IT company scam!!! my rights help!!!!

rwillis88

hi everyone, this is a bit long winded so i apologise in advance i will condense down as much as possible.

a salesman came to my mums house 5 years ago after i rang an advert in the local paper offering IT courses.

he came round and showed me what courses they do. i picked a web masters degree. he said it was the most prestigious course costing 4950.00 i was so desprate to do well i said id beable to repay the cost even though i didnt earn much

. he left my house, went into hes car spoke to someone then came back and said we can offer it over 5 years wich bumps it up to 7450.00 i still accepted signed the credit agreement and he said if any issues i had to ring him

. when my mam come home from work i told her and she went crazy and told me to ring him back and say i wasnt allowed to do it. so i rang him i said i wasnt allowed he said thats fine ill deal with it. so i left it at that. this was 2-3 days after he came to my home.

i forgot about it. i didnt recieve any paperwork after that so i presumed it was sorted. about 2 weeks after maybe 3 i got a letter from barclays partner finance saying they were takin 119.46 our of my account on a specified date. so i rang them and said i cancelled. then they said no you havent, so i started to panick rang this mr beadle and told him what had happened. he then aid. i told you to write a letter to say you didnt want to do it and send by recorded delivery, its on your credit agreement and put the phone down. i got my agreement out and read the small print, but by then it was past the 14 day period:mad:.

i rang barclays back crying my eyes out they didnt want to know they didnt care, i was only 18 at the time and had no idea what to do.


i rang my dad explained to him, he then helped me write a letter to someone high up in the company ICT SKILLS CENTRE. explaining what had happened, gotten proof my an itemised phone bill that id rang this mr beadle a few days after. sent it off to be hit with a letter saying tough basically and i had to pay. in the end my dad said you better just pay and do the course.

all i got through the door was a CD and a 'student folder' containing sheets with how to log on etc...it was not endorsed or anything as if someone just typed up on sheets of paper what to do

i sent all this back as i needed the internet to do it and my mam refused to get it installed. so all the stuff was sent back to them and i havent heard anything since, that was 5 years ago.

im still paying the course as i had to get gregory pennington involved as i had other credit e.g. store cards and the repayments on my small wage was eating all my money. i started falling behind and had to consolidate all my credit and pay back what i could afford. and have been ever since

. this has affected my credit badly. ive paid for so long as i was threatened with baliffs and court from barclays. being so young i just thought paying would keep them off my back and it has. only recently after thinking about it i got in touch with trading standards who said i could get a full refund as im paying for something that i dont have.

i sent the company a letter explaining saying i wanted it sorting. they didnt respond so i got back in touch with TS and they advised me to write to barclays and the IT company again. when i looked for the IT companys address online, i found out they have been dissolved since 2010 after getting in touch with company house.

this company PGT consultants ltd. have had over 15 companies set up for IT skills, train 4 skills etc...half are in liquidation and half are dissolved. the skills centre company alone had a debt of over 3 million to pay to their creditors. so how can i get my money back? barclays from what i hear are not admitting liability as i found forums online of hundreds of people in the same boat...been signed up for courses that cost thousands and arent even legit and cant get out of them..all look like their under PGT consultants one way or another.

as a contract all i got was a pink carbon copy of the credit agreement and a enrolment form, im really angry i wish id done something sooner, 7450 is a lot of money to loose. i might as well of chucked it down the toilet

. i have been in touch with the ombudsman but from what i hear in forums its no good. what rights do i have? any help would be amazing. and sorry its a long message everyone!

bod1467

You might be better to edit your post and break it into readable paragraphs. At the moment it just looks like a wall of text and it is difficult to pick out the salient facts.

gb12345

Agree with bod, your post is virtually unreadable.

But to sum it up, you were a naive 18 year old who was conned by a clever salesman into signing a contract to pay over 7 grand!!! for a worthless IT course.

Unfortunately, you had your 14 day cooling off period and didn't use it, so there isn't really much you can do after paying money for 5 years.

room512

Thought I'd split it into paragraphs as I'm bored waiting for a phonecall and I feel sorry for the OP.

rwillis88 wrote: »

hi everyone, this is a bit long winded so i apologise in advance i will condense down as much as possible.

a salesman came to my mums house 5 years ago after i rang an advert in the local paper offering IT courses.

he came round and showed me what courses they do. i picked a web masters degree. he said it was the most prestigious course costing 4950.00 i was so desperate to do well i said id be able to repay the cost even though i didn't earn much.

he left my house, went into hes car spoke to someone then came back and said we can offer it over 5 years which bumps it up to 7450.00 i still accepted signed the credit agreement and he said if any issues i had to ring him.

