Hudson Avis 639

Réponse de Hudson

24 mars 2021

Dear Nicki,

You enrolled on one of our IT courses on the 22nd January 2021. On Sunday, the 24th January 2021, you emailed us to say:

On Sun, 24 Jan 2021 at 13:01, Nicki (CUSTOMER EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED) wrote:

Hello 

I cannot register. It asks for a voucher code and I don't have one. I tried the activation code you gave me and it tells me this is already registered.

This is extremely frustrating and not a good start as I haven't been able to spend the time I wanted this weekend on the course. 

Please advise asap.

Many thanks 

Nicki (LAST NAME REMOVED)

Within 10 minutes on Sunday, we responded to you by saying:

On Sun, 24 Jan 2021 at 13:11, Support Team (support@hudsoncourses.com) wrote:

Hi Nicki,

Please use the code below.

Course Activation Code:  XXXXXXXXXXXX (CODE OMITTED)

Sincerely,

Support Team
support@hudsoncourses.com
Tel. 020 3095 0468
24/7 Call Center: 0800 044 5878
International. +44 20 3095 0468
www.hudsoncourses.com

As you, and our readers can see, we responded to you quickly and succinctly (within 10 minutes and outside of our standard office hours). We were not blunt. You needed support in the form of a new code, and we acted quickly.

On the 21st March 2021, you wrote to us expressing your dissatisfaction with the course content and requested a refund.

On the 22nd March 2021, we replied to you by first saying how surprised were to learn of your dissatisfaction, as we have had good feedback from students currently doing the same course, including those that have taken their exams. We also explained to you that we currently have a 94% exam pass rate for our IT courses, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the course material. You replied to this statement by saying:

"Other students and their acceptance of your materials are not my concern."

As a gesture of goodwill, we offered you a supplementary textbook from a third-party. We also offered you the same course, but taught by a completely different tutor and delivered in a different format, on a completely different platform. We also offered you access to our virtual labs (free of charge), allowing you to practice your course skills in a virtual environment. You refused all of these, demanding a refund instead and laying down threats if this demand was not met. You did not even allow us to address the question of a refund.

We have many positive reviews here on Trustpilot referencing not only the level of service we offer, but the same course content you have access to.

We understand that we can't always meet everyone's expectations initially, so we try very hard to accommodate those customers that believe we have fallen short of their expectations. We feel we have tried our very best to do this with you.

Support Team
support@hudsoncourses.com
Tel. 020 3095 0468
24/7 Call Center: 0800 044 5878
International. +44 20 3095 0468
www.hudsoncourses.com

Réponse de Hudson

11 févr. 2021

Dear Dan,

Thank you for posting your review on Trustpilot. It's unfortunate to read that you feel let down by us. Many of the points you've raised in your review are either misunderstandings or just incorrect. Had you reached out to us directly about these, we could have addressed them. Nevertheless we will be happy to address your points here on Trustpilot in the same order you have listed them.

1. You said:

"After signing up to the course I received an email confirmation, which confirmed my Login and Password in PLAIN TEXT. For someone offering Cyber Security courses I was shocked by this lack of basic knowledge. When I queried this, they explained that users had requested this feature as they often forgot their passwords...*insert facepalm emoji*

OUR RESPONSE:

The login and password you're referring to are only used in the sign up process. After signing up, they are effectively redundant. We do not keep debit/credit card details or other financial information.

You create your own username and password when setting up your course account by way of using an activation code we send you. We actually have no way of knowing what your password is. When can only reset it.

2. You said:

"The learning material, particularly for Core 1 and Core 2 was poor. The guy doing the videos spent more time on personal anecdotes than actual subject matter. This prompted me to find some much better material on YouTube, which was actually FREE, quicker and more succinct."

OUR RESPONSE:

This is a fair comment if this is truly how you feel about the content. If you read the other reviews from our customers here on Trustpilot, you'll see that the general consensus is quite different. The fact that we have a 94%+ exam pass rate for our IT courses, is a fairly good indication of the effectiveness of the material. We accept that we're never going to be able to please everyone though.

3. You said:

"Before you're able to sit a formal exam you are required to complete the practice tests on the Hudson website. These are provided at the end of each Module, and then an "end of course exam" which is just a combination of the module exams. These end of course exams therefore consisted of about 250 questions. If you took too long to complete, there's a good chance your session gets "timed out" and you won't realise until the end and you get chucked back to half way through the exam."

OUR RESPONSE:

There are indeed lots of assessments throughout the course. Many of these are in the form of quizzes, e.g. multiple choice questions. The quizzes are timed to help replicate the final exam experience as closely as possible. As with the final exam, you only have a limited amount of time to complete it. If the session sits idle, you will be logged out. We try to offer as many assessments as possible to help prepare our students for their final exams. Our high exam pass rate is tantamount to the success of the learning plan and resources we have in place.

