My experience with Scheidegger

[chesh]

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[talmage]

Have you heard back from them yet, I am finding this course very outdated and a complete waste of money. I need to cancel it as well how has the cancellation gone on so far?

[DUBAN]

Hi. I am hoping that may be somebody there can do something about it. I joined that(rubbish)in october 2004 and to be honest I just found myself being in a awful personal situation, well it is something that they just don't care. At the sametime I have been reading so many sarking comments about that (stupid) company; that now I don't and I'am not ready to continue trowing my money in fact now I have stopped,thinking that maybe a solicitor could help, but as far as I know it was my own silly mistake. I do really was expecting so much from it but like others I am in the same situation that Scheidegger company are just a bunch of thieves. Also my tutor has never contact me or they haven't told me when or where to go for examinations. I have been trying to contact others users of this web but unfortunately it seem to me like they had given up. I sent some comments about Scheidegger to the BBC watchdog because I do know that there are many people in tha same situation and now I have got no idea what to do. I am thinking that maybe the last resource will be if I am going back home because I don't want any sort of threat at the end of the day the whole course is just out of date. Please If you can help in some way please do it, I would be so greateful if you do.
It is funny two weeks ago there were several users making complaints about it now I have been searching and I can't find them please do you mind if you can keep in contact. god bless and thank you.

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[chesh]

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[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[Fifer]

To all of U who are doing a Skills Train course, whether Ur experience so far is good or bad, I urge U to make enquiries about the venues for final exams B4 going any further. Many of the people who do these courses, do so because they cannot get out and about easily. Here's what happened to me:

Firstly a bit about myself. I'm 60 yrs of age and physically disabled due to an accident I had 4 years ago. I still cannot travel long distances without suffering adverse affects.

In January 2006 I received a 'phone call from a Skills- Train rep, who said he'd heard I'd been enquiring about a computer course. At the time I was in the middle of an ECDL course but had changed from Windows '98 to XP and my PC wasn't recognising the disk, so I thought he was referring to that and allowed him to visit. Biggest mistake of my life! He told me the ECDL was no longer running and talked me into doing the course on Computer Book-keeping for a SAGE Diploma. I told him I already had an HNC in accounts, but he said I'd have to start again from scratch as I'd gotten the HNC in 1984
He spoke at length about how I'd need something to fall back on once August arrived and I became a pensioner. He was so plausible and seemed so honest & nice that I had no reason to suspect he was telling me a load of lies. He gave me a very simple arithmetic test which I passed with flying colours and said I should have no difficulty in completing the course within 6 months.

He told me there would be 2 social functions at a local hotel, where I'd meet up with other Scheidegger students for refreshments etc, giving me something to look forward to as I do not get out much. (These events never did take place)! He then went out to his car and returned with a briefcase full of stationery etc which he handed to me. He went through the contents of the briefcase and showed them to me.

He then produced what looked like one single agreement and said all that was left was for me to sign up with his company. I asked if I could have time to look over the agreement but he looked at his watch and said he still had another call to make and was running short of time, which meant I had to sign the agreement there & then. I looked over the agreement as best I could, but I was feeling under pressure to sign and would have been too embarrassed to do otherwise. After all he'd told me there was a cooling off period and I thought I could simply contact him to say I'd changed my mind.

The document just looked like one single agreement to me. I did not suspect that part of it was actually a separate agreement between myself and a Financial company, giving them permission to pay Skills Train £1,800 and charge it to me.

He then said he had to call his office on his mobile in order to set up the account. He seemed to know the person on the other end, so it appeared that he was indeed talking with someone at Skills Train. He had told me that I had a 3 day cooling off period during which I could get back to him and cancel.

What I did not know was that I actually had 14 days and should have received written confirmation of this within the next couple of days. I never did receive that information and only found out how long I'd actually had to cancel, ten months later during a telephone conversation with a woman at the Scheidegger office.

