Fake academic qualifications, exam packages... How chaotic the research market is
Certified Public Accountant Certificate, Architectural Engineer Certificate, Legal Professional Qualification Certificate... These vocational qualification certificates are the "entry tickets" for job seekers in many industries. Success rate.
In order to attract students, promises such as "enrolling on behalf of others" and "reserving classes" are flying all over the place. Some training institutions exaggerate facts, make false propaganda, and even provide illegal operations such as certificate affiliation and false work certificates.
The credential training market is chaotic...
case
Can I get a certified public accountant without taking classes?
Zhang Zhe (pseudonym) added a customer service WeChat after seeing the advertisement of "passed the exam, but full refund" posted by a training institution on the website.
The customer service said that if you participate in their training courses, you don't need to take classes, you only need to take the exam to get a certificate, and you can provide Zhang Zhe with a way to get a certificate.
Under the repeated recommendation of the staff of the training institution, Zhang Zhe signed up for the courses of building information management engineer and certified public accountant successively, and paid a total of 21,678 yuan of training fees in multiple batches.
However, the training institution did not actually provide training courses and did not issue corresponding certificates.
Zhang Zhe asked for a refund, but was repeatedly shied away by the training institution, so he sued the institution to the court.
In the lawsuit, the training institution said that the tuition fees were collected and transferred by Hong, the company's major shareholder, and the company was just an empty shell and no longer in operation, and the fees could not be refunded.
The court held that Zhang Zhe signed a training agreement with the training institution and paid the fee, but the training institution did not provide education and training as agreed in the contract, and his behavior constituted a breach of contract.
The training institution claimed that its shareholders collected tuition fees and transferred them away. This was an internal business problem of the company, and it could not be exempted from the responsibility of refunding fees accordingly.
Therefore, the court ordered the training institution to refund Zhang Zhe all tuition fees of 21,678 yuan.
Judge Tips
Regular vocational qualification examinations have strict standards. Candidates should prepare well for the examinations, plan their time well, and do not take chances.
In practice, some training institutions just vacate a company name, do not actually operate in the registered place, and have no funds in the account. Once a refund dispute arises, it is difficult to execute the money later.
Therefore, when consumers choose a training institution, they can check in advance through the enterprise credit information website or the company’s app, such as Qichacha and Tianyancha, to check whether the company has abnormal business operations, whether it is a dishonest person subject to execution, and whether there are a large number of judicial cases. A comprehensive understanding of the operating conditions and credits of training institutions to avoid training fees being collected by shell companies.
If you don't have enough education, you can fake it by paying money
In recent years, registered fire engineer is a more popular occupation.
The registration requirements for the first-level registered fire engineer qualification examination are to obtain a college degree or above in fire engineering, and must be engaged in fire safety technical work for a certain number of years.
Tongtong (pseudonym), who graduated from high school, wanted to apply for this certificate, but due to academic qualifications, he has been unable to do so.
A staff member of a training institution indicated to him that he could apply for the examination through the agency registration method.
In November 2019, Tongtong signed a registration agreement with the training institution and paid a training fee of 3,490 yuan for the "Customs Clearance Guarantee Class".
In May 2020, the staff of the training institution recommended the "packaged course" and promised to pass the exam in one year, otherwise a full refund, and Tongtong paid the training fee of 5,800 yuan again.
In August 2020, the personnel of the training institution asked Tongtong to pay a 2,000 yuan "auxiliary registration fee" on the grounds that their academic qualifications did not meet the application requirements. Later, a third-party company successfully registered Tongtong by forging university graduation certificates and false work certificates. .
In November of the same year, Tongtong successfully participated in the 2020 fire engineer examination, but failed to reach the qualified standard score. The training institution refunded the training fee of 5,800 yuan for the one-year package, but did not refund the training fee for the customs clearance guarantee class and the auxiliary registration fee.
Therefore, Tongtong sued the court to terminate the contract, and demanded three times the training fee and registration fee on the grounds of fraud, as well as compensation of 25,000 yuan for the loss caused by participating in the training and examination.
