Jose R.
I'd be more careful
After hearing all the hype about this place, I was super excited to have signed up to take my Q here. I had saved up for the last year because I was going to drive up there from Los Angeles (7 hour drive) and I had to pay for an airbnb plus food. This is no easy feat for one person and it does take a lot just to get to the class so I can see why so many people just can't get this sort of certification if it's not offered close to home. The course was great, the people I met who were also taking it were great but I had one big problem....I paid $1,187 more than everyone else and they refuse to refund me. The problem is that when you're on their site signing up for this, you get a prompt that offers you some extra courses. These extra courses are SCA classes that are supposed to help you get your Q certification on top of the Q classes. Since there was no indication about anything other than I could add these classes, I said why not? If I was going to spend all this money to go up there it would only make sense to spend a little more to ensure I came back certified. I received my invoice after my purchase and the countdown began. I booked my airbnb, got new tires for my car, oil change and anything else I could do to ensure a safe trip. The week before my classes I received and email that went out to all students about the start date. It said something about "classes start this Monday, please park..." so immediately confused I go and look at my invoice and see that my dates are correct. I read further into the email and it turns out that in those extra SCA classes that are offered, are a week before the Q classes. In the invoice there is only one date and nowhere else in any emails sent did they state the classes were on separate dates. I see this mistake and I reach out to them right away, had I been informed these classes were on separate dates, I would've never signed up for them. I wasn't going to be able to afford another week off of work and at an airbnb. I was ensured it would handled after I reached out but their idea of that is to give me a gift card to take another class. I would essentially have to spend another week off of work, $240 in gas, 14 hours on the road plus the cost of staying at even a cheap hotel would be $100 a night. Instead of correcting this issue and admitting fault for not stating any date difference on their website originally, they changed the wording and have then continued to make me feel like I'm the loser who didn't know. I quote Valerian's email telling me "How can you even imagine that you take a pretty serious course during the week of the Q? Like how would that work?" as if I'm supposed to knows the hours and length of the classes. I've worked in Customer Service and in Coffee my whole life and although the knowledge here might be great, I'd advise going someplace else that doesn't make you feel like you like an idiot for not knowing information they never gave you to begin with.
Response from Boot Coffee CampusJul 23, 2023
Thank you Jose for taking the time to do the extensive review, but let me correct the information you provided: - you signed up for a SCA Sensory course and Q Grader course combo, you were not the only one in this group it was 4 students who paid for this the same combo and the same amount you did. (and many in the past) - you did not show up for the SCA Sensory course, the rest of your classmates showed up. I am sorry but as a certified SCA AST trainer I cannot hand you a certification without work. You have to come to the SCA course and pass the exams. - Our terms state that in cases like this we cannot offer money back, but we wanted to help you and offered you credit for our future courses (even the same one you did not attend). We did everything in our powers to help you. During your Q grader course we spent the whole weekend from our families preparing materials and coffees so our students succeed in the hardest exam in the industry. We woke up at 4am and went home late nights so people like you, who had harder time with these exams could get as many attempts to pass as physically possible. All our students highly appreciate it and reward us with honest reviews on Trustpilot. If all this deserves a one star negative review, we will wear it with pride. We wish you all the best in the coffee industry and better luck with other campuses.