Empower Training courses temporary cancelled

panevthe3rd

Hi, does anybody have any information about the Empower courses being temporarily cancelled? My girlfriend got a text today from them to say the courses were temporarily cancelled but had no more information then that.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.

panevthe3rd

http://www.fetac.ie/fetac/providers/suspension_notice.htm
Nevermind, just found this. If anyone knows anything about getting refunds for the course please let me know as empower itself is not answering phones.

saoirse81

i am a student there <snip>

please bear in mind that loadz of students would have paid up fees in the past 6 weeks. where is the money???

at this stage i would urge students to make official complaints to - the sooner the cops get after them the better
Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation
Harcourt Square
Harcourt Street
Dublin 2

Tel: +353 1 6663766 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting**************+353 1 6663766******end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Fax: +353 1 6663798

panevthe3rd

yeah I agree with you there. I read on the notification that they were told to stop enroling new people on the 13th of september but my girlfriend had her first class after that. Will be looking into it more on monday and calling into the garda myself. Will post any news I have after that.

saoirse81

PLEASE DO AND KEEP AND EYE ON THE PAPERS TOO
CAN YOU ASK YOUR GIRLFRIEND TO URGE HER FELLOW STUDENTS TO DO THE SAME

panevthe3rd

Will do. Not sure if she has contact info for many of them really but i'll make sure she does. I'll be doing everything I can to get the money back, we had to get a bloody loan to pay for the course so we can't just brush it off as bad experience as I'm sure most people can't these days either.

Have a bad feeling that they just ran that first class so they can say they had every intention of running the full course.

Their refund policy states that you can only get half back if you cancell so I'm sure they'll try and pull that one.

Thanks for you help. Be sure to let me know if you hear anymore.

panevthe3rd

I see where your going alright. She didn't pay that much thank god.

panevthe3rd

yeah thanks. just a bit of a warning to you. I noticed you made alot of threads on this. I think they say in the rules that you can be banned for making multiple threads on the same subject. I might be wrong as i'm a new enough user myself.

saoirse81

thanks - i had to because they have students all over the country and half them dont know whats going on.

skatermom

Empower have actually ceased trading since last Friday. I have just started a degree course with them but thankfully the university is standing by the students so we can continue. Other students have been asked to contact Fetac. Hope that helps.

panevthe3rd

Well FETAC said that they are investigating them but they seem to think that empower is still trading. Its a bit of a mess really with alot of different stories coming out. I'm not too worried about my girlfriend having to start the course again its getting the money back is the thing. Is your university training ye for no extra cost? Fair play to them if so.

skatermom

The University are not asking for any more fees, they have not been paid by Empower but they are standing by all the students that have started the degree which is fantastic. They really have been very supportive throughout this whole mess.

panevthe3rd

That is good. Unfortunatly the course my girlfriend is/was doing was run by empower fully so there is no university or college to help out. Looks like small claims court for us. Thanks for the info though.

saoirse81

hi
im not sure about the small claims court as no one representing the company will attend - i think the fraud garda unit would be a good place to start, as given the information i now know, you may need to be going down this route asap.

arubap

They are not answering their phones (disconneted) or emails. I contacted the garda but I doubt much will be done on this regarding refunds unless you get yourself a solicitor. Taking these c**ts to court might be the only option.

panevthe3rd

yeah I'm not too hopefull myself about getting the money back in any easy way. Hopefully if we can organise a good lot of us together and maybe get in touch with newspapers or something maybe we can try and get something back outta this mess.

arubap

I suggest everyone who is owed money contact Joe Duffy about this. joe@rte.ie - I already have.

If enough of us make a stink they will give this some attention. Also I suggest writing and informing as many newspapers as possible to put the spotlight on Empower and Stephan Doran who owns the company.

saoirse81

watch the news at 6 o clock. and watch the papers tommorrow - this is big.
please make statements to the police - the police cannot do anything unless students step up and tell the police how they have been defrauded.

and if we dont get our money back - i would be happy to see them in jail for this.

arubap

The guards in Galway told me to come into make a statement sometime next week as they are thin on the ground as regards staff lol. I urge everyone to contact the guards and push to make a statement or just turn up and do it.

arubap

Joe Duffy is attempting to get a reply from the owners today on his show.

