That riding school shouldn't charge me for this?

[Pistachiovillian]

I have joined a new riding school recently and attended three times. Once for a ride out, twice for lessons.

All have been at 09:30 am.

I have usually left myself too much time to get there and arrived for about 09:15 but to avoid waiting about, last time I set off a bit later and arrived at 09:20.

Every time I have been, all the riders and the instructor and helpers (teens who bring the horses from the fields or stables, tacked up) have all gathered in the car park and then we've led or ridden the horses to the lesson arena or in the case of the ride, got on them there and gone out.

Last time (last week) I arrived at 09:20 and nobody was about. I went into the office but there were only some children in it who didn't say anything to me. I borrow hats from the riding school when I ride (I dropped mine and don't trust it and have yet to purchase another one) so I went in, picked up a hat, smiled at the children and then walked out, hoping somebody would materialise. Nobody did. I waited until 09:43 before thinking I must've made a mistake and not booked in. couldn't see anyone around-the stables are kind of down a hill from the car park but I could only see horses, not even any of the teen helpers, nobody! So I put my hat back in the office and drove home.

Not long after I got home, I had a message from the riding school saying I was booked in. I responded that I turned up, and nobody appeared to be there so I assumed I must've turned up having not booked.

Normally when I get there there are lots of people bustling about, teen helpers, horses, other riders all chatting-never has anyone left the car park until It's time for the lesson/ride-in one case it was very late as they waited for ages as the last rider was stuck in traffic.

Nobody replied to my reply until late last night, this was (I think) a manager who had been passed the message. I told her exactly what I had said here and she's said that 'lessons are always in the 'top' arena and I should have just gone there.

Well 1)I have only had two lessons at this school and they were both in different arenas and 2) This has never been the case before, ALWAYS everyone waited in the car park and rode or walked their horse to said lesson wherever it was.

She recommended I turned up 5 or 10 minutes early-to which I replied that I did!
She said that 'at 09:30' we all go for the lesson and I said I was most definitely there at 09:20(I am not sure that it wasn't even a bit earlier, if I am honest but I know it was definitely at 09:20) and she also said that one of the children in the office was a teen helper who actually SAW me return my hat and drive off.

So, they have confirmation that I was present and correct-I was SEEN. And I've told them that the usual protocol of the last three times I've been is we meet in the car park-not an arena (either one).

They still want to charge me the full amount 'because they had taken the horse out for me'.

AIBU?

Wouldn't be paying

Also wouldn't expect to be asking a group of kids perceived to be 10 what was going on.

If kid was a ahelpper then they should have been the proactive one saying are you here for the 9.30 lesson.

How do you normally pay? Hopefully not by DD. I would not be paying and if they make an issue of it would take my custom elsewhere.

This is exactly why I didn't ask! I couldn't have thought of a way to say it but I generally do not like talking to unaccompanied children. Of course I would if one looked lost or hurt or something.

You ask...where is the 9.30am lesson please.

If you thought they were that young, surely you didn't think they were just all left at a riding school unaccompanied, and therefore an adult must have been around somewhere?

So you'd then logically ask them where an adult was?

You really thought that if you asked a group of kids where an adult was, one of their parents would appear and have a go at you?

That seems a bit… daft. It’s not like you were telling the kids off, or soliciting personal information from them. You would simply have been asking them to point you in the direction of the nearest adult. No reasonable parent is likely to object to that.

If you like the riding school and want to continue going, then perhaps offer to pay 50%. They don't operate with huge profit margins!

If you're happy to find another place to ride, then stand your ground and don't pay.

If I liked the place, I'd just suck it up.

And agree young pony-mad kids at riding stables and farms can be a surprisingly accurate source of authority. They often half-run the place!

@supercalafragilisticexpealidocious I thought that was mainly for horse owners or perhaps people looking to buy one, ask questions around that topic!

Maybe I should have.

It is a big school/livery yard.

