This site is a waste of money. It has been my experience that the type of people that request lessons through this site aren't serious about following through and hiring a professional, they aren't willing to pay any reasonable amount for that professional's time, they are fake leads, or all three.
I am an experienced photographer/videographer with over 10yrs of experience and what I offered through the lessons.com website was tailored classes starting with the basics and ending with full on advanced photo sessions with models, lighting, studio work, etc.
I've been on lessons.com for probably about a year, I very selectively bid on jobs that seemed promising; and not one was willing to pay a rate that was worth my time. Just as a test I dropped my rate to less than I would make just shooting headshots and that was the only way I landed a customer; after spending over $200 on leads. It turned out to be a 3hr session that barely left me with gas money after paying taxes, gas, insurance, and bringing $10K worth of photography equipment to the training session.
My conclusion is that the customers you will get from this site will not pay enough to cover your costs of using the site, so you are better off looking elsewhere. By their own admission you will only land 1 in 10 jobs that you pay for (that's less than 10%) and at an average cost of $4 per quote you will spend around $40 per client if you are lucky. I think the average is closer to 1 in 20 jobs which means you will really spend around $80 per client which you will probably never get back since as I mentioned before lessons.com students are the least likely to want to pay a realistic rate for your services.
Lessons.com maliciously misled me regarding my service area. Even after identifying my travel area being within 40 miles of my locatin, they continued to provide leads more than 100 to 300 miles away from my service area. The application allowed me to select a setting that I travel to my customers and the travel range.
After receiving invalid referrals, I questioned the issues with the application. I expected a response that they would look into it. Instead, I received an excuse saying that the lead being sent to me must have had on their settings that they would travel the allowed distance but didn't take into consideration that my setting was set for me to travel and that I had no location for the person to travel to me for lessons.
These people purport to connect teachers with students. They took $25 for ten leads, and I figured if even on pans out it would be worth it. I started to notice they were sending me the same person over and over. I thought maybe that student hadn't found anyone he liked and was "reapplying". But when I looked through my records, I realized they were sending me the same PROFILE but simply changing the NAME.
There would be different NAMES, but both "students" seemed to live in the same TOWN (a very small town) the wanted the same TYPE of lesson, they wanted the same DURATION of lesson, same DAY, same subjects.
They are obviously sending me bogus "leads" - but they couldn't even be bothered to mix it up a little. Not only are they cheats, they are stupid and lazy cheats. DO NOT sign up with Lessons.com they are a rip-off. DO NOT give them any money.
I'm thoroughly convinced that Lessons.com is a scam! I'm a piano teacher with decades of teaching experience and great references. I've been very selective in giving quotes on Lessons.com, to try and maximize my responses, and have NEVER had any prospective student reply back to me.
You would think that someone would at least ask me a question, ask about my qualifications, ask for a reference's phone number, or ask for a better rate. But after sending many quotes, I've NEVER heard from ANYONE!
After getting no response from any quotes given on this site, I started to quote ridiculously low fees, and STILL NO RESPONSE! Lessons.com generates phony leads, and sends them to teachers, in order to eat up the "credits" they bought, hoping the teachers will buy more. #ScamAlert!
I'm pretty convinced that most of the student requests are scams. Let me explain to you the structure, you sign up as a teacher and students see your ad and send a request for a quote for classes. To respond to this request you have to deposit money into your account and it costs $2 per quote to respond to the "student". I don't mind paying for student leads if they were actual students. Also, my phone number is listed and my past students that I got on my own away from lessons.com left good feedback. Why do not one of these potential students ever call? If I were requesting teacher info I'd call, after all this is someone you are planning on paying to teach you, spending time with and possibly in their home.
Here is why I think it's a scam, first off I never heard back from not one student after I send the quote, and my quotes are in the ball park if not slightly lower than everyone else. At first when I was always responding I'd get about 3 requests a month, not much. So I stopped sending quotes and now that I am not responding to student requests the requests started increasing from 3 a month to 3 a week and now I get requests nearly DAILY! Today, after a month of not responding I got 3 student requests. They are just trying to soak that last 18 credits I have left in my account from me! The longer I don't respond the more requests I get!!! You see they get paid when I send quotes! This feels really scammy to me, especially since any of these students could call me too. So I'm reporting them, teachers beware! If you want students this is not the way and you will waste money on this and oh there are no refunds either to get your money back, no satifaction guarantee. BUYER BEWARE!
