Can you help me word an email please?

[Disappointedyogi]

I signed up to a yoga teacher training that was supposed to take place next month. It was held at a local yoga studio owned by Debbie (not her real name) but the course is delivered by another lady who owns a teacher training school in London (hence forth known as Sharon).

All of the arrangements have been made through Debbie over email. I arranged a payment plan with her, asked questions about the course, and agreed to send over a deposit. I sent my application form to Debbie, and received a yes from her with bank details to send the deposit and payments to. The bank belongs to Sharon's company. So far I have sent £1.5k to Sharon's bank account for the training.

This morning I received an email from Debbie to say the training has been cancelled and that I can either continue the payment plan and join the next course planned in September, or approach Sharon for a refund. I've sent an email back saying I'd prefer a refund and have been told again to approach Sharon.

I don't particularly want to contact Sharon as I believe that Debbie should be the one to arrange a refund. I've had no contact with Sharon so far and as all the arrangements have been made through Debbie I think it's her responsibility to sort this. I've had a look through the information she sent me and there is nothing relating to what happens to the payment if the course is cancelled, only a sentence saying deposit is non refundable. I assumed this is if the student pulls out of the course and not if the course is cancelled. I know Debbie can't send me the money herself, I mean that she should contact Sharon and have her send the money.

I know I've been a complete fool and should have researched this better before handing over my money. It's a very well respected yoga studio locally that has held many trainings before and it's not unusual to have outside teachers running the course. I will obviously contact Sharon if I have to but I just have a feeling it's going to get complicated. Any advice gratefully received 😕

Hi Debbie.

Many thanks for the response but if you are cancelling, can you just get Sharon to refund all the people who want it rather than all of us go individually. This also means you can manage the situation to avoid reputational damage, and endure that all your customers are refunded properly and are satisfied with the situation. It seems very bitty for everyone to separately contact Sharon to explain.

Many thanks Disappointed.

Hi Debbie

Following our previous communication relating to the cancellation of the course. As my contract for this course is with you and your studio, I believe the refund should come from, or be initiated by, your organisation. As this matter has gone on for some time now I would appreciate a resolution being reached within 10 working days or I shall be seeking to recoup the money through legal action.

It's called a letter before action.

Try your bank. As they have breached the contract the bank may be able to do a Charge Back if you paid via a card.

I’d forward on the emails from Debbie to Sharon and copy Debbie in with a very short note saying something like;

Hi Sharon,

Please see below emails about the course which was due to be on xx.

As this course has been cancelled please can you arrange my refund of X asap.

Thanks,
…

Forward Debbie's email to Sharon and just say "as per Debbie's email, please can you arrange a refund"

It hasn’t gone on for some time, OP has only just heard she’s being asked to contact the other person for the refund.

In which case reserved my email for when it does inevitably drag on.

Some people might not want a refund, they might want to wait until the next course, its more complicated to try and make assumptions on what other people may or may not want to do.

Sounds a bit dodge to me.

You sent money to a bank account of a person/business you don't know not have ever met/had interaction with.

I'd go through the bank to recover he money, just for peace of mind, and I'd email both Sharon and Debbie to that effect.

I would still go with this but remove the bit about the length of time this has gone on for.

Hi Debbie

I will absolutely be contacting Sharon, but can you give her the heads-up too? To date all my communication has been with you so would like your support in getting the refund asap.

Thanks

Then email Sharon…

Hi Sharon

Please see the below emails between myself and Debbie. I was so disappointed to hear the course has been cancelled. Please can you arrange the refund ASAP please?

Thanks

I think you should contact Sharon yourself, it’s your money, and she’s got it.

No need to email them separately, one email to Sharon, cc Debbie job sorted.

Sharon has your money in her account so that's why you need to contact her. There's no point getting in touch with Debbie again unless you have problems getting hold of Sharon.

I would go with this, it's one email.
Yes Debbie should probably do it, but this way you should get the money back quickly.

Thank you everyone. I already sent this earlier:

I'd appreciate it if you can contact Sharon to arrange the refund. As you have been my first point of contact through booking the training I feel it is appropriate if you could arrange this. My bank details are:

Xxxx

As mentioned before I have sent £1500 so far. Could you please let me know when I can expect it in my account? Thank you very much.

Kind Regards,

Disappointedyogi

Does that sound too snippy? I always sound too wet in emails or too aggressive and can never find the right balance. Good idea to forward on the email to Sharon, I never thought of that. I paid by Bacs so no chance of reversing it unfortunately.

Not snippy at all, absolutely fine! If she doesn’t reply, as others have said, I would forward the emails to Sharon and copy Debbie in.

What do you plan to do if you don't get a refund? How long will you wait?

This.

Why complicate matters? If she says no that's another matter, but at least try this first.

Ok phew!

If Debbie doesn't help I'll contact Sharon. If they both fob me off then I'll have to go the legal route. We also have a very large local Facebook group in this city with over 60k members. I could always hint that I will post on there warning others not to book anything through that studio. That will probably scare them more than legal threats tbf.

You're probably right but for some reason it just didn't sit right with me. 'We decided to cancel the course, now go ask Sharon for your money'. If it was me that had sold a course and taken thousands of pounds from customers I would ensure that they all got their money back straight away without having to go and ask for it.

You needed to email a reply anyway, you’ve not saved yourself anything by not just emailing Sharon and copying in Debbie.

To be fair she offered you two options on the refund or move to the next course so it was never going to be an automatic refund as she needed to know what you preferred to do.

Dear Debbie,

Thank you for letting me know about the cancellation of the yoga teacher training course. While I appreciate the update, I’d like to reiterate my preference for a refund of the £1,500 I’ve already paid.

Given that all arrangements for this course, including the payment plan and deposit, were managed through you, I believe it is your responsibility to coordinate with Sharon to arrange the refund on my behalf. I understand that the payments were directed to Sharon’s account; however, my agreement and correspondence have been solely with you.

I have reviewed the materials you provided and can’t see any terms covering refunds in the case of course cancellation. I also note that the deposit is described as non-refundable, which I assume only applies if the student withdraws, not when the course is canceled.

Please confirm that you will contact Sharon to arrange the refund and let me know when I can expect the payment to be returned. I would greatly appreciate your help in resolving this matter promptly.

Kind regards,