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In this solo episode, Jeanette Benigas, PhD/SLP, unpacks why speech-language pathologists across the country are suddenly questioning ASHA’s CCC refund policy, and what changed to prompt those questions.
Many clinicians are discovering, often for the first time, that ASHA membership and the Certificate of Clinical Competency (CCC) are bundled in ways that were never clearly explained on renewal invoices or on ASHA's website, and that refunds are cut off after January 1. This episode explains what ASHA’s refund policy actually says, how it applies to both membership and certification, why assumptions about “required” credentials are starting to fall apart, and why SLPs may be owed a refund if one is requested.
Jeanette also explains how employer misrepresentation, unclear renewal processes, and shifting information environments have contributed to confusion, and why this moment isn’t about outrage, but about transparency. You’ll hear practical guidance on consumer protections, documentation, and appropriate channels for raising concerns, including state consumer protection offices and the attorney general's complaints process.
This episode is about clarity, informed choice, and understanding your rights when credentials, money, and employment intersect.
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Creators and Guests
Host
Jeanette Benigas, PhD/SLP
Host of Fix SLP
What is Fix SLP: Advocacy & Accountability in Speech-Language Pathology?
Fix SLP is an SLP Podcast by Jeanette Benigas, PhD, about advocacy, autonomy, and reform in Speech-Language Pathology. This show exposes credentialing gatekeeping, dismantles CCC requirements, and helps SLPs advocate for change. Each episode equips SLPs with tools to reclaim their profession. Subscribe now and join the movement transforming speech-language pathology. Follow @fix.slp on Instagram and TikTok. Visit fixslp.com.
Welcome to Fix SLP, the podcast shaking up the field of speech language pathology. We're calling out the barriers that hold clinicians back, fixing broken systems that limit our care, and giving the power of our profession back to the people who live it every day. This is where fearless clinicians come together. It's time to change the field with our voices, leadership, and advocacy leading the way. So let's Fix SLP!
Jeanette Benigas:Hey, welcome back everyone. I'm Jeanette, and today's episode is just me. Before we jump into today's topic, we are going to do a minivan meltdown. In the coming weeks, we will be switching the way we record these. Right now we use something called SpeakPipe, but we did recently have to set up a Google Voice number.
Jeanette Benigas:So I think as a cost saving measure, I am going to cancel the SpeakPipe subscription and move it over to Google Voice. I just wanted to mention that because the end of the subscription for SpeakPipe is coming soon. Let's jump in.
Minivan Meltdown:This is my first minivan meltdown and I'm not even through this latest podcast yet. It's about the perfectionism expected in our profession. I'm not even through the whole podcast yet, but I do have a chance to call real quick. So this is what I'm gonna do. Something that popped into my mind was all through grad school, and I graduated fifteen years ago now, all through grad school, I had this one professor say this one line to us over and over, like through the whole year and a half, two years of grad school. And I always just kinda thought it was quirky and funny and I didn't really get it. And I just thought, okay. But what she said, I swear with, like, every class, every lesson she did, she said, we are not magicians. You are not a magician. We do not have a magic wand. We can't just fix things. So I get it now. And I am so appreciative that she drilled that into us because, like, at the time, I was just kinda, like, rolling my eyes and be like, okay. We're not magicians. But I get it now, especially, you know, in this podcast, and you just said, you know, when the OT says, well, why haven't you fixed this? Or why aren't they doing this? And I do wanna say to them now, I just wanna say, I'm not a magician. I don't have a magic wand. Do you wanna hire a magician to just fix things out of thin air? And don't say that. And we would never say that, of course. But that's what comes into my head. And I'm so appreciative for that one professor who has I mean, I I saw a couple years ago. She has since passed away. I hope, you know, she always knew that that one silly line that she kept saying to us over and over really did stick in my head, and now it really does mean something because she knew what she was talking about. She knew we were gonna get hit with this. And, no, we are not magicians. We do not have a magic wand. If there was one, I would get it, but there is not. So you get our skills to the best of our ability, and that's what we work with.
Jeanette Benigas:Wow, that was good. It made me that message made me think of something I was told during my doctoral program that when it was said it really stirred me on the inside and actually made me maybe momentarily angry. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought, well, this is this is actually correct. And I was told, we don't actually fix or heal anything. We treat behaviors.
