Is this a con? - Free "industry standard" IT training then a job

bookduck

Silencio wrote: »

Sure.

They're called Fraser Mckenzie

http://www.fraser-mckenzie.com

On this web page they refer to Dell partnership. While I do not know the ins and outs of this, I spoke to years ago told me that Dell do not do any field service support in the UK and that it has been farmed out to on of for major companies, Unisys being one of them. (we have 1000's of Dell PCs at work) and have seen many Unisys engineers.

jase2009

Hi There! hope I can help with this but the message it simple - steer well clear of Fraser McKenzie. They have offices shooting up all over the country after starting up in Central London last year. There is a thread about them on cert forums which can give more info - there are also a few other people who have been contacted on there.. unfortunately a few who have been scammed for over £5,000!

Cant seem to post the thread but if you google 'cert forums fraser mckenzie' it will appear under the heading 'any opinions about fraser mckenzie' pretty much the first hit

I'll post what I said anyway on here -

Firstly I know someone who used to work for Fraser Mackenzie and am quite familiar with the industry as a whole.

The people who you are invited to be 'interviewed' by get £50 commission for each person they sign up in the meeting, thus is less of an interview and more of a sales opportunity for them.. some dont even get a basic salary and depend on the £50 commissions for their entire job! (They will be trying to make you pay about £4,000 for a training course which totals over £7000 after interest is added as most people are conned into taking out a loan without realizing it as they are told to sign a form to apply for 'funding' which is actually a bank loan which they cant cancel!!) - they just pretend on the first call there is no money involved

They have someone in their office who calls people like you -off job boards etc and offers an 'amazing opportunity'.
In the Frazer Mackenzie office all through the day its like a conveyer belt of people coming for the 'interviews'. You will NEVER have anyone turned down from the so-called 'interviews' the only time they will have to refuse someone is if they don’t have the money to pay for the course or they have a bad credit record and that means they cant get the loan (most people don’t have thousands of pounds spare so the sales people try and get them to sign up for Clydesdale bank loans which in the long run have a large interest rate of between 15% and 39%)

If they could genuinely guarantee a job then they would have some kind of proper vetting procedure - they don’t do this and pretty much just let anyone with any background pay thousands of pounds for the training courses. This is taking advantage of people who simply don't know any better and believe in good faith that they are getting a good opportunity.

In a few months down the line once people realise they have been ripped off I wouldn't be surprised if some of the people who signed up pay the sales people a visit at the office to 'have a word' with them about what they've been signed into. The sales people are going to have to watch their backs seriously! How many parents of the people who get ripped off are going to be rather angry at their sons and daughters losing all that money and not getting the job at the end!! That’s not including the people themselves.

It used to happen at companies like Britannia IT where a similar scam went on. Don't forget we are talking thousands of pounds here - mainly done on a 'deferred payment' loan which means the banks will be getting in touch wanting their money just when they have forgot about it - with large amounts of interest on top.

I'm not sure exactly how the terms and conditions work as I've not been there but I think its along the lines that Fraser Mackenzie know most people wont actually pass all their exams as the courses are really hard and not only require a massive amount of study and commitment but also people of real technical ability and aptitude. Thus some people may pass and get on the bottom rung of the ladder but this is the exception not the rule. Think about it - there is a shortage of jobs in the economy at the moment but Fraser Mackenzie are churning people through and guaranteeing jobs for EVERYONE that shows up?! This is just not possible. Unfortunately not everyone knows how they operate and there will be lots of people falling for this scam. My friend said there were sometimes more than 10 people signing up every day just in the London office and that’s way more people than jobs they would be to able fill.

This type of operation has been around for ages and companies go bust and sprout up again all the time because they are selling something they simply cant offer.. there is a long line of them like James Thornton Group, Connectivity, Britannia and more.

Frazer Mackenzie seems to be contacting young college type leavers, people who are probably easy pickings for them as they are perhaps more easily persuaded into believing this could work for them.. I know the London operation was successful in getting a lot of people through the door and signed up, as such there are now new offices popping up in cities round the country.

Unfortunately not everyone will think to google them / check message boards in order to get the low down on the offer and I expect Fraser Mackenzie will make a lot (and are already making a lot) of ill gotten gains at the expense of people handing their money over in good faith.

Steer well clear of these guys!

ihatebt_2

Seems like a con. Their website had no clickable links!

You can do Cisco network courses very cheaply these days. Google for ITNet Academy or Commsupport, 2 companies for starters offering low-cost training with no hidden catches. Haven't seen any Microsoft courses offering the same prices as the Cisco ones, but if anyone see's one..... I can afford £300 for a weeks course but not the usual £1,000 plus.

Plus you can buy CBT videos on DVD very cheaply from Ebay or wherever to compliment any training courses.

ihatebt_2

And if anyone is ever pushy, don't do business with them.

Madge09

Hello,

This is my first post and I am desperate need of advice after my brother signed up with Fraser Mckenzie.

I have read the Fraser Mckenzie posts on this forum, but no one actually says what happened in the end and the thread is closed. My brother was naive and being inexperienced signed various documents including a loan agreement.

He did not give any financial information and we wrote to cancel with PPI and Barclays. They say that there is a cancellation of 500. Did anyone pay the £500? I am desperate to find out as much information as possible to resolve this matter, because I cannot break the news to our elderly parents.

I have called trading standards about this and will contact watchdog to prevent further people being scammed.

Thanks

KeithP

Madge, you say he signed a loan agreement. Did he read what he was signing? Did he read the bit about cancellation charges?

Madge09

They put under a lot of pressure and don't give you chance to read any of the documents. They don't explain or go through anything.

nick.steve

Has anyone successfully 'got out' of this terrible scam yet? I find myself in a similar position to Madge09 and I really need some advice! I'm 19 and I feel that if I have to pay all that money out It will set me back years in my career. Can anyone please help? I don't know what to do and i'm really panicking about it, who could complete all that training in just 1 year? PLEASE HELP! Thanks!

TDawn_2

Yes its sound to me it a con...no company now a day will hire a person and train them, because a lot of people looking for job that are qualified and need not to be train. So I guess they just want you to sign, and before you know it they are going to charge you with fee.

Merlinexcalibur

If I am not mistaken this was featured on Watchdog last year or something that sounds remarkably similar ... about companies offering IT training. Most of it turned out to be outdated, lack of support, people being left very frustrated, out of pocket. Steer clear is what I am saying. If someone phones you up, offering you what the OP posted months ago then that is cold calling eg sales pitch. Nothing these companies promise can't be done for a great deal less at a local college or night school.

Scam written all over.