Student Finance Wales Reviews 41

If I could have given 0 stars I would have,year on year still the same nonsense trying to register,being told time and time again try a different browser,the browser is not the problem,its sfw software and clueless staff that are to blame,they like cutting you off mid conversation.If 8idiots had wings this company would be an airport

Really shocked by SFW. They seem to be going backwards.
We have multiple students in the house and logging out 1 account into another gives an error every single time - need to then wait 30 minutes.
Last year as a parent I submitted 'support for student' documents online. This year it needs to be paper. Looks like they using 10 year old forms too, terminology of forms no longer in use.

Website isn’t working. Just tried phoning them and although it should be open to 4pm it says office is closed.

Most incompetent organisation ever. They get everything wrong and never apologise and it's only when you threaten to make a complaint that they start taking you seriously. Some of their advisors are arrogant and pompous. I've wasted hours and hours because some of their staff are either incapable or can't be bothered to do their jobs.

Absolutely shocking can't log on to support my daughter even on her account wasn't able to upload information called them and was met with a level of sarcasm absolutely disgusting and shocking behaviour. Was told I'd be sent a pdf form which i can fill in but instead I was sent a web link which i cannot fill in if i didn't know any better id believe they were deliberately making it as difficult as possible to complete

From a student who is financially struggling!!
19 calls later and my account is still ineligible. After telling them countless times I won't be receiving a bursary due to my household circumstances. They keep saying I'm opted in when I've sent evidence that I'm not.
Now I've got repayments calling me for the money that they paid me before changing their minds and saying I'm not ineligible????
I have to repeat my situation to every call handler even when there are notes on the system. Call get cut off.
I'm 3 months into my course with no money.
Do not recommend

So useless, I've honestly tried to get in contact with an agent every single day. Do they just not work or smth bc no matter what time i try it will tell me that it a _ minute wait then say there are none available rn??? i got through to one, told her my problem and sat there for 10 mins waiting for a response, she just wouldn't talk to me. Dont get me started on trying to phone them.

Student Finance Wales just seem to be making things more and more difficult. The call centre agents are not in the least understandable and sometime you want fully understandable agents to speak to to try and alleviate the pressure and and chaos they make for you as a student and themselves.

Shocking behaviour from. Sfw after my son moved to wales for his second year was told to apply to sfw and transfer from SFE. received an e mail 10 weeks ago to say they'd received all his application. He's only been told today (after 2 phone calls chasing up to find out what was going on with his finance) that they are not proceeding with his application as he needs to re apply to SFE apparently you can't switch to SFW mid way through your degree. This could have easily been told to him weeks ago. His university 2nd year is due to start in 2 weeks and his rent is due in 1 week. Now he's having to start all over again with SFE and may lose his accommodation or place at uni if it can't be sorted in time. Why on earth couldn't SFW have told him weeks ago!?!?! I now have a very stressed son who is in bits. Absolutely disgusting and trying to get through to SFW is almost impossible!!!

Teresa was so kind and patient. She automatically put me at ease and supported me and my dad through the whole process and helped us with everything. Thank you Teresa :)

Rude customer service!! They do not care about students wellbeing

Called twice, first time was on hold for 30 minutes and then the line hung up. Second time got through to a rep 25 minutes into the call, only for the call to cut out half way through some spiel she was giving me instead of taking my payment.

They have no provision in place for people to get back in contact with you, no callback service and no one rings you back if the call drops out. Seriously get a proper customer support system.

i would give 0 stars. after being lied to saying they hadn't received my application when i had sent it via post along with the required proof of documentation to wanting further proof from my mother without contacting her. i waited 9 weeks to hear this and was told once posted would take a further 10 days to process. absolute joke.

I cannot get onto the website since they have updated it. IT please leave things alone if they are working fine. I also cannot get through on the phone. Please sort yourselves out! What has happened to you?

