When you start tutoring don't be taken as a fool like I was
There is something terrifying about openly admitting that you were a fool.
Just a year or so into starting to tutor a company phoned me and promoted that they could provide me with a position on the first page of Google. He asked about the business, and I told him how we supported children with special learning needs, and he gushed and goo-ed and did a fantastic job of convincing me that he genuinely thought what we were doing was great. Because what we were doing was in such demand it was important to get the word out there so that we could support more children. In fact, bear with him, he wanted to ask his boss something… Yes, he’d spoken to his boss and because what we were doing was so beneficial, he could drop the price. He could offer us a position at the top of the first page of Google for just £400 for 6-months. Would I be interested? It could make such a huge difference to the business.
Being as naive as I was jumped at the opportunity. 6-months later the phone range. Because I hadn’t opted out of the contract, I now owed them, I can’t remember the exact amount, but thousands of pounds and it was due today.
I didn’t have that money.
He then announced that if I couldn’t pay it whilst he was on the phone they would send the bailiffs around this evening to retrieve goods to that value. They couldn’t do that, my youngest who was about 14 years old at the time would be home along for about ½ an hour, I couldn’t have them here whilst she was here by herself.
At the same time a close friend of my mum was terminally ill with cancer, and we were expecting the call at any time to say he had gone, so I also wanted to get this man off the phone so I could speak to my mum if she rang.
I had no idea what I should do. The man could clearly sense I was panicking and increased the pressure accordingly.
Eventually I suggested that I could pay him £50 today on my credit card, then pay the rest off in instalments over the coming months. He told me to give him the card details and to hang up and he would talk to his manager and see if he could get this authorised, though it might take some time to convince him. The man on the call said he would do what he could for me.
Thank you, relief…
A few minutes later, Barclaycard rang. Had I authorised a £50 payment to this company. Yes, I had authorised 1 £50 payment to them.
A few minutes later the company was back on the phone, he had managed to persuade his manager and we could go ahead with this. I don’t know why now but when I left for my lessons I was still in dread that the bailiffs were going to be coming round.
A few days later I had a letter from Barclays saying that I had gone over my spending limit and would be charged accordingly.
How?
It appeared that whilst I had been on the phone to them, they had taken multiple payments of £50 off the card until they had maxed it out. They had taken over £13,000. I phoned them up and because I had authorised the first payment, that had automatically authorised the other payments to them thereafter.
Long story short: I got the citizens advice involved and they were fantastic, when the man on the phone had been speaking, he had told me that part of what I was paying for was a new website. Because they had never followed through with creating the website they had breached the contract and I was entitled to a full refund.
It took over 18 months to get that money back. When I looked online afterwards there were numerous messages from people who had also been scammed.
Looking back now it seems ridiculous, but it seemed so genuine in the moment.
I hope I haven’t lost all credibility by telling you this story.
I recently wrote a book called: Become a Tutor. Build Confidence. Change lives. If you would like a free copy (no strings attached just a gift from me to you) drop me an email at info@clarajamestutoring.co.uk [info@clarajamestutoring.co.uk] or fill in the form below and I will happily drop a copy in the post for you if aims to answer many of the questions that I had when I first started out as a tutor.
Become a tutor - Free copy of my book [https://clarajamestutoring.co.uk/free-copy-of-become-a-tutor-book]
I wish you all the best on your journey into the world of tutoring.
