Spicey v Skillstrain

[Spiceskull]

Oh dear - can I really have been so gullible?

I had Mr SkillsTrain round yesterday, discussing my options for the CIW course. He was here for four hours, and I truly believed I had my eyes wide open...

I signed up for a SkillsTrain course, and one of the forms went along the lines of "you agree that the information given is true (it was) and you also agree that you have read and abide by the data sharing policy (I don't - they say that SkillsTrain will share data)"

There was no option to agree one and decline the other - so I signed that the information was true, and also added (with initials) that data sharing by SkillsTrain is NOT acceptable...

And now I find this thread about SkillsTrain...guess I will be cancelling today before anything happens...I will read through all the bumpf he left first, and see what mistakes I made...

[prakruthi]

Hello friend,

Do it as early as possible and dont try to cancel by callling them on telephone b'coz tat's not an authenticated procedure. Do write to their mailing address & make sure u send it through a registered post so tat u always have a proof of cancellation. This is just in case they say tat they didn't receive any cancellation request from u......u can always stand up with ur proof i.e, registered post. I really think if I had got any such advice I would ve been saved from falling into such a messy pit which is costing me £75 every month. If u really want to do a course , research well on the internet & try gathering infm from other coaching institutions which i realized very late.

All the best for ur studies...& get out of this skills rubbish as early as possible.

Cheeers

[Spiceskull]

Going out to SkillsTrain today - recorded delivery...I'm not taking any chances after reading all that I have read:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for the time spent with your SkillsTrain agent, XXX XXX, on Wednesday 21 May, and the discussions about what SkillsTrain course would best suit my needs.

In the two days since registering with you, I have given my decision some thought, and now understand that the SkillsTrain course will not suit my requirements after all, and therefore will not be of benefit to me.

Since signing up for your course, I have not received anything in the post from SkillsTrain. I would have expected some form of confirmation, and, as indicated on the agreement, details of how to cancel the agreement.

Please be on notice: I am now cancelling the agreement with SkillsTrain with immediate effect. This means that all agreements and contracts previously signed with SkillsTrain are now void, as this cancellation takes effect within the seven day cooling off period allowed for such contracts.

This also means that the cheque I gave SkillsTrain as deposit, in the sum of £75, must not now be presented to my bank. Please confirm that the cheque has been destroyed.

This also means that any agreements to set up a direct debit with my bank are also cancelled, and therefore must not be set up at the appointed times. MY INSTRUCTION TO SET UP A DIRECT DEBIT IS NOW CANCELLED.

Finally, as I no longer have a contract with you, I instruct you to destroy/delete any personal data you may hold on me. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 information may only be kept for the purposes intended. The purposes were that I would be a student on your course, I no longer wish to be a student on your SkillsTrain course, and therefore you have no legal reason to hold data on me.

Please make arrangements for collection of the materials provided to me. I will keep them in a safe and secure place for a period of one month. After such date, if I have not heard from you then I shall dispose of the materials accordingly.

I look forward to your confirmation of these matters in due course, and at your earliest convenience.

[lear01]

Spiceskull. I'm not going to tell you whether this course is right for you or not but if you want to cancel it, follow my instructions as mentioned earlier in this thread and do it now. I'll just reiterate:
Send a letter tomorrow, with a copy of the agreement, by Special Delivery to the finance company (probably Barclays Partner Finance/Clydesdale Financial Services Ltd, PO Box 3979 Glasgow G51 1YL) cancelling the finance package.
Check the Royal Mail website on Monday and track your item to make sure it has been delivered.
Phone the finance company on Monday (0844 811 9000) to make sure they have received your letter and ask them to confirm in writing that your agreement is cancelled.
Inform your bank on Monday to cancel the deposit cheque and not to arrange any direct debit for the finance company.
Send a letter to Skillstrain head office (with a copy of the finance agreement) by Special Delivery on Monday advising you have cancelled the finance package and that you are officially cancelling the course. Again track delivery on the Royal Mail website.
Send all course material back to Skillstrain head office (not a freepost address) by recorded delivery. Again track delivery on the Royal Mail website.
Once the finance package is officially cancelled you are no longer obliged to pay for the course.

