ABSA No Refund policy
I do NOT work for ABSA, and if you have not eyet twigged that my 'handle' here i very similar to my avatar on the ABSA forum, a quick look at some of my 'buzzook' posts on that forum should soon convince you that I am no stooge of ABSAs!!
I am as furious as you that ABSA did not act more quickly to limit the number of assessors able to be trained. I am even MORE furious that they have thus enabled the image of "qualified assessor" to become sullied by association with the failed Green Loans program.
As a Cert IV qualified building industry trained assessor, I was horrified when the gates were opened to allow untrained people from wherever into the fledgling assessment industry.
This failure I also lay at ABSAs door, but I recognise their timidity in the face of bureacratic inertia was as much for self survival as anything else. At least they tried and their is documentary evidence to prove it.
My heart goes out to those who paid for traiing believing they were "buying a job" or, as some trainers painted, "buying a license to print money".
Human nature being what it is, far too many were hyped into believing the outrageous claimes of trainers who, clearly, had a vested interest in saying what they did.
My bullshit detector is a bit more developed than most people's, and I did the sums and reasoned that the program MIGHT run for six months based on what information was publicly available in September 2009, when I did my course.
But I didn't end up applying for my accreditation immediately (for a whole bunch of reasons I won't go into) so it wasn't till I saw a post on THIS forum stating that the accreditations would cease on 24th December that I pulled my finger out and applied.
I got my application in well before the 21st December, but still didn't receifve my accreditation until mid-January (due to ABSA being swamped) and didn't get my contract from DEWHA until late January.
So, yes, I was one of the 'lucky ones' - those who did their homework, were not duped by false claims, and did what was required when it was required.
But for the record - ABSA has recently published, in a number of different places, their stated position that they WILL refund the Membership and Accreditation fees of anyone who wants to get out, who hasn't previously been Contracted by DEWHA or worked as an assessor on the scheme.
They have also published, in a number of places, their belief that the govt should compensate ALL "would-be assessors" who signed on and shelled out bucks but who have little hope of ever getting a ROI.
Try the Australian Senate website (I actually did this and the link isn't working, but I checked and it's available on the HSAS forum under FAQ).
So to imply that ABSA has a "No Refund Policy" as your handle appears to do is clearly in error.
Posted Wednesday 28 Apr 2010 @ 9:11:52 am from IP
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