Southwesternadvantage Reviews

US spelling and curriculum overpriced lack of important information

Had a visit from one of their sales people yesterday Really nice guy from Estonia trying his best to sell us something First thing I d say is that if you are interested in these books ask to look through them yourself and take your time The Ask Me books are quite fun and full of interesting facts but all three ranges are full of American spelling and terminology e g fall instead of Autumn realize instead of realise I d already pointed this out and asked if the sample version the rep carried was different to the actual books I d receive I was first told that the Spanish subtitles wouldn t be present in the early years books but that everything else was OK I then asked again because the first explanation was a bit vague and he called his manager to check This conversation didn t take place in English so I m not sure what was said but I was told that the younger range of books was more American but the Ask Me books were with UK spelling the range I d also shown the most interest in and the same for the older set of books Up until now the rep had held the book himself so I asked to look through myself He said it was OK but kept taking control to flick to the back page where the full catalogues were present But I persisted and noticed American spelling throughout all ranges Complete deal-breaker frankly as it had ruined any trust I had and I didn t have much to begin with plus I m not prepared to shop from a company who can t be bothered to tailor spelling for the country they want to sell their product in But I was interested in the cost so we got onto price Bit confusing as he first said it was over 170 for the 14 books in the range I think I misheard misunderstood this though as he d been talking about price comparisons with WH Smith and Waterstones two expensive bookshops but the actual payment table said 155 I think this vastly over priced for what I saw which I expected to be the case even for 14 books and I ve seen better things elsewhere If you re interested though there are payment plans available but I don t know terms as I knew I wasn t going to proceed The first two ranges are sold as an excellent way to get your kids into reading and expanding knowledge then the final set of books is useful to help with school I asked whether the range followed the UK curriculum and the answer was vague enough that I suspected it wasn t They do indeed cover broad subjects like science maths etc but after further questioning and googling today I now know they don t specifically follow the way kids would learn it in the UK It s difficult to say how much of this is deliberate mis-selling and how much is lost in translation - his English was amazing and my Estonian is non-existent - but I think there was an element of both However when I said no he didn t push it at all and was still pleasant to talk to There is also an element of pressure involved in that there s no website to order from so you buy then and there or you lose the chance I certainly didn t feel pressured by the rep though he was a nice guy doing his best the problem is more the way door to door selling works in general Plus I d never heard from the company so had no idea about the validity of the information who the writers were quality of the materials whether the books would actually turn up and presumably there s no returns policy The terms of the online membership were also vague and didn t interest me so I didn t bother questionning and no idea what happens if something goes wrong with your order The other thing that I didnt like was the lack of data protection I was proudly shown a piece of paper of all the clients who had signed up names etc no payment details though and was told about various people general direction of where they lived and what they d bought and the method they d chosen to pay by I work in the financial services industry and GDPR is a big thing so definitely twitched at this Plus I wouldn t want my business told to other customers Overall I think kids could find these fun and educational I don t doubt that But they are extremely overpriced inflexible in that you have to buy the whole of a given set rather than individual books there are three sets in total not catered to UK spelling or curriculum very sketchy concerning some of the terms and conditions and there are definitely better things out there Also now I ve googled the company and the way they re viewed by a lot of high-profile US universities I m glad I didn t sign up

No books no contact Scam

Haven t received the books at all and they have took 2 payments iv had to block my card to prevent them taking the last as I think it s a scam at this point The company has not replied to any email I have sent and due to it being in a different country I literally can t afford to try and ring them being in the uk I was asked to add the lad that signed me up on fb who is also ignoring me Our local police posted on their Facebook page saying it was legit which made me feel better about signing up not that I think I had much choice since he wouldn t take no for an answer so I ended up doing monthly payments which iv struggled to pay but the bloke literally wouldn t leave he asked for 5 minutes of my time and had me outside for almost an hour possibly more I was late picking my kids up because he wouldn t leave when I said I had stuff to do and had to go he just kept talking but being an idiot and trusting the police I signed up to get rid of him thinking I could just cancel but 2 month later no books and no reply about cancelling my order If your smart enough to research this company stay away because they will rob you I had to start a scam report with my bank and hope to god I can get my money back

They keep taking money from my account

They keep taking money from my account after saying it s been paid in full I m very angry about it

Worst product and customer service

Worst product and customer service ever They will not guarantee the product DONT BUY