This one isn't snotty thankfully-the old one I went to was! I felt like they all looked upon me as a social pariah for not owning a horse-I didn't want to own a horse! Maybe if I was wealthy enough for full livery for it but then what's the point if you just turn up and ride it when you're able/want to-I may as well save my £ and just ride and have lessons. I don't want to dedicate a lot of time to the other things involved in horse ownership, so it wouldn't be fair of me to do that although I have considered it before.

@muggart I did feel like that. I am a customer, they surely noticed I wasn't there if the horse was all dressed up with 'nowhere to go'.

Why didn't someone come and look once they'd left without me and it got to the time for the Why did they leave without me in the first place? Why didn't yes, as you say, someone tell the girl that I may turn up and to tell me where they were?

Similar to what @shearwater2 has said yes, I am quite familiar and have been to a fair few riding facilities and haven't ever had this happen before.

I don't know what they did to cause this issue. Perhaps the week before (I didn't book in that week, had to be elsewhere) they told everyone else and everyone else booked for the following week, and didn't think to let me know somehow?

Perhaps they thought I'd just come and find them-again, would've been better to tell the girl just in case-why couldn't they just not do it until I was there-I was still early just not as early as normal?

And yes, I really don't like that too, felt quite stupid.

I do take on board that some people think I should have just wandered around until I found them. It's a big school, I couldn't hear anything of them from where I were, couldn't see them, nobody else around, couldn't see anyone in the visible stables (there are other stables further away but if I walked down there and then someone DID turn up that I could ask they wouldn't know I were there...I didn't know what to do at all.

I agree a child/teen left in charge of the office should be capable of saying 'Hello, can I help you? ' or similar of course but I wouldn't have asked for aforementioned reasons. As a PP said it would've been avoidable had she known to keep a look out for me arriving.

If they've changed the protocol and we all now are to meet in the arena that's fine-the point is I didn't know.

Op you like the yard.
I'd cough up avoid bad feelings. And be more proactive next time. Don't be scared to ask the kids if they know where the instructor is.

In my 20s I regularly rode at 3 different riding schools, moved because of schools closing as insurance costs went up, and occasionally at a couple of others.
All schools seem to assume you know where your going, esp after your first time. They sort of look out for you the first time and after that your on your own.
Never owned for the same reasons as yourself. Horses just aren't cheap to maintain or keep in full-livery. Thats also the reason why so many teens and tweens are happy to help out they get to be close to the horses without the cost and commitment of owning. Riding schools are of course happy to have as much help as possible.

I'm sorry you had that experience but I think OP, the trouble is that as you are finding, riding schools in general, and indeed the vast majority of the horsey world just are truly, terribly bad at customer service. Really I can't emphasize this enough. At best they're flakey and poor with communication, at worst they're under the impression they're generously granting you a tremendous favour by allowing you anywhere near their precious horses in exchange for £££ and anyone demanding any modicum of usual politeness in exchange is an unreasonable/abusive karen! Ironic given how much money you spend, but you really do get used to being treated like a piece of dirt, perhaps the more you spend the more dirt-like you become in their eyes 😂

I think it's because horse people in general are not people-people, all their time and care and attention goes to the horses and the people/customers are an inconvenient extra. In very few other industries is it not only acceptable but normal for the staff to be shy/silent pre-teens supervised by a shouty furious dragon and for paying customers to be regularly berated for breaking rules they had no idea existed or left to guess important matters such as where their lesson is, who is teaching them, what horse they're riding, which tack the horse should wear and are you meant to tack up yourself or fetch a member of staff etc etc.

Sadly I think if you like the school you probably need to chalk this one to experience, if you've booked a lesson do not leave the premises without speaking to an adult in authority, they aren't going to give you good/normal service on a plate and not will being super-polite and reasonable get you better service (because the bad service is not personal), you need to get a bit bolshier...

