Alani M.

My experience with ThePensters was with the scholarship essay contest. About ten days after deadline, the scholarship team emailed me telling me that I won third place and to send them my PayPal email to receive the prize. They also asked if they could publish my essay on their website. The same day, I said yes and sent my PayPal email address to them in the expectation that I would receive the prize in reasonable time.

Ten days later, still having not received the prize or even confirmation that they received my email, I sent a follow up email. They had already published my essay on their website. I asked if they had an estimation of when I would receive the prize, and they said, "We will pay your prize soon". Not "by the end of this week", or "in three business days", but "soon".

Two weeks later, I had still not received any payment. I sent an email inquiring about the payout process and if they needed any more information from me. No response.

Seventeen days after that, and I still had not received a penny or any communication from ThePensters. I sent yet another email inquiring about the payout progress and suggested we try a different payment method. I asked for confirmation that they received this email, since I got no responses from my previous emails since the time they said they would pay "soon". No response.

One week later, I had finally had enough of the poor communication and non-payment, and asked them to remove my essay from their website unless/until they paid my prize, since I did not think it was fair for them to display my work without holding up their "end of the bargain" so to speak. They had not delivered. For the first time, I sent this email to the scholarship team AND the support team (previously, I only sent messages to the scholarship team), and only the support team responded, saying that they would forward my inquiry to their corresponding department and get back to me.

One week after that (which was today), they had not gotten back to me, I still was not paid, and my essay was still displayed on their website against my clearly-stated wishes. I sent a final email to them, requesting once again that my essay be taken down and informing them that I was disappointed in my experience. I again sent this to the scholarship team and the support team and only the support team responded, with, "Please accept our apologies for the delay. We will do our best to solve this issue within the nearest time. Hope for your patience."

It has been a total of 55 days since ThePensters told me I won, and 45 days since they told me that I would be paid "soon". I think that I have been beyond patient with ThePensters. They simply do not have it together over there. One hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing. They delay, their communication is poor, and they don't deliver on promises.

I would not recommend applying for ThePensters' scholarship, because even if you win, you won't win.