Why I'm not using The Princeton Review LSAT Online course

Everyone I know has recommended I take an LSAT prep course prior to taking the LSAT in September. I've spent a lot of time online trying to find the best one and decided The Princeton Review's $999 LSAT Online course was the right one for me.

Last week I got an offer from another online prep course to use their services for half off of their $1,100 fee in return for writing about their program. While I like saving $550, I wasn't willing to sacrifice my journalistic integrity to do so. Plus, I really liked the course I had already selected.

After turning down the offer, I went to The Princeton Review's Web site to register for their course. I was pleasantly surprised to find out they were having a $300-off sale if I ordered in the next few days. Access is only granted to the material for four months from the time of purchase. Because of this, I decided it would be best to hold off registering for the course for a few days and wait until the 26th to sign up for the class so I could have access to the material all the way up until the day of the test, which is on the 26th.

Yesterday I went back to their Web site and was unpleasantly surprised to learn their offer had expired the day before, on Tuesday. I immediately called their toll-free number and after spending 10 minutes on hold, I explained my situation to the nice lady on the phone and asked if I could still take advantage of the offer if I purchased the program right then.

She told me "No." I explained to her I didn't think it was fair I had to pay an extra $300 because I was 13 hours late calling on the offer when I was just trying to put myself in the best position to have access to the study materials all the way up to the date of the actual test.

Tt's not fair for a company who sells study material for major tests to offer a significant discount to students but only if they sign up for a preparation course that denies them access to the material all the way up to the actual exam.

They aren't required to offer any discount to anyone at any time, but their timing calls into question rather they really care about their customers or if they just care about maximizing their profits, and that's not a question any business should want to raise.

I told the lady I was going to take the same $1,000 I had planned on spending with them and give it to another online prep course company and asked her if she had any suggestions or opinions -- since she is in the business and might have some insider thoughts on her competitors -- on what other company I should choose other than them.

She wasn't so nice after that, which is OK because it only took about four minutes after our conversation ended to find another company that offers a superior package for $100 less.