Scheidegger / Skills Train

[becca2006]

Having started the course last year i decided i would have a look at any info wandering about the internet. I happened upon your forum which made everything very clear to me.
I am now thinking that i do not want to carry on with the course (CIW web design) but looking at the last discussion it seems that i may not be able to cancel the course. I have not spoken to the company yet (they are under the name of Skillstrain), but am a little timid of doing so.

Please would anyone advise on this? Apart from giving the company a call - shall i carry on with the course?

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I need to edit this first post to issue a warning for people reading this thread for the first time:

Some people have been participating in this thread with multiple accounts from the same IP. They have been banned, but I wont delete their posts. Below you can see who they are and what IPs their accounts are associated with.

IP 85.234.133.71
steviet
ziggycat
mandy may
canal captain

IP 217.154.30.90
mikeyp
welsh wizard
professor poop
gregory's boy
Scorpian_King81
StephenT
The Wright Stuf
Tom_Shorrock

IP 74.52.151.80
bob the bruce
lionheart
julie_m
greatgeek

IP 85.234.133.232
Amy's Dad
JuneB
stevieT

I am NOT a happy camper when I have to spend over 30 minutes banning people.

I locked the thread they started on happy skills trains customers (http://forums.digitaltrends.com/showthread.php?threadid=11798) that they started spamming. People who have had a legitimate positive experience can startup a new thread if they wish.

- dang

[flat_eric84]

i'm also in the same situation as you. i've been thinking of leaving the course for some time and have been researching on the internet about scheidegger and everything i have found about them has been bad. i rang this morning to see if i could leave the course and was told i couldn't, but as i've spent so much money on it and i'm not happy with course (and a lot of other people aren't either!) then there must be a way.

i did also ask on the phone if i would be charged any more money if i didn't hand in any more TMA's in and was told i wouldn't have to pay any more money but i'm not sure if thats true or not.

[becca2006]

yep as i thought. I am going to get my boyf who is a solicitor to look over the 'contract' and all the paperwork - he says if the contract is unreasonable then i could take them to the small claims court.

will keep you posted.

[flat_eric84]

that sounds like a good idea, could you keep me infomed of the progress it would be much appreciated, good luck with it :)

[becca2006]

Hi there

Basically when Skillstrain came to visit me they spent a very long time 'assessing' whether i would be right for their course. As he had - he did not really explain all the paperwork and being my naive self i did not really look at it correctly.

Looking over the paperwork one of the forms i had signed was a loan agreement. Now i thought i was signing something that just meant i would pay the fees for the course but it turns out that they allow you to 'borrow' £2500 and then pay it back interest free every month.
I do not think he explained it to me properly and seemed more concerned in getting me to sign and credit check my account details.

Therefore i have signed an agreement i may not be able to get out of.

My solicitor has looked over the contrat and he says that he will call the credit company - namely Clyesdale and check the agreement as there may be a way of getting out of it once you have paid three quarters of the first term of payment (mine is 35 monthly payments).

If not - i will have to complete the course and hope that i am able to get my foot in the door somewhere and then continue to learn web design somewhere else.

I agree with everyone on this forum that Scheidegger prefer to take your money and then simply leave you to it which other colleges or Open University would not do.

Unfortunatley we might have to just take this as a learning experience!

Will keep you posted

[nightowl]

I dont think I'll be signing up for Scheidegger anytime soon after reading all the threads here. :sponge

[rbattram]

Becca2006, sorry to hear about your experiences with scheidegger. I too have started experiencing problems and am becoming dissillusioned. Fortunately I can afford to just tell them to stuff it and just pay up if it becomes intolerable. However , I think they should be named and shamed - perhaps by writing to Watchdog - they should improve their act if they are going to charge such large sums for their courses.

[ECA]

ya know,
It might be interesting to setup a STING..
RECORD them soliciting a prospective client...
If you hear/find ANY thing NOT proper, you can take it to court...
AS I dont know your location, LAWS differ, on recording conversations.

[rbattram]

The suggestion to set up a sting might work in the US, but in England the law seems to protect large companies and generally ignores individuals.

[ECA]

Then sence it cant be used in court...It SHOULD be able to be broadcast..
AND it can be used personally... to get them to fire the person that DID it, as well as to kill ANY contract...as you MADE it with THAT person. then tell the company that SENCe that PERSON didnt explain everything properly, they have NO recourse.

There ARE rules to sales, and what HAS to be done/said. Esp when signing a payment contract.

[chesh]

post removed by author

[RXRob]

In response to flat_eric, don't believe anything that they say on the phone. I have been told that period for cancelling is 5 days, 21 days, and 28 days from different people on the same phone number.

Becca, keep pushing the issue. I just cancelled my Standing Order with them, funny how they pay attention as soon as the money gets stopped.

I have asked for a full refund in the past, minus the cost of two emails from when I got my assignment results back. I also offered to return the materials in mint condition by hand as I have barely touched them since being given them.

[man-a-ger]

I have read your message and can say that i am very surprised at what you and some people have written, i enrolled on a skills train CIW course and have completed it without any major drawbacks, Skills train have been very cooperative and i have just recieved my first job interview, it seems that people that have enrolled on this course have not understood that they need to do a lot of work to be successfull. A bad workman always blames his tools.

For any body considering taking on a course with skills train must understand that it is only as good as the person studying. for me it has worked as sold.

[satti87]

Hey guys i'm so glad i found this site, i am so stressed i can't explain, i am so sick of this ciw course, i am paying £65 since august 2005 and my course is stil not finished, its so hard working on your own, they should atleast have lessons where they help you one on one or as small groups. i so regret doing this course, i am only 19, i left university for this course, as the man who came to my house, lets say he just brain washed me, i am so stressed anyone please suggest what i can do. i want my money back but i doubt it that they will give it back. i wish i could turn back time. i can really cry my eyes out thats how stressed i am. my total fees for this course is £1650 after i got the discount.

[RXRob]

Man-a-ger, your post interests me.

I want to finish this course but have found that in comparison to the entry exam, the rest of the course was of an extremely high level.

Anyway, what I would like to ask you is how much did you spend on the course in total?

How long did it take you to complete it?

What salary are these job interveiws offering?

How much did Scheidegger pay you to type that post?

[satti87]

Yeh it seems of high level,

So far iv spent £600, the total fees was £1650. its ben 9 months now, and i have not still completed it because i am finding it very difficult to understand the java section. Over phone and emails you can not receive the bestest help which you get from face to face.

The course should have ben finished in 6 months but its self paced and depends on your time scale. I heard you have a year but you can extend your time, but i don't know if they charge extra for that.

salary is £15 an hour and that is starting wage only.

"How much did Scheidegger pay you to type that post?" sorry i didnt understand what you meant here. please explain.

[RXRob]

Don't worry satti87, those questions were meant for Man-A-Ger.

I have noticed that all of the positive comments from Scheidegger have been made by members who have made one post on the day they joined, and are then never heard from again.

[stuarta]

Has anyone got any updates or success stories on being able to cancel?

I'm in the same situation myself. I'm currently in a position where I'm going to be unable to make the payments and want to cancel the CCNA and CCNP parts of my course. I've successfully completed A+ and just coming on up my Network + exam and want to stop at this position.

I've contacted them, but heard nothing back as of yet.

Hope someone has some suggestions. I'm tempted to cancel the standing order for finance and see what happens then.

[satti87]

i am actualy thinking of taking a break from my course, i've looked at some full time jobs which and going to work for a few months, i've changed my mind i am not going to cancel it but wenever i can i will work on my assignments. the whole course is so so stressing but ofcourse that will mean that i will have to extend, do they charge extra for extending does anybody know???

[RXRob]

stuarta, that is the position that I was in.

I cancelled my Standing Order, and it seems that money talks. Less than a month after cancelling, finally contact was made with me, which lead to over a year of threats without any substance from them, followed by, finally, a negotitation which I reluctantly accepted.

satti87, you can take as long as you like to take the course, or at least that is what they promise everyone.

[satti87]

i totally agree with the money business, i did miss a payement as i i had run out of money and they still took money leaving me with a extra charge of £35 and overdrawn. i'v ben quite busy for the last 3 months, and hadnt had time at all to do my course, i just hope they do not pull put with another cost when i tell them that i want to extend my course. i was just thinking they charge us every month, (the course fees), and the only help we get is either by emails or over the phone, its not value for money, they should have tutions or lessons. im still so stressed.

[satti87]

so what was the settlement at the end? are they going to pay you back any of the fees.

[stuarta]

Well basically for me, I've taken 9months to do A+ and Network + and therefore paid £900. They've knocked off £200 for my A+ exams and assume another £100 for my Network + exam that I'm shortly going to take.

I also noticed last night that they say the course will last 7-14months. That means I have 5 months left to do 64 assignments and 5 exams for my CCNA and CCNP.

This is going to be physically impossible even if I was lounging around at home doing nothing. On my A+ and N+ I've been turning round the assignments on the same day I get my results and therefore unable to do it any quicker. They did hold me up for about a month on my A+ by not sending me material and another week or so on my N+ by sending me material I'd already had.

Hopefully, I might be able to cancel through the finance company through unsatisfactory service and the fact that I found the A+ out of date.

[satti87]

just like to know what course are you doing?

[stuarta]

My course entailed A+, Network +, CCNA and CCNP.

Completed A+, about to do my last assignment for Network + and want to cancel my CCNA and CCNP.

The payments and time is very odd. Impossible to do all 4 in 14months, but obviously the finance is set to 34months. I've paid about £900.

