Think I’ve been scammed from a course provider
Hiya,
I graduated in autumn 2016 and have been struggling to find a full time job I currently work part time in retail at the moment. I have applied for voluntary posts/ unpaid in HR. I have been to various recruitment agencies and applied for various posts and they all want experience. During end of May 2018 I got a call from Preston Holbrook a hr and paralegal course provider. They told me their course costs 495 registration fees as long as I could prove I got a 2:1 lady was friendly believe her name was Natasha. Had an interview with her senior manager a few days later. The course started off good got constant support and quick replies but once I finished the course October 3rd. Things slowed down I got notified I passed the course and the careers team would handle my internship (which was promised) there was a delay but the lady emailed me on the 1st November said she would email me a start date. Just this week I wanted to email a question and the emails no longer sent and I found their website no longer exists?? I am extremely disheartened as I spent so long on this course and at the time I accepted the reviews were good for the company. I’m not sure what to do now as I feel like I’ve wasted six months of my life with them...
I graduated in autumn 2016 and have been struggling to find a full time job I currently work part time in retail at the moment. I have applied for voluntary posts/ unpaid in HR. I have been to various recruitment agencies and applied for various posts and they all want experience. During end of May 2018 I got a call from Preston Holbrook a hr and paralegal course provider. They told me their course costs 495 registration fees as long as I could prove I got a 2:1 lady was friendly believe her name was Natasha. Had an interview with her senior manager a few days later. The course started off good got constant support and quick replies but once I finished the course October 3rd. Things slowed down I got notified I passed the course and the careers team would handle my internship (which was promised) there was a delay but the lady emailed me on the 1st November said she would email me a start date. Just this week I wanted to email a question and the emails no longer sent and I found their website no longer exists?? I am extremely disheartened as I spent so long on this course and at the time I accepted the reviews were good for the company. I’m not sure what to do now as I feel like I’ve wasted six months of my life with them...
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Do you still have their contact number?
Original post by The Uniqueness
Do you still have their contact number?
Yes I have tried contacting them several times but they never answer as whenever I ring it asks me to hold and goes to voicemail
Original post by _Vanilla
Hiya,
I graduated in autumn 2016 and have been struggling to find a full time job I currently work part time in retail at the moment. I have applied for voluntary posts/ unpaid in HR. I have been to various recruitment agencies and applied for various posts and they all want experience. During end of May 2018 I got a call from Preston Holbrook a hr and paralegal course provider. They told me their course costs 495 registration fees as long as I could prove I got a 2:1 lady was friendly believe her name was Natasha. Had an interview with her senior manager a few days later. The course started off good got constant support and quick replies but once I finished the course October 3rd. Things slowed down I got notified I passed the course and the careers team would handle my internship (which was promised) there was a delay but the lady emailed me on the 1st November said she would email me a start date. Just this week I wanted to email a question and the emails no longer sent and I found their website no longer exists?? I am extremely disheartened as I spent so long on this course and at the time I accepted the reviews were good for the company. I’m not sure what to do now as I feel like I’ve wasted six months of my life with them...
I graduated in autumn 2016 and have been struggling to find a full time job I currently work part time in retail at the moment. I have applied for voluntary posts/ unpaid in HR. I have been to various recruitment agencies and applied for various posts and they all want experience. During end of May 2018 I got a call from Preston Holbrook a hr and paralegal course provider. They told me their course costs 495 registration fees as long as I could prove I got a 2:1 lady was friendly believe her name was Natasha. Had an interview with her senior manager a few days later. The course started off good got constant support and quick replies but once I finished the course October 3rd. Things slowed down I got notified I passed the course and the careers team would handle my internship (which was promised) there was a delay but the lady emailed me on the 1st November said she would email me a start date. Just this week I wanted to email a question and the emails no longer sent and I found their website no longer exists?? I am extremely disheartened as I spent so long on this course and at the time I accepted the reviews were good for the company. I’m not sure what to do now as I feel like I’ve wasted six months of my life with them...
You should report them. I'm Not sure who to but contact Martin Lewis and ask what to do about them. Not sure how you Contact him either but look him up on google or watch This Morning Show at 10 30am everyday as he's usually on there and they always show his email address to contact him about any consumer problems and scams.
You were better off just doing 2 voluntary jobs in 2 different offices so you get 2 references. Or just one voluntary job as courses do not substitute real work experience unless the company said they would find you a job afterwards.
Or even apprenticeships in an office is better than voluntary work and some companies pay good wages.
Look up office or Admin apprenticeships on Google and apply to all of them.
Whitehat are one apprenticeship company who take people on.
Type on google Apprenticeships that pay £400 a week just to see if that works as I tried that 7 months ago and I saw quite a few companies that paid good wages.
