WyzAnt

In my very brief experience and in my opinion, it was ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE. I signed up for Wyzant seeking a foreign language tutor for my young toddler in my home. I learned about Wyzant through a segment on CNBC. After carefully vetting their list of tutors who appeared to meet my requirements, I selected a tutor and requested that the tutor contact me via telephone first. The corporate company then sent me an email explaining that although they had forwarded the specified tutor my email, they deleted the my phone information and I could contact their company if I had questions. I contacted them and while their customer service representative was pleasant, their policy of PAYMENT FIRST, BEFORE you even get to speak to your selected tutor was RIDICULOUS. I explained due to previous bad online tutor experiences where some individuals claimed native fluency and qualifications only to prove otherwise, there was NO way I was going to let a stranger that I didn't even get to speak to into my home around my kid. Not knowing how legit this company was, I explained I did not feel comfortable giving them my credit card info and I further explained that if Wyzant was worried about getting their "cut," I'd be more than happy if they conducted a three way call which they could partake in. The very courteous rep said they couldn't do that and I indicated that I wasn't interested. Literally after hanging up with the representative, I received several emails from prospective tutors WHOM I DID NOT even send an email to. This necessitated my calling back their customer service dept a second time and asking them to remove my info from their database as I couldn't even unsubscribe from their website. A complete and utter waste of time!

I am not a staff member of Wyzant, as one reviewer suggested all 5 star ratings were. You can find my tutor profile on Wyzant to verify that. I am genuinely baffled by the low reviews and honestly trying to understand it.

This review highlights my experience, but maybe my experience is abnormal, and the company is a scam. I can only write what I have personally experienced.

Since Wyzant puts a lot of money into advertising, they are the first tutoring website that popped up in the search results when I looked for ways to become a tutor. After creating my profile, I saw all the horrid reviews of Wyzant, and so, I went ahead and created a tutoring profile at 6 other tutoring services.

Within a few days of creating my profile, a member of the Wyzant team personally called me to congratulate me for being selected to tutor for them, and he wanted to make sure I understood everything.

Within two weeks of posting my profile, I had 4 consistent clients and over 10 hours of tutoring, and it won't be long before I have over 51 (with my 4 consistent clients), and so my commission rate will drop to 30%. So by the time I need this to be lucrative( in September when I no longer am teaching), I will be making more money with a lower commission rate. I actually have to turn clients down because I can only take on so many hours while I am still finishing up the school year as a professional educator.

So, I am really confused by the low ratings. Yes, they take a high commission, and it really could be lower, but they do so much of the advertising for you that it makes sense their commission would be higher than other places.

I am baffled by all the low reviews, and I can only think of three reasons why:

1) The people writing these low reviews tried to be dishonest and take money from the clients, thus, avoiding wyzant commission, and wyzant found out and let them go, so they are ticked. Don't be dishonest, people.

2) They weren't successful as tutors, and they blame Wyzant. The thing is they might be really good tutors, but they might struggle with presenting themselves well through writing, and, unfortunately, with an online profile, you have to know how to write well.

3) Wyzant is really a scam, and right now, they are making me feel good with all my the business I am getting, and then all of the sudden, they will delete me, and I will see it is a scam. But for now, my experience with Wyzant has been quite positive, so I am going to trust that rather than some strangers on the internet who may just be ticked off for a variety of reasons and going on a rant.

(Like I said, the negative reviews may be true. I have only been tutoring for Wyzant for a month, but as far as my experience shows, they are a great company to get started in the tutoring business)

Where do I begin? How about with simple and free advice:

Do not -- under any circumstances -- use WyzAnt. Do not glom onto their site's "Reviews and Testimonials" bc these are ridiculously contrived and designed to suck you in (hear that sucking sound?). Instead, do your homework and read ALL the negative reviews on Yelp, SiteJabber, Consumer Complaint Board, etc. Knowledge is power so be knowledgable about the abhorrent business tactics used by WyzAnt. Be smart, be wise, use TutorZ instead. I did and what a world of difference.

I had a horrible experience with WyzAnt in seeking a tutor. Recently, I logged in and left a message for a tutor. WyzAnt emailed saying "based on your previous requests to close your account, we are unable to provide you with an active account moving forward."

The funny thing is, I never attempted to close my account and it would not occur to me to do so.

When I asked for proof that I requested my account be closed, WyzAnt emailed me saying their "... decision to close my account was made in accordance with their terms and conditions, which are available for review on their website."

Seriously?!? WyzAnt can't even explain it to me? I now have to decipher their legally-written Terms of Service in order to figure it out? I'm left more stymied than before. It is obvious WyzAnt's email notification is a formal one and certainly not one tailored to me.

I notified WyzAnt again asking them for proof that I attempted to close my account. They responded they "could not help me" and that they were, "finished discussing the matter and no one from their team would engage in conversation over this matter." Literally. It left me thinking, "What the?!?" The only reason -- and it's a lame one -- that I can think I was banned is because I ended up never using their services. If this is true, what a ludicrous and ineffective business model they have.

WyzAnt is an extremely unforgiving company, so be careful. They are completely unwilling to work with unhappy customers or engage in a resolution. This is NOT a way to do business. They desperately need to change their business model or it will be catastrophic for them. Their customer service is atrocious. Whether you're a tutor seeking work, or a student in need of one, I implore you to not use WyzAnt. Log onto TutorZ instead and be treated with courtesy and respect, qualities WyzAnt simply does not possess.

Be careful when logging onto other tutor sites that appear not to mention WyzAnt as an affiliate or partner because as soon as you click "Send," WyzAnt pops up, and if you've been blacklisted like me, and you think you're going on a site to circumvent WyzAnt, you're not. Now, THAT'S a sneaky way to do business.

Be smart: Beware!
Be smart: Use TutorZ!

Our son used a WyzAnt tutor in La Jolla one time for a Logic final and got an 89% on the final in a class which had been difficult for him.