DS's tutor not responding after being paid a month's fees in advance

[NxNW]

I'm new to Mumsnet and not sure if this is quite the right place to post:

DS had been getting online classes from a tutor for the past couple of years. The tutor had a policy of monthly payment in advance, and I've been doing this.

As DS is now getting additional support at school, we decided to discontinue the online classes with this tutor. He had stipulated a 4-week notice for stopping classes, so I gave him notice first week of January and made the final month's advance payment.

Since then, he's gone AWOL - hasn't turned up for a scheduled class, won't respond to my follow-up texts, doesn't answer my calls (but answered when I called from another number - and promptly hung up when he realised it was me).

I've asked him to take the classes or refund the money, but no response to this, too. I've even asked him to let me know if he's struggling financially and needs more time to repay - or if he can't afford to pay it back, just take those 4 classes and earn the advance - but total silence.

The sum isn't great, but isn't small either - well over £100.

I don't know what to make of this, or how to deal with this.

While he seems to live not too far from us, I've never met him/interacted in person - I found him online and only ever interacted via text/Whatsapp. I see him online on FB.

Should I try social media name-and-shame?

I do hope I get our hard-earned money back, but equally concerned that such unscrupulous behaviour from someone who works with children (and unsupervised for the most part)

Yeah I would name and shame definitely

@ThisIsStartingToBoreMe

Yeah I would name and shame definitely

Yeah, I'm sorely tempted to do this, will probably do it - don't see see any other way to have this set right

You could take him to small claims, include the fees in the amount he owes.

@HairyScaryMonster

You could take him to small claims, include the fees in the amount he owes.

I don't have anything like a written contract, just text messages with the fees and tutoring arrangements etc.

While I know his name (off FB) and number, I don't really have anything that will help me locate him physically to be able to file a claim.

A lot of things in our day-to-day lives work on trust and it's really unfortunate that someone could do something this brazenly unethical and destroy this trust for all the other honest people out there

Did you pay via a credit card? I had a similar situation and my card provider got the money back for me. I also named and shamed the person on their social media accounts by commenting on their promotional posts to say what happened.

Did you pay by bank transfer? You could raise a dispute with your bank to attempt to get the money back

You can take it to small claims - doesn’t matter that there is no written contract. But a sharply worded email saying that if you can’t reach a resolution you’ll need to pursue the payment in the small claims court may well get a response.

How did you find the tutor in the first place? If it’s through an agency/platform, I’d have a look at their policy on dispute resolution.

@HeddaGarbled

How did you find the tutor in the first place? If it’s through an agency/platform, I’d have a look at their policy on dispute resolution.

Found him on a FB group. He was recommended by another parent - not someone I know

@BackAwayFatty

Did you pay by bank transfer? You could raise a dispute with your bank to attempt to get the money back

Yes, paid via bank transfer. I wasn't aware I could dispute a bank transfer for non-delivery of services. I thought only credit cards have that protection but worth a check. I'll talk to my bank. Thanks X

@foxgoosefinch

You can take it to small claims - doesn’t matter that there is no written contract. But a sharply worded email saying that if you can’t reach a resolution you’ll need to pursue the payment in the small claims court may well get a response.

Thanks - yes, probably worth mentioning this and see if that leads to some progress. If ethics and guilt are non-existent, perhaps some fear of the law will get him to do the right thing

@Yogipineapple123

Did you pay via a credit card? I had a similar situation and my card provider got the money back for me. I also named and shamed the person on their social media accounts by commenting on their promotional posts to say what happened.

Unfortunately, not by credit card. It was a bank transfer, but like another member pointed out, there may be an avenue to pursue redress through my bank. I'll talk to my bank for this.

I'm sorely tempted to name and shame him on social media, but considering how brutal social media can get I keep wondering if perhaps he's genuinely in some trouble that's leading to such appalling behaviour and if I should be more compassionate - but it's been nearly 5 weeks now, so probably time to overcome my qualms

The bank can request the funds back on a best endeavours basis so no guarantee but worth a shot. Fingers crossed 🙂

Definitely put it on that FB group what he had done. Awful.
Never pay in advance gif a service - I've never had to do that for a tutor, music lessons what have you. Only if it's a well established company like a stage group etc.