Hi Cindy, first of all, congratulations on getting accepted to a top MBA program. I am happy that you were able to get a good result after all the hard work that you clearly put into the application process. I want to respond to your claim that I somehow misled you in the process; that is simply not what happened. I did offer you and your group a very big discount, a bigger discount than what any other CA client got anywhere in the world. I offered you CA's discounts up to 12 consulting hours of US$240, but then after that, I offered you even more discounts for more hours of purchase, down to a low of US$200 – which, again, is lower than any rate offered to any other CA client in the world. As for my other client who got an hourly rate of $220, he came to me several weeks before you did and received CA’s early season discount that was still valid at that time. The discount expired shortly after my client came to me. We as a company have the right to set a deadline date for early season discounts, and begin charging standard season prices after that date. This is the same thing that happened with CA’s promotion on FormosaMBA; after a certain date, the discount expired. The idea of charging different prices at different times of year is a perfectly legitimate practice that does not violate any professional ethics. Even though you came to me after our early season discount had expired, I still offered you a deal in which all that your group needed to do was purchase an average of 12 consulting hours per person, and all of you would have received lower rates than any other CA client in the world. You claimed that each member of your group planned to work with me to apply to five schools. If that was true, then certainly it was reasonable for me to assume that each person would use at least 12 consulting hours, and probably a lot more. Even after you supposedly felt that I had misled you and that my prices were unacceptable, several people from your own MBA group approached me and became my clients. If my behavior was so dishonest, why would people from your own group work with me? Ultimately, you and I did not work together because you felt my charge was too high even after I gave you discounts that were far below anything that CA was giving at that time. You have the right to feel that CA's rate was still too high even after my best offer, but it is wrong to say that I misled you just because you were not able to convince me to lower our rates even more. And, for the record, I never, ever said that PE is not a good company – if anyone from PE is reading this, I want to state emphatically that I did NOT state that PE is not a good company. Rather, what really happened was that you asked me why CA's prices are higher than another firm's, and faced with that direct question from you, I stated what CA's competitive advantages are and what I believe makes CA the top firm in the world. If you claim that I was badmouthing another firm, that is not what happened. We are all in this industry because we share a passion for education and for helping people get into their dream schools, and we take pride and joy in the success of all the applicants we come across, regardless of whether or not someone is a client. I hope this clarifies the facts. I regret that in your message, you neglected to acknowledge the $200 low rate that I offered you and failed to mention the numerous free services that I had given you, including