Study Reviews 14

If you’re thinking of applying for DSA, just know that they are not here to help you. They are here to squeeze as much money out of you and SFE as possible. I needed a laptop to run the accommodation software they gave me on. You would think that they would offer the laptops on a discount but no. The price you pay for the laptops are dangerously close to retail prices and not worth it. The base laptop they offered me is completely unsuitable for my course (Computer Science) and so now I have to either pay £200 for a laptop I cannot use or pay retail price for a suitable laptop when I could’ve just used my student discount and avoided the humiliation of applying for this.

Booked my assessment through studytech which was fairly quick and easy. My assessment was completed by a lovely lady who got my reports done over the Christmas period. Which I was very impressed but after that it all went wrong.

I was sent a 4 easy steps email to place my order. I upgraded my laptop and then had to wait over a month for it to reach their warehouse and then another week for it to be delivered to me. This has put me at a significant disadvantage on my university course. When it arrived, it was the wrong laptop. I phoned them up and had an incredibly rude lady answer and told me to just use what I had. Then once I’d finished crying I called them again and asked to return the laptop for a refund to which I was told that it would be completed. 3 weeks later i had to call them again in order to get someone to collect it. I sent it back and now they are asking for more money to send me the correct laptop I don’t need and already paid for. I asked for a refund and still yet to receive one.

They also don’t communicate correctly with the DSA as I had to call the DSA to get the laptop taken off my account but they can’t because studytech won’t send them an updated order showing the laptop taken off.

Save yourselves sleepless nights and anxiety just avoid

Study tech will receive £2700 for equipment (I have not chosen the laptop option, so this fee doesn’t include a laptop). And it is taking a month and 3 days, possibly more to send the equipment.
They also tried to tell me that my own 2022 Mac Pro wasn’t up to spec so my dsa assessor had to step in and say it did which took another 10 days.
I think SFE need to use half a dozen companies so people can choose who they want to work with.

I'm honestly in doubt on how this company is connected with SFE. They call me for an assessment which was done, thankfully the assessor was professional. But, other areas it's total rubbish! They send me emails that do not follow with previous response to prior emails! Then they sent me an email that I should confirm my address, recommendations, and terms and condition on their app - which when I opened had nowhere showing what their email stated - but already clicked five star boxes beside the assessor's name, and a confirmation box to click. (Talk about being arm twisted for a five star review!). They are a total sham! Sent them emails more than once to let them know, there was nowhere in the app to confirm my address, equipment, recommendations and terms and conditions like they stated. They responded with same instructions as previous! The whole experience has escalated my disability conditions in no small measure. So what was the point in the first place?? SFE needs to review how they deal with this company. Not worth it at all! Putting genuinely disabled students through horrendous stress!!! Reason why I decided to look them up on Trust Pilot, and boy! not surprised going by the reviews. This is really sad.

They underserved me massively in terms of meeting the minimum needs of my particular disability. It seems like a service with a purpose that strives to protect the state rather than serve the disabled. They suspiciously overpay for terrible computers and give absolutely zero agency to students in terms of solving their own issues.

After booking my needs assessment and reading through the reviews on here I thought I was going to be in for one hell of a bad ride with Study.Tech, but my experience has been the complete antithesis of that so far....

So let's start at the beginning!

From SFE confirming that Study.Tech were going to be my appointed provider, a day later I got an email from them giving me a link to book a needs assessment and from there it was only another day until I was sitting down on a Teams call with one of their assessors Peter.

As someone who's previously gone down the route of applying for PIP, where every bit of the system is trying to catch you out, trip you up and wants you to fail, this couldn't be much further from that! Straight away I felt at ease and I was in the hands of someone who genuinely wanted to help me get the best experience and support out of this process that I could.

For reference I have Combined Type ADHD with co-occuring depression & anxiety, which sounds quite straight forward when you boil it down into 3 words but the lived experience of that and how it has impacted my study in the past is far more complicated. Peter wasn't just naturally empathetic, he had a huge amount of lived experience of a lot of the struggles I had and was full of useful advice and suggestions on techniques to apply day to day, not just hardware and software solutions in a generic box ticking fashion. I felt heard, seen and that I was in the hands of someone who lived and breathed this as his passion; not just someone who comes to work every day to turn the wheel, but someone who actually cares and wants to make a difference in the lives of others.

