any protection with bank transfer/cheque?

johnnyloco

I intend to book some a level exams with a company I've seen on the net. It comes to £600 but only choices are cheque and bank transfer. They seem credible and have an office not far from where I live.

I'm just concerned if that if they don't deliver I will have no protection under these payment methods?

Tealblue

You would have more protection if you could pay by other methods (e.g. card or Paypal), but provided you can demonstrate you paid them, you would still have all the normal consumer protections available if a company doesn't deliver - although if they went bust, that wouldn't be much help to you.

Ignore the fact they have an office near you; that won't help! Check things like how long they've been established and google to see if anyone has had problems (or add the name here so other MSE forumites can comment if they know anything about the outfit).

Middlestitch

What makes them seem credible - a snazzy website and lots of references and testimonials which seem to be from happy customers....?

It is quite unusual for a company of any size to have no facilities for card payment. Ask them why they don't accept debit or credit cards. Don't accept the 'too expensive' line - they are entitled to charge a small surcharge for payment by credit card (although not for payment by debit card, which is effectively an electronic cheque), so that doesn't cut any ice.