Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/02/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  October 12, 2023 $729.00 Training material for grant writing. Subject: Serious Concerns Regarding Grant writing training program from American Grant Writers Association (AGWA) - Quality of Materials, Instructors, and **************** The business did not resolve issue and is dismissive and unprofessional.Order Number: ****************** Please find explanation in the attached documents. I can email word document for better viewing. The plateform does not allow this option.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/04/2024

  Re:Ms. **************;      ID of ********.
  
  1.Quality of Materials,
  R.The course materials in the most rent section for the student had five or less word misspelled.
  These texts were just added and had not had our editor spell check.
  None of the misspelling obscured the meaning or understanding of the text.
  The rest of the 150+ text did not have any spelling errors.
  
  2.Instructors
  R.The instructor for this course has 30 years of grant writing experience and 25 yearsexperience in teaching this very course. This instructor commonly receives the highest ratings, complements, and gratitude from students. We have thousands of student comments to support this.
  ********************* has not shown any evidence to support her claim.
  
  3.Customer Service  
  The email thread below demonstrates that AGWA politely acknowledged and listened to **********************, took them seriously, and acted upon them immediately. AGWA then quickly provided *************************** with a fully updated version.
  AGWA never heard back from ********************** once her concerns were addressed.
  
  4.The business did not resolve issue and is dismissive and unprofessional.
  *********** did resolve her issue. Her issue was that there were a couple of words misspelled. AGWA immediate reviewed, amended, and resent the revised version.
  
  The email thread below will demonstrate that AGWA was always concerned and attentive to
  ********************* feelings, and acted in a polite and professional manner.
  
  12/13/23          10:40 am         Wednesday
  Please get in touch with me so I can discuss my concerns.
  Thank you, and have a blessed day!
  Dr.***
  
  12/13/23          10:57 am
  Would you please provide some examples so that I am able to understand your concerns better?
  AGWA
  
  Later that day ********************** called AGWA to discuss her concern. Shortly into the conversation Ms. *************** expressed that he did not want to hear any feedback or response from AGWA; that she just wanted to express her emotions. AGWA respected her request, listened quietly, then ended the all when she was finished talking.
  
  12/14/23
  ***,
  Thank you for your comments and suggestions.
  The few spelling errors you have identified have been amended in the 4th quarter review.
  This text was added just a short time ago, which is why it was not pied up on the 3rd quarter review.
  That said, a few misspellings in total text of over 150 pages does merit a full refund of the registration fee.
  The common process is to send an updated text version and give you some extra time to complete the course.
  
  12/16/23          Saturday
  Good morning!
  I am requesting the updated training materials for section 3 as indicated as the common practice in your previous email.
  Thank you, and have a blessed day!
  Rui
  
  12/18/23          Monday
  Section 3, part 1 course materials attached.
  
  AGWA has had no further contact with  ********************* after we sent this email.
  
  As stated several times, a few misspelled words in a 150+ page document, is no cause for a refund.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/08/2024

   
  Complaint: 21084849
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Response

  
  Based on the response from AGWA, it is obvious that the responder is demonstrating the organization's lack of attention and care for providing a high-quality product. The responder's insistence on only having five or fewer misspellings demonstrates unprofessionalism because the responder did not bother to review the evidence I provided. The screenshots of errors I provided just from scrolling through section 3 included more than a dozen errors (beyond the five previous ones I pointed out and were hastily corrected by the organizational member). Furthermore, based on the responder's reply, it is evident that the individual is unable to communicate, which is in keeping with the poor quality of training materials I purchased at a high price.
  
