to ask for a refund for 'piano' lessons

[Snowfire]

DD (11) had some private piano lessons when she was younger but didn't really enjoy it. she has a keyboard which we were given by a friend and over the last few months has been trying to copy YouTube videos of piano lessons and trying to work out how to play her favourite songs.
she came home from school last week saying her music teacher had said she can have piano lessons in school for less than half the price she was having them before and could she please do them? I thought this sounded good so filled in the form and paid the money.
Today she had her first lesson which was with a group of 6 other pupils playing on KEYBOARDS! Lesson consisted of how to change the pre-recorded rhythm depending on the music, no actual piano in sight.
Would I be unreasonable to ask for my money back on the grounds that I paid for piano lessons, not keyboard lessons?

Did the letter attached to the form, or the form itself actually say 'piano'?

If the letter from the school was misleading then you have cause to complain, but if you are going just on what your dd came home and said then I would just leave it. I wouldn't want to ask for the money back after the first lesson because someone else might have missed out on a place and to replace your dd with someone else would mean that they had missed the first lesson.

My ds does a combination of keyboard and piano. When he started piano lessons (where he does learn on a piano) his teacher went through all the different things that a keyboard could do because he knew that's what he would be practicing on at home and he wanted him to be able to enjoy all the features it has if he wanted to. He only ever uses the piano setting for practice, but he enjoys being able to do other things on it too.

Clouds my dc are the same.Our keyboard has been fab,worth every penny.Only paid £70 and dtwin 2 as I said got Grade 1 Piano merit lickety split alreadyvstarted his Grade 2 pieces and dtwin 1 isn't far behind. Very impressed with said keyboard.

Dd is a year younger and a way off but she never practises.

I would ask for money back and pay for private lessons, tbh.
With music lessons you get what you pay for. With the exception of people asking above the going rate. It is aprox £15 per half hour last time I checked with Musicians Union. You may get quoted a lot more but it won't be any better.
Piano and Keyboard are totally different instruments as the action is so different. Also ime it has to be a great teacher to cope with a group who will all learn at different speeds. You will also not find them in a school. Some dc will practice a lot, others not at all. Progress is usually much slower if at all.

Some lessons in schools are 1:1 round here - not all are in groups and some progress very well.

Yeah, try to get your money back. There are so many differences! Piano = weighted, whereas all but the most expensive keyboards = unweighted, so the techniques are different. You can buy sustain pedals for keyboards but they tend not to be included with the keyboard itself.

Also, messing around with the auto-accompaniment on a keyboard isn't really something that's worth teaching anyone - if you're in a band and play synths/keyboards, you're not going to mess with any of that stuff.

Surely the real question is: is your daughter enjoying it? is she learning something?

and I would have thought it a transferable skill

As an aside, someone mentioned their son doing grade 1 but practising on keyboard, and the only problem being lack of pedals.

I hope this doesn't sound really cheeky but could he even reach the pedals on a piano anyway? (am assuming from.the thread that he is young). When I learnt, I'm sure I was about ten before my feet reached them! My DD is a very tall six year old and her feet just dangle six inches above the pedals.

Well, my friend won't play on a keyboard. She has an an electric piano which has weighted keys. The piano setting on a keyboard isn't the same feeling to her at all.

If you daughter has a piano at home, and she only wants piano lessons, and doesn't like keyboard lessons, you may as well ask for a refund. A shame though. Perhaps you can find some inexpensive piano lessons for her.