Nursery deposit refund

clsmorris27

I accepted an offer of a nursery place via email on 7/2 and duly paid a deposit of one months fees in advance in order to secure the place.

My circumstances have since changed and I contacted the nursery on 20/2 (within the 14 day cooling off period for distance selling) to notify them of cancellation and requesting a full refund.

I was initially told that the deposit was non refundable but, after mentioning the 14 day cooling off period, I have since had a reply as follows, “Late cancellation of a place has a direct impact on the nursery in terms of lost business. Your cancellation of the nursery place is not our fault and, as such we have the right to protect ourselves against losses we incur. In this case, we will incur losses to the business as a result of you not taking up the place because we had to turn other children away once you paid your deposit in order to secure your place.

Your child’s place at the nursery was due to start 1 April 2019. At this late stage we will be unlikely to fill the space. However, if we do fill the space before 1 May 2019, we will refund the deposit pro rata less administrative costs.”

Is this the best outcome I can hope for or should I push for a refund under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013?

How could I ever hope to hold them to their offer of a pro rata refund as I won’t know if they do fill the spot?

All advice very gratefully received.

Aylesbury_Duck

clsmorris27 wrote: »

I accepted an offer of a nursery place via email on 7/2 and duly paid a deposit of one months fees in advance in order to secure the place.

My circumstances have since changed and I contacted the nursery on 20/2 (within the 14 day cooling off period for distance selling) to notify them of cancellation and requesting a full refund.

I was initially told that the deposit was non refundable but, after mentioning the 14 day cooling off period, I have since had a reply as follows, “Late cancellation of a place has a direct impact on the nursery in terms of lost business. Your cancellation of the nursery place is not our fault and, as such we have the right to protect ourselves against losses we incur. In this case, we will incur losses to the business as a result of you not taking up the place because we had to turn other children away once you paid your deposit in order to secure your place.

Your child’s place at the nursery was due to start 1 April 2019. At this late stage we will be unlikely to fill the space. However, if we do fill the space before 1 May 2019, we will refund the deposit pro rata less administrative costs.”

Is this the best outcome I can hope for or should I push for a refund under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013?

How could I ever hope to hold them to their offer of a pro rata refund as I won’t know if they do fill the spot?

All advice very gratefully received.

Seems a fair outcome.

I don't think the regulations you're quoting apply in this case. I think that it might be considered a service in the same category as a hotel booking for example, so there is no entitlement to a cooling-off period unless the nursery's terms and conditions offer it. However, it's over a month until the service was due to start and if they're a good nursery, they'll probably have someone by then anyway.

clsmorris27

Thanks. I thought it was distance selling as the contract was not made on the nursery’s premises or in person - all correspondence was via email?

I’m also not sure how I’d hold them to their offer...

Aylesbury_Duck

You didn't visit the nursery before signing up to leave your child with them?

clsmorris27

I did visit the nursery for a tour a few weeks ago, but at that point I didn’t enter into any contract

Fosterdog

clsmorris27 wrote: »

I did visit the nursery for a tour a few weeks ago, but at that point I didn’t enter into any contract

Theatre still means that this is not a distance sale/contract. Their terms are reasonable, if they can fill the space they will refund you, you have no reason to doubt their honesty as so far they have done nothing wrong

Aylesbury_Duck

I'm not convinced that counts as distance selling then. You can't have the benefit of using the "shop" and then claim the extra protection of distance selling by making the agreement online. By definition it's not a "distant sale" because you've been to see the service in action. Others may have a different view and have more knowledge of the CCRs but I don't think you're entitled to a full refund.

As I said above, I suspect it's academic because they'll probably fill the space. Nurseries round here have almost all got waiting lists.

pinkshoes

I would certainly be getting a friend to look round at the end of March and ask about a place starting in April...

(If they say there is no space, then you get your refund...)

As you are paying for 1 months fees, then if they haven't filled the place you might as well use it! Phone them on the last day of March to check...