NIng, Their Fee-Based Memberships, Misleading Advertising, and Lack of Customer Service

Ning's customer service department is in need of major change and transparency. They also need to make their fees clear to the potential member by clearly stating the fees and options of signing up for a Ning membership account. I recently upgraded to a Ning Plus account from a Ning Mini account because despite Ning recommending the Mini plan for educators, it is not enough. However, to my dismay, when I clicked on upgrade to see what the options were to upgrade and I clicked on Plus, advertised at $19.95/month. To my dismay and surprise, my bank account was charged immediately the amount of $199.95. I emailed in to cancel. They will not give me a refund stating that the price is clearly stated and she will downgrade my membership back to mini but I will not receive a refund of any monies taken from my account. Too bad I placed so much faith in Ning that I was pitching it as the next best thing for education and social networking. Ning is not teacher friendly. Teachers cannot afford to be tricked out of their money with false advertising and bad customer service. Shame on you Ning. I will turn to SocialGo, KickApps, or Wall.fm instead, and they are free! Ning was really good when they didn't charge a fee. With the increased fee and downgrade in service you would think at least they could provide good customer service....what a shame.
Here is a link to the refund policy she was sure to put in her email telling me that I was out of luck:
http://about.ning.com/refundpolicy.php

Week 4: Reading / Creating Frameworks for Possibility

In these times of strife in educational settings, creating frameworks for possibility is the right frame of mind that people need to maintain in order to counter the downward spiral of the educational system, and bring back creativity in the classroom and increased possibilities for our students' futures. We need to assess the situation at hand, decide what needs to be done to improve learning environments, and plan out the course of action as to how we as educators will get there. We can dwell on the depressing fact that the educational system as we know it is failing, or we can take this situation and use the tools available today to create solutions to the deficiencies that are facing our educators and students. We need to be open to possibilities and look at our glass as being half-full, rather than half-empty.

Week 4: Reading / Being The Board

I enjoyed reading this chapter and really thinking about the concept of "being the board" in times of confrontation or strife. To accept that even though you may or may not be legally at fault when something bad happens, being the board means acknowledging that you had a part in what happened, and decide how to turn that negative into a positive by approaching the situation in a mindset of making things better and solving the issue at hand. This situation pops up daily, and it is a good reminder to accept one's responsibility when things go wrong and work on how you could be a conduit for alleviating the situation.

Week 4: Comment

Sunday, March 28, 2010
MAC Blog Post #3: Week 4 - Grace Under Pressure
"Grace comes from owning the risks we take in a world by and large immune to our control."
-The Art of Possibility: Rosamund and Benjamin Zander

This is the perfect definition of "grace". Many of my co-workers become angry and indignant when they observe how my students suffering from a range of emotional and behavioral disorders treat me. They do not seem to understand that I do not take it personally. I expect this behavior from the population that I teach. Sometimes the most important thing that I can give my students is grace and understanding in the face of extreme opposition and negativity. Hopefully my modeling graceful behavior and not giving up on them will matter in their lives someday.
Posted by Monique at 4:30 PM
Labels: Huayna Picchu towers above the ruins of Machu Picchu
1 comments:

Deborah Panttaja said...

I admire what you do, and the fact that you can remain graceful under such pressure. At times that is so hard to do, but especially when dealing with students, or angry customers. To be able to deal with stressful situations or negativity in a graceful, understanding and polite manner is how we should model the way in which our students should they carry themselves when dealing with negative situations or people.
March 28, 2010 6:51 PM

Week 4: Media Project Presentation / The Education Network

Created with the use of Ning.com and Udutu.com

copyright 2010 Deborah Panttaja Neal

I had a great time presenting my media project with my groups members and Professor Bustillos on Saturday night. I received valuable feedback that I will take into account when polishing up my media project in Month 12.

Week 3: Final Draft of Thesis submitted!

Week 3: Reading (ch 8)

What a great concept, to go BTFI! (Zander, 2000) This rings true to me when thinking about all of the teachers who have been recently laid-off this year.  I, having had experience from last year being laid-off have come to know and embrace the BTFI concept that Zander speaks about.  Instead of giving up and cursing the world I decided to use my time pursuing a Master's Degree in Education Media Design and Technology.  I went to a meeting for the laid-off teachers last Friday.  There were some who could only think about the obstacles and how terrible the situation is.  Then there were a few that stated that they were going to use that time doing something they enjoyed.  One of the teachers, who is expecting in May declared she would enjoy her time off being a stay-at-home mom with her new born child.  No matter what obstacles, set backs, rejections, or disappointments life decides to throw at us, the important thing to do it to look for the possibilities in life and participate in that life rather than just giving up.

Zander, B., Stone Zander, R. (2000) The art of possibility. Penguin Books. New York.