Fuzzbutt, apologies for butting in again, just hope to be able to help as I am also digging into CIW issues, although with a different provider. It is not clear how they came up with that compensation figure; the cost of self-study kits from CIW certified distributors as sold in the UK is considerably higher; there are 3 providers, and the costs are online (source: http://www.ciwcertified.com/store/uk_distribution.php) Best of luck!

Thank you. I have just received a response from APEX that they are the institution currently dealing with the case. Does it mean that I should send all the information via them, or contact you directly?

Thank you for your message. I would prefer to keep everything in writing, really. Which email address is it best to contact regarding cancellation and/or complaints?

Thanks again for all your help! It is so fast, and it is very reassuring that problems become actually solvable. I must say I was a complete mess when I ventured to start posting here! Just in case anyone is reading, and back to the original question: if you want to avoid inconveniencing friends and need a UK address, it looks like there are services out there that receive (and scan in) mail for you, and can actually send mail with accompanying payment (postal order etc). Some are even PAYG and paypal friendly. I suppose I need to check reviews frist but that might also come in handy, as should help with staying on top of the paper-trail. I would be afraid to involve friends in the UK, as if APEX gets hold of a friend's address that would put all of us in a very embarrassing situation.

Thank you very much!!! You guys are just great! )))))))))))

Please ignore - question answered in the Scottish forum - thanks to 42man! Cerberusalert: I have just read in the Scottish forum that a company no longer has to comply with the 12 day requirement to provide a CCA; in fact, they can take as much time as they want??? Can't verify it through ggogling. Does it mean that now the rules on complying with a SAR have also become more lax? And now the requester is put in a limbo, waiting for a response. At the ICO gov uk page (can't post link) it is also explained that a company is not obliged to start processing your request until you have paid the fee (if I need extra information, like logs from the VLC, for example,access to tutors etc I suppose they are entitled to a fee larger than £10 but up to £50 max). Is the 40 calendar day requirement for SAR (since payment, if I am correct) still valid? Answer from 42man: They have to provide all they hold on you with regard to your personal data within 40 calendar days, it doesn't have a bearing on any legal claim they may have made (as you can potentially go for disclosure on a claim by them) but you can still take them to court if they fail to supply the information within 40 days (however in the case of a SAR, if they fail to provide anything in 40 days (or it is incomplete) then you issue a letter bfore action giving them a further 7 days to comply, enclosing a copy of the original request)

What about that SAR request - is the requirement to provide information within 40 calenda days when SAR has been submitted still valid? If they fail to do that, is that an offence, and does it render the alleged debt uninforceable (or, at least, would it be good enough to take them to small claims?) Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere; I do try to search the forums but sometimes I am afraid I can't find the latest updates.

Now, unfortunately, the above is definitely NOT true! There is noway to find a degree course for just 4K. That is precisely the reason why I was tempted to try the HLC - I needed some UK certificate as my MAs and an ongoing PhD from my country didn't get me very far in the UK. If only university courses in the UK had been more affordable, with flexible payment schemes like these rip-offs! As to misrepresentation/mis-selling: did you have a chance to sample the course before you committed to a contract, or during the cooling period? Like, read the books they had sent, do some assignments, have a look around the VLC etc? My guess is your answer is most probably no, and you could use that when you launch your complaint. I'm afraid the original poster has left and has hopefully solved the problem and forgotten about it, but if anyone else is in a similar situation: maybe it might be worthwhile to make a SAR? I'd specifically request them to provide what data they hold on you related to academic activity: attendance of webinars (if any), submitted assignments, attempts (successful or not) of talking to tutors etc. Just a hunch, might help if you need to escalate it by taking the problem to the Ombudsman, small claims or wherever. P.S. Edited to correct inaccuracies & add a suggestion.

You mean, something along this lines?: The emphasis in the Carey case on section 78 appears to have obscured the real claim that exists under section 61(1)(a) and 127(3) of the Act. These sections dictate that a creditor must be able to produce a signed document (not necessarily the credit agreement) that contains the prescribed terms. The document must include the credit limit, the interest rate and details of how and when a debtor is to discharge his payment obligations. A failure to produce such a document is still capable of rendering the agreement irredeemably unenforceable. *** However consumers should remember that should a creditor issue court proceedings against them, without first locating a signed document, they would have a defence to that action. Without a signed document the creditor will have to convince the court that on balance a document signed by the consumer containing the prescribed terms would have been produced at the time of execution. The onus is on them to prove this. (can't post link) Cerberusalert, thank you very much! Sorry I have hijacked my own thread. One last question, and will shut up: I do want a copy of my CCA, and all relevant documentation; in case HLC has started ping-ponging me to DCAs, does it mean that they are under no obligation to provide me with these documents (as in documents related to "my case", not sure if it is the same as a SAR will get me)? Thanks again!

Thank you, I came upon that info - and a bit confused which CCA template to use since "true" copy seems to be no longer a requirement. Still, it would be good to know the state of affairs; unfortunately, I hadn't discovered CAG while I was speaking with HLC. Hopefully APEX will return the paperwork back there; at the moment the only word they know is money, money, money.

It's a looooooong Home Learning College story; actually, I never saw a copy of the original agreement or whatever it was. There was a dispute with the HLC, then the phonecalls started, then the agency interfered. I managed to get them stop phoning me and my previous UK address (they even apologised), so time for the CCA request, I guess. Not that I will ever need the credit rating, but it is a matter of principle, too. P.S. What happens if they can't comply? Sell the info to someone else? Bounce it back to HLC?

