Online College FRAUD!

JayCarson

Good day to you all and thanks for taking the time to read this thread.

The reason for it’s creation lies in a dark place where I’ve slowly realised I may have been a victim to fraud. As an individual from the hospitality sector, a hard hitting impact from the pandemic lead me to take desperate measures and accept a finance agreement from a “home learning college”.

An online form was filled out initially and not heard back from for a couple of months. As the year of 2021 started I received a call and was given an online interview as well as videos explaining the 97% pass rate for the college.

A long list of City & Guilds qualifications were promised and a “interest free loan” of £7800.00 was offered after a “in-depth” review for which the sales man made the mistake of leaving his discussion with the finance company on loudspeaker which I ignorantly ignored (there was no review of eligibility just a straight up acceptance of the finance).

I have ONLY been provided with course-books, a DVD and a bunch of webcam recorded videos of poor quality, I was promised “around the clock support from dedicated tutors” in an attempt to contact them, my “dedicated” tutor wasn’t even there to answer the call and his plumbing counterpart simply outlined that I should circle the answers and hand in the results online.

The promised “virtual learning” is nowhere to be seen and I am now paying £180.00 per month with no choice but to continue suffering in silence.

I cannot believe I have been sold into a deal like this, even if no one can help me escape this financial prison of an agreement, if this forum can even stop another young lad or older gentlemen from being in my position at least some of you will be able to finesse these venomous fangs of manipulation.

I plead to anyone who can help me get out of this deal, as a family man I am struggling to stay afloat and now have another huge bill to deal with.

Hope you’re all well and having a lovely day, yours truly,
Jay

pbartlett

Am i right in thinking this course was financed by a loan? If so then luckily you have much greater protection than if you had paid yourself.

Make a formal complaint to the finance company saying you want a section 75 complaint, cancellation of the loan contract and a refund of all.monies paid so far.

If they refuse then you can escalate the complaint to the financial ombudsman. 

Suggest you post on the banking board where experts will help you

JayCarson

Hello, thank you for your reply.

Yes the deal on the contract it states it is a loan, however the company itself are simply saying that I have passed the cancellation period and there is nothing I can do. The only thing I was offered was a application to reduce payment amount which I was then threatened with it potentially affecting my credit score. Funny however that no loan can been on Experian, neither can any credit searches from the finance company - the “direct debits” are also being taken as individual payments from my account.

I shall ask for a section 75 complaint once they respond to my most recent email, I have spoken to the ombudsmen that’s following protocol which states I should give the company 8 weeks to respond. Just enough time to take another two payments unfortunately.

Appreciate your advice!

Ectophile

Bear in mind that Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act is between you and the finance company.  Any "cooling off" period from the college is irrelevant.

CardinalWolsey

I'm not sure the OP is even confident that there is a finance company involved... I would check out the name of the "finance company" on your paper work, and ensure they appear on the FCA's register here: https://register.fca.org.uk/s/

Potbellypig

Do you have a link to their website?

eddddy

Assuming that a finance company is involved, Section 75 of the consumer credit act would make the finance company jointly liable for breach of contract and/or misrepresentation. So you would need to clearly explain to the finance company what breaches of contract and/or misrepresentation have occurred.

What Ombudsman have you spoken to?  You don't need to wait 8 weeks to initiate a section 75 claim with the finance company.

But if you make a claim and the finance company reject it, you have to make a formal complaint to the finance company, and give the finance company up to 8 weeks to answer your complaint. Then you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman.

Tokmon

JayCarson said:

Good day to you all and thanks for taking the time to read this thread.

The reason for it’s creation lies in a dark place where I’ve slowly realised I may have been a victim to fraud. As an individual from the hospitality sector, a hard hitting impact from the pandemic lead me to take desperate measures and accept a finance agreement from a “home learning college”.

An online form was filled out initially and not heard back from for a couple of months. As the year of 2021 started I received a call and was given an online interview as well as videos explaining the 97% pass rate for the college.

A long list of City & Guilds qualifications were promised and a “interest free loan” of £7800.00 was offered after a “in-depth” review for which the sales man made the mistake of leaving his discussion with the finance company on loudspeaker which I ignorantly ignored (there was no review of eligibility just a straight up acceptance of the finance).

I have ONLY been provided with course-books, a DVD and a bunch of webcam recorded videos of poor quality, I was promised “around the clock support from dedicated tutors” in an attempt to contact them, my “dedicated” tutor wasn’t even there to answer the call and his plumbing counterpart simply outlined that I should circle the answers and hand in the results online.

The promised “virtual learning” is nowhere to be seen and I am now paying £180.00 per month with no choice but to continue suffering in silence.

I cannot believe I have been sold into a deal like this, even if no one can help me escape this financial prison of an agreement, if this forum can even stop another young lad or older gentlemen from being in my position at least some of you will be able to finesse these venomous fangs of manipulation.

I plead to anyone who can help me get out of this deal, as a family man I am struggling to stay afloat and now have another huge bill to deal with.

Hope you’re all well and having a lovely day, yours truly,
Jay

Well you haven't even named the online college so you will at the very least need to do that to stop people from signing up to them.

Also what research did you do before you decided to sign up to the course and pay them?