I hope someone can help us with this....

[chelleapps]

Hello, hope someone can give me some legal advice on this issue, its been going on for a while and is really getting me and my husband down. Its quite lengthy but i'll try and keep it as short as I can.

 

Early this year (Feb) husband sent off for some information about a home study course, via the internet. He received a pack of documents by post, which contained a thank you for requesting info (standard) letter, a leaflet detailing general information about the course, an application form, and an FAQ leaflet. The leaflets stated that the cost of enrolment would be £495 if you used an attached voucher, and there would also be five mandatory one-day courses at a cost of £75 each on top of this, to enable you to get your certificate.

 

A few days after receiving the pack he was telephoned by a representative from the company running the course, asking if he had had time to read through the details and did he have any questions. My husband clarified the costs with this lady as being £495 plus five lots of £75, and that there were no other costs involved; she clarified this as being true. My husband therefore applied for the course, sending off a cheque for £495 including the voucher, and as promised received a portfolio to be able to begin the home study.

 

However, a few weeks later, we received two direct debit mandates by post (on seperate occasions) to enable him to 'pay the remaining instalments'. Hubby telephoned to ask about this as we had been told we didn't pay anything else until he booked a one-day course, which are to be paid for when booking them. He was advised during this telephone call that there were a total of 26 days, made up of courses, assessments, exams etc, all at varying prices. However, he could pay using a payment plan which would cost £130 per month for 36 months, which would cover all the additional costs. This comes to an extra £4680 on top of the £495!!!

 

We simply can't afford this and had we known this to be the case he wouldn't have applied for the course, to do so in our current position would be stupidity. We had to borrow the £495 from a relative in the first place!

 

We have sent numerous letters to the company asking for a refund as we believe it was misrepresentation, but i'm not legally minded so am blindly stabbing in the dark, anyway they are refusing to give us our money back. They then e-mailed copies of a price list and a letter they allegedly sent to us in February before he enrolled on the course but we have never, ever seen these before, we never received them at all. Aside from this, the lady on the telephone didn't mention these extra costs either even though husband directly asked about extra costs and the number of courses, so we can't understand why it wasn't then mentioned.

 

PLEASE PLEASE can someone help us what to do next? Are we entitled to a refund based on the fact that we never received the information about the full price, either through the post or when we asked directly? I'm in such a mess over this its been very upsetting, basically its their word against ours as they say they sent the information but we never received it, but neither can really be proved.

 

Thank you for reading this if you've got this far, I do appreciate it!

[chelleapps]

Oh my god did I really type that much?! Sorry its very long :o

[nellie75]

Hiya

 

I am not fully sure on this actual case but hopefully somebody on here will have more legal knowledge. As far as i know, you can challenge them under the misrepresentation act. As you say its your word against theirs so if they are not backing down I think you can start small claims procedure through the court, that way you can tell your side and its for the judge to decide.

 

Does anyone else have any ideas or am i correct in my thinking?

[Jimbo44]

I'm not sure this will apply to a home study course but this link to a Consumer Direct page concerning Distance Selling might help:

 

Consumer Direct: Factsheet - Shopping from home - Your rights

[Bookworm]

It's quite simple. The documentation you have doesn't show any additional costs, does it? What about the application form?

 

It's basically what you sign for that counts. Did you keep a copy of the application form? If not, do a SAR asap (£10 fee).

 

If you have the information, double-check that you didn't miss some small print. I know it sounds like I think you're stupid, I don't, but it is so easy to miss key things ( I should know!).

 

If there is nothing to show that you agreed or had any knowledge of those extra costs, then you send them a prelim (see bank charges library and tweak for your purpose) demanding return within 14 days of the monies paid, as they quite obviously enticed you to join under false pretence, quoting you one price, etc...

 

Don't hold back, make it quite clear that you are not afraid of taking them to court (even if you are! ;-)), and hold your ground. Its a bloody disgrace.

 

Keep us updated.

[chelleapps]

Thanks to everyone that's replied I really appreciate it.

 

I will get an SAR and then send a prelim letter off asap (fingers crossed we didn't miss anything). The only thing i'm wary of is the lack of proof that I didn't actually receive the extra details. I think they'll see it like this as well and defend in court!

[Bookworm]

Yes, but look at it this way: they'll need to convince a judge that, on the balance of probabilities, they sent you letters advising you of x very high costs, that you read them and ignored them, and proceeded with the course, knowing that you would have high costs, yet kicked a fuss about them when you received the d/d mandates, and only then decided that no, it wasn't for you. Hmm.

[Nightmare4banks]

chelleapps,in reply to your post and in my view:

 

1.Do as suggested by others the SAR.

 

2.Also,request a copy of the e-mail that the company stated it had sent to your husband back in February.

 

3.I feel you should be able to get the full amount back if you can prove that the company misrepresented the facts and thus caused you to part with the £495 but you were totally unaware of the excessive fees to follow.

 

4.In order to establish a misrepresentation you would need to have details of all your letters/e-mails/brochures etc from the company in order to conclude this.

 

Anyway,this is my 2'ps worth!

 

I hope you find this information useful.

 

If you have any questions,just ask.

 

Keep us posted.

 

All the best!

[chelleapps]

Thank you both, we've kept all the correspondence from them, and have copies of everything we've sent to them too.

 

I never thought of it like that Bookworm, its a really good point and of course he wouldn't have enrolled if we knew of the extra costs!

 

Sent an S.A.R. today, i'll keep the thread updated with any news.

[itsamomentintime]

if there really is no evidence of the extra costs, it means you have got a £5000 course for £495 - congratulations!!!

[rosiecotton]

3.I feel you should be able to get the full amount back if you can prove that the company misrepresented the facts and thus caused you to part with the £495 but you were totally unaware of the excessive fees to follow.

 

4.In order to establish a misrepresentation you would need to have details of all your letters/e-mails/brochures etc from the company in order to conclude this.

 

I agree, you should be entitled to a full refund of what you have paid if you can establish that there has been a misrepresentation.

 

The Misrepresentation Act 1967 defines a misrepresentation as a false statement of fact which is designed to induce a consumer into entering a contract.

 

The statement can be made fraudulently (on purpose), negligently (without checking) or innocently (trader would not reasonably have known it was false). In this case it seems to be either fraudulent or negligent.

 

Misrepresentation renders a contract voidable. Therefore, your remedy under this Act would be rescission of the contract, i.e. both parties are put back into the position that they were in prior to the contract being entered into. In other words, they get any course materials back and you get your money back.

 

Good luck!

[chelleapps]

Well I can't believe my luck, sent the S.A.R. and they telephoned hubby a couple of days later offering him the full refund! I thought I would have more of a battle on my hands than that, it seems a bit too good to be true. They're telephoning back this week to get his bank details, well we'll wait and see if they actually do or not!

[JonCris]

Oh my gawd asking for his bank details. Whatever you do don't give it to them tell them to send a cheque. Then bank it pronto. pay the £20 & have it cleared ASAP