Portsmouth University - Attempting to get a Refund

http://www.up-pompey.co.uk

http://victorianvalues.sub.cc

I would interested to hear from anyone with more knowledge of the Bonnie Tall and John Pickering affair - specifically with opinions as to whether the problems I am experiencing stem from the same culture, e.g. same attitudes being held by the same members of Council maybe, and so on.

I was working for a research degree at Portsmouth, which was killed stone-dead when certain computer facilities were permanently disabled - . This is a link to a paper I delivered in July 2001. A General overview can be found here This might indicate that the reason for my leaving was not due to "concerns" about low academic standards. Further mention of my work can be found here.

I requested the refund of my fees (THREE THOUSAND POUNDS) in November 2002. This was sent by recorded delivery, as shown here.

This is a later response from a certain Mike Bateman telling me that I could not get a refund because I had not requested such a refund within 20 days of the end of August 2003 (note the date on the recorded delivery slip above).

pdf version of above letter

This is a further letter from a certain Sally Hartley which refers to the previous letter from Bateman and states that all 'discussion' is being shut down - they will not respond to any further correspondence on the matter.

pdf version of above letter

Here are details of the governors of Portsmouth Polyrtechnic

This is not just a case of getting my £ 3,000 back, it also affects

1. My search for an alternative course. The default consideration from a third party would be that I ceased at Portsmouth because I was not achieving high enough standards.

2. Likewise for employment. I have not worked full-time since leaving Portsmouth (apart from one week working as a lecturer at an Open University Summer School) , and unless I get my money back (and am thus able to show that the University was at fault) I don't think I ever will. Something they could do, with longer term benefits for me, would be to send me something in writing stating that they have disabled the said computer facilities.

I would suggest that their reliance on mediaeval regulations is at least partly fuelled by a possible belief that

• this might open the door to larger compensation payments. Their actions have certainly cost me a hell of a lot more then three thousand pounds.

• certain external quality assessments might suffer

I have been trying a different tack also but the University have just been ignoring me - if there is anyone out there with legal knowledge perhaps you can give me some advice. The situation is this : the University never actually gave me a contract for my research project - do they therefore have the right to extract money from me? (I have actually copies of a contract on mercantile.html but they have not signed it-and they never actually kept to the terms of this particular contract; I have tried without success to find out whether a signed version of this contract is in existence). my email

This is a copy of a letter from the Student's Union expressing their whole-hearted support for natural justice (a bit of satire there!).

For the benefit of any non-British people reading this, in this country when you want to claim a refund (from anyone but a University) you don't have to go through a formal complaints procedure. The insistence on going through a formal complaints procedure for a situation like this is a nice little trap that Universities have to catch out those unversed in their byzantine procedures (which I should think covers just about everyone!).

You can read about British consumer procedures and law here at Consumer Direct. This details the civilized methods in force for complaining, as laid down by British law. It is Universities' immunity from the law of the land, these civilized procedures, that I am complaining about. (My claim for a refund followed the same procedure as laid down in the Consumer Direct website).

Please note that when I send in my original request in 2002, they did not write back and tell me to follow the 'correct' procedure. They received my letter (it was sent recorded so that is provable) and then they just ignored it. On the odd occasion in the past when I followed the incorrect procedure when applying for something etc., the said organization has always written back and told me to follow the 'correct' procedure (I remember one classic occasion when Cardiff City Council told me that my application for Housing Benefit was on the wrong form. The 'correct' form turned out to be just one of a different color. But they most certainly did not just ignore my initial application and then refuse my application because it was submitted in the 'wrong' way.)

I can't help but think of the 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' and the contempt in which the Vogons held Earthlings because the plans for the Intergalactic Highway had been on display for ages on Alpha Centauri. Just as earthlings would have had no idea that the plans were on display in a distant star system, how would I know that requests for my money back from Portsmouth Polytechnic do not follow the normal accepted procedure but need to be carried out through some official internal complaints procedure, when I had already left and was not now 'internal' but 'external'? .

see also Ombudsman

This is a statement of what I call the Con Merchant's Charter which Portsmouth University are certainly taking full advantage of.