What are my rights?

Boogie2

Hi everyone, first post here, be gentle with me! My youngest at Primary School was offered the opportunity to receive music lessons at school provided by the Education Authority in September. The information sent home with her was a leaflet outlining that there was a cost to rent the instrument, and there was no other mention of any fees. There are other private music teachers who come into the school who had outlined the cost from the start. I decided to sign my daughter up for the Education Authority music lessons as I believed they were the cheaper option, not having been informed of any fees.
Now, half way through September all the parents of children receiving these lessons have been sent a letter from the school asking for £105 for this year's tutor fees. All parents are in agreement that we were not notified of these fees when we were signing our children up for this. To me, any charges should be made clear before anything should be agreed. If all information was not made available then how can it be fair? I would not have signed her up for this if I had known about the costs! I feel cheated out of this £105. What are my rights?
Thanks in advance!

[Deleted User]

Your rights are to advise the school that no fees were notified.

Has anyone actually done this?

If the fees are now a condition of future lessons, and not for any already had, then you'll have a choice of paying and having the lessons, or not.

KatrinaWaves

Do you have a copy of the original information that was sent regarding the lessons?

DoaM

From a consumer rights perspective, the consumer cannot be bound to any term that was not agreed prior to the contract starting. As this is a school/education authority I don't think this changes the fundamental position but I don't know for sure.

pinkshoes

On the leaflet, did it give a link to their website?

My son has lessons at school after we got a leaflet home. It worked out better value to buy a second hand instrument then sell it on if he wanted to give up.

 There was no pricing on the leaflet, but on their website which was given on the leaflet, the costs are clear. We pay £8.50 a lesson. £105 for a whole year sounds very reasonable!

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

pinkshoes said:

 There was no pricing on the leaflet, but on their website which was given on the leaflet, the costs are clear. We pay £8.50 a lesson. £105 for a whole year sounds very reasonable!

Would that be binding though given the information hasn't been presented in a durable medium? 

GS..

You knew you would have to pay a fee, even so, you chose to leap into the contract blindly
It was simply more than you expected.
In which case just pay them what you expected to pay and argue about the balance. Don't take the opportunity of mere clarify to stiff the school completely. That's just wrong

pinkshoes

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

pinkshoes said:

 There was no pricing on the leaflet, but on their website which was given on the leaflet, the costs are clear. We pay £8.50 a lesson. £105 for a whole year sounds very reasonable!

Would that be binding though given the information hasn't been presented in a durable medium? 

No idea! The leaflet made it clear that further info was all on the website. Although I think booking was done through the website where you then had to agree to the T&Cs. I double checked the costs before booking because it costs slightly more for a lesson if you provide your own instrument.

Undervalued

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

pinkshoes said:

 There was no pricing on the leaflet, but on their website which was given on the leaflet, the costs are clear. We pay £8.50 a lesson. £105 for a whole year sounds very reasonable!

Would that be binding though given the information hasn't been presented in a durable medium? 

Very few things in English law have to be in writing. In most cases a verbal contract is just as valid, although obviously it if far harder to prove what was agreed! A link to a website may well also be sufficient

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Undervalued said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

pinkshoes said:

 There was no pricing on the leaflet, but on their website which was given on the leaflet, the costs are clear. We pay £8.50 a lesson. £105 for a whole year sounds very reasonable!

Would that be binding though given the information hasn't been presented in a durable medium? 

Very few things in English law have to be in writing. In most cases a verbal contract is just as valid, although obviously it if far harder to prove what was agreed! A link to a website may well also be sufficient

Surely that depends on how the contract is formed, for an off premises contract the information needs to be given on paper or if otherwise agreed another durable medium and my understanding is a website link isn't permitted.

For on premises I can only see it needs to be clear and comprehensive plus it should be reasonable that the consumer "can reasonably be expected to know how to access it"

The example Pinkshoes gives reads to me as being off premises (although happy to be corrected on that). 

eddddy

Undervalued said:

A link to a website may well also be sufficient

As long as the leaflet makes it clear that the terms, conditions and/or pricing of the offer are available on the link, and you must read the terms, conditions and/or pricing on the link before accepting the offer. 

The legal test is: What would a 'reasonable' person understand by reading the leaflet? If a 'reasonable' person would conclude that no fee payable, then the school doesn't really have a basis for claiming payment. It seems that a number of parents read the leaflet and concluded that no fee was payable, and I'd guess that at least some of those parents (if not all) would fall into the category of 'reasonable people'.