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:08/29/2023

  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.

  It is absolutely ridiculous that you don't have the option to read the lead information before you are charged. If you accept a lead (when you have the chance to accept or deny it), then you are charged. So you are contacted for several people and you just see the lead information and you are charged. That's a definition of stealing. That's fraudulent, unfair and abusive. Also, from 20 contacts you barely can have one opportunity, so you spend several hundreds of dollar for almost nothing.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/19/2023

  Hello,
  
  Thanks for reaching out with your concerns. We absolutely do have an option for you to view the lead details and price before purchasing the lead; for both Opportunities and Direct Leads.

  You are only auto-billed for direct leads that are an exact match to your Targeting Preferences if you have turned Targeting on for that service. Targeting is an optional feature.

  I hope this clears up any confusion. I wasn't able to locate your account using the email you supplied to BBB, so please contact ******************* for additional information about your account and potential refunds.

  Sincerely,
  
  ****

   

   

   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/29/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore 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.

  The company charged me for a fake business lead.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/25/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore 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.

  There is no way for me to deactivate or cancel or delete my account. **********************. also did not have me in the search feature, even though they have money in reserve for me, which I also want refunded. The methodology that they have to gather income from teachers is rather draconian, and I no longer wish to be part of this system.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/25/2023

  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.

  I simply want to delete my account. I read many, many reviews in which people shared that this company is a scam, across multiple review platforms. I was just charged $37.66 for replying to "potential customers." Had I known it would cost that much, I would not have done it. Initially, I wanted a refund, which I requested less than 20 minutes after responding to the "potential customers." At this point, I will take no refund, I just want my account deleted. I have already taken my card off the account. I have spent over an hour on their website trying to see where/how I delete my account and I've gotten nowhere. I have reached out to the customer service email they tell you to, and have received no response. Additionally, no information is on ****** and their customer service NUMBER listed is incorrect and not running. The longer this drags out, the more concerned I get about this site scamming me. Please do not use this website and please, please help me delete my account.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/19/2023

  Hi ******,
  
  Thanks for sharing your experience with us via the BBB. We never want to hear that a teacher/instructor had a bad experience with us and our support team is standing by at ******************** We do not have a customer facing support phone line, so I am unsure what number you found in ****** and how it got there.

  That said, Lessons.com is a pay-per-lead advertising platform for teacher who offer lessons in music, sports, and academia. I reviewed your account data and found that you paid for two leads because you manually Accepted them. This means you clicked Accepted on the lead details page. Just under the Accept/Decline buttons we display the price of the lead so you can clearly see the price and decide if you are interested in pursuing it for your teaching business.

  One of those leads responded to you looking to take the next step for lessons.

  We can't issue a refund back to your card, but we are willing to work with you to keep you on the platform. If you're open to it we can add a $40 credit to your Lessons.com account, so you can get a couple leads on us.

  We believe you could be successful if you give the platform a chance, especially now that you understand how it all works. Just let us know if you want to take advantage of this offer.

  Sincerely,

  ****

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/21/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore 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.

  company is not responding to email notices.company has no telephone number.Website features are useless. Links are broken or unresponsive. Their get hired guarantee is useless.recent price hike from $3 - $25 per lead is unacceptable.Leads are not good. Low price gets the deal all the time. Not interested in low ball offers! We are not the $ store.stop sending leads to email and phone number. I want my account to be closed permanently and all credit card information deleted.Scam. Scam. Scam.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/21/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore 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.

  I had used Lessons.com for over 2 yrs, to advertise. At first direct leads were just several dollars each, and paid by credits purchased in prepaid bundle. But, then near the beginning of 2023 they unilaterally changed thier business model, raid prices to over $27-39? Per customer introduction, changed terms and would not refund me OR allow me to simply use the ($250) credits I'd purchased, without also first giving them my charge card information for thier system with permissiontob bill me (*previously private and not connected to the ability to quote prospective customers).Since then I have not actually gotten 1 real customer, not even 1.I spent nearly $200 in advertising by connecting my c.c, before fear resulting in disconnecting my charge card. Without it, I can't use any of the ad dollars package I'd already purchased from them prior to the change, which seems illegal. Furthermore they've continually REFUSED to refund me immediately for that package I pre- pd for (aprox $250), which also seems illegal.I've complained to them in writing many many times, with no success.They won't refund, I don't get real leads, so I believe it's a scam, and I want a full refund of the $250.00 ad credits I purchased prior to the change.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/15/2023

  Type:Billing 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.

