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Universal Accounting does teach you the bare basics of accounting. I am an accountant of 30 years. They teach you debits and credits that is all. They don't teach payroll taxes that is another course and costs thousands more.
Also do not take their QuickBooks course. You can get the same thing with more creditiblity through Intuit and become a QuickBooks pro advisor on top of it. it is less money and more clout.
Universal Accounting is great if you are already a bookkeeper and want to go out on your own. They give you great marketing tips to market yourself. For this cost though, I would just go to the nearest city college and pay a fraction of what they are offering. There are certification programs at the nearest community college and you can put "C.B" behind your name after 6 months of schooling for a whole lot less money than Universal Accounting wants to charge.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
This People are FRAUDS, SCAMMERS and totally unprofessional...DO NOT Get Involved With This Company..Please Please Do NOT Enroll...They have the Worst Refund Policies I have EVER EVER seen in my life...Do not enroll with them...They do NOT Care, they will take your money and regardless...I should have read the reviews BEFORE I signed the Contract But I'm seeking Legal Action and have stopped payment on all future dues...Regardless of my credit...Be smart you all Do Not enroll with them...
Nellie
I have a small tax preparation service doing only personal returns. I wanted to expand my practice to include bookkeeping clients as well preparing business tax return. I did not have expertise to handle it. When I contacted UAC, they said they will be able help me expand my practice by giving me there expertise i need . so i enrolled in the their courses and also started marketing my practice.
When the time came for me to ask them support to one my newer clients tax question, they straight up decline to assist. He was very rude and said, exact words " if I did not know how to do work, i should not get them." After this point, i stopped trying to expand my practice. i was very disappointed.
I spent over 4500 thinking as investment to expand my practice, but instead it went down the drain.
Don't believe what everything they say.
i wasn't impress with there material as well, Allen was teaching bookkeeping tip that might have been helpful in the 90's, they are not relevant to todays accounting.
They are Scam
It's pretty telling when the only reviews you can find are complaints that you don't live up to your refund guarantee. If this place was as good as my sales pusher would have me believe, then why can't I find positive reviews... other than his own on facebook?
Hello Roger, my name is Czeslaw Zalech, and I too, got shaft from the Bostrom Bros.
I placed them with the collection agency, they were reported to the credit bureau, and didn't even blink an eye.
This outfit is a family mafia. All who own this criminal activity are Bostroms. All from pa Bostrom to Alan.
I sent them back the program and they didn't accepted it and sent it back to me, then I didn't accepted. Since then, about 2 years or so, USPS is in possession of the Bostrom Bros tax program.
Bostrom Bros have no honor, dignity or a business ethics. Just imagine, that this unethical thieve Alan Bostrom even held the CPA from Texas. Roger, just imagine how low worth, if any, the CPA certification is.
Also what I think, you can take it anyway you like it or not, Bostroms must be Mormons, and the the Utah state officials who control criminals like UAC and Bostroms are also Mormons.
One like you and me don't stand a chance fighting the Mormon church. This is what it boils down to.
Because of me, all Bostroms are reported to the credit and BBB. But with BBB is truly bad thing. The BBB is a lobby organization, like a state board for lawyers. Bostroms pay premium "member fee" which is reflected in their stats as "A+" rating which have nothing to do with the UAC being honest outfit.
Roger, file a complaint with the BBB in Utah, file a complaint with the State of Utah as well. It will not do too much, but let keep others know that they are going to get shaft from the Bostrom Bors Family, as they shafted you, me and so many others.
Cheers to you Roger.
If you do business with this company you’ll be sorry. They tell you that as you learn someone will be by the phone to answer all your questions. Nothing could be further from the truth. Don’t believe them. Within the first 2 weeks of taking their tax course I had only 3 questions and my average wait time was 3 days for each question, much too long because a person can’t continue the course unless they understand everything up until the point of the question. I complained and they seemed not to care as if “too bad that’s just the way it is”. I asked for a refund and wanted to cancel. They didn’t even care that they did not live up to their end of the deal and told me I couldn’t get a refund unless I finished the entire course. So I struggled through the entire course and finished as best as I could and then requested a refund and was told flat out “No”. Well these people were of the worst business people I have dealt with in a long time. They give a good sales pitch but don’t believe them, again DON’T BELIEVE THEM!
