contract school education

[evgeny]

hi, we will greatly appreciate if someone might be able help us in our situation. We were looking for a school for our child. And while appling for a place in one of the school after a talk with the head teacher we have signed the following form
http://www.ecole-ifa.com/registratio...m=registration
The head teacher told us that in order to increase chances of our child to be accepted to the school we need to pay a deposit, which they will give back to us if place will not be available. We did that. It was done in December 2013.
the school did not contacted us since then till 30 may 2014. By that time we already found a place in a different school and we thought we did not recieve a place in an above mentioned school. We were about to contact it regarding our deposit, but unexpectedly recieved an invoice from them demanding payment for the coming semester. They claim that what we have signed is binding contract and we need to pay them for the coming semester even if we will not be joining the school. we offered them to keep our deposit, which they refused and they are threatening to take us to the court if we will not immediately pay for the coming semester. could someone explain if they have rights to do it?
than you very much for your help

[MissFM]

Re: contract school education

Hello Evgeny and to LB,

Are you in France?

If so, I'm not sure whether anyone here will be able to advise you (the legal system being different).

However, everyone here will want to help - have some surprising expertise - so hang on in there x

[Johnboy007]

Re: contract school education

Hi,
I read this in the registration form.......
QUOTE:
This non-refundable Fee covers all administrative work involved in processing the application
and on page six of the form....
We/I acknowledge and agree that the Terms and Conditions attached to this Acceptance Form, as varied from time to time, form part of the contract between us/me and the School. In particular, we/I agree to pay the fees and supplemental charges when due.
We/I agree that we/I and our/my child shall observe and be bound by the School Rules as varied from time to time.
Signed by:
__________________________________________________ ___________Date__________________________
Parent/Carer*
Signed by:
___________________________________________
__________________Date__________________________
Parent/Carer*
[NB: Each person with parental responsibility for the child is required to sign this Acceptance Form.]
*
Please delete as appropriate

So it does say NON REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT TO COVER ADMINISTRATION COSTS
and if you signed this form, then I'm afraid you have lost your money.
There is nowhere in the form that says you will get your money back if your child does not attend the school.

[wales01man]

Re: contract school education

oops

[MissFM]

Re: contract school education

Johnboy, are you fluent with the law in France?:tinysmile_hmm_t2:

[evgeny]

Re: contract school education

The school is London, it is just happened to be bilingual French/English.


Johnboy77 do you mean we need to pay for the coming semester. I think the form is confusing and looks like application form rather than form that means we are accepting a place in a school. we are happy for them to keep the deposit. But do we need to pay for the semester that we will not be even attending?

[Johnboy007]

Re: contract school education

The school is London, it is just happened to be bilingual French/English.


Johnboy77 do you mean we need to pay for the coming semester. I think the form is confusing and looks like application form rather than form that means we are accepting a place in a school. we are happy for them to keep the deposit. But do we need to pay for the semester that we will not be even attending?

The deposit is non refundable...........

There is another section that says......
We understand that the admission process is complete only upon signing the EIFA Acceptance Form and upon full payment of the applicable tuition and fees.

So if you haven't signed the EIFA Acceptance Form, and made the full payment, then the admission process is not complete.
Even if you have signed the form and not made full payment, then the admission process is not complete.
So as I understand it,
You will lose just your deposit.
I certainly would not pay the full fee, as your son has not been accepted, and will never be, because you never paid the full payment in the first place.
So they cannot charge you for something they have not provided.
They can only charge you £150.00 registration fee to cover the processing charges.

[Johnboy007]

Re: contract school education

Johnboy, are you fluent with the law in France?:tinysmile_hmm_t2:

Wee, sorry I meant Oui Madame Guillotine.......:tinysmile_twink_t2:

[MissFM]

Re: contract school education

Wee, sorry I meant Oui Madame Guillotine.......:tinysmile_twink_t2:

OOOh you're a hard man, JB - sorry, I made a mistake!:tinysmile_kiss_t4: x

[evgeny]

Re: contract school education

This is what we have told them, but they are referring us to their terms and conditions:




http://www.ecole-ifa.com/pdf/terms.pdf


which said


2 Acceptance and deposit


(a) an offer of a place for your child in the School is accepted by your submitting an Acceptance form and paying the deposit.




unfortunately we did signed an acceptance form and paid the deposit, but we did it assuming we are only applying for a place in a school rather than accepting it, because we did not checked terms and conditions and their application form was confusing.

