Earlier this year, we introduced to you version 7 of our popular Leasey product. While Leasey is ideal for the complete computer beginner, by far the vast majority of people who work with Leasey would be intermediate to advanced JAWS users, since there are so many useful tools to enhance productivity and to make computing easier.

In version 7, we brought to you a small handful of new improvements. We did not think that was nearly enough. So our Summer Update includes many very significant new features we would like to celebrate, and we'd like to show them to you at a virtual event using the Zoom Conferencing platform. This event took place on Wednesday 29 June. We've never dedicated a virtual event to Leasey before, and this is exactly the right time to do so.

At the event, you will hear a demonstration of the new features and have the opportunity to ask any questions regarding them. There may well be questions you have as there is a lot to learn about!

We're very excited and proud of the new features we want to show to you, and we would like to thank our Beta Testing team who have put in a lot of hard work and suggestions to make these improvements happen.

Download the Leasey Event in Audio Format.

Download the Leasey Event in Text Format.

Hear the Mosen at Large Audio Podcast Including What's New in Leasey Version 7.

Read the Mosen at Large Text Presentation Including What's New in Leasey Version 7.

This blog post is being relayed to several of our Email lists.

We are shortly to begin moving premises which we have wanted to do for some considerable time. Because of the scale of what is involved, there will be a significant period in April of this year where usual service will be reduced.
We should like to thank you for your patience in advance, but the end result will ensure we can provide an even better service in the long-term.

Throughout each of the three weeks outlined below, we will do everything possible to ensure we meet all orders promptly and to fulfil urgent technical support queries.

The weeks affected are as follows:
Week beginning Monday 4 April. Reduced service. We will try to operate as close to our usual service as possible.
Week beginning Monday 11 April. Only very critical issues and satisfying orders will be attended to. There will be some days during this week when we are not operating at all.
Week beginning Monday 18 April. Reduced service. We will try to operate as close to our usual service as possible.
Week beginning Monday 25 April. Complete service will be resumed.

Again we thank you for your continued business and patience during this time.

These scripts are for the latest build of TeamViewer and were updated on 1 June 2022. No support is offered for the scripts and they are delivered at no cost.

When TeamViewer is focused, press F1 to obtain your user ID and password in the JAWS Virtual Viewer. Press Escape to close the Virtual Viewer and return to TeamViewer.

Download TeamViewer Scripts.

You may have come across a situation where you need to enter a character into your text edit area which is not present on your keyboard. As a basic example, what if you need to enter a pound sign and your keyboard layout does not accommodate it? This is where ALT codes come into play.

In some situations, there is a very nice and efficient way of entering such special characters by pressing and holding the ALT key, and simultaneously entering the character’s decimal value on the numeric keypad. This is where the term ALT codes comes from. For example, to enter the ellipsis, you could press and hold the ALT key, and enter 0133. This would give you the appropriate character. For the • character, you could enter the code 0149.
However, this requires you to turn NumLock on, (not intuitive for screen-reader users needing the NumPad), and this also presupposes that either there is a NumPad on your keyboard, or at least you can turn the central part of your keyboard into a numPad.

Unfortunately, on some modern notebooks, there are keyboards that do not have these possibilities. There is no NumLock key, and there is no mode to enter numbers, other than on the regular number row.

Sighted people experience this issue of being unable to enter ALT codes on modern notebook keyboards. There are two solutions to this one, and none of them works efficiently if you are blind. The solutions require you to use the Character Map application, or, alternatively, to use the On-Screen Keyboard to simulate NumLock.

For some time, JAWS has tried to replicate this functionality through its Insert Symbols dialog, JAWS Key+4. However, there are some problems with this.

• It is limited. It has only 49 symbols, and no way to add your own.
• It is not Unicode-aware.
• It does not expose ALT-values, nor does it allow you to enter ALT values. So, if your Style Manual tells you to type ALT+0171, this dialog is of no assistance.
• It has not been updated for many years.

What Can Leasey Do To Help?

Long-time JAWS user and beta tester Oleg Shevkun brought this problem to our attention. Oleg is from russia. He spends time preparing and hosting a daily program on Teos.Fm — a major Russian-language Christian Internet station. As part of this, he needs to write introductions to his programme segments, which must follow a certain style guide. Among other things, this includes the use of some characters that can be obtained with Alt-codes not ordinarily available to him on his keyboard.

