Certain Former Enrolled Students & Graduates of Now-Closed ComputerTraining.com & ComputerTraining.edu File Class Action Against ComputerTrainingOver Closing of Schools.
A class action lawsuit was filed against ComputerTraining.com Inc, ComputerTraining.edu, LLC (f/k/a ComputerTraining.com, LLC) and CTIC Corp. (collective “ComputerTraining” or “Defendants”) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (styled Andrew Smith, et al. v. ComputerTraining.com Inc, ComputerTraining.edu, LLC and CTIC Corp., Case No. 2:10-cv-11490-VAR-RSW) alleging that in late December 2009 ComputerTraining schools abruptly closed without warning and without providing any refunds to students who were enrolled in programs at ComputerTraining.edu schools and denying continuing “lifetime” placement services promised to ComputerTraining graduates, according to a class action lawsuit news report.
The ComputerTraining school closure class action lawsuit reportedly alleges that the owners and operators of the ComputerTraining.edu schools told students that by paying tuition costing as much as $28,000 or more for a six-month program, they would be able to participate in training through which they could become computer technicians with four Microsoft certifications and thereafter receive continuing placement services from the schools in the field of information technology.
The ComputerTraining class action lawsuit is reportedly brought on behalf of an “Enrolled Class” consisting of students who were enrolled in computer training programs at ComputerTraining.edu schools operating in Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin as of the time the schools closed on December 31, 2009, and a “Graduate Class” consisting of students who completed a computer training program at a ComputerTraining school but when the schools were closed, were denied the continuing placement services they were promised.
For more information on the ComputerTraining school closings class action lawsuit, read the Computer Training class action lawsuit complaint or visit the ComputerTraining class action lawsuit website:
www.computertraininglawsuit.com
If You Have Thoughts On TheComputerTraining.edu &ComputerTraining.com School Closures Class Action Lawsuit, Share Your Class Action Comments Below.
I am a former 2003 student of Computertraining.com in
Chesapeake, VA.
Upon completion of the course, our class tried to file a lawsuit due to the lack of training that we received. With the arbitration laws, we were not able to receive any compensation that we felt was due to us.
There was about 20 students who complained about the lack of training.
Hours of actual instruction was cut back to less than 1 hr per night and weekend classes were often cancelled.
Proper equipment for lab were not available which often meant that some of us had to share computers.
We were encouraged to study for the online test instead of learning the material.
Other complaints were also filed along with promises of career placement which never occurred.
While I have spent too much money on CTC along with hiring lawyers, I truly hope that they get exposed for the scammer they are.
Lynn
ITS VERY FRUSTRATING YOU WORK YOUR BUTT DURING SCHOOL THENAFTERWARDS NOHR DEPARTMENT NO GUIDANCE NOTHING JUST HARASSING PHONE CALLS FROM SALLIE MAE THEY CALL EVERY DAY BUT SUNDAY
Oh yeah, We were told that we would receive a visit from placement service and would get a one on one interview to look over our resume ….. what we got was some nit-wit lecturing THE WHOLE CLASS on the importance of the coversheet …….. The whole class was a TOTAL JOKE….a very expensive joke.
I was in the 2009 class and I had brought up tp the instructor I was having a hard time/struggling to keep up and wanted to quite while I was able to do so still as he told me, he told me “You don’t want out now because sallie mae COULD charge you for the whole class and want the 30,000 $ RIGHT NOW. So he persuaded me to stay. Now I owe the loan money and I havent heard a single SINGLE commerical for the school and classes and Havent seen any advertisments that I would think was close to a Computertraining.com class….. I want A refund or an answer please
I attended March 2009 and finished August 2009. We were promises placement help and due to the school closing I never received that as well as my other classmates. Im still without a job and have been looking. Stuck with a Diploma which is useless, Two certifications which are useless as well. So now my Co Signer and I are stuck paying $300 a month and i can not get a job in the field that i was interested in. It has been very very stressful. Something needs to be done. Calls to Sallie Mae has been Zero help. I wish i would have known better and i feel for those who have attended.
I was informed about the Arbitration Law when i first met with the Rep but seriously… we were cheated and something has to be done.
Some of us who attended CTC in the Chantilly office, were lead to believe a lot of things that never happened. The biggest racqueteering were the student loans. I was called and sent emails up to two years after “graduating” about my job history. I can honestly say I learnt nothing there. I never got a job based on their schooling, knowledge provided or the help of their placement center, so I never released information. I bet they were trying to use that to add to their bamboozling of others.
