Maintenance mode is on

the instructor was terrible and expected a lot more work than a university course - videos being edited etc, essays that are long and cumbersome just to do one small unit. Threatened to fail me and asked me to pay some significant dollars to re-sit. The worst experience possible. I also didnt think the lecturer was qualified to teach. If I had more time I would take this to the ASQA for a complaint.

I am a bit of a procrastinator & I have been enrolled to complete some business courses for awhile now online. I originally enrolled through using a Catch of the Day deal & have not regretted it! Sand Goanna have been very accommodating as I have chopped & changed my courses a few times & assisted with RPL when I was studying through TAFE. I have found their material & assessments to be engaging. Sand Goanna in my experience, is a reputable private training organisation and I would recommend them.

I took a triple diploma from Sand Goanna that was on offer via Catch of the Day. I was skeptical at first as sounds like too good to be true. (Never heard of them before, and a lizard for an institute? Sounds like a joke isn’t?) But after doing research and making sure that they are registered institute and courses are accredited, I said why not. If I lose, I can only blame myself.

Well, I work full time and a mother of 3 youngsters all under 10 and still wanted to improve my career, I have a year to finish all 3 courses (which took me 14 months to finish) so I thought why not. Anyway to make it short I finally finished it.

What I can say about this is, it wasn’t easy. Having very little support nor a classmate (or even a group/forum) to ask is very hard. As you don’t know whether you understand the assessment or not. You don’t know where to begin or end. Yes there’s some examples and book of readings, but they’re not enough. It’s still not the same as when you’re in a classroom with a teacher in front of you or even having that classmate that you can ask.
Yes you get allocated an assessor that you can ask (but I don’t really find her as helpful/accommodating as I was expecting, but then it could be just me). But nevertheless I finished it after 14 months.

Overall, it’s great if you want to study (improve your career) at your own pace. Suits busy lifestyle. It’s great value for money.

I usually do not write reviews however after reading a couple of questionable comments below I thought I would give my two cents especially as my dealings to date differ quite alot.

Currently studying the certificate III in fitness after I moved from another provider after their rto had issues and there trainers quite due to pay issues which left students stranded myself included.

prior to buying i did alot of reasearch after I had been burnt in the past and found this company. at the time they were only registered until June 2015 but when I rang they told me that their rego will be changed soon as they past their audit and to check on the government site in a few days. 4 days i checked the government site and it showed there rego to be until 2022.

I asked if i was going to get a hecs debt or any other debt for it. they said they didnt offer government funding I asked to see the system prior to buying and they gave me a link to see the system which looked really good. I asked if i would get phone support with my teacher trainer they said no it is a online course and there is a portal.

the price was good the system looked good and the communication was forth coming so i bought the course.

To date I have had no complaints with this company and would recommend them.

each person has their own story.I found the system alot better than my last provider easy never had any login issues like some others below but that sounds more like a computer issue anyway.

It seems that they do not offer funded programs and offer distance course not face to face their website doesnt not offer phone support so therefore I am not expecting phone support but the online trainer message feature is quite easy surprisingly and although i am new into the course i am getting by fine.

the good thing is the way that you can do it in your own time self pace as they call it as you can do as much work as you want to do.

thats my two cents.

I completed my diploma at the beginning of 2016 and couldn't be happier. The work was challenging and very educational. The assessments were larger than I thought they would have been but the staff help me through the process.
Thank you SandGoanna!

I have completed my both my Cert III & Cert IV in Fitness through Sand Goanna Institute.
They staff and trainers have been really helpful at all stages of the day and night when I needed assistance.
I have 2 other friends who i have recommended Sand Goanna Institute too and they could not be happier

This is now my second qualification with this provider and I am super impressed and happy with the experience. From enrollment, course queries and assessment marking they have been professional, friendly and super helpful.

At first I had some issues redeeming the voucher for the special however the lady in the office was very helpful and between her and the IT they had it sorted in 10 minutes it turns out I was putting in the wrong code "embarrassed" but they were great sports about it all. I was particularly interested in what I was going to get as I paid for things on discounts sites before and the product has been substandard but I was pleasantly surprised how the process was very simple it all was bar my wrong code issue and the course in Business and Business admin is very intuitive and works well from my tablet and phone so I have something to do on the bus and train to and from work.

I would recommended this business to anyone wishing to study by distance as they seem to specialise in distance education.
KT

I bought a voucher for a Management and Business course for $999 skeptical at first but it actually is good. I am learning a lot and the trainer support has been more than I expected.

I don't usually review but something about one of the comments here screams competitor so I thought I would share my story.

I purchased one of SG's "specials" only to find that as the website had been ambiguous (which they denied despite me providing screenshots and their own pdf documents) and that subjects offered, were now not offered to online students and that they had changed the course work. Their customer service methodology is to be brusque, rude, ambivalent, threatening, and abusive, they refused to provide a refund for not supplying what was advertised (fortunately I'd paid via Paypal, who refunded my money without question once I'd provided the evidence of the threatening and unethical behaviour of a SG staff member). I've made a formal complaint to DEEWR, ASQA and to Fair Trading with the evidence - emails and documents from SG that demonstrate their abuse and unfair and unreasonable conduct.

If you sign up with these guys, be prepared for an ugly fight - their website says that in the event of a legal dispute, it will be resolved in their head office. Actually no, you have more legal rights than to be bullied by an RTO that is actually accountable to the various national authorities.

Further, one of my employees undertook a training course with SG and the assignments were basically to cut and paste and reformat the learning materials into the assignment. Not quality training. Not satisfactory. Not a qualification or an institute I have any regard for considering how easy it was for that person to obtain a Cert IV with minimal effort. Qualifications from SG are not welcome in my business.

i purchased on a voucher and was impressed how in depth and structured the course was it was def a tough course and taking over 11 months to complete but i finally got there . The assessor Skye was fantastic and have been able to get a new job at work based on my training in hr and business . i liked how flexible it was and i could do it anytime i wanted where i wanted . the ability to film and upload also came in handy for role playing . all in all i was very happy with the quality for what i outlaid and have since signed up to complete the diploma of leadership and management .

I would just like to say how professional I have found this course, I established my own business 6 years ago and had learnt everything the hard way, now learning these units it has broadened many other aspects in my business and will assist me in further developing my company. While initially I thought the courses would be a piece of cake, wow I was surprised at the depth of the questions and had to sit back and think about a lot of things!! It has been very enlightening and definitely will be recommending your institute to colleagues interested in further study.

I have recently discussed the issues I had with this Institute with a Manager and the matter has been resolved satisfactorily. The issue I had with customer services was due to miscommunication regarding A.C.E.C.Q.A . They did take time to clear up this misunderstanding and were helpful.

We have discovered that this business has SSL (secure sockets layer), which means that this business handles your data, such as personal information or credit card details, with secure connection. We discovered that the domain for this business is relitevely new, which means that it could be a start-up business that does not yet have a huge amount of customers.