Child's dance teacher threatening debt collection

Larazane

Without wanting to go into my personal opinion on this dance teacher could someone let me have their thoughts on the following:

My daughter has attended a dance school for the last 12 months. When I signed her up I agreed on the application to give a term's notice if we decide not to attend.

Initially my daughter did tap and ballet. Initially the two classes ran consecutively but as she went up a level in ballet there was an hour gap and therefore I couldn't have her wait at the dance school without supervision for an hour in between classes so gave notice by email. I was then asked to provide written notice (to which I thought email was written notice). I didn't provide and written notice and the following terms timetable came out without the tap class on it so I assumed the school had stopped providing tap on the session my daughter usually attended. When I went to enrol my daughter for her usual ballet I was asked to pay for tap too. I questioned that I thought it was cancelled to be told no it wasn't so I shut up and paid. When I got home I searched my emails and found the timetable which failed to have the tap class on it. I emailed the dance teacher to question this to which she said it was an very early draft and the final was on the notice board. I didn't send my daughter to tap despite having paid for it because I couldn't spend 3 hours of my evening waiting for her to finish and couldn't leave her on her own at the dance school in between classes.

My daughter was then put forward for her ballet exam - yet more fees. My ex-husband was given the letter setting out the uniform required for the exam yet it didn't arrive with me. I emailed the dance teacher to which she wouldn't give me the information again and kept referring me to the original letter. Talk about being difficult. My separation and the fact my ex is useless is not my fault... throw me a bone!

The summer term came and went and during the summer term I had an email (to which I am frantically searching my deleted items for but to no avail) from the dance teacher informing me (in fact it was a generic email) that the timetable for September was to change and for us parents not to make arrangements around the old timetable because the changes are to be quite significant. My daughter managed to get a place at a swim school during the time she would've usually done ballet. I booked her in to the swim school and started her with a new dance school on a different day.

I am now being chased for confirmation as to what my daughter's intentions are in terms of going to the dance school as she hasn't attended and notice hasn't been provided and if she is no longer attending, in the absence of notice I am to pay the fees for the term regardless or it will be referred to a debt collection agency.

a, i fail to see what her losses are and would invite her to mitigate these to me, and;
b. I was told not to consider the dance school in plans for September due to changes in the timetable.

Would someone please confirm what my rights are and whether she can actually refer my 'debt' to an agency for collection. I would usually pay for an easy life but feel I am within my rights not to as I am not in the wrong.

I am on a rant so I hope this makes sense.

neilmcl

I didn't read the full thread but put simply she can refer the "debt" to anyone she likes but it won't be enforceable unless she takes you to court, at which point you would have a right to address her loss mitigation.

Larazane

Thank you. I feel I need to acknowledge her email saying something but obviously don't want to incriminate myself if I need to use it later on.

bris

Her losses are that you are contracted to send your daughter to the lessons. Whether or not there has been a breach of contract or not is for a court to decide, if not you owe the money.


To mitigate the loss she would have had to fill her space, if it's a full house then there is no loss, if it's not a full house then the loss has not been mitigated and you owe the money.


Basically you can't just make a contract then decide you don't want to honour it.

unholyangel

Btw the dont make any plans around current timetable, to me that isn't saying dont make any plans at all, just that nothings set in stone yet.

But it does introduce another aspect. Has she changed the terms of the contract from what you originally agreed to? Lessons on different dates/different times etc?

A contract must be fair and balanced and be equally binding on both parties. Once a contract is agreed/formed, basically they can't change the terms without your agreement.

However, you really do need to look at the T&C's and see what it says about in regard to contract duration/length & cancellation. It being in the T&C's doesn't mean you're stuck with it (terms can sometimes be unfair & unenforceable) but its a good place to start to get an idea of your base position.