  Issue with instructors
  
  Simply throwing out years and the supposed claims of high acclaim do not make it so because it is circular reasoning. However, I did provide reviews of AGWA that reflected my experience (there are quite a few bad reviews out there, including the one filed with the BBB). Again, they should look at the evidence I included with my first email to the BBB and perhaps ****** themselves.
  Example 1:
  R. The course materials in the most rent section for the student had five or less word misspelled.
   These texts were just added and had not had our editor spell check.
  I am not certain what rent section means. This type of wording is found throughout the training material and email responses from the instructor(s).
  'Less word' is grammatically incorrect. It should be less words if we do not go into the awkward wording, which is not in keeping with the *** writing standards (as demanded and taught by their own training material).
  The sentence 'These texts were just added and had not had our editor spell check' is so poorly written and constructed that the claimed academically oriented/educated individual(s) who wrote the reply effectively shows the absurdity of their claim.
  Using years of experience as a way of establishing quality is nonsensical because the instructor could not even write a concise and well-written email to support this claim. Years and quality are two different things and should not be conflated. 
  
  Example 2.
       **** americangrantwriters.org <****@americangrantwriters.org>
  
     Nov 14, 2023, 5:09 PM
  
  
  Strategies: Organize mixers, coffee meetup
  It is unlikely that funders will give you there hard-earned money so that you can have parties.
  The funders are looking for real intervention strategies.
  
  This is just one of many examples of the instructor's lackluster mastery of the English language. The instructor does not seem to know the difference between their and there or their appropriate usage. How can someone of this level of unprofessionalism teach the demands of producing high-quality writing while also using low-quality material? This is a false advertisement of training quality and the standards the organization promotes they deliver.
  
  Customer service
  
  The use of my lack of further communications should never be confused or misrepresented as me being satisfied with the handling of AGWA's egregious unprofessionalism and low-quality materials. I did not respond because I did not want to subject myself to their unethical and unscrupulous behaviors.
  
  The responder's insistence of 'a couple of words misspelled' is a farce if they had just bothered to review what I submitted to the BBB. I am more than willing to forward the emails with the documents attached so that others can see in plain view the hideously low-quality materials sold at a high price. The deliberate decrease in their own mistakes, even within the reply, is demonstrative of their willingness to brush off their responsibility instead of fixing their mistakes to provide the quality training as advertised. Lazy, unethical, and unprofessional are just a few of the words I can use to describe such behaviors. Furthermore, the responder tried to use my professionally written and polite responses to represent their professionalism, which is, in a phrase, morally corrupt. Do not confuse my professionalism and present it as your own because they are not the same.
  In closing, it is not just a "few' misspelled words but rather a countless number of misspelled words, grammatical errors,unprofessional delivery of content, low-quality constructed materials, etc.,that propelled me to file my grievance with the BBB. As previously stated, I am willing to forward all initial emails with the training material attached and allow others to see it for themselves. Any professional can easily find the proof without exerting effort. Based on the collection of issues I pointed out,I am requesting a full refund.
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  Business Response

  Date: 01/09/2024

  Tell us why hC. Based on the response from AGWA, it is obvious that the responder is demonstrating the organization's lack of attention and care for providing a high-quality product.
  R.This is a false statement. In fat, AGWA demonstrated that we listened to **********************, took he concern seriously. This is demonstrated in the email thread where AGWA immediately reviewed and amended our text and re-sent the amended materials to ********************** within one day.
  
  C.misspellings demonstrates unprofessionalism
  R.The few misspellings, which were immediately amended, did not impact the understanding of the text. ********************** was not harmed or affected in actual or intended learning in any way.
  
  C. Furthermore, based on the responder's reply, it is evident that the individual is unable to communicate, which is in keeping with the poor quality of training materials I purchased at a high price.
  R.AGWA does not understand what evidence there is of the inability to communicate.
  The instructor of this course has been communicating clearly with students for the pat two decades.
  The major part of communication is listening. ****, and instructors have demonstrated listening to, and hearing ********************** concerns by
  1.immediately addressing her issues on the misspellings and
  2.listening to hear express her concerns on a phone call and not verbally providing feedback when she requested u not to say anything.
  
  
  In the end, ********************** fully understood all of the words in the text and understood the meaning of all of the text. This did not impair her ability to learn.
  A few misspelled words, which were fully understood, is not cause for a full refund.
  
