Engoo
Engoo Review
Engoo (formerly Bibo) <—– (Click here to Apply) is based in the Philippines but teaches students in Japan, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Brazil, Russia and Spain. Their platform has good reviews. They pay from $2.4 to $10 USD per hour depending on your location and if you are a native speaker or not ($1.2 per 25 minute class for some non natives and $5 per class for natives speakers).
Please leave us your comments and reviews of Engoo.
79 Comments
Anonymous Engoo Tutor
Engoo has slanted the teachers field: at one time if you opened 16 slots per day you might get 2-3 students. Be mindful that 16 slots means 10 am to 10pm sitting in front of your laptop waiting for bookings. I used to get up to 200+ students per month by taking 12-15 students on Saturdays and Sundays. Doesn’t exit anymore. Recently I had a long time student I hadn’t seen in a while tell me he could not find me on the tutor’s page.
So…I messaged the online advisors and what’s going on. Engoo/DMM Eikaiwa had changed their subscription plan to “include teachers/tutors from devoloping countries”…meaning…native speakers were being excluded so non-natives, paid at a much lower rate, could increase the bottom line of Engoo.
You’ll sit for hours waiting for students daily. There are better sites for hard working Teachers. JS.
Over 5yrs on Engoo
I’ve been a tutor on Engoo since it was Bibo. Non native tutors could survive there because the weekend bonuses were helpful. Ever since they sold the company to the Philippinos(Engoo), it’s been a waste of time. The bonuses have stopped, the ratings regime have changed and non native tutors earn little to nothing. The pandemic have also played a part as more people started looking for online English teaching jobs. Don’t waste your time non natives!!! Go to cambly, native camp, or other chinese platform. I’m working for a Chinese sch online and they pay me $8 per hour. There are better options out there.
Sara
Dear OVER 5YRS ON ENGOO
Does the chinese company you are working for accept non-native speakers? Would you please tell the name of the company?
Naya Tamak
Worst rating system> New rating system sucks. It is now imossible to increase your rating even for a point. You should get at least 40-60 5 stars to increase a point. But it you get 4 stars or below, you have to dilute that with 40 consecutive 5 stars which is impossible since there ae many low raters. Mind you, if your rating is low, you won’t get booked by the students and there goes your income, unless you been on the company for 2 years or more and developed regular students. But 85% of bookings come from new students. Technical support (TS) also sucks especially the Filipino ones who always side with the student even though they are wrong. Good side > pay is always on time. Easy lessons as well. Filipino pay is only 63.5 pesos with tax and 65 pesos per 25 minutes without tax.
mikedveenstra@gmail.com
Is Engoo even still in business now?
John Mason
Yes they are, Mike. I’m still there in January 2024.
Mary
The most funny thing ever. I’m a native speaker and a teacher for 15 years. I supposedly failed their test for mispronouncing words and my phrasing. Oh and for explaining a diferrent item. Mayne they should first learn English themselves
FRUSTRATED TUTOR
ALL BAD COMMENTS HERE ARE SO TRUE !!!
I am a non native English speaker. They just recently updated their rating system and I’m not sure if its coincidential or not but I’ve been having a bunch of A***hole students lately .
I just had a student give me a poor review because I WAS NOT MOTIVATING HIM ENOUGH , for f*%$ sakes ! I’m not your motivational coach or therapist, he had a bad attitude and I just did my job , like I always do .
Telling ANYTHING to tuttor support is a total WASTE of TIME , I don’t even bother anymore and just accept my fate with shitty students.
You can have 15 five star reviews and only see little change, however one 4 or 3 star review brings your rating to a significantly low level.. I honestly dislike this company more and more every day and totally get why so many people stop giving a sh%^t about their lessons I HAVE BECOME ONE OF THEM AS WELL !!
if you happen to be a non-native and decide to join be ready to be treated like a WORTHLESS SLAVE !! I genuinely wish I could find a better company.
Ingrid Jukes
Hi, I’m thinking of giving engoo a go, but I’m a bit concerned about them asking for a photo of either my driver’s license or passport for ID? I’m concerned about it being used for identify theft. Anyone else have any issues with this?
Alex
I’ve been working for Bibo/Engoo for 5 years on and off, and after having read all the comments here I can say that it comes down to the low pay for non-native tutors (and native compared to other companies), and the fact that the changes they’ve been making are either being neglected, or the comments are just posted a long time ago.
Basically everything that has been said somehow ties to that – all the unpleasant tutor support conversations seem like they happened once you asked for a raise, and most commetns about crappy management and support sound like the result of not being given a raise. I personally only had great experience with them, though admittedly I never raised this topic.
Obviously the pay is too low, what I don’t get is accepting those terms and then opening the doors of hell when changing that is denied. They don’t want to or can’t give more, if you don’t like it, just move on, or don’t accept the offer to being with?
