School Trip deposit

Plonster

This is my first post, so bear with! My son applied to 6th form college and before we had even received his GCSE results we had an email from them about a school trip to Paris in relation to one of the subjects he had selected. Book now before all the places are taken, so we did sending £75 cheque for the non-refundable deposit. It even stated that even if he decided not to attend the 6th form college, it would not be refunded. Yes, you guessed it, he attended for 2 weeks before deciding he wanted to go to the college closer to home. Well, that was 2 weeks ago and he has settled well, but lo and behold, cheque has been deposited and cleared, as of today. Yes, I was aware of the T&Cs, but I thought a deposit was to cover them for any out of pocket expenses? I feel a bit of a chump, I've given them £75 for what? Any advice/clarification would be appreciated. 

la531983

If you booked a holiday yourself and then decided not to go 2 weeks after a non refundable deposit, would you expect it back?

This is likely the same, the school would have booked the trip with a provider who doesnt refund deposits. Nothing you can likely do here except rely on goodwill, or blame it on your son and ask him for the £75 instead for changing his mind.

Aylesbury_Duck

Plonster said:

This is my first post, so bear with! My son applied to 6th form college and before we had even received his GCSE results we had an email from them about a school trip to Paris in relation to one of the subjects he had selected. Book now before all the places are taken, so we did sending £75 cheque for the non-refundable deposit. It even stated that even if he decided not to attend the 6th form college, it would not be refunded. Yes, you guessed it, he attended for 2 weeks before deciding he wanted to go to the college closer to home. Well, that was 2 weeks ago and he has settled well, but lo and behold, cheque has been deposited and cleared, as of today. Yes, I was aware of the T&Cs, but I thought a deposit was to cover them for any out of pocket expenses? I feel a bit of a chump, I've given them £75 for what? Any advice/clarification would be appreciated. 

This would seem to be the pertinent clause.  And you're correct that they're entitled to have their expenses covered.  If they've booked your son's place with the operator, I suspect it's reasonable for them to retain the £75.  If they've been able to fill his place with another student then their costs may be lower and they should refund something, but it's possible that a couple of hours of administration and cancelling/re-booking with the travel company/ies have soaked up that £75.

Belenus

Could your son go on the trip anyway as he has paid, even if he is not actually enrolled at that college?

He could have fun, see any friends he made in his two weeks there, make new friends and have a learning experience.

Aylesbury_Duck

Belenus said:

Could your son go on the trip anyway as he has paid, even if he is not actually enrolled at that college?

He could have fun, see any friends he made in his two weeks there, make new friends and have a learning experience.

That would be an interesting test for the college.  Would they let him go?  If they wouldn't, does that give OP grounds to have a full refund of the deposit?

(I highly doubt he would be allowed to go, you can imagine that safeguarding, contact details, responsibility, etc. would be a nightmare for the other college to assume for a non-student.)

Plonster

The trip wasn't until next Feb, but yes, have accepted that I'll just have to suck it up. The timing wasn't great, 2 weeks after he'd left the college, but will know better in future. Thanks for your reply

RefluentBeans

I wouldn’t be as quick as others here to just give up. They can only take and keep for their losses. If this is as good as they’re making out, and a hot ticket item - then surely his place is now up for grabs. So if someone else pays that deposit then the school should refund you*. 

There’s a caveat as to how they go about booking it obviously and they may not be able to refund the whole amount. For example - if the airline requires names and then charges £30 to change a name - that cost is taken out of your refund. 

Most ‘non-refundable’ deposits don’t hold up when you persist for the reason they’re illegal. 

Consider what happens if the school has already booked your place to someone else, and the school hasn’t actually booked any trips yet - other than an admin fee they can’t really claim much more. 

Of course it’s down to you - depends how hard you want to push to get a refund. 

Aylesbury_Duck

I like the earlier suggestion of telling the college that he intends to go then, and that you look forward to receiving further details.  I suspect they'll panic, tell you he can't go, at which point you insist that a refund is due because it's them cancelling, not you.

RefluentBeans

Aylesbury_Duck said:

I like the earlier suggestion of telling the college that he intends to go then, and that you look forward to receiving further details.  I suspect they'll panic, tell you he can't go, at which point you insist that a refund is due because it's them cancelling, not you.

And if the booking terms state that the participant has to be a currently registered student? Seems a pretty normal booking term for a school trip. 

Aylesbury_Duck

RefluentBeans said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

I like the earlier suggestion of telling the college that he intends to go then, and that you look forward to receiving further details.  I suspect they'll panic, tell you he can't go, at which point you insist that a refund is due because it's them cancelling, not you.

And if the booking terms state that the participant has to be a currently registered student? Seems a pretty normal booking term for a school trip. 

I agree, but it's worth a try.  

RefluentBeans

Aylesbury_Duck said:

RefluentBeans said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

I like the earlier suggestion of telling the college that he intends to go then, and that you look forward to receiving further details.  I suspect they'll panic, tell you he can't go, at which point you insist that a refund is due because it's them cancelling, not you.

And if the booking terms state that the participant has to be a currently registered student? Seems a pretty normal booking term for a school trip. 

I agree, but it's worth a try.  

Personally I would go along the route as I described above. Seems more basis on facts and legal rights. 

The school may actually allow him to go - and then you’re stuck saying well actually I thought you would cancel. It’s coming from bad faith arguing. Not illegal but can rub someone up the wrong way.