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I had a very similar experience with Benchmark Company (scholarship help) as a previous poster. We signed up with Benchmark at a cost of about $2, 000 in Spring of 2011. We were told they knew of all kinds of scholarship money (yes, including scholarships for left handed studends; same story- different city) and that there we several billion dollars of scholarships that went unfunded each year because no one applied. They indicated they knew where this money was and they could guide you to a significantly cheaper college education for your child. My recommendation is to keep your $2, 000 and don't count on them for anything. My son (who is ao good student and a good writer) filled out 35 scholarship applications and we received nothing; no responses, no money no indication that the scholarship was ever awarded. He would have been much better off using that time at his summer job and getting paid $7.50 per hour. They also said they would file the FAFSA for us. I sent them the information they requested in November 2011, and in May 2012, long after the FAFSA deadline, I found out our FAFSA wasn't filed. Their excuse was that they need my 2011 tax information (although they had requested 2010) and that they needed me to formally approve them to file it for us (which I thought I had already done). The woman we dealt with was quite rude and said we had not done what we were told (yes, I did). We didn't receive any calls or messages from them to tell us to approve the FAFSA, or that they needed 2011 tax filing information, or that it hadn't been filed because...; absolutely no communication at all. I'm not saying these people are scammers, and perhaps they have helped lots of people, but I don't know of anyone they've helped and they certainly haven't helped us. All we have to show for our $2, 000 is 35 unsuccessful applications, a FAFSA filed 4 months late and high blood pressure at the lack of communication. For $2, 000 I guess I expected to hear from them if they needed more information. I also expected at least 1 in 35 application to at least get a response, or God forbid, a scholarship. The scholarships we were told were available this year (2012) were pretty much the same ones we applied for last year (2011), and there don't appear to be that many of them. Also, most of them appear to be low dollar amounts ($250 to $500) which would be helpful, but not nearly what we were told by the sales woman who signed us up. Most of them (not all) appeared to be ethnic specific or veterns related. I would recommend you keep your money and spend your efforts at something else more productive.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer's satisfaction.
Benchmark will not return my phone call. Have they closed. Gary told my husband and me that we would get a call if our son did not do anything. We thought he did because we paid about $2, 000.00 a semester. When I valeted and they answered the phone I was told that Gary was just a worker and he never called anyone. So displeased that we spend $1, 400.00 we did not have. He came to Houston to meet with us. I’m sending someone to their office in Irving just to see if they are open. He will not go in and after that I guess I’ll have to go to get some answers. I also have a note from my lawyer that I will bring. Gary made fools out of us. I will be glad to tell our financial planner not to give him any more business!
I HAve Had a WONDERFUL experience with Benchmark Company We were newbies looking for Scholarship money for our Daughter, We absolutely would not have known where to begin. But we came across Benchmark and when they explained the plan to us we followed all the instructions to a Tee and recieved a very good amount to help us start the College journey. They were so helpful and patient walking us through every step of this very confusing process I would Highly reccomend Benchmark Company for all of you who are lost on the process of Where To Find The Money.Thank you to everyone on the Benchmark team.
We were called by a company that we had never heard of before and we were a little bit afraid to join, but, we needed help so badly that we went ahead and enrolled at Benchmark. I was really afraid that it would be a scam, but when I called their office and showed them my award notice; she was able to give me directions so that I got $12, 775 in free money and then I didn't need to borrow as much money. I'm grateful for their all their help
I signed up with Benchmark several years ago. I purchased the family plan program as I have several kiddos getting ready for college and 1 already in college. I will be honest, I figured that the amount of money that I spent, that they would do EVERYTHING for me and take care of whatever needed to be done. After months of failing to comply with the instructions they clearly outlined, we dropped the ball. However, once we picked it up and followed what they told us to do, this company was able to provide my son with enough tuition assistance that our out of pocket was down to a minimum. We spent more on feeding him than on his tuition if you can believe that! I’m excited and looking forward to what they can come up with for my other kids. They have truly been a blessing and the investment cost of enrollment has come back many times over and has saved me and the hubby more money than we ever thought we could putting 4 kids through college.