Customers out thousands after Minnesota Sylvan Learning franchisee goes bust

Former customers of several abruptly shuttered Sylvan Learning centers in Minnesota are owed thousands of dollars for tutoring they never received — with slim hopes of getting their money back.

Paul Ripon, a Sylvan franchisee, closed his nine outlets last year and filed for personal bankruptcy in December. His Sylvan business owed an estimated $100,000 to “many” customers, according to a court filing.

Some have tried in vain to get reimbursed.

“It’s frustrating,” said Ashley Lind, whose son went to Ripon’s Coon Rapids location for reading tutoring. “This has me running in circles,” Lind said.

Lind, of Andover, said she drove her elementary-school son to Sylvan for a late September tutoring session, only for him to call her as she was driving home to say “there’s nobody here.”

She checked her emails and found one from a day earlier saying the center had closed.

Lind said she is owed thousands of dollars she paid in advance for tutoring sessions that did not happen.

Ripon, of Edina, did not respond to requests for comment from the Star Tribune.

Sylvan is “aware of issues” involving Ripon’s business, “an independently owned and operated franchise,” the Texas-based company said in a statement. “This situation does not reflect the standards or values of Sylvan Learning.”

The company did not respond to further questions from the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Sylvan, which is ultimately owned by a private equity firm, provides tutoring for children in kindergarten through 12th grade. It operates nationally, mostly through franchisees. There are at least six locations in Minnesota that are not owned by Ripon.

Ripon, who identifies himself as a business and financial adviser on his LinkedIn profile, operated Sylvan centers in Coon Rapids, Edina, St. Paul, Roseville, Eden Prairie, St. Cloud, Burnsville, Maple Grove and Woodbury, court records indicate.

“We were just trying to get a little help before school to boost his confidence going into third grade,” Spies said. “Then all of a sudden, they closed their doors.”

He said his mother-in-law paid for the Sylvan sessions on a credit card and her card company refunded the $360 that Ripon’s business owed her.

Spies said Sylvan told him his son could continue tutoring sessions at the Sylvan center in Hudson, Wis., which is owned by a different franchisee.

“But that wouldn’t have worked out logistically, and the experience at Woodbury left a bad taste in our mouths,” he said.

Nichole Kieffer had two children attending Ripon’s Coon Rapids location when it suddenly closed. She said Sylvan’s corporate office also told her she could continue with sessions in Hudson or at Sylvan centers in Minnetonka and Chaska, both also owned by other franchisees.

Her children, ages 14 and 10, had fallen behind in reading during the COVID-19 pandemic, so she signed them up for Sylvan tutoring a year ago.

“We actually bought the max package,” she said, paying $9,600 for 200 tutoring sessions with no expiration date.

“They made it seem like it was such a good deal to do the max because you could use it for so much else,” including math tutoring and help for college placement tests, Kieffer said.

Her children completed about 20% of the sessions. Sylvan’s corporate office also told Kieffer, who said she is owed about $7,600, to contact Ripon for a reimbursement. He never responded, though, she said.

“I don’t know what to do,” Kieffer said.

But a federal court dismissed Ecole’s bankruptcy petition because Ripon never hired a lawyer, a requirement in a business Chapter 11 filing.

The bankruptcy filing said the company owed an estimated $100,000 to customers from “all locations.”

Ecole’s and Ripon’s personal bankruptcy filings indicate that his nine tutoring center landlords are owed around $200,000. He also owes around $95,000 to the previous owner of the Sylvan franchise.

Ripon’s personal bankruptcy filing on Dec. 2 is a Chapter 7 liquidation proceeding. He listed liabilities of $3 million and assets of $1.7 million, much of which is heavily mortgaged property.

Ripon lists 27 Sylvan customers, including Kieffer, Spies and Lind, as unsecured creditors owed “unknown” amounts. Unsecured creditors have no collateral. In his bankruptcy filing, Ripon lists customer claims as “disputed.”