WyzAntReviews 378

I used WyzAnt to search for a tutor and within a week I had set up my
First session with a tutor. The profiles of tutors are so easy to read
And the web site is very user friendly. Even when I wasn't emailing
Tutors, tutors were emailing me giving their credentials and why they
Would be a good fit to tutor me. There is such a wide variety of
Tutors for so many different subjects that I am sure to use WyzAnt for
Any of my other tutoring needs. I loved the package deal that came
With pre-ordering credit from the website, as tutoring can get
Expensive it is nice to get a break anywhere you can, and WyzAnt
Definitely gives you the opportunity to save money and get extra
Credit for tutoring every which way you turn. The site also gives you
Tutors that are in your area, so finding a tutor that can meet at your
Home, or your college is as easy as 1 2 3. I loved using this website
To search for a tutor and definitely suggest this site to anyone else
Who is looking for a tutor.

WyzAnt - not so wise!
Here is the other side of the coin that I experienced:
I have been desperately trying to secure a statistics tutor for my daughter who just started at Ohlone College in Fremont, CA (San Francisco Bay Area). The Wyzant website looked like a great place to start when I read their propaganda, but after two weeks of waiting for responses from their tutors, only one has replied to say he was out of town. The others have not responded at all! Even though the site states a 48hr reply period. Yesterday (Oct 27,2010) I sent an email to Wyzant to find out why there is such a slow turn around - You would think their office would at least try to contact me immediately for good customer relations, I even gave them my work phone number. But what really makes me disappointed is the fact that they insisted on having my credit card information before I could expect any phone reply from the prospective tutors. Well they have my credit card (since 4 days ago), but not one person has called me back. I will post an update if anyone does decide to contact me. Right now I would recommend finding a tutor at the school where your child is attending because this company should be graded with an 'F' for failure to perform as stated.

The person below who claimed that Wyzant takes 40% forever clearly didn't read at all. The have a system so that as you tutor for them your cut increases, until you're at 80%. And as others have pointed out, with the discount packages they offer the students, that means for some tutoring they actually receive nothing.

It is a great service. In less than two weeks I found two students and have made more money than I had budgeted for.

My only complaint is that the website sometimes is buggy for me, with having to reload pages multiple times occasionally. But this is a small complaint for such an awesome service.

I was a tutor with Wyzant for 4 years (American History/World History/Hebrew/SAT/GRE/Microsoft Excel/Word/Publisher/Powerpoint/Access/Outlook/General Computer). Worked with over 40 students, got the highest reviews. And with their commissions, Wyzant made plenty of money off my services, believe me. I taught in both the D. C./Metro and San Diego regions.

Last week, I was abruptly dumped from Wyzant because "I no longer figured in their core marketing metrics." HUH?! This, while I was in the midst of tutoring two clients FOR WYZANT. When I contacted Wyzant inquiring as to what was to be done about the students I was working with, they never responded. I know where their bottom line is.

I found a tutor that seemed to good to be true for the rate they were charging. Her first communications were very friendly, but when I actually submitted my credit card info she became much more evasive about scheduling something and suggested I look for another tutor. I am almost certain it is a fake profile put there to come up high on web searches and draw people to the site. That is a very shady business practice, I deleted my info and will not be using this company.

Wysant charges to much. I just started with them when I made I mistake and suggested that a student check somewhere else close to their home. This was done in effort on my part to get the student to join. Wyzant suspended my account.

If you are looking for a tutor ask your teachers first, then try local colleges and libraries you should be able to find a good tutor a lot cheaper than through this site.

I would like to know how many of the good reviewers actually work for Wyzant

I have only been working a short time with WyzAnt, but I think that it is a great website with a lot of potential for qualified individuals.

It is true that less than qualified individuals may fall through the cracks in the signup process, but these individuals drop off quickly by either 1) not being as interested and therefore dedicated to making money with the site or 2) showing their faults when speaking and/or working with potential clients.

Yes, I would rather be able to receive 100% of the payment, however I set my rates to something I can survive with and know that I am receiving a lot for that 40%: leads, a large backing company, administrative assistance and peace of mind for payments.

I found WyzAnt through a Google search when I was in desperate need of help in organic chemistry. I emailed several tutors through the site, still not exactly sure that I'd even get a response. Within hours I had heard from three tutors and I settled on a young lady named Sana. She was $40 per hour which trust me is a great deal in NYC, especially for an Ivy League educated medical professional who travelled to my neighborhood, Union Square, for no extra charge. It was very helpful to be able to speak with Sana before making any payments or commitments. When I was ready, I added a credit card to the website and after the lessons I got an email from WyzAnt with my lesson details and the amount charged to my card. The combination of the tutor selection, price, quality and simply payment mechanism makes WyzAnt a great choice if you need a tutor. I would highly recommend the company and its tutors.

As a registered tutor on wyzant, I was contacted by a number of students none of whom had billing information and we never met. Two more had contacted me but selected another tutor from a site outside of wyzant.

Today, I received a notice from Wyzant that my account has been removed because of lack of business and "not a good fit for you" as a reason. I routinely did searches, and responded to any relevant inquiries to my field(s). I even aspired to qualify for more subjects in order to attract more business. I haven't seen any other tutors with 26 areas of qualification. Also, this is summer vacation, most people are not in school now. Inactive indeed.

