Sales letters slipped in schoolbags cost parents THOUSANDS
Concern over DVD firm which uses headteachers to target customers
A DVD-based tuition firm is targeting parents through their children’s schoolbags – which could leave them locked into a three-year agreement costing nearly £3,000 per child.
The Student Support Centre (SSC), which says the average cost of its DVDs is £2,840 per household, offers schools free educational material such as calculators in return for putting letters in children’s bags advertising its services.
Once the parents sign up for the DVDs – which present lessons in English and Maths along with a workbook that can be marked – they have just two weeks to cancel before being forced to continue paying for three years.
The letters use the headteacher’s signature, meaning parents believe they are recommended. The letters say the service is not ‘actively endorsed’ but ‘may be of interest to you and of benefit to your children’.
More than 18,000 schools have distributed these letters for SSC, receiving a ‘donation’ of school equipment worth more than £100 and an extra ‘bonus’ depending on how many parents hand over personal details.
Some letters from the firm, seen by The Mail on Sunday, even urge headteachers to talk about the service in assembly. Once parents return the slips to the school they are contacted by SSC salesmen who make appointments to visit their homes, give children a ‘test’, then sign them up to a three-year contract that they cannot cancel after the statutory 14day cooling-off period.
Carel Buxton, head of Redbridge Primary School in North-East London, which sent letters to parents (see right), says she is ‘sorry if any parent was confused’ adding: ‘We will continue to ensure parents are aware no products and services sent on by the school are an endorsement.
‘Occasionally, the school passes on information to parents about activities or services that it thinks may be of interest to them. On this one occasion, this included the Student Support Centre. We do not endorse these products or services, and only act to pass on relevant information.
‘We have not received any complaints about this firm. However, we have not sent on any information from the company this year, as interest from parents was low.’
Siobhan Freegard, founder of parents’ website Netmums, describes the SSC tactics as ‘disgusting’. ‘Schools shouldn’t be promoting a study system which could push families into hardship,’ she says. ‘With the jobs situation as it is, family finances are precarious and can change at any time. Families who can’t afford a tutor would be better off teaming up with others locally and tutoring kids in a small group. Anyone who is struggling to cancel a contract should speak to Citizens Advice, their local Trading Standards and even contact their MP.’
Justine Roberts, co-founder of fel- low parenting website Mumsnet, says: ‘Our users aren’t keen on firms advertising to parents via schoolbags. Letters on school headed paper with the headteacher’s signature send out a tacit endorsement.’
Russell Hobby, head of the National Association of Headteachers, advises schools not to distribute SSC flyers, though he says many schools have done so ‘quite innocently’.
‘Some organisations can be unexpectedly dogged when securing new business,’ he adds. ‘Our advice is – unless you are entirely confident of the reputation, quality and usefulness of the service, and fully aware of the company’s sales tactics, prices and contractual agreements – don’t act as a conduit between them and pupils’ families by distributing sales materials on their behalf.’ The SSC’s letters to heads reveal that the firm donates to schools on a sliding scale, depending on the number of parents who return the slips. If more than half of the parents in a school fill in their personal details, whether or not they express an interest, the school receives a ‘100 per cent bonus’.
The SSC said: ‘In common with many companies, we show schools our products. Some then choose to let parents know about what we offer, and as part of this process we donate much-needed educational learning tools to the schools that do so.’