when my mam come home from work i told her and she went crazy and told me to ring him back and say i wasn't allowed to do it. so i rang him i said i wasn't allowed he said that's fine ill deal with it. so i left it at that. this was 2-3 days after he came to my home.

i forgot about it. i didnt recieve any paperwork after that so i presumed it was sorted.

about 2 weeks after maybe 3 i got a letter from barclays partner finance saying they were taking 119.46 our of my account on a specified date. so i rang them and said i cancelled. then they said no you havent, so i started to panick rang this mr beadle and told him what had happened. he then aid. i told you to write a letter to say you didnt want to do it and send by recorded delivery, its on your credit agreement and put the phone down.

i got my agreement out and read the small print, but by then it was past the 14 day period:mad:. i rang barclays back crying my eyes out they didnt want to know they didnt care, i was only 18 at the time and had no idea what to do.

i rang my dad explained to him, he then helped me write a letter to someone high up in the company ICT SKILLS CENTRE. explaining what had happened, gotten proof my an itemised phone bill that id rang this mr beadle a few days after. sent it off to be hit with a letter saying tough basically and i had to pay. in the end my dad said you better just pay and do the course.

all i got through the door was a CD and a 'student folder' containing sheets with how to log on etc...it was not endorsed or anything as if someone just typed up on sheets of paper what to do.

i sent all this back as i needed the internet to do it and my mam refused to get it installed. so all the stuff was sent back to them and i havent heard anything since, that was 5 years ago.

im still paying the course as i had to get gregory pennington involved as i had other credit e.g. store cards and the repayments on my small wage was eating all my money. i started falling behind and had to consolidate all my credit and pay back what i could afford. and have been ever since.

this has affected my credit badly. ive paid for so long as i was threatened with baliffs and court from barclays. being so young i just thought paying would keep them off my back and it has.

only recently after thinking about it i got in touch with trading standards who said i could get a full refund as im paying for something that i dont have. so i sent the company a letter explaining saying i wanted it sorting. they didnt respond so i got back in touch with TS and they advised me to write to barclays and the IT company again.

when i looked for the IT companys address online, i found out they have been dissolved since 2010 after getting in touch with company house. this company PGT consultants ltd. have had over 15 companies set up for IT skills, train 4 skills etc...half are in liquidation and half are dissolved.

the skills centre company alone had a debt of over 3 million to pay to their creditors. so how can i get my money back? barclays from what i hear are not admitting liability as i found forums online of hundreds of people in the same boat...been signed up for courses that cost thousands and arent even legit and cant get out of them..all look like their under PGT consultants one way or another.

as a contract all i got was a pink carbon copy of the credit agreement and a enrolment form, im really angry i wish id done something sooner, 7450 is a lot of money to loose. i might as well of chucked it down the toilet.

i have been in touch with the ombudsman but from what i hear in forums its no good. what rights do i have? any help would be amazing. and sorry its a long message everyone!

gb12345

rwillis88 wrote: »

i was only 18 at the time and had no idea what to do.

Check the dates you signed the contract - had you definitely passed your 18th birthday?

terra_ferma

room512 wrote: »

Thought I'd split it into paragraphs as I'm bored waiting for a phonecall and I feel sorry for the OP.

thank you, it's incredible the difference a few paragraphs can make, my eyes could not make head or tail of the message as it was

just wanted to say I feel sorry for OP too, it's a very harsh way to learn a lesson, but personally I can't see them getting their money back, but hope someone who knows more can help them.

rwillis88

id definitely passed my 18th birthday as i was 19 in the November...this all happened in the September.
i just feel sick about it all, like i said everyone who dealt with this company have been paying for years as they were threatened the same way.
it has been the biggest lesson ive learnt in my life. just wish there was something someone could do to help .

rwillis88

and ive adjusted my post as it so 'bad'.

gb12345

rwillis88 wrote: »

id definitely passed my 18th birthday as i was 19 in the November...this all happened in the September

That means that the contract that you signed is legal from an age point of view then unfortuantely.

How much money do you currently owe for the agreement and are you paying anything at the moment.

Also, do you have any assets - house, car, savings etc?

terra_ferma

rwillis88 wrote: »

and ive adjusted my post as it so 'bad'.

it will help you too, because more people will be able to skim through it quickly while their are munching during their lunch hour, and one might have the right information

wealdroam

OP, as the company supplying the course has disappeared, you need to look to Barclays Finance for help.

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 makes the finance company equally responsible for performance of the contract.

You need to inform Barclays that ICT Skills Centre are not performing their part of the bargain, and you expect Barclays Finance to either provide the contracted service or a refund of all monies paid.

Of course Barclays aren't just going to say "ok, here's all your money back", so you need to prepare yourself with dates and all other pertinent facts.

If you want to read more about Section 75 claims, start with MSE's article on the subject.