Original post by _Vanilla
Hiya,
I graduated in autumn 2016 and have been struggling to find a full time job I currently work part time in retail at the moment. I have applied for voluntary posts/ unpaid in HR. I have been to various recruitment agencies and applied for various posts and they all want experience. During end of May 2018 I got a call from Preston Holbrook a hr and paralegal course provider. They told me their course costs 495 registration fees as long as I could prove I got a 2:1 lady was friendly believe her name was Natasha. Had an interview with her senior manager a few days later. The course started off good got constant support and quick replies but once I finished the course October 3rd. Things slowed down I got notified I passed the course and the careers team would handle my internship (which was promised) there was a delay but the lady emailed me on the 1st November said she would email me a start date. Just this week I wanted to email a question and the emails no longer sent and I found their website no longer exists?? I am extremely disheartened as I spent so long on this course and at the time I accepted the reviews were good for the company. I’m not sure what to do now as I feel like I’ve wasted six months of my life with them...
I graduated in autumn 2016 and have been struggling to find a full time job I currently work part time in retail at the moment. I have applied for voluntary posts/ unpaid in HR. I have been to various recruitment agencies and applied for various posts and they all want experience. During end of May 2018 I got a call from Preston Holbrook a hr and paralegal course provider. They told me their course costs 495 registration fees as long as I could prove I got a 2:1 lady was friendly believe her name was Natasha. Had an interview with her senior manager a few days later. The course started off good got constant support and quick replies but once I finished the course October 3rd. Things slowed down I got notified I passed the course and the careers team would handle my internship (which was promised) there was a delay but the lady emailed me on the 1st November said she would email me a start date. Just this week I wanted to email a question and the emails no longer sent and I found their website no longer exists?? I am extremely disheartened as I spent so long on this course and at the time I accepted the reviews were good for the company. I’m not sure what to do now as I feel like I’ve wasted six months of my life with them...
They just want the registration fee from you.
Original post by Judge Jules
You should report them. I'm Not sure who to but contact Martin Lewis and ask what to do about them. Not sure how you Contact him either but look him up on google or watch This Morning Show at 10 30am everyday as he's usually on there and they always show his email address to contact him about any consumer problems and scams.
You were better off just doing 2 voluntary jobs in 2 different offices so you get 2 references. Or just one voluntary job as courses do not substitute real work experience unless the company said they would find you a job afterwards.
Or even apprenticeships in an office is better than voluntary work and some companies pay good wages.
Look up office or Admin apprenticeships on Google and apply to all of them.
Whitehat are one apprenticeship company who take people on.
Type on google Apprenticeships that pay £400 a week just to see if that works as I tried that 7 months ago and I saw quite a few companies that paid good wages.
You were better off just doing 2 voluntary jobs in 2 different offices so you get 2 references. Or just one voluntary job as courses do not substitute real work experience unless the company said they would find you a job afterwards.
Or even apprenticeships in an office is better than voluntary work and some companies pay good wages.
Look up office or Admin apprenticeships on Google and apply to all of them.
Whitehat are one apprenticeship company who take people on.
Type on google Apprenticeships that pay £400 a week just to see if that works as I tried that 7 months ago and I saw quite a few companies that paid good wages.
Thank you I’ll look into them and I only took the course as it was supposed to come with an internship I did get an email from one of their clients today who said the organisation passed on the details to them but the role is to be done from home which doesn’t seem legit
Original post by _Vanilla
Yes I have tried contacting them several times but they never answer as whenever I ring it asks me to hold and goes to voicemail
From their catche records the were 'alleged' at the premises which appears to be a virtual office so meaning they are not at the office.
The scum *******s are the low of the low. Thing is they are scammers of course and do the same thing time and time again setting up fake courses with fake promises.
I bet right now they have another course scam set up and contact grads with the fake promise that they can get them a job with a course.
Can I ask how did you find out about their course? I hope you did not leave you CV online on some job board for employers to find? Because you are opening yourself up to scammers who pay these job boards for CV's and use your detail for scams.
Original post by _Vanilla
Thank you I’ll look into them and I only took the course as it was supposed to come with an internship I did get an email from one of their clients today who said the organisation passed on the details to them but the role is to be done from home which doesn’t seem legit
You should lie on your cv that you have experience of 6 months or longer and when they ask at interview or an agency just say you were made redundant from that company and they are no longer around.
Look up any companies that are no longer trading. Or maybe if you know someone or a friend who's family have their own business ask them if they can pretend you did Admin job for them and ask if they can give you a reference.
If you don't want to go down the route of lying about that then it's easy to lie that you worked in a Theatre that I worked in. As that theatre won't give anyone a reference when they leave so anybody can use it. I still give them as a reference even though they won't give one because I left. They don't keep a list of names of people who work there either once they leave which they are bang out of order for so I don't want to go back to doing voluntary work again with any company just to get a reference so I still use their name and address. I don't think they even bother to reply when companies ask them for references.
