Am I entitled to a refund for a guides trip?

peachyprice

tinkerbell28 wrote: »

Guides will have insurance, it won't cover parents cancelling their child's trip. It will cancel the GROUP. Not individual parents pulling their child of the trip for whatever reason. It will cover things like, so and so hurting herself on camp, or whilst in their care, etc, etc.

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If the unit have taken out the available travel insurance I linked to above the parent becomes the policy holder and the child the insured, not the GROUP.

Policyholder: An Insured Person except Insured Persons who are Children under the age of 18 years when the Policyholder shall be the Parent or Guardian of such children

tinkerbell28

They won't have individual insurance, most groups won't. For a UK camp. They'll have an insurance policy which covers, medical problems, people becoming injured, public liability a whole group cancellation, etc, etc. Insurance is another reason why names cannot just be changed, it costs money.

peachyprice

tinkerbell28 wrote: »

They won't have individual insurance, most groups won't. They'll have an insurance policy which covers, medical problems, people becoming injured, a whole group cancellation, etc, etc. Insurance is another reason why names cannot just be changed, it costs money.

You didn't look at that policy I linked to then.

The parent/child is the policy holder. This is the policy I have been given a copy of on several occasion, the last time being last year when my daughter went to Disneyland Paris with Guides, I was given a copy because my daughter was covered as an individual and I as per parent was the policy holder. This policy is available for UK and overseas trips.

So yes I have had individual insurance, you really can't say that OP won't when other Units do provide it.

kathrynha

peachyprice wrote: »

You didn't look at that policy I linked to then.

The parent/child is the policy holder. This is the policy I have been given a copy of on several occasion, the last time being last year when my daughter went to Disneyland Paris with Guides, I was given a copy because my daughter was covered as an individual and I as per parent was the policy holder. This policy is available for UK and overseas trips.

So yes I have had individual insurance, you really can't say that OP won't when other Units do provide it.

That insurance was provided to you at an additional cost to you (although your leaders might of included the cost in the holiday price) and it isn't cheap insurance. Most parents would be unable to afford the additional cost, therefore it generally only used for international trips.

I'm not going on the camp the OPs daughter was booked on, but have been on numerous similar ones in the past. It is always clear from the beginning that deposits are unrefundable, and after certain dates the balance is also unrefundable. Also for large camps, at this proximity to the camp consent forms, health forms will all have been submitted, along with photos for ID cards, making changing a participant impossible. Food will all have been ordered, activities and travel paid for making a refund impossible.

These big camps take a lot of organising, and unlike school trips, all the work is done by volunteers. Chances are most of the leaders are already out of pocket for the trip, as rarely are all expenses claimed, so as to make it as affordable as possible to as many girls. Parents not reading the information they are given about money being not refundable and then trying to claim it back makes the job of leaders harder than it already is, and risks making future trips and activities less affordable to those that need Guiding most.

real_world

Well said kathrynha!

peachyprice

kathrynha wrote: »

That insurance was provided to you at an additional cost to you (although your leaders might of included the cost in the holiday price) and it isn't cheap insurance. Most parents would be unable to afford the additional cost, therefore it generally only used for international trips.

Really? Most parents wouldn't be able to afford the additional costs?
It's £2.70 for a 4 day UK trip, £2.90 for a 10 day UK trip.

At that price more Units should be rolling it into the holiday cost as standard.

I bet if you asked those same parents you say couldn't afford to send their child if the holiday was insured whether they would rather pay and extra £3 to make sure they could claim their money back if their child breaks her arm/leg/gets norovirus before the trip 99% would say yes.

ThumbRemote

peachyprice wrote: »

I bet if you asked those same parents you say couldn't afford to send their child if the holiday was insured whether they would rather pay and extra £3 to make sure they could claim their money back if their child breaks her arm/leg/gets norovirus before the trip 99% would say yes.

In which case the parents are quite at liberty to organise insurance themselves.

peachyprice

ThumbRemote wrote: »

In which case the parents are quite at liberty to organise insurance themselves.

And they're quite at liberty to not bother sending their children on trips in the first place, that is not the point.

It seems a bit petty to make parents pay more for their own cover when leaders can get cover for such a small amount so that their girls are protected should they not be able to travel.

TBH, I doubt many parents are aware that they are not covered, we're all told that we'll lose our money if they change their mind, but nowhere does it ever say that we'll lose our money if they become injured.

If you were told that you couldn't get a refund if your child changed their mind but the trip has comprehensive insurance cover would you automatically assume that means that you're not covered for cancellation due to illness/injury and go out and get your own insurance? I doubt it somehow.

kathrynha

peachyprice wrote: »

Really? Most parents wouldn't be able to afford the additional costs?
It's £2.70 for a 4 day UK trip, £2.90 for a 10 day UK trip.

At that price more Units should be rolling it into the holiday cost as standard.

I bet if you asked those same parents you say couldn't afford to send their child if the holiday was insured whether they would rather pay and extra £3 to make sure they could claim their money back if their child breaks her arm/leg/gets norovirus before the trip 99% would say yes.

If you actually read the insurance policy I don't think it is relevant to the OP, as the camp has not been cancelled, just one person pulling out, and pretty much everything in the policy relevant to the OP's camp is actually covered by general GirlGuiding insurance.

Additional insurance is generally only used for international trips. Most people for their own family holidays wouldn't bother with insurance for a UK holiday.

tinkerbell28

As I have already said, and others have now said. Most of the camp will be covered by their existing insurance. All they would gain is cancellation insurance. So they won't have individual cancellation insurance, camp yes.

Most groups won't take out specific insurance for camps, as they are covered. For many that couple of quid could be the camp going or not.

Most of the things with scouts and guides do is heavily subsidised by the volunteers or donations. So sub fees and camp and activity fees don't price anyone out.