Stonebridge College / Stonebridge Associated Colleges review: Very poor tutor support 44

omg i am really worried now, since I am enrolled on their TA course and my tutor is also a Susan Richardson!

omg I am now very worried as I am enrolled on a TA course with them and my tutors name is also Susan Richardson...

Before embarking on any course with Stonebridge College, you should insist on being told who your "tutor" will be and what their qualifications are - The reason I advise you to do this is because I was on a 2 week residential course there and it turned out that not one of the people on my course had ever actually been able to make direct contact with their tutor - All very strange ...

I have long had suspicions about the quality of the course materials that I've been receiving from Stonebridge College. I'm enrolled on the Proofreading and Editing 'Diploma' course (incidentally, not worth the paper it's printed on), I've just checked my tutor's name, and -you've guessed it, it's Susan Richardson. I feel really sick at having wasted £350. Avoid Stonebridge Assosiated Colleges like the plague! Has anyone had any luck getting a refund? A quick google search will show you that their customer service record is as shoddy as their courses...

I'd warn anyone who is considering enrolling to this 'college', the bad reviews are there for a reason - listen to them! Enrolling with them is so easy, few clicks, enter credit card details, and pronto, you're done. But that's when the trouble begins. Materials and assignments get 'lost in the mail', the quality of said materials is extremely poor, their policies are ridiculous, and their customer service appalling. There are some good distance learning programs out there, but Stonebridge isn't one of them. Save up and join a reputable school instead.

Im enrolled on a Stonebridge childcare course and have just found out its a worthless qualification. Thought I'd investigate further, found this site and guess who my tutor is? Surprise surprise it's Susan Richardson! She must be one busy lady! Check if your course is recognised on the cwdc website. Mine wasn't and they refused to refund me. Not impressed and wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy. Poor support, the first unit of my course was only 8 pages long and a complete joke. Rude and arrogant on the telephone, a proper scam if ever there was one. As others have said, best to look elsewhere.

totally agree, same tutor for all the courses, no matter what you study, is always Susan Richardson.
these people are scammers and SO VERY rude on the phone, incompetent bunch of people, hanging up phones and providing no customer service whatsoever.
just stay away cause you are going to lose your money and nerves!

has anyone tried to report this to some institution to verify their credentials?

OMG Anatomy and Physiology level 3 with Susan Richardson. I have just finished the diploma and the University I have applied for does not recognize the diploma. I have lost my place with them. The college is not validated by any Framework or National Qualification. I am so crossed! I wished I had read this before :(

i stupidly signed up last night, then upon googling with all my new enthusiasm for level 3 beauty therapy i came across millions of sites saying its a scam! so first thing this morn (within 12hours) i sent them this message.

Good Morning,
I signed up to beauty therapy level 3 last night as i was lead to believe by your website that it is a 'recognised' qualification. I have since found out, that it is not recognised by any insurance company (including the one you reccomend!). Upon contacting ncfe ive also found that this course is just a certificate and not an actualy qualification. For this reason, and as i am within my 7 day cooling off period and feel this course is not right for me, i would like to request a refund before anything is sent out to me. and request that no further payments are taken from me card.

AND THEN I RECIEVED THIS BACK

Dear Carina,

Thank you for your e-mail which refers.

I am afraid that all requests for course cancellations, suspensions or conversion need to be addressed to the Cancellations and Conversions Department and sent in writing into the College. They will then make a decision based upon the details of the case and respond to you.

Please send your letter to:

Cancellations and Conversions Department
Stonebridge Associated Colleges
Stonebridge House
42 Ocean View Road
Bude
Cornwall
England
EX23 8ST

Kind regards,

Wayne
Stonebridge Associated Colleges
T: +[protected]
F: +[protected]

www.stonebridge.uk.com
info@stonebridge.uk.com

SO APPARENTLY I HAVE NOW GOT TO WRITE TO THEM FOR A REFUND! ABSOLUTE JOKE. DOES ANYONE KNOW WHO I CAN REPORT THEM TOO AS I AM SO BLODDY CROSS AND WANT MY MONEY INSTANTLY RETURNED!

