Tutor.com reviews

3.2

46% would recommend to a friend

(596 total reviews)

Hyoung Jun (Joshua) Park

36% approve of CEO

33% positive business outlook

Tutor.com has an employee rating of 3.2 out of 5 stars, based on 596 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Tutor.com employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Education industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

596 reviews
2.0
Jul 11, 2016

Not a great service for tutors or students.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Many students use this service and the company has contracts with some schools/universities, so getting sessions usually isn't that difficult, much less difficult than at other tutoring companies for whom I've worked. Floating at peak times--or around a shift change--usually produces sessions easily. Mentor reviews can be very helpful--one of my mentors was fantastic--and I think the async English tools and the file sharing tools work well.

Cons

Unfortunately, the cons far outweigh the pros, and most of the cons stem from questionable policies that Tutor.com has put in place. The bonus system is akin to holding a carrot out of the reach of a donkey, as the company puts a goal in front of you that is rarely attainable and based more on luck than skill. Bonuses are based on your number of sessions and your average student review, but one or two bad reviews will crater your average and all but eliminate your chances at getting a good bonus. And most of these bad reviews have nothing to do with your skills as a tutor, but depend more on avoiding any students that don't want to work, want you to give them answers, get confused by the company's policies, etc, which often leads to unfairly-earned 1-star reviews. While the tutor doesn't get in trouble for these sessions, Tutor.com has no objection to letting those sessions tank earnings potential for bonuses. Tutor.com's asinine time-limit philosophy--which is largely in place due to their contracts with schools/universities--hurts both the student and the tutor. The time-limit seems arbitrary and there's no countdown clock for the student--in fact, the student is often unaware that there's a time limit at all and the tutor is not allowed to mention it. Tutors are supposed to bring the session to a natural ending place within the time limit, but that's not feasible with a lot of assignments, especially essays. Students often get confused about why the session is ending, sometimes getting frustrated or agitated, which leads to poor reviews. And tutors aren't allowed to even say that our time is up! If you mention the time limit, you get marked for it on your next review session with your mentor. So students are kept in the dark and have to log off and log back on to connect with a tutor to finish their assignment...and rarely do they get the same tutor, so an essay can be edited with the aid of many tutors, which likely produces inconsistency throughout the paper. Also, instead of being able to decline sessions if you aren't familiar with the subject matter, it's preferred that you accept the session and google the material. This isn't fair to either the student or the tutor. Add this to the other complaints--lack of available hours, low pay, useless support website--and the negatives far outweigh the positives. It's okay to work for them short-term, but eventually you get tired of losing money due to their policies.

5.0
Oct 22, 2015

Worst

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible, Work from Home, Decent pay, Great students

Cons

I worked here for a few months and got barely any help. All of a sudden I get an email that my account is suspended until I call the Tutor.com company, one I call they tell me I have been terminated because of "lack of quality" but all my session reviews are 4.6 and up! It does not make any sense.

1.0
Jan 22, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible hours -- everyone loves that. Some students are a real joy! Most students are at least respectful and civil. Tech support and general support usually respond quickly, although they aren't always allowed to respond helpfully :\

Cons

Terrible pay. After almost three years, I'm earning a whopping $10/hr. Given the level of expertise they require and the amount of effort they expect, it's disheartening to know that I could earn more at Starbuck's. A few students are abusive. There is no recourse against them. As many others have mentioned, bad mentors. I began with a good mentor and was then switched to a bad one. I now realize how rare that good mentor was -- my current mentor is much closer to typical. If anyone reading this thinks that other reviews mentioning bad mentors must be from people who deserved the bad feedback, I urge you to think again. My current mentor has leveled two outright fabrications against me, and on many other occasions has misunderstood simple things because she just wasn't paying attention. She also seems to have arithmetic problems; she once claimed that my average rating was an unacceptable 3.0 for a time period in which it was actually a respectable 4.5. Oh, and you're required to maintain a rating of 4.2 in order to remain employed. That means that the student who thought you were both helpful and nice, who left you a 4-star rating to show that you're better than average, actually harmed you in the eyes of Tutor.com. It also means that a spiteful student or even a prankster can leave a 1-star rating from which it may take weeks to recover. There is no way to remove bogus ratings. In their FAQ, Tutor.com says they "cannot" remove them. Think about that. It happens so often that it's in their FAQ. Tutors are prevented from communicating with other tutors. Maybe they're afraid we'll unionize or something. Most of the "helpful advice for tutors" is rather obviously designed to benefit Tutor.com, the company, rather than tutors or students. It seems amusing at first, but it quickly becomes rather insulting (do they think we're all fools?), and eventually it's just depressing.

Viewing 7 - 9 of 596 Reviews

Glassdoor has 945 Tutor.com reviews submitted anonymously by Tutor.com employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Tutor.com is right for you.