Cheers. I have thought so far of enterprise (they tend to be quite busy but did cpc with them and the trainer was good as was the truck), Stockport LGV but are there any others anyone can recommend? Salford / Manchester area
LDP:
I’m going to have a ring around locally tomorrow and maybe go and look at a few schools.I’m not really happy where I have been. The truck is old and a manual which is harder to pass in clearly.
I feel ok with driving in general and consider myself more than capable so not going to give up yet. I had 8 days between my first fail and today with no hgv driving in between and got back in the truck today and didn’t feel rusty at
So really I don’t think there’s any more training required as such because there aren’t defined areas where I’m showing weaknesses. Just need to keep my cool and do thd right thing on the day.
Thanks for the replies it’s appreciated.
I have my training and test next week. May I know what agency you went with and what test centre you went to?
dcgpx:
LDP:
Thanks everyone.I’ve been told by the trainer he isn’t allowed to deal with me directly until I’ve passed as stated in his contract with the broker.
So its pay the expensive broker prices or rebook for somewhere else hopefully closer to home or cheaper.
This has to be bollox, its exclusion. If they want that line then I’d be thinking I have legal grounds or insist on free retests
Yet another example of broker strangeness
LDP:
I went through a broker and I bought ‘pass protection’ for my first one but now I need to pay for another test and lorry hire.^^^ This negates the first part! Your contract finished as you’ve had your free restest. After that you can go wherever you want? Direct to same if you want or to another school
Having spoken to a number of brokers this week as I started getting the info together to start the process myself, I’d wager the above is spot on. Your contract covers an initial test then, as you’ve got ‘Pass Protection’, a second test. If you need to pay again then you’re taking a new contract with them so you’ve completed the one you have - unless there’s anything else included that youv’e taken?
Out of interest, was this with HGV Express?
From my understanding, the brokers all seem to follow a similar model.
Pete 
Trevster:
dcgpx:
LDP:
Thanks everyone.I’ve been told by the trainer he isn’t allowed to deal with me directly until I’ve passed as stated in his contract with the broker.
So its pay the expensive broker prices or rebook for somewhere else hopefully closer to home or cheaper.
This has to be bollox, its exclusion. If they want that line then I’d be thinking I have legal grounds or insist on free retests
Yet another example of broker strangeness
LDP:
I went through a broker and I bought ‘pass protection’ for my first one but now I need to pay for another test and lorry hire.^^^ This negates the first part! Your contract finished as you’ve had your free restest. After that you can go wherever you want? Direct to same if you want or to another school
Having spoken to a number of brokers this week as I started getting the info together to start the process myself, I’d wager the above is spot on. Your contract covers an initial test then, as you’ve got ‘Pass Protection’, a second test. If you need to pay again then you’re taking a new contract with them so you’ve completed the one you have - unless there’s anything else included that youv’e taken?
Out of interest, was this with HGV Express?
It says in his contract that he can’t deal directly with me for 6 months.
I have C+E booked and paid for but obviously well not ready for that yet.
It is Easy As HGV.
It says in his contract that he can’t deal directly with me for 6 months.
I realise it’s academic as you’re not that happy with your trainer, but the statement above means very little. The fact is that the broker is using this trainer because he is the cheapest in the area (that is the ONLY criteria they use). The broker would have no way of knowing whether or not you had dealt directly with the trainer. And, in any case, if they were to fall out with the trainer they would then have to find another trainer willing to work for peanuts and wait forever for payment.
Pete
It says in his contract that he can’t deal directly with me for 6 months
^^^ more fool the training school for agreeing something ludicrous as this in a B2B contract, never in a million years would I have agreed to this unless the broker was paying some large wads to me!
Feel for situation your in, and I’d be doing my best to get the CE money back in full and go elsewhere. They can’t keep it as a prerequisite is your C, so it’s likes saying tough we keep your money until you pass C at your expense ( and our gain)
Personally I’d porkie it saying can’t do C so not pursuing that career want my money back in full. No crap about admin cancellation fees as they’ve not done any.
Then go find a better place.
Peter Smythe:
The fact is that the broker is using this trainer because he is the cheapest in the area (that is the ONLY criteria they use)
Is that always the case though? During my numerous phone calls and emails this week, I’ve found that LAGTA, who are on the recommended list on here, are booked by Easy As HGV for training in my area (Edinburgh & Lothians). Fairly sure they’re not the cheapest here.
Would easy as hgv actually refund me the C+E fee?
It says the following in my t’s and c’s:
Cancelling a course: after 1 month but no longer than 6 months we will refund 40% of the fee (this bit applies to me)
however:
Cancelling a training week: if you cancel a training week rather than the entire course the following applies: if you cancel fewer than 4 weeks before the day of the course the full fee is charged as we cannot refill places.
Bearing in mind I have no C + E dates yet does this mean I could get back the entire C+E fee?
Cheers
LDP:
Would easy as hgv actually refund me the C+E fee?It says the following in my t’s and c’s:
Cancelling a course: after 1 month but no longer than 6 months we will refund 40% of the fee (this bit applies to me)
however:
Cancelling a training week: if you cancel a training week rather than the entire course the following applies: if you cancel fewer than 4 weeks before the day of the course the full fee is charged as we cannot refill places.
Bearing in mind I have no C + E dates yet does this mean I could get back the entire C+E fee?