I've sent Skillstrain an email saying that my circumstances have changed, I've been made redundant twice in 12months, now on a lower salary, extra pressure in new job and have to rehouse, all of which makes it mentally and financially impossible.

[satti87]

did they also guarantee you a job after you have completed the whole course? they did to me

[stuarta]

Guaranteed job after the Cisco not the A or N+'s, but then saying that, as soon as I completed the A+ exams and updated my CV with agencies, I got calls and managed to get myself this job.

Thing that annoys me now is that it's impossible to complete about 100+ assignments in 14months, even if you do one a week and the fact that I found myself studying about daisy wheel printers and CGA monitors, both of which I stopped using about 15years ago. If I hadn't found material on the 'net about the A+, I would of struggled in the exam.

[satti87]

you should tell them that you want to extend you course period, i was on the phone to them once and told them that u had some personal problems and couldnt manage to do my course for about 2 3 months, they go there is no problem if you want to extend your course, after that i hang up and i relised that i should have asked weather they are goin to charge me extra, because they are so unpredictable. i still have 15 asignments to do and 1 more chapter after that and i don't find the help they give is any good.

[stuarta]

yeah, I'd rather cancel if I can though. Complete my Network + but cancel the CCNA/CCNP. Guessing they will charge me to extend which is crazy as obviously in the first instance it's impossible timescale to complete and they have held me up several times.

Hopefully this and the fact that the A+ isn't up to date as they say, I can cancel the finance on the grounds that I got unsatisfactory service.

I did read last night on the finance that I can pay up early, but as I've completed quarter of the term, I'll have to pay £750 for every £1000 borrowed which will be about £2250, ouch

[satti87]

thats very sad, i do feel that they just want our money, service is not good, lot of people are not happy, i regret doing this course, i dont want to leave it because of all the money iv paid. isnt there a way out or atleast someone that can help us??? i feel so sorry for myself and others who are facing problems. maybe a lawyer, i doubt it that the head os skills train will come up with a solution, firstly they wont even pick their phones up and if they do they proberly say write a letter in.

[stuarta]

I'm feeling exactly the same.

I contacted my tutor through the webmail and told that I had to write to Scheidegger. I found an email address linked to the postal address so sent them an email on Friday.

Up to yesterday I'd heard nothing so thought I'd call them. I was then asked to email admin and Skillstrain as obviously I needed to change my contract. I emailed them yesterday lunchtime, I've had a read receipt from them but no reply as of yet.

I've really got my doubts of getting out of it, but really have to. I just can't carry on

[RXRob]

Satti87: They have ever so kindly allowed me to pay back the "loan" with cheaper monthly repayments. For their part, they have to stick to what they promised me when I signed up (see the letter that I sent to them in the thread started by myself on the matter)
I am doing the CISCO course, and was garunteed job interviews for positions with a salary in the £18k region.

I have written to Watchdog on this subject, and would suggest that anybody else having trouble does the same. The website for them is www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog

[stuarta]

ok so you still had to pay it back then. I'm still waiting for a response from my email and hoping that the fact they kept me waiting, I was literally returning my assignments as soon as I received them and therefore physically impossible to complete in 14months and with the A+ being out of date it could all classify as unsatisfactory goods.

[RXRob]

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for that replay. It normally takes about 6-7 weeks by old fashioned post

[stuarta]

Well I actually emailed them again yesterday threatening legal action if I don't hear anything back by today.

Yet again I've had a 'read' receipt from them but no response.

I contacted my free legal aid last night and they have suggested that I write to them and the finance company stating that I want immediate release without any further liability due to a breach of contract of the the supply of goods and services contract of 1982.

This is because the course length state 7-14months (60weeks). Therefore to complete 94 assignments in 60 weeks, I need to 2 a week. This doesn't take into account exams, bank holiday's, Christmas period, them taking a week to turn around results and failing to send me material at times or providing me incorrect material.

I might actually call the admin team this morning and see if they have any response from the email.

[osek]

I am in same position as stuarta i cant pay anymore my situheasion change and now a have to keep paying, i just wonder what would they do if i just stop paying cancel the direct debit.it is just fisicly imposible to finish 100 assigments in 14 months it just doesnt make sence, they are so kind and helpful when they visit you house to sell the course, but after that they just forget about you, we should creat and asosiation or something like a union to batel themand advice other what to do in tis cases,i have read somany anfair cases that people end up.get in touch with me if we an do sometihng in England there must be a law or something that protect us. email me to kvocdeals121@gmail.com.
Thank you
:)

[RXRob]

Very interesting Stuarta, I hadn't heard of that law.
The free legal advice service that I had available said that a court case would be 50/50. Either the contract is void because it was missold, or it's my own fault for signing the thing.

Osek, no offence intended, but your spelling is terrible. What course did you sign up for, and how did they test your suitability for it?

[osek]

Im better is Spanish je je...how ever that could be a razon why they sold the course to me with my small knowlege of te language...? No offence to anyone with my wrong speling.Sorry

[stuarta]

Well Skillstrain has written back to me.

Very sincere and understand my situation but can't let me get out of my course. They have however offered me an extension free of charge for 2 years which is interesting how they can provide that, obviously don't make much money out of it.

I'm now going to contact the finance company to see how much it will cost me to pay my way out. I have also noticed over the weekend that I could of done the A+ and Network + elsewhere for £200 each.

I'm now curious how much I could get the CCNA and CCNP and see if I can get anything back on a 'Price Promise' or anything, they are obviously WAY over priced.

Futher to my legal aid, I'll contact them back tonight with the update, but I'm sure that as they've offered me 2 free years, I might be stuck on the time issue. They did however also say that they could look at my contract and if it was biased against me, they could try that way.

[RXRob]

Again, no offence Osek, I didn't realise that English is not your first language.

stuarta, as over-priced as the course is, I have never seen Scheidegger make a price promise, so I think that it'll be a case of tough luck.

[stuarta]

Well spoke to my legal aid again last night regarding the developments of giving me an extra 2 years.

As they have mentioned, that is no benefit to myself and not initially my fault. The whole point of my delays is down to them and I'm wording a letter to them today and the finance company about the possible breach of contract

[delboy59]

i was conned into signing up for the a+ and n+ courses with skillstrain run by scheidegger. The sales man told me that the loan was a government sponsored loan, and i was one of the chosen few allowed it. Because I am unemployed I find it difficult to get credit so when he said i passed the credit check i beleived it must be some kind of government thing to help unemployed. I now suspect it is not.
I am paying £65 per month on a £2200 loan. like others I have seen the course elsewhere at a fraction of the cost but only after I had signed up.
I have cancelled my standing order as I am not happy with the course.
having to phone or email tutors is frustrating, having to check on the website for corrections to mistakes in the course material. I sent in an assignment and got one question wrong because of a mistake which wasn`t posted on the website corrected untill after i sent my assignment in.
1 week for assignments to be returned is frustrating.
a lot of the course will involve testing components etc. yet I have to buy my own multi-meter, surely if im paying over 2 grand they could at least provide the basic tools.
one thing which may have chnged recently is about the comment a few ppl made on here about the time limits to complete. I have a guarantee certificate which states if I fail the course I can take it again free of charge.
I feel that I could go to the library and read up on the subjects just as easy as the course teaches me.

[delboy59]

has anyone else been told that this loan has anything to do with a government scheme. The company Career development Finance do not even have a web site. I wonder why. :dunno

[stuarta]

yep I struggled to find any info on them. In the end I looked on Companies House website and found their address and phone number.

They just so happen to be in the same street as Skillstrain

[RXRob]

I never heard anything about a government scheme.

But what a strange coincidence that both companies are on the same street.

The more that I hear about these two companies, the more I wonder how eager they would be to avoid court. After all, they were threatening me for a over a year, but all has gone quiet since I moved house. And yes, they do have my new address.

[stuarta]

Well hopefully I should hear back from both Skillstrain and Career Development Finance Ltd in the next day or so.

I've basically threatened them following my legal advice and willl keep you posted

[becca2006]

hi there, i posted the original e-mail way back. I am still doing the course and frankly i am a little tired of it. It has only taught me about 20% more than i already knew!
I noticed Skills Train are advertising in the Argus (local paper for my region) now, so obviously they are still conning suckers in and gettin loads of money for it.
There really should be a way of being able to warn people against this kind of deception - which is what it is at the end of the day. Even i could come up with a fancy booklet and pretend to be someone i am not - it's not that hard!!
Anyways, if you do have any more legal info please let us know!
As i said before the loan agreement is something i now have to stick to which i am very peeved with.

[ECA]

Stu,
They will cancell your stuff, and HOPE you drop it. Or even ask you to sign a piece of paper saying that you do NOT hold them liable, and will say NOTHING...

I would report this to officials, and certification borads.

[stuarta]

Stu,
They will cancell your stuff, and HOPE you drop it. Or even ask you to sign a piece of paper saying that you do NOT hold them liable, and will say NOTHING...

I would report this to officials, and certification borads.

eh?

You saying they will hope I drop it or you hope I drop it and who report who?

[ECA]

They will cancell the course and costs, and tall you that is ALL they will do.
THEY HOPE you will not pass on what you know.
THEY will hope, you sign a piece of paper, that SAYS, you CAN NOT liable them if you TAKE this money or ACCEPT this concession.

