Online Consumer Right - Training Course

chelsea9322

Hi Everyone, 

So I purchased a course online for my partner to help with his work on 7th November 2024 and it started on 9th November 2024, which was supposed to be over 37 hours over the next 3 weekends. 

The first day of the course, only 2 hours into the Zoom training we started to have internet issues and he was constantly getting kicked out. This was not ideal as there was going to be an exam on the last day and he couldn't hear a thing. He notified the teacher via Zoom chat and quit the training. This was followed up with a phone call to the office to let them know, and he asked to book onto the next available course to give us some time to speak to our broadband provider and sort the interned connection out. They said someone would get back to us. He also followed up with an email with video footage of him being kicked out of the zoom and the constant buffering - no response from the company. 

I then followed up with a call on 11th and again was told someone would get back to me & no one did. I then emailed asking for a refund as no course material was accessed other than the 2 hours provided & my boyfriend booked onto a course with another company as it was cheaper and the initial company was not responding. 

I then receive an email stating that no refund will be issued and if he wanted to book onto another course 75% of the fee which was initially £560 will be payable. 

I have been back and forth with this company as it's pretty unfair - the do not want to know and have advised no refund will be issued as the content was accessed. Only 2 hours of the training was accessed out of the 37 and for an hour of it he couldn't hear! No hard copies of the course material were sent to him.

Where do we stand with this please as it's a lot of money to be losing?

Thanks, 
C X

eskbanker

Unless the company is in breach of contract then you'll be at the mercy of the Ts & Cs you signed up to - what do they say about cancelling for a refund?

marcia_

 How did you pay? 

chelsea9322

I paid via Paypal, I have already opened a dispute but they closed it in their favor as we 'received the service'

chelsea9322

marcia_ said:

 How did you pay? 

I paid via Paypal, I have already opened a dispute but they closed it in their favor as we 'received the service' 

DullGreyGuy

chelsea9322 said:
The first day of the course, only 2 hours into the Zoom training we started to have internet issues and he was constantly getting kicked out. This was not ideal as there was going to be an exam on the last day and he couldn't hear a thing. He notified the teacher via Zoom chat and quit the training. This was followed up with a phone call to the office to let them know, and he asked to book onto the next available course to give us some time to speak to our broadband provider and sort the interned connection out. 

So day 1 training, internet problems. What happened on the subsequent presumably 5 days of scheduled training? He still had internet problems? Just didnt turn up? Was there any agreement with the supplier before day 2 started?

Do you not get mobile signal where you are? Laptop is perfectly happy doing Zoom and Teams calls when tethered to my phone as a backup in the rare cases of broadband issues. 

Ultimately it sounds like there was a problem at your end for which the company cannot be held responsible, the classes continued and you were just a no show for the rest of it. As such a 25% discount on a future booking would be a reason.

Was this a formal exam from an external body? If so it may be possible a part refund for the fees for that may be possible but that will depend on if the company had or hadn't pre-paid it. If it was just their own certification then it wouldn't be applicable. 

chelsea9322

eskbanker said:

Unless the company is in breach of contract then you'll be at the mercy of the Ts & Cs you signed up to - what do they say about cancelling for a refund?

So, it says this in their refund policy;

13.  Events outside our control

13.1.   We will not be liable or responsible for any failure to perform, or delay in performance of, any of our obligations under a Contract that is caused by an Event Outside Our Control. An Event Outside Our Control is defined below in clause 13.2.

13.2.   An Event Outside Our Control means any act or event beyond our reasonable control, including without limitation pandemics, strikes, lock-outs or other industrial action by third parties, civil commotion, riot, invasion, terrorist attack or threat of terrorist attack, war (whether declared or not) or threat or preparation for war, fire, explosion, storm, flood, earthquake, subsidence, epidemic or other natural disaster, or failure of public or private telecommunications networks or impossibility of the use of railways, shipping, aircraft, motor transport or other means of public or private transport.

