Print Terms and Conditions

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Lingfield have kept these details as succinct as possible and in plain English – but with any contract there is a lot to cover.

• ‘We’/ ‘our’ means Lingfield Correspondence / Lingfield Equine Distance Learning courses / Lingfield Instructor Group.  ‘Lingfield’ in this text refers to any of these names and descriptions.
• ‘You’ means the person paying for the course and/or ‘the student’ enrolled on the course or the appointed responsible adult
• The words registration and enrolment are interchangeable. Certain procedures must be adhered to and are provided within the course Handbook at enrolment.

Paying for someone else:

Parents / care workers / employers / mentors etc. :

• Please be sure to: read this page, take note of final paragraphs in this document and mandatory requirements provided at payment stage.
• If ‘end user’ group training options are agreed with Lingfield and are in place, mandatory requirements may not apply.
• Please advise us if there are any issues which may affect course work, or any learning difficulties prior to the start of the course. See Enrolment criteria for your specific course.

Enrolment:

On completion of a Lingfield Correspondence enrolment form or online registration/enrolment form,  you are deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions and related course information as stated on the web site and in the Handbook. Instalments must be made via a UK bank account.  Whether paying in instalments or in full, having registered and completed a payment process, you have entered into a contract with a legally binding obligation to pay the full fee.

Course files are not available online or in bulk.  You must save them to your own device or your own online file sharing area (cloud folder).  You are required to confirm receipt by email of any file within 48 hours throughout your course. The files are then yours to keep forever.  The use of Adobe Acrobat Reader is required for easy searching of files and for completion of assignments.

48 hour communication agreement: Lingfield distance learning courses are operated at a distance and are run by email. All communications from you – the student/responsible adult/payee, must be by email and within 48 hours.  This therefore, provides a written record for transfer to the main Lingfield database of every student’s course records, and of your journey through the course.  It therefore provides us with our record of your progress.  It is expected that all emails to or from us should be responded to either by the student or ourselves within 48 hours.  We cannot operate distance learning courses successfully without reasonably speedy responses from students.  Ticking the T & C means you agree to abide by this.

Refunds and Cancellations:

By law (2015), for digital downloads, we are legally bound to offer either 1. or 2. of the following:

1. Option for immediate download of the first digital file in a course, and no refund option. Receipt of the automated email is accepted as receipt of the file/files.
2. Force the purchaser to wait for 14 days before we allow the download.

• If therefore, you agree the terms and conditions, you agree to accept that there is no legal right to a refund for immediate digital downloads.
• If you prefer to wait 14 days you must contact the office prior to enrolment & payment.
• ‘Download’ means it is available to you to save immediately to your own device.   Once the download link is sent we allow 3 downloads via the linked file to be saved within 3 or 4 days of payment/activation.

We offer immediate download as described above in 1. above and,  we offer a 48 hour refund period providing you advise us in writing by email (within 48 hours – see below). This applies to courses with fees over £100. Courses costing less than £100 and accepted for download offer no refund option in line with digital download regulations.

A seriously valid reason for not being satisfied with the content of the file must be provided.  Realising you do not have a suitable device on which to work or deciding you do not have enough funds are not valid reasons – those decisions must be made prior to purchasing/paying.

Depending on how you paid, we will refund your payment (which may be the full or balance of the course fee or initial instalment), less £10-£20 administration charge in accordance with these terms and conditions.  We will do this without quibble on receipt of written cancellation together with the hard copy of the email on which the downloads were provided.  This emails must be received by our admin office email within 48 hours of payment in full or part, with details in the subject/title line as explained below and the hard copy through the post within 7 days.

Cancellation Procedures and legal regulatory information.

Legally, if a digital file is offered for immediate download on payment, there is no legal cooling off period and the contract of sale begins at the time of the purchaser entering the contract – i.e. completing the enrolment, registration details on the website and making either full or part payment.  Lingfield however, is prepared to offer a 48 hour period to enable you to study the presentation and format of the first course file and documentation regarding Procedures.

Send written cancellation by email.