[stuarta]

Fingers crossed. Just have to wait and see. Afraid I'm not so hopeful

[porridgeface]

I too signed an agreement with scheidegger/skillstrain for training but I read it and was happy with it. If you did not agree with borrowing the money why did you do it. After reading these posts i have dug out my paper work (agreement) and it clearly states that you have 14 days cooling off period where you could have cancelled, so if youre telling the truth that you feel you were conned, the law is there to protect you and you have he right to cancel. Why did you not do that.
I suspect that like the others complaining, you took the financial help offered willingly then changed your mind about putting the hard work and effort in and decided you would try and get your money back. It doesnt work like that any where else in the world whether you buy a training course or a car.
I find skillstrain fine, i will certainly benefit from doing the course and i understand that training is a fortune. With skillstrain the cost isnt too bad but they help you with the finance. I think thats brilliant. I was quoted 2k more by some companies. The course materials and software is very good and i ring my tutor at least one a week. What more do you want??? Its intersting when you see how many thousands of students they enrol each month, but its the same half a dozen people whinging!! My advice is change your attitude and work hard, get the quals and move on.

[becca2006]

I accept that i made a mistake and i did not read the contents properly, but at no point in the conversation did he mention that it was a loan agreement. I was given lots of tests to do to see if i was 'eligable' for the course.
I am glad that you find it so brilliant and you are such a 'hard worker' but i found the way they sold it to me to be quite underhand.
I already have a BA (Hons) so i don't think that i could be described as someone who moans about work and who does not work hard. Far from it.
As i said right at the beginning, i have had to accept that i made a mistake and i am still continuing with the course. However, i will certainly carry on training at a much more reputable place of study.
Are you considering taking on a job at skills-train as it sounds like you'd be very good at promoting - or are you already....

[stuarta]

Well I don't want to get into a 'flaming' match, but I also agree with you Becca.

When I started this, I understood the finance (although I think they have some commission for this as they wouldn't let me pay up front even though I could easily afford it). I also fully understand loan agreements and the contract involved.

As my message stated, times have changed since I agreed to do this. 2 redundancies haven't helped finacially and other unforeseen commitments.

I agree that training is good and appreciate the hardwork. I have been annoyed by them though that I've spent the last 6months working my butt off to complete the assignments, only to be held up by them and therefore the course length is unachieveable to no fault of my own.

Anyway, the legal advice I have taken feel the same way as me and I'm just trying to get options from them as to what I can do.

[porridgeface]

AAAh! That old chestnut. I am having a good experience with them and find the training excellent, so I must work for them. You could say I am promoting them I wont deny that. I take your point with regards to your degree however find it difficult to understand why someone as 'intelligent' as yourself allowed yourself to sign documents you 'didnt understand' As I reply I have the paperwork that I signed in front of me. It is very clear to me that this is a credit agreement on 0% rate. It mentions 'CREDIT', 'LOAN AGREEMENT','FINANCE', REPAYMENT METHOD', CANCELLATION INFORMATION,clearly a number of times. What part of that did you not understand?
Why did you not cancel it within the 14 day period as you by law are entitled to do, if as you say, you felt that it was mis sold to you, or it was 'underhand'.
If you, as I did, researched the company and the training before agreeing to or signing anything, you would find that they have a pretty impressive track record training around europe and have had over a million students. There are currently only 12 complaints about them. Thats pretty good. Type in Barclays bank and there are thousands of complaints!!!! As it happens i bank with Barclays and find them too excellent, Oh! and i can assure you I dont work for them either. :cheers

[becca2006]

Thanks for your kind words porridgehead

This conversation has really not helped me or probably anyone else who has had problems with that company.

I think this conversation with you to myself is at an end.

With regards to everyone else on this forum i hope you all battle it out and have a good result at the end. I wish everyone who has had similar problems to me the best of luck!!!

[chesh]

post removed by author

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

I have had the same problems with scheidegger as well, and have had the same lies and deception told to me by the salesman. I enrolled in the A+ PC engineer, N+ Network Engineer, and MCSE course bundle for £3500, i'am not satisfied and very unhappy about the course.

It all started when i filled in a form that came from my letterbox regarding interests in Computing. A salesman arrived a week later in his mid-40's with a flash BMW M3 convertible. I was told prior to the visit of the salesman {by phone} that he was in the area and they moved the date and time up, and said that is is one of the few times that he will be in my area, so i accepted for him to come as i was not doing anything on that day.

The salesman told me that i will have 'hands-on' training throughout the course each month and visit local 5 star hotels to assemble computer, fix printers, and monitors, non of this happened in reality all that i got for the hands on training was 'cut-outs' of PC components like hard disk, processor, and RAM, IDE cables, floppy and CD-ROM drives, and to simply 'stick them' together on a print-out of a motherboard using velco attachments. This was very basic and in reality it is much more difficult to assemble a computer, and is not as easy as 'sticking' parts together. i have now completed the A+ course in terms of the scheidegger material and yet have to sit the comptia A+ exam. I was sent a letter offering me 'hands on' training, saying it was optional and that if i was interested to phone the number provided. the number is simply automated and goes in circles, there is no-way of booking a hands-on training session, i have tried several times.

Furthurmore, the salesman stated i was guranteed a job after at £20,000 -£30,000 per year. However Skills train are now saying they only gurantee one interview with one company and not the job or salary.

I was told that i would meet other PC engineer Students on the same course and chat to my tutor in person once every week, this did not happen and i feel isolated and simply send of my assignments via a tacky webpage {which is alot faster than floppy disk}, which takes 5 days to even 2 weeks for the 10 simple questions to be marked and returned, and if you get two questions wrong and get 80% score then you have to re-do the mock test and wait another 2-weeks for then to be marked work and the code comes with the marked assignment to start the next chapter submission. So you cannot continue until the previous mock test was marked.

I was also told that they were 'renowned' all over Europe and have 5 million students, which is a lie.
I was told that Skills Train had a 'state of the Art' website that also had a forum to communicate and send emails to other students on the same course. in reality their is no-forum on the website nor is it state of the art, www.scheidegger-online.com.

There was a 14-day chance to quit the course and started when the contract was signed {i.e: during enrollment}, although the funny thing is that the course does not begin until 14-days after enrollment, so their was no-knowing of what i have let myself into, or testing their services and website. i couldn't go to there website as my password or username was not given at enrollment. At enrollment i recieved a tacky blue briefcase and one red folder; the first folder was very out-dated in informated and i would say atleast 5-years behind on technologies; there are also many spelling mistakes in the folder and seems to have been word processed using Microsoft Word.

Moreover, some of the descriptions of technologies are poor, yet i understand it as i do A-level Computer Science at college, however if i did not have this prior knowledge from my A-level Computer Science course then i would be confused and not understand some of the text. Furthurmore, i showed my Computer Science teacher at college and he said that the info in these folders are outdated and that there were missing info that i should know regarding the course, and that some of it was irrelevant to passing the Comptia A+ exam sat publically at specific locations for £105. Furthurmore, i have read some threads saying scheidegger make you pay for the Comptia exam.

Please i urge all of you in my suitition with Scheidegger/Skills trains to please contact BBC watchdog and state your expirience and how this rouge company treats you, hopefully if enough people contact them then they will make a report on scheidegger and possibly something will be done and the victims helped to cancel there contract and possibly recieve money back from this sub-standard course,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/



Thank you,

[stuarta]

Well I'll be contacting my legal support again very soon. I had a hopeless reply back from Skillstrain and heard nothing from the finance company, although they then wrote to me saying I owed them money.

I've since emailed them twice but had no response, so I'll be making a telephone call today.

To make matters worse, I'm just finished all the course work for the Network + and all the revision, I was therefore due the mock exam. Instead, they sent me complete Part C again, why??? I don't know. Also, they attached updates because they claim the exam has changed, which was actually updated beginning of this year, before I started studying.

Anyway, I'll update on any progress and what feedback has anyone had from Watchdog

[princepoker]

Im another very unsatisfied customer.. if you can call me customer?? Why dont we all plan a day and all go down to the office and cause a major scene.. get them as much bad publicity as possible and maybe then they will listen.. if we all say a day soon and all go we will be heard and even get on TV and help other people not fall into the trap we have all fallen into..

[ferrett1979]

Hello ok so i fell for the sales rep aswell and signed up for the A+ course. Ive found it fairly interesting but even ive noticed it to be very dated with no info on PCI express bus, hardly anything on broadband etc. Ive also alot of mistakes in their material all of which i have informed them of. I joined the course 4 months ago and have completed half of it and cant wait to finish it and i will try my best to get a good mark even though the certificate u get isnt a compTIA!
I feel so sorry for people like yourself who signed up for other courses with them, so glad i didnt. Did u know u can do the ICS compTIA A+ for £500? i cant believe i jumped into the first course i came across, feel so ripped off but there really is **** all i can about it Anyway i will finish the course and hopefully get a job, i suppose then it would be sort of worth it. Did u get a job easily after finishing the A+? What sort of salary? what sort of job?
Whats there employment help like etc?

Thanks
Dan

[filiped]

Just finished my A+ assignments and got my Examiniation Information Sheet it looks like i'll have to pay extra for the exam!! i was told by the sales rep and at the time that i'd not have to pay for the exam fee it was included in the price and if i get a fail the first time they'd pay for me to re-sit, i was a bit nervous about this because i read on the forums that skillstrain make you pay for this so i posted the question to my tutor asking them if i had to pay for the exam and they said no, this is what they said:-

Thank you for your reply. The examination fees are included within the cost of your course, so you will not be charged any extra to sit the external exams at the end of your course.

I paid 3000 for the A+ / N+ and MCSA and now i'm feeling a bit conned as now it looks like im going to have to spend more (when its expensive enough already).

What can we do?

[stuarta]

I came across the same. What you have to do is initially pay for the exam, once you have passed it, you then send them proof of passing.

They don't actually give you money back in the form of a cheque which I was expecting, but instead they knock the money off the final amount you pay.

