Comments on: The great tuition rip-off

By: John

John — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:04:02 +0000

Hi,

I fell into the Red scam and they have changed my life. They couldn’t deliver what they promised me. It is now 1 year since I signed the agreement and the bank has written me to pay back £6839.64 (lump sum) or £189.99 per month till the whole amount is paid off.

I contacted Red back in December 2008 to refund my money, but they see no grounds for refund. I have contacted the Consumer agency and other organisation, and I think this case might end up in the court.

Now I am looking for people who are in a similar situation and who are willing to testify in writing or in the court about all the Red salesman promised during the meeting. If I am able to get people to second me on the ground of misrepresentation, then we may be able to prove that Red have purposely packaged their product to mislead people.

Please write directly to my using my e-mail address mimicafe@googlemail.com.

Cheers

Babs

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:04:19 +0000

Red Driving school, Red instructor training, LetsDrive and The Instructor College are all trading names of the same company LVG Limited. The Instructor College is how the company made all its money offering courses just as you describe. Later on the company got clever with it marketing by using the names Red Driving School and Lets Drive driving school to make it appear many driving schools were desparate for instructors. The Lets Drive driving school fell by the way side despite it supposedly being a highly succesful national driving school growing at an incredible rate. The company now promotes Red Driving School in the same way and despite ten of thousands of people who bought driving instructor courses from this company, in the 10 years it has been advertised, relatively few cars exist. The driving school should be about 10 times the size of the market leader BSM based on the level of training undertaken (BSM have about 3,500 instructors) and yet it is 10 times smaller!!

By: The DP

The DP — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:55:50 +0000

salam alaikoum If I wasn’t such a crap driver I would teach driving school too. It isn’t about the glory or anything like that. We work to live, not live to work so I don’t care when people talk about using your degree and stuff like that. The one thing about teaching driving is that you are your own boss. And let me tell you from five years of being in the trenches, bosses suck big time, unless you are one. In Switzerland driving instructors have it good, most I know work only 4 days a week. The downside is that a lot of those hours are early morning or late evening but other than that it is gravy. Also I see it from a dawah perspective- I actually really like my driving instructors. I sure as heck like them more than my coworkers.

By: Nausheen K

Nausheen K — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:30:25 +0000

I’m surprised you don’t have a blossoming career, from reading your stuff I would have assumed you were a successful professional because you certainly come off as capable and intelligent.

Have you looked into teaching? Or perhaps pursuing post-grad qualifications and going into lecturing? Not good pay, but would give you room to pursue your interests and hopefully a stable career at least.

By: George Carty

George Carty — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:39:19 +0000

IIRC getting into the media is so competitive that it is quite hard to get an unpaid internship, never mind an actual job!

By: Old Pickler

Old Pickler — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 12:36:32 +0000

You write extremely well. While I often disagree with what you say, your blog is always a pleasure to read.

Surely it would be possible to put this (sadly rare) skill to some use, perhaps even in editing or proofreading to start with, then moving on to something more creative?

Anyway, interesting to read about the “tuition rip off”. Being a driving instructor must be quite a stressful job, and it seems not well rewarded.

By: Umm Salihah

Umm Salihah — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:48:12 +0000

Assalam-alaikam, Thank you for this insight, my husband has been interested in becoming an instructor so I will pass the info on to him.

Brother Yunus has a point. I notice you have been mentioned in the media a couple of times over the past few years - why not use the recognition?

By: Yunus Yakoub Islam

Yunus Yakoub Islam — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:01:26 +0000

Why don’t work as a political analyst and writer? As well as being evidently capable, you actually have a quality sorely lacking in the world of wannabe pundits (including Muslim ones): you’re honest. Insha Allah, start by widening the scope of your blog topics, make a professional commitment, and insha Allah doors will open - I’m sure Guardian CiF is within your grasp. With so many kiss-bottom Muslim neocons cashing in, isn’t it about time a few good Muslims made an honest living from poltical/social/cultural writing?