The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has ordered online career-training company Career Step, LLC to pay $43.5 million in debt cancellation and cash refunds. This action comes in response to charges that the company engaged in deceptive advertising practices, specifically targeting servicemembers and their families with false promises of job placement, inflated employment outcomes, and partnerships with prominent companies. These allegations have significantly impacted Career Step Program Reviews, casting a shadow over the company’s reputation and raising concerns about the validity of its career training programs.
Career Step will be required to pay $27.8 million in debt cancellation and $15.7 million in cash, which will be used to provide redress to consumers who were misled by their deceptive advertising. This move by the FTC highlights the importance of scrutinizing career step program reviews and other online education platforms to ensure they are providing accurate information to prospective students.
Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, stated, “Servicemembers and their families make sacrifices every day to protect our freedoms. We owe it to them to make sure that when they look to use their hard-earned benefits to further their education, they get facts and not fantasy.” This statement underscores the vulnerability of military personnel and their families to deceptive practices and the need for robust consumer protection measures in the education sector, especially concerning programs like Career Step, which are often evaluated through career step program reviews.
FTC Complaint Details Deceptive Practices
According to the FTC’s complaint, Career Step, operating also as CareerStep, CareerCert, and Carrus, has been promoting career training and certification programs in the healthcare industry, with a particular focus on attracting servicemembers and their spouses. Since at least 2019, the company allegedly used deceptive advertising across social media and its website. They employed sales representatives and AI technology to aggressively persuade consumers to enroll in their programs. Furthermore, Career Step marketed its services through military-centric publications like Military.com and at military-sponsored events, including job fairs. The core of the FTC’s complaint revolves around Career Step’s false claims regarding job placement rates, employment outcomes, externship opportunities, purported hiring partnerships, and the actual duration of their programs. These discrepancies are crucial for anyone researching career step program reviews as they highlight a significant gap between advertised promises and reality.
False Job Placement Promises
The FTC’s complaint highlights that Career Step representatives falsely promised to secure jobs for consumers after program completion. These representatives reportedly claimed that a dedicated “career placement team” would find consumers their “perfect job.” However, in reality, Career Step did not provide any genuine job placement services. Their assistance was limited to basic resume drafting help or sending generic links to publicly available job postings. This stark contrast between promise and reality is a recurring theme in negative career step program reviews, where students express disappointment with the lack of career support.
Misleading Employment Outcome Claims
Career Step also misrepresented the employment success of its graduates. The company claimed that “most learners” and “more than 80% of its graduates” were employed in their field of study. These claims were based on data from an optional survey sent only to program completers. A significant majority of enrollees did not complete their programs and therefore never received this survey. Among those who did receive it, most did not respond. For example, a 2020 survey showed that out of 9,330 enrollees and 2,126 program completers, only 5% of enrollees or 24% of program completers responded to the survey. This small and self-selected sample group hardly represents the overall student experience, making their employment outcome claims highly dubious and contradicting many career step program reviews that report difficulties in finding jobs after graduation.
Fake Hiring Partnerships
Career Step’s website falsely asserted partnerships with leading healthcare businesses to provide job opportunities for graduates. Logos of well-known companies like CVS and Walgreens were prominently displayed on their homepage as “Hiring Partners.” Sales representatives further reinforced this deception by claiming “over 50,000 partnerships” to assure consumers of job placement assistance. In truth, Career Step’s agreements with these companies, including CVS and Walgreens, had no bearing on post-graduation job placement. This misleading use of company logos is a serious concern and directly contradicts the positive image Career Step attempted to project, further justifying the negative sentiment found in many career step program reviews.
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A screenshot of Career Step’s homepage featuring the “Our Trusted Employer Network” section, illustrating the deceptive marketing tactic highlighted in numerous career step program reviews.
Bogus Externship Claims
The FTC also found that Career Step falsely promised externship placements as part of its programs. However, less than 10 percent of students in programs that required externships were actually placed in one. Without these crucial externships, students were unable to complete their programs, losing both time and money invested in Career Step. The lack of promised externships is a major complaint frequently voiced in career step program reviews, as externships are often a key factor in gaining practical experience and employment in healthcare fields.
Deceptive Program Duration Claims
Career Step misled students by promising program completion within four months or less. In reality, the vast majority of Career Step students did not complete their programs at all, and even those who did often took significantly longer than four months due to obstacles created by the company. Students reported frequent website issues and difficulty getting responses from Career Step representatives. Furthermore, the company’s failure to secure externships often led to program expirations before completion or forced students to pay extension fees, sometimes as high as $999. These issues with program duration and hidden costs are frequently mentioned in critical career step program reviews, contributing to the overall negative perception of Career Step.
Incentivized Positive Reviews
Finally, Career Step operated a deceptive incentivized review program to generate positive reviews on platforms like BBB, Google, and Trustpilot. Students were offered free program extensions of up to three months in exchange for posting reviews on each of these sites. They were asked to provide proof of their reviews to Career Step. These incentivized reviews falsely portrayed the opinions and experiences of genuinely satisfied students, further misleading prospective enrollees who rely on career step program reviews to make informed decisions.
Settlement Terms and Future Restrictions
The settlement, pending federal judge approval, mandates Career Step to pay $15.7 million for consumer redress. Additionally, the company must cancel approximately $27.8 million in debts owed by students who enrolled between February 2020 and February 2023. The stipulated order also prohibits Career Step from engaging in any deceptive advertising related to educational products or services.
Specifically, Career Step is now barred from misrepresenting key aspects of their programs, including:
- Employment, hiring, or career prospects.
- The number or percentage of consumers who obtain employment.
- Whether employment was a result of Career Step programs.
- Partnerships with companies or employers.
- Career services offered.
- Their externship program.
- The typical or expected program duration.
- Total program costs and terms.
- The objectivity or impartiality of any content, including reviews.
- Any fact material to consumers regarding their services.
Furthermore, Career Step is obligated to notify third-party platforms hosting incentivized reviews about the FTC’s action and request the removal of these reviews. This comprehensive settlement aims to rectify the harm caused by Career Step’s deceptive practices and prevent future misconduct, reinforcing the importance of critically evaluating career step program reviews and seeking independent verification of program claims.
The FTC’s decisive action against Career Step serves as a crucial reminder for consumers to exercise caution and conduct thorough research before enrolling in online career training programs. Analyzing career step program reviews, while now understood to be potentially manipulated in this case, remains a vital part of due diligence, alongside verifying program claims with independent sources and consumer protection agencies like the FTC.
