ERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR FREESTYLE TECHNIQUE CLINICS AND OPEN WATER CLINICS
The following terms and conditions apply to all pupils (“you”) attending swimming clinics described as “freestyle technique clinics” or “open water clinics” and organised by Elite Swimming Academy Ltd (“we” or “us”). Please ensure you have read and understand the following and please keep a copy for your records:
1. Acceptance of terms and conditions
- By booking, or attending a swimming lesson with us, you accept these terms and conditions and they will form a binding contract between you and us.
- You will ensure that you follow the general swimming pool rules set out at the end of these terms and conditions and any rules that are specific to a particular pool.
- We reserve the right to vary these terms and conditions at any time upon reasonable notice to you.
2. Clinics
- In order to attend our clinics you must be able to swim the following minimum distances of a basic freestyle swimming stroke continuously and without rest:
- We reserve the right at any point to change the start time or venue of a clinic. If you are not able to attend the rescheduled clinic we may provide you with a Credit (as described in paragraph 9).
- All clinics will start promptly at the agreed start time. If you arrive late to the pool or other venue, the clinic will not be extended and will end at the agreed end time.
- The dates, start times, durations and locations of our freestyle technique clinics and open water clinics (together “lessons” or “clinics”) will be as advertised on our website from time to time and set out in an invoice which will be emailed to you after you have booked your place on a clinic.
- for our freestyle technique clinics, 50 metres and
- for open water clinics, 400 metres.
- If in our teachers’ professional opinion you are unable to comply with these minimum requirements, then we may cancel your place on the relevant clinic and if you have already paid for the clinic we may offer you a Credit to be offset against any future bookings.
3. Registration and contacting us
- Before booking any clinics with us you must register your details with us either on our website eliteswimmingacademy.co.uk (hereafter ‘website’) or by telephone. You must give us your email address, which we will use to send you administrative and marketing information about our services and other information in accordance with our Privacy Policy. We will hold your details securely in our online customer account system in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
- Where these terms and conditions require you to telephone us, please do so on 01223 633 699 or any of our local telephone numbers, where applicable. Where these terms and conditions require you to email us, please email us at info@eliteswimmingacademy.co.uk. Where these terms refer to ‘our offices’, this is a reference to our offices at Milton Country Park, Cambridge Rd, Milton, Cambridge, CB24 6AZ.
- Bookings may be made by email or by telephone and shall be on a first-come, first-served basis. We shall not be obliged to accept your booking and shall not be obliged to provide any reason for not accepting your booking.
4. Online account
- You must keep your contact details in your online customer account up to date because we use this information for our re-enrolment process (if applicable) and to contact you if lessons are cancelled.
- If we are unable to contact you because the contact details in your online customer account are out of date, then our lesson credit system set out in these terms and conditions will not apply to you.
- You agree that all information stored in your online account can be accessed by us and our employees, consultants and agents.
- We will use the information in your online account for contact purposes, lesson bookings, invoicing and re-enrolment and any other such purposes as we deem reasonable as part of the provision of the courses.
- If you provide us with a mobile telephone number, we will use this to send you SMS alerts when lessons are cancelled or for re-enrolment reminders.
- We will not use your mobile telephone number for marketing purposes or for any other reasons than those stated in section 4.(4)
- You may opt out of our SMS alerts by replying ‘STOP’ (standard local rates apply). Please be aware that you will then never receive text alerts again. This cannot be undone.
- You will log into your online account with the email address that you gave us as part of your registration process. A password is automatically generated for you and may be changed to something more memorable once you have logged in. You must treat as confidential such user identification code, password and any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, and you must not disclose it to any third party. We have the right to disable any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our opinion you have failed to comply with any of these terms or conditions or our Website Terms of Use.
5. Payment
- The fee for clinic(s) will be confirmed to you at the time of booking online or by telephone and will be set out in an invoice which we will email to you. You must pay for your clinic(s), even if you do not attend for any reason.
- Invoices that are emailed to you and not seen by you because (a) your email address has been entered incorrectly or (b) has been marked as ‘spam’ by your email client are still payable in full.
- We may send invoices by post at our discretion, however posted invoices not received by you will still remain payable
- Payment must be made in full before the start of the clinic.
- If payment is not received by the clinic’s start date, then your account will be treated as a late payment and we may at our complete discretion cancel any future bookings and we shall not be obliged to take any further bookings:
- (A) You will be reminded by email and/or telephone after non-payment one week after the clinic has commenced.
- (i) Emails and voicemails not received will still serve as notice of Late Payment.