  AGWA fully stands by the Refund Policy posted on the website, available for anyone to read prior to registering for the course.
  At the time of regulation, ********************** indicated that she had ad, understood,and will the follow AGWA Refund Policy.
  
  Because there was no harm to leaning, and ********************** concerns were addressed immediately, no refund is due.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/12/2024

   
  Complaint: 21084849
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  1. AWGA SHOULD NOT BE TRUSTED. ****'s response that the organization's representative and the corresponding responses do not demonstrate their collective inability and lack of attention to detail is in itself an embracement for any organization claiming to be professional and capable of delivering high-quality training. Their representative is obviously unable to produce a sentence at a level that demonstrates professionalism, even at a minimum level. Please take a look at the second sentence of the first response. (There are similar mistakes throughout the entire response and countless mistakes throughout the training material (all sections).)
  
  The responder writes, "In fat, AGWA demonstrated that we listened to **********************, took he concern seriously." What kind of a sentence is this?
  
  Again, the re-sent material only corrected a few of the errors I pointed out and left out one of the most egregious mistakes, promoting the use of outdated APA standards. Whoever is responding in an elementary voice and with non-existent professionalism has obviously yet to review the evidence I submitted, even after reiterating the request. 
  
  2. The claim of no harm done and only a few misspellings
  
  A review of their low-grade content would yield countless errors that are found throughout the material. However, it has become painfully evident that they would instead post shockingly ill-written responses and continue to cheat present and future students rather than take responsibility to correct their mistakes.

  
  The amusing fact that the organization's representative is willing to embarrass the entire organization by posting such hideously constructed communication and poorly supported claims is evidence of their unprofessionalism and unethical behaviors as a whole.

  
  Finally, I would not have filed a complaint with the BBB if I had not been concerned and AWGA had not caused harm (I will use the word they used). AWGA does not speak for me, nor will they in the future.
  
  3. Inability to communicate (AWGA members remain behind anonymity)
  
  Once again, the responder is using circular reasoning as proof to say they can communicate. Who is the instructor? Is it just one instructor? The responder can be saying this about anyone, which may or may not be accurate. Therefore, just because the responder wrote it does not mean it is true. What do two decades have to do with anything? There are plenty of cheats that have been doing business for longer than two decades. Length of operation does not equate with quality or the ability to communicate. Please read your responses. 

  
  Please note what the responder wrote, "communicating clearly with students for the pat two decades." How can a professional organization justify its professionalism when its representative is proud of the writing of this quality?

  
  AWGA did not address my concerns right away or listen to me. In fact, the 'customer' service personnel hung up on me.
  
  
  4. Their claim about having been fully understood
  
  Based on my complaint, it should be obvious that their material is of such low quality that it impeded the transfer of knowledge for the subject matter. Additionally, while I may have been able to infer some level of the information, I had to take extra time to **** through the horribly written material, which demonstrates my personal pursuit to learn, not their ability to teach or provide quality training. Do not confuse my intelligence with AWGA's laziness as a whole, unethical business practice, or obvious dishonest representation of the quality of their organization. I felt like a code breaker trying to piecemeal information comparable to WWII code breakers. I did not pay to get trained in code-breaking. However, I was forcibly made to break code that looked like it was written in English.

  
  AWAG's responder has repeated the phrase 'few mistakes' as a vain attempt to make true of what it is not. The responder has demonstrated/proved through circular reasoning, denial, and dishonesty in the responses to be a deliberate attempt to continue to misrepresent themselves and falsely advertise their training material as high-quality.  
  
  5. Full refund
  
  ****'s refund policy can only be honored when they honor half of the agreement, which is to deliver the high-quality and professional training they advertised it to be with evidence of the fact. However, they did not honor the advertised quality, rendering their policy null and void.  

  
  AWGA's claim of providing immediate remedies is obviously false. Please see previous complaints on the BBB site and other reviews reflecting my experience on the Internet.
  
