Happy Fins
Please take your time to read through our terms and conditions carefully. By signing up to lessons with Happy Fins, you are agreeing to the terms and conditions set out below.
Definitions of words used in the Terms and Conditions
Happy Fins
, We, Us, Happy Fins
You - the customer
Guardian - a person other than the parent who brings the child to
the lesson
Provisional Booking - a space which is held for the swimmer without
payment
Courtesy Class - a class that holds no monetary value, which is being
taught at a different time due to the original class being cancelled by the
customer
Make-Up Credit - a class that holds monetary value which is being
taught at a different time due to the original class being cancelled by Happy
Fins.
Booking Conditions
We can provisionally
book you into a class and hold the space for the maximum of 48 hours upon
receipt of your booking invitation. You must complete the enrolment information
& direct debit mandate emailed to you within 48 hours of receiving your
booking invitation to secure your place.
We ask that you accept our Terms & Conditions online when you first sign
into your parent portal with us. If not signed prior to your first lesson with
us, then it will be accepted that you have agreed to them by attending your
first lessons.
Our courses run throughout the year in accordance with our published swimming
dates on your portal. These will be 42 weeks per year. You will also be sent a
confirmation email with the start date, swimming day and time of your lesson.
A Happy Fins subscription enables you to continue swimming with us until you
reach the end of our award scheme. Your subscription will continue each month
until you choose to end that subscription.
Monthly subscription payments are calculated based on the cost of 42 lessons
per calendar year, paid equally across 12 calendar months. This equates to an
average of 3.5 lessons per month.
You can use our parent portal to look for another time and day. However, we cannot guarantee any specific space(s). Payment must be made on the agreed date each calendar month. Failure to do so could result in your space(s) being taken by a swimmer on our waiting list.
Payment Conditions
Your first payment will be taken within 5 working days of completing the Direct Debit mandate. Your first payment will pay for the remaining lessons of the current calendar month and the following monthly fee, so you are always paying for lessons in advance.
In addition to your monthly subscription, Happy Fins have an annual membership cost of £15 per year, per swimmer. This will be taken on your sign-up anniversary each year. This sign-up fee covers the cost of swim hats, certificates, badges and goodies and is not applicable to any Parent & Child classes.
If your payment fails for any reason, this may result in you losing your space or a charge may be added to your bill to cover the incurred costs.
Further payments are accepted by direct debit only. You are protected by the Direct Debit Guarantee. We use a third-party company to process these Direct Debits on our behalf.
Direct Debit subscriptions pay for one calendar month, on the basis of 12 equal monthly payments for 42 lessons per annum. This equates for 3.5 lessons per month when calculating a per lesson fee (12 months / 42 lessons = 3.5 lessons per month). Payments will begin after your initial payment on the date specified in your booking invitation, typically the next calendar month. Your subscription date will be the 8th each month, unless agreed otherwise, and the first date will be given to you upon sign up.
A receipt can be requested but is not given out at the time of payment. Whenever your account details change, or you wish to change the account in which you pay for lessons – please contact us directly.
An email will be sent to confirm booking with details of the class enrolled for and class details can always be found on your parent portal.
Prices may change with a minimum of 4 weeks notice given and these changes will be communicated by email and text to all customers.
Lesson Conditions
All classes are 30
minutes long, unless specified otherwise, and run for 42 weeks a year.
We reserve the right to cancel classes due to unforeseen circumstances, if a
lesson is cancelled, we will offer a make-up credit.
Lessons will be taught by teachers who are trained in how to deliver Happy Fins’ approach and teaching scheme. All teachers are DBS checked and hold an accredited swim teaching qualification.
During the lessons the swimmer’s parents/guardian must be within the vicinity for the duration of the lesson.
All customers must respect and follow the rules of the site you are swimming at. Complaints made about swimmers to us could result in losing your space at Happy Fins.
Whilst we always try to ensure you have the same teacher, Happy Fins reserve the right to change your swimmer’s teacher at any time to suit operational needs. This includes reasons such as but not limited to: illness, leave, personal reasons or swimmer pairings. This will not affect your lesson day or time without prior agreement with you.
Changing, Missing or Suspending Classes
You can change your time and day of lesson, subject to availability. This can be done via your parent portal and the class transfer section.
We can suspend your classes due to exceptional circumstances, however we can only hold the space(s) you are suspending (this must be sent in writing for approval).
If you miss a class for any reason and did not remove yourself using your parent portal with 24 hours' notice, including acts beyond your control, you are not entitled to a refund or a courtesy class.
Only swimmers which
remove themselves from their class via the parent portal, giving 24 hours’
notice of a class that is to be missed, will be entitled to a courtesy class. A
credit will automatically be added to your account when you remove yourself
from your lesson. Courtesy classes are subject to availability and outside the
control of Happy Fins, as they are generated by other swimmers not attending
their lesson and removing themselves via the parent portal.
