Apprenta/ICS

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

the more i sit back and read other stuff about apprenta the more i feel that i had a lucky escape.

i went to the croydon branch and wasn't too impressed.
but then i felt and still do that i'm currently stuck in my current job so was still thinking of going for it.

but i didn't.
don't know what you can do but i'm sure someone else will be able to help.

 

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

I'm afraid I too have fallen for this. Seemed like a great opportunity, my euthausiam blinded me and I foolishly rushed in.

I too was supposed to start on the 8th May with the online course. I was supposed to receive the training pack and the course details and I've heard nothing. No e-mail responses, no-one picks up the phone.

I'm at a bit of a loss for what to do, I think I can kiss my £2000 deposit goodbye, whether or not I can cancel the £4000 repayment agreement is a matter I will have to look into.

Lesson learnt, the hard way, I feel very foolish.

 

can't you go straight to the office you had the interview or where you were supposed to be learning and speak to them in person?
i'm sure there are ways to get your money back.

small claims court?

 

how do they play to collect the 4000 pound?
i thought that was only if you got a job anyway.

 

The £4000 is a "Non-Cancellable Credit Agreement", doesn't mention anything about paying once a job has been assigned. Not mention of a job or a start date at all.

Should have checked things more thoroughly first.

 

I sympathise mate, I have mailed watchdog and made a complaint to trading standards.
I have called and called at arranged time's but he refuses to pick the phone up.
They are still ignoring me, I have sent them an letter requesting that they refund my cash and withdraw the credit agreement under the supply of goods and services act 1982 but i still have'nt heard anything.
I am also just about to send a copy of the agreement to the office of fair trading as the T & C's are outragous.
Its my own stupid fault. I let the prospect of a full time C# course blind me to the fact that all they want is your money and hope you fall by the wayside owing them a bundle of cash.
I should be in my second week of classroom based training, instead i'm sitting here, frustrated.

I found on friday that they had actioned the direct debit that they could'nt find, I cancelled it. I spoke to trading standards and they said that due to the amount it would have to go to court and not small claims.
My next step is to go and sit in their office's until they hand over my cash.

 

I popped down to Trading Standards this morning and they suggested I send a letter. However the more interestingly than that as soon as I had left the Trading Standards Offices I received a phone call from ICS, I was quite shocked. They informed me I was booked on a course starting next week and my materials will arrive by Friday (19/6/2006).

I shall wait and see how it goes, and keep everyone updated.

 

probably they got some spys to watch you

 

Result, all the best m8.

 

WOW!

Keep us posted mate.

 

So the materials for my first 2 courses arrived today, all looks good so far.

The only thing that has annoyed me slightly is that it looks like we have to pay for our own exams and this was never once mentioned to me. In fact, I was told that everything was included in the money I was paying Apprenta.

So I'm ready to go Monday, we'll see what happens

 

Got a letter from ICS today stating that they intend to keep my deposit as they have undertaken significant investment on my behalf. Twaddle, they did'nt book me on a course that didnt exist, have'nt sent me any course material and mucked me around at every turn,worth £1500 of anyone's money that. I called them on receipt but no-one is available to talk to me, sounds familiar....
I urge anyone that is thinking of undertaking an ICSLondon Course to not beleive a word the salesman says and read the contract fully as it gives you no protection at all.

 

Wow, quite a few responses to last time i was on here, good to see people are finding it useful too.

Apologies i haven't posted a follow up, had a job change and had to move.

I went back to look over the contract and to be shown how the online classes would run, basically you're paying for for someone else to put you through to a MS virtual classroom, go to Microsoft it's cheaper, better still get a copy of Virtual PC and a book!

I told the guy i wanted to take the contract away to read because i wouldn't sign there and then or pay a deposit, he told me he couldn't let me do that as it was a legal document. I basically told him that was a lie as i could, my girlfriend is a lawyer and told me to bring it back so she could read over it, if they wouldn't let me i should walk, so i did.

Don't do it, you've heard enough bad stuff about them, start at the bottom, work and study hard and you will get the rewards, plus, any good company will support you in your study, i can highly promote Fujitsu to you on that front.

 

Forgot, i did ask to speak to a current student but oddly enough he couldn't get one despite having a week to arrange it

One plus point however is that i enquired to Harvey Nash who are on Apprenta's site as using them and they did reply saying that they have used ICS to supply them with employees for hard to find skills, so they must do something.

When i emailed ICS though i never got any response, i think it's a case of looking after business first, they probably just fall into the crap provider category.

 

Please take note, I have been signed up to one of ICS London's so called training courses for a year now. So far I have had little or no tutor support, the bank are after me to pay back the £6,000 and no prospect of real work in the industry despite qualifications. ALL the other students on my course are in the same boat as me.

I will say it again, just in case the message hasn't got through.

you are better off buying the books and teaching yourself at home.

The tutor support, such as it is, is very poor. Not one question that I have asked has been answered by my 'tutor' (who by the way only passed his exams etc. a year ago! - so not exactly an experienced consultant.

WE ARE ALL EXTREMELY ANGRY WITH THIS

 

Please contact me if you have any grievance with ICS or Apprenta and I will give you some useful information.

 

Well i'm very glad I found this site!!

Tomorrow I am due to go down to the Birmingham office of Apprenta and complete my registration. After reading over your posts with an open mind, I don't think i'll be making the journey!

I have e-mailed my consultant requesting a copy of any contract I am required to sign between myself and Apprenta, so that I can read over it and not feel pressured into signing anything tomorrow. I have received nothing from said consultant and this has begun to cast doubts im my mind.

During my 1st interview the intial presentation was quite vague, and after I gave a follow up call, a lot of questions were answered. But I have had doubts as to how I can achieve an MCSA, MCSD.Net, and MCDBA certification within 3 months!!

I have taught myself ASP.Net, having to learn C# and VB.Net (with no prior programming experience), from a book and this took me the best part of 5 months alone.

I know nothing of how the training will be structured and I was alarmed to read that the online training is 6-9 only. I work shifts, which the consultant knows, so I may only be able to attend 1 or 2 sessions a week! Great!!

The more I read about these guys the more I realise that this is something I should stay clear of. Unless some credible good evidence appears, that outweighs the current negative experiences, then I will not be signing up with Apprenta.

I think I will continue with my original plan which was to get Microsoft certified off my own back, which also looks to be a great deal cheaper.

Thank you for your thoughts.

 

This really is disturbing news. Appauling Apprenta they should be called.

 

Hi disco25 just read your peace on Apprenta so your basic advice is a one finger salout to them. I am going through the same at the moment but afer the wife telling me not to get over excited and stop and thing look before getting involved or partting with any cash?

 

Hi there everyone,

I am new to this forum. And i believe i could provide a good insight to you guys about Apprenta, over the coming weeks. The reason i say this is because i too got attracted by their internship scheme. After finishing my studies in software engineering here in the UK, i had to live in south america for a year and a half, for family reasons. I returned to the UK earlier this year and obviously began looking for work in IT. After about 3 months of sending CV's off etc..i had no luck, i was suffering the same as any IT grad here in the UK, in that it is very very difficult to get accepted into the industry without any comercial real world experience. Especially in the city where i live.

I worked very hard during my time in university, and obviously it cost me a lot of money, and 3 years of my life, therefore naturally i want to use it for my own gain, as i dont really have any other special skills apart from IT and languages.

Well...one evening i was doing the usual job search, and i came across the internship position...applied for it...and recieved a phone call a week later. I had a long chat with the guy on the phone, and he seemed to be quite geniune, and i spoke about my difficultly getting my foot in the door in the industry etc. At this point ill say to you guys, the ammount of money that i start on...20k...or what ever, isnt the most important factor to myself, for my own reasons. Anyway, i did the second interview on the phone while the guy took me through a slide show streamed over media player, which i thought was quite novel.

The whole thing seemed like a great offer to me, given my current position. And they seemed very professional, and dispite what i read in a lot of the comments here, they were very puntual at this stage.

I knew that i would have to pay something to do this sort of thing, before i even sent the application off, so it didnt suprise me too much when they phoned me back, informed me that i was sucessful, and delved into the finance side of it.

At this point i was delighted, and some might say a bit fast to pay the deposit of 1500 that they asked, although i did grill them about it for a good 20 minutes.

Anyway...at the completiuon of the contract etc, i was aksed to send my details off to them...which naturally i did straight away....and waited...and waited....

I waited some more....and then phoned them, with a whole lot of questions. I was told that they were simply waiting to schedule me onto the next available start date, which i accepted, and then waited some more...before phoning again. This time i did not let go so easily, the woman appologised to me for the delay, and told me my pack would be sent out within 2 days.

It arrived in 2 days. And everythign seems in order now. Therefore i am waiting to sign in for my first online class.

On a lighter note; As far as people saying the teachers are crap etc, i will reserve judgement as i have not had a class yet, but let me say this; While i was at university, i met many individuals who complained constantly for 3 years about our lecturers, the support classes...available help etc....

What i realised was that they were simply excuses, blaming the university staff for their own lack of effort (in no way am i saying this is the case with my future "classmates"). I for one never missed a single lab session, used all of the facilitys in the uni, and found that the lecturers took more interest when they saw that i was putting in the effort.

I recognise that i will only get out of this what i put in. That is fair enough, thats how i like it.

I will let you all know how it goes over the coming weeks.