TERMS AND CONDITIONS
GEOS Europe Terms and Conditions, effective from October 2008. These terms and conditions apply to bookings and enrolments made from this date until further notice.
Deposits: The school will require either deposit or full payment before issuing any registration documentation. Please see individual school's dates and fees information for details.
Invoices and Payment of Fees: All fees must be paid 3 weeks before a student's starting date.
Cancellations and refunds of programme fees and deposits: Cancellations must be made in writing and their receipt confirmed by the school.
All cancellations will normally be charged an administration fee, which will increase for cancellations received less than 14 days before the start of the course. Please see the individual school's dates and fees information for details.
When cancellations are made due to visa refusal we will refund all fees paid and there will be no cancellation fee. This is subject to the production of an official notice or letter of refusal from the immigration authorities with a date which supports the timing of the cancellation.
If a student cancels their place after a registration document has been sent for visa purposes, GEOS will require the return of the document before a refund can be considered.
Agents or individuals not producing visa refusal documentation within 14 days of informing a school of a visa refusal cancellation will be reported to the immigration authorises in the country where the school operates and to the embassy/consulate in the student's home country.
Starting date postponements: Students who postpone their course 1 week or less before the start of their course will be charged 1 additional week's accommodation fees. If a student postpones 3 times then this will be treated as a cancellation.
Non-arrival, attendance and cancellations during courses: GEOS schools have a duty to inform their country's immigration departments if students who have been issued with a registration document fail to enrol or attend their programme. A student must inform the school in advance of any alternative study arrangements and show satisfactory and verifiable documentary evidence.
Students who arrive after the start of their course, who are absent during the course, or leave before the end of the course will not be given a refund, unless exceptional circumstances apply which are agreed to be adequate by the school.
School managers may choose to issue credit notes to students for unused weeks. The terms of credit notes are discretionary and credit notes will have expiry dates.
Reductions in the number of lessons: We reserve the right to reduce the number of lessons in a class due to insufficient numbers and to convert a student's fees to individual tuition lessons calculated at a percentage of the published cost of individual lessons.
Student language levels: Some of our courses are not suitable for students who are beginners and some have minimum entry requirements. It is the student's responsibility to check that their language level is suitable. If a student's language level on arrival at the school is found to be below the required level for the course, then we reserve the right to cancel their course or make arrangements on an alternative course.
Student age: Students who are under the school or course minimum age limit will not be admitted and will be asked to return home at their own expense.
Student attendance and behaviour: Students whose attendance is below 80% will not receive a course certificate. We reserve the right to exclude students whose attendance or behaviour are unacceptable. If local immigration rules require us to report students for poor attendance, we will do so.
Changes in courses and premises: We reserve the right to change or alter a course, change the lesson times and to hold lessons in suitable accommodation outside our main school buildings.
Cancellations by the school: If we cancel a course a complete refund of fees paid to GEOS will be made.
Other fees, charges and services: If bank or credit card charges are applied to any financial transaction, students or their student referral agent/representative centre will bear the costs of transfers to the school. If the school makes a bank transfer to a student or a company representing them all bank charges are paid by the recipient.
When a student or their representative requests that enrolment documents are to be sent by courier, then we will make a standard charge plus any current fuel surcharge.
We require a minimum of 1 full working day's notice for the cancellation of airport transfer services.
Enrolment, accommodation and airport transfer documentation: Our schools issue documentation which should be passed onto students in all cases. The schools cannot accept liability for any consequences from documents not being passed to students.
Damage to Property: Students or those responsible for them must pay the full cost of any damage they cause to property.
Accommodation: Students must arrive normally at their accommodation on a Sunday and leave on a Saturday or Sunday (Malta and Paris: Students must leave on a Saturday) If students arrive or depart on other days then the school can normally assist with finding a hotel or hostel or arranging very short term alternative host family accommodation. The student is responsible for the cost of this accommodation. When the school makes a reservation on behalf of a student in accommodation other than homestay then the terms and conditions of the accommodation provider will apply to the booking.
The school acts as an agent in introducing students and homestay providers. The contract is between the student and the homestay provider.
We reserve the right to change homestay accommodation during a student's stay.
If students wish to pay in instalments for accommodation fees, schools may ask students to enter into agreements regarding this which involve charges and penalties for late or non payment.
Public Holidays: GEOS schools are closed on public holidays. Where public holidays fall in a teaching week, the fees for this week are charged at the full weekly rate and lessons will not be refunded or delivered at other times.
Student Holidays: Students making bookings for programmes of 24 weeks or more are entitled to include holidays of up to 2 weeks in their total study period and students on programmes of 36 weeks or more are entitled to include holidays of up to 3 weeks in their total study period. Holiday weeks must be included at the time of booking but actual dates do not have to be confirmed at this time. Courses are automatically extended when they cross the Christmas closure period and are not automatically counted as holiday. Schools require at least 2 weeks notice of any holiday dates and holiday dates can be changed only once. Holidays during peak periods cannot be changed after they have been booked. Refunds or credits are not given for unauthorised holidays. Please note that local visa regulations may apply and will take precedence over our policy on holidays.
Transfers between GEOS Europe schools which are not booked at the time of enrolment: Students are permitted to transfer between GEOS Europe schools provided that their course is more than 8 weeks in duration and that they complete 50% of their booked weeks at the school where they originally enrolled. Students may transfer earlier than this, but the school they originally enrolled at will retain fees paid for 50% of the student's booked weeks. Any differences between the tuition and accommodation fees must be paid for on transfer to their new school and no fees will be refunded if the total costs of studying at the new school are less than the first school. Students on sandwich work experience programmes cannot transfer between schools. There is currently no provision for transfers to GEOS schools outside Europe.
Additional terms and conditions: Individual programmes or promotions may have alternative fees, charges, terms and conditions, which will be described in literature or documents relating to these programmes and promotions.
External factors and information: The schools cannot take any responsibility for any external factors in respect of a students' circumstances, payment, booking or enrolment. The school cannot take responsibility for informing students or any other parties of changes in immigration legislation, rules or the interpretation thereof by any government or non-government agency. The schools take no responsibility for incorrect or misleading information given by its appointed student referral agencies/representatives.
Data protection: Students' details will be kept on computer-based administrative systems and will be kept in accordance with the data protection laws in the relevant country. All schools are registered, if required, with the data protection authorities. Information you provide may be passed on to government agencies for the purposes of detecting fraud. Further information is available on request. It is necessary for us to see and copy student passports/ID cards (and visa if appropriate), have contact details and details of next of kin. Students must provide these and inform us immediately if they change.
Complaints and Arbitration: In the event of complaints that cannot be resolved by the customer and the school, the European Regional Director will attempt to resolve the complaint. Schools which are members of professional bodies may also be able to offer external adjudication by these bodies.
Non-enforcement of these terms and conditions does not waive our right to enforce them.
All contracts and agreements with GEOS Europe schools will be governed by the law in the country where the school is located.