Paid £99 to a driving school for '5 pupils on try us and see offer' - Ripped off

[Purpleflowers 2]

my friend who is a driving instructor paid £99 to a national driving school who had a 'try us and see' offer..

.where you pay them £99 and they promise to give you '5 pupils' to show how good they (the company are)..

.you then decide if you want to take a franchise out with the company.

 

my friend paid £99 to this driving school

she was given the details of a pupil in another town.

 

..she called the pupil and explained she was unable to take this pupil for her test and

she should contact the driving school to arrange her test

or ask the driving school to send one of their own instructors,

 

she also explained this to the driving school who told her

'this will not be classed as one of your 5 pupils'

and the driving school would find her other pupils

(a total of 5 for the £99 she paid them)

 

To cut a long story short my friend has not been provided with any pupils since this incident,

the driving school are ignoring her calls.

 

My friend wants the £99 she paid back.

..she feels ripped off because the school promised

' 5 pupils for £99 try us and see'

- she was not provided with one pupil.

 

Shall my friend send them a letter by recorded delivery,

in it state that they have not supplied the pupils as agreed.

 

As a result she holds them to be on breach of contract and demand a refund of the full fee of £95 within 14 days.

 

Can anyone please help

my friend feels ripped off

 

she has spoken to another driving instructor who has said contact trading standards

but my friend has never been in such a situation before

...any of the experiened caggers able to help my friend get her money back?

 

My friend has the leaflet with the offer she took

[dx100uk]

section 75 if she paid by credit card

 

or chargeback by debit card

 

sz

[Bazooka Boo]

Name and shame them.

 

Trading Standards is a good start, as is send this outfit a Letter before Action (LBA) giving them 7 days in which to refund the money or face further action.

If they ignore the LBA, then IMO I would issue a claim via the small claims track.

[Bazooka Boo]

Or as DX says.....I often use a sledge hammer to crack a nut..

[Rex Shepherd 7]

section 75 if she paid by credit card

 

or chargeback by debit card

 

sz

 

Section 75 couldn't be utilised as the value is not over £100.

[Purpleflowers 2]

She paid with her debit card £99 to this particular driving school.

 

The driving school has now 'removed' the offer from their website....but my friend has a paper copy of the offer she was given when she met a person from the driving school who gave her paperwork with the offer.

 

dx100uk how does my friend go about getting the chargeback done and what does she have to explain to the bank?

 

This is the small print from their website "The trial is performance related. After a low initial payment of just £99, you don't pay another penny until we hit the pupil supply targets (5 pupils) .'No other school offers you a no commitment "try before you buy" period like this so call today to start your trial within days. Due to the nature of this trial the payment is non refundable'

 

My friend has been waiting for over 4 months and not received the 5 pupils the offer stated she has been had!

 

The company state the 'The trial is performance related and has no time restriction' - well its been over 4 months for my friend and nothing!

 

Its been over 120 days she my friend made payment she was fobbed off by the company who told her "we are working to get you pupils" but which was a sly method of going past the 120 period for charge back

[WarrenBuffet]

I can explain chargeback, if she/he has paid by debit card then go into her local bank and simply say to the bank employee "I wish to do a chargeback please." You will probably explain the situation in short but you do not really have to, the bank official will then produce an instruction statement which you sign as this is that any liability you are responsible for.

 

The money i believe is in your account straight away or at the very most the end of that business day, the icing on the cake for me is ...... For the pleasure of instructing your bank to perform the chargeback, your bank will charge them £20 and not you!

[Purpleflowers 2]

My friend paid £99 is that under the charge back limit (plus its been over 4 months, so what shall she tell them like when she 'realised' what was happening) - she was being ripped off.

 

She is going to the bank if the bank asks her does she say "i paid £99 for a service which was not provided"?

 

 

I can explain chargeback, if she/he has paid by debit card then go into her local bank and simply say to the bank employee "I wish to do a chargeback please." You will probably explain the situation in short but you do not really have to, the bank official will then produce an instruction statement which you sign as this is that any liability you are responsible for.

 

The money i believe is in your account straight away or at the very most the end of that business day, the icing on the cake for me is ...... For the pleasure of instructing your bank to perform the chargeback, your bank will charge them £20 and not you!

[WarrenBuffet]

In effect yes! Its not like Visa where you need to spend £100 , i have done it with papal, BT and quite a few others for amounts ranging from £20 - 500 but it can be any amount.

 

You, are instructing your bank, you are not asking permission so the bank teller has to do as instructed unless its fraud. Generally you will find them on your side, just say you paid for service and you did not receive, you have spent the last two months trying to get them to respond without success and you have now had enough, hence you are instructing chargeback as they are not responding to your request for refund.

 

You are not asking for permission you are 'Instructing' your bank to do a chargeback .

 

PS: If you do telephone banking? You can instruct a chargeback that way too.

[Purpleflowers 2]

I've just spoken to my friend she told me she thinks she paid the £99 in June or July but is not certain - will this be an issue?

 

Or can she say the driving school told her to allow upto 12 weeks for '5 pupils' and she has since spent the last 4 months with no luck trying to get her money back?

 

Is there a time period of 120 days from the date my friend made the payment to the driving school to the time she is doing the chargeback if thats the case i think its 6 or 7 months since she made the payment but she was told the pupils '...would take time to produce and it would not happen overnight with no time period in place'.

 

I think she has waited enough don't you think

 

 

In effect yes! Its not like Visa where you need to spend £100 , i have done it with papal, BT and quite a few others for amounts ranging from £20 - 500 but it can be any amount.

 

You, are instructing your bank, you are not asking permission so the bank teller has to do as instructed unless its fraud. Generally you will find them on your side, just say you paid for service and you did not receive, you have spent the last two months trying to get them to respond without success and you have now had enough, hence you are instructing chargeback as they are not responding to your request for refund.

 

You are not asking for permission you are 'Instructing' your bank to do a chargeback .

 

PS: If you do telephone banking? You can instruct a chargeback that way too.

Edited February 5, 2014 by Purpleflowers 2
spelling

[WarrenBuffet]

Tell her not to worry! It takes 5 mins to do and if she simply states the truth as you have outlined she has NO worries . She will not be interegated just asked for simple explanation. The timescale is not an issue unless of course they have shut their bank account?

[Bazooka Boo]

And make a formal complaint about them to TS as well, it might be a very well worn trick they employ!

Name and shame please?

[Purpleflowers 2]

she has spoken to her bank who have said its past 120 since she made payment and they can't help - she is now out of pocket by £99

[Purpleflowers 2]

She has spoken to the CAB they have told her write a letter to the driving school asking them to honour the contract by xyz date or issue a refund if they are not able to honour the contract...she does not know how to structure the letter can you help her?

 

Trading Standards have been passed the information as well by CAB - if the driving school does not issue the refund it will be escalated

 

 

And make a formal complaint about them to TS as well, it might be a very well worn trick they employ!

Name and shame please?