Recently, a group of dozens of students spoke out against LeaderTalks English Language and Study Abroad Consulting Center (LeaderTalks for short), alleging false advertising, failure to fulfill commitments in teaching the online English course "English Mastery," and shirking responsibility despite tuition fees ranging from 39.95 to 44 million VND, depending on whether payments were made in one or multiple installments.
LeaderTalks' operating license also raised doubts among many students because, although its registered address is in Hiep Thanh Ward, District 12, Ho Chi Minh City, investigations revealed that this was merely a private residence, and the homeowner was completely unaware of LeaderTalks or An Ca Joint Stock Company, the company managing the center.
Mr. Ho Tan Minh, Chief of the Office of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, also confirmed that LeaderTalks has not been licensed to operate in Ho Chi Minh City.
A family member of the LeaderTalks leader (second row, far left) made threats of physical violence against students during a Zoom class on April 16th.
Many students spoke up.
Following the publication of the series of articles, many readers who are or have been students at LeaderTalks agreed and expressed their frustration with the center's training quality, while also hoping that people would become more vigilant.
Reader Le Thi Thanh Thuy commented: "I am a student at the center, and I find the feedback to be very accurate. It's not just us; many other students are also dissatisfied with LeaderTalks."
Reader Ngo Trang expressed her outrage: "I am also a student at LeaderTalks. 'Selling dog meat under the guise of goat meat' is what this center is doing and has scammed many people with tuition fees of 40 million VND. I paid the money but had to mostly study on my own, wasting a lot of time without achieving the results advertised. LeaderTalks has many tricks to scam students and is not a proper language center; their behavior is uncivilized and very deceitful."
Despite diligently participating in all four modules, the user aWr... is experiencing no progress. "Hundreds of students feel the same way as me. What the news reports are very accurate. When paying, students are promised a full refund if the course isn't effective, but when students report system errors, they receive the response, 'It's your problem, not mine.' We were too naive and let our money and time go to centers like this," this person lamented.
The content in the "exclusive" document that students allege is publicly available online.
Reader Trang Nguyen admitted: "This is the biggest scam of my life." "I'll never again frequent centers like this. Anyone who hasn't been scammed should stay away. Currently, there are still more than 10 articles praising her, and this is a huge opportunity for her (Ms. Dao Thi Hang, Director of LeaderTalks) to continue operating despite being accused by students for many years. I hope the public will investigate thoroughly and purify the educational environment," this person stated.
Massive enrollment drive, a "name change"?
Following complaints about the quality of teaching, many students claim that LeaderTalks has not taken any action but continues to aggressively recruit new students and shows signs of creating a different brand to continue its business. Reader Xu Xi expressed her frustration: "LeaderTalks is still recruiting students, starting a new course from June 19-23, and still running ads like crazy; every day when I turn on my computer, I see ads."
Agreeing, reader Ngo Minh Chac Nguyen commented: "The websites with hundreds of eye-catching, flashing variations, operated by Ms. Hang and those behind her, show no sign of stopping their unethical actions, still aggressively recruiting students with various distorted versions that remain online."
In the "English Mastery" course, each student will be provided with an account to log into LeaderTalks' private system to receive daily Zoom class links, access learning materials, and submit assignments.
According to Minhh's account: "Even now, LeaderTalks still refuses to acknowledge the problem and continues to run advertisements day and night, changing its name and setting up a new company to lure students." Reader Loc An commented: "Ms. Hang has acknowledged the complaints but is responding in various ways, including changing her name to continue operating instead of stopping."
Specifically, reader Van Hau stated: "Ms. Hang went to Australia but still 'directed operations' from afar. On June 6th, she changed the company name to Global Expert PYT and publicly advertised for teachers online." Reader Manh Hai added: "Ms. Hang still created new pages like Bamboo School, learning English in the mountains, Australian- American English in Gia Nghia, standard Australian English... to 'target' those who don't read newspapers much."
We need to take strong measures to rectify the situation.
Besides information about LeaderTalks' latest activities, many readers also urged relevant authorities to quickly intervene. Reader Anh Duc wrote: "Hopefully, based on the information provided, the relevant agencies: Tax authorities, economic police, etc., will investigate LeaderTalks' tax evasion over the past many years, with hundreds of billions of dong in revenue but failing to declare and pay taxes to the state."
Students claim that each lesson requires a lot of time to complete the center's self-study requirements, but their assignments are never given feedback or evaluated by the center.
Similarly, reader Hoang Kim stated: "The founder of LeaderTalks, Ms. Dao Thi Hang, is showing blatant disregard for the law by operating without a license for a long period, failing to issue financial invoices, operating a 'phantom' business location, and even hiring thugs to attack students...". "I sincerely hope the District 12 Tax Department (Ho Chi Minh City) will cooperate with the District 12 Police to investigate these large-scale tax evasion activities, while they (the center's leaders) continue to live brazenly in Dak Nong," this person added.
The user aWr... expressed concern: "If the press and authorities don't intervene, this center will continue to operate indefinitely. Currently, LeaderTalks has opened 108 courses and shows no signs of stopping." Sharing the same sentiment, reader Ngo Minh Chac Nguyen "earnestly hopes that the press, media, and authorities will take stronger action to manage this issue that has been ongoing for so many years."
From a broader perspective, user truc vu pointed out the reality that many English language centers are opening up everywhere with exaggerated advertisements and promises, but "they've been exposed for many scams." "Each course isn't cheap, and with so many students registering, the total amount is very large. Hopefully, the authorities will increase inspections and take corrective action to prevent these centers from deceiving learners," this user stated.
After raising concerns about the quality of training with the center's leadership, many LeaderTalks students reported that they and their family members were stopped and threatened by unknown individuals, and even assaulted with iron bars.
Quick overview at 8 PM: News roundup for June 16th
Thank you to Thanh Nien Newspaper for speaking out promptly and warning about the center's exaggerated advertising tactics and illegal profiteering.
Anh Duc
This center truly disregards the law. Many thanks to Thanh Nien Newspaper for speaking out, because currently many students are upset but are afraid of being beaten, so they don't dare speak up.
Lan Hoang
Thank you to Thanh Nien Newspaper for accurately and promptly exposing the negative aspects of LeaderTalks. Hopefully, those of you who want to learn English will be very cautious to avoid losing money and suffering negative consequences.
pdV...
Through this series of articles, we have even more faith and admiration for the Thanh Nien Newspaper team and the journalists who are dedicated, honest, and work for the benefit of the people.
Thanh Tam Tran
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