Online Training Company Scam Artists

mrmike1989

TLDR;
Paid a training company to see me through a certification but they only seem to be giving me their own printed certificate, not the official industry recognised one.



I'm not providing the name of the company in question at the moment until I can verify my suspicions.

I recently decided to get into a new field of work, something I've been interesting in for a long time. I have a little experience, nothing professional though. I decided to purchase a well recommended book from people in the industry, learn and sit a couple of exams to achieve an industry wide recognised qualification that would help me get an entry level position.

In the mean time whilst studying, I decided to apply for a few entry level jobs after wading my way through the fake job listings that are just adverts for training companies. Although my CV is pretty weak, sometimes these entry level jobs don't absolutely require qualifications and are happy to take on someone working toward certification.

I managed to get a face to face interview and a telephone interview from two different recruitment agencies, after one day of applying for lots of entry level positions. The telephone interview seemed to be authentic, the interviewer asked me the questions you would expect, he took time to explain the contract work that was available, nothing seemed out of the ordinary at all. We talked a little about my lack of qualifications and experience, (which I expected) but he said he wanted to give people a chance to get into the industry, and with my existing qualifications (in another sector, but somewhat slightly useful) he said I was a candidate that he would like to hire and would be suitable for this particular role that was available.

He told me that there were a few other candidates that had more experience & qualifications than me, and that there were 4 positions in my area. He asked me to sit a short 50 question assessment online to gauge my current knowledge, and providing I passed that, I would likely be in with a good chance. I sat the timed exam on my PC at home, and scraped a pass. I received a phone call from him the next day, he said that even though I passed the exam, I was not selected, other people with better CV's than me were chosen (understandable). He continued to praise me, and said that he get's lots of contract work and would be willing to shortlist me for the next position available provided I could backup my knowledge providing I have a qualification (again, understandable). He then recommended the very course that I was currently studying at home.

The book that I had started to read explained how the examination process worked, it explained how you needed to purchase exam vouchers from a well known test centre, and then book the exams. It also mentioned that no one should ever pay full price for the exam as there are various places where you can get the exam vouchers cheaper, it even listed one site, that I sadly could not use because it was a US site.

I told the interviewer my situation, he was happy to hear that I was working toward the certification he recommended. He then asked how long it would take me, I told him 140 hours of recommended study time was specified in the book. He said that he knew a training company that would help me get my certification faster, he said the books are filled with a lot of information that is not in the exam, and that this training company focus on things that are in the exam only, allowing for faster learning. He told me that it would be cheaper too. I thought to myself, "maybe this is where I can get cheaper exams, like the book said!".

After referring me I received a call from said training company, who offered to provide me with this industry recognised certification that I required. I was told that the prices for the training course included exam fees. The overall cost of the course (which provided online learning materials and a tutor) was a little cheaper than what it would have cost me to purchase the exam vouchers direct from the official exam centre. I whipped out my debit card and made my 1st of 5 monthly payments of £79/month. Great.

Whilst waiting for my logon, I did a little research on the company, TrustPilot rating of 8.7 (Great). Read a few reviews then came across one review that was in dispute. The reviewer had rated them 1 star because they never provided him with official exam vouchers, they only printed out their own 'certificate' from their own non official internal exams! "Crap..." I thought to myself.

I called the sales adviser back and asked her about the exams, she seemed very very unsure about the situation, completely failed to explain to me how the official examinations work. She used phrases like, "as far as I know", and to be honest, the whole conversation felt a little awkward, I was very polite and did not accuse them of anything. She then explained that I only needed to pass the internal exams to satisfy the recruitment guy who referred me. I thought it was a little strange how she remembered his name, almost as if he actually worked for the training company. I told her I needed the proper qualification for future career prospects, and she told me that after I completed the internal "mock exams" (her words), they would "sort something out" for the official exam. She then told me she would send me an email so I could communicate with her directly via email. I think this was a way to end the awkward phone call.

Before emailing her I received my login, I logged on and had a little look around, they had an internal comments sections where other users could write help messages etc, one of them was a user asking how to sit his official exam after passing the internal exam. A reply underneath it stated that this training course was to prepare users for the real exam and that he would have to purchase exam vouchers separately.

Yesterday at around 4 pm; I fired off an email to the sales adviser referring her to that comment. I have had no response yet. I think I've been scammed. I also then noticed that the recruitment guy's email address is an abbreviation of the training company's name. Normally I'm good at picking up on scams but this was very sneaky indeed. I think I have been targeted by a fake recruitment agency pretending to have jobs. I think they were hoping that I would be happy with the internal exam certificate in order to satisfy the "recruitment agency", I would then imagine they would continue to string me along with job opportunities that are just out of reach, after having taken my money.

I still "owe" them 4 more payments and I'm afraid I will not be able to dispute this service legally. The reason being that they do genuinely offer learning materials and appear to be a good company for those that just want to learn. I can't find anything on their website to suggest they provide official examinations. I don't feel stupid at all, they blatantly, factually lied to me about their service, completely mis-sold. They have had every opportunity to express that they do not provide official exams. You simply cannot advertise a certificate and use the official name of the certification and then provide something else.

hollydays

If you want to email me the details I will check the companies out, in confidence.

DoaM

How can OP email you? Did you mean PM?

hollydays

Oops sorry yes

takman

It does seem they have mislead you into signing up for the course.

But weren't you suspicious that this company could supposedly offer training materials and the official exams for less than the price of the exams directly. This alone should have made you do some research before paying the money.