I'm 33 and just about to start an MSc so I already have most of the hardware you'd expect to get through DSA, so the main focus of this session was to understand what assistive technology was available and how I could use it to make my study experience as equitable as possible. I'd done a bit of research into what was available online to support Neurodivergent students but this was just the tip of the iceberg compared to what Peter showed was capable with some incredibly clever pieces of software.

I hadn't even considered that Study Skills mentoring and coaching in how to use assistive technology were even a thing and bits that I could access but they're forming part of the recommended solution and that's really given me a massive confidence boost that this support is actually with you for the journey and not just a case of here's some bits, off you go!

Fully appreciate that the majority of complaints on here are for further down the process and I can't speak for that element yet but I wanted to try and show that it's not all doom and gloom! Yes, of course I'm not trying to downplay anybody who's had a bad experience for whatever reason, but when you're reading these just remember that you're far more likely to leave a review if you have a negative experience than you are if you have a positive one. It's just the way we're programmed hey!

Over 2 months since my assessment I received and email stating the equipment has been allocated (over £1400 worth if stuff I don't need/already had. I advised them the assessor had agreed I needed a tablet. Another 4 weeks pass and I get an email to advise equipment has been dispatched. Upon opening the parcel no tablet, just a few minor bits, after speaking to customer services they advised they're out of stock and may be 2-4 weeks but can't be sure, i asked if i can upgrade and pay extra, they advised i go on argos and select what i want then theyll buy it and charge me the difference but wont give me a budget so how do i know what i can afford?. This has left me for a whole term unable to do my uni work, which I might fail as a result. Shockingly bad company.

Study tech has a great talent at getting EVERYTHING wrong. From start to finish, they never ceased to amaze me at how atrocious they are. The very definition of failure to deliver a very basic service. The staff is very incompetent and seems like they have never been trained.
All in all, horrendous experience that I wish no body goes through.

I literally got gaslighted by someone taking my call. They said that I was told things I was never told on the email. They kept insisting it until I just said ok and left. I wish they could take my issue as a way to improve because it was quite serious. Instead they just made a mentally disabled 18 year old self-doubt. But the person who was doing my needs assessment was good, so there's that at least. Please guys, have a way to take feedback.

Disgusting negligence
You need to be held accountable by Student Finance England.

Horrendous company. They should be ashamed of themselves for how they treat disabled students. I would strongly advise Student Finance England to investigate them.

I've been trying to get a software package that can help me format statistics figures and tables in Word from Study Tech, and a suitable large desktop screen for my fine motor control issues, since I applied for DSA in September 2024. It is now July 2025 and eleven months after I applied for Disabled Student Allowance, I'm no nearer to getting the kit I need. Last week a trainer had to abandon the remote access training as I couldn't keep up. Very unhappy with StudyTech service although I think they feel they have done a great job. For whom?

AVOID AVOID AVOID

This has been the worst experience of my life from a company supposed to support students with DSA equipment and software. 4 months and getting nowhere! My stress and anxiety is through the roof to the point I’m not sleeping, losing my hair and today I had another major emotional meltdown after interacting with them and having to mitigate assignments in my final year so it’s unlikely I’ll graduate with my peers.

Sent me a faulty laptop, prob refurbished although they claim it was new and just bad luck. Had me send it back to check for faults which I did packaged well, they then say the screen needed cleaning as it had finger prints on as it’s touch screen, they couldn’t obviously get a cloth out and do this themselves or if they did it was £80 restocking fee. God knows why they are restocking faulty laptops - see other 1* review whose was also faulty and maybe both were ‘restocked ones.’ So they then had to mail out the laptop for me to clean the screen to send it back! It took them weeks to collect it, packaged exactly how they sent it and they then claim the screen has a chip on it which it 100% does not! Their incompetence has caused unnecessary deliveries. They are just clearly trying to make me pay for a laptop that doesn’t work because they can’t sell it on. I have video evidence that it freezes often. What an absolute waste of time and money.

Made numerous formal complaints, spoke to different staff, none of whom speak to each other and they contradict each other in the information they provide. You also don’t get a call from a manager they only take emails. They say your complaint is escalated but nothing happens! Absolute disgrace!

non functioning laptop - Study.tech that supply DSA equip
Am sorry I have to give you a *
Am sorry I have to give you a *. I was looking for a negative one,

The laptop you supplied is non functioning. You not helping.

You use my band to collect money from student finance to support me with equipment for my studies. Supplied non-functioning equipment and not being helpful,

You have caused me more stress and anxiety than u could have ever imagined.

This laptop was meant to assist me study. What do you think is happening to my studies. I have written emails but no one is willing up step up to help, even a formal complaint has fail