Personal Blogs

I am getting a bit pissed off with the OU. 

I started my degree course in 2010 with a 4-5 year plan to a degree.  I had modules and timescales mapped out plus alternatives if my circumstances changed.  Within the first 6 months this course had become focussed on one route.  I knew exactly what I was going to do and when I was going to do it.

Then the OU started "restructuring"

I watched as modules I had planned to do were removed from my degree pathway.  I tried to circumvent this by taking alternative modules and taking some out of sequence, simply so I could take them before they were discontinued.  I took B322 even though it was irrelevant and awful and I gained nothing from it academically. I've even been forced to add another year to my study plans. Through all this the OU kept silent about it's future plans while all the time screwing with my degree plans.  Attempts at getting any straight answers out of their helpline were futile.  Nobody knew (or was letting on) what was going to happen.

At the start of the month I hit a dead end.

I need more points at level 3 but there are now no more modules relevant to my original plans or even any alternative options I considered.

So where am I left now?

I've spent in excess of £4,000, invested countless hours over 3 years of my life and for what?

I'm now not in a positon to achieve the qualification in the form I originally started.  The OU has cut modules at 12 months notice.  Not much use when your study plans stretch over 5 years.  I've tried to get some sense out of the student advisors.  My first call got me promise that I would be "contacted with some solid information".  That was 12 days ago and nobody's got in touch.  I called 30 minutes ago and after giving all my details again was transferred to somebody's answering machine.  I called again, really annoyed by know, and was asked for a contact number.  Then I was told that someone would ring me "soon".  So I'll sit here and wait to see if I'm going to get any info. I'm not holding my breath but I'm supposed to be starting another module in 10 days.  If I can't get my degree I'm not wasting my time on T211.  I'll pull out and get my money back before the course starts.  I wonder if that's why they're delaying.

I'm so irritated by all this that I took the liberty of getting some legal advice about their actions.  It seems that, as the OU made claims that these courses would be available for the duration of my degree, and that I could take them as part of my pathway, then they are contractually obliged to provide them.  Furthermore, by taking payment for courses initially, with the proviso that I would get the modules I wanted, and then cancelling these modules, the OU is de facto taking money under false pretences, also known as fraud, a criminal offence.

Personally I'm getting rather inclined to go down this legal route and drag the OU through the courts with all the great publicity that would attract.

Has anybody else had the same experience?  If you have, send me a message or comment and we can compare notes.