Advice/help required please.

3onitsway

Hello Ladies & Gents, i'm after a bit of advice/some good ideas.

I have a 13yo boy with autism.

The short version of the story is that we went on Saturday on a very expensive 5 night holiday advertised and designed as being especially for people with Autism.

I don't want to mention any names on here (PM if you're nosey! ) in case it ends up going down the legal route.

We arrived Saturday evening and had a lovely night and a lovely Sunday. After dinner on Sunday we were asked by the organiser to leave as it wasn't right for my son.

Being totally honest (and not just because he's my boy), his behaviour was no different to any of the other children there. The only difference was that my son is 5'5", 7+st and 13 years old. The other children were all under 6 and their parents were able to lift them and take them out of sight when they were 'being autistic'.

I'm so angry and upset by the whole situation which is not being helped by them ignoring my requests for them to contact me. :mad:

I've emailed tv & newspapers and the National Autistic Society.

Can any of you lovely people think of anything else I could be doing other than sitting here raging?

Thank you for reading.

dmg24

Why not ask the holiday organiser for a formal explanation before involving other groups?

3onitsway

Thanks DMG, because............

3onitsway wrote: »

I'm so angry and upset by the whole situation which is not being helped by them ignoring my requests for them to contact me. :mad:.

dmg24

3onitsway wrote: »

Thanks DMG, because............

This only happened on Sunday - give them chance!

3onitsway

Thanks again DMG, i'm very impatient!

Ok, another question to add to my original post,

What is a reasonable amount of time to expect a business to reply to you?

daska

When it's a complaint I would expect a response within 24 hours or less. But maybe I'm just unreasonable LOL

DX2

3onitsway wrote: »

Thanks again DMG, i'm very impatient!

Ok, another question to add to my original post,

What is a reasonable amount of time to expect a business to reply to you?

Personally I would give them at least 2 weeks to reply.

Oldernotwiser

I think you've been too quick off the mark to try and bring in the big guns - you have to give the company a chance to check with the centre. A refund for any type of holiday problem will take at least a week to sort out and probably longer.

sox8369

Have you checked the small print terms and conditions on the booking form - may be good to gen up on their conditions so that you can have a response ready for when they come back with their 'reason' for asking you to leave.

Hope you get it sorted - did you not ask for a full explaination when you were asked to leave - dont think i would have left without knowing exactly what their issue was.

Really awful for you - and i think i would have kicked off too.

3onitsway

Hi Sox the reason they gave at the time was 'that it wasn't right for J'.

As I said earlier, the only difference between him and the other children there was his age/size.

I've had a thought today that as the other children there were so much younger, maybe they were worried my 13 year old would scare them as to what the future may hold for them. My mind is racing around because I really can't understand why they've done this.

I've found a bit on their site saying "Our camps are open to all families who have children on the autism spectrum.
There is no lower age limit and your child does not need to have any experience of riding horses. Our team of volunteers and staff are experienced with working (playing!) with children who are severely autistic as well as those who are more high functioning and also with the full range of neuro-typical children. You will be able to relax, safe in the knowledge that you are surrounded by people who are in similar situations to you or who understand your needs completely".

So we 'qualified' to be there. The bit about the staff being experienced is questionable!

atherlon

Our camps are open to all families who have children on the autism spectrum.
There is no lower age limit and your child does not need to have any experience of riding horses. Our team of volunteers and staff are experienced with working (playing!) with children who are severely autistic as well as those who are more high functioning and also with the full range of neuro-typical children. You will be able to relax, safe in the knowledge that you are surrounded by people who are in similar situations to you or who understand your needs completely".

if thats the case they should bow thier heads in shame !!:mad::mad: