In a war spotted with lawsuits and bankruptcy, Gainesville tutoring service TutoringZone is surviving by reorganization.
After grappling with eviction, TutoringZone founder Matt Hintze said the transition from a defunct TutoringZone to a new TutoringZone is seamless in terms of services to students. The original service is going out of business and will close in nine months to reopen under the same name.
“It’s all behind the scenes,” Hintze said.
TutoringZone began to face legal issues when investors’ money couldn’t be paid and the company’s location on North Main Street was evicted in August after failure to pay rent for several months.
TutoringZone General Manager Alek Hartzog said the new TutoringZone is expanding its online presence in its new studio space at New Horizons Computer Learning Centers. He said this semester was successful and the company’s overall expenses decreased.
“We’re definitely not going anywhere anytime soon,” Hartzog said.
TutoringZone and Study Edge have been fierce competitors in the market since nine TutoringZone employees left the company to create Study Edge a year and a half ago.
One of those nine was Ethan Fieldman, president and co-founder of Study Edge. Fieldman, who used to own 50 percent of TutoringZone as a co-founder with Hintze, said the two split as business partners because of disagreements about management and TutoringZone’s far location from campus.
The original TutoringZone filed for bankruptcy Nov. 1. According to the bankruptcy file, Hintze owes $2.6 million over the course of five years.
The transition, which began early in the summer, includes a change in ownership. UF business professor Christopher James replaced Hintze as owner Aug. 15.
Hintze said the new TutoringZone has no debt or fixed cost and is well-funded.
TutoringZone’s issues were made public after large black-and-white posters printed with “TutoringZone is bankrupt” were plastered on campus bulletin boards with a website tagged at the bottom: TutoringZoneEvicted.com.
The website has PDF downloads of the bankruptcy file along with TutoringZone’s former landlord’s lawsuit, an investor’s lawsuit and a writ of possession for TutoringZone’s lease.
The website, which has a viewer counter, has more than 5,300 views.
Fieldman denied making the website and putting up the posters.
“Study Edge is not interested in putting up websites about TutoringZone’s problem,” Fieldman said. “If Study Edge wasn’t around, would TutoringZone be bankrupt? Probably not.”
Hartzog believes Study Edge is responsible for the posters, website and paid Facebook ads.
“Who else would care except Study Edge?” Hartzog said.
