BOOKING TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Please read these carefully before booking, then screenshot this page and save a copy for your records. These terms and conditions may change periodically. Your booking is made on the basis of the terms and conditions active at the time of your booking. Please note that different terms and conditions apply depending on the service you have booked. If you are unsure which section applies to you please do get in touch and ask.
When booking a retreat, course, consultancy or online support with me please know that we understand that life is unpredictable and we try to be as flexible as possible with our booking policy. However, our business is very small, our margins tight and significant costs are often incurred well in advance of your booking - particularly retreat bookings. The below policy is designed to be flexible wherever possible and to protect both us and you.
Retreats and In-Person Course Bookings
Though we’ll always try to be accommodating and look after you, we now have to stick strictly to our booking terms and conditions. If you have to cancel we won’t always have time to find a replacement on your behalf - we’ll need you to lead on that. And though transferring your place to a future retreat/course might seem like an elegant solution to short notice cancellation, it is something we can only do in the circumstances set out below as it can mean the loss of hundreds of pounds of income and potentially cancelling the whole retreat/course.
Please let us know as soon as possible if you think you may need to cancel or change dates. We’ll always try our best to help.
Your place is secured with a payment in full. Some retreats are able to be booked with a 50% deposit, if agreed with us in advance.
Payments are accepted by BACS and/or online payment only.
If you have paid a 50% deposit your balance is due no less than twelve weeks in advance of the first day of your retreat stay. We reserve the right to offer your place to another writer if the balance is not paid on time.
The first 50% of your full payment is non-refundable and non-transferable apart from in circumstances as set out below.
You are encouraged to check your travel insurance covers you in the event that you have to cancel for illness, weather, caregiving or other emergency.
NON-COVID-RELATED TERMS AND CONDITIONS
In the unlikely event that we have to cancel the retreat for any non-Covid-related personal or business reason, a full refund will be issued you within 30 days of cancellation. Subject to availability, you can also choose to transfer to a future retreat (to be held within twelve months of the original retreat) or can have a voucher issued to the value of your payment. This voucher can be used against any Mothers Who Write or Rebecca Schiller goods and services within twenty four months of the cancelled retreat.
In the event that we have to cancel the retreat because of extreme weather, or other major event outside our control, then the event will be rescheduled. We will coordinate with you to ensure the new date is convenient or will offer a voucher to the value of your retreat place to be used against any Mothers Who Write or Rebecca Schiller retreats, courses, writing support, membership, coaching or attendance at virtual retreats/masterclasses to be used within 24 months of issue.
In the event that you need to cancel for personal reasons up to twelve weeks before the retreat deposits are non-refundable apart from in the circumstances set out below. We are able to offer one of the following options:
Transfer of your place and payment to date on to a future retreat within twelve months. Subject to availability. There may be a room upgrade supplement to pay depending on room availability.
A full refund of your payment to date if you can fill your place before the retreat day and the replacement writers/attendees covers the cost of your place in full.
A part refund of your payment if you can fill your place at a discounted cost. Any shortfall between the cost of the place, the amount you have paid and what the replacement writer can pay will be deducted from your refund.
If you are unable to fill your place and we find a replacement writer/attendee before the retreat starts, we may be able to offer a part refund of your payment to date within 30 days of receiving the replacement writers’ payment. The amount refunded will be contingent on: how much the replacement writer/attendee can pay, how much work we have had to do to fill the place and any additional costs related to accommodating the new attendee.
A Mothers Who Write or Rebecca Schiller voucher to the value of your payment to date, to be used against any Mothers Who Write or Rebecca Schiller goods or services to be used within 24 months of issue.
In the event that you need to cancel for personal reasons less than twelve weeks before the retreat we cannot issue a refund against the payment made to date – apart from in the circumstances below. Our retreats are small, margins are very tight and costs are incurred in advance of the retreat. Cancellations can lead to us having to postpone the entire retreat – mothers who write aren’t often available at short notice. If you are unable to find a replacement writer it can take a significant amount of work to fill your place, often at a discounted cost.
If you can fill your place before the retreat starts, and the replacement attendee covers the cost of your place in full, we will issue a full refund of your payment to date within 30 days of receiving their payment.
If you can fill your place before the retreat starts, and the replacement attendee covers the cost of your place in part, we will issue a part refund of your payment to date within 30 days of receiving their payment. Any shortfall between the cost of the place, the amount you have paid and what the replacement attendee can pay will be deducted from the amount refunded.
