Tech Pros Group,
18 Technology Dr, Irvine, 92618 CA
Tech Pros Group,
18 Technology Dr, Irvine, 92618 CA
&
Eric Choi, Executive Director
What You Should Know
Eric Choi, Executive Director
What You Should Know
I came across Tech Pros Group in Jan 06, read the advertisement about the LAN/WAN Internship (Figure 1) and signed up. I wanted an internship that paid $36, 000 - $72, 000.
Figure 1 - Web Advertisement
The Training:
I started the training in Mar 2006. It basically consisted of the following:
Memorizing the answers to the Microsoft Exams (these answers are obtained from www.CertKillers.com), then taking the test. You take the test at the Pearson VUE test center (http://www.pearsonvue.com) which is operated by Tech Pros Group right on the premises. Tech Pros personnel will tell you that you don’t learn anything from these tests and that you learn on the internship. There are about 13 of these tests.
There is also a step by step lab manual that is done on a virtual network. There is a lot to do and little time to do it in. The “MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit” for Windows Server 2003 provides a similar, but more comprehensive training.
Career seminars which discuss the various options, interviewing skills, etc.
New Contracts:
After you have paid your initial fees and started the program, you will be asked to sign certain legal documents. If you read these documents carefully, they mention nothing about getting an internship. Basically they say “you do the training you owe Tech Pros Group $25, 000”.
The Internship:
Near the end of the training, Tech Pros tries to schedule you for an interview with someone from a company in your area. In this interview, the potential employer asks you real engineering questions, e.g. “if this were to occur, how would you handle it”. You need to know the answers to some/most of these questions in order to demonstrate to the employer that you know that you are doing. Memorizing answers to tests and doing the lab manual do not prepare you for this. Even if you know the answers, there is no guarantee that you will get hired. Tech Pros is a placement service and charges a fee from the employer. I know of a few students who really knew networking very well and yet were unable to get an internship.
The bottom line is that you do the Tech Pros training and they think that you owe them $25, 000 regardless of whether or not you get an internship.
What Others Think:
Below is a screen shot of the Southern California Better Business Bureau website. The address is: http://www.labbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReportPage_Expository.aspx?CompanyID=13218660
and
and
and
Before Tech Pros Group:
This last comment about the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education (BPPVE) is important. Several years earlier, Eric Choi (and his brother Ray) had another IT training company called ICTP (International Consortium Technology Professional - Training Technology) that closed. If you go to the address http://www.bppve.ca.gov/press_releases/ictp_oct2003.htm you will see the following:
If you read the screen shot, you will see that it announces that ICTP has closed, and that BPPVE gave the existing ICTP students a chance to transfer to another training facility. You should ask yourself the following questions “why did Eric’s training business close, and who paid for the students to transfer?”
By answering those questions, you might figure out why Tech Pros is not registered by BPPVE.
Payment / Non Payment:
While doing the training you will also be asked for your bank account number. Tech Pros automatically deducts funds from this account once you have completed the training regardless of whether or not you are on an internship.
Failure to pay may result in the following:
Money will be taken directly from your bank account.
Tech Pros personnel will call you for payment.
Steve Copeland (a Tech Pros exec) will threaten you with bill collectors and lawyers.
A bill collector will contact you.
Potential legal action.
But if you go to the site http://www.dca.ca.gov/legal/dc_1.pdf, you will find the following document:
and from the section headed Article 3,
Non Disclosure Agreements:
New Tech Pro’s students now sign a non disclosure agreement, which silences them. They cannot mention what has occurred with Tech Pros. So if they have not gotten an internship, they can’t say anything about it. But even if they have signed a non disclosure agreement, they can still file a complaint.
Actual Numbers:
How many people have actually obtained their internship? Supposedly 500 students have done the training. There are 20 pictures on the Tech Pros website, so at least 20 of them, or at least 4% got what they wanted. The real numbers cannot be confirmed.
Confused?
Don’t worry, many people are. Ask yourself the following:
Am I going to get involved with Tech Pros because I want to do the Internship?
Has it been implied to me that I will get an Internship?
Will I pay money to get the Internship?
What if I don’t get an Internship?
“Fraud” - deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage, www.dictionary.com
and
“Fraud” - the intentional use of deceit, a trick or some dishonest means to deprive another of his/her/its money, property or a legal right. A party who has lost something due to fraud is entitled to file a lawsuit for damages against the party acting fraudulently, and the damages may include punitive damages as a punishment or public example due to the malicious nature of the fraud. Quite often there are several persons involved in a scheme to commit fraud and each and all may be liable for the total damages. Inherent in fraud is an unjust advantage over another which injures that person or entity. It includes failing to point out a known mistake in a contract or other writing (such as a deed), or not revealing a fact which he/she has a duty to communicate… http://dictionary.law.com/default2.asp?selected=785&bold=|||| .
Making Complaints:
If you have a complaint that you would like to make about Tech Pros, you can go to the District Attorney Orange County web site at http://www.orangecountyda.com/home/index.asp?page=117, and fill out the consumer complaint form.
You can also go to the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Vocational Education’s website http://www.bppve.ca.gov/forms/consumer_complaint.pdf, and fill in that complaint form.
Legal Issues:
Tech Pros also has legal issues. For a breakdown on what is occurring go to http://techprosgrouplegalissues.googlepages.com/home .
Closing:
In this report, I have given you data which I believe that you should know before doing business with Tech Pros.
If you have any comments, you can contact me at the email address below. Even if you have signed a non disclosure agreement, you can contact me and you do have legal rights.
Flourish and Prosper
Oliver Asato
MrOliver21@netzero.net
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