Acquire Learning facing ASQA scrutiny amid allegations of unethical behaviour

A TRAINING company advised by former AFL boss Andrew Demetriou has been accused of targeting vulnerable people.

Former AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou joined Acquire Learning as executive chairman in July amid rumours of a looming share market float.

THE national regulator says it is stepping in to take a closer look at a Melbourne-based vocational training organisation advised by former AFL boss Andrew Demetriou, amid allegations of unethical conduct.

Acquire Learning Pty Ltd, an umbrella organisation which markets courses from a range of vocational training providers, has previously been criticised for its aggressive sales techniques.

The rapidly growing company, which was founded by Mr Demetriou’s nephew, Tim Demetriou, along with managing director John Wall and chief executive Jesse Sahely, is rumoured to be preparing for a share market float worth up to $700 million.

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Mr Demetriou joined as executive chairman in July, shortly after financial director Peter Lewis. Mr Lewis led the federal government’s recent efficiency review into the ABC and SBS and was previously group chief financial officer of Seven West Media.

Also on the advisory board is Nicole Sheffield, CEO of News Corp subsidiary NewsLifeMedia, publisher of news.com.au.

It is one of a crop of new vocational education players whose business model is being boosted by the growing availability of government subsidies and HECS-style loans — now called VET FEE-HELP — for students of private colleges.

Consumer advocates have voiced concerns that many students who do not understand the workings of government subsidies are being signed up for expensive courses — often several times more expensive than equivalent TAFE qualifications — with no guarantee of future employment.

Users of popular online forum Whirlpool say they have been cold-called by Acquire Learning salespeople, who claim the jobseeker’s details were found through employment websites such as Seek.

In an unusual move, Seek has now publicly spoken out, accusing third parties of posting fake job listings on its platform in order to farm resumes to build leads for Acquire Learning’s database.

Seek’s chief legal counsel, Derek Miller, told news.com.au there had been at least two and possibly more cases where Seek’s compliance team had banned advertisers from using its site.

“We have in the past blocked advertisers we have suspected of passing information to this provider, or to organisations we suspect may have been associated with them,” Mr Miller said.

“It is an activity we have seen and we take a very dim view of it. We remove the ads and shut the accounts down. We have had conversations with Acquire about this, and they denied taking this sort of action.”

Mr Miller said Seek had received numerous complaints from candidates who had been contacted. “Anyone who is making claims that they have somehow sourced candidate information from us is just wrong and we can’t deny it in any stronger terms,” he said.

“We do not, have never, nor have any intention to ever, pass information about our candidates to a third party. We actively encourage any candidates who have applied for a job which they then find out might have been a fishing scheme to inform us so we can take action.”

Pedro Banales, 29, claims he was contacted by an Acquire Learning salesperson in January this year after applying for a number of jobs through Seek. He was working as a fitter and turner at the time and wanted to transition into an office job.

“They called me up and said, ‘We see you’ve been applying for different jobs — are you looking for some qualifications to help you?’”

He said he signed up for a Diploma of Business through Careers Australia but decided to pull out, claiming there was poor support and technical issues with the online learning platform.

After sending an email requesting to be unenrolled, he didn’t think any more about it until two months ago when he received a letter from the government with his VET FEE-HELP balance of $8000.

While he does not have to pay the fee until his income reaches the threshold, he wants it struck off. As someone with no previous experience dealing with government education subsidies, Mr Banales claims the process — including the census date — wasn’t properly explained to him.

“It’s not fair to leave somebody with an $8000 debt for a service they didn’t receive,” he said. “There should be a privacy law or something so they can’t contact people like this.”

Asked whether Acquire Learning used Seek or other job websites in this manner, Mr Wall told news.com.au: “Categorically we do not. That’s just not true.”

He said Mr Banales might have applied for a job through Acquire Careers, which advertises jobs on behalf of SMEs as part of an “end-to-end process”. “If for any reason he hasn’t been successful, we might call him.”

Asked how Acquire Learning sources jobseekers’ contact information for its outbound marketing, Mr Wall said there were a “whole bunch of ways”. “There’s an element of IP in our business that is obviously confidential. What I can tell you is everything we do is completely compliant for our education providers,” he said.