Curly7

any idea what's going to happen here? My girlfriend enrolled on a distance learning course with them and paid €1150!

Does someone else cover the course? Does she get the money back?

arubap

Go to the guards and make a statement. Watch the news tonight and the papers tomorrow. 1000's of students will be affected by this.

kqcregg

News update! http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1012/empower.html In the same boat but as I paid thru' credit card I have contacted my banks credit card services to hopefully get a refund. Not looking good in general. From a quick company search the have numerous names registered but a new Ltd company set up in July by some of the same directors! Gets fishier by the minute.

arubap

You should have luck if you paid by CC. I unfortunately paid by laser. Big mistake. My bank told me (BOI) if I had paid by Credit Card they would have done a charge back. Push them on this.

nifi

Hi everyone,
I too have finished a course with Empower and am waiting for my certification from Fetac which I was supposed to receive this month. I rang Fetac and they said that they have some of peoples finished modules but have to retrieve the rest from Empower. They said to ring again on friday and they should have more news and that something will be posted on the Fetac website on Friday.

Lynda_Mcg

hi i started a course with empower in october 2009 and we were given a tutor that wasnt quallified to teach the course, we then had to resit the entire course with a new tutor who was excellent i must say, i finally completed my course work on saturday and it woz to b submitted by thurs 14th oct, dere not answerin the phones or emails and my tutor is not returning my emails either..... what do i do now???? where do i stand

caprilicious

I'm in the same boat, paid €1350 for a Level 6 Childcare course, attended one (introductory) lesson & heard on the lunch time news today that they're gone bust.

I paid by visa & I will have a letter in the post to the credit card company tomorrow morning first thing requesting a charge back so have my fingers, toes & everything else crossed that they can do that.

I'm so angry that they took my money (& other peoples) knowing that they were problems.
Fetac told them to stop enrolling people September 13th, yet the went ahead with the first lesson of my course September 24th :mad:

What p1sses me off most is that they didn't have the courtesy to even send a parting email yesterday when they closed (managing directors I mean, not the staff). It would have made the bitter pill a little easier to swallow had I found out from them instead of on the news :mad:

Not sure if this is even worth the paper its written on, but here is a copy of the 'Letter of assurance' mailed to me October 1st & posted to some other learners;

Dear Learner,
As a result of the recent media coverage regarding misleading and untrue allegations about our company, Empower, I would like to assure all current learners on our courses of the following.
All courses, for which people have enrolled, are going ahead as scheduled.
This includes the BA in Early Childhood Studies, which is run in conjunction with London Metropolitan University.
This also includes all FETAC accredited courses and all other Empower courses.
Furthermore, we are not enrolling any new learners for future scheduled courses until we resolve a dispute with FETAC over procedural issues that we, Empower, have complied with.
We would like to assure people and all our learners that all accreditation, courses delivered and courses currently being delivered are insured through the respective Quality Assurance bodies we use for accreditation purposes. This is namely FETAC & London Metropolitan University.
Sincerely
Stephen Doran
Empower Director

I wonder (in case the credit card charge back doesn't work) if as he states above the courses are insured through the respective bodies - does that mean that in the case of my course (Fetac); will they allow assignments to b submitted & mark them in order to provide accreditation?

I've mailed Fetac to enquire about the same, fingers crossed

Curly7

phoned Fetac at lunch time, they said they are trying to sort through who might be able to take over the courses and that there would be an announcement on fetac.ie on Friday with more info.

Fingers crossed

caprilicious

I emailed Fetac yesterday but so far no reply; I'd say they're inundated with enquiries about this

I got the impression from someone that spoke to them if you had already commenced a course & handed in several assignments that Fetac *may* be able to still accredit the course/award qualification, however not too sure for people in my boat where they'd only just started.
I'm only speculating however, I really hope Friday brings some good news for us all

Psychedelic

Just to let you all know, this was covered on Joe Duffy's show today. They had some staff and trainers calling in explaining the situation. It seems the directors have fled to Cyprus and are now planning to go to Australia.

You will be able to listen to the show on the RTE website: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/liveline/

MelanieFontana

I recently did a course with Empower and am now in limbo as to whether or not we will be given our certs. I should have gone with my gut instinct at the start when I was researching the course. I was absolutely plagued with phonecalls from the lady who referred herself as the course coordinator, 6 missed calls in one day and she also rang me at half 8 in the morning. I felt quite bullied into doing the course and when I told her I was going to go with another option she talked me into it. I paid the cash and never heard another word from her!!! Now the course was very interesting, but it was delievered by an external tutor. Im disgusted with the way Empower and its directors havwe behaved, skipping the country?? How low do people sink??

ottostreet

A meetings been organised in Langtons in Kilkenny for next Thursday night 21st October at 7:30 to talk about Empower. Students, tutors and anyone affected can come along, they are looking to put together an action group!

saoirse81

A meetings been organised in Langtons in Kilkenny for next Thursday night 21st October at 7:30 to talk about Empower. Students, tutors and anyone affected can come along, they are looking to put together an action group! For more info email
hmallon2009@gmail.com

caprilicious

Just came across an article from the Kilkenny Advertiser in relation to Empower

http://www.advertiser.ie/kilkenny/article/32195

Students up in arms at sudden closure of Empower Training
KILKENNY ADVERTISER, OCTOBER 15, 2010.
By Naoise Coogan

Hundreds of students, teachers and tutors are devastated at the news that Empower Training has shut its doors in Kilkenny leaving only a note on the door as an explanation as to what has happened at the troubled educational facility

Proprietor of the State-approved training centre Stephen Doran and his wife Vivienne Hinton are understood to have left the country and fled to Cyprus, following the controversy that erupted and cast a shadow on the authenticity of the courses being run at the facility.

Empower catered for up to 1,000 students many of whom are now wondering whether or not they are to receive certificates for courses they have undertaken and paid for, or in other cases whether they will get to finish courses that they have begun and receive their accreditation.

A war of words has begun on the social networking site Facebook where students and teachers have been conversing with the couple and voicing their anger at what has happend.

One writer says, “I cant believe what you and Stephen have done!! I will never get the money you owe me not to mention the money you took from students?? You both left a big mess behind ye, I dont know how ye both can live with yourselves after what ye have done. I hope it all catches up with ye and ye never have a moments peace...”

Another writer says, “ I am absolutely disgusted at what has happened. I trusted you. Why couldn’t you just have cancelled the course and let us all go our ways. Your company has left a trail of devastation behind, values and ethics are obviously out the window. Funny how we were learning about values....”

Empower only ceased trading this week although it had continued to advertise its courses as recently as last week.

Steven Doran in an email to the Kilkenny Advertiser denied any wrong doing at the centre and promised to contact all those affected by the closure of Empower Training.

He said in his statement, “any person funded through Skillnet whose name was submitted to them for funding purposes as agreed with indivuldual networks did training with the company”..... “it is important that the message gets out there, that protection for leaners exists through FETAC for helping people continue their course or have assigments corrected depending at what stage of their course they are at,” he said in his statement.

He also offered an apology to learners saying, “we will be contacting all the learners we can, bearing in mind we have no staff, as quickly as possible advising them of what they can do to continue or wrap

up their course...We would like to aplogise to all learners who have been inconvenienced by the collapse of the company.”

The offices of Empower in Newtown House on New Orchard Road on the outskirts of the city displayed a notice on the door saying the company has ceased trading earlier this week sparking an outcry from students and staff.

Two weeks ago, the Kilkenny Advertiser reported allegations into misconduct at the centre when FETAC — the statutory Further Education and Training Awards Council confirmed that an investigation was ongoing into the agency.