Jeanette Benigas:And I think there is an exception there when it comes to dysphagia and we are doing a restorative exercise based program, we are improving muscles. There is physiological change that can happen. But I think overall, we really do just treat behaviors. If you think about articulation therapy for your kids, you're teaching them to change the behavior of the articulator. If you're thinking about AAC, you're teaching the behavior of how to communicate.
Jeanette Benigas:If you're thinking about memory, you're teaching a compensatory strategy, which is a behavior. So if you think about all of that, we treat behaviors. We don't actually fix anything. We mostly just modify what people are doing and they can choose to do that or not. And I say this often on social media or one on one conversations if someone asks for mentorship, especially when it comes to memory.
Jeanette Benigas:If there was a way for us to fix people's memory following a brain injury or a stroke or dementia or whatever in the neurological condition, if there was a way to do it, it would be a multi bajillion dollar thing. And certainly SLPs would not have the market on that, right? If there was a way to fix memory, someone, big someone would be selling that. And I think that is why sometimes it's hard to improve because we have to teach a behavior for people to compensate. Like she said, we can't wave the magic wand and make everything better.
Jeanette Benigas:And that shift in that mindset has really helped me like what is the behavior that I need to help modify to improve this person's life? So thanks for that minivan meltdown. Please keep sending those in. We do have a little bit of a backlog. I'll be plugging those in where we can, and we love hearing from you.
Jeanette Benigas:I have a full email box of maybe five topics that I am actively working on. So I've taken the top four or five, and those will be the upcoming podcast content you see. This one was the lowest hanging fruit. Some of the other ones I'm bringing on special guests for I have to research to make sure I'm bringing you accurate information. They're very much state issues or profession wide issues.
Jeanette Benigas:This topic today, I heard a lot of last year and now this year since January 1 has passed. I'm hearing again, I'm getting messages, I'm getting screenshots, I'm getting emails. And there's just a lot of emotion and a lot of confusion around ASHA's refund policy after January 1. Before we go any further, I just want to say this clearly: this episode is not about outrage. It's not about anyone telling you what you should do.
Jeanette Benigas:It's not about encouraging mass cancellations or renewals, but it is about clarity. Because when professionals are spending hundreds of dollars tied to their ability to work and they don't fully understand what they're paying for, what's optional, what's assumed, and what is and isn't refundable, that deserves, I think, a careful, accurate conversation. So today we are going to talk about what ASHA's refund policy actually says, how that applies to both the CCC and membership, why most clinicians don't even realize those are tied together, why people are asking refund questions in the first place, and what legal precedent does and does not exist for what's happening. I'm going to wrap up with where your concerns can be reported and give you some idea of how we're going to handle this in the content over the next week. Let's start with the policy itself.
Jeanette Benigas:Accuracy matters. ASHA does still issue refunds, but it's only in specific situations. So to be very precise, I have not come on here and said ASHA doesn't issue refunds. They do, just rarely. According to ASHA's published refund policy, which I have written out and I'm going to read to make sure I am accurate, the first thing they do is refund duplicate payments.
Jeanette Benigas:So if someone accidentally pays twice for annual dues or fees, ASHA will refund the second payment in the way that it was made. So if the first payment is made with a check and the second payment is made with a credit card, they will refund the credit card. So it's however the second payment was made, that's how you get your money back. Second is overpayment. If you overpay by check, ASHA will issue a refund automatically after a holding period.
Jeanette Benigas:If you overpay by credit card, the refund goes back on the same card. And the third is membership category changes. If someone changes from member to lifetime member or from member to graduate student member. That does happen when I went back to my doctoral program, even though I was a practicing SLP, I did get a little bit of a discount. So I had been paying member dues.
Jeanette Benigas:I called and I was able to go back to the student membership rate. So if a refund is due there, they will issue the refund in dues, but only until April 1 of that year. If you're doing the math, that's only four months into the year. Now, here's where that sentence matters most for this episode. When resigning from ASHA membership and or certification, which is the CCC, refunds are not permitted after January 1 in the year for which the fees apply.
