Sunday, December 12, 2010

Complaint and reply...what next?

For those of you who have been so supportive over the last few months with my silver jewellery making course, I thought you may like to see what happened and perhaps help me decide on what if anything to do next.

Below is a copy of my complaint letter to Weston college about my silver course, and then below that is the letter they sent me. ( my scanner isn't working so it is typed out) My initial reaction was to write back but I am starting to feel so sad about all of this that I am not sure I want to keep going over and over it..... What would you do????

If you want to see how it unfolded on a week to week basis follow the labels marked silver jewellery course.


10th November 2011

Dear

I would like to complain that the above course that I have been attending for the last 8 weeks. There has been a lack of any structure, and this course is not meeting my learning needs.

I feel the tutor has taken no account of the nature of the student group, or catered for the wide range of student at different levels. Throughout the course there has been no explanation of any objectives set for the 10 weeks and I have received little or no feedback at the end of each session.

I have finally decided to complain this week as I literally sat in this weeks session and did nothing, as the tutor had not provided the materials I needed to progress onto my next project. This has been a common occurrence during the last 8 weeks. There has been a lack of resources and a high proportion of time is wasted, waiting to use equipment.

Below is a break down of the weeks and some of the difficulties

Week 1 – All seemed well and we made a copper ring. We were shown how to solder and how to anneal. We were told we would pickle the ring the next week and asked to prepare and think of a ring we would like to make in silver the following week.

Week 2 – No silver or pickle was available. We cut out a circle of cooper and hammered into a dome. I waited 20 minutes to be able to get to a work bench and piercing saw. I had a brief discussion about what ring I wanted make (5 mins max) and the rest of the time (approx 1 hour) was doing nothing while the tutor discussed other peoples ideas.

Week 3 - Still no silver or pickle available. We were shown how to draw copper wire to change its shape. Only 3 plates were set up and available so I waited approx 15 minutes to have a go. He also showed us how to bend and twist wire and discussed our ring designs again. I spent the rest of the time, cutting and twisting copper wire, just to pass the time.

Week 4 – Still no silver or pickle available. I made a copper ring as a practice for my silver ring, repeating what we did in the first week.

Week 5 – Finally I was able to work with silver. I cut out all my components and I queued but couldn’t get to the solder area, before the time ran out so couldn’t do any soldering. The pickle was now available.

Week 6 – I completed my ring. I had asked for help with the final soldering but by the time I had queued for the solder station, I could not get the tutors attention. I had problems with the soldering and made a mistake. I spent ages trying to attract the tutors’ attention but he was showing other students pictures of his sculptures on his phone. I was told we would put it right after half term, and polish it up.

Week 7 – Tutor didn’t feel my ring needed to be corrected. No polish or polishing mops were available. I was told to work on a design for a pendant to set a stone in for the next week. I played with copper wire to try and come up with a design for virtually all of the 2 hours.

Week 8 – No stones available. Polish and equipment were brought in, but we were not allowed to use it, the tutor polished the rings for us. I did virtually nothing except chat for the next 1.5 hours.

I would also like to highlight some health and safety concerns. The tutor has been very un-observant and has had little idea of what was happening within the class. A student splashed some of the pickle solution, into her eye and I don’t think he was aware of what had happened. We have not been advised of evacuation procedures or where fire exits are. We have also never been advised on safe working, for example using safety glasses for processes like cutting wire.

The course was highly recommended to me by someone who had attended one previously, but with a different tutor, and I had intended to continue and complete the intermediate and the advanced afterwards, but I do not think with this tutor it would be worth it. I feel I have completely wasted my time and money and have learnt little in the last 8 weeks. I have found it difficult to articulate my frustration to the tutor in person and feel frustrated that my skills have not improved, since I started. We have a break next week due to the carnival and I am not sure if it is worth returning afterwards. This has certainly not been my previous experience of Courses at Weston College and I am completely dissatisfied.

I would like a refund to be able to pay for another course to cover the skills that I should have learnt during this course.


Your faithfully


30th November 2010

Dear Janice

Thank you for your letter dated 10th November 2010.

We apologise for the problems you have experienced and will take appropriate action to address your concerns. Please find below my response.