Leasey version 7 now has a special tool for entering the ALT codes available. Pressing the key to start the process asks for the ALT code to be typed. For those who are very familiar with this practice, it is simply a matter of typing the code, pressing Enter and the relevant sign is inserted into the text area.
If the user presses the same keystroke again, the edit field contains the same code as previously entered in the event the sign needs to be repeated.

For those who are not familiar with the codes, if the edit field is vacant, pressing Enter will bring into view a list of all the ALT codes available. The description is given together with the code number. This serves two purposes. First, a code can be selected from the list and the Enter key pressed to insert the relevant sign. Second, giving the code values in this way helps anyone in learning them so that they can be entered manually at a later time, bypassing the list.

In the event a person prefers to use the list of codes constantly, focus never returns to the top of it each time it is entered. The option just used gains focus automatically in the event that the sign needs to be repeated.

Summary.

At Hartgen Consultancy, we think this is a useful tool which makes a Windows feature far easier to use than it otherwise would be and, as we've seen, in some situations it would be impossible to work with. It's the kind of feature which appeals to us and we hope Leasey users will benefit from it.

Leasey Version 7 Is Just a Few days Away!

Version 7 of our popular Leasey product is now available. Our beta testers have been hard at work testing the new improvements and features. We're extremely grateful for their dedication and support of this product.

We're now ready to let you know about the new improvements which are briefly outlined below. Our documentation describes the additions in full.
The documentation has been significantly revised to the extent that it is now close to 400 pages.
It is available as HTML, Microsoft Word format or DAISY text.
So that you do not need to struggle to read the entire document, we have placed the very significant changes on this page.

Leasey version 7 is a chargeable upgrade, so let's go through what you need to know about that.

If you have purchased Leasey from 1 December 2021 onwards, your upgrade is at no cost. With our products, we always have given a three month grace period to be as fair as possible to people who have only recently purchased it.

There is no pressure to upgrade Leasey. Your existing copy will not stop working, nor will it do so if you decide to uninstall it and reinstall at a later time. You'll know already that Leasey version 6 is working alongside JAWS version 2022 so you have excellent support there. However, if you would like any of the below changes or fixes moving forward, you will need to use Leasey version 7.

If you are using an older version of Leasey, for example version 5, the cost is the same as upgrading from version 6 to 7. We never charge for incremental upgrades.

Leasey Version 7 upgrade is priced £25 which is approximately $33.
You can pre-order and upgrade Leasey here.

New Features.

So let's dive in and see what's new.

Fixed or changed in the most recent build.

Atmosphere Radio has been added to the Dance radio category.

When viewing the list of ALT Codes, they are now displayed in alphabetical order.

The function to cause JAWS to announce the time using hours, minutes and
seconds is now restored to the Leasey Clock menu.

If you install Leasey 7 as a new user rather than upgrading, you cannot
install the LeaseyGames.

If you press Control+Shift+A in Microsoft Edge to disable the additional
verbosity, the setting is not retained if JAWS is restarted.

The keystroke to move to the next link of any type in a Chrome-based browser
and Edge is changed from Leasey Key space to full-stop or period by itself.

If you use the default JAWS command to append text to the Windows Clipboard,
Windows Insert C, it now works with the new Leasey
quick select facility.

If you try to select text within a "read only" Outlook message you no longer receive an unknown function call.

If you select a word in a document, and then use a LeaseySearch tool such as
Wikipedia, Google or Oxford Dictionary, the selected word is now in the edit
field.

The new keystrokes for VLC bookmarking are now listed correctly in Hotkey
Help.

Brilliance for BrailleSense.

In version 6 of Leasey, we introduced Elegance for ElBraille. Rather than remembering lots of often complex key sequences, it is possible to use the Braille input keyboard on the ElBraille or a Focus Braille display to very easily control your computer just by typing logical commands, such as, Windows Space D, to move to the Windows desktop.
Absolutely no thought or learning required. If you know the Windows or screen-reading keystrokes to use ordinarily, you can use your ElBraille in a matter of minutes.

We're very glad to be able to bring to you the same functionality using the BrailleSense in terminal screen-reading mode. Once the BrailleSense has communication with JAWS, you have exactly the same functionality to control your PC, carry out screen-reading commands, create abbreviations to common Windows functions and more.

Improved text Selection.

Since people began to meet Leasey, we have always had the ability to more easily select text in many applications. When text is selected, you can of course manipulate it in any way you choose.

