PITMAN TRAINING EXECUTIVE PA DIPLOMA

[sweetchix]

Hi,

 

Is anyone able to help with a refund for Pitman courses?

 

In 2017 I signed up for the Executive PA Diploma and completed a total of 3 modules,

due to center opening times and closing at short notice which even saw me turning up at the center when it was closed,

due to not being notified it would be shut.

 

I spent alot of money on this course and have to stress that it has left me in financial difficulty since,

I did not complete the course also due to personal circumstances being a carer and having mental health issues.

However on some given days I would be notified that the center was shut due to external exams.

 

Does anyone know about proceeding for a refund, I willing to take it down a legal route. 

 

Please note I have contacted the franchise center and been told I will not be issued a refund by them, however I am due one.

 

Thanks

 

[dx100uk]

very well know here:

 

https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=partner-pub-8889411648654839:3134625398&q=PITMAN TRAINING EXECUTIVE&oq=PITMAN TRAINING EXECUTIVE&gs_l=partner-generic.12...26041.26041.0.27583.1.1.0.0.0.0.84.84.1.1.0.gsnos%2Cn%3D13...0.0...2.34.partner-generic..1.0.0.z3rIsZD4Jns

 

dx

[sweetchix]

Thanks for the quick reply, have to say it's appalling how such a large company treat people.

 

I went with them because of the name and automatically thought it would be professional - afraid not.

[dx100uk]

they never are.

 

sadly there are 100's of these online companies offering courses

that are no more than a one man band with a laptop and google making £10'000's.

 

dx

[sweetchix]

Hi agree please see update from Pitman customer support below:

 

The Pitman centres are all franchise businesses so individually owned businesses, any refund would need to be sought from the centre that you paid the money to.

 

Of course we are sorry to hear about your personal circumstances, howeve, you have purchased the diploma three years ago, generally students complete the diploma within 12 months. You haven’t said which centre you purchased the diploma from but I would  say after 3 years  I would tend to agree with the centre in that you would not be entitled to a refund.

 

Kind Regards

Claire

 absolutely appalling treatment DO NOT GO WITH PITMAN!!!!

 

[sweetchix]

Further update when I asked for contact details of a manager from their head office and explained I had already been intouch with the franchise manager:

 

Quote

 

Hi

 

Our complaints procedure is that you email in to this address with full details of your complaint, this then is past to the centre concerned to reply to you with us in copy.

 

The Franchise Manager will be copied in to the complaint and with liaise with the centre regarding this.

 

However, ultimately it is up to the owner of the business in question as to whether they think you are entitled to a refund or not.

 

 

[BankFodder]

First of all you should understand that this is going to be difficult – partly because you have left it so long, partly because of their franchise system it is very difficult to pin them down and finally because you have already said yourself that some of the reason for not completing the course is because of your own mental/emotional state.

Your poor health at the time was very unfortunate – and I'm very sorry about that – but that is not something that you will be able to rely upon if you attempt to recover any money. In fact it would be in your best interests not to refer to this. Have you already brought this up with them?

Could you please tell us how much the entire course cost. Also, you will need to give a fairly detailed chronology of the listed class times and the times that they were closed without giving you notice.

We need to understand what impact these are notified closures had upon the total amount of allocated time.

Was the course conducted mostly online or was it conducted with face-to-face contact at their classrooms?

[sweetchix]

Hi,

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

Firstly I asked several times for a refund closer to the time I enrolled on the course and was told I could not have one due to the center paying for the course upfront. I did make it very clear that I was struggling with the course, however due to the center not being open when I could attend that I would not be able to finish it, also that due a change in job role I would be unable to make days when the center was open. However given that the center advertised several times it would be open late and on a weekend this was not honoured several times and yes I have a detailed log of this. 

 

The entire cost of the course was over £3700 - I can get back to you with the exact amount once I am home as I have kept the recites

 

There was also an incident with the Sage course due to it having to be studied within the classroom - when I was able to get into the venue the package was not working and also the obvious reason for the center being closed.

 

The course was conducted via mixed methods, however when trying to complete the training online their system was not working, so could not be accessed whilst I was trying to study at home. I did phone the center about this at the time, however this was not remedied.

 

Thanks

[sweetchix]

Update further reply: 

 

The Pitman centres are all franchise businesses so individually owned businesses, any refund would need to be sought from the centre that you paid the money to.

 

Of course we are sorry to hear about your personal circumstances, howeve, you have purchased the diploma three years ago, generally students complete the diploma within 12 months. You haven’t said which centre you purchased the diploma from but I would  say after 3 years  I would tend to agree with the centre in that you would not be entitled to a refund.

 

Anyone able to help?