Yoga Veda Institute of Ayurvedic MedicineReviews of yogavedainstitute.com

Changed program that I enrolled in and would not give refund

A couple of years ago I signed up to the Ayurvedic Herbalist course. It seemed reasonably priced and delivered online. I was happy for the most part with the course although it did seem to cater much more for the US market and didn't always align with my previous Indic science experience which had been through schools and establishments in India. In 2024 we were offered the opportunity to sign up for one of their new hybrid courses. With the support of Raine, who was a great asset to this set up, I managed to secure an instalment plan to spread the payment. As time went on it became obvious that this institute cared very little about their student's experiences with no notice taken of feedback. The standard of some of the teachings went way down, and moving on, the arranged times and duration of courses was changed. Some of the recorded classes were just not appropriate. Of all the tutors we had only 4 were any good at their job. There was always something being changed and never for the better. We had less classes per semester and a course that should have been completed in 6 years would be taking a lot longer. You could never get in touch for proper support when they made errors with your progress check list, or when they'd made any more errors. Sadly Raine left their ranks and everything went downhill at a pace. Maybe she knew what was coming. So reduced teachings big time and then they announce they want an extra 500 USD if we are to continue the course we've already or are still paying for. Emails are responded to with accusatory comments when they are not just replied to by a bot. Questions are never answered and as for living by what they preach ...well, I can only hope that there is a little instant karma there. We have been well and truly screwed over and if you are not in the US you have very little credibility on the course or when the proverbial hits the fan. UPDATE....they are now refusing to acknowledge the elements that I have successfully completed. They have stopped my access to complete the programme whilst still taking money from my bank. These people should be prosecuted for fraud.

This review is difficult for me to write because I do not want to harm the school, its students, or its faculty; however, based on the principles of ahimsa (non-harm) and satya (non-lying), I realize that I must share my experience in order to allow others to make an informed decision. I do not know if the school's actions are out of ignorance, deceit, or poor luck, and I make no endeavor to explain or justify what occured by casting them as either a villain or a hero. They are definitely very human. Humans do not perform perfectly. They make an occasional mistake and let you down. However, my experience with the school is that they will often put out an offering (program, cleanse, retreat, etc.) and then not follow through, either cancelling it or not delivering in a way that was promised (not sending materials, changing formats, increasing and decreasing requirements without notice). We were always told to email to get clarification that was accurate for us personally, but the emails were often vague and didn't fully answer the question. They have on multiple occasions said one thing and done another. They offered an upgrade to the newer program and gave a week or so at a discounted price saying that it would never be offered so cheap again only to offer it even cheaper a couple months later. They instituted a new fee of $500 that was not in our contract, but then said it would be optional since it wasn't part.of our original deal, said that our original program would always be honored, changed the classes (both in number of classes available, number of sessions per semester, and length of sessions); then a year later said that the $500 fee was not optional after all and would be an annual requirement for everyone (even if you had already paid thousands in tuition in full). When several of us said that we couldn't afford that or that it wasn't part of the contract when we started the program, an email was sent out to only those students saying that if we didn't pay, the school would close down. We are now being given 3 options: pay the fee to finish the last 4 classes that most of us need (that's $125/class!), withdraw and let the registrar determine if we are owed anything (certificate, refund, nothing), or finish the program before the end of the summer and graduate (which is an irrelevant option because if we could finish and graduate, we would anyway and there would be no need for the fee). So basically pay or leave. With only 4 courses to go (4 brand new courses that have never been offered before at the school), it's sad I will not receive a certificate for the years of work and countless hours of studying that I have put in. I have had a lot of emotional strain trying to figure out how much it would cost to transfer and if I was in the wrong for not paying the fee since the administration said that they were disappointed in those of us who received a scholarship at the time of enrollment and then didn't contribute the fee... It has been a no win situation. I did learn from the classes. But they were almost all lecture followed by two open book tests. The practical application was almost all part of the in-person requirements, which we had to find a mentor to work under or attend an expensive retreat to do since they stopped offering their mandatory residency program in winter 2024. The school was not all bad. But if I had it all to do over again, I would not have attended.