And please do feel free to come over and post in the tack room in future, yes there are some (current and previous) horse owners over there but lots of non-horsey parents to pony mad kids, adult returners to riding or wannabe riders/curious beginners or just general horse lovers, it's generally a friendly and supportive place, you won't be ostracized for not planning to buy a horse (quite the reverse, tack room people generally endeavour to put off would be first-time owners as much as possible!). only horse people get the particular madness of riding schools and livery stables for sure

It does sound pretty disorganised tbh, the school I use would know who was booked on and would be asking where the missing rider was just before the start of the lesson.
That said I absolutely do not understand why you didn't just ask the kids or go and check the arenas? It surely can't be that big that you couldn't have had a quick walk round to see if you could spot the lesson.
Also, how do you book on for your next lesson/hack if there is nobody in the office? 🤔

The riding school I livery my horse at has just axed their receptionist/office lady as a cost saving measure, because all bookings now (in theory) are made online via EC.pro which is an app loads of riding schools use. That's fine as it goes and I totally get that costs are spiralling for many schools, but now when people turn up all there is available is a (not always fully updated or indeed updated at all) whiteboard showing the teachers, lessons and horses for the day, and there's no-one available in the office to manage all the inevitable queries and issues, plus newbies, beginners, kids and the generally clueless have no idea where to find their horse (the stables all have names on but only roughly 5% of the names match the horse so that's no help 🙈 and often you'll just get a vague instruction, oh 'polo' is the little grey on the left hand row, cue a whole row of little grey ponies, which is he???), whether they're meant to tack up themselves (how if so/where is the tack?), where to go for their lesson and so on.

Every weekend now I have to spend some time wrangling the teenage helpers into actually helping clients who have often been hanging around the office or yard looking lost for quite some time with no-one speaking to them or asking what they need, and I don't even work there, in theory I'm paying to be there too! The teachers usually will come up to the yard to find a missing client eventually but they're in back to back lessons so the time spent locating client, fitting hat and boots, locating horse and tack, getting down to arena, can end up coming out of the clients lesson time which is a bit of a swizz IMO, the office lady used to sort all that out ahead of time or whip up a child to do it for you...

To be fair, with ever increasing insurance costs and the general overheads of running a riding school, it’s an increasingly poor business model. It’s not surprising that customer service is poor when the margins are tight and can’t really support the staff necessary. Establishments are shutting down all over the place. It’s a rubbish situation for everyone.

This is all so true 😂

I mean you presumably weren't going to say anything controversial to them - just where to find your lesson/instructor? 😂 It's not like you were offering them sweets to go for a drive with you...

@Needanewname42 okay, I thought I did know where to go but they'd gone elsewhere. With me I think It's that I just don't want something else to look after-I work part-time (30hrs) as well as having private clients and a business to run, and I go away a lot (single and without children) and have a large dog to facilitate into life-and I just don't want anything else. Maybe one day if things are different.

The teens on this yard are always so keen for anyone looking to get their own horses-they form an orderly queue to be the one who helps look after them, that I have noticed!

That's interesting @maxelly

Yes, a lot of 'horsey people' are just that aren't they. I guess running the riding school is their means of having the money to just do 'horsey' things. I had found this one much, much friendlier than a lot of them I've attended, I will say-some are so snotty!

I am really not bolshy especially in situations like this where I don't know anyone well yet. I do like the school so I will go back. And I will post in the tack room in future. I guess I view that as a bit like 'the litter tray' or 'the doghouse' , for owners or prospective owners of the animal largely. It is a good point! I do that with people considering getting dogs (trying to put people off getting one unless conditions are perfect)!

@FieldInWhichFucksAreGrownIsBarren I know, I should have said something to the kids, I realise. I just don't like asking children 'adult' questions generally. And I do think the one left in charge should have said something and/or been told to keep a look out for me if the other riders had all beggared off elsewhere before 09:30.

There's always been someone in the office when I've left, in fairness-usually the instructor who's done this lesson will go in there and then they ask if you want to book in your next one. If you're not sure if you can attend next week or aren't able to come for a while, you just contact them to book in via their fb page to book in.

There isn't an app as far as I know.