1. Send this by returning the email containing the download link
2. Include the following text in the subject/title line
   1. “cancellation of order number   …..    for………insert name of the course.” 
3. In the body of the email …..explain why the course is not for you….. 

Should you decide after receiving your first course communication/file that you do not wish to continue with the course/s or programmes, and have followed cancellation procedures above, we will, in line with the legal requirement for 2015, within 14 days of your payment, refund your payment less any on-line card / transaction payment charges and admin charges.

In all instances this will be less an administration charge of £10-£20 for administering and or setting up the enrolment. All courses or programmes on which you are enrolled will be cancelled at this time, your ownership of the course is relinquished. (Copyright is still binding after cancellation).

In the event of cancelled, referred cheques or stopped payments, all courses / programmes will be terminated by us without notice. In the event of missed or non payments of standing orders or recurring payments, we will assume the student has terminated the course.  Payments outside those arrangements are only accepted if previously arranged with the admin office.  Be sure you do not jeopardise your course by assuming payments may be made at your discretion.

Delivery of course material:

How it works:  Lingfield is not simple, faceless, no contact, online course provider.  Lingfield offers a system where the student (or their representative where necessary) works together with the office and their tutor in the same way as teacher and student at a regular school/college.  With distance learning however, the communications must be in writing by email rather than face to face and we expect that communications should be personal, full and detailed and that a personal relationship will be built.

On full payment via the website, initial files are automatically sent via a digital link in an email. (see*** below).   The digital course material can be downloaded and offers lifetime access.  You may print one copy of each file should you wish.

If paying in instalments and only when a payment system is in place on a UK bank account, will manual activation of the email with the digital download link will be set up.  This will be undertaken as soon as we are able.

Course material is sent via email as digital encrypted PDF files (password protected for copyright purposes) – a recent version Adobe Reader  (app links for windows & ipads on this page) or equivalent standard pdf reader is required to view them and to work with assignment files – a mobile phone is not recommended and the windows pdf reader is too basic. When you enrol you agree the Terms and Conditions including copyright which includes your non removal of encryption.

Students must provide an email address which accepts encrypted files (password protected).  Note that encrypted files, are sometimes not accepted via company or government email networks with high security settings.  This often applies to Legal and Accounting organisations, the NHS or other governmental email addresses and networks.

 ***Confirmation personally from the student (and where applicable from the person paying) of the first file having been saved to a personal device, opened & viewed by them as acceptable (not scrambled), must be made within 24 hours of the horse-care.co.uk website sending the automated email with the file download link which will enable Lingfield to complete the legal transaction of sale.  This is a mandatory requirement.

• Your course is on hold until that emailed confirmation statement is received by the Lingfield Office.  Non completion of this requirement within 48 hours will be deemed as termination of the course by the recipient and no refund will be available.
• Course file delivery, may be subject to instalment payments. 
• Course completion restrictions may apply to funded students.
• We do not recommend Mobile phones / Ios or Android, for working on courses

Note: course files are not available online – if you click to open it online without also ‘saving’ to your own device, it will be lost to you. You usually get 3 clicks then the link expires. They are digital downloads – they are yours to keep forever. Students must therefore, save them to their own device,  however some students using their phones, do work out and manage to save files to Adobe Acrobat cloud but we are unable to offer technical support.

Bulk delivery of files is not available:

Course files cannot be sent in bulk. Receipt of the first file is accepted as ownership of a course or programme in its entirety, however, delivery terms and procedures still apply.  Agreeing to terms and conditions on the website is completion of the contract of sale.  There may be restrictions on delivery of future modules – the courses vary in delivery availability.

Subsequent files

May usually be requested at 7 day intervals dependent on specific course procedures. Requests for course material are subject to fixed procedures and are entirely the responsibility of the student. Course material however, will be sent only on receipt of individual requests which must follow the procedures in the Handbook.  With combined course ‘programmes’, students must work progressively through the course files.

