refund on driving lessons

A friend of mine recently bought HGV driving lessons for work. But the company he was going to work for has now gone into receivership. So he looked for a refund on the lessons. No time was booked just paid 500 for the lessons and now has no need for them. We spoke to the company in question and will not refund the money and were actually very rude. We mentioned that we will go to small claims court. They actually said , you can do what you like , it wont get you any were then hung up the phone.

Now i can understand if you booked time and didnt show up. But nothing has been booked. So no service has been actually supplied nor will it. Were do we stand with this ?

GerardKeating

Deleted User wrote: »

A friend of mine recently bought HGV driving lessons for work. But the company he was going to work for has now gone into receivership. So he looked for a refund on the lessons. No time was booked just paid 500 for the lessons and now has no need for them. We spoke to the company in question and will not refund the money and were actually very rude. We mentioned that we will go to small claims court. They actually said , you can do what you like , it wont get you any were then hung up the phone.

Now i can understand if you booked time and didnt show up. But nothing has been booked. So no service has been actually supplied nor will it. Were do we stand with this ?

He has two choices, do the lessions or lose the money...

GerardKeating

GerardKeating wrote: »

He has two choices, do the lessions or lose the money...

Well here is the thing. Credit card details were given over the phone , no terms and conditions were read out over the phone. They sent the terms and conditions out after they took payment.

Paulw

Deleted User wrote: »

Well here is the thing. Credit card details were given over the phone , no terms and conditions were read out over the phone. They sent the terms and conditions out after they took payment.

Did he ask for the full terms and conditions when on the phont?

His choices are as outlined above - take the lessons or lose the money. Small claims court will not work for you.

Dodge

Deleted User wrote: »

Well here is the thing. Credit card details were given over the phone , no terms and conditions were read out over the phone. They sent the terms and conditions out after they took payment.

If you friend was worried about terms and conditions he shouldn't have agreed to pay for the lessons without reading them. No one's fault but his own

I'd advise to take the lessons, pass the test and add it to his CV. He won't get anywhere in the small claims court because the company did nothing wrong

Dodge

Dodge wrote: »

If you friend was worried about terms and conditions he shouldn't have agreed to pay for the lessons without reading them. No one's fault but his own

I'd advise to take the lessons, pass the test and add it to his CV. He won't get anywhere in the small claims court because the company did nothing wrong

The terms and conditions are not given until you pay. They are posted out to you. There was no mention of no refunds during the transaction. Transaction was done over the phone.

Paulw

Deleted User wrote: »

The terms and conditions are not given until you pay. They are posted out to you. There was no mention of no refunds during the transaction. Transaction was done over the phone.

Did he ask for the terms and conditions before paying? Did he ask if there was a refund policy?

Again, from all postings here, the company are in the right and your friend should either take the lessons or walk away now.

Dodge

Deleted User wrote: »

The terms and conditions are not given until you pay.

Then he shouldn't have paid.

Why would there be mention of refunds? The company didn't do anything wrong

sandin

Deleted User wrote: »

We spoke to the company in question and will not refund the money and were actually very rude. We mentioned that we will go to small claims court. They actually said , you can do what you like , it wont get you any were then hung up the phone.

Firstly, this comes under change of mind - a retailer or service supplier does not have to give a refund becasue the purchaser changed his/her mind.

Secondly, it looks like your friend went in with two feet without knowing even his basic rights, (none) and got annoyed and then started the old small claims court quote which the company laughed off.

At this stage there is no hope at all in getting a refund and the company is 100% correct. So its really take the lessons or forego the money.


If a different approach was made initially. E.g. explaining the situation and asking very politely if they could possibly allow a refund in this instance due to shortage of money and the job falling through, then there may have been a different attitude taken. But once you threaten small claims court expect every company to do absolutley nothing except what they legally must do.

Melendez

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sandin

sandin wrote: »

If a different approach was made initially. E.g. explaining the situation and asking very politely if they could possibly allow a refund in this instance due to shortage of money and the job falling through, then there may have been a different attitude taken. But once you threaten small claims court expect every company to do absolutley nothing except what they legally must do.

That was the approach that was made in the first and second phone call. We were told there is nothing they can do.

Melendez

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UrbanSea

Melendez wrote: »

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There is nothing unfair here. The person changed their mind. The retailer does not have to give them their money back.

Melendez

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Zab

Melendez wrote: »

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Of course that isn't the case. The firm has to make the service available. As long as they're making the service available to him there's no consumer law that says they have to give him a refund if he decides he doesn't want it.

If OP wasn't interested in the advice of internet randomers he wouldn't have posted.

That said there's also no law saying they can't refund him, and refunding him the payment less a cancellation fee would have been a more reasonable position for them to take.

Actually i was talking to a friend of mine who has a commercial account with them and he said he is going to call them.

From a personal stand point i am helping out with this due to my own run in , in the past with them. I got a present of €250 euro worth of driving lessons last year. My total driving time for that price was 30 - 40 minutes of actual driving.