  I joined Lessons.com several years ago. I hadnt gotten started because I had a few jobs and didnt have the time. I started answering leads from the site a few months ago. At first the site tells you its only $23 to start answering leads but then I started getting several random charges on my statement. Mind you, I had not booked any students at all. I would get an inquiry then I wouldnt hear from them again. I emailed with ***** who worked with me on crediting some of the charges back. Also, you only have 30 days to ask for a refund so be mindful of that! I received my credit card statement and the charges were credited but new charges appeared. I asked him to refund the new charges but he no longer can. Once again, all this and not one single booking yet. There should not be ANY charges without my consent! Anytime you answer an inquiry (no booking) you are charged! BEWARE of this! You get no notice or email, it just pops up on your credit card statement. I want to close my account and Im completely put off from Lessons.com I wont be using them or recommending them!

  Business Response

  Date: 09/19/2023

  Hi ******,
  
  Thanks for reaching out to us via the BBB. I did find your support history with us where we refunded you for some of those charges and explained why those charges occurred.
  
  Lessons.com is a pay-per-lead advertising platform for ****** instructors, and you were being charged according to the settings you setup inside your account. 

  You turned Targeting on for your service, which is an optional setting that boosts you in search results to get more leads. When Targeting is turned on, you auto-pay for direct leads that are an exact match to the targeting preferences that you set.

  It was never our intention to hide your charges from you or bill you when you did not wish to be billed. There are 7 set up steps to turn Targeting on and 5 steps mention that you will auto-pay for direct, exact match leads. It is also written on your services settings page next to the Pause button, which is how you can easily toggle Targeting off. Attached is an old screenshot from inside your account when you had Targeting turned on. Again, targeting is optional and it is something you have full control over.

  At the end of the day, we are a lead generation platform for you. Instructors have to be quick to respond, follow-up regularly via our chat system, and call/text your potential clients multiple times to see the best results. You still have to sell your services to see the best results.

  We understand it is not for everyone, and we are always looking for feedback and open to working with instructors who need extra assistance to get value. If you ever decide to give Lessons.com a try in the future, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team.

  Sincerely,

  ****

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/20/2023

  Complaint: 20455638
  
  I am rejecting this response because: Whether Lessons.com is a pay per lead site and I set the targeting for the leads my understanding was that the site would make a percentage of my leads once booked. Sure I had several leads but I was not booking them due to distance, voice style, or lack of reviews. Also, I was not active because of other freelance jobs I had. It is still never okay to charge someones card based on leads. If Lessons is charging for every single lead, you are winning because the chances of booking for me were slim to none. You made at least $120 off of my credit card for potential leads. I dont think this is right. We are freelance educators and instead of helping us book by percentage, you are taking $11 per lead. No thank you. I shut down my account as soon as I saw all of the charges the first time and the second time there was $40 more in charges. I dont agree with the way your company operates and I want it to be clear to other freelance educators who are looking to use your site.

  
  Regards,
  
  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/10/2023

  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.

  I would like to lodge a complaint against lessons.com. This company's practices are completely fraudulent when it comes to how they represent businesses listed on their website. Initially, they promote the option of a free listing, but later demand payment. If you refuse to pay the price, they begin falsely informing people that you don't have time for them, that you are not in business, and that you fail to respond to inquiries. Consequently, they send out misleading emails to potential clients who then contact me saying, "Lessons.com says you don't have time for them to" or "Lessons.com says you never respond to anyone." Lessons.com is responsible for making our legitimate business appear disreputable and poorly managed. The truth is that Lessons.com is the one running a poorly operated and fraudulent enterprise. In my attempts to address this issue, I have directly contacted Lessons.com, only to receive argumentative responses. They have not fixed the problem, nor have they provided any apologies for the consequences they have caused. Instead, they continue this behavior repeatedly, while simultaneously allowing our listing to remain and misinforming potential customers that they should seek other coaches who have paid their required fees. This is an extremely unpleasant way to conduct business.I demand that Lessons.com rectify this situation promptly and cease their fraudulent practices, which negatively impact our reputation as life and career coaches.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/10/2023

  Hello,
  
  We appreciate your feedback. You are able to be listed for free which puts your business in front of thousands of our customers for free. And there is nothing stopping customers from clicking on your website from your profile or googling your business to make direct contact, but they are choosing to use our platform.