The court held that, based on Tongtong's educational level and work experience, he did not meet the qualifications to obtain a first-class registered fire engineer, and the purpose of the contract signed with the training institution could not be realized at all.
At the same time, as a person with full capacity for civil conduct, Tongtong did not exercise the general reasonable duty of care to know whether he was eligible for registration. If you know or should know that there is a problem with the registration qualification, you still have a fluke mentality, and the expenses paid for obtaining illegitimate benefits do not meet the relevant provisions of the law on the triple compensation for operators who defraud consumers. There is a fault in the loss.
In the end, the court ruled that the training institution refunded Tongtong’s training fee of 1,745 yuan and the auxiliary registration fee of 1,000 yuan, and did not support Tongtong’s claims of triple compensation and damages.
Judge Tips
In judicial practice, when both candidates and training institutions clearly know that candidates do not meet the requirements for applying for the exam, they still sign a training agreement and provide false certificates. Some courts believe that this behavior is malicious collusion, and disrupts the normal national examination management order by means of violations. and the public interest, the agreement shall be invalid, and the amount of the refunded fee shall be determined according to the degree of fault of both parties and the actual performance.
In addition, when issuing false academic certificates and work certificates, if it involves forging the seals of companies, enterprises, and institutions, it may also violate the criminal law and involve crimes.
Therefore, I would like to remind the majority of candidates that they must strictly abide by relevant laws and regulations, and apply in good faith according to their own actual situation.
Don't believe in the illegal promises of training institutions and take chances, let alone try the law and violate the bottom line of the law.
Failed to register on behalf of the institution and missed the exam
In December 2019, Xing Jie (pseudonym) saw a training advertisement for a health manager qualification examination published by a company on a website. Under the persuasion of customer service, she signed a training agreement through an electronic contract, which stipulated that "once the course starts, , the fee is non-refundable.”
After Xing Jie paid a training fee of 3,600 yuan, the training company opened an online learning platform for him.
In February 2020, Xing Jie paid the exam registration fee of 600 yuan, and the training company signed up on its behalf.
In July 2020, the "Announcement of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security" stated that "health managers" will withdraw from the National Vocational Qualification Catalog before December 31, 2020.
The training company failed to successfully register Xing Jie before the end of 2020. Xing Jie asked to terminate the contract, refund the exam fee and training fee, and compensate 800 yuan for economic losses.
After hearing, the court held that the training company failed to complete the obligation to register on behalf of the company in a timely manner, resulting in Xing Jie losing the opportunity to take the exam, and the health manager qualification exam has been withdrawn from the professional qualification catalog, and the government or its authorized units will no longer recognize and issue certificates.
In fact, the education and training contract between the two parties has no basis for continued performance. The training company has constituted a fundamental breach of contract. However, since the training institution has provided an online learning platform, a reasonable discount should be made for this part, so the court finally ruled that the training institution Xing Jie's entire examination fee of 600 yuan and 90% of the training fee of 3240 yuan will be refunded.
Judge Tips
On July 10, 2020, the "Announcement of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security" stipulates that by the end of 2020, 76 occupational qualifications will be withdrawn from the national occupational qualification catalogue, involving 185 occupations.
Before preparing to participate in the vocational qualification examination training, the majority of candidates must do their own "strategies", understand the latest examination policies through official channels, and do not trust the information provided by training institutions.
Accurately grasp the time and method of registration for the exam, and try to register by yourself. Even if the training institution signs up on your behalf, you should urge them in time. "Time Loss".
chaos
Exaggerating the fictitious "propaganda"
Shang Xingjia, president of Tianzhu Court of Beijing Shunyi Court, said that such disputes mostly involve health managers, psychological consultants, fire engineers and other industries that are currently hot. The gold content of the certificate and employment prospects are exaggerated by the "high pass rate" and "refundable" as gimmicks to exaggerate the strength of the institution's teachers and training effects.
In order to recruit students, some training institutions fabricated facts and falsely claimed that they were training institutions designated by the competent authorities in order to increase the authority of the institutions and deceive the students' trust.
