Student is ordered to pay up

By ADAM GIFFORD

A Disputes Tribunal has ordered a student to pay Com Tech Education Services more than $4000 for a computer course which did not include all the material needed to pass the exams.

Blair Hollands said that after helping set up a Tauranga internet service provider, he wanted to shift into the engineering side of IT.

The 38-year-old signed up for the bachelor of computing (network technologies) degree, paying an initial $3375.

Com Tech had done a publicity blitz for the degree, offered in association with Deakin University.

According to promotional material, during a six-month introductory period students would be expected to pass the A+ and Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional (MCP) certificates, showing they had basic skills.

Com Tech would help them get jobs, at which stage they would pay the balance of the initial fee.

While they were working, students would study over the internet for the degree from Deakin.

The students would also return to Com Tech to get tuition needed for the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) qualification.

Com Tech's website advises prospective students: "You will need to be available full time for study during the first six months."

But when Mr Hollands and his six fellow students turned up to Com Tech's training facility in Karangahape Rd on November 27, their schedule covered only three months.

The first month was spent studying for and sitting the A+ hardware exam, which all passed.

After Christmas, classes resumed on January 8 with the aim of sitting the MCP exam five weeks later.

"We got an introduction to Windows 2000 at breakneck speed," he said. "The tutor gave us a three-inch manual and worked through it in a week.

"We were also supposed to have scenario workshops in the lab, but most of the time the scenarios didn't work - we weren't assigned the proper security clearance on the network to complete the exercise."

He said all the class failed the MCP exam because it included material Com Tech had not taught.

Disillusioned, he turned down an offer to do the course again. Rather than wait for the "IT career launch course", the last event on the schedule, he went to work for a friend, using skills he already had.

When Com Tech billed him for $6750 for what it said was the balance of his fees, he told it to come back with a more reasonable figure.

Instead, the company took him to the Disputes Tribunal.

In an order handed down this month, tribunal referee Chris Sit said Com Tech claimed Mr Hollands had completed the full programme and should pay up.

"On the evidence available, the tribunal finds that Com Tech had not taught the syllabus of the programme in full," Mr Sit said.

He granted Mr Hollands a 20 per cent deduction on the total cost of the programme, meaning he must pay $4725 by the end of this month.

However, Mr Sit rejected his contention that Com Tech had misrepresented the programme as being for six months, and that finishing it would enable students to pass the MCP.

He said the claim "was based on a newspaper article ... Com Tech did not purport that".

Although the Herald article cited by Mr Hollands is not posted on the Com Tech website, there are other articles quoting the same executive. "Students will be guaranteed an IT job after only six months of intensive study," says one of the articles.

Com Tech Auckland manager Janelle Connor refused to discuss the case - "The dispute has been resolved by the small claims court and I have nothing more to say."

Microsoft spokeswoman Carol Leishman said Microsoft had received no complaints about courses run by Com Tech.

Mr Hollands said his advice was to "go down to Technical Books and spend $150 on a book which has everything you need for the certificate, as well as a sample examination CD. You familiarise yourself with what's in the book and then put yourself through the exam."