Can supplier refuse full refund during 14-day 'cooling-off period'?

EugeneB

Hi,

On 26 March I booked and paid for an English test to be taken on 17 April.

10 days later (5 April) I changed my mind and requested a cancellation.

Supplier however refused to give a refund referring to their cancellation policy and offering 50% refund instead (effectively charing 50% as an administrative fee.)

Can they do that? I couldn't find anything about charging admin fee in The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

Thanks

neilmcl

You link doesn't work.

https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/take-ielts/which-ielts-test/ukvi/ukvi-cancellations-and-refund-policy

EugeneB

neilmcl said:

You link doesn't work.

https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/take-ielts/which-ielts-test/ukvi/ukvi-cancellations-and-refund-policy

Thanks, corrected.

dj1471

I suspect they're relying on the CCR's exclusion for "services related to leisure activities, if the contract provides for a specific date or period of performance". To me an English test doesn't fit within that definition, so I'd say that a full refund is due - assuming the test was booked with a test centre in the UK...?

EugeneB

dj1471 said:

I suspect they're relying on the CCR's exclusion for "services related to leisure activities, if the contract provides for a specific date or period of performance". To me an English test doesn't fit within that definition, so I'd say that a full refund is due - assuming the test was booked with a test centre in the UK...?

Yes, the test centre is in the UK.

unholyangel

CCRs state that the supplier must not begin providing the service within the cancellation period.

The cancellation period depends on when they notify you of the information they need to provide to you, including your cancellation right and the time limit, procedures and conditions for exercising those rights. It's a minimum of 14 days and a maximum of 1 year and 14 days.

No charge can be made for any provision of service within the cancellation period unless you made an express request for provision to begin early and the trader complied with the information on the right to cancel (time limit, procedure etc) including the costs you'd be liable for if exercising the right to cancel after requesting the service begin early. 

I don't think they're relying on the leisure exemption, because they do mention the right to cancel for 100% refund. But strangely, they only apply it if you booked more than 14 days in advance and also cancel more than 14 days in advance. Me thinks they need to study English themselves, if that's their interpretation of the rights conferred by CCRs. The cancellation period doesn't run backwards from date of supply. It runs forwards from date of contract formation. 

EugeneB

unholyangel said:

CCRs state that the supplier must not begin providing the service within the cancellation period.

The cancellation period depends on when they notify you of the information they need to provide to you, including your cancellation right and the time limit, procedures and conditions for exercising those rights. It's a minimum of 14 days and a maximum of 1 year and 14 days.

No charge can be made for any provision of service within the cancellation period unless you made an express request for provision to begin early and the trader complied with the information on the right to cancel (time limit, procedure etc) including the costs you'd be liable for if exercising the right to cancel after requesting the service begin early. 

I don't think they're relying on the leisure exemption, because they do mention the right to cancel for 100% refund. But strangely, they only apply it if you booked more than 14 days in advance and also cancel more than 14 days in advance. Me thinks they need to study English themselves, if that's their interpretation of the rights conferred by CCRs. The cancellation period doesn't run backwards from date of supply. It runs forwards from date of contract formation. 

In one of their replies they told that the supply of services actually starts 14 days before the day of the test:

Please note that as stated on our Terms and Conditions, which you have accepted by paying for your test, and is provided during the booking journey, our services start within 14 days from the test date. Our test day provisions start before the day of the test, such as booking for examiners and ordering papers. As your request was made within 12 days of the test date and payment done more than a week ago as well, we have to charge for those services already put in place. This is why we do have a 50% admin fee to cover those costs.

I found more detailed T&Cs however I couldn't find any solid reference to the quote above.

unholyangel

Remind them the burden of proof (to prove they complied with providing the required info under consumer contracts regulations) is theirs and that they need to actually provide the information (and also provide confirmation on a durable medium - website is not durable) and it's not enough that it's buried away in terms in conditions 

Again, they must not provide the service within the cancellation period unless you make an express request and unless they provided the necessary information in a durable medium (including that you'd no longer be able to cancel without liability if you request service begin early). 

EugeneB

Just in case anyone ends up in the same situation:
I've submitted a Small Claims Court case which was ruled out in my favour (they didn't bothered to reply and defaulted on CCJ).
Got back to them with CCJ and they refunded me in full + court fee.

JamoLew

you got a small claims court hearing and a CCJ in 2 months -- that pretty incredible

EugeneB

JamoLew said:

you got a small claims court hearing and a CCJ in 2 months -- that pretty incredible

I guess it went this quickly simply because defendant didn't reply and hence there are no formal objections to the claim.