4. You said:

"Once you've completed the above you then contact Hudson with proof of the practice exam, and request to sit your formal exam. At this point you then get told you have to do MORE practice exams through a 3rd party provider. If you're lucky you get given access to MeasureUp. But in my experience, I was initially given another provider, through whom many of the questions were unrelated to the course (Core 2 instead of Core 1), didn't make sense, or actually gave incorrect answers. In any case, you have to complete FOUR practice exams in a row and pass each with a 90% mark - in certification mode (with a time limit). When I raised these issues with Hudson their response was essentially that I should supplement my learning with other resources. Admittedly they did then send me a study guide free of charge (which was worth about £50), but then why charge so much for your courses if they don't cover everything you need?"

OUR RESPONSE:

As stated in our previous answer, there are lots of assessments to better prepare our students for their exams. We're sorry to hear that you feel that there were too many of these.

Like many training providers, we work with lots of affiliate partners to deliver an end-to-end solution, i.e. course training material, practice exams, final exams. We accept that there may be perceived shortfalls with some of these third-parties. We are constantly working with our partners to improve the student learning experience and their products.

The pre-exam assessment process you have indicated you are not happy with, is actually prescribed by MeasureUP. In fact, the course page from which you enrolled on showcases a video by MeasureUP and discusses this assessment process. It is a process that has achieved results time and again by way of helping to better prepare students to pass their exams the first time.

The reason we sent you additional learning material at our own cost was because you appeared to be struggling. You said you were not happy with the content. We did this purely as a gesture of goodwill, and in spite of the fact we have a 94%+ exam pass rate based on the use of the current resources you had access to.

We actually don't charge a lot for our courses. We are one of the cheapest in the market. You were charged £889. Of this fee, £696 is exam fees that go to an external examining body, i.e. CompTIA. Click here to verify the exam fees on CompTIA's website: https://www.comptia.org/testing/exam-vouchers/exam-prices

5. You said:

"If you get past the above obstacles you can request booking of the formal exam. However, if you chose to pay the course fee in 6 monthly instalments, and you're ready to sit exam 1 before you've finished the payments (which you would need to in order to fit in 4 exams in a year) then you get told you have to settle the remaining balance in full before you're sent the voucher to book exam 1!"

OUR RESPONSE:

If you choose to view the assessments as "obstacles", that is entirely up to you. Our students see them as resources to help prepare them for their final exams.

It explicitly states in our terms and conditions that course fees must be paid in full before we can book any exams. You acknowledged this by reading, understanding, and agreeing to this before enrolling on the course. You were also reminded of this a second time when we emailed your course activation code to setup your username and password. This was done at the very beginning of your course.

6. You said:

"If, like me, you decide you want to go down the route of Cyber Security instead of a Networking role, then beware! Apparently Hudson are actually very keen for you to do Network+ before Security+. There is no reason for this; many people I know have done Sec+ first and there is no "requirement" to do one before the other, even by CompTIA's own standards."

OUR RESPONSE:

Prior to enrolling on the beginner level course, you were made fully aware of the order in which the courses must be completed. It explicitly states on the web page where we advertise the course and from where you enrolled, that: "This course MUST be completed in the order listed below." There were no surprises. This information was made available to you prior to enrolling.

All the courses in your bundle can be purchased separately on our website. If you wanted to progress to the advanced courses due to your level of experience and knowledge, you had the option to do this by enrolling on only the courses that were relevant to your skill level. You, however, chose to enrol on a beginners course and complained when you had to work your way through the beginner level courses to reach the courses that you wanted to take the exams for.

7. You said:

"In hindsight, I would have been much better off just following the free online videos and then booking my exams on an 'as-and-when' basis, without the time pressures or need to complete ridiculous numbers of practice exams (and again, there are free versions of these all over the internet). On the positive side of things...if you currently don't have a job, but still have the money to pay for a Hudson course up front (nearly £1,000) and you work well with the time pressures, then this might be right up your alley."

OUR RESPONSE:

You were made fully aware that you had 12 months to complete the courses and take the exams. This fact is stated explicitly on our marketing material, website, terms and conditions, and email communications to you. Again, there were no surprises.

You could have purchased only the courses you wanted to complete and take the exams for. Instead, you chose to enrol on a course that you now feel was unsuitable for your skill level. We would have been happy to advise you on your exact requirements, had you reached out to us prior to enrolling.

The course you enrolled on cost £889, not £1,000. Of this, £696 covers exam fees. Again, this can be verified on CompTIA's own website: https://www.comptia.org/testing/exam-vouchers/exam-prices.

In closing, we feel it's very unfortunate that you believe your experience with Hudson has not met your expectations. For the benefit of our readers, we have worked tirelessly with you to give you want, often making exceptions to our own best practices and policies, as well as purchasing additional resources for you at our own expense.

We have hundreds of 5 star reviews here on Trustpilot which reflect the stellar customer service we offer our students, and the quality learning resources we provide.

If you would like to reach out to us, we will endeavour to help you as best we can.

Sincerely,

Support Team
support@hudsoncourses.com
Tel. 020 3095 046824/7 Call Center: 0800 044 5878
International. +44 20 3095 0468
www.hudsoncourses.com