Advent Computer Training (Barclays Partner Finance)Info and discussion thread

[Bluedo]

I'll send a letter to the one show tonight as well and i'll do watchdog while i'm in the mood as well. I'll make sure I make them aware of the petition as well and that around 1000 people have signed to see if this will grab their attention

 

 

Good send to everyone you can think of oh! and we should warn the poor people in Wales to warn them not to sign up with a trade or IT course in case it's Advent in disguise.

Sad thing is that you don't find out about these things till the damage is done

[Mustard2243]

Bluedo i am going to look into it

[10pack]

Hi 10pack welcome

Thanks for the post the story is the same for us all and what we've been told re Advent helping us find a job in IT if there was 1 or 2 people saying that then they could wriggle out of it but the more people duped by that sales pitch must bear some weight. The course was mis-sold on that alone.

The more of us the better

 

 

Mustard 2243 do you know how a class action works and what we'd all have to do?

 

 

yes they told me because I am out of work and could spend more time studying I could within 3 months be ready for them to place me in a job

 

I amd still out of work and its my redundacy money that is paying this.

The job centre was not interested in helping me find a job I wanted only to get me off their books.. so when i went away over the new year they signed me off and I have not been back to sign back on again.. just did not like their attitude

[Bluedo]

Recorded Delivery

Barclays Partner Finance

PO Box 3979

Glasgow

Scotland

G51 1YL

 

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

 

Account No ************

Consumer Credit Act 1974 (as amended)

 

 

Following the recent demise of Advent Computer Training, due in no small part to the withdrawal of funding by your bank, I wish now to cancel the credit agreement I took out with you, for the sum of £5,000 with interest of £5,000 totalling £10.000 to cover the cost of the course I was to undertake with Advent. The failure by Advent to provide the services to which this credit agreement relates is a breach of contract under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

Under section 75 of the said Act, you are jointly and severally liable for the breach of contract that has occurred.

 

You state in your letter dated 28th January 2010 that you are seeking to transfer all students to alternate courses and to continue on as normal. I have two issues with this; firstly I specifically researched various courses and signed up for the particular course offered by Advent (which I had only just begun), because they guaranteed me a job in the IT sector with one of their IT partners, after I got the first of several qualifications with them; and secondly this is clearly not a normal situation. I am no longer receiving a service so I can’t “continue” on as normal. The situation I am in now has left me with no confidence in distance learning courses, and will not have a bank dictate to me which company I shall learn with as you see fit.

 

Furthermore, please confirm that no interest or charges will be added to the credit agreement pending resolution of this matter.

 

I look forward to hearing from you within the next 14 days.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

This was Roadie's letter, thanks Roadie

Just edit this to suit yourselves add or alter what you don't want in it Mantaxi has also kindly offered a copy of a legal letter that he has if you catch him ask him about it

Edited March 19, 2010 by Bluedo

[10pack]

Recorded Delivery

Barclays Partner Finance

PO Box 3979

Glasgow

Scotland

G51 1YL

 

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

 

Account No ************

Consumer Credit Act 1974 (as amended)

 

 

Following the recent demise of Advent Computer Training, due in no small part to the withdrawal of funding by your bank, I wish now to cancel the credit agreement I took out with you, for the sum of £5,000 with interest of £5,000 totalling £10.000 to cover the cost of the course I was to undertake with Advent. The failure by Advent to provide the services to which this credit agreement relates is a breach of contract under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

Under section 75 of the said Act, you are jointly and severally liable for the breach of contract that has occurred.

 

You state in your letter dated 28th January 2010 that you are seeking to transfer all students to alternate courses and to continue on as normal. I have two issues with this; firstly I specifically researched various courses and signed up for the particular course offered by Advent (which I had only just begun), because they guaranteed me a job in the IT sector with one of their IT partners, after I got the first of several qualifications with them; and secondly this is clearly not a normal situation. I am no longer receiving a service so I can’t “continue” on as normal. The situation I am in now has left me with no confidence in distance learning courses, and will not have a bank dictate to me which company I shall learn with as you see fit.

 

Furthermore, please confirm that no interest or charges will be added to the credit agreement pending resolution of this matter.

 

I look forward to hearing from you within the next 14 days.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

I did not even get that letter in January from Barclays.. the first letter I have had was today.. the email from Advent was in my spam box.. if I had not looked at it before autodelete got rid of it I would not have known for a long time what was happening

[Bluedo]

Dear/Sir Madam

 

Following the closure of Advent Consulting Ltd, you have failed to honour the terms of their contract **********, for which you are jointly and severally liable under S75, Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

Specifically, you have failed to find an alternative training provider capable of fully assuming the functions specified in the Advent Consulting Ltd contract.

 

To remedy this breach you must, by ** March 2010.

 

Arrange for a training provider to fully fulfil the terms of the Advent Consulting contract or, if this proves impossible, cancel the above credit agreement and refund all payments made.

