Hope

Hi f.. your right.. ive been miserable all day cos I know tomorrow ive got this interview working with children in a care home. I get annoyed with kids on the bus and i want to work with troubled ones as a my job?? Gee what was i thinking. All i did was email my Cv and they called me back within the hour.

I looked up the place on google maps and yup it looks like a care home to me.. its even got the care bus outside. Ive had all these forms to fill out and an application pack to fill out to take with me to the interview and ive waitied till an hour ago before i started to fill them in... filling them out with a heavy heart. I aint going am I .. am just not going... its not good for me.. knowing my luck theyd offer me the job if i went.. lol .. god forbid.. i will phone them now leave a message...

Must admit ive had a few thoughts of gambling today and its purely the anxiety of this care worker interview... i just wanted to block it out for as long as possible.. thanks for listening.. 38 days completed since i last gambled.

The deed is done.. phoned and left message.. i can sleep easy now 🙂

Into day 39 since my last gamble and gambling free it shall remain....

Well done S.A, you are doing fantastic with all you are having to deal with at present.

Keep up the good work my friend

Takecare

a tough few days s.a but your flying just now..keep it going mate we can do this :-).

End of day 39 since my last gamble. No gambling problems today.

All in all its felt like a good day though ive had my moments of panic over the whole job situation but they soon pass. Ive had a couple of calls from "recruitment consultant" type people.. I was set up for a telphone interview for a telemarketing position but then i thought no am not the sort of personality who can generate leads. Of course its all targets and you kinda need a persuasive sort of personality to do that.. and thats just not me.

Also had a call about business administration.. going to have a chat with someone tomorrow.. see if anything comes of that. I keep plugging away.

had a great run at club tonight.. the cool weather is really helping. I can run 8 minute miles for an hour now.. am coming on in leaps and bounds.. no injury problems touch wood. Am looking for perhaps 1 hour 45 for next half-marathon.. maybe just maybe.

Thanks for listening.. S.A

Hi!

Just to say don't give up. About the job situation I am looking to take a risk and go for a change.

I seem to have one of those personalities that is just walked over in the workplace. I try but people do not listen to my ideas even though I am on the front line so to speak lower down the scale...

I seem to get in that kind of mode and then get fed up with my job so I am also looking for new work. I really would like to leave this low paid job where people quite frankly take the P**s.

I seem to be one of those people that is quite easily made the scapegoat for other people. I am a sensitive type of guy and if I am not careful people just seem to use me to get what they want, ie knock me to someone else in order to get their way.

I think you are right SA to chose your path wisely. I think you said you were also in a low paid job with not much joy for some time. Trouble is I still have my debts to pay off. I am so glad people at work do not know quite how bad things are for me financially, as that would be just another thing to knock me for!!

What you do not want is to end up in the same cycle. Of course we all need money. But there are a lot of people who should be working and chose not to, or at least make employers get put off by then intentionally...

Christmas might be a a good time for a 'fill in' job if you can find one then try for a good one in the new year?!

I certainly have been a dogsboddy and made so because other people in the workplace are being lazy. They take a short cut as they creep round the manager and you end up working harder...

Hopefully I will find a new avenue next year after Christmas.

Awayout

Thanks for your support Awayout.. much appreciated.

Day 40 dawns gambling free.. and gambling free it shall remain... lets see what happens...

Hi SA

sorry if you are feeling stressed about career choices. I just worry when I see you applying for more soul destroying jobs. Only you can say what you can handle though. For me, even though I would go mad long-term, sitting on a checkout in a supermarket is better than an emotionally draining job. That might be your idea of hell though.

I hope you have a good day, I think you are a dude.

Take care,

f x

Hi S.A>

Just wanted to say thanks for your support on my diary recently. It is very much appreciated. 40 days is good going, I'm on about the same since my last slip up. I wish you all the luck in the job search and hope you can find something that suits you.

all the best

Dave

Thanks Dave and Freda...

.... am a bit stressed out at the moment.. though ive just done something positive for the long term i think. Ive signed up for a business administration course togther with support for finding a job.. its all legit.. and in the medium to long term should lead to a good job and a career for the second half of my working life. It felt like the right thing to do... I did this with my long term hat on.

However ive shelled out money for a deposit and signed a credit agreement.. they will be taking £75 out my bank account for the next year. My mum has agreed to pay the installments whilst i am unemployed. love ya mum.

I am nervous though.. this is something ive got to do now. Must admit to some thoughts of gambling.. withdrawing a bunch of money out the cash point and handing it over.. my gambling head said.. you could win the money back.. go on go on.. do it!!... but I said to my gambling head.. now go f*** off!! No gambling!!

Thanks for listening.. S.A

Am in bits.. ive been scamed.. I put teckworks into google and red the following...

Techworks UK is a company that tries to exploit the desperation of job-seekers to wrangle thousands of pounds in return for access to their online courses. I experienced poor access to the website, false promises about the time it would take me and the product I would receive, and above all else a very unprofessional response to my complaint. I feel that the way they lure people in is morally questionable, and particularly relevant to the current economic climate.

