My son is thinking of doing a 6 mths gas course at Met UK. Has anyone done this or a similar course and is it easy to get work once qualified. How do companies perceive the qualification? Would be interested to hear any views before my son registers and pays £4k as I have heard some negative comments and would appreciate your experiences.

A friend did a corgi course that cost him £4k, he passed everything as he went along until the placement where he was placed with some numpty who just wanted cheap labour and was not much use. Then the final exam was a bitch. It seems like they wanted people to fail so they would have to pay again, I don't think anyone passed! I am fully aware that it's gas so should be hard for safety reasons, it just seemed a bit of a scam to him. He could not afford to spend another £4k to do it all again so gave up.
Not sure it that's any help really but he felt ripped off at the end of it all.

you don't have to pay 4k to do it. if you go to college to do the 2 year city and guild course in plumbing (which i coimpleted this june) and then find a company to take you go they will then buy you all your tools and pay for you to take the course. however i am struggling to find a company to take me on at the moment, but a few of my mates off the course have managed it so its gotta be possible!!

4k are you sure???? I've just looked on their website. If your son is doing the 6 month full time gas course then the total cost when all is added up is more like £6,500. That includes a free toolkit worth nearly £200!!

I also checked out some other DIY forum comments and Met=UK get some bad comments especially around work placements, course length, cost.

I think that the public belief that gas fitters and/or plumbers earn loads of cash is very misleading and caused a surge in people applying to these courses - who WILL take your money. I'd love to know how many actually get full time jobs when they (like neeeeek said) eventually pass.

Tell your son to apply for a proper apprenticeship or go and do a full time college course in plumbing and then add gas on afterwards.

Thank you for your reply. You say you have looked on other DIY websites and Met Uk are getting some bad comments, please can you give me the website addresses where these comments are shown. I tried to send you a PM but I don't have enough posts on yet.
Hopr this reaches you


4k are you sure???? I've just looked on their website. If your son is doing the 6 month full time gas course then the total cost when all is added up is more like £6,500. That includes a free toolkit worth nearly £200!!

I also checked out some other DIY forum comments and Met=UK get some bad comments especially around work placements, course length, cost.

I think that the public belief that gas fitters and/or plumbers earn loads of cash is very misleading and caused a surge in people applying to these courses - who WILL take your money. I'd love to know how many actually get full time jobs when they (like neeeeek said) eventually pass.

Tell your son to apply for a proper apprenticeship or go and do a full time college course in plumbing and then add gas on afterwards.

To astirl2809 Thanks for your reply. You say you have looked on other DIY websites and Met UK are getting some bad comments, please can you give me the website addresses where these comments are shown. I tried to send you a PM but I don't have enough posts on yet to use this facility. Hope this reaches you

Thank you for your reply. You say you have looked on other DIY websites and Met Uk are getting some bad comments, please can you give me the website addresses where these comments are shown. I tried to send you a PM but I don't have enough posts on yet.



4k are you sure???? I've just looked on their website. If your son is doing the 6 month full time gas course then the total cost when all is added up is more like £6,500. That includes a free toolkit worth nearly £200!!

I also checked out some other DIY forum comments and Met=UK get some bad comments especially around work placements, course length, cost.

I think that the public belief that gas fitters and/or plumbers earn loads of cash is very misleading and caused a surge in people applying to these courses - who WILL take your money. I'd love to know how many actually get full time jobs when they (like neeeeek said) eventually pass.

Tell your son to apply for a proper apprenticeship or go and do a full time college course in plumbing and then add gas on afterwards.

try doing a search on the forum in screwfix - screwfix.co.uk then look in their forum, usually in the plumbers section. Also diynot.com. Also in plumbingpages.co.uk , the list goes on where met-uk are discussed!!!!!

My husband did a similar course.The problem was a suitable placement.Go through College.

i have recently completed a course there, don't do it, go to a place in sheffield called sbst, yell.com will give you thier number, MET-UK tutors are very good at thier job and i have alot of time for them but the rest of the staff ( non qualified trades people) are absoloute useless, thier sales team promises things that cannot be realised in most cases. don't get me wrong i am happy at the way things have turned out but unfortunatly i cannot recommend thier company. pm me for any further details.

My son is thinking of doing a 6 mths gas course at Met UK. Has anyone done this or a similar course and is it easy to get work once qualified. How do companies perceive the qualification? Would be interested to hear any views before my son registers and pays £4k as I have heard some negative comments and would appreciate your experiences.

Any training provider will charge in this region for a gas course but very few of them include a work placement. Without a work placement then no candidate will complete the gas course either through a training provider or a college. Best advise that we give to our candidates is to get a placement first or risk losing your money. The placement is the difficut part not the training. A good training center will not take a candidate on without first securing a placement.
Ken
East Riding Training Solutions Ltd

Any training provider will charge in this region for a gas course but very few of them include a work placement. Without a work placement then no candidate will complete the gas course either through a training provider or a college. Best advise that we give to our candidates is to get a placement first or risk losing your money. The placement is the difficut part not the training. A good training center will not take a candidate on without first securing a placement.
Ken
East Riding Training Solutions Ltd

my brother got fed up of traveling to chesterfield to work so he resigned and did a full time course at a college in barnsley, he said it was hard work and when he took his exams only him and one other passed. he has never looked back and he has recently took another course and passed so he can now work for himself. he is doing realy well, though he hates putting boilers in and repairing them.

though he hates putting boilers in and repairing them.

Isn't this what the jobs about.:

Maybe his next course could be boiler install and combi fault finding and repair? :thumbsup:

give me them boiler install and repairs, i love em, thats what i started in this career for and it is the most interesting part. every boiler i fix or install is different (although they are all the same in most ways) different customers mostly interesting. it's ace and i love it.

I studied at MET UK a few years ago now, on the part time course. It cost in the region of 3K and lasted approx 15 months.
Unfortunately the sad fact is that without a decent work experience placement, it will be very difficult to pass. The NVQ route to obtaining industry recognised qualifications is 50 percent theory i.e. in centre tests / exams, and 50 percent work experience portfolio building. This is the difficult bit because you have to demonstate a range of competencies which can be difficult to get, especially if you end up with a placement provider who A) is just after cheap / free labour, and B) Has a big contract to install combi boilers day in day out.
I have to say that I enjoyed the experience of getting through the course, however I cant help but feel I only got through it with alot of determination, and a bit of luck with my placements.
I think MET UK is a good company, and I have been back since for further training / assesments.
I would advise anyone thinking of doing the course to be honest with themselves, and ask if they have the determination and commitment to undertake what can be a very stressful experience. If you are just doing it for the money, then forget it, cos the media goes over the top in bigging up the so called earnings of plumbing and gas engineers. There are far better paid jobs in lets say, sales, and you aren't taking on as much responsibility.
If you did the course and passed then you have to realise that the only employers prepared to take you on aren't going to pay you great money as you will be very inexperienced. And if its inexperienced labour they want then they'll just take on students on work experience placements. So you see its a viscious circle.
The training organisations will make it sound like you just pay your money, take the exams, and hey presto, your in a new well paid job as a gas engineer. However the truth is that the other factors are determination, and most of all, luck. I'd be interested to know how many people have been lucky out of all the ones taking the course.
I feel I was one of the lucky ones, and now run my own business. If I'd known how much effort it was in the beginning then I dont think Id have taken the course. I'm glad I did it because it has worked out for me and I'm very happy in my work.
I would recommend the part time course because its more of a calculated risk i.e. you can work it around your current job. ( easier to say than do !) If it doesnt work out, you've lost a few grand but still got your old job.
Whatever you decide.... Good luck!