That is a great idea, thanks! I might try that - although they don't normally allow money to be sent via snail-mail. And another thing - the deadline for their response is 12+2, considering UK addresses; for international mail it probably should be the 12th day from the moment someone at that company acknowledges receipt of the request letter. It is getting messier by the minute... I could send the request by email, I guess, but they can easily turn down the request cos I won't have attached the fee - that would just give them extra time.

Thanks for the quick reply! Yes, that is my Option 1 - afraid to cause hassle, though. I was wondering if there might be another way to pay - to the agency bank account, maybe, or in some electronic way/over the internet. Unfortunately, Royal Mail only accept cash for postal orders, and from what I read, they print out the check on the spot.

Thank you for the links (and patience), Kraken. I suppose I might have been alluding to non-pecuniary Expectation Loss as well as Restitution (acc. to the gillhams link). Hopefully one day someone will write a Survival Guide to Law for Dummies. Good luck, Fuzzbeat (and all other Advent-urers)!

Hello, all, hope someone can lend a brainwave or share their experience. I need to send a CCA request, and it should be accompanied by a postal order of £1. At the moment, though, I am not in the UK. I looked into the options: 1 - ask someone to get a postal order in the UK, print out my request and mail it by Royal Mail to the agency; this is not impossible but would hate to inconvenience people 2 - ask someone to buy a postal order, scan the receipt, email it to me and I can email everything to the agency - will it work at all? still, a hassle 3 - ask someone to buy the postal order, snail mail it to me (do they expire?), so that I could snail mail it back to the UK from here - lots of hassle and lots of time Are there other options? Thank you in advance.

Unfortunately I am not a lawyer, and English is not my first language so pls bear with me but I guess what I was referring to is close to "expectation damage" in Brit legalese speak; in other words, by not being provided with the service as promised and paid for, Fizzbutt has suffered a damage - wasting time, upset career plans etc. Isn't this a very viable argument that the court should have taken into consideration? Unless you are criminally young (joking! ) and don't care much about time wasted, time is a critical factor for those of us who are just too old to afford making a mistake (trying to avoid saying the number). Besides, shouldn't people have a choice whether to accept a refund, or a suitable replacement - and if they don't want the replacement for whatever reason (I don't see why you should give a reason at all), it is their right to decide? P.S. Are there any provisions in theoriginal contract about what happens if the course provider goes bust?

Maybe I am a beachy girl but in Fuzzbeat's case, I would go for a full refund PLUS moral damage. Buying a learning course, especially one that is a professional learning course is not like buying a sack of potatoes so if half of them are bad, you can take them back. A professional course is a serious commitment, and during the first year Fuzz invested time he could well spend in a more relaxing way, and money for extra materials, equipment etc - all that apart from paying the full fee. Second, being left in the lurch when the course provider disappeared has effectively nullified his efforts, caused emotional distress and has set off any career plans he might have had, related to the course and qualification. Fuzz, if I had a case like yours, I would contact the media. I don't know how much one can claim for moral damage and emotional distress, but definitely the WHOLE fee plus interest - just imagine, had YOU failed to meet YOUR obligations, how much would THEY have been chasing you for by this time?

P.S. I don't even have the vouchers in my hands - haven't claimed them; the only thing that has been used (no markings; just opened a couple of times) have been the books which are the same as the ones sold at CIWCertified website, and I have those materials. I couldn't cancel within their limit because the books were delivered only 2 weeks later! Luckily, I have proof of that (correspondence and scan of the DHL packaging). Actually, they were misdelivered - they had "forgotten" to put the books in, and had sent only a prospectus 2 weeks later, so I have retained copy of the correspondence, including said scan.

Hello, all - I am very grateful this forum exists! Apologies in advance if I am posting the thread to the wrong forum - I am not sure whether it belongs to Students or Debt Collection sub-forums. To sum up my story, which is similar to many ones already here: I signed up for the CIW combined course; was not happy with it but kept up with the payments for a year as I was refused cancelling, and decided I might just as well use the exam vouchers when I get to the stage to be ready to pass the exams but after moving abroad have discovered that the local examination facility does not acknowledge any vouchers purchased in a foreign country. I asked for a refund again, pointing out this reason, as well as the fact that I have not found their course useful, have not used their VLC, have not submitted any assignments and have never bothered the tutor for any support. Another reason I gave was the fact that due to my unexpected return to my home country (family reasons) I would find it hard to keep up with payments, especially for something I might not be able to use anyway. Communication has been by phone, and the paper trail is limited: I got (by email) some form for assessing my income and expenditure???!!! Even though I made it perfectly clear that I want to cancel further payment, as well as an estimate of costs so far incurred by me, and what is the refund I can claim. I suppose (maybe wrongly?) that this case fits within this framework: "If you no longer want the item" at the direct gov website (sorry, new poster and can't post links). The worst case scenario I assumed was that I won't get anything refunded but any paymen requests would stop - especially since they stopped my access to the VLC (fine by me). However, they seem to have passed on my request to Apex. Now these bullies deserve a separate forum... Apex kept phoning even though I asked them to send me information about what they wanted by email as I am not in the country. They kept phoning the landline number at my last UK address, even though I had warned HLC NOT to use it, as it is not my landline, and what is more, the telephone is answered by an elderly lady who gets confused and/or panics, or by her carers who get upset, naturally. After I phoned Apex and told them I will file a harrassment complaint, they have finally contacted me by email, still not providing any information about what case they have. I refuse to acknowledge any debt, and would definitely take the matter further, especially if my credit report shows damage. What should be the best course of action - please help. This is a very short attempt at describing the situation. My hunch is filing a complaint for phone harrassment, and sending a CCA request for starters.