Stole my money

Ethan McWhirter student ID number 11655476 sold me an educational book package I paid 100 in cash the day of the sale and he left two books I glanced through the books that same day and realized they absolutely were not meant for elementary students The only reason I was interested in the books was because the dealer said they started at elementary level and went all the way through high school I called to cancel and was told that I had to ship the books back and would receive the money back in the form of a check in 15 days The dealer called the next day begging me to not cancel He showed up at my door the following day and I asked him if I could just give him the books instead of shipping them and get my cash back He initially pulled the cash out of his wallet but instantly put it in his shorts pocket He proceeded to try and sell me a different package I said no multiple times and finally he said that he could not take the books back and refund me that way I shipped the books back and did receive a check in the mail for 100 Shortly after cashing the check Southwestern Advantage took the money directly out of my bank account and I was charged a 25 fee for this I called them asking why that was done and they said the dealer gave me the cash back I had to explain that he did not do that and told me directly that he couldn t take the books and do a refund that way They said they would get a hold of the dealer and go from there After calling once again about this they said the dealer called me a liar and that I was not going to be refunded My 100 is being stolen by this company and no one will do anything about this

anyone had any dealing with this

anyone had any dealing with this company should contact the police and report them immediately its a scam

Got someone who randomly knocked on my

Got someone who randomly knocked on my door Basically guilt tripped his way into my home when he sat on the floor outside my front even though I said I wasn t interested but he persisted It was raining so I felt bad Finally he came in and I knew straight away they were going to be pricey He explained everything and I patiently listened even though I didn t feel completely comfortable having a male I didn t know in my home with my 2 year old child He was talking about my neighbours and how they bought thier special books Tbh I didn t see anything too exceptional about them You can buy books similar for cheap Finally he was talking about prices and man they were more than I thought I have another baby on the way and a home that needs sorting and a car to run I can t afford this When I explained this to him he basically kept changing stuff around and bullied me into buying them He just wouldn t leave until I finally accepted a payment plan I must of said about four different times I m sorry but it s not a good time for me financially He wouldn t accept that answer and unfortunately I m timid enough to just go with it He wanted me to add him on Facebook and find someone else he can harass Soon as he left I knew I would be cancelling the payment Soon as the first person was missed I got a message straight away asking why Tbh I feel it s a bit too much and when your alone and vunerable they shouldn t be bullying their way into making u pay You say no once That s it no

Worst Mis-selling Do not engage No recourse once you ve paid

The smooth talking southwesternadvantage agent dealer from Estonia lied about study material relevant as a reference material not only for the GCSEs but right up to A-levels This was the only reason we were convinced to buy the expensive study material We realised it isn t fit for purpose when the schools reopened My kid looked for a few maths concepts and couldn t find them in the book When I contacted the agent dealer he simply refused to refund even partial as 14 days period was over and all sales were final I then contacted southwestern advantage asking how to file a formal complaint against their unethical dealer s mis-selling study material not fit for purpose in the UK this is what they wrote back The dealer is XYZ who is running his own business The sale was placed between you and XYZ not with Southwestern Advantage Therefore you will need to seek a resolution with him As you can see they won t even let you file a formal complaint against their dealers from whom they are making money They ignored that their dealer did not disclose this fact during his conversations with us Please do not engage these dealers at all and just turn them away right at the door These unethical mis-selling people do not deserve the respect and kindness one would have for hard working door to door salespersons They have no respect for your time and impose themselves to get in to your house to wear you down and mis-sell so just don t let them get that foothold

The books they sell are american and

The books they sell are american and do not follow the british ciriculum the sales people are dodgey as hell and the american parent company has huge amount of complaints

Avoid and don t speak to them

Knocked my door and said my neighbour told them I had a baby and kindly asked to come in from the weather given the good old sales attitude friendly and actually look like the care Wouldn t stop talking about the books after I said I couldn t afford it and said we do payment plans to suit you She been taken unscheduled payments leaving me short and trying to act all nice to get her money and sometimes taken more than she should take each month She messages me on Facebook trying to be nice and wanting me try and see from point view when it comes to to this The books are weak and not worth how much you pay for them and these people will say anything to get deal and enter your house and not leave until they get a deal please don t let them in Nothing but scam artist that are covering they back and tell lies She said schooling was covered and now she tells me something different over messagener All nice to your face to get into your house then after that they don t take no for a answer for a sale then leave you short for no reason by taken money on unscheduled days and bug you over fb messenger to the point they play the victim