I should have known better, but there was a lot of information provided that I took as truth.
I would love to get contacted by someone about this. Student loans are now at 31% interest rate and no where near half paid. I “graduated” in 2005.
I went through CTC in Chantilly, VA, and while the instructor was very good, I don’t feel the courses were worth the money, most of the materials I could have gotten for much less than almost 30k, and feel like I let myself be taken for a very expensive ride that fell short of delivering in the end. I found a job on my own merits without completing all 7 tests (MCP, MCSA, MCSE) and feel like though the lab and instructor were excellent, I could have done without paying that much for what I got out of the classes I could have probably studied on my own.
I completed the 6 month class in 2005 in Blue Ash (Cincinnati) OH for 24k. After I took the online challenge they called right away wanting me to enroll. They called my husband yelling at him to let me enroll. The first day they piled books a foot high!
My resume I gave them which was already extensive with experience and well known companies they handed right back and said try Monster.com and good luck. All they cared about was tuition.
They started radio commercials stating if you don’t make over 50k call them for their course. Is that allowed? I’m soo glad they closed – these tiny colleges popping up all over are only out to scam.
All – I am not sure if you are aware of this or not, but there is a Class Action lawsuit against computertraining.com. I received a letter in the mail about this yesterday. I am waiting to hear back to see what can be done on my behalf and if any money is needed from me to be a part of the lawsuit (if there is, I will most likely not be involved b/c I simply cannot afford more bills b/c of this ridiculous school). I finished the class in King of Prussia, PA and have gone nowhere with what I actually got out of the classes.
Apparently this has been all over the news as well. See inlcuded link where you can read the Judge’s orders and the pending complaints and maybe you too will get involved. Hope this helps.
http://www.computertraininglawsuit.com/
A further message, i was talking to a few family members who told me $ 30,000 for 6 months is a joke and pressuring me to go talk to them … So I did and went to the Independance office/school I attended and they were closed down I have been trying to find a solution to this problem so THANK YOU for all or any help further. -Jacob-
I graduated in May of 2009 and am very disgusted. First off, that little test they gave us to see if we qualify to get in the school is a bunch of crap. Way to easy test for the difficulty of the program and I heard another guy in my class took the same evaluation test online, answered all the questions wrong and was still able to enroll. I honestly tried my best, studying all the time. My instructor told me after I finally got my first certification in April 2009 (1 month before completion) that she didn’t even think I would get that one certification. What kinda of place is this when the school knew I just didn’t have what it took, yet they let me continue on when they knew I was going to do poorly. All they wanted was my money!!! They didn’t help me get a job afterwards and sent me on one interview. I was constantly up there complaining about everything. Until finally, I got a job with a Title Company and my job has nothing to do with what I learned. I got the job a year and a half after completing the course. I get so mad every time I think of the money that I wasted for something that Computertraining.com knew I wasn’t qualified for or had the skill set for and that job field is overflowing with too many people. Why set people up to fail like they did me! I’m trying to find solutions to get out of the horrible Sallie Mae loan for a program that I was tricked into completing. Any help is appreciated!!
what did you do to resolve the loan situation?
I was a student in chesapeake va, right at the end of windows 2000 as xp came out, the class offered little to any of us and the online homework was a joke, the lady who did the presentation felt so bad about leading us on actuallly quit because she couldnt do it any more, they used 2 financial institutes and i got slm financial, for the sum of 21k i got to read my books, play with a keyboard, and learn the basics, the class was pretty lame and enough info to pass the exams like they said was a joke! they started using adaptive testing at microsoft testing facilities that monitors where you have a weakness and then they slam you with all the questions in that category, computer training didnt offer enough info to pass these exams, and at 125 a piece you were lucky to pass one of them, one of my class mates passes the first one on the 5th try, that allowed him to answer the phone at a call center and offer to get the caller someone else to help them, they also promissed jobs up to 90 bucks an hour and all of the certifications, the payments are almost 300 a month and ive paid them every month, its been 7 almost 8 years now and ive paid over 17k back to them but with the re occuring interest of 90 bucks a month, i still owe 17k, i would like to become part of a class action lawsuit to get my loan paid by the company or absorbed by the financial loan company, , i see the company was shut down all across the country , thank god they wont rip anyone else off, what a scam! the va dept of education said basically tough luck you signed on with them, they offered no help…..
glad i didn’t enroll in this dumb s%&t years ago
I enrolled in CTC (Mechanicsburg, PA) in late 2002 and started classes in March 2003 and finished in September 2003. The instructor was great but the time involved for certification was a joke and any jobs earned by my classmates seem non-existent. I can say that I did learn enough of the basics to keep me interested but nowhere near what the tuition implied was being offered. I received the letters for the class action lawsuit and happily joined. Also, the law firm for the class action will help you get your Sallie Mae loan discharged for a $250 retainer and a cut of the money the have returned. I am sending the retainer this week.