You can still work in the same way as you always have by marking the start and end points of the potential selection. But now, you can save yourself some keystrokes. Mark the start point of the selection, but you do not need to mark the end point. Just place the cursor at the potential end point and use a command such as Control+C for copy or Control+B in Microsoft Word. You are also able to copy such text to a LeaseyClip.

Protecting LeaseyClips.

By customer request, we've added the ability to protect LeaseyClips from being overwritten. Once protected, and you try to copy new text to the same clip, Leasey will prevent you from overwriting it.

Removing Microsoft Edge Announcements.

Ordinarily, as you carry out actions in Microsoft Edge, such as when loading a new web page into the browser, you will hear messages such as "Loading Page". You can now stop these announcements from being spoken by JAWS.

Relocating Previous Web Page Position.

If you move to a new web page by pressing Enter on a link, and then go back to the previous page, there are often times where focus is lost from the position where you left off reading. You can now press a keystroke to relocate the previous position. Note that this also works within Microsoft Outlook. So, having activated a link from within an Email message, and you return to it, if the cursor position is lost the keystroke can be pressed to relocate it.

Scripts for APH Studio Recorder.

We've added a comprehensive set of JAWS scripts to support the APH Studio Recorder application. In addition to giving you convenient keystrokes for reading important information, they also include a facility to reverse the functionality of audio playback and pause with Space and Enter. For those people using applications such as Sound Forge, this makes the transition to Studio Recorder much easier.

Browsing 7 Digital.

Access to the 7 Digital music service has now been added to LeaseySearch. This gives access to high quality music files for purchase.

ALT Codes.

You may have come across a situation where you need to enter a character into your text edit area which is not present on your keyboard. As a basic example, what if you need to enter a pound sign and your keyboard layout does not accommodate it? This is where ALT codes come into play.

In some situations, there is a very nice and efficient way of entering such special characters by pressing and holding the ALT key, and simultaneously entering the character’s decimal value on the numeric keypad. This is where the term ALT codes comes from. For example, to enter the ellipsis, you could press and hold the ALT key, and enter 0133. This would give you the appropriate character. For the • character, you could enter the code 0149.
However, this requires you to turn NumLock on, (not intuitive for screen-reader users needing the NumPad), and this also presupposes that either there is a NumPad on your keyboard, or at least you can turn the central part of your keyboard into a numPad.

Leasey version 7 now has a special tool for entering the ALT codes available. Pressing the key to start the process asks for the ALT code to be typed. For those who are very familiar with this practice, it is simply a matter of typing the code, pressing Enter and the relevant sign is inserted into the text area.
If the user presses the same keystroke again, the edit field contains the same code as previously entered in the event the sign needs to be repeated.

For those who are not familiar with the codes, if the edit field is vacant, pressing Enter will bring into view a list of all the ALT codes available. The description is given together with the code number. This serves two purposes. First, a code can be selected from the list and the Enter key pressed to insert the relevant sign. Second, giving the code values in this way helps anyone in learning them so that they can be entered manually at a later time, bypassing the list.

In the event a person prefers to use the list of codes constantly, focus never returns to the top of it each time it is entered. The option just used gains focus automatically in the event that the sign needs to be repeated.

Improvements to Existing Features.

• Leasey Text Selection is working in the new version of Notepad for Windows11.
• When in the list of LeaseyCuts for web pages, pressing Control+C should now copy the URL for the focused cut.
• When pasting LeaseyClips, in most cases Leasey no longer removes trailling spaces.
• You can now press a keystroke so as to output the system clock to the Braille display which refreshes each second. All Braille displays supported.
• It is now possible to get a list of packages you have tracked via Track Package in LeaseySearch.
• You can press a keystroke to copy the elapsed time in the Stopwatch to the Windows clipboard.
• Microsoft Outlook Calendar functionality contains some improvements in line with recent application changes.
• The radio update facility is working again so we can make changes to streams more quickly.
• If using Leasey Advanced, the keys for use with Leasey Basic have been removed as they are unnecessary. These are for the Leasey main menu, context menu and help. The LeaseyManager keystroke is also removed as the functionality only applies to Leasey Basic. This means that more experienced JAWS users can once again use those keystrokes for the functionality for which they were intended.
• Functionality has been added to Winamp and VLC media players so you can easily relocate your last played position in an audio file.
• Within VLC Media player, you can now set, move to and delete bookmarks.
• From any application, pressing Insert+T twice quickly will virtualise the window title so you can read it more carefully. A link at the bottom of the window allows you to copy the text to the Windows clipboard.
• JAWS will now not double speak Windows notifications.
• LeaseyAlerts should now work on Facebook pages.
• OpenTween JAWS scripts are once again included.