[Spiceskull]

Okay - I didn't realise that both the finance agreement and agreement with SkillsTrain needed cancelling...as luck would have it we are now entering a bank holiday weekend, so I guess Tuesday is going to be the earliest that anything will happen...but I take your point...the bank is my next port of call...

[lear01]

It's clever salesmanship. Look carefully, you've not put your signature on any Skillstrain documentation (or I didn't anyway). What you have signed is a loan agreement directly with a finance company. Therefore the responsibility to cancel the agreement is yours and can only be done with the finance company. The more you converse with Skillstrain the longer they keep you hanging on, until the cooling off period with the finance company runs out, after which you are legally obliged to pay the whole amount or become seriously blacklisted. So just concentrate on dealing with the finance company then tell Skillstrain what you've done. Don't ask Skillstrain for any assistance. Five working days is the cancellation deadline, so if you include last Thursday as your first day, you ll have until next Thursday for the finance company to receive your letter. Ample time. (Forgot Monday is a Bank Holiday, doh, and I'm a posty!).

[Spiceskull]

Okay:

• Bank instructed not to set up DD or cash cheques
• SkillsTrain notified of cancellation, and ORDERED not to cash cheque or progress with application
• Finance house notified of cancellation, and DEMAND made that DD not be set up, and that contract is cancelled...

So, that is all of them TOLD what to do, or rather what not to do...job done!

[Spiceskull]

I don't ruddy believe it - SkillsTrain cashed my cheque - I am not going to take any prisoners on this:

NOTICE OF INTENT TO COMMENCE LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Dear Sir/Madam,

Following my initial interest in your SkillsTrain courses on 21/05/2008, and my subsequent cancellation letter of 23/05/2008, I am dismayed by your blatant disregard of my wishes and my instructions. I signed up for your SkillsTrain course on 21 May, on the understanding that I had a seven day cooling off period in which to consider my decision. At that time I provided a cheque in the sum of £75 as a deposit should I continue with the SkillsTrain course.

After reflection, I wrote to you on 23 May, by recorded delivery, notifying you of my intent to cancel the SkillsTrain course, and therefore any payments agreed. I also asked that you destroy all data pertaining to me, and that you write in confirmation.

Today I received notification from my bank that the cheque in deposit was presented by SkillsTrain on 10 June, and as a result an overlimit penalty was applied to my account in the sum of £35. In light of my cancellation of 23 May, and therefore the absence of any contract between us, the removal of this £75 constitutes an unwarranted act, and the overlimit penalty is a consequence of that act.

WHAT I REQUIRE:

• I require a full and unconditional refund of the deposit taken in error, and in the sum of £75
• I require reimbursement of the £35 overlimit penalty, applied as a direct result of this error
• I require remedial costs at the rate of £9/hour, at a total time of 4 (four) hours, and in the total sum of £36

Therefore I require a cheque or similar in the total sum of £146, and payable to me within seven (7) days from the date of this letter.

If you do not respond within seven days, or you do not respond to my satisfaction, I will write again, giving a further seven days for you to reflect on your decision, and on your inaction. If, after this further seven days, I do not hear from you, I will then commence proceeedings for recovery in the courts, and without further notice or contact.

I also request that any response you give provides confirmation of destruction of any personal data you may hold on me, and an undertaking that you understand the nature of a contract cancellation under contract law and common law. If you do not understand the meaning of this, then I suggest you contact your legal department.

[lear01]

But didn't you cancel the cheque with your bank before Skillstrain tried to cash it? There should only have been a small admin fee of about £10 from the bank. I would follow this up with the bank and ask why they cashed it when you instructed them not to.

[Spiceskull]

They still don't get it - LBA sent to SkillsTrain:

LETTER BEFORE ACTION

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your letters of 12 June and 16 June.