- (B) A final warning will be issued by email and/or telephone if no payment has been made three weeks after your lesson date, regardless of attendance.
- (i) Emails and voicemails not received will still serve as a final notice of Late Payment
- (C) If full payment for your clinic has not been received (or you have not arranged a part-payment at our discretion) after your final warning, any future bookings will be cancelled and your invoice will remain payable in full
- (i) We reserve the right to pass any Late Payments on to third-party debt collection agencies after a final warning has been issued, you may accrue additional charges in order to cover debt resolution costs, including but not limited to interest and agency fees.
- (D) Late payments will apply where you have failed to notify us of cancellation (Paragraph 8) before the clinic has begun
- (E) (Together “Late Payments”)
- (A) You will be reminded by email and/or telephone after non-payment one week after the clinic has commenced.
- We accept cheques made payable to “Elite Swimming Academy Ltd” and posted to our offices. We also accept major credit/debit cards for telephone and online payments.
- Payment cannot be accepted at any swimming pools or lesson venues.
- If you are booking a series of lessons, we may in our complete discretion allow you to pay for lessons in two instalments. You may request this instalment option by emailing us at any time prior to the start date of the course. If we agree to the instalment option, we will confirm this to you by email.
- (A) The first instalment shall be 50% of the total series’ fees and must be made before the start of the series.
- (B) The second instalment of the balance of 50% of the total series’ fees must be made on the date specified in our email.
- (i) Late instalments will be subject to the procedure as set out in “Late Payments”
- (C) The option to pay in instalments will not apply to any account that has already fallen under “Late Payments”
6. Illness, medical conditions and acceptance of risk
- If you miss a clinic because you are ill and you have informed us at least 24 hours before the lesson’s starting time and have provided us with a doctor’s note detailing your illness or medical condition, you may receive a credit allowing you to book another lesson within the following 2 months.
- (A) Cancellations within 24 hours of the lesson’s start date will not be eligible for credits
- (B) Any customer account that falls within “Late Payments” will not be eligible for a credit, regardless of notice periods for cancellation
- If there are any signs of stomach upset and sickness in your family on the day of the arranged lesson or in the 7 days before the lesson, you must inform us no later than 9am on the day of the clinic and we reserve the right to cancel your lesson for your safety and that of others. In such circumstances, we may offer you a credit.
- You should not attend a clinic whilst you are suffering from a heavy cold, sinusitis, ear infection or symptoms of any of the above. If you have any queries with regard to further health problems please contact us.
- You must declare to us in writing by emailing us or by logging into your customer account, all medical conditions affecting you, regardless of severity. We will in our absolute discretion decide whether such medical conditions will restrict your engagement in clinics and we will notify you of our decision within 48 hours of receiving your notice.
- It is your responsibility to ensure that you are medically safe to swim. We will not be liable for any accidents or injuries arising from swimming with us that relate to your individual medical conditions, save that nothing in these terms and conditions will limit the liability of any person for death or personal injury caused by negligence. By booking or attending a clinic with us, you confirm to us that:
- (A) you are fit to swim in a swimming pool or (if the clinic takes place in open water) in open water;
- (B) you meet the minimum requirements for swimming ability set out in paragraph 2 of these terms and conditions;
- (C) all personal information you have provided to us is correct and not misleading; and
- (D) you understand the dangers of swimming in a swimming pool and (if the clinic takes place in open water) in open water and you agree to swim at your own risk.
7. Requests to change clinics
- You may request a change to the date of your booked clinic at any time up to 14 days before the date of the booked clinic and we shall attempt to swap you into another clinic. If we are not able to do so, we may at our discretion provide you with a Credit.
- We will not be obliged to offer you a credit or a refund due to a change in day, time, teacher or venue.
8. Cancellation by you
- If you cancel a clinic before the start date, but after you have paid for them, we shall not be obliged to provide you with any credit or refund subject to paragraph 9 of these terms and conditions.
- If you have booked a clinic but have not yet paid, you may cancel the session at any time up to 14 days prior to the date of the clinic by contacting us and notifying us of your wish to cancel.
- If you request to cancel the clinic within 14 days of the start date, you will still be liable to pay for the clinic, regardless of attendance of the same
9. Cancellation by us
- If we determine that there is insufficient support for a clinic, we have the right to cancel, suspend or postpone the clinic before its start date. We shall give you as much notice as possible of any such cancellation and we may provide you with a full refund of your lesson fee if no suitable alternative session is found. Our liability for any such cancellation shall be limited to this refund and we shall not be liable for any losses of any kind incurred by you as a result of such cancellation.
