Getting a refund from a Karate teacher

Stan_Laurel

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to read this. I am looking for advice on cancelling my son's Karate class and getting a refund.
I have been charged £97 to enrol my son at a Karate class. This September.
£45 for a months classes.
£52 for the licence, Gee, and insurance.
My son found that the teacher was not attending, and he was left standing around for most of the class with nothing to do. As one of the other members, had been asked to take the class, and did not seem to know what he was doing.
As a result he does not want to go back, and I have offered to settle, by asking for the cost of the Gee back, as he was never given it. He never received his licence too.
The Karate teacher has been a bit agressive, and says he does not do refunds.
Does anyone have any advice on how I stand. In terms of my rights. How best to progress this. Before I end up getting the chop. Lets hope not.

DVardysShadow

The basic principle is that you give the service provider a reasonable opportunity to put things right before rescinding the contract on grounds of non performance. If your son will no longer attend, you are in a weak position to claim much back. The Gee looks reclaimable - but you must negotiate a drop dead date for delivery - or impose one if the instructor will not offer a reasonable date for delivery. Do this all in writing and keep copies.

Stan_Laurel

Thank you.

POPPYOSCAR

I dont know where you stand legally, but those prices sound expensive to me.

My daughter is at karate as I write this. We pay £20.00 per month and she attends for one hour a week.

The License fee is £20 as well. She has not a had a new gee for some time so not sure what they cost now. We do not pay insurance it is included in the monthly fee.

The charges for taking gradings are from £20 to £30 depending on the level of grade and that includes the belt.

Do you know why he has not been attending the sessions, and has he said when he will be there in his full capacity?

It would be a shame for your son to give it up. My daughter is one step away from a black belt and believe me can really take care of herself!!

keithdc

I suspect your best solution is....

adouglasmhor

Report them to your local CAB or Trading Standards, also report the teacher to whoever lets them the hall, their insurance is probably void if no qualified teacher attends.

It wasn't GKR (GO KAN Ryu) Karate was it, because they suck big style. Basically a pyramid scheme selling black belts to hack instructors.

lindos90

If your son does not want to go because its disorganised (not that he's just changed his mind) would it be worth talking to other parents? particularly if theres another child who started at the same time as him? Sometimes its better to deal with these things in numbers.

If several parents are not happy with the trainer not turning up, and his sub being clueless, then it would be difficult for him to ignore.

he can't use the excuse of blaming the sub for not knowing what he was doing. Your contract is with the proper trainer, if he cant make it, it is his responsibility to either cancel and refund for that lesson, or provide another competent/crb'd/qualified trainer.

jc808

Recently I needed to get a refund from a karate teacher. Heres my story.

I requested a refund and then was beaten and humiliated by his head pupil whose name I dont know. I recognised him from various frat boy movies, an action movie villian c1989 (The one where the helicopter flies into the hotel foyer, I think) and he was in something with Jennifer Lopez four years ago.

I phoned consumer direct and they couldn't help, but recommended another tutor in the area (They did at first recommend four other guys who apparently are large in the 'LA Underground' (?) but they couldnt find them)

I spoke to this other tutor who I was initially unsure of. Some of the lessons were somewhat unusual (I had to catch flies with chopsticks, for one and was berated by the tutor for using a can of RAID) but I did develop various skills.

I encountered the first tutor on several occasions and was either further beaten or rescued by Mr. Issi Miyake (My tutor) who also is a majority shareholder and director of a major Japanese fashion and fragrance house, but I think he was telling porkies.

I eventually got my money back from the first tutor at an illegal underground 'fight to the death' tornament in Hong Kong, whereby chance I met the original tutor. He was one of the guys I had to fight!! (In addition to a large black basketball player, a fat sumo guy and some scary thai boxer who seemed to enjoy kicking concrete posts (???!!!)...)

I must admit negotiations with the original tutor (In the final round) were somewhat fraught with the baying crowd, his trying to murder me with face blows, death kicks and cheesy 80s soundtrack music with 'mystical asian' synth presets. Initial negotiations fared badly, leaving me bleeding on the ropes. This all changed when I had a strange montage vision of myself undertaking various training schedules, my new tutor, Mr. Miyake and the time I fell off my bike in front of Dad when I was four, the first time I rode without stabilisers. At this point, I got up, resumed negotiations and broke the other tutors neck and then I hugged my wife (Who until this point, was rather insistent we just leave it and join a squash club instead) and Mr. Miyake.

The end.

patman99

So, your son has decided to give karate the chop then :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Flyboy152

A decent 12 to 14 oz gi can cost anything upward of twenty pounds and the licence and insurance would be about twenty to forty pounds (depending on the governing body and insurance underwriters), so the prices charged appear to be quite reasonable. The service provided, however, does seem to have fallen below what anyone would consider reasonable.

OP, you need to put all your grievances in writing to the club principal and explain the reasons why you are withdrawing your child from the club. As you do not intend to continue with the lessons, because they have not been provided in accordance with the BKA/KUGB/BKF (or affiliate organisations) standards, there should be no reason to continue to expect that the other items should be supplied. That said, if you wish your son to continue with lessons, but at a different club, the supply of those items are somewhat irrelevant. If these items have not been supplied to you, you would be entitled to a refund. I would imagine that, after an initial period, it would be necessary for any club member to have a licence and insurance in order to train at the club, so these should be in place already. As these have not been supplied, it is probable that the club is in violation of their membership criteria of the their governing body; you will need to establish who they are affiliated with and contact them to find out that the licence and insurance has been applied for. There are several associations and federations in the UK which governs the sport of karate (a bit of a pain, but various schisms and the different styles, have created a multi-level and multi-governance in the sport), but a look on the club's website should be able to tell you which one and who issues their licences.

Be confident and direct in your communications, to make absolutely certain that the principal is left under no confusion that you will not be bullied by him into dropping your request for a refund.

I would also copy the letter to the membership secretary of the association he belongs to, they should be aware of his attitude to his customers and they may be able to bring some influence to bear in the way he deals with his customers.

ThumbRemote

patman99 wrote: »

So, your son has decided to give karate the chop then :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

That would have been funny, if the same joke wasn't in the first post.