Training Courses Don't Get Done Get Dom

'I'm Dominic Littlewood and I'm here to champion your consumer rights.'

Could you let her know I called

because she's probably quite keen to speak to me.

'Any problem, no matter how big or small,

'I'll help you get the service you deserve.'

I'm getting the impression you don't want to answer

any of the questions now, is that correct?

'Whether that involves getting your money back... '

We've never had the phone,

so we're not going to pay for a phone we've not had.

'..or taking on your contract conundrums... '

If we book a holiday with that company,

that company should be the one that you complain to.

'..I'm here to help.'

You've decided on your dream career and you've found the perfect course.

Everything is looking rosy, but before you know it,

it all goes horribly wrong. So, where do you stand?

It's just stopped me in my tracks

and I don't really know where to go from here.

And what can you do when you're let down by the very company

you are paying to provide you protection?

I wasn't really treated as a customer by the company at all.

I was just treated as somebody who was a bit of an annoyance.

Now, we all love a bit of shopping,

but do you know your consumer rights when it comes to buying online?

I'm taking on your consumer problems to make sure you don't get done!

When I was young, computers were still in their infancy,

the World Wide Web hadn't even been invented.

But nowadays, everything is done online -

shopping, dating and even online education.

There's been a boom in that

because people like the thought of working from home,

around their own commitments. And with the prospect of a new job and

even a qualification at the end of it, you can see why it's attractive.

And that's exactly what Bradley Abbot thought when he decided to

put his job-hopping days behind him and train for a career.

I knew I wanted to go into some sort of construction.

I came across welding. Apparently, they get paid twice

or three times the amount of any other person on a building site.

Plus you've got the added factor of going around the world

doing loads of stuff in up and coming countries.

I was very happy that Bradley was trying to focus on something

that would give him a career.

With the prospect of a well-paid career

and the chance of travelling around the world, Bradley set his

heart on becoming a welder.

All he needed was the right qualifications.

It was all about price, to be honest with you.

The university fees are way out of the league that I can afford.

Bradley started to look into training providers.

And it wasn't long before he found what he thought

was his perfect course.

I was on the internet searching welding courses,

it came up with ATL Practical Training.

I was excited about the fact of learning how to weld.

One - because you've got elements with quite a scientific side to it.

Obviously, you have the fact that you are working with your hands,

so that's an added bonus.

He wasted no time and called them up.

A course advisor visited him at home and it looked as though

his new career could be within reach.

The advisor came around,

showed me the DVDs, the books, the whole course.

You don't have the added pressure of sitting in a classroom, sitting

examinations, and you can sort of work at your own pace, really.

It sounded really good.

From his chat with the advisor, Bradley thought

he had found the perfect course,

which would combine solid theory-based assessments

and then lead to the practical hands-on training.

All Bradley had to do was find the £5,770 to pay for it,

but the course advisor had an option and offered him a finance deal.

When the advisor told me about the fact of the loan,

I wasn't too bothered about borrowing the money

because it would have been a means to the end.

He explained to me about the cost.

There was obviously a £100 sign up fee.

Paying the course back was through a direct debit

in monthly instalments of £135.

Bradley signed up to both the course and the financial agreement,

which he would pay off over 3.5 years.

The whole family was happy with Bradley's choice and with

a goal in sight, he wasted no time and knuckled down to his studies.

Once I started the course, the theory side of it I thought was

really good so I started to do more and more.

And the exams were... I was doing about two exams each month.

I was happy with how everything was going.

Hopefully, I was going to be in a job later on that year.

We had a lot of positive feedback from Bradley.

We would see him once a week and every time that we saw him,

he was talking about the course in a very positive way.

Seemed to be ploughing through the course.

-And enjoying it, wasn't he?

-Yeah. And very much enjoying it.

But after eight months of theory work and passing 11 exams,

he was looking forward to getting his hands dirty

and actually using a welding gun.

But there was one more exam in his way - a health and safety one.

After failing twice, a stumped Bradley turned

to his family for help.

