Sterling = absolute CON.
I fell for the CPC trick as well.
Hmmm… there seems to be a new STICKY at the top of this forum 
Unlucky on the day mate, But yer,ll get there,
As for the £35 admin charge (Give em hell 
)
The brochure they send out clearly explains,all you pay is a retest fee!
when they tried it with me, I asked for the MD, Who wouldnt take my call,so i faxed a copy of the brochure to them,highlighting you only pay a retest fee! Told them to sort it,or trading standards would! Needless to say the fee was waived…
All the best for the next bash 
8wheels:
Personally I think that Qualitas and the like would probably be best avoided but I can report some good news.
Hi 8wheels, I agree, but I would strongly urge newbies to exercise great caution if dealing ‘indirectly’ with a training organisation.
Questions for newbies to consider:
Do you actually need a middleman??
Do you think the middleman is working for free?? 
I did my class 2 with sterling/qualitas at weedon in northamton. You are right mate. The instructors were both very good and i cant fault them but the customer services are terrible. When you phone you get spoken to like dirt and ushered off the phone as soon as possible. They tried to get me to send the theory book and dvd back but i pointed out to them on their website it said it was included in the price. They even threatened to cancel my course if i didnt return the book and dvd. I said i would return it if they sent a pre paid envelope to my address to do so. The envelope never appeared and they said it kept getting lost in the post even though everyone else had no problem whatsoever sending things to me throught he post. I failed first time with them and felt i could have dome with an extra day/. There was a 2 month gap between my test and retest so i arranged another day for a refresher. That set me back just over 400 but thank god i passed. I would dissuade anyone from training with sterling their operating practices are shady and underhand to say the least. I did my class one with a local firm in the midlands who were recommended by many people from this site and i passed first time with 6 minors on a 5 day course. Get a refund and ask on this site who has a good rep in your area. Hope this was some help. Good luck mate.
I can add to the growing number of newbie drivers that has gone through Sterling I did pass my Cat C 1st time with them thoguh but did fall for the free artic course But i can say i was well pleased with my instructor (in Notts) and made me feel well relaxed but still bolloked me if i did something wrong lol
Could anyone recomend a good training company in the midlands for my class 1 when i get to that stage?
jad24369:
I did my class 2 with sterling/qualitas at weedon in northamton. You are right mate. The instructors were both very good and i cant fault them but the customer services are terrible. When you phone you get spoken to like dirt and ushered off the phone as soon as possible. They tried to get me to send the theory book and dvd back but i pointed out to them on their website it said it was included in the price. They even threatened to cancel my course if i didnt return the book and dvd. I said i would return it if they sent a pre paid envelope to my address to do so. The envelope never appeared and they said it kept getting lost in the post even though everyone else had no problem whatsoever sending things to me throught he post. I failed first time with them and felt i could have dome with an extra day/. There was a 2 month gap between my test and retest so i arranged another day for a refresher. That set me back just over 400 but thank god i passed. I would dissuade anyone from training with sterling their operating practices are shady and underhand to say the least. I did my class one with a local firm in the midlands who were recommended by many people from this site and i passed first time with 6 minors on a 5 day course. Get a refund and ask on this site who has a good rep in your area. Hope this was some help. Good luck mate.
Hi jad
who was your instructor at northampton ?
AndyC:
On test day I failed I got 3 serious and 4 minors the serious was because lights at a crossing where not working and a teenage school girl just walked out into the road then walked back when she saw me, I slowed down to about 10 mph continued on passed the girl who was now waiting to cross the examiner said I should have stopped and if he had duel controls he would have stopped me!
I’m surprised the examiner didn’t take action ‘Verbally’, with the absense of the ability to take Physicial action with Dual Controls that, logicially, would be the correct course of action to take?
Richard
I did my class C with Sterling/Qualitas at Basildon.
Instructor Derek Field… Excellent. Very thorough, and I got away with nothing. Even (spookily) when he wasn’t looking and chatting to the other guy he was picking me up on things!
I’ve actually been in Qualitas’s office in basildon. It’s a room, with about 5 people in it. The guy who answers the phone and patronises everyone is a scrawny little oik who stinks of B.O. Got the impression it was right Mickey Mouse stuff.
Derek Field though, couldn’t have wished for better really.
The office staff are lousy, still waiting for a Class C course date 4 weeks after passing the Theory Test…
AndyC wrote:
On test day I failed I got 3 serious and 4 minors the serious was because lights at a crossing where not working and a teenage school girl just walked out into the road then walked back when she saw me, I slowed down to about 10 mph continued on passed the girl who was now waiting to cross the examiner said I should have stopped and if he had duel controls he would have stopped me!I’m surprised the examiner didn’t take action ‘Verbally’, with the absense of the ability to take Physicial action with Dual Controls that, logicially, would be the correct course of action to take?
