Refund rights

spanielmum

I recently paid upfront for a 4 week block of lessons with only one being delivered. The person delivering the sessions had a period of illness and has now advised me that they  are not running the sessions and have no space for me. What are my rights  as I feel that simply asking for a refund will be ignored. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Alderbank

spanielmum said:

I recently paid upfront for a 4 week block of lessons with only one being delivered. The person delivering the sessions had a period of illness and has now advised me that they  are not running the sessions and have no space for me. What are my rights  as I feel that simply asking for a refund will be ignored. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

You have the right to ask for a full refund for the sessions which will not now be provided and indeed you should do this before you can go any further.
If you don't get a refund within a reasonable time then any further action you can take depends on the terms of the agreement when you booked the lessons. What do the terms say?

spanielmum

Thanks for replying. I suppose this was more of an informal agreement, with no terms set. My assumption was that I had paid and that , even though, there had been a break set by the trainer, that outstanding sessions would be honoured.

Alderbank

Be polite but firm, say you're pleased they are on the road to recovery, you're sorry they can't now provide the lessons you agreed and when can you expect your refund so you can go somewhere else.
Not everything has to be legal.
If they are self-employed and have been unable to work they might well be struggling financially and need a bit of time and forbearance to get their affairs in order.

Manxman_in_exile

If there was an agreement then whether it was formal or informal, written or oral is irrelevant.  It's just that if it was not in writing it becomes a case of "he said, she said" and becomes more difficult to prove.  But from your point of view, if there's nothing in writing, it will be difficult for them to explain on what grounds they are refusing to refund you...

Do you have evidence that you paid them?  If they didn't deliver what was agreed then you are entitled to a refund to the value of whatever wasn't provided.  That they "are no longer running sessions and have no space for you" is irrelevant if they haven't delivered the service they agreed to.  

If they refuse to do the decent thing and the amount in question is significant enough, you could sue them.  (But you need to check how to do that before going down that route.  Only do that after you've given them a decent opportunity to refund you).

spanielmum

Thank you everyone who has posted. I gritted my teeth and went for the direct approach and asked for a refund - which surprisingly I received but not before being blocked from their social media pages! 

TELLIT01

Good result.