Complaint against The ILSC Education Group Inc.

Complainant: Aya Miyazaki

Date:

May 3X., 2013

Summary
We allege that The ILSC Education Group lnc. (ILSC) has broken multiple parts ofthe Languages Canada Code of Conduct and other Languages Canada rules and regulations. ILSC has a contract with Ryugaku Journal to allow Ryugaku Journal to recruit students for ILSC. Specifically,
ILSC

and Ryugaku Journal engaged in all ofthe following activities:

1.

Ryugaku Journal, an authorized agency of ILSC, gave false and misleading information Miyazaki in an attempt to recruit her for ILSC.

to Ms.

2.

|LSCfailed in its responsibility to checkthe documents being provided to students by itsagency. The "Estimate" document [Exhibit A] and "PAYMENT BREAKDOWN" document [Exhibit B] contain none of the required program details, refund policy, dispute resolution policy or any other terms and conditions.
ILSC and Ryugaku Journal failed to provide required documents prior to Ms. Miyazaki registering in the school. No contract was provided to Ms. Miyazaki before or immediately after she registered in ILSC and she did not receive, complete or sign an "Application for Admission." [Exhibit G] [

3.

4.
5.

Even after ILSC received the reglstration information for Ms. Miyazaki from Ryugaku Journal, and

desplte havlng Ms. Miyazaki's contact Information, lLsC failed to contact Ms. Miyazaki to ensure that she had the required information. did not, at any time prior to or immediately following Ms. Miyazaki's registration in the school, provide Ms. Miyazaki with the website address or any contact information for the school.
ILSC ILSC provided the "Policy and Procedure" document [EXHIBIT C] to Ryugaku Journal and Ryugaku Journal then provided the document to Ms. Miyazaki after the initial refund policy period had already elapsed. The document makes no mention ofthe initial refund period or any refund available until after the student starts the school.

6.

7.

provided another document, namely the "New Student Package" [Exhibit D] to Ms. Miyazaki and all other students of ILSC that also intentionally left out the full refund policy.
ILSC

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When Ms. Miyazaki told the school that she wanted to wlthdraw, the school gave her a document tltled "Request Form for Cancellation." lExhibit E] This document does not include any options for withdraw before the program starts. ln fact, the school is so confident that they can keep the 75% refund option secret from students until it is too late that they don't even include the 75% option on the form. Even when they provided Ms. Miyazaki with the Request Form for cancellation they still did not provide her with the complete Refund Policy
9. A school counsellor and a manager engaged in intimldating behaviour when Ms. Miyazaki requested a refund. The counsellor pressured Ms. Miyazaki to sign the "Request Form for Cancellation" and denied that she had any recourse to complaint to Languages Canada.

10.

only provided the full Refund Policy to Ms. Miyazaki in a document titled "2013 lLSc Fee Schedule" lExhibit F] on May 2, the day after they asked her to sign the Request Form for Cancellation. The Fee Schedule was attached to an Application for Admission [Exhibit G]. Ms. Miyazaki was never given either of these documents by the school or the school's agency. When Ms. Miyazaki requested a copy ofthe contract she was given a blank, unsigned Application for Admission which is included in the Exhibits.
ILSC

11. The

to students who may change their mind as soon as one day after signing up in the program and would lose 25% or more oftheir tuition. Other ESL schools provide for a 1OO% refund if the student changes her or his mind for at least one week after signing up for the school. lf the documents provided by the school showed that this school only offers a refund of 75% or less the students may choose another school but this choice was taken from them by the school's intentionalfailure to provide the full refund policy.
ILSC Refund Policy is unfair

12. The school continues to mislead students in the orlentation process by giving them yet another intentionally misleading document and then verbally informing students that they only have the right to a refund after the program starts. Even during orientation the students are not given a complete Fee Schedule and there is no Fee Schedule included in the New Student Package. Many students at the school may never have an opportunity to see the complete Fee Schedule and Refund
Policy.

