Hi Fuzz

Please feel free to put my name on letter to whoever will benefit from one!

PS I hope that is a different Aaron who's joined the action group. I'd really prefer to think he won, and signed an agreement to keep quiet.

Yes, that's what I thought, as well. Aren't we all becoming cynical?

This letter does address all the points, I think. I hope it gets the right response from Barclays, but maybe that would be over-optimistic.

One thing: The end of the letter said about advising students to pursue their claims individually either through courts or through FOS. Is this likely to be the end result, do we think?

On a different note, there was someone who had teamed up with other unhappy ex-students of Advent, and paid for solicitor. (Was the name Aaron?). This was looking quite close to going to court some time back. Does anyone know if they got a result, or what happened?

Yes, I'm making payments, the interest free period ended in October last year. I'd tried saving up the money for paying it off in full before the period was over, but couldn't save enough, and it wasn't an option to part pay it, so the money I'd saved went onto paying off other debts. I don't think many people on this forum are paying BPF back, but I don't want to cause myself problems in the future. Not that I'm saying they will, I'm just extra-cautious.

It's clearly going to be a while before any conclusion is come to. My girlfriend had a problem getting paid for employment, three or so months worth, bounced cheques, lies and general bollocks, which took 8 months to get solved via the courts, and that was a much more clear-cut situation.

It's a struggle, and I don't really like the idea that BPF are getting my money, just for fobbing us of with a company that clearly very few of us would accept. So I may turn out to regret my decision to continue making payments. But hopefully I will eventually get the money back. I'm trying to pretend to myself it's a savings scheme. If I think too much about the extraordinary interest rate I'm being charged for a service I'm not able to use, I think I'd go nuts.

Fuzzbutt I would also be willing to be a representative, my case is straight forward I’m still within 2 years I just won’t accept computeach. There is one thing bothering me though, this line from Ingrid on the site “The other issue is that I think people may be thinking we have taken on the case, and is important that people understand that we are still investigating it.” By this I understand that Hausfeld are not currently representing us and are still deciding if they will take on the case.

Yes, that's the only way to take it. I guess we all just owe it to ourselves to find any more evidence that exists, and make sure that Hausfeld do take up the case.

Fuzz,

Count me in also as a representative student, if you still need people. I'd be quite happy help in any way I can.

Hey Fuzz, just wondering if you know how long Hausfeld are giving BPF before they begin court proceedings? I emailed Ingrid the other day but had no reply. I'm getting worried that if the worst happens and the ruling goes against us and I have no choice other than continue training or pay for nothing, I won't have long enough to complete the course if this drags on too much longer.

It'll be impossible for me, too!

microsoft themselves consider that if you are to undertake MCSE exam you should have one or two years experience designing, installing, configuring and troubleshooting network systems.

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Kind of rules me out, at the moment. Don't think I can realistically get that level of IT experience (in the next 8 months) working as a chef. Getting out of this agreement is the only option for most of us, how would we pay the extra fees to Computeach on top of the already quite steep BPF repayments.

How I got sucked into this one, I really don't know...

It would be great if you could send a photocopy or scan of her reply, Roadie, to the Hausfeld legal team. I'm sure they'd be interested to see exactly on what grounds the adjudicator ruled against you.

 

I must say I don't think the FOS is a very transparent process - I've not seen one single copy of what Barclays have written in reply to them on my complaint, so I've no chance to answer it and pull their arguments apart.

 

At least you got a bit of a reprieve and can still carry on with the legal group case.

Just had an hour-and-a-half long phone call with one of the FOS people.

The woman I was speaking to didn't really offer much hope, but she seemed sincere, and to understand the complaint. She told me that she would try and negotiate with BPF, which is a start...

Tired of the whole thing, now, really. No way I can work full-time and complete MCSE in 6 months, and no point trying. Certainly don't want to add to the debts by paying any extension fees. Bugger.

Think it's all going to be reliant on class action. Fingers crossed for the right result...

We've mostly seen the Sona Norris article on HubPages by now, however I was wondering what people made of this strange comment that was left by a Doctor Vijay. I'm actually wondering if I'm becoming paranoid; take a look and see what you think.

Couldn't resist commenting on it myself...

hi all am i the only one not getting contacted by computeach?

they sent me an email way back at the start of all this but i never replied.

I do'nt want to sign up with them any way so i suppose its no loss!

No, they've not bothered me, either. Sent me an email and a letter months back, I asked for specific details, they said after I register they'd be able to supply information. I replied that wouldn't be much use to me, and nothing more from them since...

I did also ask them for advice as to whether if the Advent course was without time limit, as I was "led to believe", then did they think that there was a possibility that I was mis-sold the course.

Presumably they don't want to open that particular can of worms...

