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I stupidly signed up for a beauty therapy course last night at 8pm, this morn at 8am after hours of trawling through web pages telling me its a scam I requested to cancel and get my 49.99 refund back at 8am this morning. I sent them:-
Good morning,
I signed up to beauty therapy level 3 last night as I was lead to believe by your website that it is a 'recognised' qualification. I have since found out, that it is not recognised by any insurance company (including the one you reccomend!). Upon contacting ncfe ive also found that this course is just a certificate and not an actualy qualification. For this reason, and as I am within my 7 day cooling off period and feel this course is not right for me, I would like to request a refund before anything is sent out to me. And request that no further payments are taken from me card.
I recieved _
Dear carina,
Thank you for your e-mail which refers.
I am afraid that all requests for course cancellations, suspensions or conversion need to be addressed to the cancellations and conversions department and sent in writing into the college. They will then make a decision based upon the details of the case and respond to you.
Please send your letter to:
Cancellations and conversions department
Stonebridge associated colleges
Stonebridge house
42 ocean view road
Bude
Cornwall
England
Ex23 8st
Kind regards,
Wayne
Stonebridge associated colleges
T: +[protected]
F: +[protected]
www.stonebridge.uk.com
[protected]@stonebridge. Uk.com
I sent_
Hi, if that is the case I shall take it straight to trading standards then. As I am perfectly within my rights to cancel within 7 days and I think cancelling within 24hours is acceptable. I just wish I had checked the net before being sucked into this scam. A descision is not needed to be made to be refunded as im perfectly within my legal rights to request it. The dates of these emails will also be kept as proof that I did try within 7 days when, as I suspect, I will be fobbed off by the postal system.
I recieved _
Carina,
Nobody has said you would not receive a refund, however (and please feel free to contact trading standards to confirm this), there is no way we will cancel your registration and refund you until our property that has been sent out to you has been returned.
Wayne
I sent -
Hi no property has been sent out, I only paid last night and messaged you first thing this morning!
What are these scammers doing. I put every last penny in my account into trying to do a course for the better of my future. No its not a fortune but when the certificate isnt worth the paper its written on I cant afford it! Help me get my money back someone please
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
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The Stonebridge Colleges Team wishes to apologise for any inconveniences caused in this case. Stonebridge Colleges aims to help students achieve their goals by delivering quality distance education courses, a high standard of support, and unique services such as unlimited time to complete courses. We regret that in this case, however, the matter has not been treated with the quality and care we consistently strive for.
No payment has been taken, nor will any payment be taken in the future from the complainant. We would like to assure you that an investigation has been undertaken internally.
We appreciate your attention to this matter and wish you the best in your continued education.
Just to add my word of warning - I signed up to a course Saturday & e-mailed to cancel within 48 hours (as is my right)
I paid by credit card.
The reply to my email to Stonebridge was that I had to put the cancellation in writing.
It seemed daft but I wrote to them & also contacted my card provider to inform them of a possible problem due to what I've read about Stonebridge.
I received a letter today telling me that although my request to cancel was received within 7 days they will not be refunding my money as I have viewed more than 50% of the course!
I hadn't even received a registration on to the course!
When I called them I got absolutely nowhere & have filed a charge-back with my credit card provider.
Be warned.
Steve
This company is operating in a totally unethical manner. A real college would never behave like this.
They have taken £1000 from my account and I have not even accessed a course.
This company is not a real college
Be warned
I am going to go public so that people can be warned about this. The people there treat you with total disregard. They are dreadful.
I am approaching Trading Standards and will publicise this on all social media.
It is appalling. The courses are not genuinely accredited.
They said I could not even exchange but as a gesture of goodwill I could exchange and not lose my £1000
I was appalled. I said I would have to do a BTEC course instead and they then said NO you can absolutely not exchange to a Btec course. They have stolen my money. They are not allowing me to exchange to a different course only if they choose from a selection of courses for me.
It is disgusting please do not get caught by this company they are absolutely terrible and cruel in their dealings with you. A real college would not behave so unethically.
I think people need to be very careful to find out EXACTLY what they are signing up for BEFORE they part with any money for these distance-learning courses. It is also a good idea to find out who recognises the course(s). Some may not be any use in getting a job. The college should give you a copy of the contract for you to look at before you part with any money. If they won't, them the question is what are they hiding?
I hope the complainant gets their refund as it seems to be they are well within their rights.
Further to the above comments, I bought an online course which seemed to fit what I wanted. As with any online purchase, it is not possible to see it before buying, so there is an option to cancel to protect consumer rights. I did not waive my cancellation rights when agreeing to the T&Cs.
I looked at a few pages, before deciding it was not suitable. Following the T&Cs in the purchase process, I sent a recorded letter the next day asking for a refund.This was well within the cooling-off time allowed. The reply agreed the timing, but said I had "viewed more than 50% of the course." There is no way of legally proving this, so this excuse cannot be used to refuse a refund. Nowhere in the T&Cs is this mentioned. CAB have taken an interest, and Trading Standards could be the next step. I will let you know what happens.
This may help people who have cancelled within the 7 days but still can't get a refund ; https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-contracts-regulations
I had same issue promised course reconosed i sent 10 emails spoke to them and they said they would call me now het text and emails from credit control yet i spoke to them also but they are saying i have not what a joke of a place and od disabled they take advantage of this