Am I entitled to refund for anxiety program / service, company saying no

sunni

This is for a friend!
She paid £800 for an anxiety program several years ago and had received some help from the man who owned the company but nothing ever helped her. 

She was in a bad place at the time and regrets this but was hoping it would help her after his convincing telephone call. 

She's asked him for a refund but he's saying no as she availed of the service but she said nothing helped as she had to go for private counselling.

I've checked and even though website still there it says program is closed and the man has a YouTube and instagram channel.

Is there anything else she can try or is she wasting her time?

sunni 

FlorayG

I think it would be a waste of time. The programme organiser gave the content he promised so he hasn't broken the contract. If your friend wasn't helped by it that's not his problem. Whether or not he had any qualifications is irrelevant also as anybody can set up as a 'counsellor'

Zinger549

If she used the service then I don't think there is much she can do. Different things work for different people. 

Mark_d

I think she's wasting her time.  There are a lot of products/services out there that claim to relieve pain, cure illnesses etc. - such as herbal medicine.  If you buy it that's up to you but there's no guarantee it will work.

DullGreyGuy

sunni said:

This is for a friend!
She paid £800 for an anxiety program several years ago and had received some help from the man who owned the company but nothing ever helped her. 

She was in a bad place at the time and regrets this but was hoping it would help her after his convincing telephone call. 

She's asked him for a refund but he's saying no as she availed of the service but she said nothing helped as she had to go for private counselling.

I've checked and even though website still there it says program is closed and the man has a YouTube and instagram channel.

Is there anything else she can try or is she wasting her time?

Was there any guarantee it would work? It would be highly unusual if there was. 

It's no different to paying for a training course, you arent guaranteed to pass it and get the certificate and there is no automatic refund for those who take the course and fail the test. As long as you got what you paid for in terms of access to materials, therapy time etc then the default will be no refund. To be able to get a refund having received everything you were promised you'd have a much higher hurdle of showing they weren't competent or it was otherwise deficient which a failure to resolve the issue (or pass the test) isnt sufficient on its own.

How long ago was "several years"?

Okell

sunni said:

... She's asked him for a refund but he's saying no as she availed of the service but she said nothing helped as she had to go for private counselling...

Sorry but what is the difference between "private counselling" and the anxiety program this man was offering?  Wasn't that private counselling too?

As others have said, if she received all parts of the program that she paid for she can't really expect to claim anything back.  There is never any guarante with this sort of service that it will work - whatever "work" would mean in this context.

(Having worked in a NHS mental health trust for 25 years I'd suggest that your friend approaches her GP for advice if she suffers from debilitating anxiety or depression.  The NHS service provision might not be brilliant but it's better than chucking away £800 you can't afford to lose...)

sunni

Thanks everyone. She said it was 3-4 years ago & man said was lifetime access but now says she can't access it. It wasn't counselling with him just help on how to follow it. She had to attend private counselling elsewhere.
Was so expensive & now doesn't seem to be available so wasn't really lifetime access!

DullGreyGuy

sunni said:

Thanks everyone. She said it was 3-4 years ago & man said was lifetime access but now says she can't access it. It wasn't counselling with him just help on how to follow it. She had to attend private counselling elsewhere.
Was so expensive & now doesn't seem to be available so wasn't really lifetime access!

Potentially there is a case for a partial refund if its supposed to be lifetime access and instead its turned out to be 4 years access however if you state it had little benefit to you then you're shooting yourself in the foot about what your losses were for no longer having access. 

eskbanker

sunni said:

Thanks everyone. She said it was 3-4 years ago & man said was lifetime access but now says she can't access it. It wasn't counselling with him just help on how to follow it. She had to attend private counselling elsewhere.
Was so expensive & now doesn't seem to be available so wasn't really lifetime access!

Does she have anything in writing about the commitment to 'lifetime access'?

How did she pay?

sunni

eskbanker said:

sunni said:

Thanks everyone. She said it was 3-4 years ago & man said was lifetime access but now says she can't access it. It wasn't counselling with him just help on how to follow it. She had to attend private counselling elsewhere.
Was so expensive & now doesn't seem to be available so wasn't really lifetime access!

Does she have anything in writing about the commitment to 'lifetime access'?

How did she pay?

Has email receipt saying lifetime access & she paid by direct debit over 3 months payment 

eskbanker

sunni said:

eskbanker said:

sunni said:

Thanks everyone. She said it was 3-4 years ago & man said was lifetime access but now says she can't access it. It wasn't counselling with him just help on how to follow it. She had to attend private counselling elsewhere.
Was so expensive & now doesn't seem to be available so wasn't really lifetime access!

Does she have anything in writing about the commitment to 'lifetime access'?

How did she pay?

Has email receipt saying lifetime access & she paid by direct debit over 3 months payment 

In which case the only option would seem to be small claims action to pursue a partial refund, but even if successful, actually seeing any money again would be far from guaranteed, especially if the company is in trouble.