Does anybody have any experience with learndirect?

clarkey1984

Hello everyone. First of all, apologies if this is in the incorrect section, on scrolling through all of the different subsections this seemed to fit the bill the most.

Back in February 2021, my partner signed up to do a full nail course, which involved paying a monthly fee, totalling around £500 by the time it is complete.

Two key parts of their terms and conditions were as follows.

1: Completion of the course would produce a nationally recognised and fully accredited qualification, allowing the person to practice in this field and obtain the required insurance to do so.

2: Once fifty percent of the course had been paid for, the physical "kit" (equipment, products, etc) was to be sent out.

The kit was never sent out, and after much back and forth with learndirect via email, she has now paid around 80 percent of the course cost, and still no kit has been dispatched, so she has now stopped paying for the course.

Furthermore, on speaking with several other people who have completed the course, it transpires that these courses do NOT meet whatever standards are necessary in order to obtain insurance and legally operate once they have been completed. The claim that they were fully accredited is no longer stated on any current documentation online.

Also, learndirect are now sending correspondence that mentions debt recovery for the outstanding £100, threats of legal action etc, scare tactics with no basis I would assume.

Stupidly, my partner, not realising that any of this would happen, has deleted all of her emails around six months ago, which sadly included the passage about full accreditation, so as such we no longer have proof that this was ever stated.

To me, they are clearly in breach of contract, as the course doesn't not provide what they said it does, and also no kit was provided, as per their contract / terms and conditions.

Does anybody have any advice on how to proceed please?

Many thanks in advance

mattyprice4004

First of all you'll need proof that their documentation said accreditation would be possible - try using the Way Back Machine website to find an old version of their site. 
If not, your partner needs to speak to those other people from the course and ask them to send a copy of all the documentation over. 

I know it's too late now, but NEVER delete emails you may later rely on - saved my bacon a few times!