Skillstrain/Scheidegger - time for you to fight back

[NJO_89]

Started the course around January 2008 and yes workbooks have the Mircosoft and Cisco logos on

[Telemicus]

So at least you may have an angle for getting your money back. I signed up in Feb 2008 and am trying to get my money back too.

[NJO_89]

How are things going for you ?? My mother has received a letter from hitachi capital saying you need to pay the outstanding fees immediately...

[Telemicus]

Matter is now with the F.O.S for their action. This is the last chance before having to go the court proceedings route.

[dkeauh]

Hey guys I recently made my first payment for an Electricians course with Train 4 Trade. Thought I would actually check out the company and see what other peoples comments where in regards to the course an tutors.. After reading this I am no longer keen to do the course.. I have already paid them £100 for "enrollment fee's" which where actually taken from my account a week earlier than agreed, after speaking to the "course tutor" who visited me at my home he told me that by the time the finance team refunded me the money the payment would be due, so I told them to keep it and I would commence with the course.

 

Ofcourse I'm going to be canceling my course as I feel uneasy to continue after reading what I have read.

I signed for the course 28/09/10 so my 7 day cancellation period is over.

I will send them a letter tomorrow sent by recorded delivery tomorrow to cancel my course but how could I go about getting a refund of my £100 as at the moment I am on benefits, looking for work and this would help me pay my priority debts rather than it going into a pocket of a * edited * company for a course I haven't even started or wish to persue?

[Telemicus]

Get your cancellation letter away by recorded delivery immediately. You can fight the other parts later including recovery of your £100. Hopefully you haven't received your signed copy of the credit agreement back from the financial company yet - in theory you should have a further 7 days from that date. In fact, I would write (recorded) to both the course provider and the finance company notifying them of the cancellation.

[andycollette]

dkeauh Hi with t4ts they have a 21 day cancellation period and depending on the finance providor ie CDF they have 7 days , when you signed up did you have your right to cancel through the post b4 either deadline on your cancellation periods .

And to be honest if the cacellation periods have passed they are not going to cancel this course, at the moment i am in the process of dealing with DRS debt recovery t4ts are at the moment in time become a Dormant company .

Best of luck

[CheesedOffCharlie]

Glad I found you again! Received 2 letters from Debt Recovery company today, first ones we have received. Strangely enough its signed by the same person who wrote to us from Barclays Partner Finance. The debt company is called Mercers Debt Collections Limited, apparently they are part of Barlcays and meant to be a very threatening bunch from what I've found on forums about them. Waiting for the 30 phone calls a day to start now. Sent a copy of the letters to Trading Standards and waiting for them to tell us what to do next.

[impf1]

Hi everyone,

Have just been taken to court by cabot financial for £2100,they bought the dept off hitachi,was awarded in there favour with costs of £350,will now offer them a paltry £5 a month as not working ,

the consumer laws don't seem to amount to anything so beware ,stay away from skillstrain or end up wasting 3 years of your life on a worthless coarse,for a mickey mouse qualification.

only thing for me to do now is try and take skillstrain to court to get my money back,have still got the bumf with microsoft ,cisco and manpower endorsements on.

funny how you can get ripped off and the law of this country is on their side.

[Richard M Jones]

Hello everyone

 

I joined this site as im honestly so in the dark about what I can do about my situation. I feel really pathetic about how I have been pressurized into doing my course but sadly I have already made my first payment to them and Im outside the 21 day cooling off period. I have tried to contact them about the fact that its keeping me awake and night and making me feel rather ill. I finally had a response today from someone on the phone who said that I didnt give him enough of a reason to help me.

 

It was said that they could get me a sponsor in order to do the course but only after I have done 5 pieces of coursework. I have 100% no wish to do the course itself and have even kept my stuff they gave me in a suitcase the way it was when the "rep" came around and sold me the course along the lines that its all attached to my Degree in Film + Television and that its all relevant in the area I studied in. I feel so lost and I said that I felt pressurized into the course and that I wished to cancel but I dont want my initial deposit or first payment.

 

Its not good enough and he wont cancel it because I didn't accept the offers he made of help with the course. I feel stupid because I said I didnt want to do it and that help to do it is of no use when I already dont want to do it.

 

Can anyone offer any advice on how I can resume my life before this 3 year horror has taken me?

[Telemicus]

Hi Richard,

 

The problem you have is that you have entered into a contract with this company and unless they break the agreement in some form, it would be difficult to get out. The way these courses are sold is quite clever in that rather than selling you and charging you for modules in the course, they essentially sell you everything up front and by financing it via a loan it means they receive the full payment immediately. You are now repaying a finance company the money back rather than the supplier of the course. This is all perfectly legal but it is often only afterwards that you realise the commitment that you need to complete the course and get your money's worth. Can you confirm what course you signed up for, and when. Are the company still referring to themselves as Skillstrain?

