Invate Reviews 46

The communication was inconsistent, and policies kept changing with little to no warning with each response. I was initially told they could invoice my university directly, only to be told weeks later that the policy had changed and they now needed to pay upfront and wouldn’t contact them directly because of their “policy”. This constant back-and-forth wasted a sinful amount of time - 5 months to be exact, and caused unnecessary stress, and showed a lack of coordination between staff which was frustrating for representatives at my university, SFE, and myself.

Even after finally receiving the £200 to pay them myself, it still felt like I was chasing them to do the absolute bare minimum. For a company meant to support disabled students, the process was far from supportive and just tiring and chaotic.

I would not recommend them unless they overhaul their internal communication and processes. If possible, directly contact SFE/DSA for a change in supplier to save yourself to hassle. What should have been a straightforward task turned into a drawn-out ordeal.

For a process that had started several months previously and a company that had that time to organise things they are absolutely hopeless. It took them a month just to send me the list for upgrades, and when I chose the laptop that was "in stock" due to my urgency of needing the computer for the course they said it had a delivery time of 3 weeks after I'd paid 2000 pounds. They NEVER pick up the phone, do not respond to their answerphone and you can expect emails to be replied to after a week, with no helpful information and often misunderstanding of your email. I am now at a creative university, unable to work effectively due to the lack of equipment which I was told I would receive months ago and they ignore my requests for updates on the matter. Utter disgrace that they're a supplier for the DSA.

Would give 0 stars if I could, and will be reporting them if I continue to be ignored.

A faceless company who fail to communicate by phone, email or WhatsApp. They are supposed to be supporting students with DSA yet we can never get hold of anyone. They have a generic email so nobody direct, phone always goes to leave a message and they don't return the call - you see your messages read on WhatsApp but they don't respond. This is really affecting my son who needs his laptop for Uni and we can't even order one from them - all we have asked for is a specification so we can make sure it will run the software he needs for his course - nothing at all from them. I went back to Capita who use Invate who have also tried contacting them and have said someone will call but still waiting. After contacting them from results day to now absolutely nothing. Their LinkedIn page says - lnvate was born out of a passionate desire to improve the quality of service provision for all DSA students. That passion stems from Invate’s founder, Chris Quickfall, who was once a DSA student himself. If this is the improved version what was it like before?

Very very sad day ..so rude on phone then she wrote an email to me .
I only asked simple questions of the laptop they sent me not working properly
I really don't know who to complain to
My heart is broken..I never new we have awful people. Like that .

This company is not supposed to deal with humans

Awful company. These people are making large amounts of money from DSA and are delivering next to nothing.

They emailed me asking if I wanted to upgrade, sending a list of mostly old model laptops. The prices were very expensive for upgrades, so I thought I would ask for a price on a current model. When they gave me the price, it was so expensive compared to Curry’s retail price, I would have been better off buying it retail. What’s worse is that DSA prices are supposed to be ex-vat. They say they are offering a good warranty, but these are available widely and not worth the extra they are charging.

So I opted for the standard laptop and they sent something that is very cheap and wouldn’t last the length of my course. You don’t get a choice of laptop with the standard option, which is a shame.

I ended up selling the laptop for what is was worth £200, just to get my contribution back, but tax payers are funding these laptops through DSA and Invate are purchasing the cheapest thing they can, to make as much money as possible out of DSA, forgetting that students have to use the devices.

It’s a really awful system. DSA should have an approved list of devices, not simply a cpu/ram/screen size spec, to avoid people like Invate buying the cheapest thing they can get their hands on just to maximise profits.

Wholly endorse previous negative comments, absolutely shocking company. Rude on the phone to both myself and my son. Write back weeks later after receiving DSA letter claiming my son didn't confirm email (absolute nonsense). Ignore email about laptop upgrade and then to top it up write with made up claim saying that my son hadn't started his course when he had already enrolled at university. My son is having to store essential refrigerated medication in a less than ideal situation because of this lot. He has written to DSA at student finance requesting a switch to another supplier. If they are named on your DSA letter I would strongly recommend that you do the same.