Therefore, you pay £3000 for the course, A+ exams come to £220 for both of them which you pay out. You then get this £220 knocked off your £3000

[Jimmie]

Hi,
I signed for Cisco Skills Train course last August. I will agree, its not that great, but due to the cost of £3500 for the course, I am slowly working my way through it. But today I rang up Clydesdale Financial to pay the Loan off early. According to my agreement, for every £1000 borrowed,

When quarter of the term has elapsed you save £750,

When half of the term has elapsed you save £500,

When three quarters of the term has elapsed you save £250.

I have £2300 left to pay, taking into account the above as stated on my contract I should only need to pay around £1300. Clyesdale are telling me that the above is not applicable for me, as there is no APR on the loan.

Has anybody else had the same problem?

I am thinking about stopping the payments, and paying them what I think is correct.

[cmore skills]

hi there, i posted the original e-mail way back. I am still doing the course and frankly i am a little tired of it. It has only taught me about 20% more than i already knew!
I noticed Skills Train are advertising in the Argus (local paper for my region) now, so obviously they are still conning suckers in and gettin loads of money for it.
There really should be a way of being able to warn people against this kind of deception - which is what it is at the end of the day. Even i could come up with a fancy booklet and pretend to be someone i am not - it's not that hard!!
Anyways, if you do have any more legal info please let us know!
As i said before the loan agreement is something i now have to stick to which i am very peeved with.


Hi all firstly let me just say I work for Skillstrain and have done so for 4 years, in that time I have enrolled thousands of students to train as IT professionals, looking at this forum, firstly I was struck by the complaints tend to be from the same bunch of people who are trying to make out that they were forced to enrol and take out funding agreements. We would prefer if people paid up front as most other training providors ask for this, but most people we see are not in great jobs and certainly don't have thousands of pounds laying around to train.
The very fact they are looking at training nine times out of ten they are in poorly paid jobs that are going nowhere. They can of course read the books and eventually teach themselves to become Cisco qualified, but without the benefit of Livelabs or practical training, as an employer which would I prefer hands on or a bookworm?
However seeing as we have been training over 50 years and trained over 5 million students, both here and in Europe a handful of complaints on a forum isnt that bad !!!
I suggest that the people complaining have suddenly realised that they have to actually knuckle down and do some work and study, and that there is not going to be a magic wand to get them through, but as usual they want a quick fix to their careers but only want to spend a couple of hundred quid!!!

[ECA]

Dear Cmore,
as you mentioned, these folks may be In underpaid jobs. That is true. And are probably trying to Work while doing the classes. They cant afford NOT to, they live from check to check, and missing 1 or getting fired could lead to being evicted. Sence you are also probably talking to those that are OVER WORKED, with more then 1 job, do you really consider an interest rate in the 20's FAIR to someone that will have NO experience after Qualifing/finishing in the course, or that they will have to get into ANOTHER deadend job, and waste TIME/effort/learned skills Just to pay you back??

Jummie,
read your contract, find the clause that says the deductions. Make SURE it explains HOW the deductions are taken OFF, and what they are. If its not mentioned, that its the interest rate acquired during the time of the contract that you wouldnt PAY, I would contact a solicitor/Lawyer, Governemnt Official..

[stuarta]

Cmore, without going too far, you obviously haven't read all the posts. The main complaints aren't down to people wanting an easy way out but down to Skills Train inadequacies and lack of attention to detail in some places.

We all agree that the majority of people that train with you are happy, but like every company and organisation, I'm sure you agree that not 100% of people are going to be satisfied and problems will arise.

With regards to you wanting people to pay outright, I wanted too. I had the funds to do this but I was told not too, so assuming like most companies, you get a kick back from the finance company. And regards to knuckling down, we are all big enough and ugly enough to understand. I myself am in my 30's so know a bit about it and Becca has a Master or Honours so obviously she isn't afraid of studying.

Anyway, hopefully all these complaints can be resolved amicably.

[satti87]

I wrote a letter to the head office about 3 weeks ago, saying i no longer want to continue doing this course and i also wrote i will not pay any further, after i few days i thought let me ring them as i got no reply, the member of the staff told me that i can not cancel my agreement with them at all and there is no other way, i was furious and replied so thats means i can not do anything else be stuck with you lot for the rest of my life, then she replied there is one way you can change your course to another one without any extra charges, so that is the only option i had which i accepted. i feel betrayed so bad, they just want our money, i would never ever suggest them to anybody! i have paid over £700 and am only hALF way through my payement. she also suggested you are liable to take legal action but that will be such a long case and i can not be borthered, and even if i do take legal action i have no idea where to begin with, and then the extra expenditure on that, i really can not afford that kind of hassel.

[satti87]

its really bad they will not cancel the course. i was really angry. the ciw gets very complicated towards the middle. at first it looks really good and easy but from my bad experience, it ruined my one whole year. if you read my previous posts, you may find quite helpful. all i could do was change my course which i have, and received my new course items today. i really wish i had not got in to this mess, i really wish...this company is a fraud and making money, it really upsets me thati don't even get the chance to do something else as i am stuck in this course!

[Dubzy]

Hello
I just signed up for the course today and a few hours later i found this forum and to be honest i am really scared bcos i dunno what i have let myself into. Reading other comments i can see how dubious this company really is. Pls wud anyone care to give me advice on cancelling the contract. Its been less that 10hours into signing up, is it 2 l8 to cancel? I hav called Clydesdale and they said i shud fax the letter of complaint or post it . I am scared they might start denying receiving my fax or post till my 21 days is up and i get stuck in it. Pls i need ur help.
Thank You.

[satti87]

u only have 21 days 2 cancel it! afta dat dey will not let u back out or return ur money, da best ting 2 do is write a letter saying you wish to cancel you course as soon as possible, make sure you have a copy of that letter and also sent it to the head office. most importantly do recorded delevery that is proof that you have send the letter sso they can not deny it. plz let me know your outcome. dont put yourslef through hell, we are all suffering here.

[eddiebedz]

ditto i also have signed up for a course under skillztrain.. A+ ccnp ccna course to the tune of £3700.. starting june 1st 2006 unhappy bunny got the "enrolment pack and the little blue briefcase" waited like an idiot for the activation code to start my module.. ( now this is where i have my concern) as stated in previous posts you only have a limited time period to cancel the credit agreement.. which expires before you get the codes to start your course.. naturally.

But this is my question. If the credit agreement is between you and the supplier of the finance to X amount of pounds and you inturn pay them back for the amount they have paid the training supplier on your behalf for you to complete the course, Why is it only the paper work from skillztrain or whom ever you train with are the ones that stipulate how long this "agreement cooling off period" is? In every credit agreement ive ever had they clearly state on the agreement that you sign exactly how long you have to cancel the agreement where all my credit agreement states is the following..

“under your right to cancel”, “you will have for a short time a right to cancel this agreement. You can do so by sending or taking WRITTEN notice of cancellation to Career Development Finance Limited, 56 Collington Street Luton LU1 1rx”. this is the bit im interested inyou will have for a short time a right to cancel this agreement It does not clearly state in numbers or words exactly how long the credit suppliers give you to cancel the agreement with them. Is this not a legal point to argue when trying to cancel?

[Cold Lazarus]

Hi there i have just had the skillstrain rep around my house, he gave me all the usual saltes patter, but reading this thread makes me wonder if i should go ahead with this action the courses i was interested in were A+, N+ and MCSE 3700 i could pay in full i gave him the excuse that i need to arrange things first while i checked up but its looks pretty bad just from this post and i see three more below it. i have more than enough time to apply to these courses but i am seeing problems such as
. bad support
. bad equipment
. unsupportive staff
. delays that put back the course (due to skillstrain)
are there any other places that do these courses you could point me at plz

[ECA]

check collages NEAR you..
Talk to the employment agencies, and find the corps useing these Jobs specs...Talk to them, and see if they will let you talk to THEIR emplyees, doing the job you wish....
ASK them where you should go, and whats the Past, current, future tech being USED.

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[CJB]

But BBC Inside Out have made a report of Scheidegger/Skills Train, today 18/9/2006, i will send a copy to anyone who needs it, i have recorded it.

thanks[/QUOTE]

Hi i have had a visit from someone from Skillstrain, can you message me so I can send you my address to let me see the Inside story?
Many Thanks
cj

[techy]

I found out that COMPTIA provides the A+, N+, and MCSE, and CCNA for a mere £799

http://www.comptia-certification.co.uk/packages.htm

Training for IT Starters
A+, N+, MCSA, CCNA only £799
Mentor Support & Free CV Course
www.comptia-certification.co.uk


plus comptia are the exam board and proffessional and not scammers like Skills Train, thay provide the real deal, comptia provide hand-on training, tutor support online and on the phone, everything i wanted from Skills Train basically.

I was told that i had no-time limit to complete the A+,N+, and MCSE, as i am in full-time educations, training to become a Doctor. Now Skills Train states that i have a 2year limit to complete the A+, N+, and MCSE. And that i would have to pay an extra £150 to extend the course if i go past this deadline, i was told by the course advisor that this extension was free, they always find ways to ask for more money[/QUOTE]

THE ABOVE IS A QUOTE FROM USER SCORPION KING 80

Blimey Scorpion open your eyes!!!
I have done some digging, the young lad Scorpion who by no chance could possibly be a Training provider???? Seems strange that he would take on such a meaty course, then decide to be a Doctor?? He keeps quoting comptia-certification.co.uk offering training for £799.

