School trip - refund?

[Anon751117000]

Not sure if this is the right place for this....

I paid over £700 for a school trip for my son a few months ago (just paid it all in one go). He has now decided he wants to drop out of school (if he manages to secure an apprenticeship). Obviously this has come as a total shock to me but seems to be what he wants. Shame he didn't decide that before asking to go on the trip :-(

I'm well aware that I can't necessarily expect any refund on the trip but just wondered if anyone else had been in a similar situation. Obviously I know I will have to contact the school soon to ask them.

I'm hoping that if the trip was over subscribed, they may be able to get another pupil to take his place and get some money back.

I have no clue if I would just lose the whole lot - anyone had similar?

My daughter is going on one next year, the payment plan started in February of this year and I noted within 2 months (still 12 months till trip date) there was a zero refund policy.

If he doesn’t get an apprenticeship then will he stay at school and want to go on the trip?

Thanks! the trip is in November. I didn't receive any T&C's or anything from the school so I have absolutely no clue!

Well, this is up in the air. I'm having a nightmare with him at the moment if I'm honest (that's another story). I did ask him that and he seemed fairly sure he wouldn't want to stay on (he hates it that much). This is partly why I don't want to ask the school about it yet.

Ive just commited to £900 on a trip to Spain for my DS. The Ts an Cs were very clear if you pull out no refund. I think realisticall the best shot is to find someone to take his space - if there really aren't Ts and Cs the school might be cooperative on this matter but if nobody else wants to go then I think its tough.

if he doesnt go and you have to foreit the money I think you need to agree to some kind of plan for him to pay it back (at some point). it's absolutely not on for him to think its ok to committ to this sort of thing then back out. It may also make him reconsider his desire to leave.

Oh don't worry I have made this very clear and he is in agreement that he will have to do that. I guess I'm just pi**ed that it could be £700 down the drain!
I have actually emailed the school and asked a 'hypothetical' question without giving any detail.

It will depend on what has already been paid for by the school and what they are still committed to paying.
The price per pupil will have been calculated on the numbers signed up.
If they have a waiting list you may be able to get a refund (after the cost of changing passenger names).
Did the school suggest your son should leave the school?
I would speak to the bursar/school business manager asap. The nearer you get to the trip the less chance you have of a refund.
I work in the school office in an independent school.

Thank you! No the school did not suggest he leaves, this is his decision. It is also an independent school. He has been really struggling with the workload and instead of offering support, the school just keep dishing out punishments. He's been gradually hating it for the last few months. I've tried to offer to speak to the school and get help but he is adamant he wants to get his qualifications while working.
Keeping everything crossed this can be worked out but accepted it may not.

If school can’t resolve this could you ‘sell’ his place to a friend for a reduced price so you at least get something back?
I would also be inclined to suggest to school that the lack of support has made it difficult for him to stay on - they can only say ‘no’!

thank you, that's a really good suggestion

I think money that the school has you should be able to get back. Money that they've spent out and won't get back, you don't get back unless they can get someone else to take the place.

I had this with my son and depending when it's travelling will depend how much money you can get back

If it's more than 3 months in advance your son's name won't be attached to anything, travel agents will be holding seats, rooms are booked in a unit rather than per person and any venue tickets etc won't have his name

The school/travel agents they booked with will try charge you full cancellation which will be pure profit for them, they'll then resell the space and make their commission again

Be reasonable, tell them he wishes to cancel and you'll accept a loss of deposit payment of maybe £150/£200 because to be fair to the agent, these group bookings are time consuming and it's fair for them to retain something for their work.

I work in travel so am familiar with the process xx

My DD refused to go on her Latin trip last year about 2 months before the trip. I contacted the school office and the Latin teacher and luckily they had a waitlist so I was fully refunded.

This was also an independent school. In my experience, independent schools try harder to keep the parents happy, especially these days. Give them a call, you may be fortunate.

Just message them. You Might just lose the fee for changing flights if someone else wants his space. I’m sure they can advertise out his place. It’s a lot to lose & as someone who runs trips I would feel awful if you lost £700!

Any trip like this my kids have been on always say no refunds!

Are you absolutely sure you didn’t receive any terms and conditions? I’d be surprised if you didn’t . Did you sign anything?

Not what you asked but I work in apprenticeships and they are incredibly hard to come by and very competitive. 18 year olds are more appealing than 16 year olds as well as having a full driving license, so I’d encourage him to continuing studying while he looks for an apprenticeship. This could take quite some time. Does his school support with finding apprenticeships, can his workload be reduced at all to encourage him to stay? He may as well stay and enjoy the trip imo

If he's decided not to go and leave school that's on you to shoulder the burden

Get him to pay you back when he's earning with his apprenticeship

Could he not stay on and do PT school, PT college as his timetable? So you don’t lose out the trip money and then focus on securing an apprenticeship for following year?

I was going to suggest same as a previous poster- could he still go, even if he’s not in school? Does he have friends going that he would still be spending time with? In fact, if it can’t be refunded, I think I would be pushing for him still to go.

Is the dropping out solely reliant on the apprenticeship - how likely is he is to secure one? The likelihood of securing one will depend on what he wants to do it in - the sector and your area -the amount of apprenticeships available in your location.
Although they don't all require GCSEs - they do usually want evidence of at least maths and English skills - can he evidence this without sitting his exams? Might it not even be an issue if he doesn't manage to secure one.

Most schools will not want pupils dropping out - if for no other reason than it will effect their figures. Is he sitting his exams this cohort? I would explain he is at the point of dropping out and how can they work with you to stop this ?

Did they definitely not give any information or contract re the trip- that sounds highly unusual and if they definitely didn't then you could argue that you assumed you would be able to cancel with a small penalty but not to lose all your money when the trip is still x amount of time away. You do need to be sure that they don't say well this contract you signed and have forgotten about says we can . A lot of these have a none refundable deposit - which needs to be paid by a certain date and the remainder before a certain date. Did they offer this - even though you chose to pay in full?

If he's leaving I doubt they'll care about keeping OP happy.

Is there a parents Facebook page or similar you can try to sell it on? Decent trips at dds school are massively over subscribed so hopefully someone will bite your hand off! My friend had this with a ski trip and she sold it on to another family for same price she paid for it.

There is usually refund info on the original trip letter. The one that tells you the details and the cost. Are you sure it wasn’t included on there?