13. The deceptive business practices ofthe school may affect thousands of students who have been given intentionally misleading information by the school and denied the opportunity to understand the program they are entering or having any knowledge of the school refund policy or dispute resolution procedures.

2ot77

Background Details
ln December 2012 Ms. Miyazaki visited an agency called Ryugaku Journal lnc. in Fukuoka, Japan and expressed an interest in studying abroad in the united states. she told the agency that she was interested in studying in a college or university language program. She was told by Ryugaku Journal that it was not possible for her to get a Visa to study in the United States so she should study in canada. This was false information because Ms. Miyazaki could have easily obtained a Visa to study in the U.S. The
agency then convinced Ms. Miyazaki to attend ILSC by telling her it's the top English language school in Canada and met her criteria for being a public school and having an intense program of study. Ryugaku

Journal lnc. did not give Ms. Miyazaki proper educational counselling and acted only on behalf of its client ILSC.
Ms. Miyazaki agreed to attend ILSC based on the advice of the agency. She was never given an Application for Admission which would have included the contract. on Dec 25, 2012, she received a document written in Japanese titled "Estimate" [Exhibit A] by email. This was scanned as an image and is difficult to read. This document included the following charges:

"Support Fee": Yen 84,000 Application Fee: S125

Tuition Fee: S10,370

Materia ls Fee: S140
This document did not include any reference

to program details, refund policy, dispute resolution policy or any terms and conditions. There was also nocontact info rmatio n, add ress o r we bsite add ress for the school. The "support Fee" was listed on the same document as the charges from the school but no such fee is on the school Fee Schedule. on March 25,2oL3, Ms. Miyazaki transferred cAD 513,505.00 to Ryugaku Journal lnc. by bank transfer from her bank in Japan to Ryugaku Journal's bank account In Japan to register in the language program atILSC. OnApril 6,2013, RyugakuJournal generated a documentcalled a,,pAyMENT BREAKDOWN" [Exhibit B] which detailed the allocation of the amount paid by Ms. Miyazaki. The document states
"THIS
IS

TO CERTIFY THAT RYUGAKU JOURNAL HAS PAID THE BELOW AMOUNT FOR THIS STUDENT AND

THE BALANCE To BE PAID oN ARR|VAL..." However, this document was not given Apri!12,2073, eighteen (18) days after she paid to register in the school.

to Ms. Miyazaki until

Attached to this "PAYMENT BREAKDOWN" was a document titled ,,policy and procedure.,, There was also a sepa rate copy of the same document [ExH lBlr c] giventoMs. Miyazaki. The contents ofthe document are in Japanese but they include an incomplete version of the llsc refund policy. This document a ppea rs to be provided by the school and has the school logo on it. lnthisversionof the refund policy, there is no mention of any refund available to students prior to the start of the program. There is no reference to the school website or reference to the full school name in this document so it would be difficult for a foreign student to find the school website. ln the document |LSC Education Group is only referred to as "lLSC" and, in the school logo,',ilsc.,, We know from speaking to other students entering ILSC that students asking about the possibility of a refund before they start their class are told by ILSC'S agencies that they cannot get a refund. I have met with five students in the past week who have told me that agencies will not allow students to leave ILSC

3of!7

before they start the program and this misinformation given by the agencies documents provided by ILSC.

is

supported by the

on April22,2013, Ms. Miyazaki went to the schoolfor a group orientation session. A document ti,ed "New student Package" IExhibit D] was distriout"J to tr'rJgiJlp ot stuaents in the orientation session. on the last page of this document is a page titled "tLSc STJDENT coNTRAcr., This was the first contract provided by the school to the students. There is still an intentionally incomplete refund policy included in the New student Package attached to the contract. This Document still does not explicitly mention the Languages Canada Dispute Resolution policy.
The students are not given sufficient time to review the package and contract especialy since many of the students signing the documents do not have a rrri.i"nttf r''igt, level of English to understand what they are siSning The document was explained to the students in Japanese but the school counsellor reviewed the contract very quickly. The contract references tre Reruna policy but the nerunJ eoticy stilt only includes the "eterrsgl.plgcrallllet ,,section. This phrase is the only phrase underlined in the entire document. lt is also in bold print

