Rights to Refunds For Cancelled Ski Lessons

JasonUK123

Looking for any advice or links to gauge what is reasonable when it comes to accepting part-refunds/credit notes. 

We have been offered a 50% refund (maybe 70% now) or 110% credit note. Given the nature/location of the lessons, a credit note is quite restrictive as you have to go to the same company (possibly in the same resort) which may not be possible for some time. I haven't gone back to the same resort twice for more than 10+ years. I am also a little disheartened by the part-refund offer. I know in my own business I simply would (and have) refund customers if we were cancelling the service we promised to provide. I understand that could impact the business but that is surely that is part of running a business during difficult times?

Is there any legal obligation to offer a full refund?  

Below is a recent reply from the company in question...

Here is some further context with regard to our situation:

When it became clear (13-15th March) that all ski resorts across Switzerland, France and Austria were forced to shut by the respective governments, we were in unchartered territory. We’d dealt with resort closures before, but only regarding adverse weather conditions (too little or too much snow, or storms). In those previous situations we had indeed refunded some clients in line with our terms and conditions.Terms and conditions which were created within the landscape and experience of those situations. 

 

In the coronavirus context, our legal advice is very clear. When an unprecedented event makes the delivery of our lessons illegal or impossible the contract between us terminates with immediate effect. (Contract Frustration). This has several consequences:

 

• Our terms and conditions no longer apply, because the contract has been terminated.
• You are entitled to a refund
• We are entitled to retain some funds to cover our expenses in preparing for the delivery of your lessons.

 

With all that has happened over the last few weeks, the travel restrictions and enforced resort closures have meant we have lost 5 weeks from an 18 week ski season that we usually operate. Two of these are the peak, high revenue and contribution weeks of Easter. Overall that is over 38% of our annual contribution to overheads. Much of our cost has been outlaid and yet a crucial part of our season has not operated although we know that this is our problem to solve and not our clients.

 

When we created the already offered options, we wanted to be both fair and supportive. We very consciously chose to provide our offers for 5 years, not just the industry standard one year. We also offered to increase the value for people who were happy to defer their lessons by 10%. This was to say thank you for your support and belief in us.

 

Our clients are the lifeblood of our business and we genuinely understand that.  We have been around for 22 years and hope to be here for the next 22 as well but we won't be unless we try and look after the people who ski and board with us. We are certainly not trying to profiteer from what is a difficult situation for everyone; the options we presented were well intentioned. 

Edit: The company is UK company and I belived my payment went into a UK bank account