SAT and ACT Test Preparation Buyer Beware

If you have a college bound child, you want them to do well on those standard tests...to get into a good school and qualify for financial aid money.

But in attempt to help their kids, many parents are opening their wallets for test prep kits that are aiding only the companies offering them!

One Mom Offers A Beware

Shellie Litzinger says she knows better than to say yes to every salesman who calls her.

But this mom of a college bound high schooler says when a caller from the "SAT and ACT Test Prep Center" said her daughter had signed up for their program, she didn't question it.

Shellie says "they stated my daughter had attended a college fair in her high school...and had expressed interest in their kit to improve her score."

Despite the high price -- $119 -- Shellie says if it was to better her daughter's score, it was worth it. "I gave them my credit card," she tells me.

But when shellie spoke with her daughter that night....she worried she had been duped. Her daughter had never heard of the program, let alone agreed to buy it.

Shellie says"she said theres no such thing. She didn't go to any fair at her school."

Shellie demanded a refund.

Checking out the Prep Center

The Better Business Bureau gives the Texas based Prep Center an "F"...while online message boards are filled with similar complaints from other parents, who claim the company never spoke with their sons or daughters before calling mom.

So I called the Prep Center, where a spokesman told me Shellie's money will be refunded through her credit card. Shellie says she'll watch her card much more closely in the future.

Avoid Giving out Name and Number

So where does the prep center get student names and phone numbers? The company would not tell me.

But Shellie's daughter's school did not sell or release her name.

Complaint message boards have some ideas where these names come from, and how test prep programs get students to divulge their personal infromation. They claim students are often lured by the promise of freebies.

And they urge students to beware college information websites, contests, and freebies that require your parents' phone number.

That way you dont waste your money. I'm John Matarese.