Help with pitman training please

[bonbon64]

Hi don't know if i am posting in the right place but.

 

I have tired to get help from several places but i am treated like a fool for trying to follow this up after such a long time (6 years)

 

I received some money for education from project Scotland and decided to go for a course that pitman training were offering.

 

They enrolled me in the first course and said i could start the second course when i wanted. i went back 3 years later and they then said i only had a year to complete both the courses which is impossible for anyone to do.

 

Should i bother following this up or is the £1500 gone. i think since i was only enrolled in one course they have pritty much stolen the money off me.

 

thanks for your time and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

thanks

 

Ben

[bonbon64]

I tried to contact customersupport @ pitman-training.com they have now ask me to contact the training centre i enrolled. I have already contacted the training centre and i was almost laughed at and referred to ILA.

[aga_g]

Hi,

I have actually a question to PitmanJam.

 

I signed up for keyboarding skills at Brighton branch in January this year.

 

I started it, but then changed a job, so I had to do it online at home.

 

It worked fine at the beginning, but then my laptop wasn't able to load up the program.

 

I tried few times, with no result.

 

I haven't changed my system or settings, so not sure where's the problem.

 

I emailed Brighton 3 times since summer with no response.

 

Could you please help?

 

Also it's not only my opinion, at least anther 3 People, that as soon as paid for the course customer services is non existing, students are not getting any support.

 

I think that's something that should be looked at as well.

Many Thanks

[bonbon64]

yes i agree.

 

i was however quickly contacted by the head department after posting this but dew to this company working as a franchise i was quickly forwarded on to the person i was having comunicating with. i will post my corasondense as i feel this matter has still not been resoloved for me.

 

Here is the message that has just been posted:

***************

Hi Ben,

 

I am part of Pitman Training's Head Office team, and would like to personally look into this matter for you.

 

Please can you pop your contact details on an email to [EDIT] so that we can investigate the matter further.

 

Many thanks,

 

Jam

***************

 

-------------------------------------after this email:

 

Dear Benedict

 

Further to my recent email I can confirm that I have now spoken to Fran McLean, the franchisee for the Edinburgh centre.

 

Fran has confirmed that you enrolled on the online technical courses in June 2007, and the course fees were paid for by a third party organisation.

 

Your induction took place on 24 July 2007 and as per the Conditions of Enrolment you had 12 months to complete the courses.

 

Two years later on 22 July 2009, you telephoned the centre to say that you had decided to change your career path and wished to do a diving course.

 

You asked if it would be possible to have a refund made to you personally for the remainder of the course you had not completed.

This was impossible as the training had been paid by the organisation and not you personally.

It was suggested that you contact the organisation who paid for your training and if they approached the centre with this request then it would be considered.

 

In situations where a third party has funded a course, any refund that may be due under the terms and conditions would be paid to the third party

or an arrangement would be made for a substituted delegate / course where appropriate.

 

No contact was made to the centre by the organisation.

 

In addition, you were then well out with the agreed time you had to complete the training.

 

In August 2010 you came in and asked if you could do a Dreamweaver course.

 

Due to this being a third party booking they had difficulty finding your original booking as it was not made by you personally

and they asked you to forward the booking reference so that they would look at it.

 

They did not hear from you again until July 2012.

 

In July 2012, you came into the centre and asked if you could take up the training again.

 

Whilst the centre have some flexibility regarding extending course lengths it was felt that as this was five years after the initial enrolment

it was impractical to facilitate this as it was so far out with the agreed timescale for completion of the training course.

 

I trust the above answers your questions.

 

Regards

Lisa

 

-------------------------------------------

 

i was mocked. this is my money, for my education.

 

there is a lot of comments there that are not true.

 

i was having second thoughts on the course in mind but i simply ask if i could change the path that i was on not to actually change it.

but again i was look down on.

no booking attempt was made for the dreamweaver course, they said it had been to long

and i that it was in there terms of contracts but i did not sign or start the course i was told that it would be possible to start in my time.

i did not in-role to the second course!

 

you should check it out further. i fell i have been spoofed

 

the email for there head offce is :[EDIT]

Edited October 17, 2013 by dx100uk
unapproved email addresses and contact details removed - dx

[aga_g]

Hi Ben,

thanks a lot. I can't believe it still hasn't been resolved. Again - to take the money they're first, but after that you're just by yourself. There as a girl in a centre I met - she completed accounting course but never received a certificate. When she contacted them it came up her record is gone. She still had a proof of payment, however she had to do the curse all over again. It took so much time, you can imagine.