You can go back to another agency with this theatre address and even say you did Admin/Reception there aswell as Customer Service job of checking tickets, etc.
If you want a job so badly this is what you should do because companies should give people a chance by employing people who don't have experience or references.
Let me know if you want that address and phone number of the theatre and I will put it on here for anybody to use.
Look up Reed, CV Library and another job search company online called Find a job.
Sign up with all 3 on google. I am registered with all 3 and I apply for Admin jobs and I have had a quite a few interviews from them.
Also lie on tour cv that you have Receptionist experience too. So you can put on cv you have Administration/Reception experience from one company.
I only did Admin/Reception as a voluntary job many Years ago but I lied that it was a paid job on my cv and in interviews because the companies moved address or are no longer trading so nobody is going to waste time looking them up especially if they know they can't get references from them so I know that works because there are a lot of jobs I did before and after a few years or longer some companies have no records of you working there so I knew i had worked there so I still put them on references as companies should not be allowed to do that. Even when I worked in the theatre if you leave they won't give you a reference so I stayed for 3 years but all my volunteering in theatre was in the evenings so when I did find a paid job during the day I still stayed at the theatre but I left it for good in 2014 as I was fed up of going in the evenings although one good thing about it is getting to watch all the free shows for free and I only chose to work on the nights that o wanted to see a particular show because if you just choose any crap shows or watch the same show evrynight then it gets boring.
Working in a Theatre paid or as a volunteer
Is a great way to start and it's a fun career.
Look up Do It voluntary organisation and counsel websites for voluntary jobs as they might be easier to get. I found a voluntary job through a counsil website many years ago in my local Theatre as a volunteer checking tickets, greeting customers, selling refreshments and this really helped on my cv because it involves dealing with members of the public. Look on Google for Theatres in your area and far away in the west end, city areas. Ring them all asking for voluntary work and they might even allow you to train in the box office if you ask for that too and sometimes they will give you a paid job too if you let them know your looking for paid work and voluntary work too.
Type counsil voluntary jobs on google, they should have a long list
On my cv I was always told by expert cv writers to take off that it's voluntary job, even an agency told me that too so I only mention it if I'm asked at interviews.
I found I got more replies and offers of interviews when I did that.
Contact watchdog
Original post by _Vanilla
Thank you I’ll look into them and I only took the course as it was supposed to come with an internship I did get an email from one of their clients today who said the organisation passed on the details to them but the role is to be done from home which doesn’t seem legit
An even better idea is to pretend you used to work for BHS in Admin, Reception or Customer Service/Retail depending on which jobs your applying for or to put on your CV you did all 3 to help out when they were busy or if people were ill. Anybody else can do the same if they don't have any experience especially any one who is 16 plus with no experience can pretend they did part time work at BHS as their no longer around anymore so you just work out when they stopped trading and put a date before that.
My friend is always getting rejected at interviews for simple jobs like Greggs bakery and retail and warehouse jobs because she has not worked for many years because nobody gives her a chance so I told her to do the same with ****ield Theatre and at BHS she can pretend she worked in the warehouse.
I did actually work at BHS for 2 months in 2013 in their warehouse and just putting clothes on the rail and finding clothes for people in the warehouse if there was no none in their size on the shop floor but I did not use the tills but I would put on my cv that I did. I can also change the 2 months to 2 or 3 years if I wanted to go back to retail.
If anybody wants to work in an office they can just say they did Admin/ Reception.
I think it's easier to get Receptionist jobs and some companies pay really well and a lot of men always think only women apply for Reception jobs but I see a lot of men doing that job too. I've seen so many Receptionist jobs that pay £30,000 a year or more on Reed, CV Library job site but I hate Reception work myself. I've never used a switchboard before but years ago an agency asked me if I have and I lied and when I went for the job the company always train you on their system so you really don't need experience on a switchboard same as Admin or using a till as every company must train you on their own system even if you are already experienced.
At the Theatre they had an old fashioned till from the dark ages that was just like a draw that you pull out and we had to calculate how much change to give customers back but new, up to date tills do all that for you but I never mentioned that in any interviews so I really never used a proper till before until I got a paid job in Poundland for 2 months and they train people to use their tills first.
Yesterday at 1pm I sent my cv to 15 companies for Admin jobs using Reed website and 20 minutes later I got a call from an agency asking if I can sign up with them Friday and start work Monday. It's £9 an hour but it's from 7am - 4pm. I don't have any references apart from ****ield Theatre who will not give references once people leave but I'm still putting them down as a reference but I won't tell the agency or the company I work for as it's not my fault they won't give references after you leave. But I did start a Business Course 3 weeks ago with a company called Twist and I asked the owner of the company if he would give me a reference and he said yes. Last Wednesday he did ask me if I want a job working part time for him. I said yes but I didn't really want it because I need a full time job so I was going to turn it down and keep applying for full time work.
