Training course - not what it should be

citizen7

Hi,

Firstly thanks to everyone who takes the time to read this and offer any help, its very much appreciated.

Now, my wife has paid for and completed a 5 day course in a the beauty industry. This wasn't with a school but with a highly regarding figure in the industry, someone who's name would have been worth being associated with. The course was held rented city centre office space.

It was apparent very early on that it wasn't as thorough as it was made out to be.

All training was supposed to be 1 to 1 by the industry name. There was no depth in any of the training. The biggest disappointment to my wife it that she has no qualification. It clearly stated that after completing the course you would be fully qualified and ready to start your career.

We paid over £2000 for this course by bank transfer, surely someone this highly regarded would not do anything wrong, how wrong can you be!!!!! It's a lot of money in any ones book, and as we thought an investment in my wifes career, but it's turned out to be far from that.

Now, I've looked on the internet for help with how to approach this but not with much success. Is the sales of goods and services act the way to go with? Do you think we could ask for a refund?

Thankyou.

ssparks2003

What qualification did they offer to provide in the advertising?

shaun_from_Africa

citizen7 wrote: »

my wife has paid for and completed a 5 day course in a the beauty industry.

citizen7 wrote: »

It was apparent very early on that it wasn't as thorough as it was made out to be.

Did your wife complain whilst the course was running and ask for a refund then?
If not then as she completed the course without complaint, it might be very hard to get the company to agree to any refund.

ssparks2003

Also is your wife already working in the field, was this a b2b transaction?

Waterlily24

That sounds an awful lot, I used to work for a company that offered beauty and hairdressing qualifications all over the country (some time ago now though). One part of them is still going VTCT not sure what the cost would be now though.

Waterlily24

Had a quick look at their website and things are quite expensive now!

citizen7

My wife is new to the industry and there are so many different qualifications, it was difficult to work out which ones were better, or which would be more beneficial going forward.
When we saw this course and the claim that you would be qualified it took the thought process away. It was trust and faith in the individual that made us believe that everything would be as we thought.

citizen7

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Did your wife complain whilst the course was running and ask for a refund then?
If not then as she completed the course without complaint, it might be very hard to get the company to agree to any refund.

After completing the course you can be taken on by the tutors agency and be advertised as one of her senior professionals. Being part of the agency was something that we took into account. This would springboard my wife’s career. Being called a senior professional for a “name” in the industry would stand you apart from others working freelance.
The “name” was very rude and arrogant. When people made valid points she would stare at them like they had personally insulted her. I had to convince my wife to bite her tongue and carry on. We had to see some benefit from the money, we didn’t think that by complaining we would be part of the agency.
She didn’t complain, it seemed to be in our best interest not to.
Since completing the course (8/9 girls on it) everyone feels the same way. It’s not our individual view that this wasn’t right, everyone feels the same but no one spoke up during the course all pretty much for the same reason.

citizen7

ssparks2003 wrote: »

Also is your wife already working in the field, was this a b2b transaction?

She doesn’t work in this field. This wouldn’t be b2b.

citizen7

Waterlily24 wrote: »

Had a quick look at their website and things are quite expensive now!

Yes, they are expensive. We could have gone with a school and saved around 300/400. We thought being trained by and being associated with the name would be worth the extra money.

Aylesbury_Duck

You seem to have two options. Firstly, write a complaint and ask for a refund. You're not entitled to a full refund because you did receive some sort of service even if it wasn't fully in accordance with what you signed up for. If that doesn't work, try a small claims action but you'll need evidence to back your claims and sufficient to make the court believe you're right.

Realistically, that's all you can do.