a certain school wont refund my course fee

bamister18

hi can anyone shed some light on this,
i applied for an evening adult course in september and found it wasnt what i expected.

i turned up for the information night before it started and the lecturer didnt turn up, therefore there was no information given.
so i turned up the first night and was told i had to pay, so i paid 240 for the course, 4 boring classes later, knew it wasnt for me, so i sent an email and left voice messages to the school to tell them that i wasnt happy.
the receptionist rang me back saying did i email, told her i did, so she said she would get back to me when the guy in charge gets back. 2 full months later...nothing... so today i sent another email.. saying the same.. to get a response of this:
"Our refund policy is such that you must apply for a refund on or before the third night of your course.
I'm not sure what you expected from the course but there was plenty of information available to you
prior to registration or paying your fees.

Notwithstanding this we do not wish our patrons to go away dis-appointed.
In this respect we can offer you a free course this term to the vale of €140."

really not impressed and want to take this further!!! any one help??????

Cabaal

To be honest a three class refund policy sounds actually pretty reasonable, yet it took you four classes before you did anything?

bamister18

ye i tired every week, but really didnt like it from the start, i didnt know there policy until now and if i did i would have asked for a refund on the 3rd class.
alot of numbers dropped in the class also, so i know it wasnt just me who didnt enjoy the class.

Jev/N

Just as a matter of interest and please decline if you wish but what was the subject of the course? No need to give the school etc. of course

bamister18

hey it was an animal welfare course i was doing, but more so listening to a man talking about his own life

jetsonx

bamister18 wrote: »

i sent an email and left voice messages to the school to tell them that i wasnt happy.

2 full months later...nothing... so today i sent another email.. saying the same.. to get a response of this:

Why did you leave a gap of two months?


Why did you email (the second time) instead of phoning them or visiting them personally?

Sorry, but leaving a gap of two months really shows to me you kind of lost interest in getting a satisfactory conclusion. Leaving a gap of two months communicated to this "school" that you lost interest in pursuing the issue.

Your fault for letting this issue fizzle out. As the old saying goes "strike while the iron is hot". - Lazy follow-up in dealing with cases such as this always has predictable results.

bamister18

i was told when i rang that the man in charge was out in hospital for treatment, and he would get back, didnt want to seem a nag, and thought if i waited patiently they would get back to me, also my mothers friend works in the school so got her to chase them to as she said the same, that the man in charge was out sick, believe me it wasnt me being lazy, just thought they would have the manners to get back to me.
also the schools here r still closed, but he obviously has access to the schools email account.

jetsonx

bamister18 wrote: »

also the schools here r still closed, but he obviously has access to the schools email account.

yes, he should of got back to you in theory! but in real life, a surprising number of Irish businesses don't get back to you with issues such as this (unless you owe them money:)). You have to follow it up doggedly and prompty. . Let time lapse, like you did, and the issue gets dropped.

You've learnt a lesson here and you were lucky you got a free course, so you were not totally ignored by them.

dudara

Did you receive any Terms & Conditions or documentation when you paid for the course? The 3 class policy (which does sound reasonable) should have been outlined in that.

TBH though, as other posters have said, you should really have followed up more promptly with the school, via writing (post) and telephone. Email is not a good way to conduct this kind of business.

bamister18

hey
i didnt leave it , my mothers friend who works in the school tried to help me too, but was told the same, that the man in charge was sick and that nothing else could be done until he came back, the schools have been closed since dec and still are,and we havent received post with the roads being bad, so with email i knew he would have to receive it.
no there was nothing given to us about the policies etc.
and i think payin 240 for a course that didnt like and giving me 140 for another course is not reasonable

Cabaal

bamister18 wrote: »

and i think payin 240 for a course that didnt like and giving me 140 for another course is not reasonable

But based on what your saying a 140e worth of a course as a response is very reasonable.

Not liking something is not enough of an excuse to get a full refund, you state yourself this is your reason above

jetsonx

bamister18 wrote: »

and i think payin 240 for a course that didnt like and giving me 140 for another course is not reasonable

If every student enrolled in courses run by this college changed their mind and asked for a full refund, their business would not be long in operation.

The "average consumer" is way too fickle for a full-refund policy to work for most service providers, especially an educational service, as student's perception of subject matter, organisation and teching quality will be highly subjective.

Relative to how other businesses would of treated you, you were treated quite well I think. You are one thats being unreasonable.