- We will make every effort not to cancel lessons, but on rare occasions pool closure or other unforeseen circumstances may force us to do so. We shall give you as much notice as possible of any such cancellation. In this event we will offer you a substitute lesson on a date designated by us. If you notify us that you are unable to attend the substitute lesson in advance of the date scheduled for the substitute lesson, then you may receive a credit for the cancelled lesson. This credit may be offset against your fees for a subsequent booking. If you do not accept the substitute lesson or do not wish to re-enrol for a subsequent booking, we are not obliged to provide a refund. We shall not be liable for any losses of any kind incurred by you as a result of such cancellation.
- (A) Provision 9.(2) will not apply to any customer accounts that fall under “Late Payments” per Paragraph 5.(4)
- (B) Paragraph 9 applies only to lessons cancelled by us. It does not apply if you miss a lesson for any other reason, including holidays or sickness.
10. Photography and video footage
- If you book a video analysis lesson then you give permission for us to take and publish photographs and/or videos of you which we may include on our website and other promotional materials.
- We will provide you with a copy of the video footage on a portable USB drive and the cost of this is included in the lesson fee.
- The copyright for any photo and/or video footage belongs to us and you may not reproduce it in any medium without our prior written consent.
- You may not create or reproduce photographs or videos of our clinics or pupils
11. Special needs and disabled pupils
- Pupils with special needs and disabled pupils are welcome where possible at all of our venues and are integrated into our regular classes. We do not however employ specially trained staff and therefore cannot be held liable for the care of such pupils beyond the teaching of swimming techniques.
- We reserve the right to remove from our clinics any pupil that causes disruption or compromises safety regardless of disability, special need or otherwise.
12. Safety and General pool rules
- You are responsible for your own safety, actions and behaviour on any part of the swimming pool property including the changing area.
- Shoes must be removed before entering the poolside or overshoes worn.
- Safety for all is our paramount concern and we have the right to remove anyone on, in or around the pool who gives us any concern whatsoever with regard to safety.
- You must not run or act inappropriately once within the pool vicinity. We shall not be responsible for any injury/accident caused as a result of you or other pupils disobeying these rules.
- Wetsuits must be worn on all open water clinics. If you choose not to wear a wetsuit then you enter the water entirely at your own risk and we shall not be liable for any accidents or injuries you sustain. If our teachers in their absolute discretion consider that the water conditions are unsuitable for swimmers without wetsuits, then they may refuse to permit you to enter the water. In this event we will not provide a refund or credit of the clinic fee.
- Open water swimming by its nature presents risks to the swimmer over and above those found in a swimming pool and by booking an Open Water clinic you accept that you are acting at your own risk and that we shall not be liable for any injury or any other matter suffered by you in the course of or as a result of the clinic (including without limitation for any water borne diseases and/or any injuries caused by wildlife on the water).
13. Limitations of Liability
- Whilst every reasonable precaution is taken by us to ensure security and safety at our swimming lessons, we shall not in any way be liable for any loss or damage arising in any way from our swimming lessons or the swimming pools we use. However, nothing in these terms and conditions shall limit the liability of any person for death or personal injury caused by negligence.
- Any claim against us arising from attendance at one of our swimming lessons must be notified in writing to us within six months from the day of the relevant swimming lesson and we shall not be liable for any claim that is notified to us after this time.
- In any event, we shall not be liable to you:
- (A) for any purely economic loss, for consequential or indirect losses or for any loss of profit or opportunity;
- (B) (where the claim is insured) for any loss which we are unable to recover from any insurer;
- (C) (where the claim arises as a result of something which was done or not done by a third party) for any loss which we are unable to recover from that third party; and
- (D) for any loss which is greater than the fee paid by you for the relevant course of swimming lessons.
4. In the event that you cause harm, damage, loss or injury to any other person or property during the course, you agree to indemnify us and reimburse us for all claims, losses, damages, expenses (including legal fees), and any other liability suffered by us as a result of such harm, damage, loss or injury caused by you.
5. We shall not be liable for any loss or theft of your another pupil’s personal possessions and all property left by on the property (including without limitation in the changing rooms and in the car park) is done so at your own risk.
14. Assignment and subcontracting
- We may at any time assign, transfer, charge, subcontract or deal in any other manner with all or any of our rights under the contract between us and may subcontract or delegate in any manner any or all of our obligations under the contract between us to any third party or agent.
- You shall not, without our prior written consent, assign, transfer, charge, subcontract or deal in any other manner with all or any of your rights or obligations under the contract between us.
15. Governing Law
- This Agreement and these Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales and you agree that any disputes shall be resolved and interpreted exclusively by the Courts of England and Wales.