UK IT TRAINING - Reveiw Part 7 - The Letter

[ManicD]

Part 1: http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread18792.html
Part 2: http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread18793.html
Part 3: http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread20079.html
Part 4: http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread21490.html
Part 5: http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread21599.html
Part 6: Pending completion...


Ok, well, some of you may know, i've undertaken a course with UK IT Training who provide classroom based training for Microsoft Certifications.

Some of you may also know that UK IT Training have now stopped selling new IT Courses and are concentrating on Driving instructor education, and the new Home Information Pack training.

Thus the point of my reviews will shift slightly from evaluating the training provided to evaluation the service provided, which i have heard from people on the HIP's and Driving courses is much the same thorughout. Then maybe this review will become useful to other websites in those areas.

Thus without further ado, we get onto my most recent action, The Letter.
I've come to a point within my experience at UK IT that i feel the need to write a letter expressing my concerns. Mainly that the time between courses is gradually increasing and preventing me from progressing as i would like.

So, here is the letter that i wrote. Please feel free to fault find before it gets posted on monday.

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

FAO: Contracts Manager
UK IT Training Limited (also trading as HipHipHoray, DITC and UK Careers)
Forth Floor, Tolworth Tower
Ewell Road,
Tolworth,
Surrey
KT6 7EL


DATE DATE DATE


Dear Contracts Manager,
I have recently been having trouble progressing in MCSE course due to delays at your centre. I’m finding that the long delays in your providing of courses is pushing back my pace of work and preventing me from reaching my targets of completing the professional courses within 10 months as recommended in my contact.

Below I outline my progression so far,

Commenced course July 31st 2007
ECDL Learning and Revision 3 weeks 31st- 21st August 2007
Passed all ECDL exams August 22nd 2007
Waited 4.5 weeks for A+
Attended A+ Course 24th-28th September 2007
2 weeks of Revision
Passed A+ Exams 16th October 2007
Waited 4 Weeks for N+
Attended N+ Course 19th-23rd November 2007
1 week of Revision
Passed N+ Exams 30th November 2007
Waited 2.5 Weeks for 70-270
Attended 70-270 & 70-290 Course 10th – 19th December 2007
2 Weeks Revision
Passed 70-270 Exam 4th January 2008
2 Weeks Revision
Passed 70-290 Exam 18th Jan 2008
Waited 8 Weeks for 70-291 Course
Attended 70-291 Course 19th-27th March 2008

As you can see the 31st of May 2008 will be my 10 month marker. But 4.5 of those months has been spent simply waiting for your next training course. Your company policy to refuse provision of training materials before the first day of the course has created many challenges in preparing for each course and thus I have needed to spend 2 weeks to revise for each exam, which is not an unreasonable amount of time to prepare for an exam, especially considering I now work full time and your “Director of Recruitment” stressed how well your courses can fit around my personal commitments such as work etc.
Your training contract states:

“We have purposely made the Training Periods longer than necessary for any unexpected circumstances that may interrupt or slow down your training”

“You are advised that providing you actively and steadily progress through the available Career Track training, that amounts to 51 days plus the ECDL training, the 12 and 18 month Training Periods are designed to be longer than should be necessary even after time for home study and taking and module exams. However we strongly recommend you complete the ECDL training within a month or so, Ideally with additional practise with the ECDL CD-Rom at home, and complete the MCSA and Professional Course modules within a maximum of 10 months in order to allow a minimum of 8 months for the MCSE and CISCO modules as these are more challenging and we schedule them less frequently than the earlier modules”

Looking at the way things are currently going the delays your organisation are creating between courses will ensure that I cannot possibly complete the remaining professional course within the 10 month recommended period and will be lucky to complete within the 12 month assigned period. You have not provided me with training periods ‘Longer than necessary’ as stated repeatedly in your contract because your own delays have prevented me from progressing at a rate that would have achieved this recommended target.

Furthermore, your ‘20K a year, Job Guarantee’ contract states:

“This must be in accordance with the terms of your Training Agreement which includes completing the respective parts of the training within the 12 and 18 month Training Periods as stated BUT EXCLUDING ANY EXTENTION if any should subsequently be agreed for any reason by the Training Company.”

