Reporting A Company?

[clipclop1]

I've got a bit of a problem which I need to take some action on.

Last year I paid a company to complete 2 courses which would enable me to do the job that I am doing now. I made sure I checked several companies for their ability to provide me which recognised qualifications as I've heard of people being stung by buying a long-distance learning course and then finding out that they can't get a job with that qualification.

So I completed both courses in 7 months and got my current job.. great! Only thing was I was sat on a lower pay scheme until the company provided me with my certificates. The company contacted me to inform me that they were currently unable to provide any students with their certificates as they were having their ability to 'accredit' questioned by NCFE. NUFE have since decided that they now no longer want anything to do with this company I did my qualification with. They're appealing but it is going to go on a long time and probably not come to any positive end I feel.

I spoke to my manager and managed to get my pay rise (seeing as they had no problems with incresing my work load without the certificate!) but they have requested that I get my portfolios from the offending company so they can put me through the qualification themselves and get me that much needed certificate. That would be fine but this situaton also comes at a cost to me if I decide to leave the company... so I'm currently standing at being £1100 worse off because of the offending company and now, if I leave my position, that will be another £500 my company will take from my pay packet. Not a problem at the moment as I'm not considering leaving but why should I have to keep paying out because of other peoples problems/mistakes!?

I've managed to get my 2 portfolios from the company and have now been trying to contact them for the last week but no one in their office is answering any of the extension lines. I want to ask for £800 refund due to the horrendous faff this has all been! They've cost me money by not providing my certificate, they've taken £1100 of my money and provided a pretty poor service and now I'm going to be getting charged from my current employment. Not fair in my opinion. So I'm thinking that I need to take this to a higher authority but not too sure which way to go.... should I just stick with Citizens Advice or should I contact someone else too?

[Buenchico]

To report the company, contact Trading Standards for the are which the company is based in. (Enter their postcode here: http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/advice/consumer-advice.cfm ).

To pursue your money (which is a separate issue), send a formal demand for payment to the company. Your letter must show you name and address, together with that of the company. (Ensure that you use the registered address, which might be different to the trading address. It should be shown on the company's paperwork or you can find it from here: http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk//wcframe?name=accessCompanyInfo ). Your letter must also be dated and clearly state that is a demand for payment, including the amount demanded and the reasons for the demand (including details of how you arrived at the figure you've used). It must also state that if payment is not received with a specified period of time (I suggest 21 days) then legal action will follow. Send your letter by recorded delivery, using the Royal Mail's tracking facility to note when it arrived and who signed for it.

If you don't receive payment within the specified period, commence legal action online here:
https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

[clipclop1]

Oh that's a great bit of advice! Thanks very much, I'll get straight onto that!

[chrissa1]

Grrr!!!!