Conclusion.

The next major update to Leasey is already being worked on containing some new features. You can hear about some of these in the upcoming version of the Mosen at Large podcast.

We hope you enjoy using the new release of Leasey!

Introduction.

People often want to be more efficient when using the JAWS screen-reader. Particularly when in the workplace, this is especially important as they want to be able to demonstrate they can carry out tasks at a similar speed to their sighted colleagues. But it could also be helpful for people within education or within leisure pursuits.

In our experience, many people claim to be efficient screen-reader users. It transpires however that what they mean by that is that they've increased the speech rate significantly. While this is helpful, they are not familiar with the many shortcut keys and facilities built into JAWS to increase productivity. Our new training course will not only give you lots of shortcut keys to aid efficiency, but it will also show you the best ways to find what you are looking for, and demonstrate many JAWS gems with which you may not be familiar.

What Kinds of Topics Will Be Covered?

This training course, Jaw Muscles, does not focus upon using JAWS with a specific application. You'll find that you'll learn tips and tricks for working in documents, browsing the web with any browser, and much more. In short, you'll gain a vast amount of knowledge concerning all manner of ways to make you more efficient within a variety of computing settings. The topics covered are:

• Quick Navigation Keys in Microsoft Word.
• Changing Echoing of Phonetic Characters After Pausing.
• JAWS Find.
• Microsoft Word Spell Checking.
• Virtualising the Current Control.
• Building a Word List.
• Basic Table Navigation.
• Working with Microsoft Word Forms.
• Examining Data on the Clipboard.
• Sound Splitter.
• Insert+Tab in Save Dialogs.
• Backing Up and Restoring Settings.
• An Introduction to the Keyboard Manager.
• Navigation Quick Key Manager.
• Searching for JAWS Commands.
• Picture Smart.
• Setting Up Placemarkers.
• Custom Page Summary.
• Customising JAWS Settings Relative to a Domain.
• More on Placemarkers.
• Text Analyser.
• Customising Outlook Views For Easier Reading with JAWS.
• Quick Settings in Outlook.
• The Impact of Customising JAWS Options for Outlook.
• Skim Reading Basics.
• Skim Reading Text Searches.
• Skim Reading Attributes and Colours.
• Skim Reading Working With Longer Documents.
• Comments in Microsoft Word.
• Audience Participation.

There are so many tools and utilities hidden inside JAWS to improve efficiency. It's just a question of finding them.

Who Is The Course For?

This training course is certainly for JAWS users who wish to improve their screen-reading skills. But it is also for trainers of Assistive Technology. We've seen many instances where people are trained to use the Microsoft application shortcut keys, and this is all very fine. But as trainers, we would suggest it is our duty to teach people about the added JAWS benefits provided by other keystrokes. If we can avoid unwanted key presses, not only does it make someone more efficient at using a computer but it also avoids the onset of conditions such as repetitive strain injury. All the unnecessary key presses a person has to do add up over the course of a day.

This training course is suited to anyone using recent releases of JAWS or ZoomText Fusion. As will be seen below, the training course is provided in both audio and text formats so is ideal for anyone who is unable to hear audio content or for quick reference.

The cost of the course is £50 which is currently 68 US dollars.

While it is by no means a requirement for course participation, we are offering an additional package if you do not have our Leasey product. One of the main advantages of Leasey is to add even more productivity tools to those already available within JAWS and this year, we intend to add even more of these. JAW Muscles with Leasey is available at a substantially reduced rate for a combined total of £80 which is approximately $108 US.

Please enter your JAWS or Fusion serial number here.

Alternatively, anyone can purchase either package by sending an Email to jaws@hartgen.org, whereupon a fully accessible electronic invoice will be sent to you which can be paid through PayPal or any major credit or debit card. Orders can also be processed by telephone.

Summary.

While many people can use computing applications with the keyboard at a basic level, we want to lick your screen-reading skills into shape. We'll show you plenty of strategies you probably didn't know about. Once you've completed our new training course, you will be able to show everyone your screen-reading muscles!

Hi to all

Some people may receive this message more than once as you may be on several of our Email lists, for which I apologise.

I am writing this message on the last day of business for us in 2021. I'm glad to say we've had another very good year, thanks largely to the support of companies and organisations who have purchased our scripting and consultancy services, together with blind people who have purchased many of our products.

