TERMS & CONDITIONS

Please read the following terms and conditions so that you fully understand what is required of you and what you can expect from us (Octopus Physiotherapy). By booking a course with us you are agreeing with the following terms and conditions. If you have any questions about these terms please do not hesitate to contact us.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The purchase of any course is a business to business (trade to trade) contract whereby the following terms and conditions apply. The purchase of products is bound by the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000.

Booking - The full course fee is due at the time of booking. All payments must be made in pounds sterling. A contract will exist as soon as we issue your course confirmation email. A certificate of attendance will be issued once you complete the course AND course fees are paid in full.

Price - Prices quoted on the website are per person incl VAT and are quoted in pounds sterling. Prices do not include travel to and from the course, accommodation or lunch unless otherwise stated.

Octopus Physiotherapy Cancellation and Substitution Policy

The following policy has been written to balance the requirements of individual participants and Octopus Physiotherapy as a business, the following are non-negotiable with respect to individual circumstances. As the Owner I emphasise this to release our staff from having to make a judgement as to one individual being more deserving than another. In addition, we offer the opportunity for you to find an alternate to your place, details of this are included below. We would politely ask that you do not ask for a refund based on your individual circumstances as we will refer you back to our cancellation and substitution policy and full reasons for this are offered below.

Substitution - If you are able to provide a substitute to your course place, if no refund needs to be issued to you, we will change you over free of charge. If you require a refund to be issued and the substitute needs to pay, once the substitute has paid, we will change you over and refund you any fees paid less our standard admin fee**.

The replacement participant will need to pay for the course in full themselves, we cannot transfer credit from your account to theirs. If no suitable replacement is offered by you and if the course is full with a waiting list, we will assist in trying to find a replacement, but if none is found, this will be treated as a late cancellation and the below charges will apply. We recommend that participants consider cancellation insurance if they feel this will give them added protection. The key responsibility to finding a replacement is yours and not Octopus Physiotherapy.
If you need to cancel your place and have no replacement you need to do this via email: info@octopusphysiotherapy.co.uk

Cancellations are subject to the following cancellation fees or our standard admin fee**, whichever is the greater. Fees paid will be refunded less the following charges.

Cancellation Fees

All cancellation must be made in writing to Octopus Physiotherapy at the email address info@octopusphysiotherapy.co.uk. Substitute delegates are welcome at any stage.

Cancellation made up to 5 days after receiving invoice and course registration confirmation email are free of charge.

Cancellation made before 5th of May 2019 will receive full refund less £50 cancellation fee.
Cancellation before 5th of June 2019 will receive 50% of the refund. We regret that no refund is available if cancellation received after 5th of June 2019, for whatever reason.

*The start date for courses spread over more than one weekend / block of days is the first day of the first weekend / block of days. We cannot refund for subsequent weekends / days with such courses. If possible we will try to accommodate people on future dates but this is at the discretion of Octopus Physiotherapy and the tutor and is not guaranteed. If agreed, all changes will incur our standard administration charge of £50 (incl VAT) before the change is processed.

**our standard admin fee is currently £50 (incl VAT)

Any refunded fees left as a credit with Octopus Physiotherapy needs to be used within 12 months from the date of the refund.

Further justification for our cancellation and substitution policy

Our cancellation and substitution policy has been written in response to many discussions with those wishing to cancel places on the courses we provide. Collectively, these encompass a huge range of circumstances which include personal, family, health, work, environmental and miscellaneous other reasons. What is apparent from our experience is each instance has unique reasons and, as such, the decision as to whether one is more ‘deserving' than another is impossible to make. After much consideration we have a cancellation policy that will no doubt upset some but it is necessary to both maintain parity across participants regarding refund requests and the requirements of Octopus Physiotherapy as a commercial business.

From your position as a participant

If you are considering asking for a refund you will have your own reasons, over the years we have been in business we have had countless conversations with different individuals and their situations. As a result, the team have talked extensively about this and decided on our policy below. I would ask that you imagine in our situation, trying to consider each reason is impossible as each person contacting us feels they are deserving of a refund. We do realise that unplanned / upsetting ‘life' events happen, unfortunately to maintain parity and to prevent our staff having to make a personal judgements, we are not able to take these as the reason to judge whether a refund should be offered. Stating that, we do realise that some individuals think we are being unfair or mean. However, this is certainly not an intended position, as a health related business we want to appear compassionate, but ultimately we are a business and need to balance cancellations with the financial costs associated with running a course. The majority of these costs are not obvious and if we had no cancellation policy we would be unable to provide the educational services we do.

From the position of Octopus Physiotharapy as a business

Octopus Physiotherapy is a small business and the decision to run a course is a calculated balance between the income from paying participants and expenses which include the tutor, their travel, accommodation, advertising, our office staff and other fixed and variable costs. Cancellation policies are common in all walks of business and their terms vary enormously from no refund at all to a full refund. As such we have a considered cancellation policy that is aimed at striking a balance between you being able to cancel, but also they provide us financial protection once the decision to run course has been made and then have to cover all the associated costs. You may not agree with our policy and for that I am sorry. We try 100% of the time to provide exciting, interesting and cutting edge educational events. If we were to offer unconditional full refunds in the event of a cancellation, this would have a major and unsustainable impact on the finances required to fund these, hence we have a staged cancellation charge that increases closer to an event.

