Accreditation Watchdog: The TEFL Academy vs. TEFL Online Pro, submitted by The Trusted TEFL Reviews TEFL Watchdog.
Yesterday afternoon, The TEFL Watchdog decided to contact, via telephone, both The TEFL Academy and TEFL Online Pro, to see how their (virtual) face-to-face customer service support measures up against the scrutiny of some basic questioning.
We took the role of prospective students, interested in what each course has to offer.
We chose these two particular TEFL/TESOL course providers because one is the highest-rated program on Trusted TEFL Reviews, and the other is notorious for misleading its customers with regard to false accreditation claims and is notorious for launching clandestine attacks on its TEFL TESOL business competitors.
The former: teflonlinepro.com
The latter: theteflacademy.com
1. TEFL Online Pro.
In under a minute, The TEFL Watchdog was connected with a TEFL Online Pro office staff member – willing and able to answer any questions that we had. At the end of our conversation, they asked us if we had any further questions for them. The entire conversation was polite, knowledgeable, and professional.
2. The TEFL Academy.
After waiting for more than 5 minutes, we were finally connected to a TEFL Academy staff member that seemed like it was their first day on the job. When they were unable to answer any of our questions – the exact same questions that we put to TEFL Online Pro – they then redirected our phone call to a second TEFL Academy staff member, that also came across as clueless. Both staff members apologized for not being able to sufficiently answer our basic questions – basic questions that any prospective TEFL student would consider rudimentary.
One of our questions asked was, “Are your courses accredited?”
TEFL Online Pro answered in the affirmative.
The TEFL Academy also answered in the affirmative but provided us with false information.
The TEFL Academy stated that its courses are accredited by Ofqual and TQUK. They also mentioned a few other organizations which apparently accredit them. When The TEFL Watchdog noted that the organizations quoted are only regulatory bodies and not accreditation bodies, the second TEFL Academy staff member put the phone down on us!
Conclusion:
1. In the event that something goes wrong with your TEFL/TESOL course, or if you just need some support, our money would be on TEFL Online Pro to fix the issue and/or find a solution. If you are wanting to take a fully accredited and internationally recognized TEFL/TESOL certification course program, TEFL Online Pro provides this service.
2. In the event that something goes wrong with your TEFL/TESOL course, or if you just need some support, our money would not be on The TEFL Academy to fix the issue and/or find a solution. If you are wanting to take a fully accredited and internationally recognized TEFL/TESOL certification course program, The TEFL Academy does not provide this service. If you ever needed to contact The TEFL Academy directly, via telephone, our first-hand impression is that you will likely be lied to and likely locked in a never-ending telephone loop – passed from one uninformed staff member to another.
Final assessment:
TEFL Online Pro: 9/10
The TEFL Academy: 3/10
TEFL Online Pro is a Fully Accredited and internationally recognized TEFL TESOL course provider – accredited by ACTEFLC – Accreditation Council for Teaching English as a Foreign Language Courses: https://www.acteflc.com/
TEFL Online Pro clearly and transparently note this on their school website:
https://teflonlinepro.com/accreditation/
The TEFL Academy claim that they are accredited by a bunch of regulatory bodies, but we couldn’t find any examples of actual accreditation.
Final thoughts?
TEFL Online Pro came over as approachable and professional.
The TEFL Academy came over as evasive and disorganized.
TEFL Online Pro answered all our questions in a polite and detailed manner.
The TEFL Academy dodged questions and ultimately put the phone down on us.
Perhaps this explains why TEFL Online Pro is the highest-rated TEFL TESOL certification course program, and why The TEFL Academy is the 15th lowest-rated TEFL TESOL certification course program:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-course-directory/
More TEFL TESOL program comparisons will appear sporadically throughout the remainder of 2023.
Read more about TEFL TESOL accreditation in the TEFL Accreditation Guide, and in TEFL TESOL Accreditation 101:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-accreditation-guide/
https://trustedteflreviews.com/2021/03/28/tefl-tesol-accreditation-101/
Accreditation Watchdog UPDATE: 18th May 2021.
Trusted TEFL Reviews (again) tried reaching The TEFL Academy, to ask basic questions which TEFL Academy students would likely need to ask, should things go south with their TEFL Academy course.