Refunds and Cancellations
New swimmers that have not started lessons with Happy Fins can either cancel
(a) within 7 days of the date you received a copy of these Terms and
Conditions, minus any lessons that have taken place, or (b) prior to 14 days
before your lesson begins and we will refund any money you have paid to us.
To cancel your swimming lesson with Happy Fins and the cancellation period for
new clients set out above had passed, you must put your request in writing with
a minimum of 5 working days before your next subscription date. Requests after
this date may result you in being charged another monthly fee as we are unable
to adjust monthly Direct Debits in this period.
Once we have received
your written request, we will confirm your final lesson date within 7 days. This
will typically be the end of the following calendar month if you have paid your
lesson fee in the current calendar month. For example;
- Notice on 10th May, finish lessons end of June
- Notice on 2nd May, would result in ending lessons at the end of
May (as May’s subscription would typically be paid on the 8th).
If notice is received between July 8th and August 8th,
due to our summer break from lessons, this will require us to balance your
account. We will total up all lesson fees paid, including any make up credits owed
on your account, and deduct the number of swimming weeks during the period you
were with Happy Fins.
This will determine any credit or debits on your account. Your final lesson date will be given to you in writing and is based on when your account balance reaches £0.00, which may mean you return for lessons in September or owe a settlement figure.
Please note, we are under no obligation to refund or transfer your credit if you are unable to attend any lessons that are paid for during your notice period.
Make Up Credits
If Happy Fins must cancel lessons for any reason, we will notify you as soon as possible by as many means as possible in the circumstances. This may be via phone, text and/or email.
For any classes that
are cancelled by Happy Fins, through no fault of their own, these will be
offered as make up credit. We will look to offer you additional opportunities
to attend a lesson to utilise this make up session during your time with us.
If we have been unable to find you a suitable make up lesson prior to ending
your journey, this credit will be added to your account when calculating your
notice period, so you have additional weeks swimming at your normal day/time.
Courtesy Class Policy
If you’re unable to attend a class (i.e you have a holiday booked), as a gesture of goodwill, Happy Fins will endeavour to offer you a courtesy class if you give 24 hours notice of your absences and remove yourself from your lesson via the parent portal. Availability for courtesy classes is found on your parent portal. This will show all classes at your swimmers age, level and lesson type (eg 1-2-1, 2-2-1, P+C)
Courtesy classes should be booked via the online portal and have a 6-month expiry from the date of the missed class. The class will be ‘live’ to book after the date of the missed session.
Courtesy classes are offered on a first come, first serve basis. Courtesy classes are a gesture of good will. Fees cannot be transferred over or refunded if a suitable class cannot be found.
It is the parents’ responsibility to book courtesy sessions. Our team are available for support and bookings cannot be made directly with teachers.
If no courtesy class can be found then the missed class is lost. Happy Fins can only accept a booking for a courtesy class if the level and age of your swimmer suitable matches that of the other child in the class. All Happy Fins teachers are trained using the same methods and we promote using courtesy classes to expand your swimmers experience with new instructors.
If a courtesy class is cancelled for any reason by Happy Fins, your account will be credited back with a courtesy lesson.
Courtesy classes can only be taken whilst swimmers have an active Happy Fins account or prior to the courtesy class expiry date - whichever comes first. All accounts are deactivated 1 months after your final swim date.
Swimwear
Swimmers must wear appropriate swimwear at all times. Swimmers 'potty training' or that are under 2 must wear a swim nappy at all times. We also actively promote the double nappy system.
No Jewellery, make up, hair products to been worn in the pool. Swim hats must be worn at all times. All property that is left at the venue, including outside, is left at your own risk.
Parents must supply the swimmers goggles.
Behaviour
We reserve the right to remove a swimmer from the lesson if their behaviour is affecting the smooth running of the class. Swimmers of all ages must be accompanied to lessons by their adult carers and handed over to their teacher. At no point should swimmers be left unsupervised.
All swimmers and parents must follow any site specific rules at the venue at Happy Fins teach. This will be communicated to you upon sign up. We ask all parents to wait in the designated waiting room, where possible, during lessons to ensure we know where to find you in the event of any incident.
Photography
Whilst we promote a
friendly family atmosphere, which we wish to include the use of photography and
videos, we would like to ask that everyone remains sensitive to the feelings of
others that may not be comfortable with this.
Please request to come poolside to get images or video of your swimmer(s) in
action and our team can actively manage ensuring everyone’s personal
preferences are respected.
We ask that you use your portal to indicate to our team if you’re happy for
your child to feature in any publicity photographs or videos on official Happy
Fins channels (social media, website, print).
You are only permitted to publish photograph or video your own child. Without prior agreement, you may not have any other swimmer, teacher, members of the public or customers in the photo or video. Happy Fins and parents reserve the right to ask to see any photo or video taken to confirm that our terms have been adhered to if there is any concern and can ask you to delete the media if it does not meet these terms.
Happy Fins forbid any photo or video content to be used to reproduce content of our lessons.