when the schoor counselor, Ms. Akie ohori, reviewed the document with the group of students she specifically read the phrase "after the program starts.,, g".;rre .ta.re. started the next day some students would potentially ask for a75% iefund on tt,i, o"y uul tne school intentionally continued to hide this option from the students. The school emphasizes ttre lact of a refund option potentially still available to the students on that day in writing anj r"inrorc"l ,e policy verbally. There were no other documents given to Ms. Miyazaki on "lt"red thii d.y. sp"cirla y, no Fee schedule was included in the New Student package or provided to students sep.r.,"rv. ar"n if the schoor had suppried a comprete refund poricy and Fee schedure on Apr 22, it wourd have come rong after tt," ,"girtr"tion. it-i, .r"aay does not meet the Languages canada code of Ethics requirement ttrat "lg-ergreslirtr,s' students receive a crear statement of the Member program's fee and refund poricv as we as any other contract required bythe program." some students r.y Apprication for Admission and Fee Schedule but Ms. Miyazaki did not.

h.r"rriJrhe

After attending crass at |LSC for ress than one week, Ms. Miyazaki rearized that the schoor did not meet her criteria and she decided that she wanted to reave rLSc. lrre quicHy concruded that the agency had misrepresented the schoor to her. she went to the rLsc office on ruay r,2013 to withdraw rii the
The counse|or gave her a form titred "Request Form for cancelation,, lExhibit E] which Ms. Miyazaki completed The form onry provides three options for percentage of program compreted: ,,Less than 10% / Less than 30% / or 30% or more and onry 3 0ptions for "Refun-dabre percentage paid ruition:,, ,,30% on / 3jo/o / o%." The "Request Form for Cancellation" is the only form that lLSc makes available for refunds so it is clear that they have no intention of providing refunds to students before the program starts or they wourd have included the "before your program starts,, options of ,,75% or 5400,, and ,,75%.,, Ihisform also makes no mention of Languages Canada Dispute Resolution procedure or any other policy.

Ms' Miyazaki returned to the school on May 2, 2013 to discuss the refund with a witness from lsAs. At that.time, the schoors staffgave farse information to rvrs. vifazati in an attempt to scare her into staying in the schoor. Among other things, the student was tord that she wourd have to give her Study

4of U

Permit to the school and that she would be reported to lmmigration if she left the school and that lmmiBration would call her. Our witness, Ms. Asuka Sugiyama, kept a record of the conversation. On May 2, for the first time, Ms. Miyazaki was given a document titled "2013 ILSC Fee Schedule." lExhibit Fl On the back of the document (this was stapled with the Fee Schedule on the front) is the "Application for Admission." [Exhibit G] Ms. Miyazaki was never given the application for Admission by her agency or the schoo I priortothisday. Theschool counsellor showed the section ofthe Refund Policy pertaining to leaving the school after classes started (and used a pen mark to show this section on the form). While looking at the fee schedule Ms. Miyazaki saw the section about refunds available before the start date of classes for the first time. She was surprised to see that she would have been able to withdraw with a larger refund before the classes started.

When Ms. Miyazaki asked about the

A translated extract
is as follows:

ofthe conversation between Ms. Miyazaki and Ms. Aki Ohorithe school counsellor

Ms. Miyazakij I come back here todoy because I would like to pick up the copy ofthe

refund document which I signed yesterdoy. Also, if there is ony controct between me ond your school? lf so, could I hove o copy of it? [Ms. Miyozoki did not sign a controct when she registered but she wonts to hove the school odmit to this.l
Ms. Ohori: sure. Pleose woit for o moment ot woiting oreo. Ms. Miyazaki: O(.