I have noticed that @maxelly , about non-updated horse names on stables, in every school I've attended, and same with boards/notices! I understand it-I am not the most organised person myself, you just can't rely on that sort of thing. Same with 'Which horse am I on today?' 'That one over there, the one with its forelock out and the patch on his side-'Er yes, that's like, five of them'

I was also asked to take the horse I'd ridden to his stable and plait his reins, one time recently. Fine, I know how to do reins and I knew where this horses' stable was, but what if I didn't? I'd never seen this person before so they'd no idea-I could have never ridden a horse before in my life up until that lesson for all they knew!

Also the first lesson I had here. They asked upon booking if I'd ridden before, that's it. And then they went straight on to cantering and jockey position. What if I hadn't ridden for years, was nervous, had only ridden once and didn't know how to do it/fell off?

I am not complaining, I do like this school a lot and the people generally are good.

It's nice of you to be so helpful but as you say, you're also a 'customer', you're not an employee of the school!

Anyway, they responded to my message protesting that I was present and correct, and that I had had lessons in different places, and that I was there earlier than 09:30 etc etc.

They've said they'd honour it this time as a misunderstanding. They'd spoken to the girl who saw me-and did I want to book in again. I have said yes, and that I'd pay half the lesson price next time I pay, that's me taking heed of these replies, yes I could have gone looking for them (although I'd have found that quite embarrassing to have to do) and yes I could have asked the children.

Money aside, I was quite upset at missing that lesson as I do love riding, learning and horses. Also, I was knackered and would have appreciated a lie-in that morning rather than having to get up and walk dog and rush off as I have a busy day ahead and had worked late the night before. But I still booked as I really wanted to go, so it was disappointing to get there and not get to ride. Just a pesky situation all round.

Thank you for everyone's input!

I think people are really being unfair on the OP. If the teen was manning the office it is her responsibility to greet anyone who comes in and ask if they need help. If she isn’t capable of doing that, she shouldn’t be left in charge.

Totally agree with this. I would have looked for an adult instead of going home in a strop without making any enquiries. It’s a bit … juvenile

So at the stables we attend the volunteers can be as young as 14 and some of the instructors are 18 year old apprentices. We found it tricky knowing where to be when we first started as the emails had the Covid protocols on saying wait in the car too you’re collected but that never happened. Lol. Another stables one of the kids goes to from ours allow volunteers from 10. You can still ask them though and if they don’t know they might get someone for you.

I’m not surprised you were charged though as they still have to pay their staff for that session. Ours has a cancellation policy.

I wouldn't have asked a 10 year old for help, assuming they looked like someone waiting and not helping.

I agree they can be very disorganised! We've turned up to cancelled lessons before (weren't told they were cancelled).

Try and ask all the questions now...e.g. where do I go, if there's no one there what do I do, if there's a number to call and no one answers, what then.

Hopefully just teething problems until you get the run of the place.

Also sounds like the yard isn’t well run. New people at our stables have to have a 1:1 private lesson to assess ability and then they are allocated specific sessions they can book on - vi an app. Only volunteers would be taking the horses and ponies back to stables to untuck etc. Or some riders who they know well and who have attended sessions around tacking and un tacking etc (such as the kids who go to pony club or other stable management sessions).

I was all on your side as you made it sound like there was NO ONE around to ask. But you didn't even try

It does sound very disorganised, OP. Yes, lots of riding schools are cutting costs to the bone to survive but there has long been a tradition of exploiting horse-mad kids for free labour and they don't give the best customer service! At the very least, the RI should have warned them to look out for you and to send you on. But I am glad they have resolved it for you. Don't be afraid to speak up for yourself as it sounds like the sort of place where you need to be a bit pro-active.

I would have asked someone, not just driven off!

I'm sorry you had a tricky experience, and I get that it can be difficult to ask children in this sort of circumstance. I do also agree that ideally riding schools would have better customer service.

That said, I know how much of a shoestring riding schools are run on- the ones that survived covid have eaten all their reserves, and this winter was horrendous (bad weather leading to increased costs and lost revenues etc). Two local to me are unfortunately having to sell much loved horses to try and generate funds as there is nothing else they can do.

It sounds like things have worked out okay, and I hope you have a better experience next time. It sounds like they are (reasonably) proactive answering emails and messages, so perhaps next time email in advance and confirm where to meet?