Speckled Wood Wildlife
Terms & Conditions for UK Courses
The following Terms and Conditions form the basis of your contract with us. Please read them carefully as they set out our respective rights and obligations and by signing the booking form you will be bound by them. In these Booking Conditions, ‘you’ and ‘your’ mean all persons named on the booking (including anyone who is added or substituted at a later date). ‘We’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ mean Speckled Wood Wildlife Limited.
These terms and conditions are for our UK based non-residential courses and our residential courses or tours. We shall refer to both as “courses” within this document.
1. Making your booking
A completed and signed booking form must be sent to us, along with payment of the full course fee or any deposits is applicable. The booking form must be signed by the authorised person making the booking for themselves or on behalf of their party. He / she must be at least 18 when the booking is made. By signing the booking form the authorised person confirms themselves as party leader (where applicable) and assumes responsibility for making all payments to us. For any party members that are under 18 when a booking is made a signature will also be required from their parent or guardian.
If booking are made via the website or by Speckled Wood Wildlife sending a payment link or invoice by e mail, then by clicking to check out you are agreeing to our terms and conditions. If you have not provided a signed booking form due to booking your course this way then you will be asked to complete and sign a booking form on the first day of the course.
On receipt of your booking form and appropriate payments we will send a booking confirmation and an invoice for any outstanding payments due, to the party leader. Please ensure you check the details thoroughly and contact us as soon as possible if any information is incorrect or omitted.
If any balance is owing then this much be paid at least 30 days in advance of the course starting, unless stated in writing by Speckled Wood Wildlife. If we do not receive all payments due by that date we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled by you and retain all deposits and payments paid.
2. Cancellations by you
If you or any member of your party wishes to cancel a booking we must be notified in writing (this must come from the party leader where applicable). Your cancellation will be effective from the date we receive your letter or e mail. We advise you to take out the appropriate travel insurance when you book where the course is residential and involves travel, to protect yourself from this possibility.
We bear costs from the moment we confirm your booking, therefore the cancellation charges set out below will apply:
90 - 60 days before start date 25% of total course cost (or value of deposit, whichever is more)
60 - 31 days before start date 50% of total course cost
30 – 15 days before start date 75% of total course cost
14 days or less before start date 100% of course cost
3. Changes by you
If you wish to make any changes to your booking you must notify us in writing as soon as possible. We will do our best to assist but we cannot guarantee meeting your requests. If this is regarding room changes as part of residential accommodation there will be an administration fee of £20 per person will be payable, along with any costs or charges we incur from our suppliers due to the changes made.
4. Cancellations and changes by us
We always do our utmost to avoid any changes or cancellations. However, we must reserve the right to do so. We require a minimum number of participants for all zoom/ evening courses to run as well as day trips, and may cancel the trip if this minimum is not reached. A credit or refund will be offered in these cases. Our minimum requirement is 4 people to run courses and trips.
If we have to make changes to the itinerary, leaders or accommodation, we will inform you prior to the departure date. In the event of having to change course dates we will inform you as soon as possible. If the change is major we will offer you the choice of:
1. Acceptance of the change
2. An alternative course of the same standard – If same price no charges will be made, if less we refund the difference, if more expensive you pay the difference.
3. A full refund
A major change includes a significant change in location, accommodation standard for either part or whole of the course, change of dates, or a significant alteration to the course itinerary.
We reserve the right not to operate a course for which there are insufficient guests 14 days prior to the departure date. In the unlikely event of this happening you will be given the option to make an alternative booking or take a full refund.
If the course has to be cancelled within 14 days of the start date because of ‘force majeure’ (includes war, strike, riot, acts of God etc.) you will be given the option to make an alternative booking.
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5. Field Trip - Adverse Weather
We reserve the right to make changes to the date/ time of the field based sessions to maximise the safety of the group and increase the liklihood of seeing the target species. We ask participants to keep both days free on weekends with planned field excursions to allow changes of day (from Saturday to Sunday or vice versa) to be made at short notice due to these reasons. The original plans will be stuck to if at all possible. If participants cannot attend the new day (Saturday or Sunday from the same weekend) then we will be able to offer a refund/ credit. If we change the date of a field excursion by more than 1 day (i.e. to a different weekend) and the participant is not able to attend the new date then we will offer credit towards another similar field excursion. We will not offer a monetry refund against re-scheduled field trips except by strict agreement by Speckled Wood Wildlife.
6. The cost of the course
We reserve the right to make changes and corrections to any errors in advertised costs at any time before your booking is confirmed. We will advise you of errors and corrections that we are aware of at the time of booking.
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7. Special requests
Please ensure you complete the applicable section for accessibility, dietary or other special requests on the booking form where applicable. We will endeavour to meet requirements but cannot guarantee it or accept any liability associated with such requests.
8. Medical
Please ensure you notify us of any known medical conditions or disabilities which could affect you attending the course before you confirm your booking, to enable us to advise you if the chosen arrangements are suitable. This information must be given to us in full and in writing at the time of booking (whether on the booking form or by prior e mail before online checkout). If we feel unable to accommodate the needs of the person or persons concerned, we reserve the right to regretfully decline their booking.
9. Behaviour & smoking
Please ensure that you listen to, accept, and follow, any instructions given to you by your course leader, particularly safety instructions.
If we or another person in a relevant authority are of the opinion that an individual or party member behaves in such a manner as to cause or be likely to cause distress or danger to any third party or flora and fauna we are entitled (without notice) to terminate the course of the person(s) involved. If this happens during a residential, the person(s) will be required to leave the accommodation (if applicable) and we will have no further responsibility towards them. We will not pay any costs associated with any of their travel arrangements or other expenses and no refunds will be made.
Most of our guests are non-smokers. We insist that nobody smokes near to the rest of the group, including whilst watching wildlife. We also expect guests to have consideration for others and so we insist that smokers do not smoke in confined spaces, such as vehicles, in training rooms or in the accommodation.
Guests must accept full responsibility for any damage or loss caused by themselves or another member of their party in the accommodation (where applicable). Any payments due for such damage or loss must be paid directly to the accommodation owner or manager. Any subsequent claims made against us as a result of non-payment will be the sole responsibility of the guest or member of their party involved, including all legal costs (both ours and those of the other party).
10. Complaints
In the unlikely event that you wish to make a complaint during a tour you must immediately raise it with your course leader. If your complaint relates to a service supplier (e.g. accommodation) please ensure that you inform them directly. In all cases our course leaders will do their best to help solve any problems and in almost all cases the situation can be resolved at this stage. If you are still unhappy please send your complaint to us in writing within 14 days of your course completion date and we will do our best to reach an amicable resolution. In any case, we will acknowledge your letter within 14 days and respond in full within 28 days.
11. Our liability to you
Your booking is accepted on the understanding that you come on the course at your own risk. We accept responsibility for ensuring the course is supplied as described and to a reasonable standard. However, we cannot accept liability for physical injury, loss, damage or expense resulting from actions or omissions of those over which we have no direct control (e.g. course venue, accommodation) We cannot accept responsibility for injury, loss or expense incurred due to a situation regarded as ‘force majeure’.
Speckled Wood Wildlife is a registered Limited company with company number 12425914. The registered company address is 2 The Cottages, Pentrepiod, Pontnewynydd, Pontypool, NP4 6RR, UK.