I signed up for a Criminology course at a cost of £329 - I paid up front in full instead of by instalments (bad mistake!). Immediately before I received my first lot of materials my life changed dramatically, and once the shock had calmed a bit I got in touch with the college and told them that I needed to cancel my course.
I sent a recorded letter about a week after receiving the materials from them - which incidentally I never even looked at.

I got a quick response informing me that course cancellations are governed by the Distance Selling Regulations 2000, and stating that they are well within their legal rights not to offer a refund, as I had cancelled outwith the seven day cooling off period.

Of course I understood the legal side of their argument however I felt that if I laid out my specific circumstances they might reconsider, therefore I wrote once again, as below.

Dear Alison Jones,

Re. Cancellation of Criminology Course
Student Reference Number: s****1
Thank you for your letter dated 30th March regarding my request for cancellation of the above course.

I was surprised to hear that you are not willing to cancel my enrolment, or offer even a partial refund. I am at present going through a very difficult time. Although I did not want to have to go into detail about the reasons for my cancellation, I feel that I have no option but to tell you the exact circumstances.
My partner tried to commit suicide and this has turned my life upside down. My commitment now is to her and her welfare. I relied on her to help with the physical things that I cannot manage myself, as I am disabled due to the effects of polio in the 1950s (I am now suffering with post polio syndrome/the late effects of polio) obviously all this has had a life changing effect and I cannot cope with any extra demands now or for the foreseeable future.
I am in receipt of Disability Benefit and this is my sole income, I cannot afford to 'lose' over £300 due to circumstances beyond my control, especially as I will now have to pay for care whilst my partner is not able to look after me.
I would ask you, as a gesture of goodwill to reconsider your decision with regards to the cancellation of my course. I would of course understand that you would need to retain a certain amount of the course fees for administration purposes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I then received another letter from Stonebridge reiterating their "legal rights" and telling me that they are ..."sorry to hear that you no longer wish to persue this course, and your reasons for not wanting to do so." and stating that they would allow me to put the course 'on hold' for a duration of my choosing, and would even waive the normal £40 fee to change to another course of the same value or less should I choose to do so.

This was all very well but what they didn't seem to realise was that I very much wanted to do this course...but I do not feel that I am able to, now or in the future, after what has happened. I am 59 years of age, I have more than enough to cope with now, to be honest I felt like ending it all myself...just couldn't see the point anymore.

Well eventually, rather than let them get away with my £329, I enrolled on the Flower Essence Therapy course, although I have pointed out that it will need to take a break from studies for at least the next 12 months.
I did email them today to ask who my tutor will be for this course...Guess what, it's the ubiquitous Susan Richardson! By the way has anyone else wondered if Susan Richardson and Susan Van Rensburg (Stonebridge College "Principal") are one and the same person...just a thought?

Stonebridge are professional scammers (funny enough. they have an article on their website on how to identify scam distance learning schools). DO NOT waste your money there. Their courses have no professional value and are not recognised by any official bodies. Their tutor (this Susan person) grades assignments for ALL disciplines! Seriously? You will learn much more from youtube videos and free tutorials and articles on the internet and maybe a couple of books. And don't even attempt to get a refund from them. Money handed over to them is money lost. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Is there any way possible that these scammers can be stopped? I know I have no chance of getting my money refunded, but I would love to be able to stop them from trading to save others from their clutches!

Please don't be rude - it's just not nice.

Oh dear! I'm doing a beauty course an MY tutor is also Susan Richardson! Seriously!
And I can't contact them by email about anything at all they want everything in writing to "The Registrar" who is in the same building and no doubt in the same office and more than likely known as Susan Richardson too!
Also - I am continually referred to as Dear Student! Nothing like the personal touch I shall be making further investigations!
My complaint has thus far received no response! I shall be taking this as far as I can!
I was, until recently a college tutor myself and I have only ever met a handful of tutors throughout my career that could possibly - let alone would want to - teach more than two subjects in tangent.

