To ask the school for a refund?

[readysteadylook]

Dd was supposed to go on a school trip last Friday. She couldn't go as she was really ill. Aibu to ask for a refund? I paid £22 for travel and entry to event.

No where on the letter did it say the price was non refundable but I still don't know if I should ask for it back.

I don’t think that’s reasonable. The school booked and paid for her and you reimbursed them. If you get your money back, they’re out of pocket.

YABU if it's a state school as they would not be able to afford it. If it's a private school it depends on their policies.

I would have thought theyd have paid for the coach in advance and bought group tickets to whatever the actual day out was which means they wouldnt get money back if someone didnt attend.

Like everyone else says, your DD's ticket etc would have been paid for - the money has gone. If you have a theatre ticket, for example, and are ill on the day, you won't get a refund.

Like everyone else says, your DD's ticket etc would have been paid for - the money has gone.

Those of us that work in schools are saying that’s not necessarily the case. Some trips pay tickets on the day so you pay for the exact number of students. That part of the trip cost might be refundable.

From a legal standpoint, you were purchasing a service by pre-payment, so you have rights as a consumer (the fact it’s a school that is selling the service makes no difference.)

If the school have stated the money is refundable, then they must refund it.

If they didn’t say it was refundable, you still have rights but only in a very limited sense. You can claim a refund, but the school can keep whatever money they need to mitigate their loss, plus an admin fee for handling your claim.

In practice, it’s unlikely you’ll get anything, as they probably booked a coach at a set price and booked event tickets in advance. If, however, they paid on the gate for the actual number of attendees then you might expect to get back the cost of the event admission. A few schools price up these things so as to make a small profit for school funds. If so, that amount should be refundable.

All in all, I’d say you can ask, but not expect.

I would imagine the portion allocated to the bus is not refundable. However if the entry tickets were bought on the day and they didn’t pay for her in advance there is a chance you may get a partial refund.
There’s no harm in asking.

My son broke his rib the night before a PGL trip which cost over £200. The school were fabulous and got me a partial refund through their insurance, which I totally wasn't expecting (I hadn't even asked as I assumed that it would have all been booked and paid for and it was just very tough luck, and timing!).

I think for a £20 trip that was already booked and paid for, you are being a little bit unreasonable to ask for it back - the school will have had to pay even though she couldn't go.

Your dds would of already been paid for... so the money is spent. It’s not the schools fault she was ill. It’s only £20. YABU to even ask for it back.

I have organised many school trips in my time and I would say it's worth an ask. Sometimes the place you are going will charge per head according to who turns up on the day, in which case that part would potentially be refundable. We also had to charge a small amount of contingency. If they didn't have to use it, it would be easier for them to refund you. If neither of these is the case, they may not have any money to refund you with; equally they may have a policy that they won't refund, but it's worth asking.

Looks like quite a few people woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning, going by some of these responses.

OP, there is no harm in asking. However, if the answer is no, be understanding and dont make a fuss.

Er no. Coach paid for and ticket brought.

YANBU to ask.

There's no harm in asking. I was given back a partial refund once as the coach had already been paid for but the entrance fee (to a museum) hadn't.

Also my son once missed a theatre trip and the theatre let him use the ticket on another day.

I think you need to write it off.

My child could not go on a week long school trip and it took a long time to claim this back (with excess deducted)- months and months. I had to submit a doctors note so that this could be claimed back

if they bought a ticket for her, and it was unused then surely they need to give you the ticket so that you can try to get a refund?

The portion that is the travel is lost, but I'd be asking about the entry cost.

The entry cost would have been part of a reduced group entry - so no refund applicable.

The travel cost is very unlikely to be recovered. The coach didnt cost any different because your dd wasn’t on it. Unless they went on public transport and paid for each kid?

The event entry, well you could phrase the question carefully and you might be lucky. Sometimes school trips buy tickets on the day based on the number of kids they have. Other time, tickets are bought in advance and aren’t refundable.

You should probably say something along the lines of if your money didn’t get spent then you’d like it back but understand if travel was fixed cost or tickets bought in advance were non refundable.

This happens to all of us really. I bought some panto tickets when my kids were little and we couldn’t go as dd was ill. We lost that money. I’ve also had to cancel a holiday abroad when my ds was ill and we claimed that on the insurance.

The entry cost would have been part of a reduced group entry - so no refund applicable.

Not necessarily, I've worked in places where the standard entry for school groups was less than for others, but we would still only charge the number of kids that actually turned up. meaning there would be an entry charge kept by the school if they had charged the parent for it.

yanbu,
try asking school

If it's a maintained school, they are required to publish a Charging and Remissions policy online, so check their website. At the school where I used to work, this policy states that refunds would be given if a child was ill, but your school may be different.

There is no harm in asking. At the school I worked at we were sometimes able to offer the ticket to someone else depending on the event as not everyone went on all trips. If we could resell a space we would refund. (This was an Indie so policies may be different)

Aibu to ask for a refund? I paid £22 for travel and entry to event.

Of course it would be unreasonable.

Imagine you booked travel & an event independently of the school.
Then you were sick, so could not go.
Would your pre-booked bus/train/cab refund you? - no.
Would the event organisers refund you your ticket price- no.

So why do you imagine the school will be able to magic extra money for a refund out of thin air?

No like others have said you can’t