Is Transcription Certification Institute A Scam? [Review]

Looking for independent 3rd party Transcription Certification Institute Reviews? Or maybe you are wondering if the transcription certification institute is a scam. 

Either way I am aiming to clarify any and all questions that you may have about this company and its course. 

Firstly, permit me to cordially welcome you to my lovely little blog and thank you for being smart and seeking out independent reviews by independent bloggers. 

This is how you find out exactly what a company and product is like, avoid getting scammed and find a genuine way of making money online. 

So, Is Transcription Certification Institute A Scam? 

Keep reading to find out!.

Transcription Certification Institute, Abbrivated to TCI for short, are an online educational platform and course for individuals aspiring to become fully certified transcriptionists. 

The website was registered in March 2009 meaning they have been in business for over 10 years. 

Investigating their background red flags are raised straight away. On the Better Business Bureau they claim their Address to be in Buffalo, up State New York, while on CrunchBase they are claiming to be based in Ellensberg, Washington. 

Some trusted reviewers have quoted on their sites that address as Irvine, Califonia.

One thing that is for sure - this company is most certainly NOT a multi-location business. 

Obviously something is not quite right here!

So I digging deeper, just scratching below the surface here and I get that ickie feeling that this company is not even based in the United States. I'm guessing at India. 

There are a few reasons for thinking India, mostly when you check out the writing style across all social media channels and the reviews being from predominantly Indian names. 

Also the contact email listed on Crunchbase is

rashmi@transcriptioncertificationinstitute.com

While I completely accept that location and nationality are irrelevant and it does not particularly matter if the website is owned by an Indian or an American or if they are located in Washington, New York Or New Delhi!. 

My point is the lies and deception.  

Perhaps this is why there is no indication of who owns the company at all on their website or anywhere or even a human voice on their YouTube Channel...

When you own a business online of offline it is fairly normal to be proud of your accomplishment and achievement and let people know who you are and who owns the site and business - particularly when products are being sold and money asked for. 

This is in stark contrast to Transcribe Anywhere, who a very clear as who they are and where they are based and the entire background of the lady that owns the business.

Fully verifiable across a number of channels. 

The Transcription Certification Institute works like many other online education platforms on the internet where you can learn from the comfort of your home and at your own pace with a variety of course materials and practical exercise's to help you. 

The general idea of this websites is that you take their course and have a competitive edge and advantage over the many others that are competing with you. 

There are many jobs, in fact, absolutely no shortage of employment at all as a transcriber from companies like Transcribe Me, Lionbridge, AccuTran and BabbleType to name a few. 

Quite literally there are hundreds of transcription agencies online!.

Not to mention the possibility of Freelancing on Upwork or taking gigs on Fiverr. 

A lot of those jobs require absolutely no experience at all. The idea of The Transcription Certification Institute is by getting certified you will be more likely to get employed, work from home and get the better, higher paying jobs.

The Transcription Certification Course

The Transcription institute offer significantly more that just learning to become a transcriptionist. They have internship and a jobs board also. 

The certification course is the main aspect of the site, let's focus on that. 

Your first step is to sign up and register.

• Step 1 Sign Up and Register. 

This course is open to everyone of all nationalities and languages. If your mother tongue is not English you will have to go through a quick English Language test to make sure your English Language skills are up to scratch. 

There two pricing points for the course - pay it all at once for US$699 or in 3 instalments of US$249  

• Step 2 Study And Complete The Lessons. 

The Transcription Certification course is structured into different key areas of transcription such as

• Grammar
• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Accuracy
• Typing speed
• Privacy Guidelines
• Comprehension of Unique and Strong Accents
• Legal Terminology
• Working With Multi-Speaker Audio Files
  

This course is for general transcriptionists and does not specialise in medical or legal transcription work.

It does appear to be very well thought out and put together by experienced transcribers. 

The following below is a general outline of the lessons covered on the course.

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• Transcription Tips & Tricks: This is the opening lesson and gives an overview into what working as a transcriber is like, the opportunities that are available and what to expect. The equipment needed is also covered here. To get the job done expertly and efficiently you will need a foot pedal and a specialist headset.

• Punctuation: As the saying goes, lawyers litigate, transcribers punctuate!. Correct and proper punctuation makes your transcriptions of a better and higher quality and less work needing to be performed by those you pass your work onto - proofreaders and editors. The better and more accurate your punctuation is the more likely you will be for repeat work with employers.

• Proper And Correct Sentence Structure: This lesson is more of an English Language Lesson Martha Stewart style. Obviously proper structure and knowledge helps for a much better transcription - particularly when it is not so common for people to speak in a grammatically correct "Queen's English sense" of the language. Creating a grammatically correct transcription even when spoken language is not grammatically correct is beneficial for the reader of the document. Typical Gramatical inaccuracies from foreigners are great examples to be written in correct grammar. 