From the Owner of Octopus Physiothearapy

As the owner of Octopus Physiotharapy and a clinical physiotherapist my commitment is to improve professional knowledge and raise the standard of clinical practice. As such I would love for you to return to our courses in the future so we can continue to add to your professional development. Some individuals subject to our cancellation policy choose not to as they feel we have not listened to them and we have been unfair. These situations sadden me, once again, I would ask you to consider our position, I can assure you that we have heard you, but we are unable to justify each refund request based on the individual circumstances. I have decided that we need to have a policy that we stick to, to ensure parity. I hope that above thoughts show how we have considered and responded to balance the ever present ‘tension' between your circumstances and the requirements of us as a commercial business.

Cancellation by us - We will always try our best to avoid cancelling an event. If circumstances occur that force us to cancel an event you will receive a full refund of any course fees paid or the opportunity to transfer your place to the same course on another date or another course/s up to the same value. Any card fee paid will not be refunded.

We aim to give a minimum of 3-4 weeks notice when cancelling an event. Octopus Physiothearapy are not held liable for any additional expenses you incur through cancelling the event e.g. travel expenses and accommodation. If there are circumstances beyond our control which cause us to cancel or change your trip such as war, riot, industrial dispute, terrorist activity, natural or nuclear disaster, fire or adverse weather conditions applications we will not refund or pay you any compensation or be liable for any other expenses to you.

Waiting Lists - Participants are free to place themselves on a waiting list if a course is full. If a space becomes available on a course the following procedure will apply:

  • Greater than 2 weeks before the course start date. We will endeavour to contact participants in the order they are on the waiting list via email and telephone. We will allow 24 hours for anyone we have contacted to get back to us before we contact the next person on the list.
  • Between 7 and 14 days before the course start date. We will email everyone on the waiting list and allow 24 hours for anyone to get back to us. After that time we will release the space to the website for general booking.
  • Less than 1 week before a course we will email everyone on the waiting list and immediately release the space to the website, thereby allowing any eligible person to book the space whilst it remains available.

We reserve the right to remove any person/s from any waiting list in accordance with the above policy.

Payment Card Details - Please do not email us your debit / credit card details as their security cannot be guaranteed.

Service - We will endeavour to provide the course as described on the website or any other promotional material. Please be aware, due to unforeseen circumstances details may need to be altered, however the overall quality of the course will not be diminished and we will endeavour to notify you as soon as possible of any changes.

Partners - We work with a number of other companies and service partners and cannot be held liable for any damages, losses or inconveniences resulting from them. We will always try to make sure these problems are minimal and will deal with any situations as they arise.

Limit of liability - Octopus Physiotherapy have a duty of care to its customers and staff but are only liable up to the cost of your course. We cannot be held responsible for damage and/or loss to your personal possessions. We are also not liable for failure in carrying out the contract if the failure is due to the action of the participant or the action of a third party.

Your responsibilities - You accept that some courses have a practical component to them which if applied inappropriately may involve elements of risk or discomfort. By agreeing to these terms and conditions you take personal responsibility for your own actions. Octopus Physiotherapy take no responsibility for damage, death or injury caused to you or by you as a result of participation. You must at all times work within your own ability and scope of practice. We reserve the right to refuse your acceptance on a course if we feel it is outside your scope of practice and may put other participants at risk or injury or discomfort. It is your responsibility to ensure you have professional liability insurance to cover you for your attendance at the course and the course content. We reserve the right to refuse entry to a course if you cannot demonstrate you have appropriate liability insurance. You must be physically able to partake in the course and if you do have any injuries, discomfort or prior knowledge that is relevant to any activities being performed it is your responsibility to make those known. We reserve the right to remove any person from a course if their behaviour is deemed by the tutor to be detrimental to the group, unsafe or adversely affecting the groups' enjoyment. We will not be liable for any refund in these circumstances.

Audio and video recording - Audio and video recording of events is not permitted without the written permission of Octopus Physiotherapy.

Medical - It is your responsibility to ensure that you are sufficiently fit and adequately equipped to partake on your chosen course. You must tell us of any medical conditions or dietary requirements at the time of booking. If for any reason you are not in a suitable condition to attend or complete a course or are under the influence of drink or drugs the facilitator or tutor may ask you to leave the course. We will not be liable for any extra expense incurred by this and you will not be able to claim a refund.

Complaints - Should you have a problem or complaint on your course you must bring it to the attention of our staff as soon as possible and we will try to rectify the problem. If you feel that the problem was not resolved and resulted in a much reduced enjoyment of the course you must inform us in writing within 28 days and we will respond within 28 days to resolve the matter to the satisfaction of both parties.

Privacy - We will not pass on your personal details to any third party.

These terms are correct at the time of printing, but are subject to alteration.

Adam Glowacz
Owner
Octopus Physiotherapy
Last updated 28/12/18