  These are Lessons.com customers and when you choose not to use our service to connect with our customers, you are unavailable. Therefore, we are telling our customers that you are unavailable through our platform.

  Providers are given 3 days to respond to customer requests and if you do not we must do our best to service the customer.

  If you prefer not to pay to use our service and do not want the benefit of being listed for free, then we can remove you from search results so this situation does happen again.

  We hope that is not the case. As you have seen, we have customers who are interested in talking with you. If you would like to take advantage of that, great. If not, just let us know and we will remove your profile. Please contact ******************* with how you would like to proceed.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/03/2023

  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.

  I listed my music teaching business on Lessons.com and paid them for leads and for the opportunity to send quotes to prospective students. At first, it was only a few dollars per quote and I got to choose when to send a quote. I was contacted once or twice by real students via this service, however, the majority of the time I would go to send my quote immediately and receive a message saying the lead was no longer active because I failed to respond in time, even though I responded right away as soon as I received the alert. Then, more recently, they updated their pay model to automatically charge you for leads that 100% fit your ideal lead category. These leads are sometimes $22 sometimes $33, there's really no consistency to how much these cost and they are so much more expensive than the previous pay model. However, this is the only way you will actually get a chance to quote a lead since the new model means the moment you reply the lead will already have received it maximum number of quotes and you will not be able to send yours.This week I received two new inquiries from automatic quotes sent from "prospective students" asking to schedule a ******* These inquiries used names and phone numbers of real people, however, when I responded to the inquiries and reached out via the provided contact info, I reached the actual person but was told that they never sent any inquiry for lessons, didn't know how I got their contact info, and asked me to please be take them off of the site. (Which there is no way for me to do.)Looks like Lessons.com is sending me fake leads in order to keep me paying for quotes. It's a scam. Don't give them your credit card number. They don't have a contact number so I am only able to contact them via email. I emailed asking for a refund for these false leads but haven't yet heard back.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/10/2023

  Hi ****,
  
  Thanks for reaching out with these concerns.
  First, let me assure you that we do not send out fake requests.We are happy to review those leads in question to see what's going on there. We make it easy for you to report leads when things like this happen. There a new report feature on the chat page. If you need help finding that, please let us know.
  The website telling you that the lead is closed is just part of the system. We are always working on ways to limit this, but this happens as leads fill up, customers can close requests any time, and customers often make hiring decisions quickly.
  The costs is much higher and that is because how leads are created and when we charge you has changed. That said, the cost per lead is not the best measure of success. Its better to use the customer acquisition cost (CAC). That should have improved or remained the same for you.
  As you mentioned, you use to pay a couple dollars per quote and most didnt even respond. Now, quotes are more expensive, but you only pay when the customer replies.
  Also, all leads now come with phone numbers and there are also new types of leads, Direct leads, where customers specifically choose to contact you.
  You can learn more about that by contacting our support team, *******************.
  Also, you mentioned that you are waiting to hear back from us, but we are not finding any messages in our support desk from you. Please contact ********************* are happy to assist you with all of these concerns and help you better understand how to make the most of your marketing efforts on the website.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/10/2023

  Complaint: 20415096
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  This response does not address my concern and denies the fact that EVERY Direct Lead I have paid for has been fake. I have reported each fake lead as the site requested and have been told that the cost has been returned to my account balance to be used for more quotes, but they refuse to actually refund the money back to me.
  

  These leads have used the names and contact information of real people and yet, when I respond, they say they never put in any type of request to lessons.com and do not know how I got their name or info and ask to be removed off the Lessons.com list since they do not want to be contacted via the site.  (See attached example)  

  Of course there is no list and no way for me to remove them from it and the only reason I contacted them at all is because I recieved a request from them on lessons.com in response to a direct lead I paid for. Apparently, these people never intended to send me a request.
  

  Customer service can deny it all they want but the site, while now charging much for for so-called direct leads no longer provides any real leads at all. Instead, their solution is to keep my my money and keep recycling it for more and more fake leads. Which is a waste of my time and money. They have also charged my credit card without my consent.

  If they want me to look at my overall customer acquisition rate, we can discuss the fact that in more than two years of paying weekly for quotes on this site I have been contacted by a total of only 4 people via this site who were confirmed to be real, none of whom were serious students. And 4 of those contacted me before the new direct lead model was implemented, back when each quote was more affordable and each business had a more equitable opportunity to send quotes, vs the model today where only those who pay the higher pricing are actually able to send quotes before each lead reaches saturation.  So all the money I have spent on this website over the years has been a complete loss and has not generated any real business.

  I have contacted customer service and explained the situation in detail, asking them to please refund me the amount credited back to my account balance for the reported leads. They have staunchly refused and given me the run-around just as they are doing here. It would be so simple to just refund what I paid back to my card, but they would rather email me 10+ times with arguments as to why customers should never expect an actual refund, and why we should just keep using the site and buying direct leads and that will fix everything.

  Nope. I will not be giving them a ***** more of my hard earned cash. I am a small business owner struggling to make ends meet and every ***** counts. Lessons.com is preying upon people who simply cannot afford to be preyed upon. 
  

  what they are doing is not only unethical but also unlawful and if they continue this way I wont be surprised if they face a class action law suit at some point because of all the people they have defrauded  

  Regards,
  
  ***********************

  Business Response

  Date: 08/10/2023

  Hi ****,
  
  We do not send fake leads. Also, any lead that you have an issue with we make it very easy for you to report and receive refund to your account balance, which as you pointed out is what weve been doing per our terms of service.

  Offering you refunds on leads that dont work out is unlike any other form of lead generation or advertising. It allows you to continue cycling through the same money so you are not constantly growing your out of pocket costs.

  Again, we dont know what happened in the case of the one customer over who said they didn't make the request. We are happy to look into it; It could have been a typo in a phone number that lead to the wrong person getting messages. It could be they dont recall doing it, or dont want to admit that they did. Either way, we absolutely, unequivocally do not create fake leads.

  We looked over your most recent leads and one of your recent leads you marked as Job done. Was this a mistake or was this a student that worked out?
  
  Our goal is for your to gain new students at a price that makes sense for your business. Sometimes this is easier said than done, but by refunding you regularly and frequently for leads that didn't pan out we have made an serious effort to assist you in stretching your marketing dollars so that you can come out ahead.
  
  If you are no longer interested in using the service, we will respect that decision and close down the account. We don't want you to continue using a platform you don't find useful for your business.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/10/2023

  Complaint: 20415096
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Business refuses to provide actual refund. Refunding to my account balancewhich simply records a dollar amount for money I have already paid and now can never touch or use anywhere other than Lessons.comis useless to me and not a real refund.   
  

  If the company now goes and deletes my account, as they have threatened to do in their most recent message because I no longer wish to use their service, they are just covering their tracks by erasing my data and the evidence of all the bad leads and the most recent money I have paid for direct leads that they refuse to refund.  

  I will re-state again that ALL of my direct leads have been bad leads. I have had to report every single one. The lead marked job done was a real person but I believe that person initially found me via social media and only messaged me through Lessons.com because she found a link to my lessons.com profile listed on one of my other profiles. So I do not count that as an actual lead generated through lessons.com as she found me first and then found lessons.com only through me.

  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/31/2023

  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.

  Im trying to delete my account and is not possible. I have been charged for people trying to scam.Please delete my account.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/31/2023

  Hi *******,

  We weren't able to locate any messages from you in support, so we are happy that you reached out to use here.  We are sorry to hear you would like to delete your account, but that is no problem at all. 

  Your account has been deactivated.

  If you would like to discuss reinstating your account or discuss this matter with us further, feel free to email *******************.

  Thank you.