Mis-sold Home Learning College Course??

HomeLearningCollege

Hello Titan Po

I read your comments with concern and wanted to take this opportunity to respond.

Firstly, I would like to extend my apologies on behalf of everyone at Home Learning College that you are dissatisfied with the service you have received. I will do my best to address the various points you have raised, given that I don’t have access to the details of your case at this stage.

The regulations concerning the CompTIA A+ course you mention have indeed changed, so that anyone who completes the course after 31 December 2010 will be required to renew their certification every three years. This will take the form of a short refresher exam and will demonstrate that CompTIA accredited professionals are abreast of the latest technological developments – something which will be highly valued by employers. However, I appreciate that you made the decision to sign up when you did to avoid going through this process. With a focused approach it is possible to complete your chosen course in nine months but this should have been clearly communicated at the point of enrolment.

I have spoken to the relevant people internally and we would like to investigate this further with the sales team, should you be willing to get in touch and provide identifying details.

Moving on to your rights to cancel, you mention that you have a copy of your enrolment agreement. From your post it appears that you spoke to one of our course advisers over the phone rather than face to face. If that is the case, the reverse of your enrolment form outlines our terms and conditions and point 11.1 covers your rights to cancel. If that’s not correct and you did meet with a course adviser in your home then the white copy of the enrolment form left with you after the visit contains the same information in point 8.3.

After signing up for the course you should also have received a welcome letter with your tutor’s details and another copy of our terms and conditions, which again outlines your rights to cancel. You have five days from receipt of these documents in which to cancel your course and return all course materials.

Our standard procedure at this point is to also send a welcome email and for our applications team to call you within three days of enrolment to ensure everything is going smoothly. Your tutor does not contact you at this stage but you are welcome to get in touch with them immediately should you have any questions about the course content. Again, without your personal details I am unable to check and find out whether all of these stages were implemented correctly. I would very much like to look into this and find out whether our processes have fallen down in some way so I would welcome you getting in touch with me.

The letter you have received about payment is from the finance company which holds the loan agreement for your course. This is a separate organisation and is based elsewhere, hence the different address you mention. Our head office has not moved.

Finally, I would like to cover the points you raise about the equipment requirements for this course. I have spoken in detail with our academic team and have been assured that the information you were given is correct, in that it is possible to complete this course with access to a PC running Windows XP. You are right that the course book you received contains a longer list of hardware and software requirements, however many of these are optional. There are additional resources available on Virtual Learning Community to help with each exercise and with supplementary internet research you can avoid purchasing extra equipment. Having said that, there are obvious benefits to a hands-on approach and, when requested, your tutor can advise on ways to source cheap components for the various exercises.

I have personally reviewed the course book and agree that the version you have is not as clear as it could be in terms of highlighting which elements on the equipment list are optional. However, we are just about to publish an updated version which offers greater clarity and I’d be happy to send you a copy if that would be helpful.

I hope I have covered all the areas you mention but I would like to reiterate that the best way for us to take the appropriate action is to have a direct conversation, so please feel free to contact me on [EMAIL="tor.goldfield@homelearningcollege.com"]tor.goldfield@homelearningcollege.com[/EMAIL].

Tor Goldfield
Home Learning College Communications Manager

johnbear2

phone up the customer service department at homelearningcollege and tell somebody you were conned into accepting the course,if they do not refund,tell them you are going to trading standards and the papers.

i am unemployed,and just finishing a diploma from homelearningcollege,i enquired about a fee waiver,and the the guy tried to put me on a monthly payment program:money:

gemmagriffin

Hi,
I have had a rep come round today from HLC to talk to me about the Sage computerised book-keeping course and payroll course the cost was going to be £1750 if I signed today. he was really pushy but I said I wanted to do more research before I signed up. I thought it sounded like a really good course but I'm now having 2nd thoughts after reading all these comments & it seems very pricy. I am a mum of an 18 month old and am 6 months pregnant so I feel home learning is the best way for me but I'm now very unsure of the Home Leaning College. I am starting my own virtual Assistant business next year and would like to offer Bookkeeping vat returns and payroll are some of my services, can anyone suggest another option for me to become qualified? any advise would be welcome
thanks so much
Gemma

MrsManda

gemmagriffin wrote: »

Hi,
can anyone suggest another option for me to become qualified? any advise would be welcome
thanks so much
Gemma

Contact your local college to see what they offer. You can also look on the course search on direct.gov. HERE You can also search for funding opportunities on the same site.
It may also be worth you looking into the Professional Certificate in Accounting available from the Open University though it depends on precisely what you want to do with it.

Titan_Po

Dear Tor....

Please Forgive the lateness of my reply, life gets in the way sometimes.

Here are some of the problems I can identify in your reply....

1) You do not seemed concerned with the lie(s) your Course Advisor (sorry SALESMAN on commission or OTE I would guess) told in order to get me to sign up to your finance (sorry 'course'). Telling me that I needed to sign up quickly (details in my original post) not only was deceitful and unprofessional, it also put undue pressure upon me to sign up - a common theme with your company it appears from reading posts here and elsewhere.

2) The idea that I don't need tools or equipement to complete the course is not only hillarious :rotfl:, it also would put me at a disadvantage to to other newly qualified ENGINEERS who will have had this experience if I where to continue.

3) It appears the course materials I have been sent are outdated, as you are updating them - no I don't want the new copy, I want your '"company" out of my life - so if I wasn't so dissastified I would be continuing with sub-standard learning materials.

