7 months notice for children's club

Lott14

Hi,
I am new so sorry if I have posted in the wrong place,

My son started a drama club last January for which we paid £74.50 a month for a 3 hour class a week, the class was quite some distance from our home (45 miles)but at that time I worked nearby and my son attended a school not too far away. In December this year our circumstances suddenly changed and I had to change employment and my son had to move to a school much nearer home so was unable to carry on attending the drama class as he could not get there. We contacted his drama class straight away but no one would talk to us, they kept telling us we had signed a contract and that we had to pay until July as agreed. We are aware that we signed a contact but at that time had no way of knowing our circumstances would change, we have offered 3 months notice but they have not agreed to this and are demanding full payment tomorrow or they will pass on to a debt collecting agency -for which they will also charge us the cost of, is there anything we can do?

Any help would be appreciated.

bris

Just like a gym, you need to see through the contract. Your circumstances are not their fault so it makes no difference.

daytona0

The only thing I'd add is that, unless it is written in the contract, you are entitled to continue paying the monthly balance as apposed to the whole balance up front. Sounds like a bit of a bullying tactic if you ask me, and certainly something which is LIKELY not to be fair if written into a contract (the demanding for up front payment).

Unless, of course, you have already defaulted on a payment in which case it gets slightly messier.

unholyangel

Lott14 wrote: »

Hi,
I am new so sorry if I have posted in the wrong place,

My son started a drama club last January for which we paid £74.50 a month for a 3 hour class a week, the class was quite some distance from our home (45 miles)but at that time I worked nearby and my son attended a school not too far away. In December this year our circumstances suddenly changed and I had to change employment and my son had to move to a school much nearer home so was unable to carry on attending the drama class as he could not get there. We contacted his drama class straight away but no one would talk to us, they kept telling us we had signed a contract and that we had to pay until July as agreed. We are aware that we signed a contact but at that time had no way of knowing our circumstances would change, we have offered 3 months notice but they have not agreed to this and are demanding full payment tomorrow or they will pass on to a debt collecting agency -for which they will also charge us the cost of, is there anything we can do?

Any help would be appreciated.

Full payment tomorrow of what? The remainder of the contract? That would be a breach of contract on their part. They cannot make the monies due before they would have been under the terms of the contract and they really should be offering a discount on accelerated payment.

They also have a statutory duty to mitigate their losses by taking reasonable steps (such as finding another customer if this is possible).

This document can provide some useful info for you:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284426/oft311.pdf

Just because the T&C's say something, doesn't mean that its legally binding on you.

Poppie68

Does the drama school have year round intakes or term times? If it's the latter then they would be unable to mitigate their losses by taking on a new student for this class.

Lott14

We have missed a payment as we just couldn't afford it, which is why they are asking for full payment. They have 3 intakes a year, and there are 300 children attending the drama school. We have tried to offer to make lower payments but they have refused to consider this.

daytona0

Lott14 wrote: »

We have missed a payment as we just couldn't afford it, which is why they are asking for full payment. They have 3 intakes a year, and there are 300 children attending the drama school. We have tried to offer to make lower payments but they have refused to consider this.

Ah ok, so they are insisting on full payment because you have defaulted on a payment and they now think that you will be unwilling to pay anything to them.

I can appreciate why they'd threaten you with a collections agency in fairness.