The Student Room Group

College complaint, trouble with how they have "arranged" it. Advice appreciated.

Hello, I have been through a bit of a rollercoaster ride this past year regarding my college course. I will try to boil this down and let the salient info come out if needed (really convoluted stuff that went on) is there any advice or places people can direct me? I am having trouble on my own working out what to do...

I made a complaint six months into the course (level 3 science Access to HE diploma) after months of incompetence and discrimination. I was not provided the service for which other students had received. I am a disabled student and have extensive evidence of all of these happenings, such as a failure to set up my exam arrangements, complete lack of tuition/work despite asking multiple times. (can provide more info if needed.) Speaking to me unacceptably and straight up lying to me, affecting my marks and results.

Six more months passed, I was contacted at the start of the month (July) where they confirmed that these problems had been addressed and they agreed that the service (or lack of service) was unacceptable and would like to make an offer as full and final settlement. They offered for me to complete the course and continue to university (as was my plan) and a refund of my course costs.

Now, I had assumed that this refund was paid to the SFE (student loans company) and this would have steered me away from accepting this offer and push for further action (because some of the things they admitted to were deliberately "down-played" and I have evidence to prove that they were wrong) once I had looked into my rights to do so. However, I was sent another email asking for my bank details and saying it would be paid to me and not the student loan company, this was a great surprise as I have a few things that would have been very helpful towards such as some much needed dental work etc. I accepted as I was under the impression that I would receive this refund, I passed my bank details on and was informed that I would be paid at the end of the next week coming up.

On Friday, I received an email stating that the refund is being set up to pay back to the SFE (like the offer which I would have most likely refused) and I sent off emails to state that this has been misleading and would therefore need to reconsider the full and final settlement offer. I had not expected to receive this refund, and it was for sure not what I was pushing for when I complained (I was just sick of the treatment and entailing medical issues resulting from these happenings and wanted to take people to task for treating me like an invalid and for jeopardising my future at uni.)

Does anyone know what I can do about this? I have sent emails refuting what has happened as misleading and would need to reconsider, and I am worried that they will just refund the amount back to SFE despite me making clear how this has been very clearly "tricky".

My views on this refund is that I have spent months in deep depression and isolation because of these events, my health taking a downturn for every week I spent without work and help for which I would be paying for.

A refund for my course costs to the SFE is not exactly a supreme victory as I will be leaving uni in four/five years with over £50,000 worth of debt, a drop in the bucket compared to a few grand, and I am still dealing with the knock-on effects of this terrible course!

Is there any advice anyone can offer? Does the college have the legal right to "bait and switch" me like this? I am worried that they will just continue to refund the amount to SFE despite my eventual intention to refuse this offer. Conversely, do I have any legal recourse?

Thank you if anyone can help, R
Hello.:hello:

I always find it best to split these essays up, when things get complex.:smile:

Original post by SonoLuma
I made a complaint six months into the course (level 3 science Access to HE diploma) after months of incompetence and discrimination. I was not provided the service for which other students had received. I am a disabled student and have extensive evidence of all of these happenings, such as a failure to set up my exam arrangements, complete lack of tuition/work despite asking multiple times. (can provide more info if needed.) Speaking to me unacceptably and straight up lying to me, affecting my marks and results.
Did you complaint identify all these specifically or was it more general?

What should you arrangements have been with regards to:
- exams
- tuition/work
- anything else?
Original post by SonoLuma
Six more months passed, I was contacted at the start of the month (July) where they confirmed that these problems had been addressed and they agreed that the service (or lack of service) was unacceptable and would like to make an offer as full and final settlement. They offered for me to complete the course and continue to university (as was my plan) and a refund of my course costs.
Ignoring the bit below about where the money goes and taking you out of the equation, do you feel that that was a adequate response of the college accepting their failings and compensating sufficiently for that? Yes/no and explanation if possible please.:smile:

Original post by SonoLuma
Now, I had assumed that this refund was paid to the SFE (student loans company) and this would have steered me away from accepting this offer and push for further action (because some of the things they admitted to were deliberately "down-played" and I have evidence to prove that they were wrong) once I had looked into my rights to do so. However, I was sent another email asking for my bank details and saying it would be paid to me and not the student loan company, this was a great surprise as I have a few things that would have been very helpful towards such as some much needed dental work etc. I accepted as I was under the impression that I would receive this refund, I passed my bank details on and was informed that I would be paid at the end of the next week coming up.
Ok, here's where I see things getting a bit sketchy.

1. I assume by wrong, you mean that they did not appreciate the extent of their failures rather than some more concrete incorrection or missing something?

2. Why were you under that impression? Did they tell you specifically? If they didn't, did you ask? Because in court, that's your fault.
Original post by SonoLuma
On Friday, I received an email stating that the refund is being set up to pay back to the SFE (like the offer which I would have most likely refused) and I sent off emails to state that this has been misleading and would therefore need to reconsider the full and final settlement offer. I had not expected to receive this refund, and it was for sure not what I was pushing for when I complained (I was just sick of the treatment and entailing medical issues resulting from these happenings and wanted to take people to task for treating me like an invalid and for jeopardising my future at uni.)
Had you definitely said I accept?

And what did you expect (going into this) that the college would do to account for their failings?
Original post by SonoLuma
Does anyone know what I can do about this? I have sent emails refuting what has happened as misleading and would need to reconsider, and I am worried that they will just refund the amount back to SFE despite me making clear how this has been very clearly "tricky".

My views on this refund is that I have spent months in deep depression and isolation because of these events, my health taking a downturn for every week I spent without work and help for which I would be paying for.

A refund for my course costs to the SFE is not exactly a supreme victory as I will be leaving uni in four/five years with over £50,000 worth of debt, a drop in the bucket compared to a few grand, and I am still dealing with the knock-on effects of this terrible course!

Is there any advice anyone can offer? Does the college have the legal right to "bait and switch" me like this? I am worried that they will just continue to refund the amount to SFE despite my eventual intention to refuse this offer. Conversely, do I have any legal recourse?

Thank you if anyone can help, R
My first piece of advice is that your college should have pastoral support in place.

You should have a designated disability support point of contact who you can talk to about these issues. Although it sounds to me like these are the people you have complained about.

If so, there should still be a more general pastoral support point of contact for you to use in that scenario. If these are also involved in your complaint, then I would suggest getting the Student Union to fight your corner. Though it may be too late for that now.

If it comes down to where the money goes, then I fear that this is simply a case of the decisions you made based on the hard evidence that you had available. Not the impression you got, not what was indicated, but the small print. And if they can prove that you had been supplied with the information of how that refund would be put in place, or had the opportunity to find out (i.e. by asking) then you were in control of your own awareness regarding how that refund would be put in place.

I should also point out that there are a lot of ifs in that last paragraph.:wink: