Withdraw from instructor training with aa/bsm

martinedwards70

Hi everyone. I’m in a bit of a bind with trying to retrieve fees I paid up front to the AA/BSM. The following letter attempts to describe the issue....but its just one of those things that I get blinded with frustration whenever I think too long about how unfair I feel things are.

I took voluntary redundancy from my job as a special school headteacher because my school was closing.

This happened as I was turning 50 and after 25 years of working in schools I thought that I could use this time as an opportunity to take a look at a career change.

I've always enjoyed driving...and with my experience in teaching...I thought that becoming a driving instructor would be a good fit for me.

I spent some time to look around and speak to a few training agencies and I settled on AA/BSM  on the strength of its brand reputation and image....with a view to both my training and future franchise opportunities.

There was a few finance options available to cover the training fee of approx. £2500....paying the cost by deposit then DD, paying as you progress through the modules or paying up front with a saving for doing so.

With no income coming into the household I needed to budget for the period of training (which I supposed might be 18 months) and other costs associated with the training programme. 

I paid up front and received the relevant information from the AA/BSM. I needed to contact the DVSA to obtain a personal number in order to access the DVSA website to book examinations. 

Unfortunately the process to obtain the PRN took a lot longer than I had anticipated, with the process of applying for that itself required me to apply for a disclosure check which also took much longer than anticipated. 

By the time I had applied for and received all appropriate DVSA checks it was much later in the year than I had anticipated with my first available theory test date not available until mid-February 2021.

Training with AA/BSM offers its trainees access to a facebook community where individuals can reach out to one another and seek support from others going through the same training. From speaking with others and discussing how covid was affecting many aspects of training it was obvious that the budget I had set aside was not going to be enough for us to live on.

I applied to return to teaching as a supply teacher...which was something I was reluctant to do after experiencing a stressful time leading up to my redundancy. As it was though I rather enjoyed returning to direct teaching and not having to deal with the bureaucracy associated with management.

With a reassessment of what to do I decided to seek more permanent teaching positions and just concede to myself that it would take longer to complete the instructor training than I had supposed....but not so much an issue if I had a teaching income to support my family.

Then...I applied for a position speculatively in Hong Kong on the recommendation of an ex colleague working out there and I was successful in securing a 2 year contract. This was great because I was loving teaching again and the new job felt like a perfect fit for my teaching skills and experience.

I contacted the AA to let them know of my change in circumstances...which I had been forced to make ultimately because of the impact of covid. 

The AA/BSM agreed to suspend my training for 2 years which I was initially really grateful for until I considered that I had paid over £2k up front and it would be really helpful to have some of that sum returned to help me with costs associated with moving out to Hong Kong. I assumed that with me not even being able to get started with the training programme that there would at least be a measure of understanding and a pro-rata return of my training fee....bearing in mind that I could have chosen to pay in instalments or unit by unit. 

I made this request to the AA/BSM and was refused any refund. 

I understand from the terms and conditions that all training fees are non-refundable but I question the fairness of that policy because it appears that I am being treated at a disadvantage because I paid up front.

I'm not asking for the world here...just a recognition that I have been forced to change my plans of how I intend to support my family and £2k+ is a lot of money to outlay and be in a position where I may see none of it again as a result of covid.

tacpot12

Unfortunately, you signed a contract where you agreed that no refund would be payable, and you had a discount on the fee for the course, so you received something valuable as a result of paying up front. So I don't think the contract terms are unfair. The AA/BSM have certainly not incurred the costs of training you, but have incurred a range of costs in getting to this point. You could take professional legal advice on whether the contract terms are unfair, and sue them in the small claims court, but I think you will find it a difficult case to argue. If you have home insurance, you might find you have legal expenses cover, so you call your insurers legal helpline for professional legal advice. 

 If there is no chance of winning a court case, all that is left is to complain, setting out your case as above. If you do complain, I would suggest that you suggest to AA/BSM the refund you feel that would be appropriate. I would suggest £400 is about right, and see if that helps change their minds. They might make this level of payment as an ex-gratia payment in full settlement. 

I used to be a Pilot and all aspiring pilots were always advised on Pilot forums never to pay up front. Whatever the discount being offered is, it is never worth it over money in your bank account. 

ssparks2003

You were content to take the saving when paying up front and was not worried about fairness then, but now you have had a change of mind you are worried that its somehow not fair anymore.  This situation is down to external factors that have caused you to change your mind and do not seem to be the responsibility of the driving school. I think at best you will be looking for goodwill to get anything back.