1: Provided that you have fulfilled the requirements of the General Conditions of your Student Enrollment Form cancellation will be treated in accordance with condition six.

2: In the case of failure to meet condition six of the college Agreement and/or should the student fail to return all the course materials to the colleqe, the student will be liable for the full cost of the course and no refund of deposit would be actioned.

3: NOTE: If you have signed a standing order mandate with the finance company please make sure you cancel this with your bank / building society. If you fail to do so, we cannot be held responsible for any bank charges you may incur.

Points 1 & 2: Consumer Contract Regulations give consumers an unconditional right to cancel an order. This is to allow the consumer the opportunity to consider the nature of a service.

This right is enshrined in law, and takes precedence over any conditions that may or may not be required under your own contract terms. The legal right to cancel, within the proscribed timeframe, is an absolute right, and one that I invoked. Please do not insult my intelligence by suggesting that I would be liable for the course should I not have complied with condition six.

Additionally, the regulations impose a legal duty upon suppliers to confirm the cancellation, in writing, within seven days of the cancellation being received. This is something that you failed to do, and I shall therefore write a letter of complaint to the Office Of Fair Trading regarding this matter.

Point 3:

From the OFT website:

If payment for the goods or services is under a related credit agreement, the consumer's cancellation notice also has the effect of cancelling the credit agreement.

Your letter of 16 June is insulting:

We will arrange for the Finance Department to refund your deposit as soon as we are in receipt of your course kit.

We trust we have been of assistance.

You have not been of assistance – you have completely disregarded the content and the meaning of my previous letter, and have signally ignored my reasonable requests.

1. I cancelled the course booked with you on 23 May 2008
2. You failed to respond to this cancellation within the required seven days
3. The cancellation was valid, as it was made lawfully, and in writing
4. Therefore NO contract existed that needed fulfillment, and there was no lawful reason for you to present my cheque held in deposit
5. You presented the cheque on 10 June, in the full knowledge that you had no lawful right to do so – under law this constitutes an unwarranted removal of my funds
6. Your unwarranted removal of my funds resulted in me a) being deprived of my legal property, b) incurring penalty charges from my bank, c) incurring ongoing interest charges as a result of the cheque being presented and the penalty being applied and d) spending five (amended from previous figure) hours of my time attempting to remedy the damage caused by your unlawful act
7. Your last letter indicates only that you will 'refund' my deposit once I have returned the course material

WHAT I REQUIRE:

• I require a full and unconditional refund of the deposit, in the sum of £75
• I require reimbursement of the £35 overlimit penalty
• I require reimbursement of the ongoing interest being applied to the above items
• I require remedial costs at the rate of £9/hour, total time of 5 hours, total sum £45

As the overlimit penalty was applied due to an unauthorised payment, then I am being charged interest, compounded daily, at the rate of 29.96% Should you action this letter by return, then the earliest that funds will be clear would be Wednesday 25 June.

The interest applied to my account until that date would be £9.93

Therefore I require a cheque or similar in the total sum of £164.93, payable within 7 days. Once you have settled my request to my satisfaction, I will return the course material to you at your freepost address.

If I do not hear from you, or you do not respond to me satisfactorily, within seven days, I will proceed to raise a claim in the courts, and without further notice. At that time I will apply for the above figure, plus additional interest as applied by the bank, plus court costs, plus additional costs for my time. I shall also apply for exemplary damages due to my consequential losses as a result of your unlawful actions.

I also require confirmation that any data that you hold on me be destroyed. As we have no existing contract of service, you have no lawful reason to hold data on me.

I look forward to your confirmation of these matters in due course, and that you give them your most urgent attention.

[Bookworm]

Uh-oh, SS is annoyed, Skillstrain are going to be in TROU-BLE!!!

[Spiceskull]

Following an earlier post, I have just emailed Ian Sampson at SkillsTrain as well...with a copy of my LBA...

[Spiceskull]

Hmmm...two unregistered guests viewing this SkillsTrain thread...I wonder who they may be...