I’m unhappy with the pay myself which is why I do this ocassionally when I need some extra money, but it’s super easy and intuitive. I became a teacher in some other companies that pay more, but the requirements were higher and it were often group or kids lessons, which are far more demanding than 1 on 1.
About other cons, it’s true that sometimes they will be student oriented, though I’d take comments on the internet with caution (including mine I guess, lol). But in seriousness, I can totally see (and it happened a few times to acquaintances) situations where the student does something inappropriate and you report it, but it’s literally your word only, no screenshot, no recording, no other proof. As someone who used to do customer relations management, I can understand that they can’t just take your word for it and terminate the student or call them out for something serious withiut any proof. Of course I can also understand how the tutor feels, luckily it hasn’t happened to me so maybe I can’t see the whole picture.
And now I’m curious, is it the case that in other schools they’d just take your word for it and get rid of the customer?
Their platform is being improved all the time, I’ve witnessed this from when they made it. If they add lesson recordings at some point, and everything points to that, the above should be the thing of the past.
What sucks 100% is their rating system, I really hope they’ll consider changing it eventually.
As for the good stuff:
– the platform is amazing
– suport available 24/7
– students are nice (there are idiots here and there but that’s the case everywhere)
– booking rates are always high
TL;DR
The pay is low, some aspects of the system are meh, most other things are just fine or even better than other schools.
I guess conflicting commenst here depend on the personal experience, so the fact that someone had a bad one doesn’t mean that you will. The same applies for good ones of course. My final verdict is that it’s super easy to work here, but you need to make a decision based on what pay and working style works for you, what are your priorities, and what it is that you have to offer.
At the very least a great school to get ESL teaching practice in.
Cheers!
Jeremy P Day
As others have mentioned, if you are a native speaker you will get $5 per 25 minute class.
Pros:
My schedule is almost always full all hours of the day. It doesn’t matter if I put 3 hours or 12 hours. Perhaps it is because of the pandemic, but I rarely have an empty slot.
I can change my schedule at any time. I can add a class 30 minutes before, and it often gets filled.
There’s super fast tech support and help in general. I’ve never had to wait more than a few minutes for an answer to my questions.
The students are easy compared to teaching Chinese kids.
They pay on time. No BS. Also, there doesn’t seem to be a deduction when they send the payment via PayPal (you don’t lose 4%).
All the lesson materials are provided, and they are pretty good.
You work on a proprietors platform, it’s not too shabby either.
Cons:
Half the salary of other companies.
It’s so easy, I’ve thought about taking the pay cut and not teaching at my Chinese company any more.
The people complaining about less than $5 must be non-native teachers. That’s all I can figure, because they paid me $5 in 2016, and they pay me $5 in 2021.
Shawna-Lee Lawrence
It was the biggest mistake of working with BIBO. Ive been a tutor for them for a span of 4 years on and off. If you do not pay attention to your lesson history you are in trouble . They do not pay$2.4 or more unless you work up your ratings and when they steal yes steal your hard earned money they flat out lie about it. I’m so disappointed with them because my students a re so sweet but not sweet enough to put up with thievery and blatant disregard for my finances. I caught them in the act of stealing my classes and they just lied. It is the worst experience I’ve ever had and I will not put up with it anymore. They’ve stolen too much.
Mark
Super Bad Experience w/ Enggo Recruitment
I totally had a bad experience today with the recruitment team. I believe that my application was wrongfully handled by the recruiter. I am confident with my communication skills so I believe that the decision for me was NOT fair.
To tell you my story:
September 30, 2020 – I submitted my application online and part of the process is to answer questions and to record your answer on a video. I noticed the option to redo the video if you are not satisfied with your answer so, I made multiple video recordings last night due to the fact that I had technical issues (reported to the support) plus, it is raining heavily outside for hours already.
Today – I got an email from your recruitment team (handed by Emz), telling me that I failed the video assessment and I can re-apply after 6 months. It does not say the details of my areas of improvement or if my answers were incorrect or whatnot. They just stated in the email that after reviewing it ‘thoroughly’, it is unfavorable to their needs. So I sent an email asking why I failed the assessment – The recruiter replied and told me I had done it multiple times before submitting the application but my answers were actually good. On the application page, it does not really indicate whether they desire an applicant who has at least tried 2 or 3 times to redo the answer that meets their expectation. If something happens, you would really try to redo your answers every time that you feel it won’t satisfy your recruiter.
Here are my thoughts – If you are expecting your applicants to be spontaneous in answering the questions on the video assessment by only taking it a few times. Then, I believe that it’s a must that you put an indication on your application page that you desire to only see at least 2 or 3 trials from us. This is extremely not fair for those who are having issues while processing the application and in my opinion, your process in making this decision DOES NOT test if someone has the skill set necessary for a tutor. I was NOT profiled properly.
I have been mentoring, training, and coaching people for 4 years in the BPO industry and I am really confident about my skills. I believe that your decision was WRONGFULLY made by one of your recruiters.
