BSM driving school - paid online for lessons and not received lessons

jadorevintage

I paid online for lessons with BSM driving school on 29th September. I booked the "two lessons for £20" deal advertised on their website, which cost me £21 in total as they added a £1 booking fee. To cut a long story short, they phoned me during the day on my evening phone number, I missed the call, phoned them back and then never received a call back from them. Customer services told me on the phone when I phoned them again at the end of that week (to ask for a refund) that their policy was to deduct £10 for cancelled lessons (bearing in mind I hadn't actually booked anything) to protect their instructors from losing out on business.

I never had the driving lessons, nothing was ever booked, yet I paid a month and a half ago for a service I have never received. They told me on the phone to email customer services, which I did, FOUR TIMES, and didn't receive any response. So, I sent them a letter last Wednesday, which I have not received a response to via phone or post. Really, really disgusted and want my money back. Is there anything I can do, such as contact my bank to try and get the money back?

Hintza

The problem you have is nobody is taking ownership of the problem. Call them up and if nobody seems interested ask to speak to their boss until you find someone who will take it on.

Get names of everyone who you talk to just in case you get "Cut Off"!!

Be firm but polite (don't lose your temper otherwise you will be cut off)

Freddie_Snowbits

Why not ring them up and book the lessons, that way you may get to learn to drive!

Or you could bury your head in the sand and hope the problems go away

knowlton

Did you pay by credit card? I would do a charge back personally

Freddie_Snowbits

knowlton wrote: »

Did you pay by credit card? I would do a charge back personally

Brilliant, that is a really helpful post. Can I send you £30 via paypal and do a charge back as well? I think you will find that the bank may refuse this one, don't you?

maninthestreet

I'm confused - did you, or didn't you, pay BSM £20 online for these lessons? If so, who has cancelled these lessons - you or BSM??

jadorevintage

knowlton wrote: »

Did you pay by credit card? I would do a charge back personally

No, debit card.

jadorevintage

maninthestreet wrote: »

I'm confused - did you, or didn't you, pay BSM £20 online for these lessons? If so, who has cancelled these lessons - you or BSM??

I paid £21 for 2 lessons and they messed me around and didn't phone back - THERE WERE NO LESSONS BOOKED, but I had paid for lessons - they weren't cancelled (since no lessons were booked there is nothing to be cancelled), I just want my money back now!

jadorevintage

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

Why not ring them up and book the lessons, that way you may get to learn to drive!

Or you could bury your head in the sand and hope the problems go away

What a useful response /sarcasm. Clearly didn't read my post either, as I DID phone them...they messed me around...I don't want to learn with them! They're holding £21 of my money and wont give it back or contact me! I've tried contacting them NUMEROUS times. Don't even know why I'm replying to you, just so you can spend 10 hours thinking of a "witty" response back. Hope you're not planning a career in comedy, as you're not very good at it.

jadorevintage

Hintza wrote: »

The problem you have is nobody is taking ownership of the problem. Call them up and if nobody seems interested ask to speak to their boss until you find someone who will take it on.

Get names of everyone who you talk to just in case you get "Cut Off"!!

Be firm but polite (don't lose your temper otherwise you will be cut off)

Thanks, I have tried this, but the boy I spoke to (I did get his name) wouldn't let me speak to his manager - he went off to speak to him and came back and told me it's above them and they couldn't do anything about it, which is when they told me to contact customer services, which I did, but am yet to receive a response to about 10 contact attempts, 4 weeks later!!

wealdroam

OP, on 29 September you wanted driving lessons.

You saw this good offer and paid £21.00.

They made a mistake and phoned you on the wrong phone at the wrong time of day.

You then decided that you no longer wanted lessons with them.

Now, over six weeks later, you still have not booked any lessons.
Ok, they said they would ring you, but before two weeks had passed I would've been ringing them.

Is that a fair assessment?

Can you find cheaper lessons?
Do you still want lessons?
Two lessons for twenty pounds is a bargain, isn't it?

If you still want your money back, have a read about the Distance Selling Regulations.