Bradley came to see us and he said that he

was struggling with the final part of his online course.

He was demoralised by the process.

I think Bradley became quite despondent, lost interest.

We suggested that he do his next online course with us

and we could sit there and we could view it.

But again Bradley failed the exam.

And after looking at the questions,

Roy and Jackie weren't surprised by his failure either.

We found the questions to be so vague.

There was one question that was relating to slippery work surfaces

and what you feel that you should do from a

health and safety point of view to safeguard yourself.

And the multiple answers were all correct things you should do.

Completely open to interpretation,

completely open to anybody's opinion on it.

Not wanting to be beaten, Bradley again sat down and took the exam.

Once I failed the fourth health and safety test,

I sent off the e-mail straight to the headquarters.

I wrote a comment, big essay saying, why have I not passed,

what's going on, why does this health and safety seem so difficult,

why are all the answers open-ended?

Just that, basically.

I think they replied a week later

just saying that they will send out a hard copy.

And it wasn't long before the paper exam arrived,

along with a letter.

This is a letter that ATL have posted to me.

It says that because of my inability to pass

the health and safety course...

And in brackets it says "unlike most of our students",

which I thought was a bit demeaning in the fact that

I passed most of my exams on the first or second attempt.

It was at this stage that Bradley started to question

whether or not the course was right for him.

I sort of resigned myself to the fact that

I pumped all the money into the course and nothing has happened.

After failing this part of the course on numerous occasions,

Bradley felt like he would never be able to progress past this exam

and therefore would never move forward towards a qualification.

He had already paid £1,485 out of his total bill of £5,770.

So he decided to take action.

I stopped paying,

mainly because of the speed I was going at with the course.

I was literally hit with a brick wall with this health and safety.

Trust me, stopping payments is not the right way to go about cancelling

a financial agreement, as Bradley soon found out.

Debt collector letters started coming maybe every three days.

I knew what I was getting myself into at the beginning

of the course anyway, the problem was that they are coming after me for

money and I hadn't even completed the course. It was just frustrating.

You've got to admire anybody that puts in time, effort

and money to make something of themselves.

So it's a shame for Bradley that his course with ATL

doesn't seem to be working out.

ATL Practical Training Ltd offers students a chance to gain

a qualification through blended learning which combines

part-online study with some classroom-based training -

giving students control over the time, place and pace of their study.

I think it's time to get in contact with ATL to find out more.

Shopping online - it's fun, it's hassle free

and you don't even technically have to get dressed to go to the shops.

Which sounds perfect.

But if my inbox is anything to go by, it's far from it.

I always get e-mails and letters from you about shopping woes.

And no more so than when it's something bought

with the click of a button.

From it not turning up, to not being what you ordered...

And you're not the only ones.

I've had to complain about an order I placed online not turning up.

I was told that it had turned up and they charged me for it.

And so I told them about it and they were actually really nice

and they gave me a refund and they found the order.

They got it sent to me in the end, and they were very apologetic.

If I was to buy something and I was disappointed when it did come...

So, if it was online, then obviously then you would

just have to look or hopefully you've got a receipt.

But then it's always hard to refund it because

you would have to send it back and obviously get your refund that way.

But do you know your consumer rights when shopping online?

No? Never mind, we know someone who does.

When you shop online, you actually have far better rights than

if you buy in store. You are covered by the Distance Selling Regulations.

That means you can return the item for any reason whatsoever,

up to seven days after you have received the goods.

That's great news if you've bought something

and you've decided you don't like the colour, for example.

You can just send it straight back and you're entitled to a full refund.

And that's not the only advantage to buying online.

On the high street, you're covered by the Sale of Goods Act.

When you buy online, you're covered by both the Sale of Goods Act

and the Distance Selling Regulations. So that means, not only have the

goods got to be as described, fit for purpose, of satisfactory quality,

all the usual rights you get under the Sale of Goods Act,

you're also covered by the Distance Selling Regulations.

Cos you're buying this thing you've seen on the internet,

probably just a photograph. When you receive it,

if it's just not quite what you're expecting, the quality is not

up to scratch, for example, then you can send it straight back.

You don't have to prove that the item is faulty in any way,

you can just change your mind

and you are entitled to a full refund for that item.

Sounds simple enough, but it's obviously not that straightforward.

Barry's contacted us.

He bought a tablet for his granddaughter

from a very well-known online shopping site.

After five months, it went wrong, so Barry contacted the company.

They said, "Not our fault, guv'nor,"

and put him in touch with the actual seller.

So it's not as simple as Barry first thought.

The items you buy have to be what you're expecting,

they have to be of good quality, they have to be as described

and they have to be fit for the purpose you intended to buy them for.

Before you buy something online, make sure you check who you're

actually forming a contract with. And, in particular, when you're

buying from a kind of marketplace or an auction website, who's got

the responsibility for the goods, who's actually selling them to you?

Is it the marketplace or is it the marketplace seller specifically?

Because that will affect who you would go back to

if you have problems with the goods or

if you decide you want to return them at a later date.

It seems it's not just electronic items that are causing you problems.

I've heard from Gemma. Now she bought a treadmill -

which is a large, bulky and very heavy item -

from an online auction site.

When it arrived, it didn't work.

Gemma was put in touch with the seller and then found out

that she had to foot the bill for returning the item.

Crikey, Gemma. I think a run round the park would've been cheaper.

Different retailers will have different policies

as to who has to cover the return postage.

So there is no hard and fast rule in law.

And some sellers will say, you know, return it to us free of charge

and they'll send you a return postage label.

Other retailers will say,

if you want to return it, you have to bear the cost of doing that.

And one thing to look out for there is who you're actually buying from.

Because if it's a retailer, for example, overseas,

and that isn't always immediately obvious, then the cost of returning

that item can obviously be quite substantial.

And obviously the bigger the item as well,

the more it's likely to cost you to return it.

So it's really worth checking that before you buy, because if you do

decide to exercise your rights under the Distance Selling Regulations,

you may have to pay a fairly hefty return postage fee with some sites.

It can also be a worry when you're left waiting

and waiting for a purchase to arrive.

If you buy something online and it just doesn't turn up,

then the responsibility is squarely with the retailer who sold you

that item to put that right.

So they're entirely responsible for that item

until the point of which it is delivered to you personally.

So even if the item was, for example, left on your doorstep

and you had a note through the door to say this is where it's

been left, if you get home and the item is not there, then

the responsibility is squarely with the retailer to replace that item.

If you are going to shop online,

remember you're protected by your rights.

Bradley Abbot had signed up to an online course in welding,

with the promise of a new and exciting career at the end of it.

But he found himself tied into a finance agreement

and a course that wasn't right for him.

I've been looking through my e-mails and it turns out that Bradley

isn't the only one to be having problems with a training provider.

Rydhwan Miah from Surrey decided to take up

an online renewable energy course while on a break

from studying for his university degree in psychology.

I have always been interested in renewable energy,

electronics, that sort of stuff. So while I had the time,

I looked around for some courses online and I found ATL.

Just like Bradley, Rydhwan had a visit from an advisor

who explained the course and the finance agreement to him.

I felt like...this is it. I can finally take on my side interests

into the real world and do something with it.

Rydhwan signed up to the programme, which would lead to an NVQ -

a nationally recognised qualification -

but the course didn't turn out as he had hoped.

They sold me the course as a domestic renewable energy engineer

but then I spoke to the tutors and they told me,

no, you are on the plumbing course.

So Rydhwan had been enrolled on a programme

incorporating renewable energy, but it was more plumbing-based.

Preferring the electrical engineering side of the skill-set,

he asked to be transferred to the electricians' course

which also had a renewable energy element to it.

So once they transferred me over to the electrician course,

I found out that actually, no, this course doesn't have the

renewable engineering side of it.

ATL admitted that he'd mistakenly been enrolled on the wrong

electricians' course but before transferring him to the

right one, there was a catch.

They explained to me, if you want to do the renewable energy side of it,

you're going to have to pay an extra £1,000 for it.

I was willing to do that because it was a passion of mine.

By now, the total cost was £6,820 and he was finally signed up

to a course he wanted to do.

But due to the mix up over his enrolment, coupled with him

finding the coursework confusing and, in his opinion, not

corresponding to the test questions, over the next five months he

started to question whether he was ever going to get a qualification.

To be honest, it just felt very difficult.

It just didn't feel that it was right for me.

But having already paid off over £1,000 via his monthly instalments

towards the course, he found himself in a sticky situation.

So he decided to contact the Citizens Advice Bureau for help.

I was lucky with the Citizens Advice Bureau. They were able to help me

compose a letter, quiet formal, and just say that I'd like to quit.

So, I now have two lads who both signed up to training courses

only to find they turned out not to be right for them.

And that now they are tied into finance agreements

and owe thousands of pounds.

I put a call in to ATL and was told to e-mail everything over.

So I've sent them an outline of both Bradley and Rydhwan's cases

and asked for a response.

I've done a bit of research into ATL myself.

In 2012, it seems they won some awards for their online courses.

And their website boasts testimonials from students

who have gone on to form successful careers.

So, Bradley couldn't get through to the practical side of things,

but it seems others have done so.

I'm questioning whether or not Bradley did enough research

into his chosen career.

So I've asked him to do some studying into welding courses

in his area.

When I first started looking up courses, I didn't even know that they

did welding at the colleges near me.

Looking at this website now, I would definitely, if I could tomorrow,

I'd go enrol in this college.

The cost of this college course is £380.

Which is for ten weeks, one evening a week.

And it covers the plasma arc welding.

It actually does say here,

"practical instructions on health and safety welding processes."

It's also got the oxyacetylene welding,

manual metal arc welding, and metal inert gas welding as well.

That sounds great but very technical.

Compared to the course that I was doing,

value for the money, as well as actually talking to teachers,

being in the workshop,

it just seems much better, much more practical.

I wish I had definitely found this course instead of

clicking on the first website that I saw earlier on in the year.

Deciding on what you want to do as a career is one thing,

actually getting there is another.

Now, if you are in your teens, you might still have the

option of university or college, which is great.

But some people need to study around their job,

can't afford their fees or the time it takes up.

And that's where online training courses appeal.

Now, with so many courses out there, some more practical than others,

how do you know where to turn to get the right advice?

I'm heading to the Construction Industry Training Board

to find out what you should be looking for

when you want to study for a practical career such as building.

If I was a young lad or if some parents were trying to help their

son or daughter get into a course, what should they be looking out for?

I suppose the first thing a youngster needs to do is

indentify what they want to do.

So, become familiar with what's available to them

in the sector that they want to go and work in.

So we would expect qualifications to be clear and concise in what they

contain, what's expected and what the outcome is of the qualification.

The marketplace has a couple of routes into training.

College is one route, and your training providers are another route.

So, within the marketplace,

that is what is available and the consumer chooses.

Bradley and Rydhwan decided on the training providers route,

but they soon found out that the course

they had signed up to wasn't right for them.

It's imperative when choosing a course that you know exactly what

you are getting into and what other options are available to you.

OK, so give me some key points here.

You shop around, you go to a search engine

and say you want to do a welding course, bricklayer course, whatever.

What are the things that they should be looking for

and thinking, that's a plus point or I don't like the sound of that?

Don't be sold the qualification, tell them what you want,

get them to help guide you into the right qualification,

ensuring that you can achieve it.

So that means going through exactly what the requirements are

of the qualification

so you are not going to get to the end and not be able to complete.

And what are the warning signs?

Warning signs? Well, providers not asking you the questions

and selling you the qualifications that they want you to do.

Credit agreements, finance ahead of qualification

and developments.

Now, providers are in business to clearly make money,

however, a good provider will balance that with the good

of the individual and wanting to contribute to the industry.

Both Bradley and Rydhwan had signed up to gain their qualifications

with training provider ATL.

As an awarding body, I've asked Chris if the CITB

has had any dealings with them.

It was brought to our attention that our logo was being used

inappropriately, and we don't stand for that.

We take it very seriously that our logo is used in an appropriate way.

So we issued a cease and desist letter instructing the firm

to stop using our logo inappropriately.

ATL claimed that they offered a gas course

which follows the CITB's awarding body, Cskills Syllabus,

when the CITB hadn't authorised them to do so.

ATL have now removed this from their website.

So there is plenty to look out for when choosing the right course.

From what you have said to me, make sure that at the end of it

you have got something that is value for money.

You are going to get some sort of certificate, be it Cskills,

City and Guilds, NVQ, whatever.

You want an accredited certificate at the end of it

that says you have done the course.

And that will help you get further on in your career, yeah?

-Yep, absolutely.

-Thanks, Chris. Thank you ever so much for your time.

I appreciate it.

I have been doing some digging

and it's not only the CITB who have had dealings with ATL.

Bradley's welding course was accredited by another

awarding body called EAL.

They say...

However, recently...

We've had a response from ATL.

They want to know why Bradley wants to cancel his course.

So I've forwarded on a letter from Bradley stating

he wanted a more hands-on course

and was frustrated that he couldn't get to the practical stages.

Fingers crossed we'll hear back from them soon.

Both Bradley and Rydhwan asked to cancel their courses

but were told they couldn't.

They'd both signed up to a finance agreement.

Getting out of a course is one thing,

but cancelling a finance agreement is another one altogether.

ATL has also told me it's made some changes - one being it no

longer uses course advisors to sign up potential students.

And it now offers its own finance arrangements directly to students.

Both lads signed up to third-party finance contracts

in which they agreed to pay the full amount of the course in advance.

There are no standard policies within this industry with regards

to how fees are charged - some training providers offer a

pay-per-module system,

while others ask for the full course fee upfront.

All the providers must do is make their policy on refunds clear

in their promotional material.

And that information was on both Bradley and Rydhwan's agreements.

With that in mind, I've come to have a chat with a lawyer

to look over Bradley's paperwork and see what can be done.

Kevin, this course that Bradley found himself signed up for...

Let's start off with the finance agreement that he was given to sign

to be able to pay for this course. What do you think of that?

Well, on the face of it,

it seems to give you all the information you need.

It even comes with a basic "what you need to know" guide.

I think it does exactly what it needs to do to satisfy

what it needs to satisfy.

So, as far as the paperwork is concerned, they are fine.

As far as you are concerned, that is legal,

there is nothing wrong with it.

What I question is, why does he need to sign a finance agreement?

Why can't they just say,

if you want to pay us off over 42 months, that's fine,

but if you stop paying, we'll close the course down?

He hasn't actually received all the goods yet.

No, that's right.

I think the a big incentive is the interest-free credit.

You can pay the whole course off in instalments

over the course of however many years.

The big problem here is that you are signing up to the whole

course right at the very beginning. Certainly the whole course payment.

Which brings me up to the next point.

This course is in three sections.

Bradley was unable to get past the final stage of section one.

And he was failing the online exams, which wouldn't allow him

to progress to stage two.

The trouble was he was still required to make these payments

even though he couldn't actually move on.

Where would somebody like Bradley stand legally?

In terms of the cash, you've taken out an agreement for a particular

pot of money and you are responsible to pay that money back.

If you are not getting something that you have paid for,

regardless of whether it's for a sofa or a training course,

if you're not satisfied with what you've got - product or service -

the first place to go is direct to the retailer or to the supplier

of those services - here, the course provider -

and say that you are not satisfied and try to somehow

get out of that responsibility and get out of that contract.

Yeah, but you see, there is that grey area again.

They're saying you haven't studied hard enough or worked hard enough

to move on to section two, and I wonder what a judge would say

if this particular case went to court.

I think the judge would probably say that this seems unfair.

And in this particular circumstance, if you can't get beyond the

first portion of that course,

you should only be paying for the portion of the course

that you have received. It's like how university works now.

The first year, you pay for the first year.

If you don't pursue the course beyond that first year,

you don't have to pay for years two, three or four.

'Bradley decided to stop his payments,

'but what's Kevin's take on that?'

In this situation, you want to cancel the course.

The first thing to do is complain,

to make it known what the problems are,

to tell them that you want to terminate the course.

The second thing to do then is to alert them and give them

the opportunity to respond.

But alert them to the fact that you are considering stopping payment.

Don't do what Bradley did, which is just stop your direct debit

and think the problem is going to go away.

No. If it did go to court, what the judge would want to see

is that you have acted fairly, that you have given the course provider

good information to say why you are not satisfied,

give them the right to rectify that, if needs be,

and give them advance warning of what you propose to do.

I propose to stop making my payments.

I propose to, potentially, take you to the courts to get my money

back for things that I have paid for that you have failed to deliver.

-Kevin, thanks for your time.

-No problem.

Kevin's advice there is top drawer, but what I really

need to know is what ATL think about it and if they are willing to help.

When you pay a little bit extra in life for something,

you expect to get a little bit extra.

When you pay for a premium service, you expect to get a premium service.

So when Tony Eaton needed to send a parcel and ensure it arrived

at its destination undamaged,

he paid for a premium service to insure just that.

BOX RATTLES

Oops.

Rocker Tony decided to upgrade his band's heavy, large speakers

to a new, more lightweight portable system.

I was selling the old system, which included two top-range speakers

that were valued at £320 each, making the total value £640.

And a buyer quickly snapped them up, but not being

able to deliver them himself, Tony knew just who to turn to...

Parcel2Go are a broker courier service and they give you

a range of services offered by different people,

different companies,

and you chose the one most appropriate to your needs.

A previous experience of Parcel2Go had been good, and so

I had every reason to suppose that it would continue to be so.

Having sold each speaker for £320, Tony wanted make sure they arrived

to the buyer in pristine condition, so was tempted by an offer.

I was asked if I wanted to increase the cover

to the full value of the item.

These were expensive items and so I thought it prudent to insure them.

And when I was offered this facility by Parcel2Go, I paid for it

and took it up so that they were no longer insured for the lower value,

which was included in their standard terms and conditions.

At the end of the process, I was left with no doubt that,

having paid the additional premium,

I was then covered for the full amount of £320.

He paid the £15 upgrade and, knowing that he was fully protected,

he packed up the speakers and they were sent off.

When they arrived, the person who bought them from me said that

the packaging was badly damaged on one of them.

And when he unpacked them, it was so badly damaged that

the whole of the casing was smashed and it was unusable.

But Tony had paid for the upgraded cover

and he expected he would be entitled to the full cost of the speaker.

My contract was with Parcel2Go

and so I got in touch with them immediately to explain that this

had happened and they put me on to their normal claims procedure.

This involved me firstly confirming that I had sent

the stuff in the way that it should have been, with the proper packaging.

Secondly, that they were genuinely damaged.

Which I did by means of photographs that the buyer gave me.

And lastly, that the things were of the value we claimed that they were,

which I did by letting them know how much the person had bought them for.

They acknowledged and accepted that they were responsible

for the damage and that these were at the value that I had said.

And that should be that.

Parcel2Go had accepted that they were responsible

and that the damaged speaker cost £320.

It's that simple. Tony should get that money back, right?

Well, not according to Parcel2Go.

Having acknowledged that they were responsible for the damage,

Parcel2Go then tried to restrict the amount that was paid to me

to £200, quoting a term in their general conditions

that an amplifier was limited to £200.

The terms and conditions state...

I contested this on a number of grounds.

The first one being that this wasn't an amplifier.

It may have contained an amplifier, but then so do TV sets

and lots of other things.

And if they wanted to include things that included amplifiers,

they should have said so, rather than just saying "an amplifier" per se.