Students and tutors have since come out and said that they had informed the State accreditation body that they had grave concerns about whether standards were being adhered to at the training company, however, they had been assured by the body that their fears were unfounded and all was above board at the centre.

However, FETAC has since undertaken an investigation into the centre and the authenticity of the courses run there and a report is due to be completed next week. They finally suspeneded the company from enroling any more students on October 7, last.

Empower has administered hundreds of education courses for the public and private sectors across the country employing 10 staff and at least 12 tutors.

Stephen Doran was in receipt of more than €1m from State agencies FÁS and Skillnets since 2002 for the courses which included childcare healthcare, business and more.

Tutors from the centre spoke to Joe Duffy this week claiming that they had not received wages and students were also concerned about where they stood in relation to accreditation and fees to date.

A spokesperson for FETAC said 500 students were assessed in August and a further 500-600 are still on courses that were being provided by Empower.

FETAC suspended Empower's access to the council's certificates pending an investigation and a director of corporate affairs Ultan Tuite told the Kilkenny Advertiser that the investigation would continue into the centre for at least one more week.

Founded in 2002, Empower Training achieved FETAC Quality Assurance Registration in 2006.

It really annoys me that the company director can take the time out to email the local free ad's paper, but can't send one courtesy email to every student on their database to explain the situation. :mad:

hmellen

I am organising the Meeting im Langton's Hotel in Kilkenny next thursday 21st October @ 7.30pm. Hope to set up a committee to co-ordinate what we need to do to liaise with FETAC, Colleges in England and other organisation as a group rather than people trying to deal with this individually. We will hopefully gather as much info as possible from students re courses and feed this info back to FETAC etc so that they have all our details. I am appealing for former employees and trainers to come on board to help with the logistics of this. Eddie Langton is supplying the venue, PA system etc and the room holds up to 350 people.
The local Superintendent is to attend to advise re fraud and he is appealing for people to report re fees being taken, especially if anyone's bank account has been accessed without consent. He will hopefully give an update on where the investigation is at.The Gardai won't know the extent of the fraud until everyone reports their particular situation, no matter how small the amount.
FETAC, HETAC, London Metropolitan University,Skillnets and Eddie Hobbs have all been emailed and awaiting replies.
The Sunday World are featuring a big article this week and myself and a trainer are appearing on the Morning Show on TV3 next tuesday morning to keep it alive in the media. Any help with the logistics of organising this would be greatly appreciated. The local print and radio media will also attend.
PLEASE attend or if you can't, follow EMPOWER ACTION GROUP on Facebook because when this all dies down in the media, it will be back to us to sort it out ourselves. There's a better chance if we're an organised Group, look at what the older people were able to do about the medical card when they got organised.
Note re parking: As there is limited parking if there is a very big crowd, PLEASE park at Dunnes Stores Car Park in the city centre and Langton's is 2 minutes walk accross the bridge. Come in through the bar or main hotel and we're in the ballroom at the back.

caprilicious

Excellent stuff hmellen, I'll be there with bells on.

I've the mailing list of contacts from one of the September course groups, I'll mail them your details below & facebook link.

I'm really grateful that you are arranging this, it gives me some hope that not all is lost just yet.
Brilliant to hear the Gardai are so proactive in this too, hopefully they'll drag the 'directors' back from Cyprus & make them face up to their responsibility. :mad:

panevthe3rd

From what I understand of FETACs update this morning they are going to place students in courses as long as the course was supposed to be over 3 months long. Provided FETAC stick by this then is there much more that can be accomplised by an action group? I will be giving you our details but I'm just wondering what the overall aim is. I don't mind not getting the money back if a alternative course is set up and the qualification is valid. Maybe I'm not understanding FETACs position correctly.