Cheers
Looks like a yes but you are dealing with a company that never wants to refund anything and if they do then expect them to hold onto your money for as long as they can to get more interest off it
If you paid by credit card then things could get easier for you to reclaim the money
LDP:
Cheers. I have thought so far of enterprise (they tend to be quite busy but did cpc with them and the trainer was good as was the truck), Stockport LGV but are there any others anyone can recommend? Salford / Manchester area
Enterprise got me through both licences and ADR, so will always get a plug from me as I was more than happy with their service and costings.
Have gone to Mantra for courses paid for by my old firm, dont rate em myself, and given the option wont go there again.
Just looked at their T&Cs, pretty much stitch up the consumer.
Was even going to ring and enquire over this scenario but only open M-F, I’ll ring Monday and see what they say.
Do you get free legal advice from your bank or insurance company? I’d be calling and just see what they think.
Wouldn’t go off guns blazing yet to Easy as HGV. Monday ring them and say struggling to pass C, might not be for you etc and you can’t afford any more retests and ask about refunding CE. See what they say first.
Did you book as separate courses or their combined back to back ?
dcgpx:
Just looked at their T&Cs, pretty much stitch up the consumer.Was even going to ring and enquire over this scenario but only open M-F, I’ll ring Monday and see what they say.
Do you get free legal advice from your bank or insurance company? I’d be calling and just see what they think.
Wouldn’t go off guns blazing yet to Easy as HGV. Monday ring them and say struggling to pass C, might not be for you etc and you can’t afford any more retests and ask about refunding CE. See what they say first.
Did you book as separate courses or their combined back to back ?
Back to back.
Yeah I’ll just hang fire for a few days see what’s what.
Cheers
Peter Smythe wrote:
The fact is that the broker is using this trainer because he is the cheapest in the area (that is the ONLY criteria they use)
Is that always the case though? During my numerous phone calls and emails this week, I’ve found that LAGTA, who are on the recommended list on here, are booked by Easy As HGV for training in my area (Edinburgh & Lothians). Fairly sure they’re not the cheapest here.
You may well find that the trainer has a special rate agreed with the broker which will be cheaper than their normal rate. They can do this as they will use the broker to fill voids in their diary. But you can be sure that the broker will always use the cheapest trainer they can find. The sums are simple. The broker charges X. Pays the trainer (one fine day) Y. The difference is Z. So the more they charge and the less they pay, the more they make.
Pete
Fingers crossed I’ll get all this sorted. Reflecting on things today if I can get a decent amount back from c+e refund then I’ll hang on and do that sometime next year.
Just need everything to fall into place really! Main focus is obviously attaining my class c.
Well I’ve got a bit of a fight on my hands with the broker now.
By my calculations I am due £900 back from booking C+E with Class C (I want a refund for C+E) and they are acknowledging the £900 value however they have only offered me back ‘as per their terms and conditions’ - this was my response, wondered if there’s anything else I should add in?:
Thanks for the reply but I am not satisfied with the amount shown of £360.
The Terms & Conditions by which this has been calculated is for ‘Cancelling a course’ - I am only ‘Cancelling a training week’.
With this in mind, and bearing in mind that there has been no cost whatsoever incurred yet or loss you could make by me not taking the C+E part of my course (as you won’t have paid any schools yet because I haven’t passed Category C) I would expect the full amount of £900 to be refunded to me.
In your terms and conditions it gives specifics as to what will be refunded if the training week has already been booked - and that if it is within the next 4 weeks there will be no refund available. However there is no clear indication as to what I would expect back as a customer should the training week not already be booked and because of this lack of clarity I am entitled to a full refund for that part of the course. If I’d have known this from the start I would not have booked with these terms and conditions in mind as I was not certain as to my capabilities to pass such a qualification and it wasn’t made clear to me that I would incurr such losses by only ‘Cancelling a training week’.
Have I got a case here? Their terms and conditions are these:
4.4 Cancelling a Course
4.4a If you cancel a course: (a) within 14 days of booking you receive a full refund unless services have begun, if services have begun the cooling off period is no longer in place (b) after 14 days or start of service (whichever is shorter)but no longer than one month after booking a deduction of 40% of your payment applies (c) after 1 month but no longer than 6 months a deduction of 60% of your payment applies (d) after six months after booking a deduction of 80% of your payment applies (e) refunds will be processed 14 days from date of acceptance letter. If you write to us to request a refund or make a complaint we reserve the right to cancel any active training courses/bookings on your account if there is a legitimate operational reason to do so.
4.4b If you cancel a training week rather than an entire course the following applies: If you cancel fewer than 4 weeks before the day of the course the full fee is charged as we cannot refill places and will have incurred our own un-cancellable costs with our own subcontractors and providers. However we always listen to reasonable requests for substitution of people or deferment of a course to another date when you give sufficient notice.
Many thanks everyone.
Did you pay by CREDIT CARD?
Have they given you the service they stated in the contract?
No by debit card I don’t have a credit card (foolishly).
They’re putting up a real fight with this. …
The service has been shoddy. I did cat c with what I thought would be MTS in Stoke. MTS then sent me to ‘big on driver training’ in Tunstall - clapped out old banger and poor customer service / training.Not the school I was told about in the confirmation email.
You could contact your bank and see if they can suggest something such as chargeback I think it is
No point in trying anything else other than the bank or a legal route because these brokers take no notice of anything else
ROG:
You could contact your bank and see if they can suggest something such as chargeback I think it isNo point in trying anything else other than the bank or a legal route because these brokers take no notice of anything else
Appreciate your help.
What would I need to say to the bank?
Cheers