TEFL Online Pro versus ESLinsider, MyTEFL, and ITTT TEFL and The TEFL Academy (TTA).

Introduction

The TEFL & TESOL certification course industry is highly competitive.

The competitiveness between TEFL programs has several implications. On one hand, it can drive innovation and encourage institutions to improve the quality of their programs. On the other hand, it can lead to the proliferation of subpar programs that do not adequately prepare graduates for the challenges of teaching English online or abroad.

A further implication of operating within a highly competitive business field is that some companies will try to sabotage their business competitors.

Since winning the Teachers’ Choice Award in 2019, and subsequently winning the same prestigious award in 2020, 2021, and 2022, TEFL Online Pro has been on the receiving end of online attacks by a few of our business competitors.

Which programs have carried out the attacks?

It began with Ian Patrick Leahy, the owner of the TEFL program ESLinsider.

The ESLinsider (unaccredited) TEFL program is run exclusively by Ian Patrick Leahy. ESLinsider has been banned from Facebook (since 2017) for spamming and publishing misinformation, and it has had a number of its videos deleted by YouTube for the same reasons.

ESLinsider is notorious in the TEFL world for writing fictitious, malicious content about its business competitors – on anonymous complaint websites, discussion forums, Reddit, on the blogs it runs, etc.

Pick any TEFL accreditation body, TEFL program, or TEFL reviews website – ESLinsider will have written some trash about it.

MyTEFL, ITTT TEFL, and The TEFL Academy (TTA) apparently sensed blood in the water and joined in on the attacks- essentially regurgitating the nonsense that Ian passes as gospel.

TEFL Online Pro has issued a refutation to the false allegations made by these business competitors, on the teflonlinepro.com official school website:

https://teflonlinepro.com/refutation-of-allegations-made-by-our-business-competitors/

TEFL Online Pro (https://teflonlinepro.com/) established this tefl-online-pro-reviews.com blog so as to have a platform where we would be able to respond to attacks made by online competitors.

TEFL Online Pro is a legitimate company, providing award-winning and Fully Accredited Online TEFL/TESOL international certification courses training.

We receive consistently positive (verified) customer feedback, and this is in part because of our commitment to maintaining a high level of customer services.

Our course graduates teach English online and teach English overseas, in every country worldwide where English is taught as a second or foreign language, and typically start their teaching jobs within four weeks of course completion.

As of August 18th 2022, 100% of our graduates that have taken one of our courses and that have then wanted to teach (online or overseas) have been successful in their job-search objectives.

All three of the international certification courses provided by our company come with lifetime job support services, included in the price of the course.

In addition to all of the above, TEFL Online Pro is a verified business member with Paypal and has been since 2019.

TEFL Online Pro has many competitors within the Online TEFL/TESOL training marketplace.

The majority of our competitors are similarly held accountable through their accreditation affiliations, but a few of our competitors are not bound by the Codes Of Practice associated with Fully Accredited status – i.e., some of our business competitors offer unaccredited TEFL courses and can operate without any oversight from an external moderation board.

This article has been written as an official rebuttal to the defamatory, malicious, and untrue statements published online about TEFL Online Pro – statements published by four of our business competitors: ESLinsider, ITTT TEFL, MyTEFL, and The TEFL Academy (TTA).

We can confirm for readers of this article that none of those TEFL programs are Fully Accredited, and are, therefore, unaccountable to an external accreditation body – meaning that they can act with impunity with regards to how they treat their customers and how they treat their business competition.

TEFL Online Pro is Fully Accredited by ACTEFLC – Accreditation Council for Teaching English as a Foreign Language Courses.

This article looks at the Google Search results for ‘TEFL Online Pro reviews’ and identifies the real TEFL Online Pro reviews versus the online attacks carried out by our competitors.

The TEFL Academy Caitriona Maria McTiernan teflonlinepro.com Google Search scam — Anyone who wants to cause damage to a business can easily do so simply by going online and harming them in one of many different ways. Online attacks on businesses and their professionals may originate from a number of parties, including business competitors.

We would also like to point out at this stage in the article that TEFL Online Pro is in no way a unique case when it comes to the online attacks instigated by the above mentioned TEFL programs.

All four competitors routinely attack their business competitors online.

At TEFL Online Pro we place significant importance on transparency – we have nothing to hide – and we will now look at the (USA) Google Search results for ‘TEFL Online Pro reviews’.

‘TEFL Online Pro reviews’ Google Search results.

Currently, as of 20th July 2021, these are the ‘TEFL Online Pro reviews’ USA first-page Google Search results:

We believe that this Reddit thread was started by a Reddit user, genuinely wanting more information about the TEFL Online Pro Online TEFL/TESOL certification program. However, it was immediately hijacked by shills – represented by our business competition. This is a common issue on Reddit and other discussion forums.

