123HelpMe.com states that it has been in the business of helping students with their writing needs for 7 years. As we set about reviewing writing services, it is our goal to provide as much detailed information as possible about the products and services and their quality. We carefully review the website for information, read customer reviews we find on the web, look at testimonials posted on the site, and check for benefits such as coupon codes for discounts and free offers. Our review of 123 Help Me is summarized here.

Services Offered

123HelpMe is not your normal writing service. It does not have a staff of writers who fulfill customer orders for customized writing products. Instead, it has a database of all types of academic writing products (although primarily essays and papers) that have been “donated” by others.

Anyone using this source for essays and paper should be forewarned that these papers have been used elsewhere, and it is more than likely they will pop up in a plagiarism scan. In fact, just the fact that they exist in this database, means they can be detected.

123HelpMe.com should never be considered a source for original works. Everything a student may take from this database can only be used as examples and as reference tools.

Prices

Here is where things get a little tricky and complicated. There are no established prices for individual works. There are color-coded works, however. Gray-colored works are free, and it is easy to see why. From there, there is a range of colors from orange to turquoise, as the quality improves. Obviously, the price increases too. Term and research papers are in separate categories but they are also color coded for quality.

Students cannot access anything other than the free papers unless they join by paying a subscription fee. This runs $119 a year. Then a customer is given access to a large part of the 123 Help Me database, but there are still additional costs for top-of-the-line products.

Discounts

You will not find any discounts at 123HelpMe. Nor will you find a promo code for special pricing. This is a bare bones database of essays and papers, and that is what you get for your subscription and any additional costs.

Customer Support and Site Usability

Customer support is only in the form of sending an email to the company, if you did not receive the work you ordered and paid for. You will not speak to live people at any time. Further, there is no phone number or address.

In terms of usability, there is a short video on the home page that explains a little about the company – very little, actually. But the links at the top are all you really need. Once you decide to find an essay or paper, you use a keyword search tool which will bring up works that are color coded. Once you select one, you will be given a short preview and then prompted to join with your subscription option – yearly, quarterly, or monthly. Once you have paid that, you may access that work and others.

While 123HelpMe is certainly not a fraud or scam, it is not a place for anyone seeking an original, custom piece of writing.

We also found no BBB membership for the company.

Writers

The writers are those individuals who have “donated” essays and papers to the site. No one is paid for submitting their essays or papers. The site is just a repository of academic writings it has accumulated from other places and donators. You will never know who wrote a piece that you decide to purchase and use.

Conclusion

In looking at pros & cons, we would say the following. For students who just want to see a sample of the type/topic of an essay or paper they need to produce, this may be a decent source. However, given that students have to fork out money for a subscription and then additional cost as the quality gets better, the better idea may be to spend money with custom writing service that will develop an original piece of writing. We had a hard time rating this company. It is “Good” if a student just wants samples. It is “Poor” for anyone looking to find original writing products.