student
2009-10-19 12:13:51 UTC
I am talking about this school, just to avoid confusion:
Their Address:
UK School of English
71A South End Croydon
London CRO 1BF UK
Tel.: +44(0) 208 686 3122
Fax: +44(0) 208 686 3775
The law came in March and I have visited the school in person a few months later. They knew about the new law, but they did not mention it when they are taking my cash. They did not update their website with the new data. They just kept quite, took the money, knowningly that I will be refused a visa because only they know that they do not have the "Licence Number" yet.
When I phoned them about this, several times trying to speak to someone who can deal with this, the last lady I spoke to said: "we have 101 things in our mind, and so we cannot tell you about all these things." This kind of answer really shocked me, as I am trying to recover from the previous shock.
And when I asked to postpone the course until they get the number, and said that they do not know if they will get the number or not, I had the answer to my question:
they might know that they will not get the licence number and so if they update their website with the latest or tell you about it, then they will loose a lot of students, which means less money.
Please students, stay away from this school, and from any other UK schools of English that does not have a licence number, and who are rude to you after collecting the cash.
Of course, they might be right when they said they had 101 thibgs in their minds and it is the responsibility of the student to find out about the visa issues, but they still kept misleading information in their website (to this day) about the visa, and their meta tag says they help with the visa. How can they help you with the visa when they are concealing the only one things that will make you loose all your money because they have 101 other things in their minds?
Mind boggling to say the least!
Telephone conversation I had with them:
A conversation with a member of the staff at the UK School of English went as this:
Question: have you applied for a licence number?
Answer: yes.
Question: can I then postpone the commencing date of the course until you get the licence number so that I will not loose my money?
Answer: no.
But later, after going back to their website, I realised they say you can change the start date. So I phoned them:
Question: Can you change commencement date?
Answer: No, we do not.
Question: but in your website http://www.uk-school-of-english.com/web/english_course_Faq-1-1-8.htm you say:"Yes, you may change the date of commencement. . . . "!
Answer: Yes, but we do not know if we will get the Licence number or not!
This means that she is saying that she cannot change the start date for me because there is a possibility that they will never get a licence number. But then why can not they give me a chance to wait with them until we see that they have a number or not?
Also shocking, is that while I was waiting to get this sorted out, I was asked to wait outside on the roof, where other students smoke on the roof, right on the edge of the building - the only thing that is stopping them from falling over is a rope. The glass pyramid in the middle has several cracks and is held together with Gafa tape - imagine those people walking right underneath? Why should they fix a broken glass? Because it costs money. The whole atmosphere seems really starnge: give us your money and get out of here. I wonder the British government did not give them a licence number (as of today).
Go and see for yourself, if you can. But please do not pay them any cash until you see the licence number. And even then their attitude makes them very bad lot.
Also, please do not pay any British School of English any money until you see the new Licence Number, now required by all embassies before they give you a visa.
Good luck in your search for good English school in London.
Victim of UK School of English.