Forced to pay £150 for replacement certificates due to college negligence

agrinnall

gvw121 wrote: »

Your missing the point I didn't get a letter through the post like my girlfriend and other class mates. It could have been that my letter was

If you knew that your girlfriend had received a letter to say her certificates were ready surely that would have indicated to you that yours might be ready too, and a quick call would have confirmed that.

fluffnutter

Sometimes you just have to be a bit proactive in life, and that includes chasing up your certificates when there are a myriad of signs indicating that they're ready. But then perhaps it's more fun to wait until everyone else does stuff for you then moan when they don't.

Valuable life lesson - if something's in your interest, then make the effort.

wealdroam

I think the Vice Principal got it right when he wrote...

Vice_Principal wrote: »

When students leave College they are adults and have a responsibility for their own lives, including collecting their examination certificates.

(previously mentioned in post #2, but worth repeating)

pendulum

The only certificate I have from University is the certificate to show the completion of my studies and the level achieved. That was sent to me in the post. I don't possess certificates for each exam I took. I don't know if they exist - if they do exist, nobody told me, thus I did not know to go and collect them.

BargainMad_3

pendulum wrote: »

The only certificate I have from University is the certificate to show the completion of my studies and the level achieved. That was sent to me in the post. I don't possess certificates for each exam I took. I don't know if they exist - if they do exist, nobody told me, thus I did not know to go and collect them.

The OP is referring to the college he was at before he went to University i.e. a sixth form or a further education type institution. Naturally these types of place can have thousands of students who need to collect their certificates each year. A lot are not collected.

Eventually colleges dispose of these on the basis that the students (who are adults after all) obviously can't be bothered to come and get them. The students know they are there. They don't need reminding and colleges don't need to waste time and money telling them they are there.

A more direct way of putting it would be...."If you can't be bothered to spend a few minutes coming to collect them why should we run around after you once you have left!"

I am sympathetic to him having to spend £150 on replacements - the real rip off merchants are the exam boards charging these amounts ! But I don't think the object of his anger - the college - is the right one.

Only my opinion of course.

Hugh_Jass

After I finished my degree - I needed my original A Level certificates from my old school for my first job.

I went back there and within 5 minutes were handed the original certificates. The school never sent me any letter advising me to collect them but they managed to keep them in a safe place. I'm not sure why your college couldn't have done the same and had the hide to charge you so much money.

BargainMad_3

Hugh_Jass wrote: »

After I finished my degree - I needed my original A Level certificates from my old school for my first job.

I went back there and within 5 minutes were handed the original certificates. The school never sent me any letter advising me to collect them but they managed to keep them in a safe place. I'm not sure why your college couldn't have done the same and had the hide to charge you so much money.

Without being too negative, there was a segment of the population which entered post 16 education for one reason only - to get the EMA. Once their courses were over they had no need to go back to their institutions - even to collect their certificates. So why should the institutions keep them? Some would say they were not worth the paper they are written on anyway, but that is a different argument.

You are fortunate that your place still had them after several years otherwise you would be having to pay the same costs as the OP.

I truly sympathise with the OP over the extortionate fees he has had to pay and it has been an expensive lesson but I think his anger towards the college is misplaced. They naturally assumed that, after a period of time, the certificates were not wanted and disposed of them as the students have left and they have current student admin to deal with. It is not an unreasonable conclusion to make given the amounts of uncollected/unwanted certificates.

pmduk

We've not been told just what time period id involved in all of this. It makes a big difference to the response to the original question.

gvw121

londonTiger wrote: »

I collected my GCSE certificates two years later because for some reason the university wanted them.

When I got into college doing my Alevels I figured the GCSE certificates were meaningless so I never collected them.

Don't be too harsh with the OP. when you pass your GCSEs/Alevel you get the preliminary reports confirming your marks and grades, but it's actually a long while before they send out the certificates. In many cases by the time they have the certificates at hand you're so busy with your life and getting on with the next stage that you forget about it completely.

So it's an easy mistake.

I would have expected the college to keep certificates for a couple of years, how much space does a bunch of certificates actually take?

They probably still have it, but can't find it, so they're using the time gap as an excuse for their poor filing to get you to cough up for a reprint.

Thanks for seeing eye to eye, most people don't understand the situation and are are quick to judge me when they would have probably done the same.

Harry_Flashman

gvw121 wrote: »

Please don't comment on this matter if you're not going to say anything productive. I find it sad that you have time to mock people who are only looking for support.

I find it sad that a supposedly educated person can't use correct English.