| Pre-Apprenticeship Training Institute |
| Pre-Apprenticeship Training Institute YASC Scam, lies, deception Toronto, Ontario |
| 18th of Apr, 2011 by User325495 |
| I am addressing this report to the people that have been intrigued by P.A.T institute's flashy and unbelievable offers. You are either one of two people, a young person looking for a fresh career in the trades or an older person looking for a second career opportunity. P.A.T institute offers many things and boosts about even more but the one thing it cannot seem to accomplish is getting graduates jobs. I encourage this reader to not take this report lightly. Before I did the electrical program at P.A.T I tried searching the internet for reviews but they were VERY hard to find. After being completely scammed by them I have decided, and been encouraged by fellow classmates, to write a formal review. I won't be long winded for the sake of the reader but if some questions were not answered in this report, I would be willing to answer them through email. They will promise you a job, or give you the impression that a job will be lined up for you. When I was there they kept referring to this ambiguous stat, ''10 out of 13 students graduated last class and were hired a week after graduation.'' It might be different for you, but it will be along those lines and it wont be in writing. After graduation you will try to contact the YASC, which will have been hyped up all along the way, not only will they be very hard to track down but the YASC is the PAT institute. All the PAT institute did was create a company, which consists of an employee with a computer and cellphone, who diverts angry graduates away from itself. Once graduated when you call the PAT institute and complain about no job offers they will just say, "We only deal with the schooling aspect, for job links and offers contact YASC." This system keeps scammed graduates off PAT institutes back. The tuituion cost is just over $7000.00. You will recieve a set of tools, workboots, coveralls and a hardhat. After many class disscusions we priced all of that at under $500.00 and even that is steep because they order in bulk. You will recieve a laminated library card that says you have completed a number of safety tests. You will spend a maximum of 4 hours at school, 5 days a week. Now I'm not going to sit here and do all the calculations, Ill leave that to the reader, but when you have 15 students paying $7000.00 each ( a total of $105000.00) we better be seeing something pretty spectacular. Instead we saw, reusing old boxes, wire, equipment, lack of space etc. If you have read this far I'm sure you're thinking twice about forking out this ridiculous amount of money for training that will HAVE to be done during your apprenticeship. So please be weary about them, there are many unhappy graduates but no one has heard their voices yet. |
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| Pat Institute a.k.a YASC is a sham! I got taken for 7 grand! They hype it up so much telling you there is a huge demand and you'll be making big $$. The website says that it is a YASC recognized institute. LOL. The YASC is a "non profit" organization created by PAT institute to help graduating students to connect with "industry partners". They probably created this so they don't shit or get some sort of tax break. The only excuse these people ever come up with is the fucking ratio system in Ontario. But that doesn't excuse the fact how they are taking advantage of people. |
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* The YASC is a "non-profit" organization and it helps PAT graduates connect with "industry partners" .
But it IS PAT Institute! They probably created it so they don't get into legal trouble or probably get some sort of tax breaks. |
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| I completely agree. My husband went for one of their "Informative" meetings and he said the whole thing made him weary. He said it was extremely unprofessional and that one office had 2 desks, and which the two girls kept conversing whilst he was in the room. Then when the woman who was completing his informative meeting continued on, he heard the other girl answer the phone 2 different times, once saying "Hi you've reach the youth apprenticeship council (or whatever its called)" and the second time answering it saying "Pre-apprenticeship"? They clearly are the same company. The whole thing seems like a hoax since the open house they make it seem like they are so greatful for the apprenticeship school allowing them to conduct their open house there...? All I can say is that for those whom have been ripped off, there is action you can take. Possibly with the labor board? |
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You are all so wrong. I went to pat for the network cabling program and I am happy and working. Pat really got me into the trade because without them id have no luck. I didn’t know anything about the trade. The girls were really helpful and actually changed my mind from plumbing to network cabling because I had been injured in a car accident and they thought it might be too much on me.
On my first day, I saw I was in the same boat as my classmates. Everyone wanted to get into the trades and no one knew anything about them. By the end of it, we knew everything.
The whole process was great. The directors aren’t some bosses who take your money and leave you in the dark. They were always around, knew your name, and made sure I was getting the stuff. The girls were always saying hi, and even found my entire class jobs before we even graduated.
I don’t really know why everyone has such bad reviews because I went to the school with about 30 others at the time and not one ever complained about PAT. I have a great job and am making good money. |
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Find your own job. It's a rip off. You're supposed to learn on the job and attend trade school anyway when your doing an apprenticeship and taking a pre-app course isn't necessary. I graduated two years ago and I'm making $14.00/hour. Started off at $11.00/hr.
