Mis-sold Home Learning College Course??

sarann2010

rich.rw wrote: »

I am ashamed to admit it but I was conned by home learning college's sales rep. He came to my house as I was interested in a course. We talked about the course and I informed him that I was on a Debt Management Programme and would not be able to pay monthly and the only way I could pay in full would be to ask my brother. The rep told me it was in my best interest to pay a £50 deposit which would then allow him to send out the full course details that I could then browse at my leisure and if I didn't want to continue with the course I could send the pack back and my £50 would be returned. I told the rep that I wouldn't be progressing with the course for at least 4/5 weeks as I had a lot on at work as it was Christmas at the time. I was asked to sign an enrollment form and told not to worry it was only for the £50, the full amount stated would only be taken if I progressed with the course. 5weeks later I received a demand for the whole amount. The form I had signed was a full enrollment and I had stupidly signed to pay the full amount. After much argument and after seeking advice from CAB I accepted I was going to have to pay. I agreed with them to pay £60 a month and then I started the course. I have finished two assignments. Then last week I received a call to inform me that as the original contract was to pay in full, I was in breach of my contract and I could no longer continue with the course and would face possible court action if I didn't pay in full. Also after reading some of the other comments, I was also informed that I would receive the programmes needed for the course but i only received a 3month trial! But alas as I am now paying over £1400 for a course that I never wanted to do and now can't do, the programme is not important. I beleive the rep's name is Paul Blackmore for reference.

I joined Home Learning in 2007, signed all the papers including the direct debit and gave the rep the deposit, I was promised that there would be good comunication with tutors....and was also told don't worry if they don't hear from you for a while they will soon contact you.. none of which happened. But 2 years down the line I got a phone call out of the blue saying I that the full amount was now due, I queried why this was and the man on the other end of the phone said that they had made a mistake and not taken the direct debit. O.k I suppose I should have checked my statements more closely, but how many of us look to see if money hasn't been debited (you only see whats gone out and check that). I pointed out to him that as it was now two years down the line I coud not afford to pay the full amount and as circumstances had changed I couldn't even afford to pay the direct debit at the rate set before. So a new agreement was made for a reduced direct debit over a longer period. A few months later I started receiving threatening letters asking for full repayment, at which point I was not pleased (understatement), I rang to enquire what was going on.. "you have to pay the amount in full" you signed a contract (shortenened version). I pointed out that perhaps it was they who had broken the contract by not activating the direct debit, this is still ongoing as they have set up the direct debit again and I recieved a letter this morning to say that I am in arrears, please pay the whole sum. Has anyone else had this problem Or any ideas as what to do to get rid of them.

stephyt23

Seems to be a moral to all these stories DON'T DO IT!

welshmoneylover

HomeLearningCollege wrote: »

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

After reading all the complaints on this board, I think I'll give the HLC a wide berth. :rotfl:

orangefleece30

Little worried now ...My Wife has just signed up (Thursday) for the Book keeping and Sage course at a fee of £ 1550.

Is there anyone out there who has anything good to say about this company?.

We are still within our time period for cancelling and think this will may have to be done ASAP. I really don't want to lose that amount of money to some shoddy outfit which after reading here and elsewhere is what we could well be dealing with.

sarann2010

I wouldn't use them again and probably none of the other home learning organisations, your wife would be better off finding a college course, on the whole these are cheaper as well, and you get the added advantage of tutor involvement on a face to face basis, I wish I'd never gone down the line of home learning, I've done one or two courses at college in the past and although as a mature student you might feel a little apprehensive before you start (I know I did) when you actually start the course you make lots of new friends and will probably find that you are glad you took that route. Also you have the added advantage that the qualifications should be recognised.I presume as you've written come on Ilson that is Ilkeston Derbyshire, if so check out the following address, might be of help.
http//derby.floodlight.co.uk/derby/courses-classes-lessons/best-bookkeeping-(aat)-courses/qualification/study/region/16180339/220706/100/domain.html

orangefleece30

we are returning her course material requesting a full refund ....will be looking at the likes of BPP instead or the OU .........

Biscuit47

Avoid Homelearning College and similar firms who offer these courses if you can. I have had a painful and expensive experience with HLC and talk from experience.
If you really want to do a course to enhance your employment propects try the local colleges and take advice from established professionals and people already in the business.
Remember these courses are expensive and particularly HLC. They will not tell you of the costs beforehand and the salesman will not give independant unbiased advice. They visit with the sole aim of making a sale and getting your money whether the course is any use or appropriate for you or not. You get 7 days grace but with a course that is made up of 10 books, like I signed up for, it is impossible to assess in that time. It was only after I had been working on the course for some time I started to realise that it was clearly of little use to me. Too late then. I do not even think it is a good course at all. By that stage any subsequent complaint is a complete waste of time.
I tried CIB and Trading Standards and the consensus of opinion was I signed up for the thing, paid my money and, for better or worse, I was now stuck with the consquences.
It was a hard lesson and I shall be much more careful in future.

jmh1985

Hi,

I signed up for a HLC course called MCDST (Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician) back in May 2009. The lady signed me up and took my £50 cheque as deposit, telling me that I will have 14 days after my course material arrives to cancel and all money would be refunded.

