Broadcasters Training Network (BTN) & Tom Mansfield, learn-by-doing.com AND NOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THE BROADCASTERS TRAINING NETWORK (BTN) & ITS PRESIDENT, TOM MANSFIELD - Radio Broadcasting School: Broadcasters Training Network (BTN)/Tom Mansfield, learn-by-doing.com is a RIP OFF EDMONDS Washington

Radio Broadcasting Schools - Broadcasters Training Network is a RIPOFF!

If you're searching for radio broadcasting schools in the hope of starting your broadcasting career, STAY AWAY from the Broadcasters Training Network. They ripped me off and they will do the same to you. Here's what they did..

In October 2005 I paid the Broadcasters Training Network (BTN) $250 to look for a potential mentor for me in Boston MA. Following an interview that they set up for me, I was dubious about going ahead as the prospects didn't seem very encouraging, especially for me as a non-US resident or citizen.

At the time I was in America doing a course and there on a student visa, and I was not even sure that I was going to continue with my current course as I was considering changing to another course in a different state. However, I was encouraged to continue and persuaded to go ahead on the basis that the $1000 relocation fee would be waived.

I reluctantly parted with a further $4200 in November 2005 for the FULL IN-STATION TRAINING package, but was unable to commence training because I moved courses more than once, so I never got established anywhere. I then gave up the course altogether and had to return to the UK as I was no longer allowed to remain in the US on my student visa. I also had to come back as a result of serious health and mobility problems.

Having been forced to return to England for these reasons, Tom Mansfield, the owner of the Broadcasters Training Network refused point blank to give me a refund of the $4450 I had paid, even though I had not received a single day of training.

I tried everything, including putting in a complaint to the BBB and had been forced to employ the services of a lawyer to help me try to regain my money, but despite this, Tom Mansfield was only - and reluctantly - prepared to offer me the mentor fee of $1200, which meant I would have incurred a loss of $3250, which I could ill afford, especially bearing in mind my health problems. With a diagnosis of MS, my health was seriously plummeting and deteriorating.

As a Canadian landed resident as well as a British citizen, my ultimate aim was to move to Vancouver Island, so instead of a refund, the arrangement was that BTN would find me a mentor at Island Radio in Nanaimo when I was able to return.

For 18 months I struggled with my health and mobility problems trying everything under the sun - from chiropractic treatment to acupuncture, from LDN (low dose naltrexone) to detoxification, from vitamins and minerals to dietary changes - all to no avail. However, every time I tried something new, I was extremely hopeful that this would prove to be the key to my recovery and made tentative plans to return to Canada.

Eventually I gave up trying to regain my mobility prior to leaving the UK and decided to seek assistance in Canada instead where there seemed to be much better treatment anyway. I also couldn't afford to spend any more time out of Canada because I was jeopardizing the terms of my landed residency. I booked my one-way flight back for Feb 13th 2008 and e-mailed Tom Mansfield, clearly outlining and reminding him of the agreement I had with BTN regarding my placement in Canada when I was ready.

Finally after sending several e-mails, I got a waffley response back from him prevaricating and stalling about finding me a mentor, and telling me to contact him when I arrived as nothing could be done until I was in Canada, and talking about "things that needed to be worked out first". I wrote back and asked him what "the things that needed to be worked out 1st" were, and saying that I had already waited long enough to start my training and didn't see why I had to wait any longer than necessary as waiting until I got to Canada to set up my interview would simply delay things further.

Tom had said in his e-mail, presumably as a delaying tactic, that I needed to be accepted by a mentor first and I said that this wasn't going to happen until he set up an interview for me!

I subsequently discovered that 50% of BTN's radio training had gone online, which was NOT the program I had signed up or paid for. I e-mailed Tom Mansfield several more times, but was unable to get a further response. He completely ignored me and refused to answer any of my questions - such a diabolical way to treat a paying client and quite frankly, typical behaviour from Tom as from my experience his usual reaction when a problem presents itself involves fobbing the person off and then hoping that "the problem", ie in this case me will just go away, which of course I had no intention of doing.

I also discovered on re-reading the BTN web site (www.learn-by-doing.com) that BTN had become licensed and were now regulated by and accountable to the federal government, and that I could submit a complaint to the Workforce Training & Education Co-ordinating Board in Seattle. I contacted them with my concerns and even talked personally to Terry Ryan, the Attorney General of Washington State, who agreed that Peggy Rudolph of the WFTB would talk to Tom Mansfield to try to resolve the problem informally initially.

After she did this I received an e-mail from her that shocked and horrified me, informing me that the outcome of her conversation with Tom Mansfield was that he felt he had already spent enough time finding me mentors in the past and "wasn't prepared to make any further concessions", ie HE COMPLETELY BACKTRACKED AND RENEGED ON OUR AGREEMENT, and intended to keep 100% of my money and offer me 0% of my training! I was absolutely devastated and immediately wrote back to Peggy stating that this was NOT the agreement at all, and that right from the outset because of my uncertain situation when I originally signed up for the BTN training the $1000 relocation fee had been waived and that this had been written into the contract, so Tom was OBLIGED to replace me and offer me the same full in-station training I had paid for!

At the time of posting this complaint, I am still awaiting a decision from the WFTB as to whether I will get the full refund that I am owed. However, BUYER BEWARE when considering doing business with the Broadcasters Training Network. BTN and its president, Tom Mansfield, RIPPED ME OFF, stole my money, made promises to place me in a radio station, and have gone back on their word and refused to do what they were paid to do.

Debbie
NANAIMO, British Columbia
Canada