Jeanette Benigas:That line applies to both ASHA membership and certification, the CCC. So this is not just about a membership refund policy. It is a membership and certification refund policy, and I think that distinction matters. Here's the question I want to ask gently. If this policy has existed in some form for years, why are so many clinicians suddenly asking for and about refunds?
Jeanette Benigas:Okay, give a little pause there. Why? Why is that happening? And it isn't that clinicians suddenly became difficult. It's that many clinicians are realizing often for the first time that the CCC is not universally required or that ASHA membership is tied to maintaining the CCC.
Jeanette Benigas:And that ASHA membership, when they sell it to you is tied to the CCC purchase, but isn't actually required, right? Most people don't wake up one day and say, I'd like to resign my professional membership today. What is actually happening here is this someone changes a job, someone leaves a setting, someone checks their state licensing rules, someone talks to their state board, someone realizes their employer overstated a requirement. They have found Fix SLP for the first time and this is all new. And on Facebook, I know when you found us because you like like like like like like like I could see people mass consuming our content when they find us for the first time.
Jeanette Benigas:And while that brings me so much joy, it gets tedious looking at all those notifications because I respond to everybody so I have to make sure I look through them. But there are still people who find us for the first time every single day. So no matter what the reason, all these things, one of these things happens, and it's then that they realize, I didn't need all of this to practice. And that is when the refund question comes up. Not because someone is trying to game the system, but because the assumption broke.
Jeanette Benigas:And I think that's amazing. That is the goal of our education, at least for this part of what Fix SLP is doing, is making sure that people understand what they're paying for and why and making informed choices. We get messages all the time. Do I need the CCC? Do I need ASHA membership?
Jeanette Benigas:And that is not a universal universal answer. I get accused a lot of telling people to drop the CCC. My standard answer is typically, well, let's talk about your state. Let's talk about your employer. Let's talk about your situation.
Jeanette Benigas:And there are times when I say, you know what, you really should keep it for now, Revisit it in a year, revisit it in two years, or this is something you're going to have to keep. So my answer is not always drop the CCC because we're not always in a position to drop it right now. This a long game. I've said this a lot. This is a long game.
Jeanette Benigas:It's going be a decade or more, I think, until everyone is in a place to where they can make that choice as a consumer. But in almost every case, with the exception of use of the ash and noms in Net Health, which is typically a health care thing, most people don't need membership. So we're breaking those assumptions. And this is where I want to insert a win. I was on my little break when I saw this happen.
Jeanette Benigas:And then when I came back, I was getting reports of it. And then I was getting reports of it not working. So I didn't want to announce it. But now it's working again. You guys, last year and prior and the beginning of this renewal season, you had to call to renew your CCC without membership.
Jeanette Benigas:But now you don't have to do that anymore. Is ASHA transparent about it? No, sir. They are not. But you can do it online.
Jeanette Benigas:I have taken screenshots and there will be content out this week. This is a Fix SLP win. We broke their system last year. I don't think that was happening this year. At least I wasn't getting messages about it, but you can do it.
Jeanette Benigas:And now I think we need to keep pushing. Yes, we have a win, but it should not be hidden on the website. Asha needs to get it on the renewal application and on the renewal screen like it used to be many years ago. It can now be done online. That doesn't help you today, but if you're thinking of not renewing membership for next year, you can do it online.
Jeanette Benigas:And I'm sure they'll change it because I'm going to put the process out there and then they'll want to hide it. You know, nothing surprises us anymore. All right, let's talk about the real issue, which is the CCC assumption. And this is the most important part of the episode. The thing most clinicians believe is required is not ASHA membership, it's still the CCC.
Jeanette Benigas:And I am so proud. During my social media hiatus, I was not on social media at all. Not even personally. There was a time or two where I really did have to get in there because I'm a Girl Scout leader and a national delegate and there's stuff that I need to keep up with online. And so when I would sign in personally, of course, it was really hard not to look at notifications, but sometimes I would click and I would click to something that was happening in a group and I would see myself or Fix SLP tagged and it was a ton of you educating people about the difference.
Jeanette Benigas:So it's so cool to see Fixers educating and spreading the word and not relying on Fix SLP as heavily. That's awesome. But there are still people out there who don't know the difference. So we know if you're listening for any period of time, we know the CCC has been treated for decades as a default requirement, a universal credential, a condition for employment, a prerequisite for supervision, a proxy for licensure, even when your state law, which is the regulatory piece doesn't state it. And because when you're renewing online or you're looking at your invoice that comes in the mail, your ASHA membership is maintained with the CCC in that $250 package price, And they become functionally inseparable in people's minds because it isn't clear.
