Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/12/10) */
This letter is in response to Ms [redacted] complaint that she did not receive a refund for swimming lessons that she decided she no longer wanted for her daughter a week after the start date. Her letter states she had signed up for...
Diving lessons, however I cannot find any supporting documents for this. I found 3 documents relating to [redacted] request and they are attached.
- [redacted] registered her daughter for Swimming (not diving) lessons on Friday November 20th. Attached to her receipt was a memo stating no lessons were taking place on Saturday November 28th due to the [redacted] provincial Swimming Championships being held in [redacted], since most of our instructors were also members of their high school swim team.
For obvious reasons, the Aquatic Centre does not offer refunds or replacement for swimming lessons that a registered student misses. On the other hand when the pool is closed and we are responsible for the closure, like mentionned in the above paragraph, the lessons are made up and the students are offered 8 lessons, it is simply postponed, not cancelled.
- CANCELLATION Sunday November 22nd. We arrived at work early Sunday morning to find our facility had been vandalized. We were forced to cancell all programs for that Sunday. I have attached supporting documents ( media coverage) to support this. I also have an insurance claim open if you would like further support. We were not allowed inside the facility due to the investigation process, so we could not call all our students and we had to rely on social media & radio to get the news out. Alot of our customers showed up for their lessons but we had to tell them the pool was closed. I assume [redacted] was one of them.
- November 28th, which as a previously planned event, our instructors went off to the [redacted] for their swimming championships, and since we did not get to remind the students on the Sunday before due to the unplanned closure, many of them showed up and again, we had to say, ''I'm sorry, as previously planned we have no lesson today''. Most customers were fine with this , however [redacted] was not. She asked the supervisor at the reception for a refund. He stated our policy ''no refunds after the start of lessons'' she demanded to speak to his supervisor. He took her number and we contacted her. She came in to speak with us and she stated she wanted a refund. Again we reiterated that we do not give refunds, however since she was very upset and did not seem to want to understand that we had no control over the 1st closure and the 2nd was planned. The supervisor offered her 12 free passes for swimming. She left with her free swimming passes.
On December 9th I got this letter from you.
RESOLUTION: I have disactivated her free passes and I am processing her refund, it will take a week of so, since this is a municipal pool and we cannot process refunds on site.
We are very sorry that [redacted] feels we did not treat her fairly or that we are running an unprofessional organization. This is not at all what we are trying to portray. We are in the business of teaching swimming, preventing drowning and offering safe, enjoyable, aquatic activities to our patrons. We are passionate about what we do and the safety of all our students is our #1 priority. The first closure was a very sad but real reality that we all face at one time or another. The 2nd, was simply a planned closure, since we did not have enough staff available to ensure the safe operation of lessons that day, it was simply postponed.
[redacted]
Bathurst Aquatic Centre
[redacted]
[redacted]
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/12/10) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
I wanted a refund. If I get my money back, I will be satisfied. While it is true that the pool was vandalized and we did arrive as scheduled and it was no fault of the facility, would it have been so hard to call parents? If larger organizations can do it, why can't this one? The same thing happened when a student had vomited in the pool and we arrived to find that lessons had been cancelled.
[redacted]
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/12/10) */
This letter is in response to Ms [redacted] complaint that she did not receive a refund for swimming lessons that she decided she no longer wanted for her daughter a week after the start date. Her letter states she had signed up for...
Diving lessons, however I cannot find any supporting documents for this. I found 3 documents relating to [redacted] request and they are attached.
- [redacted] registered her daughter for Swimming (not diving) lessons on Friday November 20th. Attached to her receipt was a memo stating no lessons were taking place on Saturday November 28th due to the [redacted] provincial Swimming Championships being held in [redacted], since most of our instructors were also members of their high school swim team.
For obvious reasons, the Aquatic Centre does not offer refunds or replacement for swimming lessons that a registered student misses. On the other hand when the pool is closed and we are responsible for the closure, like mentionned in the above paragraph, the lessons are made up and the students are offered 8 lessons, it is simply postponed, not cancelled.
- CANCELLATION Sunday November 22nd. We arrived at work early Sunday morning to find our facility had been vandalized. We were forced to cancell all programs for that Sunday. I have attached supporting documents ( media coverage) to support this. I also have an insurance claim open if you would like further support. We were not allowed inside the facility due to the investigation process, so we could not call all our students and we had to rely on social media & radio to get the news out. Alot of our customers showed up for their lessons but we had to tell them the pool was closed. I assume [redacted] was one of them.
- November 28th, which as a previously planned event, our instructors went off to the [redacted] for their swimming championships, and since we did not get to remind the students on the Sunday before due to the unplanned closure, many of them showed up and again, we had to say, ''I'm sorry, as previously planned we have no lesson today''. Most customers were fine with this , however [redacted] was not. She asked the supervisor at the reception for a refund. He stated our policy ''no refunds after the start of lessons'' she demanded to speak to his supervisor. He took her number and we contacted her. She came in to speak with us and she stated she wanted a refund. Again we reiterated that we do not give refunds, however since she was very upset and did not seem to want to understand that we had no control over the 1st closure and the 2nd was planned. The supervisor offered her 12 free passes for swimming. She left with her free swimming passes.
On December 9th I got this letter from you.
RESOLUTION: I have disactivated her free passes and I am processing her refund, it will take a week of so, since this is a municipal pool and we cannot process refunds on site.
We are very sorry that [redacted] feels we did not treat her fairly or that we are running an unprofessional organization. This is not at all what we are trying to portray. We are in the business of teaching swimming, preventing drowning and offering safe, enjoyable, aquatic activities to our patrons. We are passionate about what we do and the safety of all our students is our #1 priority. The first closure was a very sad but real reality that we all face at one time or another. The 2nd, was simply a planned closure, since we did not have enough staff available to ensure the safe operation of lessons that day, it was simply postponed.
[redacted]
Bathurst Aquatic Centre
[redacted]
[redacted]
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/12/10) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
I wanted a refund. If I get my money back, I will be satisfied. While it is true that the pool was vandalized and we did arrive as scheduled and it was no fault of the facility, would it have been so hard to call parents? If larger organizations can do it, why can't this one? The same thing happened when a student had vomited in the pool and we arrived to find that lessons had been cancelled.
[redacted]