Another let down from The HLC!

Clayy1990

Yet again another warning to all those thinking of using the Home Learning College as a provider. Please ask and take into account where you will be taking your exams. Having been given the lovely sales pitch filled with promises of ease and assistance throughout my learning I feel I was naive in believing such a package existed.

My latest complaint comes with the exam centre. I have been taking exams for nearly 12 months at a college in Telford, which is 30 miles and 1 hours drive from my home in Stoke-on-Trent. I already felt this was too far to travel but kept quiet because it was really my own fault for not asking this question before signing up.

This week I have been informed Telford College are no longer taking outside students. When I've emailed the HLC they have now suggested Birmingham as a test centre. Which is nearly 1 n half hours drive with no traffic at 2am in the morning.

Has anybody else had this trouble and how did they tackle it?

Feeling let down and deflated as i come to the end of Level 3.

coojee

Clayy1990 wrote: »

Yet again another warning to all those thinking of using the Home Learning College as a provider. Please ask and take into account where you will be taking your exams. Having been given the lovely sales pitch filled with promises of ease and assistance throughout my learning I feel I was naive in believing such a package existed.

My latest complaint comes with the exam centre. I have been taking exams for nearly 12 months at a college in Telford, which is 30 miles and 1 hours drive from my home in Stoke-on-Trent. I already felt this was too far to travel but kept quiet because it was really my own fault for not asking this question before signing up.

This week I have been informed Telford College are no longer taking outside students. When I've emailed the HLC they have now suggested Birmingham as a test centre. Which is nearly 1 n half hours drive with no traffic at 2am in the morning.

Has anybody else had this trouble and how did they tackle it?

Feeling let down and deflated as i come to the end of Level 3.

You could pay to take the exams at a centre nearer to you, Kaplan, BPP etc. I know it's galling as you've already paid HLC for the exams but it might be cheaper in the long run just to get them done and not have the massive drive. I think it's about £80 per exam for the cost of the exam and the invigilation fee but all centres will be different. Just because you're registered with HLC doesn't mean that you're tied to their centres.

Clarekaye

I am miles away from you but found my local college takes external candidates (although it was a little too relaxed for me) and I take mine in a local Kaplan now but its worth asking around :thumbup1:

Nps

Presumably you have paid for the exams as part of the course, hence you are probably not keen on the suggestion of paying and sitting exams as an external candidate elsewhere.

That said, if you look at the attached link, it gives you all the centres which accept external candidates but even then, there are none close to yourself. If I was still living in my home town, I too would have a lengthy journey as there are very few centres round there.

https://www.aat.org.uk/sites/default/files/assets/UK-external-assessment-venues.pdf

However, obviously there are other places that run AAT exams (I'm assuming that if you do AAT at a college, you would sit the exams there, surely you don't have to travel to one of the centres on the list?? I don't know, I'm just assuming).

Could you contact your local colleges to see if they would accept an external candidate and then speak to HLC to discuss the possibility of them paying that centre for the assessment rather than the centre they would be paying normally (it's an AAT fee so I'd like to think HLC are not making a huge profit from that side of the business).

A HLC representative often posts on here in response to criticisms, stating that they have new management and are very keen to improve their reputation. Perhaps give them the opportunity for them to demonstrate their new improved customer service by seeing if they would be agreeable to this.

Also, how would you feel about sitting 2 or even 3 exams in a day (I've even heard of someone taking 4 in a day as their exam centre was so far away). You'll either feel ill at the thought of that, or consider it! That would all depend on the centre though, as for example, the one I used, only did 2 sittings a day.

I do sympathise though, I have to travel miles for my ACCA exams and it is extra stress on the day that you can do without.

steve2008

I don't think it's fair to blame HTC for a college deciding to no longer take external candidates. They don't run the college.
Take a look at the list nps posted and see if there is anything closer. It might simply be that nobody closer than Brimingham will take external candidates. In which case whatever distance learning provider you signed up with you would still have had the same problems.

Clayy1990

It's just when your sold this dream package they fail to mention this. Also I was never informed by HLC about the change of venue, I found out by chatting to one of the invigilators at my last exam.

HLC have been in contact with me and we have tried to resolve it which I am pleased about.

amurray

Hope you can get it resolved soon Clay1990

beckyln

I have had a number of problems with HLC, such as being sent the wrong books, and just generally unhelpful! The staff at the test centre in Birmingham are really good, so maybe try and sit two exams in one go if this is your only option? I've had an exam today at Birmingham, and live approx. 40 mins away up the M6. The Saturday sittings seem to be better, less crowded.

Try your local college for Level 4, I'm doing Level 4 through HLC, there are little in the way of interactive lessons, or general contact to see how you're getting on. It's quite demotivating and generally the only solution HLC come up with is to extend my tuition period!!!

Good Luck with Level 3, you can do it!

Relle

Becylyn - i too was given all the information except the travel for exams. And imagine my shock when I had to travel from Paris to London for my exams!

when I am finished I will be making my complaints heard