Varsity College - (Rant thread)

[Mark Atkinson]

Hi all,

Okay, I am beyond angry with Varsity College for numerous reasons. The main reason is that they make it so ridiculously difficult to get any money out of them.

I am looking for some advice in terms of my path of action as well as the new Consumer Protection Act.

My situation is as follows:

1. I registered at Varsity College at the beginning of the year for the whole year of study. I paid in full on date of registration.

2. I've subsequently tried to de-register from a particular subject. The reason for this was that the lecturer is, quite frankly, pathetic (I know from past experience) and I could achieve more on my own studying at home. I could not have known that he would be our lecturer for this subject before registration. If I had known, I wouldn't have registered for the subject in the first place.

When I found out that said lecturer was taking this particular subject, I promptly sent in a de-registration form on the first day of the semester. I have subsequently not attended a single lecture for this subject.

3. Varsity College have now only allowed a 50% refund for that subject, citing "a non-academic reason for de-registration" as their reason for not refunding 100%.

4. Furthermore, Varsity College refuses to pay out the credit my account. They say it needs to be used on a course at Varsity College and is against their policy to pay the money out. They do not pay interest on credit accounts either. If we don't return to Varsity College next year, we still won't be paid out.


Each time I talk about this situation and Varsity College, I become increasingly infuriated. There is a lot more to add to the above issues with Varsity College, but this is the most important and frustrating bit.

Does anybody have any input and/or suggestions?

I'm planning on writing a nice long letter and sending it to every major newspaper in the country. If I need to sit with a lawyer and the CPA just to see some justice here, I might just do that.

The way I see it, Varsity College is committing daylight robbery here. They also take a completely condescending tone with me in most of the communications between us. They seem to forget that I'm the one paying them R50k a year, not my parents.

Okay - Rant off now. Discuss.

[geraldenek]

2. I've subsequently tried to de-register from a particular subject. The reason for this was that the lecturer is, quite frankly, pathetic (I know from past experience) and I could achieve more on my own studying at home. I could not have known that he would be our lecturer for this subject before registration. If I had known, I wouldn't have registered for the subject in the first place.

When I found out that said lecturer was taking this particular subject, I promptly sent in a de-registration form on the first day of the semester. I have subsequently not attended a single lecture for this subject.

3. Varsity College have now only allowed a 50% refund for that subject, citing "a non-academic reason for de-registration" as their reason for not refunding 100%.

Hi Mark

With regards to the CPA i won't be able to help.

UNISA also have a policy in place how much you will get back when you deregister, depending on the date you do the deregistration. But they do actually pay the money back.

As for not paying the money back - sounds like daylight robbery .

[Dave A]

1. I registered at Varsity College at the beginning of the year for the whole year of study. I paid in full on date of registration.

That would be before 1st April 2011, which might make seeking redress via the CPA tricky. Is it a second semester subject by any chance?

[Mark Atkinson]

I thought that might be an issue. Yep, it's a second semester subject.

[Dave A]

So delivery only happened after 1st April. Probably worth a shot trying to get redress via the CPA if you've got the time... The worst they can say is "Can't help you."

Otherwise there's the small claims court.

I've got something similar going with my daughter at the moment - in one subject she's taking the night class through another trainer (ironically at the same venue and at a cheaper price) rather than taking it through Varsity College, and we're owed a refund by Varsity College. Not sure why she went that way exactly or where we are in the refund process at the moment.

[Mark Atkinson]

Good luck with that. My experience with getting money out of Varsity College is not one filled with smiles and satisfaction - to say the least.

[BuyNoEvil]

Everyone seem to forget that the NCC in terms of the CPA has the right to until 31 March 2014 address any transgressions of legislation repealed by the CPA. I know for a fact that a car dealership was ordered (via compliance notice) to replace a car for a consumer which was bought and delivered prior to 1 April 2011. This I understand was done in terms of the Harmful Business Practices Act.

I would most certainly report the matter to ncc@thedti.gov.za

Damelin, Varsity College and the like all operate on this basis. Typically their so-called "policies" negatively impact on the exact people which the CPA aims to protect.

Smack them with a brick...or, preferably, a ton of bricks.

[grytviken]

I am a resident outside South Africa. I would appreciate it if you could give me information I need.

What are the differences between UNISA and UFS LLB?

I am thinking about applying for the LLB of UNISA. However, UFS (the University of the Free State) offers an LLB degrees via distance learning. I am wondering what are the differences between both the programmes. Offering a lot of programmes from UNISA, Varsity College offers the LLB from UFS. Is anything wrong with UNISA LLB?

Thanks.