Am I entitled to a refund?

[Margie]

I signed up for a 12 week art class at my local studio. I've taken classes there before and never had a problem. I paid 650 for the series in advance.

 

The instructor has canceled the first 3 classes. I was understanding the first 2 times, I get that things happen. But three times? I mean I haven't even attended a class yet because they were all canceled.

 

I was told that this meant the end date of the classes would be 3 weeks after the original date. Which would be fine except I'm not able to attend them due to conflicts in the schedule.

 

I asked for a refund and I was told that it was against their policy. The best they can do is give me a refund for the missed classes and I would just miss the last few classes.

 

I feel like this is a bit unfair considering it's not my fault all the classes were canceled. Since the school has refused me a refund, is this something I can go to my credit card about? Or should I just suck it up and learn a lesson?

 

Thanks!

[Wiseman2]

Unfortunately they offered a remedy for the whole class that doesn't work for you and offered a refunds for the missed classes..

I was told that this meant the end date of the classes would be 3 weeks after the original date. Which would be fine except I'm not able to attend them due to conflicts in the schedule.The best they can do is give me a refund for the missed classes

[Jibralta]

The best they can do is give me a refund for the missed classes and I would just miss the last few classes.

 

I feel like this is a bit unfair considering it's not my fault all the classes were canceled. Since the school has refused me a refund, is this something I can go to my credit card about? Or should I just suck it up and learn a lesson?

 

Thanks!

 

I think the refund for the missed classes is fair. You might get more out of your credit card, depending on which one you have. But I think the studio is being pretty fair.

[Fudgie]

The studio is being unfair. You paid for classes on a set schedule. You cannot be expected to deviate from that. It's nice of them to offer you a refund for the missed classes but if you can't attend the other classes which were rescheduled at the last minute because of things out of your control, then you should get a refund for those too. It's not your fault or doing that they school or professor messed things up.

 

I would contact your credit card company and explain everything. Dispute the charge. Also, complain to a higher up about the practice.

[Jibralta]

Did I misunderstand? Will you be missing 6 classes, but only be refunded for 3?

[musicman777]

The studio is being unfair. You paid for classes on a set schedule. You cannot be expected to deviate from that. It's nice of them to offer you a refund for the missed classes but if you can't attend the other classes which were rescheduled at the last minute because of things out of your control, then you should get a refund for those too. It's not your fault or doing that they school or professor messed things up.

 

I would contact your credit card company and explain everything. Dispute the charge. Also, complain to a higher up about the practice.

 

I 110% agree with this. I find that extremely unprofessional that the instructor would miss three classes in a row. They should have offered you a full refund; I don't know how anyone is defending this studio against such ridiculous practices.

 

I agree on the credit card part; dispute the charge, do it now. Tell them they aren't teaching the courses on a proper schedule they planned and aren't issuing you a refund, it's like you are paying for nothing. I hate credit card companies, but 99% of the time they will back their customers with things like this. I buy almost everything on credit cards for that reason; if someone ever screws me out of something, I dispute the charge immediately. Makes people not take advantage of your money. That's a lot of money you are spending for courses and they should respect that.

 

If this is a college or something you have to go back to, contact someone higher up. I would still dispute the charge, but to avoid any bad blood with this place, I would tell them you were very unhappy with their treatment/attitude towards your hard-earned money, and that their changing of the schedule was unprofessional.

[Fudgie]

Did I misunderstand? Will you be missing 6 classes, but only be refunded for 3?

 

OP missed 3 classes because they were canceled. The school opted to hold 3 make-up classes (to replace the ones that were canceled) at different times in the future, past the original "end date" of the art course. OP is not able to go to these alternative times and the school is telling her tough s__t.

 

Very unprofessional and very wrong.

[sophie274]

OP missed 3 classes because they were canceled. The school opted to hold 3 make-up classes (to replace the ones that were canceled) at different times in the future, past the original "end date" of the art course. OP is not able to go to these alternative times and the school is telling her tough

 

I understood that the studio is offering three make-up classes, which Op can't make, so studio is offering to refund the proportional cost of three classes, but won't let her cancel and get a refund for the whole series.

 

With that understanding, I would say the studio is being mostly fair. Mostly because you are only paying for what you are getting, but not entirely because the cost of the inconvenience to you and the fact that you won't get the benefit of doing the full series of classes isn't factored in. I think great customer service would be to give you the full refund because of how unprofessional it is of the instructor to have cancelled all those classes and how poorly it reflects on them. My guess is that the reason they might not be able to afford a full refund.

[Jibralta]

I understood that the studio is offering three make-up classes, which Op can't make, so studio is offering to refund the proportional cost of three classes, but won't let her cancel and get a refund for the whole series.

 

That's how I understood it.

[sophie274]

My guess is that the reason they might not be able to afford a full refund.

 

Sorry, meant to write - my guess is that they won't give a full refund because they can't afford it.

[DancingFool]

Refunding you for the three classes is a fair offer. However, you declining the entire course and wanting a full refund is also fair under the circumstances.

Is there any kind of a course contract? There usually is and it will usually address what remedies are available in case of cancellations or rescheduled classes. If they limit it to a refund only for those classes, you might be out of luck. So check that out first. Your credit card company won't help you if they produce such a contract.

[abitbroken]

can you pick up the last three classes in a future session? just take the three class refund if not. its very fair