They really do come across as "Giant Killers". Swiss banks, oil giants... Here's hoping we get some justice too! I think I'd actually quite like this to go to court, much as I'd like it sorted as quickly as possible. The negative publicity would be huge for BPF.

Superb, Fuzzbutt. Thanks for all your hard work!

Now it's fingers crossed for the right result...

I have now had "Final Response" from Barclays confirming Computeach will:

 

Pay for exam re-sits

Supply Vouchers for exams in your area.

Honour the length of contract you signed up for (mine is until 2012)

Supply the course I signed up for (MCSE+CCNA)

 

This has also been confirmed in an email from Computeach.

 

As I have lost all confidence in distance learning and Computeach have such a bad reputation I don't want to continue with a provider I didn't sign up with.

 

It looks like there is no argument left, I am due to pay in three days.

 

Any suggestions?

I think you do have an argument left, as do we all.

I'm assuming that you were sold the course as an open-ended arrangement, like most of us. In which case honoring the end date is not a concession, but an obligation.

I am also certain that we can't be forced to go with a company that we may have already made a genuine decision not to use, due to extremely bad press.

In fact hopefully none of BPF's case can hold up. But we'll have to wait and see.

No-one can advise you whether to make the payments other than specialist legal peeps, however this is my plan of action, for what it's worth.

I am choosing to make my payments "under protest", I figure if I am successful in getting this business overturned, BPF will have to pay me back, and if it's not successful then I'll have a choice between paying anyway (and not doing the course because I really can't be bothered), or going bankrupt. I haven't decided either way on this yet.

But the debts would be cleared at roughly the same timescale as repairing my credit.

Hi!

 

I'm on such a high today!

I just spoke to the salesman I saw from Advent. He was really kind and understanding and willing to help. He said he is happy to put things in writing etc to help us.

For example my contract says 2 years to do the course but he and someone in the callcentre said if we needed more time it was absolutely fine. He said he'll put that in writing!

He said he feels terrible at whats happened, and how no one at Advent (employees) even knew what was happening untill the last minute!

It's entirely because of BPF that Advent had to stop and BPF by law must give us the exact same training or our money back (which of course we knew but it's nice to hear it from someone who actually worked for Advent.)

 

Anyways, I'm going to start writing an email to him about what we need to help us with our cases.

If anyone has anything they'd like me to ask him, PM me and I'll put it in.

 

And maybe other people can try calling their salesmen, mine obviously used his own phone not an advent company phone!!

 

YAY!

That is quite literally the best news I've had in ages. Nice one!

Does anyone else feel the Daily Mirror article is actually quite in the side of Computeach!? It just lists all the 'good' things they do and not the truth about their bullsh*t!?

 

Also, I now know of about 5 people who have written to Watchdog, I really think it's well worth as many people doing it as possible as if it does get on TV, BPF will hate the bad publicity and hopefully come on with a response to clear their name...ie refunds!!??

Yes, it was like an advert for them, wasn't it. I think we should get a good number of us to add comments.

I'll ask again, has anyone else had a letter from the FOS saying the letter we received from Wilma Thompson on 12th April was not a final response and I should contact them for confirmation.

 

I'm seriously confused about this as how can the FOS uphold our complaints if this is the case.

 

Or is it a case of me having the useless handler on my complaint

I had the same letter that I thought was a final response but turned out not to be when I sent it to the FO. The final response must state that you can consider it to be BPF's final response.

If you reply to BPF saying that their not-final-response is still unacceptable, they should get back to you with their final response, at least they did with me. It should say something along the lines of "barclays have found a like for like provider, and you must pay us money."

You can then send this letter of to the FO.

Hope that helps.

Afraid not Maygav. I've already proposed this to them and they were having none of it.

That's a pity,I had contemplated this myself, just to get this nonsense over and done with.

Well my DD was due 14/04/10 and I cancelled it. Since then they were calling to demand the money. I did not ignore them on purpose, they were just simply calling when I was at work, or busy. I do not want to deal with them on the phone, cause i cannot record our conversation, but when I sent them an email they did not reply.

 

Do you guys have an email contact for them?

The email address I have been using to contact them is:

[email protected]

This is the address that Barclays Partner Finance say to use for complaints etc.

However, I have to say that so far, I have not received any emails from them replying to me, just the generic letters.

All my correspondence to Barclays Partner Finance has been via post, with an email sent as a kind of back-up, they clearly will not reply to any individual concerns, probably because there are far too many of us complaining at them!

I do wonder how all this will be resolved, but I shall not be taking up the offer of training with Computeach, whatever happens!

Has anyone chosen to use Computeach as the alternative to Advent? Also, has anyone had any favorable rulings from the FO, other than Hitachi loan people, or had an agreement from Computeach to honour the terms for with we are saddled this this debt?

