DaveIW

And previously working for Capita I have met them on the odd occasion; jolly good people if I may say so; "HELLO You lot!!" You're right, if its not fit for purpose change; (thats why I left), we've also tried talking to them about changing support levels since september 09, but met with negativity and arrogance. We've even looked into getting support from another local authority since our own is not allowed to have a support service since selling out. Personally I think they should improve on their customer service. But any who; I was answering a previous question about "What Silver Service", and so answered the question as McCoy is on the Island too (who mentioned it in the first place). Tally ho for now

Capita offer 3 levels of support for the Isle of Wight region since buying up the LA Support (2007) BRONZE SILVER PREMIUM To be honest, there not worth the paper they are written on; the service you get is sporadic at best; you cant get a visit to save your life... okay, that might be overkill, but local visits are limited now that its down to 1 local chap to visit instead of the previous 2 (cus I left), and he's busy almost all of the time (busy as in sold and yes you guested it, charged, on top of the service you're on), it may sound cheap to start with, but you pay for almost every visit (and thats not cheap either). Want to change level to get the cheaper deal; they'll charge you £150 for the pleasure - even with notice since September 2009!

I’m utterly disgusted the way that our school are being treated regarding a downgrade in support service; since September 2009 our school has queried the pro’s and con’s of downgrading and even going to single site status; at every point we have been met with difficulty in obtaining accurate information from the same source. We eventually got our single site costing and a continuation contract to sign both in January 2010. We had to re-request the contract for a downgraded service as they sent out the wrong information and they want to charge us £150 to downgrade. (Even though our original request was more than 90 days before renewal). When querying the £150 administration cost, I was told in no uncertain terms that they are rolling contracts so we will charge you !(even through we pay annually like most schools). The way we see it; our existing support contract comes to an end, we will renew at a lower level, and they want to charge us; its like taxing your car for the year and then being forced to pay to SORN it even though you’ll re-tax it the next day. There is no doubt an administration process has to take place, but £150!!!! That’s a chunk of training!! Talk about a rip-off!! If we’re going to be charged stupid money and treated like this we might as well seek our support from a local authority (not bought out by Capita), and not buy any services like parents gateway, dinner money that we hoped to introduce early this year because you’ll probably want to rip us off there too; think again CAPITA; treat your customers with a lack of respect and we’ll find other if not better solutions for our needs.