates rock! Thank you all so much! Christy"

I am responding to a complaint lodged by "Joel M" regarding our First Year Law Student Exam Prep Course. This is also known as preparation for the "Baby Bar". This is a test that students who attend non-ABA accredited law schools must take at the end of their first year of law study to be allowed to continue their studies for the California bar exam. This exam is administered by the California Bar Examiners. It is a one day exam, that covers three first year topics: Criminal Law, Torts and Contracts. I felt it was necessary to include this background for those of you who may never have heard of the "Baby Bar".

First I would like to address this person's complaints. The complaints alleged by this person are completely untrue. While it is true that we could not reach this person by phone, this is because he NEVER provided us with a working phone number (please read below, where I have outlined just some of the many problems we had in attempting to serve this person) I have tried to be brief, and have limited it to three main problems. But, first some initial background.

BACKGROUND:

This student gave us multiple names during our interactions. One day it would be that he would go by "Eduardo", the next it was "Joel" and then the latest first name he used was "Joelle". The last name was always the same, Molano. So, I will refer to him here as Mr. Molano. While the multiple first name use, did strike me as a bit odd, we used the name under which he contracted with us for our services (despite the fact that phone messages left indicated otherwise and that emails would come to us using the different first names).

This was just one of the many problems we had in dealing with Mr. Molano, 1) not being able to have a consistent email address for him made it confusing, 2) this was further complicated by the fact that Mr. Molano's phone has never worked, not ever, and, 3) the mailing address which he provided to us was not reliable (details of how we attempted to work around his issues are provided below).

THERE WERE THREE MAIN PROBLEMS THAT OCCURRED WITH MR. MOLANO:

PROBLEM NUMBER ONE: NO WORKING PHONE:
To date, the phone number that was provided to us by Mr. Molano was never a working number. We received many explanations as to why this was the case, but never a solution. When I would call, or my staff would call the phone number that he provided to us we received either a dead line - where the phone would ring two or three times and then just go dead, or a busy signal.

For all of our students (whether home study, in person tutoring or our live classes) it is imperative that we are able to reach them by phone. This is particularly true with our home study students.

Here is just one of Mr. Molano's many explanations as to why his phone did not work, please see email below where he explains why his phone did not work on a given day, when we had a scheduled phone appointment (you can see the email that I sent to him below as well. I have deleted his phone number from his email - not that it would work anyway, but I have done so for his privacy):

"On Mar 18, 2008, at 7:09 PM, eduardo molano wrote:

Hello Ms. Duncanson!

The Rio Grande Valley area here has been experiencing horrible wind gusts of over 50mph and has damaged various types of lines. They seem to working alright as of this writing (2100 Hrs CST). I will receive your call at 1000 Hrs your time (1200 CST). Please forward email to confirm if this time is good for you; and please report cost that I should have available.

Joel MoLano

Bar None Review wrote:

Dear Mr. MoLano,

I have tried reaching you by phone, but keep getting a busy signal. I am wondering if I have the correct number for you. The number I have for you is: (956) XXX-XXXX. Please let me know if I have the correct number. I will be in my office all day today. Also, feel free to give me a call anytime. I do have a few phone appointments today, so if you do not reach me directly, just leave a message and I will get right back to you. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Sincerely,

Lisa Duncanson
Founder/Program Director
Bar None Review
(562) 799-5581
http://www.barnonereview.com
blog: http://www.barexamguru.wordpress.com


PROBLEM NUMBER 2: NO RELIABLE ADDRESS: The shipping address that Mr. Molano provided to us was not a an address where he could receive any packages without being physically present at the time of delivery. Unfortunately, Mr. Molano never apprised us of this situation, simply just told us to ship it, which we did.

We shipped the materials to Mr. Molano, our tracking information confirmed that the materials were in fact delivered. But, Mr. Molano did not not ever retrieve our shipment from the shipping center (we later found out it was a shipping center) where we were told to deliver the course materials. When we received his shipment returned, we of course called him to let him know - but we did not have a working phone number for him - so this method did not work. We also contacted Mr. Molano by email.

Mr. Molano called us, very agitated and yelled at us for not getting the materials to him in a timely fashion. When I told him that we did ship on time and that the materials were delivered, but then returned due to his failure to pick it up, it was only then that it occurred to him to mention to us that this was not his home address and that he had to be physically present at the time of delivery. He further explained (for the first time) that he could not get mail delivery at his home because he lived in a very remote area where such services are not provided.

