★Companies on CrowdTrust can't offer incentives or pay to hide any reviews.
Review summary
Open Colleges has mixed reviews from customers. Customers particularly appreciate service and professional, though some mention concerns about communication and customer service.
I completed my Certificate in Nail Technology and had a mixed experience.
The staff are AMAZING and always offer great support. Ellena, the course instructor offers excellent insight and advice around the realities of being a working Nail Technician.
My issues are with the platform itself and the out of date education being provided (which is NOT the fault of Open Colleges) and the lack of emphasis of WHERE nail products are manufactured for higher safety.
For example:
1. Having to upload a 8-10 minute recording, in mp4 format, that is under 470mb is ridiculous. (It says 500mb
but anything over 470-480 won’t work)
2. The overwhelming typos and confusing sentence structure is absolutely unprofessional to say the least
3. The constant going on about nail polish when MOST NAIL TECHS DO NOT USE this is out of date (again not the fault of OC)
4. The lack of actual education around Nail Art is disappointing given the reality of today’s working Nail Tech and what we are expected to be able to do/create
Overall, the staff are fantastic but the platform itself? Definitely needs to be improved.
the reading materials were often set for the American context rather than Australian and often full of typos. Navigating around the modules when doing assignments was clunky. Assessment tasks included menial activities that were time consuming but not a reasonable test of skill or knowledge (eg 'write an email to explain your findings'). Requirement for role plays wih multiple actors was a burden on family.
One of the great services of Open Colleges was having quick access to a teacher and get feedback within an hour. The times when the teacher was away they would contact me via email or phone when back at work. This service made learning blockages minimal and thus made studying easy and enjoyable.
The mini video lectures, quizes and written material was straightforward to understand and the assignments were all applicable to practical accounting work.
A few months after finishing my Certificate IV in Accounting and Bookkeeping I obtained a full-time accounting job. A big reason for this was the quality of the course from Open Colleges was of a high standard and the assistance from teachers was excellent. Highly recommend Open Colleges
Certificate III in Nail Technology course experience
I almost done my Certificate III in Nail Technology course. Happy with open college and appreciated the course and im really happy and thankful my trainer -Ellena. She is very patience and guidance and helpful and response my every emails very quick. I truly appreciate everything she have done to help me get thru my cause.
My name is Georgie and i am studying animal care. My experience has been amazing with open colleges! My trainer Sharon has been so encouraging and friendly along the whole way and goes out of her way to support me whenever I need it. I have loved animals my whole life and I always wanted a career out of it so I decided to start getting qualifications, for my future as I am 15. Through looking for experience I now get my work experience from the local Zoo, and complete my placement at the farm that i have always worked at. Open colleges was so helpful with the process and i could not recommend them enough! Thank you! 🤩 ❤️❤️💕
My time with this company has honestly been a roller coaster, and not the fun kind.
I’ve been studying with them for the past 12 months. The course itself was fine, easy to follow, and the trainer was amazing. Every time I needed help, they were there, and I really appreciated that.
But everything outside of the actual course has been incredibly frustrating. The support team has been basically unreachable. The last 6 months have been the worst. I’ve lost count of how many times I had to go to the trainers just to get answers because the support lines were useless, no response for weeks to emails, always on hold, rarely helpful and not giving the right information when they do decide to reply.
And now I’m trying to cancel… and it’s been a nightmare. I’ve emailed five times, sent the cancellation form multiple times, and I’m still being ignored. It honestly feels like they’ve vanished the moment I asked to leave.
It’s a real shame because the course itself I was enjoying, but the rest of the experience was a total letdown
It's disappointing that a company offering education would operate with such poor communication and customer service. I wouldn't recommend them to others based on this experience.
I had a really great experience with Open Colleges studying the Cert II in Animal Care. The trainer was super helpful, kind and responded to emails in a timely manner. I was impressed at how fast my assessments got marked too. The course content needs to be proof read as there were lots of grammatical errors and broken links fixed and some of the content seemed redundant. Overall I thought it was a great course for a reasonable price and would recommend it to anyone.
DO NOT sign up for open collage.
The website glitches badly! They are so quick to ring none stop when you seem interested in doing a course within open collage, but as soon as you need support with your course or wanting to cancel with good reasoning they are no help. Absolute waste of time and money.
So many bad reviews from so many people across Australia that’s saying something!
Horrible horrible!
I had a pretty good experience with Open Colleges. The open space portal can be pretty clunky but my trainer was excellent and always willing to help me out when I needed it.
I have had the worst experience with open colleges and do not recommend them to anyone. I’m not someone that normally leaves a review but really wanted to warn others to stay away from them.
EDIT - I’ve pulled out of the course and going to sign up elsewhere. In three weeks of March there was only two available appointments to get help from a teacher. For the whole month of May there is only two available appointments with a teacher. When they tell you that you have plenty of support don’t believe them. The other option to get help with an assessment is to email but that takes a week for a response. This is just one problem I’ve had with them, to list them all I would be here for half an hour writing.
Cancelled the course within 48 hours and they wouldn’t refund the money and described it as “an enrollment Fee” . Spoke to so many staff that were saying yes a refund was due and then to be told it’s not. Do not use this college plus the open college is questioned at interviews as being “a proper course or just an easily achieved cert” when my friend when to be interviewed. Not a good reputation and not seen as prestigious education provider. Do not use this college under any circumstances. There are loads of options for other courses with other colleges. So angry with the entire experience and almost a month of emails with any excuse going. Worst customer care ever.
Overall I had a very positive experience with my Horticulture course (Certificate III), and most of the time I actually found it very fun and rewarding. The course was easy to navigate and a good layout for browsing the educational content and then completing the assignments. The educational content is a mix of text (which you need to read and take notes because the assignments will be based on this material) and Youtube videos. I paid $4,000 up front and this gave me access to the course self-paced for 24 months which offers great flexibility for your lifestyle (payments plans are available). Open Colleges is SO much cheaper than Tafe and University courses (and to be honest, I did a double degree at uni and although the experience was better because it was in person rather than online like this course, I think the quality of uni vs Open Colleges is comparable, but the price difference is insane). I was working fulltime whilst studying so it was a bit more intensive than I realised, so don't underestimate the time and effort you'll need to complete the course. So I had to ask for a 6 month extension which was another $400 (but you can just take it month by month which is cheaper). For the horticulture course, you need access to a backyard, plants, and gardening tools. If you don't have this, you'll need to buy it all or you'll need to make an agreement with a horticultural site (like a botanic garden). I just used my private backyard and was lucky my family members let me borrow plants and tools. You will need to film yourself completing all the tasks (like planting seedlings, mowing the lawn, testing soil pH), so you will need a good laptop to edit the videos and upload them. Whenever I had a problem I contacted student support either via email or phone call and I always received help. The phone call waiting times can be very long though. The two assessors that I had (Blaine and Jaclyn) were determined for me to finish this course and I really appreciated their support and encouragement, especially towards the end they gave me extra time because they knew I was SO close to finishing.
But, there were some minor annoyances (for example, you have to talk about common sense hazards/risks like wearing sunscreen and a hat, and then show cleaning and packing away tools in EVERY single video which seems so repetitive and obvious, it's such a waste of time). But things like that are standard in Australia, it's not just an Open Colleges thing.
So yes, I would recommend the horticulture course through Open Colleges, I learnt a lot and had fun along the way, but be prepared for a lot of hard work and filming/video editing. I honestly think they should give me a certificate in film-making too! haha
Anyone can write a CrowdTrust review. People who write reviews have ownership to edit or delete them at any time, and they'll be displayed as long as an account is active.
We champion verified reviews
Companies can ask for reviews via automatic invitations. Labeled Verified, they're about genuine experiences.
We fight fake reviews
We use automated software and a dedicated team to detect and remove fake reviews. We take action against anyone who tries to manipulate reviews on our platform.
We show the latest reviews
Reviews are displayed chronologically with the newest first, ensuring you always see the most recent customer experiences.
We encourage constructive feedback
We believe in honest, constructive feedback that helps both consumers make informed decisions and businesses improve their services.
We verify reviewers
We use various verification methods to ensure reviews come from real people with genuine experiences, not bots or fake accounts.
We advocate against bias
We work to ensure our platform remains neutral and unbiased, giving equal opportunity for all genuine reviews to be seen and heard.