Here is my account of what happened:

While employed part-time, I decided to start looking for a full-time job. I uploaded my CV to a well-known recruitment website. Within a few days, to my delight, I received a phone call telling me that they had seen my CV on *****jobs.com and inviting me to an interview.

I turned up to the appointment in a suit and tie, ready to impress my interviewer. The first man who spoke to me talked about the IT training that Techworks offers, and the costs involved. Surprised that I was being asked to pay money at (what I thought was) a job interview, I expressed my concerns. They sold me the training on the basis that although having another job for half the week would slow my progress, it would only take me about one to three months to complete.

I told them that I couldn't really afford the money (it was about £1000), which prompted the first adviser to trade places with a “hard-sell” salesman. He responded that I could finance it through Hitachi Capital, interest-free for a year. By that time I would have such a lucrative job that the cost for the course would pale into insignificance. Since there was such a large discount (!) on the course, it would be silly to turn down this one-time offer, wouldn't it?

When the contract was laid out in front of me, I noticed that the price was now higher (£1395). “There is one module that is particularly tricky. Most people struggle with it and therefore we strongly recommend a class-based module”, the salesman remarked.

I must admit, silly as I was, the pressure got to me and I signed. If I had only known that you can get books that do the same job for ~£20, or a Learndirect course for £50 I may have been in a better position. Those are not the kind of preparations one makes for job interviews. I had just agreed to what I now feel is a rip-off.

The course itself is a bit like reading a book with really small pages. At times, you are quizzed on the material in the same way a book has questions with answers on another page. I learned a few things from it, although no more than a book could teach me (and books are far more pleasant to look at for long periods than a computer screen). On a later module, we are greeted by a photo of a lady standing next to a projector like a lecturer, and have to listen to an audio file of her reading a script, while diagrams pop up on the projector now and again. I started to wonder what my £1395 had bought me.

Another not-so-handy feature of the course is that you cannot always access it. Often the website was down, and there were occasions when I had only a short window of opportunity between work-days when I simply could not make any progress (I was sure to check other websites to make sure it wasn't my internet connection at fault!).

Six months had passed. I had heard nothing at all from Techworks, let alone anything about the class-based module I had paid extra money for. I was only just coming up to the first exam (the exam costs were not included in the high fee I had already agreed to pay, and there were seven exams to take!) It was taking far too long, and I felt that the Techworks advisers had misinformed me about how long I should expect it to take. I decided that it was time to complain. I phoned the number on the website, and was told that Customer Services would call me back. Later that day I received a call, telling me that they could not “entertain a refund”. I offered to stop now, and pay a proportion of the fee for what I had completed. “We can't entertain a refund”, repeated the helpful adviser. I asked when I would be starting the class-based module. “Our records show you did not sign up for a class-based module”. He followed up by saying that I could send in the contract if I wanted to prove it. All I had on my contract was “MCSE/MCSA”. I told him that I would write in with a complaint.

After speaking to the Citizen's Advice Bureau, I wrote a letter on 8th April to the address on the Terms and Conditions document they gave me:

Techworks Ltd.

145-157 St. John Street,

London,

EC1V 4PY

I sent it by recorded delivery, and a month later I got the letter back as the addressee had “gone away”. I called up immediately and they told me that they didn't accept letters to that address. I had to prompt for the correct one:

Triton Court,

14 Finsbury Square,

London,

EC2A 1BR

Almost a fortnight later I received an email from [email protected] by an unnamed person who dismissed my claims. The only positive thing they said was that they could offer the classes (I paid for) as a “gesture of goodwill”. As I had stopped using the course so as to not jeopardise my claim, and because I had lost trust and confidence in Techworks, this was not enough to pacify me. They did not reply for two weeks and fed up, I emailed them again, asking for a response to my latest email. A day later, the unnamed adviser wrote only:

“We have already provided answers to your questions, however you have deemed these unsatisfactory. Unfortunately we cannot provide any other alternative answers than we have already given.”

The fact that they take so long to reply and do so in such an unprofessional manner is, to my mind, a sure sign that Techworks is to be avoided. I will try every available path to get my money back. Hitachi Capital are investigating it, and have sent me two letters asking for my patience (reminding me how reputable companies deal with complaints). I would be very grateful for any advice, and I will post any updates. I hope that I have been unlucky with the individual advisers from Techworks, and perhaps it will turn out that the company will eventually handle my complaint with dignity and professionalism. Unless I post a positive final update on this site, I can only offer my sincere advice to everybody contacted by Techworks: Avoid.

Ive lost £300 in cash and signed a credit agreement... am gonna have these people chsing me for money for years

I feel so stupid

Ive just received an order confirmation for £2990 's ... phoned customer services no answer.

Am just devaasted.. i cant believe i fell for it. I cant beieve it

f*****g hell

no gambling