Counselling course fee refund

cathsmillie

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice. I recently signed up for a three year counselling course with an educational provider who are a registered charity. I signed a three year contract which was a little ambiguous about what happens if you have to withdraw from the course in terms of your course fees which I opted to pay upfront since there was a sizable discount for doing so. At intervew, I was told that group practice with other students could be carried out via Skype which was an important part of my decision to sign up since I live in a different city to the one running the course. During my first session however, we were told that we must meet in person and that practise via Skype was not an option. I attended the first two session (they run monthly for a day at a time) before realising that it just wasn't going to be possible for me to gain the required number of practise hours outside of class to be able t complete the course successfully. I have formally withdrawn and I'm now trying to claim back my money but the amount they have offered me is tiny compared to what I have paid in and, given that I signed up as the result of inaccurate information, I'm pretty upset at their approach, though of course I can't prove that I was given that information since it was verbal. Does anyone have any advice or experience of this?

[Deleted User]

Start with the written contract, and see what that says.

Undervalued

cathsmillie wrote: »

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice. I recently signed up for a three year counselling course with an educational provider who are a registered charity. I signed a three year contract which was a little ambiguous about what happens if you have to withdraw from the course in terms of your course fees which I opted to pay upfront since there was a sizable discount for doing so. At intervew, I was told that group practice with other students could be carried out via Skype which was an important part of my decision to sign up since I live in a different city to the one running the course. During my first session however, we were told that we must meet in person and that practise via Skype was not an option. I attended the first two session (they run monthly for a day at a time) before realising that it just wasn't going to be possible for me to gain the required number of practise hours outside of class to be able t complete the course successfully. I have formally withdrawn and I'm now trying to claim back my money but the amount they have offered me is tiny compared to what I have paid in and, given that I signed up as the result of inaccurate information, I'm pretty upset at their approach, though of course I can't prove that I was given that information since it was verbal. Does anyone have any advice or experience of this?

Ultimately, if you can't reach agreement with them your only option will be to make a claim via the small claims court. A judge will have to decide on the balance of probabilities (i.e 51%) who he believes. So, you do not need anything like the criminal standard of proof (which is beyond a reasonable doubt). Will any of the other students provide you with a statement that would help your case? Can you assemble any evidence that would help to convince a judge that there is no way you would have signed up had you not been told much of the course could be done remotely?

You may find that threatening legal action and the possibility of adverse publicity will encourage them to make a more realistic offer - or not! Who knows.

cathsmillie

I was of the same opinion unfortunately. Interviews were conducted one on one and so there is no-one else who can corroborate what I was told and since the majority of students I met lived in the same area the course was being held at, I can't see any of them having being concerned enough to ask that same question, so I have no real evidence to support my claim. I am going to pursue it further though. I'm combing through the contract I signed and picking out the ambiguities in readiness for asking for a more appropriate and specifically defined sum of money. I'm hoping that a well reasoned argument will suffice but if not then I guess I'll have no choice but to either accept the sum they have offered or go down the small claims path. Thanks for your help!

TBagpuss

Your statement of what was said and what happend is evidence. Obviously it is *stronger*if you have aditional evidence such as a third person confirming things, or written confirmation, but you can still give evidence.

(For future reference, this is why it it usually a good idea to followup this kind of conversation with an e-mail summarising what you were told and asking the other person to confirm that you've correctly understood the position - that way, if you haven't (or if they realise that they told you the wrong thing) you find out straight away, and in other circumstances you have a record of what was said / agreed which you can refer to if there is an issue later on. )

Does the organisation offer courses anywhere else?s there any chance you could defer or transfer to a different centre?

cathsmillie

Yup...hindsight is a wonderful thing! Normally I'm very careful about making sure I have all the right information and double-checking things....not sure what went wrong this time but maybe my enthusiasm got the best of me....lesson learnt!


There are courses running in cities all over the country but none in close proximity to me. They're close enough for me to attend the one day a month classes but to not close enough to be nipping over to people's houses of an evening on a regular basis.


Thanks for your comments!

Ozzuk

Is this post grad level? Maybe ask if they will accept placement hours instead of student time, then find somewhere local to do your placement.

cathsmillie

Unfortunately, no. I'm not allowed to study counselling at post-grad level without first having a beginners counselling qualification with a certain number of hours counselling practice. I have two undergraduate degrees and an MA in other areas and I used to work as a university lecturer, believe it or not. I'm normally very sensible!