I got one final email from her today telling me that you are checking the applicant’s background, environment, over-all professional appearance, especially their technical requirements. – Which I totally expect from an employer. But none of those ever happened yet because I was stopped from being checked or interviewed on the first part of my application. Technical requirements? I have a good working station in my house. Background? You can check my website to profile me properly or even review my NBI clearance. (https://ramillomarkramos.wordpress.com)
I actually heard from the person who referred me here that your company is good but what happened to me today is not reasonable and unjust.
I still wish for the success of your future tutors and your company and I hope other people who are looking for a job won’t experience this with your company.
Michael
Do they accept Nigerians
Nathan
Thank you very much for these comments! I wanted to try this company out but the feedback suggests otherwise. I will look elsewhere!
ferdaws
hi , i am from Tunisia .i have no idea about bibo but i want just yo earn my pocket money and i don’t know how much can someone earn per month
Answer
Hi, Ferdaws! How much you can earn per month as a non-native tutor depends on your location and how much you are willing to work. Let me explain it.
1. Location
The lesson rate they pay depends on the location of the teacher. For example, teachers from South Eastern European countries (Balkan region) are paid $1.4 per 25 min. But from what I’ve heard, in other European countries they also pay non-native teachers $1.6 or $2 per 25 min. Also, from what I’ve read online, someone from another region of the world complained that they are paid as low as $1.2 per 25 min. The company has never raised the lesson rate since they started this business, so don’t dare to hope for a rise. Incentives are also very rare, almost non-existent. In most cases the pay is approximately equal or below the minimum wage of a teacher’s home country.
2. How much are you willing to work?
The schedule is 100% flexible. You can open slots whenever it’s convenient for you to teach. One lesson lasts 25 min.
Now let’s take a look at this example. Let’s suppose your lesson rate is $1.4 and you want to make about $100. It means that you will have to complete 72 slots (72 * 1.4 = 100.8), which is about 36 hours of work, to reach your goal and get those 100 bucks.
I hope that someone else will give you more precise information about the lesson rate in Tunisia and you will be able to decide if it’s worth giving it a try or not. Good luck!
James
What a lie!!! I have been teaching on Bibo now called Engoo for 6 months now, they pay $1.4 per 25 mins. I also have an ESL certificate and it means nothing to them
disappointed
I applied to more than 50 companies in the last few months, and the only company that would hire me (presumably because I’m not a native English speaker) was Engoo (Bibo). I found that their trainers and recruiters are wonderful and so are the students, but the pay is very disappointing. I would even settle for 5.00 an hour, but 2.8 an hour seems like an insult 🙁
I was searching to see what their incentives were like (because in their orientation materials they mention the incentive per 160 conducted classes before the cutoff but don’t specify the amount), and what I found here is just sad. I’m very sorry to hear that you’re having such a bad experience. And I also read the comments that say “we as teachers should have some self-respect and look for a higher paying job” but as non-natives, even with an American bachelor’s degree and a TEFL certificate I haven’t been able to find ANYTHING. They were the only ones who would accept me, so I guess 1.4 per class is better than nothing.
To my fellow non-native English teachers, please hang on and keep applying to other jobs as much as you can! Hopefully we’ll find something better in the future.
Nikola
Disgusting company, disgusting management, disgusting teacher support.
Respect yourself and find a company that will pay you decent money and avoid these MONSTERS.
If i went out on the street and started begging for money i would earn more for a month than on BIBO/ENGOO/DMM whatever their name is now.
Big liars (you will never get a raise) and they always take the student’s side.
The only good thing are the students (97% of them are really nice, 3% are total jerks).
Thomas
I agree with some points on hear but i honestly don’t feel too bad because my booking rate consistently has been 95%. My goal each month to make $5000 each month and with a combination of engoo and privates its been possible. I really believe its about frequency too.
Sasha
I guess it’s possible for native speakers. For non-native speakers the situation is a bit different. Even if we worked 24/7 for 31 days in a row (which is humanly impossible) and had a booking rate of 100%, we’d barely make a bit over $2000.
Anon
Most of these are sadly right, the only thing I disagree with is the testing process which is ridiculously simple and easy, there are no heavy requirements, just be polite and smile, and obviously your English needs to be great, but the salaries are horrible indeed. They pay you $1.4 per conducted lesson with bonuses of $35 per 160 classes conducted and in your first month if you OPEN more than 300 classes you get a $100 bonus, but lets put it this way, if you conduct 160 classes during a month you will only earn $260, that’s 80 hours for 260 bucks, and their cancellation policy is abysmal, the only time you are allowed to cancel a booked class is if there’s a medical emergency or death of a CLOSE relative, so if your favorite cousin dies you can’t attend a funeral without being fined a certain amount. Their code of conduct is also somewhat strict, you are not allowed to drink any fluids except water, and only if it’s in a clear container, you are not allowed to yawn or look at your phone even for a second. In my opinion, all those restrictions and rules of conduct would be perfectly fine if they had proper salaries, the only reason the company hasn’t gone bankrupt yet is because there are people from the Balkan area keeping it alive because those countries pay even less. All in all I’d give them 2/10 rating purely because they demand too much for such a low salary
John Jung
For the Guarantee Booking Rate and the 60% Guarantee. Does that Apply To All Teacher? (Native Speakers?)