After making arrangements with Mr. Molano to have the materials delivered a second time, he still felt that it was somehow Bar None Review's failure (despite the fact that we shipped and delivered to the address he asked us to ship to). As a result, I decided to reship the materials again, at NO CHARGE. In addition, to accommodate his need to be "physically present" at the time of delivery, I paid for overnight shipping with a 4 hour time frame (the shortest time frame that I could get from FED EX). None of this cost was passed onto Mr. Molano even though it was his failure in informing us of his unique situation, that caused the shipment to be returned.

PROBLEM NUMBER 3 - MR. MOLANO WAS NOT ABLE TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS (and this was further complicated by the fact that since Mr. Molano never provided us with a working phone number, I could not simply just call him back and try to find out why he was having a problem or further explain how to do something)

At Bar None Review, one of the many features of our online home study program that students love is that they can upload their exams online (through a private student account) 24 hours a day. Once we receive the exam online, we are notified and are able to grade it quickly and upload it to the site where the student can then immediately view our extensive feedback in color. Students can either view it online or download the essay and print it out. Your exams are stored for you, so that you (and Bar None Review) can continually review your progress through the course. It is a wonderful feature. And, to date - until Mr. Molano - we have never had a student who was unable to utilize this feature, or any other feature of our site.

We never received a single essay uploaded by Mr. Molano to our website. (Yet he claims he submitted seven essays).

I could provide many examples of these kinds of problems, but I think limiting it to the three most significant problems will appropriately shed light on the situation that we were trying to deal with in working with Mr. Molano. We have never experienced this with any other student prior. The main problem here, as I see it, was this: Mr. Molano had many misunderstandings that none of our other students have ever had AND since we did not have a working phone number for Mr. Molano, we were never able to call him to remedy these misunderstandings.

For example, we provide written instructions for how to log into your student account (where our students are able to upload their essays for grading, access additional study materials, tips, post questions to our message board, etc.). For some reason, these instructions that none of our students before or since Mr. Molano had any trouble understanding, were not clear to Mr. Molano. We were ultimately able to resolve this issue when he called us and we were able to walk him through it. But, because we never had a working phone number for him, we could never call him or leave him a voice mail. Everything was limited to email contact. Unfortunately, the written instructions (I believe) were what Mr. Molano was having difficulty with, at least that is what the pattern suggested.

There are many other examples, but I do not feel it is necessary to include every reference. We are sorry that Mr. Molano's experience was not what he wanted or expected. But, his experience was due to his own failures in not having the correct set up to function online, by phone or by mail. Our hands were constantly tied.

To date, I have not ever been able to reach Mr. Molano by phone. One of the requirements of working with our students (which is stated in the contract each student signs) is that they must have daily access to an email account. We have now added that students must have a working phone number. Until Mr. Molano, it never occurred to us that someone would provide a non-working contact number to us.

If you are interested, I have also provided some additional background on my company and our expertise. Please feel free to contact me via email at: pass@barnonereview.com or by phone at: (562) 799-5581.

Lisa Duncanson
Founder/Program Director
Bar None Review
(562) 799-5581
blog: http://www.barexamguru.wordpress.com
website: http://www.barnonereview.com

ADDITIONAL COMPANY BACKGROUND:

Bar None Review is a full service bar review company providing review courses and tutoring for the California Bar Exam. We are the bar review choice for both students and law firms. Our bar review materials are required text at Western State University College of Law. Our books are sold at the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore. Visit Bar None Review on the web at: http://www.barnonereview.com

Lisa Duncanson is the founder and Program Director of Bar None Review. Duncanson is the author and co-author of 18 books. Her titles include: The Bar Exam Writing Template Book (ISBN 0-975-34725-X), The Performance Test Maximizer: A Guide to Mastering the Performance Test, The Essay Writer Series (A fourteen book series, The Essay Writer Series provides a comprehensive collection of essay exams and answers for each major area tested in law school and on the bar exam) and The California Bar Essay Workbook ( ISBN 0-975-34724-1, Two volume workbook containing over 100 past bar exam questions and answers).

Several of the above titles, including The Essay Writer Series are available for purchase through the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore, The Law Bookstore and will soon be available through Follett Campus Bookstores).

In addition to teaching and preparing students for the the bar exam, Duncanson a full service bar review company providing review courses and tutoring for the California Bar Exam. Visit Bar None Review on the web at:barnonereview.com

Duncanson is the author and co-author of 18 books. Her titles include: The Bar Exam Writing Template Book (ISBN 0-975-34725-X), The Performance Test Maximizer: A Guide to Mastering the Performance Test, The Essay Writer Series (A fourteen book series, The Essay Writer Series provides a comprehensive collection of essay exams and answers for each major area tested in law school and on the bar exam) and The California Bar Essay Workbook (ISBN 0-975-34724-1, Two volume workbook containing over 100 past bar exam questions and answers).

