Possible scam?

titaniumx3

titaniumx3

titaniumx3

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Joined
11 May 2006
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A friend of mine has been looking to get IT training and has been approached by a company that offered such training and recruitment in the IT support field. He was given an interview and subsequently offered a place on the training programme which has a £500 fee for the course materials (CompTIA certification I think it is).

Without mentioning the company (not sure if I should), they seem legit and he said they have a proper office and all in the city centre (where he had his interview). Though I'm not sure if £500 is what you'd normally need to dish out for these types of courses.

What worried me though is that after he accepted to enrol into the programme, they asked him to come back so that he could complete registration and pay the £500, by cash - is that normal???

Seems a little dodgy .... :confused:
 
if it sounds dodgy it probably is.

a friend went to one of these companies for IT training, they had a nice office in a big office building in the center of manchester. they took his money and thats about it.

its not hard to rent and set up an office for a week.

i certainly wouldnt give them any money.
 
It depends entirely on who the company are.

Could be legit, might not be, it's hard to tell with so little information.
 
Wouldn't it be great if it was for a new series of The Real Hustle xD. But yes as people have mentioned, people can rent out offices for the day etc. Hmm, toughy.
 
asking to pay cash = dodgy

any reputable company would let you pay by other methods

name and shame the company !! (or lets see how legit they look)
 
I would've thought if they were a legit firm they would have the finances to cover the 'course materials' themselves instead of asking for a payment up front.
 
How much does it cost for these type of courses normally?

Can't he just do it himself, buy the material and then just do the exam? It's just another thing to put on your CV, right?

I just think companies asking for cash like that is a little dodgy.
 
It depends on the company, if it's a boot-camp then it's well worth doing (providing you can find a reputable company to do it with).

Sometimes the material on its own isn't enough.

I can't remember how much I paid for my MCSD.Net boot camp (many years ago now), but it was a lot, ie a couple of thousand pounds.
 
Google the company name + the word scam or variations of "is this company scamming" ect ect and see what you get come up.
 
ToejaMz0r said:
Google the company name + the word scam or variations of "is this company scamming" ect ect and see what you get come up.
Click to expand...

The trouble is if it is a scam they will probably trade with a new name every month.

How long has the company based in its current location?

It's hard for us to judge I think the OP's friend just has to go with his gut feeling, enquiring about what the £500 in 'course materials' covers and questioning the cash up front might give him a few more clues.
 
ToejaMz0r said:
Google the company name + the word scam or variations of "is this company scamming" ect ect and see what you get come up.
Click to expand...

I tried this and there's one post somebody made on a forum accusing them of being scammers but it seemed to have been removed after the company threatened legal action unless the post was removed (even though the contents of this post and the companies replies were mirrored on another forum, lol). This is why I'm reluctant to post the name of the company. In all honesty though, the original accusation was a little thin to begin with.

In any case, I went over to certforums.co.uk (thanks to Beerbaron) and the general consensus over there seems to be that it's better to study for this qualification on your own, unless you really lack willpower and motivation.

I think he will opt out now anyway.
 
Look the company up on Company House and then search the directors. For a £6 investment you'll know either if if they're serious or if they're on their 6th company this year...
 
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