The fee is is 30% of what you get back AND the amount discharged…if they get 30.000 discharged, you owe 10.000…CTC and Sallie Mae aren’t the only ones out for our money!!
Hi Michael:
Just to be clear – did you submit the one page form from Googasian Law Firm that is posted on the lawsuit info website? and send it to Googasian Law Firm?
I was not sure if i should complete the form. I had many questions so I emailed Googasian Law Firm and have not heard back.
Sallie Mae wants the 14k and I am happy settling and paying somone else less than half that if given the opportunity.
Should I just join and see what happens?
thanks for any help you an provide.
I also went to CTC in Mechanicsburg PA for 6 months in 2004. I realized about 2 or 3 months into class that I had paid $21,000 (…turns out to be a 15 year car payment) just to have someone read me a book. We had very limited hands-on practice and used very old equipment. I realized the goal of this school was just to get paper certifications by practicing the exam on their website using questions very similar to the actual exam. Microsoft seemed to catch on and entirely changed their certification process during my class. I was desperate in 2004 due to getting laid off from my programming job but I was able to find work in programming (nothing related to class) later in 2004 and doing just fine now. I just got the paperwork to try for a claim or arbitration with Sallie Mae. Does anyone have info about the success rate getting their loan discharged by Sallie Mae?
I took the class in 2009 for 28,000 (yes, before the prices were cut in half!). I was involved in the class action suit but honestly, doubt we will ever see any money from what used to be ComputerTraining.com. Let’s face it, they elaborately ripped off numerous people in numerous states for numerous years; they probably know how to hide their assessts. I agree that Sallie Mae was completely complicite with this scam – otherwise they would be as outraged at CTC and dragging their name through the mud. As for the company (The Googasian Firm) that is willing to represent you independently to have your student loans discharged by Sallie Mae – read the fine print – Jen is right. IF you WIN – You will end up paying them rather than Sallie Mae- maybe not as much but who knows what those terms will end up being; not to mention the $250. retainer fee and the “out of pocket expenses of approximately $400.) I have been researching for months to see it ANYONE has had success with this and HAVE NOT FOUND A SINGLE THING. That is not very encouraging. Michael Mattern-I am sure we would all be interested to know how it’s working for you. We are all worried about getting taken advantage of yet again and thanks to CTC promises are all in the same or worse situation financially than when we enrolled. I can’t believe that there is no justice in any of this!
PLEAE POST IF YOU HAVE FOUND ANYONE THAT HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL….
I’m seriously considering the offer from Googasian to file a claim with Sallie Mae. I have more questions for them though. They told me that they do not have any statistics yet about successful arbitration due to the recent status of the case. My loan balance is in excess of $18,000 after paying for 8 years. I think about this every day because I’m basically making a car payment on this loan until 2019. A $6,000 balance is better than $18,000 and maybe something I could pay off quickly or refinance on better terms. My thought is that Googasian would not be pursuing this unless they were optimistic about a positive result or settlement. Based on experience the $250 retainer is a bargain when working with lawyers.
I was a member of a 2007 class in Maryland. I was able to make use of the class, but as everyone here has said, they did not offer what they promised. They did little to nothing to prepare you for the Microsoft test. The whole thing was definatly a scam. But the worst part of it all is the mafia style loan sharking from SallieMae and SLM Financial. Both of these companies are fully aware fo the scam. They are fully aware they are stealing money from people and they are not gonna stop. I am also looking into getting Googasian to make a personal claim for me. I have been paying since 2007, I owed $25k. 5 years later I owe over $23k. Even if all I get back from SallieMae and SLM Financial goes to Googasian, I will not have to pay $350.00 a month to lower my debt by principle debt by $3.00. That is enough to make it worth my while. However, if they do not get any back I will owe them and SallieMae. I cannot afford to take that chance. SO like the poster above, I need to verify that people are winning these arbitrations against SallieMae!
I am trying to verify if Googasian Law Firm is wining any arbitrations against Sallie Mae for the ComputerTraining.com scam. Like the post above I am already lossing money don’t want to owe more money to someone else.
I too want to use the Law Firm to file arbitration but like everyone else here, I am afraid of falling further into debt by paying retainer fees and not winning the case. If anyone has had any luck, please let us all know. Maybe we can all have succes stories, kind of like what CTC promised us!! :/
Hello all:
I have the very same questions as all of you. I thought I was behind in this news because I just found out that this lawsuit was still going on. I am a cosigner of a Sallie Mae private loan for CT.com and the student never finished at CT and now i am stuck with 14k work of debt. I emailed Googasian Law Firm twice now and asked how to go about getting involved and trying to get that money back so I dont have to pay the 14k. I have carried this debt for 6 years now!
Anyone know if Googasian Law Firm is still working on this? or how to get my info over there to be evaluated for a possible refund?
thanks and so sorry to hear about all of your very stressful experiences 🙁
I just found out about the class action and the law firm. Right now I’m sitting on about $22K of loans through Sallie Mae. Would love to get this reduced or completely eliminated but from the posts it seems the law firm is doing nothing so far, so skeptical about sending them my info.
I too got dooped into this program, i was at a low point in my current career and needed to change. I thought this was a way to make a change and take a new look at life. Unfortuntely like those above i too tried to get out early and was told it was too late. So i am a 2007 graduate of lancaster, PA. I have been paying on my loans for 4 years and i am now down to 17K. I have been in contact with the law firm mentioned and they have been granted the ok from the judge to begin searching for funds to return those of the current students. However if you read your loan papers, you can not have the loans dismissed thru the class action aspect, but only through arbritration. I have contacted the law firm, and in their words if you take on the retainer, and pay the 250, if they win for you they will try and get sallie mae to dismiss the loan, pay you back the amount you have paid in plus the interest, and they will also try and get them to pay YOUR ,lawyer costs. If they do not get sallie mae topay the lawyer costs, then the amount you get back they will want 1/3 of this. If they do not win then you are only charged 250 plus the up to 375 for the “other” costs. I think the 250(possible 600) is a worth while investment to try and dismiss 17K of debt. They will take check or CC for payment. They said that they have manby students on retainer and many of them are in process, they are waiting for sallie mae to respond to all the claims. I am in for the arbitration just b/c i can’t take the debt anymore. good luck to everyone else..
How about the loan from computertraining. I’m paying half on sallie mae and half from computertraining. Are they(computertraining) allowed to ask money from the collection agency? I don’t care about the sallie mae but the computertraining collection agency i need to get rid of that. Can someone help please?
For those in Mass: I use this link to keep up to date. It is pretty much still a waiting game.
http://www.doe.mass.edu/ops/closed/claims_status.html
I attended CTC’s Philadelphia location April-Oct. 2009. Financed the entire tuition through Sallie Mae and have been paying $352/mo. ever since. Tuition was $28,500 + ridiculously high interest. I am on a mission to try and get the remainder of my loan discharged with Sallie Mae but am hitting walls at every turn. It seems no attorney I’ve talked to (so far) is willing to even try, telling me that the lender is not responsible for the actions of the seller…in this case CTC. I think that is a crock of shit and needs to be changed!! The Googasian firm, who filed the class action, is offering a service of filing a claim with Sallie Mae to not only get the remainder of my loan discharged but ALSO to try and get all my money back so THAT tells me it is possible…or the Googasian firm is also lying and just watns our non-refundable $250!