And the girls there haven't even held a screwdriver in their life, so don't expect accurate advice about the trade, let alone construction. They just want to sign you up and take your money. |
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| fuck, i'm still making 12.00 after graduating 2 yrs ago and get treated like shit! |
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| After everything was said and done and I graduated, they pretty much left me in the dark. They did not find a single job lead for me. Pure false advertising. |
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This "school" is a money grab. I have read many reviews on several sites and 98% off them reveal the truth about P.A.T and how they steal your money and barely teach you anything more than common knowledge. I'd like to think the 2% that say P.A.T went above and beyond for them are paid employees of the school. This is not very unlikely to think if you have been a student and experienced how evil and deceiving they are. They will give you a list of places to apply for scholarships, all of which will say they are not going to help you (I believe this is also a scam created by the school). My fiancé went to P.A.T for the Plumbing and Gas 3 combined course. Like others have said, they make the school sound like they are helping you out. That they will find you a job (only if you graduate with a certain average) and that you will be making big money right after "graduation" (which was a BBQ in the industrial parking lot with no name hot dogs and no name pops which had to be purchased if you were thirsty) The graduation is not important it is just yet another example of how P.A.T wants your money and could care less about you. Anyway, my fiancé was a "student" there throughout the building move they made across the street. For weeks they had the students working on an old door, laid insecurely across 2 garbage bins which they used as desks!!! With students paying 7 grand out of pocket this is UNACCEPTABLE!!! The classes always started late and ended early. Eventually, one entire day got scrapped out of the schedule and his class was asked to attend 4 days instead of 5 at only 3-4 hours a day. After successfully completing the course he was awarded a leadership award, which we had to fight with the school for 2 months after graduating to receive. They had the wrong mailing address so we didn't ever receive even a graduate certificate. We had to take the initiative to call the school and set up a date to come pick it up (we live 45 minutes away so we wanted to make sure someone would be there.) If you know the school, you can predict that when we arrived no one had any idea we were coming and his papers were nowhere to be found. THESE THIEVES ONLY WANT YOUR MONEY!!! After many complaints to the CEO of the school he got his papers (all employees; secretaries, teachers, even the CEO's are very unprofessional). He was not set up with a job after finishing the course although he achieved a leadership award and the highest average. He took this very seriously and unfortunately wasn't treated the same. He has a well paying job now but only due to his own wit and initiative.
After my long rant, I hope anyone looking to enroll saves their money and stays away. Please, do not get scammed by these a**holes!! And to anyone working or associated with this "institute” I hope karma comes around and kicks you in the a**!!! |
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I graduated from the PAT. Getting into the trade if difficult and can be very frustrating. The PAT offered an insight when I had none. However, now looking back I realize it was a complete waste of money!
Everything people have posted here is right. So i wont repeat the many thing that dont add up.
I wish I knew opportunities in Alberta dont require pre-employment and are readily available. Investigate the pre-employment programs in norther Alberta. They are a fraction of the price They dont promis jobs etc, they give you an intro to the trade. You can take that back to ontario if u want and save $5000. |
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I just don't get it.
I graduated 4 years ago and I'm just ready to right my C of Q.
I'm a PAT graduate and I can tell you that people that have not attended the school really should keep in mind that they have little experience to draw on.
The other comments about employers, well I can tell you that I've been employed by 2 employers one referred by YASC and the other by Merit Ontario who PAT also works with, in both cases excellent employers. when I went to school it cost me $6500.00 and it was worth every penny. I used all the training in the field and that's what I expected.
My buddy who graduated with me went to a Union CLAC company, and he thinks its great.
From a class of 14 people 11 got job offers at graduation.
Now I read some posts and the fact is that unless you experience it you have little to complain about, and in my class the only guys that complained were those that did not make the grade. PAT made you work for your marks, just what you would expect from a reputable organization.
As far the horrible employers what I have learned by working in the field for the last 4 years is that the Unions always bad mouth everyone else including other Unions because they want to spread the word that everyone else is bad. My buddy at bell is now a manger at Bell we met when he did the network Cabling program at PAT and even the union in his company try to take shots at PAT (519, Sparky, unitedwestand handles).
My friend at in the electrical uinon works 3 days a week tops and is struggling financially, took them 2 years after they got accepted into the JAC to go to work and worked 1 year as Pre-Apprentice and his hours did not count into the apprenticeship, I just bought a house. Who is he going to complain too, that is his union
If you know the industry and actually work in the sector all this is bull. Unions and guys that can't cut it in the trade bad mouth PAT and employers.
I know in the trades PAT is respected by trades employers. Merit Ontario, OEL and CLAC are legit because I worked for a OEL Union company with CLAC when I started the trade and now work for a Merit Ontario company. I have good benefits and get paid well. instead of being bitter I have worked and succeeded. what I can tell you is that in the trades PAT has an excellent reputation and I know because I work in the trade.
There are a lot of us now as journeyman thats where we started. It made a difference to us. Give me a couple of years and I will start my company and guess where I will recruit from? |
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I have recently finished the course 'Construction and Maintenance Electrician'. After reading the rebuttal to the bad review I decided that I would take the chance and sign up for this course.
During the interview process, I was swayed by the confirmed 80-100% placement rate. Although Pat Institute does not guarantee placement they stated 80-100% of there graduates get work in their field of study. After following up with my peers, none of us has gotten work in our field of study. This could be due to a slow down.
When I was talking to a local electrical company they did not even know who or what Pat Institute was. I got the name and number of the company from the yellow pages. I find it hard to believe Pat Institute has not contacted all the employers in the area.
If you are thinking of taking this course I would suggest contacting potential employers first to see if anyone is hiring. At this point I am unsure if this course is worth the $7500.00. |
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