Jeanette Benigas:There isn't informed consumer decision making on that application. It's buried as a choice now on the website and before that it wasn't there at all. The categories were explained, but it wasn't ever clear that you could pay separately. So people believe they are choosing the credential that they need to work. So when someone later learns their state license is sufficient, their employer misrepresented a requirement or changed the requirements, that their board doesn't mandate the CCC, Again, that's when the refund questions arise, not because the policy changed or sometimes if an employer changed the policy, that's awesome.
Jeanette Benigas:But because the information environment did. If you reach out to ASHA, I've gotten plenty of screenshots messaged and emailed to me about what they say. And you might hear them say, well, the policy is clear or someone might say to you if you complain, well, the policy is clear. And it is if you know what to look for. But clarity on a website buried does not automatically equal informed consent.
Jeanette Benigas:And in consumer protection law, professional ethics and even health care, we understand that one, information has to be accessible. Two, assumptions matter. Three, power dynamics matter. And four, context matters, especially when employers present credentials as mandatory, universities imply requirements that aren't actually required, supervisors pass along misinformation, or clinicians are just acting in good faith. So no one is saying ASHA is violating the law by having a January 1 cut off.
Jeanette Benigas:What I am saying, what Fix SLP is saying is the system relies heavily on assumption, And when assumptions fall apart, people are surprised by the consequences. And that's not an attack, it's an observation. I was surprised the first time I saw the consequence last year. But that's what happens. Then we get the messages.
Jeanette Benigas:I like to not just pass out information, we like to do a little more digging. And so I want to be careful and honest here as I talk about what precedent for this exists. I am not a lawyer. Yes, we pay a lawyer, but not for content stuff like this. That I can do on my own.
Jeanette Benigas:I can research information. And from what I can tell, there are no famous court cases that say professional association must issue a refund after January 1. That case, from what I can tell, does not exist. However, it does seem that there are legal principles and cases that matter to this conversation. So one commonly cited case that popped up a couple times was Keller v.
Jeanette Benigas:State Bar of California, and that was a US Supreme Court case involving mandatory bar association dues for attorneys. That case established that when membership in a professional association is effectively required to practice, there are legal and constitutional considerations around how dues are imposed and used. It wasn't about refunds, but it was about compelled association. Why does that matter here? I'm speaking to a lot of non lawyers.
Jeanette Benigas:This is how I think I can best say this from my understanding. And if I'm wrong, as always, please correct me. It matters here because it shows courts recognize that when professional membership and the ability to work become intertwined, like ASHA has so craftily woven, scrutiny increases. That doesn't mean ASHA is doing something illegal. What it does mean is that questions about transparency, compulsion, and choice are legitimate.
Jeanette Benigas:Our questions about these refunds are legitimate. And asking questions is not the same as making accusations. Questions are allowed. We are allowed to question the association that we have become a member of on purpose or not. Okay, we're allowed to question.
Jeanette Benigas:And this is where we can appropriately raise our concerns. So let's talk about what productive action looks like, because that is what we're about at solutions. We're not just telling you what needs to be fixed, we're telling you a path forward potentially to fix it. Not always the best path sometimes, but from what we can tell, this is a good way to move forward. If someone believes they've paid under false assumptions, meaning the choice wasn't there for them on the application, the choice wasn't there for them on the invoice, Or an employer misrepresented requirements because they believed that the CCC was required, you had a chat with them and they removed that policy.
Jeanette Benigas:Or refund policies were unclear, you were not clear about that policy when you made your purchase, consumer protections then may apply. And there are appropriate places to raise concerns that are formal channels, social media threads, arguments are not the place. I mean, we can use social media to spread information, but complaining to ASHA on their Facebook isn't going to do anything. And I would even say using ASHA's in touch forum for the board, which just appears to be a facade to appease people and make them feel like they're doing something, that's not the appropriate channel. There are maybe four or five appropriate channels.
