School is refusing to pay money owed from school trip

[LifeIz]

School is refusing to pay £400+ monies from school trip - is this even legal?

Well within time would have to mean before the sign up deadline for going on the trip. Once the school made the booking they would not get any refund and so obviously you can't have one either. 3 weeks is way too short notice. If it was 3 months you might possibly be reasonable.

Why did your child pull out? Is it something you can claim on your owm insurance for?

I emailed before the deadline, also they offered a refund (without the deposit) then withdrew it. I know of at least 15 other children, who wanted to go on the trip but could not because there were no places, so they could not have been trying to fill the place.

What happened between you telling the school your child couldn't go and the day before the trip?

Did you speak to the school or try to confirm whether you would be getting a refund?

Without knowing what the trip was I can't judge how much the school would have paid out by then and how much might have been recoverable.

Do you have you own travel insurance that might cover it?

They might have wanted to go but it's a bit different being asked to find over £400 3 weeks before rather than having months to pay for it. Why is your child not going ?

Present your evidence in a letter to the school and include 'without prejudice' in the letter heading. If no joy and you think you have a case pursue it as a small claim. You can do this online.

Phone citizens advice! I had this happen to me although a much smaller amount. Cab were fantastic, told me what to write in a letter. Less than a week later I had my money back. Good luck

There is nothing sinister about the phone number not being recognised - in schools I have worked in, if we made outside calls from an extension it always showed as a private withheld number.

I assume you would have taken out travel insurance for such an expensive trip, so you need to claim on this.

If you have a letter from the school saying they won't refund your money you can submit this to the insurers.

How did people manage in an era before modern sanitation - with outside loos and a bath (in shared water) once a week?

Did they fill the place with another child?
If they did then I'm pretty sure they are obliged to refund - this rule applies to hotel bookings too - maybe with an admin fee deducted. Check with CAB. That's a lot of money to lose.

We pulled out 3 weeks before the trip, but it had a final payment of days before. The trip was planned three months before.

By going on for a full school term, I mean the communcations back and forth regarding refund. The trip was last school term. The letter said the deposit would not be refunded.

This is basic contract law. What was the original agreement? They offered a trip - what were the terms? It is impossible for anyone to answer your question without knowing the full details. Take the trip offer letter, all communications between you, your payment schedule including dates and sums paid, your communication withdrawing your child and their response to CAB.

Had you paid the full amount? You may be liable to do so if the trip cost is non-refundable.

3 weeks before the trip is v short notice.

I think it also depends on the reason - DS1 is going on a school trip that states that their insurance covers illness, accident etc in which case a refund will be available but changing your mind at any point forfeits the monies already paid.
Seems fair enough. If you'd booked a family holiday and then decided 3 weeks before going you didn't want to do, you would expect a refund would you?

At our school once the deposit is paid, you are committed to the full payment, regardless of when other payments are scheduled for you.

Are you sure you aren't confusing 'final payment date' with an explicit 'change your mid for full refund date'?

Was the trip abroad? Even if there were other children who wanted to it might not have been possible to change the names at such short notice.

Wherever it was there's no guarantee that another family would have the money with little notice.

Talk of solicitors is a bit premature when you don't seem to have had a proper discussion with the school about the non refundable costs they've incurred. I don't think the school should be out of pocket at all. Your own travel insurance should kick in. You haven't said why you cancelled but I'm going to assume it wasn't on a whim and you have a valid reason that insurance would cover.

You pulled out 3 weeks before. I'm not surprised they haven't refunded you unless there's an exceptional circumstance. Often schools will try their best to find another child to fill the place so they can refund you, but if they can't then you lose your money.

Planning my residentials starts 18 months in advance. For situations like this there is a line in the letter basically saying once we hit x date the trip is non refundable. The exception would be serious medical issues where we help parents claim back through insurance.

You still haven't said why you cancelled as that could make all the difference ??

Three weeks notice is no time at all,I wouldn't be expecting a refund if I were in your shoes tbh. At dd's school it is made clear that the deposit which is usually 25% of the cost is non refundable and if you wish to withdraw you need to do so before the second instalment is due so as not to be liable for the the whole amount. For expensive residentials we are advised to have our own travel insurance anyway.

ana I'm anticipating that after lots of us have said 3 weeks is no time at all and expecting a refund is ridiculous other than extenuating circumstances that may be covered by insurance, there'll be a massive drip feed of something exceptional.

Just because ypu told them before the final payment was due doesn't mean you can cancel the place and get a refund. Schools schedule payments over weeks or months to allow pupils whose families would struggle to find an amount in one go to participate. You are still liable to pay.

As a pp has said, even if there is a waiting list, 3 weeks notice is perhaps not enough time to allow another child to take the place. Especially if it involves flights abroad.

It sounds as though you are being unreasonable. If your child was unable to take part due to illness then presumably you sent evidence of this to the scool and asked to claim on their travel insurance? Otherwise, if your child just changed their mind, it's your loss. The school should not be out of pocket for this.

If they offered a refund but are now not paying it and also like you say were able to fill the place anyway then the school are just being an arse about it. I second the pp who said get all your communication together and go to the citizens advice bureau. It's free advice and they can let you know whether you have a case to go to a small claims court. Probably just a letter from a solicitor will make them pay up if you threaten this as I doubt they'd want to go to court over £400

Not sure there's much the school can do, if they had to pay the money out and can't get it back through insurance. As others have said, wanting to go and producing £400 in one whack are a bit different so was probably tricky enough to get a place filled last minute.

Unfortunate, but probably not a lot you can actually do.