reviewing your essays for free multiple times and answering numerous email questions from you. Even though you did not sign up as a client, I never accused you of trying to take advantage of my free services and good will for as long as you can. So, I am disappointed that you choose to accuse me of misleading you when in fact I never did. Again, I am happy that you were successful with your applications, and I wish you all the best in your future endeavors. If you want to discuss this on the phone or in person, I am absolutely willing to do so in order to clear the air between us. I have met you, and I know you are a good person. Thank you very much for your time. Sincerely, Kevin [email protected] www.clearadmit.com ※ 引述《cindy0416 (ptt)》之铭言： : ※ 引述《amyhong (蒙头猛读)》之铭言： : : 都还满有帮助的 如果大家爬文 相信也有看到几位版友分享在off season 的时候 : : 接受clear admit 的免费评估 : 是说我吗？(羞~) : 想到要来写这一篇平衡舆论的文章，真让我百感交集.. : 其实在我之前的分享文之後，与Kevin的更多交涉中，我体会到他就是一个很聪明的生意 : 人，这样而已，因此後来我没有选择Kevin的服务。当下没有立即发文补充我的後续感想， : 一方面是因为申请的过程昏天黑地，没有精力再来这边平衡舆论，另一方面是考量也许 : 有其他人可以受惠於他的free consultation，不要因为自己的不愉快而影响他人的权益。 : 但现在申请已经告一段落了，看到这个版的一面倒的言论，想出来平衡一下。 : : 所以在不违背客户的利益下 Kevin 也不是那麽功利的吧 : : (纯属个人意见 我是这样觉得啦 搔头...) : 就让我花点时间，来分享一个我做过的梦吧~ : 大约半年前，我在版上分享了某些顾问的free consultation经验。(当时是申请新手， : 的确是比较热血一点。)文中提到自己有预算限制，因此迟迟无法决定是否要把钱洒下去。 : 折衷的方法是，找了一小群正在申请MBA的战友，组成一个讨论的小组，自食其力中。 : 不久之後，我梦到某个顾问写信给我，说如果我能找一群朋友一起去找他，他会给我 : group discount。我听了真开心！这样就能解决我的预算问题，又能有好品质的服务， : 实在太完美了！(心里还想说，哇，这是发分享文的好心有好报吗？老天对我真好呀~) : 於是我们几个战友就开始讨论着需要这位顾问提议的哪种服务。 : 顾问的提议有两种，第一个提议是包package的，一次带N个人去，每个人可以编辑5个 : 学校，而这N个人一共要付出XX万元。第二个提议是hourly service，一次买越多个小 : 时，hourly rate就越低。就这样，我们几位战友们开始讨论怎样最符合我们需求，毕 : 竟discount得来不易呀。 : 就在我们多方讨论与询问之後，某位战友居然告诉我，这位顾问给他的hourly rate， : 才220镁，而且就算是买一小时或两小时，也是这个钱，为什麽我的group discount : 要买40个小时以上才有这个钱？好像没有比较划算耶~ : 我大惊？！是这样吗？！不想误会人，我问了这位战友："你是很早以前就谈好的价 : 钱吗？" 他说大约也才一两个礼拜前的事，不是很早以前淡季就谈好的金额。 : 所以我发信给这位顾问，说："你耍我喔？" 摊牌说我知道有人220镁的事。 : 当下的我，希望顾问的回覆能让我心服口服，只要有个合理解释，我并不会不讲理。 : 没想到顾问回答了两个原因，两个都让我很傻眼。 : 第一，他承认他的确给某人比较低的金额，但他现在收的客户已经很多了，并不觉得 : 不给discount有什麽不对。 : (??!! 没有人怪你收费贵不贵，或有没有discount，重点在於你不能跟人家说有group : discount，但事实上并没有。就像你在说明会的时候说，所有台湾的申请人都会视同以 : FormosaMBA 介绍的身分打九折，结果後来我打听到的都说没这回事了。这已经不是价 : 格合不合理或CP值高不高的问题了，这是诚信的问题。) : 第二，他说，像我这样有"budget concern"的人，我们不"match"。 : (???????!!!!!!! 我怎麽记得group discount是你发信给我的，为了确保我的记忆， : 我去翻了一下你发给我的信，的确就是你主动找我的。结果在被我抓包之後，你还要 : 来ㄎㄠˊㄙㄟ我穷？你该不会把版上这些善良申请人、或你口中所说最敬爱的客户， : 当作是你所谓没有budget concern的肥羊吧？我从来没有隐瞒自己有budget concern， : 文章里都写出来了。你这麽聪明又会读中文，看到我的文章之後想要发信给我当好人， : 被我抓包之後还要酸我，这样非常不厚道。) : 这位顾问说，他的收费比PE贵，是因为PE不是一个好的顾问公司，这点我待会再分享。 : 但重点一样，我不找他的原因，不是因为他贵我穷，而是因为像他这样没有诚信的人， : 我们不"match"。 : 到这边，我的梦就醒了... : 这个梦对我影响甚钜，我从此对顾问们就没什麽好感，依然靠自己的小组讨论来改善 : essay内容，虽然越改有越好，但心里还是不太放心。 : 最後，听一个朋友找了PE，说帮他服务的那位女顾问非常好，也非常鼓舞人心，因此 : 我付了两个小时的钱，请她帮我看看我的essay。我不确定如何精准地衡量一位顾问的 : 服务品质或成效，但这位顾问拿了两个小时的钱，帮我看了总共2000字的essay，而且 : 是在deadline前2天收件(没有收急件费用)，她在美国我在台湾，所以我睡前给她东西， : 早上醒来又收到回音，因此即使是deadline前两天才开始找她，仍有时间改了两轮。 : 後来我拿到interview，最後也上了西岸湾区某名校MBA。 : 我另外投了一个Master，也请她看过，最後也上了，还拿到相当於学费一半的奖学金。 : 当然也许录取以及奖学金的部分不是她一个人的功劳，但我的确只花了一只手的指头 : 都没用完的小时数，就得到不错的成果。而且PE的收费公正公开，说给的discount不 : 会因为什麽原因又收回，比较不觉得自己被呼弄。 : 至於对照组，我有一个强者朋友，找了那个我没找的顾问，但不是package，而是 : hourly service，最後上了M7。我问我朋友，你会上的原因主要是这位顾问吗？他说， : 这位顾问其实给他的建议都是小建议、小改动，感觉是他自己的老板(是那个M7学校 : 的毕业生)，给他的修正建议还比较整体也全面。所以，我也就更不相信名牌了。 : 结论，对於找顾问，我有好的也有不好的经验。经过这个过程，我对MBA的想法也跟当 : 初有很大的差异。我想，刻意推荐找谁最终可能都会误导人，我这篇写得好像PE很好， : 但坦白讲还是要靠自己多试一下，别人适合的不见得适合你，名气大的或贵的也不见 : 得比较好。找一个有口碑、自己合作起来也安心愉快的就好了吧我想... --

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