Invate don’t even deserve one star.
Why DSA has a contract with this company is beyond me.
Their website is like something out of the dark ages, they refuse to respond to email or repeated phone messages, and all they are interested in is making sure they get your contract to supply - once you’ve agreed to their t&c, you’ll never hear from them again…unless you email them to cancel your order, at which point someone will magically respond within minutes to say your order is being dealt with as a priority now.

Considering they are dealing with students who, by definition, have additional needs, Invate could not be more unhelpful.

Student Finance Wales should take note of the old adage,
“ Pay peanuts, get monkeys.”

Avoid at all costs.

If i could, i would give zero stars. As a company that is apparently made to make dsa so much easier, they really do not live up to this. I emailed over a month ago about an upgrade, where firstly it took them six days to send an automated email, which i replied to on the day. They then didnt reply for nearly a week later, which i - once again - replied to on the day. it then took them TEN DAYS once again to reply with yet another automated email, which was exactly the same as the first email they sent me. After all of this, today they replied to me, stating the laptop i wanted a month ago was no longer in stock, and suggested a different laptop which i didnt want and replied that. i cant wait to see what half thought response i get in two weeks.

Not only that, but one of the reasons i get dsa is because of my anxiety problems. Because of this, my mum phoned every day for a near week, only for it to go to answer phone, and for them to never reply to her, which gave me more anxiety. For a company apparently all about “helping peoples.DSA needs”, they appear like they couldnt care less.
good luck to anybody who gets referred to them, you need it.

Awful customer services. They sent email after email asking lots of questions which really should have been put in one email. It really stressed my daughter out. They deal with students with disabilities so you think they would be sensitive to their needs. I complained and they were not responsive to this. I do not recommend this company

Very easy from start to finish and quick delivery. Very happy with my products and the customer service was the most pleasant I have ever experienced.

I had issues with my laptop last week. After which I had to send it back for repairs John was brilliant and patient with me. I have always found them to be a good company. Would highly recommend.

I ordered a Dell Alienware from this company along with software and accessories and over six months later have received nothing.

As a company, clearly far more focussed on squeezing the biggest profit margin possible out of the DSA contract than providing quality equipment and service

They provided me with the DSA devices that I required. The communication has been always fluid and quick. One of the devices had an issue just before 2 years of having it. They arranged a collection from my place and after testing it, it was replaced for a new one in about 2 weeks.

Shouldn't even have 1 star! I can't believe they allow this company to deal with DSA students.

I purchased the standard DSA laptop from Invate after being advised during my needs assessment that someone would deliver the laptop and set it up for me. The laptop was actually delivered by DPD, and therefore there was no set-up provided (I assume because of Covid, although none of this was ever explained to me).

I used the laptop for around a week and found that I am literally unable to type on it due to the unusual layout of the keyboard. I contacted Invate to ask if anything could be done, as the laptop was in perfect condition, I had not used any of the software, and I still had all of the original packaging. I have now received a condescending email from a member of staff, who helpfully explained "this is why we offer upgrades prior to shipping". There were no solutions offered.

I will now have to purchase a new laptop, which will not include the software that was supposed to help me to study. I receive disability benefits and this puts me in a difficult situation.

It was impossible for me to know whether the laptop would be suitable as I had no opportunity to physically see it. In my opinion, this company is completely unfit to supply laptops for disabled students. It is such a shame as it causes additional stress at a time that is already so stressful.

The support and guidance I've experienced from employees has been a credit to the company. They gave me their time, attention and most of all they were understanding to my needs. I felt heard, without judgement and guided throughout that was at my pace. I feel the service is flexible, convenient and friendly. Very knowledgeable in their subjects and welcomed questions. So thank you for a person centred interaction.

My experience has been excellent. Easy to reach, good service.

I have had some good experiences with Invate. John in tech support has been very helpful with any technical issues I have had.

So my laptop is currently away for repair with invate, for the third time this year since january, each time it is returned with a new issues. they fail to keep you up to date, I have had to call every week and never get a straight answer, they just say they are now waiting for the repair centre to update them. but never actually pass the updates on. this last term of university has been awful and i just want my laptop back (theyve had it for repair for almost a month at this point), in a working order where its not gonna be breaking again in a matter of weeks.