They’ve wasted so much of my time and energy, it’s been so unhealthy

It’s so sad how disappointing this company is and can only imagine how many other people’s lives and mental health they’re affecting so negatively.

If you’d like context to my experience:

Applied in April for the SSG grant and only now in September I’ve received a clear decision on my entitlement. It’s taken them that long - after ENDLESS hours wasted chasing them up on the phone only to find out that they’ve constantly been mis-communicating between their departments and my university.

Bare in my mind this grant application is due to extremely difficult personal circumstances that meant I had to take time out of my course.
(which I provided so much evidence for)

Not a single staff member showed any empathy or even attempt to understand the difficulty and importance of this situation/ funding needed to continue my course.

This has affected my mental health so negatively for months - having to anxiously find out every week that they still can’t give me a clear answer on providing the funding I need to continue my studies.

This also left me in a very late/uncertain situation to look for accommodation for the next academic year (especially difficult in london) due to not knowing what I’ll be able to afford. This is additionally stressful and unhealthy.

They could have easily saved me so much time and given me a clear answer several months ago. If only they did their jobs properly and got the facts right instead of constantly contradicting themselves and mis-communicating.

The staff working there are clearly so unhappy and can’t do their jobs properly because of it.

I’ll say again that I can only imagine how many other people’s lives and mental health this company is having a detrimental affect on.

In a nutshell you will be given moving targets to which they aim to process postgrad funding applications as an example. It 3-5 working days currently-then no it is 10-15 working days. Then past that points it in 10-15 working days and when you point out they have already passed they will tell you in another 10 - 15 working days, then they will stop giving time frames so you could finish the academic year and your application is stil not worked on . It is very doable when they take 6-8 months to process back and forth. The real kick in the teeth is when you wait for months on end and the answer you get is " it is not worked on yet, when it is worked on your application you will recieve an email , until then just wait forever "!! not worked on! not opened the application paperwork!!!!!!!!!!! they say it just like that: no one has actually spent any time on your application!!!!! zero minutes spent on your application. We have not even bothered to "start work " on your application. So it is sitting pretty on the desk.

If you are student with mental health disability like myself I wholeheartedly would advise you to borrow on credit cards and shark loans so you can concentrate on studying and not end up being evicted from the student accommodation like the earlier reviewer highlighted as SFW simply do not care if you end up having a mental health breakdown.

I do not think they enjoy doing this. Nor is it deliberate. I think they are understaffed probably 100 employed at the llandudno Junction office SFW with assessers being no more than 10 members with the rest on the phones doing their best to give callers answers when you think they are looking after more than one hundred thousand students you get the full picture and the management are probably not conducting regular independed audits to inspect how long on average applications are taking and compare them with similar sized application processing organisations in terms of the number of the staff empolyed to the number of clients they look after.

This company needs to be seriously looked into. They are awful to deal with. The stress they have caused me. They have taken up so much of my time and cannot take responsibility for any of their mistakes. One person tells you one thing, another says different. It’s like speaking to a wall you get absolutely nowhere. I sit there and wonder how they can get away with what they do.. I am now worried my application won’t go through because these people cannot understand plain simple English. To think we are relying on these people to sort out something so serious for us all is very very worrying!!

Really poor. They have lost all my account details which I had to repeatedly tell them I have previously done and have evidence and emails to prove.
Even worse, the person I spoke with just ignored everything I said, spoke over me and was just poor all round. It just made a bad situation worse.

Absolute joke of a company!!!
Under educated staff that are not capable of theyre job.
Lacking in common sense
Maanagement team do not care
This company needs to be looked intyo ASAP

This is in regards to the DSA team, I’m absolutely appalled. Considering my current circumstances and the multiple emails I sent with the relevant evidence, they still kept prying for more. Sent an email stating how upset and stressed I was about the situation, the response I got was a copied and pasted email they sent to me a week before asking for the same information which I had already provided, no apology or anything. Considering they claim to want to help people, they do everything but that. They are just a shameful organisation.