 

In the event of you failing to remedy the breach by **March 2010, legal action may commence under S75, Consumer Credit Act 1974, with no further warning.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

Think this was Cashins

[Bluedo]

I did not even get that letter in January from Barclays.. the first letter I have had was today.. the email from Advent was in my spam box.. if I had not looked at it before autodelete got rid of it I would not have known for a long time what was happening

 

Hi 10pack

Doesn't do much for your confidence if you missed a payment it would be a different story the charges would be on it quicker than you can blink keep any letters from today and send a complaint off to them in reply

[no1]

I'm awaiting legal advice as Barclays are insisting on full payment for a sevice i consider not to have recieved from Advent iv'e just signed the petition and would welcome any advice out there.

[cashins]

Dear/Sir Madam

 

Following the closure of Advent Consulting Ltd, you have failed to honour the terms of their contract **********, for which you are jointly and severally liable under S75, Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

Specifically, you have failed to find an alternative training provider capable of fully assuming the functions specified in the Advent Consulting Ltd contract.

 

To remedy this breach you must, by ** March 2010.

 

Arrange for a training provider to fully fulfil the terms of the Advent Consulting contract or, if this proves impossible, cancel the above credit agreement and refund all payments made.

 

In the event of you failing to remedy the breach by **March 2010, legal action may commence under S75, Consumer Credit Act 1974, with no further warning.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

Think this was Cashins

 

Yes it was.

 

In this case it is a relative of mine so I can't actually do anything!!!

 

By now I would have gone down to the local CC and given a LBA is issued, on expiry brought action.

 

David

[cashins]

From the Hitachi thread:

 

Hello All, just received an offer from Hitachi. I started the course in 2007 and only completed 2 A+ and had just started the MSCP (end result was to be the MSCDBA) I had to stop around 18 months in and got an email from Advent saying they would suspend my course and to let them know when I wanted to resume - which seemed fair. Now HCF want to offer me £1300 of the £4450 I have paid (final payment went out yesterday) saying I have had access to the course for 33 months but because I have not finished it they will only charge me for 25 months. I am worried that if I don't accept this offer that it will turn into a long drawn out affair and I could end up with nowt. I reckon I should be due at least £3K bearing in mind the amount of the course I have completed. Wondered if anyone else was in a similar situation Regards Fraz

 

Intresting that Hitachi want to negociate.

 

The legal position is exactly the same, BPF are in the same cart.

 

David

[cjclegg]

From the Hitachi thread:

 

 

 

Intresting that Hitachi want to negociate.

 

The legal position is exactly the same, BPF are in the same cart.

 

David

 

Not at all..... We have never seen a copy of the Hitatchi contract, we can only deal with what we have, for all we know the Hitatchi contract could be drastically different to the BPF one.

 

Sorry David.

[Conniff]

What he said plus, initial offers are always low.

[Bluedo]

Yes it was.

 

In this case it is a relative of mine so I can't actually do anything!!!

 

By now I would have gone down to the local CC and given a LBA is issued, on expiry brought action.

 

David

Don't laugh ..where's the local cc ?

What do you think BPF will do I'm guessing they've not got a provider when Hitachi are making offers

[Bluedo]

US class action star targets UK - Times Online

 

We need this guy

[Mustard2243]

Yes we do i will get in touch with the legal advice line at work on monday and see what they suggest.

[chemical bomber]

US class action star targets UK - Times Online

 

We need this guy

 

Nice find, Bluedo.

 

I have taken a look into the article and found the website for the company: Vision Statement :: Hausfeld LLP

 

Have sent an inquiry:

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Upon hearing about your recent expansion to London, i was wondering if some assistance could be provided. I, and several thousand others, have all paid for various distance learning courses in I.T. through Advent Computer Training. Recently however, the company has gone into insolvency, leaving all the students in limbo. The vast majority of finance agreements(mostly >£5,000) were signed through Barclays Partner Finance.

The agreement states that: "if the provider were to be declared bankrupt, you may sue us, the provider, or both". Barclays, however, seem to think that finding another provider is still providing fulfilment of the agreement (there is no mention of anything of this sort in the agreement). The vast majority of students want their money back.

Kind regards,

 

Ally *********

 

Will let you guys know what they reply with.

[cashins]

Not at all..... We have never seen a copy of the Hitatchi contract, we can only deal with what we have, for all we know the Hitatchi contract could be drastically different to the BPF one.

 

Sorry David.

 

Doesn't really matter a damn what their contract says.

 

It is a consumer credit agreement regulated under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

Nothing in their contract can overide the provisions of that, which was exactly why the CCA 1974 Act was brought into law in the 1st place.

 

Put it this way - they could write a contract that says if you don't pay, we will send the boys round pronto???

 

Cause of action stems from S75 of that Act, not what it says in their contract.

 

David

Edited March 20, 2010 by cashins

[cashins]

Don't laugh ..where's the local cc ?

 

 

County Court.

 

David

[Bluedo]

County Court.