In the research cases, the proportion of training institutions operating in different places is as high as 32%, and most of the consumers are foreign students. They can only obtain relevant information through the Internet and cannot inspect the hardware and software facilities of the training institutions on the spot.
This leaves opportunities for some "shell companies". In some cases, the shareholders of the training institutions collected high training fees from the trainees and ran away, making the actual enforcement difficult after the judgment came into effect, and the trainees' rights and interests could not be realized in time.
Cleverly set up the name "arbitrary charges"
Due to the pressure of industry competition, some training institutions set low-priced training fees to attract students to fall into the "low-price trap". Once the students pay the training fee of thousands of yuan, the training institution will then pay for teaching materials, application service fees, consulting fees, etc. In the name of the student, a second fee will be charged to the student.
However, the training institutions failed to provide the trainees with due training services after charging various and large "hidden" fees.
Many trainees reported that the training institutions provided poor quality of tutoring materials, compressed tutoring courses due to the epidemic, did not provide any substantive tutoring, continued to delay application for exams, did not actually provide application services and many other problems, and demanded refunds of relevant fees.
In the survey, the proportion of the cases in which the plaintiffs were college students who had recently graduated was as high as 72%. Due to the weak economic ability of this part of the population, some training institutions even induced students to sign consumer loans with their affiliated companies to obtain additional income.
Concealed conditions "chaos"
The main manifestations of the training institutions’ chaotic behavior in the survey are as follows: First, “chaotic promises”. The sales staff of the training institutions verbally promised to the trainees “but no refunds”, but they secretly set various standards in the standard contract or electronic contract terms they provided. There are restrictions on refunds, and the trainees are not reminded to pay attention to the relevant terms when signing the contract. In the event of a dispute in the future, the training institution will refuse to refund the fee on the grounds that the contract has an earlier agreement; The behavior of certificate affiliation violates the practice system and management regulations of the relevant industry, and still secretly promises to provide a certificate affiliation channel for students to attract students in order to collect high affiliation fees; the third is "arbitrary creation of certificates". Work experience is required. In order to recruit students, a few training institutions choose to take risks to help applicants forge relevant academic certificates and work certificates.
hint
Raise legal awareness and don't be speculative
Shangxingjia reminds that candidates who are preparing to apply for the vocational qualification certificate should understand the relevant laws and regulations and the conditions for applying for the vocational qualification examination through official authoritative channels, combine their actual situation, apply for the examination with integrity, actively prepare for the examination, and do not have a speculative mentality to fall into Traps set by training institutions; candidates should establish a rational awareness of rights protection, and when signing a training agreement, they should carefully read the contract terms, especially the content involving the specific rights and obligations of both parties and key terms such as refund conditions, and do not trust the verbal promises of business personnel. .
At the same time, in disputes involving research and training, the communication process between consumers and institutions mostly occurs in the customer service chat window on the web page, WeChat and other online instant messaging tools. Consumers should pay attention to keeping the communication records on the Internet; Remit money to individual staff members, and try to choose transfer and remittance instead of cash, which is conducive to keeping payment records.
If you need to use cash, you should pay attention to asking for a receipt with the company's seal and keep it properly so that you can take the initiative to defend your rights in the event of a dispute.
Obtain information through authoritative channels, do not be impulsive
According to Shang Xingjia, during the court's investigation, it was found that many plaintiffs were fresh graduates who were eager to apply for a job. Attracted by the exaggerated advertising and publicity of "Worry", under the indiscriminate sales of customer service, he began to raise money to buy training courses.
Fundamentally, the lack of convenient and authoritative access to information is the main reason for the success of false propaganda by training institutions.
He also said that institutions engaged in vocational qualification examination training should strictly enter the threshold, set certain standards and conditions in terms of operating training venues, teaching teachers and other hardware and software facilities, and establish a reasonable access mechanism to strengthen source prevention.
At the same time, relevant supervision departments should increase law enforcement supervision, focus on key issues and key institutions, and strictly investigate and deal with institutions that have more complaints and do have illegal acts, so as to ensure the healthy development of the research and training market.
Text / reporter Song Xia