Invate Ltd

Simply appalling. If they are named on your DSA letter I strongly recommend that you immediately contact student finance and demand another supplier.
Oct 25th, 2022

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.
Nov 12th, 2021

After being direct debited for a new laptop they halted my order and said they could not process it because i had not provided "consent to share", neither did they refund the money without me having to insist. There rationale for requesting consent to share made absolutely no sense because A) i provided the DSA entitlement letter to them stipulating the arrangement and B) i even forwarded them an email from the DSA reiterating that the support was in place. Their reason for wanting "consent to share" in other words access to all my data and information under the DSA, had absolutely no bearing what so ever. I made this clear to them and decided to cancel my order asking for a refund which i hope does not take too long. What a total waste of time from a truly pathetic organisation that over complicates simple matters.
Jun 28th, 2021

Very poor company. When you ring its hit and miss as to whether they will pick up or not. Sometimes they respond to emails the same day/a few days later or just not at all. They tried to over charge me for my equipment and said they would send a breakdown of costs which I never recieved. They said the extra cost was "probably for insurance" which makes no sense as I was not paying for insurance. They said in an email they would arrange a delivery slot with me however the next email I recieved from them was telling me my order had been shipped and would be delivered the next day with an 11 hour delivery window, and that if I missed the delivery I would have to put up the cost of redelivery. 11 hours I could have potentially had to stay in on a Saturday to recieve the delivery with no prior warning or communication. When my laptop finally arrived it didn't have Microsoft Office installed even though the delivery note said it had been. I contacted them and they said uni would do it for me. It's quite literally there in black and white on the list of items I should have recieved from Invate. The same guy gave me 3 completely different reasons as to why it hadn't been installed in the space of half an hour. I also got a call and an email the following week after the delivery to ask what laptop case they had sent to me because apparently they had no idea what they sent and it was affecting their inventory. If you are unlucky enough to get Invate as your supplier ask DSA if they can change suppliers for you, avoid Invate like the plague!
Jun 22nd, 2021

Dec 25th, 2020