“One of the problems in this market is dodgy brokers. We want to rid the market of dodgy brokers. We’ve even met with government and spoken with them about creating a voluntary code of conduct.”

The national regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), currently only has the power to regulate registered training organisations (RTOs), and not marketing companies or third parties the RTOs engage with.

However, a spokesman for the regulator says due to the number of complaints it has received regarding Acquire Learning, it has decided to look into the matter. “ASQA has received a number of calls about Acquire and its marketing practices in recent weeks,” he said.

“In response to the various allegations received, ASQA is writing to all RTOs that have a partnership with Acquire and requiring them to provide advice about how they are meeting the required standards regarding ethical and accurate marketing; providing information to prospective students; and providing support to students.”

He said changes coming into effect at the beginning of next year would give ASQA greater powers to police the burgeoning sector.

“New national standards being implemented in 2015 will provide greater clarity around marketing as well as clarifying the information that must be provided to prospective students and articulating the RTOs’ obligations in terms of the support it must provide to individual students,” he said.

“The new standards will also give ASQA more powers to monitor arrangements between RTOs and brokers or spruikers who work on their behalf.”

Mr Wall said he welcomed the scrutiny. “ASQA has to make sure everyone in the industry is doing the right thing. We know we’re compliant. We’re a new business in this space and ASQA has every right to keep an eye on us,” he said.

Separately, the Consumer Action Law Centre (CALC) in Melbourne says it has filed a complaint with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over Acquire Learning’s behaviour, particularly highlighting what it believes to be bogus reviews on the website ProductReview.com.au.

On that site, a number of positive reviews all appeared on the same date. One user asked: “Could there be a reason why almost everyone who has written a good review about this company all became members on Oct 11 2013???? Bit sus.”

In response, an Acquire Learning representative wrote: “Yes, there absolutely is a reason. It was an exciting and positive Friday afternoon speaking with some great people, whom we thanked for their support :-). Every day we have fantastic feedback in the form of testimonials, letters and phone calls here at Acquire Learning.”

The ACCC has been cracking down on bogus online reviews this year. It says businesses that do not remove reviews that they know to be fake risk breaching the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.

Mr Wall said the reviews were from genuine clients who had been asked by Acquire Learning’s sales team to share their stories, but that no inducements were offered.

“We were getting a couple of negative reviews here and there on that particular site, but we had lots of positive feedback coming in directly, so I said let’s have a day when we call these people and say, ‘Thanks for sending your email, but can you post online?’”

CALC chief executive Gerard Brody said the aggressive sales tactics of vocational education providers was an emerging issue the Centre had been following.

“This issue of unsolicited calls via telephone and even at your door where marketers try to place you in a private college course is pretty new and, I think, very concerning,” he said.

“The deregulation also means they can set their own fees, which means a large chunk of commission can go to the company to enrol you. Our concern is the potential for high-pressure sales. Entering a college course is not only a significant financial decision but a significant life decision.”

He said the CALC had received around 10 complaints in the last month, many from single mothers or the unemployed. “The poor regulation of private colleges facilitates these sorts of businesses that profit from vulnerable people who are trying to improve their life.

“They’re encouraged to get a diploma to improve their employment prospects, but what they’re signing up to is really an expensive course. We hope the ACCC will look closely at this — any form of sales which is potentially exploitative is within their responsibility, particularly when it affects vulnerable people.”

Last month, an investigation by the ABC revealed unregistered training providers in Sydney targeting low-income earners, non-native English speakers and even aged-care residents, signing them up to costly training qualifications and expensive government loans — sometimes without their knowledge.

It said the government had this year received 17 reports of students being signed up to debts without their knowledge, and 13 complaints about aggressive marketing by agents working for training colleges.

There is no allegation of any wrongdoing by Andrew Demetriou, Tim Demetriou, Mr Wall, Mr Sahely, Mr Lewis or Ms Sheffield personally.

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Originally published as Acquire Learning facing ASQA scrutiny amid allegations of unethical behaviour