Frederick Academy-Real Estate

"The online course did not prepare me for the proctor exam at all! Waste of time and my money “!"

"I wish I had seen the other negative reviews before I signed on. I can’t speak to the in-person courses, but the rules set around the Online Course I took were not just unclear, they were completely misleading and misrepresented, and when given the opportunity to correct the situation, the Director refused. The misrepresentation caused me to spend a full 60 hours of time successfully in the course, which is exactly what is said is required to complete the course and move onto the licensing exam (with a countdown clock in the course even counting down your 60 hours!) but even so, I was told I had not met the requirements AND would not be given any kind of extension to correct the problem that had occured. Meaning the ENTIRE 60 HOURS I spent in the course was DISCOUNTED completely. And the 200 dollars I spent on the course — gone. I was told I had to start back at the beginning. AND to top it all off, the Director, in response to my inquiry about how misleading the course timing and info was, typed in an email to me: I have been watching your progress the entire time in the course. You have not completed all of the required content in the timeframe you had access to the course. You will have to start again, and you cannot get an extension or refund. I would think carefully about what you want to do next. This might not come across because I can’t relay every detail about this situation in a review, but this means he had known I would fail, but chose not to alert me. Poor customer service. I found a different provider with VASTLY different policies and customer service - The CE Shop. If I had worked through them instead, I would have saved myself 60 wasted hours (60 hours! That’s no joke!!) and 200 bucks. Not only is the CE Shop course CLEAR in alerting users to what determines successful completion of the course (a combo of time lapsed and content completed) - but their policies are wonderful. You can buy extensions of time in the course if you need it after your original access expires. And the reason you may need that extension? There is NO way to determine how much time it will take you to get through the content successfully in either the Frederick course or the CE Shop course. 60 hours is the minimum time you have to spend. And you have to finish one unit before the next opens up to you. If you need more time to digest the content and successfully complete the unit quizzes and exams, with the CE Shop you are not penalized. The length of time you will need course acccess isn’t a factor with them - You simply get one free extension of time, and then if you need more , you can pay for them. Amazing! But very logical - the way it should be! I have a complaint I’m about to submit in to the BBB about Frederick, and have already contacted the MD Real Estate Commission (they were of no help) and the MD Higher Education Commission (they oversee the course). I have no idea if I will get any where with these submissions, but if I can stop one additional person from what I went through, that’s my goal."

"The Frederick Academy has created their own rules for testing and proctoring. Of those rules includes that IF you choose to take an outside proctored test, you no longer are allowed to take the test with Frederick Academy. When asked why this was the case, as the testing fee is included in the initial cost, the director simply stated "because that's a rule". Additionally, it is stated in their contract that they will check in with a student if they do not perform at 90% or higher on the section tests. No one checked in with students to help, advise or provide guidance. Overall, when we called to inquire, we were met with stonewalling and very little options. It was as if they didn't need us or if they care if we passed. Overall, I highly suggest NOT using Frederick Academy."

"terrible company to deal with"

"Nice classes. Hand out material provided and certificates given to you after class."