I have been trying to find out what qualifications the amazing Susan Richardson has. I have emailed the "college" on four occasions in this vein: -

I would be most grateful if you would be courteous enough to answer the email I sent to you ten days ago, regarding the qualifications of my tutor Ms Susan Richardson. As a student of your establishment I believe I am within my rights to enquire about my tutor's qualification status in the field in which I am studying.

I am still awaiting a reply!

From what I have gathered so far she is tutoring for at least the following courses: -
Flower Essence Therapy Level 4
Child Care
Advanced Foot Health Practitioner
Teaching Assistant Course
Proofreading and Editing Diploma
Anatomy and Physiology Level 3
Scriptwriting Course for Television Radio and Stage
ESOL
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Level 5

When does she sleep!

I recently completed the level 5 Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Diploma. My tutor was Allison. I guess I was very lucky as I received a good service. When I telephoned the college with any queries I always received polite and helpful replies. My tutor was always quick to mark my assignments and provide constructive feedback. The course was really interesting. I put a lot of effort into it and achieved a Distinction. I am now embarking on the second phase, which is to gain practical experience through another organisation, which will complete my training. I received my certificate from Stonebridge two days after I was emailed my final grade and the NCFE (nationally recognised awarding body ) certificate/award arrived shortly afterwards. I am pleased I did this course at Stonebridge and in retrospect I would do it again.

Dear members of the forum! My name is Helena, I'm from Sweden. I've found this thread by Google search and came to tell you that Stonebrige Associated Colleges has proven to be a scam.

I was seriously robbed by these scammers - they refused to refund my money for a properly cancelled course, and I'm already fighting for my rights with the help of UK European Consumer Center. Don't be afraid to claim your rights too, if you were treated badly by this College! Just go for it! Altogether we will prove that such institutions should not be fostered in EU.

The College has been running this campaign called "Stonebridge Superfan" where people are supposed to get points and win prizes. One of the conditions is writing a positive review of the College [URL="http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews218360.html"]here[/URL], so that these reviews are many and potential students don't have a clue on what its nature really is. On the top of this page you can see a note from the Review Center which confirms the forceful nature of these positive reviews.

Read here how you can claim your consumer rights, if they refuse to refund your money: http://zhilkin.com/Stonebridge_Associated_Colleges_are_scammers.html
And please-please-please like and repost the page to spread the word so that as many people as possible know what this College is really about BEFORE getting into trouble and wasting their precious money.

I wish you all the best of luck!

Many thanks Helena. I think Stonebridge rely on people allowing themselves to be ground down by their aggressive responses...We need to act in force to close this disgusting "college"!

Are you all quite serious? First of all - yes some of their course are not nationally recognised... but that's your job to check. These are usually used by people as CPD - Continuous Professional Development. A lot of their courses ARE in fact nationally recognised and accredited by an appropriate awarding body eg. NCFE. Secondly - regarding tutors... they are exactly that 'tutors'. They do not pretend to be professors or teachers and you're a fool if you think otherwise. The courses will be written and put together by academics paid for by Stonebridge and then tutors will make use of mark schemes and material provided to mark you work or assist you. What the hell are you expecting for the amounts you're investing? Thirdly the person who apparently lost their place at University - AS IF you didn't check this before even enrolling? Are you mad?
I am currently studying an NCFE accredited Level 5 Diploma and have found them to be great. I also now of a number of people who have studied with them on at least 4 occasions. People reading this thread should conduct their own and further research... !

Excuse me, but I don't think any of us are "mad" and we are all "quite serious"! The tutors that I had whilst studying for my degree at university would NOT have tutored any other subject apart from the ones they specialised in, they were most certainly not jacks of all trades! I personally think they need to start a course in "Compassion" at Stonebridge (no doubt Ms Richardson is conversant in this subject as well) with themselves being the first students!

I am pleased that you are finding your study with Stonebridge great, but please do not dismiss those of us who have had bad experiences as "mad". I find your tone extremely condescending.

