Home learning ripoff

machairs

Becles wrote: »

Have you tried your local "bricks and mortar" college? I did a bookkeeping course for free. All I had to pay was a nominal fee (around £20) to do the exam at the end.

Be wary of home learning companies. There are some out there who charge an absolute fortune for courses that are not recognised by employers. I used to work for an IT company and would sift the applications when they came in for the techy positions. The director would not take on people with what he called "micky mouse" qualifications from some home learning places, as he said they were not experienced enough to do the job, and being a small company, we didn't have the time to train them up to standard.

Reasearch the qualification before you start and make sure it is going to get you where you want to be, in case you waste time and money for nothing.

Very good advice here. I used to run the Home Study Dept. in our local College. Most Colleges offer Home Study or Flexible Learning courses either free or at very competitive prices. Go for a qualification that you recognise ie have seen requested in a job advert or the like. If you don't recognise it, chances are a potential employer won't either. PM if you want some guidance on this.

scoombi

I unfortunately signed up for a home study course that costs £1000.
It wasn't until I checked the paperwork, when I saw it advertised cheaper elsewhere, that I realised I had signed a credit agreement not a course agreement, which I now can't get out of!
When I wrote to them to say that I wanted to cancel, as I can do it for £250 at the college, they just wrote back saying I couldn't cancel outside of the 'cooling off period' and re-sent me the tutors details.
I also told them that I had only heard from the tutor once since signing up and I didn't want to deal with them. The tutor then called me to chase up the coursework, only 9 months after I originally spoke to her!!
Anyone have any advice of how I can get out of it, it's such a waste of money!!

kidda

Can anyone recommend a online Sage computerised book-keeping course, I'd recently been recommended the the HLC one but now after reading all this, I'm not so sure!

mountainofdebt

I know learning direct to a course that you can do at home/at your own pace but I was disappointed with it ...but there again I am used to the high standards of the OU!

(Land_of)_Maz

Oh i am so glad i did a search on this! I am supposed to be meeting with a bloke from HLC tomorrow. I am calling off.....

Will look at local college options instead.

Thanks to all for advice! Sorry for resurrecting an old thread!

dmg24

lakeview wrote: »

Open Study College seems to be a good "study at home" option I think.

Links in sigs are not allowed. Spammer.

PasturesNew

It is hard finding courses. There's no central good search engine for it.

Where I used to live there wasn't any real adult education provision. Being a rural area most courses concentrate on basic literacy. So spread out any funding over a large area and you end up with any courses being cancelled before they start due to "zero interest". So then they stop providing them.

Last year I just wanted to do A Level Maths at evening class. Couldn't have done it in my county. Nearest would have been 60-90 miles away.

If only things were simpler!

A lot of funding has been taken from adult education to fund basic literacy across the board. Which is why you might find that evening courses are now very expensive, compared to a few years back.

Of course, it's OK if you're on benefits as you get a concessionary rate/might even get it free. But if you're simply on a low income then it's still likely to be seen as too pricey.

Good luck

carolinela

If you want to do bookkeeping look at the institute of certified book keepers website and its tells you where the different course are available. propably other qualification boards as well with same details.

i am currently doing mine with acpd (through home learning), yes very over priced!! Up until today i have found them very helpful, have just completed all their couse content and phone to inquire about an id card i need for the final exam. Have been told i should have got it at the start of my course, i need to sit a level 1 exam first, need id card. cant apply for exam 1 until january and have to wait for result before i can apply for level 2 exam. wont be able to do it in feb so have to wait until june. so only 6 months to wait until i can get a qualification. when i signed up the seller said 3 months to do the course and youll be making money from it. it will be well over a year with these dates.
sorry to waffle on but im really angry. No one can help.
dont use hlc or acpd.

satinkitten

scoombi wrote: »

I unfortunately signed up for a home study course that costs £1000.
It wasn't until I checked the paperwork, when I saw it advertised cheaper elsewhere, that I realised I had signed a credit agreement not a course agreement, which I now can't get out of!
When I wrote to them to say that I wanted to cancel, as I can do it for £250 at the college, they just wrote back saying I couldn't cancel outside of the 'cooling off period' and re-sent me the tutors details.
I also told them that I had only heard from the tutor once since signing up and I didn't want to deal with them. The tutor then called me to chase up the coursework, only 9 months after I originally spoke to her!!
Anyone have any advice of how I can get out of it, it's such a waste of money!!

you should have a cooling off period of about 7-10 days. I do home learning with the open university and find them so helpful, plus you get help with financing if on benefits.