Computeach course fees

[manny1]

I enrolled on a home based study course with computeach back in May 2005, for which the total cost was £4700. The course was split into 2 parts. £940 of this which I paid myself covered the first part and the remaining £3760 to cover the second part was covered by a career development loan through barclays.

The course was for 2 years due to finish 05/07.

I was progessing well through the course when I recieved a letter in January 2007 which said my normal study time had expired and in order to continue I had to make an initial payment of £90 followed by £90 every 3 months until my course was compleated. If my initial payment of £90 was not recieved within 14 days then it would be assumed that I do not wish to continue with my course and my study records would be transferd to thier discontinued files!!!

After having various phone conversations with computeach I decieded to put my matter in writing.

• In 04/07 I sent them a letter explaining that I could not afford the extra payments and as I had not yet completed the first part of the course I asked for a refund of the £3760 which was provided by the CDL for the second part. I recieved a reply to this letter in 05/07 which said that a mistake had been made and my course was due to end in June 2008!!! ( It was actualy due to end in 05/07 ) It also said that It was important that I begin progress with my studies in order to move on to the second part of the course ASAP.
  
• I sent another letter towards the end of 05/07 in which I pointed out the actual date when my study was due to finish, as a month after payments for the CDL were due to commence. I also pointed out that I had not been studing for the past 5 months and if I was to resume my studies it was now impossible to complete the whole course in 2 months. Also at this point I had started to work longer hours then when I was studying hence could not allocate the same study time as I could prior to the reciept of their letter 01/07. I pointed out that had I not recieved the letter 01/07 I would not have commited to working longer hours and stuck with my original time table. In this letter I put to them 2 questions:
  

1) If I had not phoned to clarify my end of study date, would I have been informed of the error made?

2) The fact that the error was made is this not Professional Negligence?

I did not recieve a reply to this letter so phoned up in 07/07 and was told they could not find it on thier system and to resend it to them. So I resent it on 06/07/07.

I recieved a reply dated 11/07/07 which unfortunatly I cannot find at present but according to my reply dated 17/07/07 my questions remained unanswered and they were urging me to recommence studies asap.

the final piece of correspondence I have is a reply to my letter dated 17/07/07 in which they were saying that they have acknowledged my request to cancel my contract with them ( I NEVER REQUESTED ANY CANCELATION ) however I was outside of thier 14 day cancelation period, and they can not find a justifiable reason to refund the course costs. The letter also said that the course and materials are fit for purpose , and they have apolgised for the error regarding the end date and adjusted it accordingly. My request for a refund had been rejected, and a offer to extend my study until December 2008 had been made, which should give me enough time to scedual both my work and study commitments. The letter said that computeach encourage me to reconsider and renew my entusaim for my studies and they have an excellent Customer Care and Tutor Support Team who are available to answer all my administrative and study queries!!! ( letters going missing.....????? )

 

Since the above I have not progessed in getting the matter resolved as work commitments took over and have now been paying my CDL for nearly 2 years for services not recieved. Please can someone advise as how I should now progress in getting computeach to give back the £3760 which they insist is non refundable?? Bearing in mind that they got thier dates mixed up and it was thier error which brought my studies to a halt. Obviously I have other commitments, work etc. and had a time table in place to get my studies compleated, had they not confused me with the end dates etc. I would have done this. I cannot give Computeach priority over living, and have no intention of recommencing studies with them as my personal opinion is that any company that makes errors like this are not worth dealing with.

[manny1]

Thanks for your help people, much appreciated

[bedlington83]

You're welcome.

 

Perhaps if you clarified exactly what it is you want from us we might have been able to help you more.

 

As I see it you enrolled with Computeach for a 2 year course which was due to finish in May 2007. The bulk of the cost of this course was funded by a career development loan from Barclays. Computeach told you, wrongly, in January 2007 that your subscription had run out. When you complained Computeach responded by extending your subscription to June 2008. Is this correct so far?

 

Did you actually start the second part of the course? You say that in April 2007, you wrote to them saying that "it was important that I begin progress with my studies in order to move on to the second part of the course ASAP.". Given that the second part of the course is more than 4 X the cost of the first part. I'm surprised it only takes 5 months whereas the first part took 2 years. Can you clarify the situation?

[manny1]

Hello!!!!

 

Thank you for showing interest. What im after is a refund for the second part of the course, the part covered by the CDL, WHICH I NEVER STARTED.

After reading through all my enrolment details I have noted that my actual end of study date was supposed to be JUNE 2008, when I complained about the mix up of dates computeach offered an extension to complete the whole course to DECEMBER 2008.

THEY wrote to me in their reply of May 2007 saying "it was importent i progress with my studies........"

The course was designed to be based on study time required by the student. The First stage required approximatly 350 Hours to be completed, and the second approximatly 550 hours, and the student, i.e me, was expected to study a minimum of 6 hours per week, however to complete the WHOLE COURSE i had 3 years.

I will not confuse matters by going into depth regarding how much study time i was putting into the the course, but it was more then the required minimum and fully explained to computeach in my reply to their letter dated July 2007.

BASICLY all I want is the money that was for the SECOND part refunded back to me. I am paying the CDL of at present and do not see why i should have to do this, I am confident I would have completed the course if I had not been distracted by the mix up caused by Computeach.

 

Any assistance would be much appreciated

 

Thanks

[manny1]

can anyone tell me if this loan is covered by the consumer credit early settelment act 2004 as i am considering clearing the outstanding balance, however after requesting the settelment figure that barclays quoted me over the phone to be sent to me by letter they said they cannot do this as their interest rates change daily?

[cerberusalert]

Yes it's covered by CCA 1974, although if they've been adding unfair charges it may be wise to send a SAR too with a view to reclaiming them.

[manny1]

repaymens on this loan have been figured out using rule of 78, seeing as i am repaying the loan early should i get a rebate for some of the interest i have already paid?

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