Childs swimming lessons refused refund for money paid in advance

[xlauramx]

Hi there, I am hoping to find out where I stand on this.

 

We pay for my sons swimming lessons in blocks of 10, and pay 2 weeks in advance. They have a no refund policy if children are ill during the 10 week block and have to miss lessons. During this block of lessons my son had an ear infection and his ear drum burst. He has been advised by his Dr that he can not swim for up to 8 weeks. He has already missed the last lesson before Christmas and yesterday. Yesterday was pay week at swimming and we rang them up for some advice, we were told that if we didn't pay yesterday for the lessons that begin in a fortnights time we would lose his place. We were told to pay yesterday and then go to Drs on Monday and ask for a letter 'to tell them why he is really off'! and they would credit the lessons he has missed to his 10 next 10 week block (the 1 after the 1 we have just paid for). We went and paid yesterday.

 

I then found out that the Drs would charge me £25 to write the letter. We called the swim school back to ask for a refund of the money we had paid yesterday as we had paid 2 weeks in advance of the first lesson starting and lose his place. I was point blank refused. I feel like we have been led up the garden path slightly on this - just to be clear, I am not asking for a refund of the lessons my son has missed I am asking for a refund of the money I paid yesterday for the lessons due to begin in 2 weeks.

 

Thank you for reading, I know I have waffled on a bit!

[citizenB]

Does seem very unreasonable that there is no refund policy ! I have alerted site team to this one.

[raydetinu]

no refund sounds ok to me for that sort of activity.

The school or whoever runs it, make it pay by having a full class. If half the class off ill and demand refunds they would have to cancel the whole class. as would not pay.

if you are ill or miss lessons thats down to you.

[xlauramx]

Thanks for the replies, Im not sure I made it clear in my post that I am not asking for a refund for the missed lessons as I was aware of the no refund policy, I was asking for a refund for only the money paid in advance for the lessons that start in February - that haven't happened yet! Thanks, Laura.

[raydetinu]

still the same in IMO, I pressume there is a maximum number per class, so you would be taking somebodies place that could attend all lessons.

[xlauramx]

Yes I would agree except we wanted a refund for the whole 10 lesson block and are prepared to lose my sons place so they could fill that space with another child.

[IdaInFife]

I presume this is a council pool?

 

ALL council lessons are covered with the sames terms and conditions tht are normally on the letter you would have originally applied to have your child placed in the queue for lessons.

 

Even if you pay a year in advance you still won't get back any monies under the term:

 

If any person withdraws from a course after being accepted the Management reserve the right to withhold all the fee unless withdrawal is through medical reasons, where a Doctors certificate is required.

[citizenB]

You cant really plan in advance for illness/accident.. can you ?

 

This is no different to signing up for gym membership and then breaking a leg.. they too try not to refund/extend the contract !!

[IdaInFife]

the main issue is that the waiting list for these lessons will mainly be kids starting lessons and assuming that you kid has been there for a while they will be on level 2 or up and it is very unlikely that anyone will be waiting on the list to join at an upper level. the classes cannot begin unless there is x amount of kids signed up to it etc. thats why the no refund is in place.

[raydetinu]

they have said they will refund with doctors proof of illness, which sounds fair to me.

[xlauramx]

Thank you for all your replies. In response, it it not a council pool it is a privately run swim school with a large waiting list and he is still on the first level so they could fill his place pretty easily and they will refund with a Drs note but that will still cost us £25. We will just have to suck it up and live and learn I think on this occasion, I guess I am disappointed with myself for paying it in the first place. Thanks again everyone for your replies, Laura.

[citizenB]

the main issue is that the waiting list for these lessons will mainly be kids starting lessons and assuming that you kid has been there for a while they will be on level 2 or up and it is very unlikely that anyone will be waiting on the list to join at an upper level. the classes cannot begin unless there is x amount of kids signed up to it etc. thats why the no refund is in place.

 

Ah right, thanks Ida.. understand now

[steampowered]

I think it is reasonable for them to require a doctor's certificate, otherwise any parent would have a "escape from paying" card just by saying their child is ill. It is unfortunate that your doctor charges for the letter in my opinion they really shouldn't be allowed to do this. Perhaps you could ask for a copy of your medical records instead rather than a specific letter but this could be hassle.