Online Cisco Networking Professional Training (Skills-Train.co.uk) Possible?

IS IT POSSIBLE TO BECOME CISCO NETPRO through online training

I am in the UK, just came in actually from Nigeria. I was looking for work through advert placements on the paper and came across this www.skills-train.co.uk.(check it out), I registered on-line on my interest  and in a week I got a phone call and the next thing thisyoung chap, cool guy comes to my house, tell me about the options, he adviced that I go for the CISCONETPRO because I studied Mathematics.

To be honest the only thing I can do with my laptop is browse, type, draw a little basically not too much. The package looks good though, promises of getting me a job once I get certified.

The programme he mentioned, will start with a foundation in CompTIA N+ certification programme then CCNA, CCNP and all training is done on-line, one practical session every 2 months.  I was informed I don't need to go for the practicals. Then I will be assigned to a Phone tutour.

My problem is I have never had on-line training before, and I don't know how I am going to cope with it. Then I have to sign  a contract, this means no going back if I don't like what I get this will cost £70 each month for 34 months.  I need some expert advice on this issue.

Neverr sign a contract. 34months is 3YEARS! Do the math, and the research of course

Hello, i went through the same thing with skillstrain. as soon as you sign the contract there's no going back. They will say to you u've got 10 days or something to cancel the contract and at the end of the day they might deny it like they did to me but i insisted and persisted until it was cancelled but by then i had lost some money. The big question is this, "why is it easy to enrol but difficult to cancel?"My advice is that you go to a college where you will gain hands-on training. I doubt you succeeding in achieving those certifications with home/self study. Since you've not had any job experience in IT the best bet is to register in a college if u've got the money. Colleges like westminster computer college offer these courses. If you actually want to study on your own why not go to any pcworld store and buy the self-study kit for that particular certification exam. Its far cheaper for you because telephone tutoring will not work, believe you me. Cheers

Raz,

why do you want to cancel the training, is it not what it promised to be. i have been considering registering since last year. I am still not sure. Are they not giving the support they promised. I wish you the best and if you want to pull out I hope you succeed fast before they milk you dry.

I think it is better going for a degree course, i have been thinking of that option.

hi, i cancelled mine by insisting, i insisted dat i sent it on time and even put photocopies of all the letters i've been sending them. they kept insisting i didn't send it on time, they even sent a letter threatening court action, i even went as far as going to citizens advice bureau to seek advice but then d lady asked me to fone them up telling them i sent their training materials back on time. So, i got home dat day and foned them up and they said its been cancelled. I only lost one payment of £70. Dat was it, then they sent me a letter stating that the contract has been cancelled. Did u record their package? If u did send it via recorded delivery which i believe u did then dats enough evidence. Photocopy it as well and write them and above all fone them up. Was it a card purchase u did? if its not a card purchase then u could cancel it wiv ur bank but if its a card purchase then u can't cancel it without skillstrain's consent. They have to cancel it. Thats it for now. I wish u all the best. Dont hesitate to contact for further advice. cheers

whats @ unhappyman talking about?

Good luck man, I love your faith.

Profess the word, am sure you will do well, You have got the attitude.

I didn't have the heart to do it over 8 months ago and I will probably never do it.

Hello,
i'm certified in A+,N+,CCSP,MCSE and CEH. I might not be as old or as wise as u are cos i'm 20yrs and still in LAG but i'm experined and i'm an instructor with a highly reputable IT traning institution in lagos. i'll advise u get d book's and read at home. u can get N+ books online and a cisco books form cisco press but i advice u get it from sybex. the practical aspect in ccna is just router and switch configuration that can b taken care of through a cisco simulator. for ur exams there are lot's of past questions call'd DUMBS or DUMPS online some free. U can get a lot of materials online.  i'm a certified ethical hacker and i didn't go to india 4 training.

http://forums.digitaltrends.com/showthread.php?p=64306#post64306

I hate scheidegger/Skills Train, i have been scammed out of £3600. I sometimes think how stupid i was for signing up for this course when i was 17. I am now 18 and regret doing this course, the tutors on the phone are not helpful and just read out of the same folder as they send me, they seem to be hurried to get me off the phone, giving a negative impression making me not want to phone back for furthur help/assistance.

