Everything was going along swimmingly, until, I was unable to get the time I needed to do the Practical Classroom days, off of work. The course I have been doing is the Combined 140 hour course which consists of 120 hours online training and 20 hours Classroom assessment.
As I have said, I was unable to get the days off of work and as such was unable to attend the days, so, I phoned up the Rep. who sold me the course. I was not able to get through but the answer machine picked up and I left a message, detailing that I was unable to attend and that I would have to rebook the days.
Having thought that I had done my bit, I waited for i-to-i to get back in contact with me. 2 weeks went by and I heard nothing. Fearing that loosing the 20 hour classroom days would hinder my ability to complete my TEFL Certificate, I sent an e-mail to i-to-i explaining that I had not heard from them and wanted to know what to do.
TO MY HORROR, I received a reply stating that my not attending constituted a 'NO SHOW' and I would be required to pay the full amount of the course again to rebook the days I had missed.
This really upset me but I was unable to do anything about this until another 2 weeks later when I made a phone call to i-to-i.
First I spoke to one of the girls that answers the phones in their Leeds office. She told me that i-to-i have no record of my phoning to tell them that I would not be able to attend and because of that I would have to pay the full amount to rebook. I immediately said that I had taken out the 'Simple Flexability' insurance and surely I did not have to pay.
The girl said that there was no record of the call so I was a 'no show' and the insurance does not cover this eventuality.
By now I was already getting upset but before I started to shout at this poor girl I told her I wanted to speak to her manager.
She put me through to a lady called Emma who said that she was the manager and that there was nothing she could do for me. I said again that I had the insurance, that I had called to rebook prior to the start of the practical days and that I felt this was not an acceptable situation.
Again all she said was that she could either book me on a new course for the full fee or she would take the 20 hours off of the course I am already on but the catch is I will not get a refund.
After going backwards and forwards for several minutes I eventually got my mother to come and help me but Emma would not speak to my mother so I said.... 'I want an address to write to!"
So as of this time I have sent a written letter to Emma, to which her reply was that she wants evidence of my phone call to i-to-i, luckily my mother has sent a letter to Virgin to get an itemised bill.
Saying this, if Emma still will not admit that I am right, I will be writing to the Managing Director.
I really wish that I had done my homework on the company before I signed up to do their course. All they seem to want to do is make money and they do not care about their own policies. They do not care about their customers and seem not to have any customer service at all.
If I had seen before, that this company is not all it is cracked up to be I would definitely have looked up other places to do my TEFL.
At this time I am still in dispute with i-to-i but will write in here again as the situation changes.
If anyone that reads this is thinking of doing a TEFL Course, please, please, please do not choose i-to-i.
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