  6. In closing, the time I have had to put into rebutting AWGA's poorly written refusal to take responsibility is harmful in and of itself. I do not have to disclose to the world the harm AWGA has caused me. Please do know that (using their word) I have been harmed during my interaction with them. No matter how many times AWGA writes how great they are and how they did the right thing, the fact is that AWGA is an unethical organization that practices predatory tactics to cheat money from their customers and should not be trusted.
  
  Thank you.
  
  Have a blessed day!
  
  Sincerely,
  
  

  Rui

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/06/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My company paid for me to "attend" the online grant writing course "Grant Writing for Government Grants" and I began the coursework immediately. As I went through the materials I noticed they were several years out of date. The links were bad, the terminology was not up-to-date, and the coursework itself was not well written. I submitted sections 1, 2, and 3 as prescribed even though the course was incredibly confusing and difficult to navigate. Section 3 was returned to me 4 times for revisions and each revision contradicted the previous. Additionally, while it "guaranteed" I would get a response within 2 business days after each submission, it took a week or more for each which all but made certain I would not pass the class in the allotted time. I asked for a refund to my organization but the company refuses to refund after 8 days. I would not have seen any of the course material or experienced such terrible evaluation and feedback within 8 days so the refusal is awful. I probably should have anticipated the course being awful after seeing how out-of-date the website is. It looks like it was designed in the early ****s.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/13/2023

  Responses to ********************** 60738429-7B0BD
  
  1.materials I noticed they were several years out of date.
  In the first section there is some historic research.
  ********************* did not mention any issues or problems with these course materials while taking the course.
  
  2.The links were bad,
  All links are reviewed and updated at least quarterly.
  ********************** did not mention any issues or problems with these course materials while taking the course.
  
  3. the terminology was not up-to-date,
  Grant,writing, and budget terms seldom go out of date.
  ********************* did not mention any issues or problems with these course materials while taking the course.
  
  4.the coursework itself was not well written.
  We have been teaching this course for over 20 years to over 10,000.
  During that time, we have refined the course materials to be most educational to most students.
  ********************** did not mention any issues or problems with these course materials while taking the course.
  
  Even so, ********************** was able to successfully complete Sections 1 & 2 without any problems, questions, or comments; demonstrating that she fully understood the course materials.
  
  Section 3 was returned to me 4 times for revisions and each revision contradicted the previous.
  There is no contradiction. We teach the exact same concepts to all students.
  Having to rewrite an assignment 4 times is a sign that the student is not reading the course materials, nor discussing issues with the online instructor.
  ********************* did not mention any issues or problems with these course materials while taking the course.
  
  I would get a response within 2 business days after each submission, it took a week or more for each
  
  Registered on 10/26/23
  
  Section 1
  Submitted       10/30/23         4:56 pm
  Responded      10/31/23          9:25 am           within one business day
  
  Section 2
  Submitted       11/02/23           1:23 pm
  Responded      11/03/23          10:16 pm         within one business day
  
  (17 days between receiving Section 3 materials and submitting her assignment for the first time.)
  Section 3
  Submitted       11/20/23          10:57 am
  Responded      11/22/23            9:50 am         within two business days
  Revised  S       12/11/23          10:56 am
  Revised  R      12/12/23           9:51 am         within one business day
  
  which all but made certain I would not pass the class in the allotted time.
  Registered       10/26/2023
  Claim Date      12/07/2023      (41 days)
  End Date           1/26/2024      (50 days)
  
  At the date of the claim there is more than half of the time to complete the course has lapsed.
  ********************* is half way through the course and has more than half the allowable time, at the time when she claimed that she would not pass in the allotted time.
  
  The fats of the actual dates and times of submission show that three of four responses were within ne business day, and the fourth was within two business days.
  
  This demonstrates that ************************ claims are exaggerated and inaccurate.
  
  ********************* has demonstrated poor writing skills and has turned her inabilities into complaining about others instead of trying to improve upon her skills.
  
  Because of  ********************** inability to be honest in presenting the facts, no refund will be given.