AcadiumReviews of acadium.com

I had an alright experience with their internship program, although it required a lot of effort on our part to manage everything. Overall, the experience was just okay. Unfortunately, as the internship was nearing its end, I was unexpectedly charged for a new internship that I never requested. I promptly reached out to them to cancel and request a refund because I hadn't received any notification about the renewal. However, they refused to refund my payment, claiming that their system had sent a notification. To my surprise, I later found the notification buried in my spam folder, and it came with a Google warning that said, "This message seems dangerous. Similar messages were used to steal people's personal information. Avoid clicking links, downloading attachments, or replying with personal information." I pointed this out to their "Subscription Success Manager," but all I received in return was a snarky comment thanking me for confirming that I had received the email. If you're a startup with tight budgets, I highly recommend exploring alternative services. I now find myself stuck with a $556 USD bill for a service I don't want, and they refuse to provide a refund. This situation is completely unacceptable. Their customer service is terrible and borders on being scammy.

Cannot say anything about their core offering. But their affiliate program apparently is either a scam or mis-managed. The report showing a customer generated through my affiliate link for which I should be paid. But no payment received ever. Wrote to their affiliate team but no response.

It is not guaranteed that Acadium will give you an apprenticeship with a company as a digital/social media marketer. They require you to download their app on your phone in order to even register with them. They don't even check your full resume and credentials before they accept or deny you. They didn't bother to check my LinkedIn profile at all (you are able to tell who views your LinkedIn profile) before they denied me. They send you an email before denying or accepting you encouraging you to sign up for "premium" courses that they offer. I've been studying social media marketing for two years and have several certifications to verify it and they still denied my apprenticeship. They give priority to people that purchase their courses, in all honesty. They are just a money-making venture that lures prospective digital marketers to procure their services so that they can make a profit. UPDATE: Just more lies from Acadium. See how unprofessional they are in their response to my post? See how they make personal attacks against me? They don't even adhere to or read the guidelines provided by Trustpilot on how to respond to negative reviews against them in a professional and ethical way. It just proves my point on how incompetent they are. This is all they said to me in rejecting my application: "After reviewing your profile, we’ve decided not to proceed with your application at this time." They did not give me ANY feedback other than that, nor did they "express" why I was rejected other than that statement, and other than suggesting that I pay for "advanced" courses from them. And they did not "vet" my application. As I said in my original review and complaint, they did not even view my LinkedIn profile AT ALL, which has all of my work and educational experience listed on it, even more so than my resume. You would think that being in the social media business that they would make it a priority to view one's professional resume and credentials on such a substantial business/employment social media site like LinkedIn, yet they did not even bother to view it (as I said before, you are able to tell who views your resume and credentials on LinkedIn). I focused on my career for two years and have substantial education and professional certifications in the field of digital marketing and they still would not let me "succeed" with them. And I did not "harass" or "threaten" their staff or use "explicit" language at all. I did, however, tell them that I will post a negative review about them - which I have done. Because they deserve it. As I stated previously, you can tell how improper and awkward their behavior is with their response and attitude towards my complaint and review against them. It just proves my point by virtue of how amateurish and negligent they are and that they merely want you to PAY for their courses that they offer in ORDER for you to get their apprenticeship services from them. My advice is: Move On from Acadium, just as they have instructed me to do. They simply want you to purchase their courses, and if you don't, they won't accept you or assign you a mentorship.

I was very positive about the opportunity to work with an apprentice for my new startup. We are doing everything on a tight budget, so this seemed like a good option. Unfortunately, the vast majority of potential apprentices we met on the platform had no clue about marketing... absolutely no clue. We finally found someone who was suitable, only for him to ghost us after the first two weeks. During his first two weeks he didn't even complete the agreed upon work. Now that I realize how completely unaware and unskilled the marketing profiles are, and after wasting many hours vetting candidates across the past month, I've asked for a refund. Sadly, Acadium refuses to provide this - referring me back to their terms. This is no way to build a business!! Businesses don't gain customer loyalty or referrals like this. This is a path to go out of business.

Acadium does not truly vet their apprentices as they claim. I have had 3 apprentices that were not able to or aware of the commitment that Acadium claims is explained. After much time and effort wasted on my end for 5 mths with no results- I am now dealing with Acadium refusing to offer a refund

Sadly you are likely to be very disappointed with the service you receive here. The upfront attitude appears to be all about you; helping you find someone that can bring value to your business, but in reality, hey are just after your money which of course they keep - the apprentice receives nothing - that's right, not a penny. The apprentice doesn't even receive any training whatever, that's down to you! So not only are you paying them for the privilege of hiring an apprentice, but you're also paying them for the 'privilege of becoming the trainer of said apprentice - whoever heard of such a thing? Paying someone else and then doing all the work yourself? How is that a good business deal?? And if course, don't forget, they will tell you thatyou're making a single payment, then take a second payment without warning and pretend they are entitled to do so! Please don't make the same mistake I did in believing them to be honourable.

