Penn Foster pennfoster.edu Claims to prepare you for private investigation. Not possible with material 10yrs old. Canceled within 30days, was charged ridiculous fees.  Internet

PennFoster offers a course in private investigation and claims "This program will prepare you to successfully perform private investigator duties." yet the course material is outdated.  The first set of physical learning materials I received held a 2003 copyright which I feel is outdated for a course which deals with such a profession.

As a private investigator it is EXTREMELY important to be properly educated regarding CURRENT laws and legal procedures to avoid charges of stalking, harassment, invasion of privacy, theft, etc.     

Based on the coursework being what I feel is outdated and therefore unable to truly prepare me "to perform private investigator duties" I decided to cancel my course.  I enrolled on the 5th of August and canceled on the 26th of August. Essentially I was enrolled for three weeks and was shipped one set of materials which I had utilized so I would have expected to pay for those materials.  Yet the fee to cancel was just as inapproriate as their claims to "prepare you to successfully perform private investigator duties".   

I explained to the "supervisor" that I felt the course was outdated and I would like to learn about the cancellation policy.  He stated that according to the school's policy and contract that the amount I would owe if I decided to cancel was $245.75 which did not include the $100 I had already paid.  Of course shocked by the exorbitant fee to cancel I then asked if there was no consideration in regard to the course material being outdated.

The "supervisor" then stated that they were not required to update the material because the accreditation council had not yet required it.  I feel even if if the Distance Education Training Council has not required PennFoster to update the material they should still uphold an honest and appropriate business ethic and present a professional, useful and accurate education for the student.      

Clearly the Private Investigation course is lacking if they do not update educational material applying to a profession which would cause the individual the need to have the proper knowledge of laws and legal procedures.  PennFoster has been in business for over 100 years and seems to have forgotten along the way that they are educating and preparing their students for real professions which require pertinent knowledge and training.  They have failed in my experience and I strongly advise against choosing to obtain education from www.pennfoster.edu unless all of the proper questions are first asked.  Even those questions which may seem unnecessary such as "When was the last time this course material was updated?"

At this time I have paid the cancellation fee which I do not feel was appropriate.  Additionally, I am attempting to contact the Higher Education Training Council regarding what I believe is an unintentional oversight to require such information to be updated more frequently allowing schools such as PennFoster to not update material which could be critical to the position the student is training for.  However I want to again state that while the council has not required PennFoster to update the material it clearly needs to be updated and PennFoster should take the initiative and stand behind their courses and offer a quality education.