FIRST4BOATTRAINING T&cs
CALL RECORDING
Phone calls to and from us may be monitored or recorded.
COMPANY & CONTRACT
First4boattraining is a trading name used by the Principal Andrew Field. The name First4boattraining is used throughout this website and these terms and will appear on your certification, your contract is with First4boattraining (see booking confirmation or receipt).
BOOKING & COURSE ATTENDANCE
A booking (online, by phone, email, in writing, or in person) followed by an acceptance (verbally or by email) by First4boattraining forms the basis of a contract however the bookings will only be accepted when accompanied by the appropriate “Booking Deposit” or “Full Fees.” “Booking Deposits” are non-refundable. “Full Fees” must be made (and cleared with our bank) by the “Full Fees Due Date.” If full payment is not made by this date, then First4boattraining reserves the right to re-sell your place, and you will forfeit your booking deposit. Products booked after the “Full Fees Due Date” must pay the “Full Fee” at the time of booking.
On the day of the course you must be in attendance 15 minutes before the advised start time. If you are not present it will be assumed that you will not be attending. First4boattraining will not seek to enquire as to your where about. If you are delayed more than 30 minutes from the start time then the instructor has the authority to not allow you to join the course and the course fee will be forfeit.
PAYMENT OF BOOKING DEPOSIT & FEES
Booking deposits are per person.
| PRODUCT | DEPOSIT AMOUNT | FULL FEES DUE DATE |
| Online / E-Learning Courses | Full course fee | At time of booking |
| Classroom and Powerboat courses Motor boat and Inland water way |
20% of the fee 80% of the fee |
At time of booking 2 months before the course date |
| courses and Own boat tuition courses | ||
| Consultancy | 50% of estimated fees | Within 7 days of invoice |
PAYMENT OPTIONS
| Bank Transfer | Santander Business Account Name: First 4 Boat Training Account Number: 35056065 Sort Code:09-01-29 Reference: Your surname or invoice number |
| Debit Card | Visa Debit, Delta, Visa Electron, Maestro & Mastercard Debit (you must be present) |
| Credit Card | Visa, Mastercard & American Express (you must be present) |
| Cash | Only in person at our centre |
| Cheque | Payable to “Andrew Field” On the back of your cheque write your name and dates you are booking. Products are not booked until we receive payment and products can become booked by someone else while your cheque is “in the post”. |
Our preferred payment methods is bank transfer, although we offer all of the following:
VOUCHERS
We accept RYA vouchers as part or full payment on all full price courses. We reserve the right to refuse RYA vouchers on discounted or special offer priced courses. We are unable to give you change if your RYA vouchers are worth a higher value that the course(s) you are buying.
DISCOUNTS
If you book two or more places on the same course, then you pay the reduced rate stated in our current price list for each of those places. This assumes one payment and one booking.
CANCELLATION BY CUSTOMER
Cancellations made before the “Full Fees Due Date” (see table above) will only forfeit the booking deposit, cancellations made on or after this date will be liable for their full fees in all cases.
Students who receive a bulk-buy, package or any other discount and then cancel part of their package will lose the benefit of any discount before any refunds are made.
Enrolling on a course you do not have the necessary pre-requisites for will not vary these cancellation terms. Enrolling on a course you cannot legally attend will also not vary these terms. If you require a visa to study in the UK, then you must discuss this with us before booking your course.
POSTPONEMENT BY CUSTOMER
We will allow you to postpone your course to a later date on payment of the appropriate rebooking fee detailed below.
“Notice given by you,” refers to the notice given by you prior to the scheduled course start time. A day is considered to be a 24-hour period, thus if we are given 47 hours’ notice it shall be regarded as one day.
An enquiry from you as to our postponement terms does not constitute notice. An email confirmation from you that would like to postpone does. Postponement must be made by e mail and be received in our email inbox. Notice is not accepted by social media and other communication channels. When postponing you can select any available date within 9 months of your original course date. If we are unable to deliver your rebooked date we would refund the rebooking fee not the original fee.