[Ms. Miyazaki and Ms. Sugiyama are sent to the reception area and wait there for few minutes. They are then called back into the office. Ms. Ohori hands Ms.
back.l Ms. Miyazaki: ls this the contract? Ms. Ohori: Yes. This is a controct Irom the school. However, becouse you come to our schoolfrom Ryugoku Journal, you olreody signed o controct between Ryugoku

Miyazaki the 2013 ILSC Fee Schedule with a blank Application for Admission on the

lournol ond you onywoys. lMs. Miyazaki did not, in fact, sign a contract with Ryugaku Journall
Aya: I see...

Ms.Ohori: "Doyou hove your Study Permit with you right now? lnorderforusto process your refund we need your study Permit. we used our nome for you to get the Study Permit. You used our LOA to get the Study Permit. We would like to hold it ot this time. [The original Joponese specificolly meons thot the counsellors will

5of17

physicolly keep the Study Permit ond it is cleor thot the counsellor is pushing the student to return her Study Permitl. Depending on the cose, lmmigration will phone

you. They will

osk you whot you ore

doinq."

This is clearly an attempt to intimidate Ms. Miyazaki. Study Permits are transferable and CIC does not care where a student is studying as long as they don't change their level of study (e.9. secondary to postsecondary). CIC does not call students to ask them "what they are doing" when a student decides to leave a school. There is no valid reason for a student to be given this information. The student was left with the impression that if she left the school she was in danger of losing her ability to stay in Canada to study. When Ms. Miyazaki came back to our office she was very concerned that she might have to leave Canadaif she left the school. This was not caused by a language problem since Ms. Ohorl was

communicating in

Ja

panese.

Contrary to Ms. Ohori's statements to Ms. Miyazaki, there are no requirements in the school's refund policy that specifies that students cannot get a refund without giving their study Permit to the school and there is no warning that the student will be contacted by CIC if they try to leave the school.

OnMay3, I went to the school and met with Hiromi Waka bayashi, Ma rketing Ma nager - Ja pan. Ms. Wakabayashi denied that Ms. Miyazaki was told she would have to return her Study Permit and that she was not told that CIC would contact her. I gave Ms. Wakabayashi a letter [Exhibit H] requesting that the school giveafull refund to Ms. Miyazaki. The lettergave notice of the school's violations of the Languages Canada Code of Ethics and pointed out that the school is also not in compliance with the
British Columbia Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act. The school contacted Ms. Miyazaki directly by email to tell her that they had a cheque ready for her to pick up for half of the tuition amount. on May 17,20].3 Ms. Miyazaki delivered a letter lExhibit l] explaining that she would only accept the cheque under the condition that it be considered a partial payment of the full tuition amount owed to her. Theschool accepted the letter a nd Ms. Miyazaki picked up the cheque.

6ofL7

Languages Canada
ILSC Education

Code of Ethics

Group is in violation of the following parts of the Languages Canada - Code of Ethics:

Ensure that all

A

stall, students and ogents dre knowledgeable about Ldngudqes Canodo,s

c$ed itdt i on Std n d o rd s Little or no attempt is made to ensure that staff, students and agents understand the accreditation standards and the school appears to routinely breach the standards including multiple parts ofthe "Standards and Specifications."

. . o

Advdnce and promote the virtues and integrity ol Longuages Conddo ond its member

progrums

o o o

The school clearly lacks integrity in dealing with students.

Alwdys provide occurote inlomation about progrdms, seruices, and acodemic expectdtions The school and agency do not provide accurate program and service information Moke oll fees, tems ond conditions, including the refund policy, avoilable in odvance ol a student registering The school and its agent do not provide the fees, terms and conditions, refund policy to students in advance of registration or immediately after registration. When the school does provide the information it is intentionally incomplete. The complete fee schedule, terms and conditions and refund policy were only provided to Ms. Miyazaki after she had attended classes for eight days and only after Ms. Miyazaki asked for a refund.

