Ian Leahy ESLinsider review, submitted by Caitlin.
My ESLinsider TEFL certificate wasn’t accepted for my work permit.
I got scammed by Ian Leahy from ESLinsider, and looking back, I really should have noticed all of the obvious red flags.
I first got to hear of Ian Leahy’s TEFL program from one of his posts in Quora. He came over as being very knowledgeable, and I liked how he was prepared to go out of his way to shine a light on some of the dodgy TEFL courses out there. After a couple of emails back and forth, I enrolled in his TEFL (TEKA) course. The course payment was arranged by wiring the money to his bank account. Ok, a little strange, but this was a reliable person, who seemed completely legit.
The course was OK. It wasn’t worth the 300 bucks I paid, but it did cover a lot of the basics for teaching kids. Despite the not-that-great video quality, and having to manually email Ian my course assignments, I managed to see the course through to the end and I received my TEFL certificate.
I must write that Ian was helpful throughout the course and came over as being professional.
The problems began when I started applying for jobs.
Despite assuring me that he would help me find a job, Ian stopped returning my emails as soon as my course was complete. So the first lie was that he provides job support. He doesn’t.
I eventually landed a job with a school based in Shanghai, China. Because of the COVID restrictions on traveling at the time, all my paperwork went through the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. The plan was to get all my ducks in a row before the new year, and then I would travel over to China to begin teaching after the Chinese New Year.
It shook me when I received the news that my application had been declined.
I went through all my paperwork. Everything was in order.
When I checked with the embassy, they informed me that my work permit was declined because my ESLinsider TEFL certificate wasn’t accepted.
So now I am back to square 1 and need to take another TEFL course, but this time one that WILL be recognized. I decided on the TEFL Online Pro program and checked with the embassy and my school if this one would be recognized, they gave it the thumbs up, and now I’m back on course for an early March start to begin my teaching job. So far, the TEFL Online Pro program is excellent.
I wrote to Ian Leahy, asking for a partial refund of my money, but he didn’t respond.
ESLinsider’s TEFL online is a course that you should avoid at all costs. There is no reason for taking it if you can’t use the certificate.
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This is a scam website. I paid money and received nothing.