Anyone else out there experienced really bad Driver CPC training schools ?
I’ve just completed 35hours in five days at a place down in Surrey, the £400 I was robbed of (…sorry, I mean I had to pay myself) was all paid for in advance and settled prior to starting.
I work away several weeks at a time so was quite surprised when I returned home just before the course date to find a rather unpleasant letter from the training school and another from a debt collection agency demanding I pay up or I’d be threatened with all sorts of things 
…cheeky [zb]s I thought !!! Some idiot in the office isn’t doing their job properly !!!
I still turned up on the Monday, bank statement in hand and the matter was resolved. No explanation or apology given, they even seemed quite annoyed that I had the audacity to question their actions. Completed the five arse-numbing/ extremely boring days and eagerly await the arrival of my card.
Two weeks have passed, no DCPC card yet, few days off so I thought I’d check my hours on the DSA website and hey presto !!!
…seven [zb] hours they’ve failed to credit me for !!!
I’ve emailed the training school questioning why the full hours I’ve completed haven’t been credited, but wondered whether I should contact the DSA too. There was some government bod sitting in on the afternoon of the day in question, note taking and asking us a few questions.
It’s bad enough taking time off and being fleeced for something which I’ve learnt absolutely nothing new from, but when the idiots taking your money and ‘providing’ the training can’t get simple things right it really makes me wonder. 
Was it an LGV training school that was doing the dcpc training ?
If a JAUPT inspector was there then contact JAUPT to gain any evidence you need and to inform them if anything is not right
Thanks ROG
Yes…they do LGV Driver Training there too.
Interested to see what will happen. The trainer has 5 days in which to upload the details to DSA. Can’t be done after that time. So I see two possible scenarios: either you’ve dipped out on 7 hours OR they’ll fiddle the register to put you on a course that you weren’t actually on. Keep an eye on your training record and see what happens. JAUPT would be fascinated to hear if it were the second scenario.
Pete 
markoc:
Yes…they do LGV Driver Training there too.
That is surprising because most good LGV schools tend to ensure all aspects of training go 100% or it could easily impact on the other things they do
Well I thought they were quite a good outfit that’s why I booked with them. Some idiot in the office obviously doesn’t know what they’re doing there. The fella I spoke to on the phone (…I believe he owns it) isn’t overly helpful and sounds miserable. I was working away from home for a while and asked if they could send some correspondence to an alternative address which they ignored, the mistakes over the payment, the threatening letters sent in error and now they’ve f***ed-up with my hours.
Incompetent …not professional.
Wouldn’t mind but it’s cost me money to take the course, to travel there, I’ve used up a week of my holiday, I’ve lost night out money, overtime and now it looks like I’m out of pocket even more if I have to do another 7 hours… not easy when you’re away all the time.
[zb] Disgusting !!!
As is dodging the auto censor. 
The rule is that you type whatever you like, then please leave the auto censor to do its work.
Please read forum rule #3. dd.
Fully understand your point. Any company and most people working for any company will, at some point, make a mistake. It’s happened to us. The companies reputation stands or falls on how it sorts out it’s error. I’ve metaphorically put my hands up in the air a fair few times over the years, admitted I’ve made a mistake (maybe not me personally, but the buck stops here) and put it right. Never had a formal complaint as always put it right straight away.
Give the trainer time to sort it; if that doesn’t happen, then is the time to get really upset. In the meantime, trust your judgement that you went to a good set-up.
Pete
Cheers Pete
…rant over !!!
I’ve e-mailed them so I’ll wait and see what the outcome is.
In all fairness the trainers taking the classes were decent enough, knew their stuff and were spot on. It seems to be the admin side of things that’s slack (…whoever sorts that out ■■? )
They seem a bit overzealous, getting a debt collector involved before the course has even taking place. Most of the time we don’t bother charging up front and drivers just pay on the day. It does mean that people don’t turn up sometimes… I always say the only filing that goes on in some admin depts is that of nails 
I would complain to JAUPT if the company do not sort it as they do seem to be improving on the inspection and investigation front when it comes to do dodgy CPC companies.
ugt:
I always say the only filing that goes on in some admin depts is that of nails
Hi ugt,
I really like that little one-liner, cos it’s true of one of the training providers that I work for.
ugt:
I would complain to JAUPT if the company do not sort it as they do seem to be improving on the inspection and investigation front when it comes to do dodgy CPC companies.
The last JAUPT verifier who attended one of my ADR lessons told me exactly the same in that they’re really gunning for the shysters at the moment.
He also said that he’d recently been involved in dealing with a shyster, but no matter how much I shone a light in his face, no names were forthcoming. Even the threat of removing the biscuit box didn’t get me anywhere. 
If it was a 35 hour 5day x 7hour course then I reckon the missing 7 hours is probably going to turn out as human error
The letters prior to the course seem very heavy handed and way over the top