VerbalplanetReviews of verbalplanet.com

I have been teaching on the platform since 2013. My language is not one of the top-tier; many times I was left without students. But, well, it is a free market. Other tutors had students when I didn't. Recently, my lessons have increased as well as my fee. If you are a good educator and you respect your students and your profession, verbalplanet is a great platform to offer and promote your services. On the other hand, either verbalplanet has fired everyone working at their support team, or they are being hammered by requests, because I have been trying for around 10 days now to reach out to them with no success at all. PayPal thought that my sudden increase of earnings from verbalplanet is suspicious, so they limited my account, asking for a proof of fulfilment from verbalplanet. I have contacted verbalplanet for this, 10 days ago. Still no response. In the meantime, since I couldn't provide PayPal with what they asked for, PayPal has permanently deactivated my account. I have contacted verbalplanet about this around a week ago. Again no response. Since PayPal support is still considering my appeal, I cannot cancel my students. So I contacted verbalplanet again with a request to link my tutor account with Skrill instead of PayPal (just to be clear, Skrill is not famous in my country. I just saw its name in Verbalplanet's terms and conditions). Again, no answer. Worse thing of all, there is not even acknowledgment of having received my inquiries, and there is no email that I can use to contact them directly. 5 years ago I wrote: "The best thing about verbalplanet is that they respect you and that they are always there when you seek them. And when I say always, I mean it. I opened a support ticket on January 2, and I received a reply the day after..." What is great: Promotion / Full control of your earnings and teaching methods / Protection against abusive cancellations / Protection against irresponsible teachers who don't show up for lessons What is horrible: The absence of support for tutors / The absence of alternative payment methods

I got the response very quickly, unfortunately it didnt solve my problem and there was no further explanation after that.

I worked on this platform for a couple of years, and while it's not inherently bad, it falls short in comparison to similar platforms. Here are some issues that the owners should address: 1.Lack of Synchronization with Google and Mac Calendar: Most teachers operate on various platforms, and on Verbal Planet, there's a significant drawback – the absence of synchronization with Google and Mac calendars. This forces teachers to manually update their availability regularly, which becomes a tedious chore. 2.Exclusive Use of PayPal for Payments: Another notable concern is the exclusive reliance on PayPal for payments, which incurs a substantial commission. The platform should explore alternative payment methods to provide more flexibility and reduce the financial burden on teachers. 3.Limited Student Base: A critical issue is the scarcity of students on Verbal Planet. The platform appears to do little in terms of self-promotion, resulting in fewer students compared to other platforms. Personally, on other platforms I found the same number of students in one month as I found on Verbal Planet in a year. 4.Lack of Transparency Regarding Commissions: The site's lack of transparency regarding commission rates is problematic. Teachers are unclear whether it's a fixed amount or a percentage. As a user, I still don't know the exact commission structure, but it's evident that students are paying nearly 50% of the lesson price in commissions. Clear communication about these details is crucial for building trust. To the owners of Verbal Planet: It's 2023, and the appearance and functionality of your site are outdated. It's time to modernize and address these issues to enhance the overall user experience.

Had a bad experience with a specific tutor, increasing the price by a factor of three after I indicating that I want to continue and book several lectures in advance. The price increase was not visible at first and I was charged more than 70 EUR/45 minutes. Canceling the booked lectures is not possible on the platform. After submitting a complaint VerbalPlanet reimbursed me and was helpful. The price increase was then also indicated on the tutor's page. Since there are several tutors indicating similar prices / 45 minute lecture the method might be applied by other tutors as well. So better not book several lectures in advance in order to avoid simiar experiences.

I tried applying with two emails. Both times I tried to login, it said ¨user with these credentials are not found.¨ I tried logging in probably 5 times with both emails, and it never worked. I could create a student account with no problem. What´s going on? Are y´all not hiring right now?

Overall the company is not terrible if you are a teacher and if you have an issue with a student not paying (when they pay directly to you) they take care of the situation and you will usually get the situation solved. My main issue is when students pay through the website (majority of them do) because the payment takes forever to arrive. I feel like it's getting worst besides getting better. I had to wait three weeks to get the payment of only two lessons which was about 35$. Imagine you use this a primary income, you would have to stop eating and everything for two or three weeks until you get paid. You should definitely use it as a additional extra income and don't count on that money. I have requested about 4 payments of different lessons and none of them arrive. I just got one after waiting for almost three weeks. This situation is a little frustrating as you have already taught the lesson and even the same student books more lesson and while you are on your fourth lesson with them, you haven't even received the payment of the first lesson. I would understand this if you had a fixed payment every month as you do when you teach at a school, but we are talking about one to one lesson. Most of the websites pay you instantly or put everything on hold for one week; more than that seems outrageous. You don't cook a big dinner for an event and get paid three weeks after. I think they need to fix that issue and even hire more people or figure out something regarding the payment situation. COVID can't be an excuse forever to delay things. Other than that big issue, it is a good company.

It's hard to believe in this day and age you are still using Skype instead of the many superior options (Microsoft Teams, for example). I've spend more than 30 minutes trying to resurrect my old Skype account, Microsoft asking me for all kinds of information to verify my identity for this old Skype account I haven't used in 8 years. This is the only problem I have, other than that Verbal Planet is great.

When I want to reschedule a lesson it is not clear where to go.