The Academic Advantage Horrible scam for both tutors and students Chicago Illinois

I was drawn to this company for a chance to make my own schedule and for the 17$/hour pay. I am a graduate student so I thought I was smart enough to figure out that this wasn't a scam and to navigate the paperwork/attention to detail, etc.

Chicago Public School students needed 26 hours each to receive their laptops to be completed by June 1-June 30th, 2012. I told management as of June 1 that I would be unable to complete the required hours for each student because I was scheduled to tutor 7 students and drove from the suburbs to the south side of Chicago, sometimes tutoring 7 days a week. Between the parents’ (students’) schedules and mine, I realized there was no way to make this work (only one of my Chicago public students completed the full 26 hours).

I was mislead by management from the beginning and was told 'Not to worry' and just to 'try and complete as many hours as possible'. 

Now I am having angry parents texting/calling me and asking me why their child cannot receive a laptop. I am upset and angry that I was so mislead by the management, because even though I got paid for all my hours and received all my money (after much deliberation and constant harassing of the LA staff because the Chicago office had split town after being there for a mere 2 months- go figure)- 5 of my students will not be getting laptops because we did not complete the full 26 hours, due to the fact that the management isn't up front about this policy because they don't want to 'discourage tutors from taking students'.

This company has very questionable ethics that they would try to force young kids to have a rigorous tutoring schedule in the summer, give them only 30 days to complete it and then not hold up their end of the bargain by withholding the promised laptops.

The Academic Advantage is a scam of a company and  takes advantage of poor kids who have nothing, promising them  a laptop as a reward for working hard and then snatching it away at the end of the month. Unfortunately this company fooled me and therefore implicated me in their abhorrent ethics so that I am having to explain to children why even though I have been promising them a laptop all month, in actuality they aren't receiving anything.

The management were constantly rude to me and gave me the run-around when I tried to breach this problem with them. I pleaded to talk to someone higher up in the company but was always given the same office staff to talk to, who were uncaring, rude and although they admitted to letting me go on like this, no recourse or apologies were made to me or any of the parents that I worked with.

To date, I am joining in a class action lawsuit against them so hopefully some justice can be served.