Several of the above titles, including The Essay Writer Series are available for purchase through the University of Hastings College of Law Bookstore, The Law Bookstore and will soon be available through Follett Campus Bookstores).

In addition to teaching and preparing students for the the bar exam, Duncanson is an adjunct professor at three law schools in Southern

I am responding to this report because I don't want others to ROB themselves of the blessing that BAR NONE Review truly is. I can not speak for the reader from Texas, as he was not satisfied in trying to pass the Baby bar. But, from someone who has a Juris Doctorate degree from an ABA accredited school recently (Fall 2007) and has sat for the California bar exam (although I did NOT go to law school in California)...if you allow this reader's experience to sway you, you may be bitter at yourself when you find yourself taking the California bar exam a second, third or perhaps a fourth time.

Some people have the ability to dedicate themselves to live classes for the Baby bar and the bar exam. However, if you are like myself, an everyday person who has a family, or who just has so much going on that your time and energy can't be spent in a classroom, BAR NONE REVIEW IS FOR YOU!

Lisa Duncanson and her staff are so supportive...they treat their students like family and it doesn't matter your location. I recall studying for the MPRE exam, a test I just didn't get the chance to do in law school. At any rate, I was enrolled in Bar None's home study program and I wasn't paying for assistance with the MPRE, just the BAR. Lisa overnighted me a book that was so helpful at no charge just because she wanted me to succeed. Note, I had never met Lisa or her staff in person as I don't live anywhere near southern California; in fact, at the time I was studying for the MPRE, I was only a part of the BAR NONE FAMILY (yes, family, because that is how they treat you) for barely a week. Lisa was encouraging, she sent me her own personal book, and I was so amazed. I of course passed the MPRE with flying colors, but I have to say it's not just because I am smart like that; I was in my third trimester of pregnancy, my husband had health issues and my oldest child just made two. If that wasn't enough we had a lot of personal issues in our family yet Lisa and her staff made my life so easy. By the way, I just took the MPRE in November of 2008 so this is fairly recent experience I am speaking of.

Also, let BAR NONE Review's work speak for itself. ALL STUDENTS, home study or otherwise, passed the July 2008 bar exam. Not even BARBRI can gaurantee that type of result. As the California bar exam results are released this weekend, you will be amazed to see how many people were blessed because of the work that Lisa and her staff are doing. I challenge each of you to check out her free blogs and free downloads and see how they may help you before you allow the experience of someone who may not even be as far educated as you to allow you to rob yourself of the personal touch that BAR NONE Review gives.

There is so much more I want to say AND WILL! In fact, I will write my own review about BAR NONE shortly. However, I just had to respond to this message because I know that people take this site seriously and I LOVE OUR profession. I have wanted to be a lawyer since the age of five and I care about the success of my colleagues. I have participated in other law review courses through both law school and after...I even was a paid rep for a couple of popular ones but none of them were as effective as Bar None Review.

Let me also say this, I usually NEVER post my name on internet related things because you never know how this could spend. However, I will gladly post my email or any other information for anyone interested in trying to become a lawyer in California. Lisa took the California bar exam YEARS ago, like many other bar review professionals. However, just to make sure she was in tune with her students, she retook the California bar exam in February 2008 and passed with flying colors.

If you are like me and so many others whose time is valuable, then Bar None's Home study review course is for you. Please be prepared to read my report that WILL be posted within the next weekend. As you see my personal story and success, you will see that if I can be successful then anyone can. My success comes from hard work, determination, preparation and encouragement. Many of these things are traits that you have to have in yourself to be successful, however, it helps when you are enrolled in a bar review course with people who treat your success as your own. Lisa and her crew treated me like we were family although we've never physically met in person.

DON'T ROB YOURSELF OF SUCCESS...TAKE THE TIME TO CHECK THINGS OUT FOR YOURSELF! The young man from Texas spoke of a BAD experience, but his experience can't possibly be due to the professionalism or work of LISA or any of the BAR NONE REVIEW STAFF. If you don't need assistance studying for the CA bar exam, then his report or my response doesn't matter. But if you are looking to be successful on the upcoming exam or even a later one in the state of California, BAR NONE REVIEW is for you!

~Sincerely caring for your success too...
La Kerie

P.S.: Look for my report in the next week or so. Feel free to respond to me personally if you want more info. I will glady share my story with you. If I can do it, you can too!