This is an authentic ‘TEFL Online Pro reviews’ Google Search result. The link leads to our company Facebook page, where our graduates have left verified testimonials of their course experiences.

This link directs the reader to the Reviews page on the teflonlinepro.com school website. On this page, readers can read verified customer reviews.

This Google Search result redirects readers to the our YouTube channel, where readers can watch verified video testimonials – all submitted by recent TEFL Online Pro course graduates.

Common online platforms for executing competitor attacks, such as defamation, include gripe websites such as Ripoff Report and Complaints Board. These websites require users to register accounts, yet neither of them prevents users from using aliases and posting false or misleading information under them. This ‘TEFL Online Pro: A potential fraudulent company…’ Complaints Board complaint was created by The TEFL Academy (TTA). ESLinsider, ITTT TEFL, and MyTEFL then proceeded to add their own additional comments, under different aliases- employing a click farm to upvote negative comments and downvote positive comments.

This Trusted TEFL Reviews ‘Is TEFL Online Pro Legit?’ listing was created by one of our recent graduates – who left a review of their Online TEFL/TESOL certification course experience.

We established tefl-online-pro-reviews.com so as to be able to defend ourselves against online attacks made against us by our business competitors.

Yet another online attack by Ian Patrick Leahy, from ESLinsider – one of our business competitors. In this post, Ian publishes misleading content that attempts to link our company with the creation of Trusted TEFL Reviews.

The domain was registered by MyTEFL. MyTEFL created this attack website and still to this day pays for web hosting for this website.

Analysis of the above nine search results.

Out of the nine search results listed above, only five are authentic TEFL Online Pro listings.

These are:

The TEFL Online Pro Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/teflonlinepro/ | https://www.facebook.com/teflonlinepro/reviews/

The teflonlinepro.com school Reviews page, where we include examples of verified customer reviews:

https://teflonlinepro.com/tefl-online-pro-reviews/

The TEFL Online Pro YouTube channel, where there are currently eleven video testimonials uploaded from our certification course alumni:

https://www.youtube.com/@teflonlinepro

A review published on the independent Online TEFL/TESOL certification course reviews website – Trusted TEFL Reviews. In this review, one of our customers has answered the question as to whether TEFL Online Pro is Legit:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/05/07/is-tefl-online-pro-legit/

tefl-online-pro-reviews.com is a website that we created in order to have a space online where we could defend ourselves against such baseless online competitor attacks:

https://tefl-online-pro-reviews.com

The remaining four Google Search results have been created and marketed by our business competitors.

We are now going to strip down to the bone the search results for ESLinsider because he (Ian Patrick Leahy) was the individual that began the misinformation campaign in the hope of piggybacking off our success.

ESLinsider / Ian Patrick Leahy

We have written extensively about Ian Patrick Leahy already on this website:

https://tefl-online-pro-reviews.com/2020/07/27/eslinsider-reviews-and-tefl-online-pro-reviews-online-defamation/

https://tefl-online-pro-reviews.com/tag/eslinsider-reviews/

Therefore, we don’t wish to repeat what we have already stated with regards to Ian Patrick Leahy, his documented crimes, his documented defamation, his unaccredited TEFL/TEKA certification course, and how Ian Leahy has pretty much written trash online about all of his business competitors.

Trusted TEFL Reviews has also exposed this individual for what he really represents:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/02/03/eslinsider-reviews-scam/

What we are going to do, though, is simply show you the individual behind ESLinsider:

ESLinsider’s About page. Ian Patrick Leahy took an arts degree at the University of Arizona. Later on, he took a TEFL course. He then decided that he would begin his own TEFL program – something he really had no business doing at all – and since then, he has moved to various different locations and has been accused of providing a subpar TEFL program. He has also been accused of defrauding his TEFL students of money, via credit card fraud.

Ian Patrick Leahy (ESLinsider) runs a YouTube channel, where he gives out poor advice. This screenshot was taken from one of his more recent videos, where he recklessly recommends to people that they should avoid going to college. Ian has also published YouTube videos where he has spread his toxic defamation of TEFL Online Pro and other Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs. His YouTube TEFL Online Pro youTube videos are unavailable for viewing in the UK because YouTube banned them at our request. They were banned because they are defamatory – containing malicious, untrue statements.

Ian Leahy – Online English Tutor on Cambly. Ian’s history of defrauding his customers has recently caught up with him and his ESLinsider business is now blacklisted. As a result, Ian has moved back to his hometown of Monroe, New Hampshire, and is currently tutoring English online. Ian Patrick Leahy’s ESLinsider is also banned from Facebook – hence the reason why ESLinsider has no Facebook page.

Ian Patrick Leahy represents everything wrong with the Online TEFL/TESOL industry.

ESLinsider is a one man show, unaccredited, operated by an individual with far too much free time on his hands, who spams the internet with misleading information about his business competition in the hopes that he can convince some people to instead take his TEFL/TEKA course.