• We do not recommend Mobile phones / Ios or Android, for working on courses

Course material is available only as part of a complete course. Course files are not available on an individual basis – except for replacements in exceptional circumstances. Request procedures must be adhered to. A complete Level 1 or 2 Equine Care & Management course will not usually be sent in less than 3 months per course unless by prior arrangement with the office, other specialist courses in 6 weeks with the exception of the BHS Teaching preparation course which may depend on BHS exam/assessment dates.

Payments and Instalment plans:

We accept only GB Sterling in payment.  All bank and money transfer fees are the responsibility of the person paying for the course. Payments for instalments via standing order are accepted from UK bank account holders only. If fees are paid by more than one payment, in the event of cancellation of the course by the student within the prescribed timescale, the first payment is subject to the above terms. Instalment payments delay course material – see below.

Standing Orders:

Must be set up following exactly the instructions sent with the order email. They must be set up with a UK bank by the student with their bank.

1. The form available within the order email or via the office and must be completed using Adobe Acrobat and returned to the office
2. The above must be sent attached to an email ALONG WITH a chronological list of payment dates & statement confirming with this statement ‘I have set up the Standing Order with my bank’ – this is a contractual requirement without which we cannot proceed.

The student must use their name as a reference with their bank to enable us to locate and tie in the payment with their registration. There will be no refund of any initial payment or any other further instalment payments should any subsequent payment not arrive on the due date.

Delivery with Instalment Plans:

Minimum timescales for sending course material will be extended to no less than monthly intervals.  Requests may only be sent after each monthly instalment payment is likely to have been received by Lingfield. The final file in any course/programme may only be requested when the full fee has been paid.

see also this  Legal issues link

Lingfield will assume the student has terminated the course if a payment fails to arrive on the due date or via the arranged route. Please record the dates of payments to ensure this does not happen. Should we contact you at any time in connection with a change of our date/bank details, you must acknowledge and understand that it is your responsibility to make the relevant changes to your bank payments to enable your course to continue.

Assumed termination:

Students are not restricted to a completion time or date unless funded on restricted timescales.  Students are asked however, to work on their files periodically,  to request files, and make contact by email at least every 3-4 months (max of 6 months) to advise they are still keen to complete their course/programme.  With some courses students may, take 6 months breaks from their studies – or longer if they advise us they are still keen to continue. 2 consecutive breaks only of 6 months each are accepted.

If we receive no contact from a student for a period of 12 months for longer courses and 6 months for shorter courses, enrolment on Lingfield Correspondence courses will be deemed to have been terminated by the student. Details will be provided in the course Handbook.

Reactivation fee:

If there has been no contact, the course and records are archived.   In such circumstances there is a charge for – currently £100 – for re-instating (reactivating) the course enrolment dependent on the course.  For courses with fees under £100 the period for no contact and archiving your course records is 6 months to a maximum of 1 year during which time a reactivaton fee may be paid.  For other courses the timescale for non contact is 1 year to a maximum of 2 years.

To maintain your course on the active list, simply drop us an email within the course timescale, to let us know that life is busy but you are still keen to continue eventually. To avoid assumed termination after a long break, at least one module of your course must be requested during that first 6 months or 1 year period after enrolment/registration.

Any student who makes limited contact with the admin office / has been non responsive to emails over a 1 year period, may have their course deactivated at the discretion of Lingfield Correspondence. Should the student subsequently wish to maintain an active course, Lingfield will require future responses to any email within 24-36 hours.  Failure to respond as required will de-activate the course which will require re-enrolment and payment of full fee.

Students enrolling on any course with us are deemed to have accepted, and agree to abide by legally binding copyright laws, the ‘procedures’ criteria as provided in the Lingfield Handbook document or any other related documentation provided by Lingfield Correspondence or associated course providers.  On enrolment, students accept that any or all procedures, criteria etc. course/admin/certificate fees, tutor support etc., may alter without notice.

Should Lingfield Equine Distance Learning / Lingfield Correspondence cease to trade, notification will be placed on the website and Facebook pages. In line with our Terms and Conditions refunds will not be available. We will however, honour delivery of the course material for which you paid. Certification will no longer be available via Lingfield although some specialist course tutors may be prepared to undertake this personally. You may request the balance of your course files in bulk within 3 months the notification date of cessation of trading.

