Over the past year we have received some negative press in the form of Internet Forum sites and BBC Watchdog.
We launched a campaign at the beginning of 2008 to see if we could work with a number of the Internet Forums and Administrators to resolve any genuine issues that any of our students had. After a thorough investigation a number of Internet Forums found that the majority of the comments that were being made were untrue and defamatory to our business. The Administrators began to examine the credibility of all the allegations.
We are now pleased to say that after they approached a number of websites to investigate the validity of the comments, they found that many of the comments were totally false and were not even placed by people who were our students. Up to date we have successfully prosecuted several companies and individuals.
You will see from the following information that a number of websites removed unfounded and defamatory content, resulting in forum threads being closed down in their entirety. We now know that you cannot possibly believe everything you read on the Internet.
Chronology of online forum postings that were challenged and/or removed.
Out of 17 cases where Internet Forum Threads have been closed down or edited
12 out of 17 were based on deception and lies
3 out of 17 were unfounded comments
2 out of 17 contained defamatory content
1. Consumer Action Group - "Spicey v Skillstrain"
Started May 2008 - Closed January 2009 due to deception.
2. Consumer Action Group - CANCELMY COURSES SKILLSTRAIN PLZ
Started December 2007 - Closed August 2008 due to false claims and after a thorough investigation we found that the "student" was not listed on our records.
3. Consumer Action Group - SKILLSTRAIN
Started January 2008 - Closed August 2008 due to deception
4. Money Savings Expert
Started Spring 2008 - Closed September 2008 due to unfounded comments
5. SkillsTrain 1258
Negative posting was made about SkillsTrain which was subsequently removed.
6. BensCamera.com
Started July 2007 - Closed August 2008 due to false claims and later discovered that this was a non-existing student.
7. Take Legal Advice
Started March 2007 - Closed August 2008 due to false claims and non existing students
8. Facebook - SkillsTrain "Jump on the SkillsTrain scam"
Started May 2008 - Closed September 2008 due to defamatory content by students which were non-existent
9. MONEY SAVINGS EXPERT - SkillsTrain
Started January 2008 - Closed October 2008 due to lack of evidence to support claims
10. Facebook group 2
Started October 2008 - removed by Facebook soon after
11. Digital Trends
Started September 2006 - Present. We have attempted to work with the forum editor to have defamatory content removed from this group but they are a USA based website and do not comply with UK law. Comments have been removed when we have proved that some of the comments are not made by our students.
12. SkillsTrain 1223
Negative posting was made about SkillsTrain which was subsequently removed.
13. SkillsTrain, "The Dark Side"
This Internet post was edited and we later found that it was linked to a competitor.
14. Watchdog
BBC programme aired October 2008. The Administrators of the websites - Forums have since proved that the cases featured on the programme to be based on lies and deception.
15. SkillsTrain 2341
Negative posting was made about SkillsTrain which was subsequently removed.
16. ST Exposed2 - YouTube
28th December 2009, a YouTube channel was launched containing an edited video. By 30th December YouTube had removed the channel. YouTube stated: Following your defamation complaint, the content in question has been removed. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance. Sincerely, Anna, YouTube LLC.
17. Facebook User Suspended
20th May 2009, a Facebook user was allowed to return to Facebook after a period of suspension for creating defamatory groups - the user was allowed to return minus the lying SkillsTrain groups.t
18. Consumer Action Group - Skillstrain
Started July 2007 - Closed August 2008 after a thorough investigation proving the comments to be unfounded and libellous claims.
19. Unfounded Posts
Unfounded comments, withdrawn.
20. Consumer Action Group - Cancel my Course
Started December 2007 - Closed August 2008 due to malicious and unfounded comments
21. Inaccurate Comments
Inaccurate posts, withdrawn.
22. "SKILLSTRAIN SCHEIDEGGER - TIME FOR YOU TO FIGHT BACK"
Started September 2007 - Closed September 2008 in it's entirety due to unfounded comments
23. ST Exposed - YouTube
A channel called ST Exposed launched 21st December 2009 on YouTube. It was removed 5 days later. The video made untrue claims of Trading Standard's involvement with SkillsTrain and defamatory comments.
24. Spgurushankar - YouTube
On 23rd March 2010 a new channel was launched on YouTube with the URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR0Qer. The channel was operated by spgurushankar. 48 hours later the defamatory content was removed by YouTube: Following your defamation complaint, the content in question has been removed. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance. Sincerely, The YouTube Team
25. PC Advisor - forum SkillsTrain ? information needed please
Started October 2007 - Present. This forum has been greatly edited due to defamatory comments.
26. Defamatory Posts
Posts removed.
27. Money Stealing Scum - Facebook
20th May 2009. A Facebook group was started called SkillsTrain and Scheidegger are money stealing scum. This group was closed by Facebook.
28. Scheidegger - Facebook
Also a Facebook page called Scheidegger which suggested it was connected to a scam was also closed by Facebook. The page contained defamatory comments.
29. Topic Contained Defamatory Posts
Topic closed and defamatory posts removed.
30. SkillsTrain - Facebook
In February 2009, A Facebook page called Shut down SkillsTrain! They are robbing B******S! was closed by Facebook.
31. Ciao - Review site
Started 2005 - August 2008. One student who had posted defamatory comments on this review site apologised to the company and removed any defamatory comments.