DON'T DO IT! I do a very special niche in Marketing and they kept trying to make me give up my brand that I spent years building and be someone else who doesn't even work in my niche. That alone is unprofessional and bad marketing. They tried to make me a base level broad marketer just so they could collect more money from me and faster. The mentor I had, Erik Harbison, frequently diminished my efforts in front of the entire class. I needed to learn certain skills in order to land the jobs I wanted but Erik wouldn't listen to me the way he listens to other people in the class. I even showed him the job listings for the jobs I wanted and he kept blowing me off to try and make me a vague general marketer with no education just so they could stuff me in any position that was useful to them. He told me several times I was wasting my time on education. Education is NEVER a waste of time, especially when the one thing that Acadium was supposed to offer was an education and they failed to do so. OF COURSE I SOUGHT ADDITIONAL EDUCATION. That was what I signed up for but they did not provide. Most of the classes are just job check-ins (Ie: YOU WORKIN' YET?! WHERE'S MY MONEY?!) to push you towards making them money. They care more about pushing you in the job search than actually teaching you how to do the job. The last straw for me was when Erik decided to do one of his attacks of me in front of the class, saying I'm an example of what not to do (public humiliation and degradation), even though the situation he was trashing me over wasn't even what was happening; As usual he just wasn't listening to me. I watched him treat me differently than the rest of the class for the sessions I attended bc I wouldn't just fall in line and give up on my brand and my goals to be a money mill for him. He wasn't helpful when I had questions and issues, and instead would dump me off on the community who barely has anyone engaging at all. 100% of the time the newbie marketers in the community were not able to help me. I have one of my questions that to this day I can't figure out the answer to, even with Google, and Erik refused to answer the question about a specific Google/FB tool. Terrible mentorship! The whole experience was a flop. A giant waste of time that was bad for my confidence and mental health. I dropped out of the class after being publicly trashed by Erik and not getting the education or mentorship I was promised. They could have released me from the contract with no further issues, but Erik decided to be a petty you know what and now they are harassing me for $9,000 for the course. The classes in the course are NOT worth $1,000 a pop. I am unemployed and have been the whole time. I don't owe them anything bc that was the deal of the contract -- They provide a education (and they failed to do so), they provide mentorship (which they did not provide bc someone who doesn't teach you and insults and degrades your efforts is not a mentor), and to help me get a job (which they could not do without trying to get me to do stuff that wasn't related to my vertical just to collect money. No one is going to hire someone with no education and no experience. DUH. At least in my vertical I had some really important and relevant experience!). They failed on every front. The deal was they provide those things and then WHEN I get a job IF I make over $2,500 a month then they get a cut. They did not provide what was promised. I have never made that much money and have no money bc I have no job therefore I owe them nothing as per the contract. YET THEY ARE STILL HARASSING ME AND THREATENING TO RUIN MY CREDIT AND SUE ME FOR $9,000. They aren't even BBB accredited! They literally could have let me go from the contract but Erik decided to be petty and vindictive. Watch out for him! He refused to release me from my contract bc I wouldn't be obedient to him. Just another angry male taking it out on a woman who won't be obedient bc what he wants me to do isn't in line with my professional experience or goals. He's a bad marketer, a bad mentor, and in my opinion a bad person. This was bar none the worst "educational" experience I've ever had. Do not waste your time with this money mill bc that's all you are to them -- a money mill. They do not care about you. They do not care about your education. They do not care about your goals or your future or your families. They just want to use you for money. Don't make the mistake I did. Go to Hubspot, Udemy, and Google. Hubspot and Google offer free courses and Udemy offers very affordable courses for new sign ups. There's no reason to be insulted, degraded, made to feel less than, harassed, bullied, and threatened just to get a marketing education.

It looks like they are not interested in many apprentices because I think they are not getting many businesses to give apprenticeships. They require the slightest experience/knowledge in digital marketing for apprentices to get approved. I have 2+ years of knowledge and virtual experience programs with Redbull and Lululemon. They didn't reply in time occasionally also they wasted almost two weeks. I was in the interview phase but was taken a step back and rejected.