unfair charges by BHS

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pipsponies

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im writing this as i am becoming increasingly dissallusioned by the BHS. I had booked my stage 2 and unfortunately i have had a horrible accident and can't drive let alone ride. I am now going to get penalised 25% of the original fee for withdrawing from the exam. I feel this is grossly unfair as it was an unforeseen accident and surely admin charges cant be that much!
Does anyone else think that this is extreme??
 
I recently printed the form off for exam entry and I think there are details on there about the charges and what they will refund when. At the end of the day the BHS are a charity and shouldn't loose out. Potentially they may not be able to reuse your place and will loose one lot of exam fees, at the very least there is work for their staff dealing with the refund and trying to fill the space.

If you withdrew from any exam or competition you would be penalised to some extent. If it was an accident that wasn't your fault claim the costs from the person who caused the accident.
 
As im a self employed farmer, i can't very well claim the fee back from myself. I fell on thursday and notified them on friday the exam is tomorrow. I know they are a charity but 25% is exorbitant, im quite prepared to lose some money on this, but i really feel that 25% is rather alot.
 
you kind of sign up to the terms when you sign up for the exam and there are personal accident insurance policies available for risks like this. I dont think 25% is too bad, some things you lose the lot!
 
thats as may be, i am prepared to lose a certain amount for this, but what gets me is the fact that they think admin charges are going to come to 25% of the original fee, never in a million years would it cost that much to handle some paper work, also considering that i sent them an email telling them of my accident, i never had a reply, so i had to ring them to make sure they had the information, i feel this is a little shoddy. Considering i am paying them more money on top of what theyv had and they can't get back to me.
 
If you are self employed do you not have personal accident insurance to cover you if you are injured?

To be honest I don't think 25% is bad for less than a weeks notice - chances are they now can't fill the slot at all and will loose out themselves. They still have to pay the examiner and the exam centre for the facilities and horses.
 
I think thats fair too, as a riding school, if some one cancels a private lesson they have to give 72 hours notice or 24 hrs for a group or they loose their money I'm afraid. We still have to pay the instructor, provide horses etc. Its the same for the BHS, they have had to pay the venue, the examiner etc. Therefore they have to take a % to cover costs.
 
It costs the BHS a huge amount of money to put exams on, pay for the facilities and the horses, pay the examiners, and they can only take a certain number of candidates for each exam, so clearly the cost per candidate is going to be high (be thankful you are not in Ireland because it is even higher:() so, regardless of your personal circumstances, which I do sympathise with, I can't blame them for keeping 25% of the fee - tbh I am surprised you don't forfeit the lot at this stage, simply because they probably won't be able to fill the place this late.
 
I do sympathise with you, but the venue, instructors etc will all have been booked and paid for by now. To refund you at this late stage would have a huge impact on the profitability of the day - BHS will operate on maximising their numbers to gain the most from running the exam day. It would be very difficult to find someone ready to take their test (and able to take a day off work perhaps?) to fill your space. Had your accident happened earlier on it would have given them time to find a replacement to take the exam that day, in which case they'd only be charging a nominal amount for your cancellation. As it is I think you are lucky they've not retained the whole fee, certainly they will not be able to make the same amount out of running the exam day had you been able to attend.
 
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