The “Rebooking Fee,” is a % of the current list price on our website. Bulk buy deals, trade pricing and special offers are not applied to rebooking fees.
| Notice Period given by you | Rebooking fee for 1-2 day Shorebased Courses | Rebooking fee for 3-10 day Shorebased courses | Rebooking fee for Powerboat, Inland and coastal courses |
| 1 calendar month or more | 25% | 25% | 25% |
| 3 weeks or more | 35% | 35% | 50% |
| 14-20 days | 50% | 50% | 50% |
| 8-13 days | 60% | 75% | 75% |
| 6-7 days | 65% | 80% | 80% |
| 5 days | 70% | 80% | 80% |
| 4 days | 75% | 90% | 85% |
| 3 days | 80% | 90% | 90% |
| 2 days | 85% | 90% | 90% |
| 1 day | 90% | 95% | 95% |
| Less than 24 hrs | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Our postponement and cancellation terms are “catch all,” i.e. you can postpone under the above terms for bereavement, illness, changes to your work etc. We advise you to consider insuring your booking with a third party insurer in case you are unable to attend for any reason.
CANCELLATION BY FIRST4BOATTRAINING & CHANGES TO PROGRAMME
First4boattraining reserves the right to cancel any booking at any time. In the unlikely event of this happening, we will offer alternative dates; if the dates do not suit you, we will offer a full refund of course fees you have paid to us. We will not be liable for any other costs or losses that you may incur, including (but not limited to) travel and accommodation. We recommend you protect yourself by either booking fully flexible/refundable travel/accommodation and/or taking out appropriate insurance. We are unable to provide insurance advice.
If you or we cancel your programme or any part of it, and you agree to us transferring your fees to a third-party provider on your behalf instead of refunding you, then you become subject to that provider’s terms and conditions. At that point, your contract with First4boattraining is terminated in the same way as if we had refunded you directly.
First4boattraining reserves the right to make changes to the advertised programme. In the unlikely event that something unforeseeable and outside of our control forces us to, we reserve the right to postpone a course. This could include (but is not limited to) extreme weather, regional power outage, national emergency, war, terrorism, epidemic, pandemic, riots, earthquake, strike action, legislation, or regulation. If we are forced to postpone your course, then both parties will suffer their own associated costs, and our sole obligation to you will be to offer reasonable alternative course dates within a reasonable time scale. If we are unable to do that, then we may choose to cancel the course.
AGENCY SALES
If we sell you a course or product on behalf of another provider, then your contract is with that provider and you are subject to their terms and conditions. Our involvement is purely as an agency for which the other provider will pay us a commission.
MEDICAL AND SAFETY
For those courses with a practical element you must be in good physical health at the start of your course (if in doubt, consult your GP).
The decision as to whether to participate in any of our activities lies with you the participant. By enrolling on any of our courses you accept that there is a risk involved in boating. It is your responsibility to decide if you are fit and healthy enough to start or continue any activity.
For practical courses you must inform your instructor if you are taking any form of medication.
On matters of safety, the decision of your instructor or skipper is final.
LIFE JACKETS & PERSONAL BUOYANCY
| COURSE | PROVIDED BY US | CAN YOU USE YOUR OWN?* |
| Motorboat Courses | A 150N Lifejacket | If you prefer but must hold in in date service certificate for the life Jacket and light for Coastal courses. |
| Powerboat Course | A 150N Lifejacket | Yes, but you must hold an in date service certificate for the life Jacket. |
| PWC Courses | A 50N Impact Vest | Yes, it will need to provide torso protection |
| Own Boat Tuition | Can be hired from us for £5/day | Yes, you will need to provide your own personal buoyancy |
* If you prefer to use your own lifejacket or impact vest then it is your responsibility to ensure it is in good condition, that it is working and that it has been serviced in line with the manufacturer’s recommendations. It must provide at least the level of buoyancy stated in the middle column of the above table.
CERTIFICATION & EXTERNAL FEES
We provide all the necessary coaching, but as with all training courses and exams, we cannot guarantee you pass. For RYA courses the decision of our Principal is final.
Certification is included for most courses.