For Native Speakers what is the Average Booking Rate?
Anon
Due to corona issues, most teachers, native or not, have a booking rate close to 100%, in the past week every single of my classes was booked. But please, trust me on this one, there are websites that pay 10x the amount engoo pays, literally, they only require you to have a certain certificate which costs around $1000(canadian or USD, not sure), that is the only reason I’m still working for engoo, to save up for that and get a job that pays properly, and the booking rate is above 60% indeed if you open enough classes, their students don’t mind picking new teachers
Thomas
why schools offer that? i have a tefl certificate but do you have any recommendations?
Ishioma
And what company would that be please
Mikica357
I`ve been working for BIBO for 3 and a half years now. It is true that the company offers some benefits like a flexible schedule, so you can open slots when you like if the class is booked by the student and he/she does not appear by the 15th minute of the class or cancels it you can tag it as NO SHOW and you will get paid for it normally.
If the student gives you a bad rating companies management will make sure that they check thoroughly if you made a misstep but they will not remove the bad rating if the dispute is resolved in your favor, because they might lose the customer, and they will give you an explanation like “you have been with us for quite some time now, so you know how the things are done around here.”
Your average mark will always be calculated based on the last 100 marks you got, not all of them, to make sure that you ALWAYS deliver your best quality.
Based on your rating, your average mark, students will take your opened slots.
If you cancel a class for any reason – being sick, power outage, internet outage, or death of the family member – it will be charged to you $0.60 and the written proof – from the company, doctor, internet provider, etc., if the cancelation is without notice on your side it will be charged $1.6.
There are also some other cancelation policies depending on your cancelation rate.
They are now using new platform which is actually web browser Extention that often has some glitches – which gives students chance to be angry and give you bad marks for which you will not be protected by the management because it is just the way it is.
Native speakers are paid more, but INTERNATIONAL speakers have a rate of $1.4 for a 25-minute class.
Materials are provided by the company, and you have to submit tutoring notes in 24 hours after the class.
Two incentives are provided by the company, if you reach 160 classes you get 35 dollars and on 320 classes 35 dollars. Other incentives are rare nowadays, to say we did not get any in months.
Company is increasing prices for classes but the salary stays the same, so I would recommend this school if you are just starting to do this kind of job and you have no prior experience, but if you have any diploma, certificate or experience, I honestly think that you can do much better!
Hope that this was helpful.
kathrine
Wow….the thing that I am most confused about is, how is it that US is deemed a native speaker of English when the US does not even have an official language. Second, where did they get their information from that Jamaica is non-native? they clearly need to do their research. English is our first language not patois.
Rainelda Dela Cruz
I agree with you, Mark. Now that they have their own app, they set a lot of policies that is dependent on the understanding of their brainleas support who conflicts each other. They don’t have incentives anymore not unless they are on teacher shortage.
Maria
Dear Bibo teachers, if you are unhappy with the way this company treats you send screenshots, recordings and other valuable info to this email biboevidence@gmail.com
Despot
Trash company and trash people working there.
I worked for several companies that paid the same amount as Bibo but at least at those companies you could get a promotion and a salary increase (though it wasn’t that much but it was something).
Here the Teacher Support is so awful and hide behind their “i’m here for you if you need anything. Just let me know” but when you need them or complain that the student harrased you they attack you and say it’s your fault and you should be more careful. Because the student is always right.
I worked for them for a long time and now i’m happy that i left this garbage company that treats you like a disposable slave.
They pissed me off many times so i got so mad that i gave the minimum of the minimum. Minimum wage, minimum effort from me.
There are some people that work as teachers there and are looking for other teachers to join their group. They are collecting evidence from Bibo. They are recording the classes where students harrased them, they take screenshots of messages from Teacher Support where they refuse to help with this issue or say it’s your fault, they also take screenshots of the messages if a cancellation occurs due to some serious reason but they still punish you, they collect contracts from Bibo where it is clearly stated that you are entitled to a raise and some benefits but Bibo refuses ti give it to you, also collect evidence from people fired for ridiculous reasons and so on.
When they collect enough evidence they are going to send it to the press and also sue Bibo.
Anyone who is unhappy with the way Bibo treats them can join.
John
I think you need to share how one can join the group. I’ve been looking for something like this for a while.
Maria
I found their email, it’s biboevidence@gmail.com
Maria
Please, if you know how to contact them let us know. I want to join this group and i will give my best to find some screenshots or whatever and also convince some of my fellow teachers to join.