I had issues with a course as well. On few occasions when doing the test after I finished and clicked submit everything disappear and my score about 5%. Again contacted Brighton centre, once even emailed a manager directly with no response.

It's a pity. I checked few Pitttman courses and was thinking about doing another one as well s I think the programme is great and my company are happy to pay. In this situation I will have to think of other options.

In your message I can't read an email address I'm guessing it was blocked by the web. Could you please post it again using 'at' instead of the actual sign?

 

If I were you I would try to contact H/O again, by recorded mail. And if still they're not happy to resolve the issue there is always Ombudsman Services which I think is best option. However if you mention ombudsman in your next letter to Pittman they should react differently.

 

Good luck!

[Justicebedone]

Thank you for posting this here: very helpful. I am determined to take legal action against the abusive situation which I have been involved with recently, at one of my local Pitman Centre.

 

Like you, I was not able to finish my course within the year. I enrolled in Feb. 2012 on a P.A Executive course for which I had personally invested £4400; due to a long list of personal obstacles ( a divorce, full-time caring for a teenager single-handedly, moving home twice in two years, having to travel between two country to care for a father suffering from Alzheimer, other trainings examinations ...)

 

As the Centre for which I had enrolled was not the closest to my new home, I had asked to change Centre location, and was refused this request. Therefore I only managed to cover Excel half-way through by Feb. 2013. I went back to the Centre in November this year, to beg the Centre Manageress to take me back, explaining my long list of personal difficulties which by now also include running into debts, as my courses are not yet completed.

 

She agreed to take me back for only a part of the course for which I had invested such huge sum of money: Word and Excel. Also she refused to put me on the latest version of Word. So she made me study Word 2007 despite my request to study the latest version for which I had paid for. Excel still needing to be finished. I also requested to receive training with Dreamweaver: declined. Why didn't I take action here and then?

 

Anyway: I had booked a space for yesterday, telling that I would arrive by 10am. As I was delayed on my journey, I kindly called to let her know. When I arrived at the Centre, the manageress acted in a very angry fashion. She said that as I had booked the day before and managed to stay glued to my computer for only three hours, she had to change my hours to six; because the booking was for 9.30-4.30. I disputed this, and told her that I so did not; I had specifically stated the day before that I could only book an approximate arrival time and asked her to remain flexible about the leaving time, as I had other important matters to cover on that day too. I also told her that I found her attitude abusive, that I felt bullied and reminded her that I had paid for the course and yet still was awaiting the goods. Specially the latest version of the goods.

Being French, I tend to express myself rather firmly when required, and by then I had started to raise my voice; I remained polite, nevertheless. The manageress still told me to get out, literally ending all forms of communication over the matter without even an ounce of compassion.

Not only I had been robbed of £4400 but I was also being made to feel guilty about it. So I went to the police station who advised me to take legal action. I then walked in a legal aid centre. I am awaiting to hear their response. I am determined to get my money back, my legal fees paid by Pitman Training, and free other students from this specific Centre, from this manageress who many have experienced as a stubborn, controlling bully. I have heard complaints from other students, and even from other Pitman staffs who know of her (the staffs in the centre closer to my home; centre for which my request to change had been rejected)

Worth adding: I have taken pictures of the manageress at her desk, of her diploma on the wall, of my computer at the Centre, of the Centre. I also have copies of my enrolment papers, and the hours achieved so far. I am determined to get my money back, and my legal fees covered by Pitman Training. Also I am determined to free other students in that centre from possibly suffering in silence whilst struggling financially to achieve some qualifications to seek further employment. No manager/manageress has the right to bully her students and staff for that matter (she has been reported to bully her last assistant) in that manner. This is abusing her position. And it doesn't help Pitman Training Reputation. The course itself is well structured; yet in this case,

stifled by the wrong person in charge.

Justice be done.

[Justicebedone]

I must add: Thank you for creating such useful forum. If my case is won, yes I will make a donation to support you. I am determined to take legal action against the abusive situation which I have been involved with recently, at one of the local Pitman Centre., as explained above. Yet if I can understand how to proceed and ways to proceed without involving court action, I will be happy to settle the dispute with Pitman Training Head Office. Yet I do not know how to contact them, nor whom to speak/ write to. can you help?

Reading the above comments have poured some light to some degree, yet I am still not clear about how to start.