100% attendance is required for all courses. If you miss part of your course it is unlikely we will be able to provide certification.
IF YOU LOSE A CERTIFICATE ISSUED BY US THEN WE CAN REPLACE IT. THE FOLLOWING CHARGES APPLY:
• RYA Navigation Certificates – £50 per certificate
• Other RYA Certificates – £25 per certificate
For RYA SRC and/or RYA/MCA Certificates of Competence contact the RYA directly.
GENERAL
Students agree to the classroom, craft, resources and accommodation allocated to them.
All RYA courses are taught in the English language. Instructor and Certificate of Competence Candidates will be required to deliver briefings in English as part of their course.
First4boattraining is not responsible for any loss or damage to your personal possessions while you are with us.
We reserve the right to vary these terms.
MINIMUM AGE
If a course has a minimum age, it is stated on the relevant course page. A parent or legal guardian must sign a consent form for all under eighteens on Practical and Sea Survival courses.
ONLINE/E-LEARNING
RYA PPR, Short Range Certificate, Safe & Fun & CEVNI Test
These courses are delivered by us, using the RYA Interactive Platform, phone and email support is available from our Instructors.
RYA Day Skipper Shorebased, RYA Coastal Skipper/Yacht master Shorebased & RYA Yacht master (e-learning)
These courses are delivered via the Navathome platform, email support is provided by them.
DELIVERY BY POST
For those courses that require us, to post you course resources, we will normally post your goods within 1 working day from us receiving your order. UK Delivery may then take up to a further two working days. If you are based overseas then we will charge you the additional postage fees and delivery is likely to take longer.
OWN BOAT TUITION
For own boat tuition and boat delivery, you must ensure your craft is fully insured and you have informed your insurance company that an instructor or skipper from First4boattraining will be on board. During Own Boat Tuition, the owner will remain the skipper. The Instructor’s decision to stay ashore or head for a safe port is final when involving matters of safety. The owner must provide meals for the Instructor as well as cover all mooring, fuel, and general boat expenses. The owner is also expected to pay the instructor’s return travel expenses between our Maidstone or Chatham centre and the boat. First4boattraining reserves the right to cancel an own boat tuition course at any time without refund if they, their staff, or agents consider the boat to be unfit for the course/passage or un-seaworthy. Owners must ensure that their craft is equipped with all the appropriate equipment for safe navigation and passage.
PHOTOGRAPHY
From time to time our staff and agents will take images or video footage of our courses. These photographs and moving images can be used by us for advertisements, marketing, leaflets, education, training and publicity purposes (including social media). If you would prefer that we did not photograph or film you, please let us know by email before the course starts or tell your Instructor and we will ensure you are not filmed or photographed by us.
COMPLAINTS
In the unlikely event that you are unhappy with any part of your course or dealings with us, we do need to know. In the first instance (stage 1), please tell your instructor or any member of staff, as most problems can be resolved while you are on the course. If they are unable to resolve the problem then you can escalate the complaint to stage 2. At stage 2, we ask you write to “The Principal” at the company headquarters in Allington within two weeks. Your letter will need to explain what the problem was, who you made aware of the problem, what was done or not done and what you would like done now. Please mark this letter “Private & Confidential” and provide all evidence that you would like to rely on. We will normally respond to you within twenty-eight days.
If you are not satisfied with our stage 2 response then you may of course move to stage 3 and contact the awarding body, (RYA,as appropriate). These organisations will expect you to have exhausted the above stage 1 and stage 2 internal procedure first.
DISCIPLINE
First4boattraining reserves the right to terminate your course(s) at any time if your behaviour is unacceptable. In this instance, we have no obligation to pay for any travel costs, expenses, or to refund any monies paid or owed to us. If your course fees have been paid for by an employer, then we would normally inform them of why their staff member has been removed from a course.
PERSONAL DATA / PRIVACY
By making an enquiry with us, or buying any goods or service from us, you agree to us holding your information on electronic and/or paper file and to us contacting you with future offers, news and product information. You may at any time inform us by email or in writing that you no longer want to hear from us. Your data is stored in accordance with UK law and we will not sell your data.