http://www.nydailynews.com/news/trump-u-hit-complaints-paid-30g-return-article-1.446342Trump U. hit by complaints from those who paid up to 30G, and say they got very little in returnBY DOUGLAS FEIDEN DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Sunday, May 30, 2010,
For the mogul, it's a win-win proposition. For many who pay up - not so much.
Trump's business education company and an affiliate, Trump Institute, have been deluged by complaints from more than 150 students in at least 22 states claiming they've been cheated out of tens of thousands of dollars, the Daily News found.
Those complaining include dozens of retirees, veterans, laid-off workers and seniors living on fixed incomes, records show.
In letters, e-mails and interviews, they charge they were pressured to max out credit cards or draw down a 401(k) to enroll in courses they found useless - then were refused refunds.
The claims, which don't involve Trump personally, focus on two for-profit firms: Trump University, the nonaccredited, Web-based school he founded in 2005, and Trump Institute, a training center that paid him a licensing fee to hold real estate seminars under his name.
Trump execs admit they weren't happy with the quality of customer service provided at the Trump Institute and say they've been phasing out the licensing agreement.
Frank Kruppenbacher, a Florida lawyer who represented Trump Institute, said it was the other way around - the Institute was cutting its ties to Trump.
"We thought it best to no longer do business with Mr. Trump's organization," he said, declining to elaborate.
"The vast majority of people love us," Trump said. "Thousands and thousands of people have taken our courses, and very few have complained. ... There are plenty of people who went to Harvard and did very poorly, and there are plenty of people who went to Trump University and did very well."
Attorneys general in six states have fielded dozens of complaints - and the New York Education Department demanded Trump U. stop calling itself a university.
On Tuesday, the outfit changed its name to the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC.
Meanwhile, the Better Business Bureau in January slapped a D-minus rating on Trump U., a rating now under review after Trump U. objected. Trump Institute got an F in early 2009.For Patricia Murphy, a Bronx teacher, Trump Institute was a disaster. She says she blew $15,000 on ineffective seminars, software and mentoring.
"I took out most of my life's savings ... maxed out my credit cards and badly damaged my credit rating," she said. "What do I have to show for it? Big bills, interest payments, finance charges - an awful lot of stress."
Not all Trump U. customers are unhappy. Officials said 80% of the 22,000 Trump U. students responded to an internal survey, nearly all of whom said they'd take another class.
"I'm about to flip a house I bought in foreclosure for a $50,000 profit, and a Trump mentorship made that 100% possible," said Marla Rains-Colic, a St. Louis sales rep who paid the school $25,000.
In its probe, The News found:
- In January, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott launched a probe of Trump U.'s advertising and business practices after getting two dozen complaints.
Abbott said he was probing "possibly deceptive trade practices" in 2008 and 2009.
- Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum's office is "reviewing" 20 complaints from people who paid up to $35,000 for various "Trump Elite" packages promising "priceless information" that never came.
- Better Business Bureaus have tracked at least 70 allegations of deceptive practices from Brooklyn to Honolulu. Those include seven students saying they were pressured to max out credit cards.
- A class-action suit in California claimed Trump U. brass pitched bogus seminars, savaged customers' credit and falsely claimed students would recoup the $35,000 cost of mentoring programs in their first deal.
Tarla Makaeff, a California fashion designer, lost $80,000, including interest and expenses - and got mentors who disappeared or didn't return calls, she says in court papers.
"The primary lesson Trump U. teaches its students is how to spend more money buying more Trump seminars," said Amber Eck, a partner in the San Diego-based law firm Zeldes & Haeggquist.