From a product perspective, we've had many good things to celebrate. Every product has had major updates. Of particular note would be the StationPlaylist scripts for JAWS, which this year have received an enormous number of new features and improvements which benefit particularly seasoned broadcasters. However we must not forget J-Say, the Zoom scripts and especially Leasey, all of which have received many new features.

One of the biggest innovations for us this year has been the development of a set of JAWS scripts and a nine hour training course in the use of Microsoft Teams. Many people have taken advantage of both of these, which has extended to large government departments and other organisations worldwide.

We also this year introduced Elegance for ElBraille, allowing a person to control the ElBraille device in a way which means they do not need to remember often complex key sequences to work with the device.

The audio tutorial on the REAPER Digital Audio Workstation was completely re-recorded, this time with an accompanying text transcript of all the lessons. All our training courses now come with text transcripts as standard. I would like to think that is a very welcome improvement.

And finally in terms of training courses, our SenseAbility course to teach people how to use the new BrailleSense 6 is now well under way and will be concluded in early 2022. Students are already learning a lot about this device.

And please remember, these are just the smaller things which have happened. While all this has taken place, training, technical support, product promotion, delivering presentations and other work still goes on to keep the company alive.

Moving forward, in terms of product development, updates to Leasey and J-Say are first on the agenda for 2022, so watch this space for good things to come.

From Hartgen Consultancy, we would like to wish all of you the very best for Christmas and have a wonderful new year. Thank you for your support during 2021!

A Training Course for Users of JAWS for Windows and StationPlaylist V6.0.

Introduction.

For many years, the StationPlaylist software has been the tool of choice through which blind people broadcast their radio shows or even run their own stations. We know this because there are hundreds of StationPlaylist users on our customer database. If you use the software, are you getting the most from it or do you just work with the features you need?

It would seem that our company is the only place you can visit so as to receive training in the use of the StationPlaylist suite. This is partly because not only do we create the JAWS script files which provide accessibility to the products, but in addition tools are built into the scripts so as to significantly extend the functionality beyond what those products can do. This has certainly been extended in 2021.

The "Broadcast It" audio tutorial produced some time ago teaches a new user how to work with many aspects of StationPlaylist Studio (for broadcasting audio), StationPlaylist Creator (for managing schedules), and StationPlaylist Streamer (for sending output over the internet if external devices are being used). However, during the past few years, the developers of this amazing product suite have created new features not described in the tutorial. It has been supplemented by:

• The StationPlaylist Workshop,
• Let's Track It, and
• Another Hour of Music Power.

This training course, "The StationPlaylist Workshop 2021", focuses on the release of the StationPlaylist product suite, version 6.0 with JAWS for Windows. However it also includes demonstrations of all the new functionality introduced for JAWS users during 2021 which has been an important year for broadcasters working with this technology.

This training course is for people who are using any one of the StationPlaylist products who want to improve the quality of their radio output and station management.

What Will I Learn?

While there are many new features and fixes included, we have singled out a number of new enhancements in version 6.0 which require special demonstration. You will learn how the new features work together with the appropriate keystrokes.

In addition, we will focus upon:

• The advantages of Quick Navigation Mode.
• Useful tips on ensuring your radio show ends at the end of the hour.
• Finding music tracks in a playlist quickly.
• How to play carts into your voice-tracks, whether you have an audio mixer or not.
• Playing carts and music beds into voice-tracks if you do have an audio mixer and the enormous benefit that brings.
• Enhancements for JAWS users in the SPL Recorder and VT Recorder.

Who is the Course For?

This course is suited to anyone who is familiar with many of the functions of StationPlaylist Studio and Creator if appropriate, together with voice-tracking locally or remotely, and who would like to build on existing skills. You should be familiar with how your screen-reader functions together with Windows concepts, such as how to navigate around applications.

Costing.

The cost of the course is £40 which is currently $53.

Alternatively, anyone who wishes to purchase the course can send an Email to jaws@hartgen.org, whereupon a fully accessible electronic invoice will be sent to you which can be paid through PayPal or any major credit or debit card.

Summary.

The training courses in the use of StationPlaylist products are only produced when there are a significant number of things to make it worthwhile. There is a good deal to talk about this time around. Get yourself into the studio and bring your radio shows and station to the next level!

Hi to all

It has been a while since we provided you with details of what's new here at Hartgen Consultancy and this short blog post will bring you up-to-date. It's a busy time because quite a number of products need updating which is always the case on the run-up to Christmas.

