Sadly, shady business practices are far too common in the world of ELT. It runs the gamut from schools using bogus self-employed contracts all the way up to grifters who set up fake schools to fleece students of their cash.
At the union, we consider it our duty to share information when it appears a school is not what it claims to be.
The following report came from a fellow teacher about Phoenix Tutors Academy/Club. In it, she alleges that the owners of the company are proposing to charge teachers to get a job. This is morally reprehensible. While we don’t claim to be experts on US law, we’d advise teachers in any part of the world to be very suspicious of any company that wants to charge you to get a job.
According to the teacher’s allegations:
“I was in a Facebook group, ONLINE ENGLISH TEACHING JOBS (ACTIVE), looking for work when one of the other users in the group suggested Phoenix Tutors Club. Thinking she was being helpful, I requested the website and was immediately contacted and asked to sign a contract. Strange since they didn’t know anything about me. Even stranger is the fact that I was also asked for a $240 application fee! Once I told them I wasn’t interested, they “removed my application”.
Share this and warn as many people as possible. Phoenix appears to be active in most of the ESL online job groups on Facebook. Don’t trust them and don’t give them your money.
For my part, I’ve already made a complaint to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission). Since they do not resolve individual reports, my “report will be entered into FTC’s Consumer Sentinel database and available to federal, state, and local law enforcement across the country”. The report number is 185790664 and was submitted on April 4, 2025.
Sadly, the increase in online teaching has meant an increase in dodgy companies looking to take advantage of teachers and students. No matter what country you’re in, this is all the more reason to be in a union. If a company seems suspect, it’s always best to check with your union before taking a job (and certainly before sending them any money!).
Online TEFL is a wild west. Stay vigilant. Stay strong. And fight to hold the bosses to account.