Computeach seem to be putting the onus on us to prove to them (as our would-be enforced training provider!) that the course was supposed to be self-paced, which is extremely arrogant, in my view, to be treating us students with such contempt, even before we have entered into any agreement with them.

I can't imagine how bad the customer service of Computeach would be if they actually get some of us to sign-up, and get their claws in.

Yes, it would! I imagine that for a saleman, it would be pretty much career-suicide, though. Still, there may be someone who wants to do the right thing! Panlibersky, is there anyway I can see these banners, please?

I have just spoken to legal advisor and she said if the contract with Barclays Partner Finance doesn't say anything like "If the supplier goes out of business we shall find you an alternative one" - they can't force us to accept Computeach.

I need to ask Barclays Partner Finance what's the authority they base their decisions on :/

 

I still think there's enough of us to prove that the course wit Advent was missold by leading us to believe the course is open-ended or may be extended with no further cost (that's what Computeach itself is suggesting isn't it?)

I know that I wouldn't have signed up if I wasn't said so clearly as I worked 11,5 hrs shifts and have two kids so I knew it may be quite tricky to find enough time/space for studying.

I have noticed that Advent IT website disappeared however I have some screenshots with banners saying that you have as much time as you want.

Okay, it does kind of look like most people have been given the impression that the Advent course was open-ended. Does anyone know of anyone who WASN'T lead to believe this?

I have just been speaking to Barclays Partner Finance, who admit that "a few" people have been told that they could extend the Advent course at no extra cost.

I explained that it was completely infeasible for me to finish the course in the remaining 6 months.

Scott Carey from Barclays Partner Finance has told me that they will be speaking with Computeach, and they'll call me back on or around Monday. I guess they are pretty desperate to get an agreement sorted now.

Regardless of any arrangements that are come to now, I really do not want to study with Computeach, who seem eager to screw me to the ground before I've even registered as a student.

As discussed, there is definitely no suggestion in any of the paperwork that in the event of the original training company going bust, Barclays Partner Finance can select any company for us that they consider similar enough.

I was told at the time of being sold this course "We Guarantee you to pass however long it takes depends how much time you put in. Doesn't matter if it takes 3 years we will resit you till you're qualified hopefully it won't take you that long you could be in a job and learning as you go within 3months enabling you to pay for your course. "Oh! said I that'll be great thank you very much "

Oh and don't worry when you see the figures on the contract it's just the way it's written with the interest added but you don't pay that everyone gets a fright with that but don't worry about it just pay the full amount before the 1year is up. Simples!

I'm raging with all this hassle and having the AUDACITY to try and rip us off some more. Do they think I came up the Clyde on a bike. Who are they trying to kid!!!!!

Yeah, the Advent salesmen paint their little pictures, and us, like muppets, lapped it all up! I can still remember how the salesman described the course centre and facilities. Made it sound like something from Star Trek or something.

And filling out the forms with us agreeing how much money I'd be happy to earn, and what career path would be most appropriate for me, as if they had anyway of assisting with that whatsoever...I do actually feel like a bit of an idiot to be taken in by it all.

And then along come Computeach to screw us a bit more!

carnt we get a sales man on our side any1 no any of them try and use them

That would be awesome, wouldn't it?

What I also meant to mention, I wonder how many people have extended their contractual period with Advent Training. Has anyone ever successfully done this?

Also how many people have been told terms and conditions by dodgy Advent salesmen that turned out to be in conflict with the actual written contract?

If there are a fair amount of people who had there course extended without extra cost, then it shows that Computeach and Advent Training are not like for like at all. Whereas if there haven't been people successfully extending their course, and there are a great number of people told by Advent salesmen that this was a possibility, then that could suggest that the course was mis-sold, possibly invalidating any agreement with Barclays Partner Finance. What does everyone else think?

Well, that's what I think, as well. There does seem to be quite a few of us who were under the impression that our IT training with Advent was open-ended. So either this was true, and they were prepared for the training to go on indefinitely, or they had extremely dodgy salesmen lying to us all, and there was a culture of mis-selling right through the process. I don't know what to believe at the moment, but either way, it doesn't look to me to be a solution taking training from Computeach.

Right from the beginning I have found Computeach's approach to be a worry, starting off with being unable to give out specifics without our enrolement as students with them. And they just INFORM you that you are now one of their students and you don't have a leg to stand on, legally, as Barclays Partner Finance have allegedly fulfilled their obligations!

I really am so angry with the whole lot of them...

I've got no intention of signing up with Computeach IT training, but with the Advent enrolement form stating a two year course duration, with nothing to back up what I was told by the Advent salesman re: the duration being extendable, I do wonder where I stand!

I hesitate to use the word "[problem]" when refering to Barclays Partner Finance, Advent and Computeach, but it does all seem pretty dodgy!