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Tutor firm in new row
Jan 19 2004
By Catherine Hendrick, Evening Mail
A computer firm which left students thousands of pounds out of pocket when it closed its Birmingham office suddenly was today at the centre of a storm in another part of the country.
The Advertising Standards Authority upheld complaints that an advert in Dorset by Top Choice Computer Careers misled people into believing it was recruiting for IT jobs on behalf of the Government.
The ad stated: "We are undertaking a major reskilling exercise to help the Government reduce the 100,000 IT vacancies that exist today in the UK." A member of the public complained to the ASA that the advert implied that Croydon-based Top Choice was acting on behalf of the Government.
The firm failed to respond to the objection and the ASA ordered the company not to repeat it.
The watchdog also issued Top Choice with a warning over its claim that "100,000 IT vacancies exist today" saying it could not prove the figure and that its advert implied that it offered jobs not just training.
Top Choice has assured the ASA that it will not use the advert again, but the Evening Mail can reveal it's not the first time it has made such promises.
Last year the Mail forced it to hand back £2,400 to readers who accused it of luring them into handing over money for non-existent jobs.
Two people complained that they had been led to believe from a Top Choice advert that they were applying for IT jobs paying £18,000 a year with no experience needed.
Last Friday students who'd paid up to £2,000 each for courses in the hope of finding new jobs arrived for lessons in Birmingham to find its office in New Street shut and no sign of tutors.
Speaking from its Croydon headquarters Top Choice managing director Andy Baldwin said the Birmingham premises had closed for cost reasons. and denied that the company had done a moonlight flit.
"We found that more and more students were opting for home tutelage over the internet and phone, so we closed the New Street office."