Again, after waiting on hold for approx. five minutes, we were put through to a company sales rep, that failed to answer any of our questions.
When we persisted in our questioning, we were duly informed that The TEFL Academy would no longer be answering our questions.
All we asked, was which accreditation body accredits the TEFL Academy courses.
When we did eventually get through to somebody who was willing to answer our question, the young gentleman on The TEFL Academy switchboard relayed to us that The TEFL Academy is accredited by Ofqual.
When we confirmed for this particular gentleman that OfQual is a regulatory body and not an accreditation body, he decided to put the phone down on us.
It was a straightforward question, responded with a less than straightforward response.
Extremely shady behavior.
Try it for yourselves: contact The TEFL Academy’s main customer line (+353 1554 62 27) and see how you feel about their customer service experience. Oh, and please ask them about their accreditation. They begin by claiming such and such accreditation, but the moment you question the legitimacy of those accreditation claims, they hang up on you and block your telephone number.
If you are wanting a personal TEFL TESOL course experience, and one that is fully accredited, Trusted TEFL Reviews recommends avoiding The TEFL Academy.
We also (again) contacted TEFL Online Pro – teflonlinepro.com – and they came over as transparent and ready to answer all of our asked accreditation questions.
Why is this so?
theteflacademy.com is regionally accredited (within Ireland and the UK) but is not fully accredited; nor internationally recognized.
teflonlinepro.com is Fully Accredited and internationally recognized.
Accreditation Watchdog, in association with The TEFL Watchdog
Related article: https://trustedteflreviews.com/2021/03/30/6-tefl-red-flags/
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The TEFL Watchdog
I just need to correct you on one point contained within your guest-written article.
The TEFL Academy, as far as we are aware, doesn’t directly attack their business competition.
Instead, they employ “Brand Ambassadors” who do their dirty work for them.
If you come across any blog that writes negatively about one of The TEFL Academy’s business competition and contained within that blog are links to purchase a The TEFL Academy course, then you can be assured that the website is a clandestine website with the sole purpose of selling The TEFL Academy courses.
Trusted TEFL Reviews isn’t advising people to purchase, or not to purchase a TEFL Academy course.
However, we do recommend treating any TEFL Academy Brand Ambassador websites or blogs with a healthy level of skepticism.
The Online TEFL/TESOL industry really needs one umbrella organization to police and monitor the behavior of certain Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs because some programs act more like a Sicilian (or in this case, Irish) mafia family, rather than well-respected providers of training courses.
One example in case: A few weeks ago, Trusted TEFL Reviews received a TEFL Academy review, written by one of their “Brand Ambassadors”. The review was laden with commercial language and contained a live link to an affiliates website, where this Brand Ambassador sets to gain money each time someone purchases a TEFL Academy link through the website.
The review was flagged, we decided not to publish the review, and then this certain Brand Ambassador waged online attacks on Trusted TEFL Reviews.
I half expected to wake up one morning with the severed head of a leprechaun nestled between my bed pillows.
The TEFL Academy is incredibly aggressive in the protection of their ‘turf’, and anyone who crosses their path gets to experience the wrath of their Brand Ambassador minions.
Mia Williams
theteflacademy.com should be one to avoid. I took their course in January and besides receiving little help finding work, some of the jobs I’ve applied for have flat-out denied my application because the certificate issued by The TEFL Academy isn’t recognized outside of Ireland and the UK. Try applying for a job in Europe, Asia, The Middle East, or South America with a TEFL Academy certificate and you will be sorely disappointed. I am in the process of reclaiming my course fee back through my bank. Avoid!
They hung up on me too!
I asked TTA (The TEFL Academy) which company accredits their courses, the woman on the other end said “Ofqual”, and when I questioned the legitimacy of that accreditation claim, she ended the telephone call. She actually put the phone down on me.
Completely rude and unprofessional, not to mention that she outright lied to me.
I guess TTA assumes that people will just believe whatever they tell people.
I see thousands of TTA positive reviews on the internet. How can all those be real if people are not able to use the TTA qualification if they want to teach abroad?
It simply beggars belief. Someone should seriously look into reporting TTA to a consumer watchdog.
Nigel.