Scoiltrad Issue

[moxy]

Moxy, I found this on the Canadian VISA site
http://www.visa.ca/en/personal/shop_epromise.cfm
Have any info?

I've never heard of the E-Promise, but they say this: "* Applies where the cardholder has lawfully cancelled his agreement with an online, phone or mail-order merchant; or the item received is different from what was ordered."

I'd have to read it again, to be sure, but sounds like if you cancelled a subscription or an agreement, lawfully (Visa would require a copy of the cancellation before reversing charges), or if it's that you got something other than what you ordered, then they will reverse charges (they charge back the merchant).

You might have a case there, OTM.

"May I speak to your supervisor" doesn't always work. I've trained my agents to tell the truth to the cardholders, and I've given them the same powers I have for making any adjustments to their Visa accounts. I don't have more powers than they do, and they always end up resolving any issues immediately as a first point of contact - no escalation necessary.

Our centre has become a lot more customer-service oriented, and our agents (not only mine, but in other departments too) are trained to have all the tools necessary for resolving all client concerns and complaints. If the call is going to a higher up, it's only because the client really thinks they'll get more if they continue to complain. Many times, all the client gets is another person to talk to, and sometimes that makes all the difference - the outcome on the account doesn't necessarily change but the client feels good that they at least tried - plus they get the same response, but in different words.

The psychology of it is all beyond me, let me tell you. Just keep in mind that credit card money is not actually yours...

[Lambchop]

I hope Conal is OK.

Yes, that's the worrisome part. He hasn't posted here for a while. Up to several months ago, he was a fairly regular participant. Always positive and encouraging, so it's something to be missed.

OntheMoor, you might want to search for Conal's past postings. There are five pages of posts indexed. Search for *Conal* as author and they'll come up.

He does offer a good bit of useful and interesting information. It might give you something to work with while you wait. There is even advice about holding your flute and, something that you might find really interesting at this stage, pushing more air into the flute to develop better sound.

[GaryKelly]

Re Visa... Here in the UK they've been very helpful, particularly since the purchase was made via the internet (Barclaycard have made a big thing about insuring internet purchases). All I had to do was tick a box, sign a form, and provide copies of emails and such for the claim of "Goods and services not supplied." Of course, whether the $130 gets credited back to my account remains to be seen, but I'll let you know if and when it is.

[upiper71]

Hi OntheMoor,

I've purchased eight Scoiltrad since 2000 but never the courses, always the individual lessons and I haven't had a problem. Best case scenario would be to call up and get them to give you eight codes ( for each tune ) after they've confirmed payment of course..that-a-way you download each lesson indivually as opposed to the entire course. They should not have a problem with this if you've already paid through Pay-Pal.

I'm not sure if they've got this whole "course" thing down-padded" yet, but try that. There is also the point of "you pay less in bulk than individual" , you'll have to take that up with them.

Good luck with your efforts..

upiper71
Montreal

[OnTheMoor]

Thanks guys,
Yeah i would not particularly care if I could not use the assessment option because they were unavailable, but it is a pain to not have access to the rest of the lessons and possibly not being able to even get an assessment. Anyways, it has only been the w/e so far, so I'll wait the week and see if anyone replies to my e-mail.

[glauber]

I hope Conal is OK.

Yes, that's the worrisome part.

I got information (from IRTRAD-L) that he has a new "day job" that's taking most of his time now. I assume he's working through a vast backlog of assessments due, in whatever little free time he has. At least he seems to be OK.

I'm 100% sure he'll get to your assessments, eventually. I wonder if Scoiltrad will continue, though.

[glauber]

Thanks guys,
Yeah i would not particularly care if I could not use the assessment option because they were unavailable, but it is a pain to not have access to the rest of the lessons and possibly not being able to even get an assessment. Anyways, it has only been the w/e so far, so I'll wait the week and see if anyone replies to my e-mail.

The assessments were by far the best part of Scoiltrad, IMHO. Conal especially (the only one i've used) was always encouraging but also brutally honest. He was able to do it in a way that showed clearly what you had to work on, without discouraging the student.

[OnTheMoor]

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they're very useful. It is just that if I had the choice between possible assessments but having to wait an unknown amount of time, possibly even 8 weeks, to actually get them and just getting the lessons and not having to wait and wait for access to them, I would chose the second.

Again though, at this moment I don't have any reason to complain, it has only been four days since I bought the course.

[GaryKelly]

Visa have refunded me in full.

[OnTheMoor]

I'm going to wait until I send in an assessment.

[GaryKelly]

Well, last time I checked, the assessment submission page didn't work, and it hadn't for some considerable time. And in what, 7 weeks or so I've never had a reply to any of my emails.

If you've had a reply to your email, then you should likely follow up and ask them what the procedure is for submitting your assessment if they still haven't got that page fixed on their server. There's no information in the course files or on the web about what to do when their online submission system fails, you have to rely on the anecdotal stuff here on the board.

The troubles started for me when I tried to submit the first assignment. The server failed to accept it, I emailed them, phoned them, etc etc etc and heard absolutely nothing by way of reply. I really hope you don't have the same problems I did.

[IDAwHOa]

I'm going to wait until I send in an assessment.

Do NOT wait too long to do this. I am certain that the longer you wait the harder it will be to get the card company "on your side." I would act more quickly and then attempt to reestablish a relationship with the company in question.

Take care of yourself first, in this case anyway.

[OnTheMoor]

Good point. Gary, did the credit card company make an attempt at contacting them? I'm wondering where on earth these payments are going if everyone at Scoiltrad has apparently wandered into the Irish Sea. This is all very strange.

[glauber]

I'm wondering where on earth these payments are going if everyone at Scoiltrad has apparently wandered into the Irish Sea.

Some bank account.

[OnTheMoor]

I'm wondering where on earth these payments are going if everyone at Scoiltrad has apparently wandered into the Irish Sea.

Some bank account.

Sorry, what I meant is, is nobody checking this bank account? I think it is pretty obvious that Conal is not running a scam, otherwise his website would be down and he would have hopped on a flight to Argentina with his hundreds of dollars. I guess I'm just back to the question of "what on earth has happened to them?" If they were busy you think they would either simply take the site down or send out some short messages saying "sorry, we're really busy right now due to..." it would only take a second. *sigh*