To think th gymnastics club are taking the mick?

[DonutCone]

DD and DS go to a gymnastics club. A family owned club, very much a for-profit business. You have to pay a term in advance, and often much earlier, so by October you need to pay for January - April.

Obviously term ended 2 weeks earlier than it was meant to in March, so we essentially paid for 10 hours of lessons we didn't get (8 hours a week for DD and 2 for DS). Now we've had an email saying they will be running lessons once a week for the next 3 weeks at £12 for 55 minutes. It has been asked if all the missed lessons can be used towards the cost of the new lessons, but they cannot.

AIBU to think we are now paying for the same thing twice. The 10 hours we missed equates to £65 of lessons and now for 2 children they want an additional £72 for 6 hours. I am so fed up of paying for things we aren't getting. One sports club made us pay for the entire summer term as we had signed a contract saying we were committed for a year, despite the leisure center being closed and saying they were not changing any clubs a penny.

[DonutCone]

I think I would have felt differently if they had been open and said they wouldn't survive if we all asked for that money back and asked us to donate the money. But there was no conversation, just the assumption they would keep it and then charge a higher price for these extra lessons. That sticks in my throat.

[Scuzzymummy]

One thing lockdown has taught me is the kids have actually enjoyed NOT having endless extra activities. Yes they seemed to enjoy them before, but by god we have saved a fortune, stopped throwing tea down them to rush off somewhere and they have survived still!! We have said that when things pick up they can do one music lesson and one other activity each, no more. They don't need it and to be quite honest neither do we. We got caught up in believing that giving them these opportunities was widening their horizons and providing stimulation. However a trip to the park to climb trees and actually having time to play at home has been better than an endless stream of groups

[Scuzzymummy]

Sorry I meant to add gymnastics was one if the many activities they did,bwecare voting with our feet

[Evelefteden]

I hear you.

Our dds go to a fee paying school. They still tried charging me for school lunches, flute lessons and dance.

I refused.

[DrinkFeckArseGirls]

Our gymnastics club has inly charge £10 per month for Zoom classes. They’re a charity but have to pay their staff too. I think we missed one paid for session at the end of March but the payment in advance for April is to be allocated for September.

[Evelefteden]

@DonutCone

I think I would have felt differently if they had been open and said they wouldn't survive if we all asked for that money back and asked us to donate the money. But there was no conversation, just the assumption they would keep it and then charge a higher price for these extra lessons. That sticks in my throat.

Was it a private company?

[hippoherostandinghere]

Our gymnastics club have been in touch to say all missed classes will now be made up over the summer and then they're back to normal from September. I think this is really poor from your gymnastics club but doesn't seem to be much you can do about it unless you leave and join another. They'll soon get the message of everyone does that.

[IKEA888]

They will be struggling but could of handled this better.
They may have got governement help with furloughed staff etc and therefore are just trying their luck
such a shame all round

[cologne4711]

OP, there is a MN viewpoint that we should all be spending money we don't have to keep businesses afloat.

They are taking the mick, pure and simple. Of course they should be applying the money from March to lessons now.

[fflelp]

I think they should have offered the 65 pounds credit towards the lessons they are now offering.
I know everyone is struggling for survival but you can't keep the money from the lessons not taught and then offer more lessons and ask for more money. It's just not right.
If they were not able to provide the service you paid for due to corona they should have paid the money back or offered an alternative or offered make-up lessons in the holidays.
I am in a similar line of work (not sport related) in another country. My students missed a couple of weeks of lessons at the beginning of lockdown until I was able to move over to online teaching. I've now made up all of these missed lessons by teaching in the Easter holidays and the first week of the summer holidays so that no one paid for something they did not receive.

[TheTeenageYears]

I think any person or organisation who is expecting to be paid for a service it hasn't delivered has to be totally upfront about their finances. If you applied for a benefit or grant you would have to declare financial need and prove it. I don't see why customers should just be expected to pay a for profit business who may have made a fortune in the past.

I'm presuming OP that they have a captive audience and there is no other reasonable option for gymnastics for your DC. It's a difficult one, I had a gymnast who would have hated to have to move clubs or not go over something like this and probably comes down to which is more important- the money or the principal. In a way not being able to afford it is easier to justify.

[MalificentJones]

Our gymnastics club have been completely transparent about their finances publishing how much it cost to run each month. It’s also family run but he hires his premises so didn’t quality for the £10,000.

Way back in March when everything closed down and we all thought it would be back to nor after the Easter holidays he asked everybody not to cancel their April fees as they would be missing four weeks of sessions. That’s what we thought at the time but then after Easter he told us to cancel them as it wasn’t fair as people were losing their jobs etc. Quite a lot of people continued paying.

[Timeforanotherusername]

What makes you think a lot of their customers aren't also struggling?

Eh? Where did i say that?

OP does not mention money concerns. She mentions not being happy at paying for a service she hasn't received.