John
Fair warning, Bibo treats their teachers as if they are disposable.
Chris
Been with Bibo for three years and the most i can really say is they are fine. Yeah there is a stress if you get 1 stared but that will be true of any company. You can’t see your rating on the teacher page and there doesn’t even seem to be a link to your profile. I personally haven’t looked at my profile and reviews in a year and I would very strongly recommend anyone else do the same. It’s possible you will get 1 stared after a lesson only and think it was one student when it was another who just came back to 1 star you later. Save yourself the stress and just do the lesson and forget about it. I’ve pestered them about pay a few times but i’ve never gotten them to budge on the $5 a lesson despite knowing they increase the rates for students. One big perk is they have there own system now instead of skype and honestly it’s a lot easier that is used to be. No ready button, no adding students on skype and other skype issues, and their system has had the kinks worked out so it’s actually pretty decent now. Perhaps it’s the great irony is now is so much easier now compared to when i started out but native countries have all increased their minimum wages to above what they pay. I could make more money flipping burgers than by being a “teacher”. But at least being a teacher has a higher social status.
Chris
Update: I tried asking again about getting a raise I think the lady accidentally revealed that will will pay more if you negotiate it when you first apply but after that their policy is to NEVER increase a tutors salary once the contract is started even though the contract says they might..
jim
Hi
I have been working for this company for 1 month and getting plenty of classes, yes the pay isn’t great but I knew that before I started.
My main concern right now is getting paid, apparently there is an issue with PayPal so I did not get paid on Dec.20th as per the contract,still waiting…..
Maria
Can you please send the screenshot of that at biboevidence@gmail.com
anonimoussnake
Ive been working at Bibo for 2 months now and i can honestly say that if you are starting out that its a good company cause you learn fast, there page is good and the teacher support is fast and helps you with literally everything. Bunt the pay is shit and the booking as well. You can have your whole day open and not get one class. Its literally you have to sit in front of your pc and hope that you get a class. At the end of the month im not sure if ill earn a 100 bucks. Just skip on this one. I mean im here looking for other ESL companies so that tells you everything you need to know.
Ye
10 months with Bibo
Pros:
Tutor support is great; flexible work hours 24/7; lesson materials are provided; I personally get students quite easily so I do not need to worry about that; teaching platform is good
Cons – it’s really sad :((
Pay is grossly too low for non-native speakers even though non-natives can have just as wide a vocabulary and great grammar as a native speaker; if your cancellation rate is over a certain percentage, they will deduct a certain amount from what you have already earned if you cannot give adequate proof why you cancelled.
I’d love to work for another company that provides the lesson material and better pay but I am not a “native speaker” (even though English is my country’s official language D:)
joshua
Could any of you say wich company is good to work with instead? All these comments are just like: “Don’t ever work with Bibo… Work with Bibo instead”. (“.)’
Tari
Learnt a lot from these comments. I just started teaching here for about 3 months now. The cons are that the salary is very low and also tht requirements for proof if u cancel a class especially because of power cuts or illness. The salary for non-natives is very low. Most of the students are very friendly and some even opt to end the lesson few seconds before time is up. I am managing. I am a stay at home mum and this fills parts of my day when my daughter goes to school. I don’t recommend it as a full time job. It’s no answer to your financial problems.
Maria
I don’t recommend working for this company. I’ve been working for them for more than 3 years (because i have to, not because i enjoy it). There are some good things but there are definitely more bad things.
Good things:
most students are nice, respectful, don’t ask you too much. The materials are ridiculously easy (some of them even stupid) so you won’t have a hard time conducting a lesson. Salary is always on time. And that’s it.
Bad things:
Oh boy. Where should i start. Ok, the salary is low low low, so low they should be ashamed of themselves. You get 1.4 dollars per 25 min class (if you’re not a native or phillipino). They pay 5-6 dollars per class to a native and 3 dollars to phillipino teachers whose accent and english knowledge is worse than 70% of other non native teachers (and many of my students complained that they don’t like them because of that.. but yet they still get paid more). So you have to work as a slave to get a salary to make ends meet! In my contract there is a part that says that i can get a raise depending on some factors but after more than 3 years, good rating, low cancellation rate they told me they don’t give it at the moment. They gave incentives every weekend, first they were 20 dollars, than 15, than 10 and now there are no incentives at all. When they gave incentives you had to sacrifice you social life and work all day on saturday and sunday to get the miserable 10 dollars.
Second, some students are real idiots and are there to make your life hard, like not answering you questions, torture you to explain every single word and some of them insult you. And you have to smile, not react, you cannot end the lesson because you can get punished (these thing are rare but definitely happen sometimes).