Dears I just got my Personnel Managemen Diploma after 2 years, and let's say it's realy good to study in stonebridge, the only bad point is tutors never response to questions.

hi I also was taking a course in beauty and nail tech I made half the payment and payed monthly after that this was June last year when I had not received my final paper I contacted the college many tI'mes always said the same I have not made my full payment and had gone to debt collector after me ringing the number they gave me I found that it had not gone in to debt I wasn't even on there system after many emails phone calls to the college have still got no where and I'm 450 pound down, could anyone give me any advise on what to do next this is my future and without finishing this course it is I'mpossible to get a job or any kind of experience thanks.

I don't see what's the big deal with that. People are just too picky and they need to keep in mind that it is a DISTANCE learning college and not Oxford. How many people are needed to run THAT? Do you honestly expect 600 different tutors for 600 courses? Think reasonably! And what exactly do you want from your tutor? They quickly have a look at your assignment, send you feedback and comments with either PASS or FAIL. That's all you need. And you're going on to your new assignment. Also, people should stop complaining about refunds, if you're not sure about it then don't jump into buying a course and later complaining.
Moreover, the college is registered with the UK Register of Learning Providers and accredited by NCFE awarding body, what else do you need?
It's really annoying to see people whining and forgetting that it's just a simple distance learning courses and not university.
I've done already one course and I am in the middle of another and everything is just fine.

It seems to me that, aside from a few genuinely bad experiences, most of the bad reviews come from people not bothering to do their research before they sign on to a course.

Firstly, if you pay money for a course and submit assignments on your course, no you shouldn't expect your money back because you don't like it for whatever reason. If you bought a pair of shoes and wore them for three days you wouldn't expect a full refund from the shop because you later changed your mind or they rubbed your feet. It doesn't matter the cost: think before you buy, especially when a high amount of money is concerned.

No, an NCFE course will 99% of the time NOT get you a job. A 'diploma' or 'certificate' issued by the college will NOT get you a job. The BTEC (HND) or CACHE courses that they offer, however, CAN get you a job as they are more recognised, and even requested by certain employers. NCFE is recognised, but not in the same way. A little research before booking a course will tell you this. So stop complaining that you forked out £300 and had no job at the end of your NCFE Certificate course.

Next, this is not an online University, as Renna Linn says, it's an online college. You're not doing A Levels, you don't receive UCAS points, so all you are going to get is a pass or a fail. None of the courses offered require a degree to teach (except the BTEC (HND), so the fact that one tutor teaches many of the non-accredited, certificate courses is no big deal.

Stonebridge has been around for a couple of decades. I have a strong feeling they'd have been jumped on by Trading Standards or Watchdog by now if they were a 'scam' company. Besides, most of you are very rude by the sounds of things, so I am not surprised when a tutor refuses to speak to you.

Rant over!

Just to add my word of warning - I signed up to a course Saturday & e-mailed to cancel within 48 hours (as is my right)
I paid by credit card.

The reply to my email to Stonebridge was that I had to put the cancelation in writing.

It seemed daft but I wrote to them & also contacted my card provider to inform them of a possible problem due to what I've read about Stonebridge.

I received a letter today telling me that although my request to cancel was received within 7 days they will not be refunding my money as I have viewed more than 50% of the course!

I hadn't even received a registration on to the course!

When I called them I got absoluely nowhere & have filed a chargeback with my credit card provider.

Be warned.

Steve

This company is a scam! Do not trust !
They have stolen £1000 and still taking money from my account even though I cancelled and told them to stop!

They tell you in a smug drawl...(James Cann) is the proprietor...its too bad im afraid you claim you have cancelled...your mistake ...no can do.. no college behaves like that!

It's got to be a scam. A very poor Basic Maths Level 2 course; it's basically a few pages from a revision book with no proper explanation. Thee are no assignments for marking or guidance, just 50 odd revision exercises and a 5 question test at the end- how does that cost £80! What a load of rubbish! Luckily I only paid £80, compared the the extortionate amounts of I have heard here,

I agree with one or two comments above - most people here are complaining because they simply didn't read the fine print, weren't happy with what they saw, and are now covering their own carelessness with the word 'scam'. Of course one or two people are going to have legitimate problems - all businesses do - but mostly? This is just whining.

