Sunderland University unjust fees debt - advice needed?

[anewloginapparently]

Hi,

 

Apologies for the length of this post. Just want to make sure I get all the correct info in.

 

I am having a real issue at the moment with Sunderland University who I enrolled with in September for a part-time degree.

 

The degree should've taken 5 years with 4 modules a year of £200 each.

 

However on attending the University I realised the course was an absolute joke & not what I had been led to believe it was at all. The administration of the University was ridiculous too. I didn't exist on the libraries or IT systems and spent many hours queuing to see people & taking time off work to try and get it resolved but to no avail, instead getting passed from pilliar to post.

 

After a couple of weeks of seeing how chaotic the university was and how poor the course was going to be I decided it wasn't for me and so wrote to the course leader at the University in October to ask them to withdraw me from the course stating I would be happy to pay for the balance of tuition I had recieved if they wished to send me a bill.

 

I never used any of their facilities (I couldn't have used the library even if I wanted to!) or logged on to their systems again.

 

I never heard from them again, neither with a bill, or to ask why I was missing lectures so assumed that was the end of it.

 

However come mid-December I recieved a letter through the post stating I was overdue with my fees to the amount of £267 out of £800 and they were going to refer me to a credit collection agency.

 

I wrote back to both the credit control department and my course leader stating that I had left on October 6th after 2 weeks after the problems I had experienced and had only attended 2 lectures. I wrote I was happy to pay for the tuition I had recieved.

 

They wrote back via e-mail to the account I'd put on letter and stated they had never had the information I had left from my course leader so I would need to send in a withdrawl form and they would adjust my fees accordingly as below:

 

"Whatever date you left will be input against your record which will then mean a reduction in the amount of fees due. This will be calculated by our Student Records Team once your programme leader has informed them of the date."

 

So I printed this form, signed it and sent it in...

 

I still never heard anything until 2 weeks ago when I recieved another threatening letter saying they were referring my debt to a debt collection agency.

 

So I replied via e-mail and said that I sent my withdrawl form in 2 months previously. To which they replied they had never been passed it by the course leader again!

 

So I printed another & sent it to them....

 

Hurrah they recieved it! In their letter they state they are pleased to announce my debt has been adjusted to "£400"!

 

Their letter again says they are going to refer my debt onto a collection agency if I don't pay it immediately.

 

So basically they're charging me for the whole modules, even though I attended for just 2 weeks!

 

OK some of you might think that is fair, after all I did sign up... However the Universities own regulations say if you withdraw before December 1st you aren't liable to pay any fees!

 

https://docushare.sunderland.ac.uk/d...ees+regs04.doc

 

I did write to them in October... however I'm being punished yet again because their administration is a joke... The whole reason I realised the Uni wasn't for me anyway...

 

I had previously offered to pay the pro-rata cost of the lectures I attended but now they want the full modules even though I attended 2 weeks!

 

To add insult to injury, you know how I said I hadn't recieved any letters from the University asking why I hadn't attended lectures etc? Well I got one this week from the same women who has been dealing with this asking me why I hadn't been attending lectures and could they do anything to support me! 5 months later!!! It reeks to me of covering her back. The whole thing to me reeks of them stalling it so that they get their money to be honest.

 

How should I approach this situation?

 

I am happy to pay the cost of the lectures I attended but when I have fufilled my obligations & written to them to withdraw in good time, why should I be punished for their poor administration? Especcially when I've just been laid off from my job and money is very tight... To pay £400 for a service I never even recieved is just not on.

[buzby]

Providing you keep within their T&C's you've a rock solid defence. Being passed to a DCA is no big deal, especially as all you have to do is say the debt is disputed and to pass it back to their client.

 

What you DO have to be careful of is their treatment of debt reporting. Did they seek your permission to pass details of your payments to a CRA? If so, make sure there is nothing untoward showing. If not, you can dismiss this from your thoughts and ask them for a final account to settle any outstanding (per the T&C's) as the statement you have appears incorrect.

[anewloginapparently]

Providing you keep within their T&C's you've a rock solid defence. Being passed to a DCA is no big deal, especially as all you have to do is say the debt is disputed and to pass it back to their client.

 

What you DO have to be careful of is their treatment of debt reporting. Did they seek your permission to pass details of your payments to a CRA? If so, make sure there is nothing untoward showing. If not, you can dismiss this from your thoughts and ask them for a final account to settle any outstanding (per the T&C's) as the statement you have appears incorrect.

 

Thanks for that Buzby,

 

I think the issue I am going to have is with them stating that they never recieved my letter stating I was withdrawing as the credit control department stated when they first wrote back to me, and then claiming my withdrawl letter that they did recieve (which was the 3rd time I had written to them stating I was withdrawing) was recieved after the December cut off point.

 

Any ideas on how to broach the subject with them? As in the end it kind of comes down to my word against theirs.

 

Knowing how inefficient and poor the administration of that institution is I imagine my initial letter never made it from the course leader to the credit control team.

 

Another thing they might say is that providing written notice isn't enough as I then had to fill out an "official withdrawl form" albeit it was just a poorly scanned piece of A4 paper where I put my course, name and withdrawl date.

 

As my initial letter was in October but didn't hear from them until December stating they hadn't recieved it and anyway I had to fill out this other form, the date they recieved the actual form was after the cut off point.

 

Any ideas?

[buzby]

You would have every expectation of any letters you sent would have been seen and acted upon. In your situation I would provide copies of each with a covering letter, and note that whilst you are reluctant to point an accusatory finger, even after they became aware of your withdrawal, the errors still continue.

 

This would then make your later 'withdrawal form' simply a confirmation, unless the T&Cs specifically state any cancellation of academic services MUST be on this form (unlikely). If you provide the date of your last attendance and use of their facilities, they would be hard pressed not to agree with you.

[anewloginapparently]

Thanks Buzby, I'll go along with that for now and see what they say. Like you say since I haven't used any of their facilities since October 6th they'd be hard pressed to argue that I hadn't withdrawn.

 

Hopefully they'll see sense, if not I guess I'll be back on here for further advice!

[Antiabuse]

I may face the same problem with Sunderland. I will not know until I return from India on 19 March. I know all about their complaint system as I currently have a complaint with the OIA and 2 more with the uni. Please get in touch on [email protected]. There is more power in numbers.