Jeanette Benigas:The first is state consumer protection offices, your state attorney general, the Maryland attorney general, because that's where ASHA practices out of the Better Business Bureau, even though ASHA is not a member of that, there are still some things that can be done and if needed employer and HR compliance departments. So first, let's get all on the same page with our mindset. Filing a complaint is not an attack. Filing a complaint should not threaten your job. And certainly people are afraid of ASHA.
Jeanette Benigas:Filing a complaint should not result in retaliatory measures from ASHA. And if it does, oh boy, do you actually have a court case? Filing a complaint is a formal procedure to create a documentation trail. So it creates a record if one is not already created or it contributes to a record that someone has already started. Over time, it can highlight patterns, which is important under it, like if an investigation begins, and it allows for review down either now or down the road.
Jeanette Benigas:No one needs permission to seek clarification through appropriate systems. We have that right as US citizens. I started the up at this topic with this, but I want to be very clear about the Fix SLP role. Fix SLP is not telling people to run out and resign. We're not telling people to renew.
Jeanette Benigas:We're not telling people to file complaints for anyone. And we're not making decisions on anyone's behalf. What we are doing here is one clarifying state licensure requirements. There are only three states that require the CCC for initial licensure. Only three.
Jeanette Benigas:And in those cases, you do not have to renew the CCC to maintain your state license. You can go to our website, fixslp.com. There we have a menu. You can go to regulations for SLPs. You can click state licensing requirements.
Jeanette Benigas:And when that pops up, you are going to see a map. There are three states in red, Nevada, Delaware, and Rhode Island. Those are the three states that require you get the CCC for initial licensure. If you are in that state, and you would like to take that on and help to make that change, email states@fixslp.com. We need leaders who can independently run that effort with our assistance in the background, but we're still waiting for those changes.
Jeanette Benigas:So the state licensure requirements, no state except for those three require the CCC or membership for initial licensure. No state requires the CCC for ongoing licensure. They don't require membership for ongoing licensure. And in the case of the three that require the CCC for initial licensure, they're not requiring ASHA membership. It's just the CCC.
Jeanette Benigas:So we are doing that. We've got some clarity there. We're trying to separate the myth from the law. We're trying to educate clinicians on the CCC and membership, which we've been doing since the beginning. And we want to help people make informed choices.
Jeanette Benigas:Informed choice is the goal, not pressure, not fear, not shame. And we're trying to bring everybody together. If If you choose to have the CCC and your colleague does not, you guys can still get along. These are personal decisions and we shouldn't be shaming one side for the other. Everybody has a reason for the decision that they're making.
Jeanette Benigas:Before we sign off, I want to circle back to those places where you can file appropriate complaints. I've written down the steps here, so I'm going to go through them so I don't miss anything step by step, and then you'll see this later before the next episode drops. The first thing is document everything that you do. The first step is going to be starting with ASHA. Even if you're frustrated, you need to go through their process.
Jeanette Benigas:And when you do, I want you to treat it like a professional paper trail. So that means write down the date and time you called. If you're calling, if you're emailing, then it's there and then save every email screenshot the policy on the date that you're addressing this just in case it changes sneakily. You are going to want a screenshot with a timestamp in it. Keep any receipts of payments and just keep a simple timeline, because if you file a complaint with any outside agency later, the first thing they're going to ask is, did you attempt to directly resolve this with the organization?
Jeanette Benigas:So yes, start with ASHA. We already know what they're going to tell you. Do it in writing if possible. If you do it with a phone call, follow-up with an email that says, thank you for speaking with me today. This email confirms my understanding of Ash's refund policy, and the outcome of our conversation.
Jeanette Benigas:That's not being dramatic. It's being a grown adult who's understanding a system. If you believe you are misled, and you want a refund, it's more like I was misled, I paid under false assumptions, I was told this was required, this appears to be deceptive or unfair. Your next step is often your state's attorney general and the Maryland attorney general, specifically their consumer protection division. Most states have simple online complaint forms, and here's why this matters.
Jeanette Benigas:The attorney general's office isn't there to argue with ASHA on your behalf. They're there to track patterns, identify widespread issues, enforce consumer protection laws when necessary, and you don't need 5,000 people to file complaints for it to matter. A few well documented complaints can start a review. And we saw that last year '24 going into '25, when people were dropping membership prior to the new year, ASHA was immediately turning off people's access that they had already paid for in 2024 without giving refunds. And we gave this same advice then we said file a complaint with your attorney general.
