Friday, October 06, 2006

FORKLIFT LICENCING- SHOP AROUND!

We recommned you shop around before booking into your next training course. Not just referring to price here, ask about service ratios.

A common complaint that we hear from our clients is when they are booking into a course that they previously attempted elsewhere (in particular Forklift Licencing) is that they were bundled into a class with 12 other students, who all had to share the ONE trainer and ONE forklift.

The students that shared this information with us told us the following:

1. It was a three day training course
2. The first day consisted of theory training (watching videos, listing to the trainer)
3. The second day they all trained on the forklift, with one forklift, between 12 people, they got approx 30 minutes of driving time, and stood around watching the other guys most of the time
4. On the third day, they did their tests. After they each did thier tests, they went home.
5. Out of the twelve students, 6 failed - thats 50% of the class!!

Obviously, to the six people that failed, it was not only a waste of time, but a huge waste of money. (I'm not going to mention how much they paid for this, but I am going to say that I think it was way too much in the first place)

To those looking at booking in for a forklift licence, a piece of advice about what to ask before handing over your hard earned is:

1. Ask how many forklifts they have
2. Ask how many forklift types they have
3. Ask how many other students are going to be in the class, and what their class maximum is
4. Ask how many trainers their will be taking the course

This will give you pretty good guide to the type of company they are and what you are actually going to get in return for your money.

To show that we practice what we preach, in response to the same questions:

1. Ask how many forklifts they have. Answer: At least 3 at each of our sites
2. Ask how many types of forklifts they have. Answer: At least two types at each site
3. Ask how many other students are going to be in the same class... Answer: A Maximum of 8 students between 3 forklifts
4. Ask how many trainers will be taking the course. Answer: A maximun of 1 trainer per 4 students, or 2 trainers in a full class of 8 students.

Hope that this clears things up for you all, and gives you somthing else to think and ask about before booking in for your courses.