The rest of the time they thew me in an office doing the theory test which i already had at home. At the end of my second lesson they told me that i need to book more as the time was up. I asked them why and they said that my theory test was part of the lesson. I had no argument as they were a present but the person who bought the lessons was shocked over the phone called them. She was met with hostility again over the phone, they would not offer anymore lessons, we explained that this was not mentioned over the phone.

Melendez

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Fey!

To start with, I don't believe that the company must refund the money. They were paid to provide a service which they haven't said they won't provide. From the company point of view the customer has changed his mind, which is not grounds for a refund.

If the customer took the softly softly approach initially then the company may have attempted to help them out a bit. However, if the customer start straight out of the gate about the small claims court, then the company may just have decided not to get involved with them.

I know that many business will attempt to deal reasonably with customers, but once they use the magic words of "legal", "solicitor" or "small claims court" they will no longer talk to the customer, prefering to leave it to their own solicitor on the offchance that the customer does pursue the matter. Other key words to be added to the list are "Joe Duffy", "Consumer Rights" and, in Galway, "Keith Finnegan".

I've never heard of any of these companies having a successful legal action against them.

However, in the case of the OPs friend, taking into account the OPs further information about dealing with this company himself, it sounds as if the company are a disaster to deal with.

Perhaps the OPs friend can sell on the lessons to someone else, or take them himself to add to his CV (which has already been suggested), making sure to inform them that they require practical lessons and NOT the theory test!!

Fey!

Fey! wrote: »

If the customer took the softly softly approach initially then the company may have attempted to help them out a bit. However, if the customer start straight out of the gate about the small claims court, then the company may just have decided not to get involved with them.

As i said earlier that was the first 2 phone calls, explained the situation and that the 500 is really needed back for the family. They were not hearing it. It wasnt until the 4th phone call it kicked off. But as i said a friend of mine has a commercial account and i think he is looking for an excuse to move so he might use this. So in the end they are going to loose alot more money. When will they learn

I appreciate the advice guys.

Dodge

Deleted User wrote: »

As i said earlier that was the first 2 phone calls, explained the situation and that the 500 is really needed back for the family

I really don't want to sound like an @rse here, but companies can't run based on emotion. For all we know that guy might be completely struggling and the €500 means the world to him and his family

Like I said, I don't want to be an @rse about it, but there's always 2 sides to the story

Melendez

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whippet

Melendez wrote: »

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and he has probably accounted for the revenue in his accounts, vat records, tax etc ....

in these dire economic times it's not 'showfriends' but 'showbusiness' ...

Weylin

GO to the small claims court,and look for your refund,even if you lose it will cost you very little/nothing.the bad publicity for the driving school will totally ruin their reputation.
NOBODY will book driving lessons with them
(there is more than one way to kill a cat you know.....);)

Dodge

Weylin wrote: »

GO to the small claims court,and look for your refund,even if you lose it will cost you very little/nothing.the bad publicity for the driving school will totally ruin their reputation.
NOBODY will book driving lessons with them
(there is more than one way to kill a cat you know.....); )

1) I think you're overestimating how much notice people take of small claims courts decision
2) How would spending €20 and a day in court help the guy who's €500 out already

melendez, I'm not saying the company is morally right/wrong to keep the money. Long term the goodwill they show others should help them BUT they're still not obliged to refund the money, as long as they are willing to provide the lessons as agreed

whippet

Weylin wrote: »

GO to the small claims court,and look for your refund,even if you lose it will cost you very little/nothing.the bad publicity for the driving school will totally ruin their reputation.
NOBODY will book driving lessons with them
(there is more than one way to kill a cat you know.....);)

Would the Small Claims Court even entertain an action like this? Advocating wasting court time isn't a good thing to do

Dodge

Dodge wrote: »

I really don't want to sound like an @rse here, but companies can't run based on emotion. For all we know that guy might be completely struggling and the €500 means the world to him and his family

Like I said, I don't want to be an @rse about it, but there's always 2 sides to the story

You are correct in saying that , but it turns out that this is actually a bad business decision as they are going to loose more money and from what i just found out , they will also loose the 500 Thanks to a little mistake on their side.

Paddy001

Did your friend specify when he made the payment that the he wanted the lessons because of this job? There is a possibility that if he did, he could say the main reason for the contracts existence is now gone, which makes it null and void and therefore he cold be entitled to a refund. This would depend on what he did or didnt say though and also being able to prove it.

slimjimmc

Paddy001 wrote: »

Did your friend specify when he made the payment that the he wanted the lessons because of this job? There is a possibility that if he did, he could say the main reason for the contracts existence is now gone, which makes it null and void and therefore he cold be entitled to a refund. This would depend on what he did or didnt say though and also being able to prove it.

His reasons for purchasing lessons are of no relevance to the driving school. He purchased them in a personal capacity (even if he bought them on order to get a job) and just because his circumstances have changed does not make the deal null and void. He can still do the lessons if he chooses, they're already paid for.

Zhane

Why doesnt he just take the lessons and add it to his CV?