I’ve found out some interesting facts.
Firstly the Comptia site you are talking about is nothing to do with Comptia, it is a company called Webtraks ltd who are just a reseller for Comptia. Also the courses are cheap but after I called I found out that you have to add to that over £600 in exam fees also they give you only 12 months to complete all the courses.
I am training with SKILLSTRAIN, they give you up to 36 months to complete the whole course. Also with the CCNA the comptia website only has router simulations!! not Livelabs.
If you do the instructor led classes with the Comptia site, it adds up to just short of £6000 and you need 35 days off work to complete the classes, and they want payment up front!!
To anyone looking at a Training Provider just do your homework and see beyond all the nonsense.

I must admit for me it is crazy when I hear of Trainers going round guaranteeing jobs and salaries, but like any industry there is good and bad staff.
As my Granddad used to say, the only guarantees in life son are Taxes and Death!!

For students who moan about finance agreements, the answer is simple pay in full, but for the majority of people who can't afford to do that (like me) I need an affordable scheme.
If it’s cheap training you are looking for there are plenty of them out there, but as they say you get what you pay for!!!
:thumb

[techy]

t :eww

[leewebber@bluey]

But BBC Inside Out have made a report of Scheidegger/Skills Train, today 18/9/2006, i will send a copy to anyone who needs it, i have recorded it.

thanks

Hi i have had a visit from someone from Skillstrain, can you message me so I can send you my address to let me see the Inside story?
Many Thanks
cj[/QUOTE]
hi im with skills train on a ccna i want to cancel as i cannot afford £75 month can i do this, and can you send me the inside story.

[KevinLing]

Could you send me a copy of that program, im very interested...I have just put the phone down to a girl who was visited last nght by a very persuasive salesman who wanted to charge £2800 for a Sage Line 50 Course that sits on our books at £350. They are heavily advertising in our area and it looks as though the training they are delivering is home study only - they have no training centre and no trainers that regulary help and support students...so where is the extra money going?

I would appreciate your help on this and look at that video.

[cybersquirel]

I think the bbc programme exposed scheidegger/skills train for what they really are , the last time i spoke to scheidegger/skills train i was told by the finance company that scheidegger had requested my account back and that i was now nothing to do with the finance company , i assume this was because i had ceased making payments full stop due to being ripped off .
I then spoke to scheidegger/skills train who arragntly told me that my account had gone somewhere although they couldnt find it and therefore could not help me and that it was my problem not theirs .
I spoke to my local citizens advice office about scheidegger/skills train who told me that scheidegger/skills train were very well known to themselfs and that they also had recieved a lot of complaints about them , the bbc gave the best advice which was to avoid this company , ive recieved emails/letters from several employment agencies adviseing me to inform tradeing standards of scheidegger/skills train , i have internal emails from other employment agencies advising their staff to refer and even give the telephone number of tradeing standards to anyone that complains about scheidegger / skills train .
Funny how scheidegger / skills train refused to be interviewed by the bbc , this would have been a good oppertunity for them to try and defend themselfs and face the people making complaints yet they refused to be interviewd , dosnt exactly inspire confidence in the company does it

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[ferrett1979]

Anyone else just had their course updated? Well not updated totally revamped!

[tuftyfella]

So basically, i started an N+/A+ Network course costing £2k twelve months ago. Im nowhere near finishing the N+ part due to personal reasons and have only 2 months left. Ive not had to phone them at all ever for any reason and havent ever heard anything from them except them returning my TMA results to me.

So, will i be getting a letter from them asking me if i want to extend the course?

If SO, if i choose no, that i dont wish to extend my course, is the course effectively cancelled?

thx

[scammers1985]

hi there skillstrain are scammers they cannot do anything if you stop the payments because they are not a legitimate company, i stopped my payments because they didnt stick to there contract, and i never received second copy of the contract which they are meant to supply because i signed at home. so i stopped my payments and a week later they said they are cancelling my course out of goodwill gesture. lol

or was it because i told them if they want to take this any further i am willing to go ahead because i know i am right

so in the end if they are messin u around why are you giving them money stand up for yourselfs.
its like your leaving your front doors open and sayin to a burgalar go and rob my house, every month you are consistently lettin them take your money. Noooo you are actually giving it to them because they set up standing orders not even direct debits because the banks security check would never allow an illegitimate company to pass the security.

stand up 4 urselfs they cannot take action against no1 especially now watchdog are investigating them

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

*****

[leewebber@bluey]

i cancelled my standing order.and not heard anything off them.

[tuftyfella]

hi there skillstrain are scammers they cannot do anything if you stop the payments because they are not a legitimate company, i stopped my payments because they didnt stick to there contract, and i never received second copy of the contract which they are meant to supply because i signed at home. so i stopped my payments and a week later they said they are cancelling my course out of goodwill gesture. lol

or was it because i told them if they want to take this any further i am willing to go ahead because i know i am right

so in the end if they are messin u around why are you giving them money stand up for yourselfs.
its like your leaving your front doors open and sayin to a burgalar go and rob my house, every month you are consistently lettin them take your money. Noooo you are actually giving it to them because they set up standing orders not even direct debits because the banks security check would never allow an illegitimate company to pass the security.

stand up 4 urselfs they cannot take action against no1 especially now watchdog are investigating them

its all fine and dandy saying cancel the payments but they have it set through a financial company called Clydesdale financial Services, so if i cancel payments ill be getting hassle off em wont i?!

btw, when did u manage this?

[scammers1985]

Basically i know that inside out are doing a report on them because i had a phone call from watchdog, now to be honest. they must send you a second copy of the contrat you signed for giving you how many days you have to cancel due to law every company has to do this because you do not sign on there premises you sign at home, well for me i never received my 2nd copy of contract telling me how many days i have to cancel from CDF or clysdale all it says on the original copy is "youl have a short time to cancel details will be supplied". so when i got on the phone to CDF i said i want to cancel the course because i havent received 2nd copy they thought about it and den blatently lied saying we have already sent that out to you. so i basically got some legal advise and i wrote to skills train that my contreact is now cancelled because i have not received 2nd copy of contract stating my 5 days cancellation date so from today it is cancelled due to the credit consumer act 1974 i think it was, i would like my deposit refunded.
then i got a letter a week later because they knoww they do not have a case they said they have cancelled my course. which i actually terminated myself.
i am still having trouble getting my £60 deposit back but noway am i going to let them take my money. They said to me that they dont have any record of deposit being paid do you have proof, another weird question why would they have evidence they sent me 2nd copy of contract and not evidence of my deposit, basically they turn in everyway that can help them get money, what i have done is contacted my bank and sent them evidence that i have paid deposit as statement says CDF, so hopefully il get my deposit back

whatever ther responnse this is an illegitimate company and they can never evr win in court, also tell dem if you want my money set up a DD not a standing order i bet they cant. the best thing i ever did was cancel my standing order and il never look back

[louise26]

Oh my god...I had the skills train advisor out to me tonight and after doing some research on the computer i found these posts. Now i am really worried. I found the advisor really nice and he was chatty enough ( maybe that was the whole speel to suck me in). Anyway he recommended the sage and bookeeping course to me which is what i am interested in but i dont know what to make of the course fees. He practically said that a job after the course was guarnteed. I have signed the agreements ( now i know i shouldnt have) but i havent paid the enrolement fee of £50 as i told him i didnt have that sort of cash at home. I am now going to cancel it. It says you have 7 days to write to them to cancel it but what im wondering is that because i havent paid the enrolement fee and havent started the course yet the date given was 15/11/2006 am i bound to this agreement. Please help because im really worried now

[scammers1985]

Hi louise, some advise to you cancel that contract ASAP now send them a letter and cancel it or you will be stuck paying for a course you dont even get proper qualifications for, dont make the same mistake i did the salesmen are really good and emotionally getin you involved what i reccoment is send them cancellation letter with ur student number name address and all that and send it recorded otherwise they will say they have not received anything.

[louise26]

I will be. No doubt about it. I just cant believe i found this site after i signed it. The skills train rep is due to come back tomorrow to collect the cheque for the £50 enrollement fee ( which in the smallprint states its £45) but i can assure you the only thing he'll be collecting is a boot on the backside.. lol bloody cowboys!!

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[tuftyfella]

does a second carbon copy of the contract signed @ home count as the contract sent to me by the financial service?

i ask because its no different to the once i signed @ home so...

[scammers1985]

it must say how long you have to cancel on it hope that helps

[louise26]

i have signed the papers but havent paid the enrolement fee yet am i still bound to this???

[scammers1985]

you are not bound to anything by law there is a 14 day cooling off period

[ECA]

You signed 2 contracts???
Did they cancel the original??

IF not you are SCREWED

[tuftyfella]

You signed 2 contracts???
Did they cancel the original??

IF not you are SCREWED

if thi is refered to what i said, no, i signed 1 contract but it must have come with 2 carbon copies under it, 1 of which i kept and 1 that came through the post with a letter from the financial service.

so its basically the same contract i signed @ home, therefore it cant surely count as a contract they have to send me after i signed the original?!

this is all very confusing :curse

[curly]

Hi
I have just found this forum and decided to join as I also have concerns about skillstrain.
I am doing the bookkeeping course (started in February). I was quoted £2,700. I am not too happy with it either (poor service, lack of communication etc) so I have contacted my tutor to complain. I am waiting for a reply for now. I have also contacted my local citizen bureau advice to see what I can do to get out of the course
Regarding the contract, I signed one at home and a few days later I received a second copy of the one I signed at home so liek mentioned by tuftyfella, it is the same contract.
Can anyone clarify this? I mean does that carbon copy one sent by post count as a contract?
many thanks

[scammers1985]

NO as iv said before the 2nd copy must tell you how many days you have to cancel and not say that you have a short time to cancel

what i say is syop them standing orders

[tuftyfella]

NO as iv said before the 2nd copy must tell you how many days you have to cancel and not say that you have a short time to cancel

what i say is syop them standing orders

before i stop any payments im seeing my local CAB, dont wanna do anything without advice / legal advice when contracts are involved, ill keep posting as things progress...

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[zukan]

WOW!

I am so glad I decided to do a search on Skillstrain.

I had the same dude, John Pennington (is that the dude you're all talking about) come over yesterday giving me the spiel, but I told him I would check him and his company out before I parted with any money.

I started the searches today and found this forum.

Man, am I happy that I did.


Is there any damn reputable institution that can give us this training and qualifications?
I think I will approach some colleges and unis. At least they are accountable.

I am so sorry some of you have been ripped off. There should be laws to protect us from companies like Skillstrain.

[longscreech]

everybody that has any grieviance with skillstrain or scheidegger should please contact me on troubletalks@googlemail.com or troubletalks@gmail.com as I have succeccfully cancelled my phoney contract with them and I really do not want them to go scored free. I am planning to place an official complain against them and I have been told I need more more people to come forward and show that it is truely a common trend with them. You dont have to give me your name or any other details. just write out a brief explanation of the situation and email it to me. I would also like to appeal to you all to contact anyother person you know who isbeing/has been scammed by these people to contact me also. If this is going to be succeccful in anyway, I need your help. Thanks for reading this atall. Hope you contact me soon.

[longscreech]

Remember! The earlier you contact me the earlier I can pursue this case. I will also do my best to handle any individual case if need be

[leewebber@bluey]

i phoned trading standards today they said a standing order is not a proper credit act i have heard nothing offf them at all. normally if you miss a credit payment they are on you instantly. DONT PAY

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[jenniferperry]

I'm working on a proposal for an independent tv company about online education pro's and cons not exactly the same thing as you have been talking to but would like to chat with one or two of you about your experience if you could email me I would be grateful. It is only a proposal and if it does go ahead you can remain anonymous

[Massacre]

I just signed up to this course in august!!! i have just read the forums and all fo this stuff is true. what can i do. i dont mind them having the £300 i have already given them!! but giving them another £3300 for the course i dont think its worth it. how do i cancel it if i dont care about a refund.

Please Help Me!!!

I really feel sorry for you guys. Even though im a guy i feel like crying cause i only work part time and i try to study with this crap. but it takes 1 week or more for them to send me an tutor marked assignment back!!! its f******* ridiculas.!!!

Please help meeeeeeeeeee!!!!

[leewebber@bluey]

lo mate i was only with them since may. i have stopped paying them and reported them to trading standards. trading srandards said i should have kept paying. but its been over 3 weeks and not heard a thing off them i was told if its a standing order it s not a proper credit agreement. this company are rip off guys. like you the course was ****. if they want money out of me they will have to take me to court.but i dont think that will happen. be cool and dont wasre your money

[Massacre]

dude u have stopped paying. how did u manage to do that?? i am on a direct debit with cylesdale bla bla. so how do i do mine. how do i mstop my payments without them having to trouble me by saying... this will go to court and stuff. what should i do? please help i have no clue about rights and laws and stuff

[jaseh007]

dude u have stopped paying. how did u manage to do that?? i am on a direct debit with cylesdale bla bla. so how do i do mine. how do i mstop my payments without them having to trouble me by saying... this will go to court and stuff. what should i do? please help i have no clue about rights and laws and stuff

I'm in the same position, not happy with the course in general. Looking to get out of it, would have in hind sight gone to college instead.

What options have we got to get out of this ?

I have the same credit agreement as Massacre. I've already paid £1600 of the £3500 total. I call the Clydesdale payment number every month and pay the £100 over the phone so I don't have the direct debit problem.

Just completing the N+ but don't want to continue with the CCNA and CCNP.

Don't care if I don't get money back but don't want to have to pay the outstanding balance.

Any ideas ?

Cheers
Jase

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[Massacre]

this is ****ing ridiculas!!!! how the **** do we get out of this!!! im only 19 and i dnt need this bull****!!! if this carrys on i swear down. me and my boys will go their head office and **** them over big tym!!!! mother ****erssss

[helpus!]

i have now bin doing this ciw course since jan 05, at first i thort it was a great course but now......where do i begin, am sooooo stressed out right now, i cant sleep, am onto section 4 part b an havent recieved my software to begin the section, i have bin waiting now for over A MONTH for it an everytime i ring they keep telling me....its out of stock will be in next week, the latest comment was....it wont be in for another couple of weeks, i find this totally unacceptable an wud like to get out of the course, i dont care if i dont get paid back wot i have givin i just want out, am planning on ringing them 2moz but have no high hopes on it being ne help as from reading all the comments people have got no where, i feel i have learnt very basic information from the course an iv found the books from the library more intresting!

we need this sortin out!!!!!!!!!!!!

[darkvader]

I’ve read the postings from longscreech and others. I’m taking a course with Skillstrain at the moment, and some of these postings have worried me. But I’m not sure what I should be worried about. :dunno I’ve been doing the course for 8 months now and haven’t had any problems. I’ve got to know the teachers and they’ve always been really nice to me. I enjoy doing the course and I’m really worried that these postings have worried me.

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[helpus!]

since my last post, i have since called skills train an had a word wiv them, they werent intrested at all about the fact i wanted to not finish my course after all ready completing nearly all of my course, they just said fine u will still hafta pay ur outstanding loan, i have decided not to finish learning the course as i find it very basic and out dated, to think i will have completed my course in 3 months then have to sit 5 exams, i wudnt pass them, i am now writing a letter to head office stating wot situation i have chosen so they now and wud like a letter back.

big big waste of time!

havent even recieved ne work for over a month now too! dont feel confident in designing web sites, very poor material. the course has put me off learning web design which i have wanted to do fo yrs,

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[Kazza]

Dojjjjjj

[leewebber@bluey]

Dont know what to do have been in course for 8 months now, now ive read all these forums dont know what to do, im doing a+, n+ and mcsc, i was told i have 3 years to complete this and all exa fees are paid for. dont know what to believe,

Has anyone cancelled their direct debit and been taken to court, what would happen ?

pleasem reply


if your happy carry on. but most of us have been taken for mugs that,s why they have this forum. they are scammers. they are turkish delight. FULL OF EASTERN PROMISE. i dont know anyone who is happy with the thats why watchdog want to know more about them.

[helpus!]

ye i wud say the same, iv bin doin my course for 21 months, in august was wen it started goin tits up! i decided to carry on wiv the course as i was payin alot of money for it, since then i have quit doin the course as i have not recieved any work in 7 weeks from them, there only answer is......u will get in next week :dunno ...i wrote a letter to them last week stating my feelings on the matter i have not recieved a relpy as yet, i have also sent copies of important information to trading standards as they r very keen in wots happenin,

my advice is to ring skills train up an ask them some qustions, tell them ur feelings an see the reply back...that way u wil see for ur self. (when i did this, i kindly asked the lady on the fone how many ppl were doin the course...the reply was.....ahhhhh i........dun...o!) no in couragement wots so ever

[Kazza]

kkkkk

[helpus!]

Does Anyoneknow If The Course Material Is Outdated, If It Is What Ca We Do, Does That Make A Case For Us To Leave Break The Contract Or Cancel Our Direct Debits.

Whats The Best Way To Get Out Of It.


get intouch wiv trading standards and read the information from scorpian king about the person who is intreasted in this... they should be a telephone number, only if u feel u have to tho, i see u havent had much problems wiv them yet

[Kazza]

mmmmmm

[Kazza]

jjj jjjj kkk

[helpus!]

IVE HAVENT GOT TO THE EXAM STAGE YET, AND DONT WANT TO PAY ANOTHER 6 MONTHS MONEY AND FIND OUT THEY DONT PAY, ALSO I WAS DOING PART 1, A OF THE A+, AND RECENTLY WHEN I COMPLAINED TO SKILLS TRAIN THAT I HAVE HEARD THAT THE METERIAL IS OUTDATED THEY HAVE SENT ME AN UPDATED WHOLE NEW BOOK WHICH HAS NEW AND MORE INFORMATION IN IT.

I WASNT GIVEN THIS BEFORE IVE BEEN ON COURSE FOR 8 MONTHS. THATS MEANS I HAVE TO START ALL OVER AGAIN.

am still payin now, like most ppl wiv skills train, we signed the loan agreement which states we hafta pay all the money back to the loan company because skills train have the money an they r givin the course material to us in exchange basically!....which i only found out recently, i wasnt told i wud have a loan out! i was just told money would be taken out the back by direct debt. id advise not to stop the money from goin out the back as the loan compnay can sue

[Kazza]

ppppp

[helpus!]

this guy managed to get out of his contract after a yr an a half

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Scheidegger__Review_5607660

[Kazza]

Was That Guy On The Course For A Year And A Half Or Did It Take Him That Long To Break His Contract?

[dimebagdarrell]

Hello everyone, i have just registered with this forum after reading this thread about Scheidegger. I know this is my first post and this may seem like a lot to ask, but i was wondering if someone around here can give me an "in a nutshell" explanation about Sceidegger.

I signed for my course which was at the time c++ course on the 7th November 2003. I finished paying the £1610.00 total a while ago. I was unhappy with the way the course was going and called them up asking if i could cancel and have my money back, when i am not sure, but it was about 5 months in. They said no way, but i could change courses no problems. So i changed to PC masters course and that too seemed a bit non-professional and very unrealistic as a course that would result in me being very well trained and educated.

