Complaint re. ITTP Prague

[Marin Poljak]

To those wishing to study a TEFL course in Prague, I strongly insist that you very, very carefully research ITTP Prague, run by Neville Thomas. I was not as vigilant as I should have been, and am currently trying to recuperate around $1200 that was taken from me after a course was cancelled, apartment taken away and refund denied.
I wish I had more closely looked at what ITTP has been accused of in the past, but I didn’t, and am now having a really negative experience dealing with their unethical practices and unprofessionalism in relation to my case.
I paid a course deposit and money for an apartment, thinking I will be staying there from Nov-Dec as I study. However, my course was suddenly cancelled, and I was told I can do a January course (I since have reservations of its existence). That was very unsuitable for me, and would require overstaying my Schengen Tourist Visa, causing a major inconvenience. Secondly, the alternative option would cause a financial hit as it would mean an extra 2 months of no work. After I asked for a refund I was denied. I pursued it, and Neville Thomas became increasingly difficult to deal with and stubborn as he refused to refund money after taking away a service his company advertised. I also had a major problem as to why my accommodation could not be refunded.
I wondered why, when I get to Prague, I could not stay in the apartment I paid for. He said the accommodation is just for students, but if there is no course, then there are no students, so why couldn’t I stay in the apartment? I don’t know. And if there end up being online students living there, then surely they will have to pay, so my money can be returned, right?
I was then told that I will have to wait 8 weeks as they would start a refund application process. This seemed more like an extensive ploy in time wasting and defusing things so I would go away. In that time I posted a review on their Facebook page where I described my negative experiences with ITTP. I later found this page was taken down.
That is when things took a turn for the worse, as I was threatened with legal action by their solicitor and advised to get one myself and get ready for a potentially expensive legal confrontation. I truly believe this was a strategy to intimidate me into silence. But they accused me of being offensive and threatening. Furthermore, the ‘refund application process’ all of a sudden took a few days instead of the 8 weeks, and I got denied. Surprise, surprise.
I know what I did was merely post my opinion (as you tend to do on a review) and I used no offensive language, nor did I defame them. However, this experience just went to show the depths they are prepared to go to in order to silence people. All I wanted (and still want) is my money back for a service and apartment that was not provided. Simple. However, it has blown up into this unnecessary confrontation.
I have also contacted others who are currently experiencing the same thing, so this is by no means an isolated incident. So I would recommend to people to think carefully about who they choose to do a course with. If you wish to speak to me/verify who I am/whatever, I can be contacted on marinpoljak1986@gmail.com and we can Skype/phone conversation about what happened. Thanks and be well.
Marin Poljak

[Susan]

Did you keep the name of the solicitor who threatened you with legal action? I'd do some sort of research into him and my guess is he doesn't exist. I think it's bluster.

[Marin Poljak]

Yeah it is someone who works for the company. Could be an actual solicitor or the owner himself. Tough to say, but yeah, I don't think there is any legitimacy in it.

[DTiber]

I realise this post is coming a couple years late, but how exactly did the 'solicitor' contact you? If they contacted you by email then you know it's b.s. A true solicitor would contact you by post and on law firm letterhead stationery.

I hope you've reached a resolution to this matter. I've heard all about how the owner of this school has threatened website owners with harrassment and legal action, everything from the pathetic to the outrageous. Some website owners have even caved in to his bluster. I have nothing but utter contempt for them. They're probably the kind of people who gave the schoolyard bully their lunch money when they were kids, just to appease him, rather than standing firm and facing him down. Thanks to them, people like you got conned when they could have stopped this guy in his tracks.

I'm sorry that you had this experience. This guy and his school have had numerous complaints against them over the years and I'm surprised he's still in operation considering the crap he has pulled on who knows how many people.

[E-insider]

Looked like ITTP TEFL and teflonlinereviews.com were his past scam.

reddit.com/r/TEFL/comments/1s23wy/teflonlinereviewscom_get_the_trusted_scoop_on/

His current scam is:

"Trusted" TEFL reviews and TEFL online pro.

Some of his names are:

Paul Murphy from TEFL online pro=Neville
Mia Williams from Trusted TEFL reviews=Neville

Now is Neville David Thomas his real name???

Someone got pictures on Facebook of Neville mentioning both trusted tefl reviews and tefl online pro.

And he has many more fake identities on his own sites and others.

He uses the review site to write fake reviews on his competitors and promote TEFL online pro with reviews and some fake "teacher's choice award". TEFL online pro scam


It all looks very similar to CFTU, china scam patrol and all those sites by Bruce Gorcya or whoever writes that stuff that uses this forum too. Fake stuff.

[TheNightBeak]

I worked for him for a short while but got out. PM if you want any more info.

And there's more here:

https://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=105511