The main problem is that deciding you don't want to do the course after the cooling off period won't get you out of the agreement. Do you have the signed notification of the agreement back from the finance company?

[Richard M Jones]

Oh dear. It would seem I have shot myself in the foot.

 

They are going with "Train2Game" as far as im aware. Im out of the 21 days. I signed in the middle of December and just made my first payment. Nuts.

[Telemicus]

If you don't have the finance agreement countersigned by the finance company yet you MAY be able to still cancel the agreement. You would need to do some digging on this forum to find out about that - in fact it may be in an earlier part of this thread. If not, you might be able to write a letter to the finance company and cancel it saying that you have decided it is not for you and you are contacting them prior to having received the countersigned agreement. (I've not done this so I can't be specific on the detail). Put it all in writing and send it recorded (special) delivery. If I get a chance I'll see if I can find something further.

[Telemicus]

Richard - I found this further up the thread;

"look carefully on paperwork left, mine stated agreement can be cancelled within 5 days of receiving 2nd copy of credit agreement!"

Check the terms on the credit agreement document that you signed. It may say something similar. Hopefully if you don't have the signed copy back you might be OK.

Let me know how you get on.

[Richard M Jones]

Right! Ill trawl through my paperwork now and see what I can find.

[Richard M Jones]

Okay. I have checked all my paper work and I have TWO Items.

 

I have a Pre-Contract Information which contains details on payment etc but it was the Original copy. Down the bottom it says "Your Right To Cancel - Once you signed this agreement you will have a short time in which you can cancel it. We will send you details on how and when you can do this".

 

The ONLY other letter saying about money is one from Hitachi Capital saying about how much my payments are but on the back there is nothing that says about any form of cancellation. So does that mean by me only having these that they didnt not send me info as it was only verbal?

 

Even the Train2Game letters dont say anything about cancellation.

[Richard M Jones]

Okay so I just phoned the Financial Ombudsman and explained the documents that I have. The person on the other end of the phone has said to me that it certainly falls within something that they can help with as I should of received more information from Hitachi Capital AND even on the letter of confirmation it should of explained how the cancellation procedure works. Watch this space.

[paul_a_uk]

Was anyone made aware that after 3 years your course expiries ???

 

I had a series of family and work related issues which delayed my course prgress and now they wont extend my course, claiming its expired ! - ALL fees were paid in full and on time.

 

Signed up in Jan 2006 started course in late 2007 early 2008. Then due to further family issues put on hold, tried to extend my course and was told it expired in 2009 quote:

"we are unable to extend your tuition period"

 

I dont want tuition period, never asked for any tutor advice I just want the course I signed up for and some sort of "credit" for the exams that were "part of the course" seeing as these were to be completed via "approved test centres".

 

Anyone got any advice for tacking Skillsfarce ops sorry Skillstrain ???

[GEEJAY]

I have some good news on this. I managed to get most of my money back from Barclay's Partner Finance through arguments submitted to the FOS. I am hoping to publish the whole details here shortly. Can anyone advise the best forum on CAG to post this?

[chapistano]

Hi,

If anyone would like to swap notes, contact me, I believe a little knowledge goes a long way, I found both T4TS and Barclays Partner Finance very unprofessional, both ignored my requests by letter and passed my "loan" onto Mercers very quickly, loving the way the law is in the favour of this [problem]!

[chapistano]

Can you let me know when you post this info please?

[GEEJAY]

Just an update, I have started posting specifics of my successful claim here;

 

consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?301141-How-To-Get-Some-or-All-of-Your-Money-Back-From-Skillstrain-Train-4-Skills&p=3360792#post3360792

 

This applies to anyone on any of the Skillstrain courses where Microsoft, Cisco, or eSkills logos were shown on any of your sales materials. The claim was successfully made through the Financial Ombudsman Service without need for court action.

[GEEJAY]

I had to strip out some of the link information as I don't have a high enough post count yet.

[catwoman007]

hello,

can some1 help me, it going on for a year now, im desperate to get my money from skills train back

am i doing something wrong, seems that financial ombudsman doenst want to take it up with barclays or something..

[catwoman007]

glad u got your money back, im still figthing skillstrain+barclays, it be year more now, im getting pretty desperate and seems that financial ombudsman is either stupid or just dont wanna help me

could you send some info what else should i discuss with financial ombudsman, im just running out of ideas of laws to quote!

 

link didnt seem to work that is..