Universal Accounting Centers ripoff Refused Iron-clad Refund Salt Lake City Utah

We purchased Universal Accounting Center bookkeeping and tax course materials at a live Universal Accounting Center seminar in Houston, Texas on February 25, 2006 for the seminar price of $2687.00.

Universal's Iron-clad Guarantee: If, after completing the course, you feel the course didn't meet you expectations, simply return all course materials to Universal Accounting Center for a 100% refund of all monies paid.

During the seminar we where advised that the Iron-clan Guarantee printed on the front and back of the sales contract that we could return the course materials for a full refund at any time if they did not meet our expectations. For us that provided some assurance that their product would be everything they said it would and gave us a safety net if it was not. Upon receiving the course materials several weeks later we promptly reviewed the materials A-Z and found them to be wholly inadequate and did not meet our expectations based on what we believe was promised during the live seminar.

After completing a comprehensive analysis of the materials we called Universal Accounting Center and advised them that the course materials did not meet our expectations and requested and received a Return Authorization Number. The company took receipt of the returned materials and then immediately attempted to send the materials back to us stating that based on their assessment we did not complete the course to their standards and therefore did not qualify for the Iron-clad Guarantee. We refused to take delivery of this second shipment.

The purchase agreement we signed at the point of sale does not provide any definition or qualification regarding what comprises completing the course. It was only after the purchase agreement was executed that Universal Accounting Centers attempted to amend the terms and demand that we answer all questions in the course workbooks and take an exam to prove we completed the coursework to their satisfaction. None of these conditions are specified anywhere on the purchase agreement, nor where they discussed or mentioned by the presenters during the seminar.

Universal Accounting then advised us that their web page contains full details regarding their return policies. It fell on deaf ears when we advised the customer service representative at Universal Accounting that we did not purchase the courses via there web page, but at a live seminar where no such policies details where available to us at the point of time we entered into the purchase agreement.

Eventually they offered to refund us our money minus a 20% ($537.40) restocking fee. We flatly refused stating this fell far short of the 100% of all monies paid statement in their Iron-clad Guarantee.

We believe this to be a blatant attempt by Universal Accounting Center to circumvent their legal obligations under their own Iron-clad Guarantee. Without any legal qualification within the actual purchase agreement of what completing the course comprises; it is left to interpretation. Without contractual qualification, we believe the act of performing a comprehensive review of the course materials and finding that they did not meet our expectations fulfilled our obligation of completing the course for our purposes.

After several attempts at trying to resolve this dispute directly with Universal Accounting Center customer service, we where left with no choice but to pursue the matter directly with our credit card company. It is truly unfortunate that companies such as Universal Accounting do not live up to their so called Iron-clad Guarantees by trying to amend the rules of their guarantees after they have your money. A simple paragraph within the purchase agreement stating their completion standards would go a long way to avoiding such situations down the road.

Andrew
Pinehurst, Texas
U.S.A.