I have had several problems over the years with the WileyPlus system for my college coursework. Here is the run-down.
-8/20/10, my code in the textbook I purchased doesn't work. It takes 5 days to get this unsatisfactorily resolved. I end up having to purchase another activation code.
-10/01/10, I finally work out a system with my prof to do my homework on paper and turn it in manually, because all the dynamic data (numbers, etc) was simply not showing up for me at all for any problems. I ended up having to drop this class and retake it in the spring, entirely because of problems with WileyPlus. The extra time costs me in my other classes.
-Spring '11, I get a head start and have good rapport with my professor, which gets me through the predicted problems using WileyPlus again, and have a good start to my spring semester. Throughout the semester, I have problems logging in, sign conventions aren't respected or consistent in many problems, and the tools for "showing my work" work against me until I'm able to convince my prof to let us do our work on paper and scan it in, but because I was a little smarter scheduling my classes around my WileyPlus class I have the extra resources I need to hit these as they happen and pass my class.
-Summer '11, three weeks go by without problems. Then, suddenly, I simply cannot log in and do my homework at all. Homework problems become increasingly sensitive, and I run into the problem of sign conventions not remaining consistent again. I learn less and less from doing the problems, and they become more and more about filling in the missing information left out of the problems and reinterpreting drawings than they are about applying principles and theory that work outside of WileyPlus. Not as big an issue due to unlimited retries this time around, but not being able to do homework a huge deal. Not being able to access online copy of textbook an even bigger deal. Found a different textbook and some other material online, so at least I can learn and get value out of my class. Tech support is not responsive. Password reset system is COMPLETELY insecure. I can literally type anyone's e-mail address into their "forgot password" page, and lock them out of the system entirely until they reset their password. My school uses a system where everyone else's e-mail address is public.
That's where I am now. Wiley has received a handsome sum of money from me over the three classes (one of them taken twice), and has NOT delivered a product that was worth what I payed. I feel fleeced and ignored by the company, and only used their product because it was required of me for a class. I am complaining now because after those first three weeks into summer, I finally felt like my Wiley woes were behind me, and that I was finally getting something out of their textbook. I even went so far as to fill out my first more or less positive survey review of them ever before things went to hell. Which was probably a mistake, looking back.
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