| Many parents flocked to Phan Xich Long campus (Phu Nhuan district) to ask for a refund. Image: Thai An. |
On the afternoon of February 10, more than 10 parents with children studying at Apax Leaders’ Ho Chi Minh City campuses came to Phan Xich Long campus (ward 2, Phu Nhuan district) to request complaint handling and tuition refund. Parents told Zing that the facility their children attended has been closed for a long time, Apax Leaders’ headquarters in Tran Dinh Xu (District 1) also did not have a complaint handler, so they had to go to Phan Xich Long campus – a rare facility. still open.
Parents came from 14:00 but could not meet the management or the director in charge. Many parents are angry and pressured staff at Phan Xich Long campus to contact the management board to work. This employee said that she called but the management did not answer the phone.
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| Minutes of working of Phan Xich Long staff with parents. Image: Thai An. |
After that, a parent named VT decided to contact the police of ward 2, Phu Nhuan district, and asked the police to come and solve it. Representative of Ward 2 Police, Mr. Pham Anh Khoa, was present at the facility and discussed with parents. Mr. Khoa asked the grassroots staff Phan Xich Long to call the management again but still received no response.
At nearly 5pm on the same day, Mr. VT was able to contact Mr. Nguyen Thanh Xuan – representative of Apax Leaders. By phone, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Xuan pledged to hold a meeting with parents at 2pm on February 27. Facility staff Phan Xich Long made the minutes and signed the representative to confirm this information.
Apax Leaders owes parents about 2.2 billion VND tuition
When meeting parents at Phan Xich Long campus, Zing TD – a parent with a child studying at Nguyen Duy Trinh campus (District 2) – provided a list of 55 parents who are owed tuition by Apax Leaders with a total amount of approx. 2.2 billion VND.
In this list, a parent with a child studying at Nguyen Thi Thap campus (District 7) demanded that the company refund more than 140 million VND of the two children’s tuition fees. Another parent with two children studying at Le Duc Tho campus (Go Vap district) also asked Apax Leaders to return VND 156.5 million.
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| List of parents requesting a refund. One person asked Apax Leaders to refund 156.5 million VND. Image: Thai An. |
In addition, Mr. TD provided for Zing Apax Leaders agreement minutes. This company is committed to refunding tuition fees to parents in installments. For example, Mr. TD’s case is committed to paying tuition fees in 5 installments, the first installment is on December 6, 2022, the next installments are expected on the first days of March, April, May, and June of 2023. However, up to now, Mr. D. has not received the amount of VND 8 million that Apax Leaders committed to pay in the first installment.
Earlier on the morning of February 10, Zing received a petition for help from Ms. NTT – a parent whose child is studying at Apax Leaders at Him Lam campus (District 6) in Ho Chi Minh City. Ms. T. represents parents who have paid for their children to study English at Apax Leaders’ campuses in Ho Chi Minh City (Ngo Quyen campus – District 5, Tran Dinh Xu campus – District 1, campus). Hai Ba Trung office – District 3, Him Lam campus – District 6 …).
These parents are also in the situation of asking the center for a refund, which was promised but not received. When they went to the center to ask for money, the parents discovered that the center was closed, called the switchboard but no one answered. Teachers, staff in charge at the facilities have also quit and refused to handle complaints, parents do not know who to turn to to get their money back.
In the application, Ms. T. said Apax Leaders did not follow the original commitment, the children were not taught according to the agreement stated in the contract. The company used the reason of restructuring, promising to reopen the children’s class after the restructuring or scheduled fee refund period. But up to now, many institutions have had time to restructure but have not notified or reopened classes for students, and parents have not been refunded by appointment.
“We have tried to contact the phone numbers of Apax Leaders English centers but to no avail. Even the hotline on the Apax Leaders website does not have an operator to answer the phone. We sent an email to the address listed on the website but received a notice that the email address no longer exists,” Ms. T. stated in the application.