13.3.   If an Event Outside Our Control takes place that affects the performance of our obligations under a Contract:

1. a)              we will contact you as soon as reasonably possible to notify you; and
2. b)              our obligations under a Contract will be suspended and the time for performance of our obligations will be extended for the duration of the Event Outside Our Control. Where the Event Outside Our Control affects our delivery of Courses to you, we will arrange a new delivery date with you after the Event Outside Our Control is over.

13.4.   You may cancel a Contract affected by an Event Outside Our Control. To cancel please contact us.

It states that you have the right to cancel a contract affected by an event outside of their control and one of the events listed is 'failure of telecommunications networks' - this is exactly what was happening. 

chelsea9322

DullGreyGuy said:

chelsea9322 said:
The first day of the course, only 2 hours into the Zoom training we started to have internet issues and he was constantly getting kicked out. This was not ideal as there was going to be an exam on the last day and he couldn't hear a thing. He notified the teacher via Zoom chat and quit the training. This was followed up with a phone call to the office to let them know, and he asked to book onto the next available course to give us some time to speak to our broadband provider and sort the interned connection out. 

So day 1 training, internet problems. What happened on the subsequent presumably 5 days of scheduled training? He still had internet problems? Just didnt turn up? Was there any agreement with the supplier before day 2 started?

Do you not get mobile signal where you are? Laptop is perfectly happy doing Zoom and Teams calls when tethered to my phone as a backup in the rare cases of broadband issues. 

Ultimately it sounds like there was a problem at your end for which the company cannot be held responsible, the classes continued and you were just a no show for the rest of it. As such a 25% discount on a future booking would be a reason.

Was this a formal exam from an external body? If so it may be possible a part refund for the fees for that may be possible but that will depend on if the company had or hadn't pre-paid it. If it was just their own certification then it wouldn't be applicable. 

He asked the training company over the next 2 days (via email and phone) to book him onto future training and there was no response. Yes, we had internet issues over the following week until we had an engineer out to fix the issue. There would have been no point in him sitting half of the classes with an exam at the end he would know nothing about.

I completely forgot you could connect to your phone, this would have been good to know at the time... 

I will check on the formal exam, thanks

eskbanker

chelsea9322 said:
It states that you have the right to cancel a contract affected by an event outside of their control and one of the events listed is 'failure of telecommunications networks' - this is exactly what was happening. 

That will relate to network issues preventing them from providing services, rather than an individual customer having connectivity problems.

400ixl

chelsea9322 said:

eskbanker said:

Unless the company is in breach of contract then you'll be at the mercy of the Ts & Cs you signed up to - what do they say about cancelling for a refund?

So, it says this in their refund policy;

13.  Events outside our control

13.1.   We will not be liable or responsible for any failure to perform, or delay in performance of, any of our obligations under a Contract that is caused by an Event Outside Our Control. An Event Outside Our Control is defined below in clause 13.2.

13.2.   An Event Outside Our Control means any act or event beyond our reasonable control, including without limitation pandemics, strikes, lock-outs or other industrial action by third parties, civil commotion, riot, invasion, terrorist attack or threat of terrorist attack, war (whether declared or not) or threat or preparation for war, fire, explosion, storm, flood, earthquake, subsidence, epidemic or other natural disaster, or failure of public or private telecommunications networks or impossibility of the use of railways, shipping, aircraft, motor transport or other means of public or private transport.

13.3.   If an Event Outside Our Control takes place that affects the performance of our obligations under a Contract:

1. a)              we will contact you as soon as reasonably possible to notify you; and
2. b)              our obligations under a Contract will be suspended and the time for performance of our obligations will be extended for the duration of the Event Outside Our Control. Where the Event Outside Our Control affects our delivery of Courses to you, we will arrange a new delivery date with you after the Event Outside Our Control is over.

13.4.   You may cancel a Contract affected by an Event Outside Our Control. To cancel please contact us.

It states that you have the right to cancel a contract affected by an event outside of their control and one of the events listed is 'failure of telecommunications networks' - this is exactly what was happening. 

It says if they had an event outside of their control you can cancel. They didn't have an event at all and delivered their service. You had an event outside of your control which is very different.