How many pits have you stepped on after paying the class but not completing the children's education and training?

  Spending a lot of money to "hoard class hours", star chasers want to train their children to become child stars, and "guaranteed classes" are actually "grass teams"... Nowadays, many parents attach great importance to early childhood education, but it is easy to believe in all kinds of children's education and training institutions. Publicity stunts and verbal promises that end up in annoying disputes.

To this end, Beijing Dongcheng Court provides parents with advice in selecting educational institutions, fulfilling educational contracts, and establishing awareness of rights protection.

  Beware of high-priced "class hour packages"

  The capital chain of training institutions is broken, and they simply "run away"

  In January 2021, Li Cheng entered into a training agreement with an English education and training institution to purchase face-to-face courses taught by foreign teachers for his daughter. Encouraged by the salesperson's "recent price increase", Li Cheng purchased a two-year lesson package to The salesman transferred 30,000 yuan through WeChat from his personal account, and did not ask for an invoice.

Unexpectedly, within half a year of the child’s class, the training institution was locked by the lessor because it could not afford the rent of the venue. Many parents blocked the business premises and advocated refunds. ".

  Li Cheng sued the training institution to the court, and the court heard the case in absentia.

Although Li Cheng did not provide the court with an invoice or receipt for paying the training fee, but only submitted the transfer record to the staff member's personal WeChat account, considering that Li Cheng has a training agreement, and when defending his rights, he had photographed the training institution's system for recording class hour fees. Screenshots were taken and a video of rights protection was saved. Therefore, the court integrated the above evidence to support Li Cheng’s claim for rescission of the contract and refund of fees.

  【statement】

  Judge Long Kun of Beijing Dongcheng Court reminded: The state has strict regulations on the upper limit of the amount of lesson packages sold by training institutions. Parents should master the relevant policies and regulations in detail. Once training institutions illegally sell high-value "hour packages", they will resolutely resist.

Although the relevant departments have made "heavy blows" to regulate the education market, there are still some "underground" training institutions that continue to operate illegally by relying on the original source of students, and use the trust of consumer parents to sell high-value lesson packages.

This type of training institution has no school license and no financial supervision. Once the money runs away, it will be hard to find.

  Due to the widespread application of digital payment methods at present, parents often scan the code through WeChat or Alipay for convenience when paying the class fee. After paying, they find that the payment code is a personal account. At this time, they must establish risk awareness and rights protection awareness, and ask for The training fee invoice or receipt stamped with the official seal of the training institution shall be kept for a long time.

For the sake of insurance, a more secure payment method is to remit money to the corporate account of the training institution that matches the name of the business license, and keep the training fee invoice.

  Once it is found that the training institution has failed to pay the rent of the training venue on time, or pay the wages of employees on time, etc., it is necessary to be vigilant, fully predict and measure the risks, and consciously collect evidence.

For example, the training institution is required to issue a list of the remaining class hour fees, and the shareholders or actual controllers of the training institution are required to provide a personal joint liability guarantee. If it is decided to terminate the training contract, the training institution should be actively urged to refund the fee as soon as possible, or at least settle with the training institution, clearly The amount should be refunded and a written termination agreement should be signed.

  Packaging "child stars" should be rational

  Forcibly transfer art subjects that are not suitable for "online" teaching to "online"

  Wang Dan has been a "star chaser" since he was a child. Since he had a daughter, he has become a "star mother" with all his heart. When the child turned three years old, he signed up for various art training classes, piano, dance, modeling, vocal music... I hope the child It can develop into a "multi-resident child star".

By chance, Wang Dan learned that an art training institution can provide a full range of packaging services for child stars, from various talent shows, art resume production, to providing audition opportunities, packaging for overseas performances, etc. Wang Dan immediately signed up and paid high fees. Amount of training packaging fee.

  Since then, in the process of performing the contract, the training institution arranged daily training courses for Wang Dan's daughter, took publicity photos, produced a publicity resume, and "hailed it" to various crews or children's variety shows, but all of them were lost.

The training institution also promoted to Wang Dan that there was a recent overseas dance competition, which could be paid to participate in to accumulate children's acting experience and enhance commercial value.

Wang Dan then paid an additional fee to start preparing for the dance competition.

However, the visas of Wang Dan and her daughter were not approved, and the global new crown epidemic occurred at this time, so the dance competition was postponed.

Training institutions have also transferred daily training courses from "offline" to "online", whether it is dance, piano, vocal music, body shape, etc., all are taught through video connection.

  Seeing that Wang Dan had paid a high fee, but failed to package the child star, he filed a lawsuit against the training institution to the court, arguing that the training institution failed to perform training services as agreed, did not provide opportunities for overseas dance competitions, and the training quality was poor and the effect was poor, especially Forcibly transferring art subjects that are not suitable for "online" teaching to "online" will not achieve the purpose of training at all.

The training organization believed that the dance competition was not possible because the visas of Wang Dan and her daughter were refused, and the epidemic situation was force majeure, and "online" teaching was also a helpless move under the epidemic situation. According to the service contract signed by the two parties, Wang Dan There will be no refunds for unilateral termination of the contract.

The two parties finally settled the dispute under the mediation of the court, and the training institution refunded part of the training fee to Wang Dan.

  【statement】

  Long Kun said that with the industry trend of younger age in the entertainment industry, there are not a few parents like Wang Dan in the society. Parents hope that their children can master "multi-skills" as soon as possible, seek various photo opportunities, and achieve "one-shot success". ”, but ignored the childhood life that should have grown up happily.