Agreed - This sounds like areally serious situation. Bad enough that the girl had to get off the crossing to start with but to continue when she was standing there is pretty bad so the examiner should have spoken up there and then - in case a similar situation arose between there and the test centre.
I would have marked that as a dangerouse rather than a serious. Make sure you keep a strict eye on crossings in the future mate - oftem pedestrians just stop onto them presuming the traffic will stop so its down to you to take the care.
better luck next time.
Wozzer:
The office staff are lousy, still waiting for a Class C course date 4 weeks after passing the Theory Test…
Havent you been given a date or anything yet?
TruckerJoe:
Wozzer:
The office staff are lousy, still waiting for a Class C course date 4 weeks after passing the Theory Test…Havent you been given a date or anything yet?
Crazy they can give you a date it may be 2-3 months ahead but they could give you a date.
Ask them to extend the time on the deal you have ( If you are on the cpc or adr or c+e Deal )
Or demand a refund you will soon get dates then,
Keep calling … if you keep calling they will get that peeeed off they will give you a date just to stop you calling…
P.s I will try and get the Managers mobile number for you
Cheers chaps
I shall 'phone them tomorrow and request a date and if it’s to far away an extension to the one year allowed for the CPC tie in.
The last time I 'phoned the girl who answered waffled on about the chap being away for the day to collect a new truck and delays due to interviewing candidates for the LGV Instructor vacancy in Northampton.
yeah when i passed last week i was over the moon, but i soon came crashing down back to earth i had to go through some donkey ■■■■ process of arranging my training right narked i am they also said to return the training manual which was bolloks any way, cos i went on ebay and bought a cd-rom for £8, and now i have to sit and wait for 2 weeks until a date can be provided, considering this cost a small amount it beggers belive. if they supply me with a date that is 3 months away am gonna kick off and demand my money back, By the way as no training has been done does anyone now what i would lose or could i demand a large slice of that money back. 
Rang up Sterling couple monday’s ago to book Theory test, waited till Friday to find out why i hadnt heard nothing…to find out i would have to call back in 1 hour time. Which i duely did to find out they had only just booked the test. I said but i rang up on monday for you to sort it, i was looking at the online booking thing and it said XXXth May, told the woman and she said, sounds about right, we will get it sorted. Chap said, its first come first serve, so i told him again that i rang up 5 days earlier and i could have booked the test myself 5 days earlier. Chap went all “ok sir, all done and dusted, not much can be done now” on me
Anyways, passed the theory on tuesday 20th may, rang sterling soon as i got home, they say they send forms to me, NEXT DAY they arrive with a bag to send back theory book! Book wasnt much use to me as i bought one that explained everything and also the cd(not sure if thats sterlings or not…) Have to wait 2 weeks to find out when they can get me in a rigid. Have to travel from preston to manchester for it, then drive from manchester to kirkham and back again on the test day, not greatly impressed to be honest but what can one do?
Simond…if you read the rest of this topic, i believe theres parts about getting money back on a credit card within 6 months…I’m sure Rog or 26years will know the ins and outs to help you !
thanks but my problem is that i didn’t pay by credit card, i also have to attend the Manchester site so i may see you there, good luck and fingers crossed that we will get our dates soon.
I passed my Theory test on March 25th or 26th and the Rigid Course starts on 4th June, so that’s 6 or 7 weeks. Considering I signed up on 29th or 30th January I think it’s a long tedious process.
Simod:
thanks but my problem is that i didn’t pay by credit card.
Neither did i Simod…which is why i havent quit yet 
Have you thought about the CPC? Or are you on a different course?
Simod:
i also have to attend the Manchester site so i may see you there
Yeh maybe, maybe in the same vehicle , Ill be the one turning up in a red rocket…otherwise know as a peuguot ROFL!
Wozzer, i think they do that to the “offer” people so the Artic isn’t manageable, in fact the CPC…Waste of time so im told from a CPC training school…Plus Sterling dont tell you anything…didnt tell me that there was a date i had to get “entry” in by! … Oh what a gay day
Wozzer… that is a long and tedious time saying that i booked the course in January too , but due to circumstances i’ve only just passed the theory so maybe i’ll get my course sometime before xmas… i am disatisfied with them… and i only hope is that someone who is wanting to to do their LGV course will read this and take the advice given…
stormnation i’ll keep a look out for yer… good luck.