Firstly this Susan Richardson does NOT do 'all' of the courses as is stated almost as if it were fact by many people. My tutor's name for Biochem Lv 3 is Hilary Clark, and she's been very helpful so far.

Secondly, if you don't like the accreditation of a course (or lack thereof), then don't complain if you failed to research beforehand. The Internet has ALL the info you could ever need on who the awarding bodies are and what qualifications you receive etc.

Thirdly, there are so many people claiming to have been 'ripped off' because they tried to cancel. Most colleges (even actual brick building colleges) won't give you your money back if you've had any kind of access to materials, unless the circumstances are very unusual. If you drop out, you drop out. You should've thought about what you were enrolling in beforehand.

I'm sorry to be so curt, but honestly it's just ridiculous how many people I've read whilst researching this college who seem as if they just went straight on the site and signed up without actually reading anything.

My daughter enrolled with them on CBT course in August 2013. Has paid them in excess of £500 to date, hasn't completed the 1st module. She was involved in a horrific road traffic accident in October breaking her right arm, since then the trauma has left her receiving CBT, EMDR counselling and physiotherapy. She is unable to retain anything in her memory for any length of time and having contacted Stonebridge Associated College they have offered to let her return to the course after 6 months, or to take another course.
Unfortunately the way she is at the moment, I can't see her being able to return to work for several months and certainly not able to concentrate on any course work.
Stonebridge have told her that they are unable to return any fees paid as it would be unfair to other students as that's the policy of the company. I think their attitude stinks, they have poor customer relations and it just looks as though they are operating a scam college,

I'm contacting my neighbour who is my local MP and former justice minister and will ask him to speak to someone regarding this so called 'college.' I'll also be contacting my local trading Standards and will make a complaint through them.

This college is really registered in UK Register of Learning Provider and according to www.scamadviser.com they are totally safe which means they are not scam. It's true that you won't get any qualification (which is disappointing). Some of the courses are accredited by small awarding body and nationally recognized. I am doing Psychology Course from this college and this course used to be accredited by NCFE (which I found out was a lie after I contacted NCFE), But they changed it, and now this course is accredited by ABC Award, so I contacted ABC Award from their website, they said that the course really is accredited by ABC Award as a non-regulated qualification, so I won't get any qualification, but I can have RPL or Recognition of Prior Learning to go to University.
Anyway, you can enrol in Open University or try online short course from Oxford University which can give you credits and qualification.

I pursued Business law from the college. In fact it was amazing. The course materials were well prepared and completing the course I received my Diploma from the College and another diploma from ABC awards. Although that award was not listed in the Ofqual directory, it still has credit value because institution consider it as an endorsed or accredited course from ABC awards which is found in the list Ofqual register

I agree that people should research a course before they pay for it, but with the Foot Health Practitioner courses it is difficult.
Nowhere on the website does it say how much money is needed to actually set up in practice, this can run to £1, 000's.
Also it is difficult to find out how many people are working in an area as most are mobile and a lot of them don't advertise and just use mobile phones so you don't know where they are!
It seems that the whole world and his wife are doing this course but very few are making a go of it. I regularly get leaflets shoved through my letter box and these people trade for about a year and then disappear.
Caveat emptor!

This is the worse place to choose to study, it's like the staff are purposely chosen to work there because they all have the same very rude attitude, I've studied with them before and encountered communication problems, which should have been a lesson to me, I decided to give them another trial when I fell pregnant and had to stay home because of sever morning sickness, in August I was admitted in hospital for sever dehydration and they also found my blood pressure was off the chart, so they decided to keep me in and monitor me, I started calling stonebridge from my hospital bed, no-one was willing to speak to me and I kept being tossed form one department to the other, I finally gave up because it was stressful, finally when I was discharged someone called, who has already decided that my course cannot cancelled, I explained till my head hurt but he still insisted on saying no. He also sent me an email with the cancellation procedure, which I followed but they are still saying no! I've developed hypertension and I'm going to have a baby with a congenital heart disease, I cannot commit to studying or financial, I sent their course materials back and it was sent back to me detailing the distance selling act, all they think about is money, they have no compassion at all, because the act dosnt say anything about bereavement or illness, cancellation is left at their own discretion which they've chosen to harass me, my blood pressure is off the chart because of them, I receive emails every day and court action red letters, I even receive text messages demanding money, they're evil and selfish, my life is a living hell because of them, I can't even read my mails anymore, my husband has to check emails for me, I cannot believe they treat people like this. Circumstances do change and sometimes there's nothing you can Do, but on the other hand if you're signed with stonebridge be prepared to go through a horrible ordeal with them, they dont have sympathy at all, right now I'm starting court proceedings after speaking to citizens advice bureau because my life and my unborn baby's life depends on it. AVOID THEM DONT FALL INTO THEIR EVIL CLAWS!