Also the rating system is ridiculous, students can rate you however they want. For example i got a bad rating because a student didn’t like my shirt. You always need to correct them positively so if a student says “I lives much years at Japan and i does a lot things” you cannot say that that is not correct you need to say something like this ” “Good job, nice try, nice effort, you were amazing but it’s better to say i lived in Japan for many years and i do a lot of things”. Also many students don’t ask questions, and when you ask them if everything is clear, if they understand they will say yes but later complain that you didn’t give any explanations to them. And when you tell the teacher support that the student said they understand they tell you to give them at least 3 synonyms of the word with an example sentence (yeah, i’m a supercomputer so i can find 3 synonyms in 0.5 seconds and think of 3 sentences to use them)
Third 95% of teacher support are real a**holes that will always take the student’s side, the student can insult you, make fun of you, and when you complain to them they say “i’m sorry that happen to you, be strong, don’t let this get to you” and of course that student can book your class next time. They also find every little thing to harras you. For example one time they told me “you ended the class 7 seconds early, don’t let it happen again or you will get an official warning”. Everything is your fault.
If there is a power outage, you’re sick and can’t work, the internet is not working, you will get penalized even if it’s not your fault. They ask for proof from the electrical company that there was no electricity if you want to avoid the penalty. LOL.
They finally removed the annoying ready button (but for now it’s an experiment). The ready button is a button you must press 35 to 11 minutes before the class, if you don’t the class is canceled and you get penalized. So if your class is at eleven you must be ready half an hour before to click the damn button. But as i said they removed it and hopefully they won’t add it back.
You can get so many good marks that make you rating good, and they won’t reward you, but if someone gives you a bad rating with a comment that you weren’t smiling enough or coughed, sneezed etc they teacher support will harras you..
Also, you can now drink water in class, but only from a bottle where they can clearly see it’s water and not juice or tea or something else. The student can eat and drink during the class, burp, fart, sneeze, and can come to class in their underwear (i had a student that was shirtless in class,and one student masturbated in front of my friend and teacher support didn’t do anything, the student could book the class again.)
All in all if you plan to work for them full time DON’T, run away as fast as you can. If you plan to do it for a pocket money then ok.
If there are any typos sorry, i was typing fast and releasing my frustration after working for so long for these slaveholders.
Despot
NO, NO, NO, NO, JUST NO. A BIG NO!!!!
If you are a native ok, you can have a nice time on Bibo.
If you’re not, like 85% of their teachers just look for another online english school. Not worth of your time or nerves.
Maria
I’m amazed to see that the rate they were offering in 2017 to Non-Natives is practiced even now, in 2019.
YES, everyone, Bibo pays 1.4 USD to Non-Natives for a 25 mins lesson and this is the lowest pay I ever heard of. And NO, you can’t earn anything decent, no matter what you do. They can offer you 2 USD for a 25 mins lesson on weekends ONLY IF they run promos. And you could get 35 USD more if you conduct 160 lessons/ month.
Koko
I have been working with them for a year now and I completely agree with the slave-like-treatment, low wages and no protection of the teachers. I have been reading about the international minimum wages and their wage fall so low. Will you guys be interested in reporting them or is there a way we can do something so they are at least accountable for their behaviour towards teachers?
Angie
Wow…I have been with Bibo since March 2019 and o can honestly say I am very happy. I have averaged $1100 Usd per month …yes I have had a few issues because of lost connection through no fault of my own …but if you are upfront and speak to TS they are understanding that you have no control over internet connections. I love my students and have built up a regular base.
.there is alays the bad apple who will complain but I’m happy with Bibo and at 10 USD per 2 x 25 minute classes it is double what I was receiving from English First
Koko
Yes, if I get paid 10$ for an hour, I’d be happy too. But unlike you, not everybody here is paid that much and it’s not because they aren’t skilled, it’s because they aren’t from a ‘native-country’. Considering the number of bad apples here, I’m pretty sure, ‘you are a privileged-being.’ I’m sorry but I can’t sugarcoat this anymore. Highly qualified teachers can’t get a job because companies either need a white-skinned person or a native-English speaker. They agree to settle on lower wages (below the standards) because they have no choice. In a perfect world, teachers regardless of their background will raise their voice against such hypocrisy, but alas, it is not a perfect world. Natives or people like yourself go on being happy about how well they are paid with no consideration of how awfully we are treated.
Despot
In my country with a 10 USD per hour from Bibo i would live like a KING and be among the rich population. And i wouldn’t complain either.
Unlike you i get 2.8 USD per hour. And i barely make ends meet.
You have 220 classes per month for a 1100 salary, i have 320 classes a month for a 448 USD salary (plus some incentives it gets arround 518 USD).
I often have up to 18 classes a day, work in the morning, afternoon and evening and work on the weekends, while you work for 5 hours a day during workdays and have the weekends free.
So believe me if i had your salary i would be the first to write an essay of a comment of how great Bibo is.