In all instances, the decision of Happy Fins staff is final.
If any venue has its own photography and/or media policy, this will supersede all Happy Fins terms on photography and video.
Health and Safety
You must not bring your child swimming if they have any illness that could be spread to other swimmers or teachers. Please do not bring your children to lessons for 48 hours if they have been suffering from sickness or diarrhoea. If you inform in advance about any lesson you cannot attend, you will qualify for a courtesy class.
We recommend changing your baby on the floor on a suitable changing mat. We do not recommend any raised areas such as benches or tables. This is to prevent babies from rolling on to the floor from high surfaces. Happy Fins cannot take responsibility for any injuries if customer choose to use the changing tables provided by certain facilities.
If it the responsibility of the parent to disclose to Happy Fins any condition that could impact your child's capabilities in the pool.
Safeguarding
Happy Fins want to provide a fun, safe and happy environment for all their swimmers. We therefore as a company adopt the Swim England policy for safeguarding children - Wavepower.
For full details on
the policy, please see the link below. We encourage all parents, guardians and
anyone involved in your children's swimming journey to take the time to read
this document to help us safeguard our swimmers.
http://www.swimming.org/swimengland/wavepower-child-safeguarding-for-clubs/
Our appointed Safeguarding Officer is Amanda Dunkley-Berry. You can reach her
on
[email protected]
or 07707 863277.
Lost Property
All property left within any pool building or grounds including but not limited to: car park, entrance, spectators' area, changing rooms and poolside area, is left at your own risk. Please ensure you have all your belongings with you before you leave.
Any lost property found will either be kept by Happy Fins for up to 3 weeks or given to the swimming venue. If not claimed, these items may be disposed of and Happy Fins cannot be held liable.
Swim Scheme and Progression
Our swim scheme is designed around children learning to swim in a natural way. There will be no use of swim aids to teach your child to learn to swim but they may be used to help teach safety skills or more advanced swimming techniques.
Children in semi private lessons will be paired based on their age and ability as closely as possible unless you request otherwise. There may be some difference between swimmers levels and Happy Fins will continually monitor this and discuss progress with their teacher. Lessons may be changed subject to availability.
Happy Fins cannot predict the rate at which any child will progress or learn to swim. All children learn at different speeds.
Data Protection and Privacy
In order to book lessons with Happy Fins, we will require you to register your details and your child(ren) with us.
This information is for sole us by Happy Fins and will not be shared with any third parties unless required to do so for the booking process or where we are legally required.
Data
We currently hold the following data about you and the swimmer that attends our classes.
All data above is stored on our own secure sever and only Happy Fins staff have access to this data.
Use of Data
We store your data for a service reasons, rather than promotional. The following data is used for:
We have always welcomed customers contacting us to check what information we hold and change it as they see fit - this will continue and is best done by contacting your site manager.
From time to time, we may send you some offers and discounts specific to Happy Fins services that may have legitimate interest to you. If at any time you feel these offers are not, please contact us to discuss this with you.
Data Sharing
We do not share any of your personal information with any other business or company.
Promotions
We do not send out other promotions or offers for any other companies or businesses to your phone number or email address unless you have chosen to opt in for marketing. We may send you occasional offers that are services offered by Happy Fins. Other offers may be posted on our Facebook page from time to time, if you're interested - please give us a like!
Opt In or Opt Out?
As a customer you are not required to opt in or out of any of our services. However when you leave Happy Fins as a customer, we are required to keep your data safe. We will only send you marketing information if you have ticked to opt in. At the end of your journey, you can choose to stay on our mailing list or opt out by asking us to remove you from our database.
Offers and Discounts
There will be a selection of offers and discounts for new and existing swimmers but these are subject to availability and will have their own terms and conditions. New swimmers are defined as children that have never had a lesson with Happy Fins before.
Recommend-a-friend credit is an on-going offer from Happy Fins. Any existing customer that introduces a new customer to Happy Fins classes will see both awarded one additional courtesy token for an extra class. This offer can be used in-conjunction with our third child offer but not other promotions. The offer has no cash value and quoted upon booking.
Third Child Discount. Any family that has three siblings enrolled with Happy Fins will have any adult & child discount class discounted by 50%, or 2-2-1 lesson by 25%. Discount will be automatically applied to the lowest priced session.
Happy Fins reserves the rights to cancel or withdraw offers as they see fit. Happy Fins works with a select group of business partners to bring a selection of great promotional offers, these are valid for new bookings only and the referral must be quoted at the time of booking.
All offers, discounts and promotions are subject to availability.
Complaints Procedure
If, for any reason, you are not happy with any aspect of Happy Fins lessons or service. Please email or phone our support team in the first instance with details.
If the response from your support team is not satisfactory, please forward a written copy of your complaint to [email protected] FAO Nick Parker
We reserve the right to change our terms and conditions at any time. This will take effect from the time it is posted on our website. It will be communicated to all swimmers if applicable.