Lessons.com Reviews
This site is a waste of money. It has been my experience that the type of people that request lessons through this site aren't serious about following through and hiring a professional, they aren't willing to pay any reasonable amount for that professional's time, they are fake leads, or all three.
I am an experienced photographer/videographer with over 10yrs of experience and what I offered through the lessons.com website was tailored classes starting with the basics and ending with full on advanced photo sessions with models, lighting, studio work, etc.
I've been on lessons.com for probably about a year, I very selectively bid on jobs that seemed promising; and not one was willing to pay a rate that was worth my time. Just as a test I dropped my rate to less than I would make just shooting headshots and that was the only way I landed a customer; after spending over $200 on leads. It turned out to be a 3hr session that barely left me with gas money after paying taxes, gas, insurance, and bringing $10K worth of photography equipment to the training session.
My conclusion is that the customers you will get from this site will not pay enough to cover your costs of using the site, so you are better off looking elsewhere. By their own admission you will only land 1 in 10 jobs that you pay for (that's less than 10%) and at an average cost of $4 per quote you will spend around $40 per client if you are lucky. I think the average is closer to 1 in 20 jobs which means you will really spend around $80 per client which you will probably never get back since as I mentioned before lessons.com students are the least likely to want to pay a realistic rate for your services.
Lessons.com maliciously misled me regarding my service area. Even after identifying my travel area being within 40 miles of my locatin, they continued to provide leads more than 100 to 300 miles away from my service area. The application allowed me to select a setting that I travel to my customers and the travel range.
After receiving invalid referrals, I questioned the issues with the application. I expected a response that they would look into it. Instead, I received an excuse saying that the lead being sent to me must have had on their settings that they would travel the allowed distance but didn't take into consideration that my setting was set for me to travel and that I had no location for the person to travel to me for lessons.
Rachelle refused my refund request.
These people purport to connect teachers with students. They took $25 for ten leads, and I figured if even on pans out it would be worth it. I started to notice they were sending me the same person over and over. I thought maybe that student hadn't found anyone he liked and was "reapplying". But when I looked through my records, I realized they were sending me the same PROFILE but simply changing the NAME.
There would be different NAMES, but both "students" seemed to live in the same TOWN (a very small town) the wanted the same TYPE of lesson, they wanted the same DURATION of lesson, same DAY, same subjects.
They are obviously sending me bogus "leads" - but they couldn't even be bothered to mix it up a little. Not only are they cheats, they are stupid and lazy cheats. DO NOT sign up with Lessons.com they are a rip-off. DO NOT give them any money.
I'm thoroughly convinced that Lessons.com is a scam! I'm a piano teacher with decades of teaching experience and great references. I've been very selective in giving quotes on Lessons.com, to try and maximize my responses, and have NEVER had any prospective student reply back to me.
You would think that someone would at least ask me a question, ask about my qualifications, ask for a reference's phone number, or ask for a better rate. But after sending many quotes, I've NEVER heard from ANYONE!
After getting no response from any quotes given on this site, I started to quote ridiculously low fees, and STILL NO RESPONSE! Lessons.com generates phony leads, and sends them to teachers, in order to eat up the "credits" they bought, hoping the teachers will buy more. #ScamAlert!
I'm pretty convinced that most of the student requests are scams. Let me explain to you the structure, you sign up as a teacher and students see your ad and send a request for a quote for classes. To respond to this request you have to deposit money into your account and it costs $2 per quote to respond to the "student". I don't mind paying for student leads if they were actual students. Also, my phone number is listed and my past students that I got on my own away from lessons.com left good feedback. Why do not one of these potential students ever call? If I were requesting teacher info I'd call, after all this is someone you are planning on paying to teach you, spending time with and possibly in their home.
Here is why I think it's a scam, first off I never heard back from not one student after I send the quote, and my quotes are in the ball park if not slightly lower than everyone else. At first when I was always responding I'd get about 3 requests a month, not much. So I stopped sending quotes and now that I am not responding to student requests the requests started increasing from 3 a month to 3 a week and now I get requests nearly DAILY! Today, after a month of not responding I got 3 student requests. They are just trying to soak that last 18 credits I have left in my account from me! The longer I don't respond the more requests I get!!! You see they get paid when I send quotes! This feels really scammy to me, especially since any of these students could call me too. So I'm reporting them, teachers beware! If you want students this is not the way and you will waste money on this and oh there are no refunds either to get your money back, no satifaction guarantee. BUYER BEWARE!