In order to meet the needs of "star making" in the entertainment industry and the "quick success" of parents, many "packaging child stars" companies are looking at the "pot of gold" provided by parents, but the training capabilities, operating resources, industry The word of mouth is mixed, and some "packaging" companies do not have any qualifications and resources, and there are "grass stage teams" to provide services such as art photography, poster production, and art training. Not only does the training content lack standardization and systematization, but whether they can get an audition opportunity depends entirely on luck. .

Therefore, parents who have the need to cultivate "child stars" must conduct multiple inspections and choose training institutions carefully. For example, through the industry and commerce and education management websites to inquire about the qualifications of training institutions, and to evaluate the performance risks of training institutions through the credit information system and the judgment document query system. , through on-the-spot investigations, visits to parents, etc. to inspect the reputation and social evaluation of training institutions.

  The training form is an important part of the training contract, which directly affects the realization of the training purpose. Whether it is subject training or art training, the training institution has no right to unilaterally change the training form, otherwise it will constitute a breach of contract.

Therefore, even if the training institution changes from "offline" face-to-face teaching to "online" teaching under the epidemic situation, the consent of the trainees must be obtained.

In particular, art education and training courses are more dependent on the form of training, so Wang Dan has reasons to refuse the request of the training institution to change the training method.

  The agreements provided by training institutions are generally format contracts, and it is extremely unlikely for students to adjust the content of the contract. Therefore, before entering into a contract, they should fully understand the content of the contract, except for the training content, class hours, fees, and deadlines stipulated in the contract. Pay attention to In addition, pay attention to the form of training, the conditions of teachers, the effect commitment, and the conditions for termination of the contract. If it is obviously unfavorable to oneself, you should negotiate to change the relevant terms in the form of a supplementary agreement, and do not trust the verbal commitment of the salesperson.

Once a dispute arises and enters a lawsuit, it is necessary to focus on whether the standard clause is legally invalid, and actively put forward a defense to protect its own rights.

  "Guarantee" promises come to nothing

  The so-called promotion is actually an exam organized by the training institution itself.

  Li Li's son is studying in a private kindergarten. The kindergarten distributes a curriculum for extracurricular interest classes to the children and provides interest training courses after class. Li Li then enrolls his son in a Go interest class. The class promises to "guarantee promotion, otherwise refunds" , so training is expensive.

Out of trust in the kindergarten, Li Li did not enter into any contract for the training course, and transferred the fees to the kindergarten principal through WeChat according to the course price stated in the course schedule.

  During the performance of the contract, Li Li found that the teachers only came to the kindergarten when the interest class was in class, so he questioned the qualifications of the teachers, but the kindergarten called the teachers as specially-appointed teachers.

One year after the performance of the contract, the interest class organized to participate in the Go promotion examination, and Li Li's son successfully advanced and was awarded a certificate.

Later, Li Li continued to apply for the course for his son, but when the course was not finished, the kindergarten was closed.

Li Lisui asked the kindergarten to refund the training fee, but the kindergarten claimed that the training class and the kindergarten were affiliated, and the training expenses were transferred to the actual operator of the training class, but the operator had lost contact with the operator.

When Li Li then transferred his son to other Go training institutions, he found that the promotion certificate he had obtained was an exam organized by several training institutions and was not recognized by the whole country. Therefore, Li Li's son needed to retake the formal promotion examination.

  Li Li took the kindergarten to court in a fit of rage.

The court held that although Li Li and the kindergarten did not enter into a separate training contract for the interest class, the interest class depended on the kindergarten. Li Li signed up and paid the fee based on the interest class schedule sent by the kindergarten to the parents, and transferred the fee to the kindergarten. Long, the kindergarten has never disclosed to Li Li the affiliation relationship with the actual operator of the interest class, and then the interest class uses the kindergarten venue for training. Li Li has reason to believe that there is a training contract relationship between it and the kindergarten.

As for the kindergarten's defense opinion on the existence of a contractual relationship with the actual operator of the interest class, it cannot be opposed to Li Li, and it can be resolved separately.

In the end, the court ruled that the kindergarten should refund the remaining training fee according to the remaining class hours.

  【statement】

  Long Kun reminded that when parents participate in after-school paid training courses, they must identify the subject who provides the training, and sign a written contract with the training subject before paying, so that there is no way to complain after a dispute occurs.

At the same time, pay attention to retaining payment vouchers, chat records during contract performance, class time consumption, etc. A strong awareness of evidence in daily life is the magic weapon to win the road of rights protection.

  Although there are many training institutions with rich teaching experience and strong financial support in the education market, they are more confident in the training effect and promise to "guarantee pass", but more "guaranteed classes" only use this as a publicity stunt. However, "refunding" reduces their own risks, so they blindly apply for classes and pay fees, but they do not know that training institutions use this mentality to increase the amount of training fees. Some training institutions are worrying about the quality of training, and even empty buildings when they can't fulfill their promises.

  When parents enroll their children in the "guaranteed class", they must carefully check the specific terms of the "guaranteed class", and do examination research in advance, so as not to enroll their children in the "Grass Stage" like the parents in the case, but because there is no clear agreement in the contract The specific test level and organizer of the "guaranteed pass" have made rights protection passive.

In addition, we should also be wary of the clause in the guarantee agreement that "no refunds will be given to those who fail to pass the exam not because of the training institution."

(All persons involved in this article are pseudonyms)

  Text / reporter Song Xia