But Parcel2Go was adamant that Tony would only receive the £200

as mentioned in its Ts and Cs,

even though he explained that when he agreed to the upgraded cover

there was no reference to any previous clauses he may have read.

They would not respond to my argument.

They would merely go through the script telling me that these

conditions applied without explaining why I was wrong.

I wasn't really treated as a customer by the company at all.

I was just treated as somebody who was a bit of an annoyance.

Tony was at the end of his tether

and decided to take the matter further.

When they didn't respond constructively,

we were just going round in circles, the only option I felt that I had

was to go to the small claims court.

You can take a company or an individual to the

small claims court if your claim is up to £10,000 or less.

But there are some rules that you need to abide by...

So, for example, if an electrical product does not work,

there is no point in applying to the court

immediately for compensation - you must contact the shop that

sold it first to try to solve the problem.

And only use the court if you cannot get the problem solved

by negotiation. Tony felt he had done all he could,

so he decided to take the matter to court.

From the local authority's website, it was apparent that there

are a number of ways you can make a claim in the county court.

One of them is online, or you could take the route that I took,

which was to complete forms and send them in.

Tony filed his claim for £320 for the cost of the speaker

and another £115 in court costs and expenses.

The court offered us both the option of having telephone arbitration,

which involves a court officer telephoning each of the participants

and trying to come to some compromised agreements.

Parcel2Go offered Tony the £320 that he was looking for,

but by now he had already shelled out more on court costs,

expenses and his time.

And so I asked them to increase their offer.

I was prepared to compromise but not by that much.

They refused to do so and so the telephone arbitration failed.

Tony refused to budge and a hearing date was set for February 2013.

The day before the court hearing,

I spent a lot of time preparing my case.

But at 4.10, I had a telephone call from a young girl at Parcel2Go.

She merely said, "We don't want to go court.

"We want to settle, to pay you the full amount that you're entitled to,

"the full amount the court could award, without going to court."

I told them that I would accept this providing

I had it in writing before the time.

And so they sent me an e-mail quoting a cheque number and the amount.

And said it would be in the post the following day.

Tony called the court and explained the situation

before waiting for the cheque to arrive.

And then he waited and waited.

The cheque didn't arrive, as they said, so I then e-mailed them again

and there was an exchange of e-mails over a period of about a week.

Having reached his limit, he sent one final e-mail.

I threatened to take them back to court,

pointing out that their e-mail to me was in fact an admission

that I was entitled to the full amount

because they didn't send it without prejudice.

And they immediately contacted me asking me for my bank details,

which I gave them, and they transferred the money into my bank.

Finally, eight months after he initially complained,

Tony received a total of £435, which included the cost of the speaker,

his court costs and expenses.

I was happy with the result with Parcel2Go

but I wouldn't use them again because they didn't deal with

it satisfactorily and they only paid me because I forced them to do so.

There was no compromise on their part whatsoever.

Well, I wrote to Parcel2Go about Tony's experiences in 2012.

And they told me that they...

And how...

And for a man after my own heart, who took on a company and won,

what would Tony say to others who feel let down?

My advice to other people is don't get angry, get even.

You see, I'm not the only one who can get a result. Well done, Tony.

I've been contacted by two lads

who both signed up to lengthy finance agreements

and training courses that have turned out not to be right for them.

They were telling me that, you've signed up to a contract,

you know, this, this and that, you can't leave.

I literally didn't even know what I was going to do

because I was basically on a career path and it's just stopped me

in my tracks. I don't really know where to go from here, really.

Bradley's concern was that if he didn't pass the theory exams

to even get to the practical learning, he would never actually

get the qualification and would have paid over £5,000 for nothing.

It would be the same if you went to a regular college or university

and couldn't complete the course in your final year.

But, in that situation, you generally wouldn't have to keep

paying the course's fees. So I've put these concerns to ATL.

And it was the idea of having to continue paying for the course

that concerned Rydhwan.

The whole time, I was worried.

I felt like, you know, if I quit this course, if I go to the bank

and just stop payments,

I've heard rumours of debt collectors coming round.