I agree with many of the comments above, I contacted Stonebridge to complain about not being able to login to my course and got through to James Cann, who is the "office manager" yet seems to be responsible for lots of other things. Basically he didn't seem to give two hoots about me being unhappy with their service. He casually informed me that the course was no longer available online and that to transfer to another course I would have to put in writing that I wanted to, even though it was their fault for basically mis-selling the course as being available online. I also hadn't received my login details for the site and my account such as home address and post code was discussed over the phone without any security checks being undertaken (this is a breach of the Data Protection Act). I think as others have said they basically buy in courses, some of which are ok and some of which are rubbish, sell them on to the customer and have a small number of people who use the marking schemes provided by ABC, NCFE etc to mark the papers. And I have to keep asking them to mark my assignments as they forget to. I wouldn't use them again.

I undertook a dressmaking a fashion design course with stone bridge college and my tutor was Susan Richardson! This is one very busy and clever lady to be such an expert in so many varied and diverse fields!

Please avoid these scammers. You deserve better. I enrolled on an level course allegedly accredited by CACHE Specialist in Supporting Teaching and Learning level 3. Great I thought if it's okay by CACHE it must be okay. When I signed up I was asked to pay a £50 enrolment fee on the understanding that there were a restricted number of places. (Yeah I know very gullible) and that the person I was speaking to was a course advisor. I also shared personal information on this basis about my health conditions as I thought they were there to help me on the right course. They are of course sales advisors and know nothing about the courses. I signed up. The online interface was rubbish. I take free courses with futurelearn and these are excellent. There is no ability to chat with other students. The materials were extremely poor with some of it quite out of date. When I questioned them about this nobody got back to me.

The questions pretty much required you to regurgitate the course materials. No effort required and it was completely unrelated to being in a classroom, a school or working with children. I contacted CACHE who said I should have been given information to give to my placement provider (the school) so I asked the college. They linked me to a generic leaflet aimed at employers working with year 10 pupils on two week work experience and was printed in 2002. I questioned why I had been sent this. Nobody knew.

The stress was making me ill as I already have anxiety which they assured me they would provide additional support and never even recorded it. I even had one person say to me "your anxiety can't be that bad you managed to fill out a student finance form. " What kind of person comes out with this trash? As I had paid through student loans I canceled and found out they had to return the £300 they had already claimed. I chased them for my £50 deposit and after many excuses I threatened to involve my bank and then surprise surprise it was refunded.

This is not a college. It's a scam. It's a money making enterprise designed to churn out rubbish courses and get rich off unsuspecting students. Don't waste your money or put yourself through the stress.

Just to say that I have been studying with them on an Access to HE course to help me get a place into University and have had no problem whatsoever.

I'm getting my assignments marked within 3 days. (Handbook says 3-5 days) I have received helpful and positive feedback so far. One of my assignments was submitted for formative feedback and I got a response 30 minutes later.

I cannot fault them one bit. I do not have the same tutor as all the others at the beginning of this thread. It's the same one all the way through my course where consistency is key to academia.

The material is excellent and up to date and I am learning a lot and glad I joined up. I pay monthly and have had a little blip with my discount being acknowledged but I had a response from the team next day to sort.

A few of my peers have messaged me and we are all getting the same feedback and are all happy with the level of service and learning materials provided etc.