I signed up for A+, N+, and MCSE course bundle for £3600 in september 2005.

If they are not MCP recognised then is that legal to show there MCP mark?, can we get Microsoft to sue them for this?.

They claim to have had 5million students all over europe in the past 50 years, is this true?

I really want to quit this course, not because i am not determined to do these courses, I want these qualifications but not with Skill Train as the provider, I found out at my local college they were offering Comptia A+ for only £400 and N+ for £450, but this will be free if you are 18 or under.

I think about the lose of £3600 everyday, i have paid off £1200 so far of the £3600 loan in £100 monthly payments with a standing order to my bank account.

They did not even provide me with 'hands on' training for the PC technicina A+ cetification, which i believe is the upmost priority, i understand the theory but would probably have difficulty in amiking or repairing a PC or laptop without practical training. They lied about the 'hand on' trainign at local hotels. they are a fraud, sending material that is dated as far back as 2001 and 2003. Comptia and other exam boards regulary updatethe exam requirements, so even if the material isa outdated by more than a year if wouldbe fatal in the knowledge required for the exam. I have purchased a Sybex A+ interactive CD for practice questions and an Exam cram A+ book for £50. Now schiedegger give test questions roughly about 10 after each chapter, called a Tutor Marked Assiginment [TMA], now i downloaed some comptia A+ test questions from Test King and the questions are identical to the TMA one's is tis a breach of copright? if so what can be done?


I am still looking for a way to quit, i suppose i could do with some legal advice, but i cannot afford it at the moment. I have been reading up on some Consumer laws and we can enrgiht the law for unsatisfactry goods to break the contract, if any of you have any advice on quitting then please let me know, i know someone from another forum sued Schiedegger/Skills Train and got a full refund and more, but he does not reply to my replies on the thread on jobseekeradvice.com.

I see people on Ebay are selling the course material and transfering the loan to their name and course for the winning bidder, these bidders don't know what they are in for, i email them before the auction ends and have saved a few people from recieving this education from a rouge company.

I have had lies and deception told to me by the salesman. I enrolled in the A+ PC engineer, N+ Network Engineer, and MCSE course bundle for £3500, in August 2005. It is now June 2006 and i'am not satisfied and very unhappy about the course. I enrolled when i was 16 years of age and my mother signed the contract.

It all started when i filled in a form that came from my letterbox regarding interests in Computing. A salesman arrived a week later in his mid-40's with a flash BMW M3 convertible. I was told prior to the visit of the salesman {by phone} that he was in the area and they moved the date and time up, and said that is is one of the few times that he will be in my area, so i accepted for him to come.

The salesman told me that i will have 'hands-on' training throughout the course each month and visit local 5 star hotels to assemble computer, fix printers, and monitors, non of this happened in reality all that i got for the hands on training was 'cut-outs' of PC components like hard disk, processory, and RAM, and to simply glue then together on a print-out of a motherboard.

Furthurmore, the salesman stated i was guranteed a job after at £20,000 -£30,000 per year. However Skills train are now saying they only gurantee one interview with one company and not the job or salary.

I was told that i would meet other PC engineer Students on the same course and chat to my tutor in person once every month, this did not happen and i feel isolated and simply send of my assignments via a tacky webpage, which takes 5 days to even 2 weeks for the 10 simple questions to be marked and returned, and if you get two questions wrong and get 80% score then you have to re-do the mock test and wait another 2-weeks for then to be marked work and the code comes with the marked assignment to start the next chapter submission. So you cannot continue until the previous mock test was marked.

I was also told that they were 'renowned' all over Europe and have 5 million students, which is a lie.
I was told that Skills Train had a 'state of the Art' website that also had a forum to communicate and send emails to other students on the same course. in reality their is no-forum on the website nor is it state of the art, www.scheidegger-online.com.