I was thinking of all sorts of plans of...

what can I do to get out of this?

ATL have been in touch with me.

They have also been in touch with Rydhwan.

They have sent him letter

and he's agreed not to discuss its contents with me.

But I can tell you he's a happy man.

If I could meet Dom, I'd definitely love to shake his hand

and give a big thank you. I've seen him help so many other people.

It's very inspirational, what he does, so, a very big thank you.

I'm glad to help.

However, ATL has stated it was in the process of dealing with

Rydhwan's complaint at the time we initially made contact.

And the team at ATL haven't stopped with Rydhwan.

They've also sent me a response with regards to Bradley's case.

I think it's time to take a little trip.

I'm in my favourite county today, Essex, to meet Bradley and Roy,

his dad, to have a little chinwag.

I tell you what, have a look at these digs. They are gorgeous.

Come on in.

Bradley, tell me about yourself.

What made you decide that you wanted to become a welder?

Basically, there was the right amount of theory and practical,

as well as world opportunities for me to travel around the world,

as well as earn good money.

-OK, so you wanted to get a trade under your belt?

-Yeah.

You are 24, you are a young man, so you don't need to do this.

But I just wonder, why didn't you run the whole course past your dad?

Just say, "What do you think, Dad?"

I wanted to be my own man. Just do it off my own back.

I totally understand where you're coming from.

You're a young man. You're not a school kid any more.

You should be able to do things on your own.

-You started this online course and you did very well.

-Yeah.

So where did it go wrong from there onwards?

Basically, there's 12 examinations.

I passed most of them first time, a couple of them second time.

But then it came to doing the health and safety for the practical

element for that course.

I thought that this would be pretty straightforward.

Just pass it, maybe first time.

Did they ever give you an explanation as to why

they thought you couldn't pass the health and safety part of the exam?

"Your inability to pass the course, unlike most of our students..."

Which I thought was a bit...

-Rude.

-Rude. Yeah, basically, rude.

And you stepped into help, Roy, didn't you?

Yes. We just thought, we have gone as far as we can go, personally,

looking into this.

We felt like we needed a stronger team behind us, so that's why

we contacted yourself, Dom, and your team help us.

Since then, there has been progress

and you have had a letter back, haven't you?

Yes, we have. I think a quite unexpected response back.

You can't discuss what they have actually done for you now,

but just say to me, yes or no, are you happy with the outcome?

-Yes.

-Are you happy, Roy?

I'm very happy with the outcome, yes.

But there is also a lesson to be learnt there.

You needed yourself to do a lot more homework.

When that salesperson came around, if you'd spent five minutes

doing a bit of research on this company...

With what you know now, would you have signed up?

No.

Five minutes of your life, that's all it would take.

So that is a message for everybody. My job done?

-Job done, definitely.

-Job done.

-Lovely.

-Thanks, Dom.

-Good luck finding some work, Bradley.

-Thank you, Dom.

-Nice to meet you, Roy. I'll see myself out.

Well, it seems like ATL has done the right thing for Bradley

and Rydhwan and the company also told us...

Students are provided with a comprehensive plan detailing the...

If students find it difficult to complete their course, they'll do...

But any commitments to a finance house would remain in place,

although they...

They state Rydhwan's case was "highly unusual".

And with regards to Bradley's experience,

the health and safety course is "designed to be challenging".

I'm really pleased that I managed to sort that out for Bradley.

He's only a young lad, really wanted to become a welder

and did everything he could to try and get on the right course.

Unfortunately, this one didn't seem to deliver on its promises.

Anyhow, he is out of it now.

Good.

I tell you what, I love Essex. Just look at this place.

It's beautiful.

If I could say one thing to Dom and his team,

it's a big thank you for the awareness that it is going to put out

there for young people like myself.

In the future, I would like to have a career in welding,

seeing as I have learnt quite a lot of stuff already.

I might not be too quick to jump into any other courses.

I think that's a good idea, Bradley. Good luck.