OU tutor reference mess.....I'm not happy..

The Saint

Hello all,
I'm having a little problem and I hope someone can give me some advice but it's also to just let off some steam.

I have finished my degree with the OU and will have my graduation ceremony on a few weeks. I am planning to apply for a postgrad to UL and I therefore require two written academic references. Over two months ago I sent emails to two of my old OU tutors to get these references. One said it was no problem and recieved the reference that week in the post. All I needed was the other refernce and I had everything to send off the postgrad application.

The other tutor also said that it was no problem. I waited for that reference. A month later I decided to email this tutor again and she didn't reply. A few days later I called her and asked her about it. She snapped at me stating that she thought I didn't need it in a rush. I had stated in the initial email requesting the reference that I was not in a mad rush but intended to send the application in the following 2-3 weeks. Plenty of time you would have thought. So I just thought I'd leave it as I didn't want to piss her off and end up getting a bad reference.

So today, 2 months after initially asking her I decided to send her another email inquiring on the status of the reference. She email me back stating that:

"I am afraid that I am not in a position to provide a written reference at this time.
Apologies for any convenience."

I'm absolutely raging. I now have to find another academic reference. This to me is the height of unprofessionalism. I spent around €9,000 getting this fcuking degree and the least she could do is write me a quick fcuking reference especially when the students pay their wages. I had to email her asking about the reference for her to tell me that she wasn't going to do it. I'm fuming.

So, that's my rant. Would there be any point in complaining to the OU? If so who would I get in touch with.

Cheers.

BuffyBot

At the end of the day, they're not obliged to give you a reference. As you probably well know, most of them have full-time lives outside of OU tutoring, so it sounds like you may have pushed a few of the incorrect buttons with the second one.

I'd always be wary of contacting ex-tutors directly myself, or putting them as a reference without clearing them first.

The OU's policy on Academic references is here:

http://www.open.ac.uk/careers/references.php

You could complain to the Regional Office, but as you were asking the tutor for what was essentially a favour over and above what they're contracted to provide, they may not really wish to get involved.

The Saint

Hi Buffybot.
I'm well aware that these tutors have full time jobs and lives outside of the OU and that they are not obliged to give me a reference. However, I asked her and she said she would. Here is the reply I recieved from her:

>Hi *The Saint*,
>Of course I can be your referee, although obviously I can only comment
>on your work in DXXX - we only spoke once, if memory serves!
>My contact details are below, and of course you may also note my
>position as Associate Lecturer, Open University in Ireland.
>Best of luck with your application,

I have not pushed any wrong buttons with her and have remained curtious with her throughout this ordeal. As you can see from her reply above it shows that she would appear to have no issue with me. If you like I can post all the correspondence to show that I never pushed the issue or been rude to her.

I had no intention of adding a tutor as a referee without their permission (would be hard to do since I need to send a written reference from the tutor). She said she would, i heard nothing from her and 2 months later after inquiring about it she now says she can't.

Do you think this is fair?

BuffyBot

Again, I can't comment. No one externally can see both sides of the situation, and I certainly would publish correspondence with another person without their permission if I were you.

The point I'm making is that you bypassed their own process for these things, and you got burned. Unfortunate, but such is life. Your best bet to recover the situation is go through the proper channels asap to get it sorted.

The Saint

BuffyBot wrote: »

Again, I can't comment. No one externally can see both sides of the situation, and I certainly would publish correspondence with another person without their permission if I were you.

The point I'm making is that you bypassed their own process for these things, and you got burned. Unfortunate, but such is life. Your best bet to recover the situation is go through the proper channels asap to get it sorted.

I did not bypass their own process. The OU reference page it states:
"You may also ask your tutor if he or she is willing to give a personal reference, but you should never quote your tutor as a referee without first making sure you have their permission."

This is what I did. I fail to see the other side of the situation. While she's not obliged to provide a reference she said she would be happy to. She the renagued on this and didn't inform me and I didn't find out about it until I CONTACTED HER 2 MONTHS LATER. To me thats just very bad form.