[Johnboy007]

Re: contract school education

OOOh you're a hard man, JB - sorry, I made a mistake!:tinysmile_kiss_t4: x

This has to be a first Miss FM.......
A woman admits she made a mistake.........msl:

[des8]

Re: contract school education

Regardless of their Terms & conditions", acceptance forms etc, I would have thought that the situation is analogous to that of hotels when a guest cancels at short notice.
They should only charge for their loss of profit and unavoidable costs, and take reasonable steps to relet that room in order to reduce losses.
Now the school should only be charging their unavoidable costs (admin?) and attempting to refill the place not taken by your child.
Do you know if the school is oversubscribed? How many students is it registered for and how many are actually there?

To examine furher the points raised by JB above do you have a copy of the "acceptance form" which you could post up? I can't find a copy online.

[Johnboy007]

Re: contract school education

Regardless of their Terms & conditions", acceptance forms etc, I would have thought that the situation is analogous to that of hotels when a guest cancels at short notice.
They should only charge for their loss of profit and unavoidable costs, and take reasonable steps to relet that room in order to reduce losses.
Now the school should only be charging their unavoidable costs (admin?) and attempting to refill the place not taken by your child.
Do you know if the school is oversubscribed? How many students is it registered for and how many are actually there?

To examine furher the points raised by JB above do you have a copy of the "acceptance form" which you could post up? I can't find a copy online.

Hi Des,
The acceptance form is on the last page of the Registration Form,
I have copied it for you...

APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION
Acceptance Form
We/I* hereby apply for a place at the School for_______________________________________________ _____
starting during the academic year (20___/20___).
We/I would like to use the school bus service
Yes
oo
No
oo
We/I acknowledge and agree
that the Terms and Conditions attached to this Acceptance Form, as varied from time to time, form part of the contract between us/me and the School. In particular, we/I agree to pay the fees and supplemental charges when due.
We/I agree that we/I and our/my child shall observe and be bound by the School Rules as varied from time to time.
Signed by:
__________________________________________________ ___________Date__________________________
Parent/Carer*
Signed by:
___________________________________________
__________________Date__________________________
Parent/Carer*
[NB: Each person with parental responsibility for the child is required to sign this Acceptance Form.]
*
Please delete as appropriate

I think the problem is that the Registration form does state, £150.00 non refundable deposit for admin costs to process application.
It does not say that it is payable only on a child being accepted.

[Kati]

Re: contract school education

[MENTION=51682]evgeny[/MENTION] - did you pay the £1500 depost as per the admissions process: "Registration and deposit fees
A Registration Fee of £150 must accompany each application form. This non-refundable Fee covers all administrative work involved in processing the application.
A deposit of £1,500 per student is required after a student has been accepted and must be received before a place can be confirmed. The deposit is held and refunded when a child leaves the School provided that a full term’s notice of withdrawal has been given in writing to the Head of School."??

Did you complete this form?? http://www.ecole-ifa.com/pdf/ApplicationForm.pdf

When was the actual school place meant to start (which school term)??

I would agree with what has already been said by others on this thread - the school has the right to keep the £150 application fee, but should not in all honesty charge you for a full terms admission. Due to the length of time between your application being started and the next correspondence from the school (a full 5 months) you were within your rights to assume your application had been unsuccessful and to therefore apply to another establishment of learning!

I would suggest that you initiated a Formal Complaint following the schools Grievance Procedure ( http://www.ecole-ifa.com/pdf/policie...-Procedure.pdf )

Kati

[des8]

Re: contract school education

Thanks JB
Only skimmed through this AM as was on way out.
How confusing that application is.
How can an acceptance form be meaningfully signed at the same time as an application form?
As application is presumably made by post, no offer of a place could have been made when the application form is completed, so how could it be accepted?
Is it deliberately misleading to head the "acceptance form" with the words in CAPITALS: APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION
That's why I probably missed it this morning.

I'm not sure the school's grievance procedures are the way to go.
By using their formal process the op is in danger of admitting their is a contract existing between themselves and the school. I feel they would be on safer ground denying their was ever an offer and subsequent acceptance of a place for their child (I assume there was no offer of a place[probably a dangerous assumption]) and therefore no monies owing.

But I'm open to discussion