@ Elegantros1, NadiaMiller:
“We’re sorry to receive Mr. "Z’s" complaint. Although he’s requesting a refund he does not qualify at this time. “
My response to this insulting statement; This above statement/opening of Universal CEO is very poor worded, is arrogant, and intentionally insulting and degrading statement. What is tells me, is All the rest bow, because God himself is speaking! I paid almost three thousands of dollars and they didn’t even care to spell my name correctly.
I finished all the requirements to fulfill their “terms and conditions.” I did n’t received from UAC anything that said I didn’t completed, or came short when I finished all the requirements. I requested the refund according to their UAC terms and condition and here this CEO of UAC has nerve to tell all that “Although he’s requesting a refund he does not qualify at this time. “ What that tells me, and others, “I got your money, and now get lost you ###!”
I have witnesses that were with me at the time when I went on the link and filled in the necessary information. The first square where there needs to be some date there didn’t take the date, even after the rest of the information was filled, their link didn’t took the message. The rest of the page worked okey. When I clicked to sent the page it always returned that it can’t be send because I need to type in the date.
I Followed the advise from UAC with the browsers, computers and all that. I used the library computers to do it, and changed 4 or so stations, clean the browsers and all that. It didn’t worked as I wrote to them.
When all didn’t worked (Early November 2104) I asked for alternatives, and if I will not hear from them withing a week, I am sending the program to the address on their return able on the package the program came in. I didn’t heard from the UAC about till today.
Since I didn’t received any cooperation/answer from UAC I sent the package back with invoice for $2, 995.00 the net amount of the program, after subtracting the shipping cost. They refused to take returned package, and it was sent back to me, and I, in return, refused to accept their package. I am not in possession of their program since early December 2014.
On Jan 6th., 05 I sent a letter via postal service with the account statement to this address and it was return, “ Attempted Not Known” in red ink stamp, and hand written “ANK” in blue ink.
I asked may local postal clerk here in Hillsboro what that means and I was told, “They (post office) don’t know anyone by that name at this at this address...”
During the course time I had one or two communications with the “instructor.” Basically, I was on my own all the time struggling with their program. There never was a human-to-human inter-reaction between us. I was just unwanted case number there, after I paid all in cash up front for their PTP program. I shouldn’t do that, pay all $2, 995.00 up-front. I learned that the ethical and honesty between the UAC owners and the rest of the world are polar opposites.
I gave UAC a fair shot at earning their money from me. I have no problem with it. However, there are many reasons that UAC didn’t met my expectations., thus I did requested the full refund as per their “terms and conditions.”
The total refund amounts to $3, 111.27 as explained in attached 2nd sent statement of the account sent to the UAC address on their website and which is on the package. This is what I responded to BBB in Salt Lake City
Allen Bostrom is very good at giving you the talking points, but, very short on the true substance of what his company offers. The truth is that UAC is just takes your money and does not give you anything in return. UAC is not accredited and has no generally accepted degrees or certificates. They have a very peculiar "refund" policy. Be very careful to read and understand it before you start any program with them. Some courses require you to complete the course, wait a year, then disclose personal information, including personal finance information.
I ordered many courses from UAC: Professional Tax Preparer, Universal Practice Builder, and Quick books course. I also attended seminars in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. However, I still could not get any clients. I decided to enroll in Master Coaching program with UAC; it was over a year ago. It did not work for me, I did not get even one client, and I decided to return all the material to get my money back. My materials were received on Feb.4, 2011 and I still did not get any refund. I called David Brown many times, left him a lot of messages and e-mails, and I still have not heard from him. I finished the course, I was not happy, I just don’t understand what takes so long to, at least call me and let me know what cause such delay. I am very disappointed with their return policy, as well as with David Brown himself. I am still waiting, and still trying to contact him. They are very quick to take my money, but not that quick to refund it. It seems like they are taking their time to find any excuse to NOT give you your refund.
It saddens me to see a complaint like this. As I do realize that there are people who just have to complain because they can never be satisfied, I would think that one look at the facts first before making a negative statement just like that.
Besides, everyone has different learning habits. Isn’t that a reason why you look around for a school that meets your needs? If you don’t like something it does not automatically mean that it is bad, a scam or misleading. It is just not what you need or want. If you enroll in a school and pay your enrollment fees and then decide you don’t want to go to that school you are taking a chance to not get you money back at all, right?