Jeanette Benigas:Now I'm saying also file it with the Maryland attorney general. This didn't go on very long. This went on for a week or two. And then all of a sudden, everyone had access back until the end of the year. So a couple well documented complaints can start a review.
Jeanette Benigas:And I'm saying do it in Maryland because if we have one in Arizona and one in Michigan and one in Ohio and one in Florida, that's not enough. But if you all do it in that state and in Maryland where they are operating out of, you may have something there. It could trigger a review sooner. I want you to hear this. Filing a complaint does not mean you're suing anyone.
Jeanette Benigas:It doesn't mean you're starting drama. It means you are documenting a concern as a consumer because that is what you are. ASHA is a company that is selling SLPs to products, a CCC and a membership. You are a consumer filing through a formal system, and that's what those systems exist for. State Consumer Protection or the Department of Consumer Affairs.
Jeanette Benigas:Some states have separate agencies that handle consumer complaints. So it might be called the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Division of Consumer Protection, Consumer Financial Protection Unit, Office of Consumer Services, same idea. You can file a complaint if you believe refund policies were unclear, billing practices were unfair, a service was represented as necessary when it wasn't, or the average consumer would not have understood what they were paying for. And I think we could all say because those options are not on the application, that fourth point makes itself. Let me be clear.
Jeanette Benigas:This is not about whether ASHA has a refund policy because they do and it is posted. It is about whether the structure of the system causes clinicians to pay under pressure and or under assumption. And that's the heart of it. The Better Business Bureau is another place that I think you should file. So let's talk about what it does and doesn't do.
Jeanette Benigas:People ask about this constantly. The Better Business Bureau is not a government agency. They don't enforce laws. ASHA does not pay to be a member of the Better Business Bureau. But they can be useful, because complaints become public record.
Jeanette Benigas:So if you're googling ASHA, you know, those things are there. The organization is invited to respond. If people are making these complaints, patterns become visible, and it's going to create pressure for transparency. And transparency is all we have been asking for since the beginning. So we can think of the Better Business Bureau as a public accountability system, not a legal one.
Jeanette Benigas:And it's especially useful if you want your experience documented, you want a response in writing, and you want other consumers to see the pattern. If your employer misled you, you can file with H. R. Or compliance. This part is huge because in many cases, the real problem is not Ash's refund problem.
Jeanette Benigas:The real problem is your employer told you something that wasn't true. So if your employer told you you must have the CCC to be licensed, you must have the CCC to supervise students, there's some gray area there because if the university is requiring it, which most of them are, then yes, but you don't actually have to. You must have ASHA membership to bill insurance. You will be fired without the CCC. If your employer is requiring something beyond state law, that is their right as an employer.
Jeanette Benigas:But if they're stating it as a legal requirement when it's not, that becomes a different issue. So that is misrepresentation, policy confusion. It could potentially have a discriminatory impact. And sometimes it's a labor issue. So, yes, you can file a complaint internally and it can be as simple as an email that says, I am requesting written confirmation of the legal basis for this requirement, including the state statute or regulation that mandates it.
Jeanette Benigas:That sentence alone can change everything. It's a good way to get that CCC policy changed too, by the way. Okay, for our students or people who are supervising students, if a university told you it was required, this is a painful one, but it's real. Most graduate programs have implied or outrightly stated that you must maintain ASHA membership, you must have the CCC, you must pay dues, you must be in good standing with ASHA. They tell students that from the beginning.
Jeanette Benigas:My hope is that since Fix SLP has emerged, those conversations are changing. But depending on your faculty member's loyalty to ASHA, they may tell you that it's a choice, but then they may try to persuade you that it would be the better choice to do all those things. So, if they're telling you all those things, even when they aren't required for graduation, they aren't required for state licensure, They aren't required for your postgraduate supervised experience. That's misrepresentation. If a program misrepresented requirements, that can be addressed through a university's complaint process, the program director, the dean, the accreditation complaint process.
