Here's the catch: Dream Scholars Foundation (DSF), of Temecula, telemarkets SAT/ACT/PSAT preparation software for a $155 “donation.” Those who buy the software encounter problems more difficult to solve than any on the tests themselves, and both their pocketbooks and tempers come out sorely tested in the process. They undoubtedly give DSF an “F” grade, as we do.
Dream Scholars Foundation, known until early this year as Scholarship Fund America (SFA), telemarkets parents of students soon to take college prep exams to market their products. Their usual pitch is to say that the person's son or daughter indicated an interest in their materials, and the parent agrees to order and pay for them.
For $225, according to their website, they will throw in additional software such as Language Arts and advanced math programs, 30 days' access to their “award-winning” interactive on-line SAT prep course, 30 days' unrestricted access to their scholarship data base, plus a certificate, “suitable for framing,” recognizing your “valued contribution.”
For an additional $55 per month, you may access their Scholarship Guide and Directory, which, they say, you may start or stop at any time.
Referring to your payments as “gifting” on the company's website, they ask you not to rescind your “donation” despite their 30-day trial period, explaining that the amount is “largely tax-deductible.” If you must request a refund, though, you are to call the Donor Relations office in San Diego and obtain an RMA number to return the product. Without one, your order will be returned to you “as a courtesy for [you] to keep, for [your] donation.”
What's the “gifting” and “donation” talk all about?
According to SFA's bylaws, their purpose is to “provide financial assistance to underprivileged but academically qualified high school students . . .” And the organization's fundraising strategy states that it will “seek donations via telephone from affluent families who have college bound high school students in the home.”
Though complainants don't generally mention anything about it, and apparently the software sales pitches don't either, the company's website tells you that they are, this year, initiating their own scholarship awards of $2,500 to each recipient. Elsewhere, they say they will fund two California-based charities with $1,000 or more per recipient. Scholarships are contingent on “contributions.” (SFA did not respond to our June 2009 request for information about 2009 scholarship finalists, other charitable organizations they have aided, or the charities they plan to fund.)
The Better Business Bureau has received 36 complaints against DSF/SFA, the first of which was filed in June 2008. Complainants seem not to be swayed by the imploration not to rescind their gift. Most, in fact, don't even complain about the software itself (at least one does complain, though, that it doesn't work). Most refund requests are based on the telemarketer's misrepresentation that their son or daughter had requested information about or indicated an interest in their software.
Complainants continue, though, by claiming that they cannot reach anyone to request the required RMA and that responses to their voicemail messages are rude. One complainant, who called repeatedly and left messages that were never returned, says, “Now, four months later, I still have a product I do not want with no refund in sight.”
Others say they're charged for the $55 scholarship director access even when they never ordered it. One tells us she didn't even need the information they charged her for because she works at a university.
Except for five or six cases in which the complainant verified their refund, the company has ignored complaints.
Kim's advice: Don't get caught. Here are some tips to help you guard against offers such as this one:
• Do your homework. Don't buy without first getting a Better Business Bureau reliability report. If you're interested in what the telemarketer is selling, he/she should be willing to call back after you've gotten the report.
• It's better to pay by credit card than to give out your bank account number. If recurring charges you didn't authorize are added to your credit card, you can dispute them.
• You will want to make sure the charity is registered with the California Registry of Charitable Trusts. You can check this at caag.state.ca.us/charities, but at the same time, realize that registration does not mean approval or endorsement of the organization.
• Check the organization's tax-exempt status if you want to deduct your “contribution” by asking them for a copy of the Internal Revenue Service's determination letter. Again, don't infer IRS approval from this letter. Remember also, that your deduction would be reduced by whatever value the software may have.
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Kim Burgeis the Better Business Bureau's Director of Trade Practices.