• The Rules Of Speech: A Lesson on the English Language and how sentences and structured. This follows on nicely from previous lessons. It may be obvious for some but it is a very nice refresher, particularly if and when English is not your native language. 

• Proofreading: This is an obvious and evident skill that you need as a transcriber. Although it is difficult to spot your own errors - proven by experts and psychologists, it is still a key skill as a transcriptionist and providing a high quality completed document. The less "post production" processing of your work that is needed the better. 

• Multiple Speaker Audio: Also known as interuptive dialogue. This obviously one of the core areas of the work as a transcriber - dealing with audio with many different speakers. Fine tuning your skills here will help you to get your work done more efficiently. 

• Regional And Foreign Accents: One of the things that you are likely to come against in your career as a transcriber is strong accents. This lesson helps you to deal with such heavy accents. 

• Keyboard and Typing Skills: This lesson you are taught how to better use your keyboard. In all probability you would be doing yourself a huge justice by using an ergonomic professional keyboard. If you are not already a touch typist or have a speed around 70 to 80 words per minute you could consider taking a course to improve your skill. 

• MS Word: This is a program that you are evidently going to use a lot. Really getting familiar with it has it's obvious advantages. Learn how to make you own custom short cuts can help you a lot too. A lot of what is in this lesson can be found in greater detail online for free. 

• Verbatim Transcription Vs Non Verbatim Transcription: When to use which and in what situations Verbatim is much better than non-verbatim. If the Audio Voice says "Hey S'up?" when do you transcribe it as it is and when would you transcribe that as "Hey What's up?". This lesson is all about that. 

• Privacy & Client Confidentiality: Hear everything write (transcribe) everything but say nothing!. There are obvious situation where you can't talk about what you are transcribing for varying reasons such as business plans and product development. This information is obviously not to fall into the hands of competitors. 

• Time Management: This is actually one of the more important skills to have. Manage your time and your work more efficiently. Understand how long a certain task or file will take you to complete.

• Becoming A Freelance Transcriptionist: The majority of the jobs that you undertake will result in you being classed as an independent contractor, a Freelancer. Freelancing can be tough going when first starting out - I know, it is a hat I have worn!. The lesson here is focused on getting you on track as a freelancer. 

• Finding The Best Jobs: This lesson teaches you where and how to find the best paying jobs in the field of transcription and transcribing. 

All the lessons are on point and have a quick test at the end to help you see if you understood and have the comprehension to  proceed to the following lesson. Take your time - step by step!. 

• Step 3 Take The Final Exam And Pass It!.

The final part of the online course is to take the final exam and test your skills. Once you pass the course you will get your certificate. 

The exam is assessed by people and not a online program assessing your answers. 

What this certificate is worth it I'll be honest here - the old expression "Not worth the paper it is written on" springs to mind. 

The Transcription Certification Institute is not an accredited organisation at all - anywhere!. They are a "Transcription Certification Institute" only by name and because that was the domain name they registered. 

No other reason at all!.

Period!.

Jobs Board

The Transcription Certification Institute has appears to have a semi active jobs board of transcription work available. Their facebook page posts some brief details of job listings on a very regular basis. 

The actual jobs board on their site is only accessible to those who have completed their course successfully. 

I am not at all that convinced of how beneficial this jobs board is Vs manually searching regular Jobs Boards such as monster jobs or online flex jobs and setting up alerts or checking out regular specialist Transcription agencies for work - literally there are hundreds!. 

I actually suspect that this jobs board is doing just that - pulling the information via an API or some program and displaying it on their site. 

Monthly Webinars

The TCI also has monthly webinars, although this is actually a good thing a month between webinars is actually a long time as you become fully qualified and competent as a transcriptionist I do wonder of how much value the webinars are.

Transcription Certification Institute Internship

Once you have completed the course successfully you have an opportunity to take an internship with The Transcription Certification Institute. 

This not an obligation, it is entirely optional. 

The company claim that they have partnered with a number of different organisations in the industry and have an arrangement with them that you will be given an internship as long as you have successfully completed their course first. 

The internship is hardly of any great grandeur and is only an agreement between you and the company that you perform at least 5 hours of transcription audio - which should take around 20-25 hours of your time to complete. 

Call me a cynic or rather cynical but what I seeing here is you will look for an internship while the owners of this site take on gigs from a variety of transcription agencies, forward the work to you and get paid for your hard work and then forward none of the financial benefit your way. 

