Agree with Entropy. They send salespeople round and they are in your house for a long time. My husband was convinced that this was what he wanted to do and was keen to sign up. However, after the first practical week he realised it really wasn't for him and we had to decide whether to continue spending money on weeks away at these courses (you need around £200 per week once you factor in petrol, B&B, food) or to call it quits. He has not had one phone call to see what is going on or to ask if he is having difficulties. He rang them after a few months to see what we could do about payments and this is the kicker to beware of. When you sign up they talk of no refunds if you pull out. Fair enough. What you need to be aware of is that you enter into a credit agreement with them so you basically have 0%APR credit with them, but credit nonetheless. We paid £3000 up front and £3000 on 'credit' which is just a monthly payment. You cannot stop paying this without mucking up your credit. It's not like just stopping a STO. We missed one payment and got a letter threatening us with legal action on the basis that we were reneging on a credit agreement, blah blah blah. We have paid £6000 for bag of shoddy tools and a book. Unless you really know this is something you want to do and have spare money and a lot of spare time for the weeks away do not do this course!! It is a business first and foremost to NCS and once they have your money, they don't care. The people who come to your house are SALESMEN, not plumbing or career experts, and frankly want to see the colour of your money.