If you are unable to fill your place and we find a replacement attendee before the retreat starts, we may be able to offer a part refund of your payment to date within 30 days of receiving their payment. The amount refunded will be contingent on: how much the replacement can pay, how much work we have had to do to fill the place and any additional costs related to accommodating the new person. If we are unable to fill the place we may offer it, with no charge, to an attendee who would not normally be able to afford to attend one of our retreats or someone who has had to cancel at the last minute in the past and forfeiting their own place.
COVID-RELATED TERMS AND CONDITIONS
If we have to cancel the retreat because of national Covid-19 or other pandemic restrictions we will offer:
a voucher for goods and services (including retreats) to the value of your payment to date to be used within twenty four months of the retreat date
Please note that rescheduled retreats may require additional payments if the costs have risen in the interim or different room options are available.
If you are affected by a local lockdown or self-isolation we will offer:
a voucher for goods and services (including retreats) to the value of your payment to date to be used within twenty four months of the retreat date
If you can fill your place before the retreat starts we will offer a refund of the amount the substitute person has paid. If you are unable to fill your place and we fill it for you we will we will offer a refund of the amount the substitute person has paid minus an administration fee. This is sometimes less than the full balance as last minute places are often only booked at a significant discount.
If a host is unwell or has to self-isolate before or during the retreat, we will provide replacement hosting to the best of our ability to ensure the retreat can go ahead. As a minimum we will always ensure your meals are delivered and you have regular housekeeping and a contact person to help with any issues. We are not able to provide part or full refunds as long as the retreat goes ahead, but will offer additional support after the retreat instead - such as post-retreat mentoring sessions and places on online or in-person workshops.
MENTORING AND ONE-TO-ONE COACHING, READING AND EDITING
Bookings
Your session(s) and/or service is secured with a payment in full.
If you ‘pay-as-you-go’, paying for each session/service individually with no commitment to future sessions, this payment is due two weeks before an online session or six weeks before an in-person session.
If you pay for a block of sessions in advance, this payment is due immediately and your mentoring slot secured on receipt of payment in full.
Payments are accepted by BACS and/or online payment only.
Payments for mentoring are non-refundable apart from in the circumstances set out below.
We try to be very flexible about rearranging sessions even at the last minute and always aim to be more accommodating than our policy allows for on a case-by-case basis.
Rescheduling
In the event that you need to reschedule an online session we will honour your booking and reschedule your session without additional charge, even if the cancellation is short notice. Rearranged sessions must be taken within six months of your original session.
In the event that you need to reschedule a service (such as reading and feedback on your writing or editing a proposal for you) we will honour your booking and reschedule your service without additional charge, even if the cancellation is short notice. However, rescheduled services must be undertaken within six months of your original booking and will be subject to fitting in around our existing commitments. If you are unable to send us your work to review within six months of the date that we originally agreed then we may be unable to undertake this work and will not be able to offer a refund.
In the event that we need to rearrange the day/time of an online session for personal reasons we will offer a range of days and times for rescheduling rather than a refund. In the unlikely event that a mutually agreeable time cannot be found for a future session a full refund will be offered, payable within 30 days.
In the event that we need to rearrange the provision of a service (such as manuscript reading) we will offer a new delivery date for the rescheduled work. If a mutually agreeable delivery date cannot be found then a full refund will be offered, payable within 30 days.
In the event that you need to reschedule an in-person session more than 2 weeks in advance of the session, we will honour your booking and reschedule your session without additional charge, even if the cancellation is short notice. Rearranged sessions must be taken within six months of your original session.
In the event that you need to reschedule an in-person session less than 2 weeks in advance of the session, we will honour your booking and reschedule your session. We reserve the right to charge an additional fee of up to £75/session for rearranging in-person sessions with less than two weeks notice, depending on the upheaval the rearranging causes. Rearranged sessions must be taken within six months of your original session.
In the event that you need to reschedule an in-person session less than 1 weeks in advance of the session, we will honour your booking and reschedule your session. We reserve the right to charge an additional fee of up to 50% of the session for rearranging in-person sessions with less than one weeks’ notice, depending on the upheaval the rearranging causes. Rearranged sessions must be taken within six months of your original session.
