Looking for some advice re change to something a deposit has been paid on

Wonder if any of you smart people can give me some advice?. My daughter booked to go on a course which was for 2 days and then an assessment day the following weekend so 3 day course effectively.
She booked to do the course and paid a "non refundable" deposit of £200 some time ago.
As she would need to book accommodation near to where the course is running she contacted the organisers to find out where the venue was as it had not been decided at the time of booking where exactly the course was going to take place. When she contacted the organisers a couple of weeks ago there appeared some doubt as to whether the course was going to run or not due to lack of numbers so daughter held off booking accommodation.
Yesterday she eventually heard that the course is going to run but instead of it being 2 days of training and another day for the assessment the course and assessment is going to be run over just the 2 days as there are not many people attending the course.
Daughter is not happy about this and feels (so do I) that there should be some reduction in price for the course as effectively it's a 1/3 shorter. Obviously the organisers are cutting costs due to lack of numbers.
She emailed the organisers saying she felt there should be a cost reduction and that she had booked a day off work to attend the original 3rd day. She got a curt email back not acknowledging the fact she had booked a day off work for now nothing and was informed the 2 days would cover the same amount of training and the assessment ,hmmm very unlikely, so there was not reduction in cost, .
As I see it the organisers took the deposit for a 3 day course not 2 and I think my daughter should be entitled to her deposit back if they are not prepared to reduce the cost of the course.
What do you think? The course runs over the 1st weekend in December so there is not a lot of time to get matters resolved

 

@shiney good at this sort of thing

 

Hi silu, a £200 NON REFUNDABLE deposit seems a lot for a course that doesn't even have a venue ready in good time... Have they clearly specified when you gave the deposit that the course would be only 2 days in case of low attendance?

Most definitely I also think that you are right in asking for a reduction. Why don't you call Trading Standards and see what they say...​

 

Sounds a very strange course ??

Hopefully she paid by credit card so contact the card provider because its likely there is a breach of contract or possible fraud... the non returnable deposit sets the alarm bells ringing for me, no reputable company would be demanding such terms.

 

Thanks both @miraflores and @ricky101 . As far as I know Miraflores, Daughter has had no actual T&Cs re the course and I'd have a large bet there is nothing to say the course is reduced to 2 days if attendance is low. Up here in Scotland I think the way to trading standards is through the CAB, I'll check, good idea. Unfortunately ricky she did not pay bey credit card. I do think it is breach of contract though as the deposit was taken for a 3 not 2 day course. Neither Daughter or I are "pussycats" and will not be made mugs off because some organisation overestimated demand and expect the few that do want to attend to accept an inferior, shortened, cost cutting course.
i just want to try and find out the legal position before creating!

 

Oh many thanks @shiney, you replied while I was posting. Will get daughter to write email this evening and I would have no hesitation in threatening/going to court on this 1 seems pretty straight forward to me but there again, "law is an ass"

 

@silu Same here in England, the public cannot get though to Trading Standards it all goes to a CAB central phone center, so be aware it is not a freephone, well not in England.

I doubt they could offer much more than what @shiney has detailed, but it could be worth a call as there may be a chance if a good few others have logged a similar complaint that may possibly get TS directly involved.

If the past, business wise, if normal letters of persuasion failed, always found that a LBA worked , though it was provided via a solicitors office, but only costing £2 as a business service in those days.
For today see - Step one: Write a letter before action

 

Daughter has fired off an email demanding her deposit back. The email is polite but to the point! that will be enough for her to get her money back. Hey ho there are some right ones around these days. "The customer is always right" seems to be dead and buried these days. Again many thanks for your advice.

 

They are not playing ball, they haven't even apologised for various other cock ups which I won't bore you with. They think court action are idle threats, WRONG. Having 1 last go at the governing body in England and if they don't see where their Scottish branch are being idiots then we WILL go to the small claims court over this.Not clever for them as they have a Facebook page which won't make good reading should daughter decide to let people be aware that the organisation is 1 big bully who thinks they can just dictate to their customers what they decide to change without any by your leave.

 

Think folk like them they show more concern over bad comments on their Facebook and Twitter pages than court action, so would go for it, but just be factual , no liabalous comments.

Still let their uk headquarters know you intend to go for court action as no reputable company wants a CCJ on their record, they might see more sense than your local branch.

 

Thanks @ricky101. Heard nothing back from the headquarters yet but maybe hear something tomorrow. Daughter's phone went 3 times in as many minutes and she recognised the number to be that of the guy running the course who she has neither met nor corresponded with. She decided quite rightly that there was little to be gained from having a possible shouting match over the phone and did not answer. She is doing a law degree and from that discovered it is considered much better to stick to 1 avenue of correspondence. The dealings she has had have predominately been through email as they are seen as legal documents if necessary. The good news is I found out there is now a relatively new way of issuing proceedings in Scotland called a Simple Procedure whereby you can instigate proceedings and get a decree for as little as £18 court costs up to a claim of £200 which is what Daughter would need to instigate if no refund is forthcoming.
She has refrained from making any comments on the likes of Facebook so far, what perhaps would be most effective would be to announce on there and on Twitter that she had been granted a decree (the same as a CCJ) if things get that far which unfortunately looks likely.
None of my family have ever issued proceedings against anybody (felt like it on many occasions) however, it seems such a blatantly obvious case of breach of contract that I have no hesitation in encouraging my Daughter to go ahead if the planks are stubborn enough to refuse to repay her deposit.

 

Please forgive me but I'm just a little confused (much can get lost/muddled in forum posts )

Where did she see the course advertised?

Could they have been within the "small print" where she saw it advertised? Also, when she paid her deposit, in what form was the receipt?

Good luck to her with her degree In which case, she will be able to access free legal support from there (which looks like it will be needed to secure this case).