online course - help - need to get released from contract

SLSKKJ

hi all,

wife has subscribed to an e-learning course and has committed to a £200 per month fee until course completion.

We are now in a position where we need to cancel the course and not pay any more of the monthly instalment due to

1 - financial reasons - this is stretching the budget too much
2 - change of mind on career direction and course no longer relevant
3 - change in circumstances making the study time required impossible

When we approached the course provider they have quoted the distance selling regs and have refused to release us from our obligation. we are over the 7 day refund period and are about 6 mths into the contract. a refund is not the goal just a release from contract. NB wife has not benefited from any of the course and has not passed any modules or sat any exams.

any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

hollydays

Do you have any links to the terms and conditions.
What do you mean they quoted the distance selling regulations, what did they say and when?
In general unless there are unfair contract terms, if you've agreed to a contract, you can not end it early.
There is a board on here called debt free board, it might be worth looking at for your finances.

ThumbRemote

As holydays says, you need the terms and conditions.

You have no automatic right to cancel just because you want to change your mind. It doesn't matter where your wife is in the course, if she has agreed to pay £200 a month for a set time in exchange for a service they provide then unfortunately that's what you need to do.

SLSKKJ

T&C link here http://www.oxfordcollege.ac/terms-a-conditions

I think term 4 is most relevant and confirms what you are saying.

ThumbRemote

Although the terms and conditions do also say:

8. The following content is not allowed in the Oxford Learning Chat Room: spam, pornography, racism, illegal material or links to websites concerned with any of these. Posts containing prohibited material will be immediately removed by the Webmaster and the offending user will be banned from further activity on the Chat Room and your studies will be terminated.

So in theory according to the terms you've both agreed to, if you post spam to their chatroom they will terminate your studies.

This suggestion may not work

mattyprice4004

Unfortunately the reasons you can't continue with the course are things that should be considered before signing up - you need to make sure you're financially able to pay for the whole course before signing up.

None of the reasons quoted will get you out of the course.

SLSKKJ

unfortunately things change, payments where 100% fine when course was started, we even had a contingency fund which would have covered this but recent circumstances mean that has gone and the monthly income has depleted. not good but that's where we are.

we have emailed them with a heartfelt plea and hope that we can appeal to a sense of humanity, wish me luck! if that fails I will spam the daylights out of their forums, I love that suggestion!!!!

Hintza

SLSKKJ wrote: »

. NB wife has not benefited from any of the course and has not passed any modules or sat any exams.

Perhaps if she had done some of the course they might have been sensitive to your pleas but at the moment it would look she has done none of the course work and now just wants to give up.

I suspect your pleas will fall on deaf ears.

harrys_dad

How long is the course? How much was the total payment if paid in advance? Has anyone contacted her if she has been signed up for 6 months and not submitted any work?

ThumbRemote

Hintza wrote: »

Perhaps if she had done some of the course they might have been sensitive to your pleas but at the moment it would look she has done none of the course work and now just wants to give up.

I suspect your pleas will fall on deaf ears.

I don't think OP necessarily means their wife has not submitted any work. "not benefited from any of the course and has not passed any modules or sat any exams" may just mean they haven't received the benefit that someone who has got the qualification would do, e.g. more job options. Not that they haven't actually done any of the course.

SLSKKJ

@ harrys dad, course duration is 24 mths, total fee is in the region of £3500, we have paid half.

coursework not submitted, only one email at the start from a tutor re this and only for one report/essay submission. no other contact from them.

@ Hintza - unfortunately I suspect you are right

@ Thumb Remote - thanks for the defence