Get this though, they requested that i sent the coursework i had received for the c++ course back and sent out the pc master course. I never got around to sending the C++ gear back and i still have it. They NEVER bothered one little bit that i never returned it which makes me feel like its actually pretty worthless. I eventually gave up after a few weeks with the courses all together now i have both course materials here and fully paid up.

Why has such a supposedly highly acclaimed training organisation not bothered about me? My guess is that thats an easier £1610 made hassle free, let's leave him to it we have his money.

I'm terribly sorry about the really long post i just wanted to get the facts out in case anyone can help me, i don't have a lot of money and i could do with this money back. The question is i beleive i have the right to claim my money back, am i correct in this belief??

Thanks so much anyone who took the time to read my spiel.

Raymond.

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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BBC WATCHDOG wrote to me, in their letter they stated that they would not be investigating the issue i raised :(, Skills Train, but will archive my report for future reference if they do decide to do a report, this may have been due to BBC Inside Out doing a report on Skills Train, however i believe BBC Watchdog is much more supportive of the victims, they sometimes fight for them to get refunds or provide great advice for court action or what to do.
Has anyone else heard from BBC Watchdog? I do hope they do a follow-up report. Please contact them if you havent already done so, the more complaints they recieve the greater the chance of them deciding to create a show dedicated to Skills Train/Scheidegger.

I reccommend everyone who has an issue with Skills Train/Scheidegger to put their complaints forward to:

THE INSTITUTE OF I.T. TRAINING
http://www.iitt.org.uk/public/contact.asp

TRADING STANDARDS
contact me at pure_punajbi786@hotmail.com to get contact info for the PRINCIPAL Trading Standards Officer who is dealing with the Skills Train complaints, if you send your complaint to your local Trading Strandards their may be little they will do for you, talk to the Principal TS Officer who has alot more power, and is based in Luton, in close range to Skills Train/Scheidegger Head Office, he can even visit them in person, if he wants :)

BBC WATCHDOG
http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/contact_index.shtml

BBC INSIDE OUT

LOCAL CITIZEN ADVICE BUREAU
http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice.htm

you must not forgot the most important complaint, complain to SKILLS TRAIN, THE LOAN COMPANY, CLYSDALE OR CAREER DEVELOPMENT FINANCE AS WELL, BUT BEFORE YOU DO SO GET LOTS OF ADVICE FROM CITIZEN ADVICE BUREAU AND POSSIBLY LEGAL ADVICE, IF IT IS AN OPTION, BUT ALWAYS REMEMBER USE FACTS AS EVIDENCE, USE MATERIAL ON WRITTEN TEXT, LEAFLETS, COURSE MATERIAL AS EVIDENENCE.

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Some words of Inspirations[/U]

I recenly watched a show on Genghis Khan, i have quoted his exact phrase:

Genghis Khan 12th Century
"one tribe is like a single arrow, easily broken, but many tribes together would be strong they would never be broken" {analogous to a bunch of arrows being many tribes}

Similar in our case, one person facing Skills Train will easily be 'broken', isolated, an individual claim which Skills Train can easily get around. But mass complaint with unity and communication amongst ourselves will be strong, leaving Skills Train baffled and defeated.

{Don't worry I'am not in a high, atleast i think i'm not...:)}


May God bless you all...

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[filiped]

I didn't get chance to see the course work until after my period of which i could cancel the loan! it is too late now i should have realised that after waiting 1 month to start that something funny was going on, i passed my A+ course but i had lots of experience anyway and i was learning on websites also (the website in particular helped me most im sure of it), i am doing my N+ now with skills train and im not really happy to be paying £75 per month until all 3000 is paid for.. and i was told that the exam fees would be paid for by skills train and that i would receive a cheque of the exam fee after i passed the exam and sent skillstrain the receipt and all they did was knock some money off my loan!! why did i have to get a loan for something i had too pay in the first place?? doesnt make sense.

The coursework i feel i could learn more by paying £35 for a book and reading websites.

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

I didn't get chance to see the course work until after my period of which i could cancel the loan! it is too late now i should have realised that after waiting 1 month to start that something funny was going on, i passed my A+ course but i had lots of experience anyway and i was learning on websites also (the website in particular helped me most im sure of it), i am doing my N+ now with skills train and im not really happy to be paying £75 per month until all 3000 is paid for.. and i was told that the exam fees would be paid for by skills train and that i would receive a cheque of the exam fee after i passed the exam and sent skillstrain the receipt and all they did was knock some money off my loan!! why did i have to get a loan for something i had too pay in the first place?? doesnt make sense.

The coursework i feel i could learn more by paying £35 for a book and reading websites.

Exactly how i feel, exactly what they did to me,
what website helped you out for the A+ exam?

[filiped]

Hi,

i was using the test exams on www.proprofs.com and reading the forums they have some nice cramsheets etc for a+ and n+.

I wish i could get the 75 a month cancelled if i could i would be able to get a car and study from a book as this is what im getting now.

[KevinLing]

I run a Training Centre in Southampton City, we run IT courses such as A+ N+ CCNA and MCSA,E and we cover all the testing in house too.

Now this is the difference, our A+ is £595, our Network+ is £595, our MCSA is 2k ...you get trainers the lot, books the lot.

Now why is that skills train is charging more money for courses where the administration and the overheads are lower than having an actual premises to train?

I think the real issue here is that people are not doing their homework before they commit.

Pitman training have branches in every city, there are indendant training companies in every city?

Make sure the training is accreditied, that it has a local base you will be surprised by the costs these days.

[sunrise]

Hi,

I have just finished CIW Website Design Managers course. I too have had so many problems with Skillstrain, like no support, no practical training, no software, and outdated course material. The staff are completely useless and never give me any answers to my questions, they have a habit of cutting me off the phone. :mad:

I am now waiting for the exam forms to arrive. They wouldn't discuss how the examinations work on the phone, which seems strange to me. If the exams work the way you guys are saying then I'm definitely going to see a solicitor.

I have already visited my legal advice centre today and they said I could stop the payments and when they send a court letter I could make a counterclaim against them. They have also put me in touch with a solicitor who specialises in consumer law to start the small claims procedure.

[Jimmie]

Thanks for all the info Scorpian, I will be contacting them.

I signed up last August 2005 for the Cisco CCNP course, the course is costing me £3400. I first have to start by doing A+. After studying for the last 9 months and nearly completed the first part of the A+ course work ready for the first A+ Exam, I decided to do some tests available through the internet. I havent done any test until now because at the end of each module you have to answer some questions and achieve above a particular mark. I answered around 100 questions from different internet sites all relating to the A+ test, I was lucky to achieve anywhere near 50%. I feal as if I have spent the last 9 Months waisting my time. The course does not cover a lot of info required for the A+ Test. I am now resorting to other books to help me achieve my goal. But what worries me is the fact that I have paid £3400 for A+, Network, CCNA, CCNP course, if the material is not correct for the A+, how am I suppose to no if it is correct for the rest of the courses. I also asked the salesman if there is hands on experience, as I will not be interested if there is not, he told me there hands on classes at the end of every module, luckly I have already done a lot of PC repairs before I started the course. And I cant believe they gave us a cut out of all the parts in a PC made from card with felcro. It is a complete rip off, and the sales person did a dam good job of making out, that if I complete all of the courses, I will be on at least £40,000+. I have now brought £60 worth of A+ books which I use more than the course work from Skills Train, as it does not cover a lot of the information required to pass the 2 parts of the A+ Exams. Here is the link to the objectives for the Comptia A+ Exams -
http://certification.comptia.org/resources/objectives.aspx.
I highly recommend you follow the objectives while you study. As the Skills Train Course work covers a lot of old info that is not required.

Another problem is on the 04th July I rang Clydedale Financial for a settlement figure to pay the remainder of the Loan. Which they told me £2300, but they did not include the early settlement as stated in the Loan agreement. When I told them about this they said it does not apply to my loan as it is a interest free loan. When the salesman sold me the course and got me to sign the agreement, he clearly stated the fact that I will have less to pay if I pay the loan off early. I have spoken to Scheidegger Training, and they said, it is nothing to do with them. Can anybody tell me if they have a similar agreement with an early settlement figure, and if they have had similar problems.

[KevinLing]

Jimmie, I dont know if Skills Train have told you but CompTIA have developed a new A+ training syllabus, the old courseware A+hardware A+Software has now been replaced by A+one and A+two.

Anyone doing the old A+ will need to complete their training and pass thier exams by MARCH 2007. It is at this point Pearson Vue and Prommetric pull the examinations for the old A+ courses and replace them with the very different A+one and A+two which cover 4 exams (you choose two).

Keep you eyes on this and start aiming for the date.

[Jimmie]

I have not been sent any new A+ material from Skillstrain. But I have not sent for anything from Skillstrain in the last three months, as I have been going over missed topics. I will get in touch with them later. Can you please tell me how long you have had the new A+ material?

Yet again does shows how bad skillstrain are.

[KevinLing]

I have instructed all current candidates to complete by March, and have not sold the old A+ to any new candidates in October, rather that I have asked them to wait until I receive the new syllabus in 2-3 days.

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[KevinLing]

I have read on other forums of this situation, i phoned my loan company Career Development Finance {which by the way has an identical contract to Clysdale and once shared the same address as Skills TrainUK, and Clysdale, I'am 99.9% sure they are sister companies, look for yourself on http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/}.

i phoned up and asked whether i could pay the loan off early, they said the same thing as i didnt have interest it was not available to me. Now these loan companies are for financing students with 0% finance, i highly doubt they finance other types of people, like the public, they dont even have a website, so by saying this only applies to people who have interest is such a scam, why would they then state this on a contract with 0% interest, this is truly decieving and fraudulant misrepresentation, and it isn't very professional of them to keep the same statement on a contract it doesnt even apply for.