. c o

Ensure that all agents ond agent materials lully and accurately represent your progrdms, services, tems ond conditions lnaccurate and incomplete materials are made available to agents and no attempt is made to ensure the agent is providing adequate information to the students. Work only with legitimote, qualified, ond rcputable agencies The agency and school clearly conspired to deprive students oftheir rights. The agency is clearly not qualified or reputable. ln the case of Ryugaku Journal, the school does not appear to be working with only reputable agencies. Alwoys deal foirly and ethically with students, other progroms dnd agents The school is not dealing fairly or ethically with students. The school intentionally provides an incomplete refund policy to students then misleads and intimidated the students when they attempt to withdraw from the program. The school is widely distr;buting at least two documents with intentionally incomplete refund policies by intentionally excluding the "before your program starts,, section of the refund policy. This would appear to be done in an attempt to prevent students from withdrawing from the school and to allow the agencies to provide false information to

o o

o o

the students.

Deol with oll requests, criticisms and complaints in d boldnced dnd timely lashion The school staff and management refuse to take responslbility for the schools negligence in failing to provide the required documents to the student

7of17

ogents os

Ensure thot Longuages canddd3 Dispute Resolution policy is understood by students dnd o lindl meons to solve irreconciloble disputes The school makes no mention of Language canada's Dispute Resolution policy in any

of

its documents and when the student made a complaint to the school, the school still did not at any tlme mention the Dispute Resolution policy.

8o177

Violations of the Quality Assurance

Scheme
ILSC Education

- Standards and Specifications

Scheme

Group is in violation of the following parts of the Languages Canada Quality Assurance Standards and Specifications:

C: STUDENT ADMISSIONS

C.7 Registrdtion:

Accurote dnd current iniormation on program otferings, services and costs is readily accessible in print-bosed and web-based formats.

Students are not provided with accurate information about the programs or services in print form and are not provided with the school name or website address before registering with the school. After registration students are given an incomplete version of the refund policy but are still not given the actual school name (e.g. ILSC vs. ILSC Education Group) or the school's website address.

Belore registtdtion, students rcceive o cleor stdtement olthe Membet Program's fee and relund policy ds well as ony other contrdct required by the progrcm

.
7. 2.
3. 4.

Ms. Miyazaki did not receive a clear statement of the Member Program's fee and refund policy before or after registration a nd was never given a copy of the admission a pplication.

C.7c Statement ol fees includes:

tuition, including applicoble dates description ol what services tuition includes enrolment dnd cdncelldtion terms, including linoncial penalties detdils on additional charges, clea y stoting whether monddtory ot optional

to Ms. Miyazaki provided only the tuition amount. lt did not provide dates, including the start or end dates ofthe pro8ram. There was no description of what services tuition included and there were no details regarding enrolment terms. No details on additionalcharges and whether these charges are mandatory a re given to the student in the statement of fees or in any statement given to the student at any time before or after the provision of the statement of fees.
The statement of fees provided

The 2013 ILSC Fee Schedule does not include details of all additional charges and there is no specification of whether fees are mandatory or optional. D,2.2 Problem Resolution:

stdtement that explains the procedures lor problem resolution within the Member Progrom is dvailoble to students.

witten

9ofL7

There is no written statement explaining the problem resolution procedures before the student registers and no detailed statement provided after the student starts the program. Evenif thereisa

procedure for problem resolution in place, the school doesn't follow it. They simply deny there is problem and, in this case, accuse the complainant of making threats.