Contractual agreement:

In line with the legal aspect of a purchasing contract: You must confirm receipt – i.e. the goods have been downloaded (saved) and you can read the digital file on your own device. Failing to pay or cancellation of a payment after any initial cancellation period does NOT cancel your contract with the merchant/provider (Lingfield Correspondence). You still need to pay for any goods or services agreed according to contractual laws whether the purchase was made in full or via instalments, on line or otherwise. It is rare and unlikely that we follow this route but you should be aware that legally, it is deemed that the contract is still binding and the provider is entitled to make a claim against you in court and that by signing the contract/agreeing the Terms & Conditions, you have agreed that the provider may claim monies to the value of the goods or services if you paid by debit or credit card. Please read the digital file download details linked via the T & C page

Students must read & understand the following :

Any information given in the course material or in connection with the courses, should be accepted as educated views and opinions, not as absolute truths. When dealing with unpredictable animals such as horses and ponies, students should carry out further independent research, and independent expert advice should be sought at all times. The foregoing applies particularly with regard to the practical handling, riding and caring for horses and ponies.

Copyright:

All students must:  agree to confine the course material to your personal use. Accept that encryption must not be removed or tampered with. Agree not to edit, alter, copy, reproduce, duplicate or transmit any part of the course whatsoever.  Any such copy, reproduction – digital or otherwise – or transmission being an infringement of copyright.

Are you paying for a course for someone else ?

This also applies to group bookings.

Ticking your agreement to the Terms & Conditions on this website, means you agree to the entry requirements and will explain to and make sure the person/s you are paying for complies with and understands the following before they start their course:

Copyright law; The entry, contract and contact requirements; the ‘Procedures’ (as provided in the Lingfield Handbook) and these terms and conditions, exist under international Copyright laws.  Any contravention will be vigorously followed up.

Paying for someone else?  Please note:

This includes parents, employers, people helping or paying for any of the following:  Young people or people or children in care or looked after / employees at training establishments, livery yards or riding schools / young or mature people in similar situations.

Please note that students must be able to communicate comprehensibly in their own words by email with their tutor.  Adjustments may be made where necessary on agreement with Lingfield administrators.

We ask that a parent / guardian / mentor, foster carer / personal adviser / case worker, relevant appointed responsible adult, should oversee and communicate with us during the setting up of the course and that they continually support and work with the student or person for whom they have paid; that they assist, support and oversee the student/s and their course work throughout the course or programme.   

• Without that ongoing support we are unable to provide the course or service offered. 
• We specifically draw your attention to the section above on Delivery of course material and ‘How it works’.

We require one only appointed person / responsible adult to communicate with us throughout the set up of the enrolment and the course. This must be from one email address only which must remain constant throughout the course.

These courses and procedures are produced for adults who generally are used to dealing with businesses and organisations by email and understand how business works.  In the past, various difficulties have given us cause for concern when it became apparent that young people, (or people in care), were not made aware of Lingfield procedures, requirements & copyright etc.  or they lost files or deleted them or could not work with or access them or simply do not provide sufficient information in emails.  This has made it very time consuming and often requires us to send more and more emails to establish information required to run their course properly.  This makes it difficult for whoever is handling the administration of the course at Lingfield at the time.

We ask therefore, that when enrolling young persons or those with limited abilities whether that be computer skills or other skills etc. The responsible adult please ensure prior to starting that:

1. Entry requirements, procedures & terms and conditions, copyright laws and procedures are read and clearly understood by the student (and explained where necessary).
2. The responsible adult agrees to undertake the communications for the student with the office, to assist the student with file management and course content & requirements where necessary.
3. That if printing is required, only one copy is printed. 
4. That the same responsible adult continues to monitor progress and agrees to continually check the students ability to absorb and understand the content throughout the course.

The tutors however, require some personal communication with their students in the early stages of their course and the equine involvement form should be completed by the student in their own words – that is quite important.  Thank you for your help with this.

©Lingfield Correspondence