hmellen

FETAC can only sort people out if they (a) have peoples details
(b) actually have our course assignments
(c) can only help those who are already in their system i.e, if tutors have had a chance to submit assignments
There are lots of other people affected, not just those doing FETAC courses, there's the London Metropolitan University Courses and Kingston College not to mind the students who did Skillnets courses and now are worried about their certs. I was talking to a First Aid Tutor who was contracted to do First Aid Courses for the Health Care FETAC course and has found that Certs that Empower were supposed to distribute were found in a hotel recently. The names are on the Certs but the tutor has no adddresses, were supposed to be sent out by Empower. Do you really believe we can trust Empower to organise to send individual student's details to FETAC if they can't even be bothered to send out a few certs!
Also, it will be an opportunity for people who have lost money to come together to get advice from the Gardai. From the feeds I'm getting back, people are not getting much luck from their local gardai stations around the country so we need to get all the complaints re money formalised into one area, i.e here in Kilkenny where the offence took place. We will organise for people to talk confidentially to report if they have lost money, so people, please don't be intimidated to attend.

hmellen

New email address for the above action group is empoweraction1@gmail.com.

saoirse81

Fetac need to get into the empower offices, there are assignments on desks, under desks etc and they need to go through everything and find a database of all learners and contact them also.

hmellen

I agree, FETAC were supposed to get access last friday but I haven't heard yet if they did. Will be ringing them monday first thing.

arubap

What is the number for Fetac? Trying to find out if my wife can continue with the course she signed up to even though it hasn't started.

Clashmore

Hi lads,

Arubap: The number for FETAC is 01-8659500.

hmellen: I tried to look your group Empower Action Group on Facebook and was unable to find, has it been set up yet?

For anyone was has recently finished the Train the Trainer Course that was run fron the Kilkenny offices of Empower. I spoke to someone in FETAC about earlier today and was told that we should be o.k because we had the course finished, was also told to keep my assignments until I hear from them. I was told this may take a couple of weeks as they are trying to help the people who are doing longer courses or in the middle of courses first.
Hope this helps people

Clashmore

hmellen

If you ring that main line number you need to leave a message and they will ring you back. You can ring a lady called Collette direct on 01 8659529 or email info@fetac.net FETAC are reassuring everybody that this will be sorted but how long will it take!! Watch the Cybil and Martin Show TV3 tomorrow tues 11am. Reporter who broke the story is on with the real story.

hmellen

Facebook won't accept the name Empower Action Group so I had to post a not about the meeting on my own page Helen Mallon.
Can send email to empoweraction1@gmail.com

hmellen

Sorry, the correct email contact for FETAC is info@fetac.ie

arubap

Fetac are being typically poor at responding about this. Basically I feel we've been left holding the bag on this. Anyone else on here who didn't actually start their course and have been offered some alternative from Fetac?

hmellen

I can report some small progress. Had a phone call from FETAC @ 7.30pm to say that there is an update going up on their website tomorrow. www.FETAC.ie. Click on "Empower Update" and go to "Frequently answered questions".
Also received return email from Skillnets containing a statement re Empower.
Reminder: Meeting in Langton's Hotel @ 7.30pm tomorrow Thursday 21st October for anyone affected by Empower saga.
Email empoweraction1@gmail.com for further updates after meeting

caprilicious

This is the reply I received from them;

We are working with Providers at the minute on taking over the courses we will be in contact with you in the next two weeks regarding your course and going forward.

I still haven't heard about a visa charge back either so looks like I'll be in limbo for another fortnight.

I'll be at the meeting tomorrow though so hopefully there might be more clarity on the situation then.

arubap

Does anyone know if Empower has actually gone into liquidation and who the liduidator is? I cannot make the meeting today as am based in Galway.

Have to laugh at the Fetac response to contact the National Consumer agency if you want your money back. They will just fob you off and tell you to get legal representation.

hmellen

It is my understanding that Empower have not appointed a liquidator. FETAC have updated their website today. Go to www.fetac.ie. Click on "Empower Update" click on "frequently answered Questions"
Anyone who cannot make the meeting can contact us by email empoweraction1@gmail.com and we will feed information from the meeting back to you. Payments made by credit card might be covered by individual banks under a system called "charge back".
If there are enough people interested and affected, we could look at lodging a Civil case against the directors of Empower as a group and building the case with the Fraud Bureau.