In the unlikely event that we need to reschedule an in-person session for personal reasons we will do our best to offer you an mutually convenient rescheduled session. If this is not possible you will be offered the choice between a voucher for goods and services (including retreats) to the value of your payment to date to be used within twelve months of the cancellation, or a full refund payable within 30 days.
Please note that we cannot be liable for any travel, accommodation or other costs associated with travelling to or attending in-person sessions and encourage you to take appropriate travel insurance to cover these costs in the unlikely event that either party needs to cancel or reschedule for personal reasons.
Cancelling
In the unlikely event that we need to permanently cancel any paid for sessions (online or in-person), we will offer a full refund payable within 30 days.
In the event that you need to permanently cancel any paid for sessions (online or in-person), we are unable to offer a refund. Depending on circumstances we may be able to offer a voucher for goods and services (including retreats) to the value of your payment to date to be used within twelve months of the cancellation.
COVID, ACTS OF GOD AND OTHER NATIONAL/LOCAL EMERGENCIES
In the event that pandemic, national emergency or other act of god makes our planned mentoring too challenging or unlawful we will offer online sessions, rescheduled timings and other adapted solutions as appropriate. We do not offer refunds in the event of national emergencies but will work hard to make sure you receive equivalent time and energy from us to the value of your payments to date, even if the way we deliver the sessions needs to adapt. If preferred, it may be possible to postpone our sessions until after the situation has passed and reschedule them at no additional cost - though this cannot be guaranteed as it is dependent on the length of the situation and there volume of rescheduling that could be required.
GROUP MENTORING/COACHING/SERVICES
Terms and conditions for group mentoring, coaching and services are the same as our one-to-one mentoring terms and conditions with the following amendments/additions.
Your place in our group is confirmed with a one-off or regular monthly payment - details of which will have been sent to you in an email. If you choose to pay monthly, your place in the group remains contingent on prompt and full payment by the agreed date each month. If you are unable to pay please let us know as soon as possible. We reserve the right to remove you from the group if you do not keep up with your payments but may be able to offer revised payment schedules if you communicate with us in advance.
If you are paying for group sessions on a monthly basis, you have made a commitment to pay this amount in full, every month during the stated period. If you leave the group and cancel your monthly payments before the six month period has ended, we reserve the right to ask for payment in full of any services (e.g. one-to-one mentoring sessions) that you have already enjoyed but have not yet paid in full for.
We will be clear what the group meeting times and scheduling commitments will be when we start working together and will endeavour to stick to these timings wherever possible. If your availability or schedule changes we will try our best to accommodate you but, given the group nature of your booking, we may not be able to rearrange sessions once they have been confirmed and will prioritise group members who are still able to commit to the original time/date/day. We will do our absolute best to schedule group sessions at a mutually convenient time, however it is expected that some group members will miss the occasional session and we will have planned and discussed how to manage this to ensure you still get the support you need even if you don’t attend every session.
We are unable to offer refunds for group participants if they are no longer able to attend sessions they have committed to or if their schedule changes and they can no longer commit to the agreed group day or time. In these cases we may be able to set your payments against other Mothers Who Write services, though this cannot be guaranteed and is at our discretion.
If we need to change group meetings and commitments to a different day/time/slot from what the group had originally agreed to, we will endeavour to make this at a time that works for everyone. If you are unable to attend a session or continue with the group because of changes we have made to the originally-agreed schedule, then we will offer a full refund (payable within 30 days of request) or will be happy to transfer your payment to be set against our other services.
We are unable to offer refunds to participants if you miss a session because of illness, caring responsibilities or other personal commitments - though we will ensure you have a chance to engage with the group in other ways and feel supported nonetheless.
If you are unhappy with any aspect of working in the group, or with the conduct of another group member, then please contact Rebecca or the group leader immediately. They will be very keen to listen and address your concerns and/or move your support to a one-to-one offer if this is more appropriate.
Groups will discuss boundaries, safe working conditions and needs when we start working together. Your membership of the group is contingent on respect for these agreed boundaries. If we have concerns about any aspect of your conduct within the group we will discuss this with you and offer support and understanding to help you participate in a way that’s safe for everyone. In some situations we do have to reserve the right to ask you to leave the group. If possible we will offer alternative support in lieu of the group membership. If we are unable to offer alternative support we will offer you a refund for the sessions/services you have not accessed.