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Another Student Ripped Off at SPSU
December 13, 2010
Unauthorized Charge of $550.00 Applied to Student Account
I moved out of the Commons apartments at Southern Polytechnic State University in January of 2010. All outstanding charges were payed including the rent for December, the reletting fee, and rent for January prorated. Then in June of 2010, six months later a charge of $550.00 was placed onto my student account. After following up with the business office, I was told that this was for December's rent, 7 months ago (a charge that I had already paid).
I payed a visit to the Housing Office with proof that I had already payed the rent for December. The representative told me that I'd have to take up the dispute with the Business Office.
I visited the Business Office for a second time, and was told again that they do not assess the validity of a charge placed to my account. They would need approval from the housing office.
So again I visited the housing office and someone named Jenny Cotton said that she would call the business office and let them know I was coming one last time. The Business Office again told me that they could not do anything.
I called the housing office three times, asking to speak to Jenny Cotton (the one who kept redirecting me to the business office) and left messages with the receptionist. No one ever returned my calls. Finally got a hold of a manager and was told that I would receive an email.
I finally gave up after not receiving a single call or email. Filed a report with the Better Business Bureau, and they said the school had not responded. The invalid charge was paid through financial aid. This was plain irresponsible and uncalled for.
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Southern Polytechnic Scam
October 19, 2010
Invalid Balance
I too had a similar experience with SPSU and Ms. Helton and the upper management of the University.
At the time I was living in on campus housing and was automatically signed up for the University meal plan.
After viewing the charge on my account for the meal plan I made a visit to the business office and explained that I worked during the hours the cafeteria was open for business for breakfast and lunch, and had class during the dinner hours. Therefore I would never be able to use the meal plan. The business office acted very rude and said the meal plan was required and if I had a problem to talk to "Kasey Helton".
I called Kasey Helton via the number provided to me from the business office and left a message that I needed to speak with her regarding the meal plan. One week later with no response I called again and left a message saying I had a concern with the meal plan and needed it resolved. No response for 4 days.
I then visited the parking office at which her office was located, upon asking to speak with Ms. Helton I was told she was not in and to come back later or leave a message. As I walked past the office on my way to my vehicle not even 5 minutes later I saw Ms. Helton in the office so I walked back in. As I introduced myself she seemed very abrupt and unhappy to see me. we walked into her office and I started to explain my situation, she seemed to be ignoring me, when I was finished she fast and to the point replied "no".
I exited the office and went straight to the dean of students who was at the time her boss from my understanding. I explained the situation to him and expressed my discontent with the level of customer service I had received, he said it was up to Ms. Helton to make that decision.
I later spoke with Ms. Helton again about the problem and she said there is no way to "get out of the meal plan"
In conclusions all roads lead to Ms. Helton and that road is a dead end. I was forced to pay ~$1200 just so I could register for classes and never once used the cafeteria.
At this point I lost all faith in the scam conglomerate that is the upper management in charge of business of SPSU. If this was a normal business they would be shut down for realistically "blackmailing" students to give them extra money to be able to take classes. How can the Board of regents and Georgia state representatives allow these people to be paid with tax payers dollar?
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SPSU Scam
October 2, 2010
Southern Polytechnic Tried to Rip me off for $1,300
A charge of $1, 200 was improperly placed on my student account at Southern Polytechnic State University due to a meal plan that was cancelled and unused for the Spring semester of 2010; however, the invalid charge was not correctly rescinded.
Electing the meal plan is performed annually on a contractual basis, with the option to cancel by "letting the Business Office know" within no specified time limits. I canceled the plan early on in the semester (spring 2010) with the Business Office (by phone). Towards the end of the semester, after noting that the charge still remained on the account, I informed Kasey Helton (the Director of Auxilliary Services) of the cancellation again on April 30, 2010 (effectively cancelling the plan twice.) On May 3, Kasey Helton told me to wait for the charge to be rescinded. Three months later I was told that I never canceled the meal plan, and that the charge was properly placed.
Kasey Helton made every attempt to avoid speaking with me after submitting the initial inquiry on April 30, via email. Mrs. Helton never emailed back. Three days later I caught up with her at the parking office. She told me the money on meal plans had already been sent to the food service company. She urged me to just wait, stating that the hold on my student account would be temporarily lifted until the refund.
Two months later, after arriving from a business trip, Ms. Helton pretended not to hear when I questioned her in person as we coincidentally crossed paths.
Over the course of the last 3 months the school has made use of many circumlocutions in addressing this complaint. I wrote to Barry Birckhead (Dean of Students), filing a complaint against Kasey Helton, and he said that he would forward my message to Ms. Helton; of course there was no response. I have written and spoken to Patrick Mccord--Kasey Helton's manager, Arthur Vaughan (the controller of the institution's records), and the business office. All personnel stated that this was all up to Kasey Helton and that there was nothing they could do.
Contacted the Dean of Students again, requesting contact information for Mrs. Helton's manager, Patrick Mccord. Called Mr. Mccord and he said that it's not his problem that I didn't use the meal plan. I told him that the meal plan was cancelled and it wasn't used. Finally I told him that I'm sorry we couldn't reach an aggreement and that I would follow up again at a later time.
Contacted the business office. The woman working stated that she would remove the charge if Kasey Helton approves it, calls Kasey in front of me, receives a no response and, and relays the "no" back to me.
On September 3, 2010 I filed suit against the University for the amount of $1, 301.50 with the Magistrate Court of Marietta.
On September 17, I wrote to Mr. Vaughan (The Controller) of the the university, complaining about the level of responsiveness on behalf of Mrs. Helton, and Patrick Mccord. My complaint stated that the charges were not properly rescinded due to unscrupulous dealings on Kasey's behalf. He said that he would forward my message to Kasey Helton--no further response.
In the end, I fulfilled my end of the contract, effectively canceling the contract twice as stated in the terms of the contract. I payed off the student account so as to allow for registration in Fall. SPSU personnel have given me the runaround, been unprofessional, lied or have been completely unresponsive. Finally filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and apparently the institution already currently under investigation.
Consumers should be aware of such unscrupulous business practices; the people operating Southern Polytechnic State University only get away with such scams, because students generally do not know better. Letting such an incident go would be setting a dangerous president for defrauding students and families in the future.
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