Once your work is complete your 5 hours of transcription audio the Transcription Certification Institute will request a reference with your name on it. 

Still, if you are unsure of your skills you probably best trying it out. 

Something that I always check out is how a company and business is viewed and rated by the Better Business Bureau. 

This helps me to see how professionally and legally a company conducts business and how much I can trust them. 

It is not the sole reason or source from which I base my judgement. A Number of factors are taken into consideration. 

I can report that The Transcription Certification Institute is not accredited by the  Better Business Bureau but does hold an A+ rating. 

One complaint I can highlight is from the Better Business Bureau who report that the mailing address for the company returns mail, and thus an indication of a fake business address being used or the company not being in existence - at least at that address. 

There are a lot of complaints in regards to a very miserable refund policy - just 50% refund and only if you ask for it before lesson 4. 

There is no free trail either which for the price of the course is rather shoddy, particularly when you might want to just "dip your toe's" and want to try out the course and see if being a Transcriptionist is for you.

You can Get A Free 7 Day Mini Course Here! if you are interested in trying out a new career. 

My own particular complaint other than the TWO fake addresses and the very misleading site name they are most certainly not a  "Certification Institute". The Horrible grammar used on their site and across a wide range of social media channels is a huge gaff, an epic fail!.

Grammar and being spot on perfect is a big thing for two groups of people - English Teachers and Transcriptionists. 

Given that grammar and proofreading are a big part of the course that they have on offer, claim to have "15 years of experience" as transcriptionists and to be a "Transcriptionist Certification Institute"  - I'd expect spot on perfect English every single time without fail!. 

Those errors remind me of The Barefoot Writer Scam where pretty evidently those behind the site were not writers of any level at all. 

I suspect that those behind this site are not professional transcriptionists. 

You can become a fully certified and professional transcriber by taking a course that has the proper accreditation with the authorities, which is something that The Transcription Certification Institute does not hold. 

Transcribe Anywhere is fully accredited for both General Transcription Certification  And Legal Transcription Certification who are my top recommendation for those wishing to get involved in transcription work.

Learning to become a transcriptionists is not that difficult at all. Sure, getting properly certified by an accredited organisation takes 2-4 months to complete and not 3 weeks like the Transcription Certification Institute. 

Somethings that you can do to improve your ability as a transcriber include: 

1. Improve Your Typing Speed
2. Improve You Knowledge And Ability With Microsoft Word
3. Take A proper course on Grammar
4. Learn Proofreading
5. Improve your listening Skills
6. Get use to using some of the specialist equipment and software.
7. Practice, Practice, Practice!!
8. Get Properly Certified and Stand out from the crowd!.  

In my opinion yes. The salary of a fully qualified professional transcriptionist varies from US$25 to US$45 per hour. 

Good experienced transcriptionist with a specialist skill such as legal transcription can earn US$65 per hour and up while Freelancing online. 

Is it worth it being a Transcriptionist - absolutely!. 

Despite my dislike of the Transcription Certification Institute they do have a lot of plus points that have to be mentioned. 

• An Online course and can be studied in your own time!. 
• It is a very well organised course. 
• Good Jobs Board
• An Internship to help you gain some experience.

There are somethings that I Don't like about The Transcription Certification Institute:

• Two Fake Addresses Given on different channels
• Masquerading as an accredited "Certification Institute"
• Horrible basic Grammar errors seen all over social media and their website. 
• The Internship is very short at only 5hrs of Audio. 
• The course is not Accredited!.

I actually do think that the course available will help you to become a better transcriptionist and transcriber and thus it is fair to say that yes you can make money with the Transcription Certification Institute. 

However, the course on offer is similarly priced as Transcribe Anywhere who offer a more comprehensive course and are fully accredited.

I feel you will be much better with that course and make more money being properly accredited as a certified transcriptionist. 

​

In my opinion The transcription Certification Institute are a border line scam. There are the red flags raised that I have pointed out including different addresses, the Better Business Bureau having their mail returned from an officially stated address. 

The use of a very misleading website name misleading consumers into thinking the company is a a proper institute - which it most certainly is not and that their certification is accredited.

Least of all those grammar goofs are just not something a professional transcription company would publish at all - their reputation depends on it and they committed an epic fail!. 

In my opinion it is a great idea for you to get certified as a transcriptionist. There is definitely a lot of work and a lot of money to be made as a transcriber. 

Being certified I have no doubt you will have not just more than enough work - you will be turning it down or hiring transcribers to work for you!.  

But I do not recommend The Transcription Certification Institute for the aforementioned reasons. 

Give Transcribe Anywhere serious consideration - the cost is the same and the course is much better, but above all is properly accredited.  

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