And guess what... I used GOOGLE EARTH to track the address of my finance company, and they are based in a residential area, a house, a very small building, now i know Google Earth is not always pinpoint accurate but the whole area and surroundings are small houses. And everytime i phone them it seems as if it is the same person who picks up, she even asks whether i called before or last week, very strange....

Interest free finance is exactly what it is to the candidate, the training company swallow the interest or add the interest onto the course and then sell it as interest free....the problem here is that the profit margin on courses from Skills Train is that huge that they can do this comfortably. Its not against the law.

[KevinLing]

Kevin, i need your help.

Can you please list all the new subjects/modifications to existing subjects in the new syllabus for Comptia A+, this will really help.

This is what it says on the Skills Train Enrollment Form:

'9) The college agrees to absorb any increase in fees, books, material etc., that may occur before the student has completed the course'.

So an update of the exam should prompt Skills Train to update their material, i have recieved nothing from them.

The enrollment Form also goes on to say that you have only 7 days to cancel the course, this is so stupid, when the course begins in 21days from enrollment!, i have a sheet from Skills Train that states the course begins in 21days, so 7 days to cancel the course, ....the course hasnt even begun!!!.

The new certification is all explained here:-

http://certification.comptia.org/a/

CompTIA are the inventors of A+, Network+, Linux+, Security+ and more.

[filiped]

i couldnt see this loan on my credit check which is rather bizarre, anyone else checked there credit report to see if its on it?

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[filiped]

I dont know where to start so i cannot see this so called loan on any credit check which means to me that if i stopped paying nothing would happen but how can i be 100% sure and how do i try to get my money back?

[Kenny L]

hi all ...let me introduce myself... my name is Kenny and i am Admin of GSO Security forum at www.governmentsecurity.org

i have been intouch with Scorpian King80 via email after reading about Skills Train for a few months now... am currently building up evidence against them.. as i was also duped into a course with them and after seeing the INSIGHT program has made me more angry with them... am currently working with my bank Debit Card Services and received a Customer Dispute Disclaimer from them asking for evidence...so i can get the payments stopped....its a step in the right direction , contact your bank tell them the situation... they should give you a number to contact ...i phoned yesterday and received the forms today asking for proof of dispute...i have collected evidence from here and also sent an email to the contact Scorpion provided...will keep you informed on how things turn out

just like to say thanks to all for the background knowledge this thread has become a vauluable resource of info

BTW am 9 mth into my CCNA ...after completing Foundation Network+ with outdated 2002 material that delt with W95/98 and NT4 ...current CompTIA course work Consists of 2005 for the exam... none of my course had been updated to 2005 material
for the foundation... i do have the old course 2001 and 2005 changes from CompTIA this outlined changes made from the period 2001 ,2005 ...none of this has been updated

i am infact on the CCNA part A that near completion... i have recived the latest CCNA book by Wendell Odom intro with a DEMO of the Netsim LE labs... and some tacky course notes.... i have had NO contact with anyone from Skills Train apart from the Automated TMA responses... I have had NO hands on training , No Hotel lecture or tutorial offers.... absolute nothing at all...

i have NOT sent in any TMA for a month now...and NOT a word from them as to why?

wonder if anyone can give me the date when Manpower ceased to deal with Skills Train... so i can forward it to the Trading standards officer and Bank fraud section...

also anyone have th CDF phone number ...if so can you PM me

Kind regards to you all

Kenny

on a footnote...i send a written assignment via email to them in a zip file and received a reply stating they could NOT open the zip and could i send it in txt or doc format...lol ... some experts if they dont know how to open a compressed file ;)

also anyone checked out their course tutors ? are they FULLY trained in that area your training... ? i have my doubts.... i will be forwarding my tutors names to Cisco for verification they are indeed Cisco instructors ...if your assigments are being marked ...then by who ? a Computer ?

============================

UPDATE: I have the Phone number to Clydesdale now thank to a Member ...BUT i got my loan from Career Developement Fund based is Luton same road as Skills train (and formally in the same building which is dodgy as it sounds)...thats the number am after...cheers

last

any idea when Manpower Stopped dealing with Skills Train ? most important for my case

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[Kenny L]

thanks Scorpian you been a great help so far...

re: Manpower

well if thats the case and it was at least over a year ... then what was the salesman doing ramming this booklet down my throat with promises of guaranteed job and interview offers...see images .... this was only Feb 2006

sorry about the quality took them of my Phone

another thing i just found in my letters... was a

Dear student letter of welcome

quoted from a paragraph...and i will upload the document to my website over the weekend

in it states :

in you enrolment pack you will find a specimen voucher that will be sent to you on successful course completion. Simply leave this with your local Manpower branch when you attend the assessment interview.(a full list of branches is included in your pack). Manpower and its Technical Recruitment division, Elan , value qualified Skillstrain students sufficiently highly that the usual fees connected with Career assessment are waivered

yet Elan deny still being linked to Skillstrain ? ...yet again this is proof of mis-informing potential students by the salesman... and is surly a breach of contract

[Jimmie]

I,m a bit lost. The address I have for Clydesdale Financial Services is as follows-

Clydesdale Financial Services Ltd,
10,000 Academy Park,
Gower Street,
Glasgow,
G51 1PR

Customer service derpartment on 0870 366 2656

This is on the white Direct Debit Sheet, which I got when I joined on 13/08/2005

[Kenny L]

looks like there were 2 company's dealing with Skillstrain... or it could be related to area's north and south...or

they switched to the one am with now.. i joined early this year and live down south coast uk...

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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[Kenny L]

well thats strange Scorpion...in my study guide...there is NO mention of any of the articles at all infact there is no appendix A/Apendix A ...you would think they would still be publishing such praise worthy articles in them...unless its been pointed out they do not exist...and since been removed...would like to see your article of the reviews... as further evidence

mine does however have 2 blank pages at the end of the study guide ...saying "Notes"

could that have been were they once were ?

another thing i have noticed...is the images in these study guides... they clearly give the false impression your sat next to the tutor...on a one to one basis ...again this is a misleading concept

btw...has anyone been to any of there so called Local training...were there are between 6-10 students...or is this bull also ?

[KevinLing]

Guys I had the fortunate experience of going to the Hotel Venue after 3 months into a C++ course, I arrived at a cheap Holiday Inn hotel and could not beleive it when I and 4 other suckers were transported to a hotel room, where a tutor was waiting. It was a proper hotel room, with bed, bedside cabinet wardrobe the lot...I sat on the bed whilst the other sat around a small table and we just sat and listened to the tutor.

It was the most terribly un-professional environment I had ever witnessed and it finally caused me to give up the course.

[Kenny L]

OMG kevin...that has to be the most embarrassing experience they could have put you through...talk about cheapness...it is absolutly disgrace.. nothing near what you expect in the form of training as in a classroom environment...and does not come anything near what is portrayed in the brochure... did they use any teaching aids for demonstrations , or have any scheduled constructive lesson plans ..etc ?

update to my situation... i have sent emails to the producer of BBC insight asking him to forward my email to Nick Lawrence who did the report , i have asked for a report of their facts what they found about Skillstrain and i also mentioned Manpower and the false claims they sold me...i also requested that they should do further longer investigation...as the public Nationwide need to see a program at least 30 minutes long about SkillsTrain as am sure there will be many more complaints in the near future or could he forward it to a department who deals with indepth reports...

i await a reply

also sent a email to Elan Manpower asking them for confirmation in writing to confirm that they have not had anything to do with Skillstrain for a long time requesting dates ..and to confirm what Geoff Smith has stated about requesting SkillsTrain to stop using Manpowers name as seen in the BBC report for the past 18mths... i also informed them that i was duped in to signing a contract on the basis Manpower were involved with SkillTrain earlier this year.... which i now know is a lie

my Bank has stated in a letter today:

if they find a valid dispute

they will be asking Career delvelopement fund to re-debit my account for all my payments i have made... and quote:

"If a transaction is established as Fraudulent , i would not object to police involvement"

i have to sign that i am willing for a Police Fraud investigation to commence...and send it back with my proof of Mis-informed claim...

so this will fall under deception....which comes under Fraud

more to follow

[simon2207]

Please please can someone help me


I had the advisor/salesman around my house last night advising/selling me a £2750 CWI course, I have re-read the paper work he left and found that I have 7 days to cancel this or I am libel to the full sum.

I have read the paper work over and over but I cant make out what there head office address is but I have 7 days to find it and post all the course paperwork “at my cost”

I do think that I was give the wrong impression about cost’s of this course and how it was funded.

The things that I now sit back and think about are how could they have got me “credit checked” I’m a Bankrupt?? And I’m disabled so my income is very limited; I wanted to make a new start, working for myself from home due to my injuries. And in the cold light of day I think that I was taken advantage of, :censored

So please any help would be gratefully excepted

[Kenny L]

you should have a pink finance slip of them... on the reverse it will state your right to cancel... YOU MUST SEND THEM IN WRITTING your wish to cancel... MOST IMPORTANT is you send it RECORDED DELIVERY ...so you have proof you sent it within the 7 day period....write it NOW .... and post it first thing MONDAY....

what was the finance company who is providing the loan ?

is it Career Developement fund ... in the title ?

what address does it state on the back ...because they have a new address now

IF you have a small pink slip from the salesman ...the address is on the front were you signed it

[SCORPIAN_KING80]

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