Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Cadets not returning deposit

36 replies

Orangeblossom78 · 04/12/2019 17:47

DS started cadets and left after a year. We returned the kit but they seem to be witholding the deposit. It was £75, and then DS could not find one piece so we got another and paid another £35 for that (we returned all items including the one lost and the other found item

We sent an email as they asked with the bank details and got told an item was not clean enough and they were taking £3 off to clean it (a stove type item- it was in the same condition given I checked it and seemed OK)

Anyway I think it is £110 (minus the £3) and they have still not returned it some weeks later. AIBU to ask them again about this? Or would you just leave it.

It says online the kit is meant to be free as provided by Cadets and not meant to be a charge.

OP posts:

GoKartMozart · 05/12/2019 10:29

DD was an air cadet for a few years. She was issued with basic stuff for free (shoes, beret, trousers, jumper, shirt) but things like foul weather gear and rucksacks we had to buy.
There was no payments to the unit at all other than weekly subs. There seems something a bit off with this unit.

Yesmate · 05/12/2019 10:34

Email every day. They owe you the deposit. Including the extra £35. You paid another £35 as a deposit for the item and have returned that one and the original one.

Iamallatsea · 05/12/2019 11:15

Sea cadets don’t ask for deposit money for uniform. It is supplied free of charge, may not be new though. Parents are asked to buy boots though, once child is sure they want to stay in the group, there is a hardship fund to help out with this.
No other equipment goes home, it goes back to the unit where any cleaning or maintenance is carried out at the unit. The parents at our local units could not afford to pay such a deposit, it seems a huge barrier to participation to ask for such a large deposit and then quibble about paying it back.
Maybe your son could consider another cadet unit?

sweeneytoddsrazor · 05/12/2019 11:37

I would assume the £35 was a replacement cost for a new item. So your DS lost a piece of equipment therefore he had to replace it with a new one. Having now found the original one I would say you are entitled to you £72 deposit and either the replacement item or a %age of the cost of the item maybe half as that is what you would probably sell used uniform for?

Gruzinkerbell1 · 05/12/2019 11:44

Whyyyy can’t people understand the logic behind the missing item?

Item lost. Therefore deposit money would have been lost for this item.

Child still needed said item so an additional deposit was paid to the cadets for a new one.

When it came to returning all of the kit both items were found and returned. So two sets of deposits due on two identical items.

It’s really, really not difficult to understand.

AlrightyyThen · 05/12/2019 11:51

People not understanding the £35 thing is quite frustrating... OP you are entitled to all your deposits back

They seem to have a stick up their arse about you wanting the money back, YANBU to keep on emailing them. I wouldn't expect to wait months for a returned deposit.

Original poster

Orangeblossom78 · 05/12/2019 14:00

To be honest I myself am a bit unsure about that £35 in terms of whether we were expected to buy the item or it was another deposit (sigh) I just remember being asked to take the cash round and pick up another top as they needed it for a March.

Maybe we were expected to buy another one, should have clarified at the time. We aren't all off so it means quite a bit.

OP posts:

messolini9 · 05/12/2019 14:10

The told me most parents don't bother asking for the deposit back.

OP, this is just a CF attempt to get you to back off.
That comment would enrage me. It really calls for a Stock Teenager Response "I'm not most parents" ...

If your last email has not produced the response you need, ring them.
Let them know that items were returned as clean as they were handed out, one item has been replaced at your own expense, & you now expect £72 deposit money returned by the end of next week.

sweeneytoddsrazor · 05/12/2019 14:29

Because @Gruzinkerbell1 it is very unlikely that a deposit of £75 would cover the cost of the whole uniform/kit if one item is £35 deposit. It sounds like the deposit is to cover wear and tear and cleaning costs but any lost items need to be replaced.

Original poster

Orangeblossom78 · 05/12/2019 15:38

Fair enough I guess we paid the £35 extra then but they still owe me the £72 deposit for the rest of it. I'll just have to wait and see.

OP posts:

MrsToothyBitch · 05/12/2019 16:32

@GoKartMozart - it sounds like your daughter attended a standalone air cadets unit, not an raf-ccf school unit? They're not run in quite the same way. Ditto sea cadets vs ccf-navy.

Flip

1 2