Scheidegger/ skillstrain beware!! read this

[scammers1985]

Hi there first i would like to say hi to any 1 that is unhappy with Scheidegger/ skillstrain. Now to my story when a salesman came round my house he said to me i would be gettin alot of hands on experience every 2 weeks they would invite me to classes, and he also told me that course was cancellable at any time. Well i sighned it and thought what the heck. wel my g.f then had the baby 2 weeks later and then i realised the info in this course is outdated and they never call me to arrange anything. all they have done is left me with the book that the salesman left me. so i though im not payin £75 a month for this i rang them up to cancel they said i could not 21 days has past, they said you shouldnt havent signed agreement well then i just thought they cant take money off me for something im not doin so i rang consumer direct and they told me that because i signed at home, they had to by law send a second copy of my contract agreement, which i never received from receiving that you have cancellation notice of 5 days. So i rang them up they are saying yes we sent that which is an obvious LIE as i have never receieved anything so what i have done is cancelled my standing order and writen to them sayin i have not received my 2nd copy of contact so i am now terminating my contract.

So now i wait to see what they say and to be honest i dont care if they take me to court because i have a good case that i never received 2nd copy of contract, and coursework is outdated, and salemans are unprofessional and lie.

So i am writing to all of you out there today that we have to stick up for each over and not let this company run all over us what do you say????

[Somepeople]

Thats what i say 2 scammers 1985, they are con artists in every single aspect. Keep us updated of what happens with your contract and has any1 else got any experiences with them?

or has anybody ever cancelled there contract and what happend because im thinking of cancelling my A+ N+ MCSE course

[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

[Fifer]

Many thanks to all who have replied to my messages
I've sent out all the invites again today and hope U all receive them safely this time. Sincere apologies to anyone who received more than one :confused:
I was having a real job to get them posted.

Wishing everyone a really nice weekend
Fifer :cheers