Morning Glory,
Didn't you know??? That is the new and improved Oxford business plan.
Susprised this isn't a closed topic as there are so many unhappy present customers (never mind prospective customers) that I half expected the site to crash under the weight of replies from cheesed off students!
I can't help you with the why, but sorry to say this isn't anything new. Oxford have had a reputation for giving the sh***y end of the stick to self-improvers for many years, ensuring that their airline sponsored customers get preferential treatment over all others, despite self-improvers almost certainly paying far more for the same course as the airlines. Can't really blame the sponsored cadets themselves though, as it is down to the relationship between the airlines and Oxford rather than because the cadets demand such treatment (although I'm equally sure some try!!).
Perhaps now that Oxford can no longer rely on a steady income from the likes of BA (and there must surely be a limit to the number of Algerians the school can hope to recruit), the management might take a more enlightened view of the shoddy treatment given out to self-improvers. After all, most self-improvers only come to Oxford because that is where the airlines send (or rather SENT!) large numbers of students, and such business attracts other business.
Now the school is in the situation where word of mouth may be the determining factor for self-improvers, and the school is more reliant on such clients than ever. Yes, groundschool results are good, but are they so much better that the school can afford to charge so much money for a 2nd rate service? I don't think so. Neither do many students currently completing courses there, and if the present situation continues to slide, there is going to be hell to pay eventually.
Oxford badly needs to sort itself out. It does have some top class instructors, but the bungling way in which the school is run, and the atrocious attitude it holds towards its customers will undo all the good work that such people put in. If Oxford Aviation were in any other line of business, they would have gone under years ago, but the lack of serious competition and the determination of its students to learn to fly at all costs continue to keep it afloat. Such arrogance can only result in a major backlash eventually, and yes, the bigger they are, the harder they fall - look at M&S. They got cocky and ignored the desires of their customers, and quite rightly they got a good kick in the b***s for their troubles. M&S is a much larger and better-run outfit than Oxford will ever be, but it is still struggling a number of years later. Customers are smart and getting smarter, and Oxford cannot rely on its near monopoloy for ever!
If only the remainder of the school could be run with the ruthless efficiency of the sales and marketing department, and be afforded the same vast budget!!! Where else do you think Kilroy-Silk gets the money to finance that tan!!!!!
So come on Oxford, pull your finger out and give us the respect we deserve as paying customers, and stop treating us with contempt!!!!!!!