I have sought legal advice regarding this and have been advised that this breaches the Unfair Contracts Terms Act 1977, Part I, Section 10, Evasion by means of secondary contract.

“A person is not bound by any contract term prejudicing or taking away rights of his which arise under, or in connection with the performance of, another contract, so far as those rights extend to the enforcement of another’s liability which this Part of this Act prevents that other from excluding or restricting.”

This means that the Job Guarantee cannot exclude the extension granted by the training provider due to the performance of the training provider in a secondary contract. Therefore I shall be expecting that any extension you grant me on the basis of the performance of your organisation also be relevant within the Job Guarantee at the end of the Training Period.

This letter is to serve as an official notification of my discontent at this point in the course, where efforts on your part to correct the situation are still reasonable possible. This means that if the situation is not corrected, and issues arise at a later date, you have been given reasonable notice of the problems and allowed sufficient time to correct any issues in the scheduling of your courses.

I have no current intent to cause issues, legal or otherwise regarding my course. This letter is to protect the large investment I had made in my future. The training and support I have received so far from the instructors has been very good and I would like to continue receiving this with the intent of completing your course within the allotted time period should your scheduling allow.

Please contact me with your reply to this letter so that any conflicting opinions can be discussed and sorted before such time comes that more serious issues arise and legal arbitration is required to resolve the issues.

Yours Sincerely



Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxx


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


Comments greatly appreciated.

[greenbrucelee]

I think your letter is spot on and I am sorry they're messing you about. I think this shows that places like this are just interested in peoples money and nothing else

[VantageIsle]

That is a well composed letter, your point is put accross very well. someone I know signed up with UK IT Training to follow his MCSA they charged him 6K!!! He says they are good though, but 6K!!! Yikes


LOL at UK IT Training Limited (also trading as HipHipHoray, DITC and UK Careers)


also trading as HipHipHoray!!!!! it must have been a good day in the boardroom when they came up with that one!

[GiddyG]

Originally Posted by ManicD

Your company policy to refuse provision of training materials before the first day of the course has created many challenges in preparing for each course and thus I have needed to spend 2 weeks to revise for each exam, which is not an unreasonable amount of time to prepare for an exam

ManicD,

Did you mean 'not an unreasonable' or 'not a reasonable' here?

If the formaer, then it seems at odds with the fact that you're not happy with the pressures put on by their failure to supply the info in time...

Cheers

Giddy

[dmarsh26]

not an unreasonable ammount of time to study....

Its a double negative, he is saying that he feels his study periods are 'reasonable'.

[GiddyG]

Originally Posted by dmarsh26

Its a double negative, he is saying that he feels his study periods are 'reasonable'.

Yep. Agreed, which is why it seems to fly in the face of what he 'appears' to be trying to say to the TP... which is "you didn't leave me much time because I didn't get the info in time".

[Stoney]

Originally Posted by GiddyG

Yep. Agreed, which is why it seems to fly in the face of what he 'appears' to be trying to say to the TP... which is "you didn't leave me much time because I didn't get the info in time".

Yeah that's how I read it as well.

I think it's a good letter. Make sure you send it recorded delivery because they may 'never receive it' if they're trying to drag out your training to void the job guarantee.

[anniemac]

Have you had any response? A friend of mine is taking legal action which according to his legal eagles he has a good chance of winning. Please keep us informed

[ManicD]

Originally Posted by anniemac

Have you had any response? A friend of mine is taking legal action which according to his legal eagles he has a good chance of winning. Please keep us informed

The letter i finally sent was actually modified and reached over 3 pages but i belive it drove home a point, the basic responce was:

- I still had plenty of time to complete the course and i shouldnt worry.
- I was correct about the "excluding any extention" bit
- I will be getting an extention of x amount of day (cant remember x its all written down somewhere)

I have expressed my discontent and if they try to screw me over i think any court in teh land would be happy that I have done my part to try to sort this before its become an issue.