Let's start with StationPlaylist products. A new release of the software, version 6, is in beta testing. While overall the products in the StationPlaylist suite work well, there are many changes which are required for JAWS to perform optimally. These changes are for the JAWS scripts for StationPlaylist Studio, Creator and the VT Server. A set of scripts will be available at the same time as the official release of these products when they come along.

J-Say version 20 will be available to support JAWS 2022 in mid-November. This includes ensuring there are voice commands for the new JAWS features in version 2022, better ways to move through lists of files and documents, and other improvements. Anyone who has a J-Say Software Maintenance Agreement will receive this update.

Now we come to Leasey. A new update to Leasey will be provided at the same time as JAWS version 2022 is officially released. The changes are below.

Leasey now supports the use of JAWS 2022. This has required the implementation of many small adjustments to ensure everything coexists with it, far too many to mention.

In LeaseySearch, added two new search engines: Bing and DuckDuckGo.

More modifications have been made to the Leasey Updater. While during testing the old system has been perfect, downloading all the required files every time, apparently on some machines it does not do so. As of this new version, Leasey will download an installer which will install only the required files for the update. No core files such as those containing user preferences should be overwritten.

If JAWS 2022 is used, when navigating lists of messages in Microsoft Outlook, such as the Email Inbox, a sound will play when the top and bottom of the list is reached. There are two different sounds to distinguish your position in the list.

In Outlook, pressing Enter to activate a folder in the Navigation Pane does activate it every time.

Support is available for all manner of Leasey-related tasks when Explorer++ is used as a replacement for File Explorer. Particularly with Windows11, Explorer++ provides faster rendering and navigation of files. Indeed some of our testers are using it as a preference with Windows10 as well.
Explorer++ is available here.
https://explorerplusplus.com/

Whenever the LeaseyCuts and LeaseyText feature is used, a backup of the ini file is automatically made. In the event it becomes corrupted, Leasey understands this and replaces it with the backup version and uses that instead.

If a Pearl camera is connected to the computer, pressing the Leasey key then ALT+P will automatically scan the document under the camera.

Added the following keystrokes in YouTube in addition to those which Leasey already has:
ALT+Shift+T, speaks elapsed time of the playing video, such as 4 minutes and 51 seconds.

Control+Shift+T: Speaks the total length of the video, such as 1 hour 5 minutes and 12 seconds.

ALT+Control+Windows+F places the YouTube video in full screen mode.

The keystroke to bring into view the list of LeaseyNote categories has been changed from Leasey key ALT+Windows+L to Leasey key then Shift+L.

There have been subtle changes to LeaseyNotes so as to stop speech when moving from one area to another.

In JAWS 2022, pressing the Leasey Key then:
ALT+Left arrow. Routes jaws to the left and other audio to the right.
ALT Right Arrow: routes jaws to the right and other audio to the left.
ALT Up Arrow: Restores sound balance.

Hi to all

It is with considerable reluctance that we have made the decision to cancel the training course relating to the BrailleSense 6. We cannot apologise enough for this and the reasons for doing so will become clear.

There are any number of freely available training resources available relating to this product and another one about to begin. However, the people who have purchased our training course have done so for a number of reasons, one of which is that they know the tuition is going to be of an exceptionally high standard which is difficult to obtain elsewhere. If that wasn't the case then people would take advantage of the other resources rather than coming to us, and we do sincerely thank everyone who has pledged their support to us and purchased our potential offering. Doing so speaks volumes and lets us know that people value what we do. So thank you.

The sad reality however is this. A problem with the BrailleSense 6 was discovered at the very start of September. We have been promised a new unit. We will not receive this until at least the beginning of November. So from the time we arranged collection of the old unit to an apparent arrival of the new one will be approximately nine weeks.

This is unacceptable. By the time the unit has been tested here to ensure it is up to standard, we will be into mid-November.

We feel it is completely unfair to retain funding from people who have paid money in good faith and not to be able to deliver the training until this point. Moreover, because of the comprehensive nature of the training, it would progress into the year 2022. Remember too that the projected time-scales assume the unit has no obvious flaws when it arrives. This has to be taken into account.

Within the next week, anyone who has paid for the training course will have their money refunded in full. While clearly this will be a financial loss to us, we hope people view Hartgen Consultancy as a company with complete integrity and fair dealing. We will not retain money where the future of the training course is, to say the least, precarious.

Once again, we would like to apologise to the many people who purchased the training, but we are sure you will agree this situation is not of our making.