My course books arrived nearly nearly 3 weeks later and after paying my initial payment of £62.25, I realised I could not afford the monthly payments, so I rang up and said I would like to cancel as my 14 day cancellation period had not expired, but the man on the phone told me I could not cancel payments as I was outside the cancellation period as the 14 days started when I signed my agreement and not when my course materials arrived, although the credit agreement stated no date or time period to cancel.
All the guy offered me was a reduced payment plan, which I accepted as I thought that was my only choice.
A few weeks ago I was revising for my first exam and my tutor told me that the course was mainly a call centre type qualification and I was told by the sales lady the qualification would aid me in getting a job working with computers face to face and not over the phone, so it seems like the course was mis-sold to me.

To top it off, due to the discontinue of Windows XP, HLC are cancelling my course as of next year. So my choices are to transfer to a Windows Vista/Windows 7 courses and pay more or hurry and finish the course by next March, which due to my situation at home would not work. It just seems to me they are interested in money and not interest of customers.

I find the Customer Services dept. of HLC rude unless you are paying them money and I feel really let down as what I was told at the start about my cancellation options were different.

Looks like I have an uphill battle ahead, as I want to just cancel the course and cut my losses as the product I signed up for will soon no longer be available.

I really dont know what to do as I feel was mis-sold it and then deceived on my rights to cancel and now I am being either rushed into finishing this course or being forced to change to another for extra charge and hassle.

JMH

VirginiaW

I was one of the HLC student and I can't believe what I read on the internet. I finished in April 2009 CS3 and I am working in Web Design.

Orangefleece30:
"Is there anyone out there who has anything good to say about this company?"

They are lots of people out here like me with + feedback but we dont search on the internet in forums because we have more important things to do and 2nd thing is that we know what we wont before we sign a paper. I never had problems with HLC from day one and a very good comunication with my tutor K.A. (A+:T), 2,3,4 times a day sometimes on the e.mail.

I need 2 more certificates for the moment and will be back with HLC in January.

If you are not sure dont sign the papers because nobody will force you and if you are not strong enogh to refuse ask one of your parents to assist you and teach you first of all how this things works and how to deal with them.

P.S. Dont forget that on this forum are 10 students with negative feedback and hundreds out there with positive like me in the last year;

2nd thing is that HLC has all rights to answer this forum, this means that they are up to date with everything and doesnt run away.

be realistic

Hope this helps other students. I'm glad I find this forum by mistake.

dispossessed

I wonder if I might chip in with my two cents worth ? !

It is perfectly possible to aquire A+ certification by just taking the exam at your "Pearson VUE" local testing centre. These seem to be at most Further Education Colleges (sorry - showing my age - Universities) that offer I.T related courses. The cost, I believe, is around £80.

All well and good but how does one acquire "the knowledge" to pass the exam.

Well, for a start, there are a wealth of Free resources available online. Here's one to get you started - but there really is an absolute plethora of free info out there online if you want to undertake your own study. I would also recommend the absolute bible of all PC techs - Upgrading & Repairing PCs by Scott Meuller.

Finally, as there's no substitute for experience, get yourself some unserviceable hardware - and fix it ! The easiest way is probably to post a request on your local Freecycle group.

As for tools - well, my own kit contains the following :-

A selection of demagnetised screwdrivers (about £15)

A long self-retaining forcep (Spencer Wells)

Pair of pliers (£3 from ASDA)

A powerful L.E.D. torch (£2 from a street vendor in old Bangkok)

A head lamp (about £5)

Magnifying glass (about £5 via Stanley Gibbons on eBay)

ISA / PCI bus tester (about a tenner from eBay via China)

Power Supply Tester (a fiver from eBay via our friends in China)

Power Socket safety tester (£5 from electrician's supply shop on eBay)

AVO meter ("Multi-tester" - rarely used but cheap and occasionally useful - £5 via eBay)

An "earth" wrist strap (about £5)

Various cable / socket adapters (around £2 each)

Ethernet cable crimping tool (£20 -ouch!)

A large selection of "odds n sods" pulled from scrapped systems and salvaged from skips over the years on a "that'll come in handy one day" basis. Occasionally - it does ! Basically - never throw anything aways but hoard stuff like :-

Ethernet card

Internal / external modems (especially the latter)

A spare Router (free via Freecycle)

A few "broadband modems". (free via Freecycle)

A Kettle Lead (£2.99 if you need to buy one)

Spare hard drives - Laptop and desktop (free out of old systems)

Cables of all types & lengths - Pound shops are an excellent source for the USB type. (I also made one of these and it has come in quite handy on occasions).

A few diagnostic software tools are also useful :-

The Ultimate Boot CD (free - but give these guys a donation - they deserve it)

knoppix (Free - but as above)


Last, but by no means least, as to stuff up is human - a home built hardware Data Recovery rig (made for under a tenner).


More than anything else (IMHO) a desire to understand how things work and a passionate desire to figure out "why" when they don't.

Do not omit to acquire a broad understanding of how older systems work - the oldest system I have been called upon to repair dated from 1982 ! It almost goes without saying therefore that a working knowledge of "DOS" (Microsoft and others) and working from the Command Line / Terminal is extremely useful.

My own journey into I.T. was as a second career after 25+ years nursing. Unfortunately it all went pear shaped when the organization closed down 18 months ago and I have been out of work since.

Anyway, I hope that some of this may have been useful to those who are keen to learn PC repair but, like myself, are of limited funds.

Sorry for such a long post - Good luck to you all.

Trevor