And to be honest the thing i’m disappointed in the most is that you can’t get an increase of fee. It will stay like that forever. I’m a modest person, i don’t ask for 10 dollars per hour (even though i think i deserve it) i would be satisfied with a 6 USD per hour, and with that i could live like a normal person.
Maverick
You have 30 days to make your money. A period runs from the 11th of one month to the 10th of the other month. For example, you have from the 11th of August 2019 to the 10th of September to make your money. ON the 10th of September, that is the cutoff for the 30 days (or one month). Payment information is released on the 15th of the month or sometimes sooner. You will be paid between the 18th or the 20th of the month. Money is always on time.
Patricia Fitzpatrick
I have jumped on the bandwagon so to speak and am with BiBo now. I am a qualified English Teacher from New Zealand and just had my first months paycheck. I got $120 US for 24 lessons at 25 mins each at $5 a lesson.
There are quite alot of rules and must abide by .. or you are penalized – like myself.
I am working full time so just have at least 2 lessons each evening with BiBo,
I am happy with this company at the moment and will try to increase my lessons for this month. I hope to do online teaching full time by the end of the year.
Issam
can you explain to me how does the cut-off oeriod thing works because i have not understood it.Thank you !!
onlinetutor
This company is terrible. They don’t even train you on their platform but only on Skype calls which you use for the application process and very seldom there after. I believe they want you to do badly so they won’t have to pay you any bonuses. Their system is very clunky and un-user-friendly. They even went in and cancelled a lesson when I had already pushed the “Ready” button and then had the nerve to tell me that it was my fault. They are very unhelpful, unfriendly, dishonest, and take more than 50 percent of what they make from the lesson. Just check out the prices.
Jhen
I hope this may help. Right now, for Filipino tutors, they pay only $2.33 per 50-minute class. Their rules are not just changing frequently. THEY HAVE A LOT OF HIDDEN RULES which you may only know once you committed it. I remember one staff keeps on telling me “HERE’S THE CATCH” on my training day. Yah, THEY DO HAVE A LOT OF “TRAP FOR A CATCH. ” And YES, THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR TUTORS. They don’t even want to call their teachers as TEACHER. They just want us to be called as TUTOR and the staff does not address their tutors as either TUTOR or TEACHER. Some staff is also rude.
For a NO-PREPARATION class, $2.33 per 50-minute class is quite good. Anyways, most of the students are really very respectful, understanding, friendly and kind. Some of them are really loyal as they refused to have another teacher whenever I am on a long vacation. These loyal students made me stay with them for almost 2 years now. However, cheating and dishonesty is not my cup of tea. If they want a catch, I am definitely one of them.
So, to all those who are planning to work in BIBO. Please be careful. BIBO is just good as a practice ground. Know yourself and your abilities. Dream big and aim high. WE CAN ALL DO IT! 🙂
lobo
Patricia. There are different pay rates. Natives get $5 (25 min lesson), so $10 an hour. This is pretty crap BUT there are a lot of benefits when compared to other companies. I have worked for BIBO for over 2 years. I also work for another company where the pay is almost double that BUT I have a lot more demands on me for the higher pay. BIBO is not ideal but it is a great starting company. The students are brilliant. PROS- no preparation needed as all lessons provided, low internet up/download requirements, it is very flexible, no minimum hours and you open and close your schedule whenever you want!! I like that. Many of these Asian companies offering high rates ask A LOT!!! Some of them asking for 100mbps down and upload speeds!!!!. I have had issues with the management/intentions of the company but, let’s face it, I don’t think there is a single honest and genuine company out there….that’s the cynic in me! They are all in it for the money. Good luck!
Wadja
I started going through their application process and saw that the interview includes not only a demo but also a grammar test. All so you can make, at most, $3 per hour? No thanks.
Patricia Hall
Hi Wadja, did you find out for yourself that the pay was $3 per hour or is it based on the previous comments. I’m just asking because I was considering them and thought there might be a possibility their pay has improved since the first comments.
Kathy
They offered me 2$ per 25 mins. I’m not a native speaker. I live in Europe (UE) so it is way below minimum wage but I’m going to say “yes”. Why? Because I work for a school which pays really good but we work on app so I can’t see my students and I feel like I need to see people. Plus if they pay me 2$ I will not feel bad while giving my minimum effort to rude students.
Alice Thompson
Working with Bibo is the WORST experience I’ve ever had. It is so demeaning, that is hurts! They expect so much for so little. I would never recommend anyone working for this ‘company’.
J.Walker
I’ve been working for Bibo for 4 years. They used to pay $2 per 25 min lesson when I applied. That wasn’t horrible pay for me, being a student with zero experience at the time, and I was fully-booked from the get-go so I really couldn’t complain. The money they pay new teachers now is horrendous, especially given that their expectations from new applicants just keep piling up. They’ve also implemented new regulations so that they could reduce the rates of all teachers to that level. Basically if you don’t conduct any classes for 3 months for whatever reason, you’ll have to sign a new contract with the current pay rate.
As all of the previous commenters already mentioned, smiling like a lunatic is more important than teaching; students’ complaints about the smallest things can get you in trouble, and it’s downright demeaning. I’ve seen some ridiculous students’ comments on teachers’ profiles, and they usually have nothing to do with the teacher’s ability to teach. They’ve also recently updated their website so that students could rate teachers using a 5-star system, which is an additional thing to stress about. If your rating is less than 4.6 you’ll hardly ever have your schedule fully-booked.
Anyways, I’m moving on to some greener pastures, and I don’t recommend anyone applying for Bibo now. Their slave-driving practices shouldn’t be encouraged. There’s so many online schools now, there’s no reason for anyone to work for peanuts!
Svjetlana R
Have you found any good schools after Bibo? I also want to quit, but I’m not sure where to go next.
jessica
what greener pastures are you onto now and what site do you recommend ?
Mercy T Murefu
Have you found any good schools after Bibo?
ana
BIbo pays as low as 90 pesos (1.8 USD) per 50 minutes. 🙁
Guinea
I have worked for bibo for almost two years and finally quit last year when I couldn’t handle the stupidity anymore. Absolutely agree with the previous comments, they don’t give a rat’s ass about the teachers because they have plenty and if they lose a few there will always be more new ones applying.
The fact is that people from the Balkans work here mainly because it’s hard to find a job offline so they deal with the tiny paychecks and straight up slavery from bibo, but in the end it’s definitely not worth it, unless you plan on having 15-20 classes each day to make a “living wage”.
Tessa
There is no $ dollar salary. You get paid $1.40 USD per 25 minute session.I have been working with them for the past year. there are “incentives” but this includes opening SEVERAL classes on particular days e.g. open 15 classes on Saturday and 10 on Sunday to receive 10 USD added to your paycheck. (all slots dont have to be booked but the amount you have to open in order to receive the bonus/incentive is ridiculous). Your salary is only paid when you make >50USD and they care not if your bank applies a fee for wired transactions into your account. ALSO if you have cancellations for lets say Internet or power outage they CHARGE you approx 1 USD per class you had to cancel because of circumstances beyond your control. I agree with Harris and Mark Twain, they focus on how friendly you are to a student and how well you can “kiss up”. For example one time i was teaching a class and an involuntary yawn came about and i was unable to hide it. I apologized student appeared sympathetic but after the class she reported me and i was reprimanded.
In my opinion its good if you want to test the waters and have no experience but there is better out there and i will be taking my leave soon as well.
Issam
tessa , i want to ask you if you can explain their payment system for me . Icould not get it !!
Eny
Absolutely!!!!! The students hypocrisy is on the high side, they smile with you and act like all is well, but leave you with a bad review.
Harris
The salary of 6 bucks per lesson is the biggest lie. I applied two times without success. They pay 1.2 dollars for a 25 min.lesson. The application process is tough and so demanding. They pay more attention to if you are smiling and addressing the student in accordance with the students’ culture than to your English proficiency. I’ve been teaching English for years but was rejected due to my ‘inability’ to be smiling all the time and addressing a student whose name was typed in Chinese. How on Earth was I supposed to know the Chinese letters at the given moment.
Josh
They’re not that bad. They pay 5 USD per class and they give you a boost so that you’re easily seen when you first start and are pretty much guaranteed to get classes because they have a very large student base. They’re definitely far from perfect but it’s good place to start if you don’t have a lot of experience.
Fiona Taderera
Iam interested in teaching English
How do l go about it
Really?
They definitely don’t pay 5 dollars per class. Not even natives get paid that much.
James Wall
The rate is $5 per class for tutors from the UK, US, Ireland, NZ, Australia, and South Africa.
martha maudsley
Canada too. Just got hired at $5/ class.
Mark Twain
Bibo, is one of the worst English online companies, probably together with other Philippine English teaching companies, as they do not aim towards the quality, but towards the lowest lesson price possible, thus non-native teachers they pay 1.4 $ per 25 minutes class, and native they pay more but again very low comparing to non Philippine companies. There is no common sense whatsoever, and their system is, they hire you (and you do not need to be master of English or to be any good in teaching or speaking English either) and they post your details on their two websites, DMM Eikawa and Engoo, and that’s it, they do not provide the students for you, nothing, if a students books you, you will get a lesson, if not you can go the whole week with no work at all. About the restrictions towards the teachers, there is like one million of them, “don’t do this, don’t do that, this is forbidden” and so forth. Their philosophy is that all you have to do if you get booked by some chance, as this is just something you can’t influence, is that you need to kiss the “bottom” of your students because they pay money, that’s it, and you get paid peanuts. Company led by some completely brainless people.
delphiwalri
Did you use to work there? How do you know all this? Did you meet the people leading the company?
I work there and think maybe you were just a bad employee.
samuel clemmons
Thank you for the hilarious and likely true comments.