Well I haven't paid for 3 months and recently got a default notice which will be enforced if I don't pay within x days. This will obviously affect credit scores etc. I wonder if anybody else has such issues and how they got round it. Tempted to cough up as I don't want it affecting credit rating.....

I signed up in 2008, shortly before the airing of the watchdog report. The watchdog report shows a promo video clip from skillstrain with a skillstrain lackey bawling about microsoft endorsements and accreditations. I'm afraid it was this kind of glossy, professional-looking spiel that I fell for. Sadly, it seems that for some reason claims of false endorsements don't hold any water [maybe I should just set myself up as a computer technician and daub microsoft and cisco logos on my van, despite having no qualifications?]. I'm hoping the prospect of more ultra-negative publicity will allow me to at least cancel the course, if not claim reimbursements.

I've recently cancelled my direct debit for a skillstrain course that I signed up for back in 2008. Back then, they had all sorts of logos on their literature and websites, and even videos, implying accreditation to various bodies which we now know they didn't actually have. I note that they are less keen on daubing logos on their website these days! Trading standards say this isn't enough to get the course cancelled, which I find perplexing and bizaare, because according to "The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008" [and here I paraphrase]: a) if it contains false information and is therefore untruthful.....or if it or its overall presentation in any way deceives or is likely to deceive the average consumer in relation to any of the matters.......even if the information is factually correct; and b) it causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise. In my opinion Skillstrain falls foul in these areas. But I apparently need to show I've incurred a loss ie prove that the course materials were not sufficient to gain the qualification I applied for. This will be difficult, because although the course material is poor and outdated I guess it's feasible for someone to muddle through and gain a poor and outdated qualification. I intend to stick to my guns and hope that the negative publicity generated from a court case would let me cancel the course.