A few years ago, Ian was giving out the poor advice that people could teach English in China without the need for having a college degree. Ian actually recommended that instead, people could just buy a fake degree online and use that. As a result, some people took his TEFL/TEKA course, and his advice about using a fake college degree, and were promptly arrested and then deported by the Chinese authorities.

As a result, the ESLinsider TEFL/TEKA certificate is worthless in the largest ESL teacher’s market in the world.

We are 100% certain that Ian Leahy will continue to market his ESLinsider TEFL/TEKA course to unsuspecting newbies, and that he will continue to publish defamatory material online about his business competition.

Legal action against Ian Patrick Leahy of ESLinsider

We began by issuing a Cease and Desist formal notice to Ian (via our company email address) and a copy of this was published as a private message to Ian, on his YouTube channel. When Ian responded as though he could write whatever he wanted to, without accountability, we contacted YouTube and requested that the video be blocked in Japan – Ian’s current home country at the time, before he moved back home to Monroe, New Hampshire.

Ian Leahy comment on ESLinsider.com YouTube channel. — Cease and Desist formal notice, delivered to Ian Patrick Leahy – ESLinsider.

YouTube blocks ESlinsider and Ian Leahy channel post message. — YouTube also have a zero tolerance policy regarding Ian Leahy’s online defamation.

It is very difficult to proceed with legal action against Ian Patrick Leahy because he resides in Monroe, New Hampshire. New Hampshire has the most liberal free-speech laws in the United States – meaning that Ian has a carte blanche to write and publish absolutely anything online that he feels the urge to.

Another obstacle to this process is that ESLinsider is not a registered company. ESLinsider is just a website that Ian Patrick Leahy established.

We are, however, in talks with other Online TEFL/TESOL course providers that have also fallen victim to Ian’s online defamatory attacks and we are all currently pooling our resources together in order to follow a litigation path, whereby we can try to prevent Ian Patrick Leahy from continuing with his Online TEFL/TEKA course scam.

Our research has also shown that Ian Patrick Leahy has likely not paid any taxes to the IRS on any of the revenue earned from his ESLinsider TEFL/TEKA business activities.

ESLinsider April 2nd 2023 update:

Ian has moved back from Japan to the United States because, as he put it, his website “wasn’t doing very good”. He continues the ESLinsider blog and ESLinsider TEFL program, but spends his winters working on ski slopes and appears to be spending a chunk of his spare time continuously repairing an old postal van that he drives across the country in now.

As for ITTT TEFL, MyTEFL, and The TEFL Academy, we would advise them to focus on developing their business and focussing on providing better customer service; as well as obtaining proper, legitimate accreditation.

Anyone who has run a business understands how frustrating it can be when rogue competitors try to run your business down.

Thankfully, we run one of the top-rated Online TEFL & TESOL certification course programs and we have the support of our customers and graduates.

You can read and view verified TEFL Online Pro customers’ reviews on our company Facebook page, on the independent Trusted TEFL Reviews, and on our company’s YouTube channel:

https://www.facebook.com/teflonlinepro/reviews/

https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-online-pro-teachers-choice-award-winner-2022/

https://www.youtube.com/@teflonlinepro

TEFL Online Pro offers a wide range of TEFL/TESOL certification courses to suit different needs and preferences.

All three award-winning, Fully Accredited, and internationally recognized Online TEFL/TESOL certification courses qualify you to teach English online or abroad:

The 60-Hour Fast-Track International Online TEFL/TESOL Certification Course is the perfect solution for people with TEFL experience. This course is fully accredited and internationally recognized. To qualify for this course, you either need to be teaching English now or have taught English in the past:

https://teflonlinepro.com/60-hour-fast-track/

The 120-Hour Professional International Online TEFL/TESOL Certification Course is the perfect solution for people with little or no TEFL experience. This course is fully accredited and internationally recognized – the certification awarded the same level of qualification as the CELTA, Level 5, and Trinity CertTESOL qualification. No past TEFL experience is necessary – anyone wanting to teach English online or abroad can qualify for this course:

https://teflonlinepro.com/120-hour-professional/

The 140-Hour Hybrid International Online/Onsite TEFL/TESOL Certification Course is the perfect solution for people with little or no TEFL experience who are wanting in-class teaching practice. This course is fully accredited and internationally recognized – the certification awarded is the same level of qualification as the CELTA, Level 5, and Trinity CertTESOL qualification. No past TEFL experience is necessary – anyone wanting to teach English online or abroad can qualify for this course:

https://teflonlinepro.com/140-hour-hybrid/

All three certification courses come with 24-Hour Online Tutor support, and with lifetime international job support services- both of which are provided without charge.

With a TEFL Online Pro TEFL/TESOL certificate, you can teach English online or abroad.