Universal Accounting gives you the chance to get that knowledge from the course material and than return it. What is so bad about that?
Four month ago I was layed off. I always thought that was to old to get back to school but knowing it would take awhile in this economy to find another job I deceided to look for classed where I can get certified in some accounting fields. Why not take the chance to better yourself while looking for the perfect job. I researched several online colleges and colleges in my area. The reason I choose UA was that the study material is strait to the point. It teaches you what you need to know about accounting for small businesses and does not waste time with studies that are really not needed as other schools do. The courses are in depth and easy to understand. The videos are high quality and so much fun it makes you feel like you are in an actual class room when in fact you are in the comfort of you own home. And, YES, I did learn about payroll taxes which was of high importants to me.
I have learned more in two month than I have in three years at another university where they made me take lots of non credit classed that has nothing to do with accounting ( can someone tell me how geometry and beginning through advanced calculus is used in accounting?)
I spent less money for taking four courses with UA than I would have for courses at other universities. Plus I have the benefit working with a personal coach if I need more questions answered.
Even if I do decide not to go into business for myself, after completing the bookkeeping course, I am confident that I will be able to get a better job with the wealth of knowledge I gained.
This is my personal opinion and I am not cohered by any Universal Accounting.
ChristineK, FL
I regret that we didn’t make a fan out of this person. It would appear that whomever this is has only made a cursory review of our courses. So, to help the reader make a more informed decision regarding our coursework, I wanted to take a moment and reply to some of these allegations.
We offer a number of different courses, with our Professional Bookkeeper Program being our most popular. This course is made up of sixteen DVD’s containing nearly 24 hours of instruction. Contrary to what this person as stated, only about ten percent of the instruction is dedicated exclusively to Debits and Credits with the balance of the training including everything from how to deal with eleven different small business industries, to how to setup and market a person’s accounting and bookkeeping service.
The writer also mentioned that we don’t teach payroll taxes. In fact, the Professional Bookkeeper Course does contain one hour of instruction in payroll taxes which is adequate for most small businesses which tend to be unsophisticated in their payroll needs. The program refers the student to their individual state agency for free additional training if it’s considered needed.
Perhaps the writer is mistaking our Professional Tax Preparer (PTP) Program for being a Payroll Course. Instead the PTP is sixty hours of training in how to become an income tax preparer. It includes training in the 1040 Form and all associated Schedules, as well as the common business returns, namely the 1065, 1120, and 1120S Forms. It also trains in how to set up and operate a tax preparation firm. The course requires 60 to 80 hours to complete it.
The Professional Bookkeeper's Guide to QuickBooks is the most complete, hands-on, training on the market. It consists of 13 hours of interactive CDs and over 800 pages of full-color workbooks with step by step instruction. In this four-module course, a student will not only receive an in-depth visual and audio training of most ins and outs of QuickBooks, but they will practice, hands-on, real life accounting by completing the monthly books for eight different and diverse companies. This is excellent preparation for a person interested in becoming a Certified Pro Advisor, and we don't discourage anyone from seeking multiple designations.
Furthermore, every one of our students receives dedicated support from experts in getting started. These Coaches provide timely, targeted, valuable assistance in every step along the process of working in the accounting industry. Most colleges offer accounting courses, but they are dedicated to the needs of large businesses, do not provide training in various industries, do not include a dedicated support team, and certainly don’t teach a person how to start their own accounting and bookkeeping service.
Taking college courses will require dedicating months of effort spread out over weekly classes, and requiring a person progress at a given pace. Universal’s course is self-directed and self-paced, with the ability to review it time and time again. Finally, the CB has no more regulatory clout than does the PB.
Finally, unlike no other college or university out there, our training is backed up with a 100% money back guarantee that states that once you complete the course, if you’re not happy, you’ll get your money back. This is better than any other course that I’m aware of as it does not limit you to sample only a portion of the course – you have the opportunity to see the entire course before making the decision as to it’s value.
I hope this helps to provide a clearer understanding of why UAC is working with hundreds of new students every month to aid them in progressing in their career.
Sincerely,
Allen B. Bostrom, CPA
UAC President/CEO
I agree with the writer. I also took a LOOK at your course and returned it! I was then sued for the balance and it still remain on my credit report. That negative rating has cost me a job opportunity so I will be consulting with an attorney to have it removed. YES, I have already called the company and tried to resolve the issue with NO RESOLUTION!