Can I sue training provider?

NiceguyEddie

My issue is with a training provider of Forest Schools. I am an teaching assistant and completed a level 3 course last September.(I have emails confirming this) I paid for the course myself and as it was a residential paid for a week accommodation in a hotel. I should have received my certificate within 3 months of completion, I have now been waiting 7 months for it. I have emailed the traing providers several times requesting it, even informing them that is is costing me financially as I cannot apply for new (and better paid) jobs without the certificate. I am considering legal action to claim the course costs back (over £700) but can I claim for additional costs like my travel or the hotel or the hours I spent completing the work for a certificate I've never received?

Thanks

bigisi

More of a consumer rights issue than an employment one. Maybe PM a board guide and ask them to move the thread to the consumer rights board.

lincroft1710

As you attended the course, I doubt you would succeed in reclaiming the course costs, let alone any additional costs.

I see you have e-mailed them. Have you written (hardcopy) or telephoned them?

bap98189

Have you had any response to the Emails you sent? Is the training provider still in business?

If so, send a letter before action and a copy to Forest Schools head office. Give them 2 weeks to issue the certificate or tell them you will file a claim with the small claims court. Chances are an official letter to the head office will get something done.

Les79

What qualification provider did they use for the level 3 course? You could potentially contact them directly.

shortcrust

Emails often get you nowhere. There's a much simpler step before considering court action and that's to send an old fashioned complaint letter. I would ring up and ask who you should send your complaint letter to. In the letter ask them to confirm they've received it. In the letter basically just say what you've said to us but be clear that you want your certificate within seven days, be clear that you are making a complaint, and say that given the very poor service you've received you expect they'll want to consider a goodwill gesture of some sort.

If I can't sort a problem out with a single email or phone call I often write a letter. It usually takes less time to write, print and post it than I would spend on a single call centre call.

pop_gun

Lets say you take them to court and win, how will you recover the money owed?

I paid £425 for a course for which the company never conducted. The accrediting body and the institute which oversees the training, told me, it was nothing to do with them.

I'm sorry to say this but you've lost your money. You could take them to court for the certificate, but that's all you can hope for. Trust me I've lost thousands of pounds to training providers. I've never seen a penny back, even when I went to court and won.