These are extraordinary times. Lots of people are struggling. My family aren't. At the beginning we were asked if we would continue paying. We chose to do so. We want there to be swimming and gymnastics and cubs etc to return too. I know its not the same for others.

[Bluntness100]

Op if you’re not happy with the club, then cancel or change.

They are a business, primarily there to make money, Covid caused a lot of financial issue for a lot of companies, and things like the fees you paid may have already went to paying rent, insurance etc they could be in a situation they don’t have the money to give back.

[ilovemydogandMrObama]

The staff should have been furloughed, so the staff should at least been getting a large percentage of their income, however there are still the running costs of having a building, rent, utilities, insurance that wouldn't be covered?

[Talcott2007]

Wow. i keep hearing about this stories and realise how lucky we seem to have been with clubs and nursery fees.

Nursery - Didn't charge at all in April and May then in June when things opened up again you could choose to 1. cancel your place or amend your days etc with no penalties. 2. Start back with normal fees on whatever days you wanted or 3. if you didn't want to loose your place but not send them straight away pay 33% of fees to hold the place during June and July.
Swimming Lessons - 'Paused' so have got maybe 4 weeks left of the previous term that they will take off the cost of the new term once we can restart.
Gymnastics club - Again various options but again included pausing at how many weeks you have left (we only pay on a rolling month basis) - plus they did a lot of zoom offerings of virtual classes. TBH we were probably going to stop gymnastics once DD starts in reception n september as its not her favorite activity and she has said she doesn't miss it and give her the opportunity to try other activities.

[EnjoyingTheSilence]

Find a new club. If they fold it’s down to their own greed.

[reluctantbrit]

I wrote off drama school classes, riding lessons, swim school fees for the lost weeks in Spring term and donated refunds for scout camps to the pack.

But, in all cases DD loves the activities, the clubs/school were very open about their financial situation and all but swimming managed to offer something so far.

If you are not happy with a club I look hard on the reasons why. Yes, they most likely struggle like all of these activities are but it is often the way how they communicate and create a bond between the club and members, especially the paying parents.

If you are not happy, look at a club swap. It feels like there ar other underlying problems, not just the way they try to charge you.

[Maryann1975]

My answer depends very much on your personal financial situation. Have you worked through out or been on furlough or have you lost your jobs and don’t know how to put food on the table? If you are in the first group, then if you would like the club to survive, then pay. If you are struggling, then they should accept that the fees should be transferred. But then if you are struggling that much, should you be paying for gymnastic lessons for your dc? As someone else upthread said, it seems lots of children have been quite happy without all the extra curricular things in the evenings. Would they be happy without gymnastics so often?
I run a small business and have had the self employed grant. It didn’t take in to account last years accounts, which were my best yet, by about £3k, so they have based my figures going back to 2016-17. I’m so glad that my customers have stuck with me and still paid a voluntary contribution to keep me going. If they hadn’t, I don’t think I would have been able to reopen.

[reluctantbrit]

@ilovemydogandMrObama

The staff should have been furloughed, so the staff should at least been getting a large percentage of their income, however there are still the running costs of having a building, rent, utilities, insurance that wouldn't be covered?

Lots of clubs do not employ the trainers, they are self employed so furlough may not work everywhere.

DD’s swim and riding school has employed teachers or at least some are, some aren’t, but her drama school works on the basis that the teachers are invoicing the school for the hours they teach.

[ajs88]

They are fighting for survival but they should also be getting government help to do so, though I appreciate this won't be enough by itself.

I think it's very unfair that they are not offering something in return for the missed and paid for lessons, not even a discount or extra free lessons. Personally I think splitting the difference ie. 50% discount on the next lot would be fair.

[christinarossetti19]

It sounds like you're fed up with the club anyway tbh OP.

If you really don't have anything invested in them closing, then just remove your children and look for something else.

Otherwise, what Maryann1975 says is about right.

[wheretonow123]

Are they in too many clubs.

I know of other families with kids literally in everything - the same kids are involved in nothing now that they are older.

In my opinionj it is good to be involved in one or two clubs but have other home stuff, out with family and concentrate on getting better in he activity that they are doing.

Also, less wasted costs.

[Quarantimespringclean]

My biggest interest and discretionary expense is theatre. Since lockdown I’ve written off the cost of several theatre tickets because I don’t want theatres to go under. I want them to stIll be there when all this is over.

[Dulra]

Have they made any suggestion on how they would pay you back for the lessons you missed? I get they're struggling but that doesn't mean you can take people's money for classes which don't take place and not expect them to look for a refund. My dds drama class paid back fees without anyone even asking them. I would probably have let it go because of how sudden and unprecedented everything was but now that they are putting on extra classes they should be offering these in lieu of what was missed not asking you to pay again . They could say they're struggling and as for voluntary donations if things are that bad but don't forget the government have been supporting businesses quite well