Additional Specifications: . D.2.2a Copies of the problem resolution policies readily accessible. o D.2.2b Effective procedure for responding to students' feedback, suggestions and complaints in
place,

Copiesofthe problem resolution policies are not provided to students until afterthe program starts. The problem resolution policies are far from readily accessible and, when finally provided to the students, the problem resolution policies are incomplete. The New Student Package specifies that "students need to follow formal procedures including presenting the problem in writing to the School Director, who will, in writing, address and resolve the dispute." However, there are no details ofthe "formal procedures" required.
When we contacted the Richard Novek, the ILSC Education Group Director of Operations refused to address the problem in writing and responded "Mr. Brundage, we do not take well to threats and such utterances would typically not warrant a reply..." The Director wanted to discontinue dealing with the issue despite the fact that he is required to "in writing, address and resolve the dispute."

Mr. Novek states that "Her refund was calculated in accordance with our refund policies which Ms.
Miyazaki has acknowledged receiving and understanding." Clearly, Ms. Miyazaki was not given the refund policies until long after her registratlon. The only time Ms. Miyazaki acknowledged any refund policy, it was not the school's legalrefund policy.
G: MARKEflNG

dnd RECRUITING

G.7 Recruiting:

ln oll recruiting transddions, Member Programs are required to reptesent and mdintdin the stonddrds ol progroms ond services ol Langudges Conoda.

Member Progroms must not engage in condud which is unethical or unprofessional and may be prcjudiciol to the reputdtion ol Longuages Canado or its membeB.
The school did not represent and maintain the standards of programs and services of Languages Canada.

Misleading students by not providing the full refund policy and lying to the student about the effects of withdrawing from the school is clearly unethical and unprofessional. This behaviour is clearly prejudicial to the reputation of Languages Canada. ln addition, ILSC is recruiting students who may have signed up with another Languages Canada member if they were treated in an ethical manner by ILSC and given ILSC's real terms and conditions before reglstration. ILSC is gaining an unfalr advantage over other members of Languages Canada who are treating students in an ethical manner.
G.2 Agents:

Member Prcgrums are required to adhere to the Best Prdctice Guidelines

set

lot Dealing with Agents

ds

lorth by Ldnguages Canado.

70 of

!7

The Best Practices Guidelines require schools to "Establish a process via student feedback as to the performance of the agent" and "request that copies of any additional information produced by the agent are forwarded to you for review." The school does not ask for student feedback on agency performance. At no time did the school express any concern to Ms. Miyazaki overthe behaviour of its agency. The requirement that that school review

information provided by the agency is clearly not being met by ILSC. The agency is not providing the required information to students and the school either knows that the agency is not treating students ethically or the school should know.
G.3 Publicity Moteriols: All promotional moterials and supplementary informotion present o clear, dccurote and current description ol the program options ond seruices olfered by the institution.

The school and agency are providing none of the required information to students prior to registration and inaccurate information after registration.

1.L

of

t7

't

Email Correspondence
May 6, 2013 Warren Brundage <wbru

nd age @gma

il.com>

to Hiromi.Wakabay.
Hi Hiromi, Please let me know what you intend to do about Aya's refund. Best regards,

Warren Brundage

May 5, 2013 Hiromi Wakabayashi

to sugi7588, Richard, me
Dear Mr. Warren Brundage, Greetings from ILSC. Regarding Ms. Aya Miyazaki's cancellation refund, we will process accordingly to our refund policy, which Ms. Aya Miyazaki acknowledged and signed the contract before her class started. We will contact Ms. Aya Miyazaki when the refund check is available for her to pick up.

lf you have any questions or concerns, I appreciate if you would contact Richard Novek <Richards.Novek(oilsc.com>, our Director of Operations.
Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,

Hiromi Wa ka bayashi Marketing Manager - Japan

lLSc Education Group
ILSC Vancouver I

Toronto

Montr6al I New Delhi

San Francisco I Brisbane I Sydney

Marketing Headquarters 525 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver, BC CANADA V6B 1Y4 T: 5o4.589-9095 x 17L4L F:604.683.0771 E: hiromi.wakabavashi@ilsc.99E

t2 ol

L7

www.ilsc-com www.grevstonecollege.com

Follow us ON Facebook I Twitter I ILSC BLOG I YouTube Thank you for thinking of the environment before printing this email

May 13, 2013 Hiromi Wakabayashi

to sugi7588, Richard, me

i rrJl'+ 3 r.