Twist is a brilliant company that helps people start their own business and they find employees for you or if someone is good at art they help you to try to sell it and turn it into a business. Only unemployed people can join it though and sometimes they give people jobs working for them.
Look it up on google, it's called twist.org.uk
I wanted to start my own recruitment agency to help people with no experience or qualifications and homeless people who can't get references to get well paid jobs and a charity to give unemployed people and people on low incomes/ students money vouchers to buy their own food instead of using food banks. Even if I am working for somebody else I will still keep in contact with the founder of Twist because I have a lot more ideas of starting several businesses.
They also help people to find jobs and pay for large groups of people to go on day trips.
2 weeks ago I went with them and a large group of people to London Bridge to go on cable car and a boat trip which I've never been on either before. People were allowed to bring their children or a friend. It was brilliant so if anybody is unemployed they should contact Twist.
I only found out about them through the job centre 2 months ago as I have never heard of them before and If I think something is good or will help other people I always like to tell everybody about it so I do that for free.
They wanted me to start off doing voluntary work then give me a part time job telling people in job centres but there's no way I'm doing that. So I just do it for free by telling people on the street about them.
So I really hate it when people on tsr always think I'm getting paid to mention certain certain companies as I'm not. I'm just telling anybody who never knew about it before as it might help them to get a job.
They you all for your advice it is definitely really hard in today’s climate no one is willing to hire inexperienced people. I managed to secure an admin role for a charity they want me to commit to six months one day a week at which at this point I’ll do and hoping to get another voluntary role but I’m fine with just one
Original post by _Vanilla
They you all for your advice it is definitely really hard in today’s climate no one is willing to hire inexperienced people. I managed to secure an admin role for a charity they want me to commit to six months one day a week at which at this point I’ll do and hoping to get another voluntary role but I’m fine with just one
That's great news so at least you will have a real reference.
I went to the agency today and signed their forms. I was told they will ring me back in 1 hour to start Monday but they have to talk to the employer first. I never heard from them so I will wait til Monday. I'm not really bothered if I don't get it as I really prefer a job with normal hours starting at 9am not 7am. I would have to wake up at 4am and leave home at 5am to make sure I'm not late because sometimes there's a lot of traffic and it's far by bus.
My references aren't great and I only really have one good one where the man from Twist said he will give me one. Most agencies/employers expect you to have at least 2 references but some have allowed me to work with just one reference before.
Hi this is a SCAM, this happened to my daughter, luckily I paid on my credit card I'm now requesting a refund from the credit card company Please keep away from Preston Holbrook, the website has been set up in USA
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by Inna T
Exactly the same story happened to me as well, therefore I am starting the legal action against them. AVOIDE THAT COMPANY AT ANY COST!!!
Same thing has happened to me unfortunately.
Please avoid lying on a CV or at an interview, claiming to have had jobs you never had. It's fraud, and is likely to get you dismissed immediately if discovered.
Original post by _Vanilla
Hiya,I graduated in autumn 2016 and have been struggling to find a full time job I currently work part time in retail at the moment. I have applied for voluntary posts/ unpaid in HR. I have been to various recruitment agencies and applied for various posts and they all want experience. During end of May 2018 I got a call from Preston Holbrook a hr and paralegal course provider. They told me their course costs 495 registration fees as long as I could prove I got a 2:1 lady was friendly believe her name was Natasha. Had an interview with her senior manager a few days later. The course started off good got constant support and quick replies but once I finished the course October 3rd. Things slowed down I got notified I passed the course and the careers team would handle my internship (which was promised) there was a delay but the lady emailed me on the 1st November said she would email me a start date. Just this week I wanted to email a question and the emails no longer sent and I found their website no longer exists?? I am extremely disheartened as I spent so long on this course and at the time I accepted the reviews were good for the company. I’m not sure what to do now as I feel like I’ve wasted six months of my life with them...
Original post by Ginnna
The same thing happened to me... I got an email today saying that all the emails I sent were not delievered. I called them and their number don't work anymore. Natasha Anastan was the same lady that dealt with me and Charles Dunworth was my **** course tutor. Maria was suppose to be dealing with my CV and internship but I have heard nothing. They are a scam, I feel the same way
Same here, Charles Dunworth is my course tutor and Maria created a professional CV and personal statement for me, she provided me with some temporary (work from home) work experience with a HR company called Simply HRM. My emails do not send anymore, and I haven't heard anything back from Maria regarding a work placement. A guy named Kacper Malik was the one who rang me up to enrol with Preston Holbrook, I have his mobile number.
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