Stonebridge College - warning!

Hi All,

I wanted to post on here with a caution regarding Stonebridge College, due to an experience I have recently had with them.

I signed up for a Foot Health Practitioner course just over a month ago and during this time I have had a significant change of circumstances which means I no longer have the time to commit to the course.

I called them to request that the coursework & payments be put on hold for the time being. I was told this wasn't possible, so I asked to cancel instead. I was then told that because I was outside the 7 days cooling off period I wouldn't be able to cancel either. However, I was told I could submit a request to the college, explaining the circumstances, which would be considered.

I wrote to them the same day articulating the reasons why I would be unable to complete the course, stressed I would use the college again when I am able to return to studying, and I also stated that I would cover any reasonable costs to the college incurred as a result of my decision. I thought this was fair.

I received a short letter back 2 days later saying: "We cannot offer you a refund nor a cancellation. We are well within our legal rights not to do so, as governed by the Distance Selling Regulations 2000". Followed by: "I am sorry if this is not what you wanted to hear".

I thought this should serve as a warning to anyone signing up to a course with Stonebridge, especially if you are investing alot of money, as it would appear that once they have your hard-earned money they are no longer concerned with a students ability to complete the course.

I'd be grateful for any advice if anyone has any relevant experience or knowledge that could help me in my situation. Otherwise, I guess I will have to count the money I have already paid as lost.

Thanks,

Lew.

 

darkrider,

According to the FAQ's page you're not on a time limit to complete the course: Frequently Asked Questions Stonebridge College

"Are there any time limits or deadline dates?

Unlike other Distance Education Colleges, we impose no time limits or pressures on you to complete your course material. Your course will not expire, and it will not become invalid until you have successfully completed it. All that we ask, is that you inform the College if you are intending to take a break from studying for a period of 6 months or more."

If you're not required to complete the course within a certain period of time why the rush to withdraw? Heck, they even allow you up to 6 months of inactivity before you even have to tell them you need a break.

 

If you paid with a credit card, you can probably charge it back if you didn't receive anything via mail which was tracked.

The way the chargeback system works with credit cards is that, pretty much, if the merchant cannot prove that services were delivered -- and with electronically delivered services, there's effectively no way to do that -- then the chargeback goes to the cardholder and the money is refunded.

It doesn't cost anything to do a chargeback and most banks are pretty accommodating, so if you paid with credit or debit card, that's probably your best bet.

Of course, they won't want to do business with you again if you do that, but the way they've handled the situation, I'm not sure I'd want to do business with them anyway.

 

Good call on chip's part. The only thing I wonder is if the school could be able to go after the OP's credit if he/she takes that kind of action? Also, I believe you only have a certain number of days to do it based off statutes set by the credit company (eg. Visa).

 

It is too bad that you did not search for Stonebridge on degreeinfo before you signed up. There has been several threads on this site starting in 2005 which should have made anyone very cautious about enrolling there.

You may have to chalk up this loss to experience I'm sad to say.

 

If the company is in the UK, it would be almost unheard of for them to be able to do anything to his credit. It wouldn't be worth their while, I doubt that any US credit reporting agency would accept a collection line from a non-US company, and I further doubt that a US-based collection agency would go after an individual where the debt originates from another country, simply because of the jurisdictional issues.

It would also, based on my experience, increase the likelihood that the chargeback would be successful. The banks seem a bit more lenient on chargebacks originating at banks in other countries.