I actually tried repeatedly that evening and over the next 3 days, to contact Mr McKenzie and cancel, but he didn't answer his 'phone. I tried to contact Skills Train over the internet but could find no 'Contact Us' link on their site. In the end I felt that I'd just have to accept the course and do the best I could. I attained high marks on all of the tests (between 90% and 100%).

There was no way I could have completed the course in the next 6 months, as I'd to wait at least a week for the results each time I sent a TMA to the tutor. It was 10 mths before I reached the point where I received the SAGE package, and that was when I discovered that the nearest venue for the final exams was at Glasgow, almost 50 miles away!

I contacted the exams board who confirmed this, and was told they're even making students travel as far as Luton nowadays. I contacted Scheidegger and was told they might be able to send an invigilator to my house, but that I (now a pensioner) would have to pay all his/her costs beforehand & be reimbursed at a later date. By this time I was extremely upset and actually having asthma & angina attacks. I 'phoned Clydesdale Finance who warned me that if I didn't keep up the payments they would have me black-listed. I approached the Office of Trading Standards who did a full investigation and took my case to the Financial Ombudsman, who decided that since Clydesdale Financial Services had paid out the money for my course, to Scheidegger, they were legally entitled to be repaid.

3 weeks ago I received a 'phone call from yet another Skills Train rep, saying he'd heard I was interested in doing one of their courses. You can guess what he was told! My number is unlisted, so they must just be chancing their luck and 'phoning people at random

[joni]

I decided a change in career was a good move and decided to take up 3 courses with skillstrain. 2 months into the first one I realised I had learnt nothing! Everything they tried to teach me I already knew!
Despite complaining to a tutor in cyberclass I am still left high and dry with a threatening letter about my late payments which i am unable to catch up on. I have limited finances and thought this might be a way out for me but it has just brought misery and they are not capable of teaching anyone anything! Im writing to trading standards and anyone else who will listen to me about their underhand methods! If they think Im paying them anymore money they can think again!
All this rubbish about them visiting your house and speaking to someone on a mobile phone for verification is what it is! RUBBISH! its a ploy to get you to part with your hard earned cash!

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

:)

Nice to see the new faces...

[Fifer]

I couldn't agree more Joni

I eventually managed to get my payments to CFS Ltd cancelled, but only after 10 months had gone by, and a few rather heated telephone conversations with the companies involved. In order to get the cancellation I was told that since mine was a unique case - me being a pensioner, and physically disabled due to an accident etc, I should write a letter to a Skillstrain Liaison Officer, stating that I no longer considered them (or their salesmen) to be dishonest, and once I'd submitted the letter they would cancel my accounts, so that's what I did, and about a month later I was informed that my Skillstrain course and the balance with CFS Ltd had indeed been cancelled.

Then imagine my surprise when I found out their 'Multimedia' had published a part of that letter on Digital Trends, implying in his post that I was totally satisfied with the outcome! I have to admit to being very relieved at having the accounts cancelled at last, but to be satisfied I'd have had to have been given a decent refund (especially as I've been informed that some people have managed to get full refunds since then). Although I'd thought my letter to be very carefully worded, I felt that the part he had cleverly publushed made me look quite bad - like a bit of a traitor to my fellow 'students'. There was no refund of the £1,100 I'd already had to pay, but at least I was spared the remaining £800 balance.

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I decided a change in career was a good move and decided to take up 3 courses with skillstrain. 2 months into the first one I realised I had learnt nothing! Everything they tried to teach me I already knew!
Despite complaining to a tutor in cyberclass I am still left high and dry with a threatening letter about my late payments which i am unable to catch up on. I have limited finances and thought this might be a way out for me but it has just brought misery and they are not capable of teaching anyone anything! Im writing to trading standards and anyone else who will listen to me about their underhand methods! If they think Im paying them anymore money they can think again!
All this rubbish about them visiting your house and speaking to someone on a mobile phone for verification is what it is! RUBBISH! its a ploy to get you to part with your hard earned cash!