4) I don't have a PC with Windows XP, I have one with windows 7. When my tutor said "All I need is a PC running Windows XP OR BETTER", I replied "I'm on Windows 7", to which he said "Oooh, get you!! That'll be fine". By your own understanding it is not.

5) The course Setup Requirements (as outlined in your text) require not one but multiple PCs and states that I will need Windows Vista Business or Ultimate (not supplied) to install on EACH PC, and I'll need the Vista Installation DVD when I 'key' the course. I was unsure what this meant - and was having no joy trying to speak to anyone from HLC unless it regarded money, so I started asking around on some web forums. The only reply I got was that I'd need the DVD and installation key (unique code) when sitting my exam - "I think it means you need they key code and instal disk when you sit your exams, I did for mine but it was XP back then." So, after speaking to someone who has actually completed the course (though not with your outfit) I'll need to spend £80+ (ebay price) on a copy of Vista, not only to complete the course properly, but also to sit the exams and BECOME QUALIFIED.

I think you can agree that I was mis-sold this course.
I think you can also agree that after my experiences with your company I no longer wish to have anything to do with you.
I think you can also agree that the nearly £2000 you are charging is completely unjustified, certainly in my case but also in any case.

And without your welcome letter or phone call (i'm still waiting) I've not had the opportunity to cancel. You can keep the deposit - because thats a deposit, but you shall not have a penny more.

And if your want the course materials back you can send your salesman back round (they came out of the boot of his car). Just tell him not to open his mouth so the lies don't spill out. I've had enough.

If you reply to this - have a go at trying to justify £1800 costs for the service and materials I've recieved. I could do with a laugh.

rose28454

I was scanning through MSE and chanced upon this thread. I signed up last February for a Bookkeeping course using Sage Software. At the time I was newly unemployed and thought as a bookkeeper already I should get a qualification and experience in the Sage System as so many companies use it. The sales rep was ok if a little pushy and sealed the deal by telling me that the government had brought in new rules that as a bookkeeper you have to have a recognised qualification. So I signed up and paid £50.00 a month for the first 5 months although I did not get really started as I got a lot of work in that period. I was not that impressed with the course as there was no support at all and not once did anyone contact me to ask how I was doing or to offer help.
Home Learning have now engaged Clarity to chase me for the money and due to all my other money problems I have not yet responded. However I have recently learned that the Government have not brought any regulations about Bookkeeping Qualifications so that was a lie. Also the agreement says there are no charges or interest but there obviously are as you have to pay more if you pay monthly.
I am really disappointed with all of this and wonder how to get out of the agreement. Perhaps a letter to Tor?

Titan_Po

Tor is just here to deflect and try and 'nip things in the bud'. I doubt he/she is even Tor (can you really imagine a communications manager trolling through web forums to defend his/her indefensible company?), he/she is probably a Personal Assistant or someone whose job it is to make these posts while contemplating the life choices they've made that have led them to this point.

If he/she is Tor, then this says A LOT about Home Learning College. A communication manager using their time on these (and other) forums to try and talk people round - only a company with severe customer relations and image problems would even consider it.

I very much regret the day I signed up with these people. You can see by his/her post above that he's not interested in me cancelling, or the issue of mis-selling products or their defectiveness, but rather coming up with excuses for his/her company.

Advice I've recieved is not to give them anymore money and to contact Citizen's Advice - who can help you a lot.

'Google' Citzen's Advice - should be top link

There have been news reports lately about these 'Cowboy Educators' and I think this might be one for Martin Himself :money:. After all there is this and a few other threads here and elsewhere about this company specifically and others, and people need to be warned about them.

These 'people' are toxic.

HomeLearningCollege

Titan Po

Feedback from our students is extremely important. Every month we receive numerous positive messages but there are certainly times that we don’t get things 100% right. In those situations we take people’s comments on board and do our best to rectify the situation.

For example, the course you are doing is accredited by an internationally recognised awarding body and the course materials have been approved as appropriate for that topic. However, the books are being updated to tie in with recent technological developments. Your comments have highlighted an area that needs additional clarification so we are building that into the updated version.

As with any company worth its salt, we also respond to people directly on forums like this when appropriate. The issues you raise have been discussed with various people across the company and I am happy to investigate further if you contact us directly. However, without your personal details I am unable to confirm the details of your case and take specific action.

You are welcome to email me or our customer support manager Ruth Brokenshire if you would like to talk to us about this in more detail: [EMAIL="ruth.brokenshire@homelearningcollege.com"]ruth.brokenshire@homelearningcollege.com[/EMAIL].

Tor Goldfield

dayno

Looks to be similar problems all round.

I was sold the Comptia A+ course on the primary basis that I would have weekly contact from my tutor and support - Ha!

The salesman who visited was extremely pushy, again saying you must sign up now or you will miss whatever.

The only response I keep getting when I complain about the promised service is "our college does not operate that way". The salesman seemed pretty sure this was the case but since its not on paper where can you go from there?

Titan_Po

I wonder if anyone else can find a company responding directly to consummers seeking INDEPENDENT ADVICE from people on this and other forums.

I think any company worth its salt would reply to DIRECT CONTACT, but wouldn't troll in websites that exist to help people find independent advice from other consumers.

Can anyone find other companies thaat post on these forums?
Who does this put HLC on a par with?
In short, how much is salt worth these days?