 

David

 

OH! so it is :lol

 

 

Will let you guys know what they reply with.

Good for you Chemical Bomber maybe a few of us should send a message to them as well

 

let us know how you get on Mustard

[cashins]

See you got the late shift - this should cheer you up:

 

Barclaycard to close office in Glasgow with loss of 350 jobs

 

David

[mantaxi]

See you got the late shift - this should cheer you up:

 

Barclaycard to close office in Glasgow with loss of 350 jobs

 

David

 

thats ashame about the loss of jobs where do we go from here. seems like the pressures on and they are doing a runner. could be time now for court action, seems thats all they are going to understand. all our letters are probably in the bin. we need one solicitor to act for all. lets get them to court pronto. what yer say guys.

[Fuzzbutt]

Hello and welcome to the new comers....

 

I think we've all learned a bitter lesson in hindsight from all this. I've contacted Watchdog and Dom at the One Show and told them I could send scanned documents as evidence if they needed it, but heard nothing yet. Sorry, dont know the date the One Show will air, if it does.

 

I just had a letter dated 25/2/10 from Barclays PF and it says.."further to our recent letter blah blah...I can confirm that we are now in discussions with a suitable alternative training provider which we hope to conclude shortly."

Another letter with the details is promised 'as soon as possible'.

 

I was about to put together my complaint for the Ombudsman and then this arrived. TS are in the process of writing to Barclays on my behalf now anyway, but I think it may be best to hold off the Ombudsman for a bit, just to see this new provider's details when supplied.

 

After all, the longer it goes on with nothing concrete set up by Baclays the more they are giving us ammunition for the breach of contract. And if they really have someone lined up now I'm sure it definately won't be suitable - like for like- etc but I don't think we'd have a hope of contesting on those grounds with an Ombudsman until we have it in writing.

From what people are saying, and my local TS the same, the opinion of the OMbudsman may be just that, an opinion on what they think is fair, and at the moment they may argue Barclays are doing all they can to meet the contract as they now have a provider. The case on our side will be, however, the length of time they've taken to sort it out (no support for students in the meantime) and the fact their new trainer is not what we agreed to take on with Advent (it can't be, that's for sure, with all those false job placement promises). So, all that, plus frustrated contract, broken contract/service really doesn't look good on Barclays. I think they're grabbing at straws and trying to stall a flood of complaints to the Ombudsman.

 

I will write again though and state once more I received no reply to my FreeLegal letter (which I didn't, not even an acknowledgement) and that I do not want another provider.

 

Sorry if I'm repeating anything already posted. And I agree with everyone whose said this will be a bit of a waiting game. At the moment we are only just on the 8 weeks of the collapse when the Ombudsman can step in. It might be wise to wait maybe a couple more weeks, I'm thinking now?

 

Not sure, what do others think? I'm a bit reluctant to steam in with the Ombudsman, only to have it turned down because I didnt have a strong enough case if Barclays are about to appoint a provider.

[Fuzzbutt]

I've just emailed the Barclays Customer Relations team ....

 

"Thank you for your letter dated 25/2/10, which I received today, signed by Wilma Thomson.

 

Unfortunately, yet AGAIN none of my questions have been addressed and it contains the same vague, open-ended promises I've been fed since Advent closed down at the end of January.

 

You say you are 'now in discussions with a suitable alternative supplier' - well, frankly I'd rather be the judge of that as it is ME who is paying for this supposed course, not Barlays, as my linked loan to you is fully repaid!

 

And you say you 'hope to conclude shortly' and will write to me 'as soon as possible'. Next month? Several months time? How long will this nonsense drag on in your desperate attempt to cling on to the money of all the unfortunate students, such as myself? Why not do the honorouble thing now and offer refunds to those asking for them (which is the vast majority of those of us who have linked up on a consumer rights support forum to fight our corner).

 

You thank me in your 'say nothing' letter for my patience. Well, frankly my patience with this bank has run out. I fully intend to be taking this issue forward with the Financial Ombudsman and, if I have to, a court action!

 

You may like to know that a number of ex-Advent students (including myself) have also contacted BBC's Watchdog and the One Show regarding this Advent/Barclays shambles. We will not let you walk over us and away with our money!"

 

If you want to contact them the address is-

customerre​lations@bar​clayspartne​rfinance.co​m

 

I'd suggest saving a copy of your dated email for future reference. maybe if they get bombarded by emails as they don't seem to respond individually to letters we may get somewhere?

Edited March 20, 2010 by Fuzzbutt

[Fuzzbutt]

 

Will let you guys know what they reply with.

Good for you Chemical Bomber maybe a few of us should send a message to them as well

 

let us know how you get on Mustard

 

Yes, please do. Thanks for sharing that, we all need as much help as we can get here.

[skyblue dave]

Petition to: Request money back for students of the collapsed IT Firm Advent Consulting Ltd. | Number10.gov.uk

 

Good email Fuzzbutt -will do likewise.