Bottom line, I find the business model on their end to be a good one, they take a big bite of a tutor's salary. On the receiving end, I was only using it to attract more business than I currently have (I have made as much as 1000 dollars extra a mont tutoring only part time, I have a full time job) and it's not a big deal to me but there was little or no attention to my areas (Science and math mostly) which are my biggest money maker as a tutor... so... I disagree with their reasons.

That, and I've never been on any kind of website that "cleanses" their account holder. If there were a better student base that went to their site, I'd have more clients. Of course, when you have zero, you can only go up right?

This website is wonderful! We vacation in New England during the summer, and I wanted to find a Spanish tutor for my kids while we were away. Wyzant.com made it so easy for me to find someone. Without Wyzant, I'm not sure how I would have done it. Wyzant hooked me up with a fabulous Spanish tutor that my kids love and have learned a lot from, and I am thrilled. I will definitely use this website again in the future. Thanks Wyzant!

Wyzant was a great source when I needed an accounting tutor. I was able to search through various tutors to find the one that best suited my needs. My tutor was always on time and responded quickly to my emails.

Going through Wyzant's website made me feel more secure about meeting with my tutor and submitting payments. The website was easy to use and setup!

My tutor also had great things to say about how easy Wyzant made it to connect with students!

Very bad experience with this website, both as a tutor and a student.

As a parent/student: It's disorganized, and you must submit your billing information to fully connect with a tutor. I'm not comfortable just giving my credit card information and hoping that I pick a good tutor - I prefer an in-person consultation before money leaves my pocket. Lastly, WyzAnt doesn't tell you that up to 40% of YOUR money is going to the website, not the tutor. And the website doesn't cost that much to maintain.

As a tutor: WyzAnt takes a big cut. They say it's great you don't have to pay to sign-up, but the cut out of your lessons adds up quickly. I use a different site that, to me, makes much more sense. With this other site, I pay $85/year to be listed - contact information can be exchanged freely, and tutors keep all of what they make. My second issue is the "certification" they offer - this is NOT legitimate certification. The quizzes are a complete joke - they consist of up to 10 questions and they are EXTREMELY basic. Thus, a tutor that doesn't really know a subject inside-out could still be "certified" to tutor it.

My last complaint (which affects both the tutor and the parent/student): WyzAnt's customer service is TERRIBLE. On their website, they say you can expect a "prompt response" when you email. So I first sent an email, which they didn't respond to. Then I sent another, which was again ignored. So I finally called and spoke to someone who said they would transfer me to someone else. When I was transferred, the phone rang once or twice and then went to an answering machine. I called again and asked when is the best time to reach that person because I didn't want to leave a message and possibly be ignored again. The representative said the best she could do is transfer me again and I should just leave a message. So I requested that, instead of being transferred, she give me the extension of the person I need to speak to. Sure enough, when I dialed the extension directly, someone picked up right away. WyzAnt intentionally ignores both calls and emails. It's very clear that this is a profitable website - the idea of it is great, but the execution of that idea is very poor. They don't invest the time, money, people, or resources to make sure things run smoothly so that both the tutor and tutee can be entirely satisfied with their services - I think this is a MAJOR flaw in running a reputable business.

I am disappointed with this tutoring service. They suspend your account if you contact too many students and the students don't contact you back. But you have no control because lots won't set up billing information until they can trust you are a good tutor. They also suspend your account if you give out any email or phone number before billing information is set up. This is good on some levels but I think the main problem is that most people are scared to be charged and want to talk or email the tutor before setting up billing information. I did not get a good explanation on why my account was suspended because I received great reviews and so I would not join this service at all as a tutor. They take 40% of your earnings, which is a lot in my opinion.

WyzAnt takes 40% of every dollar that a client pays to a tutor! I understand that they have to make money, but, since all they do is facilitate the tutor-client introduction, taking 40% of what the client THINKS that they are paying a tutor FOREVER is extreme!

Suppose that a tutor is listed on WyzAnt as charging $50 / hour. {The nationwide average for K-12 credentialed teachers who tutor.} A parent finds the tutor on WyzAnt, and the student sees the tutor for two sessions per week, 1.5 hour sessions, for three months. {This is a fairly typical tutoring scenario.}

Throughout that tutoring contract, the TUTOR will earn a total of $1080. During that time, the tutor will have put in 36 hours of contact time with the student, PLUS 4-6 hours preparing for the sessions, PLUS 6 hours driving to and from the client's home (using an average of 15 minutes of travel in each direction) PLUS 2-4 hours communicating with the parent, PLUS 2-4 hours entering the lessons into the WyzAnt system. This means that the tutor averages about $22 per hour.

The tutor's pay may seem pretty good, until you consider what WyzAnt has made.

During that same tutoring contract, WyzAnt will collect $720. It is not possible to really estimate how much time or money that WyzAnt spends for providing its service, but, it is possible that a system which is completely automated could really be worth that much money?

Do parents even realize how much money WyzAnt takes 'off the top' of the money that they THINK is being paid to the tutor? NO! Not ONE of the parents who I have spoken with who has gotten tutoring for their child through WyzAnt is aware that ALMOST HALF of their money is going to the company that simply processes credit card payments and sends out automatically generated emails!