A bad brand of branding school

<p> </p> <p>I’m writing this review hoping to help anyone interested in Vega to make a more informed decision, especially international students.</p> <p> </p> <p>What made me finally decide to publish this was Cape Town campus’ total disregard about solving a basic issue I had with my account statement.</p> <p> </p> <p>Over five weeks ago I sent an email to their finance person (Kelly Bridgens) inquiring about what amounted to an extra tuition instalment that I was wrongly being charged for. Having registered in 2015, my tuition contract reflected the 2015 tuition fee (3 modules, each for R13 600 or a total of R40 800), to which an additional discount was app**** for early registration, yet Vega was (and still is) charging me R43 956.</p> <p> </p> <p>A week went by before I had to follow up just to be told by their finance person they she had no evidence that I qualified for the 2015 fees. I was extremely confused as I couldn’t understand how she couldn’t just check my contract. When I went over the contract copy more carefully I realized that, although the tuition fees were clear, the amount I was signing for was not for the three modules I had registered for but for the total cost of the course (four modules). Obviously no one verified that it was correctly filled out as the approving signature by a Vega staff member was missing.</p> <p> </p> <p>I sent her a copy of my contract and also pointed out these errors in it and, again, her reply (sent on September 9) didn’t offer a solution to the initial issue with my account statement. I waited for another email yet two weeks went by without any response. I then followed up in September 23 and CC’d my academic navigator and the academic director to no avail. No one has since called or emailed me about this and my account statement is still showing the wrong amount.</p> <p> </p> <p>I’m an international student currently enrolled in the Advanced Diploma in Brand Innovation, a course where one of the topics is the importance of customer touchpoints, yet this incident, and many more which I’ll briefly address, shows Vega has little to no regard for its customers: the students.</p> <p> </p> <p>Other issues for which I would not recommend this course nor Vega school to anyone are:</p> <p> </p> <p>1. Terrible communication from my initial academic navigator (Beatrice Kampmann), who was supposed to assist me with my master’s application yet failed to inform me until it was far too late that it was likely the Master’s I had app**** for would start a semester late due to lack of students. Having made many other travel arrangements in preparation to the start date she’d originally indicated I was forced to choose a different course.</p> <p><br />2. Inadequate lecturer for our Research and Market Intelligence module, with whom the whole class was discontent. The issue was raised to the attention of the academic director and, even after no improvement was seen from the lecturer, he was allowed to continue imparting the module until the end the semester. We basically started from zero next semester yet weren’t compensated in any way for the waste of time and money.</p> <p><br />3. Very little added value from the rest of the lectures. A student can very easily miss every class and pass with distinction by merely studying at home, which defeats the purpose of a classroom course. Lectures consist mostly of personal discussions vaguely related to the subject at hand and lecturer’s reading Power Point presentations out loud for the class. Attending class has therefore become a deeply frustrating experience.</p> <p> </p> <p>According to Vega’s definition of a healthy brand, a healthy brand “Builds sustainable relationships by never taking more than it gives”. This is not a cheap course and after 9 months attending Vega it does feel like they have taken more than they have delivered. This school really needs to look at the promises it makes and understand they have been falling short.</p> <p> </p>