Refund

follyfoot

Hi I purchased swimming lessons for son in August 2019 for late September start. In September the Swimming School told me the start date was going to be late October due to renovation works. A refund was agreed but I was told that I have to wait another 3 month to receive the refund because the terms and conditions state that all refunds are processed at the end of term. I paid for a service to be delivered in Sep since this was impossible I believe the terms and conditions are no longer valid and I should receive a refund as soon as possible?

DoaM

My layman's reading of this is ... they've breached the contract therefore they cannot rely on the terms of the (breached) contract to process a refund.

You could kick up a fuss, but ... do you still want your son to take swimming lessons there? If yes (and he's still going to be taking the balance of the swimming lessons for this term) then only you can decide if a fuss is worth it.

follyfoot

He is no longer taking lessons there. I just do not want to wait until Christmas to get back my money.

davidmcn

The alternative would be to start a small claims action, which is unlikely to get you the money much more quickly. Though you could threaten it and see what happens.

follyfoot

Is there any consumer law I can quote?

spadoosh

follyfoot wrote: »

Is there any consumer law I can quote?

Its only worth quoting consumer law if you understand it and you use it in a relevant context. I suspect you wont so dont use it.

I worked in a retail, if someone came up to me quoting consumer law I would mess about as much as i could because its purely an attempt to force someone to do something. Yeh ill do it if i have to, ill do it really slowly and as awkward as i can though. I remeber one guy telling me i had to sell him something at the price on the shelf. The price difference was 50p on an item that was about £4. I pointed out i didnt have to sell him at that price and he started trying to quote consumer law. Cut to me removing all the items from the shelf for a 24hr period whilst the price was corrected. No mate, i really dont, now you need to go somewhere else to buy your goods.

Those who came in and gave a genuine and accurate representation of their position, who where reasonable and didnt try to make out they knew more than they actualy did, would get everything they wanted.

shaun_from_Africa

How much did the course of lessons cost and how did you pay?

If it was on a debit card then a chargeback for breach of contract is a possibility.
If it was on a credit card then a chargeback or a Section 75 claim could work.

follyfoot

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

How much did the course of lessons cost and how did you pay?

If it was on a debit card then a chargeback for breach of contract is a possibility.
If it was on a credit card then a chargeback or a Section 75 claim could work.

I paid by bank transfer

shaun_from_Africa

follyfoot wrote: »

Is there any consumer law I can quote?

If you do decide to do this, the correct legislation is sections 54 & 56 of the Consumer rights act 2015 which covers a consumers rights relating to enforcing contract terms for services.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/part/1/chapter/4/crossheading/what-remedies-are-there-if-statutory-rights-under-a-services-contract-are-not-met/enacted

54 (3)If the service does not conform to the contract, the consumer’s rights (and the provisions about them and when they are available) are—
(a)the right to require repeat performance (see section 55);
(b)the right to a price reduction (see section 56).

56 Right to price reduction
(1)The right to a price reduction is the right to require the trader to reduce the price to the consumer by an appropriate amount (including the right to receive a refund for anything already paid above the reduced amount).
(2)The amount of the reduction may, where appropriate, be the full amount of the price.

(4)A refund under this section must be given without undue delay, and in any event within 14 days beginning with the day on which the trader agrees that the consumer is entitled to a refund

The Consumer rights act gives you statutory rights which can't be overridden by terms stated in the contract and IMO, expecting you to wait 3 months for a refund is taking the ****.
A week or two may be acceptable but certainly not 3 months.