Driving Lesson Refund

djcreedo

Hi everyone,

I paid £210 cash to my driving instructor for 10 hours of driving lessons, and taking 2 hours off that (for my driving lesson) would leave 8 hours remaining. 3 days later I asked for that money back via text, and he is basically saying no. I want the money back because I got paid less from work than I was expecting, and driving lessons really aren't a priority until I can afford them - next pay day.

I'm just wondering what rights I have. It doesn't say anywhere in the terms & conditions that I signed about refunds of block booking.

The driving instructor is a franchised instructor for a company who acts as agents for their instructors. I've said to him that I will make a complaint with the company, then contact the DSA and if it comes to it I will be willing to go to small claims court.

If anybody could offer me some advice on what to do, I'd really appreciate it. Also, if it would be helpful to paste the text messages on here then just say so.

Thanks in advance.

powerful_Rogue

I wouldn't have thought you would have any rights to your money back in this situation. Im sure someone will be along shortly who knows more.

neilmcl

You've no right to a refund, it's you that want to break the contract, not the driving instructor.

If money is that tight then why pay such a sum up front in the first place.

hollydays

I think you've got a cheek.

djcreedo

neilmcl wrote: »

You've no right to a refund, it's you that want to break the contract, not the driving instructor.

If money is that tight then why pay such a sum up front in the first place.

But it doesn't say anywhere in the terms and conditions about refunds on block bookings? Sorry, I'm completely un-knowledgeable in this area. I thought I would be able to get my money back if I wished to do so.

Because I thought I could afford those lessons but now I need that money.

From a business point-of-view he is losing out, I've had 8 hours with him already and would have learnt with him until my test if he hadn't have been so difficult about this situation. Looking at similar posts on the internet, some driving instructors do refunds and some don't, so it looks to be at the discretion of the instructor?

Thanks for your replies.

djcreedo

hollydays wrote: »

I think you've got a cheek.

How so? I feel he is being difficult about this.

marliepanda

He has probably offered a special price for ten lessons, cheaper than his usual rate. You've signed up for ten, you have no right to cancel. He may have turned down other people as he was full, who knows?

djcreedo

marliepanda wrote: »

He has probably offered a special price for ten lessons, cheaper than his usual rate. You've signed up for ten, you have no right to cancel. He may have turned down other people as he was full, who knows?

Yes it is £210 for 10 lessons, and £23 a lesson normally. So I asked him if I could pay £46 for the 2 hours I had then get the rest of the money back, and he said no.

I know he hasn't had to turn down other people, I take a 2 hour slot every week and we look at the following week to see when he can book me in. So he hasn't assigned 10 hours to his diary for me because we book a different time each week.

brendon

djcreedo wrote: »

From a business point-of-view he is losing out.

There's three situations:

• He refunds you 8 lessons, and earns £160 less.
• He doesn't refund you 8 lessons, you don't turn up, he pockets £160 for doing nothing.
• He doesn't refund you, you turn up, and he's earned £160 for an honest days work.

There's only one situation he loses out in, and that's by refunding you. If you wanted a savings account, you should have gone to bank.

hollydays

Your perspective is you need the money, so for that reason he should refund you. What's to say he doesn't need the money more.

djcreedo

brendon wrote: »

There's three situations:

• He refunds you 8 lessons, and earns £160 less.
• He doesn't refund you 8 lessons, you don't turn up, he pockets £160 for doing nothing.
• He doesn't refund you, you turn up, and he's earned £160 for an honest days work.

There's only one situation he loses out in, and that's by refunding you. If you wanted a savings account, you should have gone to bank.

If he refunds me 8 lessons, he earns £160 less but then I pay for the lessons at the end of this month and continue using him until I pass my test.. which is more than £160.

If he doesn't refund me 8 lessons, I'm going to transfer the hours I have bought to another instructor within the same company that he works for.

Last one doesn't sound appealing to me, think it'll be quite an awkward 8 hours!