:ri.tril. lLSc I DEffi-"'1. )<A*;ft l:t! L < *s I * L /: : t Jl' + 3l/ otr64.fl *rt :'E,c.*r 3 * L t d) t, *"'+&(-f .cE iJB rt\ h, > tz, Y, * 7 4 x s2s Dunsmuir Street * I l.*( r,'/. /, tJil,if+r,'(1.
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Dear Ms. Miyazaki. Your refund check is ready for you to pick up. Please let me know when you are available to come to our office at 525 Dunsmuir Street. I am looking forward to hearing from you. Best regards,

Hiromi Wakabayashi
ILSC Education Group

May 15, 2013 Hiromi Wakabayashi

to sugi7588, Richard, me

: rr+I+ 3 r.
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13 of 77

E a ? J' a L < JiFFr,\r,\r:

Dear Ms. M iyazaki,

L*f.

appreciate if you would reply to me when you will be able to come and pick up your refund check. lf you prefer to receive it by mail, please inform me of your mailing address. I will be waiting for your reply.
I

May 15, 2013 Warren Brundage <wbru nd age @gma il.co to Hiromi, sugi7588, Richard

>

lsent the following attached to yourschool yesterday. I am not sure if you received it so I am sending it again. Perhaps there is a problem with our email ending up in your junk-mail folder. Tomorrow we will be starting to file the complaints with Languages Canada and Consumer Protection BC. Our organization is really busy right now helping students who are victims of sexualassault, fraud and other serious matters. I don't want to allocate too much time to this flle but it is important that we ensure that Ms. Miyazaki receive herfull refund so I am hoping you sim ply issue a cheque for the full amount. lamsure that you will review your procedures so that students will be given the proper documents prior to registration in the future.
Warren Brundage

Original Message
Subject: Re: Fwd: Aya Miyazaki From: warren@isas.ca Date: Tue, May 74,2073 4:42 pm

To:
Cc:

"RichardNovek"<Richards.Novek@ilsc.com> "susi7588@sma i l.com" <!gg[.5@gqale!0> "Hiromi Wakabayashi" <Hiromi.Wakabavashi(ailsc.com>

asuka@oneworldagencv.ca

Dear Mr. Novek,

lam contacting you on behalfofthe lnternational Student Assistance Society (ISAS). Wehavebeen contacted by your student, Ms. Aya Miyazakifor asslstance in a problem she is having with your school. Your school is in possession of a letter from Ms. Miyazaki giving permission to you to discuss this matter
with me.
ln dealing with this student, your school did not comply with a number of terms in the Languages Canada Code of Ethics. Among other conditions, you are required to "make all fees, terms and

conditions, including the refund policy, available in advance of a student registering." This was not done. Your school did not give these documents to the student until her flrst day of classes. On the first
74 of 17

day of classes the student was provided with a "New student package" which makes no mention of the Languages Canada Dispute Resolution Policy. When she visited the school to ask about a refund she was not told about her rights under the Dispute Resolution policy.
is your responsibility to "ensure that all agents and agent materials fully and accurately represent your programs, services, terms and conditions" and this was also not done. The agency misrepresented your school to Ms. Miyaza ki and, as soon as she was awa re of the nature of the school a nd her legal right to leave the school, she chose to withdraw from the school.