I graduated and I got a job from it so in my particular case I am actually not interested in getting any of my money back (call me crazy) BUT I don’t feel I should have to pay any more money towards this loan. There seems to be a serious loophole through which companies can have lenders pay them the money their customers owe them then go out of business and the CONSUMER is STILL required to pay the lender??? Shouldn’t the lenders be held at least partially responsible for making sure the people they give money to are credible and financially sound??? I am getting more and more frustrated but am not ready to give up. There MUST be someone out there that is willing to help!! If anyone has any information on what my next step should be, or who to call or talk to I would very much appreciate it if you could contact me?? Likewise, if anyone wants to somehow join forces in trying to eliminate this loophole and get justice, you can also contact me! I just set up a new email just for this :o) help4ctc.victims@yahoo.com
I attended CT.com back in 2005 and didn’t finish the class due to the lack of staff, educators, equipment and promises the staff couldn’t keep! Plus i had a 1 hour drive down to this place and which they said they would work with me about that, but never did. And because of the one hour drive i would miss out on 1 hour of class two days a week and NO one would help me play catch up like what was promised. Anyway, I told the staff that i wasn’t happy and i left and they said fine, with NO papers to sign and i did ask them can i cancel my loan since i was only in the class for 3 WEEKS!!!! They said yes and i went on my way, so then the next day i got a call from the president and he pretty much threaten me to come back to CT.com and in the mean time i already contacted SallieMae and told them what was going on and since this was a two part loan they allowed me to cancel the first part by sending a certified letter to them and got a returned letter back stating it was cancelled. When the president called me he also found out about me cancelling the loan and he was furious on the phone with me which i assume he wouldn’t think i would take that approach, but i did. To make a long story short, I still have a loan with SallieMae and i feel since i left the school due to lack of everything they promise to help me with and offered, I should not have to pay this remaining amount and I wonder if I send an email to SallieMae expressing my frustrations and they would cancel the rest of my loan.
I attended the Schaumburg, IL campus in ’08 and I’m in the graduating class. I too, have gone through all of this BS. I tried to dismiss myself of this course early, because it didn’t feel right, but nope, the “teacher” called me into the office to CONVINCE me to stay, so I did. Also, yes, the job placement specialist, was a specialist, until they replaced her with someone that seemed uneducated on everything that I had a question on.
I myself have been monitoring everything with this lawsuit for several years now, across many forums/websites. This case has been at a halt for about 2 years, with no updated information anywhere. Nothing on winnings of individual arbitration, nothing on discharges, nor anything on forgiveness. Has anyone even had ANY success in doing ANYTHING at all with this Sallie Mae loan or CTC?
If anyone can be of any help, please let us all know.
I was notified by the class action team last winter that they weren’t able to get my loan dissolved or refunded, that there was a clause in the contract that wont allow the 200 students from Chesapeake Va to do anything about it, they refunded the retainer and then they said if anything changes they will get back with me, I requested info today for updates on the case or a case overview I can use as ammunition to take to bankruptcy court so I can try to get this thing gone, I can no longer afford this senseless waste of money being out of work 10 months now.
I too have not been able to find any info about the class action. I have sent two emails to the lawyers website and have not received a reply. Guess they got their money and no one else will.
I am cosigner for my sons salle mae loan of $29,000 which I have to pay.
It is a sallie mae private loan and not a federal loan. And there is no way that can be forgiven that I have found.
I know it’s bee several years later but just wondering if you were able to resolve this somehow. Your situation sounds identical to mine. I’m desperately looking for options.
Hi All,
I had some questionably better luck with this mess. I went to computertraining.com 03/2008-09/2008; got all 4 of my certs, and what not. I was crazy poor and didn’t have an income when I signed up so my parents co-signed for me to get a 12k loan from sallie mae; which i believe it was called a “private loan.” and then computertraining, gave me a loan themselves for 15k. So that I could attend class. Thankfully, my teacher had numerous years in the field and did give a lot of good information; I was able to get jobs at large companies such as HP, Hewlett Packard, and General Motors, and some smaller places. One of the ladies did legit do a lot to help me get a job and help with my resume. So, there was that. When ct went belly up; I had stopped receiving payments for the 15k I got directly from ct; and so was able to contact one of the old profs that had taught there and he said he didn’t know what was going on; but that they closed the doors and the students and employees were all s.o.l. basically and he suggested I just don’t bother trying to pay them unless I like got something from a lawyer or whatever. Which, knock on wood, nothing yet! As far as the 12k from sallie mae, was paying on that for forever; but last year; my parents filed bankruptcy; and somehow, that nuked the sallie mae loan as well. So now I’m done paying either of those turds! I know most everyone isn’t going to want to file bankruptcy to get rid of the loan; buuuuuuut just thought I’d mention it worked for me, so may be worth checking in to? I wish yall the best of luck in handling this. And now, another school I went to, is in trouble for predatory lending; ITT Tech. Good lord, is there any decent schools out there interested in actually teaching, and not swindling people? Ugh! Good luck everyone! 🙂