They do not send me all six floppy disks and sometimes just send 1 or 2, until i phone them and pester them that they send the other 4 or 5 to make a full six floppy disks required for the mock exams. And when i ask the operator at Skill Train for the missing Floppy disks, they are rude and speak in an impolite mannor, yet do not swear.

There was a 30-day chance to quit the course and started when the contract was signed {i.e: during enrollment}, although the funny thing is that the course does not begin until 30-days after enrollment, so their was no-knowing of what i have let myself into, or testing their services and website. i couldn't go to there website as my password or username was not given at enrollment. At enrollment i recieved a tacky blue briefcase and one folder; the first folder was very out-dated in informated and i would say atleast 5-years behind on technologies; there are also many spelling mistakes in the folder and seems to have been word processed using Microsoft Word.

Moreover, some of the descriptions of technologies are poor, yet i understand it as i do A-level Computer Science at college, however if i did not have this prior knowledge from my A-level Computer Science course then i would be confused and not understand some of the text. Furthurmore, i showed my Computer Science teacher at college and he said that the info in these folders are outdated and that there were missing info that i should know regarding the course, and that some of it was irrelevant to passing the Comptia A+ exam sat publically at specific locations for £105.

Furthurmore, i had A-level exams recently and have not sent any work/assignments for 3months+ yet my tutor does not even care or check up on me, they simply consume £100 out of my account every month regardless.

I cannot even quit this course due to the contract signed

Please i urge all of you in my suitition with Scheidegger/Skills trains to please contact BBC watchdog and state your expirience and how this rouge company treats you, hopefully if enough people contact them then they will make a report on scheidegger and possibly something will be done and the victims helped to cancel there contract and possibly recieve money back from this sub-standard course,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/

Furthurmore, i have read on another forum that this company 'scheidegger' changed their name to 'Skills Train' due to the mass of complaints on the internet.

i really wish i had never replied to that ad, and that i can quit this course and get my £1000 back.

Thank you,


P.S: please do not hesitate to contact me via email.

May all of you affected victims be successful in overcoming this rouge company, Scheidegger/Skill Train



thanks


P.S: do not even recommend this course to even your enemy

SCHEIDEGGER THREATHENS GOOGLE FOR SHOWING FORUMS THAT HAVE A NEGATIVE VIEW OF THEM:
http://www.chillingeffects.org/international/notice.cgi?NoticeID=1776

All of you who are affected must communicate with one and other, if we want to take Skills Train down, we must work together. For instance i found a forum and apparantly someone had taken legal action and sued Skills Train and got 100% money back and more for legal fees ect., now this guy has no-longer checks the forum or has left an email address, i cannot contact him/her, i have tried several times. I would like to know how he managed this and the process and any advice. THEIR IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL, I recently viewed an advert for a BBC show called 'Inside Out' now this will be aired on the 11th September 2006 about SkillsTrain 'not keeping their promises'. Also i cannot stress enough for you people in the same boat as me to contact BBC WATCHDOG, BBC INSIDE OUT, TRADING STANDARDS, CITIZEN ADVICE BUREA, please do this as soon as you can, the BBC email system leads to a broken link so please write to them and post a letter. If you all contact these places them Watchdog will do a show on Skills Train and we may be repaid in full. I really, really would appreciate any advice on legal action and how to quit. Thank you, pure_punjabi786@hotmail.com

WE HAVE ALL BEEN SCAMMED BY THIS ROUGE COMPANY WE MUST FIND A WAY TO BREAK THE CONTRACT AND GET OUR MONEY BACK VIA LEGAL ACTION, AND WHAT STANCE TO TAKE.

Well i'm very happy to read this threat(And very unhappy too), First the guy come to my house at 3 days ago, i gave the 50 quied in cheque and i sign  the enrolement, I've read alot of foruns of ppl complaininfg about it!!I'm not gonna wait until the material's come!Next monday gonna cancel the cheque and phone them and saying i dont want anything from them or saying i changed my mind!!Thank's too all, Hope i'll cancel it in time!!!