  • I feel the tutor has taken no account of the nature of the student group, or catered for the wide range of student at different levels. Throughout the course there has been no explanation of any objectives set for the 10 weeks and I have received little or no feedback at the end of each session. This is a beginners course aimed at students with no experience. The session has been delivered on a week by week skills basis.
  • I have finally decided to complain this week as I literally sat in this weeks session and did nothing, as the tutor had not provided the materials I needed to progress onto my next project. This has been a common occurrence during the last 8 weeks. There has been a lack of resources and a high proportion of time is wasted, waiting to use equipment. We are in the process of ordering additional tools and materials which should alleviate this problem.
  • Week 2 – No silver or pickle was available. We cut out a circle of cooper and hammered into a dome. I waited 20 minutes to be able to get to a work bench and piercing saw. I had a brief discussion about what ring I wanted make (5 mins max) and the rest of the time (approx 1 hour) was doing nothing while the tutor discussed other peoples ideas. Silver was not available as the tutor had not scheduled to work with it that week. Students are advised to work on their skills whilst waiting for tutor support.
  • Week 4 – Still no silver or pickle available. I made a copper ring as a practice for my silver ring, repeating what we did in the first week. It was thought to be more appropriate to practice using copper as silver is very expensive.
  • Week 5 – Finally I was able to work with silver. I cut out all my components and I queued but couldn’t get to the solder area, before the time ran out so couldn’t do any soldering. The pickle was now available. Additional technician support will be available to assist the students.
  • Week 8 – No stones available. Polish and equipment were brought in, but we were not allowed to use it, the tutor polished the rings for us. I did virtually nothing except chat for the next 1.5 hours. The tutor polished the rings due to health and safety issues.
  • I would also like to highlight some health and safety concerns. The tutor has been very un-observant and has had little idea of what was happening within the class. A student splashed some of the pickle solution, into her eye and I don’t think he was aware of what had happened. We have not been advised of evacuation procedures or where fire exits are. We have also never been advised on safe working, for example using safety glasses for processes like cutting wire. The pickle solution is made of lemon juice which should not be harmful. With regards to the evacuation and health and safety procedures will ensure that this is actioned.
Thank you again for your letter, we do greatly appreciate student feedback so that we can improve our delivery.

You may be interested in the Silver Jewellery for Intermediate Evening Classes which starts on Monday 10th January 2011 at 7pm.

Your sincerely

8 comments:

  1. How utterly infuriating, they have just sidestepped your complaints and offered you nothing at all. Disgraceful!

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  2. hey gorgeous, to be honest I think I would have gone straight there and had it out with them....they have not addressed your complaints at all, just fobbed you off with what they think is satisfying. You have done eight weeks of a ten week course and it seems nothing had been prepared for....all the issues they have replied to are reassuring you that these things WILL be done when in actual fact these things should ALREADY HAVE BEEN DONE for the course to take place.

    Def seek further advice and put in another complaint of dis-satisfaction sweetie.....beginner's or not you still expect to be able to "carry out" what the course sets out to achieve.

    hugs

    hello gorgeous xxx

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  3. They sent a complete cop out of a letter. How rude! And at the end to tell you about the next course - unbelievable cheek!
    I agree with Hello Gorgeous - if they were aware they needed more equipment, why are they only ordering it now, after the course is finished? You paid, they didn't provide.

    Also, although they say beginners course, you still need to be able to try the techniques, get any help learning/mastering them, and get any feedback on what you've done.

    I think your first letter was thorough and polite. I would write again, and LET RIP!

    Go on, vent! You know you want to ;-)

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  4. Lovely, I know how you feel, I went to a textile screen print course and the situation was much the same, no equipment no materials and no tutor attention. When I just carried on by myself I was told I was too ambitious in my designs. After several very frustrating weeks the course finished and I was asked if I wanted to join the advanced course... You can guess what my answer was.

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  5. Well a lot of their responses are 'it'll be jam tomorrow', i.e. on the next course it will all be soo much better. I'd respond along the lines of 'I'm glad to hear that you have taken my comments on board and you are taking some steps to address my issues the next time this course runs. However your response completely fails to address the loss of my time, effort and money for the poor orgnisation of the course I attended.'

    You then need to be specific about what you want ? a % of money back, reduction on another course etc.

    Good Luck

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  6. "It was thought to be more appropriate to practice using copper as silver is very expensive."

    What a joke! That above quote says it all really. Sorry, you've had such a bad experience.

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  7. I agree, a total cop-out of a letter. As for silver being too expensive, shouldn't they have factored that into the course fees?

    And even if the pickle is only lemon juice, it still hurts like hell to get it in your eye!

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  8. Well... if they want to be completely ignorant so- and- so's about this, maybe you should threaten legal action (wether you'd take it or not is a different matter). You paid for a service that was not delivered, and in that case you are entitled to a refund- or am I getting this totally wrong?
    I would also threaten to contact the local newspaper- they cannot possibly want bad pr!

    ReplyDelete