Your daughter quit dance mid-term. Your son’s swim school moved his class to a time you can’t make. You emailed. You filled in their withdrawal form. And the direct debits keep landing every fortnight, plus a “costume levy”, plus next term’s fees “because you didn’t give a full term’s notice”. When you push, the answer is “it’s in the enrolment terms”.
Kids’ activity providers have adopted gym-style contracts: rolling direct debits, long notice periods, no refunds. The same consumer law that’s been used against gyms applies to them.
Your rights
- Unfair contract terms (ss 23–28 ACL). Terms that require a full term’s notice to withdraw, automatically roll into the next term, charge for classes the provider cancelled or moved, or say “no refunds for any reason” can be declared void. The test is whether the term creates a significant imbalance, isn’t reasonably necessary to protect the business, and causes you detriment. Locking a family into paying for a class a child no longer attends meets it.
- Consumer guarantees (ss 60–62 ACL). If the provider changed the class time, replaced the teacher, or cancelled sessions, the service isn’t what you contracted for. That’s a failure you can terminate over, with a refund of the unused fees.
- Misleading conduct (s 18 ACL) if you were told you could “stop anytime” and the fine print says a term’s notice.
- Direct debits. The authority is yours to cancel at your bank at any time, regardless of what the provider or its payment processor (Ezidebit, Debitsuccess, PaySmart) says. Processors have their own complaint processes and must act on a cancellation.
What to do right now
- Send written notice today if you haven’t. Email, not just the app or a form: “I withdraw [child] from [class] effective [date]. Please confirm in writing and stop all direct debits.” Refer to any earlier verbal notice with the date.
- Get the enrolment terms. You’re entitled to a copy. Identify the notice clause and the refund clause. Note whether it was a standard-form document you had no ability to negotiate (it was).
- Add up the post-notice charges. Every debit after your notice, plus any fees for classes the provider cancelled or moved. That’s the refund figure.
- Cancel the direct debit at your bank. Do this even if the provider says you can’t. Then email the provider that you’ve done so.
- Send a Letter of Demand. A formal letter citing the unfair terms regime and the consumer guarantees, quantifying the refund, and setting a 14-day deadline before fair trading and tribunal. The letter will (1) confirm the cancellation in writing, (2) require the direct debits to stop, and (3) demand the refund of everything taken after your notice. That’s the full fix in one document.
- Escalate. Fair trading conciliation, then your state’s civil tribunal (in WA, SA and Tasmania, the Magistrates Court).
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What’s fair and what isn’t
- A short notice period (two to four weeks) that was clearly disclosed: generally fair.
- A full term’s notice, or notice before the term starts to avoid the next term: arguably unfair, especially where it wasn’t prominent at sign-up.
- Charging for classes the provider cancelled (public holidays, teacher sick, pool closed) without make-up sessions or credit: not fair, and a guarantee failure.
- Uniform, costume and concert levies charged after withdrawal: not chargeable unless already ordered on your instruction.
- “Credit” instead of a refund for money taken after your notice: you’re entitled to the money.
A formal demand asks the studio (or the payment processor on its behalf) to confirm the withdrawal and refund the post-notice debits. Where the provider digs in, a tribunal can decide whether a rolling-term clause is unfair.
When the provider changed the deal, not you
A separate and stronger claim exists where the provider changed what you signed up for. Common examples: the class moved from Saturday morning to Tuesday afternoon; the coach your child loved was replaced; the swim school moved pools; the number of classes per term dropped but the fee didn’t; the “term” was shortened by closures with no make-up sessions. In each case the service is no longer what was contracted, and under the consumer guarantees you can terminate without notice and recover the unused portion, and the provider can’t rely on its notice period because it caused the failure. Put it in those terms: “The service has materially changed from what was agreed. I terminate under s 267 of the ACL and require a refund of $X for the remaining classes.” The provider’s usual response, “we reserve the right to change the timetable”, is a term that can itself be unfair if it lets them change everything while you can’t leave.
Concerts, uniforms and exam fees paid in advance for events your child won’t attend are refundable unless the provider has already incurred the cost on your behalf (a costume already ordered, an exam entry already lodged). Ask for proof of the cost incurred.
Who to complain to
Your state fair trading body (NSW Fair Trading, Consumer Affairs Victoria, Queensland OFT, and equivalents). The ACCC for unfair terms. The payment processor’s complaints team if debits continue after cancellation, then your bank and AFCA. Your state’s civil tribunal (in WA, SA and Tasmania, the Magistrates Court) for the refund.
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What happens when you send a Letter of Demand
Same problem. What a prepared case looks like.