to think its taking the piss to cut a one day course to one hour and not offer a refund?

[allthiswasunseen]

I have paid for a one day training course, £115. It was all day with lunch provided. Obviously they aren't delivering it now, but have sent an email to say instead the trainer will give a one hour online lecture with a short time to answer questions. They have not cut the price or offered a refund but instead said they feel it is important to still offer high quality training and that they are sure we will understand the need to be flexible.

I can't see this as anything other than a massive piss take. I resent the implication that if I object I am being 'inflexible'. I paid for six-7 hours training in person, plus lunch, and instead am getting one hour online. It seems pretty clear that this is a blatant transference of loss from the organisation to their individual customers. Presumably they have already paid the trainer and don't want to fork out a refund so have offered this piss take instead so that they don't have to give us our money back.

I'd see that as a piss take, I'd expect an online version for about the sane number of hours with q&a at end as normal.
So no refund but sone attempt at doing a similar offering, even if had to be delayed a bit to amend things.

Yes, that is what has annoyed me - there is no attempt to make it a similar offering. But they clearly just expect us all to accept it without question as we 'accept the need to be flexible'. If I order a shop online and ASDA can only deliver a quarter of the food they don't expect me to pay for the stuff they didn't have because ' I understand the need to be flexible.' !
It's really put me off the organisation. I respected them before this.
Now I see them as dishonest and money grubbing.

I'd expect either the whole course to go only, the option of deferring or a new date, or blended option with half online now and half a day workshop later.

What they're offering seems like a piss take, but it does raise an interesting question as to how far up a chain of transactions can someone keep claiming for a refund?

I’d be chasing a refund. This could have a significant effect on CPD hours if it were a professional course rather than (for lack of a better word) for entertainment or a hobby.

It's a piss-take. Everyone everywhere is bleating, 'Please don't ask for your money back,' not taking into account the huge number of self-employed, zero-hours or laid off people who have no income right now. Ask for a refund.

In fairness, a lot of these day long courses are bullshit and honestly, the information they give is usually padded out to fill a day, when as you are seeing the information often can be condensed into an hour.

Just usually they are not so blatant about it!

You can still be ‘flexible’ but request a partial refund.

Yes Ellen, I earn £15k a year - this was a big investment for me. I work for a small charity whose source of income is likely to dry up - i could lose my job. The organisation are a large national organisation. They will survive! It's not my responsibility to subsidise them, if they can't deliver a service I've paid them for.

Understanding the need to be flexible is understanding that now you won't get lunch because the whole day is online or understanding that the course is postponed, not that you now get 1 hour instead of 6 or 7! I would definitely complain.

Tellme I've been to several training events over the years put on by this organisation and they are very good. I really don't see how they could be condensed to one hour without losing an awful lot. I had particularly wanted the opportunity to talk with the trainer, and I can't really do that adequately by typing in a question.

Yes ask for a refund. And say they should have given you the same number of hours online. I would let lunch go, but an hour is a piss take.

Ask for a refund . They aren’t being fair .

Tell them you want a refund, be assertive. They are in breach of contract as they are unable to provide what you paid for. I would be sympathetic to the business if they had made an attempt to offer something of similar value or at least admitted you were being shortchanged and they were hoping for goodwill but they are taking the piss.

In fairness, a lot of these day long courses are bullshit and honestly, the information they give is usually padded out to fill a day, when as you are seeing the information often can be condensed into an hour.

I was going to say the same. A lot of these courses are just a bullshit excuse to get a day away from the office. Sounds like this one is very poor quality if it can be delivered in an hour.

This is happening all over and I can see why they're doing it, but you don't have to go along with it. Tell them no, thanks, you want a refund. Repeat until successful.

In fairness, a lot of these day long courses are bullshit and honestly, the information they give is usually padded out to fill a day, when as you are seeing the information often can be condensed into an hour.

That's true but by the same token, you could often read a book instead of doing a course, but they're not selling books, or online hour-long training, they sold a training day (with lunch!) which is no longer deliverable so the OP should get refunded.

Just reply back, "Thank you for the update. Given the alternative offered I would like to decline. Please send my refund to me ASAP. Regards, Me."

Definitely request a refund. They are taking the piss