It

Ms. Miyazaki came to your school to discuss her refund but was unable to get any answer. she then returned to the school with a witness to discuss a refund. Atthattime, yourstaffgave false information to Ms. Miyazaki in an attempt to scare her into staying in the school. We have come across a number of schools engaging in this type of behavlour but I was unpleasantly surprised to discover that your school is engaging in these deceptive practices. Among other things, the student was told that she would have to give her Study Permit to the school so that a copy could be made and that she would be reported to lmmigration if she left the school and that lmmigration would call her. An extract of the conversation is as follows: "Do you have your Study Permit with you right now? ln order for us to process your refund we need a copy of your study Permit. we used our name for you to get the study permit. you used our LoA to get the Study Permit. We would like to hold it at the time. [Physically keep the Study Permit - counsellor pushing student to return her study Permitl. Depending on the case, lmmigration will phone you. They will ask you what you are doing..." This is clearly an attempt to intimidate the student and I am hoping that you will immediately inform your staffthat this type of behaviour will not be tolerated. As you well know, Study permits are transferable and CIC does not care where a student is studying as long as they don't change their level of study (e.g. secondary to post-secondary). I am sure you also know that CIC doesn't call students to ask them "what they are doing" when they decide to leave a school. We are asking for a full refund to be issued to Ms. Miyazaki. Ms. Miyazaki may choose to collect a partial payment ofthe total amount she is requesting but she still asserts her right to a full refund of her payment to ILSC and she reserves the right to take action to receive payment of all amounts outstanding after the partial refund. Since we have given you a number of opportunities to correct this problem including meetings, emails and a signed letter, if we do not hear receive confirmation that a full refund will be issued to Ms. Miyazaki by4 p.m. on May 16,2013 we will take the following actions:

will make a formal complaint to Languages Canada under their Dispute Resolution Procedure and, as specified in Part 2 ofthat Procedure, we will request that a dispute resolution panel (',DRp,') be appointed.
1. We

2. We will bring a complaint to Consumer Protection BC since no contract was given to Ms. Miyazaki prior to her registering in the school and your contract is not in compliance wlth the Business Practices

and Consumer Protection Act of British Columbia and the relevant Regulations in any case.
3. Any other recourse legally available

to Ms. Miyazaki including, but not limited to, action in Small

75 of L7

Claims Court.
Best regards,

Warren Brundage Executive Director lnternational Student Assistance Society

(ISAS)

May 15, 2013 Richard Novek to me, Hiromi, sugi7588

Dear Mr. Brundage, am responding to your emails as a courtesy not because we accept that you are the le8al representative for the student Aya Miyazaki. I will reiterate what our Marketer Hiromi stated in her earlier email to the student: her refund cheque is available for pick up. Her refund was calculated in accordance with our refund policies which Ms. Miyazaki has acknowledged receiving and understanding.
I

Mr. Brundage, we do not take well to threats and such utterances would typically not warrant a reply, however I am prepared to meet with you at my office on a without prejudice basis if you wlsh to dlscuss this like gentlemen.
Richard Novek

Director of Operations

cheers

Richard Novek

Director of Operations ILSC Education Group

T: 604-689-9095 From: Warren Brundage Imailto:wbrundase@gmail.com] Sent: May L5, 2013 2:29 PM To: Hlromi Wakabayashi Cc: susi7588@email.com; Richard Novek Subject: Re: Aya Miyazaki

May 16, 2013 Warren Brundage <wbrundage@gmail.com> to Richard, Hiromi, sugi7588

Dear Mr. Novek,

t6 of

17

Unfortunately it is not for you to decide who Ms. Miyaza ki chooses to speak on her behalf. I know it is inconvenient to have to deal with me and it would be easier for ILSC if there wasn't anyone telling Ms. Miyazakithat she has rights. I don't have time to meet wlth you in person now but please feel free to contact me any time. Since you have refused to provide a full refund to Ms. Miyazaki we will be filing a formal complaint with Languages Canada tomorrow. You appear to be in violation ofthe Code of Ethics and we wlll allow Languages Canada to make a determination.
Regards,

Warren Brundage

hereby certify that I am making this complaint in good faith and that the contents are a true statement ofthe behaviourofThe ILSC Education Group lnc. and Ryugaku Agency.
I

Signed,

Aya Miyazaki

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Asuka Sugiyama, Witness

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