Art Institute Of Pittsburgh Online Division Don't give them your number Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

Phone calls phone calls phone calls, this school is a joke. I asked for some paper information to be mailed to me with the comment DO NOT CONTACT BY PHONE in the contact line. Some guy would call me numerous times a day... literally 3 times a day for over 7 months. When I started an argument with a representitive he refered to it as persistent. I correct him as being Annoying. Still they would call, I however found out how to stop them from calling... I contacted the FCC and filed a formal complaint, I started calling and emailing them back and just speaking nonsense to see how they liked having their phone and email flooded with junk and I'm currently in the process of billing them for their calling and using my phone, my means of calling my phone they're using my handset ie. equipment, my services are speaking with me and my fee's are $50 per 30 seconds. They have stopped calling now. 

I was interested in the photography courses offered by them and request information. They called me the next day. After a long and lengthy application process over the phone, where the adviser gave me an online tour of the program and talked nonstop for over an hour, I applied for admission. I didn't get as far as FAFSA because I had things I had to do. So I said I would get to it later, but I really didn't have time to do anything with school for another 2 months due to personal issue going on at that time.

In the weeks following, my "adviser" called me nonstop, oftentimes 3-4 times each day. He never called past about 6 pm (California time), but the daily barrage of calls was still enough to drive me insane.

Then I acquired a new job, my husband was deploying, we had visitors, and life changing events ensued so I was just ignoring the calls for a while. I simply didn't have time to talk and I had already explained to the adviser that I didn't want to do anything about school/enrollment until March or April. But he kept calling back, telling me that classes started in a few days...so on and so forth. Then he called back telling me I had been charged for the new semester. I checked all of our bank accounts and couldn't for the life of me find any charges from the school, so I almost wonder if that was just a way to get me to call back. The calls started to trickle off after that.

A week after my husband left I hadn't gotten calls from him for a while and I thought maybe he had just taken my name and number out of the database. But then he called back. At first he was nice, asking me why I wasn't returning his calls. I told him I was under a lot of stress with my new job, husband's military service, family visits, and going to a community college and that I wasn't pursuing a degree at their school anymore. But he just wouldn't accept that as an answer. He starting asking me personal questions about why I was no longer interested in photography, what has happened in my life, etc...things I just found to be an invasion of privacy.

I mentioned to him that my husband had just gone overseas and I was working full time, and that's when he launched into what sounded like a pre-rehearsed marketing speech to "sell" the school to me. He kept asking me why I couldn't dedicate 3-4 hours a week to online classes. I finally admitted that the real turn off was the cost of the school. He got kinda defensive after that and demanded to know how I knew the cost of the school. I told him I had heard from a friend of mine at the school how much she was paying, and that I had looked up the cost per class on the internet (all the sources I looked at put it in the range of $1,000-$1,500 per course, which is about $400 per credit hour).

That's when he got a little rude and said there was no way for me to know the cost of the school because I hadn't returned any of his calls. Then he asked me why I was turning down a "free" education (mind you, there's no guarantee it would be free, as that depended entirely on government aid I qualified for). I didn't want to deal with him anymore so I just said "I don't know".

That's when he got really weird and started acting somewhat rude, saying that I wouldn't have any skills unless I went to school (primarily HIS school), and that he didn't see how a 19 year old married girl could have very many responsibilities (which, by the way, I'm much older than 19). Then he said and I quote this directly from him "I have an 11 year old daughter who has a better understanding of life than you do."

He started to say something after wards, but I didn't stick around and just hung up.

If the Art Institute of Pittsburgh (or any for-profit school for that matter) wants to actually make a profit off of the students they guilt into applying, it would behoove them not to insult those potential students over the phone.

I first gave them my cell number about three years before I actually spoke to anyone from the Art Institute Online. They sent me the information immediately to my email address. I received a message on my voicemail from them later that week. I didn't call them back and I didn't get any more calls from them, not even one, until a year later. Still didn't answer but recieved a voicemail message. Didn't receive another call until approximately 6 months later. I answered the call that third time, and talked for a few mintues but said I was uncertain at the time and they didn't call me againn until I had actually went to their website (some months later) and filled out an application, using the email address I had originally signed up with. Obviously they saw that and so I received a call and talked with them for the second time. That was about 3 years after I first gave them my number. Even when I was filling everything out and working with them going through the details of things, I never got "6 or 7" calls in a day, even when I didnt answer. The most I ever got in one day was 3 and that was when we were going over important details and I was planning on starting there. But before, when I didn't show much interest, I was never bothered by them. So I'm not sure who this person is talking to but it doesn't seem like the Art Institute Online- not even close to my experience. This seems like a great online school, and it is regionally accredited, which is the preferred type of accreditation, unlike many online schools. So if you are interested, I don't suggest that you let this person scare you from this place.

As an employee, I really doubt that it is appropriate to be confirming who is or isn't in your "database" while responding to complaints in an public forum.

Just a few other comments;

"That John, Is a lie." the 'I' in is shouldn't be capitalized

"perhaps may it be" is redundant

"How you may ask Your one of the 'students' in my database. I" 'Your' shouldn't be capitalized and should be spelled 'you're.'

"Dont lie to get people to feel sorry for you." 'Dont' is a contraction and should be spelled 'Don't.' Same with 'youre', 'Im' and 'dont'.

"However Im sure you were one of the people that yell and scream or simply hang up. We're just trying to do our jobs."

Carloline, have you ever thought that getting yelled and screamed at as a ADA might suggest that your *job* may be one that is damaging to yourself and the people doing the yelling?

The fact remains that the Art Institute of Pittsburgh is massively-over-priced diploma-mill that leaves most of its students shakled with crushing debt and pathetic job prospects in their respective fields of study.

Best of Luck and have a wonderful day :)

That John, Is a lie. You may wonder how I know, but by perhaps may it be coincidence I actually stumbled upon this and I was like I know that name...

How you may ask Your one of the "students" in my database. I have never been in the office past 8pm making it very hard to call you past that time.
Dont lie to get people to feel sorry for you.
If youre not interested simply say you know what Im not interested please take me off the list. Most ADA's will. However Im sure you were one of the people that yell and scream or simply hang up. We're just trying to do our jobs.

Why dont you try being friendly for once. It will get you alot farther in life.

Best of Luck and have a wonderful day :)