Jeanette Benigas:I mean, there is an accreditation complaint process with the CIA, the CIA is not requiring supervisors to hold the CCC. So if your university is forcing you to be supervised by someone with the CCC, file a complaint with the CIA. I'm not pretending that this is an easy road, but it matters because this is where the pipeline starts to make change. So it's something to think about. Having been in academia, having been aware of students very real fears of retaliatory action, maybe you do that upon graduation.
Jeanette Benigas:As you're graduating last week going out the door, file the complaint because it will help those coming in behind you and it could be your first step to help change this profession so people can make choices. So that's important. And if you're afraid of that retaliatory action, again, I get it. Just wait, reach out to us. We can help you with some suggestions for timing and whatnot, but don't be afraid to do it towards the end.
Jeanette Benigas:Can you make a credit card dispute? Yes, sometimes it's an option that I've heard people ask about, but you need to understand something. Credit card disputes are typically based on things like fraud, unauthorized charges, services not provided, decepting billing practices or failure to deliver. A dispute is not automatically approved just because you regret the purchase. However, if someone truly believes they were misled, the product was marketed as required, they were charged in a way that was unclear, or the terms were not disclosed reasonably, then yes, a dispute is something a consumer can explore.
Jeanette Benigas:But if you do this, you need to be honest and factual and prepared to show that documentation that I've suggested you keep. So what to say in a complaint, any of these complaints, this is the most important part. If you file a complaint, I strongly recommend you keep it short, factual, calm, leave your emotion out of it, Keep it chronological and keep it document based. Avoid emotional language like this is a scam. This is theft.
Jeanette Benigas:They're corrupt. They're criminals. And that's not because your feelings aren't valid. It's because complaints are reviewed by people who are looking for facts, patterns and credibility. So here's a very simple structure.
Jeanette Benigas:You'll see this in our content. Say what you paid for, why you believed it was required, who told you it was required, what you later learned, what you requested, what the response you received was and what the outcome is that you're seeking. That's it. Clean, professional, powerful, Go get it, kids. Okay, I feel like we say this about everything, but.
Jeanette Benigas:The bigger point is this is a system problem. This is a systemic issue. This is not just about refunds. This is about a system where clinicians believe the CCC and membership are legally required, where clinicians don't even know that membership is bundled into that belief, where money is paid under pressure, and then the truth is discovered later. Refund policies become controversial when people didn't fully understand the purchase to begin with, or the option wasn't there clear as day to begin with.
Jeanette Benigas:And that's why Fix SLP exists, not to tell you what to do, but to make sure you understand what's real, what's assumed, and what's optional. All right. If you're listening, if you're frustrated because this happened to you either two years ago or this past year, if you've reached out to me, here's my encouragement. Don't argue in comment sections on social media. Don't spiral in DMs.
Jeanette Benigas:Don't go to Facebook social media and complain. Don't use their board member in touch form. Don't burn yourself out trying to convince people. Document. Go through these formal systems.
Jeanette Benigas:Ask for written policies. Ask for statues. Ask for the source. And that's how change happens. Again, we've seen it before in '24 going to '25 when people were losing their membership benefits prematurely.
Jeanette Benigas:So this is how I'm going to handle the conversation on social media this week. I'll have the policy, some clarifying information on membership versus CCC, why clinicians just assume it's required, and there will be a post concerning where these things can be reported to. There's no call to action telling people what to do, just information, clarity and options. If you've reached out, now you know where to go and it lives on our content forever unless it changes and then I'll have to change some content eventually. But I'll end with this.
Jeanette Benigas:A profession built on evidence should welcome clarification, should it not? A system that relies on assumptions should expect questions. So, you know, when the options aren't given on the online renewal or on the invoice, you're left to assume. And then there's questions later, right? Clinicians deserve transparency from their national organization, especially when money and credentials and employment all intersect.
Jeanette Benigas:You're allowed to ask, you're allowed to verify, and you're allowed to choose. So thanks for listening. Thanks for being here. And as always, thanks for fixing it, see you next week.
Jeanette Benigas:Thanks for listening to the Fix SLP podcast, the podcast shaking up the field of speech language pathology. Don't forget to check out our social media or fixslp.com for our latest promo codes for continuing education, therapy materials, merch, and more. Supporting our sponsors also supports our Fix SLP team. Don't just listen. Be a part of the change. Share this episode and our social media content, and let's keep fixing the field one fight at a time.