Universal Accounting Universal Accounting Center Universal Accounting's IRON-CLAD Guarantee is a SCAM Salt Lake City, Utah

Hands down, Universal Accounting is the most predatory company I have ever had the displeasure of doing business with. Allow me to explain.

All I was looking to do was explore the possibility of starting my own business, having recently been laid off from the hard hit construction industry. Had I known then what I know now about UA, I would have left the high-pressure sales pitch in the hotel conference room where it was conducted like a scalded dog, and instead taken accounting courses from the local community college. My recommendation to you, if you are interested in exploring the possibility of getting into the field of accounting, would be to take the community college route. I would NEVER, and I mean NEVER deal with UA again, nor recommend that anyone else does either.

Dont get me wrong, they tout their 30 years in business, and technically speaking, their IRON-CLAD guarantee is probably just this side of legalmaybe. In reality, however, their guarantee is a scam. They go to extreme measures to make triggering their return policy as difficult, arduous, and as next-to-impossible as possible. Nowhere in the contract does it stipulate that you have to take all their on-line tests in order to prove that you have completed the course. But thats a requirement that is indicated in their website under their conditions for return. Let me just say this: as a matter of personal privacy, I wont, nor will anyone compel me, to take anybodys on-line tests. Im no lawyer, but my laymans knowledge of the law makes me pretty certain that requiring me to take on-line tests as a condition of invoking my return rights isnt legally binding. I will be legally challenging their definition of course completion.

It isnt like you bought a house, or a car for that matter, from them. I mean, you can sign up for a college accounting course, and, if it isnt for you, or for some reason you cant complete the course, they will still give you a refund of your fees, and you can still sell your books back, without making you turn in all the homework and taking the final first. I mean, I had to break an apartment lease several years ago when I moved back to my home town to be with my mom after my father passed away. In a worst-case scenario, the apartment complex could legally have charged for any months that the unit went unoccupied after I moved out, up until the end of the lease term. Instead, they took a customer service approach and penalized me for one additional months rent as compensation. UA could easily take back all course materials, at least any that are in re-sellable condition, but they dont. They go for broke, taking a scorched-earth policy whereby they set up nearly impossible conditions for honoring a refund.

Heres what I mean. I purchased the full course offerings, and was going to pay it off on a credit card, because Mr. High Pressure Sales Slickster said that I would receive deep discounts and other incentives ONLY if I made purchases on the spot (again, in retrospect, that should have been the first warning, but Mr. Sales Slickster was very re-assuring, and emphasized the IRON-CLAD money back guarantee. I have no comparable experience in dealing with a company with business practices as predatory as UAs). Now, if I go through Universal Accountings Accounting Basics Course, and after evaluating it determine that either a.) I have no further interest in pursuing a career in the accounting field, or b.) the value of their educational materials are not worth the money they are charging, then riddle me this: why would I then matriculate through the QuickBooks course or the Marketing course, after determining that the program wasnt for me, which were the exact words of Mr. Sales Slickster? You see, thats where their guarantee is a sham: if I know after going through the first course that the field of accounting isnt for me, and I want a refund, why would I then continue on with studying the QuickBooks course or Marketing course? Well, the only reason, according to their not-worth-the-paper-its-printed-on IRON-CLAD guarantee would be so that I would be able to return those additional courses for a refund. That, my friends, is called a S-C-A-M.

I requested a refund, and was then referred to the section of their website where I found their ridiculous terms and conditions for returning the course materials for a refund. After going online and seeing that my issue seemed to be a prevalent one on internet consumer grievance websites, I contacted my credit card company to halt future monthly charges from UA. So, since I am now in default with my payments, they have just one more justification, according to their policies, for not honoring their sham guarantee. I thoroughly expect that they will turn my account over to collections. I wouldnt doubt that the collection agency is one of their subsidiaries, since I am willing to bet that there are a lot of people that recognize them for the scam they are and stop making payments after UA makes invoking their guarantee next to impossible.

So we are likely heading to collections, which is unfortunate because I am trying to buy a house in the next year or two and this will obviously create a blemish on my credit record. I mean, what a hassle this ordeal is turning out to be. I simply wanted to explore the potential of starting an accounting business, and now I have to go through all this rigmarole because of UAs predatory consumer practices. Life is hard enough, and I am now back to working in the construction industry, which is stressful enough, but now I have this I am dealing with as well.

I am currently in the process of filing a Small Claims Court lawsuit in my state (the stipulation in their contract that all legal action must occur in their home state of Utah isnt legally binding just because they add it into their sales contract and therefore say it is, especially if they come to my home state of California to conduct sale seminars, but of course, this is just one more example of them trying to tilt the playing field and make all contract terms as favorable to themselves and as consumer UN-friendly as possible). I will also be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and if necessary, taking this to the Attorneys General of both the State of California and the State of Utah.