Wine & Spirits Education Trust

There should be a class action suit brought against this company. They have been in operation for 10 years in the United States and have been engaged in a the same scam for all that time without getting busted.

They claim to offer professional training and certification for the wine and restaurant industries. They have schools across the country, and their programs cost thousands of dollars. The entire thing is a scam. They are not accredited to teach professional programs. In fact, they are not accredited to teach anything in any state at all!

I took the WSET course a few years ago, but I just found out that I was scammed a few weeks ago.

There are tens of thousands of people who have been hoodwinked by them over the last decade, each of whom has spent a sizable amount of money, probably around 20 million dollars in total. I have no idea were to turn, so any input would be great.

The name is Wine & Spirit Education Trust

Having completed my Diploma in London and paying thousands to finish i am not surprised at all to see these revelations of their certification being completely invalid. They are very much get bums on seats and the revenues up kind of business who hide behind the fact of being a TRUST. This is well documented and the staff are treated appallingly. My exam day was staffed by just three people with over three hundred students attending which i subsequently failed and paid nearly $400 to retake. I guess i am luckly that i studied in UK and not USA.

Originally Posted by Unregistered There should be a class action suit brought against this company. They have been in operation for 10 years in the United States and have been engaged in a the same scam for all that time without getting busted. They claim to offer professional training and certification for the wine and restaurant industries. They have schools across the country, and their programs cost thousands of dollars. The entire thing is a scam. They are not accredited to teach professional programs. In fact, they are not accredited to teach anything in any state at all! I took the WSET course a few years ago, but I just found out that I was scammed a few weeks ago. There are tens of thousands of people who have been hoodwinked by them over the last decade, each of whom has spent a sizable amount of money, probably around 20 million dollars in total. I have no idea were to turn, so any input would be great.

What do you mean you just found out now you were scammed? What actually happened?

You guys are all a bunch of staunchy republican-esque morons. I took the advanced certificate course and not only was it extremely informative, but I used to it to network with many of my class mates and I have now landed myself a well paid position in the industry. My instructor was very cool and highly intelligent. Thank you WSET. You people are pathetic, find something better to do with your time then parade the internet ranting about wine classes. ugghhh

FROM IAN HARRIS (CEO, WINE & SPIRIT EDUCATION TRUST)
POSTED ON THE www.no-wset-wine-course.com WEBSITE 9 October 2009

I am very eager to make contact with the owner of this website, as I wish to clarify some of the assumptions made on the site, to make the owner aware of facts that have occurred subsequent to the creation of the website, and to answer any grievances the owner of this site might have with the organisation of which I am Chief Executive – the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET).

There are also a number of errors of fact in the content on the site, which I wish to see corrected. I appreciate that the owner of the site is entitled to his/her opinion, but I am concerned that there are factual inaccuracies which could mislead potential WSET customers, thereby damaging the reputation of WSET.

We have sent a number of communications to the host of this website, to which no reply has been received, and as all our attempts to contact the owner of this site have proven fruitless I am now taking the step of posting this communication on the site, in the hope that this will reach the owner of the site, so all the erroneous facts and statements on this site can be corrected.

I have listed the issues I wish to resolve in a communication to the host of this site, but I would ask the owner of this site to get in direct contact with me, by eMail, by letter, or by phone, so I can respond to the issues raised in this website. This anonymous person represents that they speak for a group of aggrieved former WSET students in the U.S., but we are not aware of the specifics of this grievance or grievances because the individuals have not come forward to us with the details. WSET has a formal process in place to address concerns and grievances from its students. As would be the case for any dissatisfied student or customer, we are eager to address the issues in this case and correct the situation if need be, when the person presents his or her case to us.
I remain available to speak to the owner of the site – I will be in USA later this year, and would be very happy to meet in order to address their issues face-to-face.
Ian Harris – Chief Executive, WSET

eMail: iharris@wset.co.uk
Direct tel: +44 (0)207 089 3806
Cellphone: +44 (0)7711 077009

It is obvious from the invective post against the Trust that you have issues other than feeling like you got "scammed". First off the WSET program is the appropriate lead-up to taking the Master of Wine certification - not a Sommelier certification course and examination. It is merely a certification process that puts you in good stead along the path towards the MW. It is not the Court or the International Guild. To claim that any employer would process criminal charges for someone stating on their CV or resume that they have passed WSET levels of certification is ludicrous. I have never - EVER - had, or head of, an employer tell a candidate why they were denied employment (except in obvious cases like over or under qualified) so therefor I believe your statements to that effect are just outright lies. Yes - States have the right to grant accredited standards to certificate programs. Just because a program is not accredited - especially true for international certification - does not mean that it is a criminal offense for an applicant to use their certifications to gain employment. It is a recognized level of educational achievement that can easily be verified through a wide variety of methods.
My read on your position is thus: you are disgruntled because you think that WSET should hand you the keys to a great wine-industry job because you passed? Grow up! It's a competitive world out there and I guarantee you that the effort you took to create this post and your website would have been much better off obtaining a job. The fact that you stated yourself that you did not pass on the first attempt and had to pay money to retake the exam tells me that you were not ready, nor prepared to enter the world of wine professionals. My theory is that employers took one look at your history and qualifications and decided to pass you over for someone with